I woke up with a splash of icy cold water on my face. I instantly flew shot up in surprise in coldness of the water.
“What the hay was that?!” I complained. I was soggy and cold, shivering and mad. I looked below me and saw the Mane Six and Spike, looking at from above. Rainbow Dash had a wooden bucket on her back. There was no doubt that she was the one who dunked me with this cold liquid. I shook myself like a dog and sprinkled water all over my friends. Sorry for that, I thought. I didn’t care if they got wet. It was Rainbow Dash’s fault. I then landed on the ground and apologized. I shot a look of annoyance at Rainbow Dash and she smirked back.
“Well, it’s clearly Rainbow Dash’s fault,” Rarity said and she turned to Rainbow Dash and asked her to apologize to me.
“Sorry, Iwano,” Rainbow Dash said, though it sounded like she was muttering. “But there’s no time for that! We’re wasting time.” Speaking of time, I looked at my watch—exactly seven in the morning and today was Tuesday. I only got four days left. “We’re going to the Wonderbolts Academy!” she said as she excitedly flies upward. I rolled my eyes. After Rainbow Dash flew and landed, she explained everything to me of why. There were details she gave me which Rarity and I’ve never heard of.
“Wonderbolts members, including trainees such as myself, can select a Pegasus to compete in a friendly competition in the academy—a race and other events,” Rainbow Dash explained. “The winners or best fliers get to become official members of the Wonderbolts, or even become trainees, lead ponies or wing ponies.” I thought the term she was referring to was “humiliating” instead of “friendly”.
“Why would they make a competition like that?” I asked.
“Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts, held this competition to see if there’re any more worthy fliers in Equestria, besides myself,” she answered. “Oh, and I’ll be telling you all the other events later when we get there. And maybe there’re other details.”
“It’s also for entertainment and encouraging other Pegasi to join the academy,” Twilight added, which made more sense to me than a competition. “There will be other Pegasi to watch, too, maybe even the whole Equestria.”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Rainbow Dash with the Wonderbolts, too,” Fluttershy said. Hearing her voice immediately melted my heart with her soft and cute tone.
“And RD here chose ya to be in it, Iwano,” Applejack said. I can see in her face she didn't want her rainbow-mane friend to join me in.
“Enough chit-chat!” Rainbow Dash broke in. “Twilight, get into your balloon.”
“What balloon?” I asked Twilight. She replied by pointing above us. Good thing my horn didn’t pop it when I shot up into the sky. Above us was Twilight’s hot air balloon. It was colored light-purple with its carrier. A rope was tied nearby a tree beside the boutique.
“You have a spell that can temporarily allow your friends to walk on clouds, right?” I asked Twilight again.
“Yes, and again, how do you know?” she asked back. I should really stop doing that.
“You are very special alicorn with the power to do any spell, am I not right?” I countered.
“Most spells, yes. I already applied it on all of my friends except Rarity. But the Wonderbolts Academy had a paved road, Iwano, she doesn’t need and we don’t need—”
“Maybe I can give her the temporary wings she used to have. You know the wings that are made of morning dew she used to have?”
Twilight sighed. “I will for now on never question you in how you know every single event we had before you came here.” She gave up. Good.
“Okay then,” I said as I faced Rarity. “Just stay calm and prepare yourself to get beautiful again with wings!”
"I'm going to have beautiful wings again!" she squealed. "Fire when you're ready!"
My horn glowed as I was prepared to blast her. After a few seconds, I shot a beam on her.
After Rarity applied her wings—they looked like butterfly wings patterned beautifully with colors and transparency—we all ascended into the sky. Rainbow Dash lead the way with me and Fluttershy by her side. I allowed myself to pull Twilight’s balloon with her passenger friends with a rope tied on my left hind leg. The balloon with its passengers wasn’t all that heavy since it was supported with a balloon. Twilight was following us last but not too far so she could practice her flying. We passed through the clouds and unfazed when we crashed into one, it just dispersed. Rarity was just flying happily with her wings above the balloon.
While Pinkie Pie was playing with a pompom on her head, her tail twitched hard. She noticed and warned, “Uh-oh, I think something or somepony’s about to fall!” She covered her head quickly with four more pompoms. I would not ask where she’d got those.
“What’s gonna fall?!” Spike asked worryingly with a pompom on his head.
“I don’t really know,” Pinkie Pie replied. “But my tail was so hard twitchy-twitch, I think it would be hard as my teeth broke when I chewed on jawbreakers—it was delicious!” Her saying that happily was creepy to us, but we all took a hard mental note about what was about to fall.
“Where are we going again, Rainbow Dash?” I asked.
“We’re going to the Wonderbolts Academy, egghead,” she replied. What?
“I heard that, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said behind.
“Sorry,” Rainbow Dash apologized indistinctly. “I’m not used to another nerd.”
I fumed. I swear I would make her eat my dust, if there were any in the sky, during the race if she ever joined. I wished she would.
I thought it was all because of Celestia’s description about me in her dream-message. She did say that Rainbow Dash and I were both fast in terms of aerodynamics, speed and agility, I thought. All I could put in my mind was that Rainbow Dash wanted to be faster, even if it meant putting someone down, which it would be me. If that was what she wanted to do, then I would accept without complaint!
I looked behind me to see Twilight’s reaction on Rainbow Dash’s apology. She seemed to cool down easily. Maybe she used the breathing exercise Cadence taught her back in the Crystal Empire. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t do the same. I would just imagine stuff to hold my temper.
I’d to admit, but I had to thank Rainbow Dash from waking me up when I was in the middle of the fall. I would have a mini heart attack if I hit the ground, or worst, never to pull myself together after! But that doesn’t meant I would forgive her for her wake-up call.
We all came to a halt when Rainbow Dash stopped. “We’re here!” she exclaimed.
Below us was the Wonderbolts Academy. The academy was a boot camp complex located in the peak of a mountain plateau consisting of a paved runway. Dotted near the mountaintop were buildings and a mess hall made of clouds.
We all landed and I tied the balloon near a flag post. I hoped nopony noticed it there. Training in the runway was different Pegasi flying and exercising.
“What are the other events in this competition besides racing, Rainbow Dash?” I asked.
“You’ll find out once you registered yourself, young flyer,” a voice spoke. Her voice was raspy and full of authority. I turned back and saw the captain. Her eyes were brilliant orange like an ember and full of sharpness. Her mane was stylized like a blazing fire and colored light brilliant orange with light brilliant amber streaks. Her coat was light brilliant gold, colored like the sparks of flames. Her cutie mark was three licks of flames resembling an abstraction of a phoenix, and she was a Pegasus. She was wearing a blue suit which I thought was for sergeants, and tinted glasses. “I see you have found your choice, Rainbow Dash. And it's a unique one, too."
“Spitfire,” I said. “You’re the captain of the Wonderbolts.”
Blaze...
Spitfire lowered her glasses and knitted her eyebrows. “Heard of me?” she asked.
I nodded. Rainbow Dash gave me a look of suspicion, but immediately gazed on her captain. “Yes captain,” she said with a salute. “I have chosen a contestant. He is really fast and agile with his flying. I’ve seen him done that.”
“I hope,” Spitfire said with a smile. “It’s always great to see new young flyers, especially as him. Who are you, cadet?”
“My name’s Iwano Imagination, captain,” I replied. “I am happy that Rainbow Dash, your trainee, entered me into this. It would be a lot of fun to compete with other Pegasi. I promise you I would be interesting.”
“I hope you would,” Spitfire took a notice of my horn. “Are you an alicorn?”
“Um, yes ma’am.” I replied.
She grinned. “Well, you already interest me. I hope you would play fair without your magic.”
“Don’t worry. I am honest to myself. Besides, you can tell if I’m using my magic if my horn glow its aura.” Applejack seemed to like what I said with a smile
“True. Just to let you know, this event is called the ‘Bolt-Wing Competition’. If my trainee here already told you about it, let me explain it again with some details. The Bolt-Wing Competition is an event whereas the flyers chosen by our official members and trainees are to compete by showing off their wing power, aerodynamics, speed, agility, accuracy, precision and endurance. The Wonderbolts who chose his or her pony will also coach.” That raised my brows up. “The best fliers of my choice will become official members—probably become wing ponies or lead ponies, or even higher rank in terms of membership—of the Wonderbolts. This also serves as a training program for other Pegasi and may encourage other flyers to join the academy. This event will also be broadcasted all over Equestria.” Uh-oh, I thought.
Good, her explanation was now almost clear to me. But I was really curious of the events that they set for us. “Thank you for the info, captain. I’m looking forward for it.”
“I hope you’ll enjoy the academy and its treats.”
“Are you kidding me? Seeing and talking to the blazing and fiery-colored Spitfire for the first time is already enjoyable and a treat!” I cheerfully said.
She blushed. “I’ll be on my way now, Iwano. Good luck!” and then she flew away; probably she had other things to attend to.
“Wow,” Twilight said. “It’s like you and Spitfire have known each other for a long time, even if you two talked for a short time. Have you two met?”
“No,” But I know her and her info, I wanted to say but I just sincerely answered. “It’s just that, Spitfire is an interesting pony.”
She knitted her eyebrows and shook her head. “Let’s go get you register—” Before she could finish her sentence, Rainbow Dash took me immediately in a flash to a table where the registrar was. I was startled when she pushed me really fast there. She really was excited to see me humiliated, if it ever happened.
“I’d like to enter Iwano Imagination to—you?!” The registrar pony had an orange mane which curved back and waved, like cool fire. Her coat was light opal. Her eyes were brilliant gamboge, but looked lightning colored to me; in fact her eyes looked striking like it. And her cutie mark was a lightning bolt with three stars. She wore the Wonderbolt uniform—their suit were azure blue with golden yellow lightning pattern and sport a uniform icon on their flanks over where the ponies’ cutie marks were; the icon varied on the gender of the member (males: the mark is a winged lightning bolt, females: a long streak of lightning. But Soarin’s cutie mark was already a lightning bolt with wings before he even joined).
“Lightning Dust,” I said. Rainbow Dash stared at me for knowing her.
“How do you know her?” she carefully said.
“Enough of that, RD,” Lightning Dust said. “Do you want to enter your Iwano Imagination or not?”
Rainbow Dash shook her head from her confusion and was intrigued of her former lead pony’s return. “Yeah and why are you here?”
I just signed my name and looked at the other entries. I was surprised to see Derpy Hooves’s name. Who in their wrong minds would choose Derpy to enter this competition? She would just destroy all of us with her clumsiness—she would even wreck the place before we even started the event! Besides her, I could also be a bit clumsy which was bad as hers. One time, I leaned and bumped into a crate of isotopes in the nuclear power plant of Springfield in the Simpson’s world, and blew the whole plant up. Of course, I fixed everything with my powers—imagination. I wondered what the result would be like if Derpy and I combined our clumsiness. I decided not to let that happen.
“Spitfire chose me to enter the competition so she would give me another chance from last time,” Lightning Dust answered Rainbow Dash. “Everypony deserves a second chance, right?” She seemed to be friendly enough for me, but not to Rainbow Dash. I remembered when she was kicked out of the academy—or stripped off of her rank—for endangering the other Wonderbolts with a tornado that she and Rainbow Dash whipped up. Rainbow Dash really didn’t really mean to do it, though. It was Lightning Dust’s fault. She back in the academy as a contestant also intrigued me. But I was actually cool with it. But not Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash glared at her. “Okay, Iwano is now registered, right?”
“Yes he is,” Lightning Dust replied.
“And you’re in this as well?”
“Yes again, RD. It’s too bad you’re still a trainee.” I could now see Rainbow Dash fuming and Lightning Dust’s sneering. “And when Spitfire sees my skills in the competition, she’ll surely promote me as an official member—maybe even higher than that or a lead pony!” The two former teammates just kept staring at each other. I could see a rainbow-colored spark striking a lightning spark between them. It wasn’t my imagination. All I could thought of her was that she was friendly. I hoped Lightning Dust would become good again.
“Excuse me, Lightning Dust?” I broke in their staring contest to avoid any possible fight. “Where are we contestants supposed to do now when we’re registered?”
She fazed away from Rainbow Dash, who was glaring at her, and answered, “You must find Soarin and get a Wonderbolts uniform, such as what I’m wearing right now. Then, you must wait for the signal for Spitfire to assemble all of you to her.”
“Oh, okay. I understand,” I said with a nod.
“Say, I have a question for you, Iwano,” she said. “How do you know me and do you know Soarin?”
I should really start acting stupid and not knowing everypony in Equestria. Everypony would be suspicious of me. Instead I just answered, “I do know Soarin and I know you. I want to answer your question with details, but I need to go and find him now. Bye!”
The Mane Six, Spike and I left the registrar’s table and walked around the academy to find Soarin. Pinkie Pie was hopping frantically and was trying to eat the clouds above us. Rarity was gingerly flying with her wings away from any ray of sunlight, caring for it not to burn up again like last time (I cast those same wings on her because I wanted her to experience flying again). Rainbow Dash was muttering and questioning to herself about Lightning Dust’s return. Fluttershy was looking around her uneasily.
Concerned, I asked, “Fluttershy, is there something bothering you?”
“Oh, uh, maybe,” she replied.
With my aura, I could feel Fluttershy’s uneasiness, but I was not reading her mind. I decided not to ask or find out.
Twilight was reading another book. While I was giving away gems back in Ponyville, I did saw her reading a book on alicorns. Now, she was reading a book on Equestria’s geographical settings and its lands.
“Why are ya reading that, Twilight?” I asked with a pinch of worry.
“Trying to see if Imaginundia is in this book, and I’d read it seven times and it’s not here,” she said as she forcefully levitated the book towards my face. I shoved it away from me.
“Maybe your book’s not updated,” I guessed, which I hoped I was right. “I know you’re vexed of where I am and about my identity, Twilight. Will you just quit it?”
“Oh, I think you’re really hiding something—”
“Look down below!” Pinkie Pie fell down on us with a giant fluffy cloud that explodes as it crashes down on us, dispersing away. Around and all over us, we were covered entirely with clouds like snow. I had a cloud hair shaped like Twilight’s mane, which was really funny that I chuckled. Everypony had cloud beards. Pinkie Pie stood up unscathed with her whole body wearing a cloud coat. Everypony just laughed. I was glad Pinkie Pie was able to abrupt Twilight’s sentence because when I used my powers to read her mind, Twilight completely forgotten what she was about to say next.
“Hello down there!” From above and landing towards us was a Pegasus with moderate emerald green eyes, and they looked like they had eye bags. His mane was dark grayish phthalo blue. His coat was a very pale cornflower blue, and his cutie mark was a yellow lightning bolt with wings. He was wearing a Wonderbolt uniform with his goggle up his forehead. “Is that your new recruit, Dashie?”
“Yes sir, Soarin!” Rainbow Dash said with a salute. Soarin had in his back three folded Wonderbolt uniforms. “And we’ve been looking for you for the uniforms.”
Soarin chuckled. “What’s funny?” I asked.
“All your facial clouds!” Soarin laughed.
“Oh.” We noticed that we were still wearing our props. We wiped them off clean. Pinkie Pie just ate hers with a single slurp. How does she do that?! I rolled my eyes and just focused on Soarin.
“I thought we’ll be wearing the Wonderbolt trainee uniforms. You know? The close-fitting cadet uniform ones,” I said. The trainee uniforms were half the official Wonderbolt suit in its upper.
“Spitfire wants the contestants to experience being an official member, well, until the competition ends though,” he replied.
“Anyways, can I have one now?” I asked. Soarin just gave me the uniform with its goggles in reply.
“Now, Iwano,” Rarity said. “You can now just—” Before she finished her sentence, I dashed off into the sky. “Wear it?”
I spun around while wearing the uniform. I wanted Soarin to be the first official Wonderbolt to be impressed of my skills. I flew around spinning while easily suiting me up. I then removed my saddlebag and it fell beside Twilight, thinking I would trust her enough to take care of it. The suit fitted perfectly. I then somersaulted and land with a prideful smile. The Mane Six and Spike clapped to my stunt.
Soarin was agape. “Hmph, looks like we have a worthy competitor!” he said. I took it as a compliment. “I’d like to stay and see more of your awesome stunts, but I have other things to attend to.” And just that, he waved and flew away with the remaining Wonderbolts uniform.
“Your simultaneous groom and stunt really impressed Soarin,” Twilight said and giggled. “Oh, and including Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow Dash was agape, too. She frowned. “And he said your stunt was awesome? He never said that to me.”
“That’s okay there, Dashie,” Applejack. “He was mostly impressed of yer—”
“He was impressed of your rescuing of Rarity and the other fallen Wonderbolts back in the Best Young Fliers competition.” I finished Applejack’s sentence—and covered my mouth with my hooves.
They all stared at me. Iwano, you fool! I thought. You better stop saying their past events or they’ll think you’re a villainous spy or something. I managed a smile. “Okay, let’s go and—”
A whistle blared. Rainbow Dash shot up. “That’s the signal!” she exclaimed then shot a sneer on me. “Good luck!”
We were all mustered to the center of the academy. We all formed four rows and seven columns—we were twenty-eight in all—and arranged ourselves by height, according to Spitfire’s command. I glanced around. The balloon being tied to the flag post was parked and tied on a pole near the mess hall. I was on the fourth row, fourth column since I was tall. On my front was Lightning Dust, on my left was Derpy Hooves—why was she beside me?—and on my right was Prism Glider. I got a little bit shaky of Derpy, anticipating her clumsiness. But she just smiled and focused in front, if only she didn’t do her funny looking wall eyes. I chuckled shortly there.
I was having a thought that maybe Lightning Dust had some sort of plan in this competition, but what? All that was possible was that she would do anything to put me down as vengeance to Rainbow Dash. I prayed to Celestia that it woouldn’t happen.
Rainbow Dash just kept scowling whenever she saw Lightning Dust. Despite her friendly demeanor towards me, which I thought, maybe she was just trying to annoy Rainbow Dash. Was she trying to seek out a payback on Rainbow Dash? Was she blaming her for that tornado whip-up incident? The only way for me to find out was to participate.
“Alright, fliers, today we’re going let you all train with all of your coaches before the event this afternoon,” Spitfire announced. “I know one of you is inexperienced with this kind of competition, so we’re prepping all of you with your coaches. I also wish that all of you would be obliged to join this event for it will be broadcasted all over Equestria and inspire many young fliers to fly proudly or join the Wonderbolts. Is there anypony who wants to back out?” There was silence for a few seconds, but nopony raised a hoof or flies away—they all wanted to participate. Spitfire grinned. “Very good, nopony wants to do it. Now, I will give you all until two to train and work with your coaches. You’re all dismissed!” We all immediately scrambled to our coaches. I quickly flew towards my coach and the Mane Six, which I probably thought that we were a team. I looked at my watch and it was 8:32 AM.
“Okay, Iwano, I have something to tell you,” Rainbow Dash said with a frown. “I was supposed to—”
I raised my hoof to stop her. “I didn’t read your mind, but you’re supposed to humiliate me in front of everypony in Equestria.”
Rainbow Dash was agape. “How did you know?”
“Rarity and I eavesdropped with your plot yesterday,” I answered. “And it’s all because of Lightning Dust’s return, right?”
She glared at Rarity, who was polishing her diadem, and nodded. “I’ve seem to be really felt guilty of doing that, Iwano. I’m sorry.”
Applejack puts her hoof on her back in comfort. “I think Iwano already forgives you in advance, right sugar cube?” she turned to me. I just simply nodded.
“Oh, and not only Lightning Dust who makes me nervous,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Derpy?” I guessed.
“Maybe, if she started wrecking the whole place. But I was actually referring to her.” She pointed in at distance an animal which was not a Pegasus. The creature’s eyes were golden with a gray light purple around them. Her coat was made of feathers and colored moderate orange amber with darker wings and white head. Her talons and beak were brilliant gold. Tail, eagle talons, body of a lion, head and beak, wings, hind paws—all these features were that of a griffon.
“I think you know her,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Gilda!” I said. “She joined the competition?! I didn’t even saw her name in the registration.”
“You didn’t look at the first page. You were looking at the second.”
“Gilda and Lightning Dust joined—who else? Who even picked her?”
“She joined with no one choosing her. I didn’t even know if Spitfire really accepted that,”
I sighed. I really needed to be careful of Lightning Dust for she might be plotting something on me which would affect Rainbow Dash. I’d seen the episode Griffon the Brush, Gilda’s appearance. In that episode, she was a thief and a bully. She was also shown to be a skillful flyer, having no need for a coach. Why did she join the Bolt Wing?
“Okay, Iwano, let’s get things straight!” Rainbow Dash announced as she was in midair. “Again, I’m your couch, it’s my responsibility to train and develop your flying talent, which you’ve shown during your cape chase. Twilight will be measuring your wingpower, Applejack will provide your snack and refreshments, and the rest are our cheerleading squad.”
Pinkie Pie wore a blue skirt, a white shirt with my cutie mark on it and pink pompoms. “Fly high and low, Iwano! Just stick to the cloudy flow!” Pinkie Pie cheered, which I thought was in working progress. Rarity and Fluttershy wore the same. I then noticed that Rarity was wearing her Tradespo Diadem. Why hadn’t I noticed it before?
“So Applejack will be getting snacks and refreshments in the mess hall?” I asked.
“Nope, sugar cube,” Applejack said. She pulled beside her a cart full of apple pie and a jug filled with apple juice, provided with eight cups. “We got all our stuff aboard Twi’s balloon before we took off. We go’ all them down thanks to RD and Flutters here when you were in the assembly.” Smart and prepared they all are.
“And I brought my own whistle, cap and shades,” Rainbow Dash said as she slap on her cap, shades and whistle, which she blew on immediately. “It’s time to get you all pumped up! Remember, quitters eat smog for breakfast! Now get your wings flexing and flappin’ and let’s go!!!”
Rainbow Dash was a coach to reckon with, if you ask me. There was no doubt when she was Ponyville’s Pegasus trainer of the town’s Pegasi in the Hurricane Fluttershy episode. Her demands were so strict yet effective that I became more disciplined and strong, but I’ve done some clumsy stuff during training, though—I do not want to mention them. It was also been a long time since I’d never had a strenuous flying training when I last been from the Owl World—Ga’Hoole. My last flying coach was Twilight, a Great Gray owl—not Twilight Sparkle pony—who trained me both strictly and joyfully. Unlike him, Rainbow Dash was very serious of preparing me for my competitors, especially Lightning Dust and Gilda. I don’t want to have any apparent contempt for those two, since I’m more of the peaceful kind of pony. Love and tolerance is what bronies are in Reality—some. Rainbow Dash taught me flight maneuvers, aerial recoveries, smooth landings and cool poses to strike whenever I had any “awesome moments” being displayed, according to her. She was no doubt a really cool pony, considering that I love anything colorful like her mane and tail, and that she has faith in her friends. But Rainbow Dash was my least favorite pony of the Mane Six—on my sixth place marker—because I really disliked her brashness, apparent laziness, her competitiveness, a lover of winning, her mischievousness and most of all her tomboyish personality (unlike Applejack to me), albeit she had a love for reading Daring Do novels and such. But since I need to be influenced with some Element of Loyalty against my Faithlessness and two of my opponents are her predicaments, I have to work with her as student and mentor.
While training, there were various pranks my coach played on me which I didn’t want to mention, because that made me wanna hate Rainbow Dash more—maybe I should hate her more.
We’d been training until twelve in the afternoon for me to rest. I felt my bones aching, my wings spraining, my eyes burning from my flying that I forgot to put on my goggles—I should be more remindful of myself. Training was no problem, but I’d gotten easily tired that I had to keep flying to cool myself. My breathing was difficult and I was closed to collapsing. I should have told Rainbow Dash that I had asthma, but I didn’t want to let her down! I liked to sometimes push myself to the limit, like Lightning Dust did.
"Okay, before we can begin," my new coach, Rainbow Dash, said, "I wanna take a look at your wings." She pulled my dragon wings hard like they were stubborn weeds. I gritted my teeth from pain. She then let go and slung me to the pavement, and laughed.
I scowled. "What's that for?!"
"You have dragon wings, which looked like you might be a strong flier, since winged-dragons can flap hard with force. Meaning, you can out fly the fliers of the competition, if you can. Now, let's get to it!"
My coach blew her whistle.
After training, Rainbow Dash called for a long timeout and I slumped down on the pavement until Pinkie Pie cushioned me with extra pompoms. Applejack gave me a cup of cold apple juice that it little helped me of my exhaustion, but I kept drinking anyways. I wasn’t still hungry since my apple massacre, but I just ate two pies. My face was dripping a whole lot of sweat that I reached for my saddlebag, which was still beside Twilight, and took out a towel—which I never knew I had. I then crossed my mind that my bag wasn’t ordinary of what it seemed to be. My saddlebag was magic, able to hold any amount of things and lets me pick out something that I needed. Cynthia must had switched my saddlebag before she reminded me of it and lets me teleport it. Despite all of this serious training, I’d gotten stronger, muscular and reflexive again of my flying, though my build and buff remained unchanged. I’d been suspicious of Twilight that maybe she looked into my saddlebag. I just hoped Cynthia didn’t put my info card in it, or my cover would have been blown. But it looked like Twilight was just looking at my wingpower record Spike had written down on a paper with a quilt. She was comparing the anemometer’s measurement with my other records of wingpower. I couldn’t help being so thirsty tired that I even sipped my face of my sweat—I was drenched in sweat!
“In each test we’ve done, Iwano’s wingpower gradually increases from its initial of 10.7 to 18.7,” Twilight said. “It looks like Iwano’s ready, RD.”
“No, no, no!” Rainbow Dash exasperated and shook her head vexingly. “I wish I have that anemo-thing-of-jig while—”
“Anemometer, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight corrected her.
“Whatever you say, Twi! But that’s really not enough. Whatever wingpower Iwano just raised from that cape chase, it must’ve been 19 or more—I wish it were 20 and more!”
“But do you think pushing Iwano to his limits would help him when the clock strikes twelve?” Twilight pointed a hoof on me for Rainbow Dash. I was staring at other Pegasi while still being drenched in sweat that my mane was literally like a waterfall already. I saw that overly-muscular pony from the episode Hurricane Fluttershy. What was his name?
That’s…that’s Bulk Biceps! I thought and remembered. Bulk Biceps’s eyes were intense vivid red, his mane dirty blonde in a buzz cut, and a white coat (or light gray). He was training…Derpy? He was the one who chose Derpy? Okay, his brain must had been broken from all that YEAH! and all. But I could see he was training Derpy with ease and she was more disciplined in her movements. I was actually happy about it, as long as she didn’t break my bones. Better yet, maybe she should break Lightning Dust and Gilda’s bones in the competition so Rainbow Dash would be at ease, too.
I remembered Bulk Bicep was named by fans as Snowflake.
There were other Pegasi that were background ponies in the show that I’d seen—Cloud Kicker, Dizzy Twister, Lightning Bolt, Merry May, Parasol, Rainbowshine (rainbow in the name, eh?), Raindrops (I almost thought of her as Snowdrop), Sassaflash, Sprinkle Medley, Blossomforth, Flitter, Cloudchaser and Wild Fire. Hmm…they seemed to be interesting Pegasi. Maybe I could socialize with them if Rainbow Dash let me in my timeout. Those background ponies all flocked together and were having a conversation. I wanna join in!
I lift myself up with my head slowly; balanced myself—I felt really dizzy—and walked towards Rainbow Dash.
She noticed me and said with a smile, “You wanna go back to training? I’d like to teach you how to—”
“Actually I want to socialize with other fliers, if you may allow,” I said.
She frowned. “Fine, you got until before one. Now, go socialize!” I thought she really meant me to do it.
As I walked towards the flock of the background ponies, I took a deep breath and relaxed myself. Okay, Iwano, I thought. You can do this.
Rainbow Dash was staring at me, but I pretended that I didn’t notice. Twilight then noticed Rainbow Dash and asked, “Is there something wrong?”
“Uh, yeah,” Rainbow Dash hesitated. “I mean no—I’m fine!”
“No you’re not,” Twilight said.
“…Yeah, I’m not fine,” Rainbow Dash admitted. “It’s just, Iwano followed me as if I’d been his trainer, like, forever and he didn’t even complain! I actually expected him to do that, but I never knew he was this strong.”
“Physically or mentally?” Twilight asked again.
“Both,” Rainbow Dash answered. “Do you think we’re really helping him control his Dissonance?”
Hearing that stung Twilight’s ears, but she just smiled and answered, “Yes we are. Rarity must’ve influenced him with enough Generosity to last for a lifetime since he’s given everypony in Ponyville a gem, and I doubt Rarity told him to do that.” Twilight looked at her balloon; probably the gem I gave her was there. “Applejack sort of done her part, but I bet it was effective with her Honesty. Iwano does not complain. Maybe he is humble and naturally loyal to anypony who’s good to him, though you were trying to plot against him—”
“I know, I know,” Rainbow Dash snapped. “And I think it’s wrong.”
“Yes, you know that, Rainbow Dash. You can still be a great flier by showing your good sportsmanship and fairness to him when it comes to between your speed and his,”
“Thanks, Twilight.” Rainbow Dash thanked. Twilight nodded.
Meanwhile, I was having a great time chatting with the background Pegasi. They were all thrilled to talk to me because I also gave those dresses and suits from my magic back in my Enter with Colors back in Ponyville—was my performance that popular now? The background ponies were all chosen by other Wonderbolts to participate and they didn’t even protest, except Cloud Kicker.
“What’s your favorite weather?” Flitter asked. Our chat was just normal.
“Um, rain,” I replied.
“Why rain?”
“Well, because I get to get cold and it reminds me of my own sad emotions.” Okay, that was a bit creepy. She seemed to not get why.
“Anyways,” Dizzy Twister said. “How are you feeling when Rainbow Dash picked you for the Bolt Wing?”
That’s an easy question. “I bit ticked off, ‘cause she doesn’t like me that much ‘cause our speed’s both the same,”
“But you accept anyway?” Blossomforth asked. “You should just say—?”
“Say no? No, I’m fine with it. It’s my chance to get noticed to everypony in Equestria besides Ponyville.” Yeah, but being overexposed to Equestria as a threat was very bad.
“We’ll just spread to everypony and our friends about how cool you are!” Wild Fire said. “You don’t need this competition to get you noticed just by that.”
“And you’re sensitive,” Sprinkle Medley reminded, which I told her while Rainbow Dash was talking to Twilight. “You might even get scared before you step on the starting line!”
“Sprinkle Medley, he can do this,” Cloud Kicker told her. “As long as he believes in himself, he can race!” I was flattered by all their concerns and praise to me. I wasn’t used to this kind of thing since all my classmates in Reality did to me was deriding and downgrading me. In IW, I could be a bit flattered, too. But since these ponies encouraged me to go on, I was filled with confidence that I could race against Gilda, Lightning Dust and other fliers without any anxiety at all. I think I’m ready.
I thanked them for a wonderful chat (nailed it) and left to see Rainbow Dash now. I wondered what she was trying to teach me. When I left the background ponies, I’d kind of felt sorry that I would have to compete against them. If I win, would they still like me? Would they hate me when I win? All thirteen of them, including the remaining contestants, are all I would be competing against. Were they masking their jealousy towards me with their friendliness? My confidence slowly reduced just by the thought of it, so I shook my head, think about Fluttershy with her cute face, and head towards Rainbow Dash.
She was so happy to see me that she immediately hollered orders for me to do warm-ups—pushups using my wings (it hurts) and stretches (some of my bones made cracking sounds which made Fluttershy uneasy). I already knew she had something for me to do. She then slapped me a number sticker 10 on my flank, which it hurts that it gave me a jump. Why do I always have 10s in everything?
After my warm-up, Rainbow Dash said, “Iwano, I’ll be teaching you one of my moves so you can impress Spitfire and the judges in the first event—Talent Phase,”
“Talent Phase,” I repeated. “What’s that?”
“The name explained it all,” she replied. “Fine, you want an answer? The Talent Phase is the part of the Bolt Wing. Each contestant will be called and take turns impressing the judges by less than five minutes.” I understandingly nodded. “Okay, let me do them first—just watch and learn!” As she said that, she took off to the sky in a flash and showed me four moves.
As twelve strikes, Spitfire blared her blew her whistle and mustered all of ponies to the center again, only this time we’re scattered. Our coaches were in distance away from us. Rainbow Dash was with her friends—our Team Harmony, as we called ourselves when I was training with her—watching Spitfire with anticipation of me being chosen. I felt my teeth chattering. I’ve became nervous. To distract myself from all of this, I’d listed down in my mind the known ponies that will compete (I would also describe their mane, eye and coat color):
1) Rainbowshine (Her coat was lavender, her mane was gala pink and her eyes were scarlet pink)
2) Parasol (Her coat was cream, her mane was lilac, and her eyes were orange)
3) Derpy Hooves (Her coat was light sapphire bluish gray, her mane was pale, light grayish apple green, and her eyes were gradient from pale, light grayish apple green to moderate gamboge)
4) Cloud Kicker (Her coat was lavender, her mane was light and golden yellow, and her eyes were violet)
5) Gilda (Her was moderate orange amber with darker wings and white head, and her talons were brilliant gold)
6) Dizzy Twister (Her coat was sand colored, her mane was bubblegum pink, and her eyes were maroon)
7) Lightning Bolt (Her coat was white, her mane was blue, and her eyes were light blue)
8) Merry May (Her coat was grass green, her mane was magenta, and her eyes were purple)
9) Lightning Dust (Her coat was light opal, her mane was brilliant amber and vivid gamboge, and her eyes were brilliant gamboge)
10) Iwano Imagination (Me)
11) Raindrops (Her coat was pale gold, her mane was pale robin egg blue, and her eyes were hazel)
12) Sassaflash (Her coat was powder blue, her mane was blond, and her eyes were orange)
13) Sprinkle Medley (Her coat was gala teal, her mane was maya green, and her eyes were blue)
14) Blossomforth (Her coat was dim white, her mane was pink with green streaks, and her eyes were blue)
15) Flitter (Her coat was lilac, her mane was pale green, and her eyes were purple)
16) Cloudchaser (Her coat was lilac, her mane was blue/white, and her eyes were purple)
17) Wild Fire (Her coat was cream colored, her mane was dark brown, and her eyes were brown)
My enumeration was interrupted when Lightning Dust nudged me. I was startled but I recovered quickly. “Are you nervous?” she asked. Why was she asking? “Is this your first time?”
I know I shouldn’t trust her since she must have some kind scheme, but I don’t want her to dislike me even further. “Nope,” I admitted. “I got a lot of races like this back in my home.”
“Were you a champion there?”
“Uh, I won seven times.”
“That’s cool. If you’re an experienced flier, why did you let Dashie train? Out of practice?”
“Um, yeah, I think so,” I admitted. “Why are you asking me?”
“I just wanna be friendly, that’s all,” she replied. “Spitfire was very busy attending to others while I was the registrar, but I don’t need her to train me—I’m experienced.” True, she did become a trainee on the episode Wonderbolts Academy.
I gave her skeptical look. “Okay, then. Good luck.”
“Good luck too, Imagination.” Imagination? I thought. She called me by my surname? Was our second name as ponies our surname? Whatever, I thought it was.
Spitfire gathered all our attention and began to explain the mechanics of part one: Talent Phase. Beside both her sides were the Wonderbolts escorts Whiplash (his coat was grey, his mane was dark grey, and his eyes were blue—he also had a moustache) and Manerick (his eyes were light orange, his coat was white, and his mane was gamboge). “Everypony will be called randomly to perform. All of you must do this in less than five minutes. If you want to stop when you’re done, just say so. Oh, and I’ll be rating each of you from one to ten. Now, I want number 4 aloft now!” Spitfire blew her whistle, which indicates the called number to perform now.
Number 4 instantly went up and it was Cloud Kicker. “Yes ma’am!” she said with a salute. It sounded like her voice had a twinge of nervousness. Cloud Kicker began her performance by zooming into three clouds and spinning them, carefully turning each into a perfect cylinder. Next, she rounded them up by spinning them together in a circle, which causes the three clouds to form a big cloud tornado. I guess this will the finale, ‘cause Cloud Kicker went inside her creation—we all gasped, except Gilda—, spun around counter-clockwise fast and bursts the cloud tornado into chunks of fluff. “All done ma’am!” she gasped.
We all stomped our hooves in applause. Cloud Kicker sighed and wiped sweat from her face and mane—sweat of nervousness? Cloud Kicker landed towards Spitfire to see his result. The Wonderbolts captain showed him his score on a clipboard: 7—not bad.
All the other fliers were all nervous, except Lightning Dust and Gilda. I was a bit nervous myself—legs shaking, teeth chattering, hard panting and heart pounding rapidly. I tried to think some ways to relax me from my anxiety. This competition was nerving! I guess most of are. I then had an idea of enumerating the other fliers I hadn’t list down on my head yet:
18) Airheart (Her coat was pink, her mane was reddish brown, and her eyes were blue)
19) April Showers (Her coat was gala teal, her mane was maya green, and her eyes were orange)
20) Milky Way (His coat was off-white, his mane was gray, and her eyes were gold)
21) Opal Water (Her coat was light blue, her mane was periwinkle, and her eyes were orange)
22) Prism Glider (His coat was blue, his mane was white, and his eyes were green)
23) Silverwing (His coat was light gray, his mane was gray, and his eyes were light brown)
24) Thunderlane (His coat was dark grey, his mane was sky blue with light blue streaks, and his eyes were gold)
25) Blue Skies (His coat was blue, and both his mane and eyes were yellow)
26) Drizzle (Her coat was light mauve, her mane was dull saffron, and her eyes were purple)
27) Great Scott (His coat was white, his mane was gray, and his eyes were dull brown)
28) Serenity (His coat was pink, his mane was blue, and his eyes were green)
I guessed the Pegasi that would be joining this Bolt Wing comprised mostly with background ponies, but I believed one of them might have role in this event soon. I hoped.
After twenty-five fliers later, Gilda was up next as number 5. Lightning Dust and I were the only ones left. While waiting for our turns, Lightning Dust just told me her comments on every one of the flier’s performances, and all I do is just pretend that I acknowledge her opinions and simply nod. Gilda flew up and greeted the captain. “I hope you’re worth joining this competition, griffon,” Spitfire said annoyingly.
“Are you kidding me, cap? This would be a piece of cake!” Gilda told her.
As Spitfire blew her whistle, Gilda immediately flew to somewhere else in the clouds. There was long silence. Was she going to do a descent or a cloud sculpting? Gilda can do any kind of rash stuff like Rainbow Dash, but that’s different. Four minutes passed and Gilda was nowhere. “She better be back,” Spitfire said. “Otherwise, she’s out.” Out? What does she meant “out”? Obviously, Spitfire would disqualify her out of the competition when Gilda’s time runs out. The way Spitfire talked to Gilda when it was the griffon’s turn, it was like Gilda forced herself to join somehow. Spitfire may not be intended to let her join in the first place, but what does make her let that griffon join? Whatever the reason was, it doesn’t matter. What matter was that I would have to win this and make Rainbow Dash proud, and most importantly be influenced by Loyalty—if I could find a way how.
“Fifteen more seconds,” Spitfire said as she looked at her watch. “Just a few more seconds and Gilda’s out.” Spitfire must have really wanted her out, but she was not doing anything to slow Gilda down…or was she? After ten seconds on the clock, which Gilda only had five seconds left, the griffon finally appeared with a giant ball of clouds above her head carried with her talons. Though the ball’s made of clouds, I was impressed. We were all in awe, except me.
“I call this one my Atlas Puff!” Gilda exclaimed. “And this one’s for the fliers!” I thought we were going to be covered by cloud puffs, but Gilda threw it into the sky with strong force that it was thrown in a distance and strikes it on its center with such fast speed that it dispersed into five shockwaves of whiteness. We all stomped in applause even louder than other performances, though our hooves were quite tired we can’t help but being impressed.
“So,” Gilda flew towards and nudged Spitfire hard that the captain almost lost her breath—was she that strong? Oh wait, that was just a cloud ball. “What’s the score?” Spitfire showed Gilda her score on a clipboard: a perfect 10! “Aw yeah!” she cheered to herself. “I’m the flier! Who’s the flier? Me!” the griffon landed and was congratulated by the others. Gilda was the first flier to get a perfect score. The other’s got nine and below. I didn’t want to congratulate her ‘cause I believed that she’s a bad influence. I also don’t want her to find out who I am. Was her trick that impressive to Spitfire? I really don’t know.
“Now, number 9, you’re up!” Spitfire called out and it was Lightning Dust’s turn to bolt in. I wasn’t sleepy at all when I continuously watched all of the fliers to their strut their stuff, which made me frown that they can do better than me—I might not be able to get a good score at all. Lightning Dust’s time then began as Spitfire blew her whistle. Spitfire searched carefully for something. Her eyes widened and she smiled as she found a black cloud—a storm cloud. Spitfire asked both her escorts, “Today’s supposed to be bright and clear with extra white clouds and cold breezes, right?” The escorts nodded. “Then, why’s there a storm cloud?” The escorts just shrugged. “I thought all the clouds—never mind.” Lighting Dust shoved the storm cloud with other clouds together. I started to think that this Talent Phase also needs us to show our creativity too, like Cloud Kicker’s and Gilda’s, but must also be with skill.
After two minutes later, Lightning Dust formed a giant black nimbus cloud. Spitfire lowered her glasses to see what Lightning dust was doing clearly. “What is she up to?” she asked herself. Lightning Dust then settled down on top of her creation. “You still need to get a score, not sleep!” Spitfire reminded her.
“I really don’t like where this is going,” Twilight worriedly said. Fluttershy somehow knew what Twilight was thinking because she quickly hid inside our food cart with a towel covering her.
“Oh, I’ll get a score alright,” Lightning Dust said as she raised her front hooves up. “As soon I’m done doing… this!” she stomped her cloud, and a giant lightning bolt struck the ground. I screamed—we contestants all screamed! I even jumped up and tumbled down in shock. The sound of the lightning was so striking it literally almost gave us all a heart attack, including Spitfire, her escorts, the Mane Six and Gilda. We were also blinded by its flash temporarily, though my vision was still blurry after that. After I regained my sight after a few seconds, Lightning Dust was now beside me.
“What was that for?!” I complained to her then everyone followed. “You almost gave us a heart attack, ya know?!”
Lightning Dust just kept smiling even with all the sea of complaints filling her ears. “But I still got a perfect score.”
“What?” we fliers said in unison and turned to Spitfire.
Spitfire sighed and said, “She got a 10, fliers.” We didn’t believe it. She also got a 10? We were all murmuring to each other in disbelief.
“She frightened all of us. She doesn’t deserve that score!” Prism Glider commented.
“That wasn’t impressive at all! You scared and nearly killed us, Lightning Dust!” Opal Water commented, too.
“And it’s terrible!” Thunderlane added, and yawned.
I blamed myself for starting this hostility, ‘cause they all now wanted an argument with the storm cloud maker. Before everypony broke into a riot on Lightning Dust, Spitfire blew her whistle even louder that pierced our ears and turned us into silence. “Everypony, I know all of you want to object—”
“But it was impressive, right?” I cut in; thought I could stop these fliers from making a fight on Lightning Dust—there shall be no fighting! “All of you’ve got to admit that making that storm cloud and lightning bolt was cool. Yeah, she scared all of us, but at least we didn’t die, right?” They all exchanged looks, maybe trying to register what I was saying. My heart was pounding hard again. I defending somepony took a lot out of my confidence, especially with a lot of Pegasi around me. Doing this just gave me some severe anxiety, but I don’t want Lightning Dust being hated or berated. “W-w-we can all forgive her, r-r-r-right?” I stammered as I asked—my teeth were chattering in fear.
Everypony sighed, which I took as something positive. Spitfire blew her whistle again to call our attention and announced, “I’ll have no bickering! Right now, we have number 10 left to perform—Iwano Imagination.” Everypony eyed on me—the pony defending the lightning maker. I didn’t look at Lightning Dust for her reaction and I just went aloft. There wasn’t any punishment and everypony stopped their objections of Lightning Dust’s score and performance somehow. “Begin!”
I immediately zoomed upward to prepare my first move which Rainbow Dash taught me. Once I’ve reached the clouds and nopony was able to see me (while going upward, I spotted Pinkie Pie crawling fast and climbing the nearest flag pole probably hoping to spot me with her binoculars—where did she even got those?!), I took a deep breath to relax me from my anxiety. The wind blew my mane and cooled my face, which little helped me with my confidence.
I yelled out, “Here I go!!!” I was swiftly nose-diving down from the sky. My heart was pounding fast, thinking that this was what I’ve dream…No! I thought. This is just my first move! I was no math wizard, but I could sense my distance from the pavement. Three feet…two feet…one foot…
Everypony were agape. One centimeter!!! I quickly recovered by flashing to my left while avoiding the fliers below me—I almost hit them! They all ducked and I believed I almost hit Spitfire and her escorts as well. I slowly went upward again, spun around, stopped and spread my wings wide in front of everypony. I wanted to stop right now…I can feel my lungs…draining of breath. I’m tired.
“Buccaneer Blaze!!!” I cried out.
And fell down to the pavement with a loud thud on my skull.