//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: To the Limit 
// by ZapAppleBloom 
//------------------------------//

For as long as I can remember, all I've ever wanted to accomplish in life was becoming a Wonderbolt. It didn't matter if I was their least important member, the pony who was the last-resort substitute. All I wanted was to be able to say that I had made it to the top, that I had achieved my dreams. Although, thinking about it, maybe being a substitute wouldn't exactly qualify as being a Wonderbolt, but that's beside the point.

When I was a filly, my whole room was Wonderbolt themed. You had to hover just to keep from stepping on some banner or plushie or poster. Every night, I fell asleep in my Wonderbolt jammies, snuggled up under my Wonderbolt blanket, with my Wonderbolt plushie. My dad would always say, "Dashie, you're gonna be the best Wonderbolt anypony in Equestria has ever seen." I would always giggle and run around the room, flapping my wings, pretending I was the lead 'Bolt. Once, my mom barely stopped me from dying my mane blue and yellow. (Hey, I was five.) When the first year of flight school came along, I was all decked out with a Wonderbolt backpack and various Wonderbolt products. I guess you could say I was kind of a fangirl.

There had always been other Wonderbolt fans in my flight classes, up until I graduated the elementary class and started real flight training. I was always teased about it. Everywhere I went, it seemed like there was always some pony intent on spewing all kinds of insults about my fillyhood idols. Even Gilda, who had for a long time been my only flight school friend, seemed to have one problem or another with the Wonderbolts. (Most of them based on the fact that none of them were griffins.) I would often fly home in tears after another long day of teasing, and my mom would always be there to cheer me up. After a while, I got used to it. Started to enjoy it, even. I wonder what junk ponies are gonna say about the Wonderbolts today, I'd think to myself every morning, flying to school. Eventually I graduated to the very top of my flight class, and people started to believe I really would become a Wonderbolt someday. It didn't matter that I was the only filly in the current generation capable of performing a Sonic Rainboom; it still took my flight skills professionally beating theirs for them to realize that I had real potential.

After graduating flight school, I didn't immediately apply for the Academy. I waited a good five years, honing my skills until the only pony unsatisfied with them was me. During those years of training, I considered giving up more than a few times. I think it was my friends who really kept me going. Although I know half of the time, they were only saying what they were to fulfill their duty as a good friend, their words of encouragement reenergized me. I realized something; I wasn't just doing this for the glory, fame, or recognition anymore. I owed it to my friends. They deserved to see all that they had done for me eventually pay off. How many times had Fluttershy bandaged my wings when I crashed? And Rarity had often used her sophisticated charm to get me free Wonderbolt show tickets from her fancy friends. Twilight helped me research new flight techniques. Applejack was always there when I needed her help in some crazy dangerous training excercise. And Pinkie Pie. Now, that was one silly filly. That pink-haired lunatic was always the most encouraging, even during those times when I was convinced that I was no better at flying than an airplane was at swimming. My friends were always there for me, supporting me and encouraging me, and I love them for that.

And then the Academy. I messed up halfway through my entrance exam, diving and spiraling to the left instead of the right. No matter how brave and confident I acted about it in front of my friends, I never let on how worried I truly was. What if the letter got mixed up in the mail and was sent to some random kid in an alternate dimension, and I got some letter that was adressed to that kid from the alternate dimension, qualifying them for whatever big, important school they were trying to get into? The only thing that kept me from worrying about that all the time was the fact that Pinkie was worried about the same thing, making it a relatively irrelevant thing to worry about. Well, as you all probably know, I got into the Academy. I met Lightning Dust, who seemed like the most cocky, self-centered pony there. And of course, just my luck, we get paired up. And, adding insult to injury, I was assigned as her wing pony, although I had clearly demonstrated superior flight skills. Well, you all know what happened after that. She ended up nearly killing my friends, and I ended up getting her kicked out of the Academy for recklessness. I feel kind of bad about that, but if you tried to kill my friends, I'd get you kicked out of the Wonderbolts Academy, too. Long story short, they let me finish my basic training at the Academy, and now I'm working one-on-one with Fleetfoot, perfecting my skills.

So far you're probably thinking this: "So what? You got what you wanted. You're gonna be a Wonderbolt soon, for Celestia's sake. Why don't you stop whining about your past and get on with your almost-celebrity life?" Well, thing is, I don't have an almost-celebrity life. There are about fifty students who are personally trained by the Wonderbolts. I'm just one pony out of that fifty, believe it or not. I only get training once a week. Most of the time, I try to help Scootaloo with her flying, usually to no avail. I have a normal life in Ponyville besides the Element of Loyalty stuff and flying, gasp. I actually spend most of my time with my friends, because they're some of the few ponies who really get me. The point of all of this is, although my life may seem like a Pinkie Pie party compared to yours, I'm still just as far from achieving my goals as when I started.