//------------------------------//
// The Trial 
// Story: On a wing and a rainbow 
// by Killbles 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 1: The Trial


“Hey watch it!” a voice yelled. Waking Rainbow Dash with a start. Looking around from the cloud she had been napping on, she tried to identify the source of the commotion. Although irritated at being woken from her nap, her curiosity was piqued by a small group of pegasi clustered around a town notice board. One of them had been pushed over by another and a small squabble had ensured. Flicking her tail in annoyance, Rainbow decided to go check out what all the fuss was about.  She lazily glided down into the town and gently pushed her way through the crowd.  A large blue poster covered the board. Although she could easily tell it was a Wonderbolts poster, a mask of confusion crept onto Rainbow’s face. Being the Wonderbolts number one fan, she knew when all their shows and tryouts were on. The fact that she may have missed one was unprecedented. Taking a mental note for the day of the tryouts, she took off in a rainbow streak.

“What do you mean you only just heard about it?” asked an incredulous Twilight. “I find it hard to believe that you, Rainbow Dash, the Wonderbolts single biggest fan, only found out about this today.” Twilight stared at her friend with something that appeared to be a mix of worry and amusement.
“Wha-!” Rainbow Dash’s mouth fell open. “How did you know? You like, just read books and be eggheady all day!” Her response seemed to amuse the purple unicorn.  She started to reorganise the books around her for what have been the fourteenth time that week.
“I just know things, like perhaps the fact that I actually bother to read the town notice board every day? Perhaps you could learn something from it as well... Like the notice from the Mayor about stunt flying in the town.” Twilight said, her mouth curling up in a smile as Rainbow rubbed the back of her head with a hoof and looked away sheepishly.
“Yeah about that... I did not mean for that to happen... I honestly thought the Town hall was sturdier than that!” she protested
“Suuuure you didn’t” Twilight teased, placing a heavy volume titled ‘A guide to Sarcasm’ on the desk in front of her.
“Hey I would never do something like that on purpose!” Rainbow yelled
“I know, it’s just you seem to be very good at crashing and demolishing things. Ever considered opening a business?” Twilight joked, replacing the guide with another book ‘Trolling Ponies: All you need to know’. Twilight stared at the title in confusion for a moment before removing the ink stain which was masquerading as a ‘T’.
Grumbling to herself, Rainbow Dash flew off before her friend could poke any more fun at her.  

Rainbow Dash found herself drifting around the sky aimlessly.  Settling herself down on a cloud, this time far enough away so she wouldn’t be disturbed, the cyan mare quickly fell asleep.
Falling, Falling, Falling... faster than anyone could fly, falling towards the cold earth’s embrace. Then suddenly soaring, soaring so  high. A blue face followed by fire, ravenous fire, fire that consumed everything until the world was black and grey.  Then falling. Falling falling... The ground rushed forwards as if eager to claim its prize. Then suddenly...
... A thud, then Blackness.
Rainbow awoke as something hard crashed into her with a loud thud. While her dream hadn’t been pleasant, she would have been lying if she said that it was more enjoyable to be crashed into.  She looked up and saw a light blue stallion hovering in the air. He muttered a quick sorry before rocketing off. Something about him seemed familiar but in her sleep deprived state, rainbow Dash couldn’t quite put a hoof on it. She considered chasing down the interloper and showing him a thing or two but she decided not to. He was already a fair way away and she was still sleepy. “Another day” she muttered sleepily “I’ll get him and show him who is boss...” Sleep and unpleasant dreams overtook her. 

The next week crawled onward slowly, Rainbow felt it was if the world had something against her going to the tryouts and was trying to make her wait an eternity so when the day of tryouts finally rolled around her enthusiasm was unbound. Much of Ponyville was also grateful as when Rainbow Dash got bored, she got impatient, and when she got impatient, she had a tendency to crash. A lot. But she refused to acknowledge this fact. Standing in line outside the large arena in Cloudsdale, the rainbow maned mare was hopping from hoof to hoof impatiently waiting for her turn. She had already been registered by a bored looking stallion who had written her name down before she had even spoken to him. One could say that Rainbow Dash was a regular attendee. Finally after what seemed like hours, her name was called and she marched out into the arena.

In the middle of the arena stood a pair of the Wonderbolts. Rainbow dash instantly recognised then both; she had met them before at the Grand Galloping Gala. One was Spitfire and the other the Captain of the Wonderbolts, Soarin. Although Spitfire had held the captaincy for the last few years, she had stepped down and Soarin had been chosen as her replacement. As she approached she saw Soarin whisper something into Spitfire’s ear, whatever it was spitfire must of found it funny as she giggled. They stopped when they noticed Rainbow standing in front of them. 
“Hi!” Soarin’ said cheerfully “Are you ready to begin?”
Rainbow snapped a salute and grinned wildly “Yes, sir!”
“Alright! Let’s get started then. First up you have to do a basic fitness test, you pass that you’ll then have to show off some of your moves, if you impress us, you’ll do another fitness test and then lastly some team flying skills. Pass all that and you’ll be shortlisted” Soarin recited. The way he said it sounded like he had been rattling the spiel off for hours. “Now I know we’ve seen you pull off some nice moves in the past, but that means nothing for now. Imagine that we’ve never seen you fly before, understand?”
Rainbow nodded in affirmative. She was ready for anything.
“Cool!” Soarin said with a goofy grin “Spitfire will be taking you through the fitness tests so I’ll hand over to her”

20 Minutes later Rainbow Dash was covered in sweat and puffing hard, she had finished the basic fitness test easily and had impressed the selectors with her moves. She was now doing the advanced fitness test. Although she was a highly trained athlete it was still incredibly difficult. 
“COME ON, GET MOVING! AT THIS RATE THE ONLY THING YOU’LL BE DOING FOR THE WONDERBOLTS IS CHEER SQUAD!” Spitfire barked. Although Rainbow was getting tired, there was no way she would give up. ‘Five... four.... three....  She mentally counted off in her head two... one... Yes! As she finished the last wing up spitfire eased off slightly. 
“Alright that’s enough for the moment, have a break.” 
Rainbow gladly slumped to the ground and let the sweat roll off her. Her wings fluttered slightly in protest at the strenuous work they had been put through. Just one more... she thought. Spitfire walked over to where Soarin was watching and started talking to him, most probably about Dash’s performance.  She really didn’t care what they said, only that they shortlisted her. After a few minutes of heated discussion, Soarin and Spitfire walked over to rainbow. Spitfire was scowling for some unknown reason but Soarin had one of his goofy smiles plastered on his face again. Rainbow wondered to herself whether he ever frowned. 
“Alright! You ready to do some more flying?” Soarin asked
“Yes sir! I’m always ready to fly! I’m not the best flier in Equestria for nothing” remembering who she was talking to, she quickly added “I mean... Besides you guys...”
Soarin chuckled lightly but Spitfire’s scowl just deepened.
“Let’s roll then!” Soarin said, oblivious to his companion’s displeasure. He spread his wings and took off and flew into the arena’s airspace. Spitfire shot another glare at Rainbow before joining him. Rooted to the ground in confusion, Rainbow tried to figure out what had earned the displeasure of the fiery maned Wonderbolt. Shrugging, she decided she’d figure it out later. She flapped her wings a few times and joined her two Idols.

“Ok, we’re going to go through some of the basic moves we go through in our shows, all we do this for is to see how well you work flying in a group. It’s much different to solo flying. Make sure you follow what we say or do.” Soarin explained. “We also have a bunch of basic signals we make to signal certain moves but I’m sure you’re well aware of them right?” Soarin asked knowingly. Rainbow looked away sheepishly “Yeah... suppose I do.”
Spitfire sighed in exasperation. “Can we get this over and done with?”
“Right” replied Soarin “Ready? Go!”
He and Spitfire shot off in perfect synchronous with Rainbow following them a moment later. A few flaps and she had caught up with the pair of fliers. She immediately found it difficult keeping track of everything. She had to watch Spitfire for the subtle signals for what move was next, she had make sure she was flying in a tight formation without hitting either of her fellows and she had to maintain her speed and altitude. It ended up being a lot more difficult than she thought it would be. She was managing fine until suddenly Soarin literally fell out of sky. She and the light blue stallion had just swapped places and he was now flying in front of Rainbow. The reason for his fall had shocked Rainbow. She had seen Spitfire drop back a bit from the lead position and buck Soarin in the face. Why? She had no idea, all that she knew was one of her Idols was falling to an almost certain death. Spitfire looked over her shoulder and looked just as surprised to see Soarin missing. Her surprise grew as Rainbow vanished in a dive and a flurry of rainbow contrails. Did I just hit...! No! That wasn’t supposed to happen...! That wasn’t meant for you! She thought as she watched the two pegasi fall.

Rainbow rocketed after Soarin; she threw every ounce of per being into flying faster. She saw the ground rushing towards them. Almost like my dream, she thought No! I can’t think like that. I have to catch him!  She narrowed her eyes and tried to fly faster. A vapour cone started forming around her. Uh oh! Not good, not good, not good! She thought. I still have to be able to pull out of this! Realising she wouldn’t reach the tumbling Wonderbolt in time if she didn’t go faster, in a blatant disregard for her own safety she powered on. A narrow vapour cone tinged with rainbow light started forming in front of her. Suddenly she broke the sound barrier with a massive boom which shook the air. A massive rainbow explosion billowed out from behind as for the third time in her life, she did a sonic rainboom. She almost immediately caught up to Soarin and grabbed hold of the unconscious stallion. Problem now was that they were only about 20m off the ground. Rainbow desperately tried slowing down, her vision started going dark as the massive g-forces started taking their toll. She fought through the pain and managed to level out their descent. They were now racing less than a meter along the ground. 

Then she ploughed into the ground and all she saw was darkness.