//------------------------------// // Day 6: Air Show // Story: Scoot Camp // by theNDinspector //------------------------------// The sun rose the next day on a compound teeming with work and anticipation. The golden light of Celestia’s morning sun silhouetted the stadium. The ponies that worked at the academy were calm as they went about their duties for the day, particularly ensuring that the stadium erected two days previous had everything it needed for the air performances later that day. The cadets, on the other hoof, were on different levels of nervousness. Some tried not to show their apprehension while others seemed to be in a state of panic. This was it. All of there work from the past several days was about pay off. Whether if it turned out good for them or not was another matter entirely; but for now, they all stood at the point of no return. Whatever happened that day would determine if they were indeed Wonderbolt material. None seemed to understand that concept better than Scootaloo. All of her life, she looked up to Rainbow Dash as the most amazing flyer in the world. Part of it was because her biggest desire after getting her cutie mark was to take to the skies. When that finally happened, her next desire was to join the Wonderbolts, much like Rainbow Dash. While it was very different from being on a scooter and other roller sports—which would always have a special place in her heart—Scootaloo felt the same mixture of excitement and apprehension now like whenever she was in an extreme sports competition. The cool, brisk air filled her nostrils and the adrenaline made her heart beat ever faster. ‘This is going to be an exciting day,’ she thought while making her way from the mess hall to the stadium. Like the day before, every cadet and academy officer filled the stadium. It was a very different type of crowd that would normally fill a stadium for a Wonderbolt event. Instead of a mixed crowd of various ponies who could only imagine what it meant to fly as a Wonderbolt. Nearly everypony there had already gone through this particular exam; the only ones who hadn’t were the new cadets, but that was about to change. Scootaloo and the other new cadets sat on some benches on the field, where they would wait to perform the routines they had developed the previous afternoon. Essentially they were on display. It was no place for a pony with stage fright, especially since what happened here would be immortalized in the documentary that was being filmed. Nearly an hour had passed before Colonel Spitfire walked to the center of the field and the stadium went silent. Lifting up her megaphone, Spitfire addressed the cadets. “All right Newbies, this is it,” Spitfire announced. “Today is the day where you show everypony here just what you learned over this past week. I know that you’ve all worked very hard, especially yesterday. Now it is time to see if your hard work will pay off. “We will call each team up one at a time to perform their routine. You will be judged by myself, and some choice officers, based on your teamwork, synchronization, display and originality. Now this isn’t a competition. You are here solely to display the skills you have learned here and how well you can perform them. You will each have two minutes for your routine. Good luck.” With that, Spitfire flew up to an observation tower where she joined Fleetfoot, Rainbow Dash and some other ponies that Scootaloo didn’t recognize. Major Soarin then came to the field accompanied by Lieutenant What’s-his-name. “Okay cadets,” Soarin said using the megaphone so everypony could hear. “First up is the team led by Hot Shot and Wind Gust.” Silverwings, Hot Shot and two other stallions got up—Scootaloo presumed that one of them was Wind Gust—and went to the starting line. As they got ready, Lieutenant What’s-his-name took out a flare pistol and pointed it in the air. “Ready…Go!” The lieutenant shouted as he pulled the trigger, shooting a green flare into the sky. The stallions took off and every eye was on them. Silverwing and Hot Shot’s team certainly started this even off strong. They did a series of loops, splits and flyby’s that left many in the stadium in awe. Colonel Spitfire kept her expressions hidden and made deliberate marks on her note pad. There was a large countdown display in the field indicating the time left in their display. Once the clock read “0.00” a buzzer went off and Lieutenant What’s-his-name fired a red flare into the sky. Luckily, Hot Shot and Wind Gust had their routine so well timed that they had finished and landed just as time was up. “Excellent,” Soarin commented. “You may take a seat back with your fellow cadets. Next up is Barrel Roll’s and Sunstreak’s team.” “Good luck Lavender,” Blue Yonder said as Lavender got up. She paused and returned Blue Yonder’s smile, although Lavender’s was noticeably weaker. She joined her teammates at the starting line and waited for the signal. Once it was given, they took off and performed in a manner similar to the previous team. While it was not as spectacular, it was still very good in Scootaloo’s opinion. She even noticed that Lavender was performing very well along side the other pegasi in the group. And so it went on for the next hour. One team went up after another. The stallions outnumbered the mares nearly two to one among the new cadets. Performances ranged from spectacular to dreadful. The majority of them, however, were fairly decent at best. Pretty soon every team had performed with the exception of Scootaloo’s. She grew a little edgy as time went on. It also didn’t help that she was still feeling sore from yesterday’s little Dizzitron excursion. Finally, Soarin called them up as the last team to perform. Scootaloo, Blue Yonder, Aurora, and Snapshot all went to the starting line and waited for the signal. “Are you ready for this?” Blue Yonder asked her wingpony. “You know I am,” Scootaloo replied confidently as she did some last-minute stretching of her wings. “Awesome,” Blue Yonder exclaimed as she put her goggles over her eyes. “Ready…Go!” Lieutenant What’s-his-name shouted as he shot the flare gun again. At the signal, the four pegasi took off, each flying as one. Knowing the routine like the back of her hoof and where her fellow flyers were, Scootaloo did the various curves, loops, splits and spirals. As their first minute passed, they got ready for their big finale. They climbed high into the sky. Once they reached their peak, they broke off into pairs in order to do a series of loops while descending back to the ground before they would rejoin and come in for a landing; but something went wrong. As they broke off at the peak, Scootaloo felt her wings lock up. Taken by surprise, Scootaloo watched as she drifted away from her Lead Pony and the rest of her team. She tried to pull up and recover—much like the spin-outs at the Dizzitron—but her wings wouldn’t move. “This is bad!” Scootaloo panicked. Time felt like it slowed down to a crawl, but Scootaloo was horrified to realize that she was increasing in speed. She tried everything she could to slow down and pull up, but it was no use. Her wings weren’t responding and no matter now much she moved her legs, she kept on hurtling towards the ground at an alarming rate. Scootaloo couldn’t stop herself. She barely had time to brace for impact before she crashed head-first into the ground. Everything went black…..