//------------------------------// // Trying Out // Story: My Little Caboose: Blue is Magic! // by DarkWing //------------------------------// Tucker and Soarin landed on a large cloud in an open air space, with a small building sitting atop of the cloud. Soarin motioned his head towards it and the two slowly walked up to the entrance. Soarin knocked on the door. "Late as usual, eh Soarin?" Spitfire chuckled. "You really need to start waking up earlier." "This time it isn't my fault. It seems like we got some new fodder to test." Soarin yelled sarcastically. "What? Who is it?" Spitfire asked curiously before opening the door. Spitfire looked out to see Tucker staring right back at her. She raised her brow and looked at Soarin. "Hey, don't blame me, this is all on you this time." Soarin said with a weak laugh. "What's he doing here?" Came a harsh voice from the inside. "I came here to join the Wonderbolts." Tucker replied smugly. Rainbow Dash appeared from behind Spitfire and glared at Tucker. "Miss me?" Tucker chuckled. "Hardly." Rainbow Dash replied icily. Soarin looked between Tucker and Rainbow Dash, so he leaned closer to Tucker. "What happened?" he asked quietly. "Long story short, mistakes were made." Tucker replied even quieter. "Female troubles?" Soarin asked with a small laugh. "When isn't it?" Tucker said and they both broke into full-hearted laughter. "Why are you here?" Rainbow Dash asked bluntly. "I just figured that since you liked the Wonderbolts so much, you wouldn't be mad at me if I became one." Tucker replied nonchalantly. "Yeah, that isn't going to happen." Rainbow Dash grunted. "So when do I start?" Tucker asked, turning to Spitfire. "Well, we never had two ponies at once and we only have one spot." Spitfire said. "I was here first though so I get it, right?" Rainbow Dash asked, simultaneously excited and nervous. "I think we should test them both to see who will get to join." Soarin coughed. "That sounds good. Let's go out and choose some quick tests for them to do." Spitfire said before walking out. Soarin nodded and quickly followed her out. Rainbow Dash continued glaring at Tucker and he winked at her. "Ladies first." Tucker said happily, moving out of the way to let her through. "Don't think I'm going to go easy on you." Rainbow Dash growled before flying after Spitfire. "Good, I could use a challenge." Tucker laughed, following them. As Tucker made his way over, he saw Spitfire and Soarin were flying around some rings. They seemed to be setting up the courses for him and Rainbow Dash. After a few minutes, Soarin shot down and landed next to the anxious pair of pegasi. "Alright, so the first test we are going to have you do is the ring course. All you need to do is go through all the rings, like the name suggests. But there will be a flag for each of you in every ring that you must grab to prove that you flew through each ring. If you miss a single one before going through the last ring you lose by default." Soarin said quickly. "Any questions?" "Yeah, what are the rules of conduct?" Tucker asked. "Generally we only ever have one of us at any given time going through the tracks, but Spitfire thought it would be better to have you both go at once." Soarin laughed. "So I would say the only rule is to not kill each other." "What is the punishment for breaking the rule?" Rainbow Dash asked deadpan. "Auto-disqualification." Soarin replied seriously. "Darn." Rainbow Dash muttered as she took off to join Spitfire at the starting line. Soarin shared a quick look with Tucker. "Okay just out of curiosity, what did you do to her?" "She may have told me she loved me." Tucker said quietly. "And then?" Soarin pushed. "Let's just say I didn't exactly respond in a well thought out manner." Tucker replied nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "I almost feel bad for you." Soarin said. "Don't," Tucker said, now flying towards Spitfire. "I said almost." Soarin chuckled to himself before following suit. When Tucker landed on the cloud next to Rainbow Dash, Spitfire nodded and flew next to the first ring. "There are twenty four rings that you need to pass through. Are you two ready?" Spitfire asked. Rainbow Dash nodded and leaned forward. She unfurled her wings and quickly glanced at Tucker. Tucker yawned impassively and nodded. "On my mark..." Spitfire started. Tucker leaned forward and mimicked Rainbow Dash's position. "Get set..." Spitfire said with a smile. Tucker shot his hoof out to shake Rainbow Dash's hoof. Rainbow Dash stared at it and promptly grabbed it. "Go!" Spitfire yelled. Rainbow Dash pulled Tucker towards her and kicked him in the jaw. She then turned and started to fly full speed towards the first ring. Tucker quickly gained his footing and set off after her. "What did he do to her?" Spitfire asked. "Rainbow Dash said she loved him, he didn't say it back." Soarin replied quickly. Spitfire looked at Tucker who was rubbing his chin as he flew. "Man, I almost feel bad for him." "That's what I said." Soarin chuckled. Rainbow Dash grabbed the first six flags in a matter of seconds, but the rest of the rings were scattered throughout the sky with no direct path to get through all of them. When Tucker grabbed the first set of flags he didn't hesitate to set off through the others. Rainbow Dash looked down and saw Tucker speeding towards her so she started to speed away. "Listen, can we just talk?" Tucker asked loudly. "We have nothing to talk about." Rainbow Dash snapped, though she hovered for a moment and allowed Tucker to fly up next to her. She proceeded to kick him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. "God dammit." Tucker muttered sourly. He looked down to see Rainbow Dash had already grabbed most of the flags from the rings. Pausing for a brief moment to catch his breath he surged towards the nearest ring and grabbed a flag. When he started towards the next flag a sharp whistling noise was made. "Rainbow Dash gets one point." Spitfire yelled. Tucker flew next to Spitfire and dropped his flags next to her. "Better luck next time." Rainbow Dash smirked. Tucker stared at Rainbow Dash reservedly and turned to Soarin, who was now standing next to Spitfire. "How many little contests are we going to have exactly?" Tucker asked curiously. "I can't give you an exact number, all I will say is that we are just getting started." Soarin said. "Great." Tucker muttered humorlessly.