“On your left!”
Scootaloo winced as another pair of cadets passed them again. This was starting to become embarrassing. Scootaloo knew she wasn’t the fastest or most agile flyer around, but she was never so bad as to keep being passed multiple times by everypony. Even Blue Yonder found it hard not to pull ahead a little bit.
About five minutes after everypony else had completed their laps, Scootaloo and Blue Yonder skidded to a halt. Scootaloo arched her back and stretched out her wings to try and fight off the burning sensation of strenuous exercise. After her breathing normalized and had taken a large drink of water, Major Soarin came up to the group again.
“Alright everypony, get into position to start practicing some signature Wonderbolt manuevers.” He then stopped in front of Scootaloo. “Since you’ve been absent, you can sit this one out and watch.”
“I can do it!” Scootaloo shouted without thinking who she was talking to. Once she did, she gave an awkward salute. “Um…sorry sir, but I don’t want to sit out.”
“Are you sure?” Soarin asked. “You haven’t flown with these ponies for a month.”
“I can do it sir!” Scootaloo put her hoof down to emphasize her point. “I’ve practiced a lot of moves with Rainbow Dash.”
Soarin still seemed skeptical, but finally relented. “All right, but you’re going to have to follow your lead pony very closely.”
“Yes sir.”
With that, all the cadets gathered up into their respective pairs and got ready to take off. Their first move was called the Weeping Willow—where they flew straight up and then arched downwards in a sweeping motion. Scootaloo noticed that they weren’t going fast enough to leave the smoky trails that were common with Wonderbolt shows, but they were still going a bit faster than she could keep up.
The first manuever wasn’t too hard, but the rest got progressively harder and more complex. Scootaloo found herself veering wide in the turns. Even though she knew many of these moves thanks to her training with Rainbow Dash as a filly, her fellow cadets were more proficient and well-practiced. More than once, Scootaloo found herself narrowly avoiding collisions.
“Watch it, eh!”
Scootaloo turned just in time to prevent herself from flying into an aqua-green mare with a curly pink and blue mane. Scootaloo’s heart pumped at an alarming rate after yet another close call. It took all of her will power just to keep up with Blue Yonder as best as she could.
“All right Cadets, that’s enough,” Soarin called out. “After lunch, you will report to the obstacle course for further training. Blue Yonder. Scootaloo. I’d like a moment with you two. The rest of you are dismissed.”
Scootaloo stood still next to Blue Yonder as the other cadets left the field. She took notice of her right foreleg lifting off of the ground again, so she put it back down into the grass. She could also feel cold sweat trickle down the back of her neck and her throat go dry. Once everypony else was gone, Soarin came up to them.
“I’ve noticed that you seem to be having a bit of trouble—”
“Listen,” Scootaloo interrupted. “I know that I’m out of practice and slow, but I swear I can fly and—”
Soarin held up his hoof to stop her. “I don’t doubt that you can fly cadet, but like you said, you’re out of practice. That’s why I want you two to work on your own after lunch instead of with the other cadets.” He turned to Blue Yonder. “I want you to help Miss Scootaloo get up to speed as much as you can on the maneuvers that you’ve been taught. You’ll have the entire afternoon. Think you can handle that?”
“Yes sir,” Blue Yonder said, snapping into a salute.
“Good, I expect that you should be fine on your own. Dismissed.”
He returned the salute and the two mares walked quietly away towards the mess hall.
***
Amidst the hustle and bustle of getting their food, Scootaloo and Blue Yonder found a spot at a table where most of the other cadets in their class were sitting. They were all listening intently to something that the aqua-green mare was saying.
“So we finally found the poor stallion half-buried in the snow—thankfully he managed to keep his lantern lit. He was quit a sight after we dug him out. He was covered in ice and his hooves had turned purple and were swollen. One of them was about to fall off too, and the puss was frozen over.” Most of the other cadets started gagging, but the mare continued. “We took him all the way back to Vanhoover for medical treatment. Unfortunately they had to amputate a couple of his legs. He has to go around in a wheelchair now, but at least we found him in time before he froze to death.”
A grey stallion with silver tinted wings spoke up after fighting back some dry heaves. “Aurora, you really shouldn’t talk about such things while we’re eating!”
“You’re the one who asked me what I did for a living before coming here,” Aurora responded while holding her hooves up in the air.
“Yeah, but I didn’t want to hear such graphic details,” Silverwings complained.
“Well sorry, but that kind of stuff often happens in search and rescue missions near the Frozen North.”
Silverwings gagged once again and turned away from Aurora. It was then that he noticed the two other mares that had joined them at the table. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he changed the subject of conversation.
“Well, if it isn’t our favorite surviving miracle,” he said, cozying up towards Scootaloo. “How was your vacation?”
Scootaloo held out her hoof to prevent the stallion from sliding any closer. “Boring mostly. I had to lay down around the house a lot, and go through physical therapy.”
“Yeah,” Aurora said. “We were beginning to wonder if you’d come back at all. That was a pretty nasty fall you took, eh?”
“So I’ve been told,” Scootaloo replied nonchalantly as she picked at her food. “But I’m back now.”
“And we couldn’t be happier,” Silverwings said. “Even if we were a bit shocked earlier. I guess this means we won’t be flying together anymore, huh Blue?”
Blue Yonder shrugged, “I guess not.”
“About time, too.” Every pony turned their heads towards the other end of the table to where a golden-yellow stallion with a red mane was sitting. “You’ve been doing nothing but hold us back anyway.”
Silverwings rolled his eyes. “Oh, Hot Shot—”
Blue Yonder slammed her hoof against the table. “WHAT?!”
Everypony’s eyes darted between looking at the icy glare of Blue Yonder and the smug face of Hot Shot. Nopony said anything as they could feel the tension build at the table. Any moment now, something was going to snap.
“I’m just saying, you really haven’t been pulling your weight around here,” Hot Shot said. “You’ve been spending all your time complaining or in the kitchens to mope. Some lead pony you are.”
“Okay, that’s it!” Blue Yonder got up from the table and grabbed Scootaloo’s tail. “Come on Scootaloo, we got work to do.”
“But we haven’t finished lunch yet,” Scootaloo stated while pulling her tail out of Blue Yonder’s grip.
“We don’t have time for that,” Blue Yonder said as she stomped through the doors. “We have too much we need to catch up on.”
Scootaloo sighed followed her partner out the door.
***
“Okay Blue, what is your deal?” Scootaloo asked once she caught up with her lead pony at one of the training fields.
“Nothing,” Blue Yonder hissed. “I’ve just realized that we need all the work time we can get.”
“And it has nothing to do with those idiotic statements that Hot Shot made?”
At this, Blue Yonder snapped, “Just get in the air and follow my lead!”
Scootaloo frowned, but spread out her wings. “Fine.”
They took off, and Scootaloo followed closely behind Blue Yonder as they turned in every which way imaginable, did some loops, circled and other various flight exercises. All the while, she could hear Blue Yonder mutter something under her breath.
After a solid hour, they stopped flying around and Blue Yonder instructed Scootaloo about the various maneuvers and tricks that the cadets had been working on for the past month. Then she continued to drill them over an over again.
“No!” Blue Yonder yelled. “You’re banking too much in that last turn. You need to keep your wings arched up.”
“I’m trying!” Scootaloo snapped back, breathing heavily after yet another run-through.
“Let’s do it again.”
Scootaloo felt her sides and wings ache from all this exertion, but took off again anyways. ‘No pain, no gain, right?’
They continued to drill for hours, but nopony came up to them as they were too busy working elsewhere. Scootaloo could feel her wings burning as she kept flying, but continued to work. They weren’t taking any breaks other than for a sip of water every now and then. Soon, though, it was getting to be too much for her. Scootaloo shook her head as her vision grew blurry. She tried to land, but collapsed in a heap on the ground, clutching her barrel. Her lungs flared in pain every time she tried to take in air.
Blue Yonder landed beside her. “Come on, get up.”
Scootaloo tried to put her hooves underneath her and push herself off the ground, but fell back down immediately. “I c-can’t!”
“Yes you can!” Blue Yonder shouted. “Come on, we’ve got more work to do!”
Scootaloo continued to clutch her chest. “What are you trying to do, kill me?”
Blue Yonder was silent for a moment. Scootaloo looked up and saw the glare on her face turn into a wide-eyed look of shock and then panic.
“Oh Sweet Celestia, what have I done?” Scootaloo felt herself being lifted off the ground and leaned against Blue Yonder’s side. “I need to get you to the infirmary.”
With that, Blue Yonder trotted off back towards the main compound—Scootaloo still clutching her sides in pain.