The whole school day was like torture. The whole entire time, Scootaloo and Rumble were full of excitement, along with a bit of fear. At one point in the day, Scootaloo was even shaking from excitement. But once the day had finally trudged away, the two raced out of the building, immediately making a b-line for their usual spot to practice.
"Are you nervous as I am?" Rumble asked as he stretched out his limbs.
"Definitely, why wouldn't I be?" Scootaloo replied.
"Yeah, I just hope that they'll think we're good enough, you know?" Rumble said. He turned to Scootaloo as she flipped her mane out of the way, before continuing to stretch her forelegs.
"Me too. Rainbow Dash knows how much I've improved with my flying over the years, but I just hope that she'll consider it Wonderbolt material." Scootaloo said with a worried tone.
"I'm sure you'll get recommended. I don't know so much about myself though." Rumble said.
"You'll be fine. We didn't teach each other old tricks for nothing did we?" Scootaloo reminded him.
"I guess that you're right." Rumble sighed. Just then, they looked ahead to see the very pair critiquing them. Rainbow Dash smiled casually while Soarin' waved at the two.
Scootaloo looked to Rumble and broke into a sweat, her stomach felt like it was full of butterflies. The two exchanged a nervous glance before stepping up and trotting to the pair.
"Glad that you two came." Rumble said.
"Of course, anything for a future colleague. " Soarin' said.
"Okay, who's up first?" Rainbow Dash asked. Rumble and Scootaloo both exchanged a nervous glance before Scootaloo looked back, putting on a determined look.
"I guess that I'll go up first." she said.
"Okay, you don't have to be nervous about this. Just do it as though I'm not here. If you want to perform in front of thousands, you shouldn't make worry about us watching." she assured her. Scootaloo smiled at her and took in a deep breath.
The other three stepped back as Scootaloo crouched down, readying herself for a routine she thought of doing. She closed her eyes, drew in a quick deep breath once more, and upon releasing it, she took off.
The grass was left overturned as she took of for the sky, towering to ridiculous heights as she took to making dizzying turns, making it seem like the whole world flipped. She arched in the air before making a giant loop towards an array of the clouds. She made quick and sharp turns, just close enough to nearly clip her wings. A purple trail following her from behind. Rumble cheered her name as she set off to a forest of trees.
She passed over the heads of the three spectating, blowing their manes back as the two visitors nodded as if they were impressed. They followed her through the trees as she dodged falling branches and tree trunks. Once she finally emerged, she decided to finish off her performance by climbing the sky again, going at full speed, she flew upwards in the sky, before dropping down with her wings closed. Her eyes shut from the pressure, and once she felt she fell long enough, she opened up her wings, tilting up just a bit too early to be considered impressive.
She came right towards the judges before coming to a skidding stop not three yards from where she started. She managed to pass the trio as she made her landing, and looked back with frantic breathing as she walked back up to everyone else.
Rainbow Dash smiled proudly at Scootaloo. "You did good Squirt. You could use a bit more practice, but I'll definitely be telling everybody else." Scootaloo smiled brightly as her eyes seemed to twinkle. Her wings started to flutter in excitement as she resisted the urge to not hop around all over the place.
"Okay, you're next Rumble." Soarin' said.
"You can do this." Scootaloo assured him. Rumble smiled nervously at her before taking to lifting himself into the air. He landed atop a cloud before taking a deep breath.
'Okay, you can do this Rumble,' he assured himself. He exhaled and jumped off the cloud, holding his hooves straight out as he began spinning towards the ground. His wings were clamped shut until he wasn't three inches from the ground. He opened his wings, catching himself as he shoot across the ground, overturning the grass as Scootaloo had, a dark gray trail following him. He raced past the three, blowing their manes past their heads.
"Go Rumble!!" Scootaloo cheered. Rumble smiled and continued moving, doing flips so risky his wings barely missed the tips of the grass. He flew over the water of a nearby pond and skimmed it, making waves appear as he shot up toward the sky, flinging bits of water all over. He moved up to the clouds and spun around them, though not close enough to wow Soarin' very much. He then shot through them, leaving holes the size of himself in clean cuts as he raced through them. He made a quick turn and circled them all into one gigantic large cloud, which he dropped down on with enough force to make thunder.
He jumped off again, looping under it and crushed it into oblivion. For the end, he dropped down again, moving at bone breaking speeds and going up with bone crushing pressure. He dropped down right for the judges, before stopping an inch in front of them. The wind catching up a few seconds later as it blew their manes back again.
Rumble breathed deeply, Scootaloo walking up to him and claiming that he was amazing. Soarin' looked down. "Well?" Rumble asked, expecting an answer from the stallion.
"You were amazing," Soarin' said, the tone in his voice made Rumble think otherwise.
"But...?" he asked, still huffing as Scootaloo and Rumble turned serious.
"I don't think it's Wonderbolt's material yet, sorry. You're an excellent flier, one of the best I've seen you're age. But I've seen other ponies do it better. Other ponies who are trying out as well. I'm not saying no, but I think you should do a bit more practice if you want to get in."
"But," Scootaloo started, Rumble stopped her by putting a hoof on her shoulder. She looked back to him in disbelief.
"I'll come see you again if you ask, if you think you're ready for it. Then, if you can wow me as much as Scootaloo, then I'll recommend you. But for now, you should continue practicing."
"Okay then, I'll do it." Rumble said.
"Good. I'll see you around kid." Soarin' turned around and left, Rainbow Dash smiling at the two.
"Chin up dude, you've still got a chance." she looked to Scootaloo. "And you were great, I'll be keeping in touch with the both of you, see you later." she took off behind Soarin', catching up quickly.
Scootaloo looked to Rumble, who said nothing as he looked down.
"Congrats Scootaloo." he said, looking to her.
"Rumble, I don't want-"
"Don't."
"What?"
"Don't start making any offers to not let Rainbow Dash recommend you. I don't want you to do that."
"But Rumble, what about you? Isn't this your dream too?"
"You don't have to be recommended by a Wonderbolt do you?"
"Well, no, but it's a guaranteed way to get you in." Scootaloo hesitated.
"It's up to Soarin', if he doesn't think I'm fit for the role, then I'm not-yet." Rumble said. He started trudging away.
"Wait, where are you going?" Scootaloo asked, following behind him.
"Home. I've had enough practice for one day. I'll see you tomorrow Scootaloo."
"But don't you want to talk about this?"
"Not right now." Rumble mumbled. Scootaloo stopped dead in her tracks, watching Rumble walk away for a few moments before looking down. She eventually took off into the sky and headed for home.
Rumble sat in bed. He felt crushed. He felt like staring at the roof forever, like he failed. 'Oh let's face it, I'll probably never get in. If I couldn't do it the first time, I doubt that I'll be able to do it the next.' he sighed and set his forearm over his eyes. 'I should just give up on being a Wonderbolt.' he felt moisture come to his eyes and quickly wiped it away, before turning to his side. Eventually, he fell asleep.
"Rumble," he cracked open his eyes, finding a blurry figure. He sighed and shut them again.
"Rumble," he heard again. He felt something shaking him and started to recognize the voice.
"Rumble!" Scootaloo said. Rumble opened his eyes to see the blob come into focus. He found a big grin and purple eyes staring directly at him.
"Gah!" he shouted, flaring his wings up as he jumped out of bed. He landed back on a mess of sheets, Scootaloo laughing her flank off. "Scootaloo?" Rumble asked, rubbing his tired eyes. He looked up again. "Is this a dream?"
"Nope. It's 100% real. Get up lazy bones." Scootaloo said. Rumble stole a glance to his clock.
"It's like five in the morning." Rumble protested.
"And?" Scootaloo asked.
"Wait, why are you in my room?"
"To wake you up for practice." Scootaloo said, leaning her bodyweight on her hooves. She swung her legs off the edge of the bed. Rumble couldn't understand how she could be so awake.
"Practice?" he asked.
"Yes, practice. You want to get into the Wonderbolt's don't you?"
"Yeah, but-"
"Then get up. Come on, we don't have all morning." Scootaloo said. Rumble groggily got out of bed. A thought came to mind.
"Wait, do my parents know you're here?"
"Of course they do, they let me in here." Scootaloo said.
Rumble sighed. "Okay, I'm up."
"About time. I had originally planned to wake you up five minutes ago. But you wouldn't wake up. I guess that we're going to have to minimalize stretching."
"Stretching?"
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Yes. Stretching. When are you going to get the point?"
"In another three hours, when I usually wake up." Rumble complained.
"I had a feeling you'd say that." Scootaloo reached over the side of the bed and grabbed something. Rumble wasn't able to make out what it was until he felt something cold and wet splash in in the face.
"Gah!" he cried out. His teeth started chattering as he lost all of his fatigue. "W-what w-was t-th-that....?" he asked, nearly furious.
"Cold water. A classic in keeping a pony up." Scootaloo said. "Now that you're actually fully awake, we can get started. Since you wasted seven minutes, you're getting seventy wing-ups."
"What?" Rumble asked.
"You heard me. Now drop." Scootaloo demanded. Rumble mumbled something unintelligible and did as told.
"What was that?" Scootaloo asked.
"Nothing." Rumble said quickly.
"Good." Scootaloo got in front of him and started going in time with him. Quietly counting out loud every time they went up. After another three hours of wing-ups, push ups, sit ups, stretching, more wing-ups, and going outside to do a few more laps, Rumble was completely beat while Scootaloo stayed energetic as ever.
"...How...the hay...are you...so energetic?" Rumble huffed.
She shrugged and smiled teasingly. Once the two were done, and returned home to shower, Rumble thought that he'd be able to get a few minutes of rest before having to go to school. After a good shower, he flattened himself on his bed. Too tired to move.
And then his alarm rang.
"Ugh." Rumble sighed.