The Winning Failure

by marley

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The afternoon of the first day of the tryouts had the six contenders working with Immelmane, Spitfire and Soarin. They practiced and received critique on their morning exercise. They played follow the leader with each other while the three judges watched them, offering both criticism and praise. At the end of the afternoon they were released for the day.

“Come on Dash,” said Firewing, “lets head back. I'm beat.”

“No, I want to show you something,” said Rainbow Dash. “I promise it'll be worth it.”

Firewing groaned. “Oh alright. This better be good.”

“Follow me!” said Rainbow Dash as she flew off. Rainbow Dash led Firewing towards their personal practice area by the lake as the others returned to the city.

“I want to cool off in the lake,” said Rainbow Dash, “and I'm going to show you that move too.”

“Oh no, not that again,” said Firewing.

“Sure! I'll take it easy though,” said Rainbow Dash, “and just so you know, I'm hitting the water on purpose this time.”

Dash peeled off and started a shallow dive towards the lake. Firewing followed more slowly. As Rainbow Dash neared the lake, Firewing watched in disbelief as Dash did something she had always been taught to avoid. Rainbow Dash did an inverted flat spin. On her second rotation she hit the water and skipped across like a stone.

“Wheeee hahahaha,” laughed Rainbow Dash.

Firewing couldn't help but laugh herself. She glided down and landed in the water by Rainbow Dash in a normal manner.
“Dash that was the silliest thing I've ever seen a pony do,” said Firewing, still laughing.

Rainbow Dash laughed. “I discovered it by accident when I was working on the move. It's a blast. Whew! I needed to cool off.”

“It does feel good,” admitted Firewing. “Hey!”

Rainbow Dash had used her tail to splash water at her. Firewing used her wings to sweep a wave of water back at Dash. After playing a bit they got out of the water and allowed themselves to dry on the edge of the lake.

“Okay, I'll concede that you had some control during those flat spins,” said Firewing. “I don't know how you do it, but you can. Pretty amazing.”

“Told ya,” said Dash with a smirk. “When I'm a little dryer I'll show you the whole thing. I think I'm missing something on the landing. It's kinda boring after the big move.”

“Just show me the landing first,” said Firewing.

Rainbow Dash took off and gained a little altitude. She swooped down and pulled up into a stall, sweeping her wings forward and fully open, she floated gracefully to the ground.

“It's pretty but you're right, it is a little bland,” said Firewing. “Why not add a bow at the end? As you touch down just keep your wings out and bring them forward as you go forward onto one knee. Like this.” She got up and demonstrated.

“Oh yeah! That's what I was looking for,” said Rainbow Dash. “Thanks Firewing..um you weren't going to use that move were you?”

“No, I'm going to do one I only used once before,” said Firewing. “It looks like I'm going too fast but I go into a loop and use it to scrub off the speed and then at the bottom of the loop I hit the ground and just stop. If I can hit it on the last note of my music it's really dramatic.”

“Sounds pretty cool,” said Rainbow Dash with a nod. She took a deep breath. “I'm going to try my ending move now.”

“Over the water right?” said Firewing.

“Oh alright,” said Dash peevishly. “I'll only simulate the landing though. I'm not getting wet again.”

Firewing dipped her tail in the lake and flicked it at Dash.

“Hey!” said Rainbow Dash with a laugh.

“Get going,” said Firewing, “it's almost time for supper.”

Rainbow Dash took off and rapidly gained altitude. She flew level for a while to get into position and did a half Immelmane loop. At the apex of the loop she nosed over and dropped straight down to regain her speed, diving towards the lake. Careful to control her speed and stay on course, she started to slowly spin. The spins increased in speed as she neared the lake until she suddenly flipped sideways and went into the inverted flat spin. After three revolutions she flipped up right and did three more in that position. Breaking out of the final spin, she propelled herself forward and upward into a stall. She violently brought her wings forward to lose the last of her speed, displayed her wings in a wide arch and dropped gently towards the water. Just before she touched the water she started flying again and landed by Firewing. She was amazed.

“I quit,” said Firewing.

“Huh?” asked a puzzled Rainbow Dash.

“You pull that off after a clean performance,” said Firewing, “and you have this in the bag.”

“Thanks, but the individual routine is only part of this competition,” pointed out Dash. “I've gotten better at my maneuvers but I can't touch your precision...or Windy's.”

Firewing was silent.

“What's wrong?” asked Rainbow Dash, sensing a change in her friends mood.

“Who is better?” asked Firewing. “Between Windy and me, I mean. And be honest.”

“You're both really good but I like watching you fly more than Windy,” said Rainbow Dash. “She is very exact in what she does but you're ...I don't know. You're just as precise but there's more feeling there. You're more graceful.”

“So you think I have a shot?” asked Firewing.

“Sure! Except that I'm going to beat both of you!” said Dash with a laugh.

“Oh yeah,” said Firewing, “I forgot about that.”

They both laugh. “Come on,” said Firewing, “let's go have some supper.”

“Yeah, I'm starting to get hungry,” agreed Rainbow Dash.

As they flew back to Cloudsdale they talked about the remainder of the trials.

“What you need,” said Rainbow Dash, “is a good special trick for your routine. If you just do all those standard moves, no matter how well you do them, you won't be able to win.”

“That's been worrying me,” admitted Firewing.

“I have a few ideas,” said Rainbow Dash. “We can talk about it after supper.”

“Okay, but I'm not doing anything as crazy as you're going to try,” said Firewing.

“Aw you're no fun,” laughed Dash.

“Maybe a little crazy would be okay,” said Firewing with a smile. “Hey! There's that pony in the black flight suit again.”

Fluttershy is airborne this time and is landing near the cafe.

“Must like the food there,” said Rainbow Dash.

Author's Note:

I so want to animate that skipping stone move but I suck. Would be cool though.