The Winning Failure

by marley

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Rainbow Dash landed in Cloudsdale in the afternoon just outside the Wonderbolt's compound. The gate was ajar and a male pegasus stood guard.

“Hello, here for the tryouts?” asked the pegasus.

“Yep, name's Rainbow Dash.” She presented her invitation.

The pegasus checked a paper on the wall. “You're on the list. Come on in.” She entered the gate and the pegasus directed her to a nearby building.

Inside, Spitfire and a gray pegasus with a scar on the right side of his face and a leather brace on his left wing stood behind a counter. Rainbow Dash was appalled when she recognized the gray pegasus.

“Rainbow Dash! Good to see you again,” said Spitfire. “This is Mr. Immelmane, our choreographer, he'll be helping Soarin and I decide who makes the team.”

“We've met,” said Immelmane in a cold voice.

“H..hello Mr. Immelmane,” stammered Rainbow Dash. “I wasn't expecting to see you here.”

“You two know each other?” asked Spitfire.

Immelmane answered. “I was her instructor when she was just a little filly. One of the biggest troublemakers in the school as I recall.”

Rainbow Dash smiled nervously. “I guess I was.”

“And now here you are, all grown up,” continued Immelmane. “Considering the way you fly, that is quite an accomplishment.”

Spitfire laughed, “I hope you won't hold the past against her.”

“Of course not,” said Immelmane. “The team comes first. If she is the best, then she'll certainly get my vote. I was at the Young Fliers Competition when you did the Sonic Rainboom and was most impressed. Very dangerous, but I'm glad you did it.”

“Me too!” agreed Spitfire.

“Besides,” said Immelmane, “many of the best fliers are a little crazy.” He looked at Spitfire.

“Me? I'm not crazy flier,” protested Spitfire.

“Not now,” said Immelmane, “but I seem to remember you once crashed through the window of my classroom while racing in a restricted area.”

“Don't bring that up, please,” said Spitfire. “It makes me ache just thinking about it.”

“Alright, enough about old times,” said Immelmane. “I'll be fair with you Rainbow Dash, just make sure you keep that reckless streak of yours in check. This isn't the place for it.”

“Sure thing Mr. Immelmane,” said Rainbow Dash earnestly, “I know better than to cross you.”

“Come on,” said Spitfire, “I'll show you to your room.”

* * *
They went up a gentle ramp and down a hallway.

“I hope you don't mind sharing a room,” said Spitfire. “We made room assignments at random and you ended up with a roommate.”

“Nope, I don't mind,” said Rainbow Dash, “as long as she's cool.”

“Here we are,” said Spitfire. She opened the door and they entered. A chestnut pony with a red mane and tail stood there, unpacking her things. She had a flaming wing for a cutie mark.

“Rainbow Dash, meet Firewing,” said Spitfire, “Firewing, Rainbow Dash.”

“Pleased to meet you,” said Firewing.

“Hi, nice to meet you, Firewing,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Well, I'll leave you two to get acquainted,” said Spitfire. “I hope you will be friends even though you're also competitors. It takes more to make the team than just good flying.”

“I'm sure we will,” said Firewing.

“It'll be nice to room with another Pegasus for a change,” said Rainbow Dash.

Spitfire stopped at the door. “One more thing, Rainbow Dash, what did you do that Immelmane remembered?”

Rainbow Dash was very embarrassed. “It's hard to tell. I was always doing tricks and stuff that I shouldn't. If it was one thing though, I guess it was the cafeteria incident.”

“What happened?” asked Spitfire.

“I flew through it,” said Rainbow Dash with a smile.

Spitfire laughed. “That doesn't sound too bad.”

“No, I mean I flew through it,” explained Dash. “Through one wall and out the other.”

Firewing laughed. “Oh no, I wish I could have seen that.”

“It wouldn't have been so bad except that there was a faculty and parents dinner going on at the time,” continued Rainbow Dash.

“And I thought I was bad! What did Immelmane do?” asked Spitfire.

“He wanted to ground me for a year,” said Rainbow Dash dryly.

“I can't imagine not flying for a year!” said Firewing. She had never been in trouble like that.

“Me neither,” said Rainbow Dash. “I didn't have to find out, fortunately. The principal made me spend the next three months teaching beginners safety courses instead.”

“That's why you looked like you'd seen a ghost when you came in,” said Spitfire with a smile. “Don't worry. Immelmane is fair and he always thinks of the team.”

“Thanks Spitfire,” said Rainbow Dash, somewhat relieved. “It's good to see you again.”

Spitfire left and Rainbow Dash stood lost in thought. It was Firewing that broke the silence. “Sooo here we are. I hear you're fast. Do you do anything else?”

Rainbow Dash's revery was broken. “Oh, sure, I practice all the time. I know all the Wonderbolt's moves. Of course I work on new tricks of my own too. What about you?”

“My dad taught me all I know about stunt flying,” said Firewing. “He was a Wonderbolt when he was young. After I was born, mom made him get a safer job. He's an instructor in Manehatten now. That's where I grew up. I can do all the Wonderbolt's routines too. I'm might not be as fast as you but I'm very precise. Dad made sure of that.”

“I need to work on the precision part, on my technique,” said Rainbow Dash. “I fly on the edge a lot.”

“Take a look at this,” said Firewing. She pointed to a notice posted on the wall.

“What is it?” asked Rainbow Dash.

Firewing read the paper. “The schedule of events. All we have tomorrow is an orientation and a lunch. Then on Monday morning the tryouts start. First thing is follow the leader.”

“Piece of cake,” snorted Rainbow Dash. “I haven't done that in years though. Beginners stuff.”

“Yeah, except Spitfire's the leader,” said Firewing with a smile.

“Oh, might be a little tougher than I thought,” said Rainbow Dash. “Then what?”

Firewing frowned. “The rest of the day is for critique and practice for those remaining.”

“For those remaining?” gasped Rainbow Dash. “They're going to start cutting ponies on the first day!?”

Firewing continued, “Day two, is learning a standard Wonderbolt's routine. Day three is demonstrating that routine. Day four, for those that remain, is independent routine workshop and practice. Day five is independent routine demonstration.”

“Sounds like Monday and Wednesday are the days they weed out the non-contenders and Friday they make their decision,” said Rainbow Dash.

Firewing nodded. “Yeah, it says the decision will be told to the remaining ponies Friday and on Saturday we have a dinner and dance in the winners honor.”

“It will be a busy week,” said Rainbow Dash. “At least I won't have time to miss my friends.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” said Firewing. She sounded glum but almost immediately she brightened. “Hey, we have the week to hang out with the best fliers in Equestria, right?”

“You said it!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash. She decided that she liked this new mare. “I hope I make it to the independent routine. I've been working on a special move for the ending.”

“What is it?” asked Firewing.

“If I tell you,” said Rainbow Dash in a low voice, “will you promise not to use it or tell anypony?”

“I promise,” said Firewing eagerly, “on my honor.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Okay, I go into a dive and then start to spin. Then I throw my weight sideways and go into an inverted flat spin for three rotations, flip over and do three more rotations in a flat spin. Then I pull out into a stall and land.”

Firewing stared at her roommate. “You're going to do flat spins? As part of a landing? That's just.... Ooh ha ha ha, you had me going there Dash, it's okay, you don't have to tell me your secret move if you don't want to.”

“No, really, that's the move! It'll be spectacular!” Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and smiled.

“You...you're serious aren't you?” said Firewing in disbelief. “That's insane! Look, I want to win this more than anything but I don't want to do it over your dead body! No pony does flat spins on purpose!”

“Shush!” said Dash, “I don't want anypony hearing this.”

“I don't think you have to worry about anypony stealing that move,” replied Firewing.

“I can do it. The flat spin part anyway. The real trick is doing it close enough to the ground so you don't drop out of the stall too high up and mess up the landing.”

“How high up are you when you kick out of the flat spin?” asked Firewing.

“Oh, about twenty hooves,” answered Rainbow Dash confidently, “then my momentum carries me up to about forty hooves, I flare my wings and just float down.”

Firewing sat down abruptly with her mouth open. “Rainbow Dash, you're either the greatest flier ever or you're totally crazy and you're going to be totally crazy and dead!”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “It's cool. I'll be alright. You'll see.”

“There's too much that can go wrong,” insisted Firewing. “If you mess up on the spinning dive, you'll plow into the ground full speed. If you can't pull out of the flat spins, or start them too late, you'll just keep going down and pinwheel into the ground. You might survive that but you 'd be badly injured.”

“I guess I'd better not mess up then,” laughed Rainbow Dash. “I'll show you how it's done. I'm pretty sure I can pull it off.”

“I'll be sure they put that on your tombstone,” replied Firewing sarcastically. “Yeah, 'She was pretty sure', that sounds good.”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “Relax, I told you I've been working on it. It even looked good a couple of times.”

“You've done it already?” gasped Firewing.

“A few times,” said Rainbow Dash. “but I mostly practice it either at altitude or over a lake. I'm not totally nuts. Just wait until you see me try it before you say I can't. Hey, how about a little help getting my bags off.”

“Alright, I won't tell anypony but I'm still going to try to talk you out of it,” said Firewing. “Here, let me get this strap loose.”

Firewing helped Rainbow Dash get her bags off and onto the floor.

“Whew!” said Rainbow Dash, “thanks, they were getting heavy.”

“They are heavy,” said Firewing. “What did you bring?”

“I didn't pack that much but I got a few going away presents,” replied Dash. “Apple?”

“Sure!” said Firewing, happily, “I love 'em.”

Firewing ate an apple while Rainbow Dash unpacked. She savored the fruit, “mmm this is good.”

Rainbow Dash knew what she meant. “Fresh picked this morning.” She pulled out a picture of her friends. “It came from Applejack's farm. That's her there, in the hat. That's Pinkie Pie, she sent along some cake and Fluttershy is the pegasus. The purple one in the middle is Twilight Sparkle, she's a special pupil of Princess Celestia. The white one next to Twilight is Rarity. She made me this!” Rainbow Dash pulled out her new flight suit.

Firewing was impressed. “Whoa! Nice suit.”

“Yeah, I went straight to her when I got the letter for the tryouts,” said Dash. “She whipped this up in a day. I have a dress she made too, for the dinner.”

“Well, let's see it,” said Firewing, eagerly.

Dash got out the dress. It was dark red with white highlights.

“Your friend is very talented,” said Firewing. “She could sell a dress like that in Manehatten.”

“She's good alright,” agreed Rainbow Dash, as she thought about her unicorn friend. “I wish she could get a little more recognition. Most ponies don't know about her, you know, being from a small town like Ponyville.”

Firewing noticed Fluttershy in the picture. “You only have one other pegasus for a friend? I guess you fly a lot together.”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “With Fluttershy? No, not really. Fluttershy is not what you'd call a strong flier. But she is a great friend and she's very kind. I'm in charge of the weather team in Ponyville, those are the pegasi I fly with the most. Most of them are good fliers but none of them can give me a workout so I practice my stunts alone. What about you? You said your dad taught you?”

Firewing swallowed a bite of apple. “When he was home and when we could get away without my mom. She's always so scared I'll get hurt. But dad understands how much I love flying. And Manehatten has a flying club so I learned there; lots of good older fliers. They're obsessed with technique. Not a lot of new tricks, but I perfected all the standard ones. I took sky dancing for seven years too.”

“How did you get your mom to let you come to the tryouts?” asked Rainbow Dash.

Firewing drew herself up. “I'm old enough to decide for myself....besides, I didn't tell her.”

They both laughed and Firewing continued, “I do have the precision and the skills that I think the Wonderbolt's are looking for, but not much else. Only fair speed and no special moves.”

Rainbow Dash found herself admitting her own doubts to this comparative stranger. “I have a lot of speed, maneuverability and endurance. I can do some special tricks no other pony does but my technique does need work and I get out of control sometimes. I think you're the one that has the best shot.”

Firewing lifted her head, “I was thinking the same thing about you.”

They looked at each other quietly for a moment and started to laugh.

“Let's make a deal,” suggested Firewing, “we work together until we're either eliminated or until the last day. Then it's every pony for herself.”

“It's a deal!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash. “We'll make this a two pony contest. May the best pegasus win!”

Author's Note:

Immelmane is named after an early German pilot by the name of Max Immelman. He developed the Immelman loop.

A flat spin is an actual aerobatic maneuver. I used it because it is fairly dangerous (at least in an aircraft) because it can cause a pilot to black out if he stays in it to long. Also, early aircraft were frail and could break up do to the forces involved.