My idiot

by Marshall_Evergreen

The real deal

Once the group had completed their somewhat tedious laps, Rumble and the other cadets came in to land, back on the drill ground.

Rumble had been bored-silly doing those pathetic laps around the clouds. Hadn't Spitfire said that this wasn't kiddy-camp? So he'd made it more interesting. He'd raced down the course, lapping all the other cadets. He'd even managed to have a run-in with Soarin, who'd spun out and raced after him in friendly competition. Just showing him who's boss, Rumble supposed.

But now it was time for the real deal. He had to show them he wasn't here to mess around. He was here to win.

They had all lined up on the drill ground, more orderly this time and ready to see some action.

In front of them stood-

"The Dizzitron." Rainbow Dash addressed the group, nodding her head toward the giant machine. "Me an' Dizzy here are already pretty familiar and all of you are about real close to him too."

"The Dizzitron is built to analyse your stability, endurance, recovery time and speed." Soarin continued, "There are a lot of things that can cause even a Wonderbolt to spin out, and it's our job to recover as quickly as possible. This is a hazard that all of you will face at some point in your time as flyers."

"Yeah. Especially if you live in the same town as the danger-prone princess of friendship." Rainbow joked facetiously.

"Anyway," Soarin said, trying to steer the attention back to the task-at-hoof, " The Dizzitron will spin you, then hurl you into the sky. Your job is to recover, regain stability and come in for a smooth landing. Your speed, endurance levels and stability will all be noted and analysed by Ground support."

"Ol' Dizzy is gonna make you very, very dizzy. So if you kids are gonna hurl, point it anywhere but us, please."

Soarin chuckled at Rainbow's antics.

"Okay, let's move out!"

"You..." Rainbow said, addressing a slim, confident, athletic looking pony at the end of the line, "You're up first. Let's see what you can do."

The way that Rainbow Dash spoke made everything sound like a challenge. Not mocking, but still brash and competitive.

Rumble made it a personal issue to ensure that he lived up to that challenge.

After a few ponies had gone with varying results, it was Rumble's turn.

"Alright Cadet," Soarin said, nodding at Rumble, "you're up."

Rumble exhaled and started forward, determined to beat this test.

Not just beat. Utterly destroy it.

"Let's Rumble." He whispered to himself, peeping himself, trying to settle the butterflies in his stomach.

"Hey, don't I know you?" asked Rainbow, "Wait. You're the hot-shot from the track, huh? Soarin, bump it up to max."

'Great', thought Scootaloo, 'give the jerk another opportunity to show-off.'

Rumble just smirked and lowered his goggles over his eyes.

He had no problem with having more bragging rights.

Rumble flew up and strapped himself in. After a nod from Soarin, the machine came to life, buzzing and humming. Rumble could feel the deep vibrations run through his spine as the machine started up. Then it started to, picking up speed with every revolution. The vibrations became more violent, first hitting, now pounding into his spine. His cheeks were flapping around in the extreme force and his eyes were watering, but he kept his teeth gritted.

After that, he lost all sense of direction.

All he knew was that he was spinning.

He felt dizzy and sick.

Where was up?

Where was down?

When will it stop?

Celestia, they were trying to kill him!

Then, without warning, he span out. Way out into the sky!

Crap. Something had broken. Something wasn't right.

He felt the buckle holding him in place pop, as he was wrenched by the rotary forces and flung away.

No, everything was okay. The machine had hurled him out, as it was supposed to.

He was like a rocket going sky-high.

But he felt horrible.

He felt like his innards had been wrenched out, mashed up and flipped upside down.

But now wasn't the time.

Now, he had to use the momentum gained by the Dizzitron to fly back with as much speed as possible.

He stretched his wings out vertically, facing in opposite directions, thus allowing him to make a tight, needle-point turn. Then, with one powerful beat of his wings, he shot forward, hurtling toward the runway. In a hope to become more aerodynamic, he folded both his wings tightly against his body, lowered his head and tucked in his legs.

The runway seemed to rush up towards him.

But something was wrong. Something felt off.

Was the runway...slanted?

The horror of what had happened hit Rumble like a speeding train.

In the confusion, he had flown a couple degrees west of the mark. Now, with only seconds to go, he had to swerve back in line and land smoothly. The one thing that Rumble had always struggled with.

Quickly, turn! That's better.

But he didn't have enough time to concentrate and focus his energy on the landing. He was still going fast and if he didn't land this right, he'd end up breaking vital bones. In short, he'd be spending the next few weeks in hospital. So in a desperate last-minute attempt to land, he stretched out his legs and flared out his wings, hoping to slow himself before an inevitably rough impact.

And it came.

His hooves were wrenched back from behind him and he start running forward, hi legs flailing, trying to keep from tripping.

'STOP RUNNING!'

Rumble threw all his weight backwards and locked his legs in front of him, bringing him screeching to a halt with dust clouds being kicked up all around him.

Rumble stood low with his head bent forward. Hyperventilating, trying to calm himself down; he was experiencing the massive high that came with the speed of a free-fall. He shaking, either with fear or excitement he couldn't tell, he just stood there.

There was silence and Rumble was dreading the response of his fellow Cadets, and worse still, the leaders.

He could feel his heart pounding in the back of his throat. The landing had been sloppy, he knew that much, but he was fast right.

Then, there was a clapping. Then more. And more!

The cadets were cheering and clapping. Even Soarin and Rainbow Ash smiled and congratulated him.

"Well done, Rumble." Soarin said with a friendly smile, "Your landing was sloppy, but you've got a lot of potential."

"Awesome!" Rainbow cried, "The speed. WOW! Honestly, it could have been 20% better, but you are a good addition to this team."

"As are all of you." Soarin said encouragingly, "You've all shown great potential."

Rumble couldn't help but shine with pride. He'd done it.

He'd proven he was a winner. The real deal.

Rumble smirked and strutted back to his place proudly, with his head raised and chest puffed out. He looked like a champion. Better still, he felt like one.

"Alright Scoots, you're up!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "Show them what'cha got."

'Like that's gonna be worth watching.' Rumble thought, too proud and caught-in-the-moment to consider otherwise.

Scootaloo nodded and smiled, pulling her goggles over her determined eyes.

They passed each other while walking to their stations.

Rumble looked at her.

She was...

Cute.

Scootaloo took no notice of Rumble whatsoever. She'd already decided not to give this showboat the satisfaction of her attention. She'd already decided he was a jerk and not worth the time.

But something caught her attention.

It had only been there for a moment; a few fleeting milliseconds, but she had definitely seen it!

A wink.

And a clicking sound?

Why the...

Did this colt really think that she'd start fawning over him because he'd flown fast?

The very nerve!

He'd shown no skill, only reckless speed.

She stopped and whirled around, just in time to see the colt peering over his shoulder, a cocky smirk on his face.

His eyes...

He was challenging her!

That was it.

The final straw.

No matter what happened here, one thing was for sure.

She was gonna wipe that smug smile clean off that dummy's face!

No pony, especially a smug, over-confident, bratty colt, was gonna flirt and get away with it!

Scootaloo turned back, glaring back over her shoulder, fighting back the heat rising in her cheeks.

Was she... b-b-blushing?

OH PONY FEATHERS, NO!

That was the final, final straw!

This meant war.

Total, all-out WAR!

Author's Note:

And so it begins...

Sorry for the late update. I've a bit to do at college and work is really heaping up before the holidays.
Hope you enjoy this chapter all the same!

Yours truly,

Marshall.

Comments

[Skye Mist]

So it begins indeed!

[Sugarcookie29]

THIS JUST GOT REAL
AND SCOOTS ITS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME

[Empress]

TROLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL....LOL!!

[superfun]

Something wasn't write

Right, not write.

Otherwise, this is definitely getting interesting.