Soaring Above

by PonyThunder

Chapter Three - The Wonderbolt Academy

On the next morning, Scootaloo woke up extra early to board one of the hot air balloons traveling to the Wonderbolt Academy and watch Rainbow Dash take her final test and become a Wonderbolt. She arrived much earlier than anypony else; she just couldn't sleep thinking about Rainbow Dash. Today, she was going to achieve the dream she'd always had since she was a little filly. I'm just a little filly, she thought to herself. Suddenly, she felt a whole lot smaller than she thought. There was so much ahead of her, so much to look forward to. It was both daunting and exhilarating. She and her friends had received their Cutie Marks a while ago, but they were still learning their place in the wide world of Equestria. Anything was possible for her life, and she had little idea what it might be.

"Hey, Scootaloo!" yelled Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom from afar.

A voice came from inside one of the houses along the road. "Hey, you little fillies, some of us are tryin' to sleep here!"

"Oh, sorry!" squeaked Sweetie Belle.

"You're up awful early, aren't ya, Scoots?" said Apple Bloom as they came up to her and the hot air balloon.

"I couldn't sleep," she replied.

"Me neither!" exclaimed a voice from behind them. Pinkie Pie bounced gleefully down the road towards them, with Applejack and Rarity trailing behind her.

"I repeat, some of us are trying to sleep!" said the voice from inside one of the houses.

"Oh, SORRY!" replied Pinkie Pie loudly, but genuinely.

"Where's Twilight or Fluttershy?" said Scootaloo as they came up.

"Oh, they've flown there, dear." said Rarity.

"Oh, yeah..." said Scootaloo.

More ponies came as well, all presumably to watch the final exam at the Wonderbolt Academy. So many ponies had shown up that the balloon pilot told them they'd have to really squeeze to fit everypony. Rainbow Dash had all these ponies who were showing up to see her finally achieve her dream, thought Scootaloo.

"All aboard!" yelled the balloon pilot.

"SHH!" replied the pony from inside the house for a third time.

The balloon rose slowly off the ground after all the ponies had boarded. Every one of them either a unicorn or earth pony, except Scootaloo. The cool morning air felt cold against her fur as they rose above the rooftops of Ponyville, and she could see the warm orange glow of the sun coming up from below the horizon. Today was going to be a really big day for Rainbow Dash, thought Scootaloo. She couldn't help but smile thinking about it.

---

Rainbow Dash slept soundly in her bed. She hadn't fallen asleep until very late at night from all the excitement about this day. The sun began to rise from below the horizon and cast its rays through the window of her room and into her face. She wrinkled her nose and groaned as she woke up groggily. Eyes blinking, and after a long drawn-out yawn, Rainbow Dash rolled out of bed and looked out the window out to the landscape below.

A sudden thought came to her mind.

"OhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygosh!" she exclaimed worriedly, speeding straight through the door and out into the skies, making a beeline straight for the Wonderbolt Academy. No, this can't be happening she thought, her mind racing. The final exam was supposed to be at dawn. Did Celestia raise the sun too early? What's the deal?, she thought. No, she continued. She had overslept as a result of exhausting herself the day before. She felt like kicking herself for making such a mistake. Her thoughts raced faster, wondering if she would be too late. Or too tired, she thought. She was still trying to wake up; she must have only slept a couple of hours, if that. The wind blew against her tired eyelids as she arrived at the academy.

---

"Where's Rainbow Dash?" said Scootaloo. She was sitting in the stands with everypony else, watching all the future Wonderbolts stretching on the grass below. Spitfire stood confidently with a whistle in her mouth, watching everypony prepare for the exam.

"I'm sure she's here," said Applejack, assuredly. Her eyes looked up to the skies hopefully. "I think..." she added.

"There she is!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, pointing repeatedly up into the sky at Rainbow Dash.

"Are you sure that's Rainbow Dash, dear?" said Rarity. "I don't see her rainbow trail behind her."

"She does seem to be flyin' awfully slow," added Applejack.

---

Rainbow Dash fluttered down slowly to where the others were stretching. Spitfire quickly trotted over to her.

"Tardiness? Not exactly Wonderbolt material."

Rainbow Dash started to yawn but quickly stifled it with a salute. "Apologies, captain!" she proclaimed sturdily, her hoof slipping down a little after.

Spitfire gave her a look. "Your time is not an academy record. Just get stretching."

"Aye, aye," she replied and walked off towards the others to begin her stretches. A few moments later, Spitfire blew her whistle.

"Alright, cadets! It's time for you to show me you're worthy of being a Wonderbolt! This final test is simple, but will push you to your limits, so I hope you've been preparing. It is designed to test both your speed and your agility. You will line up here and all individually fly the course one by one. If you can complete the circuit without missing any of the cloud hoops in a fast enough time, you will officially be a Wonderbolt."

"Yes, Captain!" proclaimed all the ponies.

"Yes, Captain!" said Rainbow Dash, a couple of moments echoing behind the others.

"Rainbow Dash!" yelled Spitfire. "You will be first!"

Rainbow Dash tried her best to wake herself up as quickly as possible, but she could only do so much as she walked over to the starting point. Above her was a series of cloud hoops she was supposed to maneuver through at top speeds. She took a gulp, hoping her hard training would be enough to overcome her mistake of not getting a good night's rest.

The whistle blew, catching her off guard, but she shot off from the ground into the air, sending a moderate breeze blowing over the grass below her. The first set of hoops were easy. They were in groups of three placed directly in a row. This must be the speed section of the course, she thought. Soon, however, the hoops became placed apart more sporadically. Still, Rainbow Dash deftly maneuvered through them at high speed. Suddenly, she noticed the next cloud hoop. There were two placed directly on top of each other. She blasted through the bottom one and immediately did a loop to fly backwards through the other.

At this point, she was high up in the air and was now flying straight downwards. A series of hoops were between her and the finish line. She was feeling good now, and more awake than before she started. She had been flying fantastically, pulling every maneuver off nearly perfectly. Her training had pulled off. A smile appeared on her face as she sped downwards towards the finish line. I'm going to become a Wonderbolt with style, and what better way to do that than with my signature Sonic Rainboom!. The last few cloud hoops were below her, and she rapidly accelerated downwards as she shifted her weight to fly through each of them. She gained more and more speed, eyes watering from the water in the air condensing against her fur from the raw speed. Her rainbow contrail glowed behind her brighter and brighter and the air in front of her hooves split in a cone around her body until in an explosion of light, she performed a Sonic Rainboom.

But something went wrong. Her form had shifted too far to one side and suddenly, she found herself tumbling out of control hurtling towards the ground away from the finish line. Everypony watching from below had mouths agape as she crashed horribly into the grassy ground, sending a wake of dirt and rocks into the air around her.

The air went silent.

Author's Note: