Journey to home

by giganticbuttmachine

Chapter 3

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is bloody fun to make.

Chapter 3

DASH

The pony before me just finished, everypony in the waiting area cheers for him. Now it's my turn. I'm getting called up to the line, all eyes are on me. Just don't mess up, you'll be fine. You've done this a million times. Okay, like you practiced, one, two, three, START!

The first obstacle is a simple hoop. I could know that with my eyes closed, I've memorized this course from top to bottom. The trick on this part is a simple spin, nothing crazy. As I speed through the hoop, I think back to the hundreds of times I've practiced this. Nopony here has put in the effort I have for this. Now the tricks start to get complicated. I'm finding myself thinking of catchphrases I made up to remember how to do the tricks. If you look closely, you would see me mouthing them to myself as I fly around. Left and right, keep it light. Loopty-loop, make a hoop. Don't mess up. Don't mess up. Don't. Mess. Up.

As I pass another hoop, my bottom left hoof hits the side. I know the judges are writing on their little clipboards for that, but I need to focus on what is happening now. The tricks get more and more intricate as the routine goes along. Triple back-flips, twisting the entire time. I'm perfectly capable of doing it though, having done this exact routine dozens of times in practice already. This is where that pays off.

It's time for the finale now. If anypony wasn't watching before, they sure are now. I'm not going to pull off a Sonic Rainboom, but the difficulty is almost the same, only this takes skill instead of pure speed. Of all of the trick that I do in this routine, this is the only one I'm not certain I can pull off. The sheer amount of twists you have to do in it would make any regular pegasus pony think it's impossible. I've done impossible before, though. I haven't even named the trick yet, there hasn't been enough time to name it. I guess you could call it Rainbow-Dash's-Ticket-to-the-Wonderbolts-Trick.

I begin to climb, gaining altitude as fast as I can. Then, as suddenly as possible, I dart down and begin to pick up speed. I go all the way to the surface of the earth below the stadium. Then, a split second before I hit the ground, I do an almost complete 180 degree turn and begin rocketing up back towards the stadium. After two seconds of that, I begin to spiral as fast as I can while still going up at the same rate.Once I'm just above the stadium, I begin to do crazy complicated flips and twists. I honestly couldn't tell what was up and what was down after a while. My tail was giving off a rainbow effect that went everywhere I went and stayed for a few seconds. I made patterns with that effect, making a picture in the sky as I flew. I turned so abruptly that to an outside viewer it would look like I was bouncing around in an invisible box. I broke out of the box as fast as I could, flying over to the waiting area. When I got there, I turned around just in time to see the pattern that I had made out of rainbows.

It.
Looked.
AWESOME.

All of the ponies around me were cheering like there was no tommorow. Spitfire was actually jumping up and down and cheering for me. I felt so proud. I have no idea how, but the judges still had their same boring expression-mask thingy on. If that doesn't make them smile or laugh or SOMETHING, nothing will.

What makes a break in the cheering surprises me. Another number is called out. "Number 32! You're up!" Yells out one of the judges. Storm Chaser steps out. Oh yeah, he's that pony that looked like he might be able to beat me. Well, let's see how he does, there's no way that he can even get equal to what I just did.

...

I think he just equaled what I just did.

He did so many awesome flips, he was so fast, the whole thing was amazing, it seems like he did the same exact same routine as me only with a few small changes. The main difference was that he didn't do the finale that I did. I'm pretty sure I still have that on him. But I don't think he made that slip-up that I made on the hoop. I looked over the the judges, and I swear I saw the glimmer of a smile on one of them. They just care about the technique, not anything else. Spitfire was cheering, but I don't think it was as loud or as exited as when she cheered for me. She knows that the finale I did counts for something. I really hope I do better in the standings.

They just had to make a huge ceremony. They just had to make us wait until nighttime, too. There's this announcer that has a crazy loud voice, and a crowd of pegasi has gathered at the stadium. "Fillies and Gentlecolts!" the announcer, practically yells, "In a few moments we will know who has qualified to make the Wonderbolt team!" They get all of the contestants to go into the center of the stage, and the announcer screams at the audience again, "Now we will tell you the three qualifying ponies! Storm Chaser, Cloud Tumble, and Rainbow Dash!" My heart had stopped there for a minute, if I was below Cloud Tumble, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. We are all brought up to the main stage of the stadium while the ponies that have gathered cheer like there's no tommorow.

"Now we will select the winner out of these three ponies!" the announcer yells. This time i'm right next to him on the stage, and I almost go deaf. I can see the judges and Spitfire talking, choosing who is going to be on the team. It's obvious that they are having a disagreement, Spitfire is waving her arms around like she's crazy. After a while of this, they reach a decision.

"FILLIES AND GENTLECOLTS," if before was loud, this is an earthquake, "THE DECISION HAS BEEN MADE FOR WHO WILL BE THE NEW MEMBER ON THE WONDERBOLTS." More cheering. "THE PONY THAT WILL BE JOINING THE TEAM AS A NEW MEMBER..."

It's me. It has to be me. I worked so hard for this.

"IS..."

All of the days spent working as hard as I can, It's gotta be me.

"STORM CHASER."

CLOUD

I found a piece of broken glass outside of the house today. I guess it could be used as a "mirror". I really don't see the point in "mirrors", why would you care what you look like? I wonder what I look like, never seen my own face before. Let's see... I HAVE BLUE EYES? I didn't even know that! I really never found out what color my eyes were? What kind of an idiot am I? Shoot, I might need to cut my mane, it looks ridiculous. I think this is the first time I've cut it for a reason other than "It's getting in my face and I can't see anything." Hope I still have that knife... Yeah, there we go. Much better. Not like I know a single thing about how regular ponies are supposed to look, but it doesn't look bad to me.

I mean, the only reference I have for how hair is to be cut is the books, but all the ponies in there have "Huge flowing locks that flow in the wind." And I just cut it short... shoot. Everybody seems to have some vibrant color of hair, too. Yellows, blues, pinks, even. I'm stuck with brown. Oh well. At least it's not more than one color or something crazy like that.

I'm sure there's still some kind of pony that's gonna be melodramatic and give me a "makeover" while freaking out about how dirty I am. I really hope that kind of pony doesn't exist in Appleloosa, I can't deal with all the scrubbing and hot water and shampoo. Which reminds me, when was the last time I cleaned myself? I guess I could just jump in the toxic lake, let the acid do the rest, but then I would smell like toxic lake, and that's not exactly a pleasant smell. Might as well use one of the buckets of clean water, then. This is a total waste of resources- AHH COLD COLD COLD COLD COOOOOLD! That was an awful idea! Do I smell any better? I honestly have no idea what "better" could be, considering where I live, everything smells like chicken droppings! I guess that counts as cleanliness, I washed, right? Right?

Gosh, I sound like I was born a week ago. I'm not clean at all, just wet. Oh well, I'm sure there's some kind of bath in Appleloosa, I can deal with it until then. Heh, take that, melodramatic makeover pony! Given you exist, of course. If not, I guess that me not being clean isn't that much of a problem.

Gosh, the chickens smell awful, too. Guess I can't do anything about them, they're just going to be chickens. Eat your bloody food, go to bed. Guess it's reading time again...

"Prince Noblecoat charged the dragon, his long blonde hair flowing in the wind..."

HA! That's just what I was talking about! I think I need to stop reading those fairy-tale books. Stuff like that never happens in real life. And aren't dragons usually nice? Forget this book, back to the shelf it goes. How about something more honest and gritty? With action, maybe? Hrm... "Daring Do and the Legend of the Ruby Knight"? That actually sounds pretty awesome, might as well try it.

...

THIS IS SO FREAKING COOL! And there's, like, fourteen of them! Woohoo!