Sarah's Adventure's in Equestria

by Zipp Storm

Episode 61: Wonderbolts Academy

After I rose out of bed, I already started my way out the door. I looked up to see a sunny clear sky. This caused me to think about today's pending adventure. Suddenly, a light blue face appeared in front of me in an upside down position. The bright rainbow mane hung from her head as she stared at me with a curious expression.

"Watcha doin'?" She asked.

"Nice to see you too, Rainbow…" I returned. "Nothing at the moment."

She flipped her body around in the air to where I could see her correctly. "That's awesome because I need you to come over to my place really quick."

"Huh?" I drew out a questionable expression. "Why? Are we training today?" Recently, Rainbow has been training me to help me fly better with my wings. I didn't like flying all that much but Rainbow said she would train me. "Better." She formed a bright smile. "I'm sure there's going to be a surprise for you in it."

"Um…" I could only express before she grabbed my hand and forced me up from the ground. I quickly spread my wings and began flapping them in order to stay by her.

"Come on!" She slightly lunged her head to the side in order to gesture me to follow her.

"Right behind you, Captain…" I muttered, initiating our leave.

---

When we arrived under her home in the clouds, I noticed the rest of the girls and the others there. There was a huge sun umbrella covering Twilight and Jamie's area, providing them with enough shade to read the book in front of them . A picnic basket also sat by them. Rarity and Kaede sat on my right after them, sipping on a glass of water as Raritywore dark purple shades with hot pink trimming. Then, there was Applejack, Mason and Carrie by a plate full of apples. Jack and Applejack were munching them. Ren and Fluttershy was by them in the same position, only they were observing the scenery and the surroundings. Pinkie Pie sat in front of them, eyeing the mailbox excitedly and carefully for some reason. Nicole was on her IPad with a bored looked while Rantaro sat there with a equally bored look.

I looked around, a little confused. "What's going on?" I asked.

Pinkie gasped. "You didn't hear?!" She quickly sat up and dashed over to me. "Dashie is waiting for an acceptance letter from the Wonderbolts!" As Pinkie spoke, Rainbow tried to shush her and make her stop talking, but she failed. "Pinkie! That was supposed to be a surprise for Sarah!"

"Oh…" She released a small nervous chuckle. "Sorry…"

Rainbow smiled proudly nonetheless. "That's alright. It's not the main surprise I have for her." She crossed her forelegs as she flew.

"Okay…" I returned, trying to put the pieces together. "So…you're waiting to be accepted in the Wonderbolts? Huh?"

"Not exactly. You see…" Rainbow began explaining the situation. "I'm going to be enrolled in the Wonderbolt Academy." She gazed out towards the sky. "It's like a boot camp for those who want to have the chance to be in the Wonderbolts. Knowing how I'm an awesome flyer, I'm sure to get in. Then, I'll start training there. I'll get in the Wonderbolts in no time!"

"Well, that's great, Rainbow!" I encouraged. "I'm really glad to see you becoming closer to your dreams by the minute."

"About time, Skittles." Jack scoffed.

"Shut it, fatty!" Rainbow said.

"I'm not fat, I'm husky."

"Zweilous."

"Nair!" Jack's Zweilous and my Dragonair got in between the two, not wanting them to fight. The two of them growled and turned away from each other with a huff.

"Anyway... I can't wait to see how surprised you are when my letter gets here." Rainbow said.

"What?" I responded. "Why would I be surprised?"

"Hm. You'll see… Come on." She joined the others, sitting between Twilight, Jamie and Kaede and Rarity. I walked over to Ren and Fluttershy, lying myself down on Fluttershy's left side.

Pinkie Pie released a nervous squeal, beginning to jump around the mailbox and never taking her anxious eyes off of it. "Ooooh, I wish the mailpony would just come already! I can't wait another minute to find out if Rainbow Dash got in or not!"

"Pinkie Pie, you're more nervous than Rainbow Dash." Twilight raised her eyes from the book and commented on Pinkie's behavior.

Rainbow Dash immediately scoffed. "I'm not nervous at all. When I get into the Wonderbolt Academy..."

Pinkie clenched Rainbow's coat with her hooves. "IF you get in!" She shook her. "If you get in! Don't jinx it!"

"Calm down, you pink loon." Jack growled.

"I'm telling you, it's in the bag." Rainbow Dash assured and pushed her hooves away.

"Don't jinx it!" Pinkie warned greatly once again.

"She is the best flyer in Ponyville." Applejack added, chomping on another apple.

"Yeah why wouldn't she get in?" Mason added.

Rainbow ensured this, dashing past us in flight "In Ponyville?" She rapidly maneuvered to a nearby cloud and instantly formed it into a slide. "I'm probably the best flyer in all of Equestria." She spoke as she easily slid down with her wings outstretched. "I wouldn't be surprised if they just went ahead and made me a Wonderbolt on the first day." She flew calmly on her back and landed back near us.

"You have a lot of credibility for it." I added. "I don't see why not. You're pretty much the only one there that's done much more for Equestria than just fly expertly."

"I wouldn't say the only one…" she returned.

I raised an eyebrow, still becoming confused about these odd things Rainbow was mentioning. However, this expression was quickly broken when a familiar voice arose from a distance. "Rainbow Daaaash!" I quickly looked to see a familiar gray Pegasus with a blond mane fly towards us. "I've got your letter for you!" She announced when arriving in our area.

Rainbow Dash quickly snatched the letter without question, but I was more concerned about the pony delivering the letter. "Derpy…!" I performed a quick flight towards her. Derpy and I met a few weeks ago when I prevented her crashing into a wall. I have heard about her... special eyes, but that doesn't bother me at all. "Where the hay have you been all this time?"

"Sorry." She apologized with her cheery smile. "I've been busy with work."

"…You work as a mailpony?" I asked, noticing her saddlebag that contained one more last letter.

"Should we be concerned about this?" Ren whispered to the others.

"Honestly, I don't know." Applejack whispered back.

"Yup! I saved the last mail for the best! I just finished with my morning." She answered.

"What about that last letter right there?" I pointed towards it.

"That's for me! But first, I want to see Rainbow Dash get into the Wonderbolt Academy!"

"Wait… How did you know that Rainbow Dash—"

"Enough talkin'!" Rainbow ordered. "Watch as I open my ticket to my dreams!" She gripped the top part of the letter with her teeth and ripped it off. As she flapped her wings, she held the letter with her hooves and quickly began reading through it. However, her expression changed to the opposite direction, indicating a bad signal. "I... didn't get in." She announced sadly. These thoughts raced through my head, trying to figure out the reasons why in Equestria would Rainbow Dash not get in. On the side, I heard Pinkie Pie gasp horridly as Derpy and the others returned frowns and surprised expressions. After a moment, she presented the paper to us and revoked her frown. "Gotcha!" She laughed, revealing the green checkmark on the letter and removing our frowns from our faces. "Ha, you guys are so gullible. Like I wasn't gonna get in!"

"So what's the surprise you kept bringing me on about?" I asked.

She tossed the paper over to me. I caught it with my magic and began scanning through it to see what the "surprise" was supposed to be. "I may have mentioned you when applying for the Wonderbolt Academy."

I widened my eyes and looked up from the paper. "You didn't…"

She rubbed her hoof on her stomach and observed it from front and back. "Did I?" After seeing the proof on the paper, Rainbow continued to speak. "Apparently, an Alicorn gets automatically accepted, seeing as they're super rare and special."

Now this I did not expect. "Skittles, why would you sign newbie up for some base camp?" Jack asked.

"Yeah...! I don't want to be in the Wonderbolts!" I added, flabbergasted.

"You don't have to be!" She quickly flew over to me and grabbed my cheeks, squishing them. " Don't you see?" She removed her hooves. "This is the best chance for you to get better with your flying! I'm already a great coach, but imagine being trained by a Wonderbolt? You should become as awesome as me in no time! Well…maybe not as awesome…but a great flyer!"

"That's…actually pretty smart of you, Rainbow…but…" I sighed. "I'm not really…familiar…with their type of training. It's focused more on discipline…so I've heard…"

"Come on, you've been through worse things. The type of training shouldn't matter. What matters is how amazing your flying becomes!"

"Well… I suppose I can give it a sh—"

"I got accepted!" A giggled occurred afterwards, drawing our attention towards a dancing gray Pegasus to our side. Hold on.... Derpy got accepted?! Okay... how did that happen?

"What?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "How did a Pegasus like you get in?" Took the words right out of my mouth. Derpy stopped dancing and faced Rainbow. "I don't know. But they must have really liked those muffins I've sent them!"

"Huh?" Rainbow was really surprised at this. "But—"

Pinkie Pie quickly rushed towards her and began squeezing her tightly. "I'm just sooooooooooo happy for you!"

While this was occurring, I walked over to Derpy. "Why'd you want to get into Wonderbolt Academy?" I asked. "I don't think you ever had dreams of becoming one…"

The grin on her face faded away a little. "Well… The truth is…"

"Come on, Sarah!" Rainbow Dash called after finally being freed from Pinkie. "We've got to get moving! The sooner I get there, the sooner I get to show my stuff!" She dashed between Applejack and Rarity, retrieving the saddlebag they had packed for her.

"Wow…" I rubbed my head. "Well, sorry for the…sudden goodbye…but…see you guys la—"

"Come on!" She grabbed me by my coat on my back and forced me off the ground to begin flying. "See you guys in a week!"

"Zweilous."

"Nair!"

Huh? Dragonair came beside us and Zweilous seemed excited. "I think they wanna come with us, Rainbow." I said.

"Why?"

"Well someone has to look out for newbie while she's there." Jack said, rubbing Zweilous' head. "Zweilous."

"Nair."

"Alright you two can come." I lit my horn and made Zweilous float up in the air.

"Wait for me!" Derpy announced and began flying towards us as well.

"Be safe!" Ren added.

"Take care of Sarah, Zweilous and Dragonair!" Kaede called.

"Good luck!" Applejack wished.

"Won't need it!" Rainbow returned.

"DON'T FORGET TO WRITE!" Pinkie Pie's voice echoed throughout the entire airspace, shocking me for a bit.

"Whoa…" I commented, noticing the aftermath from the wave of volume.

"This is going to be so fun!" Derpy exclaimed. "Especially since I'm going to be with my best friends in the world!"

"Ugh." Rainbow expressed. "Derpy, this isn't supposed to be fun. We're receiving high quality training from the one and only Wonderbolts. However, it will be fun for me, because I'll see myself being the best out of all the rookies there."

"Oh…" Derpy frowned and slightly lowered her head.

I patted her back and sent her a warm smile. "Don't worry. We'll still have fun." She managed to lightly smile after my comment.

---

When we finally entered into the academy in the sky, we looked around to see many ponies on the clouds. Several lifted upwards to the sky, several performed tricks on the obstacle course, and several trained on the training grounds. Rainbow Dash returned a competitive yet excited look.

"Oh yeah! This is gonna be sweet!"

"Whatever you say…" I responded as I continued to look around. "Where are we supposed to go?"

Rainbow Dash scanned the area. "Over there." She pointed to a spot near the flagpole holding a red flag. "That's where all the recruits are at."

We flew towards where the pegasi were at and landed at the end of the horizontal line. I let Zweilous free of my magic. I remained silent in the line, standing between Derpy and Rainbow Dash, until I felt some curious eyes creep up on me. I slowly looked towards my right, which was Derpy's way. Every pony, except Derpy, was just staring at me. I could only look at them back for a few seconds and turn my head away awkwardly. "Must be surprised of an infamous Alicorn joining them…" I muttered softly and nervously. Sometimes being famous has it's downsides and this is one of them.

"Just watch." Rainbow Dash heard my comment and responded. "I'll be drawing their attention away from you. No sweat."

"You're excessively proud today." I answered.

"Gotta be. I have to stay positive if I really want to impress the Wonderbolts."

"Uh-huh…"

When they finally stopped gluing their attention towards me, for the time being, The last pegasus seemed to join us. Her coat seemed to be of a light opal color, while her mane and eyes, to be put simply, were different shades of amber. She landed at the end of the line, to Rainbow Dash's left. I looked around as everypony seemed to have their suitcase and saddlebags ready. Derpy and I seemed to be the only ones without one…

"Well lookie what we got here." A voice suddenly sounded, causing for everypony to look at one direction and quickly straightened their posture. Wondering why they did this, I followed their example anyway. "Betcha'll think you're Wonderbolt material, don't ya?" The mare walked in front of us, revealing herself. She looked familiar. Spitfire, if I remember correctly.

"Yes ma'am!" Everypony but I answered.

Fortunately, Spitfire didn't seem to tell the difference. "Think you got what it takes to be an elite flyer?" She asked, pacing in front of us and eyeing us carefully.

"Yes ma'am!"

"Well then. Let me be the first to tell you..." She began. "You don't!" She placed her hoof on somepony in the beginning of the line, surprising me. I began feeling a little nervous. Never have I encountered a someone that gave such an outburst like that… Well…excluding Jack… "If you had what it took to be an elite flyer, you'd already be a Wonderbolt!" She began walking towards more of my way. I didn't know why, but I continued to grow more nervous, feeling my body shiver and tremble on the inside. "Still think you're something special?" She exclaimed towards the pony near the white buff one.

Trembling in fear, she shook her head and responded. "No ma'am!"

Spitfire then shifted her attention towards the white one, eyeing him and startling him. Afterwards, she looked at his wings, which she was about to make a comment on, despite his large appearance. "Ya think you're hot stuff?" He quickly lowered himself in defeat.

Spitfire shook her head and moved on to the next pony in line…Derpy. Oh no… Will she be able to handle the pressure and not to mention such terrifying outbursts…? She analyzed her from hoof to mane. She then placed her attention towards Derpy's eyes, which of course were crossed. "What's with those eyes?" Spitfire began, causing me to flinch at the thought of what Derpy might react with. "Do you have some problem with your eyesight or do you think you're just better than everyone else here to fly with those kinds of eyes?"

"No, ma'am!" Derpy quickly responded, returning a somewhat bold statement.

"Listen here, muffin." Spitfire placed a hoof on her chest. "Your muffins may have been appealing enough to the others to get you in here, but I'll let you know right now that that won't fly by me. If you think you can impress me by flying swiftly with crossed eyes like that, then be my guest. But unless you really just want to be kicked out of this Academy, then I suggest you fix them!" So she was accepted cause of the muffins she brought them? That's weird.

I heard a gulp and it seemed that Derpy ended up listening to her orders. Spitfire remained silent and began moving down the line. Oh Celestia… Help me out in this…

She stopped in front of me and I could feel her eyes creeping all over me. I looked straight ahead, as every other pony was doing, but inside I was only wondering desperately on what she was going to do. I braced myself for whatever she was going to throw. However, I had a very good guess on what was the first thing she was going to bring up.

"An Alicorn, huh?" She finally brought to my attention. "Are you really here to become a Wonderbolt, or are you just here so you can get special attention from the others?"

She glared at me, waiting for my answer. "…no, ma'am?" I returned, boldly

"So, which is it!?" She exclaimed, getting a little more into my face.

Just be assertive, Sarah "…none of those, ma'am…"

"Oh, really? Mind telling me the truth then?"

"…I want to become a better flyer, ma'am…" I replied in the same bold tone.

"A better flyer?" She replied with an intimidating and unbelievable tone. However, she paused for a moment and added an unexpected continuation. "…Just don't think you're getting any special treatment just because you're an Alicorn…"

Finally, she moved on, allowing me to calm my nerves.

"You look like you're the worst flyer in the whole academy!" She told Rainbow Dash as she looked over her. This statement caused Rainbow Dash to furrow her eyebrows in an irritated manner. "You'll probably quit after the first day!"

"No ma'am! I'd never quit, ma'am!" Rainbow Dash responded, clearly revealing no sign of nervousness.

"Ha." Spitfire released and moved on to the last pony. "What about you? Bet you couldn't fly past the first flagpole without getting winded."

"Try me, ma'am." The mare responded.

"What's that?" Spitfire lowered her shades.

"Let me show you what I've got, ma'am." Typical Rainbow Dash

"Ah. You want a chance to prove yourself, huh?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Well then, now's your chance. Give me five hundred laps! All of you!" She announced loudly. Everypony released a moan. "Now!" She ordered, blowing her whistle and initiating us to begin our laps.

I began flying, feeling the last of my nerves slip away. Rainbow Dash, of course, flashed by me every time, but I wasn't bothered. Derpy managed to stay by me, speaking with me as we continued to fly at a normal pace.

"That was a little scary…" She told me, no longer having her crossed eyes. "I never thought I'd you see that nervous… You don't seem like the pony to be that way…"

I remained silent for a moment. "Let's just say… She awfully reminded me of someone…"

"Who?" She asked.

"Jack."

"The chubby biker?"

"Yep that's the one."

---

We continued our five hundred lap flight, which really wasn't much of a problem until after the first one hundred laps or so. By then, our fatigue was already setting in, but we couldn't stop, especially since Spitfire was down below, watching us. This was all good practice for my wings, but maybe this was too big of a step…?

"Lap four-hundred and ninety-nine!" Spitfire announced, directing towards Rainbow Dash and the other competitive mare. They seemed to be getting along quite well… After a few seconds, they passed us once again. "Five hundred!" They immediately stopped while Derpy, I, and the other cadets had to complete our laps.

I was a bit tird but my wolf stamina helped me out. Derpy was tired, but not as much as me. She landed by me and provided shade by stretching out her wing to cover my face from the sun. "Thanks Derpy…" I managed to hack out.

"What you need is some energy." She offered and opened her saddle bag. She pulled out a muffin and quickly shoved it down my throat. I coughed out pieces of the muffin as I did not eat it properly. Nonetheless, it helped a little. Derpy helped me up.

"Now, I'm thirsty…" I looked around. "Is there someplace we can get something to drink?" I asked.

Derpy scanned the area. "I think that's the cafeteria right there." She pointed towards a building that presented a sign which depicted food."

"Come on. I need all the water I can drink…" I announced with an almost raspy voice and began walking.

---

When we were inside, there was actually an upside to being in the Academy. The food looked delicious, even when I was enormously parched. It was somewhat of a buffet. There were different sections that contained different plates of different types of meals. As soon as I spotted the first liquid drink I could find, I rushed towards it, filled a glass with it, and drank it all down like I've never done before. Zweilous and Dragonair followed me eveywhere, which was to be expected since Kaede told them to look after me.

"Punch…?" I expressed after looking at my empty glass.

"Come on! Let's eat!" Derpy exclaimed and clapped her hooves cheerfully.

After we grabbed our meal and dessert, we spotted Rainbow Dash and that other mare with her. We decided to go sit with them.

"Hey, what took you guys so long?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"We were just strolling around and checking out the scenery." I responded sarcastically, but with Rainbow Dash, it wasn't obvious.

"Okay…" She replied. "Anyway, this is Lightning Dust." Rainbow Dash presented a hoof towards the other competitive mare. "Lightning, this is Sarah and Derpy."

Derpy and I both returned a greeting.

"So her royal highness came here to become a better flyer, huh?" Lightning Dust directed towards me. "I thought they were already good flyers."

"Well Sarah needs some training considering her past." Rainbow said.

"Huh?"

"It's a long story…" I quickly added and began to consume my food.

---

It wasn't long until Spitfire called everypony out again for the main event of the day. I began feeling like I didn't belong in this Academy, but I had to shake it off because this was pretty much the best opportunity to take in order to increase my wing skill the quickest way.

Before actually getting started, we were given Wonderbolt-styled uniforms to put on. Rainbow Dash was so eager and excited when she did. It seemed like she felt invincible wearing that suit. To me, it was nothing really amazing…

We were all gathered towards the area where pegasi usually took off in flight. Spitfire stood in front of all of us with something huge hidden behind by a violet cloth. She then began explaining what we were doing and why we were there in the first place. "The Wonderbolts are the fastest, best precision flyers in the world. And spin-outs can still happen. And when they do, a Wonderbolt must be able to recover quickly. This..." She signaled the assistant behind her, who removed the cloth and revealed what was behind Spitfire. "…is the Dizzitron." It was actually some sort of large machine. It appeared to be a large target while having a cogwheel in the middle and one on the side to its right. "It's gonna make you very, I repeat, very dizzy." …Very dizzy…? "Your task is to try and recover, and fly straight again. As soon as possible. Once you have recovered, you must come in for a smooth landing. Now, who's first?" Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust immediately and voluntarily rose their hoof. "You." Spitfire directed. Rainbow Dash thought Spitfire had picked her, as she placed a hoof on her chest. However, she was surprised when she actually picked the pink pony near her. "You're up."

"Me?" The mare responded fearfully. She looked past Spitfire, observing the Dizzitron. She gulped.

"Now!" Spitfire commanded, rushing the frightened mare. Nonetheless, her first victim placed herself inside the strap. "Ready?" She asked.

The mare looked both sides and replied in a nervous tone. "Yes ma'am!" She placed her goggles on.

"Go!" Spitfire ordered, allowing the assistant to turn on the machine. It began circling around, both the main wheel and the cog wheel. As I could only observe the machine moving faster and faster, I began getting my nerves back.

"Oh boy…" I muttered under my breath.

"Release!" Spitfire shouted. The wheel stopped and the mare was thrown off the machine. She flipped in a circular motion in the air several times, slowing down eventually. When she was in the right position, she tried to regain herself. She managed to skid lightly to a stop, but still remained dizzy as she wobbled on the floor. "Huh. Fifteen seconds." Spitfire commented, looking at her stopwatch. "Decent. But I wouldn't go writin' home about it! Who's next?" Rainbow Dash quickly lifted her hoof, having Spitfire notice her as the mare was pulled away. "Alright, Rainbow Dash. Let's see what you got."

"Yes ma'am!" Rainbow Dash saluted boldly and quickly strapped herself in. She placed on her goggles and braced valiantly for the ride.

"Okay, go!" Spitfire clicked her stopwatch as the machine began spinning. "Release!" Rainbow Dash was released after a few seconds. However, Rainbow quickly recovered her balance and sped to where we were in a matter of seconds. "Six seconds?" Spitfire commented with widened eyes. "That's an academy record."

"You made it look so easy." The pink mare whispered.

Rainbow Dash removed the goggles from her rolling eyes and chuckled. "I make everything look easy."

"Okay Lightning Dust, you're up." Spitfire called.

As Lightning Dust began preparing herself, she requested a favor from Spitfire. "Ma'am, can you put the Dizzitron at maximum speed?" She strapped herself in. "I wanna push my limits."

Spitfire shared a look with her assistant. "You sure about that?"

"Yes ma'am." Lightning placed on her goggles.

"Okay. You asked for it." She signaled the other assistant by the machine. He pulled the lever to start it. As it spun up, he increased the speed, which surprisingly was on the turtle speed at first. The target spun wildly, beginning to make me feel dizzy by just looking at it. "Release!" Lightning was released, and I thought she might have actually been too cocky. However, almost as fast as Rainbow, she recovered herself and dashed down towards us, surprising Spitfire. "Six point five seconds. Not bad."

Lightning Dust walked over to Rainbow Dash, creating a hoof bump with one another.

"Next!" Spitfire exclaimed, shocking everypony.

Completely unexpected, Derpy shot her hoof in the air. Derpy... no!

"You?" Spitfire returned, walking towards her. "You want to go on the Dizzatron so quickly?"

"Yes ma'am!" Derpy answered with a bright smile on her face.

"What's the occasion?"

"It just looks easy and fun, ma'am!" Derpy continued to smile brightly.

"Oh! Easy and fun! Watch out! We have a bad pony over here!" Derpy returned a slightly confused expression towards Spitfire's mocking statement. "Tell you what. You prove to me how easy and fun it is, and I'll let you keep those eyes of yours crossed." Derpy formed a happy agape mouth when she heard this. "BUT, if you don't, you'll be cleaning the mess hall every night you're staying here… Deal…?"

Derpy formed her agape mouth towards the opposite way when she heard that last statement. Nevertheless, she placed on her goggles, formed a determined expression, flew over to the machine and strapped herself in. "Deal."

Spitfire seemed to be intrigued by Derpy's sudden change. Nonetheless, she looked over to the assistant and signaled him. I don't know if Derpy forgot to mention to change the speed, but it looked like it wasn't changing. This frightened me. I looked at Derpy prepare herself in a bold manner, hoping she wouldn't fail somehow. The machine began spinning. It spun so fast that I couldn't even see Derpy clearly anymore. My heart was pumping fast for her.

"Release!" Derpy was flung and thrown through a cloud, disappearing from our eyes. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds. Everypony looked at each other in silence. However, my eyes were glued to the spot where she disappeared.

"Come on, Derpy…" I muttered under my breath.

"Well, looks like it wasn't fun for her after her all." Spitfire expressed as she was about to click the stopwatch.

However, I began hearing distant laughter and glee. Derpy revealed herself after flying through the same cloud. She continued giggling as she slowly landed before us. "Hahaha! That was fun! Can I go again?"

Spitfire widened her eyes greatly and looked at her stopwatch when she clicked it. "Twelve seconds… At that speed…" She shook her head in disbelief and walked over to Derpy. "Not bad, kid." She placed a hoof on her shoulder. "You proved me wrong. You don't have to clean the mess hall and you can keep those crossed eyes of yours."

"Alright!" Derpy cheered and crossed her eyes again, freely.

I smiled warmly at her victory, but it was cut short when Spitfire placed her attention on me. "You! The Human Alicorn!" I widened my eyes in surprise at her call. "Why don't show us some of us your stuff?"

Uh-oh… I remained silent and hesitant for a moment. However, I knew I had to do it. "…okay…" I answered, feeling a little like Fluttershy now. I despondently flew towards the Dizzatron and nervously strapped myself in. "Ready?" She asked. Before I could make sure she lowered the speed first, she called out the order to begin The wheel began spinning and quickly escalated to its top speed. I could not describe how horrendous it felt. I don't know why, but I hated the feeling I got when ponies usually loved it. It felt like hours until I heard Spitfire. I was released from the wheel. I was spinning so uncontrollably but my falcon abilities kicked in and I straightened out and zoomed down to the ground, landing making a small crater. "Pant... Pant... how'd I do?"

Everyone was jaw dropped, even Spitfire. She looked at the stop watch. "Three seconds! That's an academy record. Not bad for a royal." After sometime, the other ponies went and did not succeed that the Dizzatron. "Listen up!" I heard Spitfire announce, despite my condition. "For the rest of the camp, you'll be working in pairs. "Tomorrow morning I'll post the teams including who'll be lead pony, and who'll be wing pony. Good luck." After that announcement, she left.

When I arrived in the area, I spotted Derpy already gazing at the wall with a bright grin. She noticed me walking towards her. She unexpectedly hugged me in joy. "Guess what?!" She exclaimed excitedly.

"What?" I asked through a short chuckle.

"They put us both as a team!"

"Really? So whose the lead pony?"

"You, silly!"

My eyes widened. "Me?" I rushed over to the posting and noticed what she spoke of was true. "Really!" I turned around to face Derpy. "Well.. I didn't expect this."

---

The Next Morning

"And you made me a wing pony!" I heard Rainbow Dash's voice echo throughout the hall as I walked towards Spitfire's office.

"Because I believe you and Lightning Dust will be an unstoppable team. Do you not think you'll be an unstoppable team?" Spitfire answered.

"Yes ma'am! I mean, no ma'am! I mean... We'll be an unstoppable team, ma'am."

"Then what's the problem?"

"I think I should be lead pony, ma'am."

"And I think Lightning Dust likes to push herself a little harder than you do. That's why I made her lead pony. Got it?"

There was a pause for a second. "Yes ma'am…"

"Good." Afterwards, I heard stomps on the desk, reaching the open door to her office. Rainbow Dash walked out sadly, passing me and keeping her head down.

---

After breakfast, everypony, including Derpy and me, got their pins, which symbolized their rank. They were both identical except in color. The pin that was gold was the lead pony rank. The one with silver was the wing pony rank. I got gold and Derpy got silver.

We all were then led back towards the takeoff area. There was each a couple to every team. Derpy stuck by me, completely comfortable of the fact that I was lead pony. However… I looked to Rainbow Dash's team, which consisted of her as wing pony and Lightning Dust as lead pony. I couldn't say the same for Rainbow Dash…

"Today you will all be participating in a flag hunt." Spitfire walked in front of us, giving our directions. "We'll divide you into two teams. Red…" One of her assistants held up a red flag among a group of ponies. "…and blue." A blue flag was lifted among Rainbow Dash, Lightning Dust, Derpy, and me. "Whoever finds the most flags of the opposing team's color wins."

Everypony cheered.

"Oh, this is gonna be so much fun!" The pink mare told her teammate.

"If you think this is gonna to be fun, you are sadly mistaken." Spitfire quickly attended to. "This is for training purposes. This is not recess. Lead ponies and wing ponies must fly together. If any pair splits apart, they will be immediately disqualified." Spitfire emphasized. "Do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am!" We all responded and placed our goggles on.

"Then let's go!" She blew the whistle, beginning our "training".

As our team lifted into the skies, Lightning Dust looked towards us. "You guys scout over there, we'll scout over here!"

"Got it." I responded and began turning towards our objective area. "C'mon Derpy." She followed me. As my eyes scanned any area capable of holding a flag, I spoke to Derpy. "No need to rush." I advised. "We could easily miss the flags if we move too fast. Look especially in any dark or hidden spots."

"Found one!" Derpy exclaimed cheerfully. She pointed towards a mountainside, specifically a hole where a very faint and barely visible red flag was shown.

"Good eye, Derpy!" I praised as she returned a delighted and bright grin with closed eyes. "Let's go get it!" Derpy and I dashed towards the hole, slowing down to make sure we didn't crash inside. "Grab this one; I'll look for anymore on the way back towards where we started."

"Got it, Captain!" Derpy replied both playfully and seriously at the same time. She grabbed the pole part of the flag with her mouth and brought it with her on the outside.

I left my eyes scanning every part of the area around us as I stuck close by Derpy. It wasn't until we began passing a waterfall that was not too far away. I noticed something red being flushed by the pouring water as it remained on the rock. "Derpy." I mentioned, stopping and keeping my eyes on it.

"Hm?" She asked, looking at me as she kept the flag in her mouth.

"I think I found one, come on." I waved my hoof in a gesture to follow me.

She did so. We both flew over to the waterfall, landing near the rock which held the flag. I observed it for a moment, noticing a slight issue. "We can't get it so easily…"

"Why not?" Derpy asked after placing the flag on the ground near her.

"I'm not sure, but the pressure of that water coming down might hurt one of us if we just rushed in there and tried to pull the flag out." I sighed, tapping my chin with my hoof. "Problem is… How do we get it…?" Derpy looked on the ground for a moment and picked something up. She threw it towards the flag, causing it to angle more to the right and clearly reveal its color. I gasped, realizing that Derpy found the answer. "Derpy! You're a genius!"

"What?" She asked, not knowing what she actually did.

"Let's play this safe." I directed. "Stay here and keep throwing rocks at the flag so it can come out enough for me to grab it, okay?"

"Okay!"

I flew towards the stream at the end of the waterfall, signaling Derpy to start.

She began throwing rocks at it, eventually knocking it off the rock. It began floating along the stream. I quickly dove enough to retrieve the pole with my mouth and bring it back to Derpy.

"Come on, we better get these flags back to Spitfire!" She nodded and we each held the flag, returning both of them to base. When we placed the flags before Spitfire, she seemed impressed. "Wow." She expressed while lowering her shades. "You brought two?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Derpy responded cheerfully.

"Impressive. First three flags down, keep up the good work."

We then continued our searched for more. Looks like Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust found the first one…

---

When the event was over, our team ended up winning, despite the red team having more ponies. I guess Spitfire "evened us out" by having the two best flyers and us in one team while the rest of the cadets were on the other.

"Nice job, guys." Lightning Dust praised as she walked past us.

"Yeah…" Rainbow Dash slowly walked past us as well, holding the tip of her left wing in pain. "Nice job…"

"Rainbow Dash." I called her. She stopped and turned around to face me. "Do you need some help…?"

"Nah. Just clipped my wing. That's all."

"Here." I walked up to her and focused my horn on the tip of her wing. I performed a light pain reliever Twilight had taught me not too long ago.

Rainbow Dash felt this and flapped it a little. "Thanks, Alex. I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome. Take it easy, okay?"

"Heh… I'll try…" She began walking away. I felt a little unhappiness coming from her, but there was nothing I could really do…

---

Afterwards, we all were summoned to the takeoff track that was in the clouds instead. Spitfire was already there, waiting for us with those two assistants of hers. When everypony was present, one of her assistants blew the horn he held loudly. This caused Spitfire to turn around and angrily push it down, away from his lips.

"Today we'll be doing our famous air obstacle course." She announced, presenting the rings of cloud in front of us. "The object of this exercise is to work on your precision flying under extreme circumstances. And don't worry about winning. It's not a race. Now everypony, get on your marks!" Every one of us placed on our goggles and readied ourselves.

One of the assistants blew the whistle, initiating our takeoff. Every couple flew off at a time as the assistants signaled for us to do so. While Derpy and I were waiting for our takeoff, I looked at her. "Don't worry. Just stick close and we'll make it through this."

"Roger that, Captain!" She responded.

After we were signaled to fly, we both jumped from the ground and began flapping our wings. We began going through the hoops. However, during this exercise, I heard a poof. I looked below to see a pink cloud coming our way in a rush. Derpy didn't notice.

"Watch out!" I quickly placed my hands in front of Derpy, stopping both of us. The pink cloud passed upwards in front of us by an inch. I released a breath of relief. "That was too close." I looked at Derpy. "Go through the hoops but be sure to keep an eye where those clouds are coming from, okay?"

She nodded and we continued on through. We made sure to take it slow and careful while going through the first part of the obstacle course to ensure we weren't hit by one of those pink clouds. Fortunately, Derpy and I were able to make it through, reaching some huge stormy cloud. I could hear the strong winds and thunder coming from inside. Lightning flashed. I stopped, causing Derpy to stop as well. "Uh-oh…" I stated with hesitation.

"Hey, as long as we stick together, right?" Derpy comforted me.

Realizing it, I nodded. "Yeah. Let's go." As soon as we entered, I could already feel the rain spray on our coats. The strong winds were a bother as well. They seemed to be pushing Derpy away from me, so I quickly grabbed her hoof and pulled her closer. "Keep a hoof on me so we don't get separated!" I exclaimed in the weather in order for her to hear me.

"Okay." She managed to say while being bothered by the winds as well.

Flapping my wings harder, I had to guide her through the storm. Eventually, I saw a small hole of light protruding at the end of the stormy tunnel. "There's the exit!" I began pushing on harder, feeling the light coming closer and closer to me.

When we finally made it, we could see the last part of the obstacle, ready to engage it. However, the ponies ahead of us had all been forced back towards us, as Derpy and I were the last ones. "Watch out!" I used my magic to catch them all. "Phew thanks Princess." one mare said.

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Everypony okay?" Spitfire and her assistants met with us on the cloud and asked.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, come on, come on." Spitfire gestured back towards the course. "Dust yourselves off and continue with the obstacle course!"

Every couple went at a time in order to be in an organized line again.

"So you're fine to go on, right?" I asked Derpy, just to make sure.

"Mm-hm." She nodded.

"Alright." I patted her twice on the back. Then, when signaled to do so, we took off to complete the course.

---

The last obstacle wasn't that challenging. Derpy and I just had to take it slow and not rush through it. Following that method, we were able to carefully stay away from the high pressured winds. It reminded me of those strategic traps from the Daring Do novels.

When we finally finished, we were allowed to recover our energy in the mess hall.

Derpy and I grabbed our lunch and walked to find the table Rainbow Dash was in.

"You and I make a pretty good team, don't you think?" Derpy asked.

"Yeah." I agreed. "This definitely makes up for not seeing you all those days since the wedding." Derpy and I reached the table Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust were on. We both sat down. "Looks like you two finished early again." I was disturbed when I saw Rainbow Dash messing around with her food in a gloomy matter. "Rainbow… Are you alright…?"

"Huh…?" She asked, slightly lifting her head to notice me. "Oh, yeah… I guess…"

"Eh." Lightning Dust commented. "She must feel bad since we beat everypony else so easily. Come on, it's not our fault we're the best."

I became slightly annoyed at that comment, but I let it slip, since Rainbow Dash was that kind of pony… But… It was just the idea of something bothering her which bothered me.

---

After lunch, we gathered outside once again for what appeared to be the last event of the day. We were ordered to remove clouds, just like Rainbow Dash did back at Ponyville. Never doing that before, I figured it couldn't be too hard. Once the whistle was blown, we all raced towards the clouds to do our job with our teams.

"Have you ever done this before, Derpy?" I asked her as we headed towards the group of clouds.

"I don't think so. One time, maybe." She responded.

"Well, I've seen Rainbow Dash do it many times before, so I think you just kick or punch them or something." I looked around, seeing other couples separate. "Looks like we don't need to stick together for this one. Just be close when removing the clouds, okay?"

"Got it!" She saluted and we began attempting to remove the clouds.

As we were doing this, the assistant back on the ground was keeping count on how many clouds disappeared for each team. The team that removed most of the clouds won, which would obviously be Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust. Zweilous and Dragonair were watching below.

Getting rid of the puffy clouds wasn't hard. All it took was one quick swipe of the hoof against them. However, I didn't have the skills Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust had, so I couldn't remove them as quickly as they did.

There were some clouds that were thicker, leading the rest of the cadets to repeatedly punch and kick them. Derpy found one of them, and I saw her struggling a bit with it. I flew over to her side and helped her with a mighty kick.

"Are you doing alright?" I asked with a warm smile.

She wiped her forehead and nodded. "This takes a little hard work, but it's still pretty fun!"

I chuckled a little until heavy winds intruded our area. "What the… Are there supposed to be these kinds of winds here right now?" I placed my hoof in front of my face and noticed something strange. "Is that… Is that a tornado…?" I asked, noticing a dark object spin around rapidly.

"Uh…" Derpy mentioned as she became a little worried now. "I don't think there are supposed to be any tornados right now!"

I was alarmed to see the tornado coming our way in a rush.

"Watch out!" I grabbed Derpy and forcefully lowered her away from the tornado's grip. As I looked back to see where it was going, I noticed it had reached where the assistant was keeping score. He had to flee to escape. The board was broken to pieces. Then, I now noticed it was heading towards a hot air balloon. Inside that balloon were familiar ponies… "Are those…?" I tried to focus my eyes and realized those ponies were the girls. I gasped and quickly looked at Derpy. "Stay out of the tornado's way! I'll be right back!" Afterwards, I hastily raced towards them.

Before I was even close, their balloon had been caught and was now swinging wildly in the tornado. "Guys!" My eyes widened and my heart beat rapidly as I began panicking crazily inside at the sight of each one of my friends falling to their doom. "NOOOO!"

Dragonair and Zweilous dove down towards the gang... which was dumb on Zweilous's part because the dragons type could not fly. I dove right for them as well as Rainbow Dash. 'Ughh... we're not gonna catch them!"

Zweilous and Dragonair gained speed and suddenly began glowing and changing shape again. "Are they...?" Rainbow asked.

"They're evolving?!" I exclaimed.

The two pokemon roared loudly now in their final evolutions. "Dragonite and Hydregion!" I exclaimed.

Dragonaite: a draconic, bipedal Pokémon with light orange skin. It has large, grayish-green eyes and a round snout with small nostrils. A pair of long, thin antennae sprout from the top of its head with a small horn set between them. Its striated underbelly is cream-colored and extends from its neck to the tip of its long, tapering tail. It has thick arms and legs ending in three claws each. The leg joints are well defined, while its arms have a smooth, rounded appearance. Dragonite's wings are small relative to its body with teal wing membranes.

Hydregion: a three-headed, draconic Pokémon with six thin, black wings that each end in two points on its back. It has a fuchsia-colored collar on its neck which surrounds its head. The main head is dark blue and has black eyes with fuchsia pupils. Its two hands are also black and each one harbors a head; these are similarly blue with black eyes with small fuchsia collars on the inside. Its abdomen has two fuchsia stripes and its feet appear atrophied, having no claws or defined soles and two or three small toes. Its tail also sports a fuchsia stripe and ends with a black tuft.

The two dragon pokemon dove at the speed of light. Dragonaite caught Twilight, Jamie and Rarity while Hydreigon caught Jack, Mason, Carrie with it's three heads and Ren, Kaede and Nicole on it's back. The only ones left were Pinkie and Rantaro. Me and Rainbow dove right for them and the air pressure threatened to pushed us both back, but my body started glowing and in an instant, I zoomed towards Pinkie and Rantaro and before they hit the ground, hit snatched them up and flew them back to Wonderbolts Academy. Hydreigon and Dragonaite landed as well as me. Hydreigon released Jack, Mason and Carrie while the others hopped off of it's back. I came up and despoited Pinkie and Rantaro. "Are you all okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, we're good." Jamie panted.

"That's awesome, you both evolved." Jack commented, seeing his new Hydreigon.

"Hydreigon."

"Barr." Dragonite nuzzled me. That's when Lightning Dust and the other cadets came up. . "That... was... awesome!" Lightning Dust said.

"Awesome? My friends could have been smashed to pieces!" Rainbow Dash scolded.

Every one of the cadets was now looking at Lightning Dust with irritated eyes.

"Yeah, but they weren't, right? Can't say the same for the clouds. We totally wiped them out with that tornado. The other cadets will have to be up there for days to bust as many as we did." After that statement, she held out a hoof towards me as I formed narrowed irritated eyes.

"A hoof bump? Seriously?" I placed my hand on top of hers and pushed it away. "You made Rainbow clip her wing. You sent half of the class into serious tail spins on the obstacle course. You unleashed a tornado that nearly demolished my family!"

"Yeah, and?" She asked, making a gesture and facial expression that reminded me a lot of Starlight.

"And I get that you want to be the best. So do I! But you're going about it in the wrong way." I scolded. "I didn't become who I was because I was reckless. I became who I was because I pushed myself as hard I could. And if being reckless is what gets rewarded around here then I don't want any part of it."

"What are you saying, Princess?" Lightning snarled.

"I'm saying... I quit!" I declared. Everyone gasped in shock as I spread my wings and shot into the air flying back to Ponyville with Dragonite following close behind me.

---

I spent the rest of that day in my castle, grooming my new dragon pokemon. Lycanroc, Lucario and Ampharos were proud of Dragonite. He wasn't the baby Dratini they helped me raised anymore. Now he was a proud Dragonite.

Knock Knock Knock

Huh? Wonder who could that be? I went over to the door and opened it to see all my friends. "Hey Sarah, are you okay?" Ren asked with a worried tone.

"I'm alright." I reassured with a smile.

"Sarah?" I saw Derpy coming up to me. "Hi Derpy, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. That was really brave of you... to say those things to Lightning Dust."

"Well.. someone had to open her eyes." I said with a smile.

"Sarah Gem!" a voice called. We all looked and saw Spitfire along with two assistant ponies trotting over. I walked down the stairs and approached them. "How dare you storm off of the academy without giving me a chance to respond!

The Wonderbolts are looking for the best flyers in Equestria, but you were right. Being the best should never come at the expense of our fellow ponies. It's not just about pushing ourselves. It's about pushing ourselves in the right direction. You've shown that you're capable of doing just that." She looked back, facing the two assistants that were holding Lightning Dust for some reason. Spitfire glared at Lightning Dust angrily and ripped the badge off of her uniform. She then pointed her other hoof towards the other direction, signaling her to leave as the assistants escorted her out. She only walked away gloomily as she lowered her head. She glanced back for a moment and then continued on. Even if Lightning Dust did something completely inappropriate, I still didn't feel like the result for her was right… "You've shown your a true leader."

"OhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmy goshOhmygosh!" Rainbow flapped her wings excitedly.

"So what do ya say, Princess? You willin to stay with us for a while longer?" She asked, holding the gold badge out to me.

I glanced at Derpy, noticing how she returned a surprised expression that was just waiting to be bombarded with happiness. I looked at ground and then at Spitfire. "I suppose I could stay here for the remainder of the week." As expected, Derpy instantly beamed with happiness, grinning widely. Spitfire placed on her shades. "Now all of you, get out there and give me twenty!" She shouted out.

"Yes ma'am!" Rainbow Dash, Derpy and I exclaimed. Afterwards, we rose up and joined the other cadets, who were waiting on what the outcome was going to be. Despite the conflict, each of us left to take on Spitfire's orders.

"Wait! You didn't even get to open your care package!" I could hear Pinkie exclaim behind us. Oh Pinkie Pie.