The Wonderbolt Academy's New Volunteers

by Jay Watson

Ch.5 Wonderbolt Trials pt.2

Gallus had finally gotten comfortable enough with the rather thinly-padded bunk he was attempting to fall asleep on, finally feeling his body relax and begin to drift off to sleep when all of a sudden…

Click. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! “Reveille! Reveille! Quit your whinin’ and let’s get flyin’! Roll call will commence in two minutes, newbies!” The bright overhead light flashed on as a stallion’s voice shouted to all inside the small barracks, noisily clattering a baton inside the metal garbage can sitting by the door while a loud obnoxious horn player somewhere outside repeatedly played the same loud obnoxious melody over and over. The noise and yelling shocked them all awake for the most part. Gallus bolted upright in his bed, yelping in surprise at the noise and shouting.

“C’mon, Gallus, time to get up!” Silverstream was already getting her uniform on and her mane brushed out as he sat there dumbfounded.

“What in Equestria…” He looked out the bare window near his bunk; the thinnest sliver of yellow light from the sun was coming up over the horizon to greet his eyes. Something was wrong. “What time is it?”

“It’s oh-five-hundred.” Firebolt tugged her uniform into place, getting ready for roll call. “You’d better get dressed quick.” She, too, was getting her mane brushed into shape. “What are you waiting for, Gallus?” She saw him sitting up in bed and not moving.

“The sun’s not even up yet! This is crazy! Why in Tartarus do we have to get up so early?” Gallus wasn’t moving fast enough so Silverstream had to almost drag his sleepy carcass out of his bunk and help him get dressed. They barely had more than a minute or so left.

“Because that’s the time Wonderbolt Academy recruits get up for training; your day starts the same time as Princess Celestia’s day does. Get it?” Firebolt was already getting the door open so she and Solar Flare could join the others, a little confused by his cluelessness.

“This is part of being at the tryouts, Gallus. Isn’t it exciting?” Silverstream helped him on with his uniform as best she could. She didn’t want to be late to roll call on the first morning. Gallus could barely stand on his legs, getting virtually zero sleep on the minimal bed that was his to rest on while he was here. He couldn’t understand how Silverstream could be so upbeat this early in the morning. It was still dark outside! She managed to get him dressed and out the door, getting into line just as two of the Wonderbolts came to take a headcount.

“Atten-tion!” The two Wonderbolts ordered and eleven of the twelve recruits snapped to attention. Gallus was having trouble staying upright, wobbling on his tired legs.

“What’s his problem?” One of the Wonderbolt instructors was approaching Gallus, who was still almost asleep on his paws, his eyes nearly closed. Silverstream sneakily gave his feline paw a swift stomp from her pony hoof.

“Ow!” The pain shot up his foot and into his brain, shocking him awake.

“Nothing, sir. He’s just not used to the early morning time up, sir.” Silverstream’s ‘assistance’ was enough to snap Gallus out of his sleepy haze. He had the decency to look embarrassed in front of the other recruits, glancing around and seeing them staring back, mocking grins on their faces.

“Best shake that morning sand out of your eyes, newbie. Your day’s just starting,” the instructor warned him. Gallus didn’t know which Wonderbolt was which but it didn’t matter. He could see Wind Raider laughing to himself.

Another bugle call sounded as the two instructors completed the head count and Commander Spitfire stepped forward to address the recruits.

“All recruits present and accounted for, ma’am.” the Wonderbolt mare reported. Her C.O. gave a nod in acknowledgement. Spitfire looked up at the assembled ponies once more.

“At ease, newbies. After chowtime this morning, you will find the training sessions listed as well as the duty roster of instructors assigned to each posted on the main bulletin board by the activities field. Your first tests today will be for flight strength and endurance. Without these two foundation points, no flyer can hope to become a Wonderbolt. You will have to push yourselves like never before in order to achieve this goal. Failure to do so will lead to being cut from the tryouts. Do you newbies understand?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Two dozen voices sounded off in unison, music to Spitfire’s ears. These recruits were learning fast how to respond to their commanding officer.

“There will be other training sessions posted as the day progresses and some of you are cut from the program. Protests against cuts must be submitted in writing no later than fourteen-hundred hours today. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Spitfire nodded at them, satisfied.

“Dismissed.” The recruits could relax. The two inspecting Wonderbolts spoke quietly with the C.O. as the recruits mingled for a few minutes.

“You’d better get into the routine, Gallus. This is the first full day of tryouts and it’s only going to get harder from here on out,” Firebolt warned her friend, seeing this griffon was not apparently enlightened about military life.

“I didn’t get any sleep. How any of you are actually so alert after sleeping on those awful beds is beyond me.” Gallus rubbed his eyes again, unaccustomed to being awake so early in the morning.

“You’ll feel more awake once you have a hot meal and some coffee in you. That’ll get your feathers aligned right.” Solar Flare was psyched for today. He had his chance to do what no pony else in his family had; get accepted into the academy.

A bugle call sounded yet again, alerting the recruits to the next phase of the day. Gallus looked all around them, trying to spot where this mysterious horn player was. Firebolt pointed up at the public address horns affixed to the top of several light poles nearby. Gallus blushed a bit.

“Oh, I didn’t know…"

“You really thought there was an actual bugle player?” Firebolt couldn’t help but laugh a little bit at his naïveté.

“Awesome, it’s breakfast time!” Gallus hadn’t expected Silverstream to know what the daily routine was like for the recruits at tryouts.

“How do you know that by the sound of a horn?”

“Isn’t it’s obvious? She came prepared.” Solar Flare gently tweaked Gallus.

“I learned all about the various bugle calls and what they mean from a book that Professor Dash recommended after she was through teaching us about the Wonderbolts in class. It was so interesting. I read it three times.” Gallus suddenly felt rather uninformed.

“Let’s get moving. I’m hungry enough to eat my uniform!” Firebolt pulled at Silverstream’s foreleg, urging her friends to follow after her and the others who were heading for the mess hall.

Waiting to greet the recruits early this morning in the mess hall were members of their families, getting to spend a quick meal with them and wish them luck on their trials today. It was a happy, busy and noisy place as parents and siblings got in a final visit before the recruits were off for the day. They would not be able to visit again until the last day of tryouts.
With plates filled with fluffy waffles and fruit toppings, the foursome found a table big enough for them to sit at. Both Nightflight and Brightstar joined them, along with their families. The parents sitting in for this meal were surprised to find a griffon and a hippogriff here for the tryouts. But when Gallus mentioned that he and Silverstream were students from the School of Friendship, they became more intrigued. One recruit’s little brother sat near to Silverstream, his eyes focused on her, smiling broadly. She took his staring in stride, aware of his innocence to her kind’s existence.

“Can you really turn into a seapony?” The little cyan blue colt asked, almost beside himself with delight at getting to sit near to an actual hippogriff.

“Sure can! This,” Silverstream pointed to the Sea Pearl fragment hanging on the necklace around her neck, “helps me transform between being a hippogriff and a seapony. It was a gift from my aunt.” His eyes widened in awe.

“So cool!” He said in soft whisper, enamored with her seemingly magical presence. She found it endearing.

“So, Silverstream, how do you like being here at the academy? It must be quite different from what you’re used to at Mount Aris or at Princess Twilight’s school.”

Brightstar sat opposite Silverstream and Gallus at the table, finally getting a chance to talk with them and find out about the school they went to. It was her mom sitting just to her left who had asked the question.

“It sure is, but nothing’s ever been more exciting than being able to participate in this. Gallus and I have Professor Dash to thank for this opportunity. She really is an awesome teacher at Princess Twilight’s school.” Silverstream beamed. Her pride of being at Twilight’s school as well as her enthusiasm for participating were unmistakable.

“Professor Dash?” Brightstar’s mom seemed to not know whom she was talking about for a moment, then made the connection. “You mean Rainbow Dash?”

Silverstream and Gallus nodded. “She believed it would be a great experience for us to see and try what pegasus ponies have to do to be accepted here, being that we’re both flyers as well. It’s been pretty eye-opening, quite honestly. A lot harder then I’d imagined after only reading about it a textbook.” Gallus hadn’t taken seriously just how tough it might be to actually try, and he already had a growing respect for the ponies who took up this challenge.

“Hey, were you there in Canterlot fighting the Storm King and his goons along with Princess Twilight? I heard that Queen Novo and her army of hippogriffs came to help out,” Nightflight’s little brother butted in, wanting to participate in the conversation. This just brought on a slew of other questions about what she and other hippogriffs must have been through in the epic battle.

“What’s Griffonstone like?” A small pink-colored pegasus filly sitting across from Gallus asked, never having seen a griffon before and wondering about where they came from.

“Why did the Storm King attack the hippogriffs at Mount Aris?” Another small colt sitting a few seats down next to Solar Flare tried to get Silverstream’s attention.

“Don’t fight it; ride the popularity wave for a while. You’ve got a good thing going here,” Gallus roughly whispered in her ear as some of their fellow recruits asked her questions as well as the guests, all curious about her and her kind.

Silverstream did her best to field the questions while she ate her breakfast. Firebolt and Solar Flare seemed amused by her new-found stardom among the family and friends of the recruits who’d never met a hippogriff before.

Gallus, too, had some admirers sitting with them, asking him simple inquisitive questions about griffons and what it was like living in Griffonstone. Despite his normal reclusive nature, Gallus actually found himself enjoying the opportunity to talk about his homeland with these ponies. They didn’t seem to regard him as any different then themselves; they could fly and Gallus could fly. For the youngsters with their youthful innocence, that was all that mattered. One of them even said they wanted to visit Griffonstone and meet more griffons, assuming they all must be as friendly as Gallus.

Again, the sound of a bugle call filled the early morning air to alert the recruits to their next duty.

“That’s the call to Drill! We’d better get going!” Silverstream was the first up and out for her seat, anxious to get the day started.

“Drill call? But, that wasn’t the same as the first. How’d you know what that was for or what call is for what?” Gallus was again surprised by Silverstream’s knowledge of academy training protocol. Firebolt had to remind him once more.

“She studied it, remember?” The flame-maned Pegasus was impressed by his flying skills but not so impressed with his lack of most the basic knowledge about Wonderbolt Academy workings.

Last hugs, kisses and well wishes were given to the recruits as they headed out of the mess hall in response to the bugle call. None of them would see their families again until the last day of tryouts. The two dozen flyers filed out and headed for the bulletin board by the field where the lists would be posted.

“Where are we on the list?” Firebolt couldn’t get in close enough to see past the cluster of bodies. Silverstream hopped up and down, trying to see over the others who huddled around the postings.

“Can’t tell; we’ll just wait a minute or two, then we’ll see.” Silverstream waited on tenterhooks to find out what the first session was going to be. The foursome moved in to see as others moved back.

“Okay, let’s see now…” Firebolt and her friends scoured the lists, reading off what training sessions were planned for the first day, and their instructors. “Here, right here.” She pointed with her wing to them. “It says our first session is for Wind Resistance training.”

“Who’s going to be instructing the session?” Solar Flare walked up from behind, seeing his new hippogriff and griffon friends now peering at the multiple lists tacked up on the board. “Check the duty roster.”

“Looks like-”

“It’s going to be me!” A voice behind them announced. The four of them quickly turned about to see a familiar mare’s face grinning at them. Silverstream and Gallus were glad to see her again.

“Professor Dash, you’re our instructor today?” Silverstream was elated by this; it was going to be like being in gym class back at school.

“Sure am. How’d you guys like your sleeping arrangements? You four rested up enough for today?” Dash watched Gallus take another big yawn, showing he was still not fully awake.

“It was an amazing coincidence. We just happened to get assigned the same barracks together.” Firebolt was pleased for the small good fortune that had come their way. Not having to deal with bunkmates with whom one did not get along made it much easier to focus on the tryouts.

“Yeah, a pretty amazing coincidence, I’d say.” Dash’s teasing tone and squint-eyed expression led the foursome to a conclusion they hadn’t expected.

“Professor Dash, did you get us assigned to the same barracks?” Silverstream only made the obvious that much more obvious by stating it.

“Meh, I might have pulled a few strings here or there. It was nothing special, really. Just called in a favor or two from my teammates, that’s all.” But Dash couldn’t help but smile. Seeing how Solar Flare and Firebolt had become friends with her two students, it was important for Rainbow Dash to make sure her recruits were taken care of, so that included Firebolt now as well. Dash almost considered Firebolt to be her fourth recruit, approving of the camaraderie that was growing between the four of them.

“Well, let’s get started! I can’t wait to try everything there is to do!” Silverstream pranced in place a little, bubbling over with excitement.

“You four meet me over there by the wind generator in five minutes; I’ve got to get my clipboard and stopwatch for this.” Dash pointed over to the large machine that sat at one end of the field with a few other recruits standing nearby.

“Yes, ma’am.” Silverstream gave a proper salute to her instructor. She and her bunkmates all headed over to the Wind Generator, spotting some familiar faces in the group.

“Hey, hey! You guys are doing the wind resistance training first too? This is going to be great!” Nightflight ran right over to them, glad they and Brightstar were there with him too.

“Oh no, not him again?” Gallus groaned, spotting Wind Raider and a couple of his cohorts standing apart from the group and eyeing Silverstream and Gallus suspiciously. Nightflight noticed them as well.

“Oh, don’t let that blowhard put you in a foul mood. He’s just a bitter pony, so let him be miserable on his own. We’re here with you and that’s all that counts.” Nightflight wanted his new griffon friend to know that he had his back.

After only a few minutes’ chit-chat, Rainbow Dash approached and blew her whistle, getting the recruits’ attention.

“Alright newbies, fall in!” The dozen flyers all came in close to listen to her instructions. “Today’s first training session is Wind Resistance and Endurance. Each one of you will have to fly against the force of the generator’s wind for at least thirty seconds and maintain your flight position relevant to the machine while doing so. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, ma’am!” They shouted back in unison.

“Who wants to go first today?” Dash tried to encourage them, not wanting them to feel intimidated like they were by the Dizzatron. Gallus raised his foreleg.

“I will.” The griffon boldly stepped forth from the pack of pony flyers to stand in front of the machine. Gallus could see the giant fan blades behind the machine’s safety screen; it was enormous. Dash fluttered up to the control panel at the top of the machine, carefully carrying the flask that held the magical formula for powering the machine.

“Ready?” Gallus lowered the goggles over his eyes and started hovering in one spot as he flapped his wings.

“Ready!”

Dash activated the machine by administering a small portion of the wind formula into the fill port. Slowly the blades began to turn, the machine building up pressure and rapidly producing a steady thrust of wind. Several of the recruits actually backed away, not having expected such a powerful gale.

Gallus was doing very well for the first few seconds, maintaining his position and flying steadily. Rainbow Dash added more of the concentrate to the machine and the wind force more than doubled in strength.

“Here it comes!” she yelled over the roar of wind, seeing Gallus now struggling to stay aloft and fly steadily. He weaved up and down in the wind, trying to ride something of a steady current and pump his wings to keep stable. It was a struggle to reach the thirty second mark. Gallus found himself out of breath from having to use his wings so hard once he was standing back on the ground.

“So…” he panted, “…how did I do?” He tried catching his breath, watching Rainbow Dash scribble some notes on her clipboard of papers.

“Not bad; not great but not bad for the first time.” Dash was lean with her compliments, trying to show impartiality to the recruits. “Okay, who’s next?”

Gallus returned to stand with his friends in the line and recover for the next turn, all of them complimenting him on his first try. Four more ponies went before the wind making machine; three of them were not able to withstand the force and ended up being blown back and caught in the safety net set up behind them. Dash knew to expect this. As their instructor, she couldn’t take it easy on any of them, administering equal amounts of magic formula to the machine to produce powerful bursts of wind for them to fly against.

“Who’s next?” Dash called out and Silverstream stepped up.

“I’ll go next.” She stepped up closer to the machine, ready for the challenge. She slipped the goggles down over her eyes and began to hover in place with some quick flaps of her wings.

“Get ready, get set,” Dash dispensed the fluid into the port to activate the wind machine and could already hear the whine of its motor being to turn and spin faster.

“Go!” she commanded. Silverstream rapidly made headway against the thrust of wind, flying steadily against it. Her friends all began shouting words of encouragement. Out of the corner of one eye, she spotted Wind Raider standing close to the fan’s outlet and staring up at her with a most menacing look on his face.

“Give it up, freak! You don’t belong here at the academy! You don’t have what it takes to be a Wonderbolt! All you hippogriffs are nothing but cowards and weaklings! Why don’t you just go back to where you came from?”

Silverstream tried to block out the torrent of hatred being spewed at her, unwilling to let it throw off her determination. Another pony came to stand beside Wind Raider as he, too, shouted angry words.

“Get lost, half-breed! You were so lucky to even to get to set hoof on these grounds, never mind trying out. No pony wants you around here!”

Rainbow Dash added the last amount of wind fluid to the machine and the force of wind went up again. Momentarily distracted by the shouting, Silverstream did not hear Rainbow Dash’s warning of the increase and she found herself being pushed back. She struggled to stay aloft but couldn’t and was blown backwards out of the air. Silverstream tumbled along on the ground, unhurt but embarrassed for having not done as well as she had wanted. Wind Raider, his sidekick and a few other flyers openly laughed at her.

“Nice going, loser! Do it again; wiping out is obviously what you’re best at!” Wind Raider mocked, enjoying himself at Silverstream’s expense. She put on a brave face but it was hard when others were laughing at her poor performance. Her unhappy expression infuriated Gallus, who went right over to Wind Raider and got in his face.

“What’s your problem, dude? I don’t like hearing anycreature making fun of my friend, especially some loud-mouthed punk who doesn’t know better!” Gallus made sure to keep his tone low but lethal, making sure Wind Raider alone heard him. But Wind Raider was not intimidated by Gallus.

“Out of the way, griffon. I’ll show you how this is done!” Wind Raider boasted as he stepped up to the machine. Rainbow Dash watched as Wind Raider stretched himself in preparation. He nodded to her when he was ready.

“All set?” She held the bottle of wind serum aloft, tipping it to one side and about to pour some in.

“Sock it to me!” Wind Raider demanded as he got airborne in front of the machine, eager to prove himself the better flyer. Dash poured in the first amount of fluid and the machine began to whirl the prop blades housed within it. Wind Raider was smooth and steady, barely even trying at this level of wind.

“Get ready!” Dash warned, pouring in the remaining amount and making the machine’s output stronger. But Wind Raider was flawless in his run. Not only staying airborne but actually flying in closer to the fan. In spite of the tremendous force, he made it look incredibly easy. His powerful wing muscles kept him steady and sure in the wind, easily reaching the required time.

Once more on the ground, several of the other pegasus flyers crowded around him, congratulating him for the great performance. Firebolt and her friends, despite Wind Raider’s disgusting attitude towards Gallus and Silverstream, had to begrudgingly admit that Wind Raider was pretty good at this. He set the bar for the rest to measure against. Rainbow Dash, too, could tell he was a really strong flyer and had set a strong precedent for the rest to reach for.

“Well done. Next flyer up!” Dash scribbled down the score on her chart, noting that Wind Raider was the only pony to do this well so far. Seeing Wind Raider gloating about how great he was and the sycophants who echoed his sentiments only made Firebolt mad. She despised braggarts and loudmouths like him. She would make him eat those self-glorifying words.

She stepped right up to the machine, looking up at Rainbow Dash. “I’ll go next, ma’am.” She flexed her wings a few times.

“All set?” Dash again had the small flask of formula poised and ready to pour into the port.

“Let’s go for it!” She was pumped and ready for this. Dash poured in the formula again and once more, the machine whirled to life. Firebolt got a jump on the machine’s output of wind, flying right up close to the machine. She was just as smooth and steady as Wind Raider, flapping her wings and flying at a steady level off the ground.

“Adding more now!” Dash yelled out over the noise of rushing wind. But Firebolt was ready and pumped her wings furiously. She was rock-solid, impressing her friends and instructor as well as silencing Wind Raider and his sidekick as she maintained perfect balance in flight. She easily reached the time requirement, as Wind Raider had, showing the big-mouth just who was the best here. Her friends cheered loudly for her great performance and she received many pats on her back and congratulatory wing slaps.

“Try to top that!” she dared the naysayers, glaring back to see who had the guts to follow after her. The one pony who had been yelling at Silverstream along with Wind Raider timidly walked up to the machine, obviously uncertain about having to put his wings where his mouth was.

“C’mon, Stormbringer, you can do better than her! Show these nobodies how it’s done!” Wind Raider shouted out. But Stormbringer was not nearly as confident as Wind Raider or Firebolt had been. Firebolt had upped the ante and the nervous lump in his throat was proving difficult to swallow.

“All set?” Rainbow Dash checked on the next flyer as she got the flask ready and in position to pour the formula in.

“Yes ma’am.” Stormbringer got himself off the ground and hovered in place, ready to go. The others waited and watched to see how well this pony would do. Dash poured in the first amount of formula and the machine’s blades began to turn. Stormbringer flapped as hard as he could, trying to stay up in the air. The cheers and jeers grew more intense as Stormbringer tried to keep pace with the wind pushing against him.

He wasn’t at all steady, bobbing up and down in the wind as he desperately tried to fly level. He was holding up okay until Rainbow Dash added the second portion of the formula to the machine. The force of wind was like nothing Stormbringer had ever flown in and he was sent flying backwards hard enough to miss the safety net, hitting the ground about twenty yards away with a hard thud that knocked the breath from him. Now it was Gallus’ turn to mock.

“Ha ha! Nice flying there, chump!” He felt that if Wind Raider and his little stooge could dish it out, they should have to take it. But Firebolt stopped him, giving Gallus a small disapproving shake of her head.

“Don’t stoop to their level; be the bigger flyer,” she whispered quietly.

Both Nightflight and Wind Raider went to check on Stormbringer, seeing him still laying on the ground and trying to catch his breath. “You okay?” Nightflight helped him to his hooves, as he was still gasping for air. Stormbringer was clearly embarrassed, slinking past Silverstream and Gallus, avoiding their eyes. Gallus still laughed softly to himself as Stormbringer plodded past with his head bowed low.

“Good effort. You’ll do better on the next try, I’m sure.” Silverstream said, not wanting to create more animosity amongst her fellow recruits. Gallus shot her a rather annoyed look, hearing her trying to ‘make nice’ with a pony who cobviously didn’t like either of them. But Silverstream would do Professor Fluttershy proud by showing kindness to anypony who didn’t understand or know anything about her or her kind.

Both Nightflight and Brightstar went up against the machine but Nightflight, too, could not withstand the gale force and got blown out of the air and sent into the safety net. His friends would not let him feel bad, telling him he’d get it done on the next try. Brightstar did well, staying aloft for the whole time and making a good show for herself.

Last up was Solar Flare. He had been the quietest of all the recruits, clapping his hooves for those who did well and offering support for those who didn’t. He preferred keeping a low profile and would let his flying do the talking for him. He got into position in front of the machine and flexed his wings a few times in preparation. Dash had the last amount of formula ready.

“All set?” Dash watched him get airborne and hover right in front of the wind generator’s outlet.

“Ma’am, I’d like the full force of the machine for the whole duration.” His request shocked some of his fellow flyers. Dash raised an eyebrow.

“You sure you want to do that?”

Solar Flare lowered the goggles over his eyes, psyched up. “Yes ma’am. I’m ready for it.”

Dash shrugged. “Get ready, get set.” She watched as Solar Flare got off the ground and hovered in front of the generator, waiting.

“Go!” Dash dumped all of the mixture into the port and the machine jumped into high speed almost instantly. Solar Flare flew as hard as he could, pushing himself to his limits and actually moving in closer to the machine’s outlet, striking the metal grating with his front hooves several times. The wind was so strong that close to the machine’s opening that it blew the goggles he wore clear off his head, but that didn’t stop him. With his eyes shut tight against the wind, he endured the duration of time and showed himself to be the best of the group.

Firebolt and the others all cheered his amazing performance against the machine. Passing by Wind Raider and his sidekick Stormbringer on his way to rejoin his friends, Solar Flare stopped to look them up and down, as if he was evaluating their worth.

“Feh!” The disdain for them both dripped from the monosyllabic word, as if saying anything more was beneath him. Dash tried not to smile as all of her trainees had stayed aloft and passed the first test.

“All of you did pretty well for the most part but this was only the first round. Now you will have to fly against the machine’s wind at full output for at least two minutes.” She scribbled some notes on the sheets of paper, double-checking the formula for the second go-round. Several recruits were confused by the statement, thinking this was all they had to do.

“Wait, what? Again? We have to do this again?” Gallus wasn’t sure if he’d heard the instructor correctly. Even the other recruits seemed stunned by Rainbow Dash’s comment.

“Of course. You didn’t think it was going to be over just like that, did you? As a Wonderbolt cadet, you have to be ready to fly in all sorts of weather and wind conditions, and not just on sunny days.” Dash seemed a little amused by their stunned expressions. A couple of them groaned at the thought of being put through the machine’s wind again.

“This time, those who did not stay up in the air during the first run have to go first. Nightflight, you’re up.” Dash ordered.

“C’mon, Nightflight, you can do it!” Silverstream patted his back with her wing as she cheered him on, wanting him to succeed and move forward with the trials.

“Just keep your wing angle steady and you’ll get through it. Trust me. You can do it,” Firebolt whispered in his ear as he stepped up. He tried to give them a confident smile but felt maybe this might be too much to ask of him. He loved flying but this was tough for him to do. He got in front of the wind generator, flapping his wings to get airborne.

“All set, Nightflight?” Dash held the small flask of super concentrate over the port of the machine, ready to administer it.
He took a deep breath and readied himself.

Nightflight snapped the goggles down over his eyes. “Yes, ma’am!”

Dash added the formula and the machine kicked into high gear, producing a wind force much stronger than the first time he tried. Firebolt and the others took a few steps back, wanting to get out of the way should Nightflight lose control and veer off and crash into one of them. His friends watched as he poured all his strength into this attempt, not wanting to be eliminated. His compatriots cheered loudly for him, whooping and yelping for him to go the distance. Nightflight had never felt such strain on his muscles before, the wind howling in his ears as he desperately hung on and trying to keep his wing angle steady as Firebolt had told him. It was the longest two minutes of his life.

“Time!” Dash yelled out as the machine’s wind died down and he felt the pressure decrease enough so he could finally land. Nightflight collapsed to his knees, panting hard and dizzy from the heavy exertion. Firebolt and Silverstream were right there by his side to help him up.

“You did it! You did it! I knew you could do it! You were awesome!” Silverstream was jubilant for him. This meant he would go on to the next round of trials. Nightflight, exhausted, still managed to smile at his friends as they helped him back to where they and the other recruits stood watching.

“You were right, Firebolt. All I had to do was keep my wing angle stable and I got through it. How’d you know to do that?” He leaned against Solar Flare for support, recuperating.

“Oh, it’s just a little something I picked up from listening to other great Wonderbolt flyers. Stick with me, pal, and you’ll be a Wonderbolt too!” Firebolt was pleased to have another pony as part their group; strength and support in numbers was key to success at the trials.

“Stormbringer, you’re up.” Dash scribbled some more notes on her paperwork as Wind Raider’s lackey stepped up in front of the machine again. This was going to be even harder then the last time and going after Nightflight’s good run only made it seem that much more impossible to do.

“Get ready.” Dash had another amount of formula ready to pour in. Stormbringer got in the air and hovered in front of the machine’s outlet, waiting for the signal. “Go!” Dash shouted as the machine again came to life.

Stormbringer gritted his teeth as he struggled against the ferocious wind, unable to keep steady against such an intense force. He was being pushed back, his strength withering away by the second under the unbelievable pressure.

“Ar-r-r-gh!” Stormbringer cried, not sure how much more he could take. Every flap of his wings took an unimaginable amount of strength to do.

“Time!” Dash yelled out, finally ending this grueling attempt for Stormbringer. Stormbringer could at last stop, drifting off to one side and landing on his hooves but instantly collapsing in a heap on the ground, wheezing and gasping for breath. Both Nightflight and Solar Flare came to his side to help him up.

“You did good, going the distance like that.” Solar Flare pulled Stormbringer up to his hooves, steadying him after such intensity of flight. Nightflight steered him over to their little band of recruits, wanting to show him friendship.

“You were great up there! We knew you could do it!” Silverstream saw how he was so hesitant to look at her, after he had said such awful things to her, and now here she was extending an olive branch in a display of friendship. Even Gallus was a bit surprised by the way Silverstream acted towards him. For a fleeting moment, Silverstream had thought she might have won him over but her hopes were soon scuttled.

“Hey, Storm, what are you doing?” Wind Raider yelled at him, seeing Stormbringer being corralled towards the two ‘outsiders’ and the other pegasus ponies who were with them. Silverstream saw the flash of conflict in his eyes for a split second when he chanced to look up at her; torn between wanting to make new friends with these strangers and feeling like he was abandoning others like him. Quickly, he pulled away from them, returning to stand with Wind Raider and the others who had been standing apart from them in a separate group. Silverstream’s heart fell at the thought of failing to make a friend of Stormbringer.

“Forget it, Silver. You’re never going to convince those types to like or accept us here. You’d best get used to that fact.” Gallus didn’t like to rain on his friend’s parade, but it was the truth. She wasn’t going to win them over anytime soon.

“I… I thought I could.” She spoke in a small quiet voice, only her friends near her hearing her answer.

“Next flyer up.” Rainbow Dash continued to make more notes in her paperwork about their performances as well as their attitudes on display towards each other as well. Silverstream stepped forward. The hippogriff slipped the goggles over her eyes again, flapping her wings to get aloft.

“You ready?” Dash had the formula ready to dispense. Silverstream only nodded in reply. “Go!” Dash yelled and Silverstream took off like a bolt of lightning, flying with ferocious tenacity, pushing herself much harder this time and getting closer to the machine’s outlet. At one side of the machine stood her friends, all cheering and pushing her on to succeed while on the other side, Wind Raider and Stormbringer stood by and taunted her again.

“Give it up, half-breed! You’ve got no chance to pass the trials! Just get lost and don’t show that ugly face of yours around here again!” Wind Raider yelled at her over the roar of wind. But Stormbringer, standing slightly behind his friend, said nothing and only watched like the other recruits. Seeing and hearing Wind Raider’s jeering only made Silverstream madder and she pushed on like never before. She, much like Solar Flare, reached the protective grating of the machine that kept anything getting too close to the fan blades. Silverstream repeatedly banged on the metal grating, looking right at Wind Raider with such intense fire in her eyes that he actually stopped taunting her. She was doing better than he had on her second try and she was still banging on the grating with her balled-up talons, like fists, when the time ended.

“Time!” Rainbow Dash announced to them and the wind from the machine lessened and stopped at last. All the while, Silverstream had been looking right into Wind Raider’s eyes, silently telling him she did not like him and was not afraid of him. She landed on the ground again, panting hard but now surrounded by her friends who hooted and hollered at her awesome job.

“You were spectacular!” Gallus gave her a high-low slap of wing, thrilled by how well she flew.

“That was absolutely blistering!” Firebolt hugged her, amazed by her strength to maintain such strong and steady flight. Nightflight was speechless. He’d thought Solar Flare’s run to be super impressive. But Silverstream’s was just awe inspiring.

“Honestly, I’m impressed and I don’t impress easily, Silverstream. Great going.” Solar Flare was no fool, he recognized exceptional ability when he saw it. He was grinning and nodding in approval of perhaps witnessing history in the making.

Even Wind Raider and Stormbringer were stunned silent, as were the last three flyers yet to go. As much it was a total confidence booster to her, it was just as much of a psych out for the other flyers who had yet to redeem themselves. Three more of the recruits went before the machine, trying to keep in the air as they flew but they could not go the distance and were blown back into the safety net from the intense wind. The last remaining recruit, a mare named Moonlight, had just managed to hang on for her second run but she suddenly gave a sharp yelp and fell to the ground with a hard thwack. Firebolt and Solar Flare ran over to help, seeing her lying ground and moaning from the pain.

“It’s broken! It’s broken! I broke my wing!” Moonlight cried as she cradled her injured extremity, fearing the worst. Rainbow Dash jumped down from on top of the machine to take a closer look at Moonlight’s injured wing. Firebolt helped get Moonlight on her hooves and over to their approaching instructor.

“I broke my wing! I can’t fly now!” Moonlight whimpered, flinching and twitching her left wing as Dash touched and moved the wing gingerly up and down, left and right, checking for a broken bone.

“Owwww! It hurts! It hurts!” she cried aloud, the motion in one particular direction now causing her to give voice. It was as Rainbow Dash thought.

“No, you didn’t break it but you probably pulled a muscle or two pretty badly or possibly sprained them. We’d best get you to the infirmary and have it checked out.” Dash had given herself a similar injury not too long ago and remembered well how it hurt.

“I’ll take her to the infirmary. I know where it is.” Solar Flare stepped forward to help, feeling bad for a fellow pony who had given their all to the point of self-injury from pushing their limits of endurance. She leaned on him as they walked off the field and towards the barracks and the main building of the academy.

“Alright everypony, emergency’s over. Let’s get back to it.” Rainbow Dash had to keep the trial moving along, she had a timetable to keep. There was plenty more to do today and they were barely through the first trial.

All of those who had passed the first round of resistance training did so for the second round as well, getting through the two-minute minimum and staying airborne. Only Gallus struggled at going the distance, almost getting blown away but managing to recover and stay in the air for the duration. Rainbow Dash wrote down the results from the tests, marking those who should go on with her green pen and those who might not make the cut in red. She didn’t like seeing potential flyers getting cut so soon but this was not her choice. She had to follow protocol and evaluate their performances honestly, not letting personal feelings cloud her judgement.

The ten of them stood by and waited for their instructor to inform them what was next. “Alright, gather around and listen up.” She jumped down again from the top of the machine to address the recruits huddled together on the field.

“Most of you did adequately for this first test, but some of you,” she took a wide sweeping look at the recruits around her, “had better shape up for the next training session if you don’t want to be cut.”

Silverstream and her companions all understood what they were being expected to do and none of them was looking forward to getting cut form the trials for slacking off on effort. This first trial was only the tip of the iceberg and all of them silently understood that each ensuing trial was going to be tougher then the last. Worst of it all, it wasn't even half-way through the morning and already one of the recruits from their group was out of the running with an injury. How much harder it was going to get was anycreature's guess.

Comments

[Animation Crusader]

This is a good concept. Silverstream has canon aspirations to be involved with the Wonderbolts, and instead of going the normal route of having her try out the formal way, she gets roped into it pretty much incidentally along with Gallus, who doesn't have the same aspirations.

As others have confirmed, Gallus is an orphan so he has no family to go home to. That's something can be easily fixed with a few clicks of retyping.

The antagonist makes sense. Not everyone is going to accept other flying creatures trying out for what has been an all-pegasus group until this point. Interesting how his refusal to accept Silverstream and Gallus as fellow recruits ties in with his beliefs about the royal guard and the hippogriffs/seaponies are cowards.

What I like about this the most so far is that for a couple of last-minute recruits, Silverstream and Gallus are showing some natural talent for Wonderbolt material. And the fact that Silverstream is royalty raises stakes. Before I forget, love seeing Thunderlane, Sky Stinger, and Vapor Trail here too. Sky and Vapor are my favorite map mission guests, and it warms my heart to see them working for their dream together.

You've got a real good story here, and I hope you have an update ready soon because I'm itching to see more. It'd be interesting to see Silverstream and Gallus advance through tryouts while RD and Spitfire try to keep Silverstream's royal secret under wraps.

[Jay Watson]

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Thank you so much! It's really great to hear such feedback; I never know if anypony here likes what I write or not. Very few ever leave a comment and those who do I'm most appreciative of it. I just posted the next chapter and will post chapter 7 next Sunday so please check back with this story and let me know if you like it.

[Zubric]

“Hey, were you there in Canterlot fighting the Storm King and his goons along with Princess Twilight? I heard that Queen Novo and her army of hippogriffs came to help out,” Nightflight’s little brother butted in, wanting to participate in the conversation. This just brought on a slew of other questions about what she and other hippogriffs must have been through in the epic battle.

I’m confuse cause I could’ve sworn in the movie that no the hippogriffs did not show up P

[Jay Watson]

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You are correct; none of the other hippogriffs came to help Princess Twilight. But, in the My Little Pony artwork book, part of the storyline was to have Queen Novo and the other hippogriffs come to Canterlot's aid in the final battle. But the writing staff changed it to focus more on Twilight and her friends defeating the Storm King. I much rather prefer the original story idea of the Queen of Seaquestria coming to help out, it just made for a deeper backstory of interaction between the two countries. But, that's just my opinion....

[SamSwordsman123]

This chapter was better than the last I'd day. I liked how Silverstream revealed it was her necklace that helped her transform into a sea pony. An idea I got if you are looking for new ones could be some pony steals it to try and become a sea pony or something. I also liked Gallus telling off Wind Raider for bullying Silverstream. Though I notice Rainbow Dash says she despises bragarts, but isnt she one?