> Scoot Camp
>  by theNDinspector
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Day 0: Waiting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Aaargh!  Is the mail here yet?”  Scootaloo shouted from the top of the stairs.

“No, dear,” her mother replied from downstairs.

Exasperated, the orange pesasus returned to her room where her two friends were waiting.  Sweetie Belle had made herself comfortable by sitting on Scootaloo’s bed and reading something in a foreign language—music notes.  Apple Bloom, on the other hoof, was on the floor trying to keep her young nephew, Lil’ Mac, busy.  With the other Apple siblings out on pie-cart deliveries and Cheerilee away at a teacher’s conference in Manehattan, Apple Bloom was left to care for the young toddler.  So far, things weren’t going very well.

“No Lil’ Mac, you do not eat that!”  She yelled as the maroon colt jumped on her back and was reaching hungrily for her pink bow.

Scootaloo walked past the two earth-ponies and headed straight for her bed, sitting next to Sweetie Belle.  Scootaloo was tired of all this waiting.  It was like trying to get her cutie mark again, or trying to fly; both of which she got.  Yet here she was, waiting on the Equestrian Postal Service.

“How do you know it’s going to come today?”  Sweetie Belle asked, looking up from her sheet music.

“I don’t!”  Scootaloo stated.  “It’s been like this for days now!  What if I don’t get accepted?  What if they never even got my application?”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Sweetie Belle consoled her long-time friend.  “The postal system is pretty reliable, for the most part.  Besides, I’m sure you’ll get in.  I mean, Rainbow Dash is there, so I’m sure they’ll accept you.”

“But you don’t know that,” Scootaloo countered.  “And they can’t just accept me because Rainbow Dash knows me.  That would be favoritism.”

Sweetie Belle looked at her friend utterly surprised.

“What?”  Scootaloo asked.

“Oh, it’s just I never expected to hear you say that word,” Sweetie Belle said.

That statement irritated Scootaloo.

“I can know and use words,” she scoffed.  “I’m not a little filly anymore!”

At that moment, the bed wobbled.  Apple Bloom had just sat down next to them with a solemn look on her face and her mane let down.  Glancing to the other end of the room showed a young colt chewing contently on something pink—ruining yet another one of Apple Bloom’s ribbons.

“Ah’ don’t know why Ah’ bother anymore,” she said.  “Ah’ don’t have many more of mah’ mom’s ribbons left, and he just won’t stop.”

They watched as Lil’ Mac mangled up the old ribbon, completely unaware of the sentimental value it had to his aunt.

“Maybe we could set it on fire,” Scootaloo suggested offhoof.  “That’ll teach him to not touch them anymore.” 

“SCOOTALOO!!!”  Sweetie Belle shouted.  “That’s dangerous and cruel!”

“And Ah’ can’t just do somethin’ like that, it’ll scar ‘im for life!”  Apple Bloom added, also horrified at this suggestion.

“Don’t you ever think before you say things?!”  Sweetie Belle asked.

“Okay, okay!  I’m sorry,” Scootaloo said, raising her hoofs as if to keep her friends from jumping her.  “It was just a stupid idea and I was only joking.  I can’t really think straight right now.”

This seemed to calm the irate mares down, but a little bit of tension still lingered in the air.  Scootaloo couldn’t handle the silence.

“How about we play a game to pass the time?”  She suggested.

Thankfully, the other two accepted and Scootaloo went to get a myriad of games from the game closet.  They were in the middle of one particularly engaging game of Apples to Apples when a call came from downstairs.

“Scootaloo, the mail’s here!”  Her mother said.

“FINALLY!”  Scootaloo stated and dashed down the stairs.

Sweetie Belle was right behind her and Apple Bloom lagged behind—having had to collect her nephew before leaving.  Once they were all downstairs, they found Scootaloo’s mother holding a lot of mail.

“Is it here? Is it here?”  Scootaloo asked repeatedly.

“Hang on dear, I need to sort these,” her mother said.  “You know how your father gets when I don’t.”

Scootaloo let out an annoyed grunt before saying, “Fine!”

“Thank you,” Scootaloo’s mother said as she started going through the mail.  “Let’s see…bill…bill…bill…advertisement…something for our neighbor…ooh!  A letter from your grandma…and here’s one for you Scootaloo.”

“Yes!”  Scootaloo shouted as she grabbed the letter, opened it and started reading it.

“Well, what does it say?”  Sweetie Belle asked.

“Are yah’ in?”  Apple Bloom added.

A smile crept its way on Scootaloo’s face as she shouted, “YES!  I’ve been accepted!”

The young mares all started cheering, along with Scootaloo’s mother.  Even Lil’ Mac was laughing, although he had no idea what the excitement was about.

“That’s great Scootaloo,” her mother said.  “But what does it say exactly?”

Scootaloo cleared her throat and started reading the letter—barely able to contain her excitement.



Dear Ms. Scootaloo,

We have received your application and are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the Wonderbolt Academy for Precision Flyers.  Training begins on the 14th of September at the Wonderbolt Training Center.  A map of the location and further instructions has been enclosed with this letter.  

You are expected to report no later than 1000 hours on the mentioned date.  If you fail to report, then your application will be officially denied.

It is anticipated that you will actively participate in the training program for the period of one week before you are evaluated and we determine if you are a suitable candidate to continue.

We await your arrival.

Signed,

Col. Spitfire
Academy Director and Former Lead Pony of the 1st Wonderbolt Squadron 



Silence enveloped the room as Scootaloo finished reading her acceptance letter.  Scootaloo felt so giddy and relieved that she had been accepted.  Nothing could possibly be better.

“That’s great Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle finally said.

“What in tarnation is 1000 hours?”  Apple Bloom asked.

“It means ten o’clock in the morning,” Scootaloo explained.

“Oh,” Apple Bloom said, nodding her head in understanding.

Scootaloo’s mother, on the other hoof, was going over the letter again—internalizing every word.

“September 14?  That’s only a couple of weeks from now,” she stated.  “You’ll have to let your boss over at the skating rink know about this.”

“Yes Mom,” Scootaloo said, a little annoyed at her mother’s concern.

“And you’ll have to leave pretty early to get there,” Scootaloo’s mom continued.  “I hear that they have a ‘zero-tolerance policy’ for late-comers.”

“Don’t worry Mom, I’ll be fine,” Scootaloo said.  “I’ll have everything ready and go to bed extra early the night before.  Okay?”

“All right,” her mother replied.  “I’m just worried because I know how important this is for you.”

“Thanks Mom,” Scootaloo said, trying to end the conversation.

“You’re welcome,” her mother said.  “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get dinner ready before your father comes home.  I’m sure he’ll be excited about the news.”

With that, the three mares and young colt returned to Scootaloo’s room.  They completely ignored the unfinished game—as they were too excited—and talked about how Scootaloo could be in the Wonderbolts flight team one day.

‘This is going to be so awesome!’  Scootaloo thought.  ‘I can’t wait to tell Rainbow Dash!’

> Day 1: Arrival
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was a cool, brisk morning as Scootaloo soared high in the sky.  The sensation of flight was wonderful as wind whipped through her mane.  The ground was far bellow, as if she was defying gravity itself.  She could move in any direction she wanted to.  The sky was, quite literally, her limit.

She felt free.  It was amazing what a pesagus could do.  The sensation was so wonderful that it was worth the wait and all those years of hard work, trial and error; just to reach this point.

On her way to the Wonderbolt Academy, she pondered these feelings.  Then she thought about the first time in which she took flight completely on her own.


***


It was a rough day.  Scootaloo had tried for hours, yet she still couldn’t fly.  It just wasn’t fair!  She had seen newborn foals take flight and yet she was still grounded.  No matter how hard she tried or how long she practiced, she just couldn’t get off the ground.  Why was the universe against her?

Things were looking up when she had finally got her cutie mark—a scooter wheel leaving a single lightning bolt trail.  She was fantastic in extreme roller sports, almost without equal, particularly on a scooter.  Yet here she was; a pegusus pony who couldn’t fly.

“Listen Scootaloo, maybe you’ll fly someday, maybe you won’t.  You’re all kinds of awesome anyway,” Rainbow Dash once said many years ago.

Those words had made her feel better when she was a filly.  However, as the years passed by, it still felt wrong.  She always tried flying and studied the science and magic behind it.  She even visited pediatricians in Cloudsdale several times.  They all thought her case was unusual, but they could never find anything wrong with her to suggest that she would never fly.  Everypony told her to give it time, but she was tired of waiting.

Giving up for the day, Scootaloo decided to take her mind off of this by visiting one of her favorite places—the skate park.  True, doing tricks on her scooter never quite measured up to her idea of flying, but it always made her feel better.  Besides, it was fun to pretend.

When Scootaloo arrived, she got on her scooter and went on the half-pipe, the rails, and even the drop-in.  She completely lost herself in the adrenaline rush.  Soon, she was about to head home, when she noticed that somepony had set up a ramp.

‘I bet that I can get some serious air if I go on that at full speed,’ she thought.

Taking up position, Scootaloo started flapping her more grown in wings—that were still incapable of flight for some reason—and headed for the ramp.  She closed in, flapping her wings harder as she got closer.  The wheels hit the ramp and soon she was airborne; traveling in a perfect, arc-like trajectory.  The rushing feeling of weightlessness associated with being thrown in the air soared through her body.

She must have gone off the ramp much faster than she thought, because the time when gravity would start pulling her back towards the ground had long since passed.  Scootaloo could hear some shouting below.   She looked down and saw her friends running after her, but they weren’t getting any closer.  Instead, it seemed like they were getting smaller. 

“What?  I’m flying?!”  She muttered.

She looked back at her wings.  They were still flapping pretty fast, but not like the rapid buzzing they usually did when she rode her scooter.  Instead, it was a more steady flapping, causing her to rise in the air.  There was no doubt about it, she was flying!

“WOO-HOO!!!”  She shouted, and then she wobbled a bit causing her to loose altitude.  “Whoa!”

She decided to land in the field bellow.  It was not the most graceful of approaches, and her landing was more like a stumble than a stop.  She didn’t even bother to brush herself off and adrenaline still pumped through her veins after realizing what had just occurred.

“Whoa squirt, are you okay?”  A very familiar voice asked behind her.

“Rainbow Dash!”  Scootaloo exclaimed.  “Did you see me?  I was flying!”

“Yeah I did, it was awesome!”  Rainbow Dash said with equal excitement.  “Think you can do it again?”

“You bet I can!”  Scootaloo said, before running off with her wings outstretched.

Soon, she took to the skies again.  It wasn’t a fluke.  She was flying, and what made it better was that her idol was right beside her.  It was the most amazing day ever!


***


A smile stretched across Scootaloo’s face.  So many things happened after that day.  There was, of course, the general excitement among her family and friends.  She also went to Flight Camp for the first time—it was awkward being the oldest pony there other than the instructors.  Then she attended Flight School and that was certainly a doozy.  Yet she still made it through; and here she was, flying to the Wonderbolt Academy.

Both getting her cutie mark and starting to fly were the two happiest moments in Scootaloo’s life.  She thought that joining the Wonderbolts could possibly be a third.  It was going to be one exciting week and she couldn’t wait.

There was also something Rainbow Dash said when she had told her about the acceptance letter.


***


“Sweet kid!”  Rainbow Dash had said.  “I think I’ll see you there near the end, but I can’t tell you more than that.”


***


‘What was she talking about?’  Scootaloo wondered.

However, her thoughts were cut short when a certain mountain came into view.  She’d made it; the Wonderbolt Academy. 

It was better than she had even dreamed.  The compound was built on a flat surface at the top of the mountain; there were several fields for training, hoops to fly through, and obstacles to avoid.  There were a ton of ponies too.  Most were wearing blue and yellow flight suits and others were in uniform.  All were going through various drills and flight maneuvers.

Excitement overwhelmed all of Scootaloo’s thoughts as she got closer.  She couldn’t believe that she was finally here; finally able to follow in the hoofsteps of her foalhood hero.  It was something she had only dreamed about before this day.  Yet, here she was, and she definitely wasn’t dreaming.

“Oh, this is going to be sweet!”  Scootaloo exclaimed as she touched down on the compound and headed strait to the reporting office.

> Day 1: Introductions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	To say that the academy was busy would be an understatement.  True to Scootaloo’s previous observations, there were ponies in nearly every field doing a variety of excercises and tasks.  What she didn’t expect was there to be ponies with video cameras everywhere.  That certainly wasn’t in the brochure.

Scootaloo made her way to the registration office.  After checking in, she was directed to go to the eastern field.  She found that quite a number of ponies were already there, but there were still plenty more to come.  Since they still had some time before the trainers would arrive, they started conversing with each other.  Most of it was about what lay ahead of them and general Wonderbolt stuff, but there were some other interesting words being passed around.

“Hmm, there are certainly a lot of pretty mares here,” one grey pegasus stallion with a silvery mane said.  “Maybe if this whole Wonderbolt thing doesn’t work out then I can probably woo one of them.”

“Will you shut up Silverwings,” a sky-blue pegasus mare with a fluffy white mane and tail said.  “Seriously, your ability to ‘smooth talk’ won’t get you far around here.”

“Ugh, this place is filthy,” one purple mare with a dark-blue mane stated.  “I mean, it looks orderly, but there’s an awful stench everywhere.”

“I wonder what’s with all the cameras everywhere” one pony said; voicing the questions of many.

“I don’t care,” a gold-yellow stallion with a red mane said.  “Just as long as they capture my good side and spectacular flying capabilities.”

The ponies around him just rolled their eyes and continued on with their conversations.  There were a lot of speculations to this interesting arrangement.  Some suggested maybe they were filming a Wonderbolt movie—with many famous actors—and that they might be lucky to be extras.  Others thought that maybe they were spies from some rival flight team.  That idea got shot down pretty quickly since it seemed unlikely that spies would be out in this large amount of numbers in plain view of everypony.

Scootaloo was about to join in the conversation when suddenly a shrill cry from a whistle caught their attention.  In the distance they saw three ponies walking towards them.  A yellow mare with a fiery mane was flanked by two other stallions: one was light-blue and the other dark-grey with a moustache.  Each was wearing a uniform that also included caps and sunglasses.  Despite her smaller size, the one in front was clearly the higher ranking pony of the three.  Scootaloo recognized this pony.  It was none other than the legendary Spitfire, whose magnificent flying skills were matched only by her fiery attitude.  She retired from active service in the main squadrons a few years ago and apparently devoted more time at the academy.  But she was still as fierce as ever.

“All right newbies, LINE UP!”  Spitfire ordered.

Scootaloo and the other ponies fell into attention.  They did this quite well as it was a common practice that they each had internalized during flight school.  Spitfire closely examined them.  She scowled at them, making it hard to tell what she was thinking.

“Well lookie what we got here,” Spitfire started as she paced in front of the new cadets alone; the other two falling back.  “I bet you all think you’re Wonderbolt material, don’t ya?”

“Yes Ma’am!” Scootaloo shouted in unison with the other cadets.

“You think you all have what it takes to be an elite flyer?”  Spitfire continued.

“Yes Ma’am!”  They shouted again.

“Well, then,” Spitfire said with a wicked smile on her face.  “Let me be the first to tell you; YOU DON’T!”

All the cadets flinched at Spitfire’s sudden outburst.

“If you were an elite flyer, you would already be a Wonderbolt!”  Spitfire exclaimed.  “You may think that you are the best flyer in your hometown; but over here, YOU’RE NOTHING!”

She stopped in front of the purple mare who complained about the smell earlier.

“Do you still think your something special!?”  Spitfire yelled in her face.

“No Ma’am,” the purple mare said weakly.

Spitfire moved on and stopped in front of Scootaloo.

“You think you’re hot stuff?”  Spitfire asked.

Scootaloo didn’t say anything, but she didn’t back down either.  Spitfire frowned and got closer, but Scootaloo refused to flinch.  Spitfire gave a pronounced “hmph” before moving on.  She next stopped in front of the yellow stallion and looked him over.

“I bet you couldn’t make it around the first flagpole,” she stated.

“I can take anything you can throw at me Ma’am,” the hothead replied.

“Oh, you think so?”  Spitfire asked mockingly.

“Yes Ma’am!”  The stallion responded.

“Well, we’ll see about that,” Spitefire said walking away from him. She turned to address the group again.  “All right, some of you may know of me, but here you will address me as either Ma’am or Colonel Spitfire.”

Somepony snickered.  Spitfire turned and immediately zeroed in on the culprit.

“Is something FUNNY?”  Spitfire yelled at the stallion apparently known as Silverwings.  “Is there something humorous you would like to share with the rest of us?”

“No,” Silverwings managed to say, fear clearly present in his eyes.

“No what?!”  Spitfire asked deliberately.

“No…Ma’am,” Silverwings replied.

Spitfire glared at him for a good thirty seconds before she returned to addressing the cadets.

“All right, you will be here for the next week for some rigorous training,” Spitfire stated.  “At the end of the week, I will determine if you are fit to continue on your way to possibly becoming a Wonderbolt.  Normally, I would be with you nearly every step of the way; but I’m sure you have noticed that we have some guests.”

She motioned to the ponies with cameras and other recording equipment around them.

“The Princesses have seen it fit to have our training filmed to be put into a documentary,” Spitfire explained.  “They will be filming everything on the training grounds and public areas.  They will not be permitted in the barracks or other private areas without my written permission and an escort by one of the academy officers.  I will have to address to other matters in this process, so your training will be left in the capable hooves of Major Soarin.”

With that, the light-blue pony stepped forward and took a clipboard from under his wing.

“All right cadets, we will have you do some basic exercises for the next couple of hours before you are dismissed for lunch,” Soarin said.  “After which, you will be given time to put away your personal belongings in the barracks.  You will find that your sleeping arrangements have been posted on the bulletin board in the mess hall.  You will also need to obtain the proper flight gear at the quartermaster’s office.  You will put these on and report back to the Eastern Field, Section D, at precisely 1500 hours for the special training maneuvers today.”

Soarin stepped back once he had finished.  Then Spitfire moved up again.

“All right newbies; give me two-hundred laps, NOW!”  She said and blew her whistle.


***


After what felt like an eternity, the cadets were finally dismissed for lunch.  Feeling winded, Scootaloo quickly grabbed a tray, collected her food and sat down at the nearest empty table.  Right before she could start eating, she was joined by a certain grey stallion who sat very close to her.

“Hey beautiful,” Silverwings said.  “What do you say that we ditch this dining room and go out back for a more…private meal?”

“NO!  No!” The blue pony from the field said, pushing Silverwings aside.  “I can’t allow you sweet talk any of these mares into trouble.”

“Ah, come on Blue Yonder,” Silverwings protested.  “Do you have to ruin all my fun?”

“Yes, yes I do,” Blue Yonder simply stated.

“Are you two like brother and sister, or something?”  Scootaloo asked, trying not to laugh.

“Oh, for goodness sakes, no!”  Blue Yonder replied.

“But we might as well be,” Silverwings stated.  “Our parents are close friends; so we practically grew up together.”

“And I have to keep his sorry flank out of trouble,” Blue Yonder added before punching the stallion in the upper foreleg.

“Ow, not so hard!”  Silverwings protested.

“Serves you right,” the yellow stallion with the red mane said from behind them.  “Laughing at the commanding officer like that, you’re lucky to still be alive, pal.”

“And you are?”  Silverwings asked, clearly annoyed.

“Hot Shot,” the stallion answered.  “Just try and stay out of my way.”

With that, Hot Shot left and sat at another table at the far side of the cafeteria.  Silverwings stared daggers in his direction as he left.

“Jerk,” Silverwings muttered.

“Ugh, I hate cafeterias!”  The purple mare with the dark-blue mane said as she sat down.

“Hi, I’m Scootaloo,” the orange pegasus said, extending a hoof.  “What’s your name?”

“Lavender; and don’t touch me!”  She replied, holding her hoof up so as to keep the others away.

“Okay then,” Scootaloo said, awkwardly retracting her hoof.

“Is there a problem here, cadets?”  A voice from behind them said.

It belonged to the dark-grey stallion with the moustache and sunglasses from the introduction that morning.  While he did not have the fire in his voice like Spitfire, he was still very intimidating.

“No sir, we were just talking,” Silverwings quickly said.

“Well, I suggest you keep it down or you can leave the mess hall,” the stallion said before leaving.

“Who was that?”  Scootaloo asked quietly when the stallion was out of earshot.

“I don’t know, but apparently he’s a lieutenant,” Silverwings answered.

“Well, I guess we better eat and get out of here,” Blue Yonder suggested as she started stabbing her salad with a fork.


***


After she finished lunch, Scootaloo went to the bulletin board.  There were two different barracks for cadets, one for mares and the other for stallions.  There was also a specific section for the first week cadets.  She would be sharing that with six other mares.

Scootaloo decided to visit the barracks first, even though the quartermaster’s office was much closer.  She figured this way she would get first dibs on the beds.  The room itself was rather plain and simple; what else would it be.  Four bunk beds lined the walls, and simple dresser with two closet doors—and a mirror in between—were besides each bed.  There was one window at the far end of the room.

Checking to see that nopony else was already there, Scootaloo immediately claimed the top bunk of one of the beds at the front.  She was unpacking her saddle-bags when another cadet arrived.

“I wish they didn’t have to touch me to get measurements,” the purple pony known as Lavender complained.  She then looked at Scootaloo.  “Which beds have already been taken?”

“Just this one,” Scootaloo answered.

Lavender then went to the far corner and took the bottom bunk.  She took something out of her saddle-bags and started spraying the bed.

“Nopony else comes to this bunk-bed,” Lavender stated.

“Okay,” Scootaloo said awkwardly.  ‘Gee, what’s her problem?’  She thought as Lavender began to spray the newly acquired flight suit as well.

Soon, some of the other cadets arrived, each carrying their own flight suit and goggles.  They claimed the other beds.  All of them stayed away from Lavender, who glared at them if they got too close.  They were also put off by the overpowering scent that matched her namesake.  The last one to come in was Blue Yonder, who took the lower bunk Scootaloo was at.  Blue Yonder dropped her bags and immediately put the flight suit on.”

“Wow, this thing’s a lot tighter than I thought it would be,” Blue Yonder exclaimed, once her head was free.

“Hmph, wait until you get the full-body flight-suit the Wonderbolts wear,” Scootaloo said.  “Rainbow Dash says it’s tight on your whole body, but it keeps you from blacking out in extreme moves.”

“Wait, you know Rainbow Dash?”  Blue Yonder asked, and a few of the other cadets looked in their direction.

“Yeah, she lives in my hometown,” Scootaloo explained.  “She helped teach me how to fly.”

“Whoa,” Blue Yonder said wide-eyed.

“That’s cool,” somepony else said.

“Quite the story you have there,” Lavender commented incredulously.

Scootaloo scowled at Lavender.  True, her claim to know Rainbow Dash on such personal level would be pretty hard to believe if you didn’t live in Ponyville; but the way Lavender simply dismissed this really irritated Scootaloo.  She did not like this anti-social, ultra-clean obsessed pony.

Lavender simply turned back to what she was doing, completely oblivious to the death stare that Scootaloo was giving her.  Not wanting to make a scene—especially on the first day—Scootaloo let the matter drop for the time being.

“Well, I guess I better get my flight suit,” Scootaloo said, noticing the time and climbed out of the bunk-bed.

“Oh Sweet Celestia!”  Blue Yonder exclaimed.  “I just realized that we have to take these things off later today!”

> Day 1: Emergency Maneuvers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 	‘Wow, Blue Yonder wasn’t kidding about how tight these things were,’ Scootaloo thought as she headed back to the Eastern Field—now wearing her cadet flight-suit.

It didn’t restrict her movement at all—especially since all of her legs and back end of her body were left bare—but it definitely wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world.  The worst part was the collar on the neck that ended half-way up the face.  It was itchy and a plain nuisance, but she had to wear it.

“Hey Scootaloo,” Silverwings said as she approached Section D.  “That outfit really brings out your eyes.”

Blue Yonder immediately kicked him in the side, “What did I say?!”

“Somehow I doubt it,” Scootaloo said referring to Silverwings comment.

For more times than she cared to admit, Scootaloo had been on the receiving end of Rarity’s fashion expertise—usually due to the cunning of her best friends.  Scootaloo seriously doubted that the particular shade of blue and yellow making up the training outfit complimented her orange coat or her purple mane and eyes.  It could be worse, though.  It might have been green.  Rarity would probably have had a heart-attack if she saw that color on her.

“Attention!”  The voice of Major Soarin commanded.

The light-blue pegasus officer seemed to come out of nowhere.  It was like he could go anywhere or disappear unnoticed.  But then again, so could that one lieutenant from earlier.  If she didn’t know better, Scootaloo might have thought that the Wonderbolts were also ninjas.

“All right cadets,” Soarin said.  “Before we move onto our special maneuvers training for today, we are going to do some exercises again.  Now drop and give me twenty!”

Some ponies groaned as all of the cadets got to the ground and started doing some wing push-ups.  They repeated a few of the same stretches and exercises from earlier that day.  There was also a new and rather bizarre one; a breathing exercise that made heavy use of the diaphragm.  It both looked and sounded stupid, but apparently it was a necessary skill to keep ponies from blacking out during certain flight maneuvers which induced a heavy G-load.  

“That’s enough cadets!”  Soarin said, to the relief of many.  “Now, if you’ll all follow me, we’ll begin the special training for the day.”

A bit relieved, Scootaloo got up and followed Soarin with the other ponies to the far end of the field.  Once there they found a large tarp draped over something and a camera crew.  Two other ponies were also waiting for them: Colonel Spitfire and that mustached lieutenant from the mess hall.

‘Gah, what’s his name?’  Scootaloo wondered.

“All right newbies, listen up!”  Spitfire shouted, snapping Scootaloo back to the moment at hoof.  “The Wonderbolts are the fastest and best precision flyers in the world, but spinouts can still happen.  When they do, a Wonderbolt must be able to recover quickly.  Otherwise something far worse can happen.  That is why you are here today.”

She nodded to the lieutenant, who then removed the tarp; revealing the most bizarre thing that Scootaloo had ever seen—and that’s saying something.  It was some sort of machine.  A large circle painted with a green and purple spiral made up the bulk of the structure.  Located at the center and edge of the circle was a gear system.  The larger gear at the edge had a pony-sized slot across it.  There was also a control station with a couple of levers and three distinct settings as indicated by pictures: a tortoise, a hare, and a pegasus skull with crossed lightning bolts.

“This is the Dizzitron,” Spitfire said referring to the contraption.  “It’s going to make you very dizzy, I repeat, very dizzy.  Your task is to try to 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?”

Scootaloo and a few other ponies raised their hooves in the air.  Spitfire looked at them all, like she was searching for something.

“You, Funny-guy!”  Spitfire shouted while pointing at Silverwings.  “You’re up!”

Silverwings—who was focused on another mare next to him—snapped to attention.  In a moment, he realized what had happened and then flew over to the Dizzitron, nestling himself into the slot.

“Ready?”  Spitfire asked.

“Yes…Ma’am,” Silverwings replied, adjusting his flight goggles.

Spitfire looked to her subordinates.  Lieutenant What’s-his-name was positioned at the controls and Soarin had his clipboard at the ready.  Spitfire, meanwhile, pulled out her stop watched and turned back to Silverwings.

“GO!”  Spitfire commanded.

The Dizzitron started up.  It was almost dizzying just to watch as the purple and green spirals seemed to slither towards the center.  The effect was hypnotic as Scootaloo’s eyes followed the gear containing Silverwings.

“RELEASE!”  Spitfire shouted without warning and started her stop watch.

Suddenly, the machine stopped, tossing Silverwings off the mountain.  Scootaloo watched as he went head over hooves into the horizon.  Soon, he straightened up his flight path and turned back.  His landing was a little wobbly, but he made it back safely.

“Ten seconds,” Spitfire said, stopping the clock.  “Not bad…for a newbie.  Who’s next?”

Two more ponies went, each clocking about sixteen and twenty seconds apiece.  Apparently this was the more common timeframe for cadets.  As Spitfire called out the times, Soarin recorded it on the clipboard.  Up next was Lavender.

“Ugh, can we clean this thing before I go on?”  Lavender complained.

“Oh, just get in there you PANSY!”  Scootaloo shouted, before slapping a hoof across her mouth.

Everypony looked at Scootaloo.  She got two particularly nasty glares over by the Dizzitron.  She immediately regretted her outburst.

‘Oh, crud!  Why didn’t I think before I said that?’  Scootaloo thought as she backed away.

Everypony turned their attention back to Lavender as she finally got in the machine.  She wasn’t a bad flyer as she came back pretty quickly, all things considered.

“Twelve seconds,” Spitfire said.  “Scootaloo!  Since you’re so eager to go, YOU’RE UP!”

Scootaloo took a grain of salt with those words as she approached the Dizzitron.  It was even bigger up close.  She positioned herself into the slot and signaled that she was ready.

“GO!” Spitfire commanded.

If the machine was dizzying to look at, it was nothing compared to actually being in it.  She felt both a feeling of weightlessness and gravitational pull as she moved in a circular motion inside another circular motion.  Scootaloo was now grateful for the breathing exercises earlier and the uncomfortable flight suit—certainly, if she was going around any faster, she would need these things in order to stay conscious.  It was almost like being on an extreme roller coaster.

Scootaloo never heard Spitfire shout “release”, but she felt herself be tossed into the air as the machine abruptly stopped.  She saw the sky, horizon, ground and sky again in such rapid succession that she could barely tell which way was up or down.  

Soon, Scootaloo remembered what Rainbow Dash taught her when she first started to fly.  Reaching into the pegasus magic within her, she found her bearings and straightened her course.  She turned around and headed for the landing strip as quickly as she could.  She slowed down a little before making a perfect landing.  She wasn’t even dizzy.

“Eight seconds,” Spitfire declared.  “Not bad; not bad at all.  Next!”

The other cadets cheered as Scootaloo fell back in line—each having some compliment or look of approval as she walked passed.  Well, everypony that is, except for one.

The exercise continued until every cadet went on the Dizzitron.  Nopony even came close to matching Scootaloo’s time.  Blue Yonder was closest by clocking in at nine seconds.  Hot Shot might have had a chance if he hadn’t decided to show off as he came in for his landing.  The two loops he did affected his time, which ended up being nine-point-five seconds.

Once the last time was recorded, Spitfire called everypony back to attention.

“All right,” she started.  “For the rest of the camp you will be working in pairs.  You will also be given a rank: one lead pony, and one wingpony.  The wingpony will have to follow the lead pony in the training and flight.  But the lead pony is responsible for the team.  They cannot leave their wingpony behind and should consider their wingpony’s input equal to their own.  Your assignments will be posted tomorrow morning on the bulletin board.  Major Soarin will supervise the rest of your training this week.”

Major Soarin stepped up and began to address the cadets.  “Once you are dismissed, you will be free to do what you please on the compound as long as you follow regulations.  Training equipment—like the Dizzitron—will be open for use until dinner, which is served at 1900 hours.  After that, you are to return to the barracks and get ready for bed.  Lights out is at 2200 hours and you will be wakened at 0600 hours in the morning.  Breakfast will be served until 0900 hours.  You are to report back to the Eastern Field, Section D at 1000 hours.  

“This is your schedule every day.  Also, you will have a barracks inspection tomorrow at 1800 hours, so be ready.  Company, Dismissed!”

Everypony started talking with each other—whether if it was compliments, how they could improve, or something else.  It was a very exciting day.  Scootaloo was about to join up with Blue Yonder and Silverwings and see what they should do for the rest of the evening.

“SCOOTALOO!  LAVENDER!”  Spitfire shouted.  “A word please!”

It wasn’t a suggestion.  Scootaloo turned back and walked back to Spitfire—right next to the last pony she wanted to be with at the moment.  Her stomach tightened as she worried about what the fiery commander was going to say.

Spitfire was quiet for a moment.  Then she took off her sunglasses.  She was even more intimidating now than when she had them on.  She was disgusted.

“Scootaloo,” Spitfire said, turning the orange pegasus.  “I am not pleased with your comment earlier today about Ms. Lavender.  The Wonderbolt Academy is based on integrity and respect for our fellow pony, neither of which you showed today.  That sort of behavior will not be tolerated.  If I ever hear you say something like that again, you will be out of here faster than Lieutenant Rainbow Dash’s Sonic Rainboom!  Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes Ma’am,” Scootaloo replied, feeling both anger and guilt—particularly at that last part.

“Lavender,” Spitfire continued, now turning to the purple pegasus.  “You need to learn that the Wonderbolt Academy does not conform its cleaning regulations around your desires.  You are just going to have to deal with it!  Am I understood?”

“Yes Ma’am,” Lavender said after hesitating for a moment.

“Good!”  Spitfire declared.  “Now, I do not want to have any more problems from either of you two.  It is a privilege for you to be here.  I suggest you make the most of it.  Dismissed!”

With that, the two cadets saluted her, turned and made the long trek back to the main compound.  Neither of them wanted to look at each other, nor speak to one another.  It was a trip made in complete silence.

> Day 1: Evening Routine
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Blue Yonder’s concerns about the flight suit earlier in the day were not unwarented.  She had been trying for at least five minutes to remove the garment.  All she had managed to accomplish in that time was to pull the bottom of it over her head—trapping both her head and forelegs inside.  Nearly everypony else was in complete hysteria thanks to their hilarious entertainment.  

“SHUT UP!”  Blue Yonder yelled while still rolling around on the floor and trying to pull her flight suit off.

“Ha ha ha ha! Ooh,” Scootaloo tried catching her breath while she clutched her sides.  “I wish I had packed a camera.”

“I did!”  A green pony named Snapshot exclaimed, and then dove into her dresser.

“WHAT!?”  Blue Yonder exclaimed while waving around one hoof that she had finally managed to get free.  “If you take any pictures of this, I swear, I’m gonna-”

But they never caught Blue Yonder was going to threaten them with because she fell over—resulting in more laughter and the rapid clicking of a camera.

“Will somepony please get me OUT of this thing?!”  Blue Yonder finally asked after hitting the wall.  

Calming down, Scootaloo went to go help the poor mare out of her predicament.  After a moment, she finally managed to get the obnoxious thing off, leaving Blue Yonder’s mane a complete mess—which was cause for another picture.  Blue Yonder glared at everypony in the room as if to say: “I will kill you all.”

“Thank you,” she finally said to Scootaloo through gritted teeth.

“You’re welcome,” Scootaloo replied, trying very hard not to laugh.

“Well,” Blue Yonder said.  “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take a shower.”

Blue Yonder grabbed her towel and walked out the door.  She passed by Lavender on her way out.  Lavender had managed to get her flight suit off first and immediately went to go wash herself and the garment.  She hung the wet flight suit outside of her dresser in order to dry.  She also made it a point to not even look at Scootaloo as she passed by her.

“Aren’t you going to take your flight suit off, Scootaloo?”  Another pony asked.

Scootaloo looked down at herself and realize that she was still wearing her flight suit.  She had been too caught up in Blue Yonder’s antics to really bother about that.

“Nah,” Scootaloo answered.  “I was thinking of keeping it on.”

“For an entire week!?”  Lavender exclaimed with a particular venom in her voice.  “That’s disgusting!”

Scootaloo glared at Lavender for a moment before sighing.  “I guess you’re right.”

Grudgingly, she then went through the laborious task of removing her own flight suit.


***


Meanwhile, in the commanding officer’s office, Spitfire and Soarin were busy putting the pairs together for the new cadets.  Spitfire always thought that she could get this task done right before dinner—or at least an hour afterwards—but that never happened.  Once, she stayed up till way past midnight putting the right ponies together.  This batch wasn’t going too bad, except that Soarin was still uncertain about some of the choices she had made.  He had every right to, since he would be the one supervising them for the rest of the week, but it still annoyed Spitfire to explain her choices again and again.

“I still don’t understand why you want to make Hot Shot a lead pony,” Soarin said.  “He’s a complete show-off, more concerned about how he looks than performing to regulations.”

Spitfire sighed, and put her coffee mug down.

“Because I think that the opportunity to make him a leader will help mellow him out,” she explained.  “Besides, his wingpony might help keep him down to earth.”

Soarin was unconvinced, but he decided to drop the matter for now.  He looked over the list again and again, reviewing all the pairs and positions.  Then something else on the list made him question his superior’s reasoning.

“And why did you make Scootaloo a wingpony?”  He asked.  “I know that her behavior was unacceptable, but she still had the best time on the Dizzitron this afternoon.  In fact, I don’t recall anypony doing quite that well on it the first time since Rainbow Dash.” 

“Listen,” Spitfire commanded, after rubbing her forehead for a moment.  “I don’t organize these pairs based solely on who did better or worse, although sometimes it may turn out that way.  Instead, I try to put these pairs together based on how I think the newbies will benefit the most from it.  Admittedly, it isn’t a perfect system.  All I really have to go on is the information in their files, what little I can gather during the first day of training and what my gut tells me.”

Spitfire sighed, and took a drink from her coffee mug.

“And based on what I know, I think that Scootaloo is going to need a lot of help and encouragement if she’s going to make it through this camp,” Spitfire continued.  “She may appear to be tough, fearless and very brash, but I think she can easily break under difficult circumstances.  Maybe I’m wrong, but I’d rather not take that chance now.”

Soarin couldn’t argue with Spitfire’s logic.  While he still didn’t agree with these decisions, he had to admit that she had been doing this for nearly two decades now.  If anypony in this room knew what she was doing, it was Spitfire.  Soarin looked down at the list again and sighed.

“Shall I get this list typed up and posted on the wall then Ma’am?”  Soarin conceded.

“Yes.  Dismissed,” Spitfire said as Soarin saluted her and then left the office, leaving her alone with her thoughts.


***


Scootaloo was on her bed, writing something, when Blue Yonder returned from the showers.  Scootaloo preferred to take her showers in the morning, so she immediately did everything else before going to bed.

“What are you doing?”  Blue Yonder asked, trying to remove the last bits of water from her mane.  She had calmed down a lot from the incident earlier.

Scootaloo spit out the pencil she was holding and looked down at the damp mare.

“Writing a journal,” Scootaloo answered.  “I wrote in a diary together with my friends when I was younger.  It was quite fun writing down my thoughts and experiences.  So I decided to make one of my own.”

“Neat,” Blue Yonder said.  “Well, I think I’m going to read a bit before hitting the hay.”

Blue Yonder hung her towel to dry and grabbed a book from her dresser.  As she got on the lower bunk, a wicked idea flew across Scootaloo’s mind.

“Besides,” she said with a grin on her face.  “I always want to remember the mare rolling around the floor like an itchy dog.”

Scootaloo felt her mattress go up a couple of inches as Blue Yonder had undoubtedly kicked it from bellow.  It didn’t hurt, obviously, but the abruptness was a little surprising.  Scootaloo giggled a bit as she picked up her pencil again and resumed writing.

The other mares also got ready for bed, doing a variety of things, with some taking longer getting ready than others.  A couple of them were talking and looking at family pictures.  Lavender went to bed early.  It was difficult to tell if she was asleep or not—and nopony dared come close enough to find out.

Then an announcement was made over the P.A. system.

“Attention everypony,” the voice of Lieutenant What’s-his-name said.  “Lights out in five minutes.”

Scootaloo finished her journal entry, closed it and put it under her pillow.  Then she pulled the covers over her and closed her eyes.

“Lights out, cadets,” Lieutenant What’s-his-name said again.

Scootaloo didn’t see who turned out the lights, but the room was suddenly pitch-black.  Had she been younger, Scootaloo might have been afraid, but she had long grown out of a fear of the dark—and everything else as she preferred to believe.  Still, it was a little unnerving to not even see her own hoof waving across her face.

“Good night,” somepony in the darkness said, which was met by varying levels of grumbles and replies.
> Day 2: Companionships
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	As soon as the communal areas were open the next morning, Scootaloo rushed over to the bulletin board to find out who her partner would be.  She was already washed up and ready for the day thanks to a combination of an early wake-up call from somepony with a bugle and her overall anticipation.  She quickly found the list posted on the board and looked over every line.

‘Oh thank Celestia, I’m not with Lavender,’ she thought, a definite sense of relief washing over her.  ‘I certainly feel sorry for that stallion who’s with that little…no, don’t go there!  You can’t afford to go there.’

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before continuing.

‘Hot Shot and Silverwings?’  Scootaloo wondered as she found that pairing.  ‘Okay…that makes no sense at all.  And why is Hot Shot the lead pony?  Oh well, it doesn’t matter.  Now, where’s my name?’

Scootaloo looked at every name at every single line until she reached the very bottom of the page.

“Hey, it looks like we’re partners Scootaloo,” Blue Yonder said from behind her.

“Yeah, apparently,” Scootaloo replied, staring at the last line.




Blue Yonder-Lead Pony; Scootaloo-Wingpony




A smile stretched its way across Scootaloo’s face.  She gets to be with Blue Yonder!  She didn’t even care that she was the wingpony.

“Oh, this is going to be the most awesome team ever!”  Scootaloo exclaimed.

“I’ll say!”  Blue Yonder stated as they headed for the food line.  “But it seems that you should be the Lead Pony.  You had the best time on the Dizzitron out of all of us.”

Scootaloo thought for a moment as they both grabbed their food trays and filled them with various assortments of fruits, yogurt and other food.  

“No,” she finally said.  “It’s probably better this way.”

“If you say so,” Blue Yonder said, a little unsure of herself.

Having collected their food, Scootaloo and Blue Yonder made their way to an empty part of one of the tables.  The mess hall really did remind Scootaloo of being back in school again, at least the better part of it in her opinion.  The various ponies grouped together based on who they knew—most likely from the same class at the academy.  All the new cadets seemed to group themselves at one table in particular, which is where Scootaloo and Blue Yonder headed.  They were soon joined by Silverwings; who was not happy at all.

“I don’t believe it!”  He exclaimed.  “I’ve been put with that jerky hothead.  And I’m his wingpony!”

“I know,” Blue Yonder said, trying to suppress a laugh.  “I saw the list.”

“I don’t think I can handle an entire week following Hot Shot,” Silverwings stated.  “He’s brash, arrogant and a complete show-off!”

“Remind you of anypony you know?”  Blue Yonder said, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m not like that!”  Silverwings countered.  “Okay, not entirely.  At least I don’t snore at night like he does.”

“Well I wouldn’t know anything about that,” Blue Yonder said.  “So I’ll just take your word for it.”

They were quiet for a while as they ate.  Blue Yonder trying to cool her bowl of oatmeal, Scootaloo drinking her orange juice and Silverwings violently stabbing at this syrup covered pancakes.  

“Maybe I can convince Colonel Spitfire to put me with somepony else,” Silverwings said after a while.

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Scootaloo said, putting her glass down.  “Both you and I are essentially on her…undesirables list.  Besides, Rainbow Dash says that Colonel Spitfire forms each partnership for a reason.  Who knows, maybe you and Hot Shot will be great together.”

“I doubt it,” Silverwings scoffed before taking another bite.

Blue Yonder looked a little confused before she turned to Scootaloo and said, “Isn’t the phrase technically shi-”

Her inquiry was immediately halted by Scootaloo’s hoof shushing her mouth.

“I know what type of list it’s called, but I’m walking on thin ice around Colonel Spitfire as it is,” Scootaloo explained.  “I don’t want to give her another reason to throw me out.”

Suddenly they were joined by a dark-yellow stallion, and Silverwings worst nightmare.  

“Hey, if it isn’t my favorite pony in the whole world,” Hot Shot said.

“Hi Hot Shot,” Silverwings said glumly.  

“Hey, now what’s with the long face?”  Hot Shot asked.  “Come on, you should be excited…um?”

“Silverwings,” the grey pegasus said.

“Silverwings! Right,” Hot Shot exclaimed.  “Hey, are the tips of your wings actually silver?”

Hot Shot extended one of Silverwings wings and looked at it.  He was right; the tips of Silverwings wings actually had a shiny, silver color to them.  Scootaloo hadn’t noticed that before.  It was quite fascinating.

“Yeah, they’ve been like that my whole life,” Silverwings explained, retracting his wing from Hot Shots grip.  “That’s why I was named ‘Silverwings’.”

“Oh, well I don’t really care about that,” Hot Shot stated nonchalantly.  “Anyways, we’re going to have a great time.  Just stick with me, and we’ll be the most outstanding crew in this camp.”

“Yesterday, I thought you told me to stay out of your way,” Silverwings glared at his new partner.

“Oh, I was only kidding, you know,” Hot Shot said, before his countenance changed for a moment.  “But seriously, if you ruin this then I will burn you!”

The air was really tense between them before Hot Shot suddenly started smiling again.

“Anyways, we have a lot to do today,” Hot Shot said before pulling Silverwings out of his seat.  “There’s a lot of work to be done and we need to be at our best!”

“But I haven’t even finished…wait!”  Silverwings complained.  “Where are you taking me?”

Both Scootaloo and Blue Yonder stared as Silverwings was dragged out of the mess hall.  They were completely dumbfounded by what had just taken place before them.  You almost could have heard a pin drop—had everypony else been quiet.

“Well that was…different,” Scootaloo finally said.

“Yep,” Blue Yonder agreed.

“Do you think we should help him?”  Scootaloo asked.

“Nah,” Blue Yonder shrugged and returned to eating her oatmeal.

> Day 2: Teamwork
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The rest of the morning was almost exactly the same as the previous day.  They still did the various exercises and warm-ups they had already known.  What was different, however, was that they did everything as teams of two: lead pony and wingpony complete with gold and silver colored medals respectively.

“Remember,” Major Soarin said during instruction.  “When flying in formation, you must think as one.  It is the most difficult and essential task that any elite flying squadron faces.  Anypony can do a trick or flight maneuver by himself, but to do that same thing in sync with another requires concentration and skill.  Any lapse in concentration could cause you to split from formation too early or result in a dangerous collision.  We’ll start off simple on the oval flight track.  Give me one hundred laps!”

He blew the whistle and the cadets took off—“trying” to fly in formation.  It was very similar to the track and field that Scootaloo remembered from high school; but knowing that, she had to resist the urge to pull ahead of Blue Yonder.  The racing spirit was hard to fight.  More than once, Scootaloo bumped into Blue Yonder by inadvertently trying to pull ahead or whenever Blue Yonder took a turn faster than she did.  

Through the process, Scootaloo unwittingly got very familiar with Blue Yonder’s back side.  One thing in particular she noticed was Blue Yonder’s cutie mark—a sun behind a skyline of mountains and clouds.

‘I wonder what her talent is for something like that,’ Scootaloo thought while trying to stay focused.  ‘She can’t control the sun, that’s Princess Celestia’s thing.  Is she a rock climber?  If so, then why is she here?  And she’s a pegasus, so why would she even climb a mountain?  I’ll have to ask her about it.’

About halfway into the exercise, Scootaloo and Blue Yonder were finally starting to get it, along with several of the other companionships.  Soon they were flying around that track like nopony’s business.  Scootaloo could always tell when Blue Yonder was going to make a move and then coincide.  Blue Yonder, in turn, always knew where her wingpony was and what they could and couldn’t do together.

“All right, cadets,” Soarin said once the last group had finished their laps.  “We will now do some figure-eights.”

He took them to a field where there were five flag poles: two at each end and one in the middle.  They were to do one serpentine path around three poles, go higher in elevation and do another serpentine path around three poles—the one in the middle being passed twice in the process.  Then they were to lower their elevation and repeat the process.  This exercise was designed to teach them to fly together by turning left and right as well as going up and down.  It was also designed so that the teams wouldn’t hit each other in intersecting paths.  At least, that was the plan.

“Umph!”  Scootaloo exclaimed as she and Blue Yonder crashed for what had to be the third time.  Unfortunately, this time it was with Lavender and her lead pony.

“GET OFF ME!”  Lavender shouted as she started bucking Scootaloo off her back.  She was stronger than she looked, especially when angry.

“Sorry about that,” the brown-maned, white stallion named Barrel Roll apologized.

“No, it was my fault,” Blue Yonder said, brushing the dirt off her uniform.  “I keep forgetting to pull up at that side over there.”

“I guess that’s something we all need to work on,” Barrel Roll said.

“Will you stop chit-chatting!”  Major Soarin shouted.  “This is a training exercise, not recess!”

With that, the four pegasi scrambled back into the air.  It took far longer, but they were able to get the hang of this course as well.  It was certainly an exercise better done with fewer ponies on the track.  However, a lot of other cadets would use this during free-time in the evening, so they would have to get used to it.

“That’s enough cadets, fall in!” Soarin commanded and each of the cadets landed and fell into attention.  “You’ve all done very well this morning, but this is only the beginning of your training.  After lunch, you are to report to section B in the Northern Field at 1400 hours.  Company dismissed!”

“Whew, that was a bit of a workout,” Blue Yonder stated as they headed for the mess hall.

“I know,” Scootaloo agreed.  “I can’t wait to eat, I’m starving.”

As they approached the mess hall, Scootaloo suddenly remembered something.

“Hey,” she said to Blue Yonder.  “I noticed your cutie mark back there.  What does it mean?”

Blue Yonder suddenly stopped and started stammering, “Oh…uh…you noticed that?  Well…um…it’s really personal.  You’ll probably think it’s dumb.”

“No I won’t,” Scootaloo said.  “I’ve asked that question a lot when I was a foal and I didn’t think they were dumb.  Okay, I’ll admit that I thought some were cheesy or not as cool as Rainbow Dash’s, but I was young then.”

“I see, but I really don’t feel comfortable talking about this right now,” Blue Yonder explained.  “Can we just forget it?”

“Okay,” Scootaloo answered, a little disappointed.

They continued walking.  Scootaloo didn’t want to pursue the matter further, but she also didn’t want to walk in this awkward silence either.

“Hey, have I ever told you about my hometown?”  Scootaloo asked.


***


The mess hall was as busy as ever.  It had to be large by necessity since there were so many cadets, all at different levels of training.  Despite the large number of ponies, however, Scootaloo and Blue Yonder always managed to find a seat somewhere together.

“So let me get this straight,” Blue Yonder said as they sat down.  “You have both an earth-pony and a unicorn friend?”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo said defensively.  “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Oh…there’s nothing wrong with it,” Blue Yonder stated.  “It’s just…I’ve lived in Cloudsdale my entire life.  So the only friends I’ve ever had were other pegasi and the occasional gryphon.  I’ve never seen too many earth-ponies or unicorns, even with that spell that Princess Twilight Sparkle can do to enable them to walk on clouds.”

“Yeah, I still don’t understand how she does it,” Scootaloo said.

“And you know the princess and live in Ponyville,” Blue Yonder said in awe.  “It’s weird, because so many interesting things have happened there over the past several years when it used to be pretty out of the way.”

“I guess it has changed a lot over the years,” Scootaloo agreed.

“So tell me,” Blue Yonder said, leaning in closer.  “Are earth-ponies really dumb and unicorns finicky?”

“What?  No!”  Scootaloo exclaimed.  “Apple Bloom is one of the smartest ponies I know.  And Sweetie Belle loves getting dirty!  Her sister, on the other hoof-”

Scootaloo never got a chance to finish what she was going to say, for at that moment, they were joined by Silverwings.  He looked very distressed with a shaggy mane and rapid breathing.

“Please, you gotta help me!”  Silverwings begged.  “I can’t take Hot Shot anymore!  He’s too selfish and overbearing!”

“What makes you think that we can help?”  Blue Yonder asked.

“You can convince Colonel Spitfire to let me be with you two, or even switch companions,” Silverwings suggested.

Scootaloo was about to protest, but Blue Yonder cut it first.

“No,” she said flatly.

“Pleeeaaase,” Silverwings begged, giving his best sad-puppy dog face.  

He even made his eyes wide and ears flat on his head.  It would’ve definitely made Sweetie Belle proud—had she been there.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t keep fighting your battles for you,” Blue Yonder explained.  “You’re going to have to deal with this on your own.”

“Oh, now you’ve decided to leave me alone!”  Silverwings exclaimed.

Just then, Hot Shot appeared and took Silverwings by the shoulder.

“There you are!”  Hot Shot said.   “Come on, we need to eat quickly so we can get back to training.”

With that, Hot Shot took Silverwings away to the far end of the cafeteria.  All the while, Silverwings glared back at Blue Yonder.

“You know,” Scootaloo said.  “You actually are kind of evil doing that to him.”

“I know I am,” Blue Yonder said, maniacally chuckling as she began to eat.


***


After the usual stretches and exercises, the cadets found themselves facing another special training.  This time they were at another edge of the compound and divided into two teams.  Scootaloo and Blue Yonder found themselves grouped with most of the stallions by a blue flag.  The only stallions not on their team were the Hot Shot/Silverwings pair and the mixed group of Barrel Roll and Lavender—who were with the rest of the mares by a red flag.  Of course, they were also joined by the film ponies that populated the base.

“I know they are doing a documentary, and all,” Blue Yonder whispered, “but I don’t feel comfortable having them watch us all the time out here.”

Before Scootaloo could respond, Major Soarin called them to attention.  He was joined by Lieutenant What’s-his-name, who carried a stopwatch and clipboard.

“All right, cadets,” Soarin started.  “Today, we’ll be participating in a flag hunt.  The flags have been placed all over the compound and mountainside.  You’ve been divided into two teams: Red and Blue.  Your objective is to find as many of the opposing teams flags before time is up.”

There was some murmuring among the cadets.  Even Scootaloo was confused by this activity that felt like it belonged on a school playground, as opposed to an elite flyers training facility.

“I know this may seem like a game,” Soarin said in response to the mutterings.  “But this is a training exercise.  You are to fly in your pairs the whole time and work together to find the flags.  Usually, we would disqualify a pair if they split during the exercise, but I will give you a chance today.  Instead, the pair will be penalized by being grounded for two minutes before returning to the exercise.  The reason I’m doing this is because the winning team will be given a prize.  They will get the rest of the afternoon off while the losing team will have to stay for some more flight exercises.”

Some more chatters of excitement arose from the cadets.

“Don’t get too excited,” Soarin warned.  “You still have an inspection today at 1800 hours.  The winning team should use their time wisely and prepare for it.  The losing team will also be given adequate time to prepare for it as well.”

There were some groans, particularly from Scootaloo.  She hated having to make her own bed or clean up her room when she was at home.

“Now that your teams are set, you have ten minutes to find the flags,” Soarin said as Lieutenant What’s-his-name took up the stopwatch.  “Ready?  GO!”

At the blow of a whistle, the cadets took off; all in search for the flags hidden around the mountain.  Blue Yonder and Scootaloo went back and forth, determined to find as many flags as possible.

“Do you see anything yet?”  Blue Yonder asked.

“No, not yet,” Scootaloo answered, still scanning the ground bellow.  “They hid these flags good—WAIT!  There’s one!”

Scootaloo spotted something red on the cliff face.  It was very-well placed and nearly invisible if you didn’t have a keen eye.  Without warning, Scootaloo dived for it.  She increased in speed as she got closer, the wind whipping her mane and tail behind her.  Extending her hoof, she grabbed the flag.  Triumphant, she headed back to the starting position.

“It seems that the Blue Team has obtained the first flag,” Soarin said as Scootaloo placed the red flag at the Blue Team’s base.  “Unfortunately, you split your companionship, leaving your lead pony behind.”

Scootaloo’s eyes widened as she realized her mistake.  She turned her head and saw Blue Yonder land, frowning at her teammate.  Scootaloo smacked her forehead with her hoof.

“Two minutes in the penalty box,” Soarin said and nodded to Lieutenant What’s-his-name to keep track of the time.

Scootaloo and Blue Yonder moved to the designated area and waited.  Scootaloo kept hitting herself in the forehead.

“Stupid…Moron…Idiot!”  She said as she pounded on herself.  She was also taking extreme care not to resort to more “colorful” words.

“Will you STOP IT!”  Blue Yonder shouted.  “Beating up on yourself isn’t going to help us any!  Just calm down and get focused!”

Scootaloo stopped hitting herself and took a few deep breaths.  She looked over at the lieutenant who was keeping track of their time.

‘Somehow, he’s even more intimidating when he isn’t even talking to you,’ she thought.  ‘How is that even possible?’

They watched as flags were being collected by both teams.  Every companionship on the Red Team found at least one flag.  Somehow, both Hot Shot and Silverwings managed to find three.  The Blue Team was also finding flags, but not nearly as many as the Red Team.

“All right,” Lieutenant What’s-his-name said.  “Penalty’s up.”

“Finally!”  Scootaloo exclaimed.

“Try and stay with me this time,” Blue Yonder scolded.  

They were off to the air again with a renewed determination to find as many red flags as possible.  They managed to find five more, but the damage had already been done.  Soon, time was up.

“And the winner is the Red Team, which found nineteen flags as opposed to the Blue Team’s fifteen,” Soarin declared.  “Red Team, you are dismissed.”

Cheers erupted from the Red Team as they left the field, leaving the Blue Team behind.

“For the rest of you, it is apparent that you need to work on sticking together,” Soarin said to the remaining cadets.  “So we’ll start off by doing some more figure-eights.”

Groans erupted from the stallions.  Many of them glared at Scootaloo, the reason for their demise.  Scootaloo shrank as she lowered her head and ears.  She dared not look anypony in the eye.

“Hey, it’s not so bad,” Blue Yonder said.  “At least we can improve our flying together.”

“If you say so,” Scootaloo said glumly, but her spirits were lifted a bit up by her partner’s confidence.

“All right, give me three hundred laps!”  Soarin commanded before blowing the whistle.

> Day 2: Inspection
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	In the late afternoon, two very exhausted pegasi made their way back to the barracks.  Major Soarin wasn’t easy on the ponies that had to stay for extra training after the flag hunt.  But he finally let them go, and Scootaloo and Blue Yonder still had to prepare for the upcoming inspection that evening.

“I’m sorry about breaking off and costing us the competition, and giving us extra work to do,” Scootaloo apologized once again.

“For the last time, it’s okay.  I forgive you,” Blue Yonder said exasperated.  

“It’s just that it reminded me of the game I used to play during recess,” Scootaloo explained.  “And I would always go after the flag once I saw it, no matter what was going on.”

“I understand,” Blue Yonder said calmly.  “I was angry about it then, but I’m over it now.  To be honest, it was actually quite awesome how you grabbed that flag.  And nothing all that bad came out of it.  Yes, we had to work more afterwards, but I think we got better because of it.  Besides, we still have plenty of time to get ready for the inspection.

“Do you think Silverwings and Hot Shot got ready for their inspection while we were working?”  Scootaloo asked.

“I doubt it,” Blue Yonder snickered.  “Silverwings always puts things off till the last minute, and Hot Shot seems like he would spend every moment he can training so he can show off while flying.  I imagine all of the stallions will be working at the same time.  I don’t know about our roommates though….whoa.”

They walked into their barracks room to find the whole place sparkling clean, with the fresh scent of particular flower often associated with cleaning.  Nearly everything was in order—aside from the blemish that was Scootaloo’s and Blue Yonder’s area.  All of the other beds were made and the floor was clean.  Lavender even went the extra mile and made the top bunk of her bed in addition to her own.

“Well,” Blue Yonder finally said after gaping at the scene.  “I guess that just leaves us with one thing left to do.”

With that, the two mares went over to their corner.  They organized their wardrobe cabinet and then moved onto making the beds.  There was a particular way they had to do it—which Scootaloo didn’t really care for, but she knew how regardless.

“You know, there’s one thing I don’t understand,” Blue Yonder stated while they worked.  “You and I are about the same age and Ponyville and Cloudsdale are in the same region.  Yet, I’ve never seen you at Flight Camp or Flight School.”

Scootaloo froze and remained silent.  Suddenly, she zipped over to the door and then the window, making sure that nopony outside was listening.  She even closed the curtain before returning to Blue Yonder with a very serious expression on her face.

“Listen,” Scootaloo said in an equally serious tone.  “What I’m about to tell you is very personal, and I don’t want everypony else to know about it.  So will you please keep this between us?”

“Of course,” Blue Yonder said, a little confused in this sudden shift in tone.

“Do you Pinkie Pie Promise?”  Scootaloo asked.

“I have no idea what that is,” Blue Yonder replied.

“Oh…right…duh,” Scootaloo stammered.  “Okay, forget that last part.  Just…don’t tell anypony.  Okay?”

“Okay,” Blue Yonder nodded, anticipating what she was going to be told.

“The thing is…” Scootaloo started.  “When I was younger…I couldn’t fly…like, at all.  Not even the couple of months after I was born, when pegasus magic goes wild.  I was essentially ‘grounded’ almost my entire life.”

“You’re a late-bloomer?”  Blue Yonder asked.

“The latest bloomer you could ever think was possible,” Scootaloo emphasized.  “So by the time I could finally fly—which was the greatest thing I ever felt in my life—I attended Flight Camp and Flight School with foals less than half my age.  I don’t think they were even a third.  And even then, I wasn’t the greatest flyer.  Most of those foals could fly circles around me.  It was almost as bad as being teased for being a blank-flank or not being able to fly in the first place.”

Scootaloo paused for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts.  The recollection of these painful memories brought her to the verge of tears.  Blue Yonder remained quiet; intently listening to every word.

“I guess that’s why I look up to Rainbow Dash so much,” Scootaloo finally said, and making a sniffing sound.  “She is the best and most awesome flyer I know, doing so many cool things that everypony once thought was impossible.  She even took me under her wing, despite me not even having a hope of doing what she could with my stubby little wings at the time.  

“She’s like a sister to me.  She always encouraged me to do my best while still reassuring me that I would be awesome even if I couldn’t fly.  And when I did, she was there, just as excited as I was.  Even when her duties in the Wonderbolts would take her away, she would always make time for me.  She literally taught me everything I know.  Because of that, I managed to barely get through Flight Camp and the basic course in Flight School.  

“I didn’t want to leave my friends behind after spending so much time with them over the years.  They helped me out just as much as Rainbow Dash did.  So I finished my schooling at Ponyville High instead of Flight School, just to be with them.  Along with Rainbow Dash, they’re the greatest ponies I know, and I wouldn’t dare let anypony speak badly about them.  They changed my life.  And they’re the reason why I’m standing here today.”

With that, Scootaloo became quite again.  She was crying freely now and desperately looking for a tissue.  Blue Yonder, meanwhile, remained sitting on the floor, trying to process what she had just learned.

“Wow,” Blue Yonder finally said.  “That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard.  I can’t believe just how much you went through.”

“You won’t tell anypony, right?”  Scootaloo asked, after successfully finding a tissue.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Blue Yonder said sincerely.  “Your secret’s safe with me.”

“Thank you,” Scootaloo said, who then blew her nose and threw the tissue away.

“Say,” Blue Yonder said, trying to lighten the spirit of the room.  “When you were in flight camp, did you ever hear the rumor of the earth-pony filly who could walk on clouds?”

“Yeah, I did,” Scootaloo replied.  “I didn’t believe it at first since I was certain that other ponies were mistaken.  Wings can be less noticeable than other features like a unicorn horn, for instance.  But one day on the race track, I swear that I saw her; no wings whatsoever.”

“I saw her too,” Blue Yonder stated.  “And I thought; ‘How are you there?  It’s physically impossible!’”

“I know, right,” Scootaloo agreed.  “Although, I know that Princess Twilight developed a spell to enable non-flyers to walk on clouds, but I doubt that she just casts it on any random filly.”

“Sometimes I think that there really is an earth-pony filly that can walk on clouds,” Blue Yonder said.

At that moment, the door opened and Lavender walked in, with a look of confusion on her face.

“An earth-pony filly than can walk on clouds?”  Lavender repeated questioningly.  “You do realize that that’s a myth, right?  It’s not even possible!”

“Princess Twilight could do it through a spell before she became an alicorn,” Blue Yonder.

“Okay, but why would an earth-pony filly even be on the clouds to begin with?”  Lavender demanded.

“Maybe one of her parents works at Flight Camp and the other is a unicorn that can cast the cloud-walking spell so they can spend time with each other,” Blue Yonder suggested.

Lavender scoffed at that statement and walked over to her corner of the room.

“Come on, Blue Yonder,” Scootaloo said.  “Even I think that’s a bit of a stretch.”

“Yeah, probably,” Blue Yonder said, returning to making her bed.  “But it could still happen.”

As the time for their inspection drew closer, the other cadets filed into the barracks.  Each made some last minute preparations.  They all stopped when there was a knock at the door.  Snapshot was the one to open the door, revealing Lieutenant What’s-his-name and some of the film ponies.

“Good evening cadet,” the Lieutenant said.  “I have been authorized to do all barracks inspections this evening by Colonel Spitfire.  The camera crew is also authorized to film in the barracks for this instance only.”

He handed Snapshot a piece of paper—no doubt the hoof-written permission slip that Spitfire had mentioned earlier in regards to the film ponies.

“May we come in?”  Lieutenant What’s-his-name asked, showing respect for the cadets even though he was in full authority to waltz right in if he chose to.

“Certainly,” Snapshot said, stepping aside to let the visitors in.

The film crew didn’t go much farther than the middle of the room, but Lieutenant What’s-his-name went through every corner—for obvious reasons.  He was very quiet, and yet he still sent chills down Scootaloo’s back.  He looked in all the cabinets, just to see if things were orderly, and checked for dust on the surface.  He also looked at the beds, took a bit out of his pocket and bounced it off of every one.  He paused over at Lavender’s corner.

“Who else sleeps here cadet?”  He asked Lavender.

“Nopony sir,” Lavender responded.  “Just me.”

“So you made both beds then?”  Lieutenant What’s-his-name deduced.

“Yes sir,” Lavender confirmed.

Lieutenant What’s-his-name raised an eyebrow and jotted something down on the clipboard.  He continued his inspection until he came to Scootaloo’s and Blue Yonder’s corner.  He did the same thing by bouncing the bit off of the sheets.  Scootaloo couldn’t help but notice that the bit seemed to bounce lower off of her bed.  The lieutenant frowned a little, but didn’t say anything.

Next, Lieutenant What’s-his-name moved to the trash can and paused.  Somehow, his silence was deafening at this moment.  He picked up the trash can and turned it sideways for everypony to see, but not to let the contents out.

“You didn’t empty your trash can,” he said, displaying the trash can’s single occupant: a used tissue.

Scootaloo closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, but the lieutenant didn’t notice.  Instead, he put the trash can down.  Then, he took out his clipboard again and began writing something down.  Once he had finished, he looked back up.

“However,” Lieutenant What’s-his-name stated.  “Considering the cleanliness of the room and state of the beds, you passed.  You are now free to go to dinner.”

He left a piece of paper with the cadets and departed, followed by the film ponies.  Once they were gone, everypony let out a sigh of relief and looked at the paper he left.  It was a score card of all things looked at in the inspection.  There was also something written in the “notes” section.



	Room is spotless and clean.  All beds are made and meet standards, including one that isn’t occupied.  
Regular trash disposal needs work.



“I thought we did empty the trash,” somepony said, while the note was being passed around.

“Sorry,” Scootaloo said.  “It seems that everything is my fault lately.”

“Now don’t you start that again!”  Blue Yonder exclaimed.

“But it was just one tissue,” Snapshot pointed out.

“One tissue that could’ve caused us to fail!”  Lavender snapped.

“Hey!”  Scootaloo growled at Lavender.

“Now girls, stop it!”  Blue Yonder intervened.  “What’s done is done.  We still passed, so let’s forget it and move on.  Besides, I want to go to the Mess Hall before all the good food gets taken.”

Everypony else agreed with her, leaving the barracks to go to dinner.  Scootaloo and Lavender, however, gave each other nasty looks before leaving the room.


***


Later that evening, Colonel Spitfire was sitting in her office, reading reports when a knock came at her door.

“Enter,” she commanded, and in walked the lieutenant she had assigned to do the barracks inspections earlier.

‘Gah, why can’t I remember his name right now?’ she thought.  ‘He’s been with us for years!’

“Here are the reports from the barracks inspection Ma’am,” the lieutenant said.

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Spitfire said, taking the reports and looking them over.  “It seems that the mares beat the stallions once again in the inspections.  Did you seriously dock some points from some cadets for having one tissue in the trash can?”

“The regulations state that the trash cans must be empty for an inspection,” he explained.

“Well, I can’t fault you for being thorough,” Spitfire said.  “Do you have Major Soarin’s report on the new cadets for today?”

“I do, Ma’am,” the lieutenant replied, handing another set of papers over.

Spitfire quickly read through it and sighed.

“What am I going to do with you, Scootaloo?”  She said, more to herself than anypony else.

“Ma’am?”   The lieutenant asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Huh?”  Spitfire said, looking back up.  “Oh, it’s nothing you need to concern yourself with.  Thank you Lieutenant.  Dismissed.”

Spitfire saluted the lieutenant and he left her office.  She then quickly grabbed her personnel roster and looked it over.

‘Ah! That’s it,’ Spitfire then put the roster back in her desk with a satisfied smile on her face.

> Day 3: Obstacles
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Like clockwork, a bugle began to blare at six in the morning.  Scootaloo’s heavy eyelids slowly opened and she tried to cover her ears with her pillow.  It was no use though; the sound was still loud and clear, and she knew that she needed to get up.

“Ugh, I hate waking up early,” Scootaloo moaned while climbing out of bed.

“Come on, it’s not that bad,” Blue Yonder said, as she picked up her book.

“How can you read at a time like this?”  Scootaloo asked, rubbing her eyes.

“They called ‘lights out’ in the middle of an exciting climax last night,” Blue Yonder explained.  “I just got to know how it ends.”

“Suit yourself,” Scootaloo yawned as she grabbed her towel.  “I’m going to go take a shower.”

The shower helped wake Scootaloo up and she had a lot more energy and desire to face the day.  Yet she still felt a little groggy and had a hard time processing things in her mind.  It didn’t help that Blue Yonder was talking on and on about the book she had just completed while they were heading for the Mess Hall.

“I totally didn’t see that coming!”  Blue Yonder said.  “This changes everything!  That’s what I love about this series; it always keeps you on the edge of your hooves, but it’s smart about it.  I can’t wait for the resolution to come out in the next book!  Too bad it won’t come out till next year.”

“Look,” Scootaloo interjected.  “I enjoy reading as much as the next pony; but right now, I’m not in the mood.  Can we just eat in peace for once today?”

“Oh, sure,” Blue Yonder said, feeling a little dejected.

They got their food and quietly made their way to one of the tables.  Unfortunately, the “peace” that Scootaloo wanted didn’t last long as they were soon joined by Silverwings.  He was actually a bit chipper this morning.

“You guys aren’t going to believe what we found in a secret compartment in the wardrobe cabinets last night,” he said after setting his food down.

Without missing a beat, Blue Yonder spoke, “A portal to a fantasy land with talking critters under the tyrannical rule of some ‘Ice Queen’ and you joined a resistance to fight her alongside an all-powerful lion creature and defeated her, then you became king for many years, found your way back to the wardrobe, went through it and found yourself back here and no time had passed whatsoever?”

Both Scootaloo and Silverwings stared agape at Blue Yonder’s sudden outburst.  However, Blue Yonder was unashamed and waiting for a response.

“No, but that would be awesome,” Silverwings finally said.  “Actually we found some items stashed away by previous cadets.  While we were preparing for the inspection, we found that there was a piece of wood on top of the cabinet that you can remove.  Underneath it is a compartment where some of the wires for the lights run up.  Inside, we found items like pictures, love letters, a toy golf club set and even a hacky-sack.”

“Cool,” Blue Yonder said.  “But tell me, did this discovery keep you from cleaning up your room?”

“No!”  Silverwings said a little too quickly.  “Okay, maybe a little.  Yeah, we didn’t do so well on the inspection.”

“That’s what I thought,” Blue Yonder said while taking a drink of her juice.

They all returned to silently eating their food when suddenly, Silverwings’ ears perked up.  He looked around the Mess Hall as if expecting to be jumped by something at any moment.

“Oh no,” Silverwings moaned.  “Here comes Hot Shot.”

“Why don’t you just stand up to him?”  Blue Yonder suggested.

“Yeah,” Scootaloo agreed.  “You don’t have to let him drag you around everywhere.”

“I’ve tried,” Silverwings said.  “He just won’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

“He can’t force you to do something that you’re not willing to do,” Blue Yonder pointed out.

“I know,” Silverwings sighed.  “But technically what he drags me to do does help us in training.  I better go see what he wants to do today.”

With that, Silverwings got up from the table and trotted over to where Hot Shot was.  Scootaloo and Blue Yonder resumed eating.

“What are we going to do today?”  Blue Yonder wondered.

“I think Rainbow Dash said something about an obstacle course on the third day,” Scootaloo said.  “It doesn’t sound too hard.”


***


Scootaloo felt like she was being shoved backwards by a freight train.  She managed the hoops and cloud dodging just fine at the beginning of the Wonderbolt’s famous obstacle course—especially since they were like all of the other hoops and obstacles she had encountered thus far at the academy.  Now Blue Yonder led them into the storm cloud where winds blew on them from every angle except from behind.  

“Come on!”  Blue Yonder yelled when she noticed her wingpony was falling behind.  “You can do it!”

“I’M TRYING!”  Scootaloo shouted back.

The course was designed to test their precision flying under extreme conditions.  Scootaloo felt that this course certainly focused on the “extreme” part of that a little too much.  It took all of her energy and focus just to stay on course.  Scootaloo had never really flown through bad weather before—Rainbow Dash had always made sure that it was a good day when she spent time with Scootaloo in her flight training.  Flight Camp and Flight School had also never tested her in extreme weather conditions either.

Finally they exited the storm cloud and Scootaloo could see daylight again.  She could also see the end of the course.  Both she and Blue Yonder picked up speed and reached the finish line.  It was a good thing that it wasn’t a race, because they were one of the last companionships to finish.

“Well, that wasn’t so bad,” Blue Yonder said a little winded.

However, that was nothing to the heavy breathing that Scootaloo was doing.  She was trembling on her legs and desperately gasping for air like there was no tomorrow.

“Speak….for……yourself,” Scootaloo muttered between breaths before she collapsed on the ground.

Blue Yonder moved forward, but Major Soarin told her to get back along with everypony else.  He then looked her over and checked her vital signs.  Soarin wasn’t a doctor, but he was certified in first aid and knew what he was looking for.  Finally, Soarin helped Scootaloo up and moved her to a nearby bench.

“Just sit here for a few minutes,” Soarin said, setting her down.

“Are you okay?”  Blue Yonder asked.

“I feel like I’m going to die!”  Scootaloo stated between shallow breaths.

“You’re not going to die,” Soarin reassured her.  “Do you have a history with asthma?”

“No,” Scootaloo answered.

“Then you’re going to be fine,” Soarin concluded.  “Drink some water.  If you start breathing normally in a few moments then you won’t even have to see the doctor in the infirmary.  Don’t worry, this kind of thing happens all the time.  Flying through extreme weather conditions isn’t something we normally do, even in the Wonderbolts.”

That said, Soarin left her side and returned to the other cadets and wrote something down on his clipboard.  Only then did Blue Yonder approach her companion again.

“How are you feeling now?”  She asked.

“Better, I guess,” Scootaloo replied after taking a drink from the canteen at the bench.  “Though, it can’t be worse than you getting stuck in your uniform.”

“WHAT!”  Blue Yonder exclaimed.  “Yes it is!”

“Come on,” Scootaloo teased.  “We have pictures to prove it.”

“Well there’s a video showing you gasping for breath!”  Blue Yonder retorted, her face growing a little red.

“Lets see, losing all breath after traveling through a hurricane or getting your head stuck in your shirt?”  Scootaloo said putting her hooves up and weighing the matter.  “No, I still think yours is more embarrassing.”

“You’re the evil one!”  Blue Yonder huffed.

“I know I am,” Scootaloo replied smugly.

Soon, they both started laughing.  It had been a long day.  It wasn’t quite over yet, but they were content living in the moment.
	

> Day 3: Discovery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was a long and exhausting day for all of the cadets.  Once dinner was over, they all headed back to the barracks.  Two ponies in particular were looking forward to a long-awaited rest.

“Why did you have us go through the obstacle course again?”  Scootaloo asked.

“It was only open for today, due to all the preparation and ponies they need to run it,” Blue Yonder explained.  “And I thought we needed to go through it again.  You have to admit, you did a lot better the second time through.”

“Yeah, but I still felt the same after we were done too,” Scootaloo retorted.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” Blue Yonder said.  “I just think we need to push ourselves a little so we can get better, but I would never have you hurt yourself over it.  I was certain you could handle it one more time.”

“I guess you’re right,” Scootaloo sighed.  “Still, I can’t wait to go to bed.”

Blue Yonder nodded in agreement and they finally reached the barracks.  Scootaloo immediately climbed into her bed after removing her flight suit.  Blue Yonder was also getting better at removing hers—now it only took about two minutes and a lot less struggling.

Everypony else went about their nightly routines.  Scootaloo was content with just lying on her bed.  Then she looked at the foot of the bed and noticed the cabinet sitting there.  Suddenly, it piqued her interest and she got up to go investigate.

“What are you doing?” Snapshot asked, noticing that Scootaloo was now on top of the cabinet.

“Silverwings said that he found a ‘secret compartment’ last night in these cabinets and that there was some cool stuff in them,” Scootaloo explained.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that,” Blue Yonder exclaimed as she put her book down.

“Don’t you realize how filthy that would be?”  Lavender snapped, but Scootaloo ignored her.

“Ah-ha!”  Scootaloo exclaimed once she found a loose piece of wood and then lifted it up.  “Cool, a couple of bouncing balls.”

She took out a rubber ball about the size of her head and passed it to Blue Yonder.  Scootaloo returned to the floor with the other one and started bouncing it off of her head.  The other mares stared at her in amazement.

“I’m going to go see what’s in mine!”  Snapshot said as she flew over to the cabinet on the opposite side of the room.

“What?  Really!”  Lavender exclaimed, watching all the other ponies in the room climbing on top of the furniture.

“Aaaw,” Snapshot moaned.  “This one doesn’t have anything in it at all.”

“This one has some old history textbooks in it,” another mare said, rather confused.

“Really, let me see those?”  Blue Yonder asked and then flipped through the pages of the large books.  “Wow!  These are way out of date.  They end at least fifty years before Princess Luna returned, and there isn’t a single mention of the Crystal Empire.”

“Come on, Lavender, what’s in yours?”  Snapshot asked.

“You don’t seriously expect me to crawl up there to look for something in a dirty hole, do you?”  Lavender snapped.  

“Please,” Snapshot pleaded.  “You got to be the one to do it.  It's your cabinet after all.”

Lavender looked at all the other mares in the room.  Each were just as expectant and curious as Snapshot.  Finally, she gave in.

“Fine,” Lavender sighed.

She then started muttering something under her breath while she flew to the top of her own dresser.

“Huh?”  Lavender said, looking into the compartment.  “It’s a box.”

She lifted a small cardboard box out of the cabinet and returned to the ground.  She took off the lid so that everypony could look.  Inside was a stack of pictures.

“Wow,” Snapshot said in awe.  “Some of these are really old.  You can tell by the color, material and resolution in the photographs.”

She was right.  As they flipped through the photos, they noticed that the ones on top were in black and white and slowly changed to more vibrant colors.  Each picture had a line of ponies in it, but they were always different.

“Wait, these are all cadets from the Wonderbolt Academy,” Lavender stated once they found a picture where the ponies were wearing flight suits similar to their own.

“Hey look, it’s Colonel Spitfire!”  Blue Yonder exclaimed.  “Look at that manestyle, that’s so thirty years ago.”

It was true.  The picture did show Spitfire with a very frizzy and proofed-out mane.  Scootaloo couldn’t help but think about her old teacher, Cheerilee.  It was the same style from a picture she once showed the class when talking about cutie marks.  And seeing that manestyle on Spitfire yielded the same laughter that Scootaloo remembered from when Cheerilee showed the picture to both her and Sweetie Belle after they had joined the class.

They continued to browse the photographs.  They found many other prominent members of the Wonderbolts—some of them with much more subdued manes.  They finally found the picture that Scootaloo was eager to see.

“It’s Rainbow Dash!”  She shouted.

“I wonder who that green pony is right next to her,” Blue Yonder said.

Scootaloo gave a nervous chuckle as she looked at the pony in question who had her left foreleg around Rainbow Dash’s shoulders.  Scootaloo knew, all too well, the story between her idol and her idol’s partner at the academy.  Thankfully, nopony pursued the subject and they moved on to the next picture.

“It seems that it’s some sort of tradition for the cadets to take a picture of their group and leave it in the box,” Blue Yonder said once they looked at the last picture.  “Providing that they find it, of course.” 

“Ooo!  I know what we’re doing tomorrow!”  Snapshot exclaimed and she grabbed her camera and mini-tripod.

“Do we have too?”  Lavender complained.

“Yeah!”  Snapshot said.  “That way we’ll always be here in a way.”

“Great,” Lavender said sarcastically.

This piqued Scootaloo’s curiosity again.

‘It’s almost as though she doesn’t want anything to do with the Wonderbolts at all,’ she thought.

The mares continued to fiddle with the items found in their dressers, or at least the pictures and the rubber balls—the textbooks lay forgotten in a corner near Blue Yonder’s bed.  Soon, however, they needed to go to bed as Lieutenant What’s-his-name called for lights out.


***


Spitfire opened the door to her private quarters with a smile on her face.  She had just returned from a pleasant evening stroll around the compound.  As she was passing the barracks, she heard some laughter come from the section occupied by the new cadet mares.  Listening closely confirmed her suspicions for the cause of that laughter.

‘It seems that they’ve finally found the items hidden in the cabinets,’ Spitfire had thought; particularly when she heard some comments about the manestyle she used to have when she was a cadet.

More than once, Spitfire had thought of getting that box in order to remove that picture of her.  She never did, though.  It would insult the friends she had made back then.  Besides, it also showed that Spitfire was at least a little equine, and not just the fiery commander who used to be the leading flyer in the Wonderbolts.

Spitfire’s countenance changed as she climbed into her bed.  Major Soarin’s report that day weighed heavily on her mind—or rather, one item in particular.  The obstacle course was one of the more demanding trainings they did, and ponies have been known to be blown off course or need some minor medical attention afterwards.  It usually wasn’t very alarming to hear of an issue there, but what happened with Scootaloo that day troubled her.

‘Things seem to be getting worse,’ Spitfire thought before drifting off to sleep.

> Day 4: Lunchroom Chat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The days started to blend together at the Wonderbolt Academy.  Scootaloo and her fellow cadets would get up early in the morning, eat breakfast, do various exercises, eat lunch and go out for more training.  The only thing that really distinguished the days was the type of special training they would get in the afternoon, along with what they made of the day.

The exercises that morning ran a little long, so lunch was already under way and the mess hall was stuffed with other ponies.  All anypony wanted to do was just to sit down and eat.  Scootaloo and Blue Yonder managed to find a spot that was big enough for the two of them and a few other ponies.  They were soon joined by Silverwings.

“Does anypony else get the feeling that every day is pretty much the same here?”  Silverwings asked.

Both Scootaloo and Blue Yonder mumbled their responses.  They were too tired from their workout that morning to form coherent sentences.  While Major Soarin didn’t have the fire or intimidation factor that Spitfire was famous for, he still worked the cadets unrelentingly hard.  He would never purposely allow them to injure themselves because of it, but a training session with him left the cadets very exhausted.

They all silently ate their food as ponies both left and joined the table they were sitting at.  They were even joined by Lavender.  She sat a few feet away, but could otherwise find no other place to sit.  Her eyes were a little glazed over, like everypony else.  She started eating and suddenly stopped when she noticed something.  She picked at a spot on her plate and gave a disgusted look.

“They can’t even clean the plates right!”  Lavender exclaimed.  “There’s something from last night encrusted on here!”

Scootaloo felt ready to explode once again.  That irritating voice and the incessant complaints caused Scootaloo’s blood to boil.  There were so many things she would have said without a second thought, but she restrained herself…barely.

“Listen…we get it!”  Scootaloo said through gritted teeth.  “You don’t like dirty things!  Whoopdi-doo!  I’m sorry that you got the one dirty plate out of dozens, if not hundreds, that have to be cleaned every day.  Just give it a rest for once!  I mean…is there something else you like besides cleaning!?”

Scootaloo was surprised to find herself standing, with her fore hooves resting on the table.  She was also breathing heavily and her face felt extremely hot.  Scootaloo glared at Lavender, who was very surprised by this scolding.  Lavender was speechless.

“W-well,” Lavender stammered.  “I do like reading.”

“Really!?”  Blue Yonder exclaimed as she zipped over to Lavender’s side.  “Tell me, what do you think of A. K. Yearling retiring?  I know that she’s said she felt like she was running out of ideas for her novels after so many years, but it seems like there’s more to it than that.”

Scootaloo sat back down and resumed eating her lunch.  She wasn’t interested in the conversation next to her at the moment, just in her pile of slightly overcooked carrots.  

“May I join you?”  Somepony asked from behind her.

Scootaloo and Silverwings looked up to find Major Soarin was standing next to them.  Silverwings struggled to stand up and salute their drill instructor.

“Now there’s no need for that cadet,” Soarin said.  “We’re in the mess hall.”

“Sorry Sir,” Silverwings said as he awkwardly sat back down.

“Sure,” Scootaloo finally said.  “But why would you sit with us Sir?”

“Well, to be perfectly honest, today is going to be a boring day for me,” Soarin explained as he sat down next too her.  “Plus, I like to get to know my cadets a little more personally.  Is your partner going to join us?”

Scootaloo looked over at Blue Yonder, who was still deep in conversation with Lavender about books.

“I like the Daring Do series okay since she does go to strange new places, but it’s always for the sake of an object,” Blue Yonder rambled.  “Personally, I prefer stories that explore new lands and focus on the beings that live there, whether if they’re real or fictional.”

“No,” Scootaloo said, turning back to Soarin.  “She’s a little preoccupied at the moment.”

“Very well,” Soarin said before taking a bite out of his apple pie.  “So tell me, how do you like the academy so far?”

“I think it’s great,” Scootaloo answered.

“Yeah, except my partner keeps driving me up the wall,” Silverwings said in a melancholy tone.

“Yeah, I noticed that,” Soarin chuckled.  “Where’s Hot Shot now?”

“I don’t know,” Silverwings replied looking around.  “He usually comes around this time and drags me off to one of the training fields.”

“You know, you don’t always have to agree with everything he does,” Soarin commented.

“I know, but it’s hard to get that through his thick skull,” Silverwings said.

“Well, I don’t know what else to tell you,” Soarin said.  Then he narrowed his eyes as he looked at Silverwings.  “Say, aren’t you Fleetfoot’s brother?”

Silverwings frowned even more before answering. “Yes.”

“Really?”  Scootaloo stated.  “You’ve never mentioned that Captain Fleetfoot was your sister.”

“That’s because she’s so annoying!”  Silverwings explained.  “Sure, she’s a great flyer, but you’ve never had to live with her.  She’s overbearing, drags you to do what she wants and loves to show off.  She’s not that different from Hot Shot, now that I think about it.”

“She usually speaks highly of you,” Soarin mentioned.

“Yeah, but she has a funny way of showing it,” Silverwings said.  “I love her because she’s my sister and all, but I can hardly stand to be in the same room with her for very long.”

“I see,” Soarin said.  “How about you, Scootaloo, where are you from?”

“Ponyville,” Scootaloo answered.

“Ponyville?”  Soarin said to himself while tapping his chin.  “Wait I remember!  Rainbow Dash lives in Ponyville.”

“The one and only,” Scootaloo beamed.

“Rainbow Dash is always talking about you too,” Soarin continued.  “She always talks about how awesome you are.”

“Really?”  Scootaloo said, rather surprised.  “Why would she talk about me?  I’m not as awesome as she is.”

“Well she does,” Soarin stated.  “And you have been doing fairly well here.  Sure, you’ve made some mistakes and had some difficulties, but so have the rest of us.  Just keep working hard.”

Scootaloo fell silent; not knowing whether to feel proud or ashamed of the apparent praise from Rainbow Dash.  She hadn’t really done anything to be considered "awesome" by her foalhood hero.  Sure, she told Scootaloo that she was “all kinds of awesome”, but she never felt like she deserved it.  Scootaloo had to be helped with everything when learning to fly.  Rainbow Dash never needed any help.

Scootaloo continued to pick at her pile of carrots while everypony else ate—or in the case of Blue Yonder and Lavender; talk about books.  Suddenly, Silverwings looked back up to Soarin.

“Say, didn’t Rainbow Dash almost replace you in the Cloudsdale team for the Equestria Games one year?”  He asked.

There was a clatter of silverware as Scootaloo dropped her fork and nervously looked over at Soarin.  He too had stopped eating and had a slight frown on his face.  

Scootaloo knew this story well; about how Spitfire and Fleetfoot had nearly convinced Rainbow Dash to join the Cloudsdale team for the relay race tryouts since Soarin had injured himself.  She happily trained with the Wonderbolts, but was conflicted about abandoning her own team.  It made matters worse when Rainbow Dash found out that Soarin had healed up long before the trials and was ready to fly, but Spitfire and Fleetfoot neglected to visit him or let him back on the team until the last moment.  

Rainbow Dash wasn’t very happy with this, but Scootaloo never knew Soarin’s feelings on the matter.  She wasn’t sure if she wanted to.  Soarin took a deep breath while Scootaloo held hers.

“Yes, she nearly did,” Soarin finally said; surprisingly very calm.  “It wasn’t Rainbow Dash’s fault though, and I had sprained my wing at the time.  So I didn’t blame Spitfire or Fleetfoot for trying to find a replacement.  They needed a third pony and Rainbow Dash is originally from Cloudsdale.

“I didn’t appreciate being shoved by the wayside and nearly forgotten until the end.  Spitfire knew I was feeling better, but she didn’t tell me anything—not even if I had been replaced or not.”

Soarin paused as he took another deep breath.  Both Scootaloo and Silverwings were practically sitting on the edge of their seats.

“I admit that I was pissed,” Soarin continued.  “I nearly dropped out of the games right then and there.  I even considered resigning from the Wonderbolts too.”

“Why didn’t you?”  Silverwings asked.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Soarin admitted.  “I guess I figured that it was a silly thing to give up my career over, let alone my friendship.  I’m glad I didn’t.”

“And what about Spitfire or Fleetfoot?”  Scootaloo asked.

“Officially, nothing really happened,” Soarin explained.  “Like I said, they needed a third flyer and had every reason to go get one.  Spitfire did loose a lot of respect, though; both in the Wonderbolts and from fans.  It took years before many of those ponies came back around, but some of it remains.  

“Spitfire was about to hand in her own resignation, as I recall.  Why she didn’t, I’ll never know.  One thing’s for sure, though; she never took me, or anypony else, for granted again.  That’s why she’s as adamant as she is about respect here, for everypony.  Without it, we are nothing and we can’t work as a team.  

“That’s part of the reason why Spitfire had later retired from active service as the lead pony in the First Wonderbolt Squadron—too many ponies still didn’t trust her to be a leader anymore.  However, she was still respected here at the academy and was convinced to take the commanding officer position full-time.  Honestly, I don’t think there is any pony more qualified for that position.  She is the epitome of everything that the Wonderbolts stand for.”

Soarin looked at his watch and got up.

“I better get going,” he said before balancing his food tray on his back.  “Remember to report to the Section H of the Southern Field at 1400 hours.  You still have a lot of training ahead of you.”

With that he left, leaving the cadets to ponder his words.  Scootaloo couldn’t help but get a feeling of déjà vu.  Soarin’s story was almost exactly like hers from the Equestria Games that very same year.  Both of them almost hadn’t participated in the games—albeit for different reasons and circumstances—they were nearly abandoned by their friends/teammates and Rainbow Dash played a part in bringing them back together.  Soarin even held no ill-feelings towards his teammates just like how Scootaloo quickly made up with her friends.

The truth behind Spitfire’s “semi-retirement” was also a lot to take in.

‘Can one mistake truly affect a pony’s entire life like that?’  Scootaloo wondered. 

Scootaloo ate the rest of her meal in silence.  When she was done, she got up, disposed of her waste and put her dirty dishes away to be cleaned.  She hadn’t even realized that Blue Yonder had done the same thing and was walking with her on the way out of the mess hall.

“She likes romance novels!”  Blue Yonder suddenly exclaimed.  “And not even the interesting ones, but the cheesy ones with nearly the same exact plot by the same authors!”

> Day 4: Clearing the Clouds
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Major Soarin wasn’t kidding about it being a rather boring day.  The training for the cadets that day was cloud busting.  The purpose for it was to clear away as many clouds as quickly as possible while working as a team. It wasn’t too bad; it kept them busy for the next hour or so.  Compared with everything else, though, it was pretty lame. 

Major Soarin wasn’t even there to supervise them.  Instead Lieutenant What’s-his-name was observing them.  He stood by a chalkboard that was divided in sections by companionships.  He kept a close eye on the cadets and marked their progress.  How he was able to keep track of all the companionships and mark down the clouds they all cleared was anypony’s guess, but he still did it.

Soon, there were no more clouds to clear so all of the cadets landed waited for the final tally.  Both Blue Yonder and Scootaloo were shocked to learn that Hot Shot and Silverwings emerged on top, having cleared away most of the clouds.

“I guess whatever training program Hot Shot has them on is definitely working,” Blue Yonder commented while Scootaloo nodded in agreement.

Blue Yonder and Scootaloo came in second, but with a sizeable margin between them and the leading stallions.  Scootaloo learned a thing or two about clearing weather while she was still learning from Rainbow Dash; yet it still wasn’t enough to compete with whatever Hot Shot’s technique was.

The most surprising outcome, though, was who came in dead last; Barrel Roll and Lavender.  They were both very capable flyers and among some of the better performing companionships to that point.  Yet the column underneath their cutie marks on the chalkboard was practically empty.  It didn’t look like they even hit double digits.

‘Maybe Lavender thought that the clouds were too filthy to touch,’ Scootaloo thought.

Scootaloo couldn’t dwell on the matter further because they were dismissed and had free time for the rest of the afternoon.  A loud commotion of chatter emerged as the cadets started walking off to other parts of the compound.  Blue Yonder decided that they could go to the track and do some more laps for a while.  Scootaloo agreed and followed suit.

Unfortunately, they found that the section with the track was currently closed.  It was being worked on by several ponies from the academy.  They could also see that Major Soarin was directing them as they set up some bleachers.

“What’s going on?”  Blue Yonder asked.

“I’m not sure,” Scootaloo replied.  “But it looks like it’s going to be big.”

“What are we supposed to do now?”  Blue Yonder whined.

“Well, it is a nice day out thanks to our ‘training’ earlier,” Scootaloo observed.  “Maybe we can just enjoy it and have a nice, relaxing afternoon.”

“All right,” Blue Yonder agreed.  “But let’s stop by the barracks first.  If we’re going to relax then I want to have a book with me.”

“If you insist,” Scootaloo said as they turned back around.

They made the relatively short trek back to the barracks.  Cadets were walking everywhere, trying to figure out what to do with their free time.  However, one white stallion wasn’t walking around at all and he was sitting right outside of the mare’s barracks.

“Barrel Roll, what are you doing here?”  Blue Yonder asked, eying him suspiciously.

“Huh?”  Barrel Roll mumbled, looking up.  “Oh, it’s Lavender.  She’s not talking to anypony and avoiding them.”

“Yeah, tell us something we don’t know,” Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes

“Well, it seems that something is bothering her,” Barrel Roll explained.  “I thought it was because we performed horribly earlier today, but she wouldn’t talk about it.  She just walked over here and barricaded herself in the barracks.  I know she doesn’t like to socialize—I definitely noticed that over the past three days with her—but it honestly seems like there’s something else and I just can’t figure out what it is.”

“She’s just an obnoxious pony who hates everything,” Scootaloo huffed.  “That’s her problem.”

“Come on Scootaloo, you know better than to say that,” Blue Yonder reprimanded.  “Besides, you don’t know anything about her.”

“And you would?”  Scootaloo countered.  “All you did was talk to her about books.  What could you possibly know about her from that?”

“A lot more than you think,” Blue Yonder said, but Scootaloo raised an incredulous eyebrow.  “Okay, not that much, I admit it.  But I do know that she is willing to talk if you show that you are genuinely interested in her.  Now come on, let’s go talk to her.”

“What?”  Scootaloo shrieked.  “Why do we have to talk to her?”

“Because Barrel Roll is a stallion and we’re the only ones that know about this right now!”  Blue Yonder exclaimed.

“Can’t we get an officer to take care of it?”  Scootaloo suggested.

Blue Yonder sighed.  “Listen, I know that you two don’t get along, but right now Lavender needs help.  It’s better to figure out what we are dealing with first and then report it if necessary.  I’m going in there and I would like your help—even if its only moral support for me.  So are you coming or not?”

Scootaloo hesitated briefly before saying, “Fine.  Let’s do this.”

Blue Yonder nodded and turned to open the door.  It was dark inside.  Lavender had closed the curtain that they usually left open during the day to let the sunlight in.  Blue Yonder then flipped the light switch.  The room was empty—except for a lump over on Lavender’s bed.

Blue Yonder approached the mare and got a lot closer than anypony else had ever dared.  Scootaloo, on the other hoof, hung back a little.  Lavender’s back was towards them, so they couldn’t tell if she was asleep or not.

“Lavender,” Blue Yonder said softly.  “Lavender, are you up?”

Scootaloo was about to turn back when a voice croaked out.

“What do you want?”  Lavender asked.

Blue Yonder took a moment to put together what she was going to say.  Scootaloo silently remained at the center of the room.

“Barrel Roll told us that you weren’t feeling well,” Blue Yonder said.  “Is it because of what happened today?”

“No,” Lavender said flatly.

“Was it something that somepony said?”  Blue Yonder continued.

The sheets on Lavender seemed to get a little tighter, but she remained in the bed.

“Do you think I don’t realize what ponies think of me?”  Lavender finally said.  “I know they hate me, or rather not be with me.  Clean freak, crabby, uptight…PANSY!  I’ve been called worse things.  Nothing anypony says matters to me.”

“Are you sure?”  Blue Yonder asked.  “Because words do affect us, no matter how much we believe they don’t.  And it would help to talk about it.”

“You really don’t get it, do you?”  Lavender exclaimed.

She threw off the sheets, got out of bed and faced Blue Yonder.  Lavender’s eyes were narrowed and her nostrils flaring.

“I don’t want anypony’s help!”  Lavender stated as she marched towards Blue Yonder.  “I don’t need anypony’s help!  Has it ever occurred to you that maybe I never wanted to be here in the FIRST PLACE!?”

She backed Blue Yonder into the post of the bunk bed on the opposite side of the room.  Scootaloo was about to go and help her, but Blue Yonder gave her a look that told her to stay where she was.  Scootaloo wasn’t sure how either of them was going to help now that things got heated up.  But Blue Yonder held her head up high and looked Lavender straight in the eye.

“Then why are you here?”  Blue Yonder asked.

Lavender continued to glare at her, but her eyes were starting to tear up.

“Because my DAD wants me to be here!”  Lavender shouted.

“But why would your dad want you here if you never wanted to?”  Blue Yonder asked.

Tears were starting to fall from Lavenders eyes, but she fought to keep her composure.

“Because he was in the Wonderbolts too,” Lavender explained.  “Every generation of my family has been!  My mom died when I was young, my dad never remarried, and I’m an only child.  So those expectations fell on me alone.

“I tried to tell him that I wasn’t interested in being a Wonderbolt, but he wouldn’t listen.  I didn’t want to disappoint him, so I signed up.  I never thought that I would be accepted though.  Now I’m here and…and I…I just can’t take it anymore!”

Lavender finally broke down completely.  Both Scootaloo and Blue Yonder stared at the sobbing mare before them.  Lavender might not have been held in the highest regards, but she had never looked so pathetic.  Even Scootaloo felt sorry for her.

“But if you never wanted to be here, then why don’t you leave?”  Blue Yonder asked.

“Because that would be worse,” Lavender sobbed.  “My dad taught me to always see things through till the end.  I could never look him in the eye if I quit!”

Blue Yonder was at a loss for words.  She had succeeded in getting Lavender to open up, but she had no idea what to do with the pieces that spilled out.  Scootaloo came to her rescue.

“Maybe you should meet him halfway,” Scootaloo suggested.

“What do you mean?”  Lavender sniffed.

“I mean go through the rest of the camp, and prove to him that you have what it takes to be a Wonderbolt,” Scootaloo explained.  “Then explain to him what you truly want to do with your life.  He can’t ask for much more than that.”

“I don’t know,” Lavender said doubtfully.

“Well think about it,” Scootaloo said.  “Besides, your dad needs to realize that you are in control of what you do in your life, not him.”

Lavender bit her lip as she thought those words over.

“Okay, I’ll think about it,” Lavender finally said.

“Good,” Blue Yonder chimed in.  “Now Barrel Roll is outside; worried about you.  Do you think you’d be able to explain this to him?”

“Sure,” Lavender answered.

Lavender got up and slowly left the room.  When she left, Blue Yonder walked up to Scootaloo and patted her on the back.

“Good job,” Blue Yonder said.  “I didn’t know you had that in you.”

“I didn’t know I did either,” Scootaloo replied.

Blue Yonder then opened her wardrobe.  She found the book she wanted and the two remaining ponies left the barracks for the afternoon.


***


Major Soarin entered the commanding officer’s office, feeling exhausted and very sweaty.  Spitfire was busy stamping the last of some Wonderbolt memorabilia.  The piles she signed had significantly lessened ever since the Equestria Game’s incident and her semi-retirement.  Yet there was still a small demand for her signature, and Spitfire gladly responded.

“The bleachers and observation platforms have been set up Ma’am,” Soarin reported.

“Very good Soarin,” Spitfire said as she stamped the last picture and sighed.  “Thanks again for supervising the set up on such short notice.  I would’ve done it myself, but Film Reel was being especially irritating today.”

“I understand,” Soarin nodded.

“Do you have information on Fleetfoot’s arrival tomorrow?”  Spitfire asked.

“Yes,” Soarin answered.  “She plans on leaving first thing in the morning with her squadron.  Their E.T.A. is 0900 hours.”

“Have quarters been set up for them?”  Spitfire continued.

“Yes they have,” Soarin said with pride.

“Excellent,” Spitfire approved.  “Thanks for everything Soarin.  I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“It was my pleasure,” Soarin said before leaving the office with a salute.

Spitfire opened a drawer in her desk and grabbed some envelopes.  She started writing down addresses and placing an autographed picture in each one.

‘It’ll certainly be a pleasure for all of us,’ Spitfire thought as she sealed the envelopes.

> Day 5: Making An Entrance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Lavender seems really quiet this morning,” Blue Yonder commented as she sat down at the table.

“Lavender’s always quiet,” Silverwings pointed out.  “What’s so different about today?”

Blue Yonder quickly looked at Scootaloo and noticed the tension in her eyes.  Both had agreed not to tell anypony about what happened yesterday between them and Lavender—feeling that it was a deeply personal matter that Lavender should disclose as she desired.  As far as they were concerned, only four ponies knew about it—and they weren’t keen on expanding that number more than necessary.

“Nothing,” Blue Yonder said quickly.  “Just…mare problems.”

“Okay, I don’t need to hear any more!”  Silverwings exclaimed.

He then grabbed his tray and left the table.  The two mares watched Silverwings as he made his way to the other side of the mess hall and willingly sat next to Hot Shot.  Once he was out of earshot, Scootaloo glared at her companion.

“Seriously,” Scootaloo sneered.  “That was the best excuse you could come up with?”

“Well how else was I going to have him drop the subject entirely?”  Blue Yonder said defensively.  “Besides, you have to admit that it worked—although I didn’t expect him to leave entirely.”

Scootaloo grudgingly agreed and returned to eating her breakfast.  She had decided to go with a simple bowl of cereal and toast today.

“Do you know what we’re doing today?”  Blue Yonder asked.

Scootaloo had become the resident “inside pony” due to her knowledge about how the academy worked and the general program.  It wasn’t an unfair assumption since, so far, she had been right about everything.  But this time was different.

“I’m not quite sure,” Scootaloo admitted.  “Rainbow Dash was a bit vague on the details and she was in an…interesting situation at that point.”

“You mention Rainbow Dash a lot,” Blue Yonder stated.  “I know she’s like your sister and all, but why did she tell you everything that she did?”

Scootaloo was getting a little irritated by all of this prying from Blue Yonder.

“You know,” Scootaloo started.  “For a pony who loves to talk about and know other ponies, you never once talked about yourself.  What was your life like?  Why do you want to be here?  What does your cutie mark mean?”

Blue Yonder went into defensive mode again.

“There’s really nothing to tell,” she said quickly.  “My life was pretty boring, okay!  Living in Cloudsdale isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  So don’t worry about it.”

Scootaloo was about to argue further, when….


BOOM!!!


Everypony jumped.  A loud, thunderous noise rang through the mess hall, but it didn’t come from the building.  Several ponies shrieked and hid themselves under the tables—expecting the walls to fly apart at any second.

“What in Tartarus was that?”  Blue Yonder asked when nothing else happened.

Other ponies were asking the same thing.  Scootaloo looked over to the window and noticed a shimmer of multi-colored light outside.

“It can’t be,” Scootaloo muttered as she made her way to the window,

Sure enough, she could see the perfect arc of a rainbow—and not a single hint of rain in the sky.  The rainbow stretched over the entire compound.  Underneath it were three ponies leaving cloudy trails behind them in various curves beneath the rainbow.   Then the three pegasi went into formation and were joined by a fourth, who left a completely different trail.

“Showoffs,” the voice of Colonel Spitfire said next to Scootaloo.

Scootaloo looked over at the commander and noticed that, despite her words, Spitfire had a little smile on her face.  Everypony went outside in order to get a better view.  It was clearly a Wonderbolt squadron.  They all gazed up in awe at the majesty of the scene before them.  Scootaloo had seen this many times, but it always filled her with pure glee. 

The four pegasi landed and were met with thunderous applause.  Even Scootaloo started cheering.  Colonel Spitfire walked up to the group and shook hooves with the visiting Wonderbolts.

“Well newbies,” Spitfire said, addressing the crowd.  “I am pleased to introduce the 1st Wonderbolt Squadron; lead by Captain Fleetfoot and special demonstration by Lieutenant Rainbow Dash.”

Everypony cheered again and flooded the visitors.  They had to be pushed back by some of the academy officers.  However, that didn’t stop one particular pony.

“Rainbow Dash!”  Scootaloo shouted.

“Hey squirt,” Rainbow Dash answered.  “How’s my number one fan and protégé?”

Scootaloo blushed, but she continued to look at her idol.  It was nearly impossible to recognize Rainbow Dash in her blue, full-body flight suit.  The only distinguishing feature between her and the other Wonderbolt flyers was her rainbow-colored mane and tail.  Rainbow Dash’s pink eyes could also be distinguished when she wasn’t wearing her flight goggles.

“Oh, stop it Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said before bursting out in laughter along with her foalhood hero.

“Oh, but seriously,” Rainbow Dash sighed.  “How are you doing?  I bet you’ve broken every record here.”

Scootaloo rubbed her right forehoof through her mane.

“Eh, not exactly,” Scootaloo admitted.  “I don’t think I’ve beaten one.  I’m not even the lead pony.”

“Hey, that’s all right,” Rainbow Dash said, patting Scootaloo’s shoulder.  “You know, I was the wingpony when I was here.”

“Yeah, but only for the first four days,” Scootaloo pointed out.  “Besides, Blue Yonder is awesome!  Though, she doesn’t seem to think so.”

“Well, at least she has an awesome partner to show her the way,” Rainbow Dash said.

“I told you,” Scootaloo exclaimed.  “I’m not the lead pony!”

“That doesn’t matter,” Rainbow Dash asserted.  “You learn from each other.”

Scootaloo sighed and gave up trying to argue any further.  Still, she was happy to be there, talking with the pony she had looked up too since she was a foal.  Then a creeping thought entered her mind.

“I’m glad to see you and all, but why are you here, Rainbow Dash?”  Scootaloo asked.

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that, kiddo,” Rainbow Dash said.  “But you’ll find out soon enough.”

“Aah,” Scootaloo whined.  “Why not?”

“Sorry Scoots, but I have my orders,” Rainbow Dash said; then she looked around and leaned in closer—lowering her voice to a whisper.  “But just between you and me, it’s going to be awesome.”

“Attention cadets!”  Lieutenant What’s-his-name shouted.  “Social time is over!  Report for training NOW!”

Both Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash jerked up and looked over to the lieutenant with a megaphone.  Apparently they weren’t the only ones still hanging out.

“Ah, and just when I was about to show my little brother what it really means to be a Wonderbolt,” Captain Fleetfoot said as she put Silverwings in a noogie.

“Stop it!”  Silverwings moaned.  “Why can’t you just leave me alone?”

“Because you're my baby brother, that’ss why,” Fleetfoot stated, causing Blue Yonder to burst into hysteria.

“You better get going,” Rainbow Dash told Scootaloo.  “Otherwise you might end up with dish duty or something.  I’ll see you later.” 

“Bye Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said and then trotted off.  She was looking backwards and so she ran into somepony.  “Umph!   Oh, sorry Lavender.”

“What?”  Lavender replied, clearly dazed.  “Oh, okay.”

This caused Scootaloo to pause for a moment and look back.  Lavender was just standing there, glancing from Rainbow Dash to Scootaloo and back again.  Then she walked off without another word.

‘Wow, she really is out of it today,’ Scootaloo thought.

She couldn’t reflect on the moment for long because Lieutenant What’s-his-name was getting angry.  So Scootaloo joined the rest of the cadets to report for the morning exercises.

> Day 5: Demonstration
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The morning exercises proved to be an almost futile gesture.  Nopony put their full heart into it and were more interested in talking about what happened that morning—particularly the Sonic Rainboom.  There was a multitude of theories as to how Rainbow Dash does it; each more ludicrous than the last.

After that topic ran its course, a new one eventually came up; why was an elite Wonderbolt squadron there in the first place?  While it was the Wonderbolt Academy, it didn’t make sense to have professional and graduated members of the Wonderbolts there for no reason.  Theories popped up about that too, including the one about the “Wonderbolt Movie” again; but with the actual Wonderbolts in addition to famous actors.

“Come on,” one cadet said in response to this idea.  “Colonel Spitfire said that the film ponies were here to make a documentary, not a movie.”

“Isn’t a documentary technically a movie?”  Another cadet countered.

This went on for the next hour, despite Major Soarin’s and Lieutenant What’s-his-name’s efforts to maintain discipline.  Eventually, Soarin decided to give up and let the conversations continue, as long as the cadets were still being productive while they talked.  Admittedly, it would have been easier if he had just responded to the inquiries and tell them what was going on, but there was an unusual amount of secrecy behind the whole thing.

“Are you sure Rainbow Dash didn’t tell you anything?”  Blue Yonder asked Scootaloo as she did some wing push-ups.

“Yes!”  Scootaloo exclaimed.  “All she said was that it was going to be awesome, but I kind of suspected that already.  Honestly, I don’t know why she said to keep something like that between us.”

“She does like to be dramatic, doesn’t she?”  Blue Yonder said.

“Heh, you don’t know the half of it,” Scootaloo smirked.

“All right cadets, that’s enough,” Major Soarin finally said.  “You’ll be dismissed for lunch, but you are to report at Section G of the Eastern Field at 1400 hours for your training.  Company dismissed!”

With that, the cadets departed, continuing their conversations from training.

“Section G, isn’t that where the track is and where they were setting up the bleachers?”  Scootaloo asked.

“Sure is,” Blue Yonder answered.  “I guess we’ll finally find out what is going on around here.”


***


After lunch, Scootaloo and Blue Yonder were among the first to show up at the newly erected bleachers at the track.  Everypony at the academy was showing up.  It was apparent that the older cadets seemed to have a better idea as to what was happening; but like everypony else so far, they wouldn’t let the new cadets in on it.

“Arrgh!”  Scootaloo groaned.  “This is so frustrating!”

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” Blue Yonder sighed.

Thankfully, they didn’t have to wait long.  Everypony had filed into the bleachers and the time had come for whatever this was to start.  Colonel Spitfire walked out to the middle of the field with a megaphone.  After an ear-shattering screech emitted from the device, Spitfire started talking.

“All right cadets, it’s that time again,” Spitfire announced.  “As many of you know, the Newbies’ time here is coming to an end and we need to find out who will be continuing on at the Wonderbolt Academy.  Basically, Newbies, this is your final exam.”

The new cadets started murmuring at this news.

“Great, I love exams,” Scootaloo said sarcastically.  

“However, this isn’t your typical school exam,” Spitfire elaborated, interrupting the various comments.  “That’ll come later.  Instead, you’re going to showcase what you have learned during your time here at the academy; not only in your companionship, but with another one as well.”

The cadets started to get excited at this prospect.

“This time, we have a special treat for you all,” Spitfire continued.  “I’m sure that all of you have noticed the arrival of one of our own Wonderbolt squadron’s this morning.  Well, they’re here to demonstrate the type of skills and teamwork we expect from our flyers.  They will also aide in the evaluation process when you perform for everypony tomorrow.

“As for you older newbies, this will be a chance for you to see some elite flyers in action.  So, without further ado, I give you the 1st Wonderbolt Squadron!” 

With that, the four ponies in the blue flight-suits took off.  Every eye in the makeshift stadium was glued on them. They were powerful, fast and graceful.  Few flyers could rival the mastery and excellence of precision flying displayed by the Wonderbolts.  They truly were the best of the best.

Scootaloo watched as they would fly in arcs, loops, split into pairs and rejoin the full formation.  They even did a version of the figure-eights where the two pairs would go in mirrored curved paths that would intersect each other multiple times as they flew forward.  They even added to it by switching companions when their paths intersected once, and switched again the next time they crossed paths.

The Wonderbolts concluded their show by soaring together in one large arc over the field, leaving a large trail behind them.  Everypony cheered as they came in for a landing, thus completing the demonstration.  The Wonderbolts even took a bow and waved to the audience.

Scootaloo cheered loudest of all.  Although she had seen Rainbow Dash fly on her own before and do many amazing things then, she was still awed whenever she saw her perform.  And the fact that Rainbow Dash did this with three other ponies only added to the respect that Scootaloo always had for her.  Even though they were four ponies, the Wonderbolts worked together as one, leaving those below in awe and wonder.  Individually, they were all great; together, they were utterly spectacular.

Colonel Spitfire walked back to the middle of the field and waited for the cadets to quiet down before she resumed speaking.

“Thank you Captain Fleetfoot for you and your squadron’s demonstration,” Spitfire said before addressing the cadets.  “Now Newbies, your training time today will be spent on developing a routine, practicing it and preparing it for tomorrow.  The Wonderbolts displayed some very advanced moves today that you have not been instructed on yet.  I want you to challenge yourselves and show what you’ve learned, but don’t focus on thing that you do not know.  Major Soarin will form your teams and instruct you further.  You will stay here while the other cadets will report to their training areas as instructed earlier.  Company dismissed.”

Everypony started talking as the older cadets started filing out of the bleachers.  The new cadets remained and talked excitedly among themselves over what they just saw.

“Wow,” Blue Yonder said.  “Can you believe that we get to do something like that?”

Scootaloo’s smile started to fade a little.  “Yeah,” she said, beginning to feel very nervous.

‘How can I hope to do something like that?’  She wondered.  

Scootaloo had never done anything like this before, even when flying with Rainbow Dash.  Could she really pull off something truly spectacular?  She then looked to the pony in the field with the rainbow mane and tail.  

‘Yeah, I can do it,’ Scootaloo thought, a new sense of determination rising in her.  ‘I can impress Rainbow Dash!’
> Day 5: Marathon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Scootaloo landed after what felt like an eternity.  She was closely followed by three other exhausted ponies.  Scootaloo and Blue Yonder had been paired with Snapshot and her lead pony; an aqua-green mare with a blue and pink mane named Aurora.  She came from far north of Vanhoover—near the Frozen North.  She was usually pretty reserved—especialy when put next to her companion—but the day’s events caused both of the lead ponies to develop the most spectacular routine that they could conceive.

They had been practicing for hours and it wasn’t easy.  Flying with just one pony by your side was hard enough, but an additional two others made things even more difficult.  Scootaloo seemed to struggle most of all.  She had often found herself dropping or falling behind the others, yet she persevered and managed to keep up with the routine.  But that hadn’t stopped her from feeling frustrated through the whole process.  She was losing her confidence again.

“Well, I suppose that’s enough for the day,” Blue Yonder said, stretching her neck and wings.

“But we still have a couple of hours before dinner,” Aurora said with a slight northern accent.

“Yeah, but we don’t want to overdo it,” Blue Yonder explained.  “Besides, I think we have this thing down, and we could use a breather.”

Everypony else agreed and they all left; going their separate ways.  Scootaloo hung back a little and was very quiet.  Blue Yonder noticed this and turned around.

“Is everything all right?”  She asked.

“What?  Oh…yeah, it’s fine,” Scootaloo replied a little too quickly.

“Come on, I can tell you’re lying,” Blue Yonder stated.

Scootaloo bit her lip.  She didn’t want to admit what she was feeling, but she knew she couldn’t hide it from Blue Yonder for long.  Scootaloo closed her eyes and sighed.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” she finally said.

“I don’t follow,” Blue Yonder said, tilting her head.

“Didn’t you see me falling behind back there?”  Scootaloo expounded.  “Who’s to say that I won’t choke up and completely break away by the time we do this tomorrow?”

Blue Yonder listened and nodded her head.  Suddenly her eyes lit up.

“You’ll be great,” she said.  “But I think you need a confidence booster.  Come with me.”


***


“You got to be kidding me,” Scootaloo stated.

Blue Yonder had taken her all the way over to the eastern field—straight to the Dizzitron.  Scootaloo looked at the machine in disbelief.  She was certain that her partner had lost her mind.

“Nope, this is it” Blue Yonder replied.  “This is what’s going to help you out.”

“And just how is the Dizzitron supposed to ‘boost’ my confidence?”  Scootaloo asked.

“You did the best out of all of us on the Dizzitron,” Blue Yonder stated.

“So, what does that have to do with anything?”  Scootaloo demanded.

“Since your feeling down, if you work on something you were great it, then you can lift your spirits; thus changing your attitude,” Blue Yonder explained.

Scootaloo wasn’t buying into this reasoning.  ‘It’s official, Blue Yonder has finally lost it.’

“Look, just do it okay,” Blue Yonder sighed.  “It helps to work on things you’re good at too.  Besides, Celestia forbid, if you do spin out tomorrow, then you can recover even quicker than before and come back.”

Scootaloo looked at the Dizzitron, to her partner and back again.  Blue Yonder did have a point, even if it was rather convoluted and all but lost on Scootaloo.

“All right, let’s do this,” Scootaloo said.  “We have an hour to kill before dinner anyway.”

With that, the two cadets walked up to the machine, where Lieutenant What’s-his-name was waiting at the controls.  He nodded as Scootaloo got into the slot and activated the machine.  The familiar sensation of being on a roller coaster filled Scootaloo’s senses as she was rotated at an increasing speed.  Blue Yonder finally gave the word and Scootaloo was flung into the sky.  Like before, she stopped herself from spinning and came back to the landing strip.

“You’re getting a little rusty,” Blue Yonder teased.  “That was nine-and-a-half seconds.”

“WHAT!?”  Scootaloo exclaimed.  “That can’t stand, I’m going again!”

“Go get ‘em Scoots,” Blue Yonder said in encouragement.

And so Scootaloo was thrown by the Dizzitron again and again.  She not only improved on her time, but she also increased the difficulty to the medium setting.  She slowly got better on that as well.  Blue Yonder, not wanting to be left out, also took the Dizzitron for a spin a few times.

The activity in this portion of the eastern field attracted some attention.  The normally quiet area was then occupied by some of the film ponies, who wasted no time in getting to work in documenting the occasion.

“What’s going on Cadet?”  Major Soarin asked as he walked up to Blue Yonder.

“I decided to help Scootaloo out by practicing on the Dizzitron,” Blue Yonder explained while watching Scootaloo come in for another landing.

“I see,” Soarin observed.  “I trust that things are going well.”

“Yep,” Blue Yonder declared before looking at the stopwatch with spinning eyes.  “Seven seconds…I think!” 

“Right…your turn,” Scootaloo said while taking a small breather.

Soarin took over the time-keeping duties as Blue Yonder and Scootaloo continued their marathon.  He was very impressed with there tenacity along with their ever improving times.  Rarely had any of the other cadets come back here after their first day.  To be honest, he was certain that none of them would willingly try it again unless they absolutely had to.

“6.25 seconds,” Soarin declared as Scootaloo came in for yet another landing.  “Very impressive.  Are you finished yet?  I think dinner will start in about ten minutes.”

“No, not yet,” Scootaloo said.  “I want to try the high setting.”

Soarin was taken aback.  He looked over at the lieutenant operating the controls who indicated that he could do it.  Soarin then looked back to Scootaloo.

“Are you sure about that?”  He asked.

“Oh yeah!”  Scootaloo shouted as she flew back to the Dizzitron.

“All right then,” Soarin said a little apprehensively.  “Begin!”

Scootaloo began to be spun around once again.  Unlike the previous settings, she was on the rotating machine for much longer and spun far faster.  She could feel her goggles press into her face, causing her eyes to water a little.  She also could not keep her lips sealed whatsoever.  It was as if they were held open with fish hooks and drool was flying out of her clenched mouth.

Much like the previous times, Scootaloo didn’t hear anypony shout “release,” but she knew when she was.  She could tell that she was flung farther and faster than before.  Scootaloo had never gone this fast before.  Like the other times, she reached deep inside and quickly corrected herself and used wings to turn herself sharply around.  Scootaloo practically dropped out of the sky before spreading her wings to zoom back to the mountain.  Her landing consisted of putting her hooves down and skidding down the landing strip—all in the blink of an eye.

“WOO, that was a rush!”  Scootaloo exclaimed as she fanned her smoking hooves and repeatedly stretched her wings.  “Do you want to try it Blue Yonder?”

“I think I’ll pass,” Blue Yonder said, staring at her wingpony in disbelief.  “What was the time?”

They looked at Soarin who was staring at the stopwatch; his jaw completely dropped.

“Five-and-a-half seconds,” he finally said.

“Nice!”  Blue Yonder exclaimed before turning back to Scootaloo.  “And if you can do that, then you can accomplish anything tomorrow in our performance!  Why don’t we call it a night and get something to eat.”

“I’m right behind you,” Scootaloo said after shaking her head and trying to walk straight.

The cadets walked off towards the mess hall, leaving the film ponies to pack their equipment and Lieutenant What’s-his-name to shut off the Dizzitron.  Soarin, meanwhile, continued to stare at the stopwatch reading 5.5 seconds.

‘That…that’s a new academy record!’  He thought.  ‘And it was the high setting!’


***


Laughter filled Colonel Spitfire’s office.  She was entertaining the mares and stallions of the 1st Wonderbolt Squadron—who had changed into some more regular uniforms.  They talked about a lot of things: about how a couple of them now had a special somepony, that one of the stallions had just become a father for the first time and then about the new cadets.

“I’m telling you, Silverwings will be the besst,” Captain Fleetfoot declared.  “I practically taught him everything he knowss.”

“Suuure you did,” Lieutenant Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes.  “I’ve had Scootaloo under my wing since before she could even fly.  She’ll totally show him up.”

While the two mares argued about that point, Spitfire leaned back in her seat; a huge smile adorned her face.  She missed this so much: the joy, the bickering and the recognition of being a part of an elite flying squadron.  While she deeply enjoyed her position and duties at the academy, she often longed for the joy of performing and flying with others again.

Far too soon, it was time for them to turn in for the night.  They had a big day tomorrow and needed plenty of rest.  One after another, the Wonderbolts filed out of Spitfire’s office, leaving her alone again.

Spitfire sighed and opened a filing cabinent.  She pulled out all of the files for the new cadets and got them ready to take final marks for their performances the next day.  Once she finished putting everything in order, she also got up to leave her office.

‘Well, this is it,’ Spitfire thought as she turned off the lights and locked the door.  ‘It’s time to see if you Newbies really are Wonderbolt material.”

> Day 6: Air Show
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The sun rose the next day on a compound teeming with work and anticipation.  The golden light of Celestia’s morning sun silhouetted the stadium.  The ponies that worked at the academy were calm as they went about their duties for the day, particularly ensuring that the stadium erected two days previous had everything it needed for the air performances later that day.

The cadets, on the other hoof, were on different levels of nervousness.  Some tried not to show their apprehension while others seemed to be in a state of panic.  This was it.  All of there work from the past several days was about pay off.  Whether if it turned out good for them or not was another matter entirely; but for now, they all stood at the point of no return.  Whatever happened that day would determine if they were indeed Wonderbolt material.

None seemed to understand that concept better than Scootaloo.  All of her life, she looked up to Rainbow Dash as the most amazing flyer in the world.  Part of it was because her biggest desire after getting her cutie mark was to take to the skies.  When that finally happened, her next desire was to join the Wonderbolts, much like Rainbow Dash.

While it was very different from being on a scooter and other roller sports—which would always have a special place in her heart—Scootaloo felt the same mixture of excitement and apprehension now like whenever she was in an extreme sports competition.  The cool, brisk air filled her nostrils and the adrenaline made her heart beat ever faster.

‘This is going to be an exciting day,’ she thought while making her way from the mess hall to the stadium.

Like the day before, every cadet and academy officer filled the stadium.  It was a very different type of crowd that would normally fill a stadium for a Wonderbolt event.  Instead of a mixed crowd of various ponies who could only imagine what it meant to fly as a Wonderbolt.  Nearly everypony there had already gone through this particular exam; the only ones who hadn’t were the new cadets, but that was about to change.

Scootaloo and the other new cadets sat on some benches on the field, where they would wait to perform the routines they had developed the previous afternoon.  Essentially they were on display.  It was no place for a pony with stage fright, especially since what happened here would be immortalized in the documentary that was being filmed.

Nearly an hour had passed before Colonel Spitfire walked to the center of the field and the stadium went silent.  Lifting up her megaphone, Spitfire addressed the cadets.

“All right Newbies, this is it,” Spitfire announced.  “Today is the day where you show everypony here just what you learned over this past week.  I know that you’ve all worked very hard, especially yesterday.  Now it is time to see if your hard work will pay off.

“We will call each team up one at a time to perform their routine.  You will be judged by myself, and some choice officers, based on your teamwork, synchronization, display and originality.  Now this isn’t a competition.  You are here solely to display the skills you have learned here and how well you can perform them.  You will each have two minutes for your routine.  Good luck.”

With that, Spitfire flew up to an observation tower where she joined Fleetfoot, Rainbow Dash and some other ponies that Scootaloo didn’t recognize.  Major Soarin then came to the field accompanied by Lieutenant What’s-his-name.

“Okay cadets,” Soarin said using the megaphone so everypony could hear.  “First up is the team led by Hot Shot and Wind Gust.”

Silverwings, Hot Shot and two other stallions got up—Scootaloo presumed that one of them was Wind Gust—and went to the starting line.  As they got ready, Lieutenant What’s-his-name took out a flare pistol and pointed it in the air.

“Ready…Go!”  The lieutenant shouted as he pulled the trigger, shooting a green flare into the sky.

The stallions took off and every eye was on them.  Silverwing and Hot Shot’s team certainly started this even off strong.  They did a series of loops, splits and flyby’s that left many in the stadium in awe.  Colonel Spitfire kept her expressions hidden and made deliberate marks on her note pad.

There was a large countdown display in the field indicating the time left in their display.  Once the clock read “0.00” a buzzer went off and Lieutenant What’s-his-name fired a red flare into the sky.  Luckily, Hot Shot and Wind Gust had their routine so well timed that they had finished and landed just as time was up.

“Excellent,” Soarin commented.  “You may take a seat back with your fellow cadets.  Next up is Barrel Roll’s and Sunstreak’s team.”

“Good luck Lavender,” Blue Yonder said as Lavender got up.

She paused and returned Blue Yonder’s smile, although Lavender’s was noticeably weaker.  She joined her teammates at the starting line and waited for the signal.  Once it was given, they took off and performed in a manner similar to the previous team.  While it was not as spectacular, it was still very good in Scootaloo’s opinion.  She even noticed that Lavender was performing very well along side the other pegasi in the group.

And so it went on for the next hour.  One team went up after another.  The stallions outnumbered the mares nearly two to one among the new cadets.  Performances ranged from spectacular to dreadful.  The majority of them, however, were fairly decent at best.  Pretty soon every team had performed with the exception of Scootaloo’s.  She grew a little edgy as time went on.  It also didn’t help that she was still feeling sore from yesterday’s little Dizzitron excursion.

Finally, Soarin called them up as the last team to perform.  Scootaloo, Blue Yonder, Aurora, and Snapshot all went to the starting line and waited for the signal.

“Are you ready for this?”  Blue Yonder asked her wingpony.

“You know I am,” Scootaloo replied confidently as she did some last-minute stretching of her wings.

“Awesome,” Blue Yonder exclaimed as she put her goggles over her eyes.

“Ready…Go!”  Lieutenant What’s-his-name shouted as he shot the flare gun again.

At the signal, the four pegasi took off, each flying as one.  Knowing the routine like the back of her hoof and where her fellow flyers were, Scootaloo did the various curves, loops, splits and spirals.  

As their first minute passed, they got ready for their big finale.  They climbed high into the sky.  Once they reached their peak, they broke off into pairs in order to do a series of loops while descending back to the ground before they would rejoin and come in for a landing; but something went wrong.

As they broke off at the peak, Scootaloo felt her wings lock up.  Taken by surprise, Scootaloo watched as she drifted away from her Lead Pony and the rest of her team.  She tried to pull up and recover—much like the spin-outs at the Dizzitron—but her wings wouldn’t move.

“This is bad!”  Scootaloo panicked.

Time felt like it slowed down to a crawl, but Scootaloo was horrified to realize that she was increasing in speed.  She tried everything she could to slow down and pull up, but it was no use.  Her wings weren’t responding and no matter now much she moved her legs, she kept on hurtling towards the ground at an alarming rate.

Scootaloo couldn’t stop herself.  She barely had time to brace for impact before she crashed head-first into the ground.

Everything went black…..

> Day 6: On the Edge
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Scootaloo opened her eyes.  She was breathing rapidly, her heart raced and she couldn’t distinguish anything because her vision was extremely blurry.  Scootaloo was on her back, so she tried to get up.  Imediately, an overwhelming sensation of pain engulfed her—particularly in her head and forlegs.

She fell back down.  It was a soft landing.  Scootaloo was in a bed, but it didn’t feel like her bunk back at the barracks.  It wasn’t her bed at home either.

Scootaloo’s vision started to clear, but she still didn’t recognize her surroundings.  It was a room of some kind, but she couldn’t discern anything else.  Scootaloo looked herself over and saw some banages on her fore hooves.  There were also some suction cups on her that were connected to a machine making a constant beeping noise.  What was most startling, however, was that she wasn’t wearing her flight suit anymore.

This discovery—combined with the fact that she woke up in a strange bed in an unknown place and no recollection of how she got there—really unnerved her.  Scootaloo was about to get up again when she heard somepony open the door.  It was an olive-green pegasus with a messy black mane and wearing a long white coat.  He looked over in her direction.

“Good, you’re awake,” the strange pony said.  “How are you feeling?”

Scootaloo immediately started to panic.  “WHO ARE YOU WHERE AM I AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH ME YOU PERVERT!?”

“Whoa, take it easy!”  The strange pony said raising his hooves.  “You’re in the infirmary and I’m Doctor Hawkeye.  I’m here to take care of you.”

“But I don’t need to be taken care of,” Scootaloo said.  “I was doing just fine a minute ago at the stadium.”

“Scootaloo, you’ve been unconscious for the past hour,” Doctor Hawkeye said in a very serious tone.

“What?”  Scootaloo whispered.

That didn’t make any sense.  She was just about to perform for the air show and was feeling fine, if only a little sore.  How could she have been unconscious for an hour when she hadn’t done anything yet?

“You fell at high speed straight into the ground in the middle of your performance,” Doctor Hawkeye explained.  “To be honest, it’s a miracle that you survived let alone not being severely injured—although the x-rays are still developing, so I’m not sure if you fractured anything or damaged your spine.”

“But…I don’t remember any of that,” Scootaloo said slowly.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Doctor Hawkeye commented.  “Memory loss is a common sign of a concussion; which reminds me, there are a few tests I need to do right now.”

Hawkeye proceeded to do a lot of things that Scootaloo didn’t comprehend.  First, he shined a light in her eye, which deeply irritated her.  He also asked her a bunch of questions about how she felt as she got up.  Scootaloo mentioned the pain in her head, but she didn’t feel all that nauseous, even if she was a little sluggish in movement.

Finally, he held up a card and asked, “What do you see?”

Scootaloo couldn’t make heads or tails with it.  “A big, yellow…blob?”

“It’s actually a gryphon, but that’s okay,” Doctor Hawkeye said.  “You definitely have at least a mild concussion.  We’ll know everything else about your bones once the x-rays come in.  In the meantime though, take some of these, they’ll alleviate the pain and help you see and feel better.”

He took out some pills from a bottle and helped her take them by drinking some water.  Once she finished swallowing, the doctor gently laid her back down.

“By the way, you have a visitor,” Doctor Hawkeye said.

He opened the door and in came Blue Yonder.  She immediately rushed over to Scootaloo’s bedside and fussed over her.

“Oh Sweet Celestia, are you okay?”  Blue Yonder asked.  “You scared me half to death.  I thought you had died, but you were still breathing so they took you here and I’ve been waiting ever since.”

“Now cadet,” Hawkeye said in a warning tone.  “Miss Scootaloo’s been through a lot and needs some rest.  If you can’t behave yourself than I’m going to have you leave.  Understood?”

“Yes Doctor,” Blue Yonder replied.

With that, the doctor left the room.  Blue Yonder started telling Scootaloo everything that she saw happen at the stadium.  However, Scootaloo wasn’t paying her any attention.  A feeling of dread and fear came over her.

‘I failed.’


***


Spitfire’s desk was covered with files and reports.  This was perhaps the most difficult part of the week with new cadets for her—evaluations.  Unlike pairing the cadets at the beginning of the week, this process always took a long time to go over everything and went late into the night—sometimes into the next day.  Things weren’t being made any easier by Rainbow Dash—who was supposed to be helping her evaluate the performances earlier that afternoon.

“You can’t just fail Scootaloo for crashing into the mountain!”  Rainbow Dash argued.  “She’s always worked hard to overcome any obstacles in her way, and this isn’t any different!”

“I’m well aware of that Rainbow Dash,” Spitfire said—her patience wearing thin.  “But her performance has disintegrated every day since she’s been here.  You have to accept that not everypony is Wonderbolt material.  She barely got through the basic course in Flight School.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”  Rainbow Dash countered.  “I dropped out of Flight School and I’m still here.”

“Yes,” Spitfire said, rubbing the temples on her head.  “And you have no idea what trouble I went through to get your performance at the Best Young Flyer Competition to count as an equivalency test—especially considering that I was knocked unconscious for that last part.”

“Yes, but you were still there throughout my training,” Rainbow Dash stated.  “But you weren’t there for most of Scootaloo’s or any of these cadets!  It’s like you don’t care about her at all!  Wouldn’t Soarin be better qualified to evaluate them?”

“DON’T YOU DARE TELL ME HOW TO DO MY JOB LIEUTENANT!!!”  Spitfire snapped, slamming her forehooves on the desk.  “I DON’T CARE IF YOU ARE ONE OF THE BEARERS TO THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY AND AN ADVISOR TO PRINCESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE!  THIS IS MY ACADEMY AND I WILL RUN IT HOW I SEE FIT!  THAT INCLUDES HOW I EVALUATE MY CADETS!  AND I AM WORRIED ABOUT SCOOTALOO, BUT THERE’S NOTHING I CAN DO ABOUT IT RIGHT NOW!”

Rainbow Dash jerked back at her superior’s outburst.  Colonel Spitfire very rarely pulled rank on anypony, but when she did it was absolutely terrifying.  The only other pony that Rainbow Dash had ever heard shout even louder was when Princess Luna used the “Royal Canterlot Voice” many years ago during Nightmare Night at Ponyville.  But this was way scarier.  Rainbow Dash could only watch in silence as Spitfire sat back down again.

“I understand your concerns Rainbow Dash; believe me, I do,” Spitfire said, rubbing the space in between her eyes.  “I would’ve rather supervised all the training in this camp personally than deal with this media crap, but I’m only one pony.  I need to delegate my responsibilities and trust that my officers can handle the responsibility I give them and report every relevant thing that occurs.  It’s not all that different from when I was the lead pony in the First Wonderbolt Squadron; just with more paperwork.”

“I’m sorry for doubting you Ma’am,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Don’t be,” Spitfire stated.  “An important part of being a leader is to have her decisions questioned by her followers.  This doesn’t mean to hide away our doubts, but to bring them forward to everypony, especially to the leader.  That way, things can be discussed and changed if needed.  It is the only way for me to know how to improve my leadership and let everypony know that they are respected.  I only ask to be respected in return.”

“I understand,” Rainbow Dash said humbly.

Spitfire then leaned forward to her desk and grabbed Scootaloo’s file.  She held it up for Rainbow Dash to see clearly.

“Listen,” Spitfire said.  “I know everything you’ve done for this kid over the years.  I think that it’s very admirable of you to have dedicated as much time as you did in order to help her overcome her challenges and even make it this far.  You never cease to amaze me.  But you have to understand that she can’t always rely on you.  She needs to rise or fall on her own merits.”

Rainbow Dash simply nodded in understanding.

“If it makes you feel any better, I’ll evaluate her last,” Spitfire said as she tossed the file to the far corner of her desk.  “I can’t promise you anything, but at least I’ll have some time to think about it.”

“Thank you Ma’am,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Now, will you please get out of my office?”  Spitfire requested.  “Scootaloo needs your help right now more than I do.  Celestia knows that she’s going to need somepony to support her; no matter how this turns out.”

“Yes Ma’am, thank you Ma’am,” Rainbow Dash said, saluting Spitfire before leaving the office.


***


Scootaloo opened the door to the barracks.  Thankfully nopony was around.  It took a while, but she finally managed to get out of the infirmary while Blue Yonder was in the bathroom.  Scootaloo felt perfectly fine now; everypony was just overreacting.

Scootaloo opened her dresser and grabbed her saddlebags.  She began to pack everything.  She didn’t know where she was going to go, but she knew that she couldn’t stay here.

‘It’s all over now.’

Suddenly the door opened behind her.  Scootaloo winced in pain as she turned her head too quickly to look.  She also tensed once she realized just who it was.

“What in Celestia’s name do you think you’re doing!?”  Blue Yonder demanded.

“What does it look like I’m doing?”  Scootaloo replied.  “I’m packing.”

“But why?”  Blue Yonder asked.

“Don’t you get it?”  Scootaloo turned, now facing Blue Yonder.  “They’ll never let me become a Wonderbolt after a crash like that!  I let everypony down: you, my family, my friends…Rainbow Dash.  I’m honestly surprised that Spitfire hasn’t kicked me out already.”

“Probably because the doctor says that you are supposed to stay in the infirmary the whole night!”  Blue Yonder stated.  “The evaluations aren’t even until tomorrow anyways!  You don’t even know if Spitfire is going to kick you out!”

“What difference would it make?”  Scootaloo asked.  “I may as well give up on my dreams of being a Wonderbolt just like Rainbow Dash.”

“But you’re not Rainbow Dash,” Blue Yonder said.  “You’re Scootaloo!  And even then, I don’t think that Rainbow Dash would want you to just quit!  And neither do I!”

Scootaloo sat by her saddlebags and remained silent.  She was breaking down, but continued to hold everything in.  Blue Yonder sighed, deciding to try a different approach.

“Do you know why my parents decided to name me ‘Blue Yonder’?”  She asked.

“I don’t see what that has to do with anything,” Scootaloo replied before putting a hoof to her head to alleviate some pain.

“Please just hear me out,” Blue Yonder begged.

Scootaloo fell quiet and motioned for her teammate to continue.

“Thank you,” Blue Yonder said before continuing.  “They named me ‘Blue Yonder’ because when they looked out into the horizon, they always thought of the wonders and joys that lay beyond it and the journey it would take to get there.  Having a foal was a very similar thing for them.  They didn’t know what would happen, but they were willing to go forward and experience it all the same.

“Ever since I was a little filly, I have always wanted to see for myself what wonders lay beyond the horizon.  The first time I left Cloudsdale and discovered the wonders of other places, I got this,” Blue Yonder stated, motioning to her cutie mark (a sun behind a skyline of mountains and clouds).  “The possibility of what I could find has always given me hope and the desire to continue, despite the difficulties.  And when I look at you, I see a pony who has lived the dream I’ve had her entire life.  You didn’t quit when you couldn’t fly as a filly.”

“But I did quit!”  Scootaloo interrupted.  “Several times!”

“But you came back!”  Blue Yonder asserted.  “You persevered!  Despite all the discouragements you’ve had, you never truly gave up.  Tell me, when you failed to fly all those times, did you ever think you would find yourself here?”

“No,” Scootaloo sobbed.

“Yet here you are,” Blue Yonder pointed out.  “You’ve beaten the odds and are among some of the best flyers in the world!  And now, you stand at a crossroads on the very edge of the horizon.  Are you going to be the mare who quit; living your life under the assumption that you were never good enough?  Or are you going to be the mare who stood her ground; not knowing what she would face, but with a firm hope that she still had a chance despite the mistakes and troubles she encountered?”

“Are you going to force me to stay?”  Scootaloo asked.

“No,” Blue Yonder sighed, tears flowing from her eyes.  “You may be my wingpony, but you are also my partner and my friend.  Even if I could stop you, I wouldn’t.  I respect you too much for that.”

Blue Yonder walked back to the door.  “If you want to leave, go on ahead.  But then you’ll never know what truly is beyond the horizon.  I’ll wait outside and make sure that nopony bothers you.”

With that, she closed the door, leaving Scootaloo alone once again.


***


Rainbow Dash was thankful to get out of Spitfire’s office.  She always hated paperwork, even during her days as the Ponyville Weather Manager.  Besides, she couldn’t focus on it even if she wanted to.  The pony she cared about the most was in bad shape.  She had to be there for Scootaloo.

She reached the infirmary, but something was wrong.  The recovery room was…empty.  Suddenly, the doctor burst into the room.

“Thank goodness you’re here,” Hawkeye exclaimed.  “I can’t find Scootaloo or her partner anywhere!”

“What?”  Rainbow Dash said.  “How did this happen?  Where did they go?”

“Well if I knew that, then we wouldn’t have this problem!”  Hawkeye replied.  “The good news is that nothing is broken or out of place in Scootaloo’s body, but those pain pills are going to wear off soon.  When they do, she’s still going to be in a lot of pain from the ordeal.”

“Oh great!”  Rainbow Dash said, with her eye twitching.


***


A few minutes passed, but it felt like an eternity.  Scootaloo didn’t think it was possible for her to go on.  She had made too many mistakes this past week—the crash certainly being the final nail in the coffin.  She could not possibly go on.  Yet she still sat there.

She wanted to turn away, to forget everything.  But she also didn’t want to quit either.  Nopony would look at her the same again; Rainbow Dash, her parents, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, or even herself.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Lavender was right,” Scootaloo muttered.

Sighing, Scootaloo tried to stand up straight.  Her legs felt weak and her knees ached as she struggled to rise.  After a lot of effort, she finally managed to get up.  Gently, she walked over to the door and opened it to find Blue Yonder standing a few feet away.

“I’m staying,” Scootaloo declared.

“I hoped you would,” Blue Yonder smiled as she gave her a hug, causing Scootaloo to squirm a little more than usual.

“One thing though,” Scootaloo said once she let go.  “That speech; did you get some of that out of a book?”

“Two or three actually,” Blue Yonder admitted.  “But I meant every word of it.  Come on, we need to get you back to the infirmary.”

“Oh, all right,” Scootaloo said.  “But I’m telling you, I’m fi—OW!”

Scootaloo fell to her knees—a stinging surge of pain coursing throughout her body from the impact.

“WHAT IN TARTARUS IS GOING ON!?” Scootaloo yelled painfully.

“Oh dear,” Blue Yonder said, trying not to panic.  “The pain-killers must have worn off.  Can you still walk?”

“I think so,” Scootaloo winced as she tried to get up, only to fall down again.  “OH, SWEET CELESITA!  IT HUUUUURTS!!!!”

Scootaloo curled up on the ground, crying due to the most excruciating pain she could ever remember having in her life.  Blue Yonder panicked, not knowing what to do.  She desperately looked around to get some help, but nopony was there.  They were all in the mess hall for dinner.  Suddenly, an idea came to her.

“How about I carry you?”  Blue Yonder suggested.

Seeing that walking was impossible, Scootaloo nodded.  She moaned as she felt herself being draped over Blue Yonder’s back and they started moving.  Scootaloo noticed that Blue Yonder was walking pretty slowly—no doubt because she was carrying the combined weight of two pegasi and trying to cause as little pain as possible in the process.

“Hmph,” Scootaloo mumbled as they got closer to the infirmary.  “I guess this beats you having your head stuck in your flight suit as the most embarrassing moment this week.”

Blue Yonder chuckled as she got her friend back into the infirmary where a very concerned doctor and Wonderbolt were waiting.

> Day 6: Heart To Heart
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Ever since Blue Yonder carried her back to the infirmary that evening, Scootaloo had been confined to the bed and put under constant watch.  Still, Scootaloo hadn’t realized just how tired she was and drifted in and out of sleep all evening.  One particular occasion after waking up, Scootaloo looked at the clock and groaned; it read 21:04.  

Due to the fact that she had a concussion, an alarm went off every couple of hours to wake her up and somepony would make sure that she hadn’t slipped into a coma; or worse.  To be honest though, it was annoying.  All Scootaloo wanted was some sleep and being woken up constantly irritated her.  What was worse was that she had woken up an hour early.

She looked at the pony seated at her bedside.  Rainbow Dash had also dozed off for a while.  Blue Yonder would’ve been there too, but she was forced to return to the barracks for the night.  Thankfully Rainbow Dash wasn’t a cadet anymore and didn’t necessarily fall under those regulations.  Even if they wanted her to leave, they’d be hard-pressed to remove the Element of Loyalty from the side of her friends or family—particularly one she cared about as strongly as Scootaloo.  Either way, Scootaloo was grateful that she was there.

Doctor Hawkeye had kept visitors to a bare minimum, but a few ponies came to check on her.  Silverwings was one of the first.  He had congratulated her on her flight performance before the crash and wished her well.  If only Scootaloo could remember the flight.  She knew she did it and how it was based on what others had told her, but there was a strange disconnection from the event due to her memory loss.

Her teammates Aurora and Snapshot also came and visited her.  Apparently they had been waiting for a while since she was asleep at the time.  Snapshot had this goofy grin on her face and Scootaloo couldn’t figure out why.

The only other pony who had visited her was Major Soarin.  He came both to see how she was doing and to figure out what had happened.  Unfortunately, Scootaloo couldn’t remember so she couldn’t explain why she had crashed.  That bothered her more than anything else about the incident.

‘Why did it happen?’  She often asked herself.

What surprised Scootaloo the most about her visitors was the one who did not come; Colonel Spitfire herself.  Scootaloo was certain that Spitfire would come at any moment and chew her out for messing up, kick her out or something like that.  But she never came, and that made Scootaloo uneasy.  Rainbow Dash had explained that Spitfire was busy doing all of the evaluations and would be working all night.  Still, that didn’t ease Scootaloo’s paranoia.

Scootaloo looked back at the mare sitting beside her bed.  She was grateful that Rainbow Dash was with her; yet, her presence had both comforted Scootaloo and made her feel tense.  She felt as though she had let her idol, her foalhood hero, her “sister”, down.  And yet there she was, still watching over the young orange pegasus, even if she was currently fast asleep.

“Rainbow Dash?”  Scootaloo said taping the mare’s side.  She couldn’t bear to be alone with her thoughts anymore.

“Wha…what is it?”  Rainbow Dash said, waking up.  “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Scootaloo answered, although she still felt uneasy.  “I…I’m sorry Rainbow Dash.”

“Sorry for what?”  Rainbow Dash said, looking very confused.

Scootaloo couldn’t believe it.  ‘How could she not know?’

“I’m sorry for disappointing you,” Scootaloo expounded.

“Why would I be disappointed with you?”  Rainbow Dash asked, with that same confused look.

‘Really?’  Scootaloo thought.  ‘How could she not be disappointed at all?’

Rainbow Dash continued to look at her oddly.  Scootaloo felt a sense of déjà vu again.  This time, she was reminded of that one camping trip where Rainbow Dash had found her running in the forest in the middle of the night and wanted to know why.  Back then, Scootaloo was afraid because of the ghost stories which Rainbow Dash had told.  However, Scootaloo didn’t want to admit it because she feared that Rainbow Dash would somehow think less of her and never want to associate with such a wimp; let alone take that wimp under her wing.  Although the details were different this time, it was practically the same situation.

“It’s just…” Scootaloo started.  “I completely blew the exam today, and you never would have crashed like that.”

Rainbow Dash continued to look dumbfounded before she burst into laughter.

“Rainbow Dash, this is serious!”  Scootaloo yelled.

“I know…I’m sorry,” Rainbow Dash said, trying to catch her breath.  “You seem to have the wrong idea about me kid.  I’ve had some pretty nasty crashes in my time.  They didn’t call me ‘Rainbow Crash’ at flight camp for nothing.  In fact, one time I even had to go to the hospital, much like you.  Just give it time and you’ll be fine.”

“But I practically messed up everything this week!”  Scootaloo exclaimed.  “I was rude to Lavender, penalized the team during the flag hunt, nearly passed out after the obstacle course, and now this!  I almost walked out completely today!  How could you not be disappointed in me for any of that?”

Rainbow Dash considered Scootaloo’s words.  Rainbow Dash often had the reputation for brushing things off, but she took this seriously.  She sighed and looked back into Scootaloo’s purple eyes.

“We all make mistakes, Scootaloo,” Rainbow Dash finally said.  “Sometimes we regret them and look back at what could have been.  You may have crashed today, but you prevented yourself from making the biggest one.  I was ready to walk out of the Wonderbolts because I thought that they were looking for the best and not care about the well-being of other ponies.  You almost left because you doubted yourself.

“The thing is, Scootaloo, I’ve always been proud of you; even before you started flying.  I would watch the little filly hang out with her friends and ride on that scooter better than anypony I know.  And you never gave up.  You were always determined to overcome challenges anywhere; not just with flying.  You performed incredible feats on that scooter that I could never hope to do.

“I may have taken you under my wing, but the truth is that I’ve looked up to you just as much as you look up to me.  Just by being there and believing in me has helped me more than you realize.  I just wished I could’ve done the same for you more often.  You really are all kinds of awesome, Scootaloo.  Don’t forget that.”

Scootaloo’s eyes watered up.  “What’s going to happen?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Rainbow Dash sighed.  “I did what little I could to convince Spitfire of all the work you do and what comes out of it, but it’s all up to her now.  She says that you need to rise or fall on your own; but if she doesn’t see you for what you truly are, then it’s her loss not yours.”

Scootaloo couldn’t help but smile.  She yawned and laid her head back on the pillow.  It had been a long day for everypony.

“Thanks for being with me Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said before drifting off to sleep.

Rainbow Dash looked at the unconscious mare and smiled.  Her biggest fan and biggest source of inspiration lay before her.  She reset the alarm on the clock and stroked Scootaloo’s mane.

“You’re welcome Scootaloo,” Rainbow Dash said softly before leaning back in her own chair.


***


Spitfire leaned back in her chair and let out an overwhelming sigh of relief.  She was finally done with the stack of papers that were the cadet’s files.  She had even finished earlier than she thought, so she could get plenty of rest for the next day.

Then her ear twitched.  Spitfire looked over at the far side of her desk.  There stood a lone file with the word ‘Scootaloo’ on it that hadn’t been evaluated yet.  Spitfire groaned and leaned over to reach the paper

grrrmmmrr!

Spitfire looked down at her growling stomach.  She hadn’t eaten anything all evening—having cooped herself up in her office in the vain attempt to get her work done at a reasonable hour.  She looked back up at the file and stared at the name.

GRRRRRMMMRRRRR!

“Fine!”  Spitfire exclaimed and slapped the file down on her desk.  “I’ll get back to you in a minute.”

She left the office and made her way to the mess hall.  After grabbing some leftovers from the kitchen, Spitfire made her way to a lonely table and ate.  Satisfaction filled her as food found its way to her protesting stomach.

Once her tray was empty, Spitfire looked up.  The mess hall wasn’t as abandoned as she had supposed.  Two ponies stood at the far end of the room by the bulletin board.  It was Major Soarin and that one lieutenant whose name constantly escaped her.  Spitfire walked a little closer and noticed that they were updating the Academy Records board.  This piqued Spitfire’s interest.

‘We haven’t had a new academy record for a long time,’ she thought.  ‘I wonder what it could be; fastest lap…wing push-ups…long-jump?’

Spitfire continued to theorize as she got closer to the board.  Once she reached it, she quickly found the new name and under what category.  She frowned and stared at it incredulously.




Dizzitron:
Scootaloo—5.5 seconds




“Are you sure about this, Soarin?”  Spitfire asked.

“Yes,” Soarin replied.  “I timed it myself?”

“When did this happen?”  Spitfire continued.

“Yesterday,” Soarin answered.

“And why wasn’t I informed of this?”  Spitfire said with gritted teeth.

“You weren’t?”  Soarin asked and frantically flipped pages on his clipboard.  “It was after I had turned in my report, so I made a supplemental, but I was sure I gave it…oh, here it is.”

Soarin felt rather embarrassed as he handed her the supplemental—which she immediately snatched out of his hoof.

“We’ll talk about this later,” Spitfire said, stuffing the piece of paper into her pocket.  “What are your thoughts on this?”

“Well, it’s quite amazing really,” Soarin stated.  “Not only had she beaten Rainbow Dash’s time by half of a second, but she did it on the highest setting too.”

“Really?”  Spitfire said in amazement.  “Who was the last pony with the best time at the highest setting?”

Soarin looked at the records listed on his clipboard.  “That would be…Lightning Dust.  Huh, I don’t remember that pony.”

“I do,” Spitfire mumbled, her gut clenching at the mention of that particular mare.  “And Scootaloo just did this out of the blue?”

“No,” the lieutenant said, speaking up for the first time.  “She and her lead pony worked on it for nearly an hour.  The film crew practically got the whole thing on tape.”

“They what?”  Spitfire gaped.

“I said they got it all on camera…Ma’am?”  

Major Soarin and the lieutenant were now staring at an empty space where Spitfire used to be.  They then heard the mess hall doors creak shut and the sound of hoof beats outside.


***


Spitfire galloped across the compound.  All the while, her mind raced just as fast.

‘This can’t be happening. They’re actually going to be useful for once.’

Finally she reached her destination; one of the spare barracks that they used if they ever had a large influx of cadets.  They certainly had a large influx this year, but it wasn’t cadets.  Spitfire knocked on the door and it was opened, revealing a very tired pony.

“Film Reel,” Spitfire said, recognizing him as the director.  “Quick, I need you to get me some of the footage from this week.”

“Can’t it wait ‘till morning?”  Film Reel yawned.

“I’m afraid not,” Spitfire replied.  “Now I need the footage of the new cadets; particularly of their performances today and everything you filmed at the Dizzitron yesterday.”
> Day 7: Evaluation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The last day of initial training had arrived and all of the new cadets were sitting in the mess hall.  They waited there until Lieutenant What’s-his-name called them—one by one—to go to Colonel Spitfire’s office: where both she and Major Soarin would talk to them privately.  The anticipation was strenuous, so they tried to keep themselves busy to pass the time.

Scootaloo and Blue Yonder sat silently in a corner.  Doctor Hawkeye had approved Scootaloo to leave the infirmary in order to make the evaluations.  Initially, she was swarmed with a lot of questions by everypony.  However, that ended quickly since Scootaloo had no real answers to give.  She still had vague memories of what happened the previous day during their performances.

While they waited, Scootaloo was fiddling with a brace near the bottom of her right foreleg.  Earlier that morning, she had smashed the alarm clock after it went off one too many times according to her.  It was an act that she immediately regretted.


***


“GAAAAAAAAH!!!”  Scootaloo screamed, startling Rainbow Dash again.

“Huh?  What happened?” She asked as her head shot up.

Scootaloo simply responded by making several grunting sounds and shouting a variety of profanities; the pain in her hoof was too overwhelming to form any coherent sentences.

The shouting caught the attention of Doctor Hawkeye, who burst into the room.

“Well,” he said rather nonchalantly.  “Here we go again.”


***


The doctor x-rayed Scootaloo’s hoof and it wasn’t broken, but she had definitely sprained it—badly.  She now had to wear an uncomfortable and rather itchy brace that immobilized her hoof.  To top it off, she also had to keep it in a sling for a while whenever she walked.  Walking on only three legs was very awkward and she practically needed support from another at the beginning.  She instinctively put her injured hoof down a few times, only to have searing pain rush through it when she put weight on it.

They also discovered that in the morning that her wings were completely stiff and unable to move—rendering her unable to fly.  Hawkeye found a lot of swelling that might have resulted from the crash, but it seemed odd since the impact mainly affected head and hooves.  Whatever the reason was, however, it meant only one thing—she was grounded for the time being.

Another thing that made Scootaloo feel uncomfortable was that she still wasn’t wearing her flight suit like the rest of the cadets.  However, even if she wanted to, she couldn’t put it on since it had been apparently cut off of her while she was unconscious—thus enabling her to breathe easier.  Besides, due to the amount of pain and damage she had experienced, Scootaloo doubted if she could endure putting on that tight-fitting garment anytime soon.  But she still felt odd without it, so she pinned her silver, wingpony medal onto her blue sling.  It wasn’t much, but it made her feel better.

Slowly, the cadets were led out of the mess hall.  The apparent pattern was that the lead pony was taken first and then their respective wingpony was called in later.  They never came back, so nopony knew what to expect.  All they knew was the long wait before the next cadet was called in.

Eventually, Scootaloo and Blue Yonder were the only ones left in the room.  Scootaloo’s inner turmoil was rising dramatically again.  Despite all of the encouragement and comforting words she had got the previous day and that morning, Scootaloo still had serious doubts about her inevitable talk with Spitfire.

Scootaloo’s unease was apparent on her face since Blue Yonder gave her a gentle pat on the back.

“Don’t worry,” Blue Yonder reassured her.  “I’ll try talking with Colonel Spitfire to keep you in.”

“Yeah, but I’m afraid that the damage has already been done,” Scootaloo said morosely.

“But you don’t know that,” Blue Yonder countered, although she had a hard time believing it herself.

Their awkward silence was inturupted by the arrival of Lieutenant What’s-his-name.

“Blue Yonder, you’re up,” he said.

“I’ll see you when this is all over,” Blue Yonder said getting up.

“Yeah, see you later,” Scootaloo said as Blue Yonder walked away with the lieutenant, leaving her alone once again.

Scootaloo couldn’t tell if she waited there a few minutes or a few hours, although the former was more likely.  The doubts from yesterday were beginning to fester, but she held her ground.  She wasn’t sure what else she could do, but she certainly wasn’t going to leave.  Not this time, anyway.

Many thoughts came to her mind about what she might say to defend herself.  Each seemed more ridiculous than the last though and she finally gave up.  She had nothing.

‘I guess I’ll just have to accept that I can’t do everything.’

Despite the long amount of time she had waited, Scootaloo wasn’t prepared for when Lieutenant What’s-his-name came back.  She then took the long walk to Colonel Spitfire’s office.  Scootaloo felt apprehensive, but the lieutenant didn’t give her any time to sulk as he opened the door, beckoning her inside.

Scootaloo was expecting a lot of things, but what she wasn’t expecting was for the office to be…empty.  Spitfire and Soarin were nowhere to be seen.  Scootaloo looked all over the office but didn’t find them.  They didn’t seem like the kind of ponies to wait and surprise her—that was a Pinkie Pie thing.

“What the-” Scootaloo started to ask before the door opened again.

Spitfire walked in pushing a cart with a television on it.  It reminded Scootaloo of the televisions back at high school that the teacher’s would bring in to watch some boring educational films.

“Sorry I’m late Newbie, but I just remembered that I needed this,” Spitfire said before taking a seat behind her desk.  She looked up at Scootaloo and sighed.  “So how are you doing?”

“All right, I guess,” Scootaloo answered.

“You guess?”  Spitfire gaped.  “You crashed head-first into the ground at full speed.”

“I’ve been through worse,” Scootaloo said, trying to brush it off.

“Scootaloo, this is more serious than whatever trouble you’d gotten into as a foal,” Spitfire explained.  “A stunt like that usually lands ponies into the hospital for weeks, maybe even longer.  Yet you’re standing here with barely a scratch on you.”

“Excuse me,” Scootaloo said, moving her sprained foreleg in the sling.

“Sorry,” Spitfire apologized.  “But until this morning, I honestly thought that I would be having this conversation with you in the infirmary…if I even had it at all.  You have no idea just how lucky you are.”

“That’s what everypony keeps telling me,” Scootaloo muttered before taking her seat.

Scootaloo took a closer look at Spitfire and noticed something odd.  Spitfire looked awful.  Well, actually she was clean and very presentable, but her eyes told a different story.  There were bags and wrinkles under Spitfires bloodshot eyes; It was as if she had been up all night.  Spitfire was clearly exhausted—a feeling that Scootaloo was very familiar with.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”  Spitfire asked again.  “Because I can do this another time if I need to.”

“Yes,” Scootaloo groaned.  “The doctor said I should be fine as long as I just sit and do nothing else other than walk as little as possible.  He even gave me some long-lasting pain pills, so I’m feeling fine.”

“Very well,” Spitfire sighed.  “Don’t get too used to those pain pills, by the way.  I don’t want you becoming an addict on top of all this.”

“Yes Ma’am…I mean, no Ma’am…I mean…I won’t take them any longer than necessary Ma’am,” Scootaloo managed to say, and it was the truth.  She did not like having to rely on medication in order to feel normal and function properly.

“You’ll be happy to know that I’ve updated your parents on your condition and they’re relieved that you are okay,” Spitfire explained.  “Since Doctor Hawkeye has ordered you to stay here for another night, they’ll be coming up later today to visit.”

“Wait, you told my parents?”  Scootaloo snapped.

“Of course,” Spitfire said, a little put off by the cadet’s tone.  “It’s standard protocol to inform your family when an accident occurs.   It was also one of the few things I could do at the time, along with writing a superficial report on the incident.  Are you sure you don’t remember what happened at the field yesterday?”

“No,” Scootaloo replied.

Spitfire studied her for a moment.  Scootaloo met her gaze.  After a moment of silence, Spitfire grabbed something from on top of her desk and moved over to the television set.

“There’s something I want you to see,” Spitfire said after she turned on the TV and put the black video cassette tape into a small box hooked up to it.

Suddenly the blue screen changed, showing a green field surrounded by bleachers.  In the middle of the field were four pegasi in flight suits getting ready to take off.  Scootaloo recognized them as herself and her team from yesterday’s performance.

Scootaloo watched as the ponies on screen performed the routine that she remembered practicing.  It was a bit surreal watching herself, especially since she didn’t remember everything about this moment playing before her very eyes.  Then came the moment where they were flying straight up and then pulled backwards to head back to the ground, but the figure of Scootaloo broke off from her companion and made a shallow trajectory towards the ground.

‘Pull up!’   Scootaloo thought in vain as she watched herself struggle, managing to spin her body upright, but still hitting the ground regardless.

Spitfire paused the video as both Blue Yonder and the paramedics flew over to Scootaloo’s unmoving body.

“Do you want to know what I find weird about this?”  Spitfire asked.

“That I crashed,” Scootaloo answered, not revealing her true thoughts.

“Close,” Spitfire said and she rewound the video to where Scootaloo started breaking off from the group and paused when she was about halfway to the ground—right before she started flailing her legs around.  “It’s that you didn’t do anything to prevent yourself from crashing before this point.  You didn’t pull up, slow down, stop or even use the recovering techniques for a spin-out.”

Scootaloo dropped her head.  Spitfire had pointed out the very thing that Scootaloo noticed from the video; that she apparently didn’t do anything that would logically prevent her from crashing.

“The way I see it, there are two possible explanations for this,” Spitfire stated.  “The first being that you didn’t do anything and that you intentionally crashed-”

“WHAT!?”  Scootaloo shouted standing back up as best as she could.  “I never wanted to crash!  If you honestly believe that then maybe I should forget this and-”

“SIT BACK DOWN CADET; I’M NOT THROUGH WITH YOU YET!”  Spitfire yelled, also standing up.

Scootaloo shrank back and sat down again.

‘What is it with these damn ponies from Ponyville and never letting me finish?’  Spitfire thought.  ‘I’m definitely getting too old for this.’

“Now,” Spitfire continued, sitting back down herself.  “The second reason as to why you didn’t do anything to prevent the accident is that you couldn’t do anything.  Tell me, can you move your wings right now?”

Scootaloo looked at her wings, which were hanging rather limply on her back.  Nothing seemed off unless you were paying attention to them.  She tried to move them, but they wouldn’t respond.

“No,” Scootaloo said in defeat.

“And why is that?” Spitfire asked.

“I don’t know,” Scootaloo replied.  “From the crash, maybe?”

“Not a bad guess,” Spitfire commented insightfully.  “But you didn’t land on your back, and your wings would be rather shredded if you had.  No, I think that there’s another explanation.”

She ejected the tape from the VCR and put another one in its place.  This time, the video was of the Dizzitron.  Scootallo could see herself being launched in the air, spinning wildly until she regained control and came back in smoothly.

“This is the footage of your little marathon the evening before the performances,” Spitfire said, as both Scootaloo and Blue Yonder could be seen using the Dizzitron.  “I must say, you two were very determined to get better, even though you were already good at this.”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo sighed.  “Blue Yonder was helping me to gain confidence by working on something I was good at.”

“Really?”  Spitfire said looking at Scootaloo for a moment before turning back to the screen.  “Now pay attention to this one.”

Scootaloo watched closely.  She saw the familiar sight of her in the hoofbar of the machine spinning around.  Then she noticed that it was even faster than any other time she had seen it spin; this was when she went on the highest setting.  Soon, the Scootaloo on the television was released.  She was going so fast that a jagged purple streak—very much like the one on her cutie mark following a scooter wheel—was left behind her as she flew.  It followed her all the way to the end of her landing.  Scootaloo watched the moving image in awe.

“Five-and-a-half seconds,” Spitfire said, setting a stopwatch down on her desk.  “Do you realize that you beat Rainbow Dash’s record on the Dizzitron?”

“I did what?” Scootaloo gaped.

“You beat Rainbow Dash’s record for the fastest time to recover,” Spitfire repeated.  “And you did it at the highest setting.  Not many ponies can even come close to matching that kind of return at such difficulty.”

“Wow,” Scootaloo said, widening her eyes.

“You also set another record, although this one is a bit unofficial since we don’t normally count this,” Spitfire continued.  “You went on that machine sixteen times, and that’s only what is shown in the video.  From what I understand, you’ve been on the Dizzitron a few times before the film crew even started filming.”

Scootaloo felt a little bit of pride, but it was immediately quenched out since the look on Spitfire’s face wasn’t exactly a congratulatory one.  Instead, Spitfire frowned at her with an icy stare.

“You want to know something interesting about the Dizzitron?”  Spitfire asked.

“What?”  Scootaloo said listening closely to whatever Spitfire was going to say.

“It’s considered an 'emergency situation simulator' since a spinout is an emergency situation,” Spitfire explained.  “In such emergencies, extreme forces are acting on you and require a lot of exertion to correct.  That takes a lot out of a pony, whether if it’s exhaustion or soreness.  And that’s just by doing it once.  Doing it multiple times in a row, however, could cause something more severe.

“So, what I think happened was that after your workout, certain things happened with your muscles that didn’t quite recover the next day.  So when you performed yesterday, the strain was too much and your wings locked up.  You didn’t crash because you couldn’t handle the turn; you crashed because you over-exerted yourself in something else.”

Scootaloo was speechless.  Things were suddenly making sense: why Spitfire showed her the two videos, the stiffness in her wings that seemed unrelated to the crash, and the crash itself.  She was so worried that she would mess up or spin out that she worked a little too hard in order to prevent that.  Neither she nor Blue Yonder realized the implications of what they were doing, and it cost them.

Spitfire continued to study the injured cadet. ‘She’s certainly taking this well, that’s good.’

“Now I’m going to be honest with you Scootaloo,” Spitfire said, regaining Scootaloo’s attention.  “This past week, I haven’t been impressed.  From day one you’ve displayed that you don’t seem to work with others well or have the capability of precision flying.  You’ve insulted another cadet, went off on your own during the flag hunt, nearly passed out at the obstacle course, and most recently overworked yourself—leading to your accident yesterday.  Based on these incidents, I could not see you to continuing in this academy.”

Scootaloo lowered her head.  This was it.  She had anticipated the worst and it seemed that it was going to happen.  She braced herself for the inevitable word.

“However,” Spitfire said with a surprising smile on her face.  “I’ve only had part of the story.  This video shows how much you are willing to work, and talking with other cadets has shown me just how much of an impact you’ve had on helping them through this past week.”

“So…what does this mean for me?”  Scootaloo asked, unsure of where this was going at all.

“I think we’ve established that I wasn’t there for any significant portion of your training,” Spitfire said.  “Therefore, I don’t think I’m qualified to make that judgment.  Instead, I think we need to talk with the ponies who have been with you.”

With that, Spitfire walked to the door and opened it.  She said something to Lieutenant What’s-his-name outside.  Scootaloo didn’t catch it since she was still confused over what was just said.  Spitfire herself remained silent as she returned to her desk.

Before too long the door burst open.  In flew Blue Yonder, who was crying and screaming at the top of her lungs.

“I’M SORRY, IT WAS MY FAULT!”  She screamed.  “This wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for me!  Don’t punish Scootaloo, I’m the one who should be thrown out!”

“CADET, GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!”  Spitfire shouted, silencing the other mare.  “What are you talking about?”

“I’m the one that told Scootaloo to go on the Dizzitron,” Blue Yonder explained.  “I told her that she could get better by working on it and that she wouldn’t mess up at the air show, but that didn’t work.  It’s my fault that she crashed!”

Spitfire blinked a couple of times.  “What?”

“Sorry Spitfire,” Major Soarin said as he walked in, panting a little bit.  “I told her about the Dizzitron is what lead to Scootaloo crashing yesterday, and now she keeps blaming herself.”

“Because I am to blame!”  Blue Yonder insisted.  “If it wasn’t for me, this wouldn’t have happened!”

“Blue Yonder, it isn’t your fault!”  Scootaloo exclaimed, standing up suddenly.

Suddenly everypony started shouting.

“What are you doing?”

“You’ll hurt yourself!”

“Sit back down!”

“SHUT UP!”  Scootaloo shouted.  “I’m not a foal; you don’t need to tell me what to do!”

Suddenly, her head started hurting, causing Scootaloo to press her good hoof against her forehead.  She felt as though her head was going to split open.  She sat back down and waited for the blinding pain to pass.

“I chose to go on the Dizzitron all those times,” Scootaloo said, breathing heavily.  “I chose to exert myself and get better times.  I chose to do that at the high setting.  It’s my fault that this happened to me, Blue Yonder, not yours.”

“But I-” Blue Yonder started.

“No but’s!”  Scootaloo interrupted.  “I’m the one who’s responsible here.”

“Actually, you’re both responsible,” Soarin said.

“What?”  Scootaloo and Blue Yonder said in unison, turning to the stallion.

“What started out as a little exercise caused something that got out of hand that could have been prevented by either of you two,” Soarin explained.  “Blue Yonder, you suggested the activity and could have stopped it any time.  Scootaloo, you could have easily walked away or gotten some treatment when you were still feeling sore the next morning.  I am partially to blame as well since I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea for you to go that last time on the high setting, but I let you do it anyway.”

Both Scootaloo and Blue Yonder just stared at him, not sure of what to make of his statements.  Spitfire sat back and let Soarin continue.

“The point I’m trying to make is that as a team, you share equal responsibility for your performance overall.”  Soarin stated.  “We’ve already discussed the Dizzitron and the air show yesterday, and you both paid heavily for it—although Scootaloo bore the physical portion.  There were other things too, like the flag hunt mishap and the scare at the obstacle course, but you both managed to work together in the end.

“You did some good things together as well.  You’ve inspired the other cadets, helped one through a period of depression and broke one of our longest standing records.  I have never seen two cadets work so well together better than the two of you.”

Scootaloo and Blue Yonder couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed about their failings and praiseworthy moments being displayed like that.  They would have eased a little, but apparently Soarin wasn’t done yet.

“But that’s just me talking,” Soarin stated.  “I want to hear from the two of you personally about your time with each other at this camp.  Blue Yonder, how has Scootaloo been as your wingpony?”

“Well...uh,” Blue Yonder stuttered, being taken aback by this sudden change of direction.  “She’s the hardest worker I’ve ever seen.  She has overcome so much, flies by my side and is everything that I aspire to be.”

“Very well,” Soarin said once she had finished, and turned to the other cadet.  “Scootaloo, how has Blue Yonder been as your lead pony?”

Scootaloo paused for a moment.  Despite knowing that it was coming, she still had a hard time putting her thoughts into words.  Once she had a grasp on them, she looked back up.

“She’s a great leader,” Scootaloo said.  “She inspired me to do my best and has shown me so many ways to work with others, even lifting them up.  She even helped me out yesterday and talked me out of making the biggest mistake I could’ve made in my entire life.  I’m honored to have been her wingpony and consider her to be among my closest friends.”

Scootaloo smiled as Blue Yonder gave her a gentle pat on the back.  She also noticed some tears in Blue Yonder’s eyes.  This whole thing seemed rather corny, but Scootaloo felt that everything she said was true.  Soarin, meanwhile, thought over their words.

“Colonel,” Soarin said, turning to Spitfire.  “You know my thoughts about this companionship and I want you to know that they haven’t changed.”

“Thank you Major; dismissed,” Spitfire said as she saluted Soarin, who subsequently walked out the door.  “Well, it seems that you’ve made quite the impression on all of us.  I must admit that I had my doubts this past week, but it seems that I did do the right thing by putting you two together.  So it gives me great pleasure to say that you both passed.”

Scootaloo’s jaw dropped.  She couldn’t believe it.  Despite everything, they both managed to succeed and continue on in the Wonderbolt Academy.  She looked over and saw that Blue Yonder’s face was just as shocked and excited as hers.

“Congradulations,” Spitfire said.  “I look forward to working with both of you again.  Blue Yonder, I expect you to come back in three days with all of the other cadets who will be continuing.  Scootaloo, you will come back only after you have made a complete recovery and are okayed by the doctors in Ponyville and Doctor Hawkeye.  When you return, we just might make us of that dare-devil attitude of yours.”

Scootaloo’s eyes widened at that prospect.  It was going to be so exciting.  Then it hit her that she would have to wait again just to come back.

‘Oh, I hate waiting!’

“Enjoy your leave Newbies,” Spitfire said as she stood up and saluted them.  “Dissmissed.”

	

> Day 7: Goodbyes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Scootaloo and Blue Yonder walked out of Spitfire’s office—or rather limped in Scootaloo’s case.  Both were silent; still trying to comprehend what just happened.

“We did it,” Scootaloo finally said.  “Despite everything that happened, we still did it.”

“I know, right,” Blue Yonder chuckled.  “But this was only the first week.  We still got to come back later, although you get to have a break from it even longer.”

“That just means I’m going to be behind…again!”  Scootaloo moaned.

“Don’t worry,” Blue Yonder reassured her.  “I’ll get you back on track.”

“Just don’t have me crash into the side of the mountain next time,” Scootaloo said smugly.

“Oh sure, I do that one time and I’m branded for life,” Blue Yonder said melodramatically before turning serious again.  “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Scootaloo laughed at her friend’s sentimentality, “Wow, we got totally sappy in there, didn’t we?”

Blue Yonder tilted her head up towards the ceiling, “Yeah, well life can get pretty sappy sometimes.”

All Scootaloo could do was smile as she turned to go outside.

“We probably should go see everypony and see how they’re doing,” she said.

Blue Yonder nodded in agreement and opened the door.  They both walked out to find cadets everywhere.  They were all talking with each other; some getting ready to go home for their short leave while others wouldn’t be coming back at all.  Scootaloo’s and Blue Yonder’s presence drew a lot of attention since everypony was curious as to what happened.  Most of them were quite surprised to learn that Scootaloo had passed and would be returning.

“Well, I guess not everypony who tries to be a Wonderbolt can be perfect,” Hot Shot said, rolling his eyes upon hearing the news.

“You know what, you’re a real plothead!”  Blue Yonder snapped and pointed her hoof in the opposite direction.  “Get out of here!”

“Fine,” Hot Shot huffed.  “I’ll be seeing you in a few days though.  So be ready, I’m not going to wait up for you.”

Blue Yonder scowled at the departing gold stallion.  “I’ve wanted to say that to him all week.”

“Yeah, but we still got to deal with him,” Silverwings said as he joined the group.  “So I guess we’ll be flying together later after all.”

He nudged Scootaloo in the side and raised his eyebrows a couple of times.

“I wouldn’t dream of it lover boy,” Scootaloo responded.  “But I will be back, if only to smack that stupid face of yours.”

The three of them started laughing and Silverwings congratulated them on passing the evaluation.

“So are you ready to go home Blue Yonder?”  Silverwings asked.

“No,” Blue Yonder answered.  “I’m staying with Scootaloo until her parents take her home tomorrow.”

“You don’t have to do that, you know,” Scootaloo stated.

“Yes I do,” Blue Yonder insisted.  “I helped get you into this mess; I’m going to see you out of it.”

“Fine,” Scootaloo relented, but gave a smile.  “Oh Celestia, Mom’s going to flip once she sees me like this.”

They all laughed again.  It certainly felt good to be among friends.  Suddenly, Silverwings stopped and looked up.

“I’ll be right back,” he said as he started walking off.

“You’re not going to go mess with some other mares are you?”  Blue Yonder asked lifting an eyebrow.

“No,” Silverwings said defensively.  “I’m going to ask that one lieutenant what his name is.  It’s been bugging me all week.”

Blue Yonder rolled her eyes as she watched him leave.  She was about to take Scootaloo back to the infirmary when they ran into someone else; specifically, a purple pegasus. 

“Oh, hi Lavender,” Blue Yonder said cheerfully.

“Hi,” Lavender awkwardly responded.

“So…how did your evaluation go?”  Blue Yonder asked, trying to strike up a conversation.

“Okay,” Lavender said.  “I passed and all, but I told Colonel Spitfire and Major Soarin that I didn’t want to continue.  I was afraid that they would be angry with me for wasting their time, but they understood everything.”

“How are you feeling now?”  Blue Yonder asked.

“Better, I guess,” Lavender smiled.  “It’s as if a giant weight has been taken off of me; although I still have to talk to my dad.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll do fine and he’ll understand,” Blue Yonder reassured her.

“Thanks,” Lavender said.  “Look, can I talk with Scootaloo for a minute?”

“Sure,” Scootaloo said hobbling up as Blue Yonder backed away.  “What’s up?”

“I’m sorry for being a big jerk to you this past week,” Lavender said, looking down at first.  “Obviously you know why I was in a bad mood, but that was no excuse for all the things I’ve said—especially about your relationship with Rainbow Dash.  I felt really guilty after I saw you talk with her the other day and how she was with you after the accident.  She really does care for you.  I’m sorry for not believing it.”

“That’s all right,” Scootaloo said.  “I would hardly believe it myself.  I’m sorry for everything I’ve said and thought about you too.  I guess things just didn’t click between us.  I’ve also had the experience of being a jerk to others yesterday when I thought that things weren’t going my way at all; so I kind of understand how you felt.”

“Yeah,” Lavender sighed.  “Well, we’ll probably never see each other again—and like you said, things didn’t really click between us—but do you think we can at least leave on good terms and call it a truce?”

“Yeah, I’d like that,” Scootaloo said as she too her right hoof out of the sling and extended it towards Lavender.

“Are you sure?”  Lavender said, staring warily at the braced hoof.

“Yes, it’ll be fine,” Scootaloo said feeling rather annoyed.

Lavender gave the lightest of taps in the hoof bump, but that was enough to send an uncomfortable surge of pain through Scootaloo’s foreleg.  Scootaloo bit the inside of her lower lip so as not to scream out and keep a straight face.

“Thanks for helping me out the other day,” Lavender said as she put her hoof back down.

“Yeah, sure thing,” Scootaloo responded in a strained tone as Lavender left.

Scootaloo didn’t have much time to rest before somepony else came running up to them.  This time it was a green pegasus.

“Oh, thank Celestia I caught you,” Snapshot wheezed.  “I was afraid you left already.”

“I can’t leave,” Scootaloo stated.  “The doctor wants me to stay another night to heal up before I can go, but I’ll probably have to take a balloon ride home anyways”

“Oh…right...um…sorry about that,” Snapshot said, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck.  “Anyways, I wanted to give these to both of you.”

She handed both Scootaloo and Blue Yonder a white envelope.  Blue Yonder opened hers, since she had two working hooves, while Scootaloo just held on to hers.

“Hey, these are pictures from this past week,” Blue Yonder said looking through the contents.

“Yeah,” Snapshot said grinning.  “I got them developed yesterday since there wasn’t much to do after…well…everything.  I made copies for all of our roommates and put a group photo into the picture box.”

“Well, that’s awesome,” Blue Yonder said as she flipped through the photos.

She frowned when she found a photo of her on the floor trying to get her flight suit off.  Scootaloo chuckled and Blue Yonder huffed as she continued flipping through the pictures.  Soon, they found one of Scootaloo sleeping in the infirmary bed.

“Hey!”  Scootaloo shouted.  “You took a picture of me at the infirmary…and…am I drooling there?”

“Yes,” Snapshot snickered.  “It was too good not to pass up.  Besides, it’s important to have memories of everything, even if they aren’t so pleasant.”

“And now we all have proof of the 'most embarrassing moment' of this week,” Blue Yonder said as Scootaloo glared at her.  “So, will you be coming back with us in a few days Snapshot?”

“Me?  No,” Snapshot said putting a hoof to her chest.  “It’s been great and all, but it just isn’t for me.  However, talking with those film ponies got me really excited.  Film Reel even told me of an internship position in their photography department, so I’ll shoot for that.  Aurora will be coming back though.”

“Well, it’s been nice flying with you,” Blue Yonder said.

“Yeah,” Scootaloo agreed.  “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Snapshot said excitedly.  “Ooh, Film Reel also gave me this neat camera that prints pictures automatically.  Do you want to see it in action?”

“Sure,” Blue Yonder and Scootaloo said together.

Snapshot took the camera out of her saddlebag and lifted it up.  Blue Yonder wrapped her right foreleg around Scootaloo’s sholders—causing Scootaloo to wince a bit.  In that moment, Snapshot took two pictures—one for both of them—and two photos with a black square on them came out of a slot at the bottom of the camera.

“Hmm,” Snapshot said as the black faded away; revealing the picture.  “Not as good as developing it by hoof, but it works in a jiffy—especially if you don’t care about quality.  Anyways, here you go.”

Snapshot handed them the pictures and flew off.

“Maybe we’ll meet at a Wonderbolt photo shoot, or something!”  Snapshot yelled back at them.

“We’ll see about that!”  Scootaloo shouted back.

“Who knows?”  Blue Yonder said.  “We just might.”

Scootaloo smiled as she looked over all the cadets that were still at the compound.  Each and every one still had a long road ahead of them with no guarantee of officially joining the ranks of Equestria’s elite squadron of flyers.  It wasn’t for the feeble or uncertain ponies.  The standards were high: requiring guts, tenacity and lots of hard work to achieve them.  But if Scootaloo’s first week was anything to go by, then anything was certainly possible.

“Yeah,” Scootaloo agreed.  “We just might.”