Staring at the ground definitely wouldn’t work, she’d been doing that for what seemed like hours, and it wasn’t the first time. Last week, she tried staring at the kettle, just to see if she could lift it up. Then yesterday, she wanted to see if she could make the apples fall from the trees on their own.
She thought it could be just a matter of practice, nopony had never pulled something like that off before, nopony have even tried, maybe she’d be the first one to discover that ponies could learn to have magic. That’d be the most wonderful thing ever!
Except, nothing seemed to work.
“Com’on! Just a little spark!” she squeezed her eyes, focusing on the grass. She kept thinking about the leaves growing, going the same height as her muzzle was off the ground. But still, there wasn’t any sight of magic coming from anywhere.
“Apple Bloom, what in tarnation are you doin’?” Applejack appeared behind her, her basket already full of apples.
”Oh nothin’, really.” She kept looking at the groud. “just… tryin’ to make this damn grass grow,” she storted. “But of course it’s not workin’.”
Applejack laughed.
“O’course it’s not, lil’ filly, you ain’t a unicorn.” She put a hoof around her neck.
“But… do you think it’s possible to learn to have magic? Or maybe I already have it, I just don’ know it yet.”
“Haven’t I ever told ya what a unicorn looks like?” Applejack asked. Apple Bloom moved her head negatively. “They have horns, Apple Bloom, that’s where their magic come from.”
“Horns? Like the bulls we have at the village?”
“No, not like that, sugarcube,” Applejack smiled at the thought, “it’s just a single horn on the top o’ their heads, nothing like the animals ya know.”
“Ah,” she sighed. All her attempts were useless all along, it’s stupid she didn’t know the very first thing about unicorns. How could she not know about the horns? Granny Smith had never told anything about that in any of her stories, she just mentioned the magic they had.
But then, she didn’t like to talk about them that much.
“Y’know, I’ve seen one before, a unicorn,” Applejack started saying. Apple Bloom knew what was coming, her sister had told her that story many times before. “I was just a filly, maybe even younger than ya.”
“I know, Applejack, you told me…”
“We lived in another village up north, close to the border,” she continued. It was no use to stop her anyway. “Then came the war, the unicorns invaded our village, thanks Celestia we could get out o’ there in time, but I still could see one as we were runnin’. The unicorn looked in my eyes, he started runnin’ towards us but gave up, I guess we weren’t worth it. I was on dad’s back and I looked back, even though he’d told me not to. I was terrified.”
“I wish I’d met dad, and I also was too young to even remember mom,” she admitted. Applejack lifted her head to face her.
“They loved ya very much, I’m sure o’ that,” she said. Apple Bloom could see her sister’s eyes almost crying. “Well, let’s head home, we picked up a lotta apples for today.”
They started walking on the dirt road that led home, Apple Bloom kept looking at her hooves along the way.
The dirt, the fields. An Earth Pony, that’s what she was since she was born.
The earth was her fate after all.
“How long has it been like this, Applejack?” She asked while kicking the sand under her hooves. “Have the earth ponies always lived working for the pegasi and the unicorns? Didn’t we have a land of our own?”
“Not that I know of, sugarcube,” her sister answered. “Since I was born, and your Granny Smith were born, and all the other ponies before her were born, that’s how it has always been. Sure we had more territory before since Pegasalia was once bigger, but that’s the Pegasus land, we just live in it.”
“Get it.”
They continued walking, she could now see Granny Smith going to the balcony to sit in her usual chair, where she’d have a view of all the orchard. She waved at her and Apple Bloom waved back.
“I didn’t know ya wanted to be an unicorn, Apple Bloom,” Applejack started taking again.
“Well, life sure would be better if we were.” She looked up at her big sister. “For starters, we wouldn’t have to give away half of our food. If I was born as a unicorn or a pegasus, I’d be far away from here.”
“I know it’s not fair, but it’s no use to think that way, things ain’t gonna change by complaining.”
“Then how will it change?” she asked. Applejack looked at her, thinking of what to say, but Apple Bloom knew what was the obvious answer.
“Family is the most important thing, Apple Bloom,” Applejack said. She kind of expected a answer like that coming from her sister, she wasn’t going to say the obvious. “Even though times are tough, you’ll always have your family, that’s what makes our lives worth livin’. And I wouldn’t exchange you, Granny or Big Mac for any stupid horn or wings.”
Apple Bloom smiled at that last part. Her big sister was the best pony she have ever met, if somepony deserved something out of life, that pony was Applejack. Only she wouldn’t like it that much, the only way to live a slightly better life was if she had a job in the big city, it’d hurt to have her sister go away, it wasn’t a thing she thought she could handle, she’d never be ready to say goodbye.
But that was her sister she was talking about. Applejack wouldn’t go anywhere, Apple Bloom was pretty sure of that.
It was the third time Rainbow Dash had revised all the things for the trainment that morning. She placed everything in a pile on her bed, it all seemed to be just fine, but it still felt like she was forgetting something.
Her armour? Checked.
Blade? Checked.
Bow and arrow? Checked.
Sword? Checked.
Could that just be it? She couldn’t possibly forget anything, this was the day she’d been waiting for for ages, everypony at the academy was waiting for it as well. Nothing could go wrong today, she had to show them – to show him – that she was the best pony to join the army.
But what if she can’t really show it?
“Hey, Rainbow Dash.” Scootaloo entered her room, a comb was stuck on a lock of her purple mane “Are you ready to go?”
“N-not yet,” she stuttered, taking off the comb on the filly’s hair. “Look at my things, can you figure it out what is it that I might be forgetting?”
Scootaloo looked at the pile on her bed, her hoof scratching her chin.
“Hum, aren’t you going to use your shield?”
“That’s it!”
Rainbow flew like a thunderbolt through the door, in seconds she went back with her shield and put it on the pile.
“Now everything is set, we’ll just have to…” they looked at the pile from a little distance, only now Rainbow thought about how big it was to fit in her bag. “…bring everything to the academy.”
…
“Rainbow Dash, you look like you’re shivering,” Scootaloo said behind her, she was pushing a little cart with all of her things.
“I-I’m ok, Scoot, better then I’ve ever been.”
“Riiiight…”
“I mean, it’s not like something will go wrong. I wouldn’t miss the target, I’ve been practicing archery for months, it’s not possible that I’ll miss it today of all days, is it?” She stopped abruptly along the way, making Scootaloo almost fall behind her.
“Come on, Rainbow Dash! You shouldn’t be worried, you’re the toughest pegasus I know, the best flyer in all of Pegasalia, you’re totally gonna crush them!”
“Well, that’s not exactly how it works,” Rainbow turned to face her. “Commander Stormy Knight himself and the highest members of the Wonderbolts army are gonna be watching us for the whole week, we’ll have seven days to impress him and be accepted, but I want it to happen on the first day,” she explained. “A lot of us are accepted in the end, but very few can make it in just one day.”
“And you’ll be one of them. You just have to show them something really incredible, let commander Stormy Knight see how awesome you are.”
“You’re right,” her voice regained confidence, “I don’t know what I was worried about, it’s gonna be easy for me, I am truly awesome!” She petted Scootaloo’s head. “Thanks, squirt, next time you see me, I’ll already be a Wonderbolt.”
Only when the sunlight wasn’t in Rainbow’s face anymore was that she noticed they’d just arrived. In fact, they were right under the academy’s gates. As soon as they were noticed, two pegasus were already there to take Rainbow’s things up.
“I wish I could see you up there.” Scootaloo made a crying voice.
“You can still see me from down here, I’ll be flying on most part of the trainment,” Rainbow tried to comfort her. She hated to see Scoot sad, she was like a little sister to her. “Hey, it doesn’t have anything to do with your… flying skills, I’m sure they wouldn’t let me bring a foal inside anyway, not today.”
Scootaloo just nodded, breaking her sad face.
“Ok then, I’ll see you when I get back, little one!”
Rainbow sad goodbye to Scootaloo and flew some meters off the ground where the gates were at. Though Cloudsdale was mainly set on the land, some parts of the city, like the Commander’s Castle, the Counsel of The Ancient Mares and the Trainment Centers were all up in the clouds, since no earth ponies were needed there. But the city was still way up high, Pegasalia’s capital was set in the mountains of the east, they were the city’s own fortress, making it the safest city in all of the country.
It's not like this was something of a problem to Scootaloo, she couldn’t fly but she still could stand on clouds like all pegasi, there were times before that Rainbow took her in her arms to watch the trainments, but when Scootaloo got a little bit older, she started to find the situation awkward. A pegasus pony of her age should’ve been able to fly already, and there wasn’t anything in the world that made her more ashamed.
And this feeling was understandable. Flying was the most important thing for a Pegasalian, babies born with a problem in their wings that meant they’d never fly were sacrificed because they wouldn’t survive. If she doesn’t learn how to fly soon, Rainbow was afraid about what would happen to her.
In just a few minutes, all the wonderbolts have already arrived, she could see them sitting at a vip spot above the arena, separated by a glass window. Rainbow was already wearing her armour, all the other trainees were entering the arena, and she followed them.
Suddenly, the nervousness hit her again. The materials and the circuit were the same they used in a normal day, it was the same routine, the only big difference was the fact that now they were being watched.
He was there already, Commander Stormy Knight. His face always strict, not showing a single sign of emotion. He was the biggest stallion sitting there, the difference between him and Spitfire, the capitan of the Wonderbolts and the most important pegasus after him, was noticable. For a second, she could swear he was staring at her, a shiver went down her spine.
“Dash!” Somepony caught her attention. “Come over here!”
It was Lighting Dust, one of her friends at the trainments and also one of the few females that were joining to fight for the country. They were best friends since the Foal Flying Trainment. Rainbow flew towards her.
“Hey, ready to blow those guys’ minds?” She said. Rainbow gave her a small grin.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
They all started with a circuit, dodging all the clouds obstacles and then flew higher to the other clouds to make them spin. It was nothing special, she didn’t do anything the other pegasus didn’t do, they had to fly all equal. Of course she could fly faster than that, but they had to use the armour since that’s what they’d use at battle, so it was part of the job to get used to it.
Then came the second part of the trainment. A machine on the other side of the arena threw tomatoes at them at maximum power and they had to dodge or defend with their shields. This exercise was to simulate a real battle, where the tomatoes were the unicorns magic being cast at them.
The exercise used to be a little different before, they were supposed to just dodge the tomatoes, there was no shield because this wouldn’t prevent the magic from being cast, there were some spells it couldn’t block. Rainbow didn’t understand why it changed so suddenly, neither did any of her colleagues, but nopony was crazy enough to question any orders sent directly from the Commander.
And this wasn’t the only thing that was changed recently. The other exercise following this one was what Rainbow used to call the “castration” one. All the ponies stand on a very high cloud in line and, one by one, they fly on a deep dive and cut the horn on a unicorn mannequin with their blades.
This used to the only time where they used any weapon for close combat, pegasi weren’t supposed to fight physically because they’d always lose, everypony knew this. They couldn’t put up with unicorns’ magic. “Once a unicorn sees you, you’re doomed if you don’t dodge in time.” Those were the words coach Windglider used to say. That’s why the only time they’d use a weapon like that was to take their horns out, fast enough so the unicorns don’t have time to react.
But now they had a different exercise following this one. In this, they had to fight with each other, one pony was the pegasus and the other was the unicorn, then the roles were switched. It was a physical battle, they had to learn how to use a sword and a shield, and since all of them had started practicing recently, they weren’t very good at it.
Well, except maybe for Rainbow Dash.
“How did you learn this so quickly?” Asked Lighting Dust as she was blocking her attacks, they always chose to do this trainment together.
“It helps when you don’t talk.”
Having said that, Rainbow flew behind her in a fast move and pulled her tail before Lightning could react, making her sit on the ground. In a real battle, that’s when she’d stick the sword in the unicorn’s back and kill them.
“Wow, I wasn’t expecting this,” she said. Rainbow helped her stand up.
“Yeah, this is a new move I came up with the other day.”
“It wouldn’t have been that easy if I was the pegasus, you know,” she smiled provocatively. “Let’s switch!”
She couldn’t help but look at the Wonderbolts behind the glass. Have they seen what she did? They didn’t seem like they where paying attention, neither was Commander Stormy Knight, he continued showing no emotion, and seemed to be looking at somepony else, she couldn’t tell who it was, but it sure wasn’t her.
She needed to do something more than that to impress him.
It was late afternoon when they got to the last exercise of the day. All the pegasus got their bow and arrow and stood next to each other. The targets were rice sacks in a pony shape, the objective was to hit them, specially the head that was painted in red. With the sound of the coach’s whistle, they all flew up higher until the targets became harder to reach.
This was one of the most powerful attacks the pegasus had. The idea was for it to be a surprise attack, they’d stay in the clouds hiding from the unicorns, and once the time comes, they’d all shoot their arrows, which if it was a real battle, would be in flames. Her father explained that to her once, he used to say that the sky and the clouds were their best allies. He was the best at archery, and of course everyone was expecting her to be the best as well.
Rainbow wanted to make him proud, to make Scootaloo proud, she was the only thing she had now that resembled a family.
She wanted this more than anything.
Her eyes were narrowed, almost shut, as she adjusted the bow and aimed at the head. Her mouth was shaking as she pulled the arrow as hard as she could, and when she thought it was ready, she released it.
It didn’t hit.
“Dang it!” she whispered to herself. Only now he was looking at her “C’mon, Rainbow Dash, you trained a lot for this.”
She picked up another arrow and tried again, taking a deep breath before releasing it. She couldn’t tell if it was going to hit or not, from up above it didn’t seem like it, so she was surprised when she saw that the arrow ended up landing on the sack pony’s flank.
It wasn’t on the read as she would’ve liked, but it worked.
“Way to go, Dash!” She heard Lighting Dust say, she had also got one hit as the sack, just like her.
She had only three more arrows, three more chances, to at least get one on the head. Don’t think about who is watching, she kept saying it to herself. If this was a normal training day, no doubt she would’ve already had a perfect hit by now.
The other arrow landed on the front hoof, the other hit close to the neck, it was her best one yet, but now she had only one more chance.
Please, let it be on the head this time.
She loosed her teeth and watched as the arrow fell and hit the target. This time, it went right between the eyes.
“Yes!” she couldn’t hold her excitement. She did it, she finally did it, that was one hell of a shot in the head.
Just like Lighting Dust, and Soarin, and other nine or ten ponies before them.
This wasn’t going to help, she had very low chances of passing on the first day now. Sure she did good on the sword trainment, but on the other exercises she was just average, or maybe even a little less than average.
Spitfire passed on the first day, and now she was the capitain of the Wonderbolts, she only received orders from the Commander. Coach Windglider also passed on the first day, and so did her dad, every successful pegasus she knew passed on the first day.
She had to do something before the day ends, there wasn’t more exercises to do, but sure she’d think of something.
Anything.
“Hey, Dash!” Lighting Dust called her after they’d just landed on the arena’s ground again. “I was just wondering about something.”
“Spill it.”
“What if we call some other ponies and we make a swirl?”
“A swirl?” Rainbow gave a judgemental look.
“Yeah.” She realized it was needing a little more explanation. “We need at least two more ponies to make it, but we won’t call the good ones, they are competition. Let’s call the others that didn’t do well on the trainment, they will be needing something more to impress the Wonderbolts. You and me, we are going to pass on first day.”
She took her hoof to her chin.
“I’m not sure what to think of this.”
“It will be good for us, trust me! I did ok on this task, but I’m not so good with a sword, just like you’re not so good with a bow and arrow, but both of us together, we can handle a swirl no problem.”
This could be just what she needed. The swirl was a very powerful move, the pegasi used to use it in battle only as a last resource and it destroys everything on the way, but they wouldn’t make a very big one, she and Lighting Dust were used to training this at their home and it wasn’t something impossible for them to make.
“I think I like your idea, Dust,” she said finally. “I was just thinking of how we could make this trainment more interesting.”
“All right, then let’s do it!”
They flew around the arena looking for other ponies. Rainbow had already one pony in mind, she was pretty sure it was Thunderlane the pony who got hit by a fluff of cloud in the first circuit. But from what Lighting Dust told her, Blossomforth was also a good choice, she couldn’t even lift her sword properly. And just like she predicted, they both agreed to participate, it was a win-win situation after all.
“Ok, you know how to do this, right?” Rainbow asked them, just for confirmation.
“Yeah… well, we didn’t get to practice this tactic as much as you, but…” Thunderlane smiled nervously. “Yeah, sure, we can make it work.”
“Ok, perfect.” If they could make it work, it was fine by her, as long as she and Lighting Dust could impress the Commander.
They started spinning slowly at first, soon she could tell everyone was looking at them. She was almost moving on her own, but she didn’t stop flapping her wings
“Come’on, we can do more than that!” Rainbow kept motivating them.
She started feeling like the swirl was taking more shape, becoming stronger the more they flapped their wings. Everyone was cheering for them, she could hear whistles and clapping from outside the swirl, but couldn’t see anything, she just hoped the Wonderbolts were one of them.
Everything was all under control, it ended up being easier than she expected. Now when this was all over, they’d see the ponies who did it and surely she was going to pass on first day, just like she’d promised to Scootaloo.
She could even picture the scene if she closed her eyes: the Commander praising her, giving her Pegasalia’s official armour, the happiness in Scootaloo’s face when she tells her the news…
“I’m… feeling a little dizzy,” said Blossomforth, getting her out of her wandering.
“It’s enough now, you can stop,” Rainbow requested.
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” said Thunderlane behind her, flying clumsily, “but it’s just not…”
At that same moment, Blossomforth, who was already flying a little behind, bumped into him and they got out of the line, being carried only by the swirl’s force. Rainbow was also trying to stop, but she wasn’t controlling the swirl anymore, they where being carried by it, and it was starting to move.
“Everypony get out!” Lighting Dust shouted, jumping out of the swirl. Thunderlane got out right after her. Rainbow Dash took Blossomforth by the hoof and helped her get out as well.
Once they were out, they saw what the swirl had turned into. It was bigger than when it started, and it was getting bigger by the second on its own. Some other pegasus tried to approach it, but they couldn’t get anymore closer without being swallowed by it.
“What are we gonna do now?” Asked Lighting Dust, her breathing uneven, it seemed like she’d scream at any moment.
“We have to stop it!” That’s the only thing she could think of.
“But how? I practiced how to do a swirl, but once it gets out of control, it’s almost impossible to stop it! Nopony here knows how to do that!”
She looked at the ponies under her. The Wonderbolts couldn’t fly to help because of the glass that separated them, they had to get out of there from the other side, and that’d take long. As for the others, they were just standing there, startled, looking at the swirl as it was moving, it was just a matter of seconds until it gets to the earth ponies village that was right next to them.
The Wonderbolts wouldn't make it on time.
Somepony had to do something.
“Rainbow Dash, where are you going?” She listened to Lighting Dust scream as she rushed to get to what it seemed like a tornado. Maybe it wasn’t the best decision ever, but there was no time to think, it was impossible for her to just look as a tornado destroys a village.
Specially if this was all her fault.
Rainbow started flying against the tornado, keeping a certain distance so she wouldn’t be swallowed by it. If she could fly on the opposite direction at the same speed, it was possible to neutralize it on time, but she had to do it now.
The wind was hitting her face, slapping her cheeks, it was making it impossible to keep the eyes open. Her wings were starting to feel tired, but she was flapping them as hard as ever, even though it didn’t seem like she was really moving. Now she had another picture on her mind: she failing to save the village, being punished by the academy never to step a hoof in there again, and never becoming a Wonderbolt. That’s what was going to happen to her now.
Why did she agree to that stupid idea?
She opened up her eyes a little to see peaces of red wood from a barn being taken by the tornado, one of them almost hit her. It had already got to the earth ponies village, she could hear the sound of their hooves trotting and screaming from up above.
Come on, Rainbow Dash, how could you be so reckless? She thought to herself. Scootaloo must be seeing you down there, she’ll be very disappointed at you when she finds out.
I know your dad already is.
“Come on, wings, don’t… fail me… now.”
Somehow she still managed to speed up more, squinting her eyes so she wouldn’t think of the pain. It was already late to save the barn, all the walls have already fallen, only the orchard behind it was still intact, but it wasn’t time to give up yet, she still could prevent it from destroying the other houses.
When she felt she wasn’t struggling to fly anymore, she knew the swirl was loosing strength, and as it’s speed slowed, Rainbow slowed hers as well. Soon, the swirl dissapeared completely, the wood, tiles and all that had been carried away by it fell to the ground, and now there was only remains left in the path the swirl had crossed.
And now, looking at the path of destruction the swirl had made, she couldn’t help but worry about her future in the army.
She was fucked, to say the least.
