Welcome to the Wonderbolt Academy

[size=16][size=14] Some days, it’s easy to wake up early. You’re bright with optimism, have a lot planned for the day, and are confident that you can get through it. Without any hesitation.

Today wasn’t that kind of day for Talon. He had fallen asleep flat on his stomach the previous day, and hadn’t bothered to look around the apartment. He had thought that his roommate was either out, or was asleep under his covers. It had been too dark to see anything anyways. Today, he was woken up by the sound of the showers. He tried to close his eyes, and go back to sleep, but when he started dozing off again, he heard the door open.

“Hey, you gotta get ready for your race today!”

When Talon heard the voice, he groaned and turned over, raising a hoof to punch that voice. He was expecting the voice to be Veer. It was not Veer.

“Gr- Ow… What the hell was that for?” said the lightning yellow stallion who was lying flat on the ground and rubbing the sore spot on his cheek.

“S- sorry, I thought you were someone else.” said Talon to the stallion. “Say, who are you anyways?”

The stallion sat back up, still rubbing the spot with his springy snow white hair waving around. “I’m your roommate, Sleetsnow. Just call me Sleet for short.” said the stallion, in a way that made it sound like he had known Talon a long time before. Sleet was comfortable meeting new people, even if it was that the new people punched him in his face. Sleet sniffed the air. “Go take a shower, you smell like you rolled in dung before you fell asleep.”

Talon groaned. “How do you know about the race anyways?”

“What race? You mean the one Veer invited everyone to watch?”

Talon groaned again. “You mean that foal actually invited everybody to watch it?”

“Yea! He started spreading pamphlets and everything! He even reserved the main racetrack for you guys to use!” Sleet flashed Talon with a mischievous smile.

Talon groaned for a third time.

“No, but seriously. Go take a shower, Talon. You smell like mule shit.”

By the time Talon and Sleet had made it to the mess hall for breakfast, it was already packed. Although the hall was especially large, a hundred pegasi or so had been stuffed into the little room. It was hot, and Talon hated heat. Plus, he was already sweating anyways from the implications of that day. On the way in, he saw a few ponies from the other day. So, no one good. Rainbow Dash, Thunderlane, and some other ponies were at a table chatting. Luckily, they didn’t see Talon. The receptionist was there as well, holding up a small line of ponies, probably flirting with some of the servers. However, Veer had seen them, and was starting to make his way towards him. Talon whispered to Sleet to start walking away slowly, but instead, Sleet caught Talon’s shoulder, holding him still, and waved Veer over.

“Hey, what’s up Sleet and Talon?” said Veer, with a mischevious smile. “You like the new decorations I put up?”

“Look, Veer, I really don’t want to talk to you, especially after what happened last night, and… what the hell are you talking about when you say decorations?” Talon said while looking around. All over the entire mess hall were fliers and posters that depicted a rather messy and quick sketch of Talon and Rainbow Dash facing off, with large letters at the bottom of the posters that read- THE RACE OF THE CENTURY! A BATTLE BETWEEN RAINBOW DASH AND TALON!

Talon facehoofed. You really are trying to get me killed, aren’t you, Veer?

“Hey, look who it is? The newbie that EVERYPONY’s talking about!”

Talon turned around and found himself facing Dash and her little gang. Thunderlane, with a smirk, walked up to Talon, leaning in close, and whispered, “You should have stayed home today, Talon. You’re as good as dead now.”

Talon rubbed the back of his neck with his hoof and tried his best to put on a smile, but smiles don’t come so easily when you’re facing imminent death. Especially at a crazy mare’s hoofs.

Trying to make the best out of a nonsensical situation, Talon backed up and said, “Look, I don’t want to race you. This is just all a misunderstanding.” Talon realized that if he could explain to Thunderlane and Dash that the whole idea of the race was just a mistake and a crazy idea of Veer’s, then he wouldn’t have to race Rainbow Dash and would be able to avoid the entire situation and dying. Problem solved.

But before he could try to explain himself and attempt to correct the conundrum, a voice called out from behind Dash.

“Hey! Stop swarming the newbies! Give them a bit of room! We don’t wanna intimidate any of ‘em!” They all faced towards the direction of the voice, and saw the head of the Wonderbolts Academy. Spitfire.

“C’mon Thunderlane and Dash, we need more ponies in the Academy! Decent fliers in Equestria are getting more and more rare!” said Spitfire, who was very familiar with the way that veterans of her academy dealt with newcomers. “If you keep on scaring them off, I won’t… Hey, wait a sec, don’t I know you, kid?” she said, looking directly at Talon.

Talon was afraid she might recognize him. “No, you must have mis-

“Don’t be silly, of course I know you!” said Spitfire, her face lighting up. “You’re Fleetfoot’s little trainee!”

A small gasp escaped from Rainbow and her crew.

Talon gave a weak smile. He wasn't one for bragging, but he would be lying if he said that he didn't feel a small amount of content from the surprise that grew from Dash's eyes.

However, Spitfire was unaware of Talon's predicament, and obliviously made the situation worse for him.

"That reminds me of the little bet me and Fleetfoot had!" said Spitfire, her grin getting larger as she talked. "Fleetfoot had been bragging about the process and boring stuff that her trainee had been making, and I got a little tired of her bragging, so I offered her a chance for her to prove herself. We had quite a few bits floating around, so we decided to place a small bet on a little race between Fleetfoot's trainee, that is, you, and whoever I picked from my Academy to go up against you."

Spitfire turned to Rainbow Dash and said, "And I choose you to go against Talon as part of my bet."

Rainbow Dash had a stunned face after Spitfire had turned to her. She had to process quite a bit of information, mainly that her archrival being a trainee of one of the fastest pegasi alive and that her rolemodel had first picked her to be the one who represented her in a bet. "M-Me?" said Rainbow Dash, jumbling her words. She felt a bit awkward and stupid for saying that.

Spitfire gave her a reassuring smile, one of the first times she's ever done that as a coach. "Of course!" she said, while putting a hoof on one of Rainbow's shoulders. "Rainbow, you've proven time after time that you'd be the best first pick as a new wonderbolt. Not only that, but you have shown an incredible amount of tenacity and courage. So when I say that you have the guts to beat this spineless son of a gun, then you have the guts to beat this spineless son of a gun! Understand?"

Was she talking about me? thought Talon. He started to walk away from Spitfire and Rainbow Dash, feeling rather unwanted and intruding. Maybe that bet between Spitfire and Fleetfoot wasn't as friendly as he had originally thought.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash had regained her composure and rebalanced herself. She looked at Spitfire, confidently, and said, "Don't worry, coach, I won't let you down!"

As Talon was walking away, Sleet and Veer walked alongside him, sneering as they made their way to get some breakfast. "Sometimes, I don't know whether you guys are trying to be my friends or trying to be the cause of my death."[/size][/size]