Losing Loyalty

"Umm... Rainbow Dash... maybe this isn't such a good idea..." mumbled Fluttershy as Rainbow Dash stretched her wings.

"Relax, Fluttershy! I'm totally capable of beating Spitfire, I mean, look who you're talking to!" Rainbow said, puffing her chest out, "Only the best flier ever could be, maybe, half as awesome as me. Winning a race? I could do that in a jiffy!"

"Well, ok..." Fluttershy softly responded.

"Alright, you ready to see awesomeness in the making?!" Rainbow Dash enthusiastically questioned.

"Umm... yes," Fluttershy answered.

"Then let's go!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she sped towards the start line.

"Ok," Fluttershy said, quietly following her.

Spitfire was already waiting at the finish line, and found an opportunity to make fun of Rainbow's lateness, "Well, finally! I thought you'd never show up. Now are we going to race or are you going to spend more time gloating?"

"Just you wait, Spitfire, by the end of this race I'll have a good reason to be gloating!" said Rainbow Dash as Fleetfoot and Soarin' started laughing.

"We'll see about that," said Spitfire.

"Yes we will. Fluttershy, would you like to do the honors?" asked Rainbow Dash, giving Fluttershy the checkered flag.

"Ok..." Fluttershy mumbled, grabbing to flag and quietly walking towards the starting line, "3... 2... (gulp)... 1!"

Before Fluttershy could notice what was happening, two blurs of feathers and determination dashed past her. Almost falling off the cloud from the speed, she stumbled and fell over onto Fleetfoot and Soarin', who were too busy watching the race to pay attention to the skinny filly beside them, "Oh... umm... sorry," she said, without even a looking glance from either of the two pegasi next to her.

"Who do you think will win?" said Fleetfoot to Soarin'.

"I don't know, but it looks like it's going to be a very close race!" replied Soarin', "Wow! Look at Rainbow Dash!"

Rainbow Dash had sped past Spitfire by a good ten feet. Sweat was rolling down her face from the adrenaline and speed associated with her fast, yet unstable, flying.  A grin was plastered across the eager filly's face as her wings tried to keep up with her pace. She sped through the cloud rings, obstacles, and trackers with ease. Spotting Spitfire only a few feet behind, she strained her wings to go faster. Faster...

Faster.

She went faster.

Her wings hated it. Everything in her body was telling her to stop. STOP. Her muscles strained, her feathers screamed, her eyes couldn't breath, every part of her hated her at the moment. They needed to stop. But she did not stop. She flew, with the wind in her mane and a smile glued to her face. She loved it. Flight- she loved it. She loved it so much...

Now more determined than ever, she stretched her wings out to their furthest possible length and sped towards the nearing finish line. Determination was her only feeling. Adrenaline was her only notion. And winning was her only thought.

Winning.

She longed for it.

And now, she had it.

She tore through the finish line with another blast of forced energy, then began to slow down. She, Rainbow Dash, had beat Ms. Wonderbolt! "Aw yeah!" she shouted with glee, excited by her newest victory.

Spitfire soon followed suit, with a straight face.

"Did you see that, Spitfire? Of course I have a reason to gloat, I'm only, like, better than a "Wonderbolt"!" Rainbow bragged.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. You're cool, Rainbow Dash, you should hang out with us more," Spitfire said, acknowledging defeat.

"Sure!" replied Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow turned to Fluttershy, who was still hiding behind her tail in fear of the race. "Hey Fluttershy, wanna hang o-"

"Miss Rainbow Dash and Miss Spitfire! What do you think you have just done?!" yelled a displeased flight instructor, rushing up to the two fillies. Her pink hair was brushed aside to reveal a set of concerned and frustrated eyes.

"I-," started Spitfire.

"It was my fault!" yelled Rainbow Dash, willing to take on the worst.

"Wait, n-," Spitfire started, only to be hushed by Rainbow Dash's hoof covering her mouth.

"Well, it seems like you two have reached a disagreement. Now, the race itself was not against the rules, but our number one rule here at Cloudsdale Flight School is to not strain yourselves, which both of you have somehow broken in the first ten minutes! I may excuse you two under the impression that it is your first day and you may have not been familiar with the rules, but I do not want to see either of you pushing yourselves too far again. Okay?" stressed the older pegasus.

"Okay..." said both fillies in unison, with heads hung low and guilt in their eyes.

"Now, now," the instructor reassured, "this is nothing to be upset about, just don't do it again. Flying was always my dream as a filly, too. And it's hard not to get in trouble. Besides, I can already see that you two are quite the fliers, heck, with your talent, you could probably skip ahead two years if you tried! Keep up the great work, you two."

"Thanks!" said Spitfire.

"Wait a second, so we're not in trouble?" asked a keen Rainbow Dash.

"Not today," the instructor replied.

"Yes!" shouted Rainbow Dash as she pumped up her hoof and flew into the air.

"Also, I think we don't need to test your skills, we already have had a good glimpse at that. However, have either of you seen a filly named Fluttershy? It's her turn right now," the instructor questioned.

"Oh, she's right here!" Rainbow Dash said, pointing at the pale filly hugging her tail behind a cloud pole.

"I'm right here..." Fluttershy quietly repeated.

"Well then, Miss Fluttershy, are you ready?"

"No..."

"Oh, now don't be silly, dear, all you need to do is perform a few laps around the obstacle course, drop through a cloud layer, complete the wing power test, demonstrate your ability to multitask with flying, test how high you can fly and for how long, decide your ranking, and answer a survey on your confidence and abilities."

"...Okay," Fluttershy whimpered, now more terrified than ever.

"Well then, let us be going!" said the instructor, grabbing Fluttershy's reluctant hoof and dragging her towards the obstacle course.

"Do you think she can last that entire test?" asked a concerned Fleetfoot.

"Not a chance," replied a less than comical Soarin'.

"Do you think we should go help her?" asked a worried Spitfire.

"Definitely," replied Rainbow Dash, "she needs all the cheering she can get to even think of passing through the first round! Come on, Fluttershy never was that good of a flier, but she doesn't deserve the foal-group either! We need to cheer for her!"

"Seriously, cheer?" responded a sarcastic Soarin'.

"Yeah, I know it isn't that cool, but we can't take the test for her, right? It's the best we can do," reasoned Rainbow Dash.

"I agree, Fluttershy needs our help!" said Fleetfoot enthusiastically.

"Okay, let's go!" agreed Spitfire.

And then all the little fillies and colts went to rescue Fluttershy and eventually they all became Wonderbolts and lived happily ever after, except Fluttershy, she almost dies at the end.