Sulfur Flash

Several days after the course was complete Defiant begun nudging Sulfur with his wing “Wake up Sulfur, it's time to get working on your training again.”

Sulfur slowly turned over on his stomach spreading his wings and rubbed his eyes with his hooves “Alright, I'll be down stairs in a sec,” yawned Sulfur.

Defiant left Sulfur 's room heading down stairs while Sulfur crawled out of bed. As he got off his bed his covers were still hung up on his wings. Sulfur opened his wings shaking the cover off. He left left his room and headed downstairs where Defiant was waiting by the front door. “Alright let's head to the academy, I have a new course set up for you.” Defiant stated as he opened the door with his wing. “Now let's race!”

Defiant and Sulfur flew out of the doorway taking into the sky. Defiant begun taking the lead slowly increasing the gap between him and his son. “Come on Sulfur, my nose runs faster!” Teased Defiant while flying even faster.

Sulfur flew as fast as he could but could only manage to keep up with his father rather then catch up to him. Soon the two reached the academy landing in the center of the flight course. As defiant and Sulfur stood there, Fleetfoot walked up to the two followed by Spitfire. “Hey dad, hey squirt,” greeted Fleetfoot “So squirt are you going to show us how good a flier you are.”

Defiant looked surprised to see Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts in his academy “So I have to say I am impressed with the academy you set up Defiant,” stated Spitfire.

Defiant spoke up in question “What are you doing here Spitfire?”

Spitfire pushed her shades up to reveal her eyes and she looked down at  Sulfur. “Well Fleetfoot here tells me that you're sure of your son's flying abilities, so much that once he were to try out for the Wonderbolts he'd easily make it in.” Spitfire remarked as she dropped her shades back on her snout “So I'm here to see this future Wonderbolt in action.”

Sulfur began to tremble at the thought that the captain of the Wonderbolts came here just to see him fly. He felt honored while at the same time extremely nervous. “I will try my best not to disappoint you ma'am” Sulfur assured Spitfire “Should I go ahead and get started father?”

Defiant nodded at Sulfur, which that Sulfur took to the air and flew around the course getting a quick idea of what the course involved. After he got idea of the course Sulfur flew back down landing in the starting area. As he was stretching his wings Fleetfoot walked up to him to talk to him “Hey squirt, just to let you know I already flew this course. I did it in a minute and forty seconds, let's see how close you can get to that.”

Sulfur dug his front hoof into the ground and leaned downward preparing to fly. Spitfire begun counting down with hoof on a timer “Ready, set. Go!” she started the timer and Sulfur flew out of the starting area. Starting the course there were hurdles, he flew over the first hurdle and flew under the following hurdle. Sulfur repeated this for the next few hurdles until the course increased in altitude to some slalom rings. Once at the altitude he begun weaving in and out of the rings, he did well keeping his wings from hitting the wings. As he flew through the last hoop he begun heading upward to the wind machines which move in predetermined movements. Sulfur made his approach toward the machines, he begun flying around the jet-streams keeping an eye on the machines. As he was halfway through the wind field he got caught off guard by one of the machines moving irratically. Sulfur got caught in the jet-stream causing him to blown back until he feel out of the wind field “Careful squirt!” yelled out Fleetfoot in worry.

Sulfur quickly recovered and got back on course. He quickly flew through the wind field with no mistakes this time. Next up was the cloud rings which also move in different directions. Sulfur maneuvered through the cloud rings effortlessly, with the final obstacle finished he began to descend back down to the starting area. Sulfur quickly landed in the starting area and Spitfire stopped the timer “Not bad for a young colt, especially when you got caught by the wind field. You flew through the course in two minutes and forty-three seconds,” stated Spitfire “but there is still room for improvement.”

“Good run squirt, I'm proud of what an excellent flier you've become. To be flying  advanced courses at such a young age is nothing short of an accomplishment.” Noted Fleetfoot as she walked back to Spitfire

“We're going to head back to the Wonderbolts academy before they start running the course without us” Spitfire Interjected “Keep working at it squirt and you'll make and excellent Wonderbolt someday, perhaps even as good as your sister.” Spitfire and Fleetfoot took to the air, soon enough they were out of sight of Defiant and Sulfur.

Defiant walked up beside Sulfur “Alright son time to start running the course, I want to see you shave twenty seconds off your time. Shouldn't be to hard since you got caught in the wind field. Alright get up there, double time!”

Sulfur quickly flew back into the course trying to get through it as fast as he could. After hours of flying  Sulfur had only managed to take only fourteen seconds off his time. At this point he was getting tired which was affecting his flying speed. Even while tired he kept pushing himself to try live up to his father's expectations. As Sulfur was flying through the wind field exhaustion began setting in. Halfway through the wind field Sulfur lost his focus accidentally strafing into a jet-stream, he was tossed backward unable to recover from being blown back. He begun plummeting to the ground one hundred feet below screaming in terror, unable to catch himself from being exhausted. Defiant flew into the air to intercept Sulfur. Thirty feet above the ground Defiant caught Sulfur out of the air and brought him back down to the ground. “Hey are you alright bud?” Defiant questioned with a look of concern noticing Sulfur was still shaking.

“I-I think so, I just couldn't recover after that spill. I just don't have the strength to keep going right now.” Admitted Sulfur as his eyes begun tearing up from the thought of letting down his father “I'm sorry dad”

“Hey now it's alright champ, it's my fault for pushing you so hard. Now come on let's head home,” said Defiant as he held Sulfur. Defiant flew into the air heading home, while Sulfur managed to fall asleep. Once Defiant arrived at his home, Dazzling saw Sulfur in Defiant's leg. “Is everything alright?” She questioned Defiant.

“Yeah he just got worn out during practice so I flew him home, he even managed to fall asleep on the flight home. I'll bring him up to his room so he can rest” answered Defiant as he made his way upstairs to Sulfur's room. Defiant set  Sulfur in his bed and went back downstairs. Downstairs Dazzling was waiting for Defiant “I feel like there's something you're not telling me, I could see on your face when you came in,” interrogated Dazzling.

Defiant let out a sigh “Alright what actually happened is that Sulfur fell from the air from exhaustion after getting caught in a wind machine's jet-stream. He was unable to recover so I had to catch him,” admitted Defiant

“By Celestia Defiant, I've told you you can't push him so hard. He is just a young colt, he doesn't the constitution to fly as long and as fast as a seasoned Wonderbolt. At his age this type of thing can be traumatic!”

“No worries he'll be fine, every Wonderbolt experiences a nasty spill every now and then,” Defiant assured Dazzling.