Skyfire's Story

Buzz Buzz!

Skyfire slammed a hoof onto the clock and shot into the air, waking up instantly from her slumber. "TODAY'S THE DAY!" The light blue pegasus shrieked, throwing her hooves into the air and doing a quick little victory dance with joy and glee.

Today was the day of Wonderbolt Tryouts.

Quickly, she gathered her sheets and "made" her bed to the best of her ability, ran a comb through her bed head mane, and inspected her well-toned wings to make sure every feather was perfect. Finally satisfied, the sky-colored pony flew downstairs, greeting her mother in the kitchen. "Hi, Spitfire!" Spitfire glanced away from the stove to see her daughter. "Hey, champ! Is today a big day or something? You seem excited." Skyfire gave her mom a look. "Mom, I know memory loss is a sign of aging, but..." She broke off with laughter at Spitfire's stern expression, and offered her a salute. Spitfire stared for a second before finally saluting back. The pair released a new round of giggles as Spitfire finished up her pancakes and began putting them on plates, chatting the entire way. Skyfire felt a warm sensation in her heart all over again as she thought of the close relationship with her mom, a thing that came as a rarity to most. During a review of Sky's preparation, a knock on the door sounded, breaking up the early conversation. As Sky got up to answer, the visitor let herself in, shaking out her vibrant and colorful mane.

"Aunt Rainbow Dash!" Skyfire cheered, racing over to the Wonderbolt and giving her a hoof bump. "I didn't know you were coming!" Rainbow winked at her goddaughter. "Wouldn't miss the chance to see ya before the big moment!" She replied with a hardy punch in the leg. Skyfire laughed and ushered her over to the table, where slightly charred pancakes awaited them.

Today was going to be perfect; she could feel it in her wings.

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"And here's the tryout order for Arena 7. Up first, Flying Colors. Second, Sugar Breeze. Third, Prism Streak. Fourth, Skyfire. Fifth, Stormy Skies. Sixth..."

Skyfire stood in silence, listening to the tinny noise of the speaker announce the names. Fourth, fourth... She muttered to herself, desperate to seal it into her brain.

"Well! Who do we have here?" Sky gritted her teeth and turned, coming eye to eye with Sugar Breeze. The mare was the same age as her, but lots more mean; she had been the top in the Wonderbolts academy, and wouldn't let Skyfire forget it. "Do you think you have a shot, sweetie? You should just flap on home, little filly, there's nopony here who's interested in you." The baby pink mare crooned, fluttering her fake eyelashes. Narrowing her own eyes, Skyfire responded coolly. "Oh, Sugar Breeze, little do you know that I've had several stallions ask me if I was free tonight for dinner at Rainbow Falls. What's your count, dear?" She replied sweetly before trotting away smugly, leaving the pegasus to angrily toss her white mane and stalk away, her group of cronies following.

A few moments later, Skyfire was watching Prism Stream blaze through the sky, spinning clouds and preforming tricks and dives that he would definitely feel in the morning, feeling the first hints of nerves begin to roll in. "I just need to get up there and do MY cloud spinning." She muttered to herself, polishing her cutie mark off with her elbow. The cloud with three fireballs raining out of it glistened, and the young pony's confidence returned. All she had to do was spin the clouds at blazing speed and stomp on them, letting fireballs fill the sky. The Judges couldn't say no to her once they saw the magnificent balls of flame, could they?

The blaring of a horn showed that Prism's routine had ended, and he dove back onto the cloud, landing and pushing his goggles onto his head before offering Sky a hoof bump. "Good luck, Sky. No pressure!" The yellow and blue stallion laughed. Skyfire smiled faintly and bumped his hoof before turning to the starting gate. The announcer's voice blared out.

"Skyfire, please prepare for takeoff in three, two, one..."

A deafening horn screeched, and Skyfire shot out the gate with a trail of flames licking at her tail from speed. The speeding pegasus grinned, narrowed her eyes, and flapped even harder to gain more speed. The wind whistled in her ears, and her mane flew back in a tangled mess. Skyfire flew for a solid one minute and thirty seconds, pulling off the most dangerous loops, dives, and tricks she had ever done. With a swift glance at a clock, she saw her chance for the cloud spinning finale. Next to the clock, a thundercloud symbol was lit up; there was a weather pony out on the course dealing with something, but she didn't care - she just needed to finish! The light blue pony flapped her wings even harder and quickly spun circles around the closest one, shoving her side into it so the speed would increase dramatically. After few seconds, the cloud began to hiss, and steam started to emerge, so she stopped and kicked it. Instead of raindrops, several fireballs fell. Oohs emerged from the crowd, but there wasn't any time for that; Skyfire zipped to the next cloud and repeated the process, trying to get the whole course done before the two minutes where up. The second-to-last cloud was a darker shade of gray than the others, and had a pony in blue sitting on it. Was that...

Sky waved her hooves wildly. "DERPY!!! WATCH OUT!!!" The cross-eyed pegasus looked up from her cloud and, seeing Skyfire speeding towards her, started to flap her wings, rising off of it. Sky flew even faster to make up for her lack of speed earlier and pushed on harder than ever. She was nearing her target and-

Derpy fell back onto the cloud.

Bolts of lightning shot everywhere, and Skyfire had no time to slow down. A lightning bolt struck her at the base of her right wing, nearly frying it off. Her coat blackened and her wing nearly separated itself from her body, the bone holding it while flesh fluttered off of it. Skyfire fell then, hurtling downwards with utter silence, leaving a trail of smoke and blackened feathers in her wake. She hit the cloudy ground with a soft thud.

Skyfire couldn't hold on to conciseness for much longer. The last thing she saw was the bright blue, sunny sky.