Knowing she didn’t have much time to admire the beauty of the well-built Cloudsdale Coliseum, Solar quickly rushed over to the admission counter and rang the counter bell.
The stallion in charge took his sweet time trotting to the front counter. “Hi! I’d like to enter the Young Flyers Competition please” piped Solar, as she tried to catch her breath from all of the flying she had to do to get there. “Sorry, kid. Entry into the competition was closed just a few minutes ago. You should have been here a few minutes ago,” remarked the uninterested stallion.
Seeing him already packing up for the day, Solar begged in a desperate plea “You don’t understand. I’ve trained my entire life for this moment! I’ve been waiting my entire life to enter this competition… If you could just please…” before Solar could finish, the stallion turned around and barked “Beat it kid! You can enter the competition next year, and when that time comes, be here on time!” He then slammed the counter doors shut in her face.
Solar reached into her saddle bag and clutched a small sack that looked like it contained only about 20-25 bits. “This is all the money I have” she explained, now starting to tear up. She put it on the counter and started to slump away, knowing that she might have blown her only chance to meet and possibly join her idols, the Wonderbolts. Before Solar could leave the coliseum however, the Stallion shouted back in her direction.
“Hey, kid!” Solar turned around. “Come back over here for a second” said the stallion, starting to feel a tad guilty from slamming the door in her face. Solar walked back to the counter. “You really want to enter this competition?” asked the stallion. Solar nodded excitedly. The stallion swiped up the bag full of bits and went back to the back room for a quick second. Upon returning: “Ok, here is an admission form.” He handed it to her. Solar leaped and bounded around the coliseum, like a filly on Hearth’s Warming Eve. “Shhhh! Keep it down. The last thing I need to do is let more Pegasus enter the competition late” commanded the stallion, starting to look embarrassed. “Right, sorry” whispered Solar. She quickly grabbed a quill and started scrawling on the form.
When she’d finished, she gave the stallion a quick hug and another “Thank You” and then trotted into the waiting room. By the time she arrived, the competition was already underway, and a pony yelled “Contestant number one, you’re up!”
Solar then attempted to find a place where she could sit and think for a moment. Most of the tables were already taken. She found an empty table over on the other side of the room and flew to it. She took a seat. Then for a peaceful period of time, she muted everypony out and started to mentally go over all of the tricks she’d been practicing. “Ok Solar” she thought to herself “Remember, this is what you have been training for, what you’ve lived for, what you’ve waiting for.” She beamed in anticipation.
Suddenly another competitor approached her, shattering her concentration. “Do you mind if I sit here?” she asks. “No. I don’t mind.” Solar replied indifferently. The Pegasus sat down. “I’ll tell you one thing. I don’t see anypony around here that can win this besides me” spouted the red-haired Pegasus. “Who are you, exactly?” snapped Solar. “Name’s Blaze” she replies. “I see. Nice to meet you I guess. My name is Solar Chaser.” said Solar Chaser. “Yeah, whatever.” said Blaze, turning her eyes away.
She couldn’t help but notice the number 14 on Solar’s flank. “That’s strange,” says Blaze “I thought there were only 13 contestants. Did you just enter?” “I actually signed up for it only a few minutes ago” responded Solar. Blaze looked a bit confused. “I thought they didn’t allow late contestants. I’m guessing you’re an exception?” “I paid the stallion at the admission counter extra” said Solar, sporting a grin on her face. “By how much?” replied Blaze. “About 20 bits” said Solar, in the most cheerful of moods. Blaze didn’t react as much as Solar thought she would. “You do realize that you paid that stallion about 15 extra bits, right?” said Blaze.
Solar began to respond but was interrupted by a pony announcing “Number 13. You’re up.” Blaze got up and started to stretch her wings. “That’s me.” said Blaze. Solar got up too and shouted “Good luck!” Blaze turned around and said with a bit of a serious glare, “Luck’s for losers.” She promptly flew off.
Solar saw the chance then to continue going over her moves. How to execute them, which order to do them in, etc. When she finished, a Pegasus appeared and said “Contestant Number 14. You’re up”. Solar slowly rose and flexed her wings, and headed to the entrance.
She stepped out into the light and was immediately met with a thunderous applause. Her heart pounded in her chest, like it was going to burst straight out of her body. As she flew over to the starting point, she stole a quick glance at some of other Pegasi in the audience. She also took a quick look at the judges of the competition, the Wonderbolts.
Without hesitating, she guessed the names of all three of them. Spitfire, leader of the Wonderbolts, was on the left. Soarin’, Spitfire’s second in command, was in the middle. And Rainbow Dash, the Wonderbolts newest member, was on the right. While gazed at the Wonderbolts, time seemed to slow and even freeze. Solar thought to herself. “This is it. This is my chance!” Then, she landed on the starting pad.
Solar then stood there and waited. For what was actually seconds, felt like countless hours to her. Then, when she heard a loud whistle that finally cancelled out the silence, Solar tore off into the air. First, she started do some loop-de-loops and corkscrews that she had been practicing ever since she was a filly. Then she went about doing some front flips and back flips, which were getting a positive reaction from the crowd and from the Wonderbolts.
Back in the waiting room, Blaze watched all of Solar’s aerodynamic marvels. When she heard the positive reaction from the crowd, Blaze started to get a worried look on her face. “Damn it” said Blaze to herself “Now they’ll surely choose that nopony instead of me”. She stormed out of the waiting room to make sure that doesn’t happen.
She took her place in the crowd of multiple Pegasus’s and scanned for something that she could use to her advantage. She found a colt with a pocket watch hanging out of his vest. She quickly made her way up and snatched the pocket watch from his pocket, and flew off without him even noticing.
Afterward she found herself a good sniper’s nest on top of a pillar, and has readied her aim.
Back in the air, Solar got ready to perform her final stunt. This one entailed flying round and round so fast, that she would therein create her own EF1 tornado. She has practiced this maneuver countless times, but she has only succeeded in performing it once. She started the maneuver. She was gaining speed very quickly. The funnel started to form. She thought to herself “I can do it. I can do it!” But alas, before the funnel was fully complete, something blinded her left eye. As she is tried to bat away the distraction, she accidentally lost concentration, and went flying into one of the pillars.
The crowd let out a shocked outcry.
“Mission accomplished” Blaze said to herself as she flew back to the waiting room.
Dazed and confused, Solar quickly got up and tried to fly back so she could get back into place at the competition. But then, she started to feel an unbelievable pain in her right wing. Her right wing felt like it has just snapped like a twig.
She fell helplessly onto a nearby cloud.
Medical pegasi frantically flew over to where Solar crash landed. “No! I can do this!” exclaimed Solar, becoming quite perturbed. The medical pegasi quickly looked over her wing. It was starting to swell up in one area that had the medical ponies concerned. It was bent awkwardly. Solar’s injured wing was now starting to take on a dark purplish color. Solar knew that this was not good.
One of the medical ponies cantered off to where the Wonderbolts were located to tell them what just transpired. “Poor kid…” offered Spitfire.“She was so good too.” “What’s your decision?” asked the medical Pegasus. The Wonderbolts talked for a while before they made their final decision. “Go tell the announcer that contestant number 14 can no longer compete due to medical reasons” said Spitfire, knowing that she had just caused another Pegasus the chance to win.
The medical Pegasus then flew off to the announcer’s booth and started to whisper in his ear. Then, the announcer said something that Solar thought he would never say.
“Ladies and gentlecoats, due to medical reasons, contestant number 14 has been pulled out of the competition. Therefore, your winner of the 27th annual Young Flyers Competition, contestant number 13, Blaze!”