Wingin' It

by Peaches Sparklepants

Rating: teen
Tags: Profanity, Lightning Dust, Wonderbolts, Spitfire, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Rainbow Dash, Sad
Length: 1740

Rainbow Dash is training to become a Wonderbolt at the academy, and of course wants to impress them. She decides to pull off a little something, but her cockiness causes her to bite off more than she can chew... very painfully.

It's just another day of recruit training at the Wonderbolt Academy, and Rainbow Dash of course wants to make an impression so great that she'll be accepted as an official member. She gets impatient with doing the same routines over and over again, so she decides to take matters into her own hooves. However, she ends up biting off more than she can chew- in a very painful way.

Her reckless behavior not only puts herself and other ponies in danger, but also her chances of ever becoming a Wonderbolt... :rainbowderp:

Yes, this is inspired by the episode "Wonderbolts Academy" (obviously).

Cover art disclaimers:
The cover art belongs to Powerpuncher, a DeviantArt user. Yes, I have permission to use this artwork as long as I give them credit.

Published 2018-05-01 02:00:06 UTC
Last updated 2018-05-01 02:00:06 UTC

The Accident

It was high noon, and the Wonderbolts were in the middle of a training session. They were going through the basics- loop-de-loops, obstacles, timed laps, all that fun stuff. They were training their newest students in the Wonderbolt Academy, among them a certain cyan pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and tail."Is that all you got foals", called out Spitfire as she observed the performance, "remember, only the best make it in!"

The group did the routine for the third or fourth time, Spitfire keeping track with a stopwatch with each lap done. "Hmmm... 1.3 seconds faster. Not bad. Keep it up!" Many of the pegasi were exhausted, but each continued to do their very best in hopes of impressing Spitfire, especially Rainbow Dash. Every since she was a filly this had been her dream, and now here she was, training to become a Wonderbolt. And by golly, she was going to impress them! But she'd never get there if she kept on doing these boring, repetitive routines.

She was flying alongside Lightning Dust, the one who had been given the title "Lead Pony", much to Rainbow Dash's irritation. She felt that she deserved that title, as she often thought of herself as the fastest/best flier in all of Equestria. It was only her second day at the academy, and she could already feel the competitiveness coming off of Lightning Dust. They had become fast friends, their desire to be the newest Wonderbolt driving them both forward.

Because of this, they had recently devised a scheme to impress Spitfire and the other Wonderbolts with a sort of flying display. However, they could not come to an agreement about what they were to do. In fact, they were busy bickering about it rather than concentrating on the daily routine. Lightning Dust was set on forming a tornado, but Rainbow Dash wanted to do a mid-air stunt show.
"C'mon, Dash! A huge tornado is bound to sweep 'em off their hooves- literally!"
"Nah, I'm gonna go up in the air, do a sonic rainboom, then do some mid-air stunts! That's BOUND to get some attention!"

She and the others were coming up to a turn, so that was the perfect opportunity to show off. She rose up, flapping her wings like there was no tomorrow despite Lightning Dust's protests. "Rainbow Dash get back down there", shouted Spitfire, "you're gonna hurt yourself!" Too late. She made a beeline in a direct 90 degree angle, heading straight towards the ground. She could feel herself gaining speed, so much so that the wind threatened to knock her goggles askew. And finally- whoosh. A burst of color surrounded her in a circular cloud, a rainbow trail following her from behind. She was going so fast that the air itself seemed to be screaming.

She did an upwards curve, and zigzagged about the sky. She did several loops, clearing the sky of clouds in mere seconds. Alarmed, the other students ran into each other. They had been knocked off course, and had been so busy staring at Rainbow Dash's performance that they crashed into each other, some of them even falling from the air. "RAINBOW DASH!"

That was not what she had expected. She expected Spitfire to say her name in awe, not anger. This made her suddenly stop flapping her wings in shock, her breath hitching. And then she felt herself fall. Her legs flailed about in panic, her wings clumsily attempting to lift her- but all she managed to do was turn herself upside down. WHAM! She hit the hard, cold asphalt of the runway back-first, her wings still open in mid flap. CRUNCH.

She felt a sharp pain in her back, and painful throbbing in her wing joints that connected them to her spine. "Ow... fuck..." She turned over onto her belly, and with trembling legs she stood. She observed her wings, and her ears drooped. They were misshapen and swollen, many of the feathers being either askew or missing. Due to missing feathers, she could see patches of skin which were beginning to turn shades of purple and red due to bruising.

A small, pearly white nub caught her attention, and she soon realized that a piece of bone was poking through the skin of her right wing. She attempted to fold up her wings, but immediately regretted doing so. "AAAARRRGH!" Sudden, sharp pain shot up and down her spine and wings, and she fell down splay legged. She couldn't move her wings without causing herself agony. "Way to go, Dash" she grumbled to herself. Throbbing now surged from her wings, then traveled down her spine and into the rest of her back in an infinite loop.

Her eyes were watering with the pain, and she was gritting her teeth while digging her hooves into the pavement. The pain had been distracting her so much, that she hadn't noticed Spitfire and the other Wonderbolts approaching her with an irritated gait. She heard the clopping of their hooves, and they stopped in front of her.

Rainbow Dash looked up, and found herself trapped in an angry, bronze-colored glare. Spitfire extended a hoof, assisting the cyan pegasus in standing. Before Rainbow Dash could say thank you, Spitfire went off. "What were you thinking?! Being a Wonderbolt is about teamwork, and following protocol! Because of your little 'performance', over half of the other recruits are injured! You distracted them, and knocked them off course! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

Rainbow Dash's throat felt dry. All feeling seemed to leave her body, her numb legs shaking a bit. Her eyes were watering again, not just from pain this time. "I was just... trying to impress you guys..."
"Oh you made an impression alright. One that says you care about showing off rather than the safety of your teammates."
"N-no it's not like that...!"
"Let me see your wings.", Spitfire suddenly demanded.

Rainbow Dash obeyed, and turned so Spitfire could have a look. She inspected them closely, prodding them a bit (doing so caused Rainbow Dash to whimper in pain). "Hmmm... looks like you've broken and dislocated them. And by Tartarus, you even managed to shatter the bones of the right wing."
"WHAT?!"

This was bad. VERY BAD. This meant that she couldn't fly. And if she couldn't fly, she'd miss out on training! And if she missed out on training, she'd never become a Wonderbolt!
"You heard me, Rainbow Dash. Your wings are broken. You need to get to a hospital, so you can recover and think about what you've done. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some disoriented recruits to deal with."

With a scoff, Spitfire turned around and went to deal with the other Wonderbolt recruits, not even giving Rainbow Dash a second glance. Rainbow reached out her hoof desperately, hot tears welling up in her magenta eyes from both pain and sorrow. Legs shaking, she collapsed on the ground once again. Her vision was blurred due to her tears, and Spitfire's words were loudly echoing in her mind.

Lightning Dust landed shortly after, inspecting Rainbow Dash's wings. "Whoa... that looks pretty bad. I saw what happened, but I didn't hear what the coach said. What'd she say?"
"That I like showing off instead of caring about you guys... and that I can't fly anymore..." Lightning Dust looked horrified, then used her wings to help Rainbow Dash to her hooves. "See? I told you we should've gone with the tornado thing. Then we would've impressed Spitfire, and you wouldn't have gotten hurt. Now because you can't fly, we'll never become Wonderbolts!"

Rainbow Dash was baffled. Lightning Dust WAS upset about Rainbow Dash being hurt, but only because that meant they couldn't become Wonderbolts. Before Rainbow could say anything, Spitfire returned, eyebrows furrowed. "I've called the Cloudsdale hospital. Some paramedics should be arriving pretty soon. I need you to sit still to avoid further injury." She had also brought some ice packs and towels with her and used them to wrap up her wings, the coldness of the ice stifling the pain somewhat. "They're bringing ambulances to get you and the others who are hurt carted off to the hospital. Don't worry, you'll have plenty of time to think about what you've done while you recover."

Soon enough, the ambulances arrived just as Spitfire said they would, each being hauled by paramedic ponies. They landed on the runway, and the backs of each opened and more paramedics came flooding out with gurneys and medical equipment. One by one injured pegasi were loaded into the ambulances, and finally it was Rainbow Dash's turn. The paramedics used their wings to lift her up and set her down on the gurney, then wheeled her into the back of an ambulance.

The doors closed, and as the vehicle made its way to Cloudsdale's hospital, the paramedics did the basics- checking Rainbow Dash's temperature, her heartbeat, etc. They questioned her about what happened, and Rainbow Dash explained with a heavy heart. The paramedics shook their heads at her, brows furrowed.

Within minutes they had reached their destination, and Rainbow was taken to the emergency room to have her wings examined and treated. As she was wheeled down the cold, white hallways, she could see other members of the Academy who had been hurt. They didn't seem to notice Rainbow Dash, but she noticed them. Many of them had cuts scrapes and sprained legs, but all of them seemed to have functioning wings. With a heavy sigh Rainbow allowed herself to be hauled away for treatment, all the while filled with the crushing weight of her guilt.
"Sweet Celestia, what have I done?"

Author's Note

Well, that's the end of this chapter. One thing I wanted to emphasize, was how despite how angry Spitfire was, she still cared about Rainbow Dash's safety and made sure she got patched up while at the same time giving her discipline. I don't know how well I got that across, but I did try.
I also tried to give a good, in-depth description of Rainbow's injuries, though I'm not sure how that turned out.

I am not continuing this, as I am purposely leaving this story open-ended, aka a cliffhanger.

If you have any criticism be it positive or negative, feel free to give me some so long as it's polite. Friendship IS magic after all :rainbowkiss: