"Why can I hear you blinking cadet?!"
Captain Mercury scram as he snapped around to face the line of the wonderbolts newest generation. The sudden 180 caused the group to jerk back in surprise; staggering their once neat line formation to stagger unevenly.
"And now you're out of column!” Mercury declared as he threw up his hooves in defeat, “ Sweet Celestia you all are trying my patience today and it's only 0900!" The off-colored red pegasus continued to berate before slamming his hoofs into the floor with a loud smack as hoof struck concrete.
"Celestia help us! It's only been a week and you maggots are already the worst and most disorganized bunch I've ever had the dysplasia of instructing! If this is where the wondebolts are heading for then I'm going to have to hang up my captan shades!" The pegasus fumed before snapping back around back to face the runway.
Silently relieved sighs escaped the new cadets as the attention of their captain shifted. At least they'd managed to avoid another set of wing-ups.
"Muzzles to the floor," The Captain barked.
Maybe not.
"Hurry up! You're all burning Celestia's glorious sunlight so, lets go! Or do we need to add another 100 to your total?"
The threat sent the group crashing to the floor in the readied position.
"Down!"
The group went down...
And stayed down for several long, painful, moments; awaiting permission to cycle into the next phase of the wing-ups.
"Back in my day, had we even thought of having the Gaul to step out of line, we'd be run out of the academy! You better thank your lucky stars I'm a far more generous commander than my predecessor... why am I not hearing a thank you?!"
"Thank you!" The group collectively screamed and grunted.
"Oh?! So we just don't believe in sir anymore?! Let's make it 200 more and maybe then you'll get it through your thick skulls!"
The group withheld a collective whine of regret at the announcement.
"Oh boy, we must really want TOOLS today! Up!"
With a collective grunt of exertion, the group arose. Except for one, A golden-colored mare with a mane like a wildfire. Instead, she trembled near the floor as she struggled just to keep her body inches from the floor.
"Did I, or did I not, just tell you up cadet?!" If the captain was angry before, then now he was livid. He tilted his shades down revealing the look of silver-tinted death beneath as he glared down at the exhausted pegasus.
The yellow mare grunted as her wings wobbled; refusing to so much as budge all her body could hope to do was keep her chrome crashing into the pavement. They were still sore from the flight here and the marathon just before that to perform the simple punishment. No matter how badly she tried her body refused to obey thier owner's commands. Instead, all she could get out was a pitbull gasp of effort as sweat dripped down her brow.
"Did I or did I not!?" He snapped again.
"You did sir!" A second voice chimed in; causing the Irie of the captain to snap to the voice responsible. A singular terrestrial of deep purple; struggling to hold her own stance.
"Was I talking to you cadet?!"
"No sir!"
"Then tell me, why, the, buck, did you answer?! Do you want to do another 400 wing-ups?! Is that it?! Maybe you think because you're the first thestral to land herself in the training program, that makes you hot stuff?! That must be it right?! Well, let me tell you it doesn't! As far as I'm concerned you're still as pathetic as the dozen dropouts I’ve had before you and the hundreds that will follow! Am I understood?! Does that cool your ego?! And just for straining my voice during this little escapade of yours add another 100 to those wing-ups!”
“Yes sir!” she cried.
“Oh no no! I wasn't talking to just you, since you feel the need to force yourself into other businesses these additional wing-ups are the whole flight's punishment too!” Collective growls and grunts of anger erupted from the struggling pegasus.
“For those of you that cant see! You can thank Ms.Tadardia for this! And you can thank Ms.Spitfire for why we haven't cycled, and will not be cycling, to the next set of downs!”
A second wave of groans exploded from the increasingly frustrated group.
“Hear that Spit Fire? This is on you! I’m happy to continue and move on with my day as soon as you can go up!” She couldn't however.
“Celestia preserve us! How the buck did you even qualify for the academy?!” The mare could feel her cheeks heat up as her vision became a blur. How did she qualify? Not even a tenth of the way through training and she was already so far behind her peers. She trained for this. She wanted this so badly. Yet despite all that, her body refused to answer her calls. The world around her seemed to come crashing down; in an instant, her hopes and dreams were crushed under a wave of darkness. She wasn't passing out she knew that much, but in that instant, the world felt so far away and dark. Despite the heat of the sun beating down on her mixed with the heat of her workout all she felt was a cold numbness in her body. It was over. It was all over. Only a week in and she was already a washout.
“Bucking! Spitfire if you fail now who the buck else am I supposed to race at the next test day?” a voice called; dragging her back into the present.
“I did not give you permission to speak Tadardia, and that kind of language is UNBECOMING of a wonder bolt and I refuse to tolerate it! 100 more wing-ups!”
Spitfire blinked dumbfounded at the events that transpired as her mind raced to figure out what had just happened.
“No pony left behind!” The thestral declared in her defense. Had Mercury not had to keep up appearances, he probably would have granted her a small smile. Unfortunately, she was still speaking without permission. So instead he titled his captain's shades back up to hide his eyes and opened his mouth again.
“Make it 200! Got anything else you want to say?!”
“No sir!” she had said all she needed to. Instead, the mare simply turned her head to Spit Fire and gave her an encouraging smile. Spit Fire blinked once again dumbfounded by the odd thestral. After taking a moment to let her mind catch up, she blinked and gave a thankful nod for her support. Using what energy she had left, she went up.
“DOWN!” Mercury declared hiding away a smirk behind his whistle.
