The New Recruit

A few days had passed, and Spitfire was due back in court tomorrow. Today was the final test before lead ponies and wing ponies were decided, and there was a ceremony at the end of class to announce that. But first, it was time for the final initial test; the dizzitron.

Ace was trailing. He was, by a fairly wide margin, the worst flier of the class. However, given his particular handicap, he was still doing a very impressive job. He'd come in dead last on the race, he'd had to retake the basic aerobatics for once again hitting every obstacle, but was commended for taking the course forward and backward at the same time, as there was no end platform to land on. But he was demonstrating to Spitfire that he wasn't a quitter, which was already a good sign, because even in the first week, two cadets had left.

Ace waited at the back of the line. Spitfire always put him at the end of the line, and he'd save some time if he just moved to the back and waited. In the meantime, Blitz scored highest again; nine seconds. The next highest was Poinsettia at eleven seconds, then Wind Lash at twelve. No one else went faster than fourteen seconds, and some even failed to recover.

"Ace, you're up next," commanded Spitfire. "Operator, set it to minimum."

"Actually, ma'am, I'd like the same standard level of dizziness as the other cadets."

Spitfire was still, but Ace could feel her eyes narrowing behind her sunglasses. "You sure about that, rookie?"

"Yes, ma'am."

In truth, he was worried that the low setting would not provide enough airtime for him to enact his plan. He needed to spend a lot of time aloft if he was going to land successfully. Even the standard speed felt a little low, as he'd need the extra height, even if he wasn't dizzy.

"Your choice," she shrugged, watching him climb up, rather than flying in like everypony else had.

Upon his release, he went flying into the air. With no wings to stabilise himself, he stuck out his hooves to determine his air speed, and when he'd slowed down enough, he did his best to look around. The air was thin and wispy up here, which he used to gather up some clouds as fast as his hooves could manage.

As he started to fall, he packed them tightly together, forming a thick sheet that was then compressed thin. More than halfway to the landing pad, he pulled his creation up over his head and twisted it to catch the wind.

His back hooves skidded to a stop on the runway, and his front hooves connected with the ground as the clouds dissipated.

"Twenty-eight seconds," Spitfire noted. "That's an academy record. Slowest successful landing from the dizzitron at standard intensity." She looked at him and scowled. "Unfortunately, minimum passing grade is twenty-five seconds. You fail!"

Ace saluted, a somber look on his face. He took a step back, but Soarin came running forward. He had been assigned rescue duty today, and he placed his hoof on Ace's shoulder and whispered something in his ear, then pointed to something in the rulebook.

"Ma'am?" called Ace, stepping forward once more. "I'd like to try again, but at maximum power!"

As Soarin pointed to the same rule for Spitfire, she nodded. "Normally, I'd rule against it, but with your record, and the lieutenant's recommendation, I'm going to allow it. But you better impress me, rookie!"

Ace nodded and climbed up. Most pegasi would need the extra time to stabilise and glide down, but Ace was not a pegasus. He'd be forced to take the extra airtime, which would increase his difficulty yet further. But he also had Soarin's recommendation. If it failed, he'd take the extra time to practice and hopefully try to force his grade up above failure. If it succeeded, he would have passed every initial test, mostly with low marks. Considering the fact that several other students were already sporting failed tests, it wasn't the end of the world, but he wanted to succeed, even if he couldn't be the best.

They spun him around until gravity reset itself and he flew into the air. On Soarin's word, he started gathering clouds right away, and fashioned a wing to slow his spin and speed. He was still out of control, but he'd managed to slow his ascent, and was already halfway done with his glider. It was a lot harder to control, but he managed to land.

"Thirty-one seconds," announced Spitfire. "That's a worse time, but at the maximum setting, your time to pass was thirty-five. Congrats, cadet. You didn't fail. You didn't do good, but you didn't fail."

Ace saluted her. He could not keep the smile off of his face. "Thank you, ma'am."

"You have a lot of room to improve," she commented. "Your performance has been ghastly. And yet, somehow, you managed to pull through."

Ace stepped back into line and waited for the results to be tabulated. Spitfire just had to put in their grades for the initial tests, add them all together, and then she would use those numbers to determine who the best fliers were, and who the worst ones were. The top four would be paired together as the hopefuls, the worst four would be paired together to show who needed the most improvement, and the rest would be paired up with their direct counter. That is, the fifth best would be paired with the fifth worst, to create a more balanced team. They would be the ones that put in the most effort.

It took both Soarin and Spitfire doing the math over and over to realise that there was no mistake in the numbers, but they kept reaching the same conclusion, so it had to be true.

"The four of you with the highest score are: Blitz Break, Dusk Wind, Poinsettia and Wind Lash. Step forward."

They did so.

Spitfire brought out the pins. "Blitz and Lash. You two will be a team, with Blitz leading and Lash supporting. Dusk and Poinsettia, you will be a team, with Dusk leading and Poinsettia supporting. Lead ponies, you'll be making the decisions. Do not leave your teammate behind. Wingponies, support your leaders. Make sure they have their backs covered so they can focus on moving forward. Step back."

They did so, seemingly not too happy with their match-ups.

"The four of you with the lowest score are: Slipstream, Wind Blade, Coal Smoke and Shade Star. Step forward."

They did so, but with much trepidation. Not just because they were being called out for being the worst performers in their class, but because they were the worst performers in their class.

"Before I announce match-ups, I have to know, because I'm very curious," sighed Spitfire. "How in Equestria do you plan to become Wonderbolts when you all scored lower on the entry exams than an earth pony? How is Ace better at flying than all of you?"