Blown Away

Twilight Sparkle couldn’t move from her bed. She blinked, struggled, and managed to budge herself an inch, instantly regretting it as pain shot through her body. “Ow…” she moaned, raising herself out of bed little by little. “Ow, ow…ow...” Ripples of pain coursed through her body as she stretched her wings.

Spike woke up. “What’s wrong, Twilight?” He asked, concerned. “You didn’t get hurt, did you?” He examined her wings. “Are you okay?” Twilight nodded, wincing as she moved her neck.

“I’m just a little sore. Rainbow Dash had me do some extra training…” Twilight trailed off as Spike ran over to her side and began massaging her wings. “Ow! Careful, Spike!”

“Will you relax already?” Spike grumbled. “It’ll get better soon, so you can leave for training and I can get back to sleep.” Twilight fought against the instinct to brace for pain and allowed her body to relax. Little by little, the soreness faded to a tolerable degree.

“Thanks, Spike,” Twilight said. “That helped a lot. How did you get so good at wingrubs?” Spike shrugged and headed back to his basket. Twilight went downstairs to get some breakfast as Rainbow Dash walked in through the front door.

“Are you ready to go yet?” Rainbow asked. “I gave you more time today so you could get all the boring stuff out of the way.” Twilight stared back at her, mid-bite with a mouthful of sandwich. Rainbow groaned. “Nevermind… I’ll just go read or something.” She pulled up her book from yesterday and started reading.

Twilight took even longer this time. Rainbow Dash said. “What’s taking so long?”

“Sorry, Rainbow,” Twilight said. “I’m kind of sore from yesterday and it hurts to chew.”

“Sore? We don’t have time to be sore! Why not just ask Spike to give you a wingrub?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I mean he only charges five bits and he’s pretty good at it.”

“That actually explains a lot,” Twilight said. “Anyway, I’m ready to go now.” Twilight put her empty plate in the sink and exited through the front door, flying towards the academy. Rainbow Dash placed her book down and rushed off after her.

“You don’t have to pick me up every day if it’s that much of a hassle, you know,” Twilight said, drifting on a current. Despite Spike’s help, she still felt stiff.

“Are you kidding? Who knows how long you’d take if I weren’t there to bother you?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Just think of me as your personal trainer.” She rushed forward. “C’mon, slowpoke, we’re gonna be late.” Twilight groaned, urging her sore wings to flap just a little faster.

Landing at the Academy, Twilight and Rainbow Dash noticed an air of discontent among the pegasi as they waited for Spitfire. “Dizzitron day?” Rainbow asked, nudging a nearby pegasus. He nodded glumly.

“What’s a Dizzitron?” Twilight asked Rainbow Dash softly, just as Spitfire arrived.

Spitfire addressed the crowd, “Good morning recruits! Today you will be tested on the Dizzitron. As for those of you who do not know what a Dizzitron is,” Rainbow Dash glanced at Twilight and smirked, “you’ll find out soon enough. Split off into your groups and head over to your stations.”

Twilight found Rainbow Dash amongst the flock of pegasi and followed her to what looked like a giant hypnotism device. “We strap you in, give it a whirl, and see how long it takes for you to right yourself. I can start you off on the lowest setting.” Rainbow Dash explained while setting up the device.

“I think I’d rather watch a demonstration first,” Twilight said, glancing nervously at the menacing contraption.

“Suit yourself,” Rainbow Dash said. “Dizzitron’s ready! So who’s first?” she called to the group of advanced fliers.

A light tan pegasus stepped forward. “Might as well get it over with,” he grumbled as Rainbow Dash helped him into the device. Without so much of a warning, Rainbow hit the switch and the machine began spinning with intense force. Twilight could only imagine how terrible the pegasus, now a light tan smear on a haywire carousel of red and white, felt.

“Alright, launching!” Rainbow Dash shouted, slamming the handle down of the contraption down hard. The pegasus shot out of the machine like a rocket, spiraling out of control. A short while later, he righted himself and landed nearby. “Fifteen seconds, not bad,” Rainbow Dash said. “Now who’s next?”

And so the crowd of anxious pegasi thinned out, slowly replacing itself with a crowd of tired, dizzy pegasi until only Twilight was left. “Oh, haha, is it my turn already?” she asked nervously.

“Look,” Rainbow Dash said. “If you can’t beat the Dizzitron, how do you expect to pass the Dragon course in two days? You can do this. Besides, it’s impossible to fail. All you need to do is eventually right yourself and land. Nopony’s going to keep spiraling out of control forever.” She helped Twilight into the Dizzitron and started fiddling with the controls. “Alright now, I just set it to the lowest setting. Ready when you are. And today, please.”

Twilight gulped audibly. “Ready,” she said in a small voice. The machine started up, accelerating quickly. Twilight groaned as she saw the world spinning before her eyes, feeling a strong G force tugging at her cheeks, her mane, and her tail. It was frightening, but oddly relaxing. And dizzy. Very dizzy.

Twilight barely heard a very faint “Launching!” and then she was hurtling through the air at breakneck speed. She struggled to right herself, but was too disoriented to do so. Which way was up? Where was the sun shining? She closed her eyes for a good five seconds and opened them, blinking lazily. As her vision finally came into focus, she realized what she was staring at. It was a tree, growing closer and closer at an alarming rate.

Twilight braced for impact, expecting sharp splinters of pain and leaves in places where she didn’t want leaves in (Namely, everywhere). The collision never happened. As Twilight hurtled to her doom, her horn lit up instinctively and showered her in its magic, righting her spiraling body, slowing her speed to a safe, lazy, crawl, and positioning her properly for flight.

Rainbow Dash flew up beside her. “You had me worried for a bit there,” she said. “But what was that at the end? Some sort of new flight magic you studied?”

Twilight blinked, still shocked by the event. “I don’t know. It just kind of…came to me.”

Rainbow Dash smiled, grabbing her friend by the shoulder and helping her back up to the Academy. “I think I might have an idea for your night training.”