Part 1: It's Gonna Be A Starry Night
Celestia's sun was high above the horizon, illuminating another brilliant day throughout Equestria, giving perfect weather to the young pegasi who flew about the Wonderbolt Academy, their heads filled with dreams and aspirations.
These thoughts were interrupted by the deafening blow of the whistle of Spitfire. Groggily, the ponies fluttered in, until they were all standing in attention at their coach. To the dismay of the ears of her trainees, Spitfire blew her whistle a second time, just to be sure they weren't daydreaming.
She took the whistle out of her mouth and cleared her throat. "Alright, good job today. Some of you are really pushing your limits and establishing yourselves as leaders, and I'm loving it. Unfortunately, as you know, this course ends in only one week. I WANT YOU GUYS TO WORK YOUR FLANKS TEN TIMES HARDER THIS WEEK, YOU GOT THAT?"
"Yes, ma'am!" A wide variety of voices cried in unison.
"Well alright! You guys have worked hard to get this far. I know we've lost a few on the way, some have quit, some have been kicked out..."
A few pegasi, one of them being a cyan pony named Rainbow Dash, began to mumble some names to each other.
"DID I ASK FOR YOUR COMMENTARY?" Spitfire yelled.
"No ma'am, uhhhh... sorry ma'am!" The ponies immediately returned their attention to Spitfire.
"That's better. As I was trying to say, those of you that remain, great work. On graduation day, one, and only one of you will be chosen to be a Wonderbolt. Any of you recall from your Wonderbolt handbooks who chooses the inducted members?"
Rainbow Dash raised her hoof high in the air, jumped up, and flapped her wings, making certain she was noticed. That came quite easily considering the blank stares and head scratching from everyone else.
"Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow Dash made a quick and subtle hoof pump before answering Spitfire's question with confidence. "Rule 38.1a of the Wonderbolts states that Princess Celestia herself must be present to induct the newest members of the Wonderbolts. If the Princess is unable to attend, another royal may take her place." Rainbow Dash, saluted with a smirk, not even trying to hide her arrogance.
"Impressive, cadet." Spitfire nodded, then returned her attention to the group as a whole. "Alright, everypony! Go hit the showers and grab some lunch! I wanna see some hustle!"
The ponies raced into the locker room, where Spitfire watched as Rainbow Dash and another pegasus easily sped ahead of the rest of the group.
"Alright, so all you gotta do... Is ummm... Flap your wings... Got it?"
"Yes, Fluttershy, I know I'm supposed to flap my wings. What next?"
"Uhmmm... Well next you fly!"
Twilight couldn't help but put her hoof to her face in vexation. She wished Rainbow Dash were here to teach her how to fly properly with her new wings.
As much as having the wings frustrated Twilight, she couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and honor in recently receiving her new wings and earning the title of "Princess." This was something Twilight had dreamed about for many years, but she had never expected it to come true. Obviously, should knew she couldn't give all the credit to herself. If she had never met her friends, she never would have gotten to where she is now.
Friends...
Friends...
"So, Twilight! I think I know what you can do! Try throwing a little kitty into the air, flapping your wings, and grabbing it!"
Twilight was getting a little tired at the lack of actual instruction, but she watched as Fluttershy threw her most loved cat into the air, then grabbed it.
"It's okay, little puddycat, I'd never drop you!" Fluttershy gave her kitten a cute little Eskimo kiss. "Ok, Twilight, that's all you have to do! But I don't want you to hurt my little animals, I'll go get you a stuffed animal!"
Fluttershy returned with a terribly worn stuffed rabbit, clearly having gone through many bites and scratches by the yellow pegasus' living animals. She handed the stuffed rabbit to Twilight, who braced herself to try to copy exactly exactly what Fluttershy had done. The newest alicorn gritted her teeth and squatted down, determined to fulfill her promise to herself to learn how to fly. With a rather cacaphonous roar, Twilight took off. For a second, the young Princess felt a feeling she had not yet experienced. She felt as if she was making her first marks in the atmosphere, manipulating the air in a way some had done their entire life. In another second, she was flat on her face, a beat up stuffed rabbit laying on the ground next to her.
"That was... alright..." Fluttershy lied.
Twilight groaned.