A beam of light shone through the windows of Dashy's room, but she was long awake before the break of dawn. In her eyes stood a long glimspe of hope. One that would enable her to join the Wonderbolts. After all, she was one of the best in the Academy. Nothing would have stopped her.
Nothing but the WFAC.
Gruesome as ever, the Wonderbolts Flying Academy Course stood in the way of most aspiring Wonderbolts-wannabe. It had crushed and destroyed many dreams before, and would not hesitate to do so again. But it stood there, and in order to pass out, one had to pass it.
Dashy wasn't one to just pass it.
She wanted to be the best, and she was ready for it.
All this time, she had trained hard for it. The months she had spent gruelling it out on the practice course, the umpteen failures she had experienced beforehand, had nonetheless readied a Dashy. She was ready, and was prepping herself in the mirror.
It all boils down to today! The day I finally beat everyone. The recognition, the award, and the medal. And then, the Wonderbolts will fly down beside me and throw me in the air. They will then ask me personally to join the Wonderbolts, and I'll just say yes! Woohoo!
She was dreaming, but her dreams could might as well be reality.
The WFAC's start and end point was located at a stadium somewhere near Ponyville. During the day itself, it was filled with thousands of cheering ponies, most of whom who were just there for the show. Sitted in front were the instructors from the academy, their serious look and black and white jerseys stood out from the rest of the crowd. In front of them were the course. Each pegasi had to complete 5 tests, and none of them were were easy.
Dashy managed to arrive on time and readied herself at the start of the course, alongside her other fellow school mates. Most of them were warming up on the sidelines, but Dashy had already warmed up, both mentally and physically. The eyes of determination stuck onto her face, only to be an interrupted by a certain blue-suited pegasus on the microphone.
A pegasus Dashy always wished to be flying beside.
"Mares and gentlecolts," announced Spitfire over the speakers, "welcome to the WFAC, the toughest, hardest test you'll encounter so far in the Wonderbolts Flying Academy!" The crowd roared with anticipation.
"As you know, your preparation has led you up to here. If you can pass the entire course, you'll pass out, and train under the one, the only, the-"
Wonderbolts!
She was excited, no doubt. Her eyes wandered off towards the crowd, where she noticed her five best friends sitting somewhere near the front of the crowd. All five of them had their own individual banners and signs, with Pinkie as the only exception who was bouncing up and down, waving an unusually large banner. In the center of the six of them stood a cannon, with it's fuse already lighted.
BOOM!
With that tiny explosion, flares shot up to the sky, exploding the word "Rainbow Dash, do your best!". Dashy looked up, and her eyes were swollen with pride. She smiled, and one could have been certain she was blushing ever so slightly. She then looked back down into the crowd, wanting to thank her friends, but the spot they were at was now barren. She stared for a while, and slowly but surely, her friends stood back up, their manes disheveled from the back blast of the cannon. Despite their looks, they smiled back at Dashy, and she was even much more motivated to do better with her friends cheering on.
With all that, she turned around and readied herself. Within matter of seconds, the speakers around the stadium blared.
"Everypony, listen up." Spitfire announced. "All of you have been briefed of the rules beforehand, but for the benefit of doubt, I shall repeat it again. The rules are simple in the WFAC. I shouldn't see anypony flying when their running or climbing, nor should I see any unfair and crude behaviour. That means no cheating, no shoving but most importantly, you MUST complete the course in order to graduate from the Academy."
Oh yea, graduate as NUMBER ONE!
"NOW EVERYPONY, ARE. YOU. READY?" Spitfire yelled over the microphone.
The stadium filled with shouts and cheers of excitement.
"Pegasi, on your mark."
"Get set."
"GO!"
And all the pegasi took off. Dashy took a lead start with her impeccable reaction. She blitzed pass her school mates, with only one or two other pegasi trailing behind her. She was in the lead, and wasn't one to give that position away. She knew what the course offered her: ten laps around the track, followed by an air course where they fly through rings, nosedive towards the last ring and then proceed to fly through a haze cloud with flames shooting into it. After all of that, she still had to physically climb a stone wall that was at least five stories high, then grab her own flag that was precariously perched on the top, and then fly back all the way to the ending point.
All of that was nothing to her.
As she sped around the track, she turned back and caught a glimpse of another pegasus catching up to her.
Nuh uh. No way is she getting past me!
She sped up, but her rival was also gaining in speed. Dashy looked back once again, and realised the gap was getting closer. She could see the grin on her rival's face, one that would literally mean crushing her own dream of being the best.
Instictively, her wings kicked in, flapping ever so slightly, but enough for her to gain enough speed to widen the gap. She knew she was cheating, but she wanted to win so badly. Besides, she was confident that because of her insane speed, all anyone could see of Dashy was a blue blur. She turned around, and noticed the shock on her rival's face, who then tripped just slightly over Dashy's misdemeanor. With that, Dashy sprinted and completed the first part of the course with much distance in between the two of them.
Oh yea! Woo hoo!
Once she crossed the first checkpoint, it was time for the air course. Her wings turned to full throttle and zipped past each floating ring with ease. Feeling confident, she then started doing tricks with each ring passed. With each trick she did, the crowd roared, with each one she did gaining volume.
Oh yeah! Mhmm, I'm the best alright!"
She was too caught up in her own self-created limelight that she didn't notice that that one rival of hers sped past her, screaming "Cheater!" in her ears. Dashy lost momentum for a while, and crashed into one of the rings. The crowd murmured, but Dashy was unfazed. Quickly, she picked up from her blunder and proceeded to chase her rival. She lost too much time in the crash, and was quite a distance behind first place. With Dashy tailgating her rival, she couldn't help but wonder about just now. Was cheating right? Was it really the right thing to do?
With the second last ring in sight, Dashy immediately focused back onto the track and proceeded to complete her nosedive. She crossed it, and then took a sharp towards the ground. Two mach cones were visible in the sky, a rainbow trail catching up with the other. As they neared the last ring, Dashy increased even much more in momentum, and before crossing the last ring, she eventually overtook the other pegasus.
Woohoo! That's right. Rainbow Dash is first again!
She then took another sharp turn, and aimed towards the black cloud. She wasn't scared of it: fighting off Changelings were ten times more scary. With ease, she flew in and out of the cloud, but her rival was nowhere in sight.
Ha, that pony sure gives up easily! What a baby!
Spotting the stone wall in the distance, she happily flew towards it, and started scaling it. With each ounce of muscle she had in her body, she allowed her wings to rest, and pulled herself up with her hooves.
"One, two, one, two."
She had willed herself to take each stride in a simple one-two momentum, but she was perspiring all over, and her hooves started losing grip. If she fell from the wall, she would have landed on the safety nets that were below, and would have to climb up all the wall over again. It meant wasting time, but she knew it was going to take a miracle for her hooves not to slip.
Her eyes started closing on her. With fatigue kicking in, she knew it was even tougher. Nevertheless, she willed herself to push on. Her muscles ached, her hooves were numb, but she pushed on.
"One, two, one-- AHH!"
That scream came from the Dashy, who starting dangling on the wall like a fish on a fish hook. She looked down and noticed two things: the stone that just gave way when she tried to grab onto it, and a familiar pegasus closing up onto her.
Her rival caught Dashy's blunder and decided to take advantage of it. Before she could react, her rival readied her wings tenfold and flew past her.
"Cheater!" Dashy shouted, but to no avail as she just lost her first place position, again.
Oh right, no one can see us at this point.
Dashy's immediate instinct was to flap her wings. With every seething rage for her rival, she managed to transfer her energy from her hooves to her wings. In less than a second, the stone wall was now bare of any pony contact, both pegasi exploiting loopholes in the WFAC.
She had her mind set on overtaking first place again, but she did not will her mind to reminisce of her past experience in another race. She remembered it ever so vividly. Who the winner was, and who her rival in that race was. It haunted her, forever etching a scar in her memories. But it wasn't because she lost the race to Twilight Sparkle. It was because of her unfair play that caused her the victory. Since then, it was ingrained in her, promising to play fair at every competition she was at.
But she just broke that promise.
She wanted to win.
But she was up against a fellow cheater as well.
She wanted to win.
But cheaters don't win, and so shouldn't she.
With all her might, she pushed foward, reaching for the flag that was already nearing her. Her rival grabbed it, then her, and with Dashy trailing right behind, both proceeded towards the ending line. With each second passed, Dashy willed herself, and soon, the two first place contenders were locked side by side in a race to be crowned as the champion.
The champion, not the champions.
Raising her right wing, she knocked her rival with her body; sending the poor, cheating pegasus into the forest below. She might have hit her too hard, as her rival was clearly spinning out of control. But her rival was pretty strong too. Within mere seconds, that pegasus got up, and proceeded to trail Dashy, albeit from a distance she couldn't catch up. Her face was a little disorientated, but she was clearly fuming.
But instead, Dashy was overjoyed.
With the ending line in sight, she dashed down towards the forest and levitated just mere inches above the forest floor. She could see her dreams right in front of her. The Wonderbolts will then congratulate her, and Spitfire will personally present her with her first place medal.
Cheater.
She would just be this close to the Wonderbolts, and wouldn't hesitate to give her idols a big hug. After which, she would be asked to join the Wonderbolts, which she would then say-
Cheater!
Which she would then say-
CHEATER!
Her mind took over body then, and sent the conflicted Dashy spiraling down into the ground. However, she was accelerating too fast for friction to even slow her down. She crashed, tumbled and even rolled , but her wings kept flapping madly. The sound of the excited audience once filled her ears, chanting "Rainbow Dash!" with every tumble she did. Of course, the audience couldn't see nor understand what was going on; Dashy was not out of the forest yet, and they based their chant on the scoreboard which merely displayed each pegasus' position.
However, the moment she was out of it, the chants turned into shrieks of terror and screams. Somepony even fainted in the stands at the sight of Dashy's tumble. But the race was not over. She pushed on, crashed, then pushed on again, until she was just metres away from the ending line.
"I'm about-"
She was losing momentum fast. But she forced her body to complete the course.
"To be-"
You're a CHEATER!
"A-"
Before she could finish her thoughts, her body failed her, her mind triumphing. Her eyes shut down, and she crashed for one last time.
The crowd went silent. Right in front of the finish line laid an exhausted pegasus, both mentally and physically.
The crowd anticipated her as a finisher, as well as a champion, of this course. But nothing happened. The scoreboard still showed naught under the title of champion.
She wasn't done. And so wasn't her rival.
Her rival burst out of the forest, just seconds away from the finish line. The crowd then broke into an uproar, with a mix of shouts coming from the stands.
"Get up!"
"Go Blazing Flames!"
"Get up!"
"Go Blazing Flames!"
Rainbow Dash's eyes shot up at the sound of her rival's name. Blazing Flames. That had been her rival all long in the race between the two. Both had kept neck to neck, out-pacing and overtaking each other at certain parts of the race.
But she faced a greater rival in this race.
Throughout the course, the both of them hadn't been completely honest. In an attempt to be the best, she knew she hadn't exactly been complying with the rules, as well as the spirit of competition. She had cheated in order to get what she wants.
She wasn't done.
She didn't deserve to win.
But neither did Blazing Flames.
With that realization, Dashy gathered every ounce of strength she had and raised up her left hoof. All she needed to cross the finishing line was to extend her left hoof, and she would be crowned champion. Her hoof trembled and shook in exhaustion, and her rival was closing on.
"I'm about to be-"
"Be a-"
Her eyes must have deceived her, for she did not believe her dreams were instantly shattered by Blazing Flames. Her rival disappeared towards the horizon, and past the white tape of victory. She was this close to join the Wonderbolts, but she blew it.
Her eyes started tearing up. She tried to shut her eyelids, but her attempt was futile. Her tears managed it's way down her cheeks and onto the floor, her body now mixed with an array of blood, sweat and tears.
I'm... I'm not... first?
She was devastated, and her emotions were overpowering her. She was heartbroken, like when she received the loss of Cloudsdale's chance to host the Games. She felt destroyed, as to watch the dream she always wanted walk out of the door of opportunity.
But she wasn't done.
Her hoof then extended out towards the finishing line, as if to shake her rival's hoof for finishing first in the course. Slowly but surely, her hoof was placed over the line, with the electronic sensor picking it up automatically. On the scoreboard then showed two things, both of which weren't part of Dashy's dream.
Champion: Blazing Flames.
Second: Rainbow Dash.
Dashy didn't like this reality at all. She was defeated nonetheless, but she felt defeated not because of the race she was in, not because she lost a chance with the Wonderbolts, but because of herself.
"I... I made a promise to... Applejack. A promise I... I made as friends, but I... I broke it. I... I don't deserve... to join the... the... the Wonderbolts."
That was the last thing on her mind before she fainted.
Where she woke up at seemed vaguely familiar to her. Her eyes opened up, only to see five worried ponies staring at her in a room she was once in before. The hospital.
"Oh my, quick, get the doctor pony in!" shouted an ecstatic Pinkie Pie.
"No need for that, Pinkie Pie." Twilight Sparkle stuck out her hoof and stopped Pinkie Pie from exploding euphoria in a quiet environment.
Within seconds, all of Dashy's friends threw in their concerns for her, but all Dashy could do was groan and stay in silence. She was hurt pretty bad during her tumbles and fall, but that did not stop one injured pony from sitting up. Looking left and right, she noticed needles that were inserted into her body, as well as a cast on her left wing and right hind hoof. She was sad. Her injury would have cost her a chance with not only the Wonderbolts, but also to graduate out of the Academy. But something else was bugging her far more than her injury. While her injury remained temporary, the impact the race had on her will last forever. Tears swelled up in her eyes, which Dashy took haste to hide it from her friends.
"I'm sorry girls," sighed an exasperated Dashy.
"Wha' for, sugar cube? Ya' tried ya' best," comforted Applejack.
"I... I cheated, alright? I... I promise to play fair, and I cheated-"
A orange hoof was stuck out to silence Dashy.
"It's a'right, Rainbow Dash. Every pony makes mistake sometimes," cheered Applejack.
"No, you don't understand Applejack. Sure I didn't complete the race first. Blazing Flames did, but she also cheated!" Dashy cried out in despair.
"Oh... uh... we know... about... that," mentioned Fluttershy.
"Huh? What do you mean, Fluttershy?"
"Uh, uh, nothing..." cowered Fluttershy as she returned back to her usual self.
"What Fluttershy is trying to say, is that we saw it all, the whole race" replied Rarity, who was initially more focused on admiring the dress she made just to come watch Rainbow Dash complete the WFAC, "Pinkie Pie didn't want to wait in the stands all day, so she brought us up on her hot air balloon, and we managed to watch the entire race from up there. I must say, the draft of the clouds did do some major damage to my skin."
Dashy managed to let out a slight chuckle over Rarity's grumble, but she couldn't smile much more then that. She felt ashamed, knowing that her friends knew she cheated.
"I... I... I don't know what to say girls."
"Don't be too hard on yourself, Rainbow Dash. At least, there's some good news about today's event," beamed Twilight.
"Good... good news?"
"We managed to catch Blazing Flames cheating, and recorded it on Pinkie's camera. We then showed it to Spitfire, who then disqualified her promptly."
"Yea it was all AHHHHHH and UHHHHH when that happened! You should have seen the look on Blazing Flames' face!" laughed Pinkie.
"Unfortunately, we took some of you ... bending the rules... on film, so you hadn't been spared from punishment." Twilight yawned.
"Yeah, I know. How... how long have I been out for?"
"Only a couple of hours," said Twilight. Dashy noticed the clock from across the room, clearly stating 11pm. As far as she remembered, the course started at 10am, and would take about one hour to complete.
"It's 11pm now. That means... wow... I have been knocked out for 12 hours?"
"Yeah. We had to put you on a stretcher and wheel you in. We were so worried about you, Rainbow Dash, so we all decided to stay here until you woke up."
"Really? The five of you have been waiting all day for me to wake up?" asked Dashy. When she realised how much her friends cared for her even though she did the wrong thing, her heart skipped a beat. These were the best friends any pony could have asked for.
"Mhmm." They nodded.
The five of them, all eyes locked onto Dashy, all smiled while the patient scanned each of her best friends' face, smiling back at them as to return only the smallest favor. In the midst of this moment, Rarity then spoke, "At least while we waited here, Twilight found out some other good news... and some rather bad ones for you."
"What's the bad news?" Dashy frowned. More bad news hadn't been exactly uplifting.
"Well, darling, the bad news is that you were disqualified from the course, hence you couldn't graduate from the Academy." Silence filled the room momentarily, only to be broken by Dashy, whose mind seemed optimistic. Her frown turned upside down, and she let a light chuckle out.
"Well, duh, I know that, Rarity. Well, if that's the bad news, what's the good news then?" Dashy beamed and smiled, clinging onto her last strand of hope her friends could give her.
"The good news is that you can enlist in the Academy next semester, and attempt the course again! The next time you do it, I'm sure you'll cross the finish line first, darling. I can even make you a suit for the occasion. Ooh, I know the perfect design!. I'll need-" rambled Rarity.
"Rainbow Dash," interrupted Applejack as Rarity continues to list off the materials needed to make the outfit, "Ya got another chance to join the Wonderbolts again! Ain't that exciting?"
The chance to join the Wonderbolts again? Could it be? Could it be a fallen dream just revived? Just for me to try once again?
"Are you kidding me? Of course I'll try again! I won't give up this easily to fly side by side with the Wonderbolts!" Dashy was now eager to train hard once again.
"But it's going to take a while for me to recover from this thing." Dashy flailed her broken hooves in the air, hoping for a miracle to bestow upon her.
"Rainbow Dash," said Twilight, "While I was out there searching for news, Spike and I got you a tiny gift for you while you recuperate. We figured you'll be in here for a while, so I wanted to give you something." Twilight procured a tiny rectangular package that had been lying on the floor beside her all this whiles and handled it over to Dashy. "Here, it's nothing big really. Don't need to thank me." Twilight smiled as Dashy took reins in her get-well-soon present.
"We all got something for you too, Rainbow Dash," added Applejack. "Rarity made you a sweater, I packed you basket of apples, and Fluttershy wrote you a little card. As for Pinkie over there," she pointed over to Pinkie Pie who was still laughing in the corner, "She got you cupcakes at first, but she ate it all up on the way here." Pinkie laughed even harder when Applejack said that. Twilight then revealed the gifts to Rainbow Dash, levitating the goodies onto Dashy's bedside drawer,
Rainbow Dash let another chuckle out as the gifts landed beside her. "Thanks girls. For everything. Even Pinkie Pie."
"Awh shucks. That's what friends are for, right?" blushed the orange pony, who then let out a huge yawn. "Ah, whew, it's time to hit the haystacks. We outta head back and catch some shut eye, girls. Rainbow Dash, ya take care of yourself, alright?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Well, good night Rainbow Dash," said Applejack.
"Sleep well!" said Twilight.
"Good night, darling!" said Rarity.
"Take care!" said Fluttershy
"Good... good... night Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie still couldn't stop laughing.
"Good night girls!" But they have already left, leaving Dashy with her new found gifts. "Well, let's see what Twilight gave!" Dashy then proceeded to rip off the cover of the package with her one working hoof. As she pulled the contains of the package out, a scream was heard in the night.
"Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod, it's... it's Daring Do's latest book!" squealed Dashy.
This was going to be a good stay in the hospital.
With an excited squeal, she flipped open the book, only to discover another surprise inside.
"This... this... this is... AHHH!" screamed a delighted Dashy. Inside the book contained a picture of the Wonderbolts with all of their signatures on it. Attached to it contained a small letter, which Dashy quickly flipped open and read.
"Dear Rainbow Dash, I'm not the one you should thank for this picture. Thank Spike. He went up to each and every Wonderbolt to get them to sign it. He did it because he knew you wanted it so bad, and since you were down from today, he figured it be something that could cheer you up.
P.S. Spike says, "Get well soon." He's too occupied with packing up your room so we can throw you a not-so-surprise party when you come out. It was all Pinkie's idea.
- Twilight Sparkle
A party as well? Dashy couldn't wait to recover. She placed the letter aside, and glimpsed at Fluttershy's card. In it just bore the words, "Rainbow Dash, get well soon!" It was simple but effective, making Dashy smile at it for a while before putting it away. She then put on Rarity's really comfortable sweater, grabbed an apple from Applejack's basket, and proceeded to snuggle herself down under the blanket, with Twilight's present tucked in her hooves. She sat up from her bed, and proceeded to delight herself in the adventurous world of Daring Do.
"Chapter 1. The brave adventurer leaped from bound to bound, only barely avoiding the traps that was in store for the one, the only, Daring Do-"
Just a few months of rest, and I'll be out. And when I do...
I'm about...
To be...
A winner... one that is fair, at least.
With that said, Dashy was done. She took a bite in her apple and indulged in her book, mentally preparing for graduation next semester..
Author's Note
Second story here. A little short but long story, taking a little break from the main one. Initially, I got inspired to write about the thoughts of Dashy succeeding after failing umpteen times, but then as I started writing, this happened, so I guess I'll stick with it. I like it :)
P.S. For the test I was inspired by to write this story, I myself had to pull through it, and I managed to pull out of the test with a silver, missing gold by just a bit. Oh well :( Should have cheated ;)
