The pond water rippled in front of Starlight Glimmer, an aftereffect of Rainbow Dash's ongoing stunts. Both of them had decided it was time to get away from the castle and enjoy the ongoing summer. Thus, with Starlight studying under the sun and Dash trying out new tricks.
"Check it Star, this one's called the Tailspinner!" Rainbow Dash yelled, flipping and twisting in what looked like a random amount of turns.
Starlight hummed, "That was just as good as your Windwalker trick Rainbow. How do you do it?"
"Well, its simple really." Dash replied, either not noticing Starlight's deadpan tone or choosing to ignore it. "First, you just have to be as awesome as I am. Second, it's about having that special wing-set, 'cause only certain pegasi can do these tricks. And lastly, well, sorry to say but you'd have to be a pegasus, Star."
There wasn't any meaning behind the comment. And Starlight shouldn't have taken it as much to heart as she did, but sometimes she wanted to speak out against Rainbow. Being a unicorn was awesome, especially because she could do everything anyone else could, as long as she studied long and hard enough.
If she wanted to be as strong as an Earth pony then a few spells later she could kick a tree clean out of the ground, roots and all.
If Starlight wanted to fly, well, after some long nights and good practice with safety nets, there was no question. She had done it before in a battle with Twilight, it wasn't that difficult.
"I mean, Rainbow, I don't know if flying is exclus-"
Rainbow Dash continued, paying no heed to her friend's counterargument. "It's like that old saying too! If they've got feathers and are quadpedal-"
"Quadrupedal."
"-and fly, then they are a true Pegasus."
Starlight sighed, easing more into her lounge chair. "Rainbow Dash, that's ridiculous. Based off that I could be a pegasus."
"Pssh, you might have fur and four legs, but you can't fly Star. Unless you get to be the Princess of...I dunno, PEMDAS with all that equal sign stuff you had going on." Rainbow Dash did a few more spins and skidded to a halt next to her.
Starlight lifted her hindlegs off the chair, letting Dash settle on the end. It was a moment, something to take so she could realize the unintentional challenge that had been presented. It couldn't be that hard right? If somepony like Rainbow Dash could do it, that was all the evidence she could need.
"Sounds like I just have to fly to meet your criteria, Dash." Starlight began. "Which I've already done mind you, when I fought Twilight."
"No, no, no, it isn't just about flying. That's just some old coot's idea, it's about embodying what it means to be a pegasus. Ya know, it's like being in the Wonderbolts. They appreciate everything it means while being cool too."
"Oh?" Starlight grinned. "So you're saying is that all I have to do is become a Wonderbolt. Sounds easy enough. What's that take? Flying through some hoops after I colored my mane?"
"Hey I bet you wouldn't last a day as a Wonderbolt!" Rainbow Dash retorted, not able to take any flack toward her teammates.
"Sure, how much Dashie?"
Rainbow Dash held out a hoof, "Considering the bi-yearly tryouts are in a month, I'd say cleaning duties for the castle for the rest of the year. Spike would need the rest, and I need somepony else that will appreciate my stunts out here."
"Deal!"
The month before tryouts were spent with no sparing toward training Starlight's spells. She practiced every single day, honing her single levitating spell until she could speed along a small obstacle course. It continued to grow once Starlight learned tricks and different ways to utilize her magic. Even at the end she had a finish line with tape, something to help show Rainbow Dash she was serious. Plus, it was all she needed, not like she would make it much further than the first day. Just enough to prove to Dash that it was possible.
Right?
Within a month, thirty days some would say, the first round of tryouts were upon Starlight.
"Alright cadets, today is the first round!" The Wonderbolt in front of them, Soarin', announced. "As you should know this will be an obstacle course. The toughest one you'll see in Equestria, well, next to the one tomorrow!"
Starlight raised a hoof.
"Yes! In the back, the..." Soarin' paused. "Unicorn."
The crowd of cadets pivoted toward her.
"Right, uh, and how might the obstacle course tomorrow be harder?" Starlight inquired, trying to get more information than the brochure had provided.
"Well, considering the course changes everyday, the next one will always be the hardest." Soarin' grinned, "But that's the fun of it!"
"So, how do you pay for it? That seems highly cost ineffective to tear down and rebuild a course at all times." Starlight was beginning to see why so many pegasi surrounded her. The written test to get there really was that easy.
Soarin' waved his forehoof around, "Oh no, the wind just eventually blows all the obstacles away. So it's free."
"Okay, sure, why not. And the rebuilding?" Starlight sighed, not wanting to continue the conversation. But at this point, she had committed. "How do you pay for that?"
"The tax payers."
"What?"
"We're a government funded entity," Soarin' replied, now doing some lazy loops while answering. "Everything here is from taxes."
"That still see-"
"Anyway, no more questions. There's three hundred seventy-two of you and only one day to get it to half that." Soarin' flicked a wing toward the start point. "First fifteen up to the start line. Give me some motivators!"
With that, the racing began. Other than the numbers that adorned their flanks, there was no real designation or order to the fifteen that competed at a time. Starlight was content to wait out the first several groups, using the time to get used to the times posted for each lap, and the pool of competitors.
She was doing her best to blend in, maybe use the sheer number of candidates to breeze through without being noticed. Granted, a floating, purple-tinged magic enveloped unicorn in the middle of a group of pegasi wasn't exactly inconspicuous. It was beginning to look like Starlight would have to just give the course her best shot.
"Come on Starlight!" Soarin yelled over the bustling crowd, "I think it's time you showed why you're here to use that loophole!"
"You know about that?" Starlight yelped. She had been attempting to keep it to herself, and of course Rainbow Dash.
Soarin' shook his head, "I mean, it's pretty obvious you were, since you know... you are a unicorn. But yes, to answer the question you're probably wondering, I do talk to my squadmates."
The next contestants shuffled into a line, all attempting to get into a starting position that would give them that extra inch. Something that could make them the next greatest Wonderbolt. What could be the difference between dreams being broken and a legend in the making. Nowhere else could the best of the best collocate in an amalgamation of pure skill and determination.
Starlight Glimmer hovered.
The shot to begin went off, and the group rushed forward. For the most part, the race field was three-dimensional. This allowed pegasi to weave around their fellow cadets, and for Starlight to create a bubble around her while she flew. Which caused any potential collision to herself to bounce off into a different vector.
Pairing her levitating, and anti-pegasi barrier was the base for her trifecta of spells for the obstacle course. Once the harder obstacles, all the ones that needed precision had been navigated, Starlight activated her third spell. A small burst of light came from her horn, and the subsequent explosion behind her propelled her body forward. It had worked exactly as intended.
Starlight continued to stream past her peers. Since she was facing backwards, her horn had to be so she could fire the small explosion shells, it allowed for constant viewing of their disbelieving faces. Perfect.
The race was over in no time, and her results surprised even Starlight.
"Well done Starlight, you'll be moving onto the next round!" Soarin' pat her on the back with his forehoof, "You'll see Fleetfoot in a few days for the fitness test with the rest of the ones that pass."
Those days weren't much to help in the way of training. All Starlight focused on was recovering, and recover properly she did. By the time her physical test came upon her, the unicorn was confident she could pass whatever was thrown her way.
With the smaller amount of those trying out, time slots had been allotted to each contestant. Starlight was left to deal with whatever Fleetfoot had prepared one-on-one. No hiding this time.
"Good to meet ya there Starlight." Fleetfoot presented a hoof, waiting to have it shaken. "My teammates haven't stopped talking about you. I'll say, I'm excited to see what loopholes you can get around with these tests."
The first was as many wing-ups as possible. Normally, this would be impossible for a pony without wings. But the loophole the Wonderbolts thought they covered, the pony must keep both hind-legs on the ground at all times without levitating, actually left out the part that would have disqualified Starlight. That was fine, she would take the first couple minutes to cast some spells instead.
"Anytime there cadet." Fleetfoot yawned, seemingly unimpressed by the unicorn's spellcasting.
"Oh, I'm all good now." Starlight grinned, balancing on her hind-legs. She wobbled for a moment, took an enormous breath and let herself fall forward toward the gymnasium floor.
Right as she was about to hit, she exhaled forcefully. Her magic spells had escalated the air coming from her to just enough.
As she elevated from the push of air, Starlight inhaled again. Within less than a second she was prepared again, and again she pushed her body up with only her breath. A quick glance on her fiftieth push-up convinced her she might have short-circuited her instructor. Fleetfoot's mouth hung wide open, her eyes stuck in a permanent stare.
Sadly, the spell only lasted for a couple minutes, and Starlight promptly fell onto her face.
The sudden smack of her nose against the hardwood jolted Fleetfoot out of her stupor. "Sweet Celestia, Starlight! That was seventy-one push-ups! You maxed the test! That's...actually, how are you? Sorry, I should've asked that first."
"'S'kay"
"Okay, well, the good news is that you just have some simple pullups next." Fleetfoot guided her over to the bars.
"This doesn't seem simple." Starlight sighed, "I think you forgot I don't have wings."
"No, no. This is quite literally pullups, no wings necessary." Fleetfoot replied, "Wonderbolts are still tested on their natural strength in their legs too. The turns you pull need strong fore-hooves to keep the best airstream present in your form."
"Sure, I'll take the reasoning."
Another couple spells to increase her strength and Starlight hopped onto the bar. After fifteen solid, form-perfect exercises she was instructed to drop from the bar. It had yet again surprised Fleetfoot in how versatile her talents were. It was beginning to look like she would pass another round.
"Great stuff, that was another maximum." Fleetfoot scribbled on the notepad she had brought. "So, lastly, for your final exercise of this test, you'll be hovering as long as possible. Really testing that endurance here."
Starlight ignited her spell. She hovered.
And hovered.
Then hovered a bit more.
"Say," Fleetfoot began. "How long can you actually hold that?"
"Longer than your maximum most likely." Starlight replied smugly.
Fleetfoot grimaced, "You see, that would probably be true. But we don't have one for this. So we could keep going, or...maybe I just write you down as a pass, yeah?"
"Yeah." Starlight sighed, "Yeah, might as well."
"Great!" Fleetfoot perked back up, "You'll see Spitfire tomorrow at the parade deck. Have a quick show prepared for her, it's supposed to test your grit and creativity. Little warning and tiredness from is supposed to simulate last-minute changes to performances."
"Sounds good to me. I'll be ready then."
Ready she was, over-prepared even. Before Starlight had come to the tryouts she had prepped some spells in case she had to improvise. It looked like her assumptions were becoming reality. It wasn't more than twenty-four hours before Starlight stood at attention in front of the Captain of the Wonderbolts.
"Well, good to see you're still around Star." The scratchy voice in front of her appraised. "What do you have for me today?"
"Oh you know," Starlight shuffled her hooves, "A bit of that, some of those, with a little of them."
Spitfire cocked an eyebrow, "You didn't prepare anything for this round did you?"
"Yeah, I totally did!" Starlight said, "I just didn't realize that all my spells I had prepared were competition based!"
"And?"
Starlight didn't answer.
"Starlight."
"And I definitely didn't think I would make it this far!" Starlight admitted, throwing her head around frantically.
"Kid," Spitfire gave her a pointed look, "You got here because you had prepped what you needed to succeed. This round is entirely based off not being prepared. I would say you're in the exact position you're supposed to be."
Spitfire was making a good point. She probably tended to do that a lot, considering she was the Captain of the Wonderbolts. It wasn't that Starlight couldn't think on the spot, it was just that the current situation was a bit over what she had expected.
Then again, it would be pretty nice to make it all the way through the tryouts. She couldn't imagine Rainbow Dash's face when she saw Starlight in a Wonderbolt suit would make everything worth it. And then some.
"Alright!" Starlight gathered herself, "Don't worry Captain, I've got something good for you."
Starfire gave a maniacal grin, "Well get moving cadet! On the double!"
The whistle immediately after signaled the beginning of Starlight's show.
She had a few spells in her belt. Her show began simple, flying around with her levitation spell. Some flips to accentuate her control, even deactivating and reactivating a few times to give it a sense of danger.
Then some offensive spells came, now repurposed to serve as background for her performance. Bright explosions of varying colors dotted the sky, all around Starlight while she weaved around them. Some were enough to form shapes, or symbols.
Starlight continued her show with beams coming from her horn, cutting the clouds. Compounding her spells, she kept the fireworks around her while shaping the clouds. Eventually some clouds began to take shape into busts of the Wonderbolt team.
Sensing her time was almost up, she went with her last spell to round off the showing of her spellcasting. Starlight's horn lit up and the spell flew from it into several surrounding clouds-turned busts. Her hooves hit cloud and stuck, allowing her to jump from cloud to cloud without falling through.
It was more fun than she would've liked to admit.
Eventually, once Starlight had jumped around enough, she jumped off.
And fell.
Right before she hit the ground she activated her levitation spell, hovering above the clouds once again. She grinned ear to ear in front of Spitfire, "How was that ma'am?"
Spitfire grinned back, "Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all."
There was a pause.
"I only have one question to finish this last round up." Starfire kept her eyes locked onto Starlight. "Do you really want to be a Wonderbolt?"
Out of all of the tests throughout the last several days, Starlight knew the answer immediately. "To be completely honest, not at all. I have a great time being Twlight's student...and really, this was just to prove to Rainbow Dash that a unicorn could become a Wonderbolt too."
"Right," Spitfire hummed, "I figured it was something like that. You can have all the skill in the world, and be as talented as everypony else, but sometimes you're just not what they're looking for."
Starlight looked at the ground, not really sure what Spitfire was attempting to convey.
"What I'm saying is, though you might not be what a Wonderbolt team is looking for. That type always at least has that unstoppable consistently to do whatever it takes to become one." Spitfire placed a hoof on Starlight's shoulder. "But I think we can still use somepony like you, at least for a special occasion. What do you say?"
"What do you have in mind?" Starlight asked, perked up from before.
"Well, considering we do weekly shows, I don't see how we can't fit you in with some of these tricks." Spitfire kept going, now wrapping her foreleg around Starlight. "I can't say it wouldn't be fun to see Dashie's face when you show up in a Wonderbolt uniform."
"That would be awesome!" Starlight began to bounce around Spitfire. "I'd be honored to have an opportunity like that!"
The weekend Wonderbolt show came up just as fast as the other rounds of the tryouts. Starlight had prepared as much as she could, finding different excuses to avoid Rainbow Dash to be able to rehearse with the team. It came close a couple times, but in the end Starlight made it to the final day without any real problems.
She had hoped that she would be able to make it till the actual performance before Rainbow Dash found out. That wasn't the case, but it was just as satisfying finding her friend frozen at the entrance to the stadium in front of her.
"S-S-Starlight! H-how...wh-!" Rainbow Dash had begun to short circuit.
"Dashie!" Starlight trotted over to hug her friend. "I haven't gotten to talk to you since the tryouts."
"No-that is not...I don't..." She hadn't rebooted yet.
Starlight patted her friend on the back, "Hey let's get this show over with and then we can chat. Alright teammate?"
The unicorn made her way into the stadium, standing tall behind the starting line up of Wonderbolts. This was it, a chance to show her prowess. Maybe even make a small name for herself outside of Twilight's shadow. Most importantly, win a bet against the rainbow speedster.
Starlight took a deep breath and readied her first spell, shooting it as high into the air as it would allow.
A loud bang reverberated throughout the stadium and the spell became a massive firework in the form of a Wonderbolt symbol. Her new teammates began their show, flying around in acrobatics that Starlight knew she would never get close to with magic.
It was organic, pure intuition that kept them from colliding. Starlight threw her spells in between sets, and she could tell the different colors and shapes of the fireworks were a hit. The roar of the crowd whenever the cutie-mark of their favorite Wonderbolt was enough to say so.
"Come on Starlight! Give that next spell a go!" Spitfire called from above, shoving a cloud her way.
Magic enveloped the cloud, forming it into a generic shape of a pegasus. Starlight continued refining it throughout the show, the beams from her horn detailing everything. Once she was done the show had almost come to an end, and she was relying on Rainbow Dash getting the hint.
It didn't take long for the moment of truth to arrive. Rainbow Dash sped toward the sky, gaining immense height in a ridiculously short amount of time.
"Here I come!" Her shout could still be heard, even as high as she was.
Her form streaked straight down, a thin cone developed around her while she kept gaining speed. Eventually, the telltale signs that had become associated with a Sonic Rainboom came about. Starlight continued to hope the show would end as planned, watching her cloud formation.
Luck was on her side.
Rainbow Dash's boom threw pieces of cloud in all directions. The short lived cloud statue of herself was torn apart by high speed winds. She didn't seem to care.
"That was totally wicked!" Dash said as she tackled Starlight.
Starlight giggled, "I'm glad you liked everything Rainbow."
"Are you kidding me? That was awesome!" Rainbow Dash picked Starlight up, grabbing a hoof in hers. The hoof was thrown up with her own, and the stadium erupted. "I can't imagine what else you could do with that magic! You totally won that bet Star."
For a moment, Starlight basked in the unfiltered joy the pegasi in the stadium projected. It had been worth it. The new knowledge would certainly come in handy, and some bragging rights against Rainbow Dash was a great plus.
Maybe there were other bets Starlight could win. Apple Jack was just as competitive, especially when it came to farming her homestead. Who was to say a unicorn couldn't kick some apple trees as well as an earth pony?