Rainbows and choices

12

I sighed relieved when Cloud Walker took off. At least he could fly. But then I realized something was wrong. Cloud Walker's left wing flew normally, but its injured wing flapped up and down at three times the normal speed. He had to. If he didn't do that, his wing wouldn't give enough strength to stay in the air. He removed all the clouds and flew through the hoops. He closed his wings for 3 seconds and opened them again. His left wing tried to pull him up by flapping twice as hard. His right wing could not keep up with this. He soon flew skewed. His left wing pulled him up while his right wing did nothing and just pulled him down. Cloud Walker fell down and crashed to the floor. All the judges pointed down and Cloud Walker started to walk to his gate. 'FLEE!' I cried, but he did not listen.

I didn't pay attention to the other pegasi. I only got my attention back when the name Fleur Flowers reached my ears. Fleur looked nervous. She took off. Cleared the sky and started flying through the hoops. It was clear that she wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible. She flew through every hoop, but not exactly in the middle. With each new hoop my heart skipped a beat when her wing was just missing the edge of the hoop. Up to the third last hoop. Her right wing crashed against the edge and she crashed into the cloud floor. That came as a blow to me. Fleur had always been so good at flying. I was thinking of Fleur's sister who had been on the previous load of failures. She was the last one left. Fleur would see her one last time before they both disappeared into the machine.

A light yellow pegasus seemed to crash for a moment after she closed her wings for 3 seconds. Just in time she managed to pull up. Pony after pony took the test and passed. Until it was Spitfire's turn. When she took off her bandage, fewer feathers were missing than with our brother, but it was clear that her wing joints were not okay. She spread her wings and a flurry of pain was visible on her face. She took off. You could clearly see that with every flap of her wings a stab of pain went through her. Soon the air was free of any clouds. She started flying through the hoops. I bit my lip when her hoof touched the bottom of the last hoop, but she just managed to fly on. She closed her wings and you could read the 3 seconds without pain on her face. She opened her wings and pulled up. Or almost. The force could not be handled by the wings and she crashed with a loud crack.I fell to the floor with tears in my eyes. The next pegasus just closed her wings when I looked up again. It was Terra Darder. She looked nervous. I remembered that she was afraid she would open her wings too soon. I counted with Terra. 1,2,3,4,5. She finally opened her wings, but it was too late. If she'd had those two extra seconds she'd taken to make sure she wasn't too early, she would have it.

I shook my head and forced myself to look at the next light blue pegasus that took its test. I heard my name behind me. I turned around and saw Rainbow Dash. I walked over to her. 'Come with me.' She said. I flew after her. 'Where are we going?' I asked after about fifteen minutes of flying. To the cloud where the carriage is handed over to the workers of the Rainbow factory. The person who did this together with me has been promoted. So now you do it with me.' She explained. We flew what seemed like an eternity. Finally we came across a big cloud that apparently was our final destination because Rainbow Dash landed on it. 'Here, put on.' She said and she gave me my work suit. I put it on while she was doing hers. We waited. 'So ... your brother and sister, huh?' Asked Rainbow Dash to break the silence. 'They were injured. It wasn't fair. Otherwise they could certainly have passed the test.' I said immediately. 'I know. But rules are rules. I'd also rather have seen her stay as leader of the wonderbolts.' Said Rainbow Dash. 'Do you... do you know what exactly happened?' I asked. Me and Rainbow Dash had'nt had such a personal conversation since I started in the Rainbow factory. Dash sighed. 'Ponies say the stunt was like the flight test, but we are the wonderbolts. It was really of a completely different level. It was because of the open training. We had morning and afternoon training that day. The group that came to watch in the morning did stunts and exercises on the adjacent terrain. Of course they were not professionals. By using the wrong wing movements they had created an enormous gust of wind. Most were able to recover, but Spitfire flew too low to the ground. Cloud Walker was one of the first who had come to watch in the morning. The gust of wind had blown him to our site and he was incredibly dizzy and turned a little when he wanted to fly to Spitfire. It wasn't their fault.' She said. 'You have a lot of influence. Can't you do something to get them out of here?' I asked. 'Sorry, kid. But whether or not it is your fault, if you fail the test, you are a failure. And all failures are brought to the Rainbow factory. Those are the rules that nopony can change. That's it and not different. Get ready. I see the carriage coming.'