Destiny

The Flight exam

Loud ponies. They all talk too much. Too many meaningless conversations between fillies and foals that never pay mind to anypony but themselves. Unless everypony else is their center of attention, then that's just sad. We're all here to take the Flight exam, me included.

I'm surrounded by an arch of clouds above me that cascades only to the edge of the start of the exam. Everypony here for it, is under the same roof. What a strange concept that we're all here, achieving the same goal.
I do think in the long run talking to somepony would be useful to cool off steam, but everypony here already has friends. Though I keep to myself because my nerves will send me in to a panic if I open my mouth.

Being aware of what's about to happen, terrifies me. I'm a good flier, but the rumors about what happened in last years exam make me shiver. One filly broke both her wings almost as soon as she took off, and the best in the class also failed.
I'm good, but there is the unavoidable fear of failure. The honor of being a Cloudsdale pegasus who didn't fail, small victory as it is, is unmatchable by anything else at this age. You can't do this twice, so to pass means that you are worthy of remaining the status of pegasus.

I look out to the course that we are all about to challenge. It doesn't look too difficult, but I don't wanna underestimate it incase I end up failing.

The wait seemed to take forever, only making my anxiety worse.

The Colt that I assume as the exam instructor, speaks in a loud voice that you might mistake as a megaphone.

"Now! Everypony participating in the Flight exam must pay your absolute attention to what I'm about to say. Otherwise you will fail, it is crucial for the passing of the exam that you open your ears." All heads turn towards him, alert. "I will call each of you by name, one at a time. At no point are you to close your wings for more than three seconds, you will fail if that is exceeded. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT fly too far west. If they lose sight of you for any reason, you will fail immediately. Take deep breaths, stretch your wings one last time. This test consists of three sections, weather clearing, agility, and finally recovery. Clear the clouds, fly through the hoops, and then fly to the end. Finally, recover before you hit the ground floor, understood? Any questions?" The instructor paused, and scanned the crowd for an answer. Everypony had their eyes glued on him, none were confused with the information. After all, they had been training and learning for this their whole lives. "Good, alright! Cherry Orange, you will be going first."

You could see the crowd splitting as somepony weaved through them.
A small Fillie popped out from the multitude.
She had red hair with orange stripes going through the middle complimenting a yellow coat.

I couldn't see her eyes, they were hidden behind her thick mane that she covered her face with.

She took position to take off, and with one swift push of her wings she was gone. She zipped and zoomed through the clouds, exploding them as they faded into invisible particles.

She was reaching the first hoop. It was coming closer, it was as if she could see through the pony's eyes.

But before we knew it, her back hoof caught on the edge of it, she overcorrected. Fluttering off balance the scared look returned to her face.

Now unsure, she tried another turn. Unfortunately, another mistake.

Wait, huh?

We all see something small fall into the row of clouds under the course, catching her. Only I didn't see her hit anything that would make her fall.

Did her muscles give up on her? That's the best solution I can think of.. but it doesn't make sense. She should of had enough adrenaline to keep her at least hovering to the end.

I get so lost in thought that the sound of everypony's names being called gets ignored in the process.

I feel someone shake me after who knows how long. I must've froze. "Hey, I think they're calling you." I look around and there are only a few left besides myself. Damn it, it's my turn.

I'm not in the right mindset but I have to do it or I'll automatically join the first filly. The failure. She is now known as less than pegasus. No, less than earth pony even. Nothing. The only real title for her now is Failure. It's harsh, but you have to earn your official status as a Cloudsdale pegasus. Now it's my turn to prove my place.

Drawn by me, the Author
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Hello you beautiful people :)
Hope you liked this, I really for real now am going to try and write more. This is something I'm very passionate about and I've done a lot of work on getting the story going
But anyway.. enjoy!