„Wake up.“
The soft voice and gentle nudge woke me up from a beautiful dream, where my dearest wish came true – I became a member of the Wonderbolts, together with Rainbow Dash.
I opened my eyes and saw my mom at the side of my bed.
„Come on, you don’t want to be late,“ she said and left the room.

It took me only a few seconds to realize what day it was today.
I looked at my nightstand, where were photos of each Wonderbolt and one of Rainbow Dash.

My name is Fire Trail.
I am a racer and an aerobat.
Just like they are.

„Yeah… I don’t.“

I somehow managed to leave my warm and oh-so-comfortable bed and stumble into the bathroom, where I splashed cold water in my face to actually wake myself up.
A while with a brush managed to tidy up my completely messed up, jet black mane. After a few seconds I stopped and looked into the mirror. The reflection of a fiery orange pegasus looked back into my eyes and smiled.

„Today’s your day, Fire Trail. You learned and practiced for this day for as long as you can rememeber. There’s no way you could screw up now.“

And it was true. I had always dreamed of this happening – „this“ being the Wonderbolts holding a race, and the winner would take a place among them.

Of course, it wasn’t a regular race – the prize being far too high. There will be a vast amount of competition, at least a hundred contestants. The winner will have to earn it and show all their skills in the process. Everypony will do their best. As will I. The only difference is that my best is a little bit better than theirs.

I forced myself to stop thinking about it and went to the kitchen to get a little something to eat.

My mother was already there, and she was preparing a breakfast for my father.
”I made you a salad,” she said and motioned to a small bowl resting on a table. “You shouldn’t eat anything too heavy, as it could affect your flight.”
”Yeah, I know. Thanks, mom,” I said and sat at the table.
”Remember what I taught you.”
The moment she said it, memories started to flash before my eyes.

My mom looked down at me and smiled. I was just a little colt back then. She just came home from the School for Gifted Unicorns, where she worked as a teacher. But not only that – she studied magic and was a respected researcher.
“I know about your passion for flight; for speed,” she said.
“I love flying. It is the purpose of my life, and I will get a cutie mark for it!” I exclaimed.
“I could help you to be better than most pegasi are. It will be very difficult and you will have to learn and practice a lot, but it will be worth it. If you want to, of course.”
“Why do you even ask? Of course I do!” I answered, with impatience in my voice.
“All right. Sit down, and I will tell you,” she agreed, sitting beside me and starting to explain to me that every pony, even earth ponies and pegasi have magic inside them, only unicorns being able to willingly use it. She told me that the magic inside earth ponies made them stronger and sturdier than us and the magic inside us pegasi helped us to fly. She said something about our wings being too small in comparison to our bodies and not being strong enough to carry us on their own, thus having magic which made flight possible and, in fact, quite easy.
“And how does that help me? I never heard of a pegasus or an earth pony using it.” I questioned.
“Because they can’t control it. It is naturally present in them, but they do not feel it. We are doing a research on this, and we are beginning to understand how we could help you harness and use the power inside of you willingly.”
“Well... okay?” I said, a little bit confused.
She reached her head to mine, and touched my forehead with her horn. There was a flash of darkness, and suddenly I was standing... somewhere, in an open space, and I felt my mother’s presence in my mind. And more importantly, all of her magic. It was... overwhelming.
“I will now send a little bit of my power to your wings. Try to remember how it felt, you will later try to do that with your own,” I heard her voice in my mind.
I stood still and waited for something to happen.
“Mom? I don’t feel anything,” I said after a while, a bit unsure.
“Really? Well, I guess I will just have to send you more power.”
Few seconds later I started feeling a tingling sensation in my wings. I looked at them, and the were faintly glowing orange, the color of both my and my mother’s coat.
“I feel it. What now?” I asked.
“I will send it from your wings to the rest of your body. Remember how it felt in your wings, you will later try to move the force back into them.”
The tingling sensation started to flow into my back, and from there to the rest of my body. It was quite... pleasant.
“Trail... focus. Use your will to get a gentle grip on that force, and push it into your wings.”
I closed my eyes, and very slowly and carefully tried to move the force in me to where it was supposed to be. With no effect, of course.
“Don’t be upset. Not even a unicorn could do that on their first try. You will just have to practice.”
The space I was in faded into the darkness and I woke up back in my room, my mom beside me. She lightly nuzzled me and smiled. “You can do it. I felt a very light touch on the magic I gave you, just like a foal’s first steps. You are on the right way. Just be patient.”

And patient I was. It took me less than a month to understand how to move the small amout of magic my mother sent into my body, and another two months to learn how to keep it in my wings. What took me the longest, however, was to start feeling and actually using my own magic. My mom was right – it was so natural that I couldn’t feel it in me at first. Only after long periods of concentration and meditation I was able to get a grip on a small amount of it, much smaller than the force field my mother gave me in my first lecture. Manipulating it, however, was a lot easier, just like moving my legs or wings.

I tried to actually fly while willingly using my magic several times, with various results, most of them being very painful and ending with broken bone or two. On the other hoof, when I managed to use it correctly, I jolted forward, leaving everypony else far behind me, wondering how the hay I did that. The feeling when I flapped my magic-enhanced wings was glorious, shooting me forward a hundred times faster than usual. If only I were able to use it for a prolonged period of time... I found myself exhausted everytime I successfully used enough of it to achieve the boost in my flight speed. But as my mother said, it would all come, given enough time.

My father also helped me. It was him who taught me to fly, and it was him who now taught me how to deal with the high speed I was now able to reach. When I was able to keep up with him, he began to show me some stunts he taught himself, some of them obviously originating from the Wonderbolts. I knew their every move, their every trick, their every stunt, so it was not hard to see the similarity. He could replicate them so precisely and effortlessly that I sometimes wondered how it was possible that he wasn’t in their ranks. Only once have I asked him about that, and I regretted it immediately after. The pain and sorrow in his eyes were much more visible than he’d normally show, and he did not say a single word for the rest of the day. Even his movements during flight became... heavy, lifeless. I made a mental note to find out what happened someday. After every day with him, I could fly a little bit faster and more effortlessly, allowing me to concentrate more on using my magic.

I practiced every single day, for several years – sometimes with and sometimes without him. And today was the time to put all the skill I gained into use. It was time to make both my parents and myself proud.

“Come on, you’re going to be late if you keep staring into forever like this,” my mom said, smiling.
“Yeah... right,” I muttered and started to quickly eat my breakfast.
I have never had problems with nervousness, and I never understood why some of my friends could not eat before the race – or actually do anything before the race because of their stage fright. I actually kind of enjoyed it. The light feeling of butterflies in my stomach and the knowledge that hundreds of ponies are looking at me motivated me. Every time I was determined to give them what they wanted to see, and I did. The sheer amout of trophies in my room spoke for themselves. Yet... today was different. Today’s race could change my entire life, and that’s why I was looking forward to it more than ever.
The race started in Cloudsdale and we took a carriage to get us there.