Before her alarm clock could even finish the first note, Twilight Comet was wide awake. With a practiced flick of her wing, she turned it off before rolling out of her bed to start her morning routine.

Making her way through the hayloft turned studio apartment, the pegasus made her way to the kitchenette and the refrigerator. Grabbing a blueberry turnover, she stuck it in the toaster oven to warm up. Next, she grabbed a bottle of juice (and made a mental note that she was going to have to get more), then made her way to the open loft door.

There she began her morning routine. First, her stretches: wings; legs; back; even neck and shoulders. All thoroughly stretched out and warmed up. Next were some basic exercises: push-ups, wing-ups, and crunches, currently at twenty-five each. By the time Twilight was finished, the turnover would have cooled enough to touch, but still be nice and warm. As she ate, she also did her weight training: each wing was stretched out as far as it could, with a small weight suspended from the tips. It would also allow her to watch the sunrise as she did.

With the warm-ups done, Twilight made her way to the edge of the loft door, her wings flicking and twitching to work out the strain from her weight work. As she stood on the edge, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting the crisp morning air of Sweet Apple Acres fill her lungs. There was always a hint of fresh apples in the morning dew.

Then she took off. With a flap of her wings, she jumped from the loft and into the air. Slowly, she drifted over the farm, allowing herself to relax and take in the peace of the early morning. It was as if she were the only pony in the whole world.

As always, a part of her was tempted to just enjoy the moment. To simply forget the rest of her morning exercise regiment and enjoy a casual relaxing flight. And as always, that part was acknowledge and out-voted. After all, there was a purpose to her exercises and discipline. She had to keep in shape and be a skilled flier.

The Wonderbolts did not accept slackers. Only the best of the best.

Reaching the fence line, Twilight Comet landed on one of the posts. Slowly she pulled her wings in, trying to balance on top without them. It always took some effort for that part, but she could do it. Once she was balanced with her wings tucked in, Twilight lowered herself into the ready position for racing.

`Three...two...one... GO!

Twilight pushed off hard, shoving against the post with all of her coiled strength. Her wings unfurled from her side and flapped with all her might, launching her forward. Her body kept tense as she pushed her front legs out before her and stretched her hind legs straight back.

Keeping close to the top of the fence, Twilight Comet followed along the length of it. Her eyes narrowed as her mind worked. She calculated her speed based off the regular spacing between each post, compared that to the known distance of the entire fence length from start to finish, took into account the ninety-degree turns at the corners, and ran that against the mental list she made of intended maneuvers for the day.

At the first corner, she turned to keep following the fence, trying to get the maneuver as tight and fast as possible in case she was ever on the inside of a pegasus formation or had to work with a narrow opening. Once she had regained the lost momentum and was at full speed again, she moved down to follow along the inside of the fence between two of the crossbeams.

Now!

Throwing herself hard, Twilight twisted her body. Her wings flapped hard one last time before pulling tight against her body.

Her body slipped back first right through one of the spaces in the fence, fitting between the poles and the crossbeams without actually hitting any of them (although not quite perfectly centered yet). On the other side of the fence, she continued her spin before getting back upright and snapped her wings back out again. Once properly oriented, she climbed up above the fence line again, centering herself above it.

Now for the aileron roll.

She adjusted her wings to send her into spiral, turning over and righting herself again. It was almost perfect, but she would have to do some more fine tuning.

And the barrel roll.

Again, she shifted her wings. This time she slowly turned as she made her way higher and higher up into the air. Her underside pointed outward as she went. For a moment, she was lined up with the morning sun, feeling the warmth of the light soaking into her stomach and chest. Then, the moment passed and she continued her slow, climbing turn until she was at the pinnacle and upside down.

As she started to move toward her descent, Twilight suddenly got the feeling that there was somepony else close by.

"Hey dweeb," a voice suddenly said. "What's up?"

The voice sounded somehow familiar, but Twilight could not place it right away. As was being called "dweeb." Only one creature had ever called her that so passively...

"Gilda?!" she cried out, eyes going wide as she saw the griffon flying above her.

"Boo."

Twilight's entire body tensed up at the sight of Gilda flying above her with that smirk on her face. Her wings straightened out and locked in place, which would have allowed her to glide if she had been flying straight to begin with.

Instead the angle and tension caused her controlled descent to make her lurch, throwing her off balance and shifting off position. With a yelp, she threw herself in the opposite direction, trying to get herself back in position. Instead it threw her further off, causing her to fly into the nearby orchard.

Eyes wide and body frozen, Twilight Comet could only watch as she flew directly into a tree.

There was a flash of light in front of her as she hit, the impact causing the entire tree to shake before Twilight fell to the ground. With a groan she lifted her head, trying to get back up.

An apple fell on her, then another, followed by dozens. What must have been three or four bushels worth dropped from the tree, and all of them directly onto Twilight Comet.

As she was being buried alive, she could hear the sound of laughter.

(If there was a theme song, this is where it would go)