The Washout Program (My Little Pony)

03: Ten Bits

"So, what are we looking at here," Lightning heard her ex-captain, which would imply Lightning was formerly a wonderbolts if Spitfire weren’t such a stickler for regulations.

"This," Lightning emphasized on that word as she held out a hoof toward five hoops inclined from each other. "Is for the trick Gallus will be doing."

"Me," Gallus pointed at himself. "Alright, I'm ready."

"Not so fast, small beak," Lighting said. "You don't even know what you're doing."

"I just see five hoops," Spitfire said. "You gonna shoot him through them with a cannon or something?"

"Close," Lightning admitted. "But that wouldn't be awesome enough." Lightning withdrew a remote from a small saddlebag she carried. It held two buttons, and when she pressed a green one, all five of the hoops were suddenly inflamed with fire. "What Gallus is going to be doing is a trick I like to call 'The Phoenix Cannon'."

"Sounds cool," Smolder voiced. "But what's he doing exactly?"

"I'm getting to that," Lightning huffed at her impatient audience. She unfastened the saddlebag from herself and pushed a cannon to align in front of the hoops within yards of distance.

"So, you're just going to shoot through flaming hoops," Spitfire wondered. "Not gonna lie, I was kind of expecting more. Also, shouldn't you be wearing a helmet?

"You're always so little of faith," Lightning grumbled. "Just shut up and watch."

Lightning Dust lit the fuse of the cannon with a match and burrowed herself into the cannon. When the fuse was burned out, the cannon blasted her at high speed. Before passing through the first hoop, Lightning immediately began to twirl her body. The flames in each of the hoops latched upon Lightning as she carried them to the sky where she untwirled and flexed her body. Gallus and Smolder were at awe at the flames that coated her, giving her the appearance of a pegasus made of fire.

The flames dissipated almost immediately after she dazzled her students and then descended to the ground. Smolder and Gallus then rushed to her.

"That was so cool," Gallus voiced. "How'd you do that?"

"Yeah," Smolder said. "It looked like you were on fire, literally."

"All you have to do is coat yourself around some wind currents," Lightning explained. "Do that, and you can do whatever you want with the stuff around you. Easy, right?"

"Only if he's able to manipulate the currents that way he can," Spitfire voiced as she joined the group.

"I can totally do that," Gallus said. "I just have to do spins, right?"

“It's not a simple task Gallus,” Spitfire said. “We're going to have to take some steps to help you figure this out.”

"Why can't I do it," Smolder randomly asked.

"Where's the danger of a dragon flying through fire," Lightning asked. "But don't worry, I got something special for you."

"Wait," Gallus voiced. "Can't I try the trick first?"

"Not yet Gallus," Spitfire said. "I need to see this other trick first."

"Don't sound so unimpressed," Lightning voiced. "You have to admit that it was pretty cool."

"It being cool is not my concern right now," Spitfire said.

On another part of the field, Lightning presented her party to a long transparent pool. The group looked befuddled since the only thing they saw besides that was another cannon.