The Exam of Horror

Paty Cake opened his eyes to a brand new day. The sky was pink and mood for most of the Pegasi was happy and joyful, but for Paty's classmates, tension was lingering in the air. The weight of the world was on Paty's back and the only way for him to get rid of it was to pass the Exam and live a normal life in the city. This was the day that would change his life, forever. There was predictably perfect weather and schools were closed. Paty felt uneasy and sick; his wing was still a little sore, but he could move it really well. He still had several hours before he had to go take the Exam so Paty decided to take another moment out of his life to go and look at the spectacular view of the Rainbow Factory. He flew over to his favorite camping spot with great ease and admired the Factory. The colorful streaks across the sky brightened his mood up and made him feel alive. More alive than a plant receiving water to help it survive. It felt like he was right at home for once. As his mind was drifting into a different universe, somepony woke him back up. "How can you look at that place in awe and sit there looking the world over like nothing is wrong. There is plenty wrong with a beautiful place such as Cloudsdale. Such a place believes in nothing but power. Don't you see that, Paty?"

Suddenly, Paty was somewhere else. He felt horrible; like he was...off. He looked at his surroundings to gain an idea of where he was. It was a large dark, foggy room. He couldn't quite make out much. He could tell this, though. He wasn't alone in that room. He could see the shapes of other ponies along with their color. When he looked in front of him, he was standing in front of a large panel like device which had many kinds of levers. On the side was a screen with some information he couldn't make out. He had never seen such strange technology before. He noticed how advanced it looked. He wanted to start shouting in discord but wasn't in full control over his body. It felt like he was supposed to do something important. He eyed one of the levers that was placed so strangely in front of him. It called to him like an instinct he was born with. The mood of the whole situation felt sinister. Something terrible was happening and Paty Cake had no control over it. It was then when he heard the words "Pull it". The instinct took control and he grabbed a tight hold on the lever. All Paty could do was watch. He felt a smile appear on his face. The lever brought great comfort to him, though Paty knew something evil was about to happen. He willfully pulled the lever with joy as screaming was heard echoing through his ears like a shock-wave blast of an explosion. Then Paty was at the viewing location that he was at in the first place. The Rainbow Factory was still gleaming in bright colors, but Paty's perspective of it changed. It didn't look like the happy place he thought of before. It looked uneasy and dark. Paty's joyful mood had died. Paty thought to himself in great confusion, "What just happened?"

He stood there frozen, telling himself that he was day dreaming, but a voice behind him said, "That was a picture of your home, Paty." He turned to his left and his jaw nearly hit the floor. He met eyes with himself. Paty almost didn't recognize the copy of himself that stood before him. The copy had a different, more blue shade of fur. His mane was messy and he had almost black bags under his eyes. He was wearing what looked like a weather factory suit, but it was drenched in a red liquid. The liquid was in his mane and fur, too. The most disturbing thing that Paty saw on his copy was the expression on its face. His eye's pupil was really small and he had a large crazed smile on his face. Paty blinked a few times and his copy disappeared out of thin air. His heart stopped for a moment, then started beating once again. He swallowed really hard while sweat rapidly soaked his purple fur.

"Stress is getting to me," he thought in his head. He took a good long look at the Factory. His heart sank and turned he away from it; something in his head just changed.

Paty Cake made it to the Arena where his class was taking the Flight Exam and got in line to get checked in. Thirty ponies were ahead of him, for he was the last one in line. Each pony that was in the front got some of their records checked and then was handed a number. One they received their number, they stepped inside the building. Paty waited for what felt like forever before he finally made it to the front door. Waiting for him was a massive desk full of files and one of the most straight faced ponies he had ever faced. Two narrow eye's looking deep into Paty's soul and it was a bit nerve racking. The pony Paty stood in front of looked at him heavily, making out every little detail. Then the pony finally said, "State your name." Paty looked at him with a great uneasiness.

"Paty Cake," he said as he shook out of pure nervousness. Then the pony started shuffling through a ton of paper work. Then the pony looked back at Paty.

"I noticed that you don't have your cutie mark. That's too bad... Most ponies without their cutie marks tend to fail more often." Paty looked back at him really upset.

"I'm sorry? What are you saying?" The pony smiled and laughed.

"You have got to be kidding me! I mean, how is it you were able to stay in your Academy this long? You don't even have your cutie mark!" Paty didn't dictate that with a response. He felt terrible now. How can somepony talk to him like that? It is a little understanding that Spree and Storm would. However, a pony that has lived much longer than Paty has? That's unbelievable!The pony that spoke horribly to Paty went back to shuffling papers and files. "Okay, here you are. File Number 77! Took long enough!" Paty narrowed his eyes.

"Well, maybe it wouldn't take so long if you hadn't spoken to me," he thought.

The pony pulled out a white strip of paper with the number 77 on it then smacked it hard on Paty's flank. "There's your cutie mark," the pony said laughing. Paty Cake wanted to hit him, but instead went into the Arena. Waiting for him was complete chaos. At the Starting line of the course was a disorganized crowd of ponies waiting to take their Exam. When Paty went into the crowed, he got a sinister stare from Spree and Storm. Paty looked back at them, laughing a little bit at Storm's black eye. After that, he took a brief moment to drink it all in. Though the course was about the same as the practice, there was some major differences. For one, the courses size was a lot larger than the one Paty has been training for. The course went from one side of the Arena to the next while the training course only went half way. Another difference that Paty was worried about was the fact that Section two was laid out completely differently. The hoops were placed in the most random of places. Some hoops were even closer to each other than others. Paty looked at the Section and swallowed really hard. Then he looked just above the course. There was a large desk with three ponies that were each holding a clipboard and a pencil. Paty knew instantly that those were the judges that decided if you passed or not. After that brief moment of looking at the course, a pony in an instructors uniform showed up at the Starting line.

"Hello everypony," she said. "I am the Whistle-blower. At the sound of my whistle, you will launch off of the Starting line and began your Flight Exam. However, before we can start, there are some important rules I must lay upon you. First, if you drop below the cloud layer, you will fail. Second, if you miss one of the hoops in Section two, you will fail. Third, if you miss the time to start free falling, you will fail. Four, if you run out of time before you complete the course, you will be failed. If a cloud leaves its position after being spun, you will fail. You only have twenty seconds to complete the course. Do you have any questions?" Paty looked around to see if anypony raised their hoof, but not a single one did. "Very well then, I will call out your numbers in order," the Blower said. "Once your number has been called, step up to the Starting line, get into your launch position and wait for my whistle." The number 47 was called and somepony stepped up to the line. Paty did the math and realized that he was taking the Exam last. It set his mind to ease a little bit, but the pressure was still on. Paty looked over to Storm and Spree. Spree was number 75 and Storm was numbered 76.

Paty sighed and took a look at his progress in the waiting list. One pony after another took the Exam and made it look like a piece of cake. Unfortunately, number 52 hit one of the hoops and got a serious injury. The Blower looked at him with great shame. "You have missed a hoop, therefore, you have failed your Flight Exam. Go outside and wait by the East Gate." The sad Pegasus flew out of the Arena. Then the Exams continued. Some passed like it was nothing and others failed with great uttered shame. Finally, it was Spree's turn. The pony walked up to the Starting line with a smile of pride written on his face. He entered his launch position and the whistle blew. He zipped away from the line and went through each Section like a lightning bolt and made it to the Finish line. "Number 76, step up please," the Whistle-blower said. Storm stepped up to the line, got in his launch position, then waited for the turned to Paty, who was sitting only six feet away from him.

"Like a dart," he laughed. The whistle blew, and Storm was immediately off the Starting line. He was facing the first Section, spinning each cloud at a rapid pace. With only a few seconds, all three clouds were spinning really fast in place. Storm then started dodging hoops while flying as fast as he could. Paty lost track of the directions Storm was going while the judges and Whistle-blower eyed him real closely. Storm made it through the hoops and flew over to the third Section.

"C'mon Storm, you can do it," Spree shouted. When Storm made it to the marker, he closed his wings and begun to free fall. Three seconds later, he dashed forward and landed clean on the Finish line.

"Come over here Number 76," the Blower said.

Storm flew back at the Starting line to meet with her. He landed and said to Paty with great joy, "I told you I would pass, Paty Blank."

The Whistle-blower then said, "Number 76, you have missed one of the hoops, therefore, you have been failed." Storm was surprised.

"What, I hit every one of those hoops. How can you sit there and tell me that I..." then the Blower cut him off.

"Go outside and wait by the East gate, right now." Storm begun crying.

"Please give me another chance, I only missed one hoop! Please!"

"I said to go to the East Gate right now," the Blower said. She pointed to the East door of the Arena. Storm looked at Spree with teary eyes, but Spree turned away in shame and left the Arena. Storm flew away toward the East door and Paty was up next.

"Okay Number 77, it's your turn."

Paty walked up to the Starting line and thought to himself, "treat it like a game and believe in myself. I have this! I can do this!" He got in his launch position, waiting for the blow of the whistle. His wing was still sore, but he could easily fly. Then, after training for a year and waiting for his fate, the whistle blew and Paty Cake was off in an instant. The adrenaline kicked in, the breeze rushed through his mane like a current and the world became a blur. Just a second later, he was already wrapping around the first cloud as he quickly as he could. The first cloud started spinning with him and Paty could only see one face of the cloud as he flew around it, so then he jumped to the next one, repeating the same process. He knew exactly what he was doing, taking each one of the three clouds on a joy ride. "This is good, your doing good," he thought out loud as he dove for the next Section. He slowed his speed down so he could make out each hoop that came to him. Dodging up, down, left, right, his focus was only on the course just like in his training. His speed was quick, his heart racing with joy and pride as he neared the end of the second Section. Then, suddenly, a huge wave of discomfort overwhelmed him. The already blurry hoops started spinning around him. His head started pound with pain. His entire body was corkscrewing through the air in the middle of a bunch of hoops. He felt dizzy, and his focus was completely shattered. With a blink of an eye, he slammed into one of the hoops with great shear force, then he fell silently down to the cloud surface. A large thud was heard, and everything around him went dark.