Talk:The Wonderbolts/@comment-2170890-20120518185510/@comment-67.161.9.148-20120523205327

At most a trainee, I would say. The Mane 6 probably are in their mid- to late teens, which is plausible for a society in the throes of an Industrial Revolution, but even in the nineteenth century real-world military forces tended to place age limits on inductees—usually fourteen (for navies) to sixteen (for armies).

Why does that matter? It seems likely that the Wonderbolts are an élite team of Royal Guard pegasus ponies, given their flight gear and especially the military-uniform blouse-and-tie ensemble sported by Soarin’ in the wedding photograph. The three hash marks on his sleeve may be a rank insigne indicating, possibly, a rank of lieutenant colonel. (Spitfire may carry the next rank up—colonel—which is very plausible for the billet of team captain.)

Real-world military aerobatic teams tend to feature pilots in their thirties whose ranks are in the range of captain to colonel (for air forces) or senior lieutenant to captain (for navies), and who have distinguished themselves as being among the service’s best pilots and officers. Based on that, my guess is guardsponies likely would be assigned to the Wonderbolts team, and even then only after years of other duties proving their ability, maturity, loyalty, and teamwork.