The Wonder of Flight
Chapter One
The floating city of Cloudsdale had always been prone to weather problems. In fact, so had all of Equestria. This had of course been remedied a bit when the weather teams came into play, though, and every Pegasus had to do their part to control the weather. After all, without the Pegasi controlling the weather, it would be out of control, and Equestrian society would be plunged into chaos. So, the Pegasi took on the burden of controlling the weather from the skies.
Such was the tradition from even the days before the princesses came to rule.
On this day, a drizzle had been scheduled in the city of clouds, and the blue stallion had no problem with that at all. Sleeping in the rain was one of his favorite things to do. He was curled up on his favorite cloud, a sort of makeshift tent of clouds around him. After working all day, he deserved a rest, and the soft sound of the raindrops on the cloud roof acted like a lullaby, keeping him in his dream state.
That was, until a downpour hit him.
The blue pegasus jolted awake, surprised by the sudden rainfall. He coughed, and pushed his suddenly wet mane out of his eyes. What had happened? He'd made sure that he was sheltered before he went to sleep. There shouldn't have been a drop getting through, let alone the thousand that was now falling on him!
"Sleeping on the job, Soarin?"
He looked up, seeing an orange and yellow mare laughing at him. Her mane and coat were soaked, and it was obvious how long she'd been out in the rain. Unlike Soarin, Spitfire didn't mind the rain so much. She tossed the bit of cloud that had made the roof to him, and he glowered at her.
"No." Soarin said defensively, "I finished my job. I was resting. Why'd you have to go and ruin my nap, Spitfire?"
"That's my specialty." Spitfire said with a wink, hovering in front of Soarin, her nose close to his, "Come on, Soarin let's go flying! It's really good exercise for your wings to fly when your body is all wet." She batted her eyes, giving him a pleading look. "We can see how fast we can go without getting any more wet. It'll be a blast!"
Soarin frowned at her, turning to try and salvage his cloud tent that she'd ruined, keeping his wings tightly folded to his side. "No thanks. I was on weather duty. I've had enough flying for today."
"But we're pegasi! Flying is what we do!"
"Not when I've already had to fly all day to get the clouds in perfect shape for the rain..." Soarin said, finishing the tent and curling back up in his shelter.
Spitfire was always ready to fly. Even when she'd been on weather duty all day. Soarin didn't understand it. Didn't she ever get tired? Didn't her wings ever get sore? He didn't mind it usually, especially on the says when he was off, but today...He just wanted to go back to sleep.
Spitfire sighed, poking her head into the tent "Please Soarin? Fleetfoot and Surprise won't fly with me..."
"Maybe because they don't like flying in the rain either."
"We can get pie afterwards." Soarin's ear twitched. "I'll buy. I promise."
Soarin opened an eye to see the mare's big orange eyes giving him a pleading look. He sighed, sitting up and opening his wings. Slowly, he flew out of the tent, and watched as Spitfire's expression lit up with a huge smile. "Just for a little while." The stallion said, poking her nose with his hoof. "Race you around the city!"
In a blue streak, the stallion raced off, and after a laugh, he was followed by a yellow streak. The two pegasi raced around the city of clouds so fast that the raindrops barely hit them. Flying this fast, feeling the wind in his mane as he propelled himself through the sky was a great rush. Usually pegasi never flew this fast, because it was dangerous, but Soarin and Spitfire loved it.
They raced over the rooftops of the buildings in the city, zipping around the taller buildings and whittling around the weather factory. Seeing Spitfire below him, Soarin dove down, zooming past her and up again only to be passed by an orange blurr. The two of them knew the course that they'd made for themselves that wove through Cloudsdale, and racing at night was perfect since there were barely any ponies on the street.
Before long they were both almost completely dry from the speed. By the end of it, they were walking into the Cloudsdale bakery. Their wings were burning with the exercise, but they were also laughing, coming down from the adrenaline rush.
"Told you it would be fun." Spitfire said.
Soarin was more winded than her, trying to catch his breath as he sat down on a cushion. His wings were so sore that he couldn't close them without them hurting, but somehow he didn't feel bad at all. Maybe it was because of Spitfire's smile. Or the pie that she happily sat in front of him.
"Thanks for flying with me Soarin." She said, "It seems like nopony ever wants to go flying lately. You only see pegasi in the sky if they're working."
"Well..." Soarin said with his moth full. "Ca you brame dem?" He swallowed, "Controlling the weather is hard work and usually takes all day. Even the best flyer is going to get tired."
"Yeah I guess..." Spitfire said with a sigh, "Still...Flying is such a great feeling. It's supposed to be fun..."
Soarin paused, "Well, maybe if more ponies see flying the way you do it would be."
Spitfire blinked, and slowly smiled, looking at the blue stallion with a mouth full of pie with a spark in her eye.
Uh-oh. Soarin knew that look, "Was dat look fer?"
"Come on!" Spitfire said, grabbing his hoof and dragging him out the door.
"Wait! I didn't finish my pie!"
"I'll get you more later just COME ON!"
~~
Fleetfoot and Surprise didn't seem to be woken up any more than Soarin did. Still, they dealt with it. Spitfire seemed more fired up than any of them had seen her before, so it had to be important. They all gathered back at Soari's favorite cloud, the makeshift tent expanded to be more like a clubhouse for the four of them.
"So, what's so great that you had to get us all together for?" Fleetfoot asked.
"Yeah. I didn't even get to eat the big marshmallow in my dream..." Surprise whined, rubbing her eyes.
"Soarin and I thought of a way to make flying more fun for everypony!" Spitfire said excitedly, her eyes wide with excitement and the feathers of her wings bristling slightly.
Soarin blinked, "We did?"
"Yes! You're the one who said if more ponies saw flying like I did then they'd have more fun with it."
"Yeah, but I don't --"
"Then it's settled! We're all going to form a flying team!"
Author's Note
And there's chapter one. I thik I'll wait to see what everyone thinks before posting another one since I feel like this one is slightly weak...Anyways, I hope you enjoy!
Wonder of Flight
Chapter Two
The other Pegasi looked at the orange mare as if she were crazy. Spitfire had been known to have wacky ideas before, but nothing like this.
"You're kidding right?" Fleet foot asked, immediately turning to Soarin, "She's kidding right?"
"Of course not!" Spitfire exclaimed.
Soarin remained silent as Fleetfoot frowned, "Come on, Spitfire. There haven't been flying teams in ages. We'd all be too tired from our weather duties to train, and nopony will ever sponsor us. Think logically."
"I am. We can all practice on our days off. Individually if we have to. Somepony around will sponsor us I'm sure!"
"It might be fun." Surprise said, a doubtful smile on her face. "But it might be hard to find some pony to sponsor us, or even get the days off. We're always so tired after weather duty..."
"Exactly. That's why we have to make this happen." Spitfire insisted, her voice much firmer. "Don't you guys remember watching the Razor Streaks and Team Highwind? How excited we were to begin flying as fillies?"
"Yeah, but then those teams disbanded and reality set in. Face it, Spitfire, flying just isn't fun when you have to do it to clear clouds all day. Don't you just want to go home and rest after a day of weather duty?"
"I do, Fleetfoot, but that's my point. Nopony thinks flying is fun because no one is flying for fun anymore. Our team would change that! We can show ponies just how fun flying is, just like we thought when we were fillies...Don't you guys think so too?"
There was a silence for a while. Spitfire's heart slowly sank. Her gaze fell to the cloud that served as the floor to their tent. The other two mares were letting the orange pegasus's words churn in their heads. It was crazy, but it somehow felt right.
There was a sneeze, and all three mares turned to Soarin, who had stayed quiet the entire time. He blinked "What?"
"What do you think about Spitfire's idea?" Fleetfoot asked.
"Do you think she's crazy, or do you think we should go for it?" Surprise added.
Soarin suddenly felt small under the gazes of the mares "Wh-why am I suddenly the one who decides?" He asked, not used to being the leader. In fact, none of them were. But they were all looking at him with such hopeful expressions that Soarin felt obligated to give his thoughts.
"Well..." He started timidly, "It does sound insane. I mean, the Razor Streaks and Team Highwind disbanded when we were still fillies...But I do remember that feeling. Of wanting to be in the air and never come down...I even wanted to be part of Team Highwind..." He paused, giving them each a look, "Let's go for it."
The mood lifted immediately, and even Fleetfoot had an excited smile on her face, "Well we better find a sponsor."
"Oo oo! I know of a pony who might sponsor us!" Surprise said excitedly.
"Then it's decided. Tomorrow we go talk to them." Soarin said, putting his hoof out for the others. "We'll make a pact to never give up on this. Promise?"
"Promise." They said, as their hooves fell on Soarin's.
"What are we going to call ourselves?" The stallion asked.
Spitfire laughed. "We'll figure it out."
