Rainbow Sparkle opened the door to her ground house in Ponyville. The wind blew her pink mane behind her.
The cyan pegasus turned her head to her dark green mailbox. Looked like she had mail.
Rainbow opened the small door to the mailbox. A plain white envelope was waiting inside. She gripped it with her teeth and shut her mailbox. She looked up. Pegasi were arranging storm clouds in the sky.
Must be preparing for a rainfall, Rainbow Sparkle thought. She shrugged her shoulders and walked back into her house.
Rainbow put the letter down on her table and looked at the stamp. It was from the Cloudsdale Flight School.
"Huh?" Rainbow Sparkle tilted her head. "Why is this adressed to me?"
She ripped open the envelope and carefully took out the letter. It read:
Dear Rainbow Sparkle,
The Cloudsdale Flight School has added new rules, most according to the final flight exam. We have created a rule for all pegasi to take the test. It comes to our attention that you have not taken your final exam.
As this is a required field, we will need you to take the final flight exam to know that you qualify.
Since you only took 2/3 of our education program, you will have two weeks to prepare yourself. Your test will be on June 17.
Sincerly,
The Cloudsdale Flight Education Program
Rainbow Sparkle gasped. "W-What?!" She cried. "I-I can't do it! And I only have two weeks to prepare!" Rainbow used her dark blue spectra-stained hoof to knock the letter off her table.
Rainbow Sparkle walked across the fluffy cloud pathway to her best friend Storm Song's house. She knocked on her door rather loudly. The door flew open, revealing a gray pegasus pony standing there. Her spiky blue, white, and black mane messy and slightly wet.
"Oh, uh.. hi Rainbow," She said sleepily. "Sorry, I'm kinda tired. We had a mess with rain cloud duty."
"It's fine," Rainbow Sparkle said. "Anyway, I have some really bad news."
"What?"
"Cloudsdale is making me take the final exam flight test!" Rainbow yelled. "And I only have two weeks to prepare! What am I gonna do?!"
Storm Song stood there, shocked.
After a while, she said, "It's okay, Rainbow! I'm sure you'll be able to do it! I can help you prepare."
"Thank you so much!" Rainbow wrapped her hooves around her friend in a hug.
"No prob." Storm smiled.
Storm Song and Rainbow Sparkle stood in an open grassy field.
"Okay," Storm Song said. "Let's get started. First, let's just do some wing-ups." Rainbow nodded and got herself on the ground. She slowly started to lift her weight with her dark blue wings.
"That's it!" Storm cheered. "Go Rainbow!" Rainbow Sparkle smiled slightly at her friend's encouragement. As she steadily started going faster, beads of sweat trickled down her face, and she started to pant.
"I'm..not.. used to...working my.. wings this hard..." She said through shaky breaths. Rainbow kept the pace up for a few more minutes before flopping onto the ground.
Storm Song held out a hoof to help her friend up. "It's okay. That's a good start. Hey, since it is on the test, how 'bout we try some cloud clearing exercises?" Rainbow nodded slowly.
Storm Song and her friend both stood on clouds that were fairly low to the ground.
"Okay, I'm gonna see how long it takes you to clear the patch of cloud over there." Storm said, pointing to some clouds in front of them.
"Got it!" Rainbow said,a slight tone of nervousness in her voice. Just as she opened her wings, a voice came from behind her.
"Trying to become less of a klutz, Rainbow? Let me give you some advice: it won't work."
Rainbow froze. It was Peppermint Spice, a pony who had bullied her in school.
"Oh shut up!" Storm Song yelled.
Peppermint flew over to Storm."You must be Storm Song. pleased to meet you! Always nice to meet another dork!"
Storm narrowed her eyes. "Leave us alone and no one gets hurt." She threatened.
"You're right!" Peppermint said in mock surprise. "If I'm not around losers, I'll be less likely to hurt them!"
"GO AWAY!" Rainbow yelled suddenly. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!"
"Well,well," Peppermint grinned. "Yelling at me, just like old times. Well, I'd better leave. See ya!" And with that, she flew off in a mint green blur.
"Don't listen to her, R.S." Storm reassured her friend. "She's just jealous that you're way more awesome than her."
Tears were brimming in the blue pegasus's pink and purple eyes. "Who are we kidding?! Peppermint's right. I'll never get better at flying, not now, not ever!"
"No." The gray mare stated firmly. "You WILL pass that flight test, I'll make sure of that! Now go clear those clouds!"
Rainbow wiped her eyes, smiled and nodded. She dashed over to the cloud patch and used her back legs to make them disappear. She was having a bit of trouble with speed, though. When she got back, Storm Song announced that she had cleared all the clouds in 45 seconds.
"It's pretty good, but could definitely use some work." She said. "I've heard that some pegasi could clear the sky in ten seconds flat." Rainbow grinned and tackled her friend in a tight hug.
"Thank you so much." She whispered.
