Celestia's sun shone through painted glass of the slowing train coming pulling into the station. The warm rays stirred the sleeping cyan mare awake from her little nap. She let out a long, tired yawn as the train pulled into the station. It wasn't the first time she slept in the slow vehicle when traveling from Cloudsdale to wherever she had to go, but it was her first time coming to Ponyville.

All those other trips were to see the Wonderbolts in action! From their races in Canterlot to their Airshows in Manehatten, she was there. She always saved enough money to make it to each event from her job as a Weather Pony in Cloudsdale. Even though this type of lifestyle prevented her from living in luxury or cheaply, the extensive studying of her idols in action in the grand spotlight was going to pay off all her debt in the end, and with her promotion to Weather Manager for Ponyville. It's just a matter of time before she could become a Wonderbolt herself.

Steeling herself from her dreams for a moment, she stood up and stretched properly. 'Alright Rainbow Dash! Ponyville is your new home. The Cloudhouse Dad bought will arrive in a few days, so we'll be staying with Fluttershy until then,' she reminded herself. 'Huh, I haven't seen her in years. I hope she doesn't mind me mooching off of her for a bit.'

"Welcome to Ponyville!" exploded the train conductor through the intercom, starting the rainbow-maned Pegasus from her thoughts. She frowned at the little white box above the door before grabbing her bags from underneath the bench in her room.

"Population: one-thousand. Home of the Ponyville Timberwolves Hockey team, and actual Timberwolves! Don't worry, though! Ponyville is located within Canterlot's Township and thus has a prominent Guard presence, however. As a reminder to all visitors from Captain Steelwing: "All ponies are to stay clear from the Everfree Forest unless you want to die. If you want to go foraging for the plentiful herbal plants located within? Then please talk to our Herbalist and local Zebra, Zecora."

"Now, today's weather is forecasted to be..." the conductor continued, but Rainbow Dash didn't care for that since she already knew, however. She found it surprising that the little town in the middle of the country was one-third of the population away from being classified as a city, but that also meant more ponies to see what an amazing flier she was.

As the train made its stop, Rainbow trotted out of her room with her suitcase rolling behind her with a smile on her face and plan in mind. 'First, I'll "wow" these townies with some simple tricks and feats of speed. Then I'll find the fastest Pegasus in town and beat him or her in a race, and once I've firmly planted myself as the Boss of Weather in Ponyville. My dream of becoming a Wonderbolt is that much closer!'

The town of Ponyville was a quiet little place. Ponies from all tribes walked among the thatched roofed homes carrying various things on their person, to visiting each other at one of the many parks within the town. Fillies and Colts ran around playing their games, their parents working at their respective jobs with babysitters trying to keep up with the little balls of energy. Rainbow saw this and more while trotting from the station to her meet-up with Fluttershy at the Bounding Bunny Cafe.

Some of the things she saw shocked her, the most prominent of which were the amount of Griffons living within Ponyville. Within the first few blocks from the station, while passing by carts, stores, and many different types of food stalls, she counted at least one-hundred Griffons talking and flying around.

Her jaw went slack when one Griffon nuzzled an Earth Pony stallion with a little Hippogriff bouncing around her paws. 'Not only more Griffons in one place than Las Pegasus, but ones that mix!?' Rainbow gawked for a moment at the sight since the most Griffons she's seen in one place never left the single-digits.

Shaking herself from the culture shock, another thing was quick to replace the disbelief, and that was in the form of a Pink blur that stopped in front of her, gasped, then ran away faster than her eyes could track. The sheer impossible speed of the pink Earth Pony was almost too much for the rainbow-maned Pegasus, that was until she found where she was supposed to meet her foal-hood friend.

Stationed on the corner of Baker Dr and Bunny Wy, was a large, white, two-story building with a revolving door located at the corner. What was shocking about it was that the architecture was modeled to look like a giant, cutesy bunny with a sign placed on one of the two, protruding ears of the building with the name, Bounding Bunny Cafe, emblazoned on it in text only a filly would write.

'And this is where Fluttershy was waiting for me? In this dump for babies?'

Rainbow gagged at the thought of being seen near the building let alone in it. Her currently non-existent reputation would start out down the drain if anypony of importance saw her enter the girly Cafe, but she had too, her best friend since Flight Camp was waiting for her and she wasn't going to ditch her because of some "Fluffy" cafe.

'Alright Dash, just go in, ask for a place to stay, and get out before her place-holder catches wind of you. Then find the best flier in town and show them who's boss.' Swallowing her pride for the sacrilege of her coolness, she walked through the glass doors and immediately regretted the decision.

Her cyan fur turned several shades of red when a light gray mare with a charcoal-colored mane and tail dressed in a Playpony bunny suit walked up to her with a noticeable bounce in her step. Her blushing face turned even brighter when the mare in question tilted her head in a certain way, showing that her tail was tied up to look like a rabbit's signature cottontail, and making her look even more "cute" than what Rainbow was prepared for.

With her mind on shutdown, Rainbow didn't even realize that the mare in front of her was talking. It took several attempts as well as a smack upside the head with the mares stack of menus to pull Rainbow from her stupor and make her sound like an idiot.

"Wut?" dumbly said with a nervous flutter of her wings. The gray mare in front of her rolled her eyes and spoke again in a posh, high Canterlotian accent that those snobs spoke in the grand capital of Equestria.

"I said while you were staring at my uniform like a virgin stallion, 'Do you have a reservation, or is someone here waiting for you?'"

"I-I-I'm not a virgin! I know foals come from the Great Cloud Carriage from the North!" Rainbow blabbered out, earning herself a few snickers from a few close by ponies, the hostess in front of her included.

"As much as I want to tease you about your lack of knowledge in that particular field of Pony Biology, I'm afraid I have work to do. Now! Do you have a reservation, or is someone waiting for you?" the hostess repeated. This time, with a lot more embarrassment, Rainbow Dash shakily gave the mare a slip of paper, telling the hostess that Fluttershy was waiting for her somewhere in the Cafe.

"Ah! Lady Fluttershy is sitting in the quiet area upstairs. Would you like me to take you, or can you find her on your own?" the hostess asked politely.

Taking back the piece of paper, Rainbow decided that further embarrassment were to be avoided at all cost. She looked around the front of house, quickly finding a set of open stairs leading up to where the quiet area was. With a nervous smile, she replied.

"I-I can find her on my own. Thanks, Miss...?"

"Octavia Melody, or Miss Melody," Octavia replied with a smile.

"Yeah, sure. See you later Miss Melody," Rainbow thanked before proceeding at a rapid pace up the stairs, hoping that nothing else embarrassing would happen.

The top floor, much to Rainbow's relief, looked like an "actual" Cafe lounge. Several couches, recliners, beanbag chairs, and pillows were placed in an orderly pattern on the hardwood flooring. Near each chair was a table of some kind, most of which shared the same light brown color as their respective furniture. The only seats that didn't have a table were the beanbag chairs, which look exclusively for reading and not drinking or eating.

Light blue walls and ceiling gave a calming contrast to all the subdue browns and grays of the top floor. At the far end of the room, Rainbow saw a counter where another mare in a bunny suit sat watching the few ponies lounging around without a care in the world as she made coffee or tea from her insanely large collection of jugs and containers lined in such a way behind her on the shelves against the wall, that anypony can come into the Cafe and find exactly what they wanted within seconds, but as much as she wanted to try an exotic brew. She didn't have the time.

Looking around the room more thoroughly, Rainbow Dash found Fluttershy reading a book on one of the collections of pillows surrounding a table in the corner of the room.

Rainbow froze once more, a lump forming in her throat. It has been so long since she's seen the butter-yellow Pegasus, she didn't realize how pretty Fluttershy was in comparison to her more tomcoltish build. Her long, soft pink mane flowed over her eloquent features like water cascading over a sparkling diamond. Her long, fluffy, yet, combed tail, curled around her like an awaiting majestic feline from the jungle. Not to mention her yellow coat that shone as bright as the sun. And her wings! Her big, soft wings hugged her body like a protective blanket and looked just as cozy to curl under for warmth and love.

In Rainbow's eyes, Fluttershy was the very definition of what makes a mare beautiful. She could only dream of having a body like hers, however. Training to becoming a Wonderbolt meant having more muscle than baby fat, so for her to work on being naturally pretty through careful dieting and exercise was out the window.

'She...She also looks more confident with herself. Has living on her own in Ponyville by her lonesome help with her shyness or something else?' Rainbow wondered as her eyes lingered on her friend's curvaceous flank. 'Wait...Oh, Celestia, I was checking her out!? I'm not a filly-fooler! Rainbow, pull yourself together!' Slapping herself free from her impure thoughts of burying her face in her friend's plump rump, she slowly, and shakily walked up to the preoccupied mare reading a book.

"H-Hey, Fluttershy," Rainbow coughed, earning the attention of the mare in question almost immediately. "How's it going?"

Fluttershy, startled from the sudden noise directed at her, looked up from her book to find a shuffling, cyan Pegasus looking at her with nervous look plastered on her face. Her light blue eyes widened in shock before jumping up from her pillow, pulling Rainbow into a bone crushing embrace.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash It's been so long!" Fluttershy exclaimed quietly. "How is Firefly and Rainbow Blitz? Are your parents alright?" Struggling to find air to breathe, Rainbow tapped her friend on the back.

"Fluttershy...can't...breathe...!"

"I'm sorry!" Fluttershy squeaked, letting go of Rainbow Dash in the process. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Taking a few moments to recuperate from Fluttershy's death grip of a hug, she made a mental note to figure out what kind of shampoo that can cut through the stench of animals since her workout routine left her sweaty and disgusting for most of the day.

"I'm...I'm fine, just a little crushed is all," Rainbow huffed. "How about you?"

"I'm doing great, as well as all my animal friends. Thank you for asking," Fluttershy blushed apologetically as her friend sat down on one of the pillows. "And...Um...Sorry if I hurt you. Sometimes I forget how strong I can be at times."

"It's fine," she smiled as Fluttershy sat back down. Taking this as her opportunity to learn about the town she was moving into, Rainbow got comfortable for a long overdue talk with her best friend. "Anyway, care to tell me what's life like in Ponyville?"

"Well....I...I can try," Fluttershy replied sheepishly.

"I moved here after..."

Minutes turned into hours as Fluttershy talked about everything since the day she first moved into the small town a few years ago, and Rainbow listened to every word in earnest. She laughed every time a mare named Pinkie Pie was involved in part of Fluttershy's story, and she cringed whenever she talked about her spa dates with one of her new friends named Rarity.

Rainbow could never have imagined that Ponyville was more diverse and alive than the backwater town in the middle of nowhere she's heard about back in Cloudsdale. From parties hosted by Pinkie Pie and or a DJ named Vinyl Scratch, to housing some of the best fliers in Equestria, which she highly doubts.

She knew all the best fliers by heart and not once had she heard of Cloudchaser, Thunderlane, Razor, Bullet Time, Silver Arrow, and definitely not a mare named Hawkfire. 'Like seriously, did she change her name to mimic Spitfire like a crazy fangirl?' she mused. 'I bet she's the type of filly to gush about dolls and frilly dresses and gossip about boys.' When Fluttershy couldn't convince her that it was true, she moved onto other topics like about the Apple Family.

'Apple Jack. Now there's a pony I can find a good challenge in,' Rainbow praised as Fluttershy went on and on about how the Apple Family managed the biggest apple orchard in Equestria. 'All those apples and only three ponies. She must be one tough cookie.'

There were other things of note that Rainbow found interesting, mostly things about Fluttershy herself. Apparently, Fluttershy was close friends to the mare known as Hawkfire, and they hung out and played on the Nerd Machine like complete dorks. Not that Fluttershy was a dork or anything. Rainbow just couldn't understand why going "pew, pew, pew," on a T.V was fun. Now Air Hockey. That, right there, was fun!

What's the point of playing games that didn't involve sweat and real skill? The rush of racing down the field with a pole with a little net at the end meant for the ball or "puck" as it was called, around your opponents above the ground a few hundred hooves in the air was beyond amazing! The rush, the adrenaline, the cheer of the crowd when you score a goal. No Dork Machine can compete with that. 'And if this Hawkfire is into that then she's definitely not worth my time. This Wonderbolt in training needs friends that can keep up with her. Though, it's nice to see somepony that can keep up with Fluttershy. She needs more ponies like her in her life.'

A few others things that Rainbow found interesting about her foalhood friend was her career involving animals, and how she was going for her Veterinary license. How she was friends with the mare in the bunny suit downstairs, but as shocking as that was, her plans of making sure that Octavia wasn't using her would have to wait for a bit. And the last thing she found of interest (Not really) was how Hawkfire claimed to know Spitfire personally, and how she managed to get Fluttershy on believing her.

"Look, Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash paused to take a sip of her energy drink. "As cool it is to know that Hawkhead gives you flying lessons, I though you can do better than a dork that lives in their mom's basement playing on a Dork Machine."

"Well, if you meet her, you can see how 'Not a dork' she is," Fluttershy argued meekly. "Then you two can be friends and race each other. Not that I don't want you racing Applejack or anything."

Rolling her eyes, Rainbow figured that she should at least humor her friend just to prove her point and that she'd be better off learning from her rather than a mare that wears a Bunny suit and plays video games all day. Once she shows that she is better, then she can get back on track on her goal of becoming a Wonderbolt.

"Fine, when can I meet her?" Rainbow asked dryly with a flick of her tongue.

"You can meet her right now if you want too, that is," answered immediately, earning a frown and groan combo from the rainbow-maned Pegasus.

"Well, I have time right now. Where is she so I can get this over with?"

"Get what over with?" spoke a new voice in a seductive, tomcoltish, alto that could melt steel with just her words and her words alone.

Nearly jumping out her seat, Rainbow turned around to see a short, silver-white Pegasus mare wearing a black and purple bunny suit that hugged her jaw-dropping athletic curves so tightly, that she couldn't help but feel like an invalid just looking at them. The new pony had a wildly-wolfish, two-toned azure mane that came down past her shoulders with fox-like curves as well as bangs combed over her right eye; with red paintbrush splashes throughout it at the tips of her hair. Her tail was brushed and tied to make it look like a rabbit tail, and she wore ear coverings that made her ears also look like they belonged on a rabbit and not a pony. And not to mention her naturally long and seductive eyelashes. Those just made her deep and encapturing azure eyes all the more enticing.

"Um, hi?" Rainbow Dash greeted without a hint of jealousy in her voice. "Do you need something?'

"Meh, not really. I was just checking up on Fluttershy to see if we were still doing the LAN tournament today. We need our Number One Support for League of Titans. I can't carry the game without her," the mare smiled as she took an empty seat in between the two mares.

'LAN? Support? League of Titans? What in Tartarus has that to do with a tournament let alone Fluttershy?!'

"Oh, um, of course, I can make it. I just need to hand in my Thesis on Everfree Timberwolves and their Magical Biology and how their Nature Magic Harmonizes with the School of Restoration on an Archmage Level. It's quite the paper for my supplementary course required for my Veterinary Doctrine," Fluttershy replied, completely throwing Rainbow Dash off and out to sea without a hint nor clue as to what the hay they were talking about.

"I bet, but The School of Runeterra is more my thing," the new mare said with a proud smile on her face. "Rune Magic is pretty cool, and it's one of the few types of magic that a Pegasus can actually use."

'What? Pegasi can't do magic?! What is going on here?!' Before Rainbow Dash was completely forgotten at the table, she stepped in a little miffed that the new mare could just waltz right in and steal her friend away after they've been apart for so long.

"Wait a Celestia damn second," Rainbow interjected with a firm hoof on the table. "Who in Tartarus are you?"

"Me?" the new mare said, pointing to herself with a puffy lower lip.

"No, the yellow mare also sitting here," Rainbow deadpanned.

"I'm Winter Ruby Hawkfire Rose, but most just call me Rose," the mare...Rose greeted with a knowing smirk.

"She's, Hawkfire?!" Rainbow pointed at the mare twiddling her hoofs innocently, not believing what she was looking at.

Rainbow figured that Hawkfire was some nerd with huge glasses, pimples, and sporting braces, not a sexy mare that looked like a Playpony model! She expected a mare with weak, small wings that haven't seen more than a few hundred hours of flight in a year, but this?! Her large, strong, majestic wings looked like they were put through the ringer every day for hours on end! Just who was this mare?!

"Um, well yes," Fluttershy blushed with a little nod. "And Rose, this is my foalhood friend, Rainbow Dash. She want's to be a Wonderbolt."

"Not want, going to be," Rainbow huffed in resignation.

"Wonderbolt, huh?" Rose smirked like the hot dork knew something she didn't. "Which Flight Division are you a part of? I fly in the Solar Division since Ponyville is part of Canterlots township."

'Flight Division? What in Tartarus is she talking about?' Rainbow gulped. Her mind was racing for an excuse to show the mare she knew what she was talking about. After all, she promised herself after revealing to a group of mares that she was a virgin a few hours ago to not embarrass herself anymore today. Especially in front of Fluttershy of all ponies! With quick thinking, she came up with one that should trick Rose into thinking that she was in the best Flight Division in Equestria, whatever that means.

"I'm in Cloudsdale's of course! Best Flight Division in Equestria to race in!" she proclaimed proudly with a nervous flutter of her wings, hoping to stop Rose from questioning further, but she saw through her lie.

"Cloudsdale doesn't have a Division because the city moves around the country," Rose corrected. "Ponies from there have to either join Las Pegasus Shadow Division or Applewood's Star Division or even if you are lucky, Vanhoover's Shark Division."

'Crap!'

"Really? I didn't know that." Fluttershy chimed in, giving Rainbow enough time to make something else up. Looking around the room to distract herself, Rainbow saw a poster on the wall with Hawkfire out of her bunny outfit posting in an aviator jacket with a pair of goggles on her forehead and right eye closed. Her wings were flared out with her tongue poking out her smiling lips. Right under the mare was a line of words that filled her with more dread and confusion about the whole situation she found herself in.

Second time Lightning Cup Champion. 998-999 C.R.
Close your eyes and follow your heart. It will never fail you.

-Hawkfire.

"So Rainbow, which Division are you really from? Cause I understand if you are embarrassed by it. Some of them have a really bad reputation," Rose inquired curiously.

Realizing that there was no way out of the hole she dug, and without knowing who Rose really was, Rainbow sighed in defeat, but only for today. 'Next time we talk, I'll know what these Racing Divisions are, and once I do. I'll show you that they don't mean anything when it comes to being the best of the best!'

"I'm...I'm not in one yet. I was stuck with work back in Cloudsdale at the Weather Factory."

"I bet," Rose nodded happily before sneering at her smugly. "It's a shame too."

"Why?" Rainbow frowned.

"Because the Wonderbolts Racing team Fly in the Phoenix Cup, which I'm two years away from entering, and in order to even be considered joining the Wonderbolts, you need to place in the Lightning Cup."

Author's Note

So, here is the makings of the first arc, but what of flash you might ask? Well, you'll see
Also, I made a blog thingy about the Cups, sorta, It will be better explained down the line, but if you want the general idea. Ya'll can check it out.

Also, cover art....Hmmm....What ya'll think of Rainbow and Rose flying at each other with a trophy of some kind in the background with the silhouette of Luna behind that, and an evil image of flash in the reflection of the trophy?