"I'm off!" Cloud Striker, a young Pegasus called out before hugging his little sister and Mom before running out of the door of his house in a happy panic. His family all waved at him, cheering fading quickly as he made his way towards his first day at Flight School. The young Colt could not be more excited, practically tripping on the fluffy clouds as he followed the path towards school. Cloud was a red colt, with a yellow muzzle and yellow markings along his forelegs and hind legs. His mane and tail were a spiky red and yellow colored, and his eyes a beautiful blue. Cloud had been waiting for what seemed forever for his young colt life, to go to Flight School, and couldn't believe the day had finally arrived
"Be careful!" His mother called out one final time, her voice echoing along the path to him. "I know!" Cloud yelled back, dashing towards the school. Filly and Colt pegasi all ran alongside Cloud, along with his friend who he had known since he was born, Scarlet Serenity. "Are you excited or what?" She asked, practically squealing. "Of course I am! We finally get taught how to fly!" Cloud replied. Scarlet laughed and bumped her flank into his. "Like you haven't been trying to fly in secret at night when no on is around." Cloud flustered slightly and almost tripped over his own hooves. "H-How did you know?" Scarlet giggled. "I am your best friend Cloud! And don't worry, I was practicing too! The last thing we need is to make fools out of ourselves on the first day of Flight School!" Cloud agreed, and the two rushed along side their fellow pegasi as the bells rang, signaling the start of the rest of their lives.
As Cloud and Scarlet finally reached their classroom, they noticed the last two seats were next to each other and both smiled to one another as they sat down seconds before the teacher entered the room. She glanced around the room with a sharp eye before sitting down and began reading off names, glancing up each time a name was called. As she continued, Cloud glanced over at Scarlet whispering "She seems a bit rugged, but I bet she has a soft center" Scarlet giggled then seemed to pale as a shadow covered Clouds desk. "Cloud Striker and Scarlet Serenity correct?" Cloud turned a darker shade of red as he glanced towards the teachers' desk, seeing papers just now settling to the floor with amazement before stuttering out an answer. "Y-yes ma'am" Scarlet let out a small squeak and looked down before nodding her answer. "Good. You two swap seats with two others on the opposite sides of the room. I will not have any distractions on this first day."
Cloud looked apologetically at Scarlet as they both started to move seats and got a tongue sticking out face from her in return that made him smile a bit. "Now, I am Miss Stardust and welcome to your first day of flight school. I know you are all a bit scared or nervous, but rest assured, when you graduate from my class, you will be some of the best fliers in all of Equestria." Miss Stardust began walking around the room, glancing over each filly and colt with a close eye, judging their hidden talents or faults for a few moments before moving back to her desk. "We will be moving outside for your first lesson, so everyone get outside on the double." There was a brief mad scramble to the door, creating a pile up with Cloud and Scarlet on the rear end of it. After a few minutes of squeezing and pushing, the class finally made it outside and followed Miss Stardust to the practice field and circled around her.
"Since they were so talkative this morning, Cloud and Scarlet will help us demonstrate how to properly lift off the ground." Miss Stardust smiled a bit as she heard two low grumbles then Cloud and Scarlet walked into the center of the circle, both blushing heavily as all eyes went onto them. "Now, both of you, extend your wings" Miss Stardust said, moving in between them. Cloud nodded and stretched his wings out beside him, sighing in comfort as he felt the muscles extend after holding them in for awhile. He glanced over at Scarlets wings, noticing the black tint along the top rim, in stark contrast with her Teal coat and feathers. As Miss Stardust began speaking about the structure of wing, Cloud began watching the clouds slowly move overhead, slowly tuning everyone out as he imagined flying around in the sky. His small daydream was interrupted suddenly as a small apple hit him between the eyes, pulling a small yelp of pain and a chortle of laughter from the students in the crowd.
. "Who threw that?" Miss Stardust spun around, looking through all the students, attempting to find the culprit. After a few moments of searching, she let out a small sigh then looked at Cloud and Scarlet then up into the sky. "Cloud, hover for us please and Scarlet you be ready just in case he falls" Scarlet nodded and moved beside Cloud, bumping shoulders with him with a reassuring smile. "OK. I got this. Everyone watch out!" Cloud splayed his wings out as far as they could go before leaping into the air, briefly flying then immediately crashing face first into the dirt with his flank resting on top of Scarlets back. Much to the amusement to the class, Cloud tried again and again, but couldn't lift off. After a few more tries, Miss Stardust told him to stop and take a breather. Cloud grumbled in both pain and embarrassment as he limped away, watching all his classmates, including Scarlet, begin the slow process of hovering, with a few bumps and bruises of their own.
As class proceeded throughout the day, Clouds mood slowly began to improve as he began to hover a few inches above the ground, but never able to get much further than that. After the final bell rang, signaling the end of classes, Cloud walked back to the practice field with a determined glare at the sky. "I will soar one day. I won't fail!" His voice echoed throughout the field as he began hovering over and over again. As he kept trying, he failed to notice Scarlet watching him with a grin of approval before leaving a small basket of fruit and water, knowing he would be there until he passed out. After many hours passed, Cloud finally limped home, weary and hoofsore. Cloud briefly thought to himself "At least I'm improving. I could be still stuck on the ground."
When he finally reached home, his little sister, Purple Rain, burst out the door and tackled him to the ground with a mischievous grin. "Hey, big bro. Why you home so late? Did you get in trouble? Did you fly yet?" Cloud groaned as he pushed her off of him. "I stayed late to practice, none that concerns you and nope." Cloud grumbled as Purple tugged on his tail, apparently wanting to play with him, despite his exhausted state. Clouds mom glanced from the kitchen for a moment, her mane filled with flour as she mixed something inside a large bowl. "Hey honey. Home late from your first day? Must have been exciting." Her gaze shifted to Rain tugging on Clouds tail then her mixing stopped. "Rainy dear, leave your brother alone. He's had a long hard day, so leave him be." Rain grumbled then dropped her bottom jaw, wincing playfully as Cloud smacked her with it. "Mom, I'm really tired, so I'm gonna go lie down until dinner is finished okay?"
Cloud began walking up the stairs as he heard his moms reply of approval, briefly feeling bad for not staying to talk with her. He headbutted his door open, remembering how he broke the frame trying to fly when he was younger, now bearing a scar on his forehead under his hairline from the incident. Wonder bolt posters covered the walls, all signed by them, along with a few pictures of Scarlet and him on a few shelves. Books about flight and windspeed studies were on the floor and desk in the corner. Cloud flopped onto his small bed, head hanging off the top edge as he looked out his window, remembering how he woke up this morning. As he pondered what tomorrow would be like, he slowly drifted off to sleep.
As the weeks passed, Cloud fell further and further behind in class, failing every flight test they took. Seemingly effortlessly though, Scarlet passed every exam with flying colors. With every failure, Cloud got more and more irritable towards every pony who tried to help him, despite their best efforts to be kind. Soon, his entire class moved on to the intermediate studies while Cloud and a few others lagged behind. With this passing, Cloud and Scarlet saw each other less and less each day, so their friendship began to degrade due to Clouds jealousy of her. Within 3 months, Scarlet had made it to the Advanced classes while Cloud was barely beginning to barely scrape by getting expelled due to his attitude and failures.
"Cloud, you gotta try harder. I've been watching you every day and you have the mindset down, but you don't have the heart for it" Miss Stardust sighed, watching Cloud pull himself off the ground, his nose slightly bleeding from a crash landing. "You've been under my care for a few months now and all but one of your other classmates have graduated." She glanced over at Speed Paint, who looked away nervously before smiling at Cloud. Cloud grumbled as he shoots the dust off of himself before leaping into the air, hovering a moment before flying through the course again, clipping one of his wings on a ring, causing him to falter a bit then plummeting to the ground. Miss Stardust sighed and glided to him, helping him to his feet before looking him into the eyes "Cloud, your last chance is tomorrow. If you don't pass then, I'll be forced to expel you."
Clouds heart sank, before he looked up at her with a cold glare "Ya know what? Forget it, I'm done!" He bolted off as Miss Stardust fanned her wing out, stopping Paint from chasing after him. As Cloud ran home, rain splattered his face as a storm front began moving in from the sea. It took him only minutes to make it home, a usual thirty minute walk, surprising his mom and sister as he ran straight upstairs and slammed his door behind him. He stood with his head against his door, angry tears mixing with the raindrops on his face as he looked at all the posters on his walls, seeming to mock him with the ease they flew in them.
He began tearing them off the walls in a mad fury, throwing them across the room in pieces. While he was doing this, his sister popped her head into his room with a concerned look on her face. "Big bro?" Her voice was shaky with fear, but Cloud did not know what for as he glared at her before pointing at the hall behind her "Leave me alone!" He barked at her, causing her eyes to tear up as she turned and ran out the door, leaving it open behind her. The light from the hall hit the frame of Scarlet and his class pictures, making Cloud grit his teeth in irritation. "How does she do it so easy?! Why am I the bad one?!" Cloud thought to himself as he heard his mom scream from downstairs.
Clouds anger vanished almost instantly as he ran down the steps. taking 4 at a time to reach his mom who pointed out the door, shaking hard. "Mom? What is it?" Clouds voice was drowned out by a sudden gust of wind barreling through the door before he glanced around then back at his mother. "Mom, where's rainy?" His mom looked at him with a look of terror then pointed back outside "She ran out there crying because you yelled at her!" Her voice cut Cloud like a knife and he stumbled back a bit, before shaking his head. "That's not reason to scream Mo-" His voice was suddenly cut off by a loud siren signaling a large storm was approaching from the sea and it suddenly all made sense to him: the rain on the way home, the wind, how scared his mom was. It was all signs of a high class hurricane approaching the coast, only a few miles away from their house. Clouds head snapped back towards the door, seeing how much harder the rain began hitting the trees outside, a loud clap of thunder making the house shake. "The Wonder bolts and the advance students have began evacuating towns closer to the coast..." Clouds mom murmured to herself, limping back and forth, her leg in a cast from an accident at work.
"Mom, I'm gonna go look for Rainy, its getting pretty bad outside, Get into our shelter until the Bolts arrive to get you." Cloud ran quickly out the door, despite him mom reaching out to stop him. Cloud knew where she would probably be, she always ran to the same spot whenever she got yelled at or had a bad day. After a few minutes of running, Cloud was drenched in rain, but he finally reached the small clearing and spotted Rains tail sticking out from under a few branches of a fallen tree. "Purple! Are you okay?" Cloud raised his voice to almost a yell to be over the sound of the wind. "C-Cloud?!" Her voice quivered in fear as the branch moved slightly, her struggles to move the branch off of her failing. Cloud ran over, quickly kicking the branch hard enough to snap it off the tree, the wind snatching it from mid-air and throwing it into the sky. Purple squeaked in surprise as Cloud grabbed her, throwing her over his back and quickly galloping back towards home, his breath coming out in ragged pants.
As he ran, the path quickly began turning more and more treacherous, trees and large objects falling from the sky. He stomped down hard to stop as they hit the top of the hill overlooking their house, glancing back at Rain with a small grin "I got you sis. See? We are almost home." Rain looked up weakly, her wings tucked in with slight pain before they flared out in shock. "Cloud, look out!" Her outcry caused Cloud to look back forward, a large branch hitting him across the muzzle flipping him back and launching Rain over the edge, plummeting her towards the ocean. Her scream of shock made Cloud instantly jump back to his feet, his eyes catching Rains light pink flank fall over the edge. Without a second thought, Cloud leaped after her, dive bombing quickly behind her, thinking as he dove "I will catch her and I won't fail!"
Rain screamed as she fell, her wings flailing hard as she tried to fly, the updrafts of the wing buffeting her side to side then as she finally decided to quit trying and fall, she hit something wet and warm. Her eyes popped open in shock as she saw the back of Clouds head, his mane slightly steaming from the speed of his dive, flying a few inches above the ocean, dodging rocks with ease before flying back up towards the top op the hill, straining slightly with effort before landing on the edge of the hill, falling flat on his face with Rain tumbling over his head with a loud thud. Cloud looked up at her, scanning her for a few moments before standing up shakily and tugging her to her feet again, then tossing her on his back, slowly walking towards home, the exhaustion overshadowed at his exhilaration of his first real flight. After another few moments, Rain opened her eyes on his back with a small groan and looked at the back of Clouds head again, smiling a bit.
"Big bro, did you just fly? Did you save me or was it one of the WonderBolts? Did you see me trying to fly?" Her voice began to drone on with her usual drone of questions, seemingly not to care about her near death experience before suddenly stopping with a slight gasp and smacking Clouds flank with her hoof. "Hey, cut that out Sis..." Cloud groaned as they made it back home, their mother poking her head out of the shelter, then running out to hug them both. "Mama, Cloud flew and saved me!" Purple leaned into her mom, looking at Clouds flank still, making Cloud glance back at it, then realizing why she was staring. A dark blue symbol was stark against his red fur, Cloud instantly recognizing it as the weather symbol for a hurricane.
His eyes widened for a moment before locking onto a distant light blue moving shape in the sky, tracking it until it got closer to them. With a hard downbeat of her wings, Scarlet quickly landed among the family with a light smile. "Here I am to save the day!" She snickered as she glanced over everyone, making sure they were alright, stopping at Purple Rain as she noticed the damage to her wings, quickly bandaging them. "Its a good thing I showed up when I did or someone might have fallen or got scooped up by these winds" Cloud snorted softly, making Scarlets' head snap to him "What was that?"
Cloud pointed towards the distant hillside, where more and more trees have toppled over, with agitation "My sister just fell off of that a few moments ago. If I wasn't there, she would have died." Scarlet shook her head a bit with a slightly smug smirk "Cloud, you can't even fly properly so how did you save her?" She stepped forward a bit, her muzzle inches from Clouds "I bet you just got lucky and grabbed her before she fell." With a dry chuckle, Cloud moved past her, his voice dropping to a low enough whisper so only Scarlet could hear "You've changed so much. I can not even call you a friend anymore." As the final word left his lips, he continued past Scarlet towards his sister, his new cutie mark finally catching Scarlets' eyes. "W-when did you get that?!" Her voice seemed to quiver in anger as she spun around to glare at him, her tone dropping instantly when she noticed more of the rescue team finally arriving.
As they all were being loaded into litters for a quicker flight back inland, the chief of the team glanced at Cloud who hadn't moved from his earlier spot. "Come on kid. You gotta get in so we can get going." His voice seemed to not reach Cloud as he opened his wings wide and flung them downwards, almost shooting off the ground and into the sky. He glanced down at the rescue team and Scarlet, who stood open mouthed in shock, then glided back down to them. "Don't worry about me. I can fly myself back. Just get them to safety." The chief nodded then signaled to his team to take off, Scarlet flying ahead to watch for debris without a second glance at Cloud.
After a few moments of quiet flying, Cloud flew up to his sister with a smile. "So, what did we learn today Rainy?" She peeked up over the litter with a small frown then looked away in embarrassment before mumbling a answer. "What was that little sis? I cannot hear you over the wind and rain." She turned quickly with a angry glare before looking down again "Don't run into the woods during a storm and don't ride on my idiot brothers back during a storm either because it will almost get me killed" Cloud chuckled a bit before groaning in small bit of exhaustion, his wings beginning to falter a bit. He glanced ahead, noticing Scarlet flying smoothly ahead, occasionally glancing back directly at him to see if he had landed in the litter yet.
As they slowly made their way out of the storms reach, the rescue party slowly descended into a small town, quickly unloading Clouds family before stretching their wings in a small break. Cloud sighed to himself as he flopped to the ground, his wings stretched out in exhaustion, before glancing at the feel of the chief who quickly moved to his side. "Kid, you did some pretty decent flying out there. Why haven't you applied for the advanced classes like Scarlet over there?" Cloud let out a weak chuckle before lifting his head up to look the chief in the eyes. "I would, but sadly I'm still in beginners courses sir." The chiefs eye widened for a moment before he shook his head. "That flight back from your home to here was 5 miles in 65 mile per hour winds. No beginner could have navigated those winds with the ease you did." He looked over Clouds wings for a few moments before his eyes caught Clouds mark"Well, ill be a monkeys' uncle, when did a young colt like you get that? I did not get mine until I already graduated and was in the storm team for years." Cloud glanced back at the mark before quickly explaining what happened, each word making the chiefs smile grow wider
"Cloud, you have got the gift, I'm telling ya'" The chief pulled Cloud to his feet and pulled him to the team, despite Clouds the best efforts to pull away. "Guys, listen to this colts' story of what he did while we were taking that headwind on the way to the house on the coast." Cloud grumbled and slowly getting excited himself to finally have other ponies to talk to about flying other than his sister and mom. As he told the story, Cloud saw Scarlet shake her head in disbelief then reaching into her bag and pulling out a small pencil and paper, starting to doodle a bit before walking over to Purple Rain and giving her the drawing, glancing pointedly at Cloud before taking off into the sky, signaling she was ready to go to the chief. The chief glanced into the sky at her with a huff, before bumping shoulders with Cloud. "We gotta go kid, but keep in touch with us. Maybe you'll even have my job one day!" He chuckled loudly as the team took off back towards the storm, quickly vanishing from site.
Purple slowly walked up to Cloud, handing him the small doodle that Scarlet gave her with a sad expression on her face. "She said to give this to you and to say goodbye." Cloud tilted his head in slight confusion then looked at the drawing for a few moments before shaking his head. It was a doodle of a train heading to Manhattan with a small teal Pegasus riding on top of it, saying so long and hello to my new life. Scarlet was always the artsy type in school and whenever she was bored. "Are you okay Cloud? You and Scarlet seemed to be annoyed at one another, now you will probably not see each other again for awhile..." His sister leaned on his leg, her eyes filled with slight tears before Cloud chuckled and threw the drawing into the air, watching the slight winds catch it and carry it away. "Its her life and we grew apart. She can go to Manhattan for all I care." He turned away from the distinct black dots on the horizon, his heart heavy with sadness of losing his oldest friend, but smiling inside as he knew he was no longer bound to the ground.
