One of a Kind

Chapters

It's a Colt!
First Birthday
Humble Beginnings
Calm Before the Storm
First Day
Taking the Next Step
The One and Only
Chaser Residence
Welcome to Ponyville
Impressing the Scouts
The Intrigue of Canterlot
Graduation
Not for Rookies
Sayonara Cloudsdale
Starting on the Right Hoof
A Dash of Love
Adding Another
Notes from the Author / From Small Beginnings
The Fourth First Day

It's a Colt!

--It's a Colt!--

Sitting in the crib, lies a baby colt. He had features like a dark grey body, navy eyes, white thick mane, and teeny wings. His features show that of a promising flier, and a rather unusual one at that. Perhaps he would make an excellent weather pegasus, or scout leader. However, there was something rather peculiar about this colt; instead of sitting still, or simply laying down, he was always on the move. Always eager to find the next room to explore, or the next cushion to fall from. (safely of course). What is implied by that, is he would find a small cushion or table, and jump off it, to get a small sensation of free falling, and get a good sense of his body weight.

“Whoa there bud! What’s the big rush?” said his mother, Sky.

“I think he’s just adjusting to his new home sky,” replied his father, Storm.

Mr. and Mrs. Chaser were quite the radiant couple. So very eager to see how their own filly, or colt would look. Sky Chaser was a beautiful mare with a glistening white coat, and deep navy eyes. She also had a long, flowing white mane with purple streaks running down her bangs. Lightning's father, Storm, was tall and strong, with a deep grey coat, a spikey white mane, and dim grey eyes. Together, the Chasers were the happiest of pegasi, and were absolutely thrilled to have little Lightning as part of the family.

They both scooped up little Lightning and gave him a stern look.

“Look Light, if you keep climbing and exploring you might end up hurting yourself,” rebuked Sky

Lightning was a bit upset at his parent’s scolding, but it never discouraged him. Again and again, he climbed, and crawled. Such a ball of energy, it’s amazing they got him to sleep at night. (Which three out of four times, they didn't)

In Lightning’s mind however, nothing stopped. It’s as if his mind was running... well.. running 24/7. Thoughts of flying freely in the sky exhilarated the young colt, and always made him giggle and clap his hooves. One day in particular, he was staring out the window of his home, observing the Wonderbolt's insane stunts above the Colosseum of Cloudsdale. Each time they banked, and took a straight snout dive, he would get a small feeling, much like the feeling of free falling, as he envisioned himself doing those same stunts, someday in the future.

A couple days later, his parents had put him to bed in his room, and they hopped in bed together saying,

“Oye he’s a handful Sky. But what can you do? It's just in his nature.”

It was then and there that the Chasers became the family that they will be for years to come: Little Lightning, tough Storm, and stunning Sky.

On certain nights where Lightning lay in the crib, Lightning would open his small, navy eyes, and stare out his window to the full moon. In his mind, he would imaging the sensations of flying faster than even his parents could. Flying outside, freely, and carefree. Hours after hours would tick by, until the sun had eventually risen over the same horizon of his window, as he heard his parents talking out in the hallway.

“Alright Sky, I’m off to clear the sky near the small settlement down the river.”

"Don't you mean Ponyville, silly?”

“Yeah, who knows maybe it will grow and become a full fledged town.”

“Just be safe sweetie. Make sure you say goodbye to your son too!”

Lightning had the most loving parents. It was a shame his father was always on the move, but being a weather scout had its perks. It paid solidly, and gave them just the right amount to raise Lightning the way they wanted to. The cons however, involved Storm being gone for weeks at a time on far off trips to rather isolated areas where storms grew severe.

"Of course! Stay safe Sky!"

He gave a quick kiss to Sky, and a giant hug to Lighting, and walked outside. Sky had followed him outside, after putting Lightning on her back to say bye to Storm. His father then spread his wings, and launch at what seemed to him, like the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria. Again, he had smiled, and lowered his head down on her back, probably from staying up the entire night. Drifting off, he began to dream of flying alongside his parents, and managing to beat them in many different races.

First Birthday

--First Birthday--

It has been a year since Lightning was brought into the world of Equestria. In the time he spent with his parents, he learned to walk on all four legs almost perfectly, without falling or stumbling. However, before learning to walk, he spent the time alone at night learning to glide across from his crib to small pillows laid out over his room. To put it simple, he had learned to fly, before even knowing how to walk.

Lightning has moved up from small cushions, to the top of the crib when learning to glide, and now when he jumps, he spreads his wings out to get a bit more lift over free falling, thus coming to soft the landings. For weeks on end, he repeated these steps over and over, and eventually learned how to glide across the entire room. A true love for flight starts at birth, and for Lightning, well he is already two steps ahead of the group.

Although Mr and Mrs Chaser didn’t approve of the idea at first, they both know that one way or another he would have to learn eventually. Pegasi aren't much on big parties, except for special occasions. However, the Chasers preferred to celebrate occasions as a family, rather than with other fillies and colts. Storm and Sky had put Lightning in his spot at the table and given him his first birthday cake. With one quick glace, Lightning immediately buried his face in, giggling and licking the icing off his face. Although Storm had been gone for almost a week clearing weather by Manehatten, he had managed to get a week at home to be with his son.

“He is one special colt... So energized and ready to fly.”

“He must take after his dad!”

“Oh stop it Storm. You and your dangerous aerials.”

“Just you wait! once he's old enough i'll show him my private training area and truly see his abilities!”

“Oh, and you're going to show him how to fly like you did when you met me?”

She gave a light hearted chuckle as Storm blushed.

“Not exactly...”

They both chuckled and sat by their son as he quickly obliterated his cake. One might say, a kodak moment, but this is Equestria. There is no such thing. Just the Chasers being the Chasers.

Lightning’s eyes finally took their color around the navy inside. Deep navy blue, just like his mother’s, with his father's frosty white mane. Although unlike his mother and father, he had small navy bangs on each spike, giving him a "dipped" appearance. The abnormal thing however, is his wings were growing rapidly than a normal pegasi's wings would. Many doctors nicknamed him, "Lucky Wings," because usually only the luckiest of pegasi get the genetic privilege of having expanded wings. Usually, those who were born with that privledge, were sought after by mane stunt group recruiters. One of which included, the Wonderbolts.

Putting it frank, his larger wings had no affect on his mind at all. Rather than fantasizing about landing positions in famous stunt groups, he simply kept to gliding practice, and having fun flying on his own will, as well as making it easier for him to pick up on special techniques while gliding, giving him his first real senses of flying.

Scientifically, larger wings allowed for faster bursts of speed, or more powerful lifts on manuevering. It all depended on how the wings were shaped. Some wings are shaped in a delta shape, while others are formed in swept shapes. Usually those with the delta shape had the upper hand in maneuvering, while those with the swept shape had the advantage in flat out speed.

Lightning was chosen to be born with the swept-wing advantage.

Humble Beginnings

--Humble Beginnings--

If any pegasi has a desire to fly, they cant even hope to start without enrolling in a flight camp. This flight camp, to be exact is for the young fillies and colts, whom were most eager and ready to learn. Since Sky thought her colt might get hurt flying so early, Storm had snuck Lightning off from her in hopes of giving him a boost ahead of the other pegasi. Although all the training Lightning subconsciously went through had already given him a great advantage in flying at a young age.

At this point, Lightning had his mane growing in already. Thick, and jagged with spikes launching outwards in multiple directions. It was colored white with deep navy highlights, just like his eyes, and unlike other fillies and colts, Lightning’s wings had already reached the growth of that of a five year old colt, meaning he could fly longer, faster, and perhaps better than all the rest.

During registration, Storm had let go of Lightning’s hoof as they filled out the basic papers, and got him ready to get flying.

“He looks like a kick flank flyer!”

Storm had turned around in surprise, as he came eye to eye with another stallion. He had a pure black coat; So deep that he could easily blend in at any time in the night, or in a shadow. To his left was a little colt, a tad bit bigger than Lightning. The stallion then shook Storm’s hoof, and began to introduce himself.

“How ya doin? my name is Midnight Shadow, and this here's my boy, Lunar Shadow. He's a real tough one ya know!”

Lunar had interrupted his father and said,

“Dad I like to fly, but this place seems boring. Why can't i just train with you?”

“Because if you trained with me, you would get yo-self killed!”

Midnight gave a loud laugh as he turned back to Storm.

“So has he flown around the clouds yet?”

“Yeah a bit, he prefers to fly around our house so he can have us watching. I swear the boy loves to be the fastest thing in the sky. Every day I look out and see him trying to get the clouds to move, or disappear. Its pretty funny, but for such a little.....”

As the two stallions continued on with their conversations, the two colts looked at each other nervously.

“uhmm.. h-hi.” “Hey, whats uhh your name?”

“L-lightning.”

“My name's Lunar, but you can call me Lun! Do you like cookies?”

“Yeah! I love cookies! Cake more though, my dad says I ate the whole cake on my birthday.”

“That's all!? I can eat the whole store in a day!”

They both laughed, and smiled as their parents finished up their registrations. Storm looked down to Lightning and give him a quick hug.

“Ok son, just remember the ponies here are going to show you how to fly better. So pay attention and have fun!”

“Ay-yo boy, keep yo head up and you will do fine. Remember if you come back flying il buy you a whole carton of cookies.”

And a moment later, the two fathers spread their wings and took off, as their sons were left behind with an instructor, and another filly. The other filly had a bright, orange mane with golden brown eyes. She looked like a serious flier.
Somepony who looked like they might take flying to a level of which the royal guard might.

As the three looked at each other, a mare came between them, smoothly landing on the cloud. She had a polite, kind expression to her, and in that instant the three ran up to her in awe and asked how she landed so well. The mare chuckled and told the three,

“with years of experience, the three of you can all learn to fly just like me! Now i bet you ponies would like to fly right?”

The three spat out in choir, “YES!”

She chuckled again.

“Ok then let me show you to your room, and we can begin our first lesson.”

The three bounced in her direction as she led them to a small room consisting of four beds, and many posters of the Wonderbolts, and many of Cloudsdale’s most honored fliers.

“Now before we start our lesson, i would like to introduce myself. My name is Mrs. Starshine, and I cant wait to show you three how to fly like the pros!”

Mrs. Starshine was a grey mare with a short, blonde, curly mane. She also had deep green eyes, and her cutie mark represented that of a baby hummingbird. As she left the room, the three grouped for a second to introduce themselves. Lunar broke the ice first.

“Hey guys, my name is Lunar, but Lun for short. what's yours?”

He turned to the yellow filly and she replied,

"Spitfire.”

Her expression was intimidating for a filly of her size and agem although at the same time she seemed gentle and harmless. It was rather peculiar how she managed to give that impression. Finally, they both turned to Lightning and he replied,

“L-lightning.”

Lightning was very timid in front of other ponies, but was very open and friendly around...well...friends. The three shook hooves and smiled at each other, while they collectively figured they had to join their teacher outside.

Outside, Mrs. Starshine was flying around a few cloud rings that were closely placed together. It seemed like she had a small course set up for each one of them to try. She then came to a smooth landing, and pointed out at the course.

“Ok my little ponies, i have this course set up just to see how well you can do on your first go around.”

Spitfire was the first to try her luck on the course. with a few flaps of her wings, she got a slight lift, and in moments, she was halfway through the first two rings, and amazing the other two colts and her teacher. Coming to a landing, (rough as it may have been) Mrs. Starshine came quickly to grab her so she wouldn't hurt herself.

“Very well done Spitfire! A few more runs like that and we might have to bump up your level!”

Next, Lunar stepped up to where Spitfire had launched, and got into stance. Flapping his wings hard, he began taking off slowly, and although wasn't as smooth as Spitfire’s, he had a great sense of moving through the rings. Almost as if he was already experienced at navigating, and swift maneuvering. Mrs. Starshine was waiting at the end, as Lunar stumbled through the sky, and towards the ground. With a rough and bumpy landing, he was down on all fours.

"Very good Lunar! That was some of the best control I've seen in years!”

As the two ponies high-hoofed with each other, Lightning was left alone at the start. Kneeling down in his stance, he kept a close eye on his teacher, making sure he wouldn't miss a single beat. Before his teacher gave him the signal to go, he had flashbacks of the nights he spend practicing landings, and gliding off the top of his crib, adding to all the time he spent soaring as fast as he could around his home.

The adrenaline bursts hit with a powerful shock of heat, and everything around him started to slow. All he could hear now, was the sound of his own anxious breaths. With a swift wave of her hoof, Lightning bolted off the starting position, leaving indentions in the clouds behind him. Flapping his wings hard, he thrusted his way through the first couple of rings, and felt one shaking behind him from his trip through. He could feel his mane whipping back from his speed, as he stuck his hooves out and spread his wings out far to try and stop himself from a rough landing. Although everything was slowed for him, he knew that it wouldn't affect how soft or rough his landing was.

As he began to decrease in speed, the world around him started speeding back up, and all at once the sound hit him like a train's whistle straight out of the Cloudsdale train depot. Although Lightning had an amazing thirst for speed, his maneuvering suffered horribly, which also meant his landings would suffer horribly as well. With a strong jolt, he felt his hooves slam, then rip into the cloud as he tried to slow himself down more and more, however his efforts were futile. Loosing balance, he started tumbling across a large span of clouds, feeling each part of his body making contact with the clouds in some way. With one last strong jolt, he had come to a stop on his side, and slowly stood back up, shaking a bit and smiling wide from the excitement.

Mrs. Starshine has rushed over to his aid, and told him,

"My goodness Lightning! I could barely keep up with you that whole time! Are you ok!?"

He had laughed a bit, still trying to catch his breath and said,

"Yeah just a rough landing..."

stumbling over to his friends, they all joined together in a group hoof-five, and complimented each other on their spectacular skills. Mrs. Starshine had noticed that the sun was beginning to set, so she had told them,

"Great job today my little ponies! I can't wait to see what you can do tomorrow! Just make sure you get plenty of rest and have awesome dreams!"

Continuing their compliments, they had rushed over to their room, and began to chat about their favorite Wonderbolt, or race pony. Slamming the door open, Lunar had dove onto his small cot and grabbed a case of cookies his dad had left him with. Stuffing his face full, he began to say,

“Wow I can't wait to show my dad how well I did! I bet he will buy me TWO cookie cases!”

Both Lightning, and Spitfire had laughed a bit at his prediction.

"Lunar, cookies aren't good for you if you keep eating them so often!”

“So? They taste so good!”

They giggled again, and slowly but surely fell to sleep, each having dreams of flying for the Wonderbolts, or in the Equestrian Pegasi Races. High hopes filled the little ones, which were all completely achievable as well, so long as they kept practicing and training hard.

The three woke the next morning to the sound of soft birds chirping outside their window. Probably Mrs. Starshine working her magic, they joked.

As she came into the room, she began rallying up the troops for the next phase of practice. They all had joined together outside as Mrs. Starshine began to explain what they were doing next. She gave them all a breakfast of fruits and oats, as she started to set up an obstacle course of a such. Nothing too extravagant, just something to give a good challenge.

“Ok my little ponies, today we are going to train our control in the air. Pay close attention Lightning, today is important for you.”

She, Spitfire, and Lunar giggled as Lightning murmured under his breath blushing slightly. Like a repeat of the day before, Spitfire had volunteered to try first. She had stepped up to the starting point marked by Mrs.Starshine, and crouched down in her position. She spread her wings and with a few hard flaps began to soar through the sky. She easily cleared the many bars, and tunnels of clouds, Mrs. Starshine kept close observation, judging her every move.

“That’s the way Spitfire! You’re doing great!”

Spitfire started to pant a bit at the exertion of her energy. For a young filly to fly at the skill she was showing is an enormous feat, even for an older pegasus. In fact, for a young filly to fly through an obstacle course is close to mind bending,however Mrs. Starshine knew from the beginning these pegasi were no ordinary flyers.

As Spitfire came to land, she stumbled slightly and fell on her knees. Mrs. Starshine was there to help her up as always and she jumped in glee at her accomplishment.

"I-I DID IT! YES!"

Eccentric with joy, she had ran back to the group with that same wide smile on her face.

Lunar had a bit of confidence coming into today's course, due to his performance yesterday. He readied at the starting point, and spread his wings out as far as he could. A few flaps and he was instantly off, in the sky, and maneuvering like a pro through the course.

“Just as I thought”

Said Mrs. Starshine,

“you're breezing through this Lunar! Maybe we should bump you up another level hmm?”

Lunar gave a slight smile while making his way through the course, eventually coming in for his landing. This, is where Lunar took his advantage. In flight control, and just basic direction in general. Sticking his front hooves out, he landed flat on all fours, making the most solid, and perfect landing that both Lightning, and Spitfire had ever seen.

Now, the last one left to attempt the course was Lightning. However, with the success of both Lunar, and Spitfire, how could he possibly compete? He then made his way up to the starting point, and with the wave of Mrs. Starshine's hoof, Lightning was off. Take off's were much less of a trouble due to his larger wings, as he blazed his way through the first few rings. He was careful not to let his thirst for speed take over as he carefully maneuvered his way through the course, without so much as hitting a single ring. Although Lightning isn't the best at control, he did rather well on the course. Not as well as Spitfire and Lunar of course, but you know.

Now the tricky part for Lightning, was the tunnel. It proposed a huge challenge for the young colt, cutting off his vision for a few precious seconds of in flight control. To counteract this, Lightning had angled his wings so he could keep a good speed, while still having more control over speed. His idea worked better then he thought as well.

Coming to the end tunnel, Mrs. Starshine kept him going with chants and shouts, along with Lunar, and Spitfire. Sweat began to drip from his face as he put forth all effort to his love for flying. With a last few bursts of speed, Lightning had spread his wings out, anticipating another rough landing. However, he managed all fours without any sort of tumble, or crash, and was instantly greeted by the flying hugs of his two new friends.

“You did great Lightning!”

“Yeah dude! Next time I’ll help you through those tunnels.”

Lightning gave a chuckle through his panting.

"Thanks Lunar, I’d love to train with you!”

The three smiled in accomplishment as their teacher walked over. Her face looked rather crude however, almost as if one of them had dropped ice cream on a chair.

“You three.... "

Together, the three little ones grew a scared expression, bracing themselves for the fiery wrath of Mrs. Starshine.

"Are doing absolutely outstanding!”

It was all just a trick. A fun trick. What was once an expression of terror on the group’s face became a bigger smile as they hoof bumped their teacher.

"You guys did great! I can't remember the last time I had a group as talented as you, so when you return to your room, remember you earned what you worked for!"

She then grew a wide smile, and trotted off back to her room, leaving the three to their curiosity.Rushing back to their room, Spitfire was the one to point out the obvious by asking,

"What do you think she meant by that?"

The three got a little nervous, but Spitfire had turned to them and smiled, as she flapped hard and began to soar back to their room, rather than simply running. Lunar turned to Lightning and nodded, then began flying synchronized with Spitfire all the way back to their room. Landing in their room, they were shocked to see medals hanging from their bed frames.

“OH WOW!”

The three shouted together, and Spitfire was the first to read hers.

"Best attitude, and best all around flier!”

Lunar then picked his up and read,

“Best Control, and best team player!”

Lightning then read his in excitement, his heart racing fast.

“Best Landing, and.... Fastest Flier!”

The three bursted in laughter at Lightning's first medal. Who would have though Mrs. Starshine would be the one to pull a trick like that? Excitement filled the room quickly, as they each tried on their medals, looking at their reflections in the polished medal.

"Wow... These are so nice!"

In that moment however, Mrs. Starshine had flown in, and shoo'd them off to bed.

“Ok my little ponies calm down! It’s getting late, so you guys should be hitting the hay don't you think?”

The three spoke in sync,

“Yes Mrs. Starshine.”

climbing into bed, they had pretended to go to sleep. However, as soon as Mrs. Starshine left, the ponies began to light candles, and tell stories pf their dreams, and what they've done in life so far. As the three grew more tired, they climbed into bed and began to doze off.

Before falling asleep, Lightning took a quick glance out the window, and noticed the moon was full. It reminded him of the days of crib landing and gliding. Calm, relaxing, doing what he loved. The room was quiet and peaceful, with only the sound of the animals outside to be heard.

. . .

The three awakened the next morning to their teacher busting through the door.

“Good morning my little ponies!”

Spitfire was the first to complain.

"Ugg shut the dooooor.”

Mrs. Starshine giggled lightly.

“Oh come now Spitfire, don't you want to try and get a bit of extra practice in before you leave?”

She grumbled and jumped down her bed, to her teacher. Mrs. Starshine then tousled her mane, and giggled again.

"Hey, what's the deal!?"

"You need to wake up, silly filly!"

She then lead her outside, while the two colts followed right behind. Once outside, she had them run a few laps through the rings once more. The results of the camp were extraordinary! What had once been a challenge for the three was now just a basic flight for them. Although they still felt heavy fatigue, the camp had given them new skills... and friends.

The three practiced with Mrs. Starshine until Storm, Midnight, and Mustang showed up. Seeing their foal so happily flying made them all dash toward, and congratulate them. A few quick reunions came along with them, as they began to excitedly tell their parents about all that they did in camp. After the reunion with parents, the three foal then looked at their teacher with small tears in their eyes.

“Oh don't be sad ponies, you can always come see me once you begin your advanced courses!”

They all sobbed slightly and gave her a big group hug.

“Thanks for everything Mrs. Starshine.”

“Yeah it was so much fun.”

After their hug, the three all turned to each other and said,

“we should stay friends! You know, help each other train and get better at flying!"

"Sounds great! We can meet up somewhere!"

The parents had hastened their foal's quick discussion, forcing them to split up for the time being. Before leaving completely, the three had all turned to each other and said,

“Well i'll see you soon Spitfire!”

“See ya later Lightning! Bye Lunar!”

Both Lunar, and Spitfire had then left with their parents, leaving Lightning to go give his dad a hug.

“Hey sport! how did it go?”

“Great dad! I made new friends and learned how to manu...manuu... whatever the word is better!”

Storm gave a strong chuckle.

“Alright bud hop on and we can fly home!”

"Wait.. Dad, do you mind if I fly home instead?"

He had scratched his chin and contemplated it for a quick moment.

“Well alright, but i'll stick right next to you this whole time.”

Both spreading their wings, father and son, Storm couldn't help but smile at the sight of his own son flying right next to him. He glanced over at his navy mane moving in the wind, and gave Mrs. Starshine a wave while flying home. Lightning Chaser had officially become a true pegasus.

Calm Before the Storm

--Calm Before the Storm--

Lightning looked down from the cloud overlooking his house.

“Its too high! Please dont do it!” Cried Spitfire.

Lightning looked down again and swallowed hard. Shortly after, he jumped. Spreading his wings out far flapping as hard as he could to land on the ground. The force of his wing flaps caused spitfire to cover her eyes and simply hope he doesn't kill himself, however Lightning manages to pull through. Even though he jumped off a cloud easily 50 feet in the air, he stuck his landing, and his friend’s heart attacks.

“Please don't do something like that again Lightning! That was just stupid!”

“Ok guys I won't, I just wanted to see how my training went.”

He was breathing heavily, as they all hoof bumped at their friend’s idiotic “stunt.” At this point in time, the three have been out of Ms.Starshine’s camp for about four weeks. Although it has been quite some time since, the three still manage to group up and practice different aerials and flying tricks with each other. The three then went on to fly around a couple clouds and through a few holes in them. Although they weren't in any kind of school, or camp, they all loved to practice and improve on their flying skills. Lunar had looked over to Lightning with a confident look and said,

“I bet that i can make a small tornado with these clouds!”

“Haha very funny Lunar,” replied Lightning.

At that moment, Lunar began to fly in small circles, trying fiercely to get the clouds to create a funnel shape of a sort. And to his luck, the clouds started to spiral upwards a few feet. The look of shock and awe bolted across the faces of Lightning, and Spitfire. Not only did their friend create a funnel cloud at the age of four, he did it so well it looked like legitimate tornado. Only a master of swift flight could create such a compact tornado, and Lunar did it without much more than a few weeks of practice.

Lunar had stopped, panting hard he turned to his friends and laughed in triumph. Spitfire ran over to the spot where the tornado once was, and patted the ground where it once spun. She then looked up and told them, It feels.... different. Like it had disrupted the cloud entirely. Wait... No... The cloud is... Shaking?" She then looked up to the horizon, and noticed a huge collection of dark clouds billowing. These clouds however, looked as if they were barreling towards Cloudsdale.

The three looked away, knowing the weather pegasi will kick it away. However after a few short minutes, heavy rains started to pour down on them, and once again, shocked them considerably. With a small, fearful hint in her voice, Spitfire had asked,

“Why is it raining? Rain wasn't scheduled for today was it?”

“I dont know, but its just rain right? How bad could it be?”

Mere moments after Spitfire muttered those words, a huge clash of thunder had struck their ears, followed by blinding lights of many sorts. They were startled by the loud thunder, and the voice of a weather pegasus shouting down at them. They all looked up together only to find that the whole group of pegasi were trying their hardest to kick away the cloud, all with no success.

“Get away! Get inside right now!”

His frantic voice was clear, the three had to get out of there right away. They spread their wings far and flew as fast as they could to the nearest shelter. All that was left was a small bakery that Lunar had visited periodically with his father before camp. They bolted inside and warned the shopkeepers about the impending storm.

“You have to close all your doors in windows quickly! A huge storm is coming!”

The shopkeepers chuckled at the group’s rather ridiculous warning. Although the shopkeepers did not believe them, they sure did believe the thunder coming through the window.

“Oh my... Could you fellas close the windows and doors please? There seems to be a big storm coming.”

The three turned to each other with annoyance in their eyes and let out a group sigh. They then began to close the door and windows, however the windows became so fierce that they all three had to work together to get each one closed. Rain flew in almost horizontally and stung their eyes. It was unimaginable! A storm, in Cloudsdale? The three and the bakers huddled in the oven room and began to question just what happened.

“Why the hoof is there a storm outside? I thought it was the weather pegasus’s job to keep them AWAY from Cloudsdale!”

They all jumped at the sound of thunder that couldn't be more than literally thirty feet away. The baker looked at his wife and thought,

“how bad will this storm be? I bet it's almost over.”

Minutes later however, sirens began to blare, and the group started to freak out.

“What's going on out there!?”

They were scared. Scared that their bakery might be destroyed, or even some pony might get hurt! A loud noise had approached the bakery. A noise that only a train could compare to, as if it could. The feeling of a tremendous wind had hit them as the loud object had seemed to roll by within mere feet of the bakery. The whole structure was shaking menacingly, as bread and other baked goods began to fall off the shelves and racks.

Everypony began to worry, and shake nervously as the loud object rolled by. The bakery began to stable out as chunks of wall had been removed from it. Spitfire took a look through one of the holes to find something that has only been seen by citizens in Cloudsdale once or twice on footage. A tornado. At least fifty feet wide, rolling down the very streets that had been dubbed, “safest city from a storm.” Groups of pegasi had been trying to vanquish the tornado, only to fail at it's natural might.

The bakers looked out of the hole in their wall only to be completely stunned at the sight of it.

“Why is there a twister ripping through Cloudsdale!?”

A question they were all thinking. Sirens continue to blare as the tornado continued its devastating course down towards the cloud factory. The factory had a section where rainbows were created, and sent through a tube, however the tornado began to rip by the factory, causing the tubes to vaporize. Rainbows began to spew from the open factory (rather funny no?) and the most peculiar scene had occurred. A dark sky above cloudsdale... with rainbows shooting into it.

Eventually, the tornado had made its way over the edge of the city, and had all but disappeared into the sky. The rain that was once flying horizontally now began to fall vertically, and the winds had died down drastically. At this point, the lightning had stopped, and other pegasi had rallied outside to try to figure out just what happened. A huge path, much like a trench, had appeared straight through the center of the city. The faces of terrified, or enraged pegasi had emerged from their homes, as they began investigation their surroundings.

“Lets go to my place,” said Spitfire. “I want to see if my parents are ok...”

The three flew cautiously to her parent’s house, and when they had arrived, only a few windows had been shattered, and a few chunks of wall were missing. They entered through the doorway and went to find her parents.

“Mom? Dad?”

“Be careful sweetie, the place is a mess.”

“What happened?” Asked Lightning.

“Well from what we heard, a group of pegasi had been out practicing weather drills, when the weather went haywire and blew them away. The paths of clouds they made had attracted the storm, and next thing we knew a tornado had touched down right here in Cloudsdale.”

“Oh wow... I never would have thought this could happen.” Said his wife.

“Lets go to the arena and see what everypony else is up to.”

“Sounds good. You guys want to go with us?”

The three had then joined together, and answered,

“sure.”

` They all then flew to the Cloudsdale Colosseum, (under close supervision of course) only to find that the whole Colosseum was filling up fast. The mayor was on the microphone, and trying to apologize to all the victims of the storm. Lightning had spotted his parents in the crowd and rushed to join them. He flew in fast, and gave his parents a hug, and asked them if they were doing fine.

“We’re fine son, just a little shaken from the storm.”

They had taken their seats, and saw Spitfire and Lunar sit close by. The mayor had gone on to explain on how the storm had started, and promised everypony full compensation on any property damages. Strangely, when the mayor promised reconstruction of the factory, the crowd booed. In fact, the citizens thought the rainbows were a nice new touch to the skyline of Cloudsdale, and they wanted it to remain that way. Lightning had flown over to Lunar and asked him where his dad may be. Lunar replied,

“he's probably at home like always.”

Lightning had turned to his parents, but before he could ask they both gave him a nod. Getting up from their seats, Lunar, Spitfire, and Lightning had began the flight over to Lunar's house. After a little flying, they came across Lunar’s house and landed near the door. Lightning had knocked twice, but Lunar had just peered through the doorway. There he was. Just sitting there, sipping tea like it was just another day at home.

They had entered the hole in the wall and were greeted by his father.

“Sup guys? Quite a breeze don't you think?”

They both looked at each other like he was crazy.

“Umm Lunar, lets go find something to do...”

They then tip hooved away from him, and made their way to Lunar’s room. The design had come to no surprise to Lightning. Dark walls, and pictures of storms that the pegasi caused out where there were no ponies. Lunar had jumped onto his bed and looked up at the ceiling while Lightning sat beside it, stirring up a chat.

“It was lucky your room wasn't too heavily damaged Lunar.”

“Yeah good thing too, its the only place i can get away from my crazy father.”

In that same moment, Spitfire had trotted in, and had the most puzzled look on her face. It was as if she was trying to say something, but just couldn't find it. Lunar and Lightning had turned to each other and laughed.

“Yeah... we don't know either.”

Soon, all thre were laughing, and chatting about the things they could do to help their city. Although Lunar didn't seem too pleased with doing work that wasn't his responsibility, the others got him to come to. They then flew out to the living room, and out the hole in the wall, trying to keep from laughing at his father, whom seemed so interested at the gaping hole in the wall. When they flew to the help center, they were immediately stopped by larger pegasi.

“Woah there, we know you want to help but this is just for bigger ponies.”

“Hey, we're great fliers! Just let us try to help!”

“Hmm, well i suppose you could help some of the neighbors fix their homes.”

The three hoof bumped, and went to the nearest neighbor’s house to offer any help they could. Although the storm had caused serious damage around town, at least it gave some ponies things to do.

First Day

--First Day--

It was a big day for fillies and colts in Cloudsdale. The first day of school. Although school only lasts four years in Cloudsdale, it was still a bittersweet moment for fillies and colts all around. Going to school meant Lightning couldn't spend as much practicing, but at least he would get his education.

Mathematics, Language Arts, and History are the majors taught for all pegasi, however due to the limited time for teaching, the courses would be rather intense. A challenge to say the least, but a challenge the three were up to right away.

As Spitfire, Lunar, and Lightning said goodbye to their parents, their teacher had walked outside to greet them.

“Hello my little ponies! My name is Ms. Diver, and i will be your teacher for the year!”

The three looked at each other, then back to her. She was a large mare, standing slightly larger than an average mare.She also had a long, flowing purple mane that complimented her body colors. Her body was a light blue shade, with soft pink eyes hidden behind the frame of her glasses. Her cutie mark seemed to represent that of a textbook, which only seemed appropriate for a teacher. Rather ironic to say the least. The three had walked up to shake hooves with their new teacher, and looked at each other nervously after making their way into the classroom. Seats were filling up quickly with different fillies and colts placing themselves close to friends.

“So where should we go sit?”

"I guess we should just go find our own seats before they all get taken.”

Finding a group of empty desks, they each sat next to each other in front row facing Ms. Diver. Making her way to the front of the room, she put a book down on her desk and turned to the class.

“Good morning my little ponies! My name is Rain Diver, and I'll be your teacher for the year. I'm excited to get to teach all of you!”

Lightning was quite the observant type, constantly inspecting his surroundings. From what he sees, she is a kind hearted teacher whom would be great friends with all her students, given the chance. After small introductions of each student, she began to teach how Equestria was founded, and how Cloudsdale was settled. Basic pony history.

During her lecture, the other fillies started slowly drifting off to sleep. Lightning however, stayed attentive to her lectures. Not because he was some sort of super student, but simply because history interested him. He loved history because he enjoyed learning about Equestria’s past roots, events that occur leading up to today, just things that their ancestors accomplished to allow what they have today.

Lightning had written down a few notes, while the teacher went on to wake the other ponies. She would swing by a desk, banging her wing against it, which always lead to a funny reaction from each student. Ms. Diver then made her way back up to the front, while the others began to finally start writing a few notes on the founding of Equestria.

A few hours had passed in class, and slowly but surely the day was coming to an end. Ms. Diver had just about finished up on mathematics when one of the colts had shouted out,

"HEY IT'S TIME TO GO HOME!"

A few collective cheers had come from a few students, however at this point, all the others were bored stiff, or simply asleep.

"Excuse me, the day isn't over until we finish our math review!"

A few minutes later however, the constant barrage of moans and whines had finally thrown her over the edge. She then concluded her lesson on basic addition and subtraction, she had finally dismissed the class. A frantic riot of ponies rushing out the door had broken out, while Lightning had walked up to her to ask a question.

“Ms. Diver, how exactly did the pegasi make a city in clouds?”

“Oh well, when the pegasi had first come to Equestria, they had come here from a far off land that was barron, and hospitable. Knowing that the Earth ponies, and the Unicorns weren't too far away, they took advantage of their cloud walking ability, and built a small settlement on the very cloud we stand on today!"

"That's awesome! I wish I could learn more about that."

“Here Lightning, you might like this book.”

She handed him a copy of the Founding of Cloudsdale, and told him to read it thoroughly overnight. She also agreed to answer any questions he had the next day.

Lightning had a huge grin on his face as he took the book from Ms. Diver.

“Nice! I can’t wait to read it!”

He then bursted out the door, and flew home as fast as he could. When he had made it home, he came up to his parents and gave them a hug and hello.

“How was your first day champ?”

“Great dad! Ms. Diver is really nice and let me borrow this book!”

He handed the book over to Storm.

“Founding of Cloudsdale, eh? I remember learning about this when i was in school.”

Sky then turned to Storm and said,

“like you read.”

They both laughed and looked back at their son.

“You know, if you like history, I bet the library has some great books on history.”

“Ok! I’ll go look as soon as I can.”

Lightning rushed to his room, and closed the door to block out any outside noise. In mere seconds, the book was opened, and Lightning was instantly sucked into the words and pictures. He had then picked up the book completely, and another book inside had fallen onto his bed. In surprise, Lightning looked down at the hidden book. Lightning and Severe Weather, it had read. Out of curiosity, Lightning had opened the book to find pictures of lightning bolts, and explanations of how they work. His eyes had opened wide out of excitement at the new book. All the cool illustrations and facts on storms had really peaked his interest.

He spent hours on end reading about how lightning is caused, and its sheer speed and might, as well as more on how Cloudsdale was first settled. He hadn't even gotten to sleep until at least two in the morning!

. . .

The next day, Lightning flew to class with Lunar and Spitfire right beside him. When he went to go say good morning to Ms. Diver, she had told him,

“I hope your enjoying the book”

With an inconspicuous wink, Lightning caught it right away. It had all been planned.

“Oh yes! It's so cool to read about!”

"Good! I'm glad to know somepony in here actually takes interest in history and weather. Celestia save these poor foal if they continue napping in class..."

From this day forth, Lightning had taken his interest in weather, and lightning related ordeals to a whole new level. A level of which, would spike his new goal and dream for his future. Becoming a weather pegasus.

Taking the Next Step

--Taking the Next Step--

Four years have passed since Lightning and his friends’ experience at camp with Ms. Starshine. The memories still engraved in his mind, as he stands in line waiting to sign up for the moderate fliers camp. The same feelings of adrenaline promptly filled Lightning, as he began to grow more and more anxious to fly his absolute best. A colt of eight years old, Lightning Chaser is truly growing up into a fine stallion. His mane fully grown and thick, his eyes taking their true colors, but most importantly, his wings. Large, and well built for flying, Lightning had wings that would even make the Wonderbolts envious. Although he was missing a very vital part of anypony’s body: a cutie mark.

The majority of foal in camp had already found their special talents before reaching this point, which made him feel a bit out of place among his friends. Even Lunar had found his special talent. His cutie mark represented that of a compass rose, with a white coloring and gold outline. Lightning, however, was not the only one who hadn’t found his special talent. Spitfire, as well, had been struggling with finding her special talent.

The two felt like outcasts, although they had both agreed to help each other find what makes them unique. Hopefully, in time, they would soon figure out their special talents, and stop being the odd-ones-out. They had tried many different activities and skills before camp, all to no prevail.

Standing in line, another colt had bumped into Lightning.

The colt said,

“Oh sorry, didn’t see you there.”

Lightning quietly replied,

“Um, it’s ok..”

“Hah, well you seem cool!” said the colt. “What’s your name?”

“Um... L-lightning,” responded Lightning.

"Lightning?” repeated the colt. ”That’s a cool name! My name is Sonic Dash.”

The young colt then began to shake Lightning’s hoof, and smiled widely in doing so. Dash was an interesting colt, to say the least. Standing slightly taller than Lightning, he had a light blue, almost cyan body. His mane was white, long, and ragged. His eyes were a light shade of purple, and his cutie mark appeared as a book with a bass shape and strings. It was colored blue, with white fillings.

“That’s a cool cutie mark, Dash. What does it mean?” asked Lightning.

“Well, I love to read and edit things a lot,” explained Dash. “Also, I love rock music and playing the bass.”

Well that would explain it. . .

Lightning had looked at Dash, and saw a very friendly colt in those purple eyes. Somepony you could easily trust, and be great friends with simply by the first impression he had on him.

Lightning gave a small smile, and playfully punched his shoulder. Lightning said, “Well I bet I could beat you in a race!”

“Oh yeah? We'll see!” exclaimed Dash.

They both grinned competitively, then laughed together at their random seriousness. Spitfire had walked right behind Lightning, and grabbed their attention.

“Oh sorry, Spitfire!” apologized Lightning. “Didn’t see ya there.”

"It’s cool Lightning, but I do want to see you guys race!” she said.

Lightning had smiled again, and gave her an accepting nod. He then turned around again and came face to face with a large stallion. He was tall; much taller than most other stallion would be, and even bigger body was too. Lightning figured right away this stallion was easily the commander of a storm unit, or a scout party.

“Name?” asked the stallion. His voice was stern, and very straightforward. Judging from his voice, Lightning had gotten the “genius” idea to get serious.

“Lightning Chaser, sir!” he said.

The stallion lifted one eye curiously, then busted out in a laughter and said, “At ease son, this is just flight camp. Not storm camp.”

Lightning had looked down out of embarrassment, and blushed a bit. “Oh, my bad..” he said quietly.

The stallion then took Lightning’s hoof, and gave it a firm shake. “Welcome to flight camp, Lightning Chaser!” he said.

A smile had hit Lightning’s face as he spoke back to his new instructor: “Thank you, sir!”

As the stallion walked away, Lightning could hear him continuing his laugh as the stallion took Dash, and Spitfire’s names. Lightning had flown over to Lunar and within a few moments, the others joined as well.

“Guys, this is my new friend Sonic Dash,” said Lightning.

“Sonic Dash? I haven’t seen you around much...” observed Lunar.

“Well, I usually tend to keep to myself and my group of friends, but when I saw Lightning here I just wanted to say ‘hi’,”

At first, his friends didn’t know what to think. As of late, their group consisted of Lightning, Lunar, and Spitfire. Now, Lightning was trying to add a fourth member to their group. His idea seemed rather strange, but Lightning wasn’t one to just randomly introduce a bad friend, so they were quick to accept him. Dash just had that aura around him that made people instantly like him. Probably came with the special talents he has.

Lunar had then turned to Lightning and said, “But if you drag one more in, we’re gonna have problems, ok?”

The four had all laughed together at his small joke.

“Well lucky for us each room has four beds,” said Lightning.

They all looked at each other excited, and ran to their room. Inside, was four beds aligned along a wall, with a few posters of the Wonderbolts and a few top graduates of the camp. Lunar had closely examined the poster and turned to the group.

“There’s something wrong with this poster,” he said.

His expression was a bit angry looking.

“Well what’s wrong with it?” asked Dash.

“I’m not on it!” replied Lunar.

All four then broke out laughing at Lunar’s comment.

“Maybe they just know who will and won't be a top graduate, huh Lun?” said Spitfire.

Her comment seemed a bit harsh, but Lunar saw the humor in it and laughed. Heck, it didn’t even phase him that her comment was probably, a partial an insult. Spitfire had looked out the window, and noticed the sky became darker than before.

“Guys, I think it’s time for us to get some sleep,” she said.

Knowing they all had a big day ahead in camp, they all had decided her judgement was the best idea. Although, sleep was a term that could hardly be used that night. They were all so excited to finally start more advanced training, and a new member to the group just fed the fire even more. Smiles and laughs filled the small house as they each shared stories about funny events that had occurred in their lives. What seemed like mere moments to the group was actually hours outside.

Just like that, morning rolled around, and they all dashed outside to see how they would start their training. Outside, the instructor sat, waiting for his new “recruits”. Minute by minute rolled by, as more and more fillies and colts began to group around him. Once the whole group was outside and ready, the instructor went on to speak: “Good morning students, my name is Galliant Storm. But you can call me Mr. Storm."

The group of fillies and colts had replied in sync,

"Good morning, Mr. Storm.”

A smile had come across Mr Storm’s face as he looked at his group of new students. Mr. Storm was a maroon, black spiked mane, dark yellow eye colored stallion, whom had a rather commanding presence around him. His cutie mark represented that of a cloud with a lightning bolt, striking a book. Irony at its best.

“If anypony is wondering why my cutie mark is like this,it’s because I believe in learning from experience, not books. Meaning, when you fall, you learn. When you fail, you learn. When you succeed, you learn. No book can teach you what first-hoof experience can teach you.”

He was correct. Flight is a unique, and one-of-a-kind experience to everypony. No book can define one’s love of it. Mr. Storm then spread his wings out, and soared up into the shy above them. From there, he began to fly a straight path, performing many barrel rolls and aerial loops. The foal “ooh”d and “aah”d in amazement watching him perform the most intricate and sophisticated aerials they had ever seen. As he came down for a landing, it seemed as though he landed more on his right side, then his left.

He then said,

“Just remember: experience leads to flight of a higher caliber than even expert fliers.”

From his perception, Lightning figured he had some sort of large accident that had inflicted the left side of his body, and in time taught him what not to do next time. Experience.

In the back of his mind, Lightning swore an oath to himself. An oath that he would train hard, and always put in full effort, to become a better flier than Mr. Storm. A better flier than even Whiplash; the most skilled, current leader of the Wonderbolts.

Mr. Storm then pulled some clouds up from the ground, and arranged them in large rings. Rings much like the rings that Lunar, Spitfire, and Lightning had used in beginner’s camp. As Mr. Storm flew around to random areas setting them up, Lightning was observing carefully, trying to find the quickest and safest path to follow. The way Mr. Storm set them up would lead either to a crash of one of the students, or a great success of one of the more skilled ponies.

“Alright everypony, let's see how you can do on your warm up route.”

And just like her nature, Spitfire was the first to volunteer. She had walked over to the starting point, and spread her wings out ready to take off. Mr. Storm then raised his hoof, and very swiftly waved it to mark her start. Just like that, she was off.

Incredible, inconceivable, and impeccable. These words only began to describe the yellow blur that had been whizzing around the rings. Her turns were a bit spotty, but her swiftness and speed were in perfect balance, making for great recovery off tight turns.

As she came to a landing, her speed was a little too high, and in term, she hurt come to her landing too hot and hurt her legs when making contact with the ground. Knowing Spitfire however, it was absolutely nothing. She was a strong filly. Strong enough to brush off something as simple as a hard landing. Even Mr.Storm had an impressed look on his face as he walked over to Spits. Everypony already knew what he was thinking, and they all agreed too: She was an incredible flier.

Looking back to Lightning, he knew what was coming next. Either he had to try to show Spitfire up with his devastating speed, or wait it out and try to be the one to finish on a strong note. As he figured to try and show his best friend up, (what a pal!) Dash stepped in, and gave the group competitive, kind of “beat me if you can!” look. He spread his wings out, and as Mr. Storm waved his hoof, he too, was gone. The light blue blur, followed by a lagged echo of sound, showed that Dash had a perfect combination of speed, and maneuvering. It was as if Lightning and Lunar had become one pegasi, but needed a bit more improvement, because the combination still couldn't beat the raw talent the two had in their skills. You could also tell by the way Dash was flying, that he too, had a true love for flight. He too was what one may call, a true pegasus.

The whole group, including Spitfire and Mr. Storm, was in complete awe. He was magnificent. Magnificent at least, until his landing. After a few swift banks and corners, it had occurred to Lightning, and soon the whole group, that Dash was not the best at coming to landings. After hitting the last corner, Dash had spread his wings out to try and catch a plethora of instant drag, but instead tossed forward rather violently through the air. Obviously, he was moving faster than he could handle, and eventually crashed into the clouds, kicking up plenty enough to block him out completely. Coming up from the fog he had kicked up, he spit a few clouds out and laughed.

“I guess I missed my turn,” he joked.

The whole group laughed as Mr.Storm helped him up. He seemed a bit battered, but no serious damage. Luckily for him, the clouds had cushioned his impact, which was very capable of resulting in an injury. Shortly after, Dash took his place next to Spitfire, and Lunar was up next to try and make his mark on the others.

Walking up, and over to the starting point, he spread his wings out and gave them a few warm up flaps. Mr. Storm had then raised his hoof, and Lunar crouched down ready to catch the best start he could. What Lunar lacked in speed, he made up for in swiftness and sense of direction. But don't get him wrong, he has blinding speed as well.

Lunar seemed to practically flip off the rings, and instantly be in the next direction, which gave his spectators a mind blowing, and extremely fun to watch attitude. One by one, he was pointing in the correct direction after every turn, and blasting through each ring like it was mere colt’s play. (Although technically, it was.) It didn't take Lunar any more time than it took Spitfire or Dash to finish the course. He stuck his landing well, and amazed everypony with his already mastered swiftness. Even Mr. Storm had his mouth open in amazement as he walked over to the others. Shortly after Lunar had finished his performance, Lightning knew what was next: Him.

As Lunar made his way back to the group, he had waved to Lightning for him to get ready to go. Apparently, Lightning was the last left to even perform the course, other than the other foal that were simply gazing at their flying. Instantly, reminiscent rushes of excitement, and adrenaline filled his spirit as he got into position, and prepped to amaze at what he loved most: Flying.

As he spread his wings out, time seemed to slow. Mr. Storm’s hoof seemed to be in the same spot for a good three seconds. Blood pumping ferociously, and eyes focusing simply on the sky in front of him, an anxious smirk ran across his face. Mr. Storm had then gotten into his reffing point, and quickly waved Lightning the “a-ok,” wave to tell him, “show time!”

Mr. Storm had quickly waved his hoof to mark Lightning’s start, and to his surprise, was nearly blown away from the resistance Lightning have the wind in his face.

Wind instantly met his mane as he soared high into the first ring. Time still seemed slower, as he flew as hard and fast as he could through the first few rings. A few tight turns had held him back a bit, but he didn't care! It was his time to shine. Memories of all the training and practice he did as a younger colt, like gliding off the bed, began to flash before him. Feeling the air start to bubble around him, it also at the same time began to smoothen out a bit around him. Noises made outside his little pocket of air were completely blocked, while in that very instant, Lightning had hit the long stretch between two rings. This was it. Full speed straight ahead, just as he loves.

As he kept increasing in speed, the bubble of air had turned to a vibration. He could hear the air beginning to shake his very being as he was hitting what could very well be the brink of supersonic speed. Just before the vibrations reached a severe turbulent level, he had to slow down to hit the next turn. It was a true shame to say the least, because he had hoped for a longer stretch, but that didn't matter now. It was now or never to close this course out. As he rounded the last few rings, he kicked in his last bit of turbo left, making the cloud rings were shake violently as he ripped through. So violently in fact, he had almost obliterated each one as he rocketed through them, all in one pass.

Lightning had then folded his wings, and created as much drag as he could. He knew very well that the speed could seriously injure his being, so he tried doing what Lunar did, and made a few flips off the last ring. Those nights falling from the crib had come back to him, as he flapped hard against the clouds, and stuck all four hooves on the clouds. Sticking his landing perfectly, he began gasping to catch his breath, and looked up at his peers. Their expressions were inexplicable, as if they had each experienced something that made them lose sight of reality. After snapping back to reality, Mr.Storm walked over to Lightning, and stopped right in front of him. Lightning was expecting some sort of congratulation, but instead Mr.Storm had pointed his hoof at Lightning’s rear. An instant chill surged through his body, along with his heart skipping many beats, then racing fast. Lightning turned his head to his flank, and there it was. Still sparkling from freshly being discovered, Lightning’s cutie mark. Navy and white, with an explosive lightning bolt shooting through a white shockwave that appears to be soaring across his flank. The sign of speed just waiting to be unleashed in a blinding fury. This was Lightning Chaser in visual form. Speed waiting to be unleashed.

The look on everypony’s face were all the same. Utterly mind blown. Lightning’s friends ran over to hug and congratulate his new found talent, which they had actually known all along. He simply needed that extra push to truly find it. Flying faster than anypony else could ever dream; his true talent, and now reality. Lightning and his friends then began laughing, and cheering at his discovery.

“Wow Lightning... it's so cool...”

“Dude you are really something else.”

The compliments ment nothing to him however. Sure they were nice, but this was his discovery. His own personal goal that has been met. Mr.Storm then began to say,

“Well now, this is what we are here for everypony. Experience, and finding that love of flight that makes us all pegasi.”

Lightning had completely tuned out the world. He was simply too excited and amazed to be listening to his instructor. Even after his ordeal, Lightning and his friends were still tuned out from everything else, while the other ponies tried doing their best on the course.The next few hours flew by like minutes as the group watched the other fillies fly their way through the rings. Or, what was left of the rings after Lightning’s little “speed test.” There were a few whom had great talent, but none were even remotely close to Lightning and his friend’s talent. And to think, that the group of four are only eight years old. After helping clean the wreckage in the clouds caused by Dash, and the shattered rings of Lightning, all the fillies and colts gathered around Mr.Storm for a quick pep talk.

“Alright fellas, today was a great day. We all learned a bit about each other’s abilities.”

He then turned to Lightning and said,

“and we all learned a little something about experience.”

His friends cheered as Mr.Storm turned back to the group and began talking again.

“Now tomorrow i expect to see your "A" game out here! I want to see you give 120% on learning new maneuvering tricks, and landing practice. Till then, get some rest. Great job all!”

He then turned to his house and flew inside, while the rest of the group had retreated to their homes as well; still murmuring about how “amazing” the first four were. As the group of four walked into their house, they all tackled Lightning again, giving him more congratulations. They all laughed and started a small fire in the fireplace. Lunar grabbed some marshmallows and they began to roast them over the fire. Everyone’s marshmallows turned out perfect while cooking them. Well, all except Spitfire’s. Poor thing blackened the outside of hers to the point of no edibility. Out of the kindness in their hearts, the other three took pieces off and gave them to her. The rest of the night they spent talking and joking about their experience during practice, and more stories that were remembered over time.

Eventually, they all managed to retreat to bed, and curl up under the blankets. Once again, nopony slept a wink. Especially Lightning. There was simply no way these foal were getting to sleep. Minutes seemed to tick by like seconds as they kept laughing and chatting about things like what happens when Lunar’s father runs out of tea, or Spitfire’s mother can find the newspaper. Next thing they knew, morning rolled around, and other fillies and colts began to emerge from their houses. Dash had then looked out the window and said,

“hey guys, I think we should get out there now.”

“Yeah thats probably the best idea.”

They all nodded in agreement, and made their way outside. There, they found a giant loop of rings, followed by a tight turning tunnel. This was crazy! Fillies and colts doing loops?

“Alright everypony, i know what your thinking. Yes, this is a loop of rings, but I am not expecting you to get this right on the first try. I AM expecting you to be able to complete this loop by today however. I've seen all of your talent, and i know each and every one of you can do this.”

Everypony looked at one another nervously. All except, yes. Spitfire. She had that same old look on her face. Ready and willing to put forth full effort to complete the challenge. As she stepped up, she was pushed back by Dash. Obviously, the two were in competition for bravest flier. Or perhaps, Dash was just being protective of her. Whatever the case, she understood that he needed to be the first to go.

As she stepped back, Dash gave her a nod of thanks. He spread his wings far, and started flapping as hard as he could. In moments, he was airborne, and building up as much speed as he could. As he lifted up on his wings, he began the beginning ascent of the loop, eventually reaching the top. At the top, he rolled over and began to pull down, as if he barrel rolled at the peak of the loop. Smart because it gives more maneuverability for such a large descent. Flipping over on his belly, he then began to pull back, and started the decline to leveling out. Although, something must have gone wrong because when he began the leveling out phase, he began to lose control. Beginning to shake a bit, he had hit a few rings, and although it must have hurt him a lot, Dash is a strong colt. He quickly corrected his flight error, and quickly returned to normal state. After leveling off, he had banked his body in the direction of the corner in the tunnel. Again, smart. Banking the turn would give better maneuverability in such a tight space. The inside of the tube must have freaked Dash out a bit, because when he came out he was a bit shaky and slower than normal.

As he flew through his last few rings, he had come down for a solid landing. And he almost had a solid landing, except for the fact his front two hooves had hit first. That too, must have hurt a lot. Knowing Dash however, he would simply brush it off. And he did. As he rushed over to Mr.Storm, everypony was giving him congratulations and compliments.

“Great job Sonic, i liked what you did at the top of the loop. Very clever.”

“Thanks Mr.Storm.”

You could easily tell Dash had really put forth all effort in doing his best. His breath was heavy with sweat dripping off his face. His condition had scared the other foal, because after that, nopony wanted to go next. Except of course, Spitfire. She had stepped forth, ready to try and surpass her toughest rival, Dash. As she crouched down at the start, spreading her wings, Mr.Storm then raised his hoof up, and little Spitfire was ready. With the wave of his hoof, she was off.

Soaring upwards, then pulling down, trying to pick up as much speed as possible. Her speed was incredible. A yellow blur with her orange and yellow trail behind her. All the other fillies looked in awe as she began her ascent up the enormous loop. The yellow blur gradually become more vivid as her speed dropped near the peak. Instead of trying to barrel roll over like what Dash had done, she simply kept on her back, trying to fly the entire loop in one continuous flight path. And it appeared as though she had done it. All the way until the descent. By that time, she had begun to increase in speed again, and start to lose control of her path. By not flipping early enough, she had to increase the pitch of her descent much more then Dash had to. Dangerous, but she probably was trying to show up Dash doing that. As she then rolled over on her belly, she had pulled up, and she went from a yellow pegasus, to an yellow blur once again. Once leveled off, she had pulled her wings out and tried to lose some speed before entering the tunnel. It seemed to work, because she had come out of the tunnel without any real problems or issues. Heck, she even landed beautifully. Solid stick on all fours, getting huge cheers from the “crowd.” At this point, all the other students were literally just a crowd just watching the four of different flying leagues show them up.

Spitfire then ran over to Dash and hoof bumped him, while Lightning began to make his way over to the starting point and crouched down to get ready. Blood rushing, and heart pumping, Lightning was ready. He spread his wings out, squinted his eyes in focus, while Mr.Strom began to raise his hoof. A smile came across his face as he focused his eyes harder on the rings traveling up. As Mr.Storm’s hoof waved, Lightning was off.

Soaring straight up, then instantly flying downwards gaining as much speed as possible. The air bubble began to form around him as he picked up an excessive amount of speed. Although it is nowhere near his limit, Lightning knew he had to keep a certain pace to keep from losing control.

As he began his ascent up, he could hear the faint cheers behind him, but they were soon cancelled out by the sound of the wind in his ears. When nearing the top, he had figured to do a roll or spin, but it would only slow him down. Instead, he flapped harder and picked up more speed on descent. The sound of the wind started changing to vibrations, much like the day before. Before he could push past that phase once more however, he had to decrease his speed for the turn in the tunnel. At the bottom of the loop, he spread his wings out to try to pick up a bit of drag, and began to twist so he could bank the turn inside the tunnel. Although he was flying much faster than the others before him, Lightning’s senses were more advanced in higher speeds.

As he flew into the tunnel, it became unbelievably dark. In this instant, he saw why Dash seemed so startled. However, Lightning also had great perceptive skills. As he began to pull back and turn in the tunnel, he saw a blinding light, and flew straight through it. And just like that, he hit the last few rings of the course, and had to find a way to slow down, and quickly.

He then proceeded to pull back completely sticking his hooves out as the drag helped slow the landing speed. As he felt the force of the cloud hitting him, he knew he stuck the landing solidly. All the other foal then clapped and cheered as he walked over to his friends to hoof bump. At the same time however, Lunar, the underdog walked over to the starting point, ready to take a crack at it. This Lunar however, was not the same Lunar they knew minutes before. He seemed, confident... in control... Perhaps it was his love for enormous loops? If there is a love for loops that is.

As Lunar spread his wings, Mr.Storm then raised his hoof up, and Lunar had crouched down ready to ready for his take off, the “crowd” fell silent. This was Lunar’s moment now. Mr.Storm then lowered his hoof, and lunar was off. Although, he wasn't flying as fast as he could, that much is certain. Instead, at the base of the loop he began to spiral through the loops. Lunar quickly turned to a black blur, as he continued through the loop. Astounding. His sense of direction was beyond that of a master. To be spiraling through a loop that most other ponies couldn't even complete... it was extraordinary.

The wind was blowing his mane around like crazy as he seemed to pull back and begin his descent downward. The very idea of him pulling downward was out of the question. To be moving in one direction, while still spinning is just unreal. As he reached the bottom of the loop, he began to slow his spiraling and then began to stick to one position, which was the banking position of the turn.

As he entered the tunnel however, Spitfire had caught him starting to spiral once more, and as soon as he came out of the tunnel, the dang colt was spiraling STILL coming out of the tunnel. Unreal. That is the only word remotely capable of describing how the situation felt.

As he began to level out, and begin flying through the last rings, he had spread his wings out far, caught drag, and stuck a perfect landing right where the other three had. Indents were left, and deepened by the others. Lunar had just made it that much worse. As he came to a landing, his eyes were perfectly aligned, as if he felt no effect of the intense spiraling. Not even a full grown Wonderbolt could even come close to performing what Lunar just did. The others rushed over to him, and began asking questions out of sheer amazement.

“Lunar... how in the hay did you just do that?”

“Are... are you a wizard?”

Lunar had laughed in triumph as he had successfully shown all his friends up simply by doing what he does best. Amaze. Mr.Storm had walked over to him and looked him straight in the eye, saying,

“Son... I haven't even the slightest idea how you managed to pull that off, but if you keep up aerials like that, I guarantee you will be the leader of a flight team like the Wonderbolts in the first week of joining."

Lunar gave a cocky grin and laughed in victory.

“Lets see them even come close to do what i just did.”

The other fillies were stuck in their expressions. They were all thinking the same exact thoughts. How? Lunar had walked over to his friends and and gave them each a hoof bump. Although, even his friends were too stunned to give a proper bump. Lunar knew he had done it. Blown his friends out of the water completely.

With the first four performances over, the four friends were simply too excited to focus on the others' performances. As the hours began to tick by like minutes, the four watched the other ponies try their best at copying Lunar. Each one crashed horribly. It was simply too difficult to come anywhere close to copying. Although a lot of other fillies and colts did perform pretty well on the basic loop.

Mr.Storm was impressed by the potential of his B listers. (Burn!) A lot of them had flown exceptionally well for their age. The others, well the others didn't fend too well. Others lost control at the top and fell down into the clouds, or crashed into a ring on their descents. But this is expected, because this is after all a training camp. Mr.Storm had quite a few minor injuries to deal with that day, but all in all it was a great day. Especially for Lunar.

When everypony had finished trying the loop, they all gathered around Mr.Storm for what to do next.

“Alright everypony, today was a great day for most of us. Others, well like i said before experience comes from failure."

A few ponies had laughed after he said that. Others simply tried to blend in the background.

` “Lets all get some rest, and we can rejoin out here tomorrow morning before you all depart.”

A couple of the ponies had a sad look after realizing that their camp was almost over, but after seeing the events that occurred over the past two days, who could complain? As the group of four reached their house, at the same moment they all realized just how tired they were from staying up the past two nights.

“Why don't we just sleep tonight and talk tomorrow?”

Yawned Spitfire.

“Sure just what... I was thinking.”

Even Dash’s voice began to trail off as they each climbed into bed ready to fall asleep. Funny because this was the first night the beds were even used!

Laying in bed, Lightning felt calm. Calm because he knew that he had learned everything he could from this camp. Meaning, he had nothing left to learn here, and all that’s left is simply to continue flying for one thing; experience. His eyes grew heavy as he began to drift off in bed. In sleep, he had dreams of the crib, and gliding off the side. Seeing his parents there with him when he wanted to try flying, or simply get somewhere he wanted to go.

. . .

A few hours ticked by as the peaceful friends all slept like rocks. However, they were all woken up by many fillies and colts outside laughing and screaming.

“Could somepony turn out the lights?”

The group laughed rather hoarsely at Lunar’s comment, as they all got up, ready to start the new day. Once they all got ready, they all went outside to see what everypony was laughing about. Outside, they saw many different ponies flying around freely, as parents began to arrive. Pick up day. Lightning turned to the group and said,

“looks like today is just our last day here.”

Obviously.

Lunar walked in front of Lightning, and spread his wings to take off flying. Lunar had the right idea; last day so make it count. Out in the training area, there was plenty of open room for free flying, and racing. Lightning was quick to join in, as he spread his wings out and began to soar through the sky right along side his best friend. Flying as high as he could, Lightning flew above Lunar, and began to dive down at him. Sort of a dangerous, stupid stunt only Lightning would try to pull off. By the magic of his dumb luck, an accident was avoided, but Lightning did crash into the clouds. What a genius.

Joining Lunar was Spitfire, and Dash. They all laughed at Lightning, whom at this point was starting to get fairly embarrassed.

“Oh shut up!”

They continued laughing as Lightning flew back up to join his friends. “Let's see you try it!” Lunar was quick to jump at the opportunity.

“You're on!”

Lunar then proceeded to fly high, and start to dive straight down towards the clouds. Nearing the bottom, he began to spin in many spirals, and pull up just before hitting the clouds. Lunar had pulled up, and made a shark pylon turn to make his way back to the group. He quickly came back to join his friends, while also flying closer to Lightning, and tousled his mane.

“Piece of cake. You just stink at flying!”

Lightning wasn't very thrilled, but he knew he would get his vengeance. As the three finished their group laugh, Midnight flew up to the group.

“Wassup everypony?”

“I just scorched Lightning here.”

His grin was cocky.

“Ahaha that so? I knew you were the better flyer!”

Midnight then gave a loud laugh and started to fly off.

“Alright i’m going now. Bye.”

Lunar then flew off to join his dad, still confident from burning his friend. Spitfire had then added,

“Sorry Lightning, but you had that coming”

“Yeah well, next time he’ll be sorry.”

Dash then threw his hooves around Lightning and gave him a friendly hug, and shortly Spitfire had joined in.

”Just don't hurt yourself bud!”

“Can do.”

Dash then flipped around and flew off in his own direction. Shortly after, Spitfire had flown off in her own direction as well. With a bit of time to himself, Lightning tried to pull off the same stunt again. He flew up to gain a bit more attitude, then began to dive downwards. He knew however, if he didn't control his speed the stunt wouldn't turn out too pretty, so he controlled his speed, and just before the clouds pulled up and came to a solid landing on all fours. He gave a small exhale and then walked over to Mr.Storm. He then reached his hoof out to shake his instructor's.

“Thanks for everything Mr.Storm, i’ll practice hard every day!”

“No problem bud, just keep working on that speed, you have some serious potential there!”

Lightning turned around and flew over towards where his dad had checked him in a few days earlier. He had a knack for landings, and speed. Everypony knew that. How could he work on swiftness though? Lunar made it look so easy to everpony... That just meant more practice. More practice, more experience. Lightning flew up to join his friends and try practicing a few maneuvering tricks, until his parents flew up.

“Lightning, Is that a cutie mark!?”

Lightning looked at it for a second and nodded.

“Yeah I got it yesterday!”

His parents gave him a hug, and looked him in the eyes.

“Son, we're very proud of you! Let's go celebrate!”

Lighting’s eyes grew big in excitement.

“Awesome! Where!”

“Wherever you want sport.”

He then flew right alongside his parents, as they all flew off in pride of their son’s new found talent. He may not be the most swift one around, but he could burn anypony in those straight-away races. And to him, that's all he wants.

The One and Only

--The One and Only --

Two years have passed since Lightning and his friends left the intermediate training camp with Mr. Storm. Lightning was growing taller, and stronger. Now a colt of ten years old, Lightning was growing quickly into a fine stallion. His mane began to seem to spike around his forehead, then spike upwards near the back. As he flew over to his friends, they all walked up to the ticket counter of the Cloudsdale Colosseum, to buy their tickets. The Wonderbolts were performing today, so the group eagerly rushed to get the best seats. Lunar galloped up to the ticket mare and said,

“Four of your best seats!”

“450 bits, please,” said the mare.

Lunar then proceeded to pull out four-hundred and fifty bits. How he got that much is beyond Lightning, but he knows not to question the ways of Lunar. They all hoof bumped Lunar, then ran inside to find their seats. Although the show isn't supposed to start for another hour, they were all too excited to see their favorite fliers perform live. Along the way however, the group got lost inside the large structure. Slightly panicked, Spitfire began to run around to try to figure out just where they were.

“Does anypony know where our seats are?” wondered Dash.

They had all shrugged and looked around. Lunar quickly spotted a large door along a small corridor. He then pointed to it and said,

“I bet that’s a shortcut! Let's take it!”

“But, won't we get in trouble?” asked Lightning.

“Hey, I paid for these tickets, so I can go wherever I want in here!”

Lunar then ran over to the door and began to attempt at opening it.

“Wow this thing is heavy...”

He took a deep breath and pushed the giant door open. It made a loud creaking sound, and the four ran in together. They followed what seemed to be some pathway leading downwards, and to the center of the stadium. But in the dark corridor, nopony knew where they were going. Except Lunar, of course.

Knowing this, the group tailed Lunar closely.

“Ok, I bet the next door we find leads right to our row!”

They then stumbled upon a small door, and pushed it open inconspicuously. When they walked in, they stumbled upon a few chairs, water bottles, and what seemed like flight outfits. In that moment, they came face-to-face with them: the one and only Wonderbolts. They all looked up in awe, as Slipstream walked over to them.

“You fellas look a little lost. Whatcha doing in here?” he asked.

“Um well, we followed a door down a pathway and...” started Lunar

Slipstream chuckled a bit at the stunned group, and said,

“Don’t worry fellas, we don’t mind ya back here. In fact, it's nice to have some fans to talk to sometimes.”

They all smiled and asked each member questions they had.

“How long have you been in the group? How fast can you fly? I bet you cant do better then me at inverted loops!”

Spitfire walked over to Slipstream as the colts were trying to make friends with their heroes.

“Hey there, bud! What's up?”

“Sir, uh, I just wanted to tell you that you’re my favorite Bolt, and I uh... I just... I really want to... uhh... I really hope I can... uh... join you one day.”

She was usually the very calm and collect one, but given the circumstance, even the mighty Spitfire fell to sputtering statements. Slipstream gave another chuckle and said,

“If you practice hard every day, keep training your skills, and do your absolute best, I promise you can make it in! I’ll even put in a good word to the boss for ya!”

She looked up in pure amazement and smiled widely.

“Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!” she exclaimed.

She then lunged at him, giving him a tight hug.

“Haha, no problem sport! But, you gotta promise me you will work your absolute hardest, ok?”

She gave a quick nod, along an anticipated look. Slipstream trotted over to Whiplash, and whispered something in her ear. She looked at the group and nodded.

“Alright fellas, how about you come out with us during the entrance!” said Whiplash.

They all had shot open in surprise, and exploded at once,

“AWESOME!"

Going crazy with excitement, the Bolts had all laughed, as Slipstream gave them the run-down on proper entrance. They were all way too excited to sit still, so the fact they even were capable of listening was astonishing. Slipstream beckoned them behind him, as Whiplash and the other Bolts walked right behind the group.

They followed a corridor filled with many plaques, trophies, and pictures of other Bolts. As they reached the end of the corridor, they could hear the fans' loud cheers and claps. Lunar then turned to Lightning, and gave him a good punch to the shoulder.

“Now’s our chance to show them our stuff!” he said.

Slipstream turned around and looked at them.

“I heard that!” he said.

He laughed a bit, turned around to face the group, and said,

“Just let us bust out the entrance, and you fellas can follow right behind. That is, if you can keep up!”

His look was the kind of look one would use during a challenge, rather than giving a challenge. As Slipstream turned back around, he began running towards the end of the corridor, right along with the other Bolts.

They then started to dash at their fastest running speed, and swept their wings back to bullet their way out of the corridor, whizzing by the many cases and shelves stocked with their past success, with absolutely insane speed.

Lightning however, was not one to lose in a speed challenge that easily.

The group of Dash, Spits, and Lunar, tried to follow closely, but had quickly began to fall behind the Bolts. They all spread their wings out, trying to compete in the contest of pure speed. Lightning spread his wings out far, and back, as he flew out the corridor into a stadium of thousands all cheering at him.

He could see the Bolt’s trail; storm clouds with lightning bolts zapping around it closely, and intensely. Dash, Spits, and Lunar had tried to follow the Bolts closely, but Lightning followed closer. He could feel it: those same vibrations he felt in Mr. Storm's camp. Those same rushes of adrenaline kicking in that he first felt off the crib, and in Ms. Starshine's camp. Lightning was being unleashed from the cloud that contained him. Rather, that cloud was being completely decimated.

As the sky in front of him began to focus on one single point, he barely caught a glimpse of Slipstream, as he bolted by.

The crowd had fallen almost silent as Lightning had completed a sharp pylon, then began to fly almost straight down. From those split seconds, time began to slow once more. He saw the Bolts simply frozen in place, and his friends still catching up to them. Beginning his descent, the vibrations became fierce. The wind was whipping his mane back, as he lost all control, and fell into the desire for speed.

He closed his eyes and smiled in an sudden rush of adrenaline. Just before he had to pull up, he had found, and hit a terminal velocity. The whole sky seemed to shake violently, rocking him back and forth painfully, while the wind knocked back his ears, and mane. Merely a moment afterwords, the air around him had stopped shaking, and became much smoother, and calmer. Looking back, he noticed a shockwave of white and navy.

. . .

From his viewpoint, nothing could be heard. The moment was exhilarating, flying at his true speed. He was no longer being shaken by the air around him. He smiled wide as the adrenaline began to wear out, and the sky around him began to speed back up once more.

As he pulled straight up, the wind began to shake him violently once more, and he could hear the air rushing and whipping around his ears and mane. He spread his wings out as far as he could and began to create a stall in mid air. He could feel the air hitting him straight on while coming to a stop. looking down from where he was in the sky, he had noticed something rather peculiar: a trail of white and navy blue. Although it was disappearing quickly, he still had to wonder what exactly what it was. At the same time, he also noticed the arena was almost completely out of view, while a couple high level clouds had floated by. Just how fast could he have been going to get so high up?

He then stopped flapping to free fall the rest of the way down, but kept his wings spread out to keep from losing control of his speed. The Colosseum came back into view little by little, and the Bolts had flown up to him with an extremely panicked look on their face. Lightning was panting extremely hard, and dripping beads of sweat, due to the speed he was flying at. Although, he still hadn't lost his smile from that moment of smooth flight.

Slipstream tackled him in mid-air, and brought him down safely back down to the ground level of the Colosseum. The whole crowd was dead silent with indescribable expressions on their faces. His friends had the exact same look.

Slipstream put Lightning down and looked at him.

“Are you ok, fella?" he asked, "What did you just do!?” Lightning started laughing in excitementas he answered,

“That was awesome!”

Slipstream gave a good laugh as he let out a sigh of relief.

“Well... Uh... I don't exactly know what you did bud, but you made the whole Colosseum shake, and next thing we knew... there was this giant shockwave along with a loud "boom" sound, and all we saw after that was a trail of white and navy shooting straight up into the sky!” Lightning’s eyes grew big in curiosity as he asked,

“Wh-wait... what does that mean exactly?” Dash and Spitfire ran over and tackled Lightning to the ground.

“It means you just beat the Wonderbolts at their own game!” exclaimed Spitfire.

He laughed a bit at her comment and started,

“No no, i was jus-”

“Just nothing!" interrupted Dash, "That was awesome!”

Lightning looked down in embarrassment as he wondered why they were so amazed at him simply flying. The whole Colosseum then burst out in cheers and claps. They must have thought it was just part of the show, but what Lighting experienced... It was just completely unreal- and he liked it! Lunar walked over, gave him a small hoof bump, and said,

“One day, I'll get faster than you. I promise you that!” Lightning laughed and gave a competitive look to his best friend.

“Let's see you try!”

Whiplash then looked over to the group and told them,

“Alright, fellas, we still have to finish this show. So just hang tight, and we'll get back to talking with ya!”

They all nodded as the Bolts took off and started their routine stunts. Dash ran in front of Lightning and looked him dead in the eyes.

“I want to know how it felt," he said.

Lighting looked puzzled. “How what felt?” he asked.

“You know, flying after the giant shockwave!” said Dash.

Lighting looked back into his memories. The feelings of the vibrations and the air around him were still vivid, as he began to re-tell his experience to Dash.

“Well, I just remember the wind shaking me like crazy, then next thing I know, I can't hear anything, and the air became as smooth as the clouds in the morning!”

“I need to try to get to that speed to see for myself!” Excalimed Dash.

He looked very determined, but Lightning knew he would probably never get to that point. Dash wasn’t born with the swept-wings that Lightning had. He was born a purebred, perfectly shaped wing pegasus: balanced at flying in agility and speed. Lightning then walked over to the wall and sat down, sighing a sigh of exhaustion, as he looked up to watch the Bolts as they began some intense aerials. Lunar sat next to him and told him,

“I bet they won't ever be as fast as us!”

They both laughed as Lightning said,

"I don't know... They train everyday of their lives to be the fastest, most talented fliers... I think they can beat you, Lun!"

Lunar seemed rather rustled at Lightning's comment, but he laughed it off, instead of smoldering over it. Eventually, they had focused completely on the show, and watched for a good amount of time before the Bolts began to wrap up their performance. They are truly something else, those Bolts, Completing inverted loops, followed by rigorous twists and helices.

As Whiplash and his co-Bolts flew down to land, and took their bows, they walked over to the group of four.

“How about we go grab some water?” suggested Whiplash.

They were all exhausted, breathing heavily as they walked back over to the corridor. As they walked back down the corridor, they all noticed something: the glass that once held the many trophies and plaques, was completely shattered. Everypony looked around at each other in curiosity.

“What the hay happened here?” asked Spitfire. Lightning looked over to Lunar, and jokingly said,

“Were you trying to make off with a trophy?” Lunar laughed and hit Lightning playfully.

“You know I wouldn't until everypony was gone!”

They laughed a bit more as the Bolts shrugged off the mystery, and continued down the hall. As they reached the break room, and Slipstream tossed each one a water, then crashed down on a chair.

“Alright, alright. Lightning. What the hay happened out there?” he asked.

Lightning looked up at him and answered the best he could, telling his experience in vivid detail. He was quick to hook each pony in the room into the story, as if they were right alongside him.

“Wow... sounds to me like you were flying faster than sound!” said Slipstream.

All eyes went wide. That’s crazy! How could anypony possibly fly faster than sound?

“There’s no way," argued Whiplash, "Slipstream, he’s just a colt!”

“Then you try explaining the shockwave, and the trail of color he left!” rebuddled Slipstream.

Whiplash decided it was in her best interest to keep quiet after that. However, the other members had started getting into fairly deep arguments over what exactly he did. Lightning tried to blend into the background, only to be pulled right back out by Spitfire, who said,

“Look Lightning, I don't know what you did, but you have to keep practicing it! You’re the only one ever to pull something like that off! If you can do that even more you could so easily make the Wonderbolts!” Lightning shifted awkwardly in discomfort and told her,

"I honestly don't want to be in the Wonderbolts. I would rather do something else.” Spitfire had an insane amount of disbelief in her eyes.

“Y-you don't?” she stuttered.

In her mind, it was a slight relief, eliminating the competition and all.

“Oh my bad!...Haha... but seriously, don't stop practicing! You gotta keep doing that!” He nodded and walked over to Lunar, although Lunar seemed more interested in the trophies.

“What a day huh?” asked Lightning

“Well, I didn't plan on paying 450 bits to watch you show me up, but; yeah, it's been crazy.” Lightning chuckled and said,

“Maybe one day you can keep up.”

He gave him a smirk and Lunar laughed at his confidence. The next hour or so wa spent with conversation between the young ones and the Bolts. Turns out, the Bolt’s old trainer was actually Mr. Storm. Although that comes to little surprise, because they could still remember the many Wonderbolt posters and such in the rooms at camp.

As the group all walked out of the Colosseum, they noticed the glass of the ticket counter was also shattered. In quick reaction, the group strayed as far away from the stand as possible.

They gathered at the statue out front of the stadium, and said their goodbyes, as they flew off in separate directions. Lightning spread his wings out and began flying in the direction of home. All he could think about was that moment of smooth, quiet flight he had. In his head, he promised himself he would practice that every chance he got - away from windows, of course

Chaser Residence

--Chaser Residence--

Just another day in Ms. Diver’s class. All the fillies and colts were dead asleep, (except for Chaser and Dash of course) as she went on about her math lessons.

“All right my little ponies, tomorrow is our field trip to the new settlement of Ponyville! So make sure you get plenty of sleep and pack some oats!”

As she began to erase her board, all the students whom had finished their naps yawned, and got up out of their desks. It still is peculiar how she refuses to wake all the sleeping students; but he classroom, her rules. Lightning began to collect his books, while Dash walked over to him and gave him a hoof bump.

“Hey dude you going some place later?”

“Yeah I was going to go home and get my stuff ready for tomorrow.”

“Hm cool. Can I go with ya? I've never seen your place before.”

“Yeah sure i guess thats ok.” Shortly after, Lightning walked outside with Dash, and began to fly away from school. Dash turned to Lightning and told him, “not in a weird way or anything.” Lightning laughed a bit, and nodded his head.

"Because it's your life dream to see my house right?"

Leaving the school, they decided to take a detour, and fly around a few shops and buildings downtown. Even to this day, they could still see the destructive path from the storm that hit years ago, clearly engraved into the streets and buildings. Yes, it was all rebuilt, but one could still clearly see the misplaced clouds and walls.

After a few short minutes of flying, they finally arrived at the Chaser residence. It was a decent sized home, with a few decorative rainbows, straight from the weather factory. As Lightning and Dash flew up to his door, Lightning opened the door and lead Dash inside.

It was a fairly simple home inside; a few pictures of the Chasers on small vacations, some plants, furniture, essentially basic necessities. Lightning lead Dash up to his room and opened the door for him. His room was a dark blue color, with even more basic furniture. A few posters of pony rock bands, and aerial stunt ponies he liked. Performers such as Patty Wingstaff, and Sean Trotter were hung across his wall. He even had one signed by Mrs. Wingstaff

“Woah dude, you have a cool room!”

Lightning quickly flopped onto his bed, and closed his eyes.

“Thanks.”

Dash walked over to his model figures of the Wonderbolts, and examined them closely.

“So why don't you want to be in the Wonderbolts?”

“I do, but the job is just too restricting. Having to be at shows all the time, and training every day constantly. It just doesn't seem like a rewarding job. I mean, sure it would be amazing and all, but I just don't want to do it. I'd much, much rather be in a career where I can wake up every morning, knowing i'm going to have fun flying, and even have free time afterwords to practice my stunts, or explore around.”

Dash nodded in agreement, and told him,

“I’m hoping to join a weather force, or a scout team. That way I could fly everyday without all the restrictions.”

"I like the sound of that...Would you mind if I tried it out with you, Dash?"

He shook his head and told Lightning, "Of course not! I'd love to work along side ya!"

Lightning hopped up and walked over to his door.

“Want to meet my parents? They're uh... Different... But pretty cool around new people."

”Yeah sure.”

Lightning then hopped off his bed, walked out his door. Along with Dash, they made their way downstairs, and into the living room. In the living room, Mr. and Mrs. Chaser sat in their chairs, reading their books. Sky seemed the most interested in her books, probably because she loved reading as much as Lightning loved flying. Storm looked up at the two, and proceeded to get up and greet them.

“Hey sport, who’s your new friend?”

“Hey Mr. Chaser, my name is Sonic Dash.”

They shook hooves and smiled.

“Nice to meet you, Dash!”

Sky looked up for a split second and smiled, saying,

“Hey there!”

The next instant, she was right back in her book. Storm laughed and toussled Lightning’s mane.

“You're getting bigger bud. Dinner will be ready soon so unless your friend wants to join us, you know.”

Lightning turned to him.

“You want to stay? We usually have oats and fruit salad."

Dash thought it over, and nodded.

“Yeah sure.”

The next few hours Lightning and Dash spent together was hanging out and having dinner. Lightning’s parents saw a lot in Dash. Guess they felt that aurora he seems to have.

Welcome to Ponyville

--Welcome to Ponyville--

Lightning had just woken up from a deep sleep, when a group of students showed up at his door. All he heard however, was a few mumbles and voices, because he likes to sleep with his bedroom door closed.

As he walked out and down the stairs, all the other students made room for Ms. Diver to walk by.

She walked over to Storm, and began talking about where they were going, and how long, while Lightning walked out to the group and found Lunar and Spitfire. After a bit of looking around, he couldn't seem to find Dash anywhere with them. He figured Dash must live pretty far away, due to his absence from the group. Ms. Diver then grouped her students together, as she lead the way to Dash’s house.

Spitfire flew closer to Lightning and whispered,

“I heard a few of the recruiters for the Wonderbolts were looking for you, probably because of that little stunt you pulled at the show.”

A bit startled by her rumor, he began to think carefully about what to do if he was confronted by a recruiter of the sort. One one term, he liked the idea that they were interested in his flying skills. However in all sincerity, he didn't want to join. He did however, have a good idea if he ever met one of the recruiters. Perhaps, just by a very slim chance, he could help Spitfire achieve her dream.

“Are they really? I’ll keep an eye out. I’ve got something to tell em!”

She nodded with a look of envy in her eyes. Lunar then flew over right in between them and said loudly,

“whatcha guys talking about?”

Lightning laughed and punched him.

“Ssssstuff.”

“Yeaaaah sureee.”

They then both laughed, and kept trailing behind their classmates, whom seemed to be lacking in the endurance of flying. Along the way, they flew over a few shops and restaurants that were in the center of the shopping district. A couple students waved to their parents, or shopkeepers, and others just kept focused on flying, just wanting to get to Ponyville as quickly as possible.

Although the class today only consisted of five or six, It was still a lot for Ms. Diver to keep track of. After all, Ponyville was a good distance away from Cloudsdale, and had some serious risks while making their way over.

Along the way, the group would have to make a few stops, probably because unlike Lightning and his friends, the others didn't have the privilege of attending flight camps to help build their strengths of flight. After a few minutes, the entire group had arrived at Dash’s small home. One observation Lightning had made, was correct. Dash lived on the complete opposite side of town from Lightning, meaning the flight from his house, to Dash's, would be a few minutes average.

As he and Lunar walked up to the door and knocked, his mother came out and looked at them both. She was a cyan mare, with a white and pink mane, along with light blue eyes.

“Sonic, your friends and classmates are at the door!”

They heard a mumble, followed by a bedraggled Dash. He must have forgotten today was the field trip.

“Not the morning pony are ya, Dash?”

Lightning and Lunar had laughed, as he walked outside and gave his mom a quick hug. After a few warm-up flaps of his wings, he had woken up completely, and they were ready to depart to Ponyville. As Ms. Diver took off to lead the class, the four stuck in the back to keep from getting in the way of the others. They could easily tell the students in the class needed as much space as possible, due to their carelessness and exhaustion in the air.

As Spitfire flew near Lunar to tell him something, Dash looked at Lightning in a funny way. The kind of way that would infer some sort of attraction Lunar had for Spits, or rather anypony at all.

Ha! As if!

Lightning figured the last thing on Lunar’s mind was fillies. At least they would be behind cookies and tea.

The thought made him laugh a bit, as he came to a small stop on a nearby cloud. Even though Lightning had more advanced training than other ponies, he too, suffered from exhaustion. One reason why it affected him more than Lunar, Spitfire, and Dash, was due to his wing shape. Basically, the swept-wing shape allowed for higher bursts of speed, and sharper turns, as the delta wing shape captured more air, and gave better control, along with more efficient flying. Lightning could, and may very well be the fastest pegasus in Cloudsdale, but he would be smashed in a long distance race to a pegasus with the delta wing shape, because of their natural endurance. One such pegasus, was Lunar.

As he too a quick look around, he could see plenty of open space, untouched forests, and unhampered fields. Obviously, this whole region was perfect for the start of a new town, and not too far from many different mountain ranges and rivers flowing down those ranges. A few minutes had ticked by as they continued their flight over the clouds, and between a good sized mountain valley. The sky was beautiful. Clear, calm, and open, which was just the way Lightning liked it. In time, they had finally arrived at what seemed like a small settlement, with a few ponies walking around a bit. Making their descent, all the other earth ponies looked at them in surprise. Probably because they aren't very used to seeing a large group of pegasi randomly land in their town.

As soon as Lightning came to his landing on the ground, he heard a funny voice from behind.

“Well howdy, sunny!”

He immediately turned around, and saw a green earth pony with a long and flowing white mane. She looked to be middle aged.

“Yall new round here? Maybe I can help!”

She walked over to Ms. Diver, and shook her hoof.

“The name’s Smith. Gran Smith!”

Ms. Diver had replied,

“Good afternoon! It's a pleasure to meet you,”

“Awww fiddlesticks! No need for the fancy-pants talking here! Now then, I bet you would like directions around the town! The mayor’s house is over that way.”

She pointed to a circular building with small trees blooming out of it. They seemed freshly planted, and blooming straight up into the sky.

“And over thata way is our newest farm and orchard, Sweet Apple Acres!”

Ms. Diver nodded, and thanked Gran.

“Take care yall! Come back soon, ya hear?”

And just like that, she walked away in the direction of the orchard.

Earth ponies are strange...

. . .

Ms.Diver began to lead her class towards the town hall. Perhaps she figured that it would hold some sort of educational purpose. Along the way, they passed a giant tree with a sign hanging from it.

[Library in progress.]

A town library without any more then ten or eleven residents? Seemed a bit early for that, but reading was a big thing among pegasi. Perhaps it was a big thing to all other ponies as well.

As they reached the town hall, the mayor trotted out, almost as if she was expecting the class to be visiting today. She was a brown mare with a well kept white mane. She was also very young.

“You must be visiting from Cloudsdale! Welcome to our little town of Ponyville!"

Ms. Diver nodded and smiled.

“Thank you, I’m here to show my students around and see what I can teach.”

The mayor nodded and offered to show a few new structures and farms being set up. Taking a tour around the small town, they saw a few buildings being placed on frames and foundations.

“Over here we are building our own bakery, Sugarcube Corner! Hopefully, we can find a good pair of bakers to make the finest baked goods in Equestria!”

The thought of a bakery reminded Lightning of the storm that had hit them as very little colts. What exactly could have started a storm like that? He pondered for a few moments, as the mayor lead the way to a large building of white stone.

"And this is our party lodge. We can hold celebrations and festivals in this building once we get more ponies coming in to live!"

Lightning took a quick glance around and spotted the giant tree library again.

“Um Ms. Mayor, why did you put a library inside of a large tree?”

“Well young one, when books are around buildings of stone or thin wood walls, they can be damaged by the air around them. In a tree however, the books are insulated, protected, and have plenty of room to be organized and checked out!"

Lightning nodded and took a closer look at the library. Something about it, seemed peculiar. Almost as if he felt like something or somepony important was going to happen here. Lightning simply shrugged if off and continued the tour.

As they walked towards an open field, they came across a large barn, and a copious amount of apple trees. This must be Sweet Apple Acres.

The guess was confirmed as the same green mare came trotting out.

“Did ya fellers like the town? its gonna be a doosie once we finish!”

“Yes, the town is very cute, and looks like a great place to live!”

Ms. Diver gave her a smile as she lead her students around the fields and trees.

“Alright my little ponies, you’re all free for a lunch break. Meet back here in an hour, ok?”

They all nodded, and flew in their separate directions. With freedom from the class in affect, Lightning instantly flew up to a nearby cloud, and laid out on it as he grabbed his oats and fruit. Strawberries straight from the fields of Fillydelphia.

He nibbled a couple down for a few minutes, then stretched out and tried to take a small nap. A few minutes seemed to tick by swiftly, as he laid in a calm, peacefully slumber. However, he was soon awakened by a surprise attack by Spitfire. She tackled him onto another cloud and laughed triumphantly.

“Hey there sleepy, how was your nap?”

Lightning groaned and rubbed his mane a bit.

“It was good until I was mauled.”

She laughed again.

“Well maybe you should keep more alert huh?”

She helped him up and jumped off the cloud. Lightning didn't even hesistate to follow her, leaping off the cloud, falling straight down towards the ground. The feeling of free falling was unique, because he never had much of a chance to feel falling from more than the height of a crib, and the occasional stray cloud looming over Cloudsdale.

As he neared the ground, he spread his wings out and qucikly pulled up, soaring just slightly above the ground. Out of impulsive excitement, he performed a few barrel rolls, and soon began to feel nothing but the air around him.

The air around Ponyville was so much more open, because not many pegasi had come to settle just yet, meaning there was no homes or obstacles in the way to impose a flight threat. He began to glide above the clouds, while taling a quick look around. Way out in the distance he could see the castle city / capital of Equestria, Canterlot; A place for rich and sophisticated unicorns, and also the home of their dearest Princess Celestia. Although, the idea of fancy living seemed too restricting to Lightning. He couldn't be happier as he was, flying freely among the clouds with nopony to tell him he his doing it incorrectly.

Taking another quick look around, he could see a few other students flying around a large cloud, and another group flying back towards their rendezvous point. Out of curiosity, he flew over to the group that had been flying around the large cloud. There, he saw Lunar sitting on a cloud nearby.

Immediately, he flew over and greeted his friend with a hoof-bump.

“Why are you over here by yourself?”

“Those colts over there think they're expert fliers because they can circle the cloud and make a small funnel. So I've been thinking about how much we could totally show them up with what we could do.”

Lightning laughed at Lunar's cocky confidence. Lunar was a confident one alright, but with no doubt, his statement was true. Lightning and his friends were on a whole different skill caliber than most other pegasi because of their advanced training.

“Just leave them be dude, they are probably just having fun.”

Lunar shook his head and began to fly in their direction. With a reluctant rolling of his eyes, Lightning followed him closely.

“What do you guys want?”

One of the colts asked.

“I bet they're here to tell us how awesome we are at flying!”

The second colt snorted and hoof-bumped his friend. Their conversation was painful. Arrogance at its finest.

“You both know we could beat you in a race with two hooves tied behind our backs!”

The two colts snarled at Lunar’s comment.

“You’re on!”

Lightning was a bit worried. He didn't really like to show off any sort of skills to other colts. He figured he should keep below his average speed to spare them the grief of humiliation, even though Lunar was most likely going to go all out to shut them up.

Lining up along the cloud, each had turned to each other, and nodded. In perfect sync, they all leaped off the cloud, and started plummeting to the ground. The two colts spread their wings and began to fly above Lightning and Lunar. Lunar turned to Lightning and gave him a quick nod, and began to pick up a bit of speed. After getting a solid velocity, he began performing his trademark barrel rolls, and soaring right in front of the other colts. Lightning flew right beside them closely to examine their faces. Priceless!

Seeing Lunar spinning wildly right in front of them, and at a faster speed as well, gave them each a look of beyond belief. Lunar always had a way of making even the most confident and cocky look incredibly plain and dull. The two colts both grew an angry expression in their faces, and smashed right into Lunar, knocking him down towards the ground. Lightning’s eyes shot open as he immediately flew right down to catch his friend. The two colts snorted and said,

“catch ya later losers!”

Lightning was flying as fast as he could manage to try to get to Lunar in time. Just before the air began to shake around him, he flew right under where Lunar was about to crash, and braced himself.

Lunar had collided with Lightning's shoulder and arm at full force, making Lightning yell sharply in pain. Instantly, Lightning was knocked straight into the ground, sending a huge cloud of dirt and sand into the air. He landed on shoulder first, taking a horrendous blow. The kind of crash that could completely end the pursuit of advanced flight careers.

Lunar however, recoiled from the collision, and bounced back up to the other colts, soaring right behind them them. Shivering in the pain, Lightning had slowly picked himself off the ground, and yelled out to Lunar,

“show them who is REALLY the best fliers around!”

Lunar nodded quickly, and flew right in front of them. Again, they had the same look of utter shock in their faces as he soared right past them.

When Lunar reached the finish cloud, the other colts were just getting to the last stretch of the “race.” Lunar was not happy at all. Building an angry expression in his face as the other colts landed, he began yelling,

“Ok if you guys want to challenge us to a race, that's fine. But when you cheat to win, that's just pathetic. Is this how you always win? By cheating? Sounds like you guys are a talented bunch.”

Even though he wanted to hit both of them, he knew it would be better to just keep calm. After all, he didn't want to hurt them TOO bad, and the consequences were not the most appealing.

Lightning had then flown over to him still wincing in pain. Although, when Lunar looked over, he gave an accomplished smile and fell onto the cloud. Lunar bursted over to him.

“Are you ok bro? did you hurt anything bad?”

Lightning shook his head and said quietly,

“I think we showed them huh?”

They both laughed and hoof bumped, although Lightning could barely stand from the hit he took.

“Hah... That didn't feel too pleasant... ow..."

He had then collapsed onto the cloud beneath him, increasing Lunar's concern even farther.

"You seriously didn't have to do that for me! What were you thinking!?"

"It's ok Lun! I didn't want you to get hurt."

Lunar nodded and helped his friend up.

“Well, we should be getting back to the class, or else they might leave us here.”

The idea of being left here didn't seem so bad to Lightning. The sky was a haven for flight here, and also provided a calm lifestyle. In fact, Ponyville seemed almost perfect to live in for any young pegasus.

Lunar had then picked Lightning up off the cloud, and slung him over his shoulder. Without hesitation, Lunar started to fly back to the rendezvous point, and see if Ms. Diver may be able to help. The other two colts however were flying slower; either because they felt bad, or because they know they just got decimated by Lunar.

Making his descent to the ground, Lightning got off Lunar’s shoulder and laid down on the grass.

“Thanks bud, i’ll be fine i just have to take some pressure off it.”

He had taken the severity of the hit to the shoulder, but knowing Lightning, he would forget about it soon. It was probably just a small bruise or sprain anyways. Ms. Diver had noticed Lightning on the ground, and immediately ran over.

“My goodness Lightning, what happened!?”

“Oh you know, I just... fell.”

Lunar laughed a bit, but tried his best to retain it. Laughing would make him look suspicious, and both he and Lightning didn't want him to get in trouble for something that really wasn't his fault. Also, Lightning didn't want to tell Ms. Diver about the colts who had caused the accident, because if they were to have gotten in trouble, they would probably plan a "revenge" scheme to get them back with.

“Well if it hurts too much to walk, we can just leave Ponyville now, and get you back to Cloudsdale as soon as possible.”

Lightning shook his head and quickly responded,

“Oh no no no, I'm fine I promise! I just have to fly around a bit more now.”

She nodded understandably, and began to group her class together.

“Alright my little ponies, we can either head back home now, or we can head back into town.”

The class all agreed they wanted to head back into town, most likely so they could burn more time away from school. Ms. Diver had then walked back over to Lightning and said,

“go get yourself checked out at the hospital, and meet us by the library whenever you’re ready. Ok?”

Lightning nodded as Dash and Spitfire ran over to him in shock.

“Woah dude are you ok!?”

Dash’s voice was a bit frantic as he stood next to his friend. Lightning had nodded and told him,

“Yeah I just got a ding or two.”

Spitfire looked over in disbelief.

"I think something happened to you...”

Lightning tried to shake his head, but the pain in his eyes, and his facial expression gave away the answer.

“Lightning, what happened?”

Lightning looked at Lunar, and they both nodded in agreement.

“I’ll tell you both at the hospital.”

Lunar put Lightning back on his shoulder as he and the other two flew towards Ponyville General Hospital; A brand new building still under construction by a few construction pegasi. As they walked in, Lunar told the mare at the front desk,

“my friend is a bit hurt and we just need to have him checked out.”

She looked up and saw him hanging onto Lunar, wincing a bit in pain. She then nodded and called in the nearest doctor.

After a few moments the doctor walked up, started looking around the room a bit, and called out,

"Mr.Chaser?"

"Over here!"

Lunar had called the doctor over quickly, and asked him what was wrong.

"Well let's find out, shall we?"

He then had Lunar carry Lightning down a hallway, and into a brand new room with large beds. It was a giant relief that even thought the hospital still isn't finished, they still at least have a doctor on duty while it was being built. Lunar then set Lightning down on the bed, and turned to the doctor, whom was flipping a couple pages on his clipboard. He then told them,

“I'll be with you shortly, just hang tight.”

Lunar, Dash, and Spitfire all gathered a few chairs and sat around him. Immediatly, Spitfire began with her interrogation.

“So what exactly happened?”

Lunar took a deep breath and calmly began talking.

“Ok, so Light flew over to me when I was watching two other colts fly around a cloud. I told him I wanted to challenge them to a race so we could show them who the best fliers are. He agreed and flew over with me. At first, we let them fly above and ahead of us so we could shock them stiff. And it did work. I flew up and started spinning quickly, and next thing I know those colts flew right into me. I was spinning too fast to control where I was going, so I figured I would slam into the ground and break my arm or something. But when I closed my eyes, I hit something soft and bounced right back. Then I heard a yell of pain from Light, and next thing I knew I saw Lightning wobbling a bit and telling me to go finish the race. So I did. And we beat them. But I just hope I didn't hurt Lightning too bad...”

Lightning looked over and told him,

“I’ll be fine dude! It was worth it to see the looks on their faces!”

Everypony but Spitfire laughed at his statement. Spitfire had grown an angry look and told them,

“You guys shouldn't have let them get to you, but whatever. I think that was the two dumb colts that sit in the back.”

The whole group let out a collective “oh” in realization. Those two always seemed to be getting in trouble, never paying attention, and were most likely to fail each test.

Within a couple mintues, the doctor walked back in and began to talk to Lightning.

“Alright Mr.Chaser, let's see what the problem is.”

He walked over and examined his arm, lifting it slowly and cautiously. He gritted his teeth in pain, and kept from letting out a gasp of pain. The Doc took a few more examinations of his arm, twisting it, and moving it in awkward ways, and came to a conclusion.

“Well it seems you have severely sprained your arm, bud. We'll have to wrap it in a cast or bandage until it can heal.”

Lightning looked surprised by the severity of his injury. With a bit of shock he uttered,

“How long will it be sprained?”

“Oh no longer than a week or two. Should be fine, it just seemed like it was much worse than it actually is."

Lightning let out a sigh or relief and nodded. After all, he didn't want to be stuck in a cast for months. Especially not with the Wonderbolts hot on his trail. He wanted to look as normal as possible for his idea to work.

As the Doc walked over to a counter to grab a few things, his friends were all making jokes, trying to lighten the atmosphere. In truth, Lightning didn't care much, because he just felt better knowing Lunar didn't take a severe crash. The Doc walked back over with a sling and a bit of bandaging material. He lifted Lightning’s arm a bit and began wrapping in a bit. Midway through wrapping it, he slipped the sling around his other shoulder and fit his arm inside nicely, then adjusted it to fit. Now, Lightning had no control of his right arm, however the sling soothed his pain a bit.

“Alright bud, just keep off that arm for a while and you should be good!”

“Thanks Doc. I’ll try and keep from getting injured more often.”

The Doc laughed a bit at his promise.

“Hey, accidents happen. Not much you can control.”

Lightning nodded as he flew out of bed, and hovered over the ground, while his friends exited the room. Lunar left a few bits on the front desk for the medical charge plus a small tip. Lunar then turned to said,

“now it's time to break the other!”

They all laughed as Lightning punched him.

“You can't break what you cant touch!”

Lightning took off and flew as fast as he could away from Lunar, and Lunar immediately chased after him, with Dash and Spitfire laughing as they tried to tail Lunar. The sun began to gradually set over the Ponyville horizon, with the light of dim stars coming out for the night. Luckily for them, Ms. Diver was just departing as they rejoined the group. Even though Lightning had a serious injury to his arm, it still never dragged his spirits down. Nothing could, as long as he could keep on flying freely.

Impressing the Scouts

--Impressing the Scouts--

It has been about a week since the incident between Lunar, and Lightning. Sure, his parents and teachers were startled at first, but colts are colts after all. Although the injury no longer hurt, he still receive a lot of questions about pain or how it happened. He always answered the same; A flight accident. Rather, a crash from not pulling up fast enough. If he were to say what really happened, they might end up getting the other colts in trouble, and then a sequence of revenge would occur. It wasn't worth it. Flying around with a sprained arm however, was rather difficult. He had now way of thrusting both his arms forward for extra momentum, so he could get to speed as quickly as before. Instead, he could only have one arm in front of him when flying around.

Today, he was meeting Dash outside the bakery to hang out for a while. Usually, Lightning and Dash never got too much time to hang out, but today had worked out perfectly, so they figured "why not." When he came down to land, Dash was sitting at the table waiting for him.

“Hey bro, how's the arm?”

He then gave Lightning a hoof bump.

“It’s been better.”

They both laughed, and walked down the mane street of Cloudsdale. There were plenty of shops still damaged from the storm years ago, but nothing clearly visible. A fast recovery none the less.

Dash turned to Lightning, whom was flying right next to him, and said,

“So can you even walk?”

Lightning thought for a second, and answered,

“yeah, but not for a long time. I lose my balance easily.”

Dash nodded and told him,

“I think what you did for Lunar, was a great thing. Helping your friend when he was in trouble.”

Lightning turned to him and said,

“it was nothing, I didn't want him slamming into the ground. Besides, I angled it so neither of us would be hurt too bad.”

Dash nodded, as they walked into a stunt flight store. It was a large store, with many different flight costumes and specialized equipment for serious fliers. Lightning took a quick look at a few different flight suits. Although they seemed cool, he wasn't one to dress into a flight suit just because it claims to make flying more “aerodynamic.” Lightning was confident in his own skills.

Dash had brought over a small container labeled, “Wing Training Boost Powder.” Must be some sort of mixture to boost the strength of wing power during training. Again, only something that pegasi need if they feel inadequate.

“Dash, I dont much care for this place. Can we leave?”

He nodded and they both started toward the exit. However, a pegasus had walked the front door, and was wearing a tuxedo with a Wonderbolts pin on his lapel. He was scanning the store, as if he was on a mission to find, or retrieve something important. Dash turned to Lightning and said,

“who is that guy? Should we try to avoid him?”

“Yeah let’s try to sneak out of here...”

They very silently crawled around the stallion, and walked back out onto Mane Street.

“That guy looked strange... I wonder what he was looking for?”

Dash shrugged, and they keep moving down the street looking for another shop. Eventually, they stumbled upon a book store. Both Lightning and Dash loved reading, so instantly they went straight to it. Inside, it was a large building with books stacked to the ceiling.

“This building has a lot of stories.”

Lightning laughed at Dash’s bad pun, and shook his head.

“Oh wow. Really?”

He kept laughing as they walked down a few aisles of books. They were in the Equestrian Atlas section, and out of curiosity, Lightning pulled an Atlas down and studied it closely. Dash looked over his shoulder and examined it closely as well. It seems as though Ponyville wasn't marked on the map. Makes sense, since it is a relatively new settlement.

Lighting flew back up to where they found it, and put it back where it was shelved. He spotted a book of previous Wonderbolts on the top shelf.

“Spitfire would like this.”

He then carried it back down to Dash, while they opened it anxiously. As they studied the past Wonderbolts, and all their accomplishments, they couldn't help but “wow” at how fierce of fliers these Wonderbolts were, and what they went through to become a Wonderbolt. Being sucked into the book as they were, a large figure snuck up behind them, and leaned over to see the book as well. None other then the same stallion that came into the previous store.

“Previous Wonderbolts eh? Mind if i see?”

Lightning shook his head, and handed the book to the stallion. He chuckled a bit after examining it, and handed it back.

“Yeah we’ve had recruiting success for the whole time our organization has been operating."

Dash looked up, with a questionable look in his eyes.

“Who are you exactly?”

“My name is Stunt Seeker, and I work as a recruiter for the Wonderbolts. I've heard about you bud, Rumors have it you created some sort of shock wave of navy and white. My client Whiplash told me you seemed to be flying faster then sound itself.”

Dash nodded in confirmation and said,

“he is the fastest flier in Equestria!”

Lightning looked away out of the sudden attention. Seeker laughed a bit and looked at Lightning’s sling.

“Well it looks like you had a bit of an accident.”

He nodded and told him that it was just a flying accident.

“Well at least you’re determined enough to cause something like that."

Lightning nodded and grinned a bit.

“So, Lightning, would you like to join the Wonderbolts?”

Dash went wide eyed instantly, as he shot a look to Lightning. At the same time, Lightning’s heart jumped, as he too went wide eyed.

“U-uh...”

Seeker was patiently waiting a response, and they both knew it. Lightning swallowed his surprise, and looked him straight in the eyes.

“No sir, because I know somepony who would make a much better Wonderbolt then me.”

He raised an eye in surprised.

“Really now? Whom might that be?”

“Her name is Spitfire.”

Dash looked back at Lightning in utter shock.

“D-dude..”

The stallion nodded and asked,

“Do you know where i can find her?”

Lightning nodded and said,

“she likes to practice around her house a lot. We can take you there if you want.”

He nodded and said,

"I’ll be waiting outside for you two.” And he walked away.

Dash turned to Lightning again and stuttered,

“you just gave a chance at the Wonderbolts away!”

He nodded and replied,

"I don't want to be in the Wonderbolts. Even if I did, Spitfire does waaaay more than me. I think she deserves the chance more than I do.”

Dash nodded in agreement, and gave him a reassuring smile. They then both went outside to meet back with Seeker, whom was still waiting patiently for their arrival.

“Alright, just follow us and we can take you to Spitfire.”

He nodded and as Lightning and Dash flew off in the direction of her house.

“Do you think Spitfire will be ready to try to impress him?”

Lightning nodded and said,

“It’s Spitfire. She’s ready for everything. Especially the Wonderbolts."

After a bit of flying, they came to Spitfire’s house.

“I’ll wait over here.” Said Seeker.

As Dash walked, and Lightning flew up to her door, they knocked a few times. Spitfire’s mother, a yellow mare with orange eyes, and orange mane appeared.

“Hey fellas, looking for Spitfire?”

“Yes ma’am we think we can get her into the Wonderbolts today.”

She laughed in disbelief.

“Haha that’s adorable! Spitfire!” She called out.

“Yeah mom?”

“Your friends are at the door, sweetie.”

She had then made her way to the door and said,

“Hey guys, whats up?”

“Spitfire! Me and lightning just talked to one of the recruiters for the Wonderbolts!”

“Woah no way! Did you make it in?”

Lightning shook his head.

“I told him that I wanted you to join over me.”

Her face went into utter shock. Eyes wide open, she responded,

“r-REALLY!?” He nodded and smiled.

“He’s out here right now! Go show him your skills and he can give you a spot when you’re older!”

She squealed in excitement, as she gave them both a crushing hug. Any sort of pain his Lightning’s arm just came back in that instant.

Noticing his sudden pain, she quickly let go and said,

“Oh sorry Light, but thank you so much!”

He laughed and said,

“Yeah, No problem! But make sure you do you’re best, because this might be your one chance.”

She nodded with a confident look in her eyes.

“Of course!”

Both Lightning and Dash both agreed they haven’t seen Spitfire more happy then she was right now. Her dreams flashing right in front of her eyes.

Both Lightning, and Dash had sat down in front of Spit's house to watch the impending show. Spitfire had been talking to Seeker for a few minutes, and every once in a while, he smiled a bit, and rub his chin. They both shook hooves in some sort of agreement, and Spitfire was instantly airborne. Out of curiosity, Lightning, and Dash approached Seeker, and asked him,

“so what do you think?”

He looked up, watching the yellow blur perform her best stunts that both Dash, and Lightning both have never seen.

“She has very serious potential...”

In that moment, she performed an inverted loop, and a few barrel rolls to top it off. A very solid performance for impressing somepony.

“Alright. I’ve made up my mind.”

As Spitfire came back to a landing, seeker made his way over to give her the big news. They muttered back and forth for a bit of time, keeping Both Lightning, and Dash in serious suspense. Lightning saw her eyes stay at their average size, then at a point, noticed a tremendous spark flash in them. He must have accepted her into the Bolts. They shook hooves quickly and Seeker flew off towards town again. She walked over to Dash and Lightning as they were still wondering.

“So... what happened?”

She nodded and smiled wide.

“Really! That’s great!”

They both gave her a hug, and congratulated her on making it in.

“He said that in a few years after I graduate school, they would send one of the members over to come get me, and I would train for a year or two, but after that, I have a guaranteed spot!"

"That's awesome, Spits! Make sure you get us good tickets for your shows!"

She had laughed, as both Lightning and Dash gave her a hoof five and congratulated her again. Even though Lightning had turned up the chance to become a Wonderbolt, he didn't feel sad at all. After all, Spits was the true Wonderbolt. Not Lightning.

The Intrigue of Canterlot

--The Intrigue of Canterlot--

Hooves shuffling through the deep snow, Lightning and his parents were walking down a crowded street in Canterlot; the castle city, and capital of Equestria. A few days earlier, Sky suggested,

"why don't we go somewhere before we get locked into work for winter?”

“Sounds like a good plan hun!”

The idea was proposed one night when the Chasers were settled for dinner. Interesting, because Lightning had never gone anywhere for vacation before, and didn't know exactly what to expect on his first one.

The sky was a light grey color, with a chilly wind, as winter was setting into the large capital.

“There’s our hotel.” Storm had pointed out. It was a large building with many decorative pillars and glass panes. Leave it to the unicorns to have the fanciest of hotels and stores. As they approached the doors, two unicorns in uniforms had walked up to them and greeted them with hoof shakes.

“Good Afternoon Sir, welcome to the Royal Suites."

Storm had given him a smile and replied,

“thank you.”

They then walked into the building,and noticed something unique; the interior was absurdly fancy. Far, far fancier than anything the pegasi of Clouedsdale could ever come up with. Velvet carpet with gold pillars, and ivy handing down the walls. They even had a band playing classical music on a stage. The Chaser's had a bit of culture shock walking through the lobby, but shook it off, and walked around a large fountain to the mare at the front desk. Storm then stated,

“we have a reservation under Chaser.”

She flipped through a thick book, and found their name near the beginning of it.

“Good afternoon Mr. and Mrs.Chaser. Your room is on the fifth floor, number 512.”

They nodded, as she handed them the room key, and began to make their way up the stairs to their room. Even the stairs had a puffy carpet, that was soft to the hoof. They walked down a long corridor until they reached a white door with a gold plate that was labelled, “512.” Using the room key to open the door, they took a few steps inside, and saw a large white room with two beds, a desk, a small bathroom to the right. They each were stunned by how nice the interior of their room was.

“Well I guess we should go get our tickets to the Hearth’s Warming Eve play, hm?”

Storm nodded and looked to Lightning.

“You want to go see that play?”

He thought about it for a second. A play sounded boring, but it WAS a play that told the founding of Equestria, which involved history. He nodded, and Storm looked back to Sky.

“Alright, let's go find where the play will be.”

They walked back down to the lobby, and approached the attendant once more.

“Excuse me ma’am, but where will this year’s play be?”

She replied with, “In the Canterlot Stage House.” They nodded and thanked her. Shortly after, they were flying around Canterlot, looking for the stage house. The chilly wind, along with a bit of snow flurry made flying a bit more painful, but all pegasi have a natural resistance to cold, due to the constant wind chill from flight. Eventually, they had stumbled upon a large building with many different unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies lined up outside. Coming to a landing, they had taken their place in line for ticket purchasing. Lightning felt a small tap on his shoulder. He turned around, and saw a mare about his size, with a grey coat, orange and black mane, red eyes, and a funny looking hat.

“Hey, how long have you been standing in line?"

Lightning shrugged and replied, “I uh just got here.” He looked away with a bit of irritation. Probably from the long wait.

“Well whatever, since were in line, what’s your name?”

“Uh Lightning Chaser. Yours?”

“My name's Intrigue.”

He nodded and looked at her hat again.

“What kind of hat is that?”

Intrigue looked up and took it off for a second. It had a speech bubble embroided on it.

“Yeah, this is called a ushanka. I bought it when i was visiting Stalliongrad.”

“Wow that’s a long way away.”

Intrigue nodded and said, “I love it there though. Also, without this hat, I couldn't perform any magic spells, or tricks.”

Lightning looked puzzled.

“But aren't you a unicorn? Why couldn't you do spells without that hat?”

She shrugged and placed it back on her head. Lightning now understood why her name was “Intrigue.” She looked back to Lightning and said, “I dont know exactly why, but it just does.” Lightning laughed a bit and shook her hoof.

“Well I hope we can meet again, Intrigue. You're pretty cool!”

“Thanks... I guess.”

Lightning’s parents had turned around and handed him his ticket. It was a shiny gold colored ticket, with the name of the play written across the top. The front doors to the stage house opened, and everypony began walking in. '

“Should be a good play, but they might end up destroying what really happened.” Said Intrigue.

When inside, most of the seats were taken. Knowing they were pegasi, the Chasers all gave up their seats to the unicorns and earth ponies.

"It's only fair, the others won't get to know the awesomeness of flight." Thought Lightning.

As the audience settled in, the curtain of the stage had finally lifted, and a group of mares and colts came out in costumes. The play began as what seemed like a dark beginning, and the three types of ponies were all in fierce argument. The land was barren and hostile, and in solution, they each tried to migrate to a new land. This new land became what is now known as Equestria; however the land new land as well, became barren and hostile while the three groups kept their arguments. However, by settling their differences and keeping a friendly spirit to one another, the land soon became fertile once more, and each group got right to settling. The pegasi built a fine city in the clouds, known as Cloudsdale. The unicorns built a magnificent capital city, known now as Canterlot. The earth ponies each separated into different regions and built flourishing cities, such as Manehatten, Fillydelphia, and Los Pegasus.

In the end, the three groups all settled their differences and became unified under two rulers; or rather, two princesses. We know now the two princesses as our very own, Princess Celestia, and the banished Princess Luna. The whole stage stage house erupted in applause after the curtain had closed, to congratulate a fine performance. Nopony was quite sure if this story is accurate, but it is what everypony chooses to believe. Shortly after, a few Hearth’s Warming carols were played over a band on stage, while everypony began singing.

Three groups unified under one roof.

Storm had taken Sky’s hoof, while Sky had wrapped her arm around Lightning. They had all then began singing along with the others, as they made their way out of the theater. Better to beat the seasonal rush out.

Graduation

--Graduation--

Standing up on the stage, tall and proud, was Lightning Chaser. Well, he and his friends. It was the fateful day; The day where they complete their education, and move onto their real lives. Although it would still be a year or two before they could actually sign up for their new careers, but graduating gave them the extra time for practice, or getting to know their future bosses better.

Sitting in the front rows, are the parents of the fillies and colts graduating the rigorous few years at school. Eyes filled with joy and pride, all collectively applauding, and cheering for their new graduates, and soon to be leaders of many new flight groups and teams in establishment around Ponyville. Everypony knew however, there was no colt more qualified to lead a scout team then Lunar. The others would simply be followers, or secondary scouts.

A finely dressed stallion walked up to the podium and cleared his throat. He then proceeded to pick up a slip of paper and began reciting a few lines.

“To all those who graduated our educational system with high honor, we wish you the best of luck, and hope you can excell past what you strive for in your near future.”

He then picked up a second sheet of paper and began reading off names.

“Cherry Raindrops.”

At that moment, a red filly with a white mane, walked up and received her diploma from the stallion. The line ahead of Lightning and his friends consisted of a few other fillies and colts. No doubt they would be called in a matter of minutes to walk up and receive their diplomas as well

“Cloud Blitz.”

Lightning looked up for a second to think. He really like that name. Cloud...

“Spitfire.”

He looked up with eyes wide open, and saw her trot up to the stage with tremendous pride in her eyes. She happily took the diploma after shaking the stallion’s hoof, and walked back down the stage. She seemed very eager to start her training with the Wonderbolts, but than again, why wouldn't she be? It was her dream after all.

“Sonic Dash.”

Dash shot up instantly, and nearly sprinted to the stallion. He was in no doubt ready to be out of school, and out on his own. He accepted his diploma, and shook his hoof, quickly walking back down the steps. The stallion continued to read off names of some of the fillies and colts he had never gotten the time to announce.

“Lunar Shadow.”

Lunar had then jumped off his seat, and walked up the stage to receive his diploma. He looked anxious to get out as well, either because he simply slept half the time, or because it just bored him to death. To no surprise, his father yelled out at him jokingly.

“You have twenty-four hours!”

Everypony laughed, and looked back at him. Sipping his tea cup, he was completely unphased by the sudden attention.

Lightning looked down for a second, and patiently awaited his turn to walk up on stage. The stallion had flipped a page, and continued calling out the names of those who passed. It was actually a fairly large shock so many passed, because it seemed like half the time, half the class was asleep.

“Lightning Chaser.”

His eyes went wide, as he hopped off his cloud chair to walk up onto the stage. The stallion had given him a congratulating look, as he walked up and received the diploma from him. He stuck his hoof out, and gave the stallion a firm shake, then quickly walked back down the stage to his chair shaped cloud. He could hear his parents cheering in the background for him while he was making his way up the stage. It was nice having all his friends and family around for the occasion.

As the list came to a close, the stallion had taken out a third slip of paper and read off of it.

“Congratulations to those who passed, and we hope you flourish in your lives ahead."

He set the slip down, and looked into the crowd.

“You are all now members of Cloudsdale’s adult population. Good luck to all of you and again, congratulations on passing our educational system.”

It was easy to tell he was trying to stall the mob of parents in the crowd, that carried an impending feeling that they would storm the stage. Once he walked off the stage, all the parents immediately flew over to their graduate, and praised or congratulated them. Storm and Sky had landed right next to Lightning, as they all had a family hug and congratulated little Lightning.

“Guess we can't call you little anymore huh bud?”

Lightning laughed and said, “It's ok dad you can call me that.”

“How about we go to the bakery for a cake?”

Sky nodded in agreement, but said, “only if we finish dinner first!” Storm had laughed and tousled her mane.

“Well duh! It wouldn't be the same without your salads.”

They both laughed and flew off into the direction of their house. Lightning shook his head while laughing a bit. What fun his parents were! (sarcasm) He had flapped his wings a few times for warm-ups, and quickly took off, following the direction his parents flew in. Cake did sound good after all, so might as well follow them to wherever they were going. After all, it could be the last time he would be following his parents somewhere.

Not for Rookies

--Not for Rookies--

“Hey Light! Over here!” Dash’s voice was frantic, as he and the others stood in line for sign ups to expert leveled flight camp. A few years have passed since Lightning and his friends graduated Ms. Diver’s class. Lightning was about sixteen now, and gaining muscle and height. He was to the point where he was now taller than his mother. Not only Lightning, but Dash, Spitfire, and Lunar have all grown into young mares and stallions. Although, Spitfire was so busy now because of her recruitment to the Wonderbolts, she barely had time to hang around the others.

“What’s up, Dash?” Asked Lightning.

“Well, we gotta sign up quickly, or the spots will run out!” Said Dash.

“Oh yeah, you’re right!” Lightning quickly grabbed the pen from Dash, and signed his name onto the sign-in sheet. Only about four of the fifteen spaces were left, so his timing couldn’t be any better. Lunar had then walked up, and took the pen after Lightning to sign his name in. Lunar, as well, was getting larger by the day; nopony saw a stop, or even a slow, in his growth.

The whole point of the camp they were signing up for was for one; to determine which career would suit them best, and two; to improve to their highest caliber of flying. Although, the group was already well beyond the abilities of the average pegasi; they just loved going to camps, and just showing up the other pegasi.

As they walked over to the front gate of the camp, a large mare walked out with a serious look on her face.

“Good afternoon,” she said, “my name is Mrs. Dodger, and I will be your instructor for the weekend.” She was much taller than Lightning and Lunar, and wore a uniform with many different pins, badges, and medals. She had a green mane, with dark red eyes, and a dark brown body. She towered over the group and looked down at them. She stared deep into their eyes. “Mhmm... Mhmm... Mhmm...” She murmured to herself as she inspected each colt or filly.

It seemed like she was checking their abilities by examining their eyes alone. Then she nodded, as if she approved of each one. When she approached Lightning, she froze for a second and examined closer. Her dark red eyes pierced Lightning’s navy eyes; he was squirming in discomfort. She gave a small smirk and nodded, proceeding to walk over to Lunar.

She had close to the same reaction with Lunar, however gave a slight gasp after a short time. Either Lunar had just won the world’s toughest staring contest, or he simply frightened the instructor with his raw abilities. Lightning was quick to think both while laughed to himself, and Mrs. Dodger walked over to Dash. Again, giving the same reaction, but Dash was much softer and easier to read than Lunar, so she managed to contain another gasp of shock.

She walked back over to the front of the group of pegasi, and spoke in a booming, stern voice. “Attention! We have among us today, three pegasi whom hold more potential talent than anypony here. I suggest you keep your eyes peeled, and observe closely, because I can guarantee talent like this doesn't come every lifetime.”

Lightning wasn’t too interested in the whole “talent” grouping. He just loved flying, and loved having fun in doing so. Lunar on the other hand... Yeah, he probably wanted to be better than everypony else, just to say he was.

“Alright pupils,” said Mrs. Dodger, “go find your rooms, then I will call you out to see your potential, and recommend the best career path for you.”

In that moment, the whole group split off in multiple directions, eager to show their talent to their instructor. Dash ran over to Lightning and greeted him. “Hey bud, want to find Lunar and get our room quickly?”

“Yeah, sounds good.” replied Lightning, “Now, where exactly IS Lunar?”

Just before they took a second to look around, he had flown up to them at blinding speed, slamming his hooves into the clouds to make a stop. Just before colliding with Lightning and Dash, he had come to a stop and said, “I don’t know, where do you think?”

They all laughed, and walked in the direction of an empty dorm. The group just wasn’t the same without ole’ Spitfire, but they all knew she was living out her dream, and that was enough for them.

They opened the door to their dorm, and saw; two bunk beds, two large chairs, a few posters offering flight tips, and a small table lamp. Pretty basic, but it is what one would expect at a flight camp. Dash then flopped onto the bottom of one of the bunk beds, and looked up at the bars holding the top bunk. After a bit of pondering, he asked the group, “What do you think they will assign us as careers?”

Lightning looked to Lunar and said, “They would be idiots to not make you a scout leader."

Lunar laughed and said, “And they would be stupid to not make you a weather pegasus.”

Lightning nodded, and actually liked the idea a lot. It was well paying, relaxed, and involved free flying every day. Now that he took a moment to think about it, it would be a perfect job for him! “Well I just hope so,” he said.

Lunar looked to Dash and said, “And this one will be Pope Dash I!” They all laughed at his joke, and flopped onto their beds, mentally prepping for whatever challenges may lay ahead.

Not even a few minutes later, Mrs. Dodger opened the door, and called out a name. “Shadow, Lunar?”

Lunar nodded and walked over to the teacher, whom then said, “Oh- you,” in a semi-excited manner. She grinned, and held the door open. “Well, let’s see what you can do, hmm? Other than winning a staring contest.”

As she departed, Dash had picked up the blue, 4-string bass guitar he had brought with him. He must have had some sort of bag or something, because Lightning didn't even notice it at first. Pulling it out, he started strumming a few strings, and attempted a find a tune he liked. It actually sounded really good, because he had a knack for finding the right chords and verses.

Lightning had pulled out a book, and began reading about the main responsibilities of a weather pegasus. The book must have bored Lightning in the beginning, because he fell asleep in the intro. That, or Dash found Lightning’s lullaby on the bass.

An unknown amount of time had passed before Lunar had smashed through the door, screaming and shouting straight at them. Lightning had regained consciousness after a slight heart attack from the shock, and sat up. “Jeez dude what the hay is your deal?” He rubbed his eyes a bit, as Lunar began describing what the instructor had told him.

“She had me run a few different courses, and obstacles, and she said that I would make a perfect leader in a scout party!”

Lightning nodded and said, "Well, yeah! You have an amazing sense of direction, and never seem to get lost wherever you go.”

“Well, that’s not all. She said that Ponyville is in need of new scout parties to set up bird migration routes, and she said I can start as a scout team leader right away!”

Lightning had gotten up, and hoof-bumped him in congratulations, along with Dash. Lightning said, “Well, I guess you have work to do soon, eh?”

“Yeah, she said I need to start some time before spring, because they are trying to set up a winter tradition of some sort. Errr, “Winter Wrap Up”, I believe she said...”

Lightning nodded and told him, “Well, it’s great that you have something to do now once we leave here!”

At that moment, the instructor came in and read off another name. “Dash, Sonic?”
Dash raised his hoof, and nodded.

“That’s me, ma’am.” She nodded and scribbled something off the clipboard.

“Are you ready to show me what you can do, son?” He nodded, and walked out with the instructor, leaving Lunar and Lightning together.

“So, uh, what exactly did you do out there?” Asked Lightning.

“Well, she had me run a few different scenarios, like agility and dark tunnel obstacles. I think that she has records of previous camps or something, because they had the obstacles set up so they suit your strengths.”

How could they set up obstacles for speed?

“That would make sense, see how good you are at what you do I guess.”

Lunar nodded and said, “It seemed like the instructors knew a lot about our abilities too, because each corner and pitch was challenging. But nothing I couldn't handle!”

He laughed a bit, and flopped down on a bed in exhaustion. The course must have been straining, because Lunar isn’t one to submit to exhaustion so easily. Lightning tossed him a book to read, and flopped back down on his bed. Closing his eyes again, he slowly drifted off into a small slumber, having small dreams of the course he might have, and how difficult it must be.

After an unknown amount of time, and in the most shocking fashion, Dash smashed the door open, and bolted inside. Ironically, he spoke in a calm tone, “That....was...”

Lightning had opened his eyes and looked up to his friend.

“Awesome!” Dash got to about halfway to bed and collapsed onto the floor.

“Woah, dude, are you ok?” asked Lightning.

Lightning had gotten up, and poked him a bit.

Cold. Out cold.

“Jeez, what kind of course did they make him run!?” asked Lightning.

Lunar shrugged and flipped over. He, too, was completely drained of energy.

In that very moment, Mrs. Dodger opened the door again and said, "Chaser, Lightning?”

Lightning nodded and followed Mrs. Dodger outside into the open flight area. Multiple clouds were scattered around, and a few loops had been placed randomly around the sky. Clouds, and loops? Didn’t make much sense, but whatever they had, they knew Chaser did it best.

“Alright bud, we have some clouds set up around,” explained Mrs. Dodger, “and a few loops for good measure. What we want you to do is try and remove every cloud from this area, giving unlimited visibility. Then after all the clouds have been cleared, your goal is to fly through the loops twice within fifteen seconds. Do you think you can manage?”

He thought for a moment and replied, “Fifteen seconds flat.”

She smiled a bit and said, “Alright, on your mark, you can start your task.”

She flew over to a small table with another mare, and a stallion closely observing. Lightning knew this was the most important objective to date. He had to put forth more than all his effort into this task. He spread his wings out and flew up to the starting point, a large cloud above all the others that he had to clear. He planted his hooves into the cloud firmly, and crouched down in preparation. He told the judge fifteen seconds flat, so this would take all his effort, and all his energy. In moments that were shorter than even seconds, he was off, bolting ahead straight at the first cloud, and already closing in on full speed. The judges started their watches, and observed very closely.

As he flew towards his first few clouds, he immediately kicked the first one in front of him, then bucked the one behind it. In haste, he flew straight down through three or four more clouds, and kicked another while thrusting himself into one behind him. The sudden rushes of wind, and the water vapor from the clouds, were hitting his fur as he thrusted forward at insane speeds. The whole world around him started to become a large blur, as time seemed to slow, and the blood began rushing through him fiercely.

His time was 4:561.

He blasted through another cloud, immediately grabbing onto the nearest cloud, and, using his momentum to swing around it, slammed it into another four clouds. As he reached the clouds closest to the ground, he flung out his hooves, and swung around back upwards, bucking the cloud behind him after launching from them. The air around him had shaken extremely violently, while the clouds had crumbled under his sheer speed.

8:912.

He forced his head down, and used his momentum to fling into a wild frontflip. Then, kicking off a cloud, he thrusted himself off it and into the ring. As he passed through the ring, he obliterated a few clouds from plowing straight through them, and they all instantly vaporized and vanished.

11:021.

Only a few clouds left! The last bolt of speed had taken out almost a quarter of the amount of stamina he started with. He flipped and exploded off another cloud, decimating it as well.

12:347.

The last five clouds! All in close vicinity, and ready to be vanquished! Using his last bit of energy, he thrusted ahead as fast as he could, accelerating at blistering speeds. The sky around him shook violently, and began slowing down along with time, as he slammed into a group of clouds, bounced off another, and hit and bucked another two at the same time.

13:621.

This was it, just three more clouds, and that final ring. With his last breath, Lightning flung himself at the last three clouds.

14:005.

With a strong hit, and an instant buck, two were demolished, leaving one straight in the path of the loop.

14:362.

This was it, the final milliseconds of the most important showing in his life.

14:425.

He lunged himself as fast as he could, shaking the air menacingly. Everything seemed to slow down into nanoseconds, as he neared the loop. He could feel the cool dampness of the cloud as he flew through it; able to see every little detail as he pierced straight through the center.

14:781.

It would be on the wire. The last few centimeters from finishing his task. If he didn't make a miracle happen here, it was all over. He had to do something, and fast.

14:831.

The air was just starting to smoothen out, as he blasted through the loop, shattering it to bits behind him. Having used his last bit of energy, he stopped flapping his wings, and instantly began front flipping wildly, out of control, and straight towards the ground. Time began to gradually return to normal, as his chest slammed into the ground. His momentum dragged him, forcing him into a few rolls on the ground and dragged him dozens of feet forward. His rear legs were bent almost straight up, while his wings were still fully stretched out, sore from the tremendous stress he had put on them. Legs dropping, and wings collapsed, he hit the ground with his hoof hard in frustration.

15:008.

That was it, he failed to hit the promised time, and in term probably failed the task. He had then closed his eyes tight in anger, while the judges walked over to evaluate his performance. Contrary to what he had been expecting, they all clapped their hooves, and knelt down towards him. Even though he was breathing extremely heavily, he had turned to one of them, and said, "I-I’m sorry, I f-failed.” They all laughed and smiled.

Mrs. Dodger said, “No you didn’t! You just broke the Equestrian record!”

His eyes shot open in disbelief as he looked over towards the judges. The stallion’s watch read, “14:008”. Lightning's counting was off the entire time, probably from counting too fast, therefore causing his haste to intensify with each passing moment.

“The previous record was 14:891, held by Whiplash, and son, you just blew it out of the water!” exclaimed the stallion.

Lightning laughed slightly in between breaths. “S-so what does that mean?”

The judges looked at each other and nodded. The stallion said, “It means you’re going into the weather business. No other pony can clear a cluttered sky in under fifteen seconds.”

He wanted to think about the possibilities, the rewards, and the idea of it, but he was far too exhausted to think. Shortly after they had given him the news, the judges had all grabbed onto his arms, and pulled him back up to standing. Lightning felt rather dizzy, as he stumbled a bit after being helped up. The cabins were swirling around in interesting patterns as the world beneath him rocked back and forth. Cautiously, he thanked the judges for their time, and walked back to his cabin. The world still swirling, he flung the door open, stepped over Dash, and flopped onto his bed. It too, was swirling violently beneath him, as he closed his eyes and slipped out of awareness.

In that moment, the swirling stopped, and everything became calm and peaceful. The only thought in his dream, was the 14:008 on the judges’ watches. Could that have been a legitimate time?

. . .

For what seemed like mere moments, Lightning slowly awakened to find Dash, and Lunar sprawled out on their beds. The sky outside was pitch black, and he could see the dim twinkle of stars outside. The four stars circling the moon, and everything in between. His wings were horrendously sore from the massive amount of strain he had put on them. Sore, is actually a bit of an understatement. The only feeling he had in that moment, was pain from the intense moments of cloud-busting, and the sudden bursts of agility he went through. Is this what Lunar and Dash were feeling? It’s no wonder they came back completely exhausted.

Lightning stretched his wings out, and winced in a sudden spike of pain. The whole task seemed like a rushed blur to him now, as he rubbed the muscles in his wings. Slowly, he folded them back up, and closed his eyes to try and drift back into sleep. That was probably the only time he ever fell asleep willingly. Lightning was always overloaded with excess energy, that now, was completely drained. Peace returned once more as images began to fill his head. The sky he had just witnessed began changing rapidly. The four stars that surrounded the moon earlier, began slowly drifting farther off, and eventually slowing to a point where they may have been almost fifteen years ago. The moonlight shined brightly through the window, as he looked down at the ground. To Lightning, it seemed like he had been standing on a cliff.

Lightning had then looked back up, and bent down to jump off the cliff. His target, a large pillow on the floor. As he jumped off the railing of his crib, the feeling of wind and falling had instantly hit him, and it felt good. A smile had come across his face, as he hit the pillow, causing both the earlier feelings to fade. It was a feeling like no other, and he loved it. So much in fact, he climbed back up the steep crib cliff, and jumped once again. This time however, he spread his teeny wings out, and tried to glide down to the pillow. The feeling of falling had lasted longer when he had been gliding, because of his increased drag, and air resistance. The soft pillow cushioned the collision, as he instantly stood back up on all four legs and looked out the window. Some day, he would get out there. Out into the wide open sky for the simple joy of flying. But to him, this simple joy was his whole life. He just had to get out there. Someday.

. . .

After a few hours of sleep, Lightning was awakened by Dash, whom seemed rather excited about something.

“Hey, hey bud, wake up!” he said, “They post results today for what we did yesterday!”

“He must be talking what career the instructors believe we would do perform our best at, based on their tests,” thought Lightning, drowsily. Lightning nodded, and rubbed his eyes a bit. His wings still felt extremely sore, but other than that he felt better after crashing in bed right after his task. He was excited to see what everypony else got. Lightning, Dash, and Lunar had then all ran out to the large board posted outside of the rooms, with all other kinds of mares and colts standing around, jumping and yelling in cheer, and disappointment.

Behind them, a young colt had shouted out, “Scout team member!? AWESOME!”

Lightning could hear Lunar laughing a bit behind him, saying, “Who knows- maybe he’ll be in my party.” They both shrugged, and walked up to the board.

Lightning saw Dash’s name first. Written in capital letters and bold print, it read,

“SONIC DASH - WEATHER PEGASUS AREA C.”

The outcome was none too surprising. Dash had a great hustle, and was really good at picking clouds out of the sky. But what exactly did “Area C” mean? He searched the board very carefully, and noticed areas listed at the bottom of the board. It seemed they ran from as far north as Canterlot, to as far south as below Fillydelphia.

“--AREA C - PONYVILLE--”

Ponyville... that new settlement off the river? That seemed like a great place to start, because the sky there was so open and clear, and Lightning was in term rather jealous.

“Ponyville? Awesome! I can't wait to start working the clouds there!” exclaimed Dash. Lightning hoof-bumped him, and kept searching the board for Lunar’s name. After a careful search, he found Lunar’s name listed at the top of the scout team parties.

“LUNAR SHADOW - SCOUT TEAM 12 LEADER.”

“Team 12?” he thought. He searched where a few numbers were listed below, and found the answer to his question. Each number represented a different section for the scout teams to explore, and Team 12 was responsible for creating migration routes for aviary animals from as far south as Stallahassee. Being a team leader is a big responsibility, because it means he had to be friends with all his members, guide them through tough areas and situations, keep sharp and alert, and keep them all in good condition. Knowing Lunar, he could do it with two hooves behind his back.

Lightning continued to scan the board thoroughly until he found his name listed. A few moments of searching, and there it was.

“LIGHTNING CHASER - WEATHER PEGASUS AREA C.”

Area C... Ponyville! He would be working with Dash, managing those calm skies above; it was perfect. Wide open skies, calm town, no stress of doing right or wrong; he couldn't ask for a better career.

At that moment, Mrs. Dodger walked up and said, “Alright everypony, now that you know what we think you will do best at, any thoughts?”

A couple of shook their heads, while others didn’t seem to notice her speaking at all. From what it seemed, everypony was rather satisfied with what they got. Lightning on the other hand, got the career he dreamed of. He and Dash couldn't ask for a better one, and the fact that they would work together made it even better!

Dash walked over to Lightning and said, “Looks like you can't shake me, huh, bud?” They both laughed a bit, and walked away from the board. There was still a day left of camp, but the final day was just a rerun of basic skills and techniques. Dash and Lightning both knew they were well qualified for what they were doing, and needed no more further training.

Approaching Mrs. Dodger, Dash asked her, “Ma’am, me and Lightning want to go ahead and leave early so we can check out our new career.”

She nodded, bidding them farewell. “Good luck boys, and remember to keep those skies clear!” They both nodded, and flew away, waving at their final instructor. The wind felt different to Lightning, it was a more free, and light feeling. Thinking back on it, he had an amazing colthood. Now, it’s time to continue on, and make himself an amazing future.

Sayonara Cloudsdale

--Sayonara Cloudsdale--

Sixteen years ago, a little dark grey colt, with a spiky white mane, and deep navy eyes had been born into the world of Equestria. Along with him, came the natural instinct of flight that gave him his love and adoration of flying at high speeds. Standing tall and proud, was Lightning. He was at the average height, but a bit more muscled than the average stallion. He and Dash both, were a bit more bulked up than the rest, because of their constant years of training.

Lightning had just gotten home when he began bidding his parents goodbye. “Mom, Dad, thank you so much for everything. I hope you guys can visit sometime soon!”

They both hugged him and said, “Hey, we won't be going anywhere anytime soon! So don’t ever hesitate to come see us, ok?”

He nodded and began flying off in the direction of Dash’s house, whom he also expected was telling his parents goodbye. After a few minutes of flying through town, waving goodbye to a few neighbors and friends, he had finally reached Dash’s house on the edge of Cloudsdale. Lightning firmly believed that Dash had the only house not even touched by the storm years ago, and from what Dash had told him, he had no knowledge of a storm at all.

Lightning had begun coming into his landing when Dash came outside, waving goodbye to his parents. Looking forward, he ran over to Lightning, whom told him, “You ready?”

Dash nodded and said, “Want to stop somewhere before fully leaving?”

“Uhh, I have nowhere to go; I’m ready to leave.”

Dash nodded, while they both flew up into the sky, to the nearest cloud. With a quick glance around, they saw the direction they needed to go in, and immediately turned to it. If Lunar were here, they would already be on their way there, but he had training to attend to before becoming a team leader, so he had no extra time to spare.

The sun was just beginning to rising over the horizon, as Lightning and Dash spread their wings out, and began their flight to Ponyville, leaving Cloudsdale behind with all their colthood memories. The ground below flew by quickly, as they dashed by a few clouds and made slight descents to get a better look around. The area around Cloudsdale was fairly clear, and very lush terrain. The only spot that seemed a bit off from the surroundings was the clearing that the pegasi used every year to life the water from the ground to Cloudsdale.

Lightning had come close enough to the ground to maneuver around trees and large boulders, as Dash stayed higher up still enjoying the view. The feeling of leaving Cloudsdale: a rather saddening, yet accomplished feeling. Lightning and Dash both, had spent their entire childhoods practicing, and yearning to get to where they are today. Out on their own, careers ahead of them, and simply having fun, and hopefully making a few new friends. As Lightning rejoined Dash, a few small structures had appeared over the horizon, along with a small river flowing off to the east. Ponyville!

Starting on the Right Hoof

Coming down to land, Lightning and Dash touched down on a small patch of grass near the center of town, after their flight from Cloudsdale. Still fresh from their final flight camp, both Lightning and Dash were eager to get going, and see how the next few years of their lives would play out. Looking around, Lightning thought to himself, "Ponyville seemed to have grown quite a bit since their last visit."

A whole group of new mares and stallions were wondering the newly built market, and a few new structures had been added since their last visit. One in particular, was still being built; however the sign read, “Sugarcube Corner.” "Must be some type of bakery" thought Lightning. They both began to wander around a bit, until the mayor trotted up to greet them. “Good afternoon! Welcome to... wait, I know you fellas...” They looked at her and laughed a bit.

“We were here a while back on a school field trip ma’am.”

“Ohhh that’s right! You were the young colt whom broke his shoulder! Aww glad to see you’re all better!” He nodded and replied,

“thanks.”

“So how can I help you two?”

Dash replied, “Well, we were assigned to be here for the weather pegasi, we just came out of our training camp, and they told us that we would be stationed here.” She scratched her chin for a second thinking, then came to her realization.
“OH! You two are with the weather group!” They nodded and she reached her hoof out. The two shook it and looked back to her as she said, “Well, it’s a relief you’re here! Up until now, we’ve only had one poor pegasi controlling the weather out here.” Lightning looked at her in a bit of surprise.

“Another? What would their name be?”

“A young stallion named Renoc Baers. He’s been doing a fine job for us, and hasn’t complained even once about working the clouds all alone!” And almost as if on cue, a brown stallion with a messy, long brown mane stuck a nice landing on the ground next to them.

“Hey Miss Mayor! Who are the new fellas?”

“Oh, well these are the new recruits from Cloudsdale.”

“New recruits?" He turned his attention to Lightning and Dash. "You guys just came out of the academy?” Dash replied with,

“Yeah, actually we were told yesterday to be here, so here we are.” Baer laughed a bit and looked at them, holding his hoof out to shake. Lightning shook as Baer said,

“well it’s a pleasure to have you both here, especially with what’s going on right now!” Both Lightning and Dash looked puzzled with his statement.

“What’s going on around here?”

“A climate change has been making the weather go completely berserk! I’ve been working hard to stop it, but it’s going to be so much easier with your guys’ help!” They both agreed and asked,

“what do you want us to do first?”

“Well first, you guys should go find a place to live, don’t you think?” They both had a stunned expression on their faces, because they had completely forgotten about that.

“Hehe... I guess we do..” Admitted Lightning. Baer snickered a bit, and wrapped his arms around them both.

“You guys are going to love it here. It’s really chill and relaxed, and fun to fly around the open areas.” Lightning knew that a relaxed job, with open flight space was simply too good to be true. "What was the catch?" Lightning thought. Baer then launched up into the air, and beckoned both he and Dash for follow. Baer had lead them both to a small cloud house just behind a few trees, which was less than a minute away from town. The cloud house seemed to be a good three stories tall, and had a nice amount of space, judging from the space outside. It fit onto about twelve clouds by estimation, and was a good twenty clouds tall. To put it into perspective, a "cloud" unit of measurement was about three times as long as a full grown pegasus. Looking back onto the house, it seemed like a great size for a starting career.

Baer then showed them inside, where they stumbled upon a large couch, a few posters hanging from the walls, and a small kitchen. The windows in the front of the house had a breathtaking view of Ponyville’s town square, and the windows in the rear had a perfect view of the mountains behind it. “Alright, this is just the cooking and chilling room. We’ve got a good five rooms upstairs if you want to check it out.” He flew up a small opening in the ceiling, with Lightning and Dash joining him. Upstairs they ended up in a small center room, with two small room attached to the main hallway. “You guys can hang out here for now if you want, I’ve got the room upstairs for now. They thanked him for the rooms, as they both took another look out the window. "Thanks again Baer! Sorry to impede on you."

“Nah it’s cool! I’ve been hoping a few new pegasi could show up, being the only weather pegasus here is a bit lonely and awkward." All three of them had laughed a bit, while Baer turned and flew to his room. Dash turned to Lightning and said, “Well, here we are. All those years we spent getting ready for this, and this is where we end up. Is it worth it?” Lightning thought for a split second. He had the opportunity to become a Wonderbolt, but turned it down so Spitfire could achieve her dream. Sure it was a bit disappointing, but where he was now was perfect. With his friends, in an easy, all flying job.

“Yeah, I can’t complain one bit. I think we’re extremely lucky to end up here.” Dash nodded and said,

“well I’m going to go check out the town. I guess i’ll catch ya later.”

“Alright, see ya later bro.” They bumped hooves, as Dash flew down the opening in the floor, and out the front of the house. Lightning could see him out his window, he looked so happy and free to be away from those restricting rules and camps of Cloudsdale. Looking out to the horizon, he could see the sun, just setting on the horizon, as Lightning laid down on the small bed new to the window. The sudden rush of memories came to him like in a surging storm, as he laid down in bed, tired from such a long day. Memories of his encounter with the Wonderbolt’s recruiter, the stunt he pulled in the stadium, even Ms. Starshine’s camp came to him. So far, he had accomplished everything he has strived for, and now it’s time to continue doing his best, and making a good name for himself in the new town of Ponyville.

A Dash of Love

--A Dash of Love--

“This place is brand new! Everything here tastes amazing too!”

Baer seemed really enthusiastic about Sugar Cube Corner. He spent the few moments they took flying there to go on and on about how good the ice cream was and how much they'll love it there. In sync, the three pegasi landed right outside the entrance and made their way in. They approached the counter and saw a middle aged mare standing behind the glass cover.

She asked with a smile, “How may I help you gentlecolts?”

Baer turned and asked, “Can we get three sundaes?”

“Well, of course!” She then proceeded to create three sweet masterpieces with different flavors of ice cream, with condiments on the top.

Baer then turned back around to talk to his new friends. “Believe me, I’ve been here once or twice, this place is mind blowing!”

Lightning laughed a bit out of a hint of doubt. He then turned with Baer, only to see Dash staring blankly at a young mare sitting in a corner booth, alone. Lightning waved his hoof in Dash’s face and asked, “Dude, are you....ok?”

Dash quickly shook his head and replied, “Y-yeah, I’m fine.”

Baer looked at Dash and said, “Sure you are! Why not go over and say hi?”

Dash shrugged and told him, “‘Cause I’m here to be with you guys.”

In synchronization, Lightning and Baer both frantically replied, “Nooo! Dude, it’s cool! Go say hi!”

Dash nodded and nervously trotted over. The mare appeared to be about their age, maybe even a year older. She was beautiful. Long, flowing red mane with pink highlights, a light red coat, and bright blue eyes. Luckily for the group, she was also a pegasus.

Dash proceeded to sit down on the bench next to her, and looked up to her. He smiled, and instantly began striking up a conversation.

“Heh, Dash is smooth, huh?” said Baer.

Lightning shrugged. He himself was always the timid one, but since colthood, he has become a lot less timid. However, he still couldn't simply approach somepony and instantly strike up a conversation. That must be another one of Dash’s talents, among other things. He seemed really happy talking to her. Not once did he break a smile, smirk, or grin. The same went for her; because she was laughing a bit, smiling widely, and seemed really interested in him. Or at least, that’s what both Lightning and Baer hoped. The mare then stood up, and shook his hoof quickly while departing. As she left, Dash came back over to Lightning and Baer. Both were rather eager to see what happened. Dash sat down next to them with a very disappointed look, and leaned down on the table.

“So, uh, what happened?” asked Lightning.

“Well, she was really funny and wanted to talk more, but she had to go. But, she said for me to meet her here again tomorrow,” Dash explained

“That’s great news!” said Lightning, “Why are you sad?”

“Because she left.”

Baer snickered a bit and turned to look out the window.

“What’s so funny, Baer?” Dash seemed a bit annoyed.

“Heh, nothing! Just don't get your head caught in the clouds- it’s our job to move
them.” Dash laughed a bit at his ridiculous statement and reassured Baer that this new mare wouldn't affect his work ethic at all. (That’s a lie and a half!)

“So Dash, what do you think?” asked Lightning, “Is she awesome?”

He nodded and looked at Lightning. “I can’t wait to talk with her some more. She’s fun to be around.”

It’s good to know Dash found somepony to make him happy. Well, happier than he was before; which is really saying something.

“Well, what’s her name?” asked Lightning.

“Cherry Raindrops. It was her great grandmother’s name.“

“So, you’re going to meet her here after work tomorrow?”

Dash nodded again and replied, “Duh, I gave her my word.”

“Yeahhh, I’m going to need you to come in on Saturday and, uh oh, Sunday...”

Dash struck Baer with a fierce, irritated stare as Baer then fell over and began bursting in laughter along with Lightning.

“Oh, Dash! If only you could see what you look like right now!” exclaimed Baer.

Both Baer and Lightning continued laughing as Dash got up, and walked over to the counter again.

“Baer, that was horrible!” exclaimed Lightning. Although, they both kept their hysterical laughing going, as Dash came back with a small glass of water.

He tapped his hoof against the table, simply waiting for the two to get over the joke. “You guys are jerks.” Dash then took a quick swig of water.

Baer replied, “Ahh, get over it Dash! Don’t worry, if the sky needs clearing, Lightning and I can handle it on our own!” They both nodded as Dash looked a bit guilty.

“Oh, alright. Thanks, guys.”

“No problem, bud! This is way more important than some dumb ole clouds anyway.”

Dash smiled and put his empty cup down on the table. “So you guys ready to leave?” he asked.

“Yeah, whenever you are,” replied Baer. “Not much to do back at the house though, unless you like to read a lot.

Dash’s eyes flew wide open as soon as he heard the word, “read.” He asked, “What kind of books?”

“Umm, non-fiction, fillydelphian poetry, and a couple adventure series.”

“Awesome! I’ll have to check that out after I finish practicing my bass.”

Lightning walked over to the counter and paid the mare working the counter six bits, as Dash and Baer both took off to get back home. Hastily, Lightning rushed out and flew off to catch up to them. Lucky for him, they were taking the scenic route back. A couple of minutes ticked by while they flew over the town center, noticing a few buildings being constructed, and areas being cautiously cleared. One of the newest additions was the Carousel Boutique, which would sell the suits and dresses of Ponyville. Lightning wasn’t too sure who would run a store like that, if anypony was running it at the moment, but he shook it off and continued flying over a small patch of woods. As they flew over the woods, they found a small clearing with a large tree standing dead in the center of a field of flowers. Such a strange location for a tree to be, it could be a perfect home for somepony who isn’t one for neighbors.

As they came up to their cloud house, a new face was standing there waiting for them. From the distance, it looked like the mare that Dash had been talking to earlier. As they flew closer, Dash had slowed down, and flew in front of Baer knowing who it was.

Cherry.

Adding Another

--Adding Another--

Baer and Lightning both had come to the front of their home, while Cherry was standing there; as if she had been waiting for them. Baer stuck his hoof out, and shook with her as he asked, “How can we help ya?”

“Well, today was my first day in town. My instructor told me that I have to come here to work, so I figured I’d show up a day early and check out the area!” She was beaming with happiness, and seemed to have a tweaked version of the same aura that Dash gives off. She too, seemed capable of making new friends just by being nearby.

Dash stumbled forward and asked her, “So, you’ll be working with us from now on?” She smiled and nodded in response. Dash was doing his best to hold back a grin, as he lowered his head to hide it.

In the same moment, Baer told her, “Well, let me show ya around!”

“Thanks!”

Both ponies walked in together, leaving Dash and Lightning outside. Lightning said, “So... your marefriend lives with us now?”

“She’s not my marefriend! I just think she’s really cool...”

“Hah, riiight!” Lightning laughed as he stepped aside to make room for Dash. Immediately, Dash ran inside to try and catch both Baer and Cherry while they were inside. Lightning laughed again at his lovestruck friend, while he made his way to the bookshelf inside. Searching the shelf carefully, he found a book to read, as Baer trotted out to sit next to him. Lightning sat down on a cushion, and Baer grabbed another book and opened it.

“Say Lightning,” said Baer.

He turned and looked at Baer. “Yeah?”

“How much do you think Dash likes Cherry?”

Lightning thought for a bit and replied, “To the point where he would pass reading and bass practice to be with her.”

Baer laughed a bit and started reading his book. Page by page and minute by minute, time had flown by as the sun gradually began to set through the window of their cloud home.

Outside, the trees had already turned orange, yellow, and red, signifying that autumn was nearing. Surely, Lunar was concluding his training as scout leader, they would need him very shortly for the inaugural Winter Wrap Up. Lightning looked up from his book and looked out the window. The sky was calm, clear, and crisp. Absolute perfect flying conditions, so Lightning put his book back and stretched his wings out.

“Say, Baer.”

“Yeah?” Baer replied.

“It looks awesome outside, want to fly around for a while?”

“Definitely! I bet I can beat you in a race!”

Lightning laughed at his sarcastic comment. Good ole Baer knew just how to get him. “Alright, meet ya out there.” Lightning walked out the front door and was immediately hit by a strong autumn breeze. The simple wind felt good on his fur, as he closed his eyes and simply hoped both Spitfire and Lunar could be feeling the same type of breeze that he too was feeling. After all, Spitfire and Lunar had been there since the beginning for him.

He jumped off the front step of his home, getting an instant sense of free falling as he neared the ground; and, in a split-second, he spread his wings out and flapped as hard as he could, soaring up and above the house. Just for fun, Lightning executed a large half loop and flew back to the front step as Baer came out to join him.

“Dang, it feels great out here,” he said. “Hold on just a second!” Lightning felt a bit puzzled by Baer’s reaction, as he eventually returned back outside with a strange looking object in hand. “Hey, Lightning, catch!” Baer then proceeded to toss it over to Lightning, whom immediately caught it. It was a strange shaped ball; a bit flattened as he held it in his hooves. It felt rather rugged, and it was a brown, leather-ish color.

“What exactly is this, Baer?”

Bear flew over and took it from him. “My dad gave it to me, and my dad got it from his dad, and so on. He called it a hoofball, and it used to be used in a sport that the flight academy used to play.”

Just holding the ball felt great to Lightning. It had a great, inexplicable feeling to it, as Baer threw it back and explained him a bit more.

“You’re supposed to either throw it, or take it into your arms and fly straight ahead some sort of field to score,” he said. “It was a game that had a lot of pegasi hitting each other. Very physical, and exciting game, but was banned for being too violent and dangerous. Stinks, because I’ve always wished to play it.”

Lightning thought for second as he threw it back to Baer. “Hey, Baer, what if we set up our own games? Like two on two or something?”

He seemed thrilled with that idea. “Yeah! That sounds awesome! Great idea, Lightning!” They continued passing it back and forth, taking small steps back every time. Lightning’s passes weren’t the best, but he know how to catch it and hold it secure. “Hey Lightning, go long!” yelled Baer.

He nodded and lined up to the side Baer. Baer then chucked it as far as he could. The ball had sailed out a good two hundred feet or so, while Lightning exploded off the line, flying as fast as he could to catch up with it. At a certain point, Lightning had a bit too much speed and was sure to pass it. However he held his front hooves out to the left, caught it on his side, locked it into his belly, and fell down to the ground. A random pile of fallen leaves had cushioned his fall, as he held the ball up in success.

Baer grabbed his hoof and pulled him out. “Lightning, that was awesome! Whenever we start playing, I’m picking you for my team every time!” They both laughed and continued passing it back and forth until the sun had finally set on the horizon.

“Hey, let’s head back, Baer. it’s getting pretty dark out,” suggested Lightning.

Baer nodded and handed the ball back to Lightning.

“We gotta do this more tomorrow, alright?” said Lightning.

Baer nodded and replied, “Yeah of course!”

They both then flew back inside and found Dash and Cherry asleep on the couch. She was leaned against him, and a book was lying on Dash’s lap.

“Psst, let’s just sneak around and leave em be,” suggested Lightning.

Baer nodded as they quietly flew up to their rooms, reframing from waking the two lovebirds. “Night, Lightning, see ya tomorrow for work.” He and Lightning hoof-bumped, and went their separate ways for the night. Another night on his own, Lightning was really beginning to love his life even more than before. The only way he could be any happier is if he too, like Dash, could meet a special somepony.

Notes from the Author / From Small Beginnings

Thanks to my Mom and Dad for always having my back, and being the best parents I could ever ask for. Also, thanks to Michael, Connor, and Gabe for being great supporters through this literary adventure. This was an amazing experience that I think none of us will ever forget, and I'm glad I was able to share it with you.
-Chris

--From Small Beginnings--

Cloudsdale. City of pegasi, and the best fliers known to Equestria. One might think that anypony who comes out of Cloudsdale would either be “just another pegasus” or “a talented flier.” At least, that’s how it's been for years and years.

However the day came that one colt was born into the world. One colt, whom may seem just average and simple, but in his own special way, unique and indifferent. Along the way, he will discover new friends, adventures, and extra special talents between he and his friends. The colt out of Cloudsdale who became the legend that lives in the background, or the backstory of FiM, living years before the mane 6 were even a mere thought.

This is the story of the one colt who has the true, born passion for flight, and can’t live without being in the sky. This is the story, of a proud father, and successful pegasus. This is the story, of Lightning Chaser.

The Fourth First Day

Laying comfortably in bed, the morning light filtered through Lightning's window shining on his face. A few birds were outside chirping, as he slowly began to open his eyes. All in vain though, as he was jolted up by a loud crack of thunder, which followed an intense light from outside. Lightning quickly fell off the bed and onto the floor, letting out a heavy sigh.

Not the most.... casual way to start the day.

He walked over to the window to see who the culprit was, and at no surprise, Dash was laughing hysterically on a dark cloud outside.”Dash... Urgh....” Dash was laughing too hard to even get a legitimate word out.

“Ahahaaha I uh....hahaha!” He fell over again kicking his legs. Lightning rolled his eyes, and walked over to the opening in the floor. With a swift jump down, he ended up in living room of the house. Baer was laying on the couch with a small bowl of oats, and a newspaper. Seems as though he was quite the morning type, with his mane all messed up and eyes shot from tiredness. “Hey bud, what’s the agenda for today?” He groaned and scratched his head.

“Err, I usually fly around a bit to wake up, then just relax on a cloud until a storm blows in. Usually, the farmers tell ya if they do or don’t want the storm, and if they don’t, we just knock it away. Plain, simple, fun.” Lightning nodded as he liked the idea; very simple, and something he couldn't mess up at. He spread his wings and stretched them out, along with his legs, then took off out the door. Outside, Dash was setting up another devious scheme for Baer, but Lightning grabbed another cloud Dash had been using before, and bucked it right next to Dash, causing a loud crash of thunder. This time, he was the one that fell over, and Lightning laughed as he stumbled down; fallen by his own scheme.

Baer came out laughing as well, as Dash got back up grumbling. “Karma caught up with ya that time Dash!” Dash made a sarcastic laugh as he told Baer,

“Next time, you won't be so lucky.” With a quick laugh from everypony, Lightning, Dash, and Baer both leaped off the front step, and flew off towards the sunrise, ready to start their day off right. flying closer to the town center, The glimmer of sunrise was beaming off the grey fog and clouds that had blanketed the sky above ponyville. Baer looked around for a second and said, “well this stinks, the earth ponies are stuck in that gloomy mess. You know what that means right?” They both nodded as Lightning said,

“lead the way, and we’ll do our best to clear the area.”

Baer laughed a bit and said, “Lightning, chill! We’re in no severe rush, and neither are they. Haven’t you noticed the sun has just come out over the horizon? Most earth ponies don’t even get up anytime before seven!” He laughed a bit more and flew down towards the grey stretch of clouds, and started gliding through them slowly. “The clouds feel great in the morning! I usually like to stretch my wings out and just relax for a bit before getting down to business. Try it!” Lightning took less than a second to decide on dive bombing into the clouds. With a lap "WHAP", he had plunged into the blanket of morning clouds. To him, they felt crisp, and refreshing, partially waking him up from the long night of sleep.

After a few moments in the clouds, Lightning built up a bit of energy, and began to perform a few warm-up stunts. Performed a quick helix loop, followed by a double barrel twist; and just like that, he was back to being the speed obsessed Lightning that everypony in Cloudsdale had just recently heard of.

“Alright fellas, over here!” Baer called both Dash, and Lightning together, as he gave them a quick game plan. “Alright Dash, can you take care of all the clouds that stretch from here to Sweet Apple Acres?”

“Yeah sure, i’ll get this done quickly.”

Dash was just about to blast off into the clouds before Baers had stuck his hoof out in a hault. “Take your time dude, no need to rush things and do a poor job.” Dash nodded in comprehension, and flew off into his designated area. “Alright Lightning, I know good and well how much you crave speed, but just take it easy alright? I need all these clouds cleared correctly.” Lightning nodded as well, still awaiting his orders. “Alright, take from here toooo-..... ehhh- let’s say the river. Can ya handle that?”

“Well sure, no problem at all!”

Baers grinned as he replied, “good to hear! Let’s get too it.” And flew off into the direction opposite of Dash and he. Lightning was left facing the zone he had to clear, which wasn't too large, yet still a good amount to cover. He stretched his wings out, and immediatly flew off, into the area of clouds he was responsible for. These clouds were so light and small, it was barely even an effort to clear them. One quick swing of his hoof, or one swift kick with his leg, and the cloud simply vaporized into the morning sky.

A few minutes had passed, and along with it, a large stretch of cleared sky. He peeked down to the ground, and saw a few early risers wondering the market. Mostly the stall owners getting set for another business day, but a few older ponies were wondering the market getting the fruits and veggies while they were fresh. Refocusing on the task at hand, he began clearing a few more clouds. One by one, a quick swing and they vanished from plain sight, bringing a lot more sunlight to the ground below. Eventually, he had cleared enough to see river that marked the end of his zone. A few stray clouds that may have detached from ones in Dash’s zone had drifted over to his zone, and Lightning took immediate action. With a last, firm buck, the last of the original clouds had vanished, leaving only the stray clouds that wandered the sky aimlessly. Each one was relatively heavier and harder to clear, probably because of the lack of a system of clouds to drain it’s vapor.

Poof! A few strong bucks, and the cloud vanished, along with a quick in-air tackle to finish it off. The clouds felt cool against his body each time he smashed it to vapor. Taking a quick look around, he made absolute sure his zone was totally clear before moving on. Flowers had began to sprout after a long night, and the ground was starting to look alive once again. Job well done!

Out in the distance, he heard the faint call of his name from Baer. In haste, he rushed over to see what Baer was wanting. “Great job bud! Sky looks clear, and I don’t see any strays. Awesome!” In that moment, Dash flew over, and joined in on the conversation as they landed on the only stray cloud over the town center. “Nice job on clearing the sky guys. This would have taken me another two hours almost to clear it!”

“it’s what we’re here for.” Replied Lightning. Baer nodded and asked them,

“how about we go get some sundaes, on me?”