Your Dreams
Chapter 1: Why I Fly…
By iDash
It was another spring day in Ponyville. It was sunny out with a few fluffy white clouds dotting the sky. There was a slight breeze that cooled things down for everypony in town so that it wasn’t too hot or cold. There were young foals playing in the park and everypony was out talking and just enjoying themselves, that is except for a certain cyan pegasus.
Rainbow Dash sat up in a soft cloud over Ponyville. She was lying on her stomach watching the other ponies go about their day. Everypony seemed to be enjoying their day with a smile on their face, but Rainbow Dash was… well, she was bored. She let out a long sigh. She had nothing to do except take naps after she had finished her job.
Normally she would’ve just gone to an empty field and started practicing her newest maneuvers for her flying so that she could impress the Wonderbolts. However, she had already mastered all of her stunts and found that they got just a little boring after doing the same ones about a thousand times. She just brushed it off and figured in her own head that she had just reached a new level of awesome too good for those tricks. Figured. So now, she actually had to take the time to work out ideas for new ones. It was harder than you think.
Rainbow could’ve turned to racing, but all of the ponies she asked were one of four things: too slow, too busy, not interested, or Fluttershy (which is all of the above). It was probably for the best anyways. Even if she were to get someone to race her, it wouldn’t be that much fun considering that she would beat them without even trying. She needed a challenge and being the best flier that side of Equestria always prohibited that.
Rainbow Dash sighed again and turned over on her soft perch to face the other direction. She couldn’t even fall asleep she was so bored. Frustrated, she got up and started hovering over her cloud. She guessed that she would just have to suffer through the boredom and decided to go and practice some of her already mastered stunts.
She spread her wings and with one flap was already in the air. She started flying in the direction of her favorite practice field. It was a little bit removed from town, but it was a great place for practice. There was never anypony around for her to bother, the grass was always green and lush, and outside the wide open field there were a bunch of trees that seemed almost perfectly set up for her to practice her navigation skills.
After flying for about half an hour, she finally got there, but what she saw when surprised her and made her stop. A dark blue pegasus stallion with a jet black mane that was streaked with light blue was practicing stunts of his own. Rainbow looked in disbelief and felt a little annoyed. She couldn’t believe someone had found her practice field.
She shook her head and quickly darted behind a tree so that the pegasus wouldn’t see her. She poked her head out to the side to watch him. After a minute of watching, Rainbow found that the guy wasn’t that bad a flier at all, maybe even a little talented.
After finishing a stunt he waited for a minute in the middle of the field, probably to catch his breath, and shot straight up in the air. He kept going until he reached a height of about 200 ft. He paused and then shot straight back down in a sharp dive. He began to barrel roll at an increasing speed until one could even make out a light funnel of air forming around him. He kept this up until he was a few feet from the ground. When it looked as if he was going to meet the ground in a devastating face plant, his wings shot out, which stopped his spinning. It also slowed him down enough for the funnel to quickly catch up to him and cause an updraft which slowed him down even more. He came to a graceful stop and was so close to the ground that his snout was touching a blade of grass. He flared his wings at the same time that he stopped which caused the small funnel to quickly disperse and send a light breeze flowing in all directions around him. Every flower and blade of grass flowed gently with the wind.
Rainbow Dash stared in wonder from behind her tree. She had just seen somepony pull off an expert level maneuver. And he had done it perfectly! Not only that, but it was somepony from Ponyville, the place where there are almost no talented fliers. Almost.
Her excitement was overwhelming, completely drowning out the boredom she had felt before. Pretty soon she just couldn’t hold it back anymore. “That was awesome!” She shouted, much to the surprise of the stallion. He had been laying on the ground, taking a break after his latest stunt, but was now standing straight up and trying to regain his balance after being startled from his position by the cyan pegasus.
“Heh, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you there,” Rainbow said with a smile. The dark blue pegasus turned to who was speaking to him and wore a confused look on his face.
“Well, let me explain. I was comin’ here to practice my flying like I usually do and when I got here I saw you doin’ some cool tricks, so I sat back and watched for a little bit. But I saw that last one that you pulled off and it was so… Awesome!” she exclaimed with a grin while trotting towards the pony. She was so excited. There she was, about to give her best attempt at warding off crippling boredom when she found another super-talented flier!
“Oh, that? Thanks,” he said with a slight smile as the confused look started to fade away. “And uh… sorry ‘bout that. I didn’t know that this was your spot.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Rainbow said. “Besides, I don’t mind sharing with other awesome fliers. The name’s Rainbow Dash by the way.” She held out her hoof with a grin.
“Cool, Thanks,” he said as he tapped his hoof with hers. “My name’s Flare Windcraft.” Since Rainbow was this close, she got the chance to take a look at his cutie mark. It was a blazing white comet with a black tail and two large wings sprouting out of its sides.
Rainbow Dash tilted her head a little, squinting at Flare, which caused him to take a step or two back. “Are you new here? I’ve never seen you around.”
“Yeah, that’s probably ‘cause I just moved here a few days ago. I’m from Manehattan.” He said as he regained his posture. “It was pretty weird. The first pony I met when I got here was some pink earth pony that just gasped when she saw me then ran away.”
Rainbow Dash snickered, barely able to hold in her laugh, “Yeah, I know that pony. Don’t worry about it, she does that to every new pony. Oh, and don’t be surprised if you come home to a party.”
Flare just gave her a weird look like she was crazy, but brushed it off and chuckled a little.
“So, you’re new here, huh?” Dash started, coming dangerously close to Flare and invading his personal space. She just smiled, though, “How’s about ol’ Dashie show you around town.”
Flare seemed like he was mulling it over for a little bit, “Nah, it’s fine, you don’t have to-”
“C’mooooonn, it’ll be fun!” Rainbow begged with puppy dog eyes. “Besides, I don’t mind if it’s for another great flier.” She smirked.
Flare chuckled a little. He looked in Rainbow’s eyes and couldn’t resist, “Alright then, no harm, I guess.”
“Awww yeah!” Rainbow Dash jumped up. “Well then… Welcome To Ponyville!”
They must’ve been walking for hours. When Rainbow Dash said she’d show Flare around town, she had meant the entire town. She showed him around everywhere, apparently excited about the new addition to Ponyville’s pegasi population.
The whole time that they walked, they talked. As it turned out, and to Rainbow’s relief, Flare wasn’t from one of the ‘fancy pants’ parts of Manehattan, but from one of the removed suburbs of the area. Plus, he was an exceptional flier. Just like Rainbow Dash, he had decided drop out of flight school, saying that he just didn’t have the patience to deal with it. Instead, he went back home and started training with his little brother. They improved at a faster rate than flight school could ever teach somepony, pretty much just by challenging each other. Then after sometime he decided to move around and came to Ponyville. When Dash asked him why, he just shrugged and said that it was just on a whim and felt like it was something he had to do. Rainbow laughed at this and saying he was a real funny guy.
After a while of talking, Rainbow learned that he was a really cool pony to be around. He was pretty laid back too, maybe even more so than Rainbow herself. He didn’t talk half as much as Rainbow did, but whenever he did, it was to crack some small joke and he always wore this cheeky grin. She didn’t know what it was, but something about it just made everypony else want to smile, too. So, as they walked and talked, they smiled and laughed and learned a lot about each other.
Flare learned to be a little bit more careful about what he said, because even the smallest compliment about her flying, even if unintentional, could send her ego into overdrive. She must’ve spent almost an hour just talking about all of her flying and talent, especially the sonic rainboom. Flare recalled that there was also a section completely dedicated to the Wonderbolts and how awesome they were. She talked about how it was her lifelong dream to join the Wonderbolts. This sparked a question from Rainbow, though.
“So, Flare,” she started. “What about you? What’s your dream?”
“My dream? Well, uh…” he paused for a moment
“Yeah?...” prompted Rainbow.
“It’s uh… it’s the Wonderbolts.”
“Awesome! So you wanna join too, huh? Well you’re gonna have to get in line, pal, cause I’m up next.” Rainbow stuck out her chest to show off.
Flare laughed a bit, “Well, um- not exactly. It’s not that I want to join them…”
“Oh yeah? Then what is it?”
Flare put on his wide signature cheeky grin, raised a hoof pointing to the sky, and said, “I’m going to pass the Wonderbolts and beat them. When I get good enough, I’m going to make my own team of the best fliers in the world that’ll blow the Wonderbolts out of the sky.”
Rainbow just stared for a minute, seemingly in disbelief. Much to Flare’s surprise, she started giggling, which then turned to a full laugh. Normally, it would’ve been considered cruel, but the look that Rainbow gave Flare told him otherwise. It was a look that gave a slight hint of admiration.
“That sounds totally awesome. When you pass them and make your team, make sure to let me be the first to join, alright?” Rainbow said with a wide grin.
Flare was actually bewildered by this statement. Rainbow didn’t know it but she was the first one to ever encourage his dream. Whenever he had mentioned this to someone, they had just laughed, but not like Rainbow. They laughed at him, telling him his dream was ridiculous or impossible. However, not only had this pegasus not disparaged him, but she actually claimed that she believed he could do it. This was the first time anyone had ever said something like this to him since he could remember. He looked at the cyan pegasus and just smiled. He liked this pony, he really did.
“Yeah, you bet, Dash.” Rainbow Dash smiled. After a moment she suggested that they get on with the tour before it got too late.
After walking around a bit more, she introduced him to quite a few of her friends. Flare got to meet Rarity the seamstress, Applejack the farmer, Fluttershy the… animal lover? (All the really got out of her was a few squeaks anyways.) Then he met Twilight the librarian, or rather, the ‘egghead’. She explained that there was one more that she wanted him to meet. It was the pony that had freaked out in front of him earlier, Pinkie Pie.
While trying to think of where the pink earth pony could possibly be, a blur of speed rushed right past Rainbow and Flare, throwing them both back in surprise. They looked to see who it was and turned to find three fillies. One was an orange pegasus with a purple mane on a scooter and the others were in a wagon, a white unicorn with a light purple mane and a yellow earth pony with a red mane.
“You know, you should really watch where you’re goin’, Scoots. You almost ran into my new buddy here,” said Rainbow, who was brushing off the dirt that was flung at her.
“Yeah, yeah. Why do you think I’m here anyways?” Scootaloo said. Rainbow gave her a quizzical look with her head tilted. “Ugh- nevermind, just come here real quick.” Dash obliged and came closer to the trio and the orange pegasus whispered something in her ear. A grin grew across Dash’s face as she listened to the filly.
“Aw man, this is gonna be great,” Rainbow said, giggling. “Alright, squirt. See ya there.”
“Bye, Rainbow Dash! Bye, Flare!” the fillies yelled in unison as they zoomed into town. Flare was slightly taken aback by this, though.
“Wait,” he started. “How did they know my name? I’ve only been here for like two days.”
“Yup,” Dash replied with a smirk. “Actually almost everypony in Ponyville probably knows your name now.”
“I- Wait, wha- but how did-?”
“No idea. That Pinkie Pie’s a mystery. You’re probably better off not knowing.”
“But- That’s so-” he was at a slight loss for words about just how odd that pink pony sounded
“Yeah, I wouldn’t think about it too much. It’s not good for your health, just ask that egghead librarian,” Rainbow grinned. “Anyways, we got just one more stop if you’re up for it.” Rainbow started trotting away from Flare.
“Uh…- y-yeah, sure,” Flare stuttered as he caught up with Rainbow.
It was a little late in the afternoon when they got to the place. It was a large bakery with a sign that read ‘Sugarcube Corner’. All of the lights were off, so Flare had thought they would just have to turn back.
“Nope,” Rainbow said. “This is the right place, trust me.”
Flare shrugged, “If you say so,” and walked next to Rainbow and turned the knob on the door to open it.
“Brace yourself,” Rainbow said. She was standing a few feet behind Flare.
Before he could register what she had said, though, he was already a few feet into the place when the lights flashed on and confetti flew from what seemed like a cannon.
“SURPRISE!” shouted the pink pony, who Flare now knew as Pinkie Pie. “Welcome to PONYVILLE!”
“What the hay!” shouted Flare as he jumped up about four feet out of shock.
“Hahahah,” Rainbow laughed uncontrollably. “Like I said, don’t be surprised if there’s a party. She does this all the time, so the no point in arguing.”
He walked farther into the room. She must have invited at least half of Ponyville. There was a banner that read ‘Welcome to Ponyville’.
“Don’t worry about it,” came a voice from behind Flare. It was the purple unicorn, Twilight Sparkle. “They did the same thing when I first got here and believe me, I flipped out,” she said, grinning.
“Wow. Thanks guys,” Flare said with his signature cheeky grin. “It’s-”
“Alright everypony!” shouted Pinkie. “It’s time to get this party STARTED!” And with another shot from her confetti cannon, the party began.
Everypony sang, danced, and ate more cake than any of them probably knew they could eat. The party lasted until late at night, then things started to calm down a bit. Flare was standing outside of the house, gazing at the stars. They were truly beautiful. They were shining so bright, that he felt he could just reach out and pluck them from the sky. He seemed to be just relaxing, almost as if he were sleeping, when Rainbow found him.
“Hey, there you are. Where have you been?” Rainbow asked.
“Um, here, obviously,” Flare replied with a smirk.
“Pfft. Smart-flank.” She trotted over and stood next him. “Watcha lookin’ at?”
“Stars ‘n stuff,” he said nonchalantly. “They just look… beautiful tonight.”
Rainbow gave him a curious sideways glance. He didn’t seem like the kind of pony to say corny stuff like that. After a moment, she looked back up at the stars and saw that he was right. For whatever reason, Luna had outdone herself tonight. You could every individual star. It was like they were just flowing in a river in the sky. Rainbow was in a trance with her mouth agape, and they both remained in silence until Flare broke it.
“Hey, Dash?”
“Yeah? What is it?” Rainbow said, still not quite out of the trance.
Flare said nothing, though. Rainbow was about to ask him again when he said, “Why do you fly?”
This question took Rainbow slightly by surprise. It was such a weird question. “That’s silly. ‘Cause I’m a pegasus, of course.”
Flare shook his head, “No, I mean, why do you push yourself to fly higher than everyone else? Every pegasus flies, but not with the passion that you have. So, what is your reason for flying like you do?”
Rainbow paused for a minute; she actually had to think about it, “Well, there’s just… something in me that tells me that I have to do it. It’s my dream to fly high and something inside just keeps pushing me to do it. I guess I just need to follow my dreams.” She looked over at Flare, whose head was now facing the ground. “So, now it’s your turn. Why do you fly?”
There were a few moment of silence and he looked back into the sky. Rainbow looked at him for a moment. His coat was just a few shades darker than the sky, as if it were where he had come from. “I don’t know,” he finally said. “… that’s why I fly. It’s a little confusing, but I think I fly because I don’t know why I fly. And I’ll find out when I’m the highest up there, next to the stars,” at this he pointed up to the stars. Rainbow could’ve sworn that afterwards, he had muttered something that sounded like ‘… before it’s too late’.
“Man, what’s with all this mushy crap,” she joked, nudging Flare with her wing. “It’s not like you at all. Hey you’re not a changeling, are you?” She laughed and he chuckled a little. She put on a smile, but on the inside, she felt just a little worried about her friend. What did he mean by, ‘before it’s too late’?
“Heh, I don’t know. Guess the stars just do that to a pony,” Flare chuckled.
“Suuuuuure,” Rainbow said in a sarcastic tone. “Hey, I know just what you need.” She unfurled her wings, flew up into the air, and hovered above Flare. “Let’s go for a little night flying.” Flare just smiled and nodded. He spread his own wings, which were slightly larger than Rainbow Dash’s, and flew up next to her.
They just cruised for a little while, taking in the crisp night air and the fresh sky full of stars. Most pegasi don’t notice, but the best time to fly is at night. It’s so peaceful. It feels like it’s just you in a world of your own, with only the wind to accompany you.
When the two were far enough away from town, Rainbow finally spoke. “Hey, do you wanna race?”
“Sure, sounds good. How about to that mountain?” He pointed to the peak of a mountain in the distance.
Rainbow Dash grinned, “OK, readysetgo!” She set off at her top speed.
She could barely keep her eyes open, the chilly night air was stinging her face like needles, but she didn’t care. She just kept going faster and faster. She didn’t check to see how far Flare was behind her. She sped through the skies, shredding clouds as she flew through them. She felt the rush of adrenaline coursing through her veins
Rainbow felt a small pocket of air forming around her. She knew what was coming on. She furiously flapped her wings, until they burned with exertion. She brushed off the slight pain, though, just like any good flier should. She felt the tension building up and could almost feel the barrier. She kept pushing.
Faster.
Faster!
BOOM!
A loud crash that shook the air came as she tore through the sound barrier! A full spectrum of colors burst from Rainbow Dash flooding the night skies with warmth and light. She was now flying at her top speed. She felt the adrenaline still flowing. It had felt like forever since she’d had a rush like this. She saw the target peak quickly approaching. Almost there. Rainbow was very quickly distracted from her target, though.
BOOM!
Another crash, just like hers, shook the air around her almost threw her off course. She quickly recovered though. She was absolutely bewildered at the thought of what just happened. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse a wave that pulsed through the sky that was a few shades darker than the night sky itself. Her eyes widened.
‘There’s just no way he-’ She thought, but she didn’t have much time to think, though, as a blur of dark blue and speed rushed past her.
She didn’t know what exactly to think, but she knew two things: One, Flare had just pulled off a move similar to her own sonic rainboom and was now speeding ahead of her. And two, there was no way that she would ever lose this race.
Rainbow raised her wings and forced them down again and again as if she were grabbing the air and launching herself. She was slowly closing the now large gap between her and Flare. That mountain peak was just getting too close, too fast. She pushed her wings past their average limit until they almost went numb and then pushed them further. Almost there!
She was now at the tip of Flare’s tail, but that was as far as she got. Not only could she not go any faster, but Flare had noticed her closing in and had sped up. The tip of the mountain was seconds away. 11… 10… 9…
‘Aw, c’mon! Go!’ Rainbow thought
8… 7… 6…
This was it. End of the race. And the winner just had to be her. She knew it probably was true, but refused to accept truth. So, she just pushed further.
5…
She looked to the stallion for the first time during the beginning of the race.
4…
Rainbow hadn’t noticed it before, but even though his coat was almost the same as the sky, he somehow seemed to be glowing in the night. With his large wings spread and body shifted forward towards the target, to Rainbow he seemed just as grand and majestic as if she were flying next to one of the princesses themselves. Not that she was trying to say he looked like a princess or anything, though.
3…
He was just…
2…
‘He’s…’ Rainbow thought.
1…
‘Amazing.’
0…
In a monstrous whirl of wind, they charged past the mountain peak. It was close- very close- but…
Flare was the winner.
Exhausted, Rainbow decided it was a good idea to finally give her wings a break, as did Flare, and they both split of into wide circles to slow down. After a minute, they came to rest to a lower point on the mountain that was facing the moon. They landed softly, both breathing heavily, though. There was a long silence despite the long and loud series of inhales and exhales.
Rainbow was first to break the silence as she caught her breath, “T-That… that was…” she stopped for a moment to try and think of the right word she was looking for. Flare looked over to her as she figured out what the word was that she wanted that described everything she was feeling. “AWESOME!” she shouted, jumping out of joy and excitement.
Author note:
OK. Well, there it is. Thanks for reading guys, and sorry if it didn’t live up to expectations. This was actually my first time writing a story, so constructive criticism is welcome… as well as compliments ; ) . And also, I know it starts a little slow, but just stay with me. It gets better. And imma try my best to make this a romance/shipping, if you were wondering.
Chapter 2: And We Will Soar...
Your Dreams
Chapter 2: And We Will Soar…
By iDash
It was a quiet Sunday in the quiet town of Ponyville. Most ponies were still asleep, as they were more reluctant to wake up during the weekend. On a small cloud silently floating over the town sat a certain cyan pegasus.
Rainbow Dash was in her usual reclined position with her hooves behind her head and her legs propped up on another part of the cloud. She was just sitting there thinking.
It had been a few days since her late night cruise with Flare, her newest pegasus friend. She replayed the events of that night over and over in her head like it were a dream. She still didn’t quite understand even though Flare had given her his best explanation.
The first thing that surprised her was the fact that he had beaten her in the race. Turns out that he was much more talented than he let on. Despite her loss, she was overjoyed with the exhilaration of the race. Her joy, however, quickly turned to confusion as she recalled what had happened while they were flying. That second crash that shook the air. When Rainbow asked Flare about it, he confirmed her suspicions. He had indeed pulled off a move identical to her sonic rainboom.
He was no less surprised than she was, though. That was only the second time he had done it himself and he’d never thought that any other pony could do it, so he was pretty surprised as well. The last time he did it was when he and his brother were playing a rather fast game of tag. Needless to say, he won.
Rainbow didn’t quite know how to feel. Part of her felt that she should feel just a little disappointed that she wasn’t the only pony that could break the sound barrier. But that thought was quickly dismissed as she realized that the ability was so rare that her rainboom was the first time anypony had seen the sound barrier broken. Her friends were quite astonished when they heard about it, too.
Twilight was the most interested, though, and insisted on researching further. That was the last time Rainbow heard anything about that, not that she cared, anyways.
She wasn’t just thinking about the race, though. ‘That guy…’ she thought. ‘It’s just one surprise after another.’
She was amazed how lucky she was to meet Flare. Finally, she had somepony who could match her flying. Finally, she had a challenge. Finally, she had someone to share her passion.
There was still a slight issue that bothered her, though. It was the way that Flare acted after they landed on the side of the mountain. She had looked over to him after her excited outburst and saw his face. It was a little dark outside, but the expression on his face was clear: Pain. While he was recovering his breath, he was holding his wing, which indicated that that was the source of his pain. This struck her as a little odd. It was normal for one’s wings to be a little sore after a long-distance race, but his expression revealed that something else was wrong. When she questioned him about it, however, he let go of his wing and did his best to erase the look on his face. He told her it was nothing and that he just forgot to stretch, but she knew that was a blatant lie. She didn’t want to pry, so she simply disregarded the thought.
While Rainbow was reminiscing, she didn’t notice the light buzzing sound of a certain orange filly’s wings.
“RAINBOW DASH!” Scootaloo shouted from the ground as she looked up at the cyan pegasus lounging on her cloud.
With a sigh, Rainbow turned over on her cloud perch and looked down at the filly below. “Good morning to you too, squirt.”
“Oh, yeah. Morning!” Scootaloo shouted eagerly. “Come down here, you won’t believe this!”
“Ugh…” Rainbow moaned, but obliged and floated down to a position in front of Scootaloo.
“Rainbowdashyouwon’tbelieveitIjustfoundthecoolestthingeveranditwasjusthangingtherelike-!” Rainbow put a hoof to her mouth, ending the rigorous flow of words.
“Hey, now, slow down the Scoots. You don’t want to strain yourself,” she smirked. “Now just get to the point… and breathe this time.”
Rainbow removed her hoof and Scootaloo took a deep breath. “This! Check it out,” with her teeth, Scootaloo picked a large, rolled up poster by her side that Rainbow hadn’t noticed and handed it to her.
Rainbow took it from the filly, who was now quivering with excitement. She rolled it out on the ground to read it. Her indifferent expression slowly changed to one of astonishment and disbelief as her eyes scanned the poster over and over again, each time slower.
What she was reading was a promotion for a flier competition. But this wasn’t just any normal competition; it was the Equestrian Fliers’ Open! It was an exceptionally renowned, nationwide contest that only the most daring fliers participated in and it only took place every four years. It was hosted by Princess Celestia herself.
The entire event consisted of three parts. The first part was Rainbow’s favorite. It was a freestyle stunt performance where you pull off your best tricks and have five judges give you a score out of 100 points. The second part was a set of races, some of which required the ability to maneuver through obstacles. This was where Rainbow could shine because of her new sonic rainboom. The third was the most outstanding part of the competition. It was called the Grand Dash. You start at a designated point and race to two checkpoints, each one holding a flag with your symbol on it. Once you’ve gotten both flags, you have to head straight back to the beginning and cross the finish line. The check points are pretty spread out and they’re in different places each year. It usually takes a few days to complete, too.
“I… T-this is…” Rainbow started, at a loss for words.
“OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH!” She jumped with joy. “This is insane! This is my chance! I finally get to impress the Wonderbolts with my skills. They’re even competing.” She gestured to the poster. There was indeed a segment stating that the Wonderbolts would be participating.
“Aw man, this is totally-” she stopped her rant short. Something had caught her eye on the poster that she didn’t pay attention to before.
Scootaloo noticed her change in demeanor, “Um, something wrong, Dash?” she followed Rainbow’s eyes to see what she had paused for.
It didn’t take long to find it, nor did it take very long to figure out why she had hesitated over it. The portion of the poster in question read:
Attention All Contestants:
In honor of the 100 year anniversary of the Equestrian Fliers’ Open, our glorious Princesses are holding a special event. This year, every contestant is required to be in a team of two in order to demonstrate excellent shows of camaraderie, teamwork, and above all, the bond of friendship.
‘Uh-oh,’ Scootaloo thought. She knew that for most ponies, this wouldn’t be much of a problem, but Rainbow Dash was always more of a solo flier. This was mostly because no one she knew could ever keep up with her.
“Rainbow Dash, I-…” Scootaloo started, but stopped when she saw the expression written on Rainbow’s face. She was smiling. Actually, she had a grin on her face that could rival Pinkie Pie’s. “Um, Rainbow Dash?”
“This is perfect,” Rainbow giggled. “I know just the pony to ask.”
Rainbow quickly rolled up the poster and tucked it safely under her wing before she took of straight into the air. “Thanks, squirt!” she yelled to the still puzzled filly below and then took off in the direction towards town.
Flare was quite a hard pony to find. She looked for over half an hour in all the places he usually was but didn’t see him. He wasn’t even at his house. She kept looking, though and did eventually find him. He was lounging and taking a nap up in a tree at the edge of Sweet Apple Acres. He was lying on his stomach and half of him was hanging off the branch.
‘Man, he snores loud,’ Rainbow thought as she approached the tree.
“Flare! Hey Flare!” she said in a hoarse whisper. “Wake up!” Flare snorted but didn’t move except to roll over in the tree.
Rainbow looked at him, ‘He’s so…’
He snorted and moved around once more on the branch.
‘So…’
His body started to shift off of the branch as he moved until it completely slid off.
‘Going to hit the ground hard.’
THUD
He hit the ground landing on his side and gave one last snort as it woke him up.
“What the-” he started as he tried to get up, but stopped as he registered the aching pain and just laid back down. “Oh, buck me.”
Rainbow had been trying her best to stifle her laugh, but to no avail. She burst out laughing next Flare, who was still waking up from a daze. “Hahahah. Smooth move, genius.”
“Ugh, glad to see you too, Dash,” Flare said getting up and stretching his sore forehooves. “So, what do want? I was kind of enjoying a nap there.”
“Heh, yeah. How did that work out for ya’?” Rainbow snickered, finally calming down. She regained her composure and returned to her previously thrilled state. “Flare, you’re not going to believe this. Check it out.”
She pulled the poster out from under her wing and unraveled it on the ground for Flare to see. After a minute or two of staring at the poster, the same surprised look that Rainbow Dash had worn came onto his own face. Flare turned to look at Rainbow, then back to the poster, and then back to Rainbow again and chuckled.
“Wow, Dash. This is… well, awesome,” he said with a grin. “So, let me guess, you’re going to enter into the Open, show off your best stuff, and impress the Wonderbolts when you win?” He snickered.
“Nope,” Rainbow said. “We are going to impress them when we win.”
“I- wait, what?” Flare said, confused.
“That’s right. Check it out, genius.” She pointed to the section on the poster that gave her the idea to go to Flare.
He looked it over twice before he turned to Rainbow. “Wait, so… does this mean you want me to be your partner?”
“Well, duh,” she said. “Why so surprised? I wouldn’t choose anypony else.”
“Well, it’s just,” he started. “The best fliers in Equestria are going to be competing. You know that, right?”
“Of course I know that. That’s why it’s gonna be so much better when we win,” she grinned and puffed out her chest like she always did when she bragged.
She looked over to the dark blue stallion. He wore a very troubled face, and for the life of her, Rainbow couldn’t figure out why. She was concerned for her friend, though. “Is somethin’ wrong?”
“No… It’s nothing…” he said.
She didn’t believe it though.
“Hey, Flare, this is your dream isn’t it?” she said to him. “And you want to fly higher than anypony else. That’s what you told me, remember?” she motioned for him to look at her. As he did, she looked into his eyes. They were shimmering streams of dark red. They were beautiful. Rainbow quickly left her trance, though, and continued speaking.
“So, are you going to stay grounded down here, or are you going to soar with me? This is our chance, so let’s take it.”
Flare looked into Rainbow’s magenta eyes and smiled. He remembered the night that they raced and the day prior. They had declared their dreams to each other and she had supported him. He remembered how they both had reasons to truly fly high. She was right. This was their chance, and they couldn’t miss it.
“You know what, Dash? You’re right,” He said with confidence. “We’ve got to win this, so let’s do it.” He was wearing his signature cheeky grin. He held out his hoof in front of Rainbow.
“That’s what I’m talkin’ about,” she grinned and bumped her hoof to his. “Let’s do this, partner.”
About a Month Later
A lot happened since Dash persuaded Flare to be her partner in the Equestrian Fliers’ Open (or just EFO for short). They applied as soon as they could on that same day. They were lucky enough to receive a letter a week later saying that they were accepted. Needless to say, they were thrilled. Flare had a hint that part of the reason they were accepted was because Rainbow had saved the world as the element of loyalty more than once. But she just said that they finally recognized her skills. Not five minutes after receiving the letter, Pinkie pie began organizing a party that lasted all night.
After that night, the two pegasi set to work. First, they started planning their routine for the freestyle portion. It would have to be perfect. No, more than perfect. It had to be so amazing that it went down in history and was unforgettable. Such an accomplishment would be no easy feat, though. Slowly, Rainbow and Flare perfected the techniques and strategies and eventually finished the freestyle routine.
Aside from the planning, they began a fierce training regimen. Every single day, they trained. They used the free time they had after Rainbow had finished wrangling clouds and Flare finished his part-time job as a mail-pony. They had speed down, but they knew that their biggest problem would be endurance. Without it, they wouldn’t make it even half way in the Grand Dash. So, they strengthened their bodies to stand the stress they would be put in by doing things like flying for miles without breaks, everyday. They worked out their rainbooms so that they wouldn’t have to tire themselves out so much to use them (Rainbow like to call Flare’s the Nightboom, since it was the same shade as the night sky).
After about a month of waiting, anticipating and training, they received a letter from Celestia stating that they were to go to Canterlot to begin the first part of the EFO. Celestia would arrange a carriage to take them there.
It was the night before they were to take the carriage to Canterlot and Rainbow Dash was… well, she was freaking out.
“Aw, man! What am I going to do?! I’m freaking screwed!” Rainbow urged as she paced back and forth in the library belonging to her purple unicorn friend.
Twilight Sparkle looked up from a book she was studying, “Calm down Rainbow. What’s got you all worked up, anyways? It’s just another contest; you’ve been in tons of these.”
“What?!” Rainbow said, bewildered. “This isn't just some contest, Twilight. This is the Equestrian Fliers’ Open, Twilight! Aw man, what if I get nervous and screw up? I’ll never be able to show my face anywhere if I mess this up.”
Twilight simply rolled her eyes, “Whatever, Rainbow. Either way I’m sure you’ll do great. Besides, you’ll always have your friends here backing you up.”
Rainbow sighed, “Ugh, is that supposed to make me feel better or something?”
“Well, I had to try,” Twilight smiled. “Anyways, Rainbow come here for a second, I’ve got something to show you.”
Rainbow grunted and stopped pacing to walk over to where Twilight was.
“So, do you remember what you said about Flare being able to perform a rainboom, or nightboom, like you could?” she said, flipping pages in the book with her magic.
“Yeah, what about it?”
“Well, I was thinking and started to wonder why nopony else could do it. I’ve seen ponies go a faster than you could with the sonic rainboom, but they never broke the sound barrier, well not in the same way you did,” she was speaking a little faster now.
“So I started researching it, but couldn’t find anything. So then I went to the Princess about it and she took me into the royal library in her castle, which is amazing, by the way. She brought out this book with her magic. It’s a complete tome on the history of pegasi. I started reading through it a few days ago and just last night I found this.” She finally stopped her seemingly endless spiel as she brought her hoof down on the page she was referring to.
Rainbow took a glance at it and gave her best attempt at pronouncing what her friend was pointing to, “V- vel… vela eqa…equ…-”
“Velox Equus-Avis. It’s from an old language. It literally translates to: Rapid Pegasus. And that’s what you and Flare are.”
“Um… okay?”
“What do you mean ‘okay’? Isn’t this exciting? It says here that the Velox Equus-Avis were praised for their ability to create and explosion of color in the air while flying. Just like your rainboom! It is said that they were even given special positions in the royal army for their extraordinary abilities. But it says that they slowly started to die off though until they were almost extinct. It doesn’t give the reason, though.” Twilight pondered that thought for a moment.
“Hmmm,” Rainbow murmured to herself. “Yeah, I guess that’s cool- for a history lesson, at least.”
She let out a slight huff and trotted over to the front door. “Well, I’m gonna go see how Flare’s holding up. Don’t strain yourself over that book, egghead.” She snickered and walked out.
“Mmmm,” Twilight grunted in reply.
It didn’t take long to find Flare. His usual perch was on any cloud that happened to float by his house. And that’s exactly where she found him. She floated below as she looked at him. It looked like he was reclining and gazing at the stars, but he was so still, he could’ve been sleeping for all she knew.
She decided to go up and check and flew up as silently as she could. Flare, who was awake, noticed and glanced at her, though, and shifted over to make room for her on the cloud. As she sat down she realized there wasn’t much room on the cloud, so she had to lean up against Flare to stay on. This made her blush slightly in the moonlight. Luckily, though, Flare didn’t notice.
They sat for a moment in silence. Rainbow, who had begun to get chilly, curled herself up into a sort of ball. Her chin rested on her forehooves, which were propped against her hind legs.
“You cold?” Flare asked Rainbow, breaking the silence.
“Um, yeah. Only a little, though,” she muttered in reply.
“Oh, sorry about that,” he said with his cheeky grin.
“Don’t be. It’s fine, anywa-” she stopped and gasped a little as Flare wrapped his wing around her, causing her to blush even more. She looked up at the stallion and was thankful that he wasn’t looking at her right then. The wing did help, though, and quickly helped her to warm up.
“Uh… T-thanks…” she stuttered. He didn’t really reply, though, and just nodded his head.
Rainbow let out a yawn after a few quite moments. She realized that she was pretty tired. She hadn’t slept too well, lately.
“So, you nervous, Dash?” Flare asked, breaking the silence.
Rainbow looked up. “N-no… well… I mean, who wouldn’t be? This is the biggest thing in the world of flying.” She didn’t want to admit it, but she was nervous. It kind of annoyed her as she was supposed to be a tough pony who wasn’t fazed by anything. She groaned in frustration and put her face back down into her forehooves and
“Don’t be. You’re not alone this time, Dash,” he looked to her. “Do you remember what you said to me the day I became your partner?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Rainbow said, trying to stifle another yawn. Her eyelids were starting to get heavy.
“You said that this was finally our chance to reach our dreams and that we had to take it,” Rainbow looked up again into his deep red eyes. “That’s why we can’t just give up. Why we can’t afford to get nervous. That’s why we’re going to go out there and we will soar… together.” And he pulled her closer into him.
She smiled as she took in every word that he said. It comforted her to be around Flare and know that she wasn’t alone.
“Yeah, we will. Thanks, Flare…” She had been getting more and more tired until she couldn’t take it. She closed her eyes, let her head rest on Flare shoulders and drifted off into a gentle sleep.
They stayed like this for while. Flare just smiled and let her to sleep. She had needed it.
‘Huh, she’s kind of cute when she’s like this,’ he thought.
After a little bit, Flare decided it was time for him to get to sleep as well. He didn’t want to wake up Rainbow Dash, so he gently lifted her off of the cloud and onto his back. He took off in the direction of her home, which wasn’t too far away from his. Flare flew as smoothly as he could so as not to wake his passenger. When they arrived at the house, he glided through an open window that led to her bedroom. He set her down on the bed, pulled the cloud blanket over her.
As he turned to leave, he looked back at the sleeping cyan mare and thought about the events of the night.
‘… and we will soar… together.’ He replayed the still fresh memory in his head one more time.
‘If only…’ he thought to himself as he quietly flew out of the cloud home and returned to his own home on the ground.
The next day had been quite a hassle, but somehow seemed to end quickly. Rainbow Dash had started the morning jolting up from her bed in surprise. Not knowing what time it was, she panicked and shot out of her front door, leaving a hole in it, and simultaneously grabbed her suitcase of supplies. She arrived at the designated pick-up spot. She soon found out however that she had arrived two hours late. Feeling sheepish and slightly glad no one had seen her, she decided it was as good a time as any to say some goodbyes before her trip.
So, that is exactly what she did. Fluttershy and Rarity, who were heading to the spa for the day, wished her good luck. Applejack joked with her, saying that she better not treat this like she did her job, which she had been slacking off on lately. Pinkie Pie decided it would be a good idea to send Rainbow off with a shot from her brand new cake blaster cannon. If Rainbow hadn’t been able to fly away as fast as she did, she would’ve been cleaning cake out of her mane for a month. Twilight, on the other hand, thought it was a good idea to lecture her on the proper way to act in Canterlot and around the princess. Rainbow completely spaced this, though, and only caught the first five words before she dead-panned.
After the goodbyes were over, she shot by AJ’s place again and managed to grab a couple of apples for breakfast without getting caught. Shortly after, she rushed over to the spot to meet Flare and waited for the carriage to arrive. By the time they got onto their ride, Flare was still half asleep, so Rainbow suffered through the entire ride as she had to listen to his insanely loud snoring.
She was happy for more reasons than one when they arrived in Canterlot. The royal guards escorted her and Flare to where they were staying in the castle. She had already been inside that place many times before, but it wasn’t any less amazing when she saw it again. The clean, crystalline, white halls and the dazzling stained glass windows.
When Rainbow reached her room, she dropped her bags and flung herself on the bed, taking a moment to enjoy the silence and the overall comfort of the bed. She turned her head to see a booklet of something lying on the bedside table. She opened it as she sat up on the bed. She was slightly surprised by what she found. It contained a list of all the teams taking part in the EFO. She casually searched through it, only paying attention to the big names. She saw the Wonderbolts (the first team she looked for), the Lightning Divers (Manehattan’s flight acrobatics team), and even the Shadowbolts. She furrowed her brow as she saw the latter team. She had had a bad feeling about those guys ever since their experience with Nightmare Moon and the Everfree forest. She laid the booklet down, though, and continued to rest herself.
The day passed quickly, with the partners taking that time to calm their nerves before the big day. It would take place two days after that so that all the contestants could have time to arrive. The starting event would be the freestyle performances. This took at least three days to finish and get through all contestants. The other competitors weren’t allowed to see the performances until they were all over and aired on television.
That night was probably one of the best of Rainbow Dash’s life. Apparently participating in the competition meant dinner with the Wonderbolts. Well, actually it was dinner with Spitfire and Soarin, but that didn’t make it any less awesome for Rainbow.
“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh,” was about all she said for five minutes after seeing the two ‘bolts in the dining hall. It made Flare laugh at how excited she got over everything.
They talked for a while at the table. Rainbow and Soarin spent the whole time either bragging about their various perfected stunts or talking about how excited they were for the competition (this was Soarin’s first time contending as well). Flare and Spitfire spent their time making mostly small talk or joking about their more juvenile teammates. When the conversation came to the contest, Spitfire gave him a few tips, primarily not to be nervous. Anxiety just made it more difficult.
They had fun, but eventually had to say good night. The next day would be for them to prepare for the event and set everything up. The day after would be the competition.
They both thought about it intensely. Two days that was all they had. Anxiety constantly threatened to grip Rainbow and Flare, but they didn't let it. They were ready and in two days, they would soar.
Two Days Later
This was it. Today was the day where everything began. Today was the day that would decide if the two pegasi truly had what it takes to fly high.
Rainbow and Flare sat in a room to outside of the performance stadium, unable to see how the other contestants were doing. Flare sat, eyes looking down with a stern look on his face. He was doing his best to stay calm, but not succeeding.
Rainbow, on the other hand wasn’t even putting forth an effort to do so. She was pacing across the room already sweating with anticipation.
‘Oh no, oh no, oh no,’ she thought. ‘I can’t mess this up, I just can’t! Come on, get it together Rainbow Crash—I mean Dash!’ She face-hooved.
“Dash, you’ve got to calm down,” Flare said in his most reassuring voice, even though he wasn’t very calm himself.
“Remember what Spitfire said, we can’t be nervous like this or we will screw up.”
Rainbow looked, sighed and sat down next to him. “You’re right,” she said in a slightly defeated voice. “But it’s gonna be even tougher now. We were unlucky enough to have to go right after Spitfire and Soarin. The judges aren’t even going to look twice at us.”
“Well, then we’ll just have to make them, right?” Flare nudged her and chuckled a little.
“Heh, yeah, I guess we will.”
She looked up to the ceiling. She had been shaking. She took a deep breath and stopped her trembling. A reassuring thought came to her. The Wonderbolts would probably have the highest score, so if they received a score anything remotely close to the Bolts‘, they would probably get in the top five or close to it.
Rainbow and Flare weren’t aiming for fifth place, though. They were aiming to be the best. Number one. She thought about this as she trotted over and sat down next to Flare. She leaned against him, just like she had on the night before they arrived in Canterlot a few days ago. She felt comfortable like this. It made her feel warm and safe. She blushed at how silly she must look while doing this. Flare didn't mind, though, and didn't make any motions to move her
Suddenly the door to the room opened. A mare unicorn with a white jacket and a clipboard floating in front of her walked in to the room.
“Rainbow Dash and Flare Windcraft?” she asked looking at us from over her clipboard.
“Yeah, that’s us,” Flare said, standing and helping Rainbow up.
“Okay. They’re ready for you now.” The mare said. Flare nodded to her and turned back to Rainbow.
“Are you ready, Dash?” She just gulped and nodded. Flare put a hoof on her shoulder to comfort her and looked into her magenta eyes. “Don’t think about anything, Dash. Ignore the audience and ignore the judges because they don’t matter. Just think about flying. And while we’re out there, if you ever start having doubts, just focus on me, alright? It’s going to be OK.”
He held out his hoof to Rainbow, “Together,” he said.
Rainbow smiled and bumped her hoof with his, “Together.”
Flare turned to the unicorn, telling her that they were ready and she motioned them out the door. She led them down a dim hallway where, at the end, they saw large double doors. When the unicorn pushed the door open with her magic, a wave of light assaulted the pegasus’ eyes, making them take a moment to adjust.
When they walked through the door, they were absolutely astounded. The huge stadium was filled with crowds of ponies. The cheers coming from them were almost overwhelming. They walked slowly to the middle of the field, feeling the soft and lush green grass under their hooves. They stood, gawking and taking in their surroundings. Their eyes moved to a large message board. It had all of the previous teams’ scores for others to see. Their eyes slowly scanned it and Rainbow found what she was looking for: the score for the Wonderbolts.
Her face fell as she found it though, the previous thought of coming close to it fading away. It was almost unbelievable.
93. Out of 100!
‘Oh, buck me,’ she thought, knowing that the average score was in the 70’s. ‘They’ve got to be breaking a record by now!’
Rainbow looked over to Flare. He was standing in the middle of the arena, looking at Rainbow with his cheeky grin that made everypony else want to smile. She couldn’t hear of the crowd’s cheers, but she saw him mouth the word ‘together’. Rainbow grinned and made her way to her position to begin their performance.
As they got into position, back-to-back, announcer called their names as the crowd stomped their hooves with excitement. They waited until the applause died down, or at least got a little quieter, until they began their unforgettable performance.
They simultaneously shot straight up in the air, back-to-back. They climbed higher and higher, gaining speed without the slightest break in formation. Soon, they were high enough that they could see the entire stadium in their field of vision. That is when they began they’re descent. They did a small, simple flip in the air to get in position before they dove straight down, stomachs facing each other, with as much speed as they could muster. They maneuvered in mid-air and began to rotate around each other, creating the shape of a double helix. The motion was absolutely flawless and graceful. They slow moved closer together during their spiraling dive until they were almost touching each other. As they neared the ground, the stopped the rotations, but continued to fall. The ground approached fast. With utmost precision, they pulled up at the last split second. They rushed off in opposite directions, losing no speed while doing so.
They flew less than an inch off of the ground with a large gust of wind flowing behind each of them. They pulled up once again as they got to the edge of the stadium, narrowly missing the audience. The gust of wind made no attempt at keeping away from the audience, though, and hit them, blowing their manes into crazy, windswept styles. The crowd went wild after that happened. Flare smiled, but still focused on his flying. Rainbow and Flare shifted to where they were circling around the stadium at intense speeds, making sure that the wind was still flowing behind them. It was confirmed when they saw the storm clouds they passed getting caught in the wind. Just what they wanted. They circled several times until they had collected all of the clouds and made their way to the area above the center of the field. The clouds met, forming a mesmerizing funnel swirling in the center.
When Flare and Rainbow were close enough that they could reach out and touch each other, they flew straight up into the sky once more. They rose until they were certain that they weren’t visible at all from the stadium. They stopped in mid-air and hovered for a moment, looking at each other. Flare nodded to Rainbow, new determination shining through in their eyes with the anxiety from before completely vanished. Time for the finale.
Flare dash down at top speed while Rainbow flew up higher. He gained more and more speed as he descended.
‘Faster,’ he thought.
He forced his wings down, shoving the air behind him. The wind that rushed past him stung his face, but he managed to keep his eyes open.
He felt the familiar pocket of air forming around him.
‘Here it is.’
Faster.
Faster.
BOOM!
His sonic nightboom exploded as he busted through the line of storm clouds. A wave as dark as the night sky flowed out from him and a visible flight trail of the same shade followed him. With satisfaction, he began a rapid barrel roll down to the earth. The dark trail behind him followed the same pattern and made an amazing, dark spiral. He was going to have to time this perfectly, or else he’d end up as a pancake on the field. He unfurled his wings little by little to slow himself down. He saw the ground approaching fast, but was able to slow down just enough. When he was close enough to the ground that everypony was sure he would crash, he flared out his wings, ceasing his barrel roll and nearly stopping him in mid-air as they fought against the wind resistance under them. The gust of wind that had caught up to him as he slowed down dispersed all around him and so did his trail of darkness that he created. As the new wave of darkness spread out, it shrouded the stadium in darkness.
Rainbow’s turn. She had stopped flying up and had been waiting for the explosion that was her signal to begin the next step. She charged down from her spot in the sky, gaining speed just Flare had. Each flap of her wings sent her plummeting faster and faster. Just like Flare, a funnel of air gathered around her and she felt the resistance of the sound barrier. She had to wait for the right time, though. She had learned how to perform a rainboom at will while she trained weeks ago. She saw the storm clouds approaching. Tears blurred her vision as both wind and cold bombarded her face.
‘Almost there.’
She watched as the clouds seemed to grow larger. What if she miscalculated and couldn’t bring out the rainboom in time?
‘No, get that thought out of your head, Dash. OK, this is it. Right here. Right now.’
The cloud like came closer. Closer. They were finally at the right distance.
‘Now!’
BOOM!
Down on the ground, from Flare’s position, everypony’s head darted toward the sky as they heard a second crack that shook the air like thunder. Flare was probably the only noticing a cyan blue blur followed by a rainbow fall out of the clouds, though.
Everypony gasped at what they were witnessing. In contrast to the entrancing darkness, a soft, warm light emanated from the clouds. They softly glowed with all colors of the spectrum, lighting up the faces of everypony in the audience and revealing the expressions of wonder and awe. A brilliant and luminous aurora seemed to appear in the sky, transfixing everypony as they gazed at its smooth, flowing movements.
Soon after, however, another miracle drew the audience’s attention that explained why the team had gathered storm clouds. It began to snow. Instead of being bright white, each flake of snow shown a different color of the rainbow. The glow that poured from the snow seemed to gracefully brush away the darkness. Nopony seemed to notice or care about the decrease in temperature.
The audience of astounded stared at the skies in silence. They were speechless. The silence continued for quite a while until they finally noticed the two pegasi standing in the middle of the field looking at the audience. There was another pause from the audience. Then the air shook as cheers, shouts, and hoof stomping rocked the stadium and the crowd went wild.
The two ponies in the middle of the field turned to each other, looking into each other’s eyes.
Flare held a wide grin as he spoke to Rainbow, “We did it Da-!” He didn’t get the chance to say much, however, as Rainbow lunged at him and held him in a tight embrace after staggering back a few steps, he regained his posture and returned the hug. They stood there for a while, not breaking the bound embrace and seemingly ignoring the audience as they did.
When they finally broke apart, Rainbow turned to the scoreboard, noticing that the judges were very quick to submit a score for the team. Her jaw dropped as she stared at it, appearing to be frozen in time as she did. She almost couldn’t believe her own eyes at the sight and tears of joy welled up in them as the image of the score was burned into her memory.
98. They won.
A/N:
Wow. It was so much harder to write the second chapter. I didn't expect it to be nearly this long either. Well, anyways, I hope you liked it. It might take a while for me to write the third chapter, by the way. Comments and some good ol' constructive criticism would still be appreciated. : )
