“Hey kid! Are you okay?” The rainbow-maned Pegasus asked, prodding him with a hoof. As soon as he had seen her everything else seemed to disappear, and blissful silence hushed the bustle of the many Pegasi around him. It took him a moment to realize that she had spoken to him.
“Y-yeah…I’m fine. The name is Thunderlane. I’m new here, family just moved in from Las Pegasus, and I’m the best flier you’re going to find outside of the Wonderbolts!” His normal swagger had returned to him as spoke, and he puffed out his chest. The cerulean mare simply laughed at this show, and then gave him a wicked smile.
“Is that a challenge?” The question hung in the air for a moment, and he saw the fire in her eyes. He knew that look. Others had described it often enough for him when recounting his races. He returned her grin fiercely.
“How about we go to the obstacle course if you think you can handle me,” He said daringly. He had heard about the obstacle course, and seen it while flying in, but he had yet to fly it.
“You’re on!” The mare took off without warning and he followed right behind her. They weaved their way through the skies filled with Pegasi, students of the Cloudsdale Flight School and their parents. Within minutes they had reached the obstacle course, and surprisingly, nopony was really using it.
They both fluttered to a standstill before dropping the last couple inches to the starting line cloud. They stepped up to the line, sizing each other up.
“Ready?” He asked.
“Set.” She responded, and both of them crouched, their muscles coiling, ready to explode like a cannon.
“Go!” They yelled in unison, and they shot off. Thunderlane got off to a better start than the mare, and he was smiling to himself as he weaved in and out of the cloud rings along the course. Next came the rainbow falls. They were tougher to navigate, because he couldn't get too close or the liquid rainbow would get on him and slow him down. Thus it became a game of finding a nice middle line to take between all of the many rainbow falls in the area. When he cleared it, he noticed a looming cloud wall, and he had to think fast.
So, he went into an inverted dive. He could feel the pull of gravity pushing him ever faster. Then his sudden pull out of the dive that seemed to add a thousand pounds all at once. This sent him slightly out of control, and he had to scramble to save himself, regaining the correct path. Luckily, he held it together as he pulled out of the dive, but he lost a lot of the speed he had built up during the dive while he had tried to recover. This was when the mare made her move, shooting out in front.
He chastised himself for taking stupid risks, and he was quickly on her tail once again. As he followed her, he became mesmerized with the way she moved, watching every flap of her wings. He also noticed her cutie mark, a tri-colored lightning bolt shooting from a cloud. Suddenly, his vision filled with cloud, then stars and pain. He managed to fly headfirst into one of the last cloud pillars before the finish. He sat at the base of the pillar for a few minutes, trying to blink away the stars and make the world stop spinning.
Finally, he got up and flew across the finish line, where, to his embarrassment, the mare was laughing uncontrollably. She rolled around on the finish cloud as she laughed, and he felt his face grow hot, but he didn’t say anything, because he definitely deserved it. If it had happened to any other pony, he’d be laughing right alongside her. When she finally managed to control herself, she stood and walked over to him.
“Nice flying! Except for that beautiful crash at the end there of course. What happened?” Her compliment caused his face to get hot again, and the question made it even worse. If it wasn't for his dark coat he would almost certainly be red in the face. He thought for a second about what to tell her. It was obvious he couldn’t tell her the truth, but he didn't have a believable lie ready either. Then he realized he could tell the truth, but only part of the truth.
“I got distracted…” He left it at that, as he hoped she would too. She smiled evilly, but she only nodded without pressing him any further. Suddenly a brash, grating voice yelled at the two of them.
“You racing the new kids again Rainbow Crash?” The snide remark came from a Pegasus with a brown coat and tan mane that mostly covered his eyes. The two lackeys at his sides laughed. These were the bullies of the school. That much was at least apparent. The mare beside him bridled with anger at the comment, and responded in kind.
“Do I have to kick your flank again Dumb-Bell?” The gauntlet had clearly been thrown down, and it was obvious that the pair of them had a long history. The other Pegasus just turned around, and spoke as he walked away.
“No, I don’t have the time to outrace you today. Stay with your new friend Rainbow Crash, it’s obvious he has the same affinity for cloud pillars that you do!” With his final comment he flew over a nearby building and out of sight. That didn’t stop Thunderlane’s new friend from trying to chase after them. He had anticipated this, and he grabbed her tail as she tried to leave.
“Don’t follow him. He won’t race you right now anyways, and you just raced, so you’re tired. Add to that the fact that I know you don’t want to lose to anyone, let alone that ass, and you have a great batch of reasons to stay here like he said.” He hoped his words would calm her, bring her to her senses, but he didn’t think it likely. She was too fiery. He added one final thing, hoping it would placate her, “Besides, we can always beat him tomorrow and every day of term after that. After all, we are going to be here for the next 6 months.” This seemed to do the trick, and the cyan Pegasus mare laughed.
“You’re alright by me kid! My name’s Rainbow Dash, and as you said earlier, you won’t find a better flier outside the Wonderbolts!” She had the same pride and determination that he did. No one before has ever seemed that way. She broke him out of his thoughts by saying, “I think this is going to be a great rivalry!”
“Don’t you mean friendship?” I asked bewilderedly.
“That too!” She said as she laughed.
The memory of that day brought a smile to his face, but it couldn’t keep it there long, because he still had the card in his hoof. It was the card that had left him defeated and numb. He had expected it to come eventually, but there had still been that part of him that held out hope, right up until the very moment that Ditzy, the mail mare with the wall eyes, had handed him it.
Thunderlane thought he would have reacted differently. Sadness maybe, but he couldn't really feel anything. No tears fell. No sound permeated the stifling silence that had fallen once the happy-go-lucky mail mare had left. He stood there, the hole in his chest growing as he stared at the piece of paper that had caused it.
Then the memories came unbidden.
Author's Note
So, a new fic from me...must be the end of the world! I know some of you are a little frustrated that I haven't got the next chapter to Memories out, but I will have it finished very soon, and you shall have it! In the meantime I'll work on this as well, and all my papers I have to write this semester for college.
The chapters of this fic will all be fairly short, usually staying under 3k words. I'm using this fic as a challenge to right clearer and more concisely. Also, any constructive criticism in the comments is greatly appreciated!
