Flight Training

by Biscayne

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Original Character, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Adventure, Crossover
Length: 6137

Scootaloo goes to a flight school to finally learn to fly

On the outskirts of Cloudsdale lies a training center for fillies and colts to learn to fly. For Scootaloo, this will be a chance to show her stuff, and maybe even find her Cutie Mark. But how will this filly handle the stress of learning to fly, as well as being away from her friends?

On hiatus until I get notice of falseness of word of Faust. (Scootaloo can't fly, kinda makes my entire story pointless, lol)

Published 2012-02-12 00:14:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-02-25 05:42:40 UTC

Chapter One: Prelude

Flight Training

Chapter One-Prelude

Derpy Hooves started to fly away from Rainbow Dash’s cloud manor, thinking about what a normal day of deliveries would be like. For the last few days, Rainbow had not been her usual self. She was obviously expecting a letter, because she had been meeting her at the door every day for the last three weeks. Today, though, she had received a letter from the EAA . Rainbow had an almost giddy expression when she received it.

“Thanks, Derpy,” She said, hurriedly, “See you tomorrow!” After which she slammed the door, almost hitting the grey mare in the face. Derpy shrugged it off, and walked to the edge of the cloud walkway. “Funny way of showing it, you could have at least told me what it was...” she muttered to herself as she took off.

About 30 seconds later, she got a good idea.

A scream of delight was sent flying from the cloud mansion out into the heavens, waking up most of the sleeping town of Ponyville. Apparently, whatever the EAA wanted with Rainbow Dash, it was good news.

Twilight Sparkle did not have a good night. After staying up way past her normal bedtime working on a treatise on Portal Dynamics, she spent the last four hours staring up at the ceiling of the library, thinking about a certain blue Pegasus. She had been acting weird lately, obviously stressed about something. Whenever she had asked her about it though. the only response she got was a shake of the head and the words, “It’s a Pegasus thing.”

She asked Fluttershy about what that could possibly mean a few days ago, but even she didn’t know. She had told her, “Maybe it has something to do with the class she took about a month ago. I know she was wanting to get her CFI, but I don’t know if she finished it yet.”

Twilight had an unusual look on her face, confusion, “CFI? What’s that?”

“Oh, it’s a Pegasus thing.” Fluttershy had told her, not wanting to make too much of a fuss, “Basically it means she can teach other pegasi to fly.”

She was awoken out of the memory of that conversation by a piercing scream. It startled her so much that she jumped out of bed and looked out the window, expecting to see a stampede of rabbits or something.

Instead, what she saw was Rainbow Dash, giddy with excitement. She was performing the most unusual aerobatic routine, obviously with no forethought into what would come next. Must be some kind of Pegasus happy dance, she thought to herself.

She rushed out the door to the library, and tried to catch Rainbow Dash’s attention. She failed.

Eventually, Rainbow looked down, and saw Twilight looking up at her, frustration building. “Hey, Twilight, what’s up?” She said, barely containing her giddy excitement.

“What, in the wide, wide world of Equestria has you all excited at 6 in the morning!” Twilight’s ability to contain her anger was waning.

“Oh, right.” the blue mare said, scratching the back of her head as she came down from the clouds. “I got my CFI certificate in the mail this morning! I guess I got a bit overexcited.”

She landed, and handed to Twilight a little blue card. On it, it read:

ROYAL COURT OF EQUESTRIA

EQUESTRIAN AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

NAME

RAINBOW DASH

ADDRESS

CLOUD MANOR

PONYVILLE

HAS BEEN FOUND TO BE PROPERLY QUALIFIED TO EXERCISE THE PRIVILEGES OF

FLIGHT AND GROUND INSTRUCTOR

“Wow, um,” Twilight said as she read, “I didn’t even know we had an aviation administration.”

“Yeah, it’s a Pegasus thing. They give out certifications to us so that we can fly outside of Pegasus cities like Cloudsdale.”

“Is that what had you so worked up the last few days?”

“Probably, I took the checkride almost a month ago. I guess I’ve been worried I may not have passed.”

Twilight’s confusion spread a bit further, “But, you’re the best flyer in Equestria, how could you not pass?”

Rainbow, emboldened by the compliment, continued, “Well, the CFI is not so much about flying. It’s about techniques for teaching someone else how to fly. It’s a lot different.”

Scootaloo woke up to an unfamiliar noise. The scream had an unusual air of joy to it, something must be going right for somepony in town. She rubbed her eyes and stretched, no point in trying to sleep anymore after that rude awakening. Rolling out of bed, she looked over and saw a streak of rainbow flash past her window. Rainbow Dash must be having a busy day, she thought to herself, as she walked down the stairs of the cottage, she thought more about what this summer had in store. She had signed up to take her flight training at the Cloudsdale Flight Camp.

To say she was nervous about the coming months would be an understatement: she was downright scared. She had never been the strongest flyer, but her practice lately had been very nerve-wracking. Yesterday she had almost broken her leg after crashing into the neighbor’s flower garden. She rubbed the half-healed bruise on her neck where a gust of wind sent her into a tree last week. Hopefully she’d have a good instructor; somepony who could teach her how to land properly.

While eating breakfast, a knock came on the door. She lethargically limped to the living room, and opened it. Derpy was standing there, holding a bundle of letters.

“Good morning, Ms. Hooves. What have we got today?” She said, rubbing an eye with her hoof.

“Good morning, Scoot. A bunch of letters for you today, including one from Flight Camp, probably instructor assignments. How’s your leg this morning?” Derpy asked; she had been delivering a package to her neighbor’s house when Scootaloo had her accident.

“Oh, it’s fine, a little sore this morning.” Scootaloo paused as Derpy’s statement about flight camp hit her. “Did you say Flight Camp?”

“I did, I wasn’t reading your mail, I promise!”

Scootaloo grabbed the bundle of letters with her mouth, ran inside, and slammed the door. Before the door fully closed, Derpy heard her say “Hank Hoo!” through a full mouth.

Derpy blinked in astonishment. It’s a rare day that she gets a door slammed in her face, but to happen twice in one day? She shook her head as she turned around to leave.

Suddenly, the door behind her opened, and a streak of orange ran past her, almost knocking her off the porch. She spun around like a tornado for a few seconds, and came to a stop on her back, letters strewn around the yard.

“At least I can assume I’m delivering good news!” She said to herself as she pulled herself back to her hooves. She picked up the remains of her spilled mailbag, and continued her rounds.

Chapter Two: First Flight

Chapter Two: First Flight

Scootaloo walked to the landing field on the outskirts of Ponyville. Amongst the crowd of ponies waiting there, she saw no one she immediately recognized. She was looking for her instructor, a mare by the name of Skyhawk. She had a basic idea what she looked like, but what she saw instead came as a bit of a shock.

A rainbow-maned mare walked up to the shocked filly and said, “Hey squirt, looks like I’m gonna be your instructor.”

Scootaloo wiped the look of shock off her face and responded, “Wait, what happened to Skyhawk?”

Rainbow Dash smiled, “Well, she and Bo-he’s the Chief- decided, since you’re gonna be one fast filly, that I’d better train you. Hawk’s worried she won’t be able to keep up!”

Scootaloo’s head spun with the words ‘one fast filly’. How could they know how fast she was going to be? No one had ever seen her fly, and when she did, she never was able to get high enough to go faster than a cantering pace!

Rainbow laughed at the look of confusion, “Hey, Scoots, ever wonder why your wings are so small?”

Scootaloo thought for a second, she had always wondered why. It was a lot of work just to get in the air with such small wings; she had to beat the air into submission just to get off the ground.

“I’ll save you some worry right now. I had small wings when I was a filly too, and look what I did-I made the Sonic Rainboom. Small wings mean faster flying; you’ll be much more comfortable flying fast.”

A smile started to replace the pained look of confusion on the filly’s face. “Ok, so once we get flying fast, I won’t have to work as hard?”

Rainbow thought for a sec, then replied, “Basically yes. It’s a little more complicated than that, but everything in flying is more complicated than it seems. Anyway, we’re gonna be late for the beginning-of-camp meeting if we don’t blast off! Let’s get to Cloudsdale!”

Rainbow Dash immediately took off, and started toward the city. After a few seconds of thinking, Scootaloo started flapping her wings with all she could. She managed to get off the ground fine, but was starting to lose her balance.

Rainbow looked behind her just in time to see the orange filly flip over on her back and land, with a dulled thud, on the soft grass. She stopped and sighed to herself. This was going to be a long three months.

After flying back to the ground, Rainbow asked, “so, how much do you know about flying?”

Scootaloo dusted herself off. The dry grass may have softened her fall, but she was still smarting. “Almost nothing.” she gasped. Her failed effort to get airborne had taken a lot out of her.

“Ok then.” the blue mare thought for a second, then said, “Well... Ok, what are you thinking about when you take off?”

Scootaloo thought for a second. She thought about each wingstroke, to be honest. How could this have anything to do with her problems? She obviously just needed more practice! “What do you mean?”

Rainbow looked at her companion blankly. “Exactly what I said. What is going through that featherbrain when you start moving your wings?”

“I dunno, I just start moving them up and down.”

Rainbow frowned, then looked at her own wings. A lightbulb went off under that rainbow mane. “Ok, watch my wings. It’s not a simple up and down motion.” she started moving her wings in an oscillating fashion, the front of the wing leading the back by quite a bit. Slowed down enough to see, it was a very graceful action. The filly was mesmerized for a second, watching the motion.

“Now, you’re not going to be able to think about that motion once your in the air. But, luckily, you don’t have to. Your brain is a wonderful thing, it does it for you. Picture what you just saw in your mind, and then tell yourself to fly.”

Scootaloo closed her eyes and thought. She wasn’t exactly sure about this; she’d seen enough ponies fly to be able to relate the motion she just saw to the way everypony else did it, but how did they learn to do that? Eventually, her curiosity got the best of her, and she decided to give it a go.

She slowly moved her wings, picturing the rotating motion Rainbow had made, and, after increasing the speed, felt the weight leave her hooves. She was hovering about three inches off of the ground when she had an epiphany: she wasn’t working anywhere near as hard as she had before! She felt a giddy smile grow with each wing beat, she was flying with ease.

“Awesome! Now let’s get going!” Rainbow said as she caught up to the giddy filly, now flying several feet off the ground.

The girls did not fly all the way to Cloudsdale on that flight. Instead they stopped off at a large cloud set between the two cities. The large formation of cumulus clouds was set up specifically for this trip-no one expected the young flyers to be able to make the trip in one flight. On the top of the clouds several fillies and colts, along with a few instructors, stood on the cloud eating lunch, and generally enjoying what was a glorious day to fly.

Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash arrived towards the late afternoon. Scootaloo had become much more comfortable with flying. Her wing motion was becoming second nature, as Rainbow had said it would. She had even gotten a good grasp of moving around in the sky, combining shifting her weight with varying the motion of each wing to make shallow turns. Rainbow Dash had talked her through some of these basic motions while they were flying to the forward base.

But what came next was a difficulty she had not expected, landing.

Rainbow had briefed her on what to expect. “Now, when you come in, you’re going to be travelling too fast to touch down, you have to slow yourself down. To slow down, you need to lean yourself back, while simultaneously making heavier wing beats. You’ll gain some altitude doing this, but that’s ok for now. You’ll feel yourself want to lean forward and go back to the speed you were going, but you’ll have to fight that. Once you’ve slowed down to a walking pace, pick out a landing spot, and point yourself at it. just above that point, hold your wings out, and glide to the cloud, bend your knees a bit, and lean back, and you should land on your back hooves.”

Scootaloo thought to herself that the look of confusion was getting too comfortable on her face. “What now?”

“Feel like you’re drinking from a fire hose yet?”

“Something like that.”

Rainbow sighed, and said, “Welcome to flying. We don’t have enough time between now and when we get there for me to explain it again, so I’ll land first, and just mimic what I do.”

Rainbow leant her weight back, holding out her wings at full length. She started immediately slowing down. Scootaloo tried to mimic this, but didn’t have anywhere near the same effect. She saw the edge of the cloud approaching fast, and started beating her wings backwards. This worked, a little too well. Now she was about a hundred feet too high on the approach.

Watching ahead of her, the blue pegasus was slowly flapping her wings to arrest her descent, and landed gracefully on her hind legs. Rainbow walked away from the landing zone, and turned around to see a frightened look on Scootaloo’s face. She knew she was high and fast, and didn’t know how to slow down.

“Don’t Worry!” Rainbow Dash called up to the purple-maned pegasus, “Worse-case scenario: you land hard. This cloud is really soft though, so it will only hurt a bit!”

Scootaloo did not want to hear this. “That makes me feel so much better!” she replied sarcastically.

Rainbow didn’t hear the snide remark. “Hold your wings out, and glide for a bit. you’ll feel like you’re falling like a rock, but you’ll be fine!”

She was right, again. Scootaloo did just that, and she started coming down, fast. she was still moving forward, but the sensation of falling was too much to handle. she started beating the sky again. All that managed to accomplish was slowing her down more, making hitting the cloud seem even less possible.

“Relax, kid, you’re over thinking it! Hold your wings out, glide down, then lean back as the cloud comes in. the speed will come off, and you’ll touch down fine!”, ish, she thought to herself.

Scootaloo saw a crowd starting to gather to watch the show. A few instructors were talking to Rainbow Dash, trying to help the stricken pegasus get on the cloud without hurting herself.

After what seemed like an eternity, she was now about ten yards from the landing zone, and about five seconds from landing. Going on instinct alone, she held her wings out and lent back. She felt herself slow down, and a tug at the back of her wings. Now about three feet above the cloud, she lent forward to end the uncomfortable sensation of her feathers being pulled out. Then she ran out of altitude.

Rainbow Dash was right about one thing, she thought as she dug herself out of the cloud, the landing did only hurt a bit.

((Author’s notes: “Feel like you’re drinking from a fire hose yet?” Good. I intentionally wanted to throw information at you, to give you an idea of what Scootaloo’s feeling right now. This is usually how the first few lessons go for a new student pilot in the real world. They get overwhelmed with information. Eventually they get it, though (I’m the biggest idiot on the planet and I got it!)

I do want to apologize for the lack of action in chapter one, but it was necessary to build the plot for this one and coming chapters.

I also want to repost my need for pre-readers. I’m thinking about four chapters ahead right now, and am a bit disconnected from the story at this point. I have a tendency to overdose on technical details as well (you should see my notes, they’d blow your mind).

Thanks for reading!))

Chapter Three: Welcome Aboard

Flight Training

Chapter Three: Welcome Aboard

After the dismal showing on the lunch base, Scootaloo was feeling down. Not only had she made a fool of herself with her landing, but Rainbow Dash would not let her hear the end of it. She spent most of the flight to Cloudsdale complaining about the reactions of her colleagues.

"If you had listened to what I told you, this wouldn't have happened. I'm gonna have one heck of a time explaining the hole in that cloud! And Bo's gonna give me so much flak!"

Scootaloo interrupted Rainbow's rant, "I'm glad all you're worried about is your reputation, but can we debrief that landing now?"

Rainbow Dash sighed, the kid had a point. "Right. So, what happened?"

"Well, everything felt fine up until the end. As I started to lean back, I felt this pull on the back of my wings! I didn't know what it was, but I knew whatever it was, it had to do with me leaning back, so I lent forward again. Then I guess I ran out of altitude."

"You were starting to stall."

Scootaloo went back to her confused look. To her surprise, Rainbow had the same look on her face. The words had not come from her.

They both turned around to see a large, white-coated male pegasus flying in close formation behind them. Scootaloo almost forgot her wing motion for a second, and started to lose altitude. She caught herself and climbed back up to meet him.

“Hey!” Rainbow interjected, almost giddy to see the new face. “I was just about to explain that! How’s it goin’!”

"Rainbow, why don't you introduce me to your student?" The stallion looked at the orange filly with a concerned look, and smiled.

Rainbow blinked, and shook her head. "Right. Bo, this is my student, Scootaloo. Scoot, this is our Chief Flight Instructor, Bonanza.”

The rest of the flight to the Academy had been of little interest to Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash had spent the rest of the flight fawning over Bonanza. She had asked him questions about the Wonderbolts, his routines, teaching, and almost everything else, but all Scootaloo wanted to know was what he had been talking about when he first spoke.

Bonanza had kept his cool, answering questions from Rainbow as they came, all the while trying to shut her up. He understood the fangirl mania all too well.

Eventually, he decided he had enough, and turned to the frustrated filly, “So, Scootaloo, was it? You’re the one who was responsible for the hole in that cloud. I have Raindrops out there fixing it right now. The advanced students will be flying to it tomorrow, and the last thing I want is somepony thinking they’re done flying, only to fall through!”

Scootaloo was relieved to finally be able to speak. “Yeah, sorry about that. I’m still not exactly sure what went wrong there.”

“Well, perhaps you’re instructor would be better suited to explain.” Bonanza turned and winked to his colleague.

Rainbow Dash perked back up; she hadn’t taken being shut out well. “You remember that tug on the back of your wings? That was the beginnings of a stall.”

Scootaloo blinked, “Ok, so what is a stall?”

Without missing a beat, and as if reciting from a textbook, Rainbow Dash replied, “A stall is when the air flowing over your wings separates from the wing, and the wing stops producing lift. When this happens, the air can actually change direction on your wings and try to pull your feathers out. It most often happens when you’re going too slow, and you lean back too far.

“You were doing perfectly fine in your approach, but when you felt that stall coming, you instinctively pushed forward. That’s the exact correct response to a stall, everywhere except a foot above your landing spot.”

Bonanza interjected, “Exactly. You had two options at that point. You could have either held that attitude, bearing the pain, and landed fine, or you could have simply given your wings a good flap, and also been fine! Each of those options has its advantages and disadvantages, but either way is better than landing on your front legs.”

By the time Bonanza had finished, they had reached the Academy. Several other ponies were in the process of landing on the small patch of cloud in front of the Academy building, with varying levels of success.

Bonanza took this opportunity to take his leave. “Good luck Scootaloo, hopefully my boring details haven’t messed with you too much!”

They both bid him farewell, then set back to the task of getting the filly on the ground.

Rainbow went straight back to the task at hoof. “Ok, so we’re not going to do what we did last time, right? Relax, keep your speed, and let yourself come down. Let the landing spot come to you, don’t go to it. Got it?”

Scootaloo wasn’t so focused. “Why were you fawning over the Chief like that? Are you in love with him or something? He’s a lot older than you, you know that, right?”

Rainbow face flushed. “Focus, kid! We’ll talk about this on the cloud! First we need to get you there. Start slowing down.”

Scootaloo sighed, then held out her wings. She immediately slowed down and started sinking. Although not exactly sure what she was doing differently this time, she was glad it at least appeared to be working.

Rainbow kept pace as the filly started descending. “Looking good, just hold that attitude. If you feel yourself sinking too fast, give a few wing beats to build up some altitude. If you feel the tug, lean forward a bit to keep your speed up.”

Scootaloo succeeded in getting herself on a solid approach angle, and got within a few feet of the landing spot she had picked. At that moment, a small gust of wind hit her from the side, moving her just off course. She shifted herself back over, only to feel the slight headwind she had been feeling the whole approach die. She started sinking towards the cloud, so she gave a few soft beats with her wings to gain some altitude.

It was enough to get her back on target, but her speed was too high. About a foot above the landing spot, she held out her wings and leant back. She landed on her back hooves, but instead of at a walking pace, it was almost a gallop. She stumbled on her front hooves and rolled mane-over-tail for about five feet. As the cloud dissipated around her, she got up, even more sore than she had been after the landing at the lunch base.

Rainbow Dash landed behind her, obviously suppressing fits of giggles. “Well, we’re here!” She snorted, “Obviously your landings are going to need a bit of work! Now, let’s get to the flight school before the meeting starts!”

The Cloudsdale Flight Academy building was nowhere near as regal as the name implied. It was a small, one-story building near the landing field on the outskirts of the city, with little in the way of decoration beside from a full bay window in the center looking out on the practice area. On the other side of that bay window, a medium-sized conference room had its table pushed to one side, and the open floor was scattered with cushions. A podium was set up with its back to the window, and a chalkboard was to its right.

Several ponies had been mingling in this room, chatting about the flights they had taken to get here. When Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash entered the room, however, the chatter died down. Hushed remarks were made among those who saw Scootaloo’s attempts to land, and the occasional snicker at her expense was made.

“Rumors travel fast in the flying community,” Rainbow Dash commented, trying to quell the nervous look that had developed on Scootaloo’s face, “No big deal, though! Don’t let it get to you. Feel free to dish it out as much as you take it!”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Scootaloo chuckled, Rainbow’s attempt to calm her nerves helped, but she still did not feel entirely comfortable with things.

They made their way towards the front of the room, where the podium was set up. Scootaloo sat back on her haunches, and waited for the meeting to start.

She didn’t have to wait long. Bonanza walked into the room through a side door. He set himself up behind the podium, and cleared his throat.

“Good evening, everypony, and welcome to the Cloudsdale Flight Academy. I want to welcome all of our new students, as well as welcome a new Instructor. Rainbow Dash is the pony-in-charge of the Ponyville Weather Patrol, with more than a thousand days of to-plan weather to her credit. She is also an up-and-coming star in the airshow circuit. It is with great pleasure that I welcome Rainbow Dash to our instruction team.”

A light sound of hoofbeats followed. The applause was short and light. Rainbow Dash groaned as Bonanza continued.

“Right, now on to the reason we’re all here. As those of you who were here last year remember, this is a safety meeting first and foremost. All of you should have received a copy of our “Safety Practices and Procedures” manual with your acceptance letters. A few major changes from last year include some modifications to the night flying rules. The gist of the changes are that no night operations are allowed before your solo flight, and that night weather training is strictly prohibited.”

A small series of chuckles came from the back of the room.

As Bonanza continued his speech, Scootaloo asked Rainbow, “Why all the rules about flying at night?”

Rainbow Dash sighed, still smarting over her meager welcome, “Somepony misread a weather chart, and instead of placing a thunderstorm in the practice area, it went off over Appleoosa, washing out a third of their orchard. It was in the Inquirer for weeks. Pay attention to this, kid, you’re not gonna hear it again!”

When Scootaloo turned her attention back to the meeting, Bonanza had worked past the safety rules, “Next on the agenda we have room assignments. Last year we started boarding the younger students with more advanced ones, and I think it worked quite well. So, we’re doing it again. Assignments will be handed out at the conclusion of this meeting. Which, since that was the last thing we needed to talk about, will be right now. Thanks for your attention, and have a wonderful summer!”

With an almost lightning speed, the room emptied. As Scootaloo left, she was handed a piece of paper and a key. The piece of paper simply had the number ‘11’ scrawled on it.

She showed it to Rainbow, who chuckled. “That’s my cue to leave. Good night Scoots! Ground lesson in the classroom at eight-AM, sharp!”

By the time Scootaloo figured out that the number on the piece of paper was her room assignment, Celestia’s sun had been replaced by Luna’s night. She eventually wandered her way through the school to the dormitory, and found the door with the number eleven on it. Her key opened the door, and she trotted through.

On the other side, a ruby-red mare was laying on one of the beds, poring over a map. After a few awkward moments of Scootaloo trying to make as little noise as possible, she looked up and around to spot the orange filly. She immediately jumped up and screamed, her burgundy hair almost standing on end.

After pulling herself out of the ceiling, the mare said, “Sorry, you startled me. I was studying the chart to try and find someplace to go for lunch tomorrow, and I guess I got a little engrossed. Name’s Ruby. Ruby Rush. And you are?”

Scootaloo held back a fit of giggles from Ruby’s initial reaction. “I’m Scootaloo, you can call me Scoots. I’m taking initial training from Rainbow Dash. Why would you use a map to find someplace for lunch, aren’t there restaurants in Cloudsdale?”

Ruby let out a small laugh, “Scoots, eh? My favorite thing in the whole word is flying to random towns and having lunch. Just yesterday I had the best hay bacon sandwich in Fillydelphia, and it was on a whim! After you solo, you need to try it. I’ve been to dozens of restaurants in as many towns, and I haven’t found a bad one yet! I’ll even let you borrow my journal if you don’t know where to start!”

Scootaloo looked a bit shocked at this unexpected turn of friendship. “Thanks, I guess. So, you just fly to a town, have lunch, and come back? Seems like a lot of work for a meal.”

“Oh, but it’s so much fun! The people you meet, the things you see, and the food! Oh, Celestia, the food! But the flight’s the really great part, I love just going places, y’know? Once, I just left my apartment in Cloudsdale at sunrise, and just flew east. No reason, just for the hay of it! I ended up in Trottingham - The Blooming Daisy is a great little pub there, by the way-and flew back!”

“Ah, your cutie mark makes sense now! A map and compass for going places!” Scootaloo had been wondering what a weatherpony was doing with those on her flank.

“Yup! It’s as much of a reminder to me to plan ahead as it is a symbol of my love for cross country flying. I have a bad habit of just going, not thinking about what comes next.”

The silence got awkward a little too quickly. Scootaloo broke from it first. “So, Ruby? What are you here for?”

“I got a job with the Weather Patrol as a reserve lead. Basically I am on standby in the event of a weather emergency to lead a team of very specialized weatherponies. It’s perfect for me, because I get to fly to a bunch of different towns! Only problem is, I’ve only done real basic weather work. So, the patrol paid for me to take some advanced weather classes, so I can work with my team better. How ‘bout you, Scoots, what brings you to the Academy?”

Scootaloo felt a pang of dread, she was trying to avoid answering this one. “Uh.. To be honest, It’s kinda complicated.”

Ruby seemed even more interested now. “Well, we have some time before lights out. Spill the beans!”

Rainbow Dash had bid her student good night, and was now about to go to sleep herself. Unfortunately, she had a lesson plan to go over before tomorrow’s ground lesson.

Ground school. The mere thought made Rainbow shiver with anger. The glory and excitement of being a flight instructor was starting to wear thin, and she hadn’t even finished the first day.

A loud, rasping knock came from the door of her small room. A white head with short, royal blue hair peeked in, and said, “Bonanza and I would like to have a word with you, Rainbow Dash.” The head belonged to the Assistant Chief, Skyhawk.

Rainbow rolled her eyes, “Hold on a sec, I’m finishing up my lesson plan for tomorrow.”

Skyhawk tapped a hoof on the floor whilst she waited for Rainbow to finish writing; patience was not her thing, especially not with part-time instructors.

Rainbow gave a sigh of contempt, closed the binder on her bed, and followed Skyhawk out the door.

On the slow trot, Skyhawk led the way. Upon reaching Bonanza’s office door, Skyhawk turned and glared. “I know why you’re here, and I think he does too. Bo’s not known for liking to be patronized. Keep the schoolfilly dreams to yourself, and focus on teaching your student. That’s all he cares about this summer.”

Rainbow scoffed. “Just because I don’t want to teach for the rest of my life does not mean I don’t care! I’m here to do a job. I wanted to teach with the best, and Bo is the best. The Wonderbolts are the farthest thing from my mind right now.” This was an outright lie, but she wouldn’t let Skyhawk know that, much less Bonanza.

Skyhawk smiled; the sort of contemptuous smile a predator has when it corners its prey. “Whatever you say, Rainbow. Bonanza’s just naive enough to believe that.”

Skyhawk knocked on the door, and a grunt on the other side was her signal to come in.

Bonanza didn’t look up as the two mares trotted to his desk. Although Rainbow had been in this office before, she still looked around in wonder at how anypony could possibly find anything in it. Boxes were stacked almost from floor to ceiling. All around the room lay papers and books, strewn about the place with an almost reckless abandon. A tall bookcase stood behind the desk in the center of the room, on which was an anatomical model of a wing, along with more framed pictures than could be counted.

When she had first been in this office, she had a chance to look at them. There were the expected class photos from the Academy, but there were others as well. Most of them chronicled a Who’s Who of the Wonderbolts, with Bonanza front and center. Older, black and white photos showed him in uniform, posing with fellow members. Newer shots featured current members, all huddled around him. Many were signed, revealing feelings of love and respect for the old stallion. She glanced back at those pictures, and thought of the day when she would be sitting on that bookcase.

She was pulled out of her pondering by Bonanza’s calm voice. “Rainbow Dash, how’s your student? I heard she had another landing incident while coming in today, what happened?”

Rainbow shook her head, blinked, and then replied, “Yeah, she, uh..” She hurriedly tried to think of an explanation, “over-corrected from what happened this morning. I’m going to have a ground lesson tomorrow that should help address it, hopefully before she gets any bad habits.” She grinned, and nodded.

Bonanza blinked, surprised to have recieved the reaction he got. “Right. So long as you have things under control. Scootaloo’s gonna be a fine flyer, it’s in her blood. All you have to do is show her the way, and she’ll get it.”

Bonanza then turned to Skyhawk, “Thank you for bringing her down here, but I need to talk to Rainbow Dash alone for a minute. Good night, Skyhawk.”

Skyhawk mumbled to herself as she flew out of the door, sending some papers floating into the air, Neither Rainbow Dash nor Bonanza heard what it was. Good thing, because it was not flattering.

Bonanza smiled, “So, Rainbow Dash, I hear you’ve got an interesting aerobatics routine.”

Rainbow’s ears perked up, and her eyes went glossy. “Interesting? I bet even you haven’t seen one like it!”

Bonanza brought a hoof to his chin, “You’ve got my interest.”

((So, that took way longer than I thought. But I had a brilliant idea for Scootaloo’s background, and it will be spilled out as things continue. I like how the story is kind of interweaving in my mind. Things are becoming interesting.

Again, I apologize for the delay between Chapter 2 and this, hopefully the wait was worth it!

Biscayne))