Blown Away

As the sun began to set, spreading a marvelous red-orange hue across the sky, Twilight stared into the mouth of the Dragon Course. “Maybe this was a bad idea…” she thought to herself. The thunder clouds rumbled back, as if in agreement.

Rainbow Dash landed beside her. “I think everypony’s gone now. It’s a little earlier than your usual time, but it would be a good idea to get us a little more daylight. This course wasn’t built for two, and we’ll need to coordinate if we want to pass through together.”

“So basically what you’re saying is… it’s more dangerous to go together?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow. “You do remember I’m injured, right?”

Rainbow shrugged. “It’s not so much more dangerous as it is much harder, so we’ll go one after the other. It should be safer. If you get struck again, I’ll be right there to catch you.” She stretched her wings. “You ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Twilight muttered. “Let’s go.” The pair took off, flying through the starting line and plunging into the maze of rainclouds. Rainbow Dash dodged left and right, passing through easily, avoiding lightning like the experienced flier she was. She flew to the end and waited for Twilight to follow.

Twilight flinched at the sound of the thunder, recounting her previous experience. She took a deep breath, charging forward with all of her might. A tendril of lightning burst from a nearby cloud, a hand of pure energy clawing at her hoof. She swerved to avoid it, only to find herself on a collision course with one of the largest rainclouds in the course.

“Twilight, watch out!” Rainbow Dash said, preparing to turn back and help her friend.

“No, its okay, I can do it,” Twilight shouted at her. She wasn’t about to accept a handicap on the very first obstacle, especially not after she had cleared it the first time alone. Closing her eyes, she formed an elastic bubble of energy around her body, bouncing off the large storm cloud towards the end of the field.

“You’re going a little fast,” Rainbow Dash called as Twilight came closer. Twilight dispelled the bubble, flapping hard in the opposite direction and just barely managing to get her speed under control. Her side throbbed from the effort, and she hovered unmoving in the air for a while, waiting for the pain to fade.

“Great work, Egghead! I’ll see you past the next part. Here’s a tip: if you fly on the bare outer edge of the twister, you can use its wind to boost you to the third obstacle, cutting your time down by a good ten seconds. Though… that’s probably not what we’re trying to do today, since just getting through would be an improvement,” Rainbow said. “Oh, and the twisters are a little hard to see, so you’ll have to gauge their positions from the clouds.” She headed off towards the second obstacle, nimbly weaving between the large clouds, riding what seemed like an invisible current smoothly through to the end.

Twilight paused for a moment, taking in her surroundings. It was time to put that brain of hers to work. She wouldn’t get caught again like she did last time… she would need every drop of magic she could spare for the last obstacle, and that meant not wasting any where it wasn’t needed. Examining the large clouds of the twister portion, she planned a safe and simple flight path for her through the deceptively dangerous cloud pattern.

She took off, soaring gently, feeling the current tug on her wings. Instead of resisting this time, Twilight allowed it to overcome her, slingshotting her body towards another current, and another, dodging between clouds as Rainbow Dash did and making it through with little effort.

“That was great! You have the cloud-sense of a pegasus,” Rainbow said. Twilight’s smile from the compliment slowly faded as the last obstacle came into view, the cyclone of thunder storms.

“They call this part the Dragon’s Tail. It looks a lot scarier than it actually is. Maybe it’ll help you to know that the whole thing is just a bunch of wind and water,” Rainbow Dash said, noticing Twilight’s worry.

“And lightning,” Twilight said, looking to her injured side.

“That too,” Rainbow said softly. She stared at the twister for a while. “You know, maybe you should go first this time. If you get struck down, I’ll be right there to catch you.”

Twilight nodded. “It would be nice to have a safety net,” she said, steeling her nerves. “Alright, I’m going in.”

Twilight flew up to the edge of the Dragon’s Tail, thinking back to her last experience. She would prepare the spell beforehand this time, outside of the reach of the lightning. Charging up her horn, she readied her wings for flight.

But the feeling wouldn’t come. She couldn’t bring out the specific feeling she had when she was in trouble, that energy that was so different from normal spells: the energy that enabled her to cast flight magic.

“What’s wrong?” Rainbow Dash asked, flying up to her side.

“Nothing,” Twilight said, “I’ll just be going in then.” It looked as if she would have to wing it.

Upon entering the cyclone, Twilight was immediately buffeted by the wind and rain from all directions. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed as she struggled her way up.

“Think about the last one! Don’t fight it, flow with it!” Rainbow Dash shouted to her above the noise. “It’s a series of circular currents; take them one at a time!”

“Surprisingly technical advice from a pony like Rainbow,” Twilight thought. She stopped to reconsider her flight path, and took off, allowing the current to barely touch her, riding it in a circle.

“Now don’t flap your wings. The current will carry you. Angle them so it carries you up to the next one. Watch out!” Rainbow yelled. Twilight swerved to avoid a shock of lightning that had come up in front of her.

She stopped flapping her wings, letting the current move her along like Rainbow described. It was a lot easier than she thought. Looking up, she saw a gap in the lightning, an opportunity for her to move up. When the right time came, she angled her wings, catching the current to pull her up a level in a smooth transition.

“You’re doing great! Keep it up!” Rainbow cheered from below. Focusing on dodging the lightning, Twilight managed to move up two more rings. There were only three left, then a narrow opening.

“Alright, you’ve gone far enough, I can go in after you,” shouted Rainbow Dash from down below. She quickly flew upwards, riding the currents with ease.

Twilight looked up at the exit, a patch of red-orange sky against the storm, so tantalizingly close. It was time to move. She dodged another bolt, advanced another level, repeating her previous tactic. She did it once more, and there was only one ring left. She was so close, and still had most of her magic left.

Pushing forward, Twilight Sparkle cleared the last ring, emerging from the Dragon Course tired, wet, and out of breath. All of the rain had washed away the paint that hid her injury. “You did it! You okay up there?” Rainbow Dash shouted from inside the cyclone. “I’ll be right up, I’m so proud of you!”

As Twilight took notice of her surroundings, recovering from her rigorous experience, she grew speechless. For standing in front of her was Spitfire the Wonderbolt.