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// Practices 
// Story: Bluesong and Nicole 
// by Ferntail12 
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Bluesong

The next day was Meteorology practice for me from 3:20 to 4:20. My coach was Starshine, a unicorn from Appleloosa. It was a good thing that I had brought a huge three-inch binder, because it was clear right from the start that we would get a huge pile of paper in the event. I mostly listened with one ear while thinking about Nicole at the same time. I’m a multitasking queen and can do at least three things at once, even though sometimes I don’t do some very well. I mostly listened with one ear while thinking about Nicole at the same time. I’m a multitasking queen and can do at least three things at once, even though sometimes I don’t do some very well. Anyway, Starshine finished practice with a parting comment of “Study what I gave you this time, hard! You’ll get twice the amount of stuff next Wednesday.”

We all groaned, she had given us at least an inch of paper in an hour. We must be killing a rainforest here. 

At 7:00 PM, I had Helicopters practice at Brown Flight’s house. We started building our first helicopter from a kit and a pattern. It was hard, precise work, we had divided into 2 groups of two: Lula and I, and Arctic Fire and Swift Flint. Half of practice was spent watching glue dry-it took 20 minutes!

The rest of the week was boring-I didn’t have anything other than school to do except think about Nicole, so I just practiced new magic for hours on end until Saturday, when Rotor Egg Drop practice was. Thunderlight, Scorpiocus’s dad, coached the event at his house, which was a mere block from mine. I showed up at the door bright and early 9:30 AM at the door with a large bag of balsa wood and a glue tube. Thunderlight welcomed me in, telling me to go down to the basement with Scorpiocus. There were three tables set up in a row with supplies spread over them, blocking off half the room. The doorbell rang multiple times, and Thunder Flash, Apple Fritter, Arctic Fire, and Swift Flint trotted in one after the other. Thunderlight brought up the rear with an attendance list suspended in his yellow magic. After ensuring that everypony was there, he headed up to the chalkboard. With a piece of chalk, he began to draw complicated aerodynamical diagrams while explaining the concepts necessary to build a proper Egg Drop device. At the end of practice, I had a green notebook filled with messy notes in my saddlebags as I flew home, contemplating the best way to build a successful device. 

The next few weeks were similar, go to Anatomy and learn about systems, go to Meteorology and get piles of paper, go to Egg Drop and build, go to Helicopters and build. By the week right before our first competition at Dodge City South, I had a basic grasp on Meteorology, a deep understanding of Anatomy, a helicopter that stayed up for around a minute, and a half-decent Egg Drop device. 

Nicole had sent out a finalized schedule, I was on Varsity in all four of my events. At practices that week, I finalized cheat sheets with Lightning Daisy and Cloud Chill, my Anatomy and Meteorology partners, respectively. Thunderlight took us to College of Ponyville across the street to drop our device for a last test run, it performed admirably. Brown Flight let us fly the helicopter in his basement, it got 1 minute and 30 seconds, our longest time yet. I went to bed on Friday after a long afternoon of studying, feeling quite confident about the next day.