This One Time at Flight Camp...
Main Characters: Freya, Summer Rain
Cameos: Kain, Scootaloo, Featherweight, Surprise
Original Start Date: July 7, 2013
‘MY BABIES!’ Fluttershy shrieks as she bolts upright in bed.
Sunshine rolls over and comforts his panicking wife. ‘Don’t worry, dear. They are just at flight camp. They are fine.’
The mare pants as she lays back down. ‘I know. I know. I am just worried about them being away from home for so long.’
‘Scootaloo and Featherweight are counselors. They went with all the Ponyville pegasi. They’ll look after our foals.’
Fluttershy smiles and cuddles her husband. ‘That’s nice.’
Sunshine nuzzles his wife. ‘If it will make you feel better, I might have some secret information on who the flight instructor is this year.’
‘Oh? Who?’
‘It is Surprise. Your mother.’
‘MY BABIES!’ Fluttershy shrieks as she bolts upright in bed.
Scootaloo and Featherweight lead a group of young fliers to a large cloud formation. The clouds have been condensed into a camp with cabins, tracks and an obstacle course. The adults loop around and land near a group of other young fliers. The foals land shakily and follow their leaders to the other foals. Freya squeaks and tries to hide. Kain nudges his sister forward. She holds Angel in her mouth and sneaks behind her brother. A few more groups fly in and join the larger group. A couple dozen foals and half a dozen counselors stand at the end of a track. A shadow passes overhead. The gathered crowd looks for the new arrival. A white pegasus with yellow mane bursts from the middle of the crowd.
‘SURPRISE!’
A number of foals scream in shock while more laugh or cheer at the appearance of their instructor. Freya sighs and rolls her eyes at her grandmother’s behavior. The older mare makes her way to the front of the crowds.
‘Welcome to this year’s young fliers flight camp,’ Surprise greets. ‘I will be your instructor, Surprise. I am a former Wonderbolt. I hope to make this flight camp enjoyable.’ She trots in front of the crowd. ‘We’ll begin camp activities after you get settled. Follow your counselors to your cabins. We’ll meet back here in a hour.’
Surprise salutes the students and takes off. Kain waves as his grandmother flies away. The counselors start gathering their students.
‘All right, squirts!’ Scootaloo shouts. ‘Fillies follow me. Colts go with Featherweight. Tonight’s gonna be the easy night, but tomorrow we’re going to work you until your feathers ache.’
‘It-it isn’t really that bad,’ Featherweight revises.
The young mare punches the young stallion. ‘Dude! We’re supposed to freak them out. Don’t you remember your first flight camp?’
‘Y-yes. That is why I don’t want them to worry.’
Scootaloo groans and trots away. ‘Fillies, with me.’
The fillies follow their counselor. Featherweight sighs and leads the colts away. Scootaloo shows the fillies to a small cloud house. Inside are a number of cloud beds.
‘All right, kids, pick your bunk. I got the one by the door,’ Scootaloo says, diving to the nearest bed. ‘Don’t want none of ya sneaking out on me my first time counseling.’
The fillies file into the building and pick their bunks. Most get bunks next to their friends and start chatting. Freya sneaks past everypony and takes the bed furthest from the others. She turns away from the other fillies and plays with Angel. Summer Rain notices the lone bat pony. She trots over and takes a bed next to Freya. The bat pony hears the new arrival, squeaks and hides behind her bed, holding Angel as a shield.
‘Hi!’ Summer Rain greets. ‘I’m Summer Rain. You’re Freya, right?’
Freya nods.
‘You don’t have to be shy. We’re in Starlight’s class together, though I am with the younger students.’ She frowns for a moment then smiles. ‘Your brother is in my class too. He is very funny.’
Freya rolls her eyes.
‘Are you trying to say he’s stupid?’
The bat pony tilts her head from side to side as she weighs her thoughts.
Summer Rain giggles. ‘You’re fun. I hope we can be great friends.’
The pegasus holds a hoof out. Freya stares at the offered appendage. She slowly reaches out and lightly taps it. Summer Rain laughs again.
‘Thanks. It is good to have a lot of friends. Can I see your bunny?’
Freya shakes her head and bares her long canines.
‘You can just hold him up. I think he is cute.’
The bat pony holds Angel up, but she keeps a watchful eye on the pegasus.
‘He’s really cool. How long have you had him? Did you make him or was he a gift? Sorry. I shouldn’t be asking questions. Um, how about a bit about me? My mom is Flitter. She is head of the weather patrol in Ponyville. We live in a nice cloud house near...’
Slowly, Freya comes out of hiding as she gets used to Summer Rain’s talking. She smiles as she listens to her new friend.
Surprise leads the foals and counselors in songs and introductions. Freya sits behind Summer Rain while her brother speaks.
‘... And I want to be a Lunar Guard when I grow up, just like my father!’ the young colt states.
‘Thank you, Kain,’ Surprise replies. ‘It was nice of you to share. Next, we have...’
‘Hi, I’m Summer Rain,’ the filly introduces. ‘I’m from Ponyville, like Kain and Cloud Runner and the others. My mom is Flitter, head weather pony there, and my dad is...’ She looks away. ‘We don’t really talk about my dad.’
‘Yeah, not since his big fall,’ another filly taunts.
‘Hey! He was able to trot away just fine!’
‘Keyword: trot. Not fly.’
‘Well, maybe if he were nicer to my mom and me...’
‘Ooo. Are you going to beat us up too? I heard the reason your mom has a dragonfly cutie mark is because she acts like a dragon most of the time then flies away.’
‘That’s not..! Shut up!’
Summer Rain gets up and gallops away. The foals and counselors watch her go. Freya squeaks as she is exposed.
Surprise covers a laugh at her granddaughter. ‘It is okay, Freya. You don’t have to say anything.’ She clears her throat. ‘This is my granddaughter Freya. She is a very sweet and intelligent filly. She is a little shy, so please be nice to her.’
Freya smiles at her grandmother. A colt raises a hoof.
‘Why doesn’t she have to introduce herself?’
‘Because she can’t talk,’ a filly in the Ponyville group says. ‘We’re in class together, and she never says anything.’
‘She can talk! She’s just quiet. You have to get to know her.’ Kain defends.
‘Whatever, bat freak,’ a yellow colt with a blue mane from the Cloudsdale group snorts. ‘Don’t even know why you’re even here, weirdos.
Kain stands and growls. Freya frowns and holds Angel close.
‘Hey, that’s not nice,’ Surprise scolds. ‘Even bat ponies and griffins need flight training. Show a little more respect.’
‘Yeah. Whatever. The rabbit is stupid too.’
Freya gasps and bolts away. The counselors pull the colt aside to reprimand him. The bat pony flies straight to her cabin and goes inside. Summer Rain sits on her bed, mumbling to herself.
‘I’m calm. Not violent. I’m not angry...’
Freya whimpers and trots up to her friend.
‘Oh, hey,’ the pegasus greets, noticing the new arrival. ‘What are you doing here?’
Freya frowns and looks away.
‘They were making fun of you too?’ She stares at the bed. ‘They’re a bunch of jerks.’
The bat pony hops on to the bed. She holds Angel out. Summer Rain smiles and takes the offering.
‘Thanks.’
The cabin door opens again.
‘You two in here?’ Scootaloo asks.
‘Hi, Miss Scootaloo,’ Summer Rain replies.
‘Sorry about earlier,’ the counselor apologizes. ‘Everypony is calmed down, so you can join us for dinner.’
‘That will be nice. Thank you.’
Summer Rain returns Angel. The fillies jump off the bed and follow Scootaloo away.
The next day, the counselors lead the foals in their flying exercises. Surprise teaches all of them Wonderbolt stretches and warm-ups. The instructor flies around the camp correcting and advising the foals. Kain struggles to keep up with the foals his age, but he has a lot of fun with his new friends. Summer Rain, over the last night’s teasing, starts making new friends as well. Freya hides with her friend and brother, but she gets some taunts from the yellow colt. Surprisingly, the bat pony filly is one of the better-performing foals when they are assessed by Surprise and the counselors.
At dinner, the Ponyville foals sit together and talk about their training. Freya sits with the others, but at a corner far enough away from the foals from other cities.
‘Hey, sorry about last night,’ a filly says to Summer Rain. ‘I just heard all those rumors about your mom...’
Summer Rain sighs. ‘It is okay. My mom and I do have a bit of a temper.’
‘It’s okay. We all have stuff we’re not proud of,’ a colt assures.
‘Thanks, Bob.’
‘It is worth it for the grade boost,’ the colt grumbles.
The other foals laugh. Even Freya giggles at him. A group of foals from the Cloudsdale group comes over, lead by the yellow colt.
‘Look at the scrubs. All sitting together like scrubs,’ a colt taunts.
‘Better scores than you,’ Bob snorts.
‘Yeah, Surprise liked us the best,’ a filly adds.
The Cloudsdale colt scoffs. ‘Please. That is just because your group includes have her grandkids. If we had a fair instructor, then those bat freaks wouldn’t have even made it to camp.’
Kain jumps up and growls. Freya whimpers and shrinks back.
‘You wouldn’t be so smug if Shaun were here,’ a Ponyville pegasus counters.
‘That’s a stupid name,’ another Cloudsdale pony mocks.
‘He’s a griffin! And he’s really cool!’
‘Griffins? Bat freaks? What’s next? Qilin? Thestrals?’
‘What do you have against us?’ Kain growls.
The lead Cloudsdale colt steps forward. ‘You’re freaks. All of you. Pegasi are the only real fliers in Equestria. You shouldn’t even be here.’ He looks at Freya. ‘Especially the wimp. She would be no help during a massive storm. You should just give up and go home.’
Freya whines and hugs Angel tight. Scootaloo trots over.
‘What’s going on here?’ the young mare asks.
‘Nothing,’ the Cloudsdale colt grumbles, backing away.
The rest of the Cloudsdale group tries leaving too. Featherweight trots up behind them.
‘They were making fun of us for being bat ponies!’ Kain accuses.
The bully growls at the young colt. The bat pony bares his canines. Freya squeaks and reaches for her brother.
‘Easy now...’ Scootaloo sighs. She looks at the bullies. ‘It doesn’t matter what tribe somepony is. If they have wings, they need flight training. From here to Manehattan to Los Pegasus to Neighpon, we all go through the same basic training. Ponies, griffins, thestrals all need flying lessons. If they want more training, then there are special schools for that. If you can’t play nice for a week, then you can go home and wait for next time.’
‘Whatever...’
Scootaloo frowns. ‘Go back to your cabin. I’m telling your counselor about this.’
The bully snorts and trots away with his friends. Scootaloo shakes her head and goes to talk with the other counselors. Kain grumbles and sits back down. Freya pats her brother on the back. The table returns to their dinner, eating in silence.
The next couple days continue like the first. The foals’ flying skills develop nicely. They master the basics and start learning some advanced maneuvers. Unfortunately, the bullies from Cloudsdale keep pestering the Ponyville pegasi. The lead colt’s favorite target is Freya since she does not fight back. Summer Rain does her best to defend her friend. The bat pony just takes the teasing in stride.
At the end of a day of training, Freya breaks from her group to get a drink. She sets Angel down as she refreshes herself. Her ears twitch, and she spins around, picking Angel and growling. The yellow bully stops in his tracks. His hoof is extended towards where Angel rested. The filly’s long canines glint.
‘Whoa! Watch it there, freak!’
Freya snarls as she makes her way away from the pegasus.
‘Sheesh. You freaks really are monsters. I just wanted to see your stupid toy.’
The bat pony shakes her head.
‘Tch. Somepony never learned about sharing. Give it!’
The pegasus leaps for Freya. She jumps back, flips Angel to her back and hisses, baring her canines again. Before either pony can make another move, the bully is bumped from the side.
‘What are you doing to her!’ Summer Rain yells. ‘Back off!’
‘What the hell! She was the one being mean to me. now, you’re beating me up.’ He snorts. ‘Wish I had an in with the staff so I could get away with stuff.’
A whistle is blown.
‘Come on in!’ Featherweight calls. ‘Time for our cool-down exercises!’
The fillies glare at the colt and leave together.
‘Close,’ the colt grumbles, rejoining his group.
Scootaloo notices the bully as he passes her group.
Surprise works at a desk in her cabin. There is a knock on the door.
‘Enter!’
Scootaloo enters. She looks around, but the older mare is nowhere to be found. She trots to the desk.
‘SURPRISE!’ the older pegasus declares as she jumps from a drawer.
Scootaloo screams, falls back and draws the gun hidden under her wing.
Surprise turns over her hoof, dropping a few bullets on her desk. ‘No weapons at camp. Remember?’
‘You scared the crap out of me!’
‘If so, you’re cleaning it up. Now, what can I do for you?’
‘Yeah, uh, this is about Freya.’
‘Is something wrong? Is she not performing well? She looks good when I make my rounds.’
Scootaloo shakes her head. ‘No, no. She is doing great. She’d probably do better if she wasn’t carrying her doll all the time.’
‘Heh, heh. You be the one to convince her to get her to give it up. I’d rather be fed to changelings myself.’
‘I can arrange that, too...’ Scootaloo shakes away the thought. ‘No, what I wanted to talk about was the bullying.’
Surprise frowns. ‘I noticed. I know it cannot be stopped, but it is really out of hoof when it comes to some of those foals.’
‘Is there a way we can break them up? Maybe keep that group from the Ponyville group?’
The older pegasus shakes her head. ‘It is hard enough managing all the foals at once. They could still slip away or make plans at night. The other counselors are watching for anything, but they are also trying to manage their own groups.’ She stands and stretches. ‘Tomorrow is the first groundless flight test. If they are anything like normal foals, they will be too scared of falling back to Equestria to do anything stupid.’
‘I hope they have the brains to be scared then.’
‘Were you scared?’
Scootaloo smirks. ‘Heck, nah! I’d been out like that a lot of times.’
Surprise laughs. ‘Pretty hard to imagine since Rainbow Dash replaced me not too long after your first camp.’ She studies the other mare. ‘Why aren’t you in a major flight school? Don’t you want to follow your idol?’
‘I’m going to join her in the Wonderbolts. Just you watch.’
‘But your training...’
‘I go out with Rei and Daring all the time. Rainbow Dash taught me that it is not always about being the best, but you always have to be your best. Just ‘cause I can do a bunch of fancy trick doesn’t mean anything if I can’t work with others or have room to improve myself.’
Surprise smiles. ‘You’re a good mare, Scootaloo. Just don’t take as long as Dash did to join.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
‘Oh, and I know it probably means little since you’ll get one from Dash and Daring and I know Rei will ask Luna for one, but...’ She gets out an envelope. ‘Feel free to include this when you apply.’
Scootaloo puts the envelope under a wing and salutes. ‘Thank you! This will be great!’
Surprise laughs again. ‘Dismissed, soldier.’
Scootaloo laughs and leaves the cabin.
The next day, Surprise and the counselors have gathered the foals for practice flying without clouds under them. Most are nervous about flying without a safe landing. The counselors line the track, ready in case a foal starts falling. Fortunately, all the foals have successfully passed their test so far.
Freya calmly flies her turn around the track. Since she is not being graded on speed or skill, she takes her time and carries Angel in her mouth. The filly finishes her lap and lands with her friends.
‘Way to go!’ Summer Rain cheers.
‘You handled that like a pro!’ Bob adds.
‘W-w-w-was it scary?’ Kain stammers.
Freya sighs and rolls her eyes.
‘Easy for you to say!’ the colt argues. ‘You are the tough one.’
Freya bonks her brother in the head. She nods towards where Surprise is perched by the starting line and then nods to the counselors around the track. She taps the cloud in front of her.
‘R-right. You’re all here for me. I’ll be fine.’
The colt flies towards the starting line to wait his turn. The next foal takes her position and starts flying her lap. The Ponyville group around the track cheer her on. Freya sits behind her friends, waiting for the day to be over. While her friends are distracted, a dark form sneaks up behind Freya. Before the filly can react, she is pushed down and Angel is taken.
‘Ha! Got your stupid rabbit!’ the yellow bully taunts.
Freya reaches for Angel, but one of his cohorts knocks her down again. She whines and tries to get up. Summer Rain hears her friend and turns.
‘Hey! What are you doing!’
‘Just teaching your little friend a lesson in sharing,’ the yellow colt replies.
‘Give her back her doll!’
The other Ponyville ponies notice the commotion and join their friends. The Cloudsdale ponies square off against their Ponyville counterparts. Freya gets up and reaches for Angel, whining.
‘Give him back,’ Summer Rain growls.
‘It is just a stupid doll. It is no big deal.’
Freya gasps and snarls.
‘It is her doll. That is what makes it special.’
‘Fine. Whatever. You want it?’ The colt holds the doll out to Freya. She reaches for it. ‘Go get it.’
The colt throws Angel towards the track. The rabbit flies off the side of the cloud. Freya shrieks in terror and charges to the edge of the cloud. Summer Rain roars and leaps at the bully.
Kain hears the yell and looks back. ‘FREYA!’ he shouts as she jumps of the side.
The counselors and foals notice. Many gasp in horror as they see the young bat pony plummeting. Scootaloo and Surprise immediately leap after the filly.
Freya pulls her wings in and shoots towards Angel. Once she reaches terminal velocity, she starts flapping her wings to gain speed. She slowly gains on the falling doll. She reaches out and catches his leg. Freya pulls Angel in and adjusts her angle of descent to arc back upwards. She flies up, past Surprise and Scootaloo. The mares escort her back to the cloud. Once Freya lands, she gallops to Summer Rain and hides beside her friend, clutching Angel tightly. Near the other filly, the yellow colt nurses a bloody nose. The adults land in the group.
‘What is going on here?’ Surprise asks.
‘The crazy bitch attacked me!’ the colt shouts.
‘You were the one beating up Freya!’ Summer Rain shouts back. ‘I was just protecting her!’
‘I was nowhere near her when you attacked me!’
‘That’s because she was too busy saving her doll that you threw off the cloud!’
‘Okay. Okay,’ Surprise calms. ‘Radiant Watch, you have been causing trouble this entire camp. Freya could have killed herself because of the stunt you pulled. I am going to call your parents and have them take you home. Not only will you have to repeat flight camp, but I really doubt any future flight schools will want to take you after the letter I add to your record.’
‘But, Miss Sur-’
‘Go back to your room and start packing.’
The colt huffs and leaves, sulking.
Surprise shakes her head and turns to Freya and Summer Rain. ‘Summer Rain, though I am pretty sure you were the cause of his bloody nose, I am also sure that none of the counselors saw the attack happen. Consider yourself lucky.’ She smiles at her granddaughter. ‘And Freya... That stunt...’
Freya squeaks and tries hiding.
‘This might only be my third time teaching flight camp, but I am sure that stunt will be the most impressive thing I will see for a long time. I think you have proven yourself more than worthy as a flyer. I know you have had a tough time at camp. I’ll have Scootaloo take you back home if you want.’
Freya shakes her head and grabs Summer Rain’s leg.
Surprise smiles. ‘I understand. Why don’t you two take the rest of the day off while we finish up here.’
‘Thank you,’ Summer Rain replies.
‘Okay, everypony! Let’s get back to work!’
The fillies trot back to their cabin while Surprise restarts the training.
Freya leans over and nuzzles her friend, brushing Angel against her too. She breathes deep. ‘Lilacs on a rainy morning.’
Summer Rain giggles and takes a sniff. ‘And you smell like chocolate-coated strawberries.’
The fillies laugh and relax at their cabin.
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while the general content of this chapter was good, it felt like someone was reading and abridging a longer story.
3100443
As good as it would be to have read someone else's stuff, I haven't read another major story in a long time. Especially not something starring any of our resident pegasi (even the Rainbow Dash Academy comic or whatever) since, to be honest, I couldn't care less about Rainbow Dash. Ye only winged one I really read (if I get around to it) is our favoritest princess.
I know flight camp stories aren't exactly the most original idea, but it should be something covered when a number of your characters are foals with wings, with Freya being one of the big mains.
3100983 i was not referring to originality, i was referring to how large sections of unimportant time were largely skipped over in a short paragraph. i should probably check to see if you have been doing that a lot before replying but it this was the first chapter i have really noticed it on.
EDIT: again, its not necessarily terrible, it just feels like the chapter should be larger even though i know the inserted sections would just be filler material
3101015
I know what you mean about the filler material. I generally try to leave as much of that out as possible. We really don't need more of the annoying yellow pegasus colt with a blue mane harassing the main characters than we got already.
The last time I really forced myself to add filler was the last camp story back in TWP. I had to come up with some filler for the chapter I am working on now, but at least one scene of that fits to the main story overall. Back with TWP and still in RoH, there were never really chapters where large sections of story could be skipped. Jumping into that right away in this story is a big change for the way I present chapters now. (I have to cover the 11 month until Pinkie gives birth somehow!)
I know no disrespect was intended. With just the chapters I have written now, skipping some time within a chapter is the least shock-inducing thing I have on tap.
auther's notes error .. Number of ponies outside of her family who have heard Del's voice: 2 ... shouldnt that have been Freya's voice ? .. heh
3619342
D'oh, I missed!
Thanks for catching that
(I think a Flutter-Yay is appropriate for this situation.)
SCS rely gets to me with the tons of cute little foals so far