Rainbow couldn’t take her eyes off Airheart lying in front of her. She watched as the mare stirred and woke up slightly.
“M-morning,” Rainbow said awkwardly, letting out a small giggle.
“Morning, Sweetie,” Airheart replied wearily. She reached forward and kissed Rainbow square on the lips.
Rainbow recoiled slightly and her eyes went wide.
“Airheart?” Rainbow asked embarrassedly.
Airheart finished waking up and opened her eyes. She instantly recognised the mare in front of her. Her cheeks instantly reddened. She giggled girlishly.
“Err… w-why did you…?” Rainbow asked.
“I-I-I thought I was at home,” Airheart replied awkwardly.
“Right,” Rainbow started contemplatively, “But I thought you were single.”
Airheart squeaked sheepishly and went redder.
Rainbow stared at her for a second longer before rolling onto her hooves and climbing out of bed. “Okay, I'm just going to forget that ever happened,” she stated simply as she headed out of the room. “Tea? Coffee?” she called from the hallway.
“Tea, please,” Airheart muttered back barely audibly over the silence that reigned over the house.
Rainbow was preparing some tea for the two of them, but her mind was elsewhere.
She could not believe that Airheart kissed her, but what saddened her slightly was the fact that that was the first proper kiss she had had in over seven years.
What confused her even more was the fact it was a good kiss, but she put that down to being lonely. She didn’t particularly fancy becoming a lesbian.
Although, she couldn’t help but agree that Airheart had a certain appeal to her, with her pink coat and light brown mane. If any mare could-
“What the hay am I thinking?” she asked herself out loud before she could finish the thought.
Rainbow was dragged roughly from her mind by the sound of a small filly shouting her name.
“Mummy!” Dash shouted as she bounced by the mare’s side.
Rainbow jumped and looked down to the floor. It was blurry at first but she soon realised which of her daughter’s it was.
“Oh, morning, Dashie,” she yawned. “You’re up early.”
“I didn’t see you last night after you got back so I never got to show you this!” Dash said very quickly, almost unintelligibly, before producing a leaflet from under her wing.
Rainbow took it and placed it on the worktop. She scanned over the note, barely able to take in any information other than part of the title.
“Flight camp?” Rainbow asked wearily.
“Yep! Y’see, I’ve decided I'm gonna be a Wonderbolt so I need to get a lot of practice and get really fast before I can get on the team so I saw this at school and it’s a club that goes on Saturdays and it helps you get really good at flying and it looks really fun an Fluttershy says she’ll go if I can so can I go huh huh?”
Rainbow stared at the filly for a good few seconds as her tired mind tried to unravel the string of words her daughter fired at her. It proved too difficult.
“What?” she asked with an embarrassed smile.
Dash huffed angrily. “There is a club on Saturdays that will make me a stronger flyer, okay?” she asked slowly and loudly.
“Okay,” Rainbow replied in the same tone, but that was due to her trying to understand.
“And I want-no, will become a Wonderbolt, but I need to get really fast, okay?”
“Okay.”
“So, I want to go to this club so I can get really good at flying, okay?”
Rainbow, now fully understanding her daughter’s request, tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Does it cost anything?” she asked contemplatively.
“No, it’s free!”
Rainbow considered it for a bit longer, leaving Dash waiting impatiently.
“Well, Dash,” Rainbow said intriguingly.
Dash liked the tone of her mother’s voice and pushed herself onto her front hooves, with her wings flapping frantically.
“I think I will have to say yes.”
Dash jumped in the air and punched it. “YES!” she cheered loudly.
“On one condition,” Rainbow continued, making the excited filly lose the hope in her eyes and sink back to the floor.
“What?” she asked sadly and with a slight hint of terror.
“You have to help me clean the house when I ask you to.”
Dash tilted her head. “Is that it?”
“I could make it harder for you if you like?”
“NO!” Dash shouted, pushing her hooves forward to stop her mother continuing.
“Fair enough then. You can go to the club. When does it start?”
“First meeting is today at twelve o’clock,” Dash said excitedly.
“Okay then. That’s just enough time to help me clean the bathroom.”
Dash’s mouth fell agape as she heard this.
Rainbow chuckled warmly. “Don’t worry. It won’t take long. Also, we’re not doing it now. We’ll have breakfast first.”
Rainbow nodded. “I’ll go tell Fluttershy. She seemed really excited when I told her that we should go.”
“Okay. You run along. What do you want for breakfast?”
Dash had already left the kitchen and was halfway through the living room by then. She slowed her pace and looked over her shoulder.
“Err… scrambled eggs?”
“Okay. Ask the others if they want any.”
Dash nodded and continued her trek upstairs.
Dash barged into her and her sisters’ bedroom and quickly jumped to her bed.
“What did she say?” Fluttershy asked excitedly.
Dash got into a comfortable position before replying. “She said yes!”
Fluttershy squealed with joy.
“Oh, that’s wonderful!”
Swirl, who had been lying awake for some time, chose that time to make herself known.
“What’s wonderful?” she asked with a pained groan as she tried to rearrange herself into a seated position, but her cast was being uncooperative.
“Me and Rainbow Dash are going to join a flight camp so we can become better flyers.” Fluttershy smiled broadly and shook as she thought about it more. “Oh, I can’t wait. Just think, Dashie, with this extra help with flying I can get much stronger and not get picked on so much by the other foals.”
She lost her smile as she remembered that fact and hung her head down slightly.
Dash quickly raised her head again and smiled at her. “Don’t look so sad. They don’t bully you that much. And soon you can laugh in their faces when you cross the finish line before them at sports day.”
Fluttershy smiled again. “I can’t wait!”
“Pffft,” Swirl said with a scowl on her face as she stretched her headband over her mane. “Flight camp’s for sissies.”
Rainbow turned to face her with nothing but venom in her eyes. “No it’s not,” she shouted angrily, her voice breaking midsentence.
“Yeah it is,” Swirl corrected. “Mummy said yesterday that I can go to a fighting club, and there’s where all the really tough kids go.”
“Nuh-uh!” Dash retorted. “Flight camp’s better!”
“Fight club’s better!”
“Oh yeah?!”
“YEAH!”
“You won’t be saying that when I'm the world’s fastest Pegasus and the captain of the Wonderbolts, and all you’ll be is a-a-a… a Pony with weirdly muscle-y legs!” Dash shouted confidently to hide the fact she messed up.
Swirl stuck her tongue out at Dash, and Dash responded in kind.
“Eloquent as always, Dash,” Shine jested as she woke up and rolled on her side to face everypony.
“Shut up!” Dash shouted back at her. “At least I'm not fat!”
Shine frowned at her, giving her a look of pure malice. She sat up and picked her large, thin, circular glasses from the bedside table, placing them over her head afterwards.
“I'm not fat,” she said coldly. “I'm chubby. There’s a difference.”
She stomped her hoof on her bed to emphasise her point.
Dash and Swirl looked to each other.
“No there’s not,” they replied together before bursting out laughing, even Fluttershy struggled to hold back a giggle.
Shine folded her forelegs grumpily and pouted.
“Don’t be moody, Shiny,” Dash giggled. “Mummy’s making us some scrambled eggs!” she teased, thinking the prospect of food would make the rotund filly happy again.
Shine had to try her hardest to keep face. Scrambled egg was always her favourite.
Meanwhile, Airheart had joined Rainbow in the kitchen.
“Hey, Rainbow,” she said awkwardly as she stepped through the doorway.
Both Pegasi began to blush.
“Err… hi, Airheart,” Rainbow replied, trying her hardest not to make eye contact.
She placed a mug of tea on the breakfast table for the other mare and leant on the counter with her own mug in hoof.
Airheart sat at the table, barely making a sound, and took her own mug.
They were silent for a while, the only sounds being the occasional sip of tea.
It soon became unbearable.
“Airheart,” Rainbow said in a serious tone.
Airheart looked round, and saw that Rainbow was staring directly at her. “Y-yes?”
“Why?” Rainbow asked simply, knowing full well that that would be enough of a question.
Airheart winced and looked away. “I-I don’t know. It was just an accident.”
“Right,” Rainbow started. “But just let me ask you one question.”
“Go ahead.”
“Are you, y’know… that way inclined?” Rainbow asked, feeling far too awkward to use the actual word.
Airheart sighed. “Yep,” she said simply.
“Oh,” Rainbow replied, sounding surprised but slightly relieved.
“I’ve been that way inclined for ages now,” Airheart continued, regardless whether or not Rainbow wanted her. “I did have a couple coltfriends when I was younger and more confused, but it never seemed right. Plus, I really didn’t like the, y’know, ruder times with colts.” She blushed and smiled embarrassedly.
“So how long have you, then?” Rainbow asked curiously.
“Last coltfriend I had was when I was twenty, so after that is when I really came out of the closet. Fortunately my parents were really understanding, which is surprising, really, for their generation, but I guess it was pretty obvious when I think about it.”
“Interesting,” Rainbow said thoughtfully. “I’ve never been friends with a lesbian before.”
Airheart shrugged.
A thought struck Rainbow’s mind that made her smile childishly. “So, you kissed me. Does that mean you find me attractive?” she asked hopefully, yet she didn’t know why.
Airheart blushed and flashed her a smile. “Kinda…” she said girlishly, as if she were admitting a crush to somepony.
Rainbow giggled girlishly. “Well… that’s strangely flattering,” she said full of wonder. “I never thought I could pull a mare before.”
Airheart looked away and began rubbing the back of her head awkwardly.
“Not that I would want to, mind you,” Rainbow added quickly.
Airheart laughed slightly and returned to her mug of tea, facing away from the other Pegasus.
Silence returned for a moment as Rainbow began mixing eggs and milk for some scrambled eggs.
Another thought struck Rainbow’s mind, but this time her face became serious.
She turned to Airheart.
“You said you came out when you’re twenty, right?” she asked. She really didn’t want to make this mistake.
Airheart nodded. “Yep.”
“Not been with a single colt since then?” she asked, wanting to make sure that that was the case.
Airheart shook her head. “Nope.”
Rainbow’s mind worked furiously for a moment, and she came to the conclusion she hoped she wouldn’t.
“So does that mean you’re not Fluttershy’s-?”
Airheart turned to face Rainbow, silently interrupting her with a look on her face that pleaded, “Please don’t finish the question.”
She looked as though she was about to cry.
“Oh,” Rainbow said sadly as she continued to stare at her. She was still curious about it, but she felt too guilty about bringing it up to continue questioning her.
She went back to cooking some eggs.
Silence reigned once more, save for a few shouts coming from upstairs.
“Mummy?” said a soft voice from the kitchen doorway, breaking the silence.
Airheart, recognising the voice, looked round.
She sniffed. “Oh, morning, Fluttershy,” she said with a little catch in her throat.
“Are you okay, Mummy?” Fluttershy asked with great concern and affection. “You’re eyes are all wet. Have you been crying?”
Airheart shook her head and dried her eyes on her foreleg. “No, Sweetie. No…”
Fluttershy trotted up to her mother and jumped on the chair beside her. She looked at her mother, wanting to make sure she was okay.
Airheart looked back at her daughter and into her beautiful, blue eyes, and smiled.
“Come here, you,” she said as she picked her daughter up and hugged her.
Fluttershy happily complied and hugged back, resting her head over her mother’s shoulder.
They remained like that for a long moment, enjoying each others’ affection.
Airheart turned her head and planted a small kiss on her daughter’s cheek. “I love you, Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy sighed contently. “I love you too, Mummy.”
Rainbow, once she had gotten over the adorableness of that loving moment between mother and daughter, went to collect her own children.
She was disappointed when she got no hugs or kisses from them.
The three rainbow maned fillies bolted downstairs and to the kitchen table. They all swiftly took their usual seats, except for Swirl, who stood in the doorway, glaring at Airheart who was in her seat.
“Just sit anywhere, Swirl,” Rainbow ordered in a friendly manner.
Swirl nodded and hobbled over to an empty seat, all the while watching Airheart suspiciously.
Rainbow promptly placed five of the six plates of scrambled egg and toast in front of each place on the table.
Airheart looked around worriedly at the number of chairs and of Pegasi. “There aren’t enough chairs for all of us,” she informed anypony who was listening.
“That’s okay, Mummy,” Fluttershy said quickly, looking up at her mother. “I can sit here with you, if you don’t mind, that is…”
Airheart cracked a smile. “Of course I don’t mind, Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy smiled back and rearranged herself so she could eat. She sat on the edge of the seat, pressed against her mother’s stomach and being comforted at the same time.
Rainbow took the remaining seat next to Shine and began to eat. She just lifted a forkful of egg to her mouth when she was distracted.
“They called me fat!” Shine said loudly and angrily to her mother, pointing an accusing hoof in the direction of her sisters.
Dash and Swirl went wide eyed and let their mouths hang open slightly, trying to convey a sense of innocence. They both shook their heads slightly, pretending they knew nothing.
Rainbow turned and stared at them with a moody look in her eyes.
“That’s not nice, girls,” she said sternly.
“But she is!” Swirl screamed.
“Swirl!” Rainbow said in a very parent like voice, which her daughters didn’t like. “I know she might be, but it’s not nice to point it out like that.”
Shine smiled victoriously. “Yeah,” she gloated. “Wait, what?” she said, turning to her mother, once she realised what she said.
Dash and Shine started sniggering.
Rainbow winced and looked at Shine. “Sorry, Shiny, but you are getting a little podgy,” she said very carefully.
“Oh,” Shine said sadly and looked away.
“But it’s not a bad thing,” Rainbow added enthusiastically.
“Yes it is!” Swirl added.
“Swirl!” Rainbow shouted. “Stop talking and eat your breakfast.”
Swirl, now slightly scared by her mother’s tone, continued to eat in silence.
Dash joined her in doing so, also not wanting to incur her mother’s wrath.
“It’s not a bad thing, Shiny,” Rainbow continued in a much more affectionate tone. “But if you were skinnier, your asthma wouldn’t be so bad.”
Shine considered this for a moment. “I guess that makes sense. But food tastes nice.”
“If you slow down, you’ll eat less, and therefore lose weight.”
Shine nodded. “That’s sounds simple enough. And it’s good I don’t have to exercise. I hate sports.”
Rainbow tittered and continued with breakfast.
“Swirl,” Rainbow started in her usual, friendly tone.
Swirl looked up from her plate. “Yes, Mummy?” she whispered, still scared about getting into trouble.
“What exactly happened to the other kids in the fight,” she asked curiously.
Swirl perked up and pushed her headband out of her eyes. “Well, Ticker sprained her hoof really badly and also tore a ligament in her wing, and the other one got twisted. Hoops got his wing dislocated by me,” she said proudly, “and Ticker punched him in the face.”
Rainbow stared at her daughter in utter disbelief.
“And the other two got big bruises on their ribs and Dumbbell lost a tooth! But those two were cowards and ran away before we got really nasty.”
Rainbow sighed and shook her head. “That’s amazing,” she said, she was impressed despite the fact she shouldn’t be. “You two are really quite vicious, aren’t you?”
Swirl nodded arrogantly. “Yep! Nopony picks on us!”
“That’s good, I suppose…” Rainbow wasn’t quite sure about that though.
“So, Dashie,” Rainbow started, gaining the attention of her other daughter. “Tell me more about the Flight Camp.”
Dash gulped her mouthful down excitedly. “It’s called Summer Flight Camp, and is run by this Pegasus called Hot Summer, and now I'm seven I can join. The leaflet said it’s guaranteed to increase your wing power by at least fifty percent!”
“Really?” Rainbow said pretending to be as excited as her daughter.
“Yeah! That would make me even more certain to get into the Wonderbolts!”
“And I will be able to beat the other kids at sports day!” Fluttershy interjected excitedly.
Airheart looked to her daughter. “Are you still sure you want to go to this club? It sounds rather competitive.”
“I'm sure, Mummy. I want to be able to fly faster, and at this camp I should be able to get some one on one tutoring with an instructor and I really want to get better at flying.”
“Okay, Fluttershy. If you’re sure.”
It was midday, and a number of parents and their children of various ages were standing in the Cloudiseum.
Dash looked around in awe. Never before had she seen this building, and she didn’t know where to look. It was huge, for a start, and so pristine with white cloud and immaculate architecture. Set out in the large arena were numerous clouds at different heights, obviously used for some kind of exercises and drills.
“Mummy!” she whispered, barely able to contain her excitement. “I'm gonna perform here with the Wonderbolts some day!”
Rainbow chuckled. “You sure are, Dashie.”
An orange Stallion burst out from a cloud high in the air, with a stream of red and yellow following him, matching his streaky mane and tail.
He came to a halt, hovering in the air above the heads of the crowd below.
“Good afternoon!” he said enthusiastically. “I'm Hot Summer, but you can call me Summer. Except all you mares out there, you can call me Hot!” he said arrogantly, showing off his strangely muscular forelegs.
Rainbow leaned into Airheart and whispered, “I hate him already.”
Airheart struggled to hold back a laugh.
“Alright then,” Summer continued, “Me and my fellow instructors will teach you children how to fly as quickly and agile as possible while using a little energy as possible, and when we’re done with you, you’ll be able to fly faster than anypony else!”
Dash squealed with excitement.
“And now, to introduce my second in command and ex-Wonderbolt, I’d like you all to welcome Jet Stream.” He started rallying up a round of applause for his partner, with little success.
Rainbow perked up and looked around for the Pegasus, and it didn’t take long to spot the brown stallion hovering a little way above their heads.
She felt her heart flutter.
Jet Stream looked around the crowd, trying to spot anypony he knew. It wasn’t long before he picked out and became transfixed on the rainbow maned mare that made his stomach do back flips every time he saw her.
Summer pointed across at him, gesturing for him to start talking, but Jet was preoccupied.
Summer loudly clearly his throat, making Jet jump back to reality.
“Oh! Err… hi,” he said sheepishly, hoping nopony noticed him staring at a mare in particular.
He shook himself and regained his focus.
“Hello, everypony,” he said far more confidently. “I'm Jet Stream, and I’ll be taking on the children and teaching them about agility in the air.”
“That’s great, Jet,” Summer said condescendingly. He didn’t like the spotlight being taken off him. “I will be teaching them about strength and speed. While the co-founder and my wife will be teaching them all about the proper techniques of flying.”
A mare that almost matched Summer entirely in colour flew by and stopped by her husband’s side.
Rainbow gawked up at them. “You have a wife?!” she questioned loudly, and instantly shrank away once she realised that she had actually said that out loud.
Summer sniggered. “Don’t worry, I do have a brother.”
“There’s two of you?!” Rainbow said with just enough horror to make everypony laugh at Summer’s expense.
Summer looked around embarrassedly. He raised his hoof, commanding silence over the crowd, besides from a few giggles escaping here and there.
“This is my wife, Summer Breeze,” he said loudly and proudly. “But you can call her Breeze.”
Breeze waved to everypony. “Hello,” she said in a friendly manner, the likes of which made everypony in the crowd cringe slightly.
“Now,” Summer started, “we can get started. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask the parents to leave, but you can come back to pick your kids up at four.”
There was a murmur of general agreement from the crowd and parents began to wish their children good luck and leave.
Rainbow turned to face her daughter.
“Good luck, Dashie,” she said enthusiastically. “And remember, it’s all in good fun, so it doesn’t matter.”
Dash nodded. “See ya later, Mummy!” she shouted before darting of towards the instructors for her first day at Flight Camp.
Rainbow smiled and waved frantically at her daughter before walking off with Airheart.
Summer stood tall on the largest of clouds set up in the Cloudiseum, waiting for the children to form an orderly rabble and quieten down.
“Alright, settle down,” he said loudly over the noise of excited fillies and colts.
The crowd swiftly went silent.
“Okay then, before we send you off to your appropriate instructors, we will measure your wing power!” he said excitedly.
Most of the foals looked to the foals beside them with nervous looks on their faces, except for Dash, who looked up with an eager and confident smile.
Summer laughed slightly. “It’s nothing to worry about. All you have to do is fly over there as fast as you can,” he said as he pointed to a cloud halfway across the venue, “and a machine over there will calculate your wing power.”
The crowd remained in a state of confused silence.
“Okay then. Who wants to go first?”
The crowd shuffled awkwardly, looking at down at their hooves. They collectively moved backwards, leaving one small Pegasus standing there. The wind ruffled through her short, unkempt mane, and she wore a large, determined smile.
“I’ll do it!” Dash shouted confidently and trotted up to the large, orange stallion.
Summer smiled at her. He was glad to have a volunteer and not have to force an unwilling child.
“Good. So what’s your name?” he asked enthusiastically.
“I'm Rainbow Dash!” the filly shouted, puffing out her chest and flaring her wings to show off her obvious flying capabilities.
Summer chuckled. He could tell he was going to like Dash. “Alright, good. I like your enthusiasm. Let’s see if your body can keep up with your ego.”
“I bet my wing power is at least ten!” She shouted as she got into position at the edge of the cloud. “How much wing power do I have to have to be a Wonderbolt?”
“Typically the Wonderbolts will start paying attention when you have around twenty wing power, unless there are special circumstances.”
Dash chuckled confidently, yet it sounded a bit menacing, and raised her flank high in the air so she could get a good jump.
“Are you ready?” Summer said excitedly.
Dash narrowed her vision, eyeing up her target on the other cloud; a small fan.
Breeze was stood on the finish cloud wielding a chequered flag. She waved it frantically.
Dash exploded from the edge of the cloud and reached the finish in seconds.
She stopped as quickly as she started, barely panting to catch her breath.
“How fast was that?!” she asked, knowing it must have been incredibly high.
Breeze looked at the small dial on the fan. “Err… five point nine,” she said excitedly.
Dash scowled at her.
“Is that it? Is that it?!” she roared.
“That’s brilliant!” Breeze encouraged. “The average for a seven year old is only four, so you’re already fifty percent above average!”
Dash growled quietly. “It should be higher than that,” she muttered angrily.
“Don’t beat yourself up about it,” Breeze said caringly, giving the moody a filly a pat on the back. “That’s what you’re here to do! Get faster and stronger!”
Dash grumbled. She knew Breeze was right.
“Good. Now go back with the others.”
Dash nodded and flew back to the other side solemnly.
Summer, once he saw the filly returning, turned to the crowd and held his head, smiling in a nonthreatening manner.
“Who’s next?” he asked.
Fluttershy jumped up in the air. “Me!” she shouted quietly. Seeing Dash go first had given her a huge confidence boost.
“Alright, step up, little filly,” Summer said kindly and gestured for her to step forward. “What’s your name, then?”
“Fluttershy,” the yellow filly said in her soft, quiet voice, which Summer struggled to hear.
“Alright, Fluttershy, you ready?”
Fluttershy nodded.
Summer looked to his wife a little way away and nodded.
Breeze nodded back and waved the flag.
Fluttershy erupted from the cloud as fast as her wings could carry her.
She arrived a short time later, panting and struggling to catch her breath.
“Well done, little one,” Breeze said congratulatory, giving her a pat on the back. “That was really good.”
“How high is it?” Fluttershy panted, hoping to at least be average.
Breeze winced. “Two and a half,” she said carefully.
“Is that good?”
“It’s… a little below average, but nothing a little training can’t sort out.”
Fluttershy smiled happily and flew back over to Dash.
“I got two and a half, Dashie,” she whispered excitedly, incredibly proud with herself.
The crowd around her giggled slightly at her expense, but Fluttershy didn’t notice it for once.
Meanwhile, back at home, Rainbow collected the mail that had just fallen through the front door.
She sighed. “I never get anything interesting anymore,” she said disappointedly as she rifled through the many bills and bank statements.
“Anything for me, Mummy?” Swirl asked as she ran up to her mother, with her cast making a loud thud on the floor.
Rainbow gave her a puzzled look. “Why would you get mail?”
Swirl shrugged.
Rainbow shook her head and went back to the mail in her hoof. “Looks like Shine got one though. How odd.”
Shine, upon hearing her name, walked into the hall.
“I got a letter?” she asked confusedly. “I never get letters.”
“I know, but it has your name on it.” Rainbow passed the envelope to her daughter.
Shine took it cautiously, confused beyond belief as to who sent her a letter.
She carefully opened the letter and removed the sheet of paper from within. She read it out loud.
“Dear Rainbow Shine, if my calculations are correct, you should receive this letter directly after your mother came home from dropping off Rainbow Dash at flight camp. First, let me assure you that I'm alive and well. I’ve been living these past few months in the year 1885.”
She stopped there, and gave the letter a scrupulous look. “I think this is just some junk mail,” she concluded and proceeded to place the letter in the recycling bin.
Rainbow shook herself and went back to the letters, one remained which she hadn’t looked at.
“This is from your school,” she told Swirl, who was still stood beside her.
She ripped it open and scanned over the writing. Her face soured once she finished, her brow had furrowed angrily and a frown replaced her smile. She looked down at Swirl, who cowered slightly.
“Looks like you’ve been excluded for a month,” she informed calmly, it was obvious she was angry.
“Huh?” Swirl said, tilting her head to the side.
“You savagely beat up a colt, so you’ve been excluded from school for a month. Meaning you have to stay home.
Swirl’s eyes went wide and she gasped slightly
“YES!” she celebrated, jumping in the air victoriously.
“I don’t know why you’re so happy,” Rainbow said calmly.
Swirl lost the glee from her eye and sank to the floor again, tripping over her cast as she landed.
“What?”
“This isn’t a holiday, Swirl,” Rainbow said sternly. “It’s not a reward for beating a kid up, and did you seriously not think there would be repercussions?”
“He started it!” Swirl shouted as she pointed in a random direction, thinking that would help her situation.
“I sure that’s true, Swirl, but still, you pulled his wing out of his socket! So, as punishment, you have to stay home for a month and work for me.”
“Oh,” Swirl moaned, sinking to the floor and lying down, hiding her face away.
“Oh yes, the school will even send round somepony with your homework.”
“OH!” Swirl moaned louder.
“C’mon,” Rainbow said as she trotted past her sulking daughter and headed towards the kitchen. “You can help me clean the kitchen today.”
Swirl stood up and solemnly followed her mother, dreading the next month greatly.
“It’s quite impressive, actually,” Rainbow started as a thought crossed her mind. “Only two weeks back after the summer holidays and you’re already excluded for month.”
The afternoon rolled on slowly, but eventually the time came for Rainbow to pick Dash up.
Rainbow flew to where the rest of the parents were waiting and waited with them.
Slowly but surely, a crowd of tired children trotted out. Their steps were slow and the breaths were heavy as the exhaustion of flying for hours on end had got to them. Every single one was knackered, except for Dash, who was glaring at the floor she stomped her hooves on as she walked.
“Hey, Dashie,” Rainbow said caringly as she saw her daughter’s expression. “What’s up?” she asked with a sympathetic tone.
“Five point nine,” Dash muttered back angrily as she stopped in front of her mother.
“What? Five point nine wing power?” Rainbow asked, her face slowly becoming more and more awestruck. “Dash! That’s amazing!” she congratulated.
“No it’s not,” Dash muttered back. She looked up with a moody expression and pouted lips.
“The Wonderbolts have at least twenty wing power, so I'm way off!” she shouted.
Rainbow frowned at the fuming filly.
“Dash. To have that high a wing power at your age is fantastic. I only have a wing power of just under ten and I'm almost five times your age. And that was done years ago, so I imagine that’s less now anyway.”
“Still,” Dash said moodily.
“Also, Dashie, you’re only seven, so it’s unlikely the Wonderbolts would take you on. I think the youngest Wonderbolt so far was twenty two, I think.”
Dash struggled to keep up her angry façade now. She knew her mother was right. “I guess.”
“Plus, that means you have plenty of time to practice and get better for them,” she said intriguingly.
Dash’s face cracked a smile, which she couldn’t hide.
Rainbow chuckled. “That’s better. C’mon, let’s go home.”
She lowered herself so Dash could climb on her back, and Dash happily did so; she was far too tired to fly.
“How about we stop off for an ice cream, huh?”
Dash smiled broadly and hugged her mother’s neck, nuzzling slightly as well.
Rainbow laughed slightly and jumped into the air. “I take that as a yes.”
Rainbow and Dash were sat on a bench in the park, both enjoying a cone of ice cream.
“So, how was your first day of flight camp?” Rainbow asked.
Dash turned to look at her mother before she spoke, and yawned.
Rainbow laughed as her daughter’s strawberry ice cream covered mouth opened wide and yawned loudly.
“I take it you’re tired?” Rainbow asked through a giggle.
Dash nodded as she yawned again. “I haven’t flown so much before. But it was really fun. Apparently I’ve been flying wrong all these years.”
“Oh? How so?” Rainbow asked curiously.
“Breeze, who’s really cool, said that kids fly just by beating their wings as fast as possible, but that’s wrong because what we really need to do is angle our wings. It felt confusing at first, I couldn’t get my head around it, but now I'm beginning to see it’s better and I can fly a bit longer now.”
“Interesting,” Rainbow said sincerely. “I never really thought about the technique behind flying before.”
“Breeze said I was really good and had huge potential and that if I keep it up I could be a really strong flyer,” Dash said quickly and excitedly before yawning again. “And Jet Stream is really cool!”
Rainbow felt a strange feeling in the bottom of her stomach at the mention of his name.
“Is he now?” she asked casually. To an older Pony it would have been obvious she was hiding something.
“Yeah! I really like him! And I think he likes you too,” Dash sang childishly.
Rainbow blushed. “What?” she asked with a small, embarrassed chuckle.
“He kept asking me how we all were and was especially interested when I talked about you.”
Rainbow giggled girlishly.
“Do you like Jet stream?” Dash asked with a devious, childish smile.
“Have you finished your ice cream, Dashie?” Rainbow asked to change the topic. Her cheeks were burning.
Dash laughed knowingly. “You love Jet Stream!” she teased.
Rainbow ignored and continued with her ice cream.
A few seconds had passed when Rainbow heard a splat coming from next to her.
She turned her head to see the source of it and burst out laughing, but quickly slammed her hooves over her mouth to quieten herself down.
Dash was sat on the bench, fast asleep, resting her head on her ice cream.
“Aww,” Rainbow chuckled. “We better get you home.”
Rainbow, still quietly laughing, picked the filly up and placed her gently on her back. She reached over her shoulder and pulled the ice cream cone of her daughter’s head and held it as she took off, just in case Dash woke up and wanted some more.
“It is about nap time for you, anyway.”