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// Just Getting Started... 
// Story: Love At First Summer Camp 
// by pandaxxus 
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Cloudsdale Kick.

I've been coming to this place since I was seven years old. It’s a popular summer camp in Cloudsdale, and even after almost ten years, I still can feel my excitement bubbling up inside me the minute I enter the camp. 

You see, this camp was mainly for kids who wanted to play soccer. However, there are still other alternatives if you aren't interested in the sport. I am very invested in soccer. My cousin is Spitfire! She is the captain of one of the best teams of all time, the Wonderbolts.

Being the younger cousin of such a legend, I, Soarin Skies, consider myself fairly popular. However, most people don't know until I tell them who I am. 

I have a dream of becoming a Wonderbolt. Spits says that if I practice enough, I will definitely earn a spot on the team. I've been practicing since the second grade. That's how I was introduced to Cloudsdale Kick.

Spitfire had told me that she had went here when she was younger, and when seven year old me heard, I begged my parents to let me go. I went with another cousin of mine, Fleetfoot. She was only a year younger than I was at the time and also wanted to be like Spitfire. 

When my dad dropped me off on that first day of summer, I looked around at all of the other kids running around with huge smiles on their faces. There were also some teenagers laughing with their friends at the various picnic tables placed around the area. I could see a lake area, and kids were swimming and passing a ball around. Then, there was a large soccer field in the distance. My eyes lit up as if I had found a pot of gold. Fleetfoot and I immediately ran to the field and started kicking a ball around, and we both soon realized that this is what we wanted to do for the rest of our lives.

I've come here every year since, and I'm now sixteen. Fleetfoot had also come with me every single time, and we both have created many memories together. I believe that I've improved massively in terms of playing soccer, and it's only a matter of time before I finally join the team.

“Soar? Soarin!” I heard Fleetfoot’s voice and it snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked into her bright pink eyes that were glaring at me.

“Soarin, you need to stop spacing out like this. Kids are gonna get creeped out because they think that you're smiling at them!” she spread her arms out dramatically as she scolded me. After running her hand through her short, snow white hair, she put some dark shades on and looked at me.

“You look a mess too!” She nagged. Fleetfoot proceeded to ruffle my own short navy blue hair, and nearly poked my green eyes while doing that. She tugged at my dark blue t-shirt before I stopped her.

“I think I look just fine, thank you very much.” I grumbled.

“I know, I just wanted to mess with you.” she laughed, before tugging at her shorts. I looked around the camp again, and saw a spare soccer ball resting near a flagpole. I smiled before picking it up and turning to my cousin.

“Hey Fleet, wanna toss this around like old times?” I asked, throwing the ball in the air.

“Sure, but aren't we supposed to go out in the field to do this?” she asked, pointing in the direction of the field.

“Come on,” I sighed, “It's not like we're going to hurt anyone!” 

Fleetfoot smirked and rolled her eyes before giving in and signaling for me to kick the ball over to her. We tossed it around calmly for a few minutes, however, Fleetfoot kicked the ball a little too hard for my liking, and it went past me. I took it as a competition, and kicked the ball harder towards her. Soon, it turned into an actual game, and we fought to try to get the ball past one another, as if there was an imaginary goal behind each of us. 

This continued until I kicked the ball so hard, it flew past Fleetfoot into the air, and we watched as it almost left our sight. I shut my eyes and began laughing, thinking I had won. My laughter was cut short as both Fleetfoot and I heard a sound.

“Ow!” a feminine voice rang from the other side of the camp.

Both Fleetfoot and I looked at each other, horror written on our face. The ball I kicked must have hit someone, and I kicked that ball hard. In an instant, my cousin and I bolted in the direction of the scream, hoping that whoever I hit wasn't injured. 

We stopped as we saw a girl with soft pink hair helping another girl beside her off of the ground. I looked and found my soccer ball not too far away from them. The pink haired girl had light yellow skin, and teal eyes full of worry. Next to her, was a girl with light blue skin, like mine. I took a step back as I saw her hair. It was a beautiful long rainbow, and it fell over her shoulders like a waterfall. I couldn't say anything, it was breathtaking. 

Her face, well her eyes were shut tight in pain, and she held her head. That brought me out of my spell, and I ran over to the injured girl. 

“Uh...hi.” I said sheepishly. I originally planned to apologize the minute I got close enough, but the words seemed to die the minute I looked at her. The pink haired girl looked at me, confused. The rainbow haired girl finally opened her eyes, and I almost froze in my place. She looked at me with large magenta eyes. It could have just been me, but it looked like they sparkled as they stared at me.

I got a better look at her face. Her nose was small and cute. Her eyes were big and she had long lashes. Her mouth was small as well. That combined with her gorgeous prismatic hair made her one of the most prettiest girls I have ever seen. All that was left now was to talk to her, but I couldn't.

“That's gonna leave a bruise…” she muttered. Her voice was raspy and it cracked in some places. It was different, and it made me fall for her even more. She looked at me and raised an eyebrow, and my knees felt weak.

“Is...that yours?” she asked me, pointing at the ball that I had unintentionally hit her with.

I stared at her before finally finding my voice.

“Uh...yeah actually. I'm real sorry about that.” I said awkwardly.

Fleetfoot seemed to finally catch up to me and must have seen my struggle.

“I'm so sorry about that. My idiot cousin doesn't understand the meaning of not hurting anyone.” She glared at me.

“It’s okay. I guess.” The rainbow haired angel smiled a bit. She looked at the pink haired girl and watched as she clutched onto her arm before looking back at us.

“Is this your first time here? I've never seen you in all of my years of going to this camp.” Fleetfoot asked the girls. The pink haired girl hid behind her hair as Fleet made eye contact with her. 

“Yeah, actually. But it's not our first time at a summer camp.” the rainbow haired girl answered for her.

“Really? Where did you go?” 

The girl scratched the back of her head with her free arm. 

“We actually went to Junior Speedster’s like a few blocks away.” she said.

Fleetfoot backed away in disgust.

“You guys are Junior Speedster's?! They are our enemies!” she shouted.

“Yeah...I know. But as you can obviously see, I don't go there anymore.” she smirked a bit.

“Why not?”

“I maybe kind of...got expelled?” she said and the tone of her voice got higher.

Fleetfoot snorted.

“How do you get expelled from a summer camp?” 

“It’s possible.” the girl replied, glaring a little, “And to be fair, I was like, ten.” 

“Well what about her? She does not seem like the type to get expelled..” Fleetfoot pointed at the timid girl who still has yet to speak.

“That's because she isn't. She's just crazy nice enough to stick with me, even if I seem like the worst person in the entire world.” she looked at her friend, and I saw a new look in her eyes. It looked as if she admired this silent girl, and proud of her.

“Well, I guess, welcome to Cloudsdale Kick! I'm Fleetfoot, I've been coming here since I was in kindergarten. I came here for its main purpose, soccer. What about you?” she asked the rainbow haired angel.

“Me too. I’m totally going to get a spot on the Wonderbolts team, and I'm going to need all the practice I can get. Even if I am perfect already.” She said proudly, and I could agree. 

Both of our eyes widened when we heard that she had the same dream as us, but neither of us said anything. It was almost perfect. She was beautiful and she had the same interests as I had.

“What about your friend? No offense, but she doesn't seem like the soccer kind of gal.” Fleetfoot asked.

“She isn't.”

“Well, we have things like arts and crafts. Maybe she'd like that?” 

I watched as the pink haired girl’s eyes almost brightened as she heard Fleetfoot, but she still kept silent.

“Well, I’m Rainbow Dash, and this is my best friend Fluttershy.” She introduced. Rainbow Dash. I had a feeling that her name would not be leaving my mind anytime soon.

“And yours is?” she spoke again, this time looking at me. I froze up again, but managed to speak.

“S-Soarin.” I stuttered, and mentally kicked myself for being so awkward.

“Well Soarin,” she smirked, “I assume you are also here for soccer? That was a pretty hard kick there..” 

“Oh uh...yeah. Sorry again.” I looked down. What was wrong with me?

She laughed for the first time. It was like music to my ears.

“That's the second time you apologized, its okay!” she smiled. I didn't know how much more I could take before I melted completely.

“So, uh. Where do we sleep?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh! We have cabins! Four people per cabin.” Fleetfoot explained.

“Cool, do we get to pick?” she asked.

“Uh, not really. They post it on the giant board in the center at around five o’clock. So you can find and get everything ready by the time it's really late.” 

Fluttershy seemed to grab Rainbow's arm tighter. It was most likely at the fact that there's a chance that she won't get to share a room with her friend.

“Well, I guess we're going to go explore a little more, thanks for almost giving me a concussion!” Rainbow evil laughed, before walking away, with Fluttershy clinging to her.

“I'm sorry!” I shouted a bit, before Fleetfoot elbowed me in the stomach.

“You totally like that rainbow chick.” She snorted. 

“H-How’d you know?!” my voice cracked with embarrassment.

“You looked like a tomato every time the girl moved! You're still red!” She said before doubling over in laughter. 

I didn't even realize how hot my face had gotten, and I felt it get even warmer.

“W-whatever. It's not like I'm going to talk to her anymore either way. After she realizes how big of a bruise I gave her, she won't want to talk to me, or come near me!” I said.

“Sure, dork. Sure. You're going to go almost three months without talking to her again?” 

“Yep.”

Fleetfoot laughed before walking away from me. I knew I was screwed. I could have hit anyone else, but it just had to be her.



“Soarin, can you please hurry? I want to see who I'm bunking with this summer!” Fleet yelled at me. I ran to catch up.

We stood in front of a big wooden board that had many names on it. Other campers were gathered around and started to form their groups. It was time to find out who was going to live together for the summer, and I wasn't too scared. 

“Soar?” A deep voice called my name and I immediately recognized it. I turned and was met with a teen with messy blue hair and orange eyes. His skin was ash grey.

“Thunderlane! Hey!” I shook his hand. He was my best friend at this camp. We've shared bunks a few years here and there, but not all the time. He had come when I was ten years old, and every year, I'd be excited to see him again.

“Are we sharing this year?” I asked him.

“No, I got this girl named Ditzy though. I hope she's cute.” He wiggled his eyebrows and I chuckled.

“Alright enough,” I said, “Too bad we aren't sharing. I'm really looking forward to this year.”

“You always are, doofus.” Thunder slapped me on the back, and I pretended as if it didn't hurt. 

“Well, do you know who you're bunking with?” He asked me, smiling.

“No, I’m making Fleet tell me.” I smirked. I looked around to see if I could find her, but my eyes found Rainbow Dash again. She looked as if she was telling Fluttershy something, before Fluttershy hugged her so tight, she almost fell. It looked like they were lucky enough to share a cabin together.

“Hey cuz!” Fleetfoot finally appeared, “or should I say roomie?” 

“We're bunking together?” I asked, surprised.

“Yep!” she smiled.

“Cool!” I threw an arm around her, “But, who are the other two we are staying with?”

I watched as Fleetfoot’s pink eyes sparkled and her mouth formed an evil grin.

“So, uh. You kind of smacked her with a soccer ball a few hours ago.” She said, trying not to laugh.

My smile immediately disappeared, and I felt my heart drop into the pit of my stomach.

“Of course…” I said with little emotion.

“Hold on. You smacked a girl with a soccer ball?” Thunderlane asked, Fleetfoot nodded.

“Man,” he sighed, “I’ve never arrived late here ever. And the one time I do, I miss the best thing ever.”

Fleetfoot looked at me and laughed a bit.

“Oh Thunderlane, this is just getting started.”