//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Junior Year // Story: Two Rainbows // by BioQuillFiction //------------------------------// Bow Hothoof The early mornings of Cloudsdale are much like that of every other town or city. Ponies starting their day, waking up and getting ready to head out for work or important events. Today was the same for a young Bow Hothoof. The alarm next to his bed was ringing, its annoying sound startling as it angered the teen. "Why must I suffer…" Bow groaned in annoyance, moving over and hitting the alarm off. With a groan he began to move and pull the sheets off himself. Bow was a simple teen really, only wanting sleep and enjoyment. Still, he had to get up. Against his own will, he forced himself up and took in his surroundings. Like most teens, his bedroom was messy. Bits of dirty clothes and trash along the floor.  "Ugh…mom’s gonna complain a lot about this…" The pegasus grumbled, moving around the trash and dirty clothes to get ready for school. Today was his first day of his junior year at Cloudsdale High School. A swift series of knocks came from his bedroom door. “Bow, wake up, you’ll be late for school.” His mothers voice called out, a soft but stern tone. "I know mom!" Bow called out simply. “Then hurry up, your breakfast is ready and you don’t wanna miss the first day.” "I know mom!" He called out again, getting dressed in clean enough clothes and putting on some deodorant. With his hooves on the ground he made his way outside, quickly eating his breakfast and grabbing his saddlebags. Once he made sure all his fresh school supplies were packed he flew out the door and towards the school.  Like most Pegasus buildings, the school was constructed from clouds, with some special unicorn enchantments to allow for things like trees, grass, and even dirt from the ground below to remain atop the clouds and provide an enjoyable atmosphere and pleasantries. “Yo, Bow!” Turning, Bow spotted a stallion with a white coat, sky blue mane and emerald eyes. His friend, Snow Maker. "Sup Snow, how are you doin?" Bow asked with a smile. “Oh, usual. So, how do you think this new school year will turn out? I’m looking forward to the season. We can finally join some teams and try out.” "Yeah, sports is most definitely what I'm gonna be trying." He nodded. "And hopefully it won't be super boring." “Hey, if we both make the teams that means we can both hang out and have an excuse to skip classes.” Snow added with a chuckle. The bell rang and the two friends said their goodbyes, having several different classes this year sadly meant the two would most likely see one another during lunch or when they join the sports teams. Bow sighed as he entered his first class for the day, history. “Good morning Mr. Hothoof.” The teacher greeted him upon his arrival. “Heh, hey Mr. Volare…” Bow replied. Mr. Volare was his teacher the prior year, and the school’s coach for Bow’s favorite sport. Hoofball. “I see you have me again this year. Don’t worry, I’m sure you will do better than last year.” He said. In truth, Mr. Volare liked Bow, and wanted him on the school Hoofball team, but he was strict. The students who joined the team were told not to let their grades slip below a C. Any who did, even for a moment, were suspended until that error was corrected. And Bow was terrible at History. “I’ll do my best.” Bow said, starting to not like his chances at getting on the team if he had Mr. Volare again. “And I will get into the Hoofball team this time.” “Well, your grades will tell us that much.” He said with a chuckle. With a sigh, Bow went to his seat and read over the syllabus for the class. When Mr. Volare’s class ended, he went to his locker to grab a fresh notebook. He took notice of a mare with a light blue coat and multi orange tone mane at the nearby locker. She gazed at him, looking like she wanted to speak but didn’t, closing her locker and rushing off. “Wow…” Bow muttered, blinking as he tried processing the beauty he saw run away. With a shake of his head, he quickly got his items and left for his next class. “I wonder who she was?” He questioned himself. By the time lunch rolled around, Bow was starving. He quickly gathered his order, a daisy sandwich with sides of creamed corn, a muffin and milk carton, and found his way to his friends. Snow Maker was present, as were two other stallions. One had a chrome colored coat with a jet black mane and yellow eyes, Silver Force. The other, had a brown coat with a dirty blond messy mane covering their eyes, Sky Scraper. “Take your time.” Silver Force said as Bow took his seat with them. “This year sucks. We got like, one class together each so far.” “Could be worse, we could have no classes together.” Bow pointed out. “Yeah, but hey, this year, we get to try out for the sports teams, then we will be able to hang out every time we have practice, and a match.” Sky Scraper stated. “True that. Speaking of, you guys do the physicals yet? I already got mine before school started.” “Same.” Silver nodded. “I got mine with the school nurse today. So I’m cleared.” “I’m gonna need to do it.” Bow shrugged. “Better get it soon Bow, next month is when they start with tryouts,” Snow Maker stated. “Best to do that after lunch.” Bow answered. As he ate, he wondered about that mare he saw at the lockers. He did hope to see her again, though for some reason, she seemed vaguely familiar to him. Windy Whistles The metal clinks of an old wind up alarm rang, awaking the young mare known as Windy Whistles. She quickly stopped the alarm and awoke with a yawn, tossing the sheets off herself and jumping to the bathroom. She looked herself over and smiled as she brushed her multi orange toned mane. For years, she had thick, heavy and uncomfortable braces, now gone and leaving behind perfect teeth. Her mane was brushed straight and down, rather than her past twin ponytails. And her acne was finally gone and done with. Thanks to constant washing and creams to remove them. “Gotta look my best for my first day.” Windy Whistles commented with a huge sparkly smile. She was so happy to start a new school year off without any embarrassing facial blemishes or obscurities. More so, this was the year she finally asked her childhood crush out, Bow Hothoof. She and him had been through several of the same classes, and grades through most of their school life, but he never noticed her. Something she knew was because of her looks, growing up with a prologues awkward phase did little for her popularity, not that she cared. Once her teeth and mane were brushed and clean she rapidly flew to the kitchen, devouring her breakfast and flew off towards Cloudsdale High. Here, she stopped by one of the magically enchanted trees to gaze at her crush from afar.  Bow was talking to one of his friends, and she blushed, trying to imagine how to approach the stallion. “He’s going to never notice you~ So long as you keep hiding behind trees, walls and trash cans~ Oooooh~” Windy rolled her eyes, looking to her side and seeing her foalhood best friend, a mare with a jet black coat, neon blue mane and bright orange eyes. Thunder Cloud. “Oh shut up, Thunder Cloud.” Windy pouted. “I’m gonna talk to him this year, mark my words.” “Uh-huh, sure.” Her friend said with a chuckle, flying down and standing next to Windy. “He’s not a threstial so he won’t be able to hear you ask him out from all the way over here.” “Shush you.” Windy said. “I’m still…trying to figure out how to talk to him…” “Maybe start with ‘Hi, I’m Windy Whistles, nice to meet you’?” “I know I know…” She grumbled. “I still don’t get what you see in him though. He’s kinda… plain.” “He’s not ‘plain’.” Windy huffed. “If you say so.” The bell rang and the two mares flew off for class. As she flew through the halls, Windy kept her thoughts on Bow. His wings, the way he did a small jump before starting flight, his cutie mark of a lucky horseshoe over a rainbow on a cloud… his flank. Windy discovered that soon the hallway was empty, and she was not in class yet. With a panicked yelp, she flew down the hallway, looking for her class and finally finding it. Sadly her first class was not with Bow, nore her friend Thunder Cloud. She had AP Science all by herself. When that class ended she went to her locker, nearly freezing when she saw that Bow’s locker was a few lockers away. Her heart skipped a beat when he looked at her. “Uh…” Windy muttered, staring at the stallion of her dreams barely ten feet away from her. In the seconds that he was looking at her, Windy felt like it was hours as thousands of thoughts and ideas ran through her head… and only one made its way into action. She grabbed her things, closed her locker and flew off to her next class. Once she was around the corner, she grabbed her books and tried to bury her face into the cover. “Celestia darn it…” The poor pegasus mare whined. Eventually, Lunch time came around and Windy got herself a fruit salad, with a side of mashed potatoes and hay fries with a juicebox. She sat sulking at a table in the corner of the cafeteria, a view of Bow amongst his friends on the other end of the large room. “And just when I think it can’t get any more sad…” Thunder Cloud said as she flew in and sat next to Windy. “Thunder, I will slap you.” Windy frowned. “That bad then?” “My locker is practically right next to his…and…and I could only run…” “Yeah, that’s what I figured would happen.” Thunder shrugged, taking a bite of her apple. “You know, you probably should try and get him to talk to you.” “How?” Windy asked. “I may have taken a lot of pain to look this good…but I doubt I look good enough for him to talk to me…” “You just have to be able to get close enough to him for him to notice you. Did he see you at your locker?” “Yes, yes he did.” I nodded. “It felt like I was staring at his handsome muzzle for hours…” Thunder rolled her eyes, but continued. “Well, then if you appear in more places he is, say, at sporting events, then he’ll notice you more and more.” “Like…being a cheerleader?” She asked, lightly blushing at the thought of Bow seeing her in a Cheerleader’s outfit. “Thunder you're a genius.” “Are you just noticing?” She chuckled. “The best part, I happen to know the cheer captain this year.” Windy’s smile grew wider, knowing that it was Thunder’s own sister who was the captain of the cheer squad. “And we both know how much of a lovesick romantic she is. She’d be so willing to help your desperate flank out.” “Thunder, you are a lifesaver.” The lovestruck mare sighed out thankfully. “This year of school is going to be amazing.”