//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Flurry Heart's Story: The Perfect Storm Streak 
// by AleximusPrime 
//------------------------------//

The door to Rainbow Dash and Thunderhead’s bedroom burst open.  Storm Streak rushed in and began jumping on the bed as he excitedly tried to wake his parents up.
“Mommy, Dadddy, get up!” he shouted.
“Ugh…just a few more minutes, Dad,” Rainbow Dash grumbled.
“Mommy, it’s me!  Stormy!”
“Alright, kiddo.  Settle down,” Thunder said, getting up and patting his son on the head. “I know you’re excited about the Ponyville Fair, but it’s going to be going all week you know.”
“Yeah, but we gotta get there soon cuz this year’s gonna be even better!  I’m finally tall enough to ride on the greatest, awesomest, most radicalest ride of all time:  THE LEVIATHAN!”
Stormy flew into the air and struck a pose as he pretended to play a guitar.
“Alright, squirt,” said Rainbow Dash, “but you can’t go to the fair until you’ve had your breakfast, made your bed and-”
“Already did it!” Stormy said as he saluted his mother.
“Uh…what?”
“I already ate breakfast and made my bed!”
“Reeeeally.”
Rainbow Dash looked suspiciously at Stormy as he smiled, showing traces of milk from the cereal he ate earlier.  Stormy’s younger brother Lightning Flash then entered the room.
“Mommy, Daddy, Stormy made his bed and it looks really good!” he told his parents.
Rainbow Dash and Thunderhead looked at each other in amazement. Stormy would normally not eat breakfast before them, nor would he make his own bed.
“Wow.  He’s really pumped for that ride,” Thunder said.
“So, can we go now?” Stormy asked.
“Just a minute now.  You know we gotta eat our breakfast first,” Rainbow Dash reminded him.
“Awww.  Okay, I’ll wait.”
Stormy frowned in disappointment as his parents both giggled.


A while later, Stormy and the rest his family all walked towards a park outside of Ponyville reserved for the annual fair that would go for one week every summer.  Stormy stared in amazement at the fair as he watched one ride in particular.  His eyes were huge and had stars in them.
“There it is!  The Leviathan!” he crooned.
“Can I go with you, Stormy?” asked his little brother.
“I wish you could, Flashy, but you gotta be tall enough.”
“Aw.”
“Don’t worry.  If you eat plenty of leafy greens like I’ve been doing for the past year, you’ll be as tall as me someday!”
“But you should eat your leafy greens regardless,” Thunder told his sons, teasingly.
“I know, Daddy,” Stormy replied.
“Alright, there’s the troupe, everypony,” Rainbow Dash said as she carried baby Misty Blitz in her arms.
Near the entrance were all of Stormy’s friends.  Spike and Buttercream joined Flurry Heart, while Apple Chip and Annie Smith were with their father Tex, and Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake were with Mr. Cake.  The fathers had all agreed to join their kids for this fair since the mothers had been chaperons for the trip to Southern Equestria a few weeks prior.  Rainbow Dash walked with them to say goodbye and then go off to spend some time with her friends.  Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich’s wedding would be held in a few days and she was one of the maids of honor, so she had things to prepare for.
“Hey guys!” Stormy shouted as he landed in front of all his friends.
“Stormy!  Who’s excited to go on the Leviathan this year?” Pound Cake said, nudging him.
“I AM!”
“The Leviathan?  What’s that?” Flurry asked.
“It’s the ride Stormy really wanted to go on last year but couldn’t,” Annie told her.
“But this year, I’m tall enough to ride!  The Leviathan is going to be so awesome!”
“How is it you can pronounce ‘Leviathan’ but you can’t pronounce Anatankha’s name?” Chip asked Stormy.
“Shush, Chip,” Stormy said, placing his hoof over Chip’s mouth. “This is gonna be the most awesomest day of my life!”
“You know ‘awesomest’ isn’t a real word, ri-”
“LEVIATHAN, HERE I COME!!”
Stormy jetted up into the air as his parents rolled their eyes and laughed.
“Somebody’s been preparing for this day for quite some time,” Mr. Cake snickered to Thunderhead.
“Couldn’t stop talking about it for the past few days,” Thunderhead replied.
“Hey, everypony.  Sorry we’re late,” said Melody Heartsong as she walked in with Cozy Glow.
“Cozy!  You made it!” said Buttercream.
“Hey guys,” Cozy said, bashfully.
“Cozy wanted to get to know the town a little better after the other day.  Do you think the ponies here will be alright with us being around?” Melody asked.
“I’m sure they’ll be fine,” Spike said, “I think everypony’s done their best to get over what happened with the Sorceress.  They said they all saw how bad it was for Cozy inside that prison realm.  I’d keep her close though.”
“Oh I’ll stay close.  I’m never leaving my baby again.”
Melody wrapped her arm around her daughter and nuzzled her tenderly.
“Thanks for letting me tag along, everypony,” Cozy told them. “I feel a lot better now that I’m actually trying to actually make friends.”
“No problemo, Cozy!” Pumpkin said, cheerfully. “There are a lot of cool things you can do in the fair.  It’ll be your first big introduction to Ponyville culture!”
“Well, kids, if everypony’s ready, I say we head on in,” Tex told them all.
“Aright.  I’ll see you, kids.  Take it easy, Storm!” Rainbow said as she waved goodbye and left with Misty.
“Bye, Mommy!  Alright, let’s go!” Stormy shouted, leading the way.
Everyone followed him to the ticket booth.  The parents paid, everyone got their hooves stamped and they continued into the fair grounds.  There were concession stands all around and tents pitched for shops with tons of merchandise.  They all looked around, admiring the scenery, but Stormy was getting impatient.
“Come on guys!  We gotta get to the Leviathan!” Stormy whined.
“Now now, Storm.  Let’s let everyone get the lay of the land first,” Thunder told him. “We’ll ride the Leviathan first and then I guess we can split up and find things to do.”
“Ugh, fine.”
“This sure is a nice little fair,” Flurry said, looking around. “I’m surprised my parents never suggested I come to visit in the past while this was going on.”
“Well you picked a good first year to come,” Pound told her. “I think we have more concessions this year than we did last.”
“It’s my first year too and I’m loving it so far!” Buttercream said, looking around at some of the items in the gift shops.
“You like rock candy at all, Butter?” Spike asked his sister.
“YEEEES.  YES I DO,” she said as her pupils dilated and her mouth watered.
“They have some down in the lower meadows at this one stand.”
“I WANT ONE!”
“Alright!  Here it is! The Leviathan!” Mr. Cake said.
Everyone looked up to see the ride before them.  The Leviathan was a group of several cars shaped like a snake-like dragon with the front car being the head.  It would spin around counter clockwise from the center, connected to a large rod that would help it to ‘slither’ up and down as it went. It would run for about two minutes and then go backwards for the same amount of time.  It wasn’t quite as rough as a roller coaster nor was it the biggest ride in Equestria, but it was the most sought-after ride in the Ponyville Fair. The kids all stared in awe at the massive ride.  Stormy put his hooves up to his cheeks and squealed with delight.
“Stormy was right!  This is quite a ride!” Flurry said.
“It’s cool how they fashioned it after an Eastern Drake!” Butter told everyone.  “Did you kids know leviathans are a type of dragon?”
“Wow, really?” asked Annie.
“No way!” Pumpkin exclaimed.
“Yup!  The Easterns are also known as ‘longs.’  First there are the wind longs, which can levitate without wings and breathe fire. Next there’s the water longs or sea serpents, which have only two arms and live in the water and breathe ice.  The great longs or leviathans are the biggest ones. They can swim or fly and breathe fire, ice, wind and all sorts of other elements.  They can also grow to be over a mile long.  Emperor Antirrhinum is one of them.  Oh, and then there’s the wyrms which are tiny legless longs that make good pets.”
“This place sounds so awesome!” Stormy beamed.
“They sure are!  Nighty and I went to their homeland a while ago and made some good friends there. I gotta take you there some time, Spike. I think you’d really get along with Lily and Aster!”
“I have been itching to see what the Easterns are like,” Spike told her while stroking his chin.
“Enough talk!  Let’s get on it!” Stormy shouted.
Everyone else except Lightning Flash and the dragons got in line for the ride.  There was a young mare working at the entrance to the ride that was checking everyone’s hooves for the stamp and asking them for their age.  Stormy noticed there was no ‘you have to be this tall to ride’ sign now, but it didn’t seem important at the moment.  He finally got to the worker mare and showed her his hoof.”
“Hey there little guy,” she said with a smile on her face as she checked his hoof. “And how old are you now?”
“Seven and a half years,” Stormy said with a smile on his face.
“Oh dear.  Sorry, but you’re gonna have to sit this one out.  You gotta be at least eight years old to ride on the Leviathan.”
Her words hit Stormy like a ton of bricks.  His smile slowly turned into a frown and his eyes widened.
“Wait…WHAT?!”
“Yep.  It’s the first rule.”
The worker pointed to a sign next to her that read “Must be 8 years or older to ride” on the first line.
“Are…Are you serious?  I thought we had to be tall enough to ride!”
“I know.  That was the original rule, but they changed things.  Now you have to be a certain age.”
Stormy’s ears drooped down and he looked very sad. Thunder did the best he could to find a way around this.
“Miss, would it be okay if I rode with him?” he asked the worker.
“They have to be at least eight.  You don’t even need an adult to be with you as long as you’re the right age.  If I let him on, I could get fired.  They’re being pretty strict with these rules.”
“Pleeeeease?  I’ve been waiting to go on this ride all year,” Stormy begged.
“Sorry, buddy.  I wish I could let you on, but I don’t make the rules, I just enforce them.”
The mare did her best to cheer him up by smiling, but Stormy grimaced and stomped out of the booth.  His friends and their parents all looked at him in sorrow.
“Sorry, Stormy,” Flurry said.
“Cheer up, Stormy.  There are still other rides,” Pumpkin told him.
“Yeah, we can still catch you at the bumper cars or something,” Chip said.
“Or the carrot dog stand.  At least you can enjoy all the food regardless of age,” Annie added.
“I wanted to ride the Leviathan,” Stormy said through his teeth.
“Well, we’re all eight and older, Miss,” Pound said as the rest of them put their hooves up to show their stamps.
“Alright, you kids enjoy the ride,” the worker told them as she undid the rope and let them in.
The rest of the kids, Mr. Cake, Tex and Melody all entered to pick seats in the cars, while Thunder chose to stay behind with his son. Stormy watched woefully as they all strapped themselves in and another worker pony came by to check their belts. The ride then lurched forward and the head in the front spewed out sparks and made a roaring sound.  The cars moved up and down repeatedly as if the creature was slithering like an Eastern Drake flying through the sky. The passengers all put their hooves in the air and whooped excitedly.  Stormy did his best to think more about the fact that his friends were having fun, but he could not ignore what a great disappointment today was.  He couldn’t take it any longer and walked away from the ride.  He stopped and sat down next to the sign for the Leviathan.  Butter, Spike, Flashy and Thunder all came over to cheer him up.
“Stormy, if it makes you feel any better, Spike and I are too fat for the ride so we can’t go on either,” Butter told him, patting her belly.
“And being Northern Drakes, we aren’t going to grow any smaller over the years, so unlike you, we’ll never get to go on it,” Spike added.
“It’s okay, Stormy.  I can’t go on, either,” Flashy said, putting his arm around his brother.
“It’ll be fine, Storm.” Thunder told his son. “There are still plenty of things you can do here at the fair and other of rides to go on. Don’t let this ruin your day.”
“I really wanted to go on that ride, Daddy,” Stormy said, grouchily. “This was supposed to be my big day and now it’s ruined.”
Stormy got up and walked away miserably as they watched. Thunder then turned back to the other three.
“Spike, Butter, would you guys mind watching over Flashy while I try to cheer him up?” he asked them.
“You got it, Thunder,” Spike told him.
“Come on Flashy,” Butter said, picking Flashy up in her arms. “Let’s go get some rock candy.  You’ll love it!”
“Is it made out of real rocks?” Flashy asked her.
“Naw, but it’s really sweet!”
Thunder watched them leave and then turned back to follow after Stormy.  Meanwhile, at the sign for the Leviathan, the image of the serpent began to move.  The pupils in its eyes looked in the direction Stormy had left.