//------------------------------// // Finding Home // Story: The Misadventures of Storm Gate and Shadow Blade // by Fallen_Valkyrie //------------------------------// The sky was clear in front of them, the two ponies both tense with anticipation. Their wings twitched, their muscles strained, their vision focused ahead of them. "Where to Rainbow?" the black pony asked impatiently. "We'll end at Sugarcube Corner; I'll see you there in what? An hour?" she smiled cockily "this pony has no idea what his gotten into," she thought. "Don't be so cocky; don't you know that Rainbows always come after the Storm?" "Yeah yeah, quit your talking, we go on 3." she was getting irritated, but she wasn't worried, she wouldn't lose. She never did. "1..." Their wings spread open, the wind blowing through them. "2..." Their legs dug into the ground, ready to propel them at any moment, Rainbow looked over to her opponent, he was tensed, focused, she smiled "This will be easy." "3..." Both ponies burst from the ground and flew straight towards their goal. Rainbow had the early advantage; she had remained close to the ground, barely gaining any altitude at all. She had chosen speed and distance over any real strategy. Normally a race pony would have a more formulated plan, but Rainbow was easily fast enough for her devil may care tactics to work in her favor. Storm Gate had taken a different approach; experience had told him exactly what the blue Pegasus was planning. If what he had heard about her was true, he was clearly at a speed disadvantage. He shot off at an angle, gaining altitude and ending up high above Rainbow Dash, it had cost him some distance but if he remembered the land the way he thought he did it would pay off in the long run. Rainbow's wings pounded the air; forcibly pushing it behind her and propelling herself further and faster with each beat. She glanced behind her "Ha, no sign of Storm fake anywhere and he said he was a racer." She smiled, but was in a way disappointed. She sighed "I was hoping for a bit more challenge." Then she saw the shadow. High above her Storm Gate had begun to make his move. His shadow spread over the rainbow Pegasus who was still flying low among the trees. They were approaching the outskirts of the forest, Ponyville was coming up in front of them, the trees were getting thicker, and the drop was coming. The black Pegasus had recalled that the edge of the forest they were in led into a deep valley and was a straight shot into Ponyville. He smiled, he only had one shot to dive his way in front of Rainbow and reach the finish before her. The blue Pegasus had begun to gain altitude, avoiding the trees and low hanging branches that were sure to slow her down. She flew faster; Sugarcube Corner was within her sight. Storm Gate folded in his wings, he streamlined his body for maximum efficiency, and he dove. He accelerated quickly, gaining on his rainbow opponent in no time at all, he laughed. There was no way he could lose this race, she was at most 300ft in front of him and the finish was a mere 400ft beyond that. Rainbow glanced over her shoulder; she was surprised to see her opponent so close to her. She quickly looked around her, accelerating as much as she could. She eyed a nearby cloud and smiled deviously, she banked ever so slightly and took one last look at her opponent, she raised a hoof in his direction and saluted him. Then she kicked the cloud. Storm Gate barely had time to register his opponent’s gesture and raise an eyebrow before the cloud hit him. He was immediately slowed down; he had been flipped upside down and was now falling flank first into the ground. Rainbow made her landing in front of Sugarcube Corner; she turned to face the sky just in time to see the results of her little scheme. The black Pegasus had managed to flip himself back around, he was getting close to the ground. He flared his wings but the quick decrease in speed only spun him out. He fell quickly and hit the ground. He rolled past a laughing Rainbow Dash and right through the doors of Sugarcube Corner. He crashed into the walls of the small room, his body laid out against the wall, his back legs up against the wall and his head on the floor. He was clearly disoriented. He glanced upwards the rainbow pony staring down at him. He sighed "That was a dirty trick, but I guess there were no rules huh?" "Well, technically not." She smiled, looking down at her defeated opponent. "Are you alright?" "Yeah, ugh..." he struggled back up to his feet; he fell back over clumsily, his knees shaking from the impact.”I'm pretty resilient. Since you won I guess you deserve some recognition, even if you did cheat." she looked at him with confusion, unsure as to what he was thinking. If he tried anything... Storm Gate smiled at the confused mare before him, he sat down and reached up for his goggles. He pushed them back up over his head and took them off, he then motioned for her to come near. Reaching above Dash's head he smiled and lowered the goggles down over her, letting them rest just above her eyes. He smiled and spoke quite dramatically. "You have won my respect Ms. Rainbow Dash, and with that I give you my official Wonderbolts goggles, they are yours until the day I win them back." He smiled at her and laughed. "Trust me I will win them back." "Yeah well good luck with that, but thanks." Suddenly there was a noise from the kitchen, and quickly ran out two ponies. Crumbs from various sweets stuck to the chocolate and frosting on their fur. Storm Gate sat back, put his hoof to his face, and sighed. "This won't be good," he thought. "Hey Storm Gate, Hey Storm Gate, Storm Gate hey. Pinkie and I have been eating cupcakes." the grey pony was jittering violently. "Shadow you know you aren't supposed to eat sweets. Did you even find a spot for our house?" "Well no, we've been eating cookies and cupcakes and pastries and Pinkie was telling me all about her parties." Storm Gate sighed, "Honestly, you had one job. You couldn't even do that for me. " Pinkie Pie finished eating her cupcake and bounced over to her unexpected guests. "Oh hi Dashie, Storm Gate, what brings you here?" "Hey Pinkie Pie," the blue pony responded, "He had a bit of an accident on the flight over here." "An accident is a bit of an understatement don't you think?" the black pony glanced over to his brother who was bouncing uncontrollably behind the counter, humming to himself. "Pinkie, how much did you let him eat?" "Oh, I don't know Stormy, two maybe three dozen cupcakes, I usually start my day with at least twice that many." "Pinkie, I'm not going to pretend that I understand how your digestive system works, but I need to get him home. Oh wait I can't," he snapped and turned to his brother, "because somepony didn't do their job." "Chill out, Storm Cloud we can get that house built in no time at all." Rainbow smiled, pushing down her new goggles. "There's a clearing not too far from my house, you can build there. It's already been pre-approved for construction by the weather team." "Alright, fine let's get going." Storm Gate grabbed his brother by the wing and dragged him along behind them, Pinkie bouncing up by their side. "Hey Dash, do you want to do something fun later?" "Maybe Pinkie, we're a bit busy right now though." "Oh okay, how about you Storm Gate?" "Pinkie the only thing I want to do right now is lay down and sleep." The black pony realized he was no longer dragging his brother and turned to find him talking to the Pinkie. "We could go and pull pranks and you show me more places to eat around here. That sounds like fun." Storm Gate turned away, he had given up at that point. "Where is this place Rainbow?" "It’s right over this hill. My house is right there." She pointed her hoof in the direction of a large cloud structure; it was clearly visible to them. Its rainbow fountains and columns stood out against the clear sky. As they approached a team of pegasi had already gathered in the clearing, they each had a cache of clouds, ready to begin the basic construction. Each Pegasus grabbed a cloud and flew it to the building site; they quickly had formed a foundation. They sculpted each piece separately and attached the prefabricated pieces to the ever growing structure. Within a few hours the house was built, it wasn't much to look at but the finer aesthetic details would come later. For the moment, at least they had a home.