//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Wings, Power, Lift, Flight // Story: A Trail of Rainbows // by The Night Aegis //------------------------------// A Trail of Rainbows Arc 1: Something Lost, Is Something Found Chapter 2: Wings, Power, Lift, Flight May 10th 1854 A.D. 8:00AM Altostratus Summer Flight Camp Rainbow Dash zipped into her normal low hoover above the floor as the Bus Chariot came to a stop, she stretched out her hooves and gave a long sigh of satisfaction at being able to stretch. "Okay kids we are here, everypony off!" The lead bus driver called back to the foals on the chariots. Dash turned to her friend as Fluttershy slowly tip-hoofed off the chariot and kept close to where the rainbow maned filly hovered above the cloud. "Ready for some epic flying Fluttershy?" Dash asked as she struck a pose in front of her friend. It at least earned a smile from the shy mare who nodded "W-well I think so." She said meekly before looking around at the camp again now that they were up close to it. The camp was only a mile or two from Cloudsdale Major where the city of Cloudsdale resided atop a massive bank and formation of clouds. The Altostratus Summer Flight Camp despite its name was not made on Altostratus clouds but like most Pegasi settlements it was built into a batch of Clumulus and Stratocumulus clouds. The camp had many obstacle courses that could be seen from the cloud comprising of cloud rings and various other areas with cloud made obstacles. Fluttershy and Rainbow could also now see clearly the camp's main runway with several 'prep' hangers next to it. "Wow." was all Rainbow could mutter as she took in the sight with Fluttershy and some of the other foals. They could see there were campers here already as some young foal pegasi were seen flying if awkwardly with a older pony flying with them seeming to coach them as they flew. "Okay everypony gather around!" Came a soft stallion voice, causing Rainbow and Fluttershy to look towards the source of the voice. Standing nearby wearing a cap with the camp's logo on it, a silver whistle dangling around his neck, was a vanilla cream stallion with a long wind blown chocolate brown colored mane. His cutie mark was that of abstraction of a eagle made of wisps of clouds over a black mountain. "Hello everypony and welcome to the Altostratus Summer Flight Camp! My name is Wild Spirit, I'm one of the camp instructors and I hope to be a friend to all of you during your stay here. Now if you'd all follow me, the camp head instructor would like to greet you all and say a few words about how things are done here at the Alto SFC." The stallion smiled warmly to the foals as he turned and started to trot towards a large dome topped building a short distance from the hangers near the runway. As soon as they got to the building Fluttershy let out a meek squeal as she noted just how MANY ponies there were here. At least a hundred foals, most like her kept their hooves on the ground with a sprinkling of those like Dash who hovered just above the cloud. Dash smiled noting she was among the few with a heads up on the flying thing, she turned to notice with some surprise her friend's frighten state. "Hey, Flutters no reason to get all weak in the knees here." The rainbow maned filly said with a confident friendly smile. "Come on, buck up, you got the awesome Rainbow Dash on your side! Everything will be great here you'll see!" Dash said with a wide grin, which while not having the massive affect she hoped for; it did in fact ease Fluttershy's fears and got her to hide a little less behind her mane. Soon the two friends along with a lot of other foals were lead inside the large building which they soon heard was the main auditorium for the camp. Inside there were plenty of cloud benches and seats for the foals to sit and rest comfortably off their hooves, while for those who had some semblance of flying down were allowed to sit on the few dozen floating clouds inside the large space. Rainbow chose to stick close to her friend and sat all be it with a bit of fidgeting next to Fluttershy who appreciated her friend's gesture of support. Soon the magical lamps along the walls dimmed and a stern mountain of a pegasus stallion flew down onto the stage. His coat was a light fog blue in color, with a mane that was as white as snow, even as young as they were any foal there could tell this stallion was a cut above anything else. His face was hard and emotionless, his eyes which were a light electric violet in color, which surveyed the mass of little ponies in front of him. With a soft cough he cleared his throat and began to speak with a gruff voice that would seem out of place in some old war drama shown at the theaters. "Greetings everypony, and welcome to a new year at the Altostratus Summer Flight Camp or Alto SFC for short. We are one among many camps your families could chose from, and we the staff of this camp are honored your families chose us to provide you with a proper flight education." The stallion at last showed emotion, as his face softened and a small smile grew on his lips. "My name is Iron Eagle, and I am the head instructor for the Alto SFC, you may all call me Mr.Boss or simply Boss which ever you prefer. I want to get one thing straight, my word here is the LAW!" The stallion shouted earning a few gasp and squeals of surprise from the foals before the pony gave a small nod and the smile and friendly demeanor returned after his sudden shout. "Now then, for those of you who don't know an SFC is a place where we, the instructors, teach you our students the basics in flight. Not just how to fly but also how to land safely. Not to much value in learning all about flying if you go and hurt yourself because you can't land right." The stallion said as he glanced over to a hidden part of the stage and gave a curt nod. A group of ten pegasi; five stallions and five mares, trotted out from the backstage and joined Iron Eagle on stage. "These are the ten lead instructors of the camp, we have a good many more who work under them. If you have ANY problems or questions; ask them, we are here to help you. We can't help you if you don't talk to us. Also understand little ones we were like you once, so when we say 'we know what your going through' we mean it. So no matter what problems you may have, don't be afraid to ask for help." With that Iron Eagle took a step back as one of the five stallions walked up to the microphone; Dash and Fluttershy recognized that he was the stallion that greeted them earlier. "Greetings everypony, my name is Wild Spirit, from this point on we will be working together as a team to help you all learn how to fly, and before you leave I am sure you will all not just know how to fly, but that you will all be flying well!" He said happily before he pulled out a clipboard and flipped over a page on it. "Okay, now listen up. There is one thing I need to say before we go through the process of getting you all situated with your rooms, and who your camp flight leader is. Last year we had a freak storm blow in from the south in the Everfree Forest, we almost lost some campers to it. So starting this year, everypony will have a 'wingmate' this will be the pony you work with every day, and will stand next to in everything." The stallion flipped the page over to the next one on the clip board with a brush of his nose. "Okay...that looks to be it, now when we dismiss you, there will be a group of tables now set up outside, they are marked alphabetically so look for the table that has the first letter of your name on it. The pony at the table will give you the key to your room, your room number, and also give you the name of your wingmate." Rainbow Dash blinked as she felt something shuffle next to her and bury itself against her wing. Looking in surprise she found Fluttershy shaking like a wisp of cloud-stuff in the wind. "Flutters?" Dash asked with edge of concern in her voice. "Are you okay?" "I-I'm sorry, I'm just n-nervous, I don't know any of these ponies." Fluttershy said as she looked around now feeling extra nervous after hearing that she would be paired up with some random pony. "Aww it'll be alright Flutters." Dash said with her trade mark grin, her bright eyes shining with her honest belief that things would be alright for the nervous pegasus. Such a face could install any pony with a bit of hope and believe that things would be alright. Soon the row of seats that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy shared was dismissed, and they then joined the mass of foals heading outside to find out where things would take them. May 10th 1854 A.D. 11:30AM Filly Barracks Building B, Room 21 Rainbow Dash sighed contently as she finally collapsed onto the soft form of her cloud bed, across from her Fluttershy likewise collapsed onto her bed with a small 'eep' as it bounced with her arrival. "Wow, I don't think I've had to stand in a line like that outside of the ones for the Wonderbolts shows." Dash commented as she rolled onto her back, a gentle breeze flowing in from a 'cold air' cloud in the ceiling. "Well, I'm happy you and I are wingmates Rainbow, a lot of those other foals looked like they wouldn't want to fly with me." Flutters said from behind her pink mane. Dash looked over to the shy pony with at first an annoyed look but it turned into a look of deep sympathy. Dash had know Flutters for almost her whole life; so she was used to her friend's low sense of self-esteem. 'Still,' Dash thought with a slowly forming smile 'It wouldn't hurt her to be a little more confident and out going would it?' As Dash thought about this she sat up and rolled out of her bed and trotted over to the light yellow coated mare. Fluttershy looked up to her and smiled, Dash couldn't help but smile back at her friend, 'She seems to smile and be more open at least when I'm around...hmm, maybe she just needs time to make some more friends.' She thought. "Hey Flutters why don't we go out to the ground level training course, I'm sure there are plenty of ponies there getting warmed up for their first lessons. I mean we don't have any classes until tomorrow." Fluttershy looked out the window of their room before she turned to face her friend and gave a weak smile and a small nod "Um okay, I if you want to." She said softly. In an instant a grinning Rainbow Dash jetted from the two pony dorm like room with a fluttering shy pegasus filly in tow by the hoof. Outside Dash and Fluttershy were greeted by the sight that still could make a pegasus' swell up with awe and instinctual pride. All around them were foals being lead through both physical training exercises as well as fun games all aimed at helping a young pegasus to learn how to fly. This ranged from the wing push-ups and such that were being watched over by some of the councilors, all the way to a game known to only pegasi called "Grief Ball" The game was sorta like a sky and cloud version of the Earth Ponies soccer game, except instead of a ball made of fibers, the flying ponies us a firm enchanted ball of a cirrius cloud, which made the ball act sorta like the balls used on the ground but it gave it one unique quality; the ball could float and fly as if it weighed next to nothing. For the foals that were playing the game it meant they had to work at not just getting the ball past the other team and their goalie, but also to keep the ball within the grasp of at least the ponies who could hover among their team. Among the older ponies the game was a very much loved past time, but for a young foal it served as inspiration and a driving force to work the wings to give them every advantage they could muster to keep an edge on the other time and maintain control of the free floating ball of cloud. Across from the exercise area and where a vicious looking game of G-ball was taking place, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy trotted over to an area where several foals were busy trying out the ground level obstacle and exercise course. It was sorta like the arenas used by Unicorn and Earth Ponies for their grand exhibitions and rodeos respectively. However, instead of static obstacles or challenges, the pegasi on the course would be faced with living breathing cloud obstacles that moved and behaved with the wild manner of real clouds, that had just been bucked to life by expert weather ponies. "Oh hello, can I help you two?" A soft stallion voice asked, Dash and Fluttershy turned to find Spirit there smiling warmly at them. "Oh hello Mr.Spirit, me and my friend were wondering if we could try out the ground level course." The stallion gave the two fillies a once over before he smiled and nodded. "Sure, your names please?" he asked holding up his clip board taking his quill in his teeth. "Rainbow Dash and this is my friend and wingmate Fluttershy!" Dash said happily while Fluttershy gave a weak wave 'hello' with a hoof and hid most of her face behind her mane, earning a small chuckle from the instructor. "I can see the shy part of you Fluttershy," he said with a grin after he wrote their names done, he motioned for them to follow him. "Are you nervous about being away from home or your parents? Or are you just a bit nervous about all the new faces?" Spirit asked as he lead them to a warm up area next to the track. "Um well, its a little of everything." She said softly, causing the stallion to lean in to hear her. "Oh? I see, well you shouldn't worry to much. You obviously got a good friend in Rainbow Dash here," He said as he patted Dash's shoulder with a gentle hoof bump, "And the other instructors and myself are here to help you. So you can trust us okay?" He asked giving Fluttershy his best smile. The little filly nodded weakly offering a soft "Um O-okay." The stallion nodded at hearing this and then turned to the task at hoof. "Okay you two, let me start you off with something simple but it will become very important later on trust me." He said as he trotted over to a patch of cloud marked off by a ring of red silk streamers. "This is the warm up pad, there are many of these set up all over the camp. Their purpose is to give you the campers a safe place to safely practice your wing motions without accidentally bashing some foal or other pony in the face." His own wings fluttering a bit as he motioned for the two fillies to step into the marked off bit of cloud. "Now look at me and follow my actions to the best of your abilities okay." Dash nodded confidently as she planted her hooves firmly on the cloud and spread her wings out, Fluttershy did so but seeming as if she was almost afraid of her own body as she spread her own slightly larger wings. "Okay now, follow my motions," Spirit said as he flapped his wings in front of the two fillies, each stroke slowed down with a great deal of concentration for the two students to watch carefully. Dash smiled nodding, the motions of her wings showing she had been taught this bit before and sure enough her wing beats quickly came to mimic those of their instructor. Fluttershy on the other hoof struggled at first to match the motions but after a few minutes her wings flapped if awkwardly, just like Dash's and Spirit's. They continued on like this for what felt like hours but in truth was only thirty minutes. Spirit smiled kindly at the two of them as he brought his demonstration to a stop, "Okay you two, I think I can see what needs to be done to help you." Spirit looked over and placing his whistle to his lips gave it a sharp double blow, drawing the attention of a mare instructor nearby. "Okay you two, this is Flame Pepper," The stallion said with a smile as a bright hot red mare flew over, her dark orange and gold mane fluttered in the gust she threw up as she landed. "Pepper, this is Rainbow Dash and her wingmate Fluttershy." "Hello!" The fire mare greeted happily with a warm smile. "Rainbow I can tell your family took the time to get you jump started on the basics," he smiled as she hovered up into the air proudly. "So when you are down here training I want you to work with Pepper her, she is one of our best advanced instructors." Pepper smiled proudly as she gave the little rainbow maned filly a wink. "You better believe I am, gotta keep my place in the wonderbolts somehow." She smiled in bemusement as Rainbow Dash's jaw hit the cloud. "Y-your a Wonderbolt!?" Dash asked in an awed whisper, looking about ready to faint. "Yep, thought I'm not the best, that honor goes to my husband the current captain Sonic Lancer." Dash then proceeded to pass out, her eyes rolling up into her skull as she went into hyper-fan mental shock. "Oh dear..." Spirit sighed face-hoofing. With a sharp blow of his whistle he shouted at the top of his lungs "MEDIC! PONY DOWN!" May 12th 1854 A.D. 2:00PM Low-Level Obstacle Course Field 1 "Come on Dash you can do it!" Pepper cheered the little filly on, as the rainbow maned pony pushed herself harder to make a good time over the low floating obstacles. She ducked, bobbed, and weaved around the cloud made structures, each powerful wing stroke of her's pushing her on despite the ache from having done this exercises and course for almost a full hour after the half hour of warm ups earlier. Still despite her best efforts, she clipped several rings and was forced to smash through a cloud wall of a canyon obstacles at least once. Nearby Spirit coached Fluttershy into the basic warmups for her first flight, his constant soft spoken encouragement aiding the shy filly in coming a little more out of her shell as well as to put in a bit more effort into flying. Always telling her "Nopony is saying you can't fly only you are, instead you should be saying 'I can fly!'" He repeated again as she looked about ready to say the words 'I can't' again. "Come on Fluttershy just another minute to go!" Spirit said kindly and confidently to her as she sweated and fluttered next to him, she was only a foot of the cloud but it was still a hover. Across from Fluttershy, Rainbow surged pass the checkpoint to a cheering cry from Pepper "60 seconds flat!" The fiery mare cheered as Dash landed if a little awkwardly near by. "Well done Dash!" Pepper beamed with pride as Dash smiled up at her weakly. "But I still ran into some of the obstacles!" Dash said before she plopped down onto her haunches as she allowed her exhaustion to finally take her down. Pepper smiled kindly at her friend and student and shook her head. "Practice makes perfect, you still got the end this time, and in 60 seconds. If you keep working at it Dash I know you'll be able to do this course or any other in 10 seconds without hitting a single obstacle." Pepper patted Dash's shoulder gently with a wing. "Don't beat yourself up over on mistake, learn from them, and work to not repeat them." She said with a sagely nod, earning a small smile from the little filly. Soon a whistle blew and Dash and Pepper looked over to see Spirit clapping his hooves together as he congratulated Fluttershy. "You see, you can do it!" he said happily as Fluttershy bounced around excitedly. "I can! I can!" she repeated only to realize she was outside and among other ponies and she gave a soft 'eep!' and hid behind Spirit who only smiled and gave her a gentle pat on the head with a hoof. "Why don't we get you two over to the cafeteria and grab some ice cream huh?" Pepper asked earning an immediate "YES!" from both fillies. In a relative short order of time, Pepper and Spirit had gotten the two fillies over to the cafeteria building and were sitting down as the two campers enjoyed some ice cream sandwiches. "So Pepper, do you think I will be a good wonderbolt?" Dash asked excitedly earning a amused chuckle from her idol and friend. "Dash I can tell ya, you'd make not just a good Wonderbolt, but an amazing one." She said ruffling the little filly's mane. "Um, when do you think I'll be able to fly?" Flutters asked from behind her mane, to which Spirit smiled warmly at her "Soon Fluttershy, soon. I can tell you biggest obstacle is your own self-esteem." The stallion chuckled softly as he patter her on the back with a gentle tap of his wing "But I know that as long as you believe in yourself you'll be fine." The shy little pony looked to her instructor and smiled as she hid less of her face from him and the others at the table with her mane. Dash could only smile happily as she saw her friend being a lot more open, it was a big step for her, and to Dash it meant things at the camp would only be getting better. "Well we have other students and campers to help, you two stay out of trouble you hear." Pepper smiled as she floated up with a single stroke of her wings and then jetted out the open windows of the building. Spirit only shook his head in bemusement before he gave his shy student a hug, "Keep up the practice Fluttershy, we will see about getting you airborne tomorrow okay?" She nodded as she hugged her teacher back and with a wave to Dash, the stallion bolted off much the same as the wonderbolt mare before him. "Wow, sometimes I wondered how fast he could go." Dash muttered as she watched the small speck that was Wild Spirit going fainter in the distant skies. "Well if it isn't the crashing wonder Rainbow Crash and her glorious klutz friend Klutzershy!" a sneering mocking laugh following the hurtful words. Both fillies turned to find a hot pink colored filly with a dark red mane followed by a colt who looked like he had been dunked in snow and had a mane made of coal, that was slicked back like it was some kind of whipped topping on a cake. "I still can't believe the visiting instructor is a wonderbolt and that she is your instructor!" The colt said with a smug smirk "I mean you haven't once finished a course without crashing into something!" he added with a mocking laugh. "Well at least you can fly Rainbow Crash, Klutzershy I bet won't ever learn how to fly." The colt finished all but rolling with laughter at his own words. The filly just looked at Rainbow and Fluttershy coldly. "Well I guess even stars have to take pity on their fallen cousins." She said darkly. Rainbow instantly felt her blood start to boil at the comment. "What did you say?" She growled. "The truth it seems, why else would a wonderbolt bother teaching the descendent of one of Nightmare Moon's fallen stars, she should have you thrown out." The filly said as her eyes narrowing at Dash. "After all your just a bunch of traitors aren't you." "Who's a bunch of traitors?" A gruff stallion voice asked, several foals did their best to hide their giggles and laughter as Iron Eagle had managed to enter the mess hall and walk up to the two bullying foals. The two culprits gave startled gasp as they turned to face the fury filled eyes of the camp head instructor. "BOSS!" they gasped out together. "I asked you two a question." He snapped at them, both foals cowering beneath his gaze. The filly took a deep breath before she pointed an accusing hoof to Dash. "She is, her family are known to be related to traitors-" The stallion silenced the filly with a single glare. "I am going to make this clear here and now, while I respect the honor and heritage of any family; I WILL NOT TOLERATE SUCH DISRESPECTFUL ACTIONS!" He snapped at the filly. "Nightmare Moon is just a old story used to frighten little ponies, and to stir up emotion in the old." The stallion said as he looked away from the two shaking foals. "To use a fantasy story to cause disharmony is, surely dishonorable." The stallion looked to Rainbow and Fluttershy before he looked back at the colt and foal. "Do you wish I tell your family of such behavior?" He asked. Both ponies shook their heads 'no', earning a approving nod from Iron. "Good, now I don't want to hear about you or any pony bullying another foal here for such...silly reasons." He took his whistle and gave it a harsh blow. "SUNBURST, ICE FLAK I WANT YOU BOTH ON THE TRACK AND DOING LAPS, NOW!" he roared and both little foals disappeared in a blur of fluttering hooves and wings as they raced to follow the order. With a small sigh Iron turned to regard Rainbow and Fluttershy; the rainbow maned filly had a stern cross look to her face, but the insults had stung. Not just her but Fluttershy as well, the shy mare was in tears from the confrontation and the shouting. Iron may be a strong stallion, but his face softened as his heart ached as such a sad sight. "Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, I've been keeping an eye on you two since your instructors Wild Spirit and Flame Pepper first filled out the files to be your trainers. I can tell you right now; you are not the worst foals I've seen come here, and I can see you both have a great deal of potential." Slowly the sculpture of a stallion walked over and gently brushed the mane away from Fluttershy's face and smiled kindly to her. "Try to not let what others say affect what you think and feel." He said sagely before he gave them both a curt nod farewell and proceeded to make sure that Flak and Sunburst were doing as they had been ordered. Dash sighed and slowly moved over to her friend and gave her a hug. "It's okay Shy, it will be okay. Come on lets go get some sleep." All the shy pegasus could do was give a shaking nod 'yes' and follow beside her friend. May 17th 1854 A.D. 3:00PM Altostratus Summer Flight Camp, Main Runway Field Fluttershy sighed as she trotted near the hangers that were packed next to the main runway for the camp; she had tried so hard to fly, and yet her lesson with Wild Spirit that morning ended in painful failure. She recalled how she had managed to hover perfectly, much to Spirit's joy and his cheers of encouragement had done a lot to get her to that point, Rainbow Dash even stopped her own training with Flame Pepper to cheer her on. Then came the words of some of the local bullies that had rung in her ears ever since she had first heard them "Klutzershy I bet you won't ever learn how to fly." In that instant it had destroyed all her confidence, and she failed to regain it despite the best efforts of her instructor and friend. Still Spirit never yelled at her, never showed any signs of disappointment or disapproval of her; no he as always would just sigh, then smile at her and say "We just gotta keep practicing, nopony is perfect." he would say and his enthusiasm would lift her up as it had since he had started training her. "I will fly." She said at last stopping in mid trot. Looking around and then above her, she spotted other fillies and colts flying around some of the low floating obstacles rings that were set up to give the young pegsai something to play around and practice with when their instructors weren't training them. Fluttershy steeled herself as she climbed up to the best launching point she could get to; the top of one of the camp's prep hangers. The words of her friend and instructor Spirit rang in her ears as she tried to remember all that he had taught her. 'I can do this!' she told herself. As she stood atop the hanger, around her some of the foals from her class flew by, easily making it through the cloud rings that were floating a short distance above the hangers and runway. With her wings held out and ready, she gave a few flaps and sure enough she felt herself grow weightless; if only for a few moments. With more determination she flapped her wings harder, and this time she felt herself lift off the hanger, than as she missed a wing stroke, she fell to land on it again. The taste of that flight being so close to her, she groaned as she pushed herself to flap her wings better, strong, faster! This time she lifted into the air, and up, and up, and then to her joy she made it to a ring and pushed herself through. In her head she cheered, she could see her friend Rainbow Dash congratulating her, and oh how proud her family would be she was flying! "Ops." Was all she could say as she felt her front legs catch on the lip of the cloud ring, and she toppled forward through the ring. She gave a meek "Eeep!" as she fell forward, and then "THUMP!" she landed on her rear on the sloping edges of the hanger she had used to launch herself. She gasped in fright as she slid along its roof like a giant slide and than felt her self flung upwards as she slid off the upward curved edges of the hanger; flying with momentum towards a bright orange camp flag banner. Her vision became a dark version of the orange flag's color as she became enshrouded by it. With a hefty 'Thump!' and a little squeak from her, the little mare felt her self land on the soft and shock-absorbent clouds that made up the camp's structure and foundation. Suddenly to voices of roaring cruel laughter rang out nearby. Two colts hovered nearby laughing at the little mare's attempt to fly. "Nice going Klutzershy!" the colt with a dark brown coat and light cream colored mane said cruelly as he and his buddy flew over and landed near the pink-maned filly. "They ought to ground you permanently!" He sneered while his buddy who had three basketballs for a cutie mark, a light brownish orange coat and brown colored mane nodded in agreement with his friends mean remark. "My baby brother can fly better than you!" The two erupting into more mean spirited laughter. 'Maybe their right, maybe I was wrong to think I could fly.' Fluttershy felt her old inner voice speak up, drowning out the confidence and warmth that her instructor Spirit and her friend Rainbow had filled her with the days before. This had to be the most humiliating moment of her life. Suddenly with a roar of wind and the rush of flapping wings a shadow streaked above the laughing colts, drawing their confused eyes to look around for the source of the shadow and the sound. Rainbow Dash growled quietly to herself as she had spotted the two colts laughing at her friend, in an instant she flew down and finished a perfect downward spiral to land swiftly next to her friend. "Leave her alone!" She said firmly glaring at the two colts. "Ooooh what are ya gonna do Rainbow CRASH?" The colt she knew from yesterday as Hoops said with a smug smirk. The name stung still but she bit her tongue and refused to let it get to her. "Keep making fun of her and find out!" She said hoarsely, her emotions boiling inside her. The two colts frowned, glaring at her as Hoops' buddy stepped up. "You think your such a hotshot, why don't you prove it!" She snapped. Rainbow smirked confidently at the glaring faces. "Whaddya got in mind?" She asked curiously. "A race, on the Tempest Course!" The dark little colt declared. Rainbow felt her heart skip a beat; that course was meant primarily only for adult ponies who wanted a work out. She shot a short glance to her friend, who was shaking like a leaf with a sad look upon her face. 'No these bucking morons insulted my friend. I will not let them soil her honor, and I will NOT let them disrespect me or my family's honor anymore.' She thought as her eyes narrowed at the colt. "First one to the finish line of the Tempest Course wins, and will be the Top Hotshot of camp!" Hoops added with a smirk. Dash returned it with a confident grin "You. Are. On!" It was not as simple as going to the course and having their race; the instructors would throw a fit if they knew what the three foals were going to do. The Tempest Course had no margin for an emergency landing for a young foal; the entire course was over open sky, with cloud rings and cloud canyons being the main obstacles of the course. It was also the only course at the camp that had rings that went close to the ground, but at the angle of approach would mean any pony that hit the ground would be hitting it at to high a speed to avoid being hurt or worse. So it was decided that the race would be held on the one day of the week that the instructors allowed the foals to run about without to much supervision and also when the majority of them would be either sleeping in or still out enjoying their normal adult Friday night parties and raves. It would begin at 7:00AM Saturday morning.