//------------------------------// // A Good Day to Fly Hard // Story: Changeling No More // by Breaking News //------------------------------// “Now on your mark…Get set…GO!” Rainbow Dash shouted. The blue Pegasus clicked the stopwatch to start the 40-second countdown then hurled it into the air as Cloud’s jaw dropped. He wasn’t expecting that. He didn’t have time think about it though as he immediately took off into a steep dive. He’d now have to get all the clouds and catch that watch before impacted the carrot field below. “Well, here goes nothing.” Cloud quickly said to himself. He quickly looked at the positions of the clouds; maybe he could get them all taking a spiral course looping down. He wouldn’t have time to come back around if he missed one but it was a gamble he had to take if he wanted to catch up to that watch. The green Pegasus stallion put both his forearms out in front of him and banked into it a turn. He sped himself up as fast as he could go. He flew in the corkscrew pattern by angling one hoof out and then connected with the first two clouds. POP! POP! Both ‘bit the dust’ the instant he hit them. Cloud looked down trying to find the watch as it fell, taking out another three clouds on the way. He was simultaneously trying to both remember everything Serenity taught him about clouds and locate that watch. Then he caught just a glimpse of the sun’s reflection off the watch, it was still below him but not by much “THERE.” Cloud said as he popped another two clouds on his spiral. He focused in on the watch, perhaps a little too much as he banked slightly toward it. In an instant he realized that he was too far into his turn and would miss getting a direct hit on the next cloud. At the last second he flipped a rear hoof out and still managed to pick it off. Okay, change of plans. He could not lose sight of that watch but he had to pass attention to what was ahead. Thinking fast he did the best he could to keep one eye on the watch, and one on the clouds. He strained his vision as he knocked off another cloud. For a moment he legitimately missed his old compound changeling eyes but he didn’t have time to dwell on it. The watch dropped past the last cloud, as Cloud Breaker chased it he couldn’t read the timer but knew it had to be running down. He took out the last two clouds and immediately angled down. He had to get that watch. He gave his feathered wings everything they had. He was catching it. He knew he was, he could feel it. Quickly he was able to catch up to the watch. He grabbed it with one hoof and clicked the button with the other. The timer still read 4.32 seconds. “YES!” Cloud shouted. Rainbow smiled slightly at what she saw. He most likely passed; she thought to herself about his skill in the air. That would make the next part of this test much more interesting for her. As Cloud stared at the watch he didn’t notice he was still in a steep dive. He immediately realized what was happening though as he jubilantly looked up from his prize and quickly realized how close he now was to the ground. He immediately pulled up, now only about 15 feet above the carrot field below. He tried to slow down but stopping from high speeds was not an instant process for pegasi. It was then that he noticed the barrel-themed personal residence in front of him. “Oh boy,” Cloud said. --- On the ground a yellow earth pony with an orange mane walked out of her house onto her porch. Carrot Top smiled with a forearm wrapped around a fresh glass of her favorite homemade carrot juice. She didn’t have to run her stand today and she planned to enjoy every second of this rare chance to relax. She trotted over to a position alongside a carrot-themed deck decoration. As she angled the glass to take her first sip a little hint of green appeared in the corner of her eye. “What is that?” the yellow mare asked herself. The question quickly answered itself as ‘a screaming green Pegasus’. Cloud angled his wings at the last second and just barely missed the house but was still barreling past Carrot’s residence at high speed hauling a blast of wind behind him. “AH!” Cloud screamed as he rocketed past Carrot Top. Carrot Top steadied herself as the wind rushed over her, it messed up her hair but did little else. Suddenly another blast of wind rocked her as a lightning-quick blue streak trailing a rainbow shot by going even faster. As the wind finally died down the earth pony shrugged. She had to admit she was wondering if continuing to live in Ponyville was really all it was cracked up to be with all the weirdness of late. She decided not to think about it and just took a sip of her drink instead. She smiled; carrot juice really took the edge off any of her issues. --- When Cloud finally slowed down he came in for a landing. He panted quite a bit, he’d never really pushed himself like that before. There was just the hint of a tingle in his flank but it quickly subsided. He was hoping to get a moment to catch his breath but it wasn’t to be as almost instantly Rainbow arrived alongside him. He thought about how her reputation as “Equestria’s fastest flyer” was not unearned in any way. Cloud immediately held up the stop watch. “Got it,” he said proudly. “And just over 4 seconds left to boot!” “That’s pretty good,” Rainbow said. “However the last four pegasi I’ve hired were all in the 10-second range with a 35-second timer.” Cloud gulped. “Do I still pass?” the converted changeling said. “Yeah, you got the watch didn’t ya?” Rainbow responded. “Now that we’ve got the speed test out of the way it’s time for the flight test.” “What does that involve?” Cloud asked. “As I said earlier now we’re going to take a flight down a course of my choosing,” Rainbow said with a smile as she thought about where to do it. “Something challenging but not impossible, a fun low-altitude cruise down on the deck would be good. Yes, we’re going on a nice flyby through Ghastly Gorge.” “Ghastly Gorge?” Cloud asked. Rainbow just nodded. “What is Ghastly Gorge?” Cloud asked. “It’s a sweet canyon run with lots of obstacles,” Rainbow replied. “It’s actually a really fun run. I’ve done that blast a thousand times; just don’t the hug walls near the end under any circumstance.” “Why?” Cloud asked. “I, ah, don’t really want to talk about that,” Rainbow said. “Let’s just say a mare’s best friend is her tortoise.” Cloud just nodded, part of him wanted to know the context of that line. Part of him did not. “Let’s get flying,” Rainbow said. Cloud sighed. Part of him wanted a rest but he knew that would have to wait. “Alright, let’s do this,” Cloud said. With that the two pegasi again took off. Cloud did his best to keep up as Rainbow led him toward the gorge and his second test. --- The flight from Carrot Top’s farm over to Ghastly Gorge took several minutes involved flying back into downtown Ponyville and around the edge of the Everfree Forest. The location of the canyon was weird, they were at the same time within trotting distance of Ponyville but isolated from it completely. Cloud had never flown out into this area before. The gorge was a deep ravine lined with gray rock on either side. A lush green forest was on either side of its rim with a small creek running down the middle, no doubt it eroded the gorge into existence over centuries. There were some areas of something at the bottom, Cloud couldn’t really tell. Whatever it was it was likely be a major obstacle on his flight. “Now let me just say in advance this is not a race between you and me nor are you are being timed,” Rainbow said. “The purpose of this test is to see how you fly under various circumstances. I want you to fly through the canyon as fast as you think is safe. There are several challenges that occur when one flies through the gorge down on the deck and that is where I’d like you to be, adjust as needed to get passed them safely.” Cloud nervously looked at Rainbow. “If you don’t feel safe or don’t think you can clear an obstacle fly up and out of the canyon,” Rainbow added. “You have to know your limits but I will take style points off for any obstacles you choose to skip. You understand?” “I do Rainbow,” Cloud responded. “How many can I skip?” “The fewer the better, I wouldn’t skip any if you can avoid it,” Rainbow said. “I’ll fly in behind you and match your pace. Good luck, you may begin when you are ready.” Cloud looked down at the ravine again. “Well, here goes nothing,” Cloud said. The green pegasus angled his wings and descended into Ghastly Gorge as fast as he could. Rainbow smiled, she’d been looking forward to another chance to fly through this canyon. She followed her trainee’s flight path and with a small burst of speed instantly caught up to Cloud. “Alright let’s get it on,” Rainbow said. Cloud tried to tuck himself into an aerodynamic position as he sped through the canyon. The canyon made a few quick zigzags but that was hardly an obstacle. As he made a high-speed turn around a small island with three pine trees on it he could feel his confidence building. Maybe this run was actually a bit easier than it looked. He rounded another rock island and took aim at what appeared to be a natural tunnel. “Rainbow’s right, this is a fun run,” Cloud said. The green pegasus flew into the tunnel with a smile on his snout. A smile that immediately vanished as a high-speed wind hit him head-on. He actually found himself going backward against the force of it for a second before he steadied himself and cleared the tunnel. Rainbow followed with significantly less difficulty and a slightly larger smile on her face. “Not quite as easy as it looked huh?” Rainbow asked rhetorically. “We’re just getting started, this gets even more fun as we go.” Cloud shrugged and kept flying. He rounded a bend in the canyon and found himself facing a large pile of large thorny bramble bushes plants lining the bottom. He eased up and looked at Rainbow. “Do you want me to see how close I can fly to the top without getting pricked?” Cloud asked. “No, I want you to go through it,” Rainbow said. “Think fast and you might get through unscathed.” Cloud gulped yet again and charged in, aiming the best he could to get past all of the plants. He dodged past the first three vines but then nailed the fourth. Losing a bit of control he then crashed into the ground and bounced into the fifth. He stopped, stood up, shook himself off, and took off again. This time he cleared the rest of the vines and emerged a little marked up, but otherwise fine, on the opposite side. Rainbow watched his progress from behind the bush section. The blue bolt of lightning then flew into the bramble bushes herself, dodging every branch, and came out on the other side in record time. “Eh, you were a little rough in there but only one stoppage is decent for the first run,” Rainbow said. Cloud sped ahead through an open and rather straight portion of the gorge. Rainbow immediately ran him down. “Alright now I’m all for surprises but I’m going to give you a head up for this next part,” Rainbow said. Cloud sprang to attention. How bad would this be if it was where Rainbow drew the line at blindsiding him. “The next thing coming up is several nests of Quarray eels,” Rainbow said. “They spring out quick and will snap in an open attempt to eat you. Speed up, don’t slow down for any reason, and watch the holes where their nests are and you should be fine.” “Is there anything in this canyon that isn’t trying to kill or crash me?” Cloud asked. “Not really,” Rainbow said. Cloud again took the lead. He flew out a little further from the left-side wall of the canyon so he could see the holes the eels would pop out of. He then punched it, flying as fast as he could when the first of the giant red eels popped out behind him with an audible “CRUNCH” as its giant jaw snapped shut. There were more to come. “CRUNCH!” “CRUNCH!” “CRUNCH!” He dodged, ducked, dipped and dived in an all-out effort to get past the eels. He cleared the first eight only to have the ninth snap down on the very back of his orange tail. Despite the loss of a few hairs he didn’t even notice it as he was more focused on not becoming a changeling-flavored pony pop for the tenth and final eel. He cleared it and when he was finally out in the open slowed down to catch his breath as Rainbow overtook him having cleared all of the eels with her usual ease. She had to be just toying with him at this point. “Watch out for this last part,” Rainbow said nervously. Cloud recalled Rainbow’s earlier warning but didn’t see how this empty portion was any sort of danger although the remains of a rock slide off to the left side of the canyon at this point was a very strong hint. The last bit of the canyon run was uneventful as both pegasi exited Ghastly Gorge. “Well you made it though, not bad,” Rainbow said. “You tried all the obstacles with only one wipeout and a little nick from the eels. That bit of your tail will grow back, you’ll be fine. This is actually the easy test, pretty much everyone passes it and indeed you have. Still not a bad run for someone who’s only had their wings for less than a week.” “Well I’ve been flying my whole life and these aren’t too different from my old wings,” Cloud said. “I suppose,” Rainbow said. “So now let’s see how they do on an endurance test.” “This wasn’t already an endurance test?” Cloud asked. “We virtually did the last two tests right in a row.” “Yeah, but now it gets interesting,” Rainbow said. “The third part is where I separate the mares from the fillies. You know where Cloudsdale is right?” “Yeah for the most part,” Cloud said. “Good, go there,” Rainbow said. “Right now.” “What?” Cloud asked; he wasn’t expecting that. “The final test is a real on the job scenario simulation,” Rainbow said. “If you want to be my Jerkwater responder so bad let’s see how you handle a weather assignment there. I’ve scheduled a rather large rainstorm for 5 p.m. this afternoon there. The paperwork for the storm has been filed. All you have to do is go there, collect the storm, bring it to Jerkwater, and start it on time. You’ll have a flight crew there to help you move it. Try not to stress out in Cloudsdale, the weather factory folks aren’t the easiest ponies for outsiders to work with since somepony started spreading false statements about how they make the weather.” Cloud was a bit shocked at the revelation. He thought the “real world” third test would just be a shift on the Everfree Watch or some paperwork at the office. “Good luck,” Rainbow said. “Go.”