//------------------------------//
// Chapter I - The Weather Pony and the Wings of an Angel 
// Story: The Diversified Growing-Up of a Simple Weather Pony 
// by bluemeganium 
//------------------------------//

"Wake up... wake up... wake up my darling!"

 I opened my eyes, when I heard the calm voice of a well-known pony.  "Mmmmmh, Mooom! Five more minutes, pwease! It's so early in the morning!" I just turned around, so the light wouldn't catch my eyes. 

"But darling, today it's your birthday, and—" 

"BIRTHDAY?" Suddenly my face went from all tired and stuff to grinning from ear to ear. "Birthday? Wohooo! You haven't forget it!" 

"I wouldn't forget the birthday of my little lady," my mother replied, when she offered me a big hug. Of course, I couldn't resist that one special hug, when a mother congratulated to your birthday. "Happy Birthday my little darling."

I tried the best I could to squeeze my mom really hard. It was such a joyful feeling for me. "Looooove ya, mommy".

"Hey, darling! If you're going to squeeze me that hard, how can I give you your very special birthday present?" 
My mom kept on talking, with a laughing smile on her face. "You're about to break my bones!"

I let her go. First, I had to realize, what my mom told me. Then I asked her quietly, "You said, you have a very special present for me?"

"A very special one, my little shwoopsie!" 

Now I couldn't control myself. "Yaay! Whatisit whatisit whatisit what is it?" 

"Oh darling, you'll have to wait until evening when your dad comes from work, and—" 

"Oooaah, that's not fair!" I interrupted my mother sadfully.

"Oh come on! You first need to go to school. Then you can bring your friends too, so they'll see your special present." As positive as these words was, to cheer me up, this wasn't a comfortable way. 

"School sucks!" The 28th January was a tuesday back on that day, so I was really in a rather bad mood for waiting for my very special birthday present.
"Today, I have so much school! Until afternoon. I don't want to wait!"

My mother stared silently at me. "Well. If you don't want to wait, then there'll be no cake on the table. No cake with strawberries and chocolate. Too bad, I have to throw away this beautiful cake."

"Noooo! Don't tease me, pwease! Pwease, I can wait for my birthday present!"

Mom obviously knew how to change my mind. I mean, hay, it's my mom! Tell me one pony who knows an impulsive young filly like me better than my own parents? Especially my mom? So it's no wonder she had her little tricks to make a want-it-need-it-filly turn quiet and patient.

"Well... in that case... let's head down to have some breakfast!" 

As she noticed my still messy hair from getting up at such an early time – though the sun already rose up a bit – she added, "But first you need to hit the bathroom!" 

I did so. I managed myself to make my mane. My mane is something special, because it had a very very rare color. A blueish-green color to be exact, some ponies say 'teal' to it. Everytime, before going to bed, I used to straighten my mane with a special brush. The result after the nights was somewhat funny: all messy and stuff, and unexplainable random. Seems like I always dreamed of wild adventures? I couldn't remember it, though.

Luckily, getting the unique curls of my mane was an easy thing. I always loved the curls in my mane, especially in my tail. 

Her mane was different from mine. Her ice blue, straight mane, never needed any products. Just a simple brush. No extras like curls or pigtails, meant no intensive caring.

When I'd finished my bathroom stuff, I headed down to the kitchen to have some breakfast. I rather stumbled across the stairs and the floor in excitement, but I didn’t care. I even stumbled in front of the table, where our breakfast was. Maybe I was still tired and the sudden wake-up left my body still dizzy.

As always, I only needed a slice of bread and some butter. No extras like salad or crunchy flowers. When I'd finished breakfast, Mom trotted next to me. She didn't hesitate, in fact, she took one of my hooves and gave me a golden key. 
"You'll need this, but now, go to school! Love ya." Mom gave me a nuzzle.

So I went to my school that was located in the middle of Cloudsdale. You wouldn't find my school, without having a tourist guide. Tiny streets, where just one pegasus pony had enough space to go through, were nearly unflyable for pegasi. And in one of these tiny streets, you could've find my school. With a bit of luck, of course. 

But the backyard of this school had one of the most beautiful playgrounds ever. Colorful slides, carousels and swings were placed between beautifully shaped fences and flower-boxes with beautiful flowers from Earth Ponies and even birds came to visit our playground.
The classroom was tiny, but comfortable. This classroom had nine tables with seats, the desk of our teacher, the chalkboard, and some important posters for the lessons. Talking about decorations, our classroom was adorned fairly simple.
I sat down on my place. The first row on the right. Soon, other fillies trotted in. Two of them were one of my closest friends.

"Morning, Raindrops! Morning, Springy!" I waved them a hoof, so they could see me instantly.

Raindrops was a yellow pegasus pony with a bright blue mane and bright blue eyes. If you needed an impulsive, pretty spirited pony, Raindrops was the mare for. 
Springy, on the other hoof, was the nickname of a very bright green pony with a grayish-blue mane and grayish-purple eyes. Only me and Raindrops called her 'Springy', her real name was Spring Skies.

"Medley," Raindrops ran over to me, "happy happy happy birthday to you!" 

Springy followed her and added, "Me too! I wish you a very happy birthday!" The gentle pony flapped with her wings in enthusiasm.

I offered them a hug, and we all made a tiny, but cuddly group hug.

The three of us were always the first ones in the classroom. The other ones sometimes approached late, even so late, our teacher directly sent them to the principal for being too late. Our teacher is an old mare, and she hates it, when you arrived late.

Before the school bell rang, the other six ponies had trotted in. One of these ponies was Rainbow Dash, another two colts were Thunderlane with his best buddy Starburst. 

Dashie only reminded that I had birthday, the other ones didn't know about it. 

"Hey Medley! Happy birthday to ya! Whatya got?" 

"Oh, hey Dashie! Don’t know it yet. I just got a key, and my present will be there when I come home." 

Dashie was not only a fast flyer, but a fast talker. "Oh, I bet it's gonna be super-awesome! Too bad, I cannot come to your birthday party, to see what it is. I got things to do. So sorry, Med." 

"It's fine!", I replied. "You—"

Our little talk was interrupted when immediately 'Grumpy Granny' – our class teacher – arrived. She was hay of grumpy, no wonder we call her so when she's in absence, but well disciplined. White hair, tiny glasses, wrinkles on her face, the typical old mare from ancient times.
Suddenly everypony was quiet and on their seats. Which made the whole day start to become boring.




~ ~ ~




The day was really kinda boring. Outside, there was nothing but cold weather. Luckily the day didn't feel so long, like long school days always were. Raindrops, Springy and I went to my house. Mom told me, I could invite friends if I wanted to. 
"I cannot wait to see your special birthday present!" said Raindrops, bouncing up and down looking forward to be in my very special birthday guest list. 

Even Springy was full of joy and added, "This must have something to do with the key, you showed us in the break."

Even I literally had question marks in the air, what was all about this mysterious key my mom gave to me. 

We trotted into my house. The three of us were so excited about the mysterious present, especially me. In the kitchen, was my mom – already awaiting us – and a nice looking stallion in company as well.

"Daddy!" I went over to him and hugged him.

"Happy Birthday, Meddy!" My dad always called me 'Meddy', while my mom just said 'Darling' to me. It's very nice to have parents like them.

"Hello, Miss… uhm…? Hello Miss!"

While I was busy hugging my dad, my mom laughed because Raindrops didn’t know her name. "Why, hello Raindrops! You can call me Sprinkle Ice. No need for calling me ‘Miss’. By the way, you two seem very hungry. Why don’t you come into the kitchen?"

Both Raindrops and Springy were fascinated by this idea of course.

As soon as we all took our seats, mom carried on a huge birthday cake. Like she mentioned it in the morning, the cake had strawberries and chocolate, eleven alighted candles and the number eleven as a candle itself as well. 
"Okay girls," my mom said, "let's fill our bellies!"

"I'm on it!" Raindrops immediately chimed in. 

Springy raised an eyebrow, when she saw Raindrops promptly shoving a piece of cake in her mouth. "As long as you don't eat up the whole cake, I'm on it too!"

"I'll just enjoy it!" I took a piece of cake and slowly enjoyed the taste of strawberry on my tongue. Plus, the cake was filled with delicious cream. What a pleasure. Mom and Dad just watched at us happily.

Shortly after eating up the whole cake, Raindrops ate half of the cake, while Springy and I were satisfied with just a quarter, my dad stood up from his seat."'It's time for your very special present, Meddy!"

"Yaay!" I happily shouted. "I'm so excited!" 

"WE'RE so excited!" Raindrops exclaimed. 

"Sorry, but it’s not your birthday. I'm afraid you have to leave now!" Raindrops, Springy and I dropped our jaws and Mom just grinned in a strange way. 

"Noooo!" I promptly shouted at him. "Don't make them leave! Oh pwease!" 

Dad's look was as solid as a rock, and his smile showed no happiness anymore. I collectedly awaited his further reactions when Dad turned his serious, unhappy face to a smiley one.
"Gotcha!" 

"Heeeeey, Mister Daddy of Medley!" Ooooooh, Dad made Raindrops angry. "Listen to me! Don't ever mock us anymore!" I was kinda annoyed as well, but I joined the idea, Raindrops already had in mind. "Girls, you know how we deal with mockers? Ready?" Okay, I was ready. Already ready. "ATTACK!"

Raindrops, Springy and I speeded towards him and tackled him gently. 
"His legs! Watch for his legs!" Springy shouted. 

"Oh noo, aaargh! Uugh!" Daddy whimpered. 

I quickly screamed, "Wrestle him down, Raindrops!" 

And so did the young yellow pegasus mare. She started to learn martial arts called ‘Iron Hoof’, and already practised a few weeks. Good for her, Dad wasn't into fighting things, and Dad quickly fell on the ground.

"Now, get me a rope!" spirited Raindrops exclaimed. She always felt like kind of a leader.

Suddenly, Mom interrupted all of us. "Okay, enough with the kindergarten games!" She soon added, "What we need is tape! A lot of tape!" Darling, bring the strongest tape you can find!"
I joyfully hopped to the basement to get some old gluey tape. And it was the beginning of gleeful party games. We tied up Dad, played family games like 'Twister', and laughed the whole day on.

"Geeeez girls, it's way past evening!" 

"Oh Raindrops, you're right!" I nodded. 

"And what about your special present?" Dad interrupted us. We totally forgot my birthday present. But I must say, doing fun is a good way to distract little impatient fillies.
"Here, open this box. We knew, if we just hid your present, you'd probably find it." Maybe Dad was right. I was a curious little pegasus. "That's why you need this key."

I opened the box. To my surprise, there was nothing but two empty cards. "Daaaddy! This is not a very special present!" 

"Well, then turn the cards around," my mom threw in.

A picture of the Wonderbolts, Equestrias most important flying troup, and a picture of the ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia, were printed on the two cards.

"Do you know, what this is?" my mom questioned. I shooked my head. 

"Well, Meddy, your mother and I know, you really love to fly since you were a little filly," Sure, which pegasus disliked flying through the sky? Were they trying to make my present extra special with their speeches? "These are entrance cards for the 'Best Young Flyer Competition' this May."

"So... are we going to visit the show?" I asked my parents quite disappointed. 

"No, darling. We're gonna visit the show, and you may participate in the contest as well! Only 15 young pegasi will have the chance to show how good or how fast they fly!"

I was kinda perplexed about this whole thing. Raindrops suddenly cheered up so loud, not even a dragon, finding out he lost his girlfriend, could’ve top her. "Medley, do you even know, what it means? Hay, if you work just a little harder, you might win the competition, and you can call yourself the best young flyer in Equestria!" 

I must say, I never thought about it how good my flying was or not. I just flew around, like every other pegasus pony did. Was I really that good, though I could never beat Rainbow Dash's speed? Speaking of that, this was definitely one of the things you’d need if you wanted to have a chance to win. Well, I thought so.

"I-I'm not sure." 

When those words were fallen, the faces of my parents dropped into a bit of sadness. But I kept on talking. 
"Do you all really think, I am a good flyer? I mean, I cannot even reach so much speed to create the legendary sonic rainboom, hardly any pegasi created." 

Raindrops shooked her head. "No, you don't need to be fast or something. It's not about speed or how many weights you can lift with one wing tip. It's just about how skillful you are with your flying. By the way, what’s a ‘sonic rainboom’?"

Springy, actually a really quiet pegasus, joined the discussion. "When you hit the playground, or play along in the sky, you always gracefully fly around. You don't make many loopings or something, and you're not as fast as Dashie, but you do so great. And it looks so fabulous."

"Not every pegasus filly can fly that good, darling." The voice of Mom sounded strangely wiseful. "Little pegasi like you still have small wings, which are pretty unmanageable for flying. Only a few pegasi can fly that good in a young age."

I was still unsure about if I really was a good flyer. "But what about Rainbow Dash?" 

"Yes darling, she's a pretty fast flyer. But as mentioned before, speed is not the key to win," my mom said. 

"Flapping your wings really fast is something every pegasus can do," Springy was trying to give me a wing hug. 

My mom started to laugh, and carried on: "See, when your little friend is a grown mare, she'll give you a tons of wing hugs. At least she's trying. Speaking of that, most pegasi in this competition are absolute beginners. After all, it's not the Wonderbolts Academy. Just look at them, how much they’re struggling, trying to make a good show and trying to fly around without falling down."

"To make it special, Meddy, you are the youngest contestant in the whole group. The oldest ones are 18 or 19. This'll bring you some bonus points." 

"Indeed," Mom nodded to Daddy's point.

"If it helps it, we all believe in you," Springy gently said, "I bet your parents are aware of your flying talent, and in recognition, they bought you these cards. Only parents, who are sure about her daughter or her son, will do this for their little filly."

Springy got a good point, but she carried on: "My little sister leaped two classes, because my parents were sure about this thing." 

Oh yeah, her little sister. Sunny Rays. The yellow young mare with a lavender mane. She was a very intelligent filly. She's one and a half year younger than Springy, but she was pragmatic, and her efforts in school were always excellent. If you need a problem solver or a math genius, you could always count on Sunny Rays. Springy was intelligent too. Maybe it’s in her family.

I let myself some time thinking about this situation how much these ponies all relied on to me. I was still unsure of being that talented. But then I turned my head directly to Mom and Dad with a quite baffled stare. Seeing in their faces I kinda imagined, how much my parents were thinking about my own good. Then I felt some water in my eyes. I trotted to my parents directly and threw them a hug, they wouldn't forget.

"Thank you! Thank you very much! All of you!" I began to sob and the water flowed. 

Raindrops encouraged me, "Hey, Sweetie! It's all okay." Instead of trying to give me a wing hug, she just closed her eyes, leaned her head into my mane and gave me a peck on my cheek. 
We ended the day with Mom bringing Raindrops and Springy back to their homes, while Dad made me to be ready for bed.




~ ~ ~




One day, it must have been on a spring day, I noticed a little colt from the kindergarten flying pretty clumsy around; he even crashed against a wall with his head! Ouch, that must’ve hurt! That reminded me of the all the positive words, my parents and my friends made back on my birthday. So I headed along with Springy and Raindrops on a recess in the backyard of our school a couple of days after. I had a plan. 

"Come on, lets play with those clouds!" I demanded. 

"Um... why that?" Raindrops wondered. 

"To have fun of course. You go first!" 

"I better stay on the ground," Springy declared. 

Raindrops was still wondered why I wanted to play with clouds with her. But afterwards she relented. "Okay, fine. I'll fly first."

Raindrops had the same flying speed like I had. So it was barely no problem keeping up her pace. We both needed a couple of seconds to the clouds over there. In these seconds, I carefully watched her wings flapping up and down. But I was not entirely sure, what makes her wing movements better or worse than mine.

Anyways, Raindrops almost approached the next cloud she could reach, as something popped up very quickly from the cloud. "BOOOOH!"

Raindrops quivered from the shriek and tumbled down to the ground. But luckily, I quickly saved her from hitting the ground hard by catching her softly with my back. I mean, this can be very dangerous. If a pegasus pony hits the walkable, solid clouds too hard, this pony just falls through!

"Thank you, Medley, but... what... the... hay... was... that...?" Raindrops slowly recovered and a yellow mare with light purple mane landed next to us. 

"Sunny!" Springy ran over to her in a sudden speed. "Hey sweetie, why are you not in your school?" 

The little sister of Springy went to another school in Cloudsdale. A school for the more intelligent students. Before giving her a proper answer, Raindrops shouted at her violently at once. "WHAT THE HAY do YOU want from me?" 

Sunny Rays frowned. Springy and I immediately stepped in with different reasons. For Springy it was clear, because Raindrops shouted at her little, innocent sister. "Chill down, Raindrops. I made her hiding behind that cloud."

Kinda dumb idea from me, I know. I met Sunny Rays in her school when I already had school out a couple of days ago. I needed her for a certain purpose. 

"Oh, well then it's clear." 

Raindrops voice was incredibly soft. I mean, she outraged Sunny for frightening her, and now the unexpectedly calm voice of the blue-maned pony? "So clear. ARE YOU NUTS? I almost crashed down because of your dumb thing!" She glared at me angrily and asked, "What's that all about?"

"Easy-beasy. Sunny is there for a good reason," I tried to calm down.

I have to admit, scaring her was maybe not a good idea. Messing with Raindrops, and she’ll messing with you. Raindrops glowered even more. "I just know the reason. Make a fool out of ME?" 

"Oh don't be so silly. It's not that way, but—" 

"So even WORSE you mean?" Raindrops interrupted.

"Heey," I tried to de-escalate the whole situation. Geez, who knew, Raindrops could outrage like a monster? "Listen to me, please." 

Sunny Rays shooked her head between to two of us, still paralyzed by Raindrops infuriation, while Springy tried to comfort her little sister. 

"Remember, when I got the tickets for the Best Young Flyer Contest?" Raindrops just glared at me. "Remember when everyone of you said, I’m like a gifted flyer? I wanted you to fly to the cloud in front of me, so I could see, how your wings were moving. And I needed some neutral support. Sunny watched the two of us from the cloud. I told her to look, how we use our wings. Just that." 

Oh dear, Sunny now knew about my so-called talent, so I couldn’t hope to get a neutral point of view anymore.

"And I told her to scare you, so I could see how you react in such a situation. How you use your wings, and—" 

"You know THAT was a dumb idea? You could’ve just asked me or us for that?" Raindrops interrupted me once more and increased her voice. "And do you even realize, I would've broken my leg or something if I crashed? All because you wanted to compare my flapping with yours? What are you? Making a fool of me, so you can shine braggy? You know I hate—" 

"Oh nooo, stop that and listen!" I had to pause her. Sunny and Springy were still unable to talk. So it was just me and Raindrops. 

"I know, that was a dumb idea scaring you. But I needed somepony, who can judge my flying in comparison with other ponies. It's not about bragging. I'm just so unsure about this whole competition thing."

"You're out of your mind!" Raindrops first shooked her head totally quick, then she asked: "Does that mean, you don't trust us anymore? We’re your best friends?" 

What a couple of nice words...

"No. I do trust you. But friends always try to cheer up their friends if you're worried about yourself. So I hired Sunny for that mini-job. If even a pony like Sunny, who hasn't seen me flying around since whatever-time can tell me, I do good at flying, I can be much more sure that I'm made for competing there."

"You know, only your best friends will tell you how good you are, because they know you much better, than some unknown background pony?"

Oww. My mouth was wide open. Not because she declared it so directly, but calling a pony a 'background pony' can be interpreted as being a VUP, a very unimportant pony. Plus, I saw Sunny Rays already sobbing a bit with some crystal-glittered tears, when she'd heard about the background-pony thing, which stung not only hers, but my inner feelings somehow as well. 

"Oh please, be fair! What, if everypony tells you, you are such a great flyer, and the truth is, you just flap your wings up and down?" 

While Raindrops was still mad at me, Springy suddenly stepped in, "Please stop arguing! It displeasures me and my little sis. Do a handshake or something and quickly forget about this!" 

Oh dear, Springy really hated arguing and stuff. She’s such a nice loveable pony. If she could, she'd stop any wars by just saying some words. She had a smooth and calm voice to fall in love for.

Raindrops eyes and mine’s were looking into different directions. None of us spoke a word in the next seconds. A peaceful but eerie silence was on this place. You could even hear some other fillies giggling on the playground far away.

I sighed. "Look. All I ever wanted, was a neutral point of view. Nothing more. It didn't mean not to trust you anymore. But I see now, scaring you was a very naive idea. I'm so sorry for that." 

Raindrops eyes didn't meet mine. She just looked on the ground and shifted her hooves back and forth. "I'll think about that, Medley. Break's almost over. Better go to the classroom now."

Oh dear, Raindrops was still mad at me.

Raindrops and I hardly changed any words together in the next days. And as long as you didn't bring up the thing between me and Raindrops, you could've had a talk with Springy at least. 
So I decided to go to Springy's house after school. It was a pretty decent house with a nice garden. But I rather focused on other things. Decorations were not my big interest right now.

While Springy went to the kitchen to make some food for her and her little sister, I took a pillow and sat down in the living room. Everything was so quiet here. Her parents were still at work. I didn't exactly know where they worked. Springy always told me, her parents came late, so she must care for herself and her sister.

Speaking of that, her sister Sunny Rays was the one, I wanted to talk with. I sneaked away from the living room, and made my way to Sunny's room. I knocked on her door carefully.

"Hey, it's me, Medley." I had a faint friendly smile on my face, and Sunny almost stumbled. 

"Oh-oh, Hi." 

I watched at her very gently. "May I step in?" 

"Oh-um, sure."

Sunny seemed to be really nervous about my presence. I could think of why. I better not tried to use the name 'Raindrops'. "So, um, how was my flying?" 

Apathetically she just answered, "Good." 

Okay, her first encounter with Raindrops really broke her feelings. Plus, without the 'accident', I would've just stepped into her room, asked her how my flying was, got my judge and I'd be happy. Great idea I had. Next time, better place a skunk somewhere. 
Anyways, how should I receive a fair judge now? I mean, Sunny might not be that impartial anymore, since the whole thing. Raindrops shouted at her, and she finally knew, I needed her for judgement support.

"Look, I know what's happened there. But don't be afraid of that. I'm going to sort things out." But first things first. The flying issue was more important than the one with Raindrops. I took another pillow and placed myself right next to the shy pony. "Please Sunny, can you tell me, why my flying is so good?" Sunny sighed and her next phrase really blowed my mind.

"Bearing in mind you are an eleven year old pegasus filly that usually cannot have highly developed flying abilities, your own flying abilities matches a fairly close utopistic state of having best-developed flying skills, which only adult pegasus ponies can ripen after extensive workouts approximately. Your acceleration is bad due to the tiny surface of your little wings in addition to a wrong wing angle, what makes Rainbow Dash fly blisteringly fast due to her nearly-perfect use of the wing angle of 57 degrees plus wing-training with weights to power them up. On the other hoof, she lacks in patience which might make the flap of both wings synchrone, but asynchrone in up-and-down movements. The last wingbeat of every cycle of her is unaesthetically in many ways, in comparison to yours, due to being anxious for gaining the highest speed. Your lack of wanting a quick achievement of high-speed gives your wings time to unfold themselves. Moreover, the anti-gravitational hover after a complete wingbeat brings up a constant up-and-down movement of your whole body."

Woah! And she’s such a young filly! I dropped my jaw in astonishment. Not only her expressions were awesome, her apathetic unmelodic way to tell you things was awesome too. Awesome in a sad way, though. But she's really a very bright pony using sophisticated words and stuff that’d really blow somepony’s mind.
Fortunately, I understood half of things she wanted to say. I shooked my head to clear my mind. "So, you mean... um... I move my wings quite good for a young mare like me?" 

"Precisely."

Oh dear, her hollow kind of talk just affrighted me. I heard a voice from downstairs. "Sis, food's ready!"

We both went to the kitchen and had some meal.




~ ~ ~




Things between me and Raindrops slowly got better. We still hardly had any conversations, but the longer we left alone each other, the better it was. I kept that pace and in a couple of days, we could laugh and have fun like we did a couple of weeks ago. Well, I hoped so. Stupid naive thinking – I know – but what do you expect from a filly like me?

The weeks passed by. Three days before the Best Young Flyer Competition, all of the contestants were guided through the area. Just to know where things are, and when it is opened for training sessions, what's important and stuff. 

Most of the time, I didn't listen. In fact, I was just amazed by the enormous Cloudeseum. The view is just hilarious. As part of the audience, it just looked like a normal stadium. But flying high above the place, the view down to earth is amazing. A big big big chunk of solid cloud, beautifully shaped with columns and arcs and stuff, and in the middle there's a hole, where you could fall into like 3 or 4 miles deep. I've heard, only the bravest ponies fly that high without having fear. 

As a young flyer, it made it harder to concentrate to fly or your performance when you had to look into the hole down to earth from a certain height. The hole was made for psychologic reasons to intimidate the contestants a little bit. Looking to the tribunes made you have a comfortable performance a little bit, but once you looked into the hole…

Fortunately, if a young pegasus was about to fall into death due to reasons, either some guards or even the Wonderbolts would rescue you. But this was a rare case.

One problem was: What should I perform?

After returning back from the Cloudeseum, I met Raindrops and Springy. Over the weeks, Raindrops and I had an okay situation, though it still wasn't like... you know... the time before my dumb idea. Hoping for better times, I began my talk to Raindrops directly.

"Geez! The sight was so awesome! Too bad, you two can't participate. Then you could see it with your own eyes." 

"I can imagine," Raindrops smiled slightly. 

Springy asked instead, "Are you nervous about the big day?"

Being nervous could've become a problem, though, but I had a bigger problem. "Well, I'm not afraid of being on stage that much. I'm afraid, I still don't have any clue, what to perform."

"No ideas?" Raindrops was quite shocked about this situation. "Medley, you had sooo much time. Three and a half months. And you still don't know what to perform?" Yes, she was right. 

"You haven't even considered about some barrel rolls or loopings or flying through narrow rings?" she continued. 

Acrobatic things like barrel rolls were not a big thing for me. I concerned, "Well, I'm not that creative when thinking about tricks or shows. I sure won't just fly around. The audience, and especially Princess Celestia and the Wonderbolts all expect a good show from me."

Now I'm directly confronted by this problem. And the more I considered about it, the more it sorrowed me. I kept on talking with a blurry almost sobby voice, putting my head into my hooves: "Aaah! I badly need an idea!"

Raindrops comforted me: "Ah come on, Sweetie!" 

Woah, this has been the first time she called me 'Sweetie' since our big wrangle. "What's important now, how we're gonna get some good ideas. And i know just the mare for!" Raindrops turned her head to Springy, who was very quiet like all the time. 

"YOU!" 

"What? Me?" 

Raindrops shifted her leg around her neck, and dragged Springy next to herself. "Yes, you!" Judging from the look, Springy was slightly confused. Raindrops pointed her hoof to Springy’s chest. "Your little sister has a lot of bright ideas. Let's head to her!" 

I intervened, "Sunny?" 

Raindrops eyes opened widely after my reaction. "Oooooh yeah. A few weeks ago, I worried myself about Sunny Rays, and how I shouted at her. I went over to her, and apologized for what I have done. It wasn't really fair from me shouting at her without any reasons."

My inner senses alarmed me, when the topic of Sunny had started. Better count the seconds till the topic changed to our little escalation.

"By the way," Great, now here was the fun part. Really great. "I shouldn't have shouted at you, when we had our little 'crash'. Good friends don't do such things. Good friends talk about it." She waved her hoof to Springy and continued, "Springy suggested me for an apologize. And she suggested me for—" Raindrops paused and looked back to Springy like her face was a piece of paper where you could look up what you’ve written. "Oh right! Reconsidering about my behaviours."

Springy just giggled about her last comment. "You’ve memorized it well!"

Ooookay, now I haven't expected that. I looked in her bright blue eyes. I don't know, but... I felt like she really cared for our friendly relationship. I mean, we've been friends now since a couple of years. When I'd first graduated in school, Raindrops sat next to me, and she was all nice and stuff. We played together in the backyard, shaped some clouds, kicked them, etc. Just what every pegasus filly did. And when Springy came the next year, the bond of our friendship became stronger than ever.

By the look in her eyes, I realized, the apology was kinda important for her. You could see a light sad look in her eyes.

"Hey gorgeous, of course I can forgive you. After the things, I did to you, and my stupid ideas and—" 

Raindrops shoved her hoof on my mouth to stop my blabber. "Do it easy. Let's forget it. Okay?"

The next thing was a quite unknown phenomenon for me, when Raindrops shifted away her hoof and suddenly kissed me on my lips. This was a strange but very nice gesture, and I wished I could’ve hold it longer. Must be a kiss of appeasement or something. Springy just smiled at the both of us.

"And now, let's head to Sunny Rays!" Raindrops said. 

Springy and I both agreed, "Fine!"

We headed to Springys house. Raindrops chewed on a pencil, Springy laid on the floor staring to the ceiling and Sunny and I just looked at each other in uncreativeness. We went there for a couple of hours.

"Hmmmm.... Hmmm... GEEZ, who knew, thinking about performances could've been so hard?"
Raindrops screamed. All of us were jumped in fear, like a huge timberwolf would've come to eat us. "Oops, my bad." Raindrops grinned.

"I need i need i need a good idea!", my voice frowned when saying that. 

"Hey, Sunny Rays, you got any ideas?" She seemed to be so much distracted by thinking about ideas, she just hadn't heard Raindrops. "Sunny Rays? Are you deaf?" 

"Huh, what? Oow." Sunny Rays realized, she deepened her mind too much. "I can tell you a dozen of ideas, but all of these ideas require a certain skill of athletics or acrobatics to do well. And we have no time anymore to drill Medley like a professional acrobat." 

I instantly put my hooves on my head and said, "Face it, I failed." 

"We won't let you down Medley," Springy softly chimed in, "we only need to find a way." 

Raindrops reminded me: "Hey, you told me about the beautiful view, you had." I nodded to her point. 

"Just tell me. Are you afraid of the hole, you told us?" Judging from my friends, and Sunny of course, I might really have the potential for being a good flyer. So, after all, I could've let me fall towards the hole without making sorrows.

"I don't really think so. After all, you guys all count on me. You all think, I am a great flyer. Why shall I fear?" 

"Confidence," Sunny Rays stepped in, "your confidence reached a higher level by us, who can give you moral safety and support. That's a good base. Without confidence, you won't even succeed. You got the confidence to make a good performance, and we just need the ideas for a good performance."
We kept on thinking about good stuff for the competition, though the day was almost over.

The next day, Raindrops and Springy accompanied me to the Cloudeseum. Two last days for preparing. For barrel rolls or something, you needed too much time. Barrel rolls are not a bunch of spin-arounds. You need much more flying experience. And what I heard from making barrel rolls, you'd rather lose than rule, cause only a few pegasi were experienced enough to do barrel rolls.

Springy placed some rings. "A little bit left... A little bit left, okay perfect!" commanded Raindrops.

"Look, Medley!" She wrapped a hoof around me, and we flew to a certain height. "Look down sweetie!"

I did so. I saw a bunch of rings one behind another. And in the end, you could see the big hole. 

"You just gain some speed, fly through the cloudy rings, and either you rapidly change your direction or just fly through the hole, and you come back from anywhere." Sounded like a plan. "I had that idea over night," Raindrops mentioned. 

I have to admit, I was kinda afraid. But since the little nuzzle on my nose, I've developed some kind of faith in her. I mean, you usually trust your friends. But that was some kind of very deep faith. I hugged Raindrops like there was no tomorrow.

"Mmmmust.... freee.... mysssselllf... Uargh. Medley, no need to thank—" 

I interrupted her again by giving her another big hug and smiled, "Aaaah, Thanks! Thank you," I continued, "I love it to be your friend; I love it so much!" 

Raindrops freed herself from my tight hug and sighed, "Oh sweetie, of course, I'm always there for my friends." We both hugged each other again. After that, Raindrops went on to her business. "And now, let's have some practise!"

The practise went very well. Fortunately, other contestants were either outside the Cloudeseum to practice, or just used a tiny space inside the Cloudeseum for their training. That gave us plenty of space to do our trick. 

My little fears disappeared more and more, when speeding through the rings. Springy watched the time until I passed the last cloud ring. "5.75 seconds. And this time without touching your wings against the rings."

Sure, this was a tough thing. The rings were really narrow, and the more speed you gained, the harder it becomes to fly exactly in the middle of the ring. If the judges see some cloud material bursting off of the rings, they would've given you negative score. Bursting cloud material was a clear sign, a pony touched the rings or barricades, or whatever a pony needed for the show.

"I think, you did great," Springy announced. 

Raindrops nodded in agreement. "Tomorrow, we can work for that sharp boomerang back to the stage." 

We just worked on flying through the rings. Raindrops' boomerang idea about flying abruptly back after I passed the last cloud ring was a thing, we still had to practise. We ended this day with some more flying-through-the-rings stuff.

"Do a fighter stance, after you've returned!" 

My coach Raindrops had some more ideas over the night to improve our show. Yes, it was called 'our show' now, as Springy is allowed to place the rings in the contest, while Raindrops should guide her. It'd been the last day before the Best Young Flyer Competition was about to start. We tried the 'boomerang', but it tended to be more complicated, than it was. 
I attempted to return back as quickly as possible, but in the end, I always had to turn back around the Cloudeseum the last four or five times. I mean, it was not forbidden. You could've used the whole sky if you wanted to. As long as the Wonderbolts or Princess Celestia can watch you with their eagle eyes, there was no problem. But I'd rather be in within the Cloudeseum, as the crowd would be much more excited about it.

"Reduce your speed! It's not a race after all!" Raindrops corrected. "Don't accelerate too much!" 

I wondered how many times, I flew through the rings. Must be about 50 or 60 times until the preparations were over. We eventually placed a sixth ring, but just for testing reasons. For the contest, we agreed to place five rings, and nothing should change about it. Though, a sixth ring would be pretty too. 
We just had one problem. I still have troubles with the boomerang.




~ ~ ~




"Attention Contestants! Please stand in line for the registration!" Okay, that was the signal. Today, the Best Young Flyer Contest was about to begin. Just a little check-in, grab a tag number, and be ready for some rumble.

"Awesome! Just awesome!" Raindrops was even more excited than me.

 "Geez, take a breath. You know who's participating?" I chimed in.

"Right right, but the ambience here is just hilarious." Springy nodded for her statement. "Aaaand just look at the crowd!" 

We saw the whole audience in the Cloudeseum. This place can carry 1,700 pegasi! The tribunes were full. Everypony cheered so loud, I couldn't even hear my own words anymore. "What did you all say?"

"Next one... NEXT ONE!" I became deaf somehow. 

"Me? Oh, right." 

"Name?"

This old lady just sounded like she was from the military or something. To be honest, I don't like such persons. All the authority was not a thing for me, and I felt sorry when I heard of ponies getting drilled very hard by some drill sergeants. She reminded my of our Grumpy Granny.

"My name's Medley!" 

"Medley, Medleymedley... Medley? Oh here! All right, your number is four!" 

Aaargh, one of the beginners. Not a good sign. That meant, eleven others could do a better job than me. The old lady from the check-in also mentioned, "I see, you're the youngest of all the contestants. Eleven sweet years. Better do a good job, Miss Littlewing!" 

Miss Littlewing? Did she just say Miss Littlewing? How mean! "I'm so ready, you'll regret it calling me Miss Littlewing!"

"Yeah whatever," the old lady announced, "NEXT ONE!"

Raindrops found a good thing to tease me a little bit. "Number 4, Miss Littlewing! On the stage!" 

Springy began to laugh, while I facehoofed her. "Hey, don't start such things! Everypony will see how amazing my tricks will be!" 

Raindrops slowed down a bit: "Hey, don't be too over-confident! You know, that's not how a pony's gonna handle it." Raindrops was right. I became a little bit too braggy in the last time. Better slow down my emotions.

15 Minutes till the competition started. I was tensed. Really tensed. My goal was, to make the best, and to amaze all the ponies out there. Young and old. Especially Raindrops, Springy and Sunny, Mom and Dad. Five ponies believed in me. Five ponies relied on my flying techniques. Five ponies thought, I could make it. I can't disappoint them. I mustn't!

A few minutes after, the old lady from a couple of minutes ago entered the waiting hall, where all of the contestants plus their assistants were waiting for their show. "Okay, Number 1! Get ready!" 

Meanwhile, the opening ceremony has already begun with loud music like a dozen of fanfares and trumpets. Raindrops chuckled, "Hey Medley. Are you nervous?" 

Why did she stared so strange to me? Her eyes were half-closed, like she was trying to seduce me. 

"No! I'm not!" I yelled back and showed her my tongue. But I had to admit, my inner emotions changed from being tensed to being nervous. But it was better to hide it.

Raindrops instead put one hoof over both of her eyes, like she was spying somepony. "Then why does you body twitch? Or have you seen a cute stallion or a cute mare out there?" 

Actually, I wanted to facehoof her for her strange thinking. That idea... eww. "I'm not twitching! It's breezy!" Bad excuse, I know. 

"Breezy, huh? Springy," Raindrops asked to provocate, "is it breezy here?"

"Oh come on, Raindrops!" Good thing, when you have a party pooper like Springy. Technically. "We all know she fears the speed and the hole, and the blamage she'll get." 

I buried my face. "Aaargh, Giiiirls!"

"Okay, Number 1! On the stage, NOW!" Still a little bit mad about Springy and Raindrops teasing me, the strict voice of the old lady cleared my mind. And this whole contest thing went quicker, than I thought. Too quick for me. Geez, in a few minutes, Springy and Raindrops must go out there placing the rings, while I had to prepare myself for the flight of my life. "Number 2! Number 2? You're next! Get ready!" 

The first contestant was really miserable. The young colt tried three loopings, but crashed when he had to fly through one ring. Feeling dizzy of the crash, a voice from the megaphones commented to him: "Baaaad luck! We hope he's well." 

Geeez, no 30 seconds and the second contestant already was off stage. "Number 3, you’re next! Get ready!"

So this meant, I was the next to get ready. A slight twitch from my legs pointed a bit of nervousness, I never wanted to show. 

"Are you okay, Medley?" That sweet voice was the thing, I really needed now! I don't know, her voice was just... like you were safe in one's hooves. Springy was a gentle pony – that's what made her stand out! Such gentle ponies, like Spring Skies, were able to handle any emotions of anypony pretty well, and they always had the right answer for your sorrows.
"You'll do it," Springy comforted me and leaned her head on mine. I swear, I could smell some blueberries coming from her silky mane!

Fortunately, I could hold this feeling a bit longer, because the second contestant and her assistant needed more time. This gentle feeling somehow helped me, and my nervousness disappeared more and more. And when talking about nice things, Raindrops joined the two of us, and wrapped her hooves around my neck to give me a tight hug. We all closed our eyes for about a couple of minutes. 

"HEY! You're number 4! You should be on stage now!" Oh no, that group hug was so nice! We really haven't noticed the contestants anymore. And now, the audience is waiting for the three of us. 

Loud music came from the megaphones. Only a few ponies in the audience looked to us, as we haven’t even prepared the course. Springy catched the five rings we needed, while Raindrops was in charge for positioning in the right manner. The both of them needed a minute, so I flew very slowly to my starting position. 

While Raindrops and Springy were still busy about placing the rings, I observed the full tribunes. Okay, Sunny Rays was here. And I’m not sure about it, but I saw at least Dashie’s father. Too bad, Dashie was not here to cheer me up. 

Continuing with my observations, I spotted two very well-known faces. I waved a hoof and yelled, "Mooooom! Daaaaad!" Both of them immediately waved back to me, because they’ve already awaited me. I have seen a smile on their faces, what made me smile. 

I watched down to Springy and Raindrops again. Still, the track was not finished. So I looked over to the Wonderbolts. One of them was Fleetfood. I knew her, because she visited our class last year telling us all about the Wonderbolts, the hard training and their risky, speedy tricks in the air. Dashie was really crazy about that stuff. I was not really interested in that, though it was pretty nice to see a member of the glorious Wonderbolts just a mere hooves away.

Obviously, Fleetfood and the two other Wonderbolts were in a discussion, so they didn’t notice me at all. Even Celestia was rather distracted by one of her followers, because there was nothing to perform yet.

After a couple of seconds, Raindrops and Springy finally managed to place the rings. Raindrops gave the signal, so my show can begin. Again, loud music came from the megaphones. If I danced in the air or something, we would have some relaxed, beautiful music. But this wasn’t the case.

Now, everypony looked upon to me. Especially Mom and Dad, even Celestia and the Wonderbolts. For about half a second, I indirectly looked to Celestia. Her eyes suddenly just stared at me, like she was trying search or analyze me. The Wonderbolts were no thing to deal with, because I couldn’t look into their flying goggles. I took a very deep breath.

I was focused. I wanted to do it best. I flapped with my wings three or four times, until I reached an acceptable velocity. Six seconds were an okay time. I passed the first ring without any problems. Even the second and the third ring were no problem for me. Continuing with having no problems, I managed the fourth ring. Now the fifth and last ring was a tough one, because I desperately wanted to make that boomerang. As soon as I passed the last ring, I tried to turn back immediately. 

All of the attempts of the boomerang in the preparation were a failure. But to my surprise, I succeeded to turn back this time. Promptly, after I faced the matter of fact that I created the boomerang successfully, and after I was in the direction back to stage, I quickly accelerated to the middle of the stage.

My face smiled, and I was there, hovering in the middle of the Cloudeseum, being applauded and cheered by the crowd. My bad, I almost forgot my pose. But I catched this up, and did my pose. Not a creative one, as it was just raising a hoof up in the air. 
Raindrops and Springy scampered from behind, and hugged me so tight leaving me in an unbreathable way.

Raindrops was the first one screaming her lungs out while she squeezed me to death. She exclaimed in delight for my successful performance. "YEAAHHHH! WOOHOOOOO! YOU DID GREAT!"

Springy was not the pony to scream. Though I felt like I was deaf due to Raindrops' pretty strong lungs, I heard Springy say, "You made it, you made it so well!" 

"THAT WAS SO A-MA-ZING! How does it feel?" 

I couldn’t stop to grin and I found no words to say. "Can’t picture it, Raindrops. Must tell you later." 

While Springy cleared up the place for the next contestant, Raindrops put a hoof around me neck, and we joyfully hovered back to the waiting hall. Before I entered the waiting hall, I had turned my head back to Mom and Dad, and waved them happily. They waved back with a huge smile on their faces. What I haven’t noticed were the reactions of Princess Celestia and the Wonderbolts, though.

It must have been an hour or so, until the last competitors finished their shows. Some of them were great with really awesome tricks. Two of the last ones completely failed. And everytime, a challenger finished his performance in front of the Wonderbolts, the audience jubilated. 

"Do you think, I have a chance to win this?" 

"Medley, you rocked! Better prepare for our princess, cause you showed them all!" Raindrops was quite confident about this situation. 

Springy on the other side, was even-tempered. "Don’t worry, Medley. They sure loved your performance! After all, if the people knew, you succeeded your last trick—", Springy giggled and winked at me.

Before the winner could be presented in the Cloudeseum, we all had to wait for the list one of the jurors would show in the waiting hall, so we can see who was ranked at which position. 

The minutes passed by, and I hectically waited for. A young, yellow coated pegasus mare with orange mane and a wonderbolt trainee uniform entered the waiting hall. She wore not the suit, like the Wonderbolts did, but the trainee uniform signalized, that she was on to become one of the virtuosic Wonderbolts.

The young mare arranged a fairly huge space, so all of us participants wouldn’t run her over, tear down the list or something. "Okay, contestants! Have a look and do NOT cross this line!"

A young brown stallion cheered up suddenly. "Yeeee-Haw, I did it, i did it! Yes, baby, yes!" Raindrops and Springy were pretty surprised by this. "I won, I won, I won, Yeaaah!"

I shook my head and had a closer look on the list. To my consternation, I found myself not on the top places. Not even a fifth or sixth place. Not even the tenth. I finally found myself on the paper, and it really shocked me. A 12th place.

The contestants spread around, while I was still there looking palishly to the list. Raindrops and Springy knew, there was something going on, so they quickly ran next to me. 

"B-B…I-" Raindrops saw, I couldn’t bring words on my lips. Then she turned her head to the paper.

"Medley, Medley where are you?" Springy pointed quickly with her hoof on the paper.

"There she is, Raindrops!" Raindrops widened her eyes in shock.

I felt such a bitter feeling in my stomach. It felt like butterflies, but instead, those butterflies were about to devour me from inside. A very biting, itchy but empty feeling. I was still paralyzed about the whole thing, even when the three of us, Raindrops and Springy with a hoof behind my back and with worried faces, trotted to Mom and Dad.




~ ~ ~




The next thing I remembered was me crying into my pillow pathetically. "HOO HOO! BOO HOO HOOOO! SNIFF. Oh whyy? Whyy-y-y? SNIFF."

While Dad was away, my mom was delirious with sorrow. "Oh darling," she placed her hoof on my back, "there’s no reason to cry." 

"HOO BOOO HOO HOO HOO! I sooo did my best bu-but SNIFF no one- no one liked me. BOO HOOOOO!"

"Nopony dislikes you, darling. Nopony does that."

Her words were powerless. My feelings kept on flowing like a waterfall. Never-ending. I was so torn. 
I hardly perceived, Raindrops and Springy were in my house, to look after me. 

"May we come in, Miss?" Not even the soft voice of Springy could’ve stopped my tears from falling now. I was really in a bad mood to care for visitors. I wished, I could’ve locked all the doors around me, and cry myself to death.

"Sure girls, come in," my Mother said.

I lifted my head away from my wetted pillow. I turned my head and saw two ponies – my best friends – with so worried and sad faces. Raindrops pointed to Springy and whispered, "Go on, Springy. You do better in this." 

Springy stood in front of me and gently put her hoof under my eyes wiping away my tears. "I’m so sorry for this." 

Raindrops just stared at me sadfully, while my tears carried on running down my cheeks. I turned my head into my pillow again. In that motion, Springy tried to prevent me from crying into my pillow again, "Oh no please don’t—" 

I pushed her away. "Leave me alone! BOO HOO HOO!"

Springy didn’t let up. In fact, she exerted herself even more to make me stop whining. She neared my head very close. I heard her breath. "SHHHH! It’s all okay, Medley."

She stroked through my mane comfortingly. Many times. "BOO HOO HOO HOO!"

"No need for crying. Don’t let it bother you."

"SNIFF Bu-But…"

She kissed me on my cheek to console me. Then she said, "For us, you were great. Really great. You made us very happy. You did something, you’ve never done before. Of all the things that could happen, your little trick at the end finally worked the first time. When Raindrops saw that, she was close to tears."

I buried my face into my pillow deeper. I really hated to hear about Raindrops and her emotions right now. I mean, I didn’t have that much pillows for two ponies weeping into. I wasn’t even sure whether Raindrops eyes were already watered or not.

"SOB Just leave me alone. I’m torn. Really really torn." 

"We know, Medley. And we all want to be there for you. We all want comfort you. That’s what good friends always do." Springy began to joke a little bit. "Hey, if you want, you can cry into my tail. My tail is very smooth!"

I made no reaction to that. Springy, once again, sorrowed for me, "Oh come on, Medley." 

Springy grabbed me in a different position, so I could literally cry on her shoulder. "Better go you two. She needs to be alone right now."

My mom nodded and demanded, "Come on Raindrops. We better leave now." I could hear my mom turn around from the cracking of my wooden floor. Before my mom finally left, she mentioned, "You are a very sensitive pony, Spring Skies. It’s very glad, my daughter has a friend like you." Springy nodded, and cuddled herself on my head. 

The door was closed. Only Springy and I were on my bed. She still softly comforted me by stroking my mane.

"SOB Why me? Why so bad? I told you all, I am a bad flyer." I buried myself deeper on her shoulder. 

"No, you’re not." She gently kissed on my head. "Medley, sometimes the world is just mean to a pony. We cannot change it, but maybe we can learn from it. Whining is nonsense if you want to change it."

We stayed in this position for a couple of minutes. She sat on my bed, while I was leaned on her soft body. None of us spoke a single word, and all I did was sobbing. 

"You mean so much to me, Medley. Please stop crying now." She shifted one of her hooves on my back and gave me a tight but soft hug to solace me. Her head was still leaning on mine. "I won’t talk, until you cried out all of your tears! I’ll be there until you’ve cried into sleep!"

It must’ve been half an hour or something. I calmed down very slowly. And to my surprise, Springy still comforted me by cuddling on my head peacefully. Tears were still running, though. But I didn’t sob anymore. 

"Why hey there, Medley? How are you?" She looked into my red-eyed teared face. Her eyes moved up and down searching for tears to clean away, and then she kissed me on my forehead. 

"See? I’m still there for you. We all are. Why don’t you come down to the kitchen, and have some meal? A great flyer like you must eat."

"Oh Springy, it’s just so terrible."

"I know. But as I said before, don’t let it bother you. It wouldn’t help any of us."

I took a deep breath and loudly sighed. "Ma-maybe you’re right." I was stuck on my bed somehow. I wanted to get up, but my body didn’t want to. 

"Come on, I’ll help you!" She stood up, and reached me a hoof. I gave her one of my hooves, and she pulled me towards her body. Then she softly wrapped a leg around me. "It’s all gonna be okay." She opened the door, and we both went carefully down to the kitchen, where Mom and Raindrops should await us.

"There you are, darling!" my mom slightly smiled at me. 

"H-Hi, Mom." I looked in her eyes, freed myself from Springy, and leaned my head on her body. 

"You’re hungry, darling? I have crunchy flowers on the table!"

"N-No thanks. I’m n-not hungry."

I haven’t counted, how many times I stuttered since the whole disaster. My mum instead chuckled, turned her head to Springy and respectfully said, "I knew, I could rely on you, Spring Skies! You made a very well job!"

"Hey, Springy, look there!" Raindrops intervened and pointed her hoof to her flank. 

"Wha- What’s that?" Springy wondered. I looked upon to her to see what was going on. I saw something like a picture on her flank. My eyes were still filled with some water, so it was unclear to see it yet.

"Is… is that a…?" Springy wondered. 

My mother stepped in, "Yes. A cutie mark. Congratulations, Spring Skies!"

"Woah," Raindrops astonished, "how did she get that cutie mark?"

My mom chuckled: "If a pony discovers its own fate and discovers what the pony is by oneself, a cutie mark will appear on each side of the flanks. It’ll represent what you are."

"Sooo complicated." Raindrops rubbed a hoof on her head.

"No, it’s easy. You see, her cutie mark is a sun with a white cloud. She’s spreading cheeriness and serenity in a comfort way. A feeling like when ponies clear up the sky to let the sun shine. As you can see the sun and the cloud on her flank."

"You know a lot of cutie marks. Tell me more!" Raindrops eyes gleamed. 

"You see, she comforted my darling and turned her sad face into a slightly happier face. Her inner dark clouds in her head were cleared in less than no time!"

"Mommy, will I get a cutie mark too?" I asked her patiently.

She was silent first. Then she nodded, "Yes darling. You will."

"But, when my true fate is not flying, but something else, how can I find my true fate?" 

"See, your cutie mark will not just appear if you’re talented in something like flying. It will appear, when you know your own destiny by yourself. Though, it can be linked with something you’re talented to. A pony like you can discover its own destiny. It’s like a zap you get deep inside, when you’ve done something very beautiful."

Raindrops put in, "Oh that sounds so beautiful! I must have a cutie mark! Springy, I envy you!" 

Springy blushed, while I was paralyzed about it. I was not sad, because somepony else got a cutie mark earlier than me. In fact, I was kinda motivated now. At least, it was my ‘fault’ in a positive way of course, and I was kinda proud Springy got her cutie mark. I let off of my mom, and trotted to Springy.

My sight became clearer and clearer, and within some time, I faced the true beauty of somepony’s cutie mark.

"Congratulations Springy," I commented and began to smile. Raindrops trotted to Springy too, and we both gave her a tight hug.

Springy replied with the words: "Thank you, girls. Thank you!"

And I knew, what I was up to now. 




~ ~ ~