Rainbow Dash blew her whistle and adjusted her coach’s cap. “Okay, you two, time for some laps around the clouds. Try to keep up.”
Without any further warning, she was off, leaving the two young speedsters struggling to catch up. Rainbow dashed from cloud to cloud, leaving her signature streak in a zigzag pattern, even as it was joined by a dark grey streak and a purple one.
Once she got back to the pond, she took a moment to take in the pair. Rumble was faster in straight lines, but his new training buddy was better in turns, always gaining one little inch on him despite his best efforts.
They both crash-landed in the water, of course.
“Rumble? What do you think you’re doing?”
Rumble surfaced and raised an eyebrow at his older brother. “Thunderlane? What are you doing here?”
“Checking up on you. Chitter told me about what happened at Blue Moon Bloom. And what do you think you’re doing, Rainbow Dash?”
“My job,” Rainbow replied coldly. “These two asked me to give them flying lessons, and I’ve got a clear schedule for today, so if you don’t mind.”
“Uhuh. So who’s that you were flying with?” Thunderlane nodded towards the water.
Rumble reached under the surface of the pond and pulled up an orange pegasus colt with a purple mane and tail. His mane was done up in the Cloudsdale triple forward spike fashion, which was the style for boys at the time. That is, boys who followed the style, like Button Mash or Shady Daze, rather than setting it, as Rumble did.
The orange colt wasted no time hopping out of the pond and shaking himself dry vigorously enough to splash Thunderlane. Then, after flicking the last bit of defiant liquid off of his very rugged and decidedly un-girly unkempt tail, he extended a hoof towards the stallion. “Hey there. I’m Truck.” He spoke with an odd sort of drawl, the kind Thunderlane had learned to associate with surfer types.
Thunderlane eyed the weird kid for a second, before shaking that hoof. “Err, hi, Truck. I thought you were someone else. Isn’t Scootaloo flying with you, Rumble?”
Rumble got out of the pond and folded his arms over his chest. “No. I’m not allowed to hang out with her, remember? So I don’t.”
Thunderlane winced at his little brother’s shot of defiance. “Sheesh, keep it down, would ya?”
Rumble nodded towards his new friend. “Turns out Truck here’s a speedster, like me, so I don’t even have to hang out with Scootaloo anymore. Now I’ve got somepony else to compare to, somepony who isn’t a girl.”
Thunderlane nodded, if confusedly. “Oh, okay. Um, are you from around here, Truck? I don’t think I’ve seen you around.”
Truck chuckled. “Who, me? Yeah, I’m from around here, dude. I, like, hang out with the other guys, like String Bean. You’ve seen him around, haven’t ya?”
“Err, yeah, sure,” Thunderlane lied.
Rumble cleared his throat. “Right, so if you don’t mind, big brother, I need to get back to my flying lesson.”
“Right. You two take care. Nice meeting you, err, Truck.” Thunderlane turned and took off.
“Nice meeting you too, dude.”
Rainbow Dash did her best not to break out in raucous laughter. “Nice going, Truck. You don’t think he’s gonna ask around about a kid named String Bean?”
“Nah,” Rumble replied. “Colts come and go all the time in Ponyville; he’ll never notice.”
“If you say so. Okay, next, you’re gonna practice pulling up from a dive. You’re not always going to have water to break your fall, you know,” Rainbow Dash said.
Truck marched up to the imaginary starting line. “Roger. Just say where and when.”
Rainbow Dash pointed to a pair of clouds set up a couple hundred yards away. “You head on over there, make a left turn at the clouds, then swoop in and try to land on your hooves. Aim for the water the first couple of times. Got that, Rumble?”
Rumble took his spot next to his flying buddy. “You’re going down.”
“Well, duh, dude, we’re practising, like, our landings and stuff.”
Rumble grumbled and lowered his head, eyes set on those clouds.
Rainbow Dash raised her hoof. “On your marks, get set…”
“This time I’ve got you beat, Rumbley-Wumbley-Bumblebee.”
Rumble grinned. “In your dreams, Truckaroo.”
The changeling grinned right back.
Rainbow gave the signal. “Go!”
The End.