//------------------------------// // Life in Cloudsdale Part 3: Camp (Unedited) // Story: Born For Loyalty // by Admiral Q Ponyform //------------------------------// Dash started making funny faces and noises which got a happy cheer from Dawn as Dash held her little sister in her fore hooves. Little Dawn was two years old now and enjoyed her older sister's company. Granted not long after she was born Dash wanted to kill her. Waking up in the middle of the night from her wailing I dare anypony to not have murder in their mind. She invested in some heavy earmuffs and thankfully Dawn grew out of it. Since then she's been an awesome little sister and brought back happy memories from her past life. “It's nice to see you playing with her Dash.” Her mom said as she walked into the living room. “I was afraid after the wailing you would want nothing to do with her.” “Nah, that wouldn't drive me away. She is just too awesome to stay mad at.” Dash looked at her mom with a knowing look. “Bet your glad you did have to go through that with me?” Her mom gave an admitted nod and Dash grinned at that before she went back to playing with her little sister. An hour later the mailpony showed up and mom took the mail from the mare and started going through it. Dash figure she was seeing bills, and advertisements when she suddenly spoke out. “Dash you been accepted into the Junior Speedsters.” “YES!” She would have hoof pumped but her sister was in her grasp. The Junior Speedsters was a camp for pegasi interested in racing or other speed related activities. Her mom put in the application since she had long seen the passion her daughter had in speed and stunts. Her mom continued to read. “You are to report to Cumulbia for the next three weeks starting next Monday.” So she had three days to pack and get there. No problem. This gave her time to play with her sister a bit more. * * * * * * Dash and her mom were enjoying the flight to Cumulbia. Saddle bags packed with personal and needed items. Dawn was sad to see her go and Dash will miss her but this was her dream now. To be the best flier possible and this camp will help. Looking around she saw the beauty of Equestria and revealed in the ability to fly. It was the best part of her new life. To fly without an airplane is a freedom unmatched in her old world and wouldn't trade it for anything. Soon they saw Cumulbia in front of them. It was a cloud town half the size of Cloudsdale and gear for race training and military training so it had a lot of obstacle courses surrounding it of seemingly various difficulties. She couldn't wait to try them all. Her mom led her to an area that didn't have the most awesome layout, bummer. They landed in front of a large building and she followed her mom inside. They headed over to a desk and her mom placed a hoof over her. “I have Rainbow Dash reporting in for camp.” The mare looked up. She was an elderly mare with the gray in her mane. She had a bored look but when she saw Dash’s mom her eyes lit up. “Firefly, it’s been too long since I last saw you. Still racing?” “Yup, and today I bring my eldest daughter to camp.” Firefly looked down and Dash with pride. “So you finally got hitched. So who is the lucky stallion?” “Rainbow Blitz.” Firefly stated. “Rainbow Blitz? I thought he drove you nuts?” With a smirk Dash’s mom replied. “He grew on me.” The mare snickered. Then she wrote something down. “Okay I got her in.” She faces behind her. “MAINLY CLOUDY!” A younger mare raced out of a room behind the desk. “Yes Sunny Days?” “Take young Rainbow Dash here to the east wing barracks.” “Okay squirt follow me.” Before the mare could take her away mother and daughter shared a hug. “You’ll do great my Dashie.” “Of course I will. I’m awesome, but I will miss the family.” “We’ll always be there. Have fun Dashie.” “Will do mom.” With that they separated and Dash followed the mare. She followed the mare through hallways till they entered a large room with bunk beds and the mare led her mid way till they reach the first completely empty bunk bed. “Here you go Rainbow. Take which ever bed you want. Breakfast is at 8 o’clock and first lessons at nine.” “Got it and call me Dash.” The mare nodded and heads back. Dash meanwhile put her things including her log book in a chest attached to the wall. Very awesome. * * * * * * Dash was chilling out on the bed as other ponies came in in pairs so the bed below her remained empty. Then she heard some commotion and she decided to peak over the bed to see. She saw Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb. How did they get into camp. As usual though they were picking on somepony. She looked to see who was the target this time and what she saw awed her. There was a freaking gryphon here. She read about them in school but never saw one in pony till now. And it figures that those two would pick on her. “Hey! I thought you two learned your lesson?” The three below her looked up to see her scowling at the colts. “Well if it isn't Rainbow Crash.” “You guys still going on about that. Well last I remember was you two crashing and me doing a Sonic Rainboom.” “Your dreaming, you must have crashed too to believe you pulled that off. The Sonic Rainboom is an old mare's tale.” “Then explain the headlines the next day?” To that they had no rebuttal. “Yeah that's what I thought. Leave her alone and I won't beat the crap out of you.” The two scowled and left so Dash turned to the gryphon. “Sorry about those guys. They're idiots. The name's Rainbow Dash but I prefer just Dash, you?” Dash flew down and offered her hoof. The gryphon eyed it warily before taking it. “Name's Gilda. You seem alright.” “Alright? I'm awesome! Hey the bed under me isn't taken yet so you should.” Dash looked around her with a frown. “I don't think the others will be as friendly as me.” “Sure!” Gilda beamed and moved over to place her stuff in a chest next to the bed. * * * * * * * The next day the two head for breakfast and chowed down on some energy rich food before they were scuttled off to the training area. There a some what muscled stallion came out of no where and yell. “GET IN A LINE!” Before Dash knew it she was in line with the other fliers. The stallion eyed them before marching in front of them. “I am Trainer Snowflake and like my son Bulk Biceps you all have shown potential. His in weight lifting, you in speed. My job is to see if you can go anywhere with yours.” Dash leaned to Gilda. “Fastest but certainly not the smartest.” She jerked her head towards Dee and Dumb getting a chuckle out out off the gryphon. The next thing Dash knew was the stallion's face right in front of her. “Got something to say filly?” Dash stood straight and looked past him, or at least tried. He was in front of her after all. “Just eager to take to the course sir.” He snorted and replied. “Right.” Then he stood up and said aloud. “OKAY FILLIES! I WANT TWENTY LAPS AROUND THE COURSE. THE FASTER YOUR DONE THE HIGHER YOU SCORE.” He took out a watch and made several adjustments to it. “And go.” That was all Dash needed. With a burst she was in the air a rainbow trail behind her. Personally wish wish it wasn't a rainbow but that's how it is. The air whipped all around her and she was in the moment. Soon she saw Gilda flying next to her and pulled away a bit. “See, I'm the fastest flier.” Dash just smirked at that. “Fastest gryphon definitely, but not the fastest in Equestria.” With that Dash pulled away and was a pony length ahead for the rest of the laps. When they landed she saw Snowflake hit the button and their time appeared on a board nearby. “Two minutes and thirty four secs? YEAH!” And there goes Dash's ears. She saw Snowflake gather himself and say calmly. “No bad for a filly and good work gryphon.” The next closest was a minuted behind both of them and Dash and Gilda bro hoofed at their success. “You're definitely not lame Dash, friends?” “You say that like it's a question. Of course we're friends.” The two grinned at each other and waited for their class to finish. Dee and Dumb ended up last at eight minutes. They were clearly not endurance guys. Pussies. After the times were noted Snowflake addressed them again. “Now that we know how fast you are in a straight off race situation it's now time to see how well you do on a simple obstacle course.” Snowflake directed to them an areas with several cloud rings. “You will go one at a time and the faster the better. This is a speed camp and that is what we aim for. Hitting or missing a ring adds time to your final score. And since little miss rainbow mane was so eager for this she gets to go first.” He finished with a sneer. “For the record it's Dash, get it right sir.” She replied and she took the start position. “Go!” And with that Dash was off again relying on her mom's training to get through it. Bank, swerve, dive, and loop de loop. She went through all of these as went through the course. It was times like these she felt so alive. It drove the feelings she had when she first came here. Lost and alone. She didn't ever want to feel that way ever again. She landed and Snowflake took the time again. “Not bad filly. You didn't hit or miss a single ring.” “Thank my mom Firefly for that.” She saw him lower the sunglasses he has been wearing since he showed up. “Your mom is Firefly?” Dash nodded with a smirk. Snowflake forced a cough out. “Well I won't make it easy on you because your her daughter.” “Good. It would be an insult to her if you did.” Snowflake closed his eyes and chuckled. “Yup, your her daughter alright. Gilda, your up next.” Gilda took the start position and then went through her rounds all while Dash cheered her on. * * * * * * A week later Dash and Gilda were paired up for the relay race. Added to them was Cloud Kicker. Cloud Kicker was the filly from Ponyville and a decent speedster. A few minutes before the race start Dash addressed her team. “Okay here's how I think we should go. Cloud, you have the best acceleration out of the three of us so you should be at the start. I'll take the middle and G, you finish us up.” “Surprised you didn't want to finish Dash.” G said to her. “I trust you to win it for us.” G beamed at that. “I'm gonna blow them away!” “That's the spirit! Let's do this team.” With a three way bro hoof they went to there positions. Dash hovered at her spot and waited. She heard the bolt go off and saw the starts go. As she predicted Cloud quickly got to the head of the pack but others past her by midway through her section. She saw hoof offs all around her before Cloud and she did it and then she was off making up time. She breezed by all the second leg racers when she reach her halfway point. She saw Gilda ahead and gave a burst of speed and hoofed off the shoe to the gryphon. It was a tad difficult to hoof the shoe since Gilda doesn't have hooves so Dash was forced to toss it and Gilda manage to catch it and take off. Some of the third leg racers manage to catch up to Gilda but she maintained her lead and crossed the finish line first. Dash and Cloud landed next to Gilda and Dash cheered out. “Here's to the most awesome team!” She thrust a hoof up in the air. It was closely followed by another hoof and a talon. They were on top of the world and nothing could bring them down. * * * * * * Eventually the three weeks were up and Dash had learned more on moving as fast speeds and broke several records. She had packed up and looked over to Gilda who was still packing. “G, it's been tons of fun.” Gilda looked at her with a sad smile. “That is has Dash. You're totally cool for a pony and I'm gonna miss you.” Dash put away the tomcolt card and hugged her friend. “We got to write at times. You stay cool G.” “Always, just as you stay the SECOND best flier in Equestria.” Glida teased. “HA!” Dash left the barracks and headed to the front. There she saw her mom chatting with the receptionist. “Hey Dashie. You had fun?” “I did. Broke several records and made a Gryphon friend.” “That's My Little Dashie! Come on let's head for home.” The flight home was nothing special. She and her mom occasionally did s stunt here and there but mainly just enjoyed the flight for the sake of flying. The landed home and her mom op[ened the door. “We're home!” She shouted out. “MAMA!” A wild pink blur appeared and dawn hugged her mom's leg. “Yes and look who I have with me.” Mom pointed towards Dash and Dawn looked and her eyes brighten more. “Dathie!” The foal then hugged Dash. “She just said my name. She's so awesome! And I missed you so squirt.” * * * * * * It was night and near bedtime for Dash. She helped mom get Dawn ready for bed. She was going to right her next entry. I had fun at camp but I wish they did have us memorize that dumb chant. I may never get it out of my head. The best part though was Gilda. I know what it's like to be an outsider and it's quite surprising that ponies would be so closed minded considering they had the whole racist thing hit them over the Heart's Warming Eve. And Dawn said my name for the first time when I got home. I wouldn't trade that little filly for anything. She reminds me so much of my little sister back on Earth. My pony family makes up for the loss I felt when I lost my human family. Flying takes away the pain the best but my family easily comes close when I can't fly. Well time for lights out, don't know when I'll write next. I'll be busy perfecting my stunts and weather know;edge. Gonna need something to pay the bills when I eventually move out till the Wonderbolts realize I'm one of them. Cya.