The Storm's Challenge

by OneLonelyPickle

22 - Reminiscing

Chapter 22

-

Reminiscing

The sky was fire, branching out from the horizon in layers of yellow, orange, and crisp red. It lorded over Sweet Apple Acres and the two ponies lounging on the orchard’s largest hill. There were no longer any clouds in the sky, not after Zephyr and Rainbow were finished sonic rainboom practice.

A wheezing Zephyr laid on his back with all four hooves stretched out on either side of him.
Rainbow sat against one of the trees on the hill and smiled softly at the heavily-breathing stallion nearby. Apple cores surrounded each pony, evidence of an impromptu supper (which Rainbow would thank the Apples for at some point).

“You really go at it, huh?” Rainbow asked, watching Zephyr’s chest rise and fall with each labored breath. He held up a hoof triumphantly.

“Go big… or go home… right?” Rainbow giggled and nodded, although Zephyr was looking up at the sky. He continued through his panting, “After all this… I don’t care if I… manage to do one. I just… want to… see you do it.”

He flipped over and leaned on his side so he could look at Rainbow.

“The day after… tomorrow. Show me… in the morning. We’ll meet back… here.”

Rainbow avoided the deep-green gaze of Zephyr and looked out over the orchard.

“S-sure, no problem!” she answered with as much phony confidence as she could muster. Zephyr flopped back down onto his back and exhaled deeply. His breathing returned to normal, although sweat still drenched his mane and his coat. He had removed his skin-tight EFL uniform earlier, revealing his toned athlete’s body underneath. He kept his shiny EFL medallion, however, the dusk glow beating off its silver etchings. Rainbow didn’t stare much, because that’d be totally weird, but she noticed his cutie mark was a pure-white cloud being carried by a breeze.

“So, I’m curious,” Zephyr asked, looking up at the fading sunlight with his hooves behind his head, “who’d you choose as your teammates for the relay tomorrow?”

Rainbow’s body jolted upright. She looked at Zephyr with searching eyes.

“W-what are you talking about? There’s a relay tomorrow? I thought it was just a normal race!”

Zephyr sat up and looked at Rainbow with one eyebrow drawn up.

“The Wonderbolts didn’t tell you…? Everypony should have been informed in the morning. You had to choose your teammates for the three-pony relay and register your team before 5PM.”

Rainbow shot up into the air, eyes ablaze with panic and tail erect with worry.

“WHAAAT? NOPONY TOLD ME THAT!” she screamed, holding her face with her hooves. She thought back to earlier and then realization struck. “Ahhh crud! I think Spitfire told us in the morning but I was so excited about training with you that I barely listened!”

Rainbow fell back down to the ground and sulked. “I’m… an idiot.” She buried her face in her hooves and cried dramatically. Zephyr chastised her.

“I’m flattered, Rainbow, but you shouldn’t have let anything break your training focus. I guess I’m partially to blame for that. In any case, you’re not disqualified or anything. You’ll just have to pick your teammates from the other teamless ponies tomorrow morning before the relay starts.”

Rainbow smeared her face down with her hooves.

“W-what kind of relay is it? I’ve never seen Saddlebred Citadel! I’m totally unprepared!”

Zephyr sighed with exasperation, making Rainbow blush and hide behind her mane, ears pulled tight against her head. He smiled reassuringly and then spoke as if reciting an ingrained lesson.

“The three-pony relay is a challenge that consists of a skills segment, a speed segment, and a reflexes segment. Basically, the first pony needs to be a skilled flyer to reach the end of his or her segment, able to perform essential tricks to navigate his or her leg of the race. Next, the second pony has to have the speed to finish before his or her opponents. It’s strictly a segment dedicated to being the fastest, so you should do fine as the second pony. Lastly, the third pony must have honed reflexes to dodge obstacles that staff will randomly place in front of him or her. The first 50 teams to finish advance to the next part of the Challenge the day after tomorrow. The teams that finish last are eliminated.”

Rainbow nodded with understanding, looking slightly overwhelmed. Zephyr flashed her a gleaming set of pearly whites.

“I’m the star of the EFL, so I got to choose the best flyers for the first and third segments, and of course, I’ll be flying the speed segment.” Rainbow groaned and threw her face into the ground.

“I’m gonna be stuck with the chumps. I’m doomed!” she cried, voice muffled. Rainbow picked her head up and stared at Zephyr with wide, blood-shot eyes.

“DOOOOOOOOMMEEEEEED!” she shouted. Zephyr rolled his own eyes and walked over to Rainbow. He helped her stand and locked eyes with her, placing a hoof on her back for support. She just stared at him with a slightly agape mouth.

“Rainbow, if you can’t find a way to win, even if you’re stuck with the worst flyers in Equestria, nopony can.” He smiled smugly. “Well, except me, of course.” Rainbow pushed him away playfully.

“You’re pretty full of yourself, you know that?” Zephyr looked at her with an open-mouthed grin, his brows turned up in mirth. Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yeah yeah, I know, so am I.” She giggled and Zephyr laughed. After a moment, Zephyr flew into the sky and pointed towards the quickly disappearing sun on the horizon.

“Come on, let’s go for a fly before it gets too late! I hate standing around on the dirt!”

Rainbow got up and looked at Zephyr with determination.

“Alright!”

- - -

Dusk turned to night and the moon took its place in the sky, ushering a haunting glow on the world below as Rainbow and Zephyr soared through the wispy, white clouds above Ponyville. Rainbow ventured a glance over at Zephyr’s flank.

“So…” she began slowly, “I was wondering how you got your cutie mark.”

Zephyr smiled and stared at the moon, a nostalgic glimmer in his eyes.

“Nothing really amazing about my cutie mark story. I’ve heard yours is pretty interesting though.” Zephyr looked over at Rainbow, and in response she blew air out of her mouth dismissively.

“I asked you first, Zeph. Tell me!”

Zephyr laughed quietly. “Heh… Zeph, huh? Nopony’s given me a nickname before.”

Rainbow whizzed right in front of Zephyr and bumped her forehead against his. “Tell me!” she continued her verbal assault. Zephyr relented with a sigh.

“Alright, alright! Let’s keep flying and I’ll tell you!”

The two continued. Zephyr cleared his throat.

“Well, when I was a colt, I always loved flying, right from the first moment I could flap my wings.” Rainbow heard the smile in his voice. “I wasn’t really any good at it at first, but my uncle loved flying, too, so he tried his best and taught me all he knew. I loved spending time with him. My dad was always pretty busy, and we didn’t leave our place that much, so I didn’t have anypony else.”

Rainbow and Zephyr passed over city hall, the town below silent and peaceful. A few clouds passed in front of the moon, casting a shadow on Ponyville, covering the duo. Zephyr continued, sounding less and less happy as he went on.

“As I got older, I got better, but my uncle started to change. I became obsessed with outdoing myself to impress him, to get his attention. He got… wrapped up in family affairs. I come from a pretty well-off family in the north, you can say, and the drama got the better of him. But I was young, I didn’t understand any of that, I just thought, if I could pull off something really amazing, my uncle would snap out of his funk and things could go back to normal.”

Rainbow had been watching Zephyr as intensely as she could when she didn’t need to look ahead to see where she was flying. Zephyr swallowed and finished his story, with a shaky voice.

“I finally… managed to perform a feat. All the ponies around me that day were amazed. Somehow, even as a colt, I flew so fast it beat all the personal records of all the pegasi in Clo — w-where I’m from. It took me a long time to figure out how to bring that kind of speed out on purpose, but it was enough that day for me to earn my cutie mark. Only…”

Rainbow edged Zephyr on. “Only what?”

Zephyr closed his eyes and shook his head.

“Long story short, my uncle wasn’t impressed, even by that. And from that day on, I gave up on trying to please him. We haven’t ever been the same.”

Zephyr looked at Rainbow sidelong and smirked.

“Sorry RB, guess you were expecting a happy kind of story.”

Rainbow briefly looked at Zephyr upon hearing the new nickname, then hung her head and frowned.

“Well… yeah. I’m sorry that things with your uncle had to be that way. But you know, it’s never too late to repair a relationship!” Rainbow perked up and began to throw punches at the air. “And if your uncle doesn’t see that you’re an amazing flyer and an awesome pony, then it’s his loss, right? You’ve got a million fans and tons of teammates who love you, Zeph!” Zephyr cracked a smile as the two flew over the Golden Oak Library, the windows of which were all black.

“I know,” he said solemnly, “You’re right.” He forced a smile and looked at Rainbow. “It’s n-not like it bothers me that much. You just brought it up!” Zephyr bumped into Rainbow and knocked her into a cloud. He sped away with a grin as Rainbow collected herself.

“Bah – hey!” she called out as Zephyr tried to escape. She caught up, brazen smile cutting across her maw, and flew right into Zephyr, pushing him into a cloud. He emerged with a big afro and moustache made of cloud. Rainbow burst out laughing.

“You have no idea what you started!” Zephyr shot out of the cloud like a dart and tackled Rainbow. The two howled with laughter as they played their game of aerial tag, each speeding off from cloud to cloud to avoid the other when it was their turn to fly away. Many ponies had to shut their windows and cover their ears that night in order to drift off to sleep.

* * *

Pinkie wrapped her mane around her head and flattened it down, so it looked like a diver’s cap. Then, she made a “V” above her head with her hooves and performed an intricate dive into her bed. The pillows and sheets levitated off the mattress for a moment before crashing back down. Pinkie buried herself under her sheets and started to slink around like a shark under water. On one end of the bed was an absent-minded Gummy the alligator.

Pinkie’s cotton candy mane appeared from under the covers like a fin and Gummy just slowly blinked at it. It got closer and closer until finally the entire Pinkie leapt out and snatched Gummy, bringing him underneath the dangerous waves.

“Got you! Rawr!” she growled, tickling the alligator, who didn’t react in the slightest. Pinkie snortled uncontrollably.

“Oh Gummy, you’re a riot!” Gummy licked her cheek and she giggled some more. She squirmed up to her pillow and settled in to tuck herself in.

“Tomorrow’s a big day, Gumster!” Pinkie rose Gummy above her head and looked into his blank, reptilian eyes. “I’ll need you to hold down the fort while we’re away. Think you can handle it?” Gummy licked his eye and blinked again, one eye after the other. Pinkie beamed.

“I knew I could count on you! Come here!” Pinkie squeezed Gummy in a big, goodnight hug and placed him next to her on the other pillow. Then, Pinkie reached under her own pillow and pulled out a deerstalker hat and corn cob pipe, donning both.

“If I really want to become Sherclop Pie, I need to fall asleep like Sherclop Pie!”

She blew out some bubbles and clapped her hooves two times to shut off the lights. She then talked out loud in a deep, announcer’s voice.

“Tomorrow, the famous Sherclop Pie will infiltrate the secret base of the villain Maelstrom! And she will do it with the help of her faithful assistant, Watspike!”

No sooner were the words spoken did Pinkie fall asleep with a loud snore. Gummy stared at the ceiling, unblinking, wishing he could cover his ears.

* * *

Rarity pushed past the doors of the hotel lobby. Her coat was matted from a day’s worth of practically melting in the hot sun. Her mane was an absolute disaster, she’d need a pedicure ASAP, and it was definitely long past time for a cool bath and a glass of grape punch. Worst of all, she hadn’t realized how exhausted she had been until the hustle and bustle of another successful day of dress selling came to a close.

Just behind her, Applejack was grinning ear to ear.

“Whoa nelly, ah’d say that day turned out better than expected, huh? Ah must’ve made twice as much as the day before just from the sales once Boozebeard and his buddies arrived!”

She hopped up and clicked her back hooves together. Sweetie Belle bounced next to her.

“Yeah, Rarity and I did really well, too! I don’t know what it is, but stallions really like Ms. VeeVee. There were a lot of them ordering dresses and accessories for their special someponies.” Sweetie stopped and brought a hoof up to her chin. “But I’m pretty sure a lot of them didn’t even have a special somepony. I wonder why they were buying all that stuff…”

Rarity mumbled something incoherent ahead of the trio and yawned.

“Yes yes… that’s all good and well… I think it’s time for bed, Sweetie…”

Applejack blocked the path up the stairs, causing Rarity to groan and whine.

“Whaaaaat Applejack?”

“Ah wanna have a truce for tomorrow. No selling nothing to nopony for the whole day. We need to support Rainbow at the race.”

Rarity yawned.

“Yes, dear, of… course…” Rarity hung her head and started to snore. Sweetie Belle giggled.

“Uhh, Rarity? Why don’t we get in bed before you fall asleep.” She poked her big sister and the fashionista shook awake. Applejack moved out of the way.

“See yous tomorrow! Have a good sleep! And remember: no selling nothin’!”

Sweetie Belle said her good night and Rarity mumbled hers. Applejack went up the opposite stairs to her own room and quickly drifted off to sleep.

She was completely oblivious to the fact that far away, to the north, her friend was back in a jail cell for the second time that week.