The Legend of Spectrum Skies

by ShadowStrike11

Chapter 4: Presenting. . .The Tour! (Part I)

Part One

"So I take it that you three are the foals who got chosen to attend the Academy? The best flight school in Equestria?" she inquired - more like challenged - in a gruff voice. I forced myself to straighten up and look forward like a soldier, despite the fact that she was observing us quite closely with that glare of hers.

"Well I'll tell you what. The Academy is no place for foals, so if you want to survive your time there, you'd better toughen up," she snapped. I stole a glance at both Flare and Whirlwind in less than a millisecond. Flare was obviously trying her best to keep her posture. Whirlwind looked like he was on the verge of breaking down. Poor guy. Being shy in public obviously isn't helping him at all.

"Now that I've given you a nice, warm welcome, we're going to start with introductions," she announced, looking at each of us in turn. "I'm Principal Stormcloud, and this is my assistant, Vice-Principal Splashing Flames, who'll be taking you on a tour around your new school. You are expected to be on your best behavior. The Academy does not accept slackers."

Then, to my relief, she turned and headed out the door, beckoning for us to follow. "We will now head to the Academy, where everything will be explained."

Flare, Whirlwind, and I glanced at each other before following. Forget about making a good first impression - Principal Stormcloud already seemed to have that covered for us. It had barely been three minutes and I could already tell that the Academy was no place for the undisciplined and uneducated. This was what I had been trained for.

Whirlwind, on the other hoof, wasn't faring as well. Sure, he had the skills and the strength, but he was either too shy or too rambunctious. Neither worked well when you were in the Academy, needless to say GOING to the academy. I could sense the quiver in his hoofsteps as he walked next to me.

Flare, however, was well disciplined, polite, and hard working. She had just the right qualities for a student of the Academy. Well, almost all the right qualities. She could follow orders and resist pain, but she just wasn't. . . intimidating enough. I wasn't sure if she could survive in military drills if she had such a soft voice and personality.

Then, there was me. Yep, the same old me who spends half her precious time getting her muzzle buried in books, the other half training till she was half-dead, and an extra quarter plotting revenge on Prism Blitz (unsuccessful so far). If I could divide my time so evenly between training and studying, I don't suppose homework would be much of a -

"Hey, come on. You don't want to fall behind. The principal is very strict on discipline," a forceful but friendly voice reached my ears. I looked up to see Vice-Principal Splashing Flames waiting for me while hovering above the cloud. By the looks of it, I had zoned out AGAIN, and had almost gotten left behind. I tried to hide my embarrassment as I hurried over to the vice-principal.

"Gee, what's with you zoning out today?" he asked in a slightly playful tone as we took off after the others. I caught a twinge of amusement in his voice and tried to fight back a groan. Way to go, Spectrum. Then, I remembered my plan about first impressions, and instantly tensed up, keeping my face professional and expressionless.

The vice-principal let out a light, musical laugh. "It's alright. You can talk to me. I know Stormcloud can be a bit intimidating at first. It's just her way to test new students to see how disciplined they are."

I pondered for a moment before my mouth beat my mind to it. "You sure this isn't another test of yours?" The words slipped out before I could stop them. I immediately slapped a hoof over my mouth, realizing that I had just spoken out of turn.

He chuckled at my flustered expression before replying. "You know you're going to be spending another hour with me, right? Might as well get to know each other as friends do."

"Oh, okay," I briskly replied. Thank Celestia he was the friendly type, or I would have gotten a zero on my first impressions task.

"So, you must be Spectrum Skies, the one who performed the legendary Sonic Rainboom this morning," he stated, holding out a hoof. "Nice to meet you."

I blinked, them hesitantly took the hoofshake. "Er, nice to meet you, too, Vice-Principal. . . ?" As if this wasn't embarrassing enough. If you didn't believe that I was an awkward socialist, then now you have the proof.

"Splashing Flames, but you can just call me Splash."

"Um, alright then. Nice to meet you, Splash."

He smiled kindly, soothing my nerves by the slightest percent. "So what motivated you to do that spectacular Sonic Rainboom today? That's if you don't mind me asking," he added, noticing that I had tensed up a little.

"N-No, I mean, it's fine," I stuttered, hoping that I didn't upset him. I bit back a groan, cursing my tongue and my conversation skills. "I was just trying to save something that fell while I was coming to school."

Splash raised an eyebrow curiously. "That sounds interesting. What, if I may ask, were you trying to save?"

Oh, here it comes. It was now a choice of honesty or pride. Which trait was more important to a good student? Honesty. . . or pride?

"Well, it's not very important," I said, my voice sounding many volumes smaller than I hoped.

"Spectrum, if you did a Sonic Rainboom just to save that object, then it must be very important to you," he explained calmly. For some reason, his voice reminded me of my dad's when he was teaching me a lesson. Peaceful, motivating, and reasonable. "There's nothing to me ashamed of."

I sighed. This guy was seriously impossible to fight. It was no wonder he was the vice-principal of the best flight school in Equestria. And it didn't help that he was looking at me expectantly with kind eyes while flying forward.

I stole a glance at the saddlebag my glasses were in before answering. "It was my reading glasses."

Okay, here it comes. My chances of being a cool student are about. . . to. . . blow. . .

"Brilliant!"

I almost stopped flapping in midair. Did he just say 'brilliant'? To me rescuing my reading glasses like an awesome nerd? I didn't have to wait long before he continued.

"You must be really hard working if you would do a Sonic Rainboom to rescue your reading glasses. That's just the type of student the Academy is looking for," he said, somehow giving me a light pat on the back while avoiding contact with my wings.

I couldn't believe my luck. First impressions, success. I guess talking to other ponies like a normal friends wasn't so hard after all. Maybe I was just thinking to hard to actually be myself. However, just as I was about to thank him and give him a big hug, the trip was over.

"We're here, guys!" Splash announced, landing on a cloud. I averted my attention just in time to avoid tumbling heads-over-hooves onto the cloudy platform. Groaning, I looked up. . .

. . .and my jaw dropped open. In front of me was a large, elegant fountain running with strands of rainbow waterfalls. Behind the fountain, on either side were two large buildings graced with Cloudsdalian arches. In the middle of the two buildings, right behind the fountain, was a smaller building decorated with what looked like to be ancient pegasus-related symbols. Behind the train of buildings were two stadiums supported by separate cloud platforms, the one on the right slightly higher that the one on the left, connected by a crystalline waterfall. Surrounding half the perimeter of the clouds was a long, semi-circular track suspended on it's own cloud. There was a network of hoops divided into three sections, all protruding from the concrete.

Splash failed to hold back laughter at seeing my dumbfounded expression. "Yep, that's what they look like each time they first come here.

I shook my head rapidly to snap out of the trance. "Wha - Who?"

"You should have seen the look on your face," he answered plainly while chuckling.

"Well, you can blame your architects for creating such an amazing structure," I half-complimented. Seems like I've been getting better at comebacks lately. Splash grinned and opened his mouth to reply. . .

"Vice-Principal Splashing Flames, if you want to talk to her in private, you can talk later. You still have a tour to lead," the loud voice of Principal Stormcloud roped our attention again. "Newbies, I expect you to be on your best behavior. No horsing around, or you will receive a detention. Understand?"

I nodded, not daring to say anything out loud. Just because I could talk to Splash like a friend didn't mean that I was about to let my guard down anytime around Stormcloud. Unfortunately, keeping my mouth shut does NOT fall into the category of NOT letting my guard down.

"I asked you all a question," said Principal Stormcloud. "And I expect an answer. Let's try this again. Do you understand?"

I breathed in hard. "Yes, Principal Stormcloud." A little further to the side, I heard a 'Yes, we understand, Principal Stormcloud', and a 'Y-Yeah - I mean, yes'. It didn't even take a second to figure out who said what.

The principal gave a nod. "Improving. Vice-Principal Splashing Flames, you are in charge." Then, without any further words, she took off in the direction of the smaller building in the middle of the two larger ones.

I blinked, still unable to get over the ways of Principal Stormcloud. A light tap on my shoulder brought me back to reality.

"Trust me, you haven't seen the most of her yet," Splash assured as he led me to where my friends were waiting.

I took another look at the small building before flitting over. "Well that's comforting to know. So what now?"

Splash gave us a smile before he took off. "Follow me and I'll show you something."

Flare caught up to me as I took off after him. "How can you speak to the Vice-Principal so loosely?" she ask-whispered, confused as to why I wasn't all stiff and tensed up around him. "I thought we were expected to talk only when we are permitted to."

I allowed a small grin to creep up onto my face. Finally something I know and Flare doesn't. "He's not like Principal Stormcloud. In fact, he was the one who wanted me to relax and talk to him like a friend."

Then, Splash appeared out of nowhere right in front of me, making me jump in midair (if that's scientifically possible). "She's right! I'd prefer that you all relax and enjoy the tour, rather than drag you along while you're stiff as a statue." Then, his tone turned a little more serious. "Now I want you all to turn around so that you're facing the other way, THEN look down and tell me what you see."

I turned around in midair, Flare and Whirlwind doing the same, and looked down. The next moment, I was so glad my jaw was connected to my skull. Otherwise, it would have fallen down and ruined the spectacular view below.

The two buildings had taken the form of pegasus wings, now that she was seeing it from above. But not made of building material; no, it looked realistic, like as through a pair of large, feathery pegasus wings had taken the place of the buildings. The 'feathers' shimmered white, hinted with a bit of sky blue at the edges. In fact, the only thing that still looked like it was built from cloud was the small building in the middle, which now seemed a little more distant from the 'wings'. It was a beautiful, grand sight, one that must have taken centuries to build to make it look so realistic. I doubted it was even built in first place, seeing that it was so real and magical.

"So what do you see?" asked Splash.

I quickly closed my mouth before opening it to speak. "A pair of highly realistic pegasus wings."

"Same here," Flare spoke up from my left after blinking her eyes several times. Seems like even she was unable to find big words for the marvelous sight.

Whirlwind was still staring down, his eyes wide in a trance. I smacked him upside the head, causing him to blink and stutter, "O-Oh. Ditto."

Splash nodded in approval. "It's a beautiful piece of work, isn't it?" We all nodded in agreement. "Okay. Now move five feet backwards."

I did what I was told and looked down. And gasped.

The shimmering wings were gone. In their place were the cloud-built buildings. They were still in the shape of wings, only it was obvious that they were built from cloud. The feathers had turned into three buildings which I assumed could be classrooms, connected by a hallway, which was once the base of the wing. They no longer held the shimmer of the wings, which was replaced by the dullness of cloud built material.

"Vice-Principal Splashing Flames?" I heard Flare speak up in a quivering and confused voice. "I don't understand! H-How did - ?"

"Pegasus magic," Splash answered simply, despite the very confused looks he was getting. I gotta admit that guy sure knows how to handle things. "When the Academy was built, the plan was to use cloud as the base, then shower it with pegasus magic, so that it creates a special affect that only true pegasi can see."

"So you're saying that only true pegasi can see it?" Flare confirmed. "But why can't we see it now?"

"The effect only shows when you are flying directly on top of the building in the middle," explained Splash. He hovered forward a few feet and stopped when he was aligned with the building. "Now you try it."

I glided over next to where he was hovering while keeping within the perimeter of the building far below. I furrowed my brow in confusion when the wings still didn't appear.

Splash grabbed my hoof and tugged me over a few more feet, making me blush in embarrassment. "Yeah, it's a little hard to get in the exact spot when the building is so far down."

I looked down again, and sure enough there were the wings. Realistic and shimmering as always before. "Yep, I see it."

"Good," Splash nodded in approval. He beckoned Flare and Whirwind over, snapping them out of their daze. "Don't get too caught up, guys. You can always visit during break and afterschool. Now that that's taken care of, I am going to explain the purpose of each building." Then, he turned and started to fly back down to the buildings. The three of us glanced at each other the usual way before following.

It was only the beginning of the tour, and the Academy already wowed me more than I had imagined.

Author's Note:

Here's the link to a bigger and clearer version of the image: http://postimg.org/image/tzcfbho03/

It's drawn by me. I know I'm not a professional.

Hopefully you guys noticed the 'Part One' written at the top of this chapter, or the '(Part I)' written in the title. It originally wasn't there, but when this chapter turned out to be longer than I intended it to, I split it into two parts. So that means the tour isn't over yet, it'll be concluded next chapter. . . with some extra scenes for your entertainment.

I usually try to write between 2,000 and 4,000 words. Might seem a bit short compared to other stories, but I don't type very fast.

So yeah, what do you think about the new characters? There's going to be quite a number of OCs in this story, so be prepared for that.

---

ALSO, IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT THAT HAS TO DO WITH THIS STORY.. And just a heads up, it's not good news.

Comments

[harts fire]

Amazing just awesome.

[ShadowStrike11]

6304184
Wish you could go to that school? Cause I do, for sure.

[harts fire]

6304266
as RD would say well duh .
I am a magic casting pegass I defiantly need to go to that school.

[ShadowStrike11]

6304454
Depends on what type of magic you're casting. Hopefully it involves elements. . .

[harts fire]

6304545
I can cast , handle and make fire.
as in flam thrower fire balls and fire blast.
but yet I hate to fight. go finger.

[ShadowStrike11]

6304611
Then you're in luck! Although I probably won't be explaining fire in detail anytime soon.

[ShadowStrike11]

6313395
I'm not gonna say anything...

[ShadowStrike11]

6313796
I guess the advertisers thought that chapter was an actual informational guide on reading glasses. (or not)