Journey to home

by giganticbuttmachine

Chapter 2

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Welp, I guess that wasn't so bad. LET'S DO IT AGAIN. :D

Chapter 2

DASH

I'd say there are about 30 ponies in the competition, all hoping to make the team. The order that they send ponies out is the same as it was in the Young Flyer's Competition. You get a number taped to you, and whatever number that is determines when you get out there to show your stuff. I got number 31, so I guess I'm the last one to go. A few of the contestants are spazzing out, but not that many. I'm not scared in any way, though, and I actually encourage a pony that's in the corner cringing. That's exactly how I acted last time I was here, but not today. I've trained hard for this, and I'm not scared in the least. They say that after these tryouts, there could not be another spot on the team for years. To me, this seems like one of the few chances I will have in my life to do something great.

I'm pretty sure she was quoting a book or a movie or something, but Twilight once said that ponies only get one or two chances to do something great in their lifetime. Very few actually take that chance, though, because they are either too scared or don't recognize it when it comes along. Well, I'm not scared, I know that this is one of those chances, and I've done everything in my power to be ready to take on whatever challenges they throw at me.

They call out the first pony, and he steps up to the line. There are four judges, I have no idea who they are, but they seem to look like they know their stuff about flying. Spitfire is there too, she's going to have a vote, but I'm sure she's judging the contestants entirely differently. Not entirely about how well the pony flies, but more about the determination and attitude they have about it. All of them are watching as the first pony to go takes off into the sky.

The course is made up of a lot of basic obstacles, simply going around them would be boring and wouldn't show off your actual talents. The idea is that you make the simple things complicated, doing tricks around, with, and sometimes through the obstacles. The more complicated you make the trick, the higher your score, but it's important not to mess up. Messing up on a hard trick is worse than doing good on an easy trick. The pony preforming now takes a sort of middle path, not doing anything really crazy but not being mediocre either.

He does well, but you wouldn't be able to tell that if you were looking at the judges. They just write things on their little sheets of paper with blank faces. Spitfire is just about the opposite. She actually cheers, making the pony visibly proud of himself. You don't know what the scores are until the end of the tryouts, but almost everypony there assumes that he did good. He goes over to the waiting area and does a little fist pump in the air, exited that he did good and ecstatic that Spitfire cheered for him.

He's only alone in the waiting area for a few minutes. Soon, another pony is over there, then another. All of them are talking at a million miles per hour, one of them is even running around in circles because he's so exited. It's the opposite at the beginning, where I am. Some ponies are hysterically nervous, some are fine and talking with others, and some are just standing with a blank face and not saying anything. I would say that i'm in the third group, I don't want anypony to break my concentration.

The judges keep on calling ponies up, and they keep on trotting up to the line to show their stuff, for better or for worse. Some do close to perfect, others look like they learned to fly yesterday. The judges have the same expression for all of them, if you would call not moving a single face muscle an expression. They must practice in front of a mirror or something, because no matter how amazingly good or horribly bad a pony does, they look like they're watching paint dry.

I wonder what being on the Wonderbolts is going to be like. I mean, do you have fun? Or do you just work as hard as you can all the time? Not like I have a problem working hard all the time, but, I just wonder what it's like. Do you get free food at the shows? That would be pretty awesome. No, wait, Soarin' had that pie at the gala, I know Applejack doesn't just give them away free. But what if she just gave him it because he was so awesome? What if- how is the pony before me starting? Did he cut in line or- sweet Celestia, I'm next! Okay Dash, you know what to do, you know how to do it. You've practiced hard for this, it's your chance to do something great. Don't mess up. Don't mess up. Don't. Mess. Up.

CLOUD

I'd say it's only a few weeks until harvesting time. The wheat looks like, well, ready to harvest wheat. I really hope that it gives me enough food for the journey to Appleloosa. Don't want to screw up like that time I mixed up the water with that tar stuff. Eeugh. And then I had to eat it, there wasn't any other food. I think that goes down in history as the worst winter ever. Of all time. I'm sure there's plenty of food for everyone at Appleloosa. I think I'll go out on a limb and say that they eat apples there. Anything other than tar-bread, and i'm happy.

I wonder if I should bring the chickens with me. I'm sure they'll be just as annoying as they always are, but eggs are always good food wise. Maybe just bring along 1 or 2, let the others out into the wild. As if any of them would be able to survive a day without me feeding them. That sounds kinda cruel, I might as well bring along all of them. Can you even get eggs from chickens if you're walking all day with them? Geez, that would kinda stink, bringing along all 15 annoying chickens and then not getting eggs from them. Maybe I could eat the chickens if I was really out of food. But that would be last ditch, I don't want to eat my chickens. Really hope that they're able to walk with me, because I am NOT going to carry 15 annoying chickens everywhere I go.

Am I even gonna be able to carry all of the bread that I make? I guess being weighed down by food isn't really a negative thing, it means you're not gonna be hungry for a while. Maybe I should make a cart of some kind for it... wait, I seriously didn't think of that before? Surrounded by wood, too much food to carry, and 15 chickens I want to bring with me, and I didn't think of building a cart? I guess the swamp is finally starting to take effect on me.

I guess it wouldn't be that hard, just get enough wood. I could chop down that tree that's been threatening to fall on the house for years. Don't want to go the wrong way, though, I like the roof fully intact. How would I even do that? I don't have an axe. Might as well check it out. Shoot, I could sneeze at that and it'd fall over. Guess I don't need an axe. Alright, just lean on it, nice and gentle... OH SWEET GRAVY DON'T FALL ON THE HOUSE! Noonononononononononono... Wait, did it hit it? I didn't hear anything that sounded like a house breaking... how is that even possible? It's within an inch of the wall! Oh well, might as well get the wood now.

Alright, just put this one last piece on... Heh, Cloud, you're a genius. Well, not really. I think any other sensible pony would've thought this up a week before me. Well, it works anyway. Compartment for food, compartment for chickens, compartment for chicken waste, tent on the top. Wait, should I just use that old cloth as a tent? Guess so, what's the worst that could happen? It rains on me?

I wonder what it's like in Appleloosa. I'm sure the ponies there are nice and will take me in. Other ponies. Gosh, how long has it been? Two years? Shoot, I'm gonna be the most awkward pony in history. Somepony is gonna say how are you and I'm gonna look at him like he just grew a second head. Guess I could use the books to brush up on my social skills. What was the last party you were at like? Well, I put hats on my chickens and sang "Happy Birthday to Me". It's gonna be amazing, though, having somepony to share my thoughts with. I could talk about anything and everything, whatever I wanted to, and not get nothing in response. Other ponies, that sounds amazing.

Comments

[Dusty Sage]

This looks to be pretty darn likable.

[giganticbuttmachine]

1026046 Thanks!