Go!

by Closer-To-The-Sun

Chapter 7: Flying In A Blue Dream

Chapter 7: Flying On A Blue Dream

The next morning came to the flight camp. After the usual business of the campers pulling themselves out of their dorms and to the mess hall for breakfast, they were led out to the runway where they were just other day. However, among the runway, there were a number of different obstacles set up. From hoops to a ramp to low hanging clouds with flags set upon them and various other items were assembled up and down the runway. Many of the campers started to talk amongst themselves, curious of why they were there. A few of the counselors were standing in front of the group and spoke.

“Welcome to the second to last day of camp. I know this week seems to have gone by quickly, but we hope it gives you just a small taste of what it means to fly among the Wonderbolts.” The lead counselor spoke, looking out at the campers before him, “Today, we will be doing a personal favorite exercise of many of the past Wonderbolts, the obstacle course. As you can plainly see, the course is set up right here on the runway. Different stations will require different tasks for each flyer. Some might not be even completed by some of you, but that’s perfectly fine. In fact, this is not a time trial. It is to test both your capability as not only a flyer, but as a thinker.”

As the counselor spoke, many of the campers became confused.

“Fear not, for I believe you all will do just fine overall. A counselor will be at each station to instruct you on what to do,” he continued his speech, “Now, we will break you all up into different groups for different stations. Pair up with your roommate and we will go from there.”

The campers began muttering among themselves as they paired up. Some of them looked at the different obstacles and began to worry. Some of the larger campers, such as the large pegasi and the dragons were worried about avoiding certain obstacles and performing well for the counselors.

Gilda and Rainbow Dash looked to each other. “How you feeling about this, Dash?” the griffin asked as she stretched out her large wings.

“Totally gonna rock this with flying colors!” the blue pegasus replied with a lot of pride in her voice.

“Heh, feeling better than yesterday, I take it?” Gilda noted.

“Much. Now, let’s show them how to do this!”

The two roommates were paired up with two other groups. Among them were two pegasus ponies, an orange male and a grey female, a female dragon with red scales, and a male griffin with a white coat of feathers that covered his body. Their group was placed at a station with three hoops that were lined up vertically and held up by a single support. Each hoop seemed to be about two meters apart from each other. The counselor quickly explained that the goal was to fly through each of the hoops twice, once going up and once going down.

Dash looked at the hoops and smirked with confidence. She turned to see Gilda keeping her wings close to her and looking troubled. In her head, Rainbow could see that the challenge could be difficult for her griffin roommate with her wingspan.

“Who would like to start first?” the counselor asked, looking at the small group.

Rainbow Dash stepped forward, “I got this!”

Flapping her small wings fast, the little pegasus took off toward the first hoop. She flew through without a problem. Tilting her body upwards, she banked and flew through the second hoop upside down before twisting her body to make herself level. Dash then bolted for the top hoop and passed through. Making a quick turn, Rainbow flew back through the hoop and nosedived through the middle hoop and finally out the bottom after tilting her body’s direction to slip through each.

Each individual seemed impressed with Dash’s ability to navigate through the obstacles. Without a single error, she managed to complete the task flawlessly, something that all of the others were unable to do. Gilda, in particular, had trouble with her large wingspan that she would have the tips of her wings hit the hoops as she flew through. The dragon had the same problem as well due to her large size.

A whistle blew, signaling the switching of stations. The next for the group was the ramp that was about a meter off the ground. Rainbow Dash noticed the counselor who was overseeing the station was Windy Skies. He nodded to her with a smile as they arrived.

Skies wasted no time with his instruction, “This is what we call the hang-time ramp. It’s pretty simple. You run up the ramp as fast as you can, open your wings and glide for as long as you can. It really tests your wings strength and endurance.”

“That’s it?” one of the female pegasus’ asked.

“It’s not that fancy or anything like that, no,” Windy Skies answered.

Gilda huffed, “Well, that sounds dumb.”

“Looks like we got our first volunteer. Want to come up and do it?” he directed the female griffin to the ramp.

With a roll of her eyes, Gilda ran up the three meters of ramp and jumped up from the top and opened her wings up to soar downward. Her large wings allowed for a very gentle and easy glide.

When she landed, Windy Skies took note of the distance, “About 28 meters in a glide. Very impressive.”

“Hmpf, of course it would be. I am kind of awesome,” Gilda boasted.

Rainbow Dash looked discouraged after seeing her roommate do such a long glide. She looked at her small wings and flapped them quickly. Her small wings seemed to vex her with their lack of power.

“Next up?” Windy Skies called.

“Me,” Dash proclaimed as she trotted to the ramp.

Skies smiled, “Alright, just remember to keep the wings steady. You got this.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. She looked up the ramp and galloped up the incline quickly and jumped with all of her might. Opening her small wings, she kept them locked in gliding position as she began her descent. It hurt her small wings to keep it up, but she didn’t want to give in so easily. The muscles in her wings were growing tired fast as the ground was coming closer to her. Finally, her hooves touched the ground. Almost tripping over them, she landed and held her place. Taking an assessment of her distance, she noticed she wasn’t near Gilda.

Trotting up to the blue filly, Windy Skies checked the distance, “19 meters. That’s very good for a young filly like you. Just wait until your wings finally grow in, you’ll do even better. You really got some endurance in there.”

“Ha, thanks….” Dash said, trying to move her wings so that the stiff pain would go away.

The counselor smiled warmly to Dash as he turned his attention to the rest of the group to complete the challenge.

The rest of the day went well for Rainbow Dash and the rest of the group. The obstacle course challenges, while some proved to be harder than others, were all completed by Rainbow. She found a new sense of happiness in not only her performance, but also her flying.

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