> The Best of the Best
>  by Sweet_Harmony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

RD's POV 

We've all been sitting in this classroom for the past five minutes, just staring down the clock, waiting for the minute hand to land on the 12 so we can get out of here. Even our teacher was silent! 

The ticking of the clock is about to drive me insane. All I want is to get out of this building so my friends and I can just chill out on the beach to kick off the summer! I look back up to the clock to see the second hand approaching the twelve - five more seconds, four, seconds, three, two, one . . . 

The bell shrieks through the school and chaos is everywhere. Students were throwing papers over their shoulders, others were sprinting for the front doors. I wasted no time throwing my bag over my shoulder and bolting out the door like the bullet I was. I really want to use my wings, but they're pretty big, so I stick with my feet for a few minutes. I slide down the railing of the stairs, since these people are slow as hell, dart around people, and make it out the front doors and into the humid summer air. 

"YEESSS!!!! SUMMER IS HERE!!!!!" I shouted as I flew up into the air. People cheered from below and started running into the parking lot to start up their cars. It's supposed to be really hot today, so I'm pretty sure everyone's headed for the beach. The weather's perfect for it, too - sunny, about 92 degrees, cloudless skies . . . perfect for shredding some twelve-footers! 

"Rainbow Dash!" someone called. I look down to the sidewalk and see my five best friends waiting for me to come down. I fly down and land in front of them, all of us high-fiving at the thought of another school year finished. 

"Are we gonna met ya at the beach?" Applejack asked me. I nodded. 

"Yeah, I have to drop by home to pick up my board, anyways," I told her. 

"Should we bring our beach stuff?" Twilight asked as we started to walk toward the parking lot. 

"Well, I'm pretty sure there's gonna be a bonfire there like there is every year, so, yeah, bring your stuff," I said as I drifted away a bit towards my blue and white motorcycle. 

"YAY! I'll bring the sand building supplies!" Pinkie Pie squealed while jumping up and down a few times. 

"And Rainbow, darling, don't forget your sunblock! I simply cannot stand seeing you with peeling skin! Remember that  - " 

" - 'you need to keep your flawless skin healthy', I know, I know, I know! I won't forget it this time - promise!" I finished for Rarity, and she gave me a thumbs up with a smile. I looked over to Applejack. 

"Oh, and A.J, don't forget your treats. It's not a day at the beach without 'em!" I said as I continued to walk backwards. 

"Got it, pardner!" she said as she tipped her hat. 

"Twilight and I can bring the basic beach things, like umbrellas and towels," Fluttershy said, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear. 

"Sounds good! I'll meet you guys in the parking lot there. Gotta bounce!" I said waving before turning around and jogging to my motorcycle. I put on my helmet and flipped down the visor before roaring up the bike. I didn't have to look in order for me to kick up my kickstand and I was off, turning on the highway. 

Oh, I'm being stupid. You don't know anything about me! I'm Rainbow Dash. I'm a Pega-girl. What's a Pega-girl? Well, basically, I have the typical human body, but I have Pegasus wings on my back, feathers and all. I would just fly home, but after I learned how to fly, it became addicting, so my family and I agreed on the rule to not fly during school days. So I stuck with riding the bus or driving and only flew on weekends and break days. As I grew older, my wings became larger - each wing is about 4.5 feet long - so I had no other choice but to keep them folded. As for appearance, I'll lay down the basics. I have hair that goes down to my lower back and it's colored in the colors of the rainbow. Ever forget the name, look at my hair. I have lightly caramel-tanned skin, but my wing feathers are cyan-blue and my eyes are a magenta pink. I'm pretty tall, about 5'7", but not as tall as Applejack, who's border lining 5'10". 

Who's Applejack? She's one of my best friends. I've known her since elementary school. She's your typical person, no attachments whatsoever. She has deeply tanned skin, apple-green eyes, and thick blonde hair that ends at her mid-back. On top of her head is always a brown Stetson hat. Like I said, she's almost 5'10", and she's the tallest out of our group. A.J is also terrible at lying. She was raised to always tell the truth, so she has no other choice but to tell the truth, no matter how hurtful it is. Applejack works and lives at her family farm, Sweet Apple Acres, harvesting apples and making apple cider for the holidays. She's an awesome cook - she can make pretty much any kind of apple dish in existence! She sometimes helps Pinkie Pie with baking her desserts. 

Pinkie Pie is also a human, and extremely perky, about to cross the line of the good kind of crazy. She loves making people smile and laugh, and the best party-planner in school. If you get an invitation to a party hosted or planned by Pinkie, everybody's going. I've known her since elementary school as well. She has extremely curly, hot-pink hair that goes down to her lower back, ivory skin, blue eyes, and is about 5'6" in height. Along with her reputation as a party-planner, she really knows how to bake caked desserts. She works at Sugar Cube Corner on the weekends and bakes the best sweets in the world! 

Another one of my friends is Fluttershy. I've known her since I was a toddler - our parents were good friends in college. She, like me, is also a Pega-girl, but her wing feathers are a shade of light yellow and they're not as big. She's very shy and soft-spoken, but she can open up around us, and animals, especially. She works at the local animal center and she can tame the craziest animal. She has long, breezy, light-pink hair that ends mid-thigh, fair skin, turquoise eyes, and like Pinkie Pie, she's 5'6". She's such a sweetheart, and will do any kind thing she's willing to do - even modeling Rarity's latest line. 

Rarity is a uni-girl - a human with the horn of a unicorn. She's the fashionable diva of our group, and even though she may seem like the snobby-rich kind, she is very generous. Once, she took us up to New York to see "Wicked", and she paid for absolutely everything - tickets and all! Seriously, you can never repay this girl for the things she'll do for you. Rarity has royal purple, barrel-curled hair that stops at her upper back, pale skin, blue eyes, a white horn on her forehead about 5 inches long, and is the same height as me - 5'7". She has a small boutique in town and designs the best clothes in town, for girls, and boys. Nearly everyone goes there to buy her lines. 

Twilight Sparkle is an ali-girl - a human with both the wings of a Pegasus and the horn of a unicorn. Not many of them exist, but she was talented enough with magic alone and earned her wings a few months ago. Twilight's also a bit of a bookworm - she'll read any book that sparks her interest, and that's almost everything. She has deep purple hair with straight bangs over her forehead and a lavender and magenta pink streak through her mid-back hair. She has ivory skin, violet eyes, lavender wings and horn, and like Pinkie and Fluttershy, she's 5'6". She lives near  the library so she can easily find a book to get lost in. 

I turn on my street and pass a few houses before parking in front of my pretty modern-looking manor - not too big, not too small. Just the way I like it. I walked up the front steps and turned to my left to see my brother and sister having a chicken fight with my parents while my adoptive sister, Scootaloo, was in another area of the pool practicing an underwater handstand. I shook my head and smiled before taking a shortcut through the pool deck. My brother, Fierce Winds, turned a little and saw me. He smiled and waved briefly before going under with our younger sister, Rain Drop, crashing into Scootaloo and all three of them went down. My parents had on "oops" faces before my mother, Firefly, got off of my father, Spectrum Streak. As she helped my brother untangle himself from Rain Drop, I walked over to a table and set my bag down on it, taking off my shoes before they got wet. Fierce was finally untangled and paddled over to me, Rain and Scootaloo following behind him while our parents walked out of the pool to dry off and take a little break. 

"'Sup, Dash?" he said with a smile, resting his arms on the pool deck. I bent down and ruffled up his sky-blue hair, drops of pool water splattering over my legs and arm. 

"'Sup' yourself. Are you guys coming with me to the beach?" I asked as I kneeled in front of them. Rain shook her head. 

"Nah. We've been in here for hours, and we had at least ten chicken fights! Don't think we'd have the energy to go in the water," she said while combing back her blue-and-black hair. 

"Besides, even if I could, I wouldn't. I'm only thirteen, so the salt's gonna make my feathers messed up," Scootaloo said, shaking her small  orange wings around. 

"True. Well, if you change your mind, the shortcut to the beach is around the back of the house," I said as I stood up. I turned to my parents, who were sitting at a table. My mother smiled at me and hugged me hello, my father giving me a noogie not too long after she let go. 

"I'll be going to the bonfire tonight, and Pinkie may or may not invite us over to her place, so if I'm not back by 10:00 tonight, you'll know I'm with her," I told them. 

"Then you're gonna need your board," my father said as he pointed a thumb over is shoulder to where my surf board was mounted on the wall. I got my athleticism from both of my parents, but he taught me in water sports, my mother taught me in land sports, and both instructed me in air sports - since they're Pega-people - and Performing Arts. He handed it to me and I took it from him with a smile. 

"Are you bringing your acoustic, or are they asking you to go electric this year?" Mom asked. I knew what she was talking about. At every bonfire, someone plays for the people attending the fire. I've been performing there since my Freshman year, and it's my choice if I take my acoustic guitar, or my electric one. 

"I'm probably gonna go electric. I did acoustic last year. I'm change and head out. I'll see you guys later!" I said before walking into the house through the sliding glass door. 

"See ya, R.D!" 

"Bye!" 

"Have fun!" 

I placed my board on the wall before jogging u the stairs and going into my room to change - a blue bikini top and red swim shorts. I normally would just wear a t-shirt or tank-top with something underneath, but it feels weird around my wings when it's wet and the top let's my wings spread out without a problem. It took me a while to tie the back of it under my wings, but after a minute or so, I got it tied into a double-knotted bow. I grabbed my electric guitar case, grabbed a bag to put in some clothes for tonight, and nearly forgot the sunblock. I swung the bag over my shoulder, picked up my case, jogged downstairs, tucked my board under my free arm as I walked toward the back of the house. 

I walked down the back porch steps, stopping to think about something that suddenly crossed my mind. I looked at my guitar, and then I looked at my board and opened a wings before folding it after a brief moment. I sighed. Next year is my Senior Year of high school. I'm known for being Animado High's only female jock - volleyball, track and field, football, soccer, even aerial races! Yet, I'm also the best Performing Artist - I get lead roles in musicals, I get into the most difficult choral groups, I dance, and I can shred the guitar like no one else! I've been doing these two for my whole life. In August, I'm gonna have to choose between being a pro-athlete, or a performing star. I sighed again before continuing to walk down to the beach behind my house. I'll complain about that to my friends later. 


 
I met up with my friends not too long after I got to the beach - and we had a blast! Applejack and I competed in surf-offs for a few hours, Pinkie Pie and Twilight eventually joined up for body surfing, Rarity tanned for an hour or so, and we ended up making a mermaid tail out of sand on Fluttershy's legs. 

Before we knew it, it was getting close to sunset, and the temperature dropped a bit because of the night closing in. Applejack and I stayed out of the water and we snacked on some of her apple treats. Then, just when the sun sunk under the horizon, the bonfire started. Logs were set up everywhere and a refreshment shack was set up close to the stage, where large speakers were set up on the sides. Some people started their own mini fires and arranged their own logs - us being one of the people who did so - but most people stuck around the main fire. I was opening my case to grab my guitar before a guy from school, probably a stage crew member, asked me if I wanted a stool to sit on onstage. I shook my head "no" and he went off, leaving me alone to tune my guitar. 

"Break a leg, Rainbow! Yer gonna do great!" Applejack said, now covered in a red t-shirt and jean shorts. I smiled. 

"Thanks, A.J!" I called. I turned and walked up to the stage, where people were waiting for the entertainment to begin. I walked up and the audience applauded. A mic was clipped to my tank top, so I didn't have to lean into a microphone, thank the Lord. I smiled and winked at my friends, who were in plain sight for me. 

"Alright, people; let's get this bonfire started!" I said loudly. The audience cheered and my background music for my song started to play, excluding the lead guitar, since I was playing the lead guitar and I played and sang "Everybody's Fool" by Evanescence.

Sure, I played a song from a gothic band for my opening, but the audience loved it. I played a few more songs before the school's DJ took over. My friends and I walked over to our little fire and finished up A.J's treats. 

Two hours passed and it was getting close to 10:00. Everyone was starting to go home, so we decided to hit the road. 

"Are you guys coming to my place tonight?" Pinkie asked as she picked up her bags of sand building supplies. 

"Yup," we all replied as we stood up with our things. 

"YIPPEE!! C'mon! We can order some pizza when we get to my place," she said as we walked away from the beach. It didn't take too long to get to Pinkie's place, and just like she said, we ordered a three-meat pizza from the pizza parlor. 

The rest of the night went pretty well. Rarity and Fluttershy experimented with makeup, Applejack and Pinkie Pie played video games, I continued to gorge myself with pizza, and Twilight, being the nerd she is, brought her laptop, so now, she's typing away on God knows what. After a while, my brain started to let me process that I'll vomit in the morning if I continued to eat, and I sighed as I sat next to Twilight on the bed. She glanced over at me and raised an eyebrow. 

"Everything alright?" she asked me. 

"Yeah. Just stressing over next year," I said. This caught everyone's attention, and Applejack and Pinkie paused their game to listen to my ranting. 

"Like what, sugarcube?" Applejack askd as she placed an arm at the foot of the bed. 

"Well, I can only have one major when I go to college, and, of course, it's gonna be either sports or Performing Arts. I just don't know which one to do,"  said as I wrapped my arms around my knees. 

"Oh, Rainbow. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to choose one of your two favorite things," Fluttershy told me, placing a hand on my shoulder and giving me a concerned smile. 

"Don't fret, darling! Surely, there's a way you can do both," Rarity said as she gave me a hopeful, reassuring smile. 

"Rainbow, we're only sixteen. We have another summer to enjoy!" Applejack told me. 

"Yeah! We can worry about all that stuff in the fall!" Pinkie said in her usual enthusiastic tone. 

"They're right, Rainbow. Just have fun for the summer! Besides, it's not like you to think ahead. But I promise, if it helps, that I'll do some research and see if there is any way you can do both," Twilight said as she placed a hand on my arm. I gave them sincere smiles. This is why these guys are my best friends! I turned to Twilight, a smile still on my face. 

"Thanks, Twi. That would mean a lot to me," I told her. Then I saw Pinkie's clock read 12:00 am. 

"I’m getting kinda tired. Let's turn in for the night," I said. They nodded in agreement and everyone turned off and put away everything for the night. But I couldn’t sleep. For the next hour and a half, I tossed and turned, even tried getting a glass of water, but I just couldn't sleep. Senior Year was really bugging me. Then, the more I thought about it, the sleepier I became. Questions swirled around my head as sleep slowly came to me. Unless a miracle drops out of the sky by then, I'll be torn between my two favorite things for quite some time. A minute later, I was in dream land, in a fantasy where one day, I was performing for a crowd of thousands, and the next, I was competing in a world-champion tournament. 
> Chapter 2: A Wish Come True
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

RD's POV 
It's been about a week since the bonfire. I've been spending a lot of time with my siblings lately, especially Scootaloo. She has a problem flying, but she can hover for a few seconds, so that's an improvement. She's satisfied with it as well. Her dream has always been flying, and she's willing to try anything to make her wish come true. And speaking of wishes coming true . . . 

I was in my room that afternoon changing my guitar strings when my phone it up. It was a text from Twilight, and she sent it to everyone in our group: 

Meet me @ the library! BIG NEWS!!! 
TO: A.J, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, R.D, Rarity 

I'll be right there 
TO: Twilight Sparkle 

Hmm; wonder that's all about, I thought to myself. I carefully set down my guitar before going downstairs. 

"I'll be back in time for dinner!" I yelled through the house as I opened the front door. 

"You better be!" my father called right before I closed the door. I walked down the porch steps and took off into the air. 

Since my wings are made for speed, I got to the library in 30 seconds - seriously. I walked into the library to see Twilight scribbling something on a notebook with her magic while scrolling through a site on the computer with her hands. I raised an eyebrow. Twilight usually isn't this giddy unless she has a break through in a science experiment or something. I walked over to her and she looked up. The huge grin on her face was starting to freak me out a bit. 

"Uh, everything alright?" I asked as I took a seat next to her. 

"Everything's fine! I just needed you all to see something!" she said as she clicked on a tab on the screen. 

"You wanted us, Twi?" a southern accent said. We looked up to see the rest of our gang walking towards us. They gathered around Twilight and her smile, if possible, grew bigger. 

"What's with the call, darling!" Rarity asked as she placed a hand on the table. 

"I think I found the solution to Rainbow's problem!" she said, hands shaking from excitement. I whipped my head toward her, eyes wide, a smile creeping to my face. 

"Seriously?" I asked her, my tone full of hope. 

"Seriously! For the past week, I've been doing research on colleges or places where you could make a living out of both Performing Arts and sports. This morning, I came across the site of the Wonderbolt Academy. As I looked at it some more, it's actually a boarding school with it's own college campus and has different divisions for nearly everything! And that's when I came across the Sport and Perform division. 

"This team is the academy's best known team, but it's very difficult to get into. There used to be nine members, but one dropped out because of an injury, another became crippled, and the last was fired for being too aggressive. There's three openings in that team, Rainbow! You can go and train there for your Senor Year and you could be one of the lucky three that gets chosen by the captains at the graduation ceremony to be part of the division!" 

As she was talking, she was scrolling and clicking through different parts of the sites, and for once, I was listening very closely. Three openings? That's crazy! But then again, I wanted to be close to home so I can help Scootaloo get better at flying and still be close to my friends. 

"Where is this 'Wonderbolt Academy'?" I asked her. She looked down at her notebook. 

"Malibu," she answered me. This is amazing! Malibu's only a half-hour drive and a 10-minute fly from home! This is perfect! 

"You should do it, Rainbow! Malibu's not even that far from here!" Applejack told me as she laid a hand on my shoulder. 

"You must take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! This place is the path to your dreams!" Rarity said, gesturing to the computer. 

"I agree," Fluttershy stated with a nod. 

"Me, too!" Pinkie said, jumping up with a burst of energy. I nodded. 

"I'll have to talk to my family abo it, but I'm definitely gonna keep this place in mind," I said with a huge smile. Twilight's smile softened a bit as she placed a hand on my shoulder. 

"I really hope you'll go, Rainbow. To my knowledge, this is the only place you'll be able to make a living out of your two most favorite things," she said to me. I was silent for a minute before I made a decision. I stood up and said goodbye to my friends before flying towards home. 



"Mom? Dad?" I called out as I walked into the house. 

"We're in the kitchen!" I heard my mom say. I walked into the kitchen with a straight face. My parents noticed and raised their eyebrows. 

"Is something wrong, sweetheart?" Mom asked me. My face didn't waver. 

"Can we get the family into the living room? I want to talk to you about something," I said before turning around, walking out of the kitchen. I went straight to the living 
room and sat down on the couch. I heard my parents call down my siblings while I fiddled with my thumbs. Soon, everyone was in the living room and they looked at me with curious faces. I took in a deep breath. Here goes nothing . . . 

"Last week, I told my friends that I was torn between sports and Performing Arts as my major for college. Twilight had called us over to the library  little while ago, and she found this place called the Wonderbolt Academy," I started. The name of the place sparked my father's memory somehow. 

"The boarding school and college up in Malibu?" he asked me. I nodded my head. 

"Yeah. Twilight found out that there were three openings in their Sport and Perform division and - " 

"You want to apply there so you can have a shot at it," my mother finished for me. I nodded again. 

"Basically, yeah," I replied. My parents had a conversation with their eyes as I anxiously waited for their response. 

"You know, you've been working really hard on your school work and at your practices . . ." my father trailed off, "and you are responsible enough to take care of yourself . . ." my mother finished. My leg started to bounce. 

"And . . . ?" I questioned. They smiled. 

"We'll let you go to the academy for your Senior Year," Dad told me told me. It took all my will power to up not fly up into the air and break something, but I didn't - just jumped up and started screaming like crazy. Then, creepily enough, I came to an abrupt stop. I wanted to make sure that my siblings were okay with this. 

"You guys are okay with me leaving for some time, right?" I asked them. They all nodded and I sighed with relief. 

"I just don't know how to react with you thinking ahead," Fierce said teasingly. I sent him a playful glare before ruffling up his hair like I always do. 

"Hey, you don't exactly think before you act, either!" I told him. My mother placed a hand on my shoulder. 

"Come on; let's go see when you need to move out," she said to me. We all went up to the office and found the website Twilight showed me and the gang earlier. 

"Registration's due by 12:00 am tonight," Rain Drop said as she read it. 

"Or, if you wanna be technical, tomorrow morning," Scootaloo commented. My father smiled at me, "Let's get you signed in." 

It took some time, but my application was accepted and all I had to do was wait three days till I have to move into campus. We ordered takeout so I took it with me upstairs to my room and flopped on my bed, flipping on the television. When I got settled on a channel, my phone lit up. Twilight sent me a message over OovoO. 

TWILIGHT: So, how'd it go? 
RAINBOW: They approved - I go up to Malibu in 3 days! 
A.J: Really? That's awesome! 
RAINBOW: I know it is. I'm gonna start packing tomorrow. 
RARITY: Would you like some help? Knowing you, you'll probably pack most of your clothes and it may be a while for all of us to be together after you go up to Malibu. 
RAINBOW: That would be nice. Think Pinkie would be willing to try and get us a discount on doughnuts at Sugar Cube Corner? 
PINKIE: OF COURSE I WOULD!!! Trust me, once I tell the Cakes that your off to become a world-known Wonderbolt, they'll willingly give us a discount. 
FLUTTERSHY: I hope we won't cause them any trouble by doing so. It's a very kind thing for them to do. 
PINKIE: They OWN the place, silly! It won't be that bad if they gave us a discount! If not, I can get together with A.J and we can make our own sweets and treats! Right? 
A.J: You got it, pardner! But I gotta be honest with ya, (as always) it's gonna be weird not having someone to scold for not going to class. 
RAINBOW: Oh, ha, ha, ha. And I do go to class - how do you think I ended this school year with a 4.0 GPA? Speaking of which, where'd the nerd run off to? 
TWILIGHT: I'm still here, just enjoying the conversation. I got everything, though - help R.D pack, try to get a, SCC discount, R.D being gone will be weird, blah, blah, blah. 
RAINBOW: Oh, that's real nice, Twilight. 
TWILIGHT: What? 
PINKIE: You guys gotta lighten up! 
RARITY: Oh, Rainbow Dash! Since you'll be going to Malibu, would you like  some new summer clothes? I just finished a brand new summer line and I'd love to give you some! 
RAINBOW: Sure! Everything from last year's summer is starting to fade - a lot. 
RARITY: I wouldn't be surprised. You wear out your clothes until they rip! 
FLUTTERSHY: And you'll still perform for the holiday animal adoptions at the animal center, right? That is, if it doesn't cause you any trouble. 
RAINBOW: If I can! You know I'd never leave those critters hanging! 
FLUTTERSHY: I know you won't! Besides, whenever you play for the animal adoptions, you do not dissapoint! 
RAINBOW: Thanks, Fluttershy. Well, I've been so busy texting you guys that my food's starting to cool down. Come over around 1:30 tomorrow. See ya tomorrow! 

I put down my phone and picked up my box. I stabbed some pieced of meat with a fork from downstairs and popped it into my mouth. 

"Good; it's still warm," I said, my mouth half-full. I took a gulp of water and continued to eat. I eventually got bored with watching television and listened to some music on my iPod for some time. After a while, I got up and went downstairs to throw away my trash. Apparently, everyone else had gone to bed and I was the only one up. I switched on the dimmest light setting in the kitchen and ever so quietly, I tossed my box into the trash can. I opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water and a pudding cup, picked up a spoon from the silverware drawer, turned out the light, and flittered up the stairs to my room. After I finished the pudding, I took a shower and turned in for the night. Tomorrow's packing day, and even though I'm getting help, it might take some time before I can get everything I need packed up. Lord, help me . . . 
> Chapter 3: Meeting the Roommates
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

RD's POV

The next three days passed pretty quickly. Packing went smoother than I thought, other than the fact that Rarity gave me, like, half of her new summer line. After I finished packing, Pinkie was kind enough to through me a goodbye party with all of my friends and family to send me off. Now, I'm standing in my living room with two large luggage bags, hugging my family and friends goodbye. 

"We'll see you for the holidays, right?" Scootaloo asked after I let her go from our hug. 

"I'll try; from what Twilight told me yesterday, the Wonderbolt Academy has a pretty tight schedule, so I may or may not be here for Thanksgiving, but I'll definitely try to make it for Christmas. That sound good?" I asked her. 

"Mm-hmm!" she nodded. I turned to my parents and they both took me in a hug. 

"We'll see you, soon, Rainbow," I heard my mother say to me. I nodded against her shoulder before letting go. 

"And stay out of trouble, too," my father said, "well, at least try," he corrected himself. I rolled my eyes playfully before nodding. 

"I'll try," I told him. Then out of nowhere, Pinkie tackled me in a hug, nearly making me fall on my luggage. 

"I'm gonna miss you SOOOOOO MUCH!!!!" she shouted. 

"I'm gonna miss you, too, Pinkie . . . Now let me go before I die from lack of air . . ." I said with all the air I had left. 

"Sorry," she said, letting me go from her vice-like grasp. I gasped for air for a few seconds before I pulled myself together. Good Lord, that girl can hug! 

"We hope to see you soon, darling. Make sure you come down every once and a while," Rarity said as she pulled me into a hug. 

"I think I speak for all of us when I say to keep in touch," Twilight told me. 

"And if ya ever meet new people ya think we'd wanna meet, feel free to bring 'em down with ya on a visit," Applejack said as she leaned on one of my luggage bags. 

"Will do," I said with a thumbs-up. 

"Don't forget about the animal adoptions, either. I'll text you the dates when it gets closer to the season," Fluttershy said, moving her bangs out of her face. 

"I won't forget - promise!" I told her as I gave her a hug. We walked out the house together and I placed my luggage in the trunk of my car. Yeah, I have a bike and wings, but how exactly do you expect me to travel when it's cold, raining, or snowing? 

I slammed the car door after me and started the engine. I gave them one last smile before driving off. The top of my car was down, so I heard their goodbyes as I drove down the street. I've been to Malibu plenty of times to visit family, so once I got on the highway, I listened to my favorite album by Avril Lavigne during the whole half-hour drive. 





It was pretty obvious to know where the school was - it was huge, took up a lot of space, a lot of cars, big parking lots, lots of buildings, mostly blue and yellow . . . that and there was a huge sign saying "THE WONDERBOLT ACADEMY" at its entrance. You'd be surprised to know that there was actually a lot of empty parking spaces. I'd get my dorm building and room number up at the front. I walked up to the table on the side walk where someone told me it was a "find, take, and go". I looked for my name in the R's first, then the D's, and there I was - Dash, Rainbow. Of course the last name comes first. Thank God they didn't include my middle name for some weird reason. I carefully slipped the paper out and walked back to my car. I slammed the car door and took a deep breath as I read it over to myself. 

"North Building, room 2344 . . ." I said quietly. I exhaled loudly as I started up the car again. 

"Please tell me these places have elevators, 'cause I am not going to climb of fly up staircases with two heavy luggage bags looking like an idiot who doesn't know what she's doing," I said to myself as I drove to my dorm building. It was very far from where I already was, so once I got there, I found a place to park, grabbed my bags from the trunk, and headed inside. Some other people were going into the building as well, and there were posters hung up on the walls saying what floor your room was on and who your roommates were. Once again, I found my name under D. 

"Fifth floor? I can cope with that . . . Spitfire and Fleetfoot? Hmm . . . might as well meet them at the dorm," I said to myself. I took hold of my bags again and saw a few people catching a ride on an elevator. 

Hallelujah! I thought to myself as I jogged up to them so I wouldn't have to wait. Thankfully, they were nice enough to wait for me to join them, and we waited a few moments before closing the doors. 

"What floor are you on?" a guy standing by the elevator buttons asked me. 

"Fifth," I told him. 

"I'm meeting with my brother on fifth. I'll stick by you when they leave," a girl behind me said. 

It took a few minutes before I made it to the fifth floor. All that was left was finding my dorm. 

"2341, 2342, 2343, ah! 2344," I said to myself. I took a deep breath before opening the door. I was met with what sounded like a snack bag being crunched, then voices. 

"I thought the guys weren't coming till 1:30," a voice said. 

"Fleet, if they walked in, they'd be shouting something along the lines of 'Let's go, already! We're missing some great twelve-footers!' It's probably our other roommate. Let's go say hi," another said. 

I heard another crunch of a snack bag as I closed the door behind me and saw two Pega-girls walk into the room I was in. One had light orange hair with a darker orange streak running through the center from her Widow's Peak that was styled back behind her head, amber eyes, tanned skin, and golden-yellow wings. The other had white hair with light-teal streaks going through it that was pulled back into a small ponytail, fuchsia eyes, pale skin, and light arctic-blue wings. Both wore small smiles as they walked in. 

"Hi, you must be Rainbow Dash," the one with orange hair said to me. 

"That's me." 

"Yeah, the hair probably gives the 'rainbow' part away," the one with white and teal hair said, "I'm Fleetfoot, and this is Spitfire," Fleetfoot said as she placed a hand on her hip. I saw Spitfire look at my bags. 

"Would you like some help unpacking? You seem to have a lot on you," she asked me as she gestured to my luggage. I smiled a bit. 

"That would be great; but let me warn you, I am very picky about I put things, so if I start moving things you already put down, please don't murder me," I said to them with a smile as I started pulling up the handles on my bags. They laughed lightly. 

"Oh, don't worry; we're the same way," Spitfire told me, taking hold of one bag. 

"Then I think we're gonna get along just fine," I said. 

"Come on. We'll show you to you room," Fleetfoot said, nodding her head towards a small hall. 

"You were just in the living room, but the television and everything else was where we were," Fleetfoot explained to me as we kept on walking. 

"Then it must be larger than I thought," I replied. 

"This is the bathroom." Spitfire opened a door in the hall we were in and what I saw surprised me - it was huge! I mean, the mirror literally took up most of one of the walls, there were two sinks with a lot of counter space between them, cabinets underneath of the sinks, a large bath tub, and a large screen door shower. 

"Geez! It's huge!" I exclaimed, my eyes bulging out of my head. Spitfire just laughed. 

"That was my reaction," she said with a smile before closing the door. 

"Most of the stuff under the sinks in the cabinets belong to Fleetfoot, her being the 'girlier' one out of the two of us," Fleetfoot just shrugged sheepishly, "but there's plenty of space for your stuff, if you have any," Spitfire told me as we walked a little farther down the hall. At the end of the hall were three doors. 

"My door's on the left, Spitfire's is on the right, and your room is in the middle," Fleetfoot said, walking up to the middle door. She opened it, and once again, I was met with a surprise. There was a full bed against a wall, a simple, rectangle vanity desk, a computer desk, a bedside table with a lamp, a navy blue dresser, two beanbags with a few throw pillows sitting on top of them, and a closet next to the dresser. And there was a hell a lot of rug space! 

"Once again, this is huge!" I said. 

"We know it is. Kind of why we'd like to help you unpack. It might take a while to walk back and forth from one side of the room to the other," Fleetfoot said, talking with her hands. 

"And I don't mean to rush you, but we have some friends coming over in about in hour. We're spending the day at the beach. Since it's your first day, do you wanna come with us? I'm pretty sure they'll like you, anyways," Spitfire asked me as we walked into my new room. 

"Sure! I'd never miss out going to the beach," I said with a smile. 





About an hour later, we were done unpacking one bag and were half way done with the second when we sat down on the bed to take a quick break. Things in the room were already looking a little bit more "rainbow". I changed the bed sheets with my own - blue and white music notes over a black background, and solid colored pillows in matching colors. Since I didn't feel like going down to the bathroom, I left my bathroom things, along with a little makeup palettes I had, on the vanity desk. Everything else was filled with clothes and a few pairs of shoes. We agreed that the next day, we'd go down to the mall for some shoes and other things, since I only brought two pairs with me; I left most of them at home. Then, we heard the door open and the voices of boys enter our dorm. 

"That's them," Fleetfoot said, raising an eyebrow with amusement. 

"Do they always just barge right in?" I asked her. 

"Well, we grew up with the dudes, so, yeah," she said. 

"We'll finish unpacking your things either later tonight, since you don't have a lot of clothes left in your bag, or tomorrow morning. Since we'll most likely be staying at the beach for more than just a few hours, we'll probably unpack everything else tomorrow," Spitfire said to me. I just shrugged it off. 

"Eh, it's fine. I'll live," I told her. I heard a rich voice call out through our dorm. 

"Where are you guys, anyway?" he said. 

"We're in the empty dorm room," Fleetfoot yelled back. 

"Knowing them, their jaws are probably gonna drop when they find out we've got a new roomie. We haven't told them anything about you before you came, so expect some funniness," Spitfire said to me. I raised my eyebrows as I heard footsteps and voices came closer to my room door. This is gonna be interesting.





Soarin's POV 

"Do we just walk right in?" Thunderlane asked to no one in particular. 

"Well, duh! It's not like their gonna mind, we've known the since we were, like, what, five?" Rapidfire said in reply. 

"I'm sorry, but the last time that happened, things didn't turn out very well! I don't like thinking about it." 

"Ha! Well, that was your fault for walking in on them changing." 

"You dared me to! There's a reason why some people say 'knock before you walk'!" 

"Ladies, ladies, you're both pretty, now can we walk in now so we can go to the beach already? We're missing some great twelve-footers!" I cut in. Geez, that's like their third argument today. 

"Fine, then, if you want to get them so much, how about you open the door?" Rapid said. I rolled my eyes and did just that. 

"Since when did you become so chicken? Look! This part of the dorm is completely empty," I said, gesturing around Spitfire and Fleetfoot's living room. 

"Well, I just don't wanna go through what Thunder did," he said, nodding his head toward my other best friend. 

"Dude, I don't think anyone wants to go through what I did!" he said, eyes widening as he remembered the scene. 

"Where are they?" Rapid asked us. 

"Where are you guys, anyway?" I called throughout the dorm. 

"We're in the empty dorm room," I heard Fleetfoot call back. I raised an eyebrow as we started walking down the hall. 

"Why would they be in Surprise's old room?" Rapid asked. 

"Well, since her accident, I guess they were just reliving the memory of her living there," Thunder replied. 

"It's kinda sad her injuries were so bad that they ended up taking away her wings. We should give her a visit some time soon," I said as we neared her old dorm room. I heard giggling coming from the room. This sparked my curiosity. What's going on in there? 

"Okay, since you two are too chicken, I'll open the door," I said, laying a hand on the partly opened door. 

"Thank you," they breathed out in relief. I rolled my eyes and opened the door, about to step inside until something, or rather someone, I saw made me stop dead in my tracks. Rapid and Thunder looked over my shoulders to see what the hold up was and saw the same thing I was seeing. 

What I saw was a rainbow-haired girl with lightly tanned skin, magenta pink eyes, and largest wings I've ever seen for a girl. She was sitting on the bed with Spitfire and Fleetfoot, all of them smiling at us. 

"'Sup?" Fleetfoot said to break the awkward silence. 

"'Sup'? That's all?" Thunderlane asked her, an eyebrow raised as he continued to look at the rainbow-y newcomer. 

"Who's she?" Rapidfire asked. The rainbow-haired girl snickered before saying something. 

"Gee, way to be blunt. I'm Rainbow Dash," she said to him. We were still kind of skeptical. 

"She's our new roomie," Spitfire said as she nudged Rainbow's shoulder. We relaxed. 

"We've been unpacking her things for the past hour. I think I found someone who has enough clothes rival my closet," Fleetfoot said. I raised an eyebrow as we walked into the room. 

"Fleet, no one can have more clothes than you," Thunder said as he put down a bag full of beach stuff for the guys. 

"Really? Then check the closet," Rainbow said, all three of the girls sharing the same smug smile. We turned our heads to look into the open closet and saw hangers and folded clothes neatly stacked and hung everywhere. Our jaws dropped at the variation of color and neatness. 

"Whoa," was all we could say. 

"Yeah, 'whoa' is correct," I heard Rainbow say, "By the way, I never got your names." 

"Oh, I'm Soarin. The guy with the black wings is Thunderlane and the blunt guy with the white streak through his hair is Rapidfire," I told her as we turned around to face them. 

"Hi." 

"'Sup?" 

"You comin' with us to the beach?" I asked Rainbow. She nodded her head. 

"Yeah, just let me get changed. Out! Out, out, out, out! Men are now restricted from this room until my say-so! Go snack on some food from the kitchen, or something!" she shouted at us as she pushed us towards the door. 

"Whoa, whoa, wait; what about them?" Rapid asked quickly before he crashed into the door. She stopped for a minute before turning around to face Spits and Fleet. 

"You're going with them, you know that, right?" she asked them. 

"Yeah, we figured," Fleetfoot said as she nodded her head. She and Spitfire stood from the bed. 

"C'mon, guys. Let's pack a few snacks for the beach, we just restocked our pantry with Oreos and Nutter Butters," Spitfire said as she walked towards the door. The mention of food got us out the door. 

"Do you still have any Raisinets? Don't judge, those things are good!" Thunder said as he and Rapid jogged down the hall. I just walked out of Rainbow's room when I heard her sigh and say "Boys are crazy" before closing her door. I rolled my eyes and shook my head before following after my friends. 

I've known these guys since Pre-K. Growing up with them, they're like my brothers and sisters. Rapidfire is the annoying goofball who loves having fun about 24/7 - pretty much sums him up. Thunderlane prefers to use his brain most of the time, but it comes in handy whenever we pull a prank on some random stranger and he decides to live like he's never lived before. Fleetfoot is you're typical girl - likes to hit the mall about every weekend, but when she wants something, she commits. Spitfire . . . let's just say, don't make her mad. You don't want to see her live up to her name. Seriously, that girl is as scary as hell when she's angry! But she has a good side that fortunately shows more than her bad side, so we're safe. 

I walked into the moderate-sized kitchen where Rapid and Fleetfoot were busy putting things in a large beach bag while Thunder and Spitfire were popping Raisinets in their mouths. I stood next to Thunder by the counter and took a handful of Raisinets from the bag he was holding before pouring some into my mouth as well. One thing I forgot to mention - we love to eat. 

"There's something called 'asking'," he said as he glared at me. 

"Yeah, there's also something called 'sharing'," I shot back, my mouth half-full of the chocolate-covered raisins. 

"Should we bring the cooler? Warm water is the worst, and it's supposed to be scorching hot today," Rapid asked as he grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. 

"Yeah, just dump the ice from the ice box in the freezer in it. That should last us for a few hours," Spitfire said to him. As he did that, we heard some faint music playing from the hall. Rapid stopped pouring the ice into the cooler to listen and we all stayed still, trying to figure out what was playing and who was playing it. 

"Where is that music coming from?" Thunder asked as we looked around us. Then, we heard a door open and light footsteps coming from the hall. It finally clicked that Rainbow was probably listening to something. 

"Ohhh," we all chorused at the realization. The footsteps tapped the ground in a certain rhythm, and soon, humming came along with the music. I recognized the tune as "Rock 'n' Roll" by Avril Lavigne. After a few moments, Rainbow came into the kitchen with a pair of blue Beats headphones hanging around her neck, iPod in her back pocket, the humming turning into light singing as she slightly danced her way towards us with her eyes closed. She was about to pass by Thunder, Spitfire, and I when she opened her eyes and saw the Raisinets bag Thunder was holding. Her eyes widened and sang her words to the tune of the song. 

"Some-some way, we'll be getting' outta - ooh! Raisinets! Thank you very much for sharing with me," she sang as she basically took the entire bag away from Thunder, leaving him dumbstruck and the rest of us laughing, "you know how the story goes - oh, oh, oh," she continued to sing before she popped a few into her mouth. 

"Wait - what - how - where did you come from?" Thunder asked her, obviously not paying much attention after we fund out where the music was coming from. She paused bringing her hand to her mouth and raised an eyebrow at him. 

"My room - duh," she said, adding a little of know-it-all sass to her tone. She ate another handful of the snacks as the rest of us continued to laugh. 

"Oh, let her have the bag, Thunderlane! It's her first day here, let the girl have some fun!" Fleetfoot defended her. Thunder just pouted and crossed his arms. 

"Fine. But I call dibs when we get to the beach!" he said as he pointed a finger at her as a warning. She just shrugged before she swallowed. 

"Speaking of the beach, when are we leaving?" she asked. We turned to look at either Spitfire or Fleetfoot. 

"I guess now. It's already 2:30," Spitfire said, looking at her phone for the time. 

"Alright, are we flying, or driving?" Fleetfoot asked. 

"I don't feel like hauling these things in the air. Let's take the van. The boards are already in there, anyways." Rapid said as he picked up the cooler. Spitfire picked up the beach bag full of food. 

"Alright, but you're driving," she said, walking into the living room. He groaned before following her and we headed out of the building to the parking lot. I turned my head to my left to see that Rainbow still had her headphones around her neck. 

"Are you gonna listen to those in the car, or are you actually taking them to the beach?" I asked her as we came closer to Rapid's van. She nodded her head. 

"I'm taking them to the beach. When get tired I usually just plug them in and gorge myself with snacks until I feel like going back in the water again," she said, opening the car door to get in the back with Fleetfoot. Rapid made sure that the surf boards were firmly strapped at the top before getting in the drivers seat and driving out of the parking lot and onto the highway. 

"You guys up for some music?" he asked not too long after we got onto the highway. We all whooped and cheered and he turned on the radio, and "Love More" by Chris Brown came on. We all whooped loudly and Rapid rolled down the windows. We all started to sing along, including Rainbow Dash. That's all we did for the entire drive to the beach - singing at the top of our lungs to music. Though, sometimes, whenever something like Fifth Harmony came on and us guys stopped singing and just listened to the girls, I couldn't help but look in the rearview mirror to see Rainbow singing strongly with Spit and Fleet like she'd known them forever. I smirked. I've only known this girl for half and hour and I can already tell that's she's gonna be something special. 
> Chapter 4: Surprise!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soarin's POV 

After about 15 minutes of jamming to songs on the radio, we arrived at the beach. We all climbed out of the van and took the boards down from the top of the van before grabbing the cooler. 

"Ready to go?" I asked Rapid after he slammed the car door shut. He locked the car before turning to me. 

"Let's go!" he said with a smile. Thunder was carrying the umbrellas while I carried the cooler and we began to walk towards the beach before Rainbow opened up her cyan-blue wings and shouted "last one to the beach is a rotten egg!" and took off into the air, a gust of wind from her wings blowing in our faces. Fleetfoot and Spitfire went after her and we just stood there, watching them fly to an empty place on the sand. Rapidfire was the first to break the silence. 

"Did you see the size of those wings? They're huge!" he said, watching the girls shout at each other over who won. 

"They look a lot smaller when they're folded, don't they?" I asked. 

"I can't believe it - they're as big as my mother's, and she's freakin' forty-two!" Thunderlane said. We simultaneously shook our heads and sputtered before flying up after them. Apparently, they forgot about their little argument over the winner and we busy folding their shirts into Fleetfoot's towel bag when we got there. Rainbow was the first to see us appear and stood up to take the umbrellas from Thunder's failing grip. 

"Here, let me put these in. Just worry about getting to those Raisinets before Fleetfoot claims them," she said with a smirk. His eyes widened and placed the cooler on the ground before sliding next to the snack bag. 

"I call dibs!" he said as he practically grabbed the snack from the bag, making Spitfire and Fleetfoot jump five feet. I snickered as Fleetfoot slapped him on the shoulder and yelled at him playfully for not waiting until later. I stuck my board in the sand and put up another umbrella next to Rainbow to keep out as much sun as possible, because we all know that sunburn is the worst. 

It didn't take long before we got everything else out and Rapid and Thunder decided to hit the waves. I heard Rainbow sigh. 

"Wish I didn't leave my board back home," she said as she took out a bottle of water from the cooler. I raised an eyebrow. 

"You surf?" I asked her. She nodded her head before swallowing and putting the cap back on the bottle. 

"Yeah, I do tons of sports. Mostly water sports during the summer, obviously. I surf whenever I get the chance. It sucks though. I don't have my board with me and it looks like there's also some fifteen-foot waves out here! I haven't surfed one of those in a few weeks," she said, seeing her eyes stare longingly at the water through her sunglasses. 

I turned to the water and spotted Rapid and Thunder on a fifteen-foot wave, only to wipe out a few moments after. I winced. I hate wiping out on large waves. If you can't get to the surface in time, you get water up your nose, swallow salt water, and possibly get pulled under by an upcoming wave. It sucks. 

"Ooh, another wipeout," Fleetfoot said, seeing them come back up and go back under before being creamed by another wave. 

"I lost track on how many wipeouts they had," Spitfire said as they rode a smaller wave to shore. They walked up to us, rubbing their eyes to get the sting of salt water out of their system. Both of them were breathing heavily, so that last wave must've been something. 

"Dude, those fifteen-footers are crazy! I can't tame 'em," Thunderlane said as he stuck his board in the sand, plopping down next to me while running a hand through his soaked gray-blue hair. 

"Must've wiped out at least five times! Riding those waves is impossible!" Rapid said as he sat next to Spitfire, grabbing a water bottle from the cooler and gulping down as much water as he could on the spot. That's when Rainbow spoke. 

"Riding a fifteen-footer isn't impossible, you just have to know how to tame it, and tame it right," she said as if it was the simplest thing in the world. Rapid and Thunder turned their heads towards her and narrowed their eyes at her. 

"And what exactly makes you think that? We're some of the best surfers in the academy, we should know what is and what isn't tamable," Thunderlane said to her. I saw her eyebrows go down and she peered over at him over her sunglasses. 

"And what? Are you just gonna stick with yourself saying that riding and taming a fifteen-foot wave is impossible for you?" she asked, an irritated tone seeping into her voice. I scooted back a bit, not wanting to get pulled into this, as did Spitfire and Fleetfoot. 

"Well, if you think that it's so easy, how about you try surfing one?" Rapid said, thinking he had her. Rainbow whipped her head towards him and took off her glasses, eyebrows pulled into a hard glare. Spitfire whistled lowly as I exhaled slowly. 

"Someone's pissed," Fleetfoot said lowly so only Spitfire and I could here her. We nodded in response. But I actually wanna see where this is going. 

"Is that supposed to be a challenge?" she asked lowly. Rapid just smirked smugly. 

"I guess it is," he said. Rainbow's eyebrows shot up as she scoffed and gave him a look that said "seriously?". She folded her sunglasses, stood up, dropped them to the ground, walked up to Rapid's board, and yanked it out of the sand. 

"Well then, challenge accepted," she said before walking towards the water. 

"Yeah, like she's actually gonna complete it," Thunder said to Rapid, thinking that she didn't hear him. Apparently, she did, because right after he said that, she flapped one of her unusually large wings once until it touched the ground and sent sand blowing towards us. Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and I saw it coming and were smart enough to stand up and back up from her attack, but Thunder and Rapid were so busy laughing that they ended up getting their faces full of sand, even in their mouths. She folded her wing back up and continued to walk towards the water with Rapid's board as they spit out sand from their mouths. 

"Bitch," Rapid mumbled under his breath when she was out of ear shot. Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and I shared a look. This is gonna be interesting. 



RD's POV 
They think I can't shred a 15-footer? Stupid. I've surfed bigger waves when my family and I went to Oahu, Hawaii last summer for vacation. Sure, I wiped out on a few . . . okay, several, but at least I eventually learned how to surf them! These knuckleheads would rather give up and sit on their asses than going back out there and trying to tame one of these things! And they think that if they can't do it, the whole population can't do it? Dudes. Get some brains! 

The sound of the waves roaring became louder and louder as I neared the water. I decided to walk in and find a wave a little farther out. Then, a wave came crashing and the water ran through my legs from the mid-thigh, and I couldn't help but jump and yelp in surprise. The water was cold. Nothing I couldn't handle, but it was cold. I'd get used to it though. 

The farther I walked out, the warmer the water became. When I was about waist-high in, I climbed on the board and paddled out a little more. I saw a new wave appearing in the distance and it was going to start breaking some time soon. The wave kept on rising as I turned around and started to paddle. I felt the wave lift up the board and my legs and rose quickly to plant my feet on the board. I stood completely and then, I began to surf. 

I had a little trouble at first. Thunder and Rapid weren't lying when they said that these waves were rough, but once again, it's nothing I can't handle. Soon, I was riding this wave like a pro, curving off the top and flipping with the board like I've done all my life. I smiled widely as I surfed the wave. I was having the time of my life. 

Then I noticed that I was coming to the end of my current wave. There was no stopping for me, and I still need to show them my stuff - and by "them", I mean Thunder and Rapid. I looked in front of me and saw a wave getting ready to break. Most people would've just rode out the remainder of their current wave, but I'm not like most people. I steered the board down to the trough of my wave, opened my wings, and gave three hard flaps as I rounded the breaking end of the wave. Thanks to the extra boost of my wings, I made it under the arching crest just before it broke. I let out a breath of relief as I continued to ride under the water. The last time I did that, my mouth and everything I ate tasted like salt water for a week. Yeah, the wipeout was that bad. 

I stayed under that wave for some time until I reached the opening on the other side. I rounded the end of another wave and rode that one to shore, and rode it awesomely. When I came to where I could stand without having to use my whole body to walk, I lifted the board off the water and held it to my hip as I walked back up to where the others were. The breeze made me feel cold and tossed around my now-stringy, wet hair and sand stuck to the bottoms of my feet. I got to where the beach site was and was met with gaping mouths and wide eyes. I smirked as I stuck the board into the sand. Rapid was the first to speak. 

"Okay, first of all, how the hell were you able to use your wings while surfing?" he asked me. I could see an impressed smile creeping up his face. 

"Yeah! Fleetfoot's one of the best water-sportspeople in the academy and she's never learned how to do that! How did you?" Spitfire asked as she crossed her legs, lifting her sunglasses to rest on her head. An unamused expression spread across Fleetfoot's face.

"Gee, thanks, Spit," she said sarcastically. Spitfire put her hands up in mock defense.

"I'm just sayin'!" she stated. I shrugged and sat down on the towel while drying my legs and cleaning my feet - temporarily - from sand. 

"My parents taught me nearly everything I know. I come up with my own tricks and stunts on my own. Using my wings was something my father taught me," I said as I tossed the towel near the bags. 

"There was only one other person who was able to master that technique at the academy. Spectrum Streak, right?" Fleetfoot asked. I froze. Spectrum Streak? As in, my father, Spectrum Streak? 

"Yup. He was a prodigy at the academy. He set most if not all the records in water sports," Thunderlane said as he leaned back on his hands. My eyes widened. 

"Hold up - Spectrum Streak?" I asked them. 

"Yeah. Why? Ever heard of him?" Soarin asked me. 

"Heard of him? Heard of him?! He's my father!" I exclaimed, a surprised smile creeping its way on my face. Rapid, who was drinking from his water bottle, spit out whatever water was in his mouth, and Spitfire nearly choked on an oreo. 

"He's your dad?!" they all shouted at me, shocked expressions on each of their faces. 

"Yes; yes, he is!" I shouted back. 

"Oh. My. GOD! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!!! WE'RE SITTING WITH THE DAUGHTER OF A WATER-SPORTS PRODIGY!!!!" Thunderlane screamed, "Wait, who's your mom?" he asked me. 

"Uh, Firefly. Why?" I asked. Thunderlane freaked out again while everyone else continued to stare at me with utter shock. 

"WE'RE SITTING WITH THE DAUGHTER OF TWO, NOT ONE, BUT TWO, WBA PRODIGIES!!!!" Thunderlane screamed as he spazzed out in his area. 

"Wait. Did my mom also go here?" I asked Spitfire. 

"Yes! She was captain of every land sporting team at the academy!" she said to me. 

"She set all the records for them as well. They were known as 'The Sporting Duo'," Rapid told me. 

"Real original, right?" Fleetfoot cut in. 

"They both were co-captains of the Sport and Perform division in their senior year. People say that after they graduated from the university they moved out of Malibu and settled down. That's probably where you come in," Soarin explained to me. 

"Wow. No wonder why they let me come here so easily. And why I'm a pro at nearly everything," I said to them, playfully flipping my damp hair over my shoulder at the last part. Rapid cleared his throat. 

"Yeah, uh, with that being said . . . we're sorry for giving you such a hard time earlier," he said. 

"Yeah, if we knew that you were a kid of two of the academy's legends, or if we had known that you had a temper that can only be rivaled by Spitfire's, we wouldn't have messed with you like that," Thunder said. I smiled coolly. 

"Eh, it's okay. I can't really blame ya. You weren't kidding when you said those waves are rough. Nothing compared to the ones down in Hawaii, but still rough," I said to them. 

"See? What did we tell ya?" Rapid said with a playful smirk. I rolled my eyes. 

"Then go down to Oahu and see what I'm talking about," I shot back with a smirk of my own. 

"I won't have to. I've seen how huge those waves are down there. I don't think I need another minor concussion," Rapid said before taking a drink from his water bottle. 

"There's a reason why Admiral Fairy Flight made you co-captain of the flight part of the division, not the water sports part," Spitfire said with a teasing glance. Rapid stuck his tongue out at her and all she did was laugh. I raised an eyebrow at the scene. They've been ating like this since we got here. What . . . ? 

"Hey Rainbow, can I look through your music? Just curious as to what you listen to," Thunder asked me, his hand hovering over my iPod. 

"Yeah, sure. But if I find out that you went through anything else on here, I wont hesitate to hurt you," I warned him as I unlocked it. His 
eyes widened before giving me a thumbs up. 

"So, what now?" Fleet asked no one in particular. 

"Wanna play 'Twenty Questions'? I think it would be a fun way for us to get to know you and vice versa," Soarin said. We all mumbled in agreement before Thunder perked up at something he saw on my iPod. 

"Oh my God! I love Avril Lavigne!" he said as he put my iPod down on the cooler in front of us. Her "Avril Lavigne" album was playing on it and we all jammed out for a moment before laughing it off and relaxing under the shade of the umbrellas. I let out an inaudible sigh. There are a lot more surprising things about me than they think. This is gonna be fun . . .
> Chapter 5: 20 Questions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

RD's POV 

When our little jam out session was over, we laid out the rules to our little game of 20 Questions. 

"So, we'll go down the line. Each of us will ask a question and all of us have to answer it," Spitfire said. We all nodded in response. 

"Alright, well, I'm on this end, so I'll go first. Uh, let's start off with the basics. Like, what's your favorite color?" Fleetfoot asked. We all laughed at how pre-school that question was.

"Mine's neon green, just so you know," she said. She looked at Spitfire, who was next in line. 

"Uh, I'd have to say orange. Not like a vibrant shade of it. More like a crimson orange," she said. Rapid snickered. 

"So glad you didn't say 'sunset orange', 'cause that would've been a major 'Catching Fire' reference," he said. We all laughed at the comment. Then it was my turn. 

"My favorite color? Well, look at my hair and you'll know," I said. 

"Rainbow?" Spitfire asked, arching an eyebrow. 

"Yup." 

"Huh. Kinda figured. You’re a prismatic person," Thunder told me. 

"My hair is pretty awesome," I said while flipping my hair over my shoulder. 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, no need to gloat," he said. I shrugged a shoulder, then looked to Soarin, since he was next. 

"Favorite color for me . . . probably blue," he said. 

"Like your hair?" I teased. 

"Eh, more like any shade of it, though I prefer sky-blue," he clarified. He looked over to Rapidfire. 

"Oh, my turn. Uh, I have to say red," he said with a shrug. We all looked at Thunder. 

"My favorite color would have to be silver," he said. 

"Ooh, fancy," I commented. He just shrugged. 

"Yay, my turn for questions. Okay, since we're still basic here, when's your birthday? And say your current age, too" Spitfire said. 

"February 25, 1997, which makes me 17 now," Fleetfoot said. 

"January 17, 1997, and I am currently 17," Spitfire said. Everyone looked to me. I shrunk a bit. 

"I wanna go last, so skip over me," I said. Soarin shrugged before answering. 

"May 23, 1996, and I'm 18," he said. Rapid finished guzzling down the remaining water in his water bottle before he answered. 

"March 23, 1996, I am 18," he said before going to the cooler to get another water bottle. I rolled my eyes before looking to Thunder. 

"April 20, 1996. I'm 18, too," he said. Everyone then simultaneously looked at me. 

"Okay, Rainbow, you're turn. When's your birthday?" Fleetfoot asked me. I lowered my sunglasses down over my eyes while giving them a sheepish smile. 

"July 13 . . . 1997 . . . and I'm . . . 16 now," I muttered. With every pause I took, they all drew in closer to hear me, and I nearly laughed at how much I sounded like Fluttershy. Surprised expressions graced their faces once again. I'm just full of surprises today. 

"How the hell are you fucking 16?!" Rapid asked me with disbelief. I shot up again, my voice turning back to its normal volume. 

"Hey! I turn 17 next month! There's no need to freak out!" I shot back. 

"You have a point. But still! That makes you the youngest person here!" Soarin said to me. 

"There's a reason why I wanted to go last, people," I stated blunty. 

"And the fact that you seem like you're 18 or older doesn't help. Like, at all," Spitfire told me. I rolled my eyes again. 

"I knew you guys would freak out. Anyway, it's my turn to ask a question. We're still basic, right?" I asked them. They nodded. 

"Okay, then. Family time! Um, do you have any siblings? And if you do, what are their names, and how old are they?" I asked. That's pretty basic family-wise, right? 

"I have an older brother. His name's Storm Rider, and he's 20. He actually goes to the academy's college, so I get to see him on the weekends. I should introduce you guys sometime," Fleetfoot said. 

"That would be cool," I told her. I glanced at Spitfire, and she snickered for a moment before answering. 

"I grew up an only child, so, do honorary siblings count?" she asked me. We all laughed a bit at that. 

"Uh . . . no, but, I guess you can if you really want to," I said through my smile. She laughed again. 

"Okay, well, other than these guys around us who I grew up with my entire life, I have no biological siblings whatsoever," she laughed. 

"D'aw, you do care!" Soarin teased her. We all laughed at the comment before they all looked at me for my answer to the question. 

"I have a brother, Fierce Winds, who turned 16 the other day, a sister, Rain Drop, who's 15, and an adoptive sister named Scootaloo who's 13 now, but she turns 14 in December," I told them, thinking of my little siblings. 

"So, two biological siblings and one adoptive? I'd die for a family like that. So lonely," Spitfire said. 

"Obviously," Fleetfoot replied, and Spitfire playfully punched her shoulder. I looked at Soarin. 

"Your turn," I told him. He leaned back on his elbows and let out a sigh. 

"I have a younger sister, Summer. She's twelve, and she turns 13 next month. She goes to the academy as well, but she's in middle school, so . . . yeah," he said, looking off to the side. Hearing this sparked a question in my mind. 

"Hold on; so, the boarding school here is from grades K through Twelve?" I asked them. They nodded and I thought about it. Huh. If I heard about this place sooner literally could've known a lot more about this place . . . 

"Well, I have an older sister. Her name's Sunshine, and she's 20. She also goes to the college at the academy. But since her major's in biology, she's gonna be down in the Amazon for the summer. Something about this type of monkey, or something. I could be wrong, it might be about a plant . . ." Rapid trailed off. I cut him off before he could continue. 

"Okay, I get it. But it's nice to know she's interested in biology. One of my friends back from my hometown might be interested in hearing about that, whenever it is you meet her," I told him. I glanced at Thunderlane, who was busy making a tower of tiny sand balls out of damp sand. Rapid nudged him in the shoulder, causing him to look up abruptly. 

"What? Oh, right, siblings. I have younger brother named Rumble. He's 13, turning 14 in August, and he's in middle school along with Soarin's sister. They're in the same grade, but Rumble's just one year older than her," he said as he rolled a tiny ball of sand between his fingers. 

"I should introduce Scootaloo to them some time soon. I think they'd like her," I told him and Soarin. 

"It would be nice to get out of Malibu for a day or two. Which brings me to my question: where did you originally come from before you came here?" Soarin asked. We glanced to Fleetfoot who was holding a pack of Nutter Butters. She swallowed before she answered his question. 

"I was supposed to be born somewhere in Cuba, but my parents moved to L.A. before I was born, so I'm technically the 'California born-and-raised' kind of girl," she said with a lopsided smile. 

"That you are," Thunder said as he looked off to the side. We all laughed at the comment before looking at Spitfire. 

"My parents are Hispanic, so, growing up in Miami, Florida, I was very Latinized. At home my parents and I would speak Spanglish a lot," she told us. I nodded my head. 

"That's pretty cool. My parents had some sort of Spanish background so my siblings and I also spoke some Spanglish. Not a lot of it, but occasionally we'd start a conversation in Spanglish. I was born and raised in Santa Monica, so I can literally drive home and come back here with no problem," I said as I reached for a water bottle in the cooler. 

"Oh, lucky! I wish my home was that close to Malibu," Spitfire said with a playful pout at the end of her sentence. I chuckled a bit. 

"I'm pretty sure I would, too, if my home was on the other side of the country," I told her as I nudged her shoulder. I looked over to Soarin who had decided to lay flat on his back, his head laying on a balled-up towel as a pillow, hands under his head. 

"I'm also from Miami, Florida. Spit and I actually went to the same elementary school for the first few years of it. But her knowing fluent Spanish back then got on my nerves sometimes because every now and then she'd say something in Spanish and I wouldn't know what she was talking about," he said, glancing at Spitfire out of the corner of his eye while giving her a playful smirk. She returned it with one of her own before turning to me. 

"I still do. He didn't learn how to fluently speak Spanish until somewhere around eighth or ninth grade, and since Fleetfoot and Rapid were the only other people who understood Spanish back then, they become his translator. So whenever I say something he doesn't really understand, he turns to either of them for a translation," she told me as Fleetfoot and the boys stifled their giggles. I had to fight them off as well. I turned to Soarin who was hiding his face with one of his hands while snickering to himself. 

"That's rough buddy. That's real rough," I said in a teasing tone as I half-heartedly patted his shoulder. He gave me a blank stare, even though a smile was still plastered on his face. 

"Oh, gee, thanks for the support," he said in a sarcastic tone. We all lost it and cracked up. Over what? I have absolutely no clue. I guess we just like laughing over stupid things. 

"Okay then. Rapid, buddy, what's your story?" I asked as the laughing died down. He took a quick breather before speaking. 

"Wait, can I do something? Just for the sake of it?" he asked while looking at all of us. We looked at him curiously as a playful grin took over his face. 

"What is he gonna do?" I heard Fleetfoot whisper to Spitfire. 

"I have no clue, but I'm guessing it's gonna be related to what we just talked about," she whispered back.  

"¿Podemos hablar en español por un tiempo?" he asked us. He had asked us if we could speak Spanish for a while. We all lost it again and were laughing our asses off. Leave it to Rapidfire to liven things up a bit. 

"¡Claro! Por qué no?" I replied through my laughter, but I only laughed harder. I just said "Sure! Why not?" in Spanish. Then Fleetfoot pulled her head up from the ground and took a few deep breaths before speaking. 

"Pero ¿qué pasa con Thunderlane? Él es el único que no entiende español!" she said, trying to fight off the laughter so she could talk. She just reminded me that Thunderlane doesn't understand Spanish. Oh, that's right. Spitfire's Hispanic, Fleetfoot's Cuban, Soarin now knows Spanish, Rapidfire obviously knows some Spanish, my family has some sort of Hispanic background, the only one who apparently doesn't know any Spanish is Thunderlane. 

"Okay, I heard my name within that gibberish, so I'm assuming she told you that I don't understand Spanish," he said as the craziness from the moment died down. 

"Yeah. I guess we won't speak to you in Spanish, then," I told him. He nodded his head while breathing out a sigh of relief. Then, he reached for a pack of oreos, sat back, crossed his legs, and relaxed. 

"Well, since I already know Rapid's backstory and I won't be able to understand y'all anyway, I'm just gonna sit back and chillax while listening to the mumbo-jumbo that is Spanish," he said, popping an oreo in his mouth. I snickered as I rolled my eyes and turned to Rapidfire who was chugging down yet another water bottle. Seriously, that's like five in the past 10 minutes! 

"Está bien, vas a responder a la pregunta o qué?" I told him "Okay, are you gonna answer the question or what?". He held up his free hand as if to say "give me a sec" and finished off the last of his water bottle before taking a deep breath and answering - in Spanish. Oh, this is gonna be fun. 

"En realidad, yo soy de Brasil - Río de Janeiro, para ser exactos - así que sé Inglés, algo de portugués y español, obviamente. Me enviaron aquí cuando yo tenía diez años, creo. Recuerdo que estaba en cuarto grado cuando me fui de casa. Mi familia se mudó a Houston, Texas unos años más tarde. Todavía voy de nuevo para las fiestas, pero eso es sólo cada dos años. Mi familia sólo tiene tanto dinero para gastar, por lo que normalmente se mantienen en contacto a través de Skype.," he said. It was really interesting to hear Spanish come so fluidly from another person besides my family. The only other person that I know of back home that fluidly spoke a different language was Rarity, but she spoke French, not Spanish. Twilight had my Spanish class with me, but I guess since she still wasn't used to the pronunciations, it didn't come out as fluid. But these people around me all have completely different ethnicities backgrounds, and come from places around the world. I'll admit, it's pretty awesome. 

"Whoa! Okay, back to English, please! I only understood, like, half of that. I haven't brushed up in my Spanish since school ended, and you know I forget things easily. Like, seriously, the translator in my brain is about to explode from various malfunctions," Soarin said as he sat up, rubbing two fingers against his temple while lightly chuckling. I let out a snicker while giving him an amused expression. For the third time in the past five minutes, we all lost it. This guy can't catch a break, can he? 

"Ugh, you're no fun, Soarin!" Rapid said as the craziness around us died down. 

"Alright, well, anyways, Thunderlane! Your turn," I said in a sing-song voice. Thunder swallowed an oreo before speaking. 

"Not much to know. I was born in New York and came here when I was twelve. Been living with these crazy freaks ever since," Thunder simply stated, giving the rest of the group a playful glance. Soarin and Rapidfire gave him "What the heck?" looks while Spitfire and Fleetfoot giggled. Fleet then started to sing a line from "Me and My Girls" by Fifth Harmony. 

"You're all I need, there's nowhere I'd rather be, then to have these crazy freaks -" Fleetfoot started, "WITH ME-E-E!!!" we all finished together. We laughed it off - again - before digging into the snack bag. 

"So who's turn is it to ask a question?" I asked no one in particular. 

"Mine," Rapid said, holding up a hand while doing so. 

"Shoot," I stated. 

"Hmm . . . oh! How tall are you?" he asked while opening up, yet, another water bottle. 

"I'm five-six-and-a-half," Fleet answered. 

"Psh, I'm five-six," Spitfire said while side-glancing at Fleet. Fleetfoot gave her a smug smile. 

"Haha, half an inch taller!" she said in a mocking voice. Spitfire shoved her over onto her side, causing her to laugh and Spitfire to roll her eyes. 

"I'm five-seven," I said while lifting an eyebrow at them. Spit and Fleet whipped their heads towards me. 

"What?! I was seriously hoping you'd be five-six! Now I'm officially the shortest person here," Spitfire exclaimed, throwing her arms out as she talked. Fleetfoot's jaw was still unhinged, but brought herself back to the real world to speak. 

"How do you think I feel?! I enjoyed being the tallest girl!" she said while expressing fake hurt. I heard snickering behind me and figured that the boys were finding their "suffering" amusing. Soarin fake coughed to get rid of the laughs so he could answer without being pummeled to the ground by Spit or Fleet. 

"I'm six-three," he answered, immediately stuffing his face with a snack so he wouldn't say anything to tip off the other two girls more than they already were. 

"Same," Rapidfire said. 

"Since when?" Thunderlane asked him. 

"Uh, since my last check-up at the doctor's, which was, like, a week after my birthday," Rapid responded matter-of-factly. 

"Dammit, I'm six-two! We all used to be the same height, but then Soarin spurt up an inch in the past half year, Rapidfire somehow grew another inch, and now I'm stuck being one inch shorter," Thunderlane rambled out. 

"Welcome to our world," Spitfire said in a sarcastic tone with Fleetfoot scoffing in agreement behind her. I found it pretty amusing. Are we seriously complaining about our height right now? 

"Okay, next question. Uh, okay, this is a little more personal. Have you ever dated anyone, and if you did, who were they?" Thunderlane asked, smirking a little towards Rapidfire. Oh boy . . . I feel a freak-out-fest coming soon. Fleetfoot started it off. 

"Well, actually, I've only dated, like, three guys. The first one was when I was in seventh grade. I forgot his name, though," she turned to Spitfire, "Who was it again? Dumb Bell, right?" she asked her. Spitfire looked to the side while recalling her memory and nodded. 

"Yeah, didn't he have brown wings and white-ish hair?" Spit asked. 

"Yeah that's him," Fleet confirmed, "The second guy was in Freshman year. His name was Hoops. It was more one-sided in his favor, so we really only lasted for like, a month tops. The third came not to long after I ended things with Hoops. His name's Lightning Streak. We've been together ever since. He's our sixth member of the Sport and Perform division, but he's on a vacation in Italy with his twin brother and parents," Fleet finished. So many thoughts going through my brain right now, but one of them stuck out the most. 

"Wait, you guys are the Sport and Perform division?" I asked them. They nodded. My turn to flip out now. 

"WHAT?! HOW THE HELL DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS?!" I screamed. 

"You never asked," Soarin said bluntly. 

"But seriously, the top reason why I came here was to get into the group! Do you know how hard it is to find a college that allows you to have a major that's really supposed to be two separate things?" I asked them. They all muttered things in agreement. 

"And you said your current boyfriend's name is Lightning Streak, right?" I turned to Fleetfoot. She nodded. I tipped my head back. 

"Lightning Streak. Lightning Streak. Lightning Streak. Why does that name sound so familiar? Like, it's ringing a bell, but I can't remember where I've heard it before . . ." I said out loud, tapping my temples with my fingers like it would help jog my memory. After a few moments, I gave up and sighed. 

"Oh well, I'll find out sooner or later. Spitty! Your turn," I said, looking at Spitfire. She rolled her eyes at the nickname before speaking. 

"Well, I've honestly never been the dating type, so I never really dated anyone until back when high school first started. I have a boyfriend now, just not back then," she told me, a smirk plastered on her face. I raised an eyebrow. 

"Who?" I asked. I noticed a very light blush fighting to be shown as she folded her hands and fidgeted a bit. 

"I'll give you the only two hints you need: he's here with us right now," I glanced at the boys, "and he's the only other person here with 'fire' in his name," Spitfire finished, looking away as she brought her sunglasses back over her eyes. So he's one of these three idiots to my right, and his name is the only one with "fire" in his - no. No. Fucking. Way. You have gotta be shitting me. My eyes widened as the realization hit me. I lifted my sunglasses up on my head and my eyes went back and forth between Rapidfire, who was trying his best not to laugh, and a blushing Spitfire, who was looking at anything but me. I couldn't fight the ridiculously goofy grin that was crawling onto my face. 

"Wait . . . hold on a second . . . You're telling me . . . that you," I pointed at Spitfire, "and Rapidfire," I pointed at Rapid, "are dating?!" Spitfire nodded while Rapidfire let out a "yup" while popping the "p". I took a deep breath to fight off the squeal, but the stupid grin on my face remained. I let out a long sigh. 

"Ugh, my inner fangirl wants to come out so badly but I won't let her. Be thankful I'm sparing your ears," I told them as I covered my face while laughing. The others joined before Spitfire, who was no longer blushing, nudged me in the side. 

"Alright, Dash, spill the beans," she said to me teasingly. This is gonna be really weird. I mean, come on. If you know me, you would know that I am not the kind of girl who cares about her love-life. Talk about awkward. 

"Uh . . . actually, I've never dated anyone before . . ." I said with a sheepish grin. Fleetfoot spit out her water, Spitfire's eyes nearly bulged out of her head, and the boys simultaneously let out a loud "WHAT?!" in my ear, causing me to flinch slightly. 

"Geez, no need to yell," I mumbled. 

"'No need to yell'?! 'No need to yell'?! Girl, when someone says they've never dated before, there is a perfectly good reason to yell!" Fleetfoot screamed at me. Spitfire had leaned back so the screaming could go directly into my face, and with each fling of her arms, Fleetfoot leaned in closer to my face. By the time her rant was over, I was nearly pressed to the ground beside Soarin's leg. Spitfire decided to take the moment to grab one of Fleet's wings and pull her back so I could sit up again. 

"Well, Fleetfoot makes a good point. I don't mean anything when I say this, but I'll admit, you are an attractive girl, Rainbow. I mean, come on - athleticism, great form, sharp looks, need I go on? How have you never dated anyone before?" Soarin said. His praise caused me to fight off a blush. I don't receive praise like that from people outside of my family or friends from back home, especially from guys. There were a few brave souls at my old school that had the guts to compliment me, but they were either complete jerks or were dared by someone to do it. I mostly just gave them a death glare while they continued their attempts to be all cool and suave. It usually ended with me punching them in the face, rejecting them in the worst ways possible, or walking away like I never heard them. But even though I've only known Soarin for a few hours, I know he's a genuine guy. Hearing something like that from someone who meant it . . . I'll admit it, it felt kinda nice . . . I shook my head. Answer the question, RD! 

"Well, I've never been the type to really care about my love-life. You know how when you're a kid and you either think that dating is really gross or totally cute? Well, I'm not exactly grossed out about it, but I'm not the boy-crazy type. Plus, I kinda had a reputation at my old school for being the badass rule-breaker with 'no time for romance'. It's basically true. The few brave people at my old school who asked me out were either dared to do so, was known to be a player, or some hungry douchebag, so they were either beaten to a pulp or rejected in another embarrassing way," I explained to them. They laughed at how I rejected them. 

"Why can I totally picture you doing that?" Rapidfire asked me. I just shrugged. 

"I'm just awesome like that," I replied. 

"Well, don't worry, you're not the only one who's never dated anyone," Soarin said while patting my knee. I looked up at him in surprise. 

"You've never dated anyone either?" I asked him. He nodded and I threw my hands up. 

"Thank God! I'm not the only one!" I cheered. He laughed before shrugging. 

"Yup, living a single life. Despite all the times when somebody tried to set me up on three blind dates in one week in Sophomore year," Soarin said, emphasizing on certain words while looking at Fleetfoot. 

"What? Not my fault you’re a hunk of eye-candy for the girls at school!" she said. I lost it right then and there. Through my laughing I saw Soarin hiding his face with his hands while grumbling something along the lines of "I'm never gonna understand you", Spitfire trying to get Fleetfoot to stop teasing him, and the boys cracking up beside him. I couldn't feel more bad for him right now. Soarin must be one attractive guy if he has girls fawning all over him. 

"Oh, wow. 'Eye-candy', huh? I'm gonna have to use this as blackmail sometime after I see this for myself," I teased him. Soarin's head shot up and looked at me with a begging, almost desperate expression. 

"No! Please don't, I already get enough of this crap from Fleetfoot, and I don't need you adding on to it!" he told he while grabbing my arms. I gave him a smirk and shrugged. 

"No promises," I stated. He groaned and covered his face as he fell on his back. 

"I am so dead," he mumbled through his hands. 

"You'll live," I said while patting his arm. 

"No I won't," was his reply. I sighed while rolling my shoulders and glanced at Rapidfire. 

"Well, I don't really need to say who I'm currently dating, since you figured that out a few minutes ago," he gestured to Spitfire who shrugged a shoulder in response, "but as for the girls before her," I saw Spitfire raise an eyebrow out of the corner of my eye,"not many. Probably like two or three. They were mostly in middle school and weren't serious, serious relationships," he explained. 

"They better not have been," Spitfire mumbled. I held back a snicker. 

"Okay, one, you were there, and two, how many times do I have to say it? You're the only one who I've ever cared for like this! You don't have to be such a worry wart!" Rapidfire said to Spitfire. She turned to him with a playful smirk on her face. 

"Not exactly my fault you're the only one who's ever taken the risk to date me," she shot at him. 

"That's because there's not a lot of people who can! Are you forgetting how scary you can be sometimes?" he asked her. 

"I use that to get you off your lazy ass on a daily basis, so obviously not. But hey, you technically brought this on yourself. You made the commitment to deal with me, so shame on you," Spitfire said, leaning back on her hands while giving him a smirk. Rapidfire slouched his shoulders and sighed. 

"True. You're lucky I like you," he told her. Spitfire shrugged a shoulder, a winning smirk on her face. I felt like my face was gonna split in two because of my attempts to not laugh at the situation. Couples these days . . . 

"What about you, Thunderlane?" I asked him as I reached for another snack. 

"I also was never really interested in dating. The girlfriend I have right now was my first girlfriend. We got together in Sophomore year. Her name's Cloud Chaser. She'd be here right now, but she and her twin sister are in Paris, France visiting family, so she won't be back until next month," he said. 

"So I'm assuming the breaks are the only times when you can relax outside of this area? Everyone seems to be off somewhere," I asked. 

"Yeah. But it's not that big of a deal. There's some really cool places you can go to for entertainment. We'll show you around sooner or later," Soarin said. I nodded in agreement. 

"That would be nice. I might love the beach, but there is no way I'm coming here whenever I'm bored. Might as well find some places where I won't get sick of so easily," I said. We shared a quick laugh and the questions continued.


	 
The game of 20 Questions escalated beyond 20 questions after a while. As the hours passed, I learned a lot about my new friends, and they learned a lot about me. Fleetfoot specialized in the sports that considered a lot of grace and power, such as water sports and gymnastics, which made her very strong and flexible. She's also incredibly fast, which makes it easy for her to win races on the ground, in the air, and even in the water. Spitfire's the more agile one and sticks with the sports in the air. Her cat-like reflexes are what help her make sharp turns and difficult tricks and maneuvers. Soarin is the powerhouse, and I'm not surprised because, well, he's not exactly buff, but he is definitely muscular and defined. He plays a lot of rough-and-tumble sports such as football, wrestling, and kick-boxing. He plays an assortment of other sports, but he says those are his specialties. Rapidfire is known to have remarkable eye-and-hand coordination skills, so he's very useful in a lot of striking and throwing sports. Yet, he prefers the sports that require weaponry, like archery and knife-throwing. Thunderlane is the brains of the group. I was told that he comes up with most of the plays and strategies for their games and takes care of the equipment and other coachy stuff. But when he does get out on the playing field, he doesn't disappoint. Thunderlane seems like the kind of guy who would use his brains more than his brawns during a game. 

As for their Fine Arts side, Fleetfoot, Spitfire, Soarin, Rapidfire, and Fleetfoot's boyfriend Lightning Streak are the main performers. Thunderlane is stage crew manager, so he takes care of the lighting, sound system, effects, and all that other stuff. He had a co-manager named Wave Chill, but he was the one who had to drop out because of an injury that would take forever to heal. There were also supposed to be six performers. Surprise, who was the missing performer, was the one who became crippled. There was also a make-up artist and costume manager named High Winds, but she was the one who was kicked out for being over aggressive during the games. These guys also play instruments as well. Fleetfoot plays the piano, keyboard, keytar, and harp, Spitfire plays the guitar, cello, and flute, Soarin plays the guitar and bass, Rapidfire plays the trumpet and saxophone, and Thunderlane, despite not being a performer, plays the bass and keytar. 

It was around six when we decided to end the game and go out into the water. We played Marco Polo for a while, then we came back up for a girls vs. boys volleyball match, then had a game of air-tag, followed by a surf-off, and around sunset, we were finally drained of energy. We went back up to our spot on the sand to pack up everything and we walked back to the car with our stuff. 

"Wow. I rarely get beaten by anyone in a surf-off. You're some intense competition, Dash," Fleetfoot said, nudging me with her elbow. I smiled. 

"Well, I'm the spawn of two pro athletes. What can I say?" I said playfully as I juggled the volleyball with my knees a few times while walking to the car. Fleetfoot and I shared a good laugh before she caught the ball with her free hand. 

"Okay, don't get too cocky on me," she said after handing me the ball. 

"Has anyone ever told you that you literally leave a trail of rainbows behind you when you fly?" Rapidfire asked on my other side. 

"Yeah, but that only happens when I fly fast. Speed's my thing, so you guys would most likely be left in the dust with a trail of colors to follow if you dare to race me," I told him while opening the trunk to put the cooler and volleyball in. 

"Oh, and she says it with confidence, too! We're gonna have to put that speed to the test sometime soon," Soarin said as he strapped the last board to the top of the van. I chuckled as we climbed into the car. 

"Yeah, well, let's just make sure that 'sometime soon' isn't tomorrow. I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna be drained in the morning," I said, flopping back against the seat as I fastened my seatbelt. They all said things in agreement as Rapidfire pulled out of the parking lot and back onto the highway. 

I had my Beats on with Skillet blasting into my ears the rest of the way back. I gazed out of the window and shut my eyes, the alternative rock music being the only thing keeping me from falling asleep. I didn't really care for the conversation going on without me. I was just extremely tired . . . 


	 
Soarin's POV 

I was in the passenger seat on the way back to the campus. I sighed as I leaned back into the seat, rolling my neck before crossing my arms. After that long day, I was exhausted. My body felt like jello. I'm not lying. 

I looked through the rearview mirror and saw Fleetfoot and Rainbow Dash in the very back seats. Rainbow was leaning against the window, her eyes closed as if she were asleep. I wouldn't be surprised if she was. She just moved into the campus today, proved to Rapid and Thunder that surfing was a piece of cake, wore us out in the Marco Polo game, demolished me and the boys in volleyball, had us chasing her trail of rainbows in air-tag, and faced each of us in a best-two-out-of-three surf-off. Talk about active. 

"Is she asleep?" I asked to no one in particular. 

"I think so. But it would be best not to disturb her. She's had a long day," Spitfire said as she looked back at her new roommate. I nodded in agreement before looking back out the window. 

"Today was extremely fun, especially with Dash here, don't you think?" Fleet asked. 

"Oh, yeah. From the Twenty Questions to air-tag, Rainbow really knows how to liven things up a bit," Rapidfire said, glancing at the sleeping teen through the rearview mirror. 

"When it comes to volleyball, that girl can serve. She nearly took off my head a few times, like seriously, it's crazy how much power has!" Thunderlane said while gesturing to her a few times. 

"And did you see how fast she moved during air-tag? That girl can fly!" Fleetfoot exclaimed. 

"Don't get me started on those surf-offs. I knew she was skilled in the sport once she started using her wings earlier, but she demolished all of us! It's crazy because you're one of the best surfers in the academy, Fleet!" Spitfire said to Fleetfoot. 

"Yeah, those defeats were not pleasant," she said, side glancing at her new friend beside her. I chuckled a bit. Fleetfoot was taking her loss surprisingly well. She'd usually be very bitter about it. 

"Oh, and speaking of Rainbow Dash, Soarin, what was with the compliments earlier?" Fleetfoot asked me, leaning forward on the back of Spitfire's seat. I arched an eyebrow and turned my head slightly to the left. 

"What's wrong with complimenting a friend?" I asked. 

"Nothing's wrong with that, it's just . . . well, the topic was on dating . . .  do you have a crush on her already?" Spitfire teased. My eyes widened. 

"Whoa, wait, what?! Spits, just because I complimented her within that subject doesn't mean anything! I even said so before I started the whole compliment rant!" I said, turning around fully to face them. 

"We have eyes, Soarin. I was all the way on the other end of the line and I could see her fighting a blush through your entire rant. I think you flattered her more than you thought," Thunderlane said to me. I rolled my eyes and slumped back in my seat. 

"What is with you guys with this kind of stuff? It's not like don't give you any compliments every now and then," I said, directing the statement to the girls. 

"That's different. You've known them for years. We've only known Rainbow Dash for merely a day and you were already showering her with them," Rapidfire said before he turned into the campus. I groaned and slammed the back of my head against the headrest. I'm never gonna enough of this for as long as I live. Damn them. Damn them and their habits of making the smallest moments of my life a big deal. Damn them and their ways of teasing me to no end. Just . . . damn them. As much as I love these guys, damn them. 

We pulled up to our dorm building and Rapid cut the engine. We all sat there for a moment before simultaneously looking at Rainbow. 

"Who's waking her up? And it is not going to be me!" I said to save myself before Fleetfoot could begin her tormenting. She shrugged before responding. 

"I will," she said. One by one, we got out of the car and picked up some of the bags we took to the beach. I went back to the trunk to grab the cooler and umbrellas. I overheard Fleetfoot's attempts to get Rainbow up. 

"Rainbow. Hey, Rainbow, get up," she said while shaking her shoulder slightly. Her magenta eyes quickly opened, but they didn't look like she's been sleeping for 15 minutes. She paused her music and hung her Beats around her neck. 

"We here already?" she asked before stretching her arms. 

"Yeah. Were you sleeping the whole time? You don't seem like you were," Fleetfoot asked as they crawled out of the van. 

"No, just cat-napped. The music I was blowing into my ears was the only thing keeping me from complete slumber," she paused to yawn as she stretched her legs, "Be grateful, too, 'cause if I did, you'd be spending at least fifteen minutes trying to wake me up. Like I said earlier, I am an extremely heavy sleeper," she said while grabbing the snack bag. During our game of 20 Questions, Fleetfoot had asked if any of us were heavy sleepers or not. I remember her telling us that she usually slept deeply, but when she was tired, it was nearly impossible to wake her up. From how limply she was walking, I could tell she was about to fall over from exhaustion. 

"I wouldn't be surprised if you did fall asleep. You look like you're about to pass out," I told her as I slammed the trunk closed. We all had a close parking space to the dorm building, so we didn't have to walk long. She nodded her head in response. 

"Oh, yeah. I haven't felt so much like jello in so long, like, oh my God. I feel like I have no skeleton whatsoever," she said as we made our way into the elevator. 

"I know how you feel. I bet that we'll be sleeping until noon tomorrow," Spitfire said on the ride up. We nodded our heads in agreement. We went up to the fifth floor and we all filed into the girls' dorm. 

"You guys crashing tonight?" Fleetfoot asked as we put the bags and cooler in the kitchen. 

"Yeah, I'm way too tired to go down one floor lower," Thunderlane said, laying his head on the bar counter. 

"Let's get ourselves cleaned up first. I am not sleeping with sand in my system," Rainbow said as she headed down the hall to shower. 

"You can take the bathroom first, just try not to take too long. No one likes a cold shower," Spitfire called as she flung herself on the couch, putting her legs on top of Rapidfire's after he sat down next to her. 

"No promises," she called before shutting the bathroom door. 

"Wait, didn't she say earlier that she takes, like, fifteen to twenty minute showers?" Rapidfire asked no one in particular. We all groaned. This is gonna be a long wait . . .
> Chapter 6: OovoO Call
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

RD's POV

I tried my best to get out of the shower quickly, but Fleetfoot was the one who called me after 25 minutes of showering. Oops. 

I put my hair up into a towel as I got dressed. My sleeping attire consisted of comfortable and mostly baggy stuff. I put on a pair of blue shorts and a baggy pink shirt that said "LEAVE ME ALONE - thank you" on it. I don't normally wear pink, since I absolutely despise the color, but it's sleepwear. No one's gonna care. I slipped my large wings through the cut-out holes at the back of my shirt, rotating them a bit to get them used to the size, and took my hair out of the towel. I brushed out the damp locks of rainbow, brushed my teeth, cleansed my face with acne wash, because we all know acne is a person's worst enemy, hung up my towels, and walked out the door. 

The others didn't take as long in the bathroom like I had, so in about an hour, we were all in my room. I was sitting on the bed with Spitfire and Fleetfoot, and the boys were lounging on the bean bags and huge throw pillows on the ground with spare comforters from the storage closet. There were make-shift beds all over the carpeted floor in my room because, apparently, my room was bigger than Spit's and Fleet's, so we're all slumber-partying in my room tonight. Lovely . . . 

"You know, I never thought I'd see you in pink this early on," Rapid told me as he lounged in one of the bean-bags. I rolled my eyes and threw a small pillow next to my bed at his face. I laughed as I saw the pillow hit its target. 

"Pink may be my least favorite color, but no one's gonna care if it's what I sleep in. I look good in it anyway, so . . ." I said while leaning back on my elbows. We all laughed briefly before I picked up my Android tablet that I packed in one of my luggage bags. 

"That is true - in your case, anyway. Pink is a bit too bright for my hair," Fleetfoot said. 

"It depends on the shade of pink for me. It can't be too loud and vibrant, otherwise I look like a clown," Spitfire replied. 

"Really?" I asked while looking up, "You don't strike me as the pink-wearing type." 

"I wear it every now and then, just not often. Most things that are pink are really bright, and my hair is already vibrant enough as it is. I need something soft to balance it out. If I don't, I look like some sort of party girl who stumbled out of the club, or something," Spitfire explained, laughing a bit at the end. 

"Ha, ha! Yeah, we all know you aren't that kind of person," I told her. 

"Why are we talking about pink?" Thunderlane spoke to no one in particular from his spot on the floor. 

"Blame Rapidfire, he started it," Soarin answered him as he lazily pointed a finger at the boy-in-question. 

"Hey, now, I was just stating something random! I didn't expect it to go into a full out conversation!" he defended himself. We all laughed at him, but it quickly died when my tablet started letting out a default ringtone. I gave it a confused glance as I picked it up again and opened the case covering the screen. Spitfire and Fleetfoot were looking over my legs at the screen as the boys crawled over to the bed to see what was going on. My face lit up completely as I saw the screen. 

"What is it?" Fleetfoot asked, trying to read it upside-down. 

"My siblings are calling me on Oovoo. You guys wanna meet them?" I asked as I scanned over my new friends. They all nodded and exchanged words in agreement. I pressed the "accept" button and waited for it to connect before the familiar face of little Scootaloo appeared on the screen. I put on the brightest smile at that moment. I might have only left earlier that afternoon, but I already miss her like crazy. I quickly motioned for my friends to keep quiet before I started talking. 

"Hey, Scoots!" I said to her, almost as if I was talking to a pet. I was that happy to talk to her again. 

"Hi, Dash! Rain! Fierce! She answered!" Scootaloo shouted to them from the side, a bright smile plastered on her face. The sound of footsteps were heard through the tablet and the voices of Rain Drop and Fierce Winds entered the room. 

"She picked up?" Fierce questioned. 

"Did she really?" Rain followed, and soon, they were sitting right next to Scootaloo on either side. I looked up at my friends briefly and saw them trying to hide their "D'AWWW" faces. 

"Hey, you guys!" I greeted them. 

"Dash!" the three of them yelled in excitement. I couldn't hold back a laugh. Damn, I love these guys. 

"It might have only been a few hours ago when you left, but we miss you already," Rain told me. I smiled at her. 

"I know right? I miss you guys, too," I said to her. I heard a faint thump and saw Fleetfoot holding a hand to her chest as she was trying not to die from cuteness. I briefly rolled my eyes before looking back at the tablet screen. 

"So, are you settled in your new dorm room yet?" Fierce asked me. I nodded. 

"Yes, I am. I'm telling you, dude, this place is frickin' huge. Like, no joke. The rooms in this place are freaking ginormous! I apparently got the biggest bedroom in here, which is pretty sweet, but you should see the bathroom, it's like a master's suite bathroom. I have no words, it's incredibly big. I seriously feel like I'm living in a townhouse or something! I mean the kitchen's really nice, the living room is more like a mini recreation room, 'cause we have Wii and X-Box Kinect, which I recently found out, and the beds are so comfortable. I'm not lying," I vented to them, their eyes popping with every new thing I told them. 

"That sounds like a hotel suite you're living in!" Scootaloo exclaimed. 

"I know, it's crazy. Hey, there's some people I want you guys to meet," I said to them, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed with the tablet in my hand. I walked over to a high empty bookshelf on the wall across my bed and carefully placed it on there before jumping back on my bed between Spitfire and Fleetfoot. 

"So, these two girls next to me are Spitfire," I placed my left wing around her shoulder, "and Fleetfoot," I slung my right arm across her shoulders, "my two roommates. Welcomed me here so casually like I've already been here before. They're awesome," I told my siblings. 

"Hi!" they chorused through the tablet. 

"Hi, there!" Fleetfoot said while waving like a little five-year-old. 

"It's nice to meet you guys!" Spitfire said with a slight wave. My siblings waved back with eager smiles before they caught sight of the boys. 

"And they are?" Fierce asked while gesturing to them through the screen. I snickered as I let go of the two girls next to me and pointed to each of the boys, introducing them as I spoke. 

"This guy here with the red-and-white hair is Rapidfire, Spitfire's boyfriend," I said while pointing a finger above his head, smirking at the last part I added into his introduction. While Spitfire rolled her eyes, he didn't seem very fazed by that comment, considering that he gave them a half-hearted, two-fingered salute. 

"'Sup?" he said casually. Fierce returned the gesture before I continued. 

"This one right here with the black wings is Thunderlane," I gestured to him since he was farther away. 

"Hey," he said, giving them a nod. Rain waved while Scootaloo nodded back and I leaned over to the other side of the bed. 

"And this doofus right here with the crazy hair is Soarin," I said, ruffling up his hair as I said so. He laughed and swatted my hand away. 

"Hey, now! My hair's already messed up as it is!" he said to me, trying to tame his already-crazy mess of blue hair. My siblings cracked up at the scene and we followed after. 

"You guys seem pretty cool. Thumbs up, RD!" Fierce Winds said to me while giving me a  double-thumbs up. I chuckled and rolled my eyes. 

"Yeah, they're pretty awesome," I said. 

"So what did you guys do today?" Scootaloo asked, resting her head on her hands. 

"Well, when Spits and I got her all settled in, the boys came over for our day out at the beach. We invited her to come along and we stayed there, like, all day," Fleetfoot answered for me. 

"Since we did so much at the beach, we nearly passed out on the couch while waiting for this one to get out of the shower when we came back. Does she always take extremely long showers?" Rapidfire asked them while pointing to me. I swatted his hand with a playful glare as my siblings laughed. 

"Yeah, we usually make her take the last showers here," Rain answered him. 

"That way she doesn't have that much hot water to use up," Fierce added on. I stuck my tongue out at him as my friends chuckled a bit. 

"Us kids are the reason why the water bills are so high - we use way too much water," Scootaloo said while shrugging a shoulder. We all laughed at that bit right there. 

"It's true. It came up to a point where our parents made us use a timer that's set for ten minutes every time we shower, but, like, a week later, we never used it," I explained a bit further. The laughing in the room grew louder at that. 

"You know, we should get one for just you when we go out to the store sometime soon. We want hot water, too, ya know!" Spitfire said while jabbing me in the arm. I put a hand over my chest in mock hurt and scoffed playfully. 

"I do not that long in the shower, thank you very much!" I said while playfully shoving her shoulder. 

"Why are we talking about showers? First pink, now showers?" Thunderlane asked to no one in particular. 

"Rapidfire! Stop bringing up weird subjects to talk about!" Soarin said as he playfully glared at the boy from the other side of the bed. 

"Why are you blaming me?" he asked while throwing his hands up. 

"Because you're the one who brought up the weird subjects to talk about," Fleetfoot deadpanned. 

"Ha, rather blunt, don't ya think, Fleet?" I said playfully while elbowing her. 

"It's my style, don't judge me," she responded while pretending to smooth down her hair. I patter her shoulder with a smirk.

"It's my style, too, so you're good," I told her.

"So what did you guys do at the beach?" Rain Drop asked. 

"Well, when we got there, the girls had a race to the beach and left us guys behind to haul everything else. After that, Thunderlane and Rapidfire got showed up by your sister when she rode some fifteen-footers like a pro after they failed miserably, then we played a game of Twenty Questions that lasted for, like two-and-a-half to three hours, then came a game of girls versus boys volleyball, followed by Air Tag, and a surf-off to wrap things up," Soarin said, summarizing our day perfectly. 

"Wait! Hold up! Rewind. Dash showed you guys up on the waves?" Fierce Winds asked. The boys in question nodded while us girls snickered. My siblings tried so hard not to lose it right then and there. 

"Dude, I feel so bad for you right now," Rain said through her snickering. Rapidfire arched an eyebrow. 

"Uh . . . why?" He asked hesitantly, not sure if he wanted to know or not. 

"Because getting shown up by Dash is probably the worst thing for anyone who questions her!" Scootaloo said as she fell over laughing, "The last person who challenged her was humiliated so bad she didn't show up to school for a month!" she continued. Spitfire gave me a flat stare. 

"Really, Rainbow? Really?" she said. I shrugged while putting my hands up in mock-surrender. 

"Hey it's not my fault most of the kids at my old school couldn't learn to be good sports. I apologized to her several times, believe me," I explained further. Spit just rolled her eyes and shook her head with a smirk before giving her attention the laughing kids on the tablet. 

"Oh, wow. Okay . . . ahhh . . . good times, good times," Fierce commented as they all brought their laughter to a stop. I rolled my eyes at them, then laughed with my friends as Fierce let out a loud burp. 

"Ew, Fierce! Really?" Rain said, covering her nose. 

"I get that you and Dash have the loudest burps, but next time, don't do it in our faces!" Scootaloo said while fanning the air with her hand. My friends and I just laughed harder. 

"Not my fault Mom made tacos! That stuff gets me gassy like you wouldn't believe. Be grateful it didn't come out the other end," Fierce defended himself, and that's when we all lost it. 

"I'm glad I'm not there right now," I said. My sisters glared at me. 

"Gee, thanks for the support, Dash," they said, their tones dripping with sarcasm. As the laughter died down, Spitfire gasped like she had a mega-epiphany. 

"What? What is it?" Fleetfoot asked her. Spitfire covered her mouth as she spoke. 

"I just realized we haven't eaten dinner yet," she told us, a sheepish grin forming on her face. As proof, Soarin's stomach produced a loud rumble, signaling that he was actually really hungry. The rest of us snickered in realization while my siblings laughed their heads off. 

"I forgot to mention how hungry I was," Soarin said. 

"But what exactly are we gonna eat? Last time I checked, the pizza places are usually closed at this hour and we'd never be able to sleep if we ate tubs of ice cream as dinner," Thunderlane pointed out. 

"Why pizza? Why not Chick Fil Le or Sonic?" I asked.

"Because we literally live on pizza, donuts, pie, and Starbucks," Fleetfoot answered me. I shrugged a shoulder. Makes perfect sense to me, that's what I usually live off of, too.

"I think we have some Ramen in the pantry. I don't know how many packets we have left, though," Fleetfoot suggested. Me and the boys' eyes popped open. 

"Ramen?!" we asked in unison. 

"We are so having Ramen noodles," Rapidfire insisted. 

"Go see if there's any left," Rapid said while gesturing to the door. 

"Come on, girl, chop-chop!" I said while clapping my hands. Fleet rolled her eyes. 

"Okay, okay, geez! I'm going, I'm going," Fleetfoot said as she stood up. She walked out the door to the kitchen, and you could here her say something when, what sounded like a bag of chips, landed somewhere on or near her when she opened the pantry. 

"What are you guys gonna do if there isn't enough?" Scootaloo asked us. 

"I don't know. I guess we could always split a pack and grab a few other snacks or a drink to go along with it," Spitfire said. We heard running footsteps coming towards the door and saw Fleetfoot smiling in the doorway. 

"We got so lucky. At first there was only one left in the box, but behind the cereal was an unopened one. We're feasting tonight, people!" she yelled victoriously. The boys and I cheered while Spitfire just rolled her eyes playfully while shaking her head. 

"You guys are crazy," she told us. 

"And yet, you love it," Rapidfire said with a wink. His girlfriend shrugged a shoulder. 

"Touche." Then another stomach growl was heard - only this time, it was mine. 

"Guess I'm not the only one who's hungry," Soarin said. I threw a pillow at his head and laughed. I stood up to get my tablet off the shelf. 

"Well, you guys, as much as I -" I paused as I got hit in the leg with my pillow by Soarin, who laughed and hid behind his arms, preparing to defend himself. I gave him a playful glare before chuckling, "As much as I wanna keep talking, it's getting pretty late, and like you've witnessed already, we're pretty hungry. I'll text you guys later, okay?" I told my siblings, taking my tablet and hopped back onto my bed. My heart dropped a bit when I saw the disappointment on their faces, but they vanished as soon as they perked back up 

"Yeah, we get it." 

"Hunger is terrible to go through, so we'll let you go." 

"It's getting close to bedtime anyways. Mom and Dad let us have an extra hour just so we could talk to you." 

"Well isn't that nice?" I asked with a chuckle, "I'll talk to you guys later." 

"We love you, Dash!" they said in unison. My friends died right then and there, seeing as they had to stuff their faces into pillows or cover their mouths just to keep themselves from saying something. 

"I love you guys, too. Tell Mom and Dad I said hi!" I told them with a small laugh. 

"We will. Bye!" 

"Goodnight, you guys!" And with that, the convo ended. I looked up and saw my friends, especially Fleetfoot, about to die from our goodbye. 

"Why are your siblings so damn cute?!" Fleet asked me. 

"Because they are," I said bluntly. 

"Okay, you guys, we can go crazy about this later. I don't know about you guys, but I'm really hungry - actually, I do know, you guys are starving," Spitfire said, correcting herself at the end. We all said things in agreement and walked out of my room and into the kitchen to prepare our food. 





About an hour later, somewhere between 9:30 to 10:00, we were all half asleep in my room. Our stomachs were full, we were all relaxed on beanbags, plush pillows, and fuzzy blankets, and all the lights in the dorm were out except for the ones in my room, so we were satisfied. We probably would've just stayed up talking if it weren't for the drowsiness claiming our minds. The earlier activities from the beach were taking their toll on us, and we were ready to pass out. 

"Anyone else like, really tired?" Rapid called from his spot on the floor. 

"I am," I said, closing my tablet while stretching upright on my bed. 

"Me too," Fleet replied from the area to the left side of my bed. 

"Me three," Soarin yawned from the right side of the bed. 

"So tired," Thunderlane mumbled from the head of the bed. 

"Same here," Spitfire said as she latched onto Rapid's arm. 

"So, lights out then?" I suggested. Words of agreement rang out through the room, so, despite my longing to stay underneath my sheets, I climbed out of bed to switch off the ceiling lights, then hovered back to my bed and reached over to the lamp on the bedside table. My hand grasped the neck of the lamp before I stopped to say something. 

"And guys?" my new friends looked up at me, and I smiled, "Thanks for an awesome first day." They smiled back at me, Fleetfoot giving me a wink and Rapidfire showing a thumbs up. 

"Hey, that's what friends do," Thunderlane said, and I nearly laughed because of the tired raspiness in his voice. 

"And I'm pretty sure we all can agree that with you here, summer, and the next school year, is gonna be a blast," Soarin added. Spitfire chuckled. 

"I have no doubt. And once the Streak twins and Cloudchaser get back from their vacations . . ." she trailed off. Rapidfire laughed. 

"Oh, my God, a storm of chaos and fun is in our forecast, haha!" he finished for her. 

"This is gonna be fun," Fleetfoot said to no one in particular. I let out a small laugh. I'll admit, at first I thought that making new friends would be a bit tricky on the first day in. I honestly thought I'd be stuck with total bitch roommates. But no, the universe decided to prove me wrong and gave me the coolest, most awesome people to welcome me here with open arms and make me feel so much at home. I smiled again before letting out a yawn. 

"Let's get to bed now," I said, and I turned off the light. The only light that was left was the streetlight shining through the small openings of the blinds and curtains in the windows. 

"G'night, you guys." Several more echoed back, and I rolled onto my right side, my left arm dangling off the side of the bed. I didn't go to sleep right away though. Something about this place just settled in me so easily, and it made me feel calm, and, just . . . well, at home. For the hundredth time that night, I smiled and closed my eyes. But after a moment or two, something tapped my hand. I looked over the edge and saw Soarin giving me a half-smile, sleep about to take over his eyes. Through the darkness, I was able to see him mouth something to me: 

"Welcome home." 

It was either he knew how to read minds, or he has a hidden talent is reading emotions. I gave him one last smile before shutting my eyes and drifting off to sleep. 
> Chapter 7: "Well, 'good' morning' to you, too."
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soarin's POV 

I remember turning away from the window as sunlight poured into the room. I don't mind mornings, as long as it's not too early, but I hate it when I crack my eyes open and all I see is a blinding light. I think it was around 8:00 in the morning, but since I was still very lazy and drowsy I ended up going back to sleep. 

About two-and-a-half hours later, I hear someone taking a large, long exhale, like they were silently yawning. It was quiet for a minute, then I heard the rustling of blankets and the sound of a phone unlocking. I assumed it was Fleetfoot. She's the one with the most social media, and she's usually glued to her phone if she's not hanging out with us, so it made sense. Then I heard a voice whisper: 

"It's too early for this, I'm going back to sleep." Then a soft thump was heard, followed by more blankets moving, then silence. 

Yup. Definitely Fleetfoot. 

Not too long after that, I heard someone take a sharp inhale, then a long exhale as if they were stretching, followed by a deep yawn. Then I heard two voices, one soft and feminine, another masculine and raspy from sleep. 

Spitfire and Rapidfire. The both of them slept side-by-side last night, so it seemed logical that if one woke up, the other would soon follow. 

I ignored the soft chatter from the two and was about to drift off again before I heard a snort, then a deep groan from somewhere in the room. Thunderlane woke up. I heard him and Fire Squared - get it? - exchange their good mornings and continued the soft chatter. Then another feminine voice popped in. Looks like Fleetfoot didn't up going to sleep after all. So two-thirds of the group were up and awake. Great. 

I tried to go back to sleep, but I was up for past five minutes by then, so the best I could do was cat-nap and eavesdrop on their conversation. 

"When did you guys wake up?" 

"A few minutes ago, actually. You sound a bit more clear than the rest of us, so I'm assuming you woke up earlier, Fleet." 

"Yeah, probably a good ten, fifteen minutes before you two. I tried going back to sleep, but hey, eyes already adjusted, can't fight that." 

"Yeah, I woke up probably a few minutes after Spits and Rapid did." 

"Dude, you sound like you've been screaming while going down the Griffon in Busch Gardens after a hundred times, you're voice is, like, demolished, oh my gosh." 

"It's what happens when I'm really tired and whenever I wake up. It'll clear soon. You should know this, Rapid, you've been my roommate for years, man." 

"I know, I just don't usually hear you talk right when you wake up, that's all." 

"Does anyone else wish they could go back to sleep?" I raised an eyebrow. Spitfire just pulled off a Fleetfoot - wishing to go back to sleep not too long after waking up. 

"Trust me, babe, I'd be sleeping like a freaking boulder if I could, but my eyes are used to the light and I'm already talking, so screw it." I rolled my eyes underneath my eyelids. Typical Rapid. 

"I didn't think I'd still be so tired, I'm usually wide awake by the time I wake up." See? My point exactly. Geez, Spits, you need some coffee. Actually, no, I take that back, Spits is terrifying when on coffee.

"I really wanna make a song reference right now, but tired voice and singing . . . not a good combination." I nearly laughed. It's too true, especially with Fleetfoot. 

"Yeah, don't do that. I still wanna be able to hear, thank you very much." Me too, Thunderlane, me too. 

"And besides, Rainbow and Soarin are still asleep. You know how grouchy Soarin gets when he's disturbed, and we've already had a nice description of Dash's temper from yesterday's 'Twenty Questions' game, so I'd rather stay away from that." Couldn't agree with you more, Spits. 

"Touche." Time for me to come into the picture. I faked waking up by taking in a sharp inhale of air, then stretching out my back and slightly shaking my wings. 

"Well, not anymore," I mumbled as I let out a yawn, that actually wasn't staged. 

"Mornin', sleepy head," Spitfire greeted me. I crawled over my makeshift bed on the ground so my head was peeking out from the end of Rainbow's bed and saw Spitfire snuggled up in Rapidfire's side, giving me a tired smile, Thunderlane still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, and Fleetfoot's head from the other side of the bed, looking much more awake than any of us. 

"We didn't wake you, did we?" Fleet asked me. I shook my head. 

"No, not really. When did you guys wake up?" I asked in order to mask the fact that I was listening to the conversation the entire time. They didn't seem to notice. Thank God for the theater and drama classes I've had to go through for the past nine-ish years. 

"Fleetfoot apparently woke up before any of us. Spitfire and Rapidfire woke up after she did, I followed after, and then you came up," Thunderlane relayed. I made a face. 

"Wow, you sound terrible," I said, laughing a bit at the end. He rolled his eyes. 

"Thanks for that, Captain Obvious," he said playfully, "Yeah, I know, I sound like a frog. It'll clear up soon, though." He cleared his throat for good measure, though it didn't do much. Then a thought popped into my mind. 

"What time is it?" I asked. We all looked at each other, then at Fleetfoot who had grabbed her phone. Her eyes widened, then mouthed something along the lines of "holy shit". 

"Mind telling us what the time is?" Rapid asked her, his tone dripping with amusement. She held up her phone to us and covered her mouth to stifle her on-coming laughter. 

"It's almost eleven in the morning," she said. 

"Pfft-!" was my reaction before I stuffed my face into my blankets and laughed. I heard Spitfire facepalm before laughing and Rapidfire laughing as quietly as he could. Thunderlane had ended up coughing, so most of his laughter was drowned because he was laughing in his pillow, to make sure his hacks wouldn't wake up the still-sleeping girl in the bed. 

"Oh, man, that's a close second to our record!" Rapid said. We knew what he was talking about. Back when we were about nine to 10-years-old, we all ended up staying here in the dorms for New Years because snowstorms crossing the country were canceling flights to areas like Miami, for me and Spits, New York, for Thunderlane, Houston, for Rapidfire, and Fleetfoot's parents were caught in a business trip in Nashville, so she couldn't go home to L.A. We instead watched the Ball-Drop show together, but passed out about a quarter after midnight. We didn't wake up until a quarter after noon the next day - a solid 12-hour sleep. We've never woken up that late since. 

"Wow. Still nowhere close to twelve-twenty-five noon, but we're getting there," I said, leaning back and putting my head against the pillow. Almost instantly after I laid back, I was met with a cyan blue feather, followed by a huge wing. 

"What the fu-?!" I managed to get out before dodging out of the way from getting a face-full of feathers. I stood on my knees and looked onto the bed just and Fleetfoot popped her head over, and saw a rather amusing sight - Rainbow Dash was laying on the bed, body angled diagonally across it, her left wing hanging off the side of the bed where I was, her right wing half-open on the other side of the bed, while her arms were tucked close to her body. And the icing on the cake? She had a tangled river of rainbow hair over her shoulders and surrounding her head. I rolled my eyes playfully before going back down to the ground. Fleetfoot had an amused smile on her face, her left elbow on the bed and her hand supporting her head. 

"Wow. She wasn't kidding when she said she was a bed-hoarder. I feel bad for her future husband, no offense to her or anyone else," she said as she crawled back to the floor, laughing a bit at the end. Spitfire scoffed and gave her a playful glare while us boys laughed a bit. 

"Fleet, that is so mean!" she said while throwing one of the smaller throw pillows at her. 

"I'm sorry, I'm just saying! I wonder why she hasn't thought about curling up into a ball and cocooning herself with her wings. That's what I do," Fleet said, demonstrating herself. We all laughed, because she looked like a blue, baby turtle with white hair. 

"Maybe she has but doesn't do it because it's uncomfortable or something. You can't really question that," Thunderlane pointed out, his voice much clearer. He was starting to feel more awake. Fleet shrugged a shoulder in response, coming out of her wing-cocoon. 

"Touche," she looked at her phone again, then snickered, "Hey, do you think we should wake her up soon? It's actually eleven now, and I'm starting to get hungry, so . . ." she said. 

"Probably. But how? She sleeps like a rock," I said, lifting her dangling wing and dropping it back down, not even stirring her in the slightest. 

"Scream 'RAINBOW, STARBUCKS' at the top of our lungs?" Raipidfire suggested. Spitfire and I simultaneously face-palmed. 

"What? We all live off of it, and I could use a frap right about now, so why not?" he defended himself. I snickered while Spitfire shook her head with a sigh. 

"Sure. Why not?" she gave in. I nearly laughed. Spitfire must be really tired if she caved to one of her boyfriend's ridiculous ideas. He smiled devilishly and rubbed his hands together as he sat up, bringing Spitfire up with him in the process. 

"Oh, I'm gonna have fun with this . . ." he said like some sort of evil cartoon villain. Spitfire face-palmed again, but ended up laughing in her hand at his childish ways. 

I stole a glance at Fleetfoot and saw her smiling like an idiot, and I saw Thunderlane smiling while shaking his head. I continued to silently snicker. Back when Rapid and Spits first started dating, Fleetfoot, Thunderlane, and I, though mostly me and Fleet, would gush over how adorable they are. We still do. But there's meaning behind why. One of the biggest reasons why we love these two together is because Rapidfire can reveal a completely different side of Spitfire. No one can make her smile and laugh like he does - not even me, and I'm her best friend, the brother she never had. We've only been awake for about half an hour and he's already found a way to make her laugh. I can't do anything but smile, because while Rapidfire can be very reckless, I know my "little sister" is in safe hands. 

"Okay, are we gonna scream, or what?" she asked him. He stopped his evil villian act and nodded. 

"Yeah. On three, people!" he told us. 

"One . . . two . . . three!" 

"RAINBOW!!!! STARBUCKS!!!!" we literally screamed at the top of our lungs. We fell over laughing, but we only laughed harder when all Rainbow did was roll onto her other side and snuggle her face into her pillow. 

"Damn, talk about heavy sleeper," Thunderlane stated as the laughter died down. 

"Yeah, no kidding. What does it take to get his girl to wake up?" Fleetfoot asked, standing up completely and jumping onto the bed, just missing Rainbow's legs. The girl-in-question let out an irritated moan and kicked Fleet off with no problem. 

"Ooh! Ow! Crap! Holy shit . . . oh, wow, that hurt . . ." Fleetfoot cried out as she tumbled back on the ground, saying the curses under her breath, despite that fact we could still hear her and we were used to it. We all snickered and held back our laughs. 

"What did you land on?" Spitfire asked, a hand hovering over her mouth. 

"My damn freaking phone, that's what! Wow, my hip hurts, oh my God . . ." she told us, fake-sobbing as she laughed at herself. That was when we all lost it and just busted up into laughter. How Rainbow still hadn't woken up will forever be a mystery. Then, out of nowhere, a pillow landed in my face. Rapidfire let out an exceptionally loud snicker while Spitfire laughed her head off into her pillow. 

"I'm sorry, I had to!" he defended himself, lifting up his forearms for protection. I picked up the pillow and walked a few steps on my knees, giving him a playful glare. 

"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be, huh?" I asked in a fake challenging tone, then I chucked the pillow at him, knocking him down and landing on Spitfire's back, who screamed in surprise, then continued to laugh even harder. 

"Well, gee, thanks! I just crushed my girlfriend!" Rapid "yelled" at me through his laughs. 

"Rapidfire, get off of me! I need to breathe, I can barely breathe right now!" Spitfire rushed in one breath, still lost in her contagious hysterics. He got up, but right after, he threw the same pillow back at me. I swatted it away, but then, a pillow from Fleetfoot's side landed on his head. 

"Ha!" I yelled at him. Fleetfoot then sprung up into the air with a pillow in her hands. 

"PILLOW FIGHT!!!" she shouted. All of us, even Spitfire, grabbed the nearest pillow and started assaulting and pulverizing each other with them. This went on for a few minutes before a new pillow found it's way into the mess. We momentarily stopped and turned our heads to see a slightly irritated Rainbow Dash sitting up in her bed, tangled locks of rainbow resting on her shoulders and another pillow in her right arm. It was silent for a moment before Fleetfoot broke it. 

"Well, 'good morning' to you, too," she said. Rainbow just raised an eyebrow. We all grew sheepish smiles, but what threw us off was the amused smile that creeped up on hers. 

"Brace yourselves, people, 'cause this pillow fight's about to get more extreme!" she said, despite the tired cracks in her voice. Her smile turned into a genuine one as she chucked her pillow at us, which landed on Thunderlane's head, then reached for another one of her pillows and jumped into the fight. 

She was right about one thing - the fight got much more extreme. It first started off with all of us battering each other, then we somehow split off into teams - me, Dash, and Fleet on one side of the room, Spits, Rapid, and Thunder on the other. We ended up throwing pillows and balled-up blankets at each other for, like, a good 25 minutes, before we ran out of plush amo and started tug-of-warring over Fleetfoot's fuzzy teal-colored blanket. The owner of that blanket was going crazy, pulling on it with all her might that she alone was enough to make the Fire Squared team fall on their butts two-out-of-three rounds. By the third round, we all put too much weight into it and ended up slipping on blankets and pillows, causing us to crash on the ground. We laughed for a few minutes in the messy aftermath of the pillow fight-turned-war-turned-tug-of-war. Seriously, there were blankets and pillows all over the place! 

"Well, that's one way to wake up in the morning," Dash said as the laughter died down. 

"Dude, we screamed at the top of our lungs, Fleetfoot jumped on you, and we laughed for a good half hour about stupid stuff - how the hell did you not wake up?!" Rapid asked her incredulously. She shrugged a shoulder sheepishly. 

"I have three loud-as-crap siblings back at home, I've learned to shut out noises when I sleep. Unless it's like a scream, then I wake up and start freaking out," she elaborated, laughing a bit at the end. 

"Who wouldn't? Waking up to a scream would be scary," Fleetfoot agreed. Then, Rapidfire suddenly groaned and slammed his face down into a pillow. Spitfire, who somehow managed to land across his back when we fell, looked at him with a half-confused, half-amused expression, then chuckled a bit. 

"What's up with you?" she asked through a smile. Rapid lifted his head again and playfully pouted through a smile. 

"I'm hungry now," he told her. 

"Pfft. You could've just said that, you know," Thunderlane said to him. Fleetfoot checked the time on her phone. 

"Oh, God. You guys, it's eleven-thirty-four, we've been messing around for, like, half an hour!" She told us. Rainbow's eyes nearly popped out of her head. 

"Are you serious?!" she asked, not believing it. 

"Believe it, girl - we were knocked out like lights last night," Spitfire told her. Rainbow blinked before chuckling. 

"Well, damn," was her response. I snickered. 

"My thoughts exactly," I told her. 

"Hey, anyone just wanna get breakfast from McDonald's or something and stop by Starbucks on our way back? I don't feel like making breakfast today," Fleetfoot suggested. I rolled my eyes with a smile. 

"Fleet, you never feel like making breakfast," I said. 

"Yet, I do anyway," she backfired. 

"Touche." 

"Yeah, I'm up for it. Though I don't feel like it would be safe for any of us to drive in our current state, we're all still half-asleep, even after that huge plush-pillow war," Rainbow pointed out, getting back onto her bed while stretching. 

"We don't have to drive. The Academy's at an intersection. All the restaurants and shopping centers and stuff are across the main road. There are walk-ways across main road too, so we'd be perfectly safe going and coming back," Spitfire explained. 

"Wait, wouldn't it be easier to just fly there?" she asked. Wow. First time someone's actually pointed that out. 

"Oh, yeah, there's that, too," Spitfire said, "I vote flying, it's always nicer in the air." 

"Me too," Thunderlane agreed. 

"Me three!" Rapidfire threw his hand up into the air like a little kid. 

"Flying sounds nice," I said with a shrug. 

"Not that far, but hey, a flight's a flight," Fleetfoot said, standing up to sit next to Dash on the bed. 

"Back at home I'd always take a quick flight around the neighborhood just to wake me up. This should be good for me," Rainbow said while standing, stretching her legs after she stood up. 

"Don't bother getting ready and stuff, it's still morning, people can't judge. Although you may not wanna wear pink, Rainbow," Thunderlane said with a teasing smile. She rolled her eyes at him and stuck out her tongue. 

"Oh, ha, ha, very funny," she said. She headed into her closet and closed the closet door and came out less than 30 seconds later wearing a loose, rainbow tie-die t-shirt. It was too big, so she ended up tying the extra fabric at her hip with a hair tie. She had another one in between her teeth, which was probably for her hair. 

"Hey Fleet, do you have any extra hoodies? I think I left mine at home," she asked her. 

"Yeah, I have this really big one that I never wear. You can have it if you want," Fleetfoot said, walking out of the room and to the right to her room. She back a few moments later with an over-sized white hoodie that Rainbow took gratefully. She shook out her wings through the wing holes in the back, mumbling something about preening as she pulled the rest of it down. Although the hoodie was really loose and big, it almost seemed like the appropriate size for her because of her freakishly broad shoulders. She rolled up the sleeves a bit before flipping her hair over her head, gathering up her messy hair, and pulling it up into a very messy ponytail - or maybe it was a bun, I couldn't really tell, that's how tangled her hair was. 

"So, styling messy hair must be a thing for you, huh?" Spitfire asked as Rainbow finished tying her hair up. 

"Yeah, it became a habit for me after a while," she said as she went back into her closet. She had pulled out a pair of blue comfortable-looking running shoes and slipped them on before walking out. Fleetfoot had grabbed a hoodie of her own and Spitfire's things were always by the door, so we just followed them out into the living room. After Fleet put on some sandals, Spitfire her jean jacket, running shoes and wallet, and us boys the shoes we had the night before, Spits grabbed the dorm keys and we headed out.