In defence of Equestria
Chapter One: Aura
Cloudsdale Flight Academy
Aura landed flat on her stomach as she tried futilely to take to flight. Rainbow Dash chuckled slightly,
"Jeez little cousin, you need to calm down. You hurt yourself, and you can't fly. Stop trying," She said, laying her hoof on Aura's back, comfortingly. Aura growled. She hated being patronised – absolutely hated it. She shook Rainbow Dash's hoof off and stormed away, leaving Rainbow alone in the courtyard. Rainbow had to respect her cousin for her resilience, after all: her cutie mark was a shield with crossed swords behind it, symbolising strength of character, as well as strength of will. Aura stopped storming on a balcony and sat down grumpily on the floor. She crossed her front hooves and pouted. She flapped her right wing, and then looked at the bandage wrapped around her left wing. Six large red patches littered the bandage. She had cut herself after losing control and crashing through a thorn bush. She huffed and fell flat onto her back. She unstrapped her saddle bag and rifled through it, looking for something for her to do. She found a copy of Daring Do and the Sceptre of Everfree Forest. She flicked through it, but found no pictures. She quickly got bored and tossed the book to one side. She rifled through the bag some more and found a small sketch-pad and some crayons. Instantly she brightened up. She tossed the bag aside and got ready to draw something interesting. She reviewed her colours: Red, blue, green, purple, black and orange. Not too artistic, but she could do something at least. She started with a picture of Cloudsdale: a small sketch of a cloud, with some colourful rectangles protruding from the top. It looked like little more than some shapes, but to Aura: it looked somewhat reminiscent to Ponycasso or the Pony Lisa. Next, she drew a rainbow, emerging from the top of Cloudsdale Tower.
"How's it goin'?" Said a voice, from somewhere behind Aura. She looked behind her to see Scootaloo standing by the doorway,
"Oh hey, Scootaloo!" Said Aura, excitedly. She wanted to play with her friend, so her drawing would have to wait. She closed the sketch-book and put it back into her saddle-bag, as well as the crayons,
"So – where're we goin'," Asked Aura as she trotted happily over to the orange Pegasus. Scootaloo smiled,
"Let's go check out Cloudsdale Tower. I saw a big Pegasus fly in from past the Everfree Forest a while ago," Aura agreed and, putting her saddle-bag on and exiting the room.
This was the first chapter of my story, re-written for a third time, as I hated the first two attempts. Please take a few minutes to drop me a review, as it'd help me improve.