Author's Note:
This story was written for a challenge, so I hope he likes. (And I think I aced it!) If so, I may leave it up. Without further ado, enjoy!
Story:
The bed was comfy, warm, despite the frigid temperatures that lurked just outside. It was an unseasonable cold. the product of rain and storms that had raged well into the night, and as thunder echoed through the air, and lightening flashed at the edges of her visions. There and gone, before anything but the light, the odd purples pigments, nearly intense enough to cause there own sound could be seen in an after effect staining the dark clouds. The storm was threatening to break again, unleash it's anger at what was about to be undertaken in its midst. Rainbow Dash rose to her feet slowly, taking care as the blanket's absense allowed the cold to bite. She shivered, at its touch, the icy fingers trailing up her sides, crawling over her back, fought to get inside and eat, leech the heat from her very marrow. She tracked the gale outside, her eyes flicking from light flash to flash, before she shrugged. It was nothing new to her, the play of elements over the face of the sky as it demanded everyone take notice, fear it's power, and stay far away. A smile tugged at the edges of her lips as she pondered if this storm was just for her. So out of season. So intense. Was it the sky's way of stopping her trangressions, at least for today? The smile widened. "It can try," was all she said as she turned to ready herself and depart.
Outside, no longer blocked by the walls of her home, the wind wailed at her. Ripping through her blue hair, it demanded she turn back. But, even as it tangled her mane to a point any brush would weep, she refused. She focused the placement of her feet as she walked slowly to the hill she'd meet her new friends, as in it's anger, the wind tore branched from trees and threw them at her feet. Warnings to turn back.
The tester ignores the other as he watches Twilight closely. Worry filling every part of him, an evil vermin that was eating away. This was not the mare he'd known. Kind. Compassionate. She had always been quick to do as she wanted, but the decision to leave her old friends was something noone had ever expected. Was becoming part of the Shadowbolts that important to her. Would she risk losing the ones she loved to join a club. Within the costume, he smirks as she walks closer, the steeled look on her face all the answer needed. She's grown content with her choice, not even flinching as the loud voice of the thunder cries it's outrage that she is here and not with the others. "Let's get this show on the road!" She says with a little leap, showing her eagerness, and at least some of her old self. "Twilight." The older stallion watches her as she walks past, stretching her wings to prepare her for the flight ahead. "Are you sure you wish to do this. This type of flight is-" "-I know," she interrupted with a roll of her big eyes. "The book said the major danger is the lightening." She looked back over her shoulder. "If I avoid that, everything will be fine." She flapped her wings once. "Last one up is a rotten egg." She gave a giggle as she hurtled herself upwards, into the darkening sky. With a sigh, he did the same, never one to been shown up by another. He admitted a brief moment of jealousy directed at the mare that did flips, dives, and breathtaking assents in random orders. "You are good." 'This is a test,' part of Rainbow's brain mutters, 'a test to see if I'm good enough.' She flipped through the air, exilerated at the sudden weightlessness and then the crushing force as gravity drew her downwards, before her wings could catch her and bring her back to a steadier altitude. She craned upward as the wind that had been howling rose into an almost inaudibe shreik. 'I've got to be better. Not do the usual stuff that makes me so weak." She rose higher, the clouds speeding past her before she flipped and speed for the ground. A sickening lurch spreed through her as her stomach was left far above, her breakfast threatened a second appearance as the ground raced toward her.
Far from soft, even given that the rain turned it into a dirty, shallow lake when it's water mixed with sand, clay and grass, a fall from this height would still be devastating. It would rend her wings, leaving her forever on its hard surface as they broke beyond repair. She swallowed as the dive brought her so close, an outstretch leg could have carressed the ground, gasp in shock when a wing tip fluttered over its slick surface as she pulled up. She spun through the air, trying to clear the mud that disgraced her feathers in an unseen manner, only to sling it all over her quizmaster. Her nervous laugh escaped before a spiral ate off the rest of the momentum from the dive and and she hovered face to face with the dirtied pony.
He gave a huff as he cleaned, snapping that this was a test he would choose. No opinion would be swayed by an outright show of the foolishness any horse called skills. Anger rippled through the air, as sure and growing as the electricity that crackled around them. "Meaning?" She spat, you don't want to see this?" Wind followed the the flap of exausted wings as the quizmaster shook his head at her arrogance. Her hardheadedness was blinding her to the dangers she was facing. The shiny lure of a club was making her forget her limitations, forcing her into dangerous ground. The colorful pony pushed herself upward, and dived. She got closer to the ground this time, wanting to pull up at the last second, only to have her wings seize as they revolted against her abuse. The wind tore them out from her body, holding them straight at a time when movement was key. She sliced through the force that had once kept her upright, meeting the ground below her. Brown water flew into the sky, an insult to the one that lay in its depths. Rainbow cryed out in pain, as she tried and failed to bring her wings into her body. Her mind refused to work, to produce that one word to perfectly described what she had just done. Her eyes cast downward, watching the swirling water as it slowly started to still from her impact. "I crashed," the word tore from her throught, a cry even as she refused the tears that stung her. "How?" Eyes fixate on one piece of grass as it spins in the water, almost carefree as it ignores all else around it, only to collide with an unnoticed stick and be carried away. "That's how," she cried. She's lost herself in her dive, not noticing how close the world was until it was too late. "How very foolish," the soft voice of the other whispered behind her. "I expected more from the one that could do the Rainboom. So did the Shadowbolts."