Paty's long day

Paty Cake was a dark purple Pegasus with teal colored eyes, an orange mane and tail that was short. He was blank flanked and not strong at all. He had the same body shape that most ponies had at the time. He had a very lonely life, too. Nopony but Paty's Instructor ever took his side on anything and had always made fun of him. What he didn't know is that it would all change for him. He opened his eyes to a gorgeous day in Equestria. The sun was beaming bright just above the horizon, making Cloudsdale look like a giant gold fortress. To Paty, it wasn't a gorgeous day at all. There were two days before the Flight Exam and he felt like he still could not fly. He felt that his wings wouldn't let him. He had to fly through three Sections that made up the Flight Exam. Cloud Spinning, Agility, and Free Fall. The three basic elements that a Pegasus pony had to know in order to live in Cloudsdale. However, Paty could only free fall good. Cloud kicking was hard enough and now he had to spin clouds using his speed. He also had to fly through hoops that made up the Agility Section, which was the second portion of the Exam. He had to go through them with great speed before time ran out, even though he was the slowest flyer in his class. Then there was the Free Fall Section which Paty had to fall for three seconds then bolt forward and land perfectly on the Finish line. Although, it was the only way that he would make a great life for himself and get a job that paid him well; like what most Pegasi had those days.

He made up his mind to go to the Flight Arena where the Exam was taking place, and practice for it as much as he could. "Okay, I can do this," he thought. "I just need to focus. I have it under control. Just lift off the Starting line, spin some clouds, fly through the hoops, fall for three seconds, then make a clean landing on the Finish line. Easy, right?" Paty got out of his bed, which was just a cloud he was given. He stretched out as much as he could, then flew to the Arena. Since it was a weekday, the Arena was not going to be packed. Paty's class had the day off since they were taking the Exam. So he took the opportunity to practice without making himself look like a fool in front of a bunch of ponies. While on the way to the Arena, Paty took a moment to admire the Rainbow Factory's spectacular view. It looked amazing to him in the gold tint that surrounded the City. As he was watching, the rainbows started losing their color and flickering like a light-bulb going out. Then suddenly fantastic new rainbows overthrew the old ones and the color spectacle was back.

"Must have started a new batch," Paty thought. He stared the Factory down, thinking of the millions of things that he could do inside of it. After a while, he went back to his route, heading to the Arena. It did not take him that long to get to his destination; the Rainbow Factory and the Arena along with the Colosseum were pretty close to each other. As he entered the hugely built building, he started hearing the laughter of his two most hated ponies. He peered through the Arena doors and saw Lightning Spree and Storm Cloud racing through the Exam course. Paty let out a sigh. "Lets just get this over with," he thought out loud. As he flew to the course, Spree and Storm immediately stopped their race and went over to Paty as fast as they could.

"Hi there, Paty Blank," Spree said and both started laughing.

"Okay jerks, I am just here to practice for the Flight Exam, nothing else," Paty said.

"You mean you're here to fail. You're not even as fast as a dart," Storm said.

"No, he's as fast as a dart, but only when he is face planting into the clouds," Spree said.

Paty told himself to just ignore them and get on with his practice runs. He had a task to do and he was going to see it through, whether Spree and Storm were there or not. He flew to the Starting line and gazed at the course. It was huge, almost as long as the field inside the Arena itself was. Paty looked at the Sections each and examined them closely. The Cloud Spinning Section contained only three clouds, which was the same number of clouds used in the Cloud Kicking version of it. That eased Paty's fear a lot on that particular Section. "Maybe I have a shot at this after all," he thought. The tension he felt though was still high. He looked at the Agility Section and quivered at the sight of it. Many hoops put closely together in no particular order at all. The very thought of flying really fast through each of them was very terrifying to Paty. The hoops were not very large; anypony could miss one if they did not pay close attention. The Free Fall Section did not look too serious to him. A red flag on a small cloud signified to start free falling and it was at far enough distance from the hoops to see the Section come up before missing it. Once Paty processed the course in his head, he walked up to the Starting line and took a deep breath thinking of his Instructors words. "Come on Paty Cake, have confidence and the belief that you can pass. That is exactly what your Instructor told you so make it happen. Do it for your future, you depend on passing this Exam so do it! Take this chance, it is the only one you will have." He got into his launch position and prepared to fly when he was ready to.

"Come on Paty, you know that you're going to fail," Spree said.

"Yeah, Paty Blank, everypony else will pass but you," Storm laughed.

Paty tried his best to ignore them. When he felt ready, he launched from the Starting line and begun flying as fast as he could. He went for the first cloud he saw and flew circles around it. He kept going around in loops until the cloud was spinning along with him, then he jumped to the next cloud, repeating the same strategy. Once done with the second one, he quickly moved to the third. Spree and Storm remained silent, waiting to pick on him when he failed. He was done with the three clouds under a few seconds and moved on to the Agility Section. He was flying so fast, that he only saw the first hoop for a split second then was dodging them like crazy. He had to move in so many different directions that his eyes couldn't tell if he was missing any or not. Eventually, it go so overwhelming that he lost track of the course and clipped his right wing on one of the hoops, lost his balance and flung into the cloud-line, dropping through the different layers of Cloudsdale. He regained his balance and dashed back up through the cloud-line and landed on the Arena field just under the course. His heart was beating fast and he was panting out of fear. "Oh, crap, that was too close," he said out loud.

"Like a dart," Spree said and they both broke out laughing again, flying out of the Arena.

"One of these days, those ponies will get what's coming," Paty thought. He took a moment to regain his breath before he moved a muscle. He was shaking; it felt like he had almost lost his life. He wished there was somepony to check and see if he was alright, but he was the only pony in the Arena and the sun had risen only a little bit which was a little strange since Celestia raised it much quicker. He finally calmed down and gave up on trying to practice anymore. He did not want to die that day, let alone fall out of Cloudsdale again. He felt the need to just go home and forget that all happened.

Paty Cake went back to his cloud that he called home, a bed, and his bedroom. He didn't have any family to live with. He didn't even know if he had family at all. The cloud was given to him by a care agency, who had kept him well fed all the years of his life. He had been an orphan for as long as he could remember. He never knew his parents nor knew what happened to them. He did not care though; he cared about the upcoming Flight Exam that determined what future he would have. "That is it," he thought to himself. "I can not do this, I can't pass the Exam! I'm totally screwed if I can't maintain my balance issues. Hitting my wing on a hoop then suddenly losing my balance isn't a sign of a winner, but a loser. I can't do anything right these days." A pony nearby noticed Paty moping and flew down to check on him.

"Are you okay, Mister," they asked. Paty looked up at a yellow Pegasus with a long pink mane and tail. Her eyes were dark blue like Paty's, but slightly a lighter color. She was older than Paty was; she could be his mother if they were related. Her cutie mark was three butterflies with pink wings.

"No, I am not okay. I am having the worst day of my life yet and it only gets harder from here," Paty said. He wanted somepony to talk with him and say everything that was going on to make himself feel better, whether he knew them or not.

"Why, what's going on," she asked him.

"My Flight Exam is coming up and I don't think that I can pass it," he said.

"Oh, that explains a whole lot," the yellow Pegasus said to him.

"Do you have any tips for me," Paty asked. "I could use anything at this point."

She took a moment to gather her thoughts then said," you should try doing what I did during my Flight Exam." Paty was eager to hear what she did.

"So tell me, what did you do to pass!" She smiled.

"All I did was treat the Exam like it was some kind of fun game. I was able to focus really well when I took it so that might work with you, too." Paty thought about it.

"Treat it like some kind of fun game. That could help me out a lot if I tried to make myself believe it's not a Exam, I guess." He looked up at the pony."Thank you for the advice, uh," then he paused a moment.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Fluttershy," she said.

"My name is Paty Cake. Thanks for the advice, Fluttershy." Then she made a weird face.

"Is that spelled with two T's or one," she asked.

There's only one letter T in my name," Paty Cake said.

There was a short moment of silence then Fluttershy said, "well, I just wanted to see if you were okay. I'm running late, I have to be at the Rainbow Factory." Paty's mood jumped up.

"Did you say the Rainbow Factory? Can I go with you, please? I've always wanted to go there but I don't know if they would allow it or not."She laughed.

"No, sorry, I can't. I'm sure you'll see it soon, though. It was great to meet you, Paty Cake." Paty nodded.

"It was great to meet you, too," he said. Then she started flying away and Paty noticed something odd. Her wings were flapping quickly, but her speed was slow. "I think her advice is great, but it would take more than thinking the Exam was a game to pass with flying skills like that," he thought. Even though her flying wasn't too good, Paty Cake didn't question her advice and planned to use it both on his next practice run and the Exam. Not only hers, but his Instructors advice as well. He had meaning and passion in the words he spoke and Paty didn't want to disappoint him. Not after all that hard work he went through to get where he was.

He went back to the Arena to try the practice run again to see if the advice he received would work. When he got there, it was packed full of the ponies from his class. Each one doing anything but practicing for the Flight Exam. It amazed him that only a few ponies were truly taking it seriously. Some of the ponies were racing each other around the field while the other ponies were either talking to each other or seeing who could do the best flying trick. Paty didn't feel too stupid when he looked at these ponies. He felt smarter than he did in years. Fortunately for his class, there were six of the thirty ponies practicing for the Exam. He didn't want to fail in front of them, but Paty got in line anyway; he was scared out of his mind even though he was only doing a practice run. When he started to calm down, somepony started shouting."Look everypony, Paty Blank is here!" It was Storm who shouted and all the attention in the Arena turned to look at Paty. Storm flew over to him and started making fun of him. "After that pathetic performance you gave earlier, I thought for sure you were crapping yourself to sleep. I guess that's what's going to happen anyway, though," Storm said. Some of the other ponies begun laughing.

Then Paty Cake said boldly, "you're the one who's going to turn their coat brown after I pass the Exam." He never stood up against Storm or Spree before, but he was getting tired of being made fun of all the time.

"Oh yeah," Storm said. "If you're so confident that you'll pass, then show everypony here that you can. Try to make through the course. I dare you!" The ponies waiting in line before Paty stepped aside and insisted that he went first. Paty wanted to shove in their faces that he would pass, so he walked up to the Starting line and got into his launch position.

"Prove to them that you can do it," Paty told himself. He stared the course down for minute, trying to see if he was making a mistake by being over confident in front of so many ponies.

"What's the matter Paty Blank, fear got your wings," Storm said chuckling to himself. Paty ignored him and focused on a method he could use to get through the hoops without failing again.

"Okay," he told himself. "Treat it like a game and have confidence that you can do this." He shot from the Starting line as fast as he could, counting the seconds in his head. Pegasi had about twenty-five seconds to complete the Exam and Paty wanted to keep track of that. He flew to the first Section of the course, spinning the three clouds as fast as he could. Everypony in the Arena watched and waited for him to fail. After the last cloud, he entered the Agility Section, this time he had a plan. He slowed his speed down just enough for his eyes to depict each individual hoop. He lost count in his head, but kept his focus. His Instructor taught him to maintain focus and not to think about anything but what's in front of him. Even though Paty broke that rule by counting numbers in his head, he didn't focus on the fact that thirty ponies were watching him and he didn't focus on his balance issues or his hatred towards Storm and Spree. He focused exactly on the course like his Instructor told him to.

In only a few seconds, he made it through the Agility Section and now was on the final part, Free Fall. He eyed the red flag as he neared the Section. His blood was pumping and his adrenaline was high. He didn't know it at the time, but he was having the funnest time of his entire life! Right as he passed the flag, he closed his wing and let himself fall down. Then he counted to three. When that third second hit, he opened his wings and started flapping vigorously. He slowed down just enough to fly forward and land nicely on the Finish line. All the Pegasi around him were so amazed by his performance that they rushed over to Paty to complement him and get advice on how to pass the Exam. Some ponies even offered their hoof and friendship, asking Paty if he would hang out with them.

Paty however, didn't want to be friends with any of them. Laughing at his blank flank ever since he was a colt and agreeing with everything that Spree and Storm said about him. Now, they wanted to be friendly toward him because he might of had the ability to pass the Exam. Paty didn't want friends that acted like that. Especially since they were so close to adulthood and still acting like they were in preschool. It made Paty feel disgust toward them. It didn't matter to him though. He felt more confident in his ability to pass the Exam more than ever. He didn't know if it was the fact that he believed in himself or because he treated it like a fun game. At the same time, he didn't care. In his head, he was going to pass the Flight Exam now and nothing would stop him. Not even if Spree and Storm tried to make him fail, he wasn't going to let them. Storm flew over to Paty Cake. He looked pissed off that he was beaten by a Pony that he made fun of all those years. "You just got lucky, Paty. When you take that Exam, you'll crack under the pressure and fail like you are meant to do," Storm said. Then he left the Arena, leaving Paty to soak in his success.

The next day, Paty went back to the Arena to see if he could pass the practice course again. Over and over again, he ran through the course as many times as he could. Every time he flew through the course, he passed it. He eventually got worn out and took a seat in of the rows of chairs in the Arena. He was panting, sweaty, and tired. He felt really happy that he made it this far. A Pegasus that was there too flew to Paty to meet him. "Nice flying," the pony said. It was his Instructor who had been watching him run the course over and over again.

"Oh," Paty said. "I didn't know you'd be here, Sir." The Instructor laughed a little bit.

"Neither did I, but I wanted to see which of my students were actually practicing for the Flight Exam tomorrow, so I decided to come down here and find out." Paty smiled.

"I took your advice about my confidence level and I guess it worked. Thank you Sir for believing in me."

Then the Instructor said, "you are very welcome! I believe in all of my students. If I see one of my students stuck in a hole, I'll try my best to pull them out of it. You know, I have been teaching you all of my knowledge on flight and I have to say that you are one of my favorite students. You're very nice, I have good intentions, you listen well, so you have a lot of potential in this world." The Instructor put his wing on Paty. "I know you have had a very rough life. Things can't be easy without family and friends. This Exam is a tough one and you should brush all those bad things in your life aside and focus on passing it. Your entire life will change if you make it through. Seeing how you did on the practice, I know that you can do it." Paty nodded in agreement.

"I know I can, too." With no more inspiring words, the Instructor told Paty good-bye and left the Arena. When Paty felt well rested, he got back to practicing for the Exam. He got on to the Starting line and entered his launch position. When he was ready, he flung himself into the first Section and started spinning clouds as quickly as he could. Then he entered the Agility Section and started going through the hoops, keeping a slow enough pace to tell what direction to go each time he made it through a hoop. He was nearly out of the Section when something slammed into his side. His balance was lost almost instantly and he rammed into one of the hoops. He crashed into the soft, pudgy Arena field that was luckily made out of clouds. Pain was coursing through the side of his body. He was dazed and confused.

As he got back up, a voice behind him said, "Hello, Paty Blank." He turned spun around as quickly as his neck would let him. It was Storm, smiling at Paty with angry eyes.

"Are you crazy," Paty shouted. "I could have been seriously hurt!" Storm walked closer to him.

"What do you think my goal was," he said as he got face to face with Paty.

"Storm Cloud, I don't want any trouble," Paty yelled.

"Well, you should have thought of that before you embarrassed me in front of all those ponies," Storm said. He then bolted into Paty as hard as he could, throwing Paty back into the cloud floor. Storm started stomping on him. Paty quickly spun himself with his wings, scooping Storm up from under his hooves. He opened up his wings and tried flying away, but Storm grabbed his tail with his teeth, using as much force as he could to pull Paty back down. Instead, Storm got slightly lifted off the cloud floor and slipped off Paty's tail. His tail became soar real quick, but he started flying away from Storm as fast as his wings could take him. Storm flew up after him, caught up, and knocked Paty's balance off and hit fell onto the cloud floor. Paty's wing was now in pain that felt like sharp needles stabbing him. When he started getting up, Storm flew at him with his top speed. Paty quickly reacted by turning around and kicked Storm with his back two hooves. Storm flew into his hooves at an incredible speed and took a massive blow to his eye. He hit the cloud floor, rolling and tumbling around until he came to a stop. Paty trotted up to him and then Storm looked at him. His eye was really red and the surrounding area was covered in blood. "Fuck you, Paty," Storm yelled at him.

"You know what Storm, I'm done listening to you and Spree. I'm tired of you getting on my ass all the time about being a blank flank. I am especially tired of being your bitch. You have nothing on me anymore; nothing! I hope that if I do fail this Exam, you will too," Paty said.

Storm laughed, but Paty could tell he was in a great amount of agony from his injury. "Paty, even if I fail the Exam, you will still be my bitch. You will still be that colt who couldn't find any friends or even a cutie mark. Hell, you don't even know your own parents and yet you are still here in Cloudsdale making yourself look like a total idiot! Did you honestly believe that a lonely, self centered pony like you could make an honest living in this place? Only the Pegasi that are good enough and rich enough are worthy of living in this City!"

Paty got the temptation to kick him again, but forced himself not to. Then Paty said, "I'm in control of my life and you can't tell me how my future is or whether I belong here in Cloudsdale or not. As a matter of fact, it amazes me that I let you pick on me all these years and yet all it took was a blow to your face to completely turn the tables. Technically, you are my bitch now! As far as I'm concerned, I don't take shit from you anymore!" Paty didn't like to use swears, but he was enraged and felt that he should argue with Storm. All of the hatred he felt towards Storm and Spree was being released at once. Paty started feeling power over Storm and took the chance to stop Storm from picking on him. Storm wasn't one to back down and he continued thinking of things to say to make Paty feel awful.

"I don't have to take that from a pony that couldn't get his cutie mark." He started trying to use Paty's past and win the argument while using psychological methods on him. "I don't take shit from a pony who can't get anything back! Not even his family!" Paty on the other hoof didn't really care that he didn't get his family back. Why should he care about ponies he had never met before? Storms psychological tactics were failing hard. Like another kick to the face, Storm was losing the argument and running out of ideas of insults to say.

"Are you done Storm? Can this conversation just end already or are you going to continue to make yourself look more and more like me," Paty asked. Storm pulled himself from the cloud floor.

"I'll see you tomorrow at the Exam. Both Spree and I will see you at the Exam. We'll be there to pass and watch you bomb your flight. When you go to where ever you end up after that, you'll be thinking of me and how right I was about you. You'll be thinking of Spree, too. Just wondering to yourself how great your life could have been if you were a real Pegasus. While you do that, I'll be filthy rich and lead a real successful life. A life that you don't have a chance receiving." After that, Storm zoomed out of the Arena. Paty easily could tell that he won that argument. Storm hardly left an argument until the pony he was fighting with starts to cry and obviously, Paty was not crying. However, Storm didn't go out a complete loser. He left Paty with a major problem; an injured wing. His left wing was in scorching pain and he barely lift it without making it worse for himself. Paty's biggest fear was now set in motion. The Flight Exam was tomorrow and Paty had a wing that nearly got shattered. He didn't know what to do or what to think.

The first thought that came to his mind was, "I'm really screwed, now. I can't even lift my wing up to save my life! How am I supposed to take the Flight Exam if I can't fly?" He tried to fly and the pain was so sharp that he closed his wings and just took a moment to gather his thoughts. "Okay, maybe I just need to let it rest, it may not be this painful tomorrow." He took one final gaze at the course then trotted home. He had no idea that the trip from his house to the Arena took much longer by hoof. It usually takes him about five minutes to get from there to his cloud, but it took him about forty minutes to get there without there without the use of his wings. He never walked that much so his legs weren't used to that kind of exercise. When he finally got home, he plopped himself on the small cloud and tried to sleep away the day, but he couldn't. The stress of failure was getting in his head. He had no idea what he was going to do. His wing was sore, his balance was still bad, he was threatened by Storm, and the Flight Exam was the next day. He decided to visit his Instructor and see if he could get some help. What choice did he have? His Instructor was the closest thing to family he had and trusted him more than anypony else. He wasn't going to let his injured wing fail his Flight Exam. He headed over to his Instructors house; the only reason Paty knows where his Instructor lives is because he has spent a few nights there, before. Both Paty and the Instructor treated each other like family, though they didn't know it. When Paty got there, he saw that the lights were on and went up to the door. His Instructor's house was fairly large, it made Paty feel safe and secure while being spacious. He went to the front door and knocked as hard as he could. About a minute later, his Instructor answered the door smiling brightly.

"Why, hello Paty Cake, can I help you with anything," his Instructor asked. Paty nodded his head in shame.

"Yes there is, Sir," he said.

"I am disappointed in the both of you! I can't understand why you two must get into fights and argue all the time," the Instructor barked.

"With all do respect, Sir, he is the one who started it in the first place," Storm said.

"You attacked me in the Arena, don't lie to him," Paty screamed.

"You should be glad that I didn't break your wing, Paty Blank," Storm responded.

"Enough you two! You ponies need to learn when to stay away from each other. Especially you Storm! Paty might fail this Exam and you are to be blamed for it," The Instructor yelled. Storm remained silent, you could see the fear in his eyes.

"Look, I'll try my best to fix this, okay Paty? I can see if I have any medicine and I'll inspect the damage of your wing," the Instructor said. "I'll also check to see if I have any eye drops." Storm smiled.

"Thank you Sir," he said.

"Don't thank me yet, there may be more damage to your eye than you realize. Even though we have wings, our hoofs are the strongest weapon anypony can have. You've been hit really hard. There might be some head trauma involved, who knows but a Doctor." Storm turned to Paty with angry eyes and then turned back to the Instructor.

"Will I be able to fly tomorrow, Sir," he asked.

"I don't know," the Instructor said, then he left the room to find the medicine they needed. Paty turned to Storm.

"Thanks a lot you freaking jerk," he said in disgust.

"You deserve to fail you pathetic little asshole," Storm replied. Paty wanted to strike him hard across the face, but instead he held his anger back. He felt like he was the jerk for all the nasty things he said back at Storm that he wish he didn't, despite of the way Storm treated him. He wanted to apologize, but he didn't want to look weak to Storm. After quite a few noises of shuffling and trotting from room to room, Paty's Instructor had returned with a few small bottles of medicine and some eye drops, then he doctored them as much as he could. After about twenty minutes Paty's wings started feeling better and he gained the ability to move them around again. Storm's eye was looking alright after the eye drops, though nothing could be done about the giant bruise around it.

"Well, your wing isn't broken and your eye will be just fine. In fact, you both should be able to fly tomorrow. However Paty Cake, your wing will still be sore so watch out." Paty looked at the Instructor.

"Thank you, Sir," he said. The Instructor turned to Storm.

"You should head home, it's getting dark outside." Storm grumbled.

"Yes, Sir." Storm walked out the door and slammed it behind him.

"Paty," the Instructor said. "You can stay the night here if you want to. My guest room is clean and the bed is made real nice. You need a good night's rest before you take a swing at the Flight Exam." Paty smiled in relief and joy.

"That would be nice sir," he said. "Today has been my longest day ever."