IP2012 Cloudsdale Cloud Diving (All participants welcome, not just pegasi!)

[Rosewind]

Event: Cloudsdale Cloud Diving

Location: Ponyville Lake

Setting:

The Pegasi of Cloudsdale were commissioned to build a fantastically high diving board! Constructed from a fusion of puffy white clouds, rainbow-painted wooden planks, all lashed together with super strong vines from Everfree -- this platform literally extends to the clouds! It's so high it even waves back and forth in the air precariously. It was inspected carefully by the Pegasi and approved as safe, but it tends to wobble as the wind dictates. At the very top is a solid wooden platform supported by clouds that any pony is able to stand on. The view from the top is breathtaking: Ponyville lake looks like a small, blue button! The weather at the top is a bit unpredictable, so ponies should use caution when climbing! Several medic and lifeguard ponies will be on duty, in addition to competition support staff.

An audience stand was also built, decorated with flowing ribbons, puffs of cloud, and splashes of rainbows. A separate judging stable is found several feet away, complete with numbered cards to judge a dive. The higher the number from the Judges, the better the dive!

Participation:

Ponies that dive will have to climb to the top (even participating pegasi), as their bravery and strength in reaching the top using the rainbow ladder is part of their judgment. Once at the top, they will dive off, performing tricks on the way down! Finally, they will be judged by any unique finishing move they make before diving into the water. Will they use magic? Their wings? Their strength and flexibility?

The Judges:

Three experienced diving ponies will be judging the dives everypony in this competition makes, giving a final score based on the above criteria:

Aqueous Heart - A brave, experienced Earth Pony swimmer known for once diving off the top of Canterlot Castle into a fountain far below, he has won nineteen awards across Equestria for his water sport prowess.

Mistea Soakspray - A Unicorn mare that has developed various magical swimming techniques, including the Famous Fluxing Flumefin spell.

Wyndway Falls - A Pegasus known in Clousdale for her cloud-swimming accomplishments, including the Nimbus Cloud Race, a grueling 5000-lap cloud swimming contest held biannually in the skies above.

(( )) For the Roleplayer:

Feel free to role-play your character's reactions when climbing and reaching the top, including weather, how wobbly the diving platform may be, support from friends, and their unique way of coping to the stress of how high the dive may be. Will they overcome a fear? Show bravery? Show off? Dives will be judged by the fun and interesting tricks your character may show while diving. Doing a "swan dive" may be okay, but how many points do you think a Triple Spin Super Hurricane Swirl Dive will get? Be creative, be descriptive, and have fun!

[dashie900]

Skylar Song trotted cautiously to the ladder of the platform and looked up it. She turned to her friends who nodded in support.

"Come on Skylar! You can do it!" Jupiter yelled. Skylar smiled back and started up the ladder. She was about half way up when it started to wobble frighteningly. The weather suddenly changed creating a huge downpour upon Skylar and everyone else below her. Blinking rain out of her eyes, she clung onto the ladder, only taking tiny steps up it. When the downpour finished Skylar breathed a sigh of relief, and clinging on to the ladder with one hoof, she wiped her glasses clean with the other. When she could finally see, she carried on up the ladder, constantly worrying about what she was going to do for her dive. Lifting both of her hooves onto the board at the top, she had finally reached the top.

Brilliant. She thought. What am I supposed to do for my dive? She shuffled cautiously to the edge of the diving board as it wobbled in the breeze. Wondering what she had gotten herself into, she jumped off the board and pointed herself downwards, like an arrow or a rocket. She spread her wings and straightened out, using them as a bit of a parachute to give herself some time to think. She pointed herself down again and spun around as she rocketed to the water, her wings creating an interesting pattern. Before she hit the water, she flew in a circle and sort of barrel-rolled into the water, creating a massive splash. When she resurfaced she was faced with the grins of Jupiter and Pesadilla, whom of which had been forcibly woken up to watch the events.

Edited July 27, 2012 by dashie900

[Trilobite]

Parhelion watched intently as Skylar Song climbed. He swallowed nervously as the wind picked up, and mentally urged his fellow pegasus to climb. It had been well and good, weeks ago, to decide to be brave and take on the sky dive, but looking at that climb--well, it was different being here on the ground and seeing the tower stretch dizzingly upward.

Soon the filly was a lilac speck. Clouds swept in from the west, darknening the sky with unnatural speed. Parhelion had heard that the weather was going to be 'left rough', untouched by weatherponies, in this area, and the swift-moving dark mass trailing its shimmering rain caul proved it. Shadows swept across the ground and the tower dissapeared. "Hold on..." Parhelion said quietly, an instant before a torrential downpour forced him to look away.

As quickly as it had come, the rainstorm passed, and the tiny dot of the other pegasus continued on. The wait seemed interminable. Now she had made it, Parhelion found himself assailed by worries--what if she did the exact thing he had planned? What if she gave a stunning performance? What if--there she was!

Her dive unfolded like a blooming flower, slow at first, then gaining in speed and complexity as she descended, rolling around her own axis, wingtips tracing designs in the air. Parhelion whooped as the swept over the water, bringing up a wave before making a final flashy roll and dropping in. With a grin he started up the ladder himself.

The gray pegasus was a third of the way up when he heard the creak. His wings shot out, and he started to disengage himself, then stopped the reflex and held on. "It's not going to fall," she said aloud, half-certain and half-praying. "Okay, okay. Move, weatherpony. You got this."

He climbed steadily, closing his eyes. He listened to his own breathing. The creaks and groans of the tower grew louder, and it began to sway noticeably, then almost sickeningly. "Don't stop. Just the wind," he said. "Like your breath. Breath of the sky. It's just moving with the breath of the sky." He moved slowly, but steadily, making sure he had a firm grip with all hooves before moving on, feeling the rhythm of his old friend, the wind as it moved the tower.

In his mind, perfect blackness. Then, the image of the lake appeared. Finally himself and the platform at the top of the tower. He held it in his mind, saw his planned dive in vivid detail, ran it again and again, willing the image into his muscles as he--

--he was at the top. He faltered, surprised at how quickly it seemed to have come. His heart raced, his blood as loud in his ears as the rushing wind, the cheering crowd. "You can do this," he said, and hoped that his upraised head and slow pace hid the giddy panic that circled his heart and stomach like a swarm of butterflies.

He was at the edge. "Now."

Parhelion stepped off, folding his wings in against his body. The tips flared briefly, tilting him nosedown. It was silent. The lake was so far below. A bank of clouds came between him and the ground, the lake, and he shot into it, opening his wings to spiral and trailing a corkscrew of silver cloud-stuff behind him, his long white mane and tail trailing in the center of the vortex. Keep the lake centered. A tiny correction as he gathered speed, then he folded his wings again. His spiral doubled, tripled in speed; he was an arrow, a cannon-shot, a comet of grey with a white tail and the faintest bow-wave of cloud wrapped around it. The image was reflected in the wind-rippled lake, two comets reaching for one another with deceptive laziness.

A collumn of white rose into the air and the reflection was obliterated in a thousand sparkling waves. Water rained down in droplets, catching the sun like diamons and causing a wonderful, soft rushing sound. Below the water, trailing another cone of bubbles, Parhelion was dazed, but weeks of practice kicked in and his body swam almost of its own accord to the shore.

He emerged far to the left of the judging stables, almost facing away from them, and for a moment was totally, visibly shocked. Keep going, keep going! He turned toward the audience stand, smiling, and spread his wings high, framing himself with them, and then bowed deeply first to the audience, and then to the judges.

Parhelion rose and trotted to where he and his fellow contestants would await judging, wondering how many ponies could see the wobble in his knees.

[Lux]

This was it, the chance to prove himself to his fellow Aeroblades and the other ponies. For weeks Sky Flare spent training as the sky dive platform slowly took shape in the sky. Wing pushups, sit ups, speed drills, and stunt practices. He knew his dive had to be fast, accurate, and of course awesome!

Finally it came time for the event. Dressed in his Aeroblades uniform, he climbed to the top of the diving area.

"No guts, no glory," Sky said as he placed the goggles over his eyes.

Taking a running start, he leapt from the platform. He knew this wasn't meant to be a flight performance. It was supposed to be a dive, and the more stunts he could do while free falling the better. He started with a triple sommersault, his fiery contrail making several loops. Then he pulled out of the sommersault and made a few small corkscrews. Finally he positioned himself nose first towards the lake and begal to spin his body. His contrail wrapped aroung him, making it look like he was on fire. He then plunged into the lake, releasing a column of water into the air.

He appeared out of the water and removing his goggles took a little bow in front of the judges before joining the other competitors on the side.

[WhiteSlash]

The time had come. Fear shot straight through Vivre Vrai's spine causing shivers to overcome her faked calm. Standing at the bottom of the ladder she gazed up deep into the sky. It seemed to stretch on forever and ever. The light teal Pegasus shuddered at the thought of the distance she was about to fall. Though in all honest falling was the only thing going for her. Virve Vrai was never a strong flyer, but falling? Falling was easy. Anypony can fall. All she needs to do is fall with style. The fearful Pegasus was brought straight back to her foalhood by the splash made from the previous contender. Silence overcame the poor young mare as her head was filled with the chants from her past. The various colorful insults she faced.

"Snap out of it kiddo. You'll do fine! Remember its all for fun" The reassuring words were followed by a small peck on the cheek from her special somepony and fellow band mate Rabble Rouser. Vivre Vrai turned a let a cheerful yet still faintly hesitant smile creep across her face. The statement was true though. Each member of the Filly Force Five planned to compete in each of the challenges. Wether it was for publicity? Charity or even as Rabble said "for fun", didn't matter. Vivre Vrai wanted to prove something. Prove she could accomplish this mammoth task and even better maybe win.

Slowly but surely she started her way up the ladder after giving a friendly wave and nod to her 4 friends whom would await her at the bottom. One hoof after another she clambered up the soft cloud ladder. It seemed to go on and on. Infact it seemed to get bigger as it broke the cloud cover. Vivre Vrai suddenly cling tight to the ladder as it began to sway side to side. The weather was picking up and this was causing her heart to beat oh so fast. Her eyes were closed tight and for a few seconds she refused to move. Though when the thoughts of her friends swooped into her mind she smiled and loosened her grip. "Time to go".

Vivre Vrai began to mumble to herself as she steadily closed the gap between her and the platform. All self-doubt and fear for the height seemed to have drained from her. It wasn't long before she arose triumphantly at the top. Now filled with courage and adreniline shooting through her veins she made her way to the end of the diving board. Vivre Vrai turned and faced her tail end to the drop. The moment was now.

She leaned back onto her hind legs and as time seemed to slow down for her she fell backwards off the platform. Her hind legs stayed perfectly stuck together as she spread her forelegs out to each side. For the first moment of the fall she kept her wings firmly closed in as she began to speed to the ground. Her first move was to bring her forelegs back in and tuck into the shape of a bullet. As she did this her body twisted as her head became the point driving her aerial assult on the ground. Soon she started to spin as she became almost drill like upon approaching a cloud about to pass under her. Just before she hit the cloud she halted the spin, kept all of her limbs in tight and spread her wings.

She collided with the soft cotton like material. All of a sudden everything became to serene. She seemed to reach a state of pure mental calm. Something like this seemed so odd but so right. To feel safe during a speedy descent was something that used to seem unnatural to her. But not this time. As Vivre Vrai exited the cloud she left the outline of what looked like a phoenix rising cut into it. She noticed her golden blonde mane now danced freely in the wind. Her mane band had tore right up from the sheer speed. Next up was the finish. Now she was lost for ideas though, something spectacular? Maybe something easy? Then it hit her. Finish with a cannon ball. She pulled herself into the bullet shape once more to pick up speed then instantly curled up into a ball. As she soared to the ground she started to spin. Faster and faster! THEN!

She quickly found herself encased in cicular torrent of water as it exploded up from the previously stable body it once had. Each speckle and drip of water reflected the bright burning sun as they simply cleaved through the air.

It was less than a second later that she found herself escaping from the water onto dry land and into the embrace of a friendly hugs. As Rabble and Vivre Vrai met the massive spash she made was only just resting back into the motionless pool. Vivre Vrai felt extremely happy about this. She knew now that what mattered is that she took part and gave it her best shot. She trotted over to where the other contestants stood awaiting the results. She looked back up at the diving board and simply smiled. "I did it".

Edited July 27, 2012 by WhiteSlash

[Conor Colton]

This was it, the big day, the big jump the big...Diving board! Colton Cloudkicker, the proud, white coated and blue maned, right wing of the Aeroblades pegasus was ready for anything as he paced towards the bottom of the ladder. He walked with power in his stride, a determined look in his eyes and wings extended outwards to show that he was a contender, a contender just like everypony there, a contender who would beat the odds and do what he must and this most important of days!

...Of course all this power walking and wing showing didn't hide the fact that Colton was as jittery as a hairless pony during Winter Wrap Up. His stride grew less and less powerful as he got closer and closer to the base of the ladder. As he did he was constantly being egged on by his avian companion and long time pet, Sparks the sparrow. The bird kept shouting chirps of encouragement as the pegasus continued walking, his nerves becoming more and more prominent as he inched closer and closer to what he perceived as 'The big moment'. Colton has never had a problem with heights, however the gathering crowd was the main cause of his rather out of character skittishness. Usually Colton would fly and practice his tricks in solitude, but now he had no choice. The pegasus kept his head facing down, trying not to look up at the reality that, quite frankly scared him.

Before he knew it though, Colton had found himself at the base of the ladder. He turned his gaze upwards to see the Goliath of a challenge set before him...and he gulped. His breathing intensified and his heart rate with it, he knew there was no turning back but he wished that wasn't so. He looked back for a brief moment and saw the way he had came in; it's like it was calling to him, like a sanctuary. Sadly, Sparks quickly flew into his gaze and turned his master's head back towards the ladder. The bird spouted a few more chirps of encouragement, which started to sound more like commands at this point, and left Colton on his own.

The pegasus took one long, deep breath and slowed everything down in his mind. He blocked out the crowd as best he could, and as he did, placed a hoof onto the first rung of the ladder, then the next, then the next; and so on and so on. With every rung, the pegasus made more of an effort to try and calm himself. He began mumbling a few words under his breath, "Iron Pony they said...it'll be fun they said." Colton stated as he continued climbing.

Upon reaching the middle of the structure, Colton took a moment and went to reassure himself, "Okay, okay...how bad could it honestly be...?" He stated as he saw nothing other than a pony making their dive. His gaze followed the contestant as they made their descent, and then Colton saw all the camera flashes, and nearly had a slight heart attack. He held onto the ladder like a foal holding onto a parent's leg as he took one more deep breath, and continued skyward.

Not long after his near, panic attack, Colton had reached the top. He reveled in the fact that he had made it this far, that the supposed 'hard part' was over. But really, Colton knew that was just the prep work. He peeked over the edge of the board and saw what was going to be his next destination. He also saw all the cameras and ponies that were cheering in anticipation. Colton tried once again to make it all go away in his head, and just remember his technique he had planned. And with that, Colton took a step back, put his goggles on, put some actual power in his stride and jumped.

Colton knew that his routine was only going to work if he acted fast, but he also had to be fast for it to work. The pegasus closed his wings to his sides and nose dived towards a nearby cloud. Right before he made contact with the cloud, he darted a slight bit to the right and skimmed the edge of the cloud. He adjusted his position so he grabbed a clump of the cloud mid fall and took it with him, creating a straight line of cloud.

The pegasus prepped himself. He saw another cluster of clouds coming and saw the opportunity for his signature routine, which he had named, 'The Cloud Kick'. He headed straight for a large cloud and as he did, flipped himself around in mid air so he was going hind hooves first. He readied himself, pulled back his legs, turned a few degrees and slammed his hind legs down on the cloud. Instead of dissipating, a shock wave traveled through the cloud, and then back up towards Colton. The pegasus used the momentum gained from the cloud to travel to another cloud on the way down and do the same, and then another, and then another! Zigzagging down towards the ground from cloud to cloud.

When Colton saw water, he ducked his wings into his sides and dove muzzle first into the lake, sputtering slightly and with a rather big splash. The pegasus got all four hooves onto shore and looked around, seeing the many photographers and spectators. However, after all that, he didn't back down. He raised his front hooves up in the air, triumphant in his own accomplishment before heading back the way he came in the first place; a very happy bird waiting for him and a smile on his face.

[SonicRainboomGirl]

Scootaloo simply couldn't believe how tall that ladder was. She had spent the last five minutes staring at it, wondering how on earth she was going to tackle such an enormous climb without her wings. She no longer knew which scared her more, the climb or the dive. Scootaloo took in a deep breath of fresh air, attempting to calm her racing heart and jangled nerves.

"Do it for Rainbow Dash."

She whispered to herself, placing one hoof on the ladder and beginning the long climb. After she'd heard of the Iron Pony competition, Scootaloo knew it would be the perfect way to try and find her Cutie Mark. After all, she was pretty agile. And if she liked the feeling of wind on her face while she was on her scooter, maybe diving would be fun! She began to wonder if maybe some practice would have helped, even learning the proper way to jump off a smaller board. She shook her head as she lifted herself off the ground. If this was her true talent, it would come naturally. If not....that would be something to consider later!

With every notch in the ladder, Scootaloo's comfort grew. Was she going to kick flank? Indeed! Thats who she was! She was going to show Apple Bloom that she wasn't a chicken, Rainbow Dash that she was cool, and she might even get her Cutie Mark! She had nothing to lose!

By the time Scootaloo reached the top of the ladder, she was exhausted. All she wanted was to sit down and have a nice cool glass of chocolate milk, her arms aching and her legs shaking like never before. And she was physically fit! But Scootaloo shook her head, and straightened her mentality out. She was making this jump. Immediately!

Scootaloo turned her head and saw the judges waiting for her jump. She saw an audience of screaming and questioning fans. They were probably curious about her size, about her abilities. Sure, Scootaloo was small, even for her age, but she was about to prove that she had the abilities of someone much older AND bigger! If only she knew how to jump off...

The orange filly had a small, momentary panic attack. Was she supposed to jump face forward, or feet forward? Wings up or down? It was probably just like regular jumping, she decided. But before she could jump off, a gust of wind took the young filly down with it.

Scootaloo was bewildered, one moment waiting on the cloud to jump, and the next she was falling through the air at unreasonable speeds. She caught her balance, spreading her arms and legs out wide and flattening her body out. As she free-fell, she spun a bit in every direction. She screamed at the top of her lungs, absolutely terrified. She had never gone this fast before, and as fun as it was she feared hitting the water below. She couldn't belly flop, she would have to straighten herself and hit it legs first. But how?!

Scootaloo used every bit of force she had, Scootaloo pulled her arms and legs in, tilting herself down ward again. She tucked her head in, closing her eyes, and moving faster than ever. She giggled, enjoying the feeling of plummeting towards Ponyville. She didn't know how far she was from the ground, but she savoured the feeling of the wind rushing in her ears, and the cold air chilling her in the most satisfactory way. She opened one eye, to a slit, because she knew that if she opened it any more the whipping air would sting her whites.

She saw many, many feet below her still to go. Hundreds, maybe. Realising this was still her moment to shine, Scootaloo giggled and forced the top half of her body to face the ground, pushing her stomach muscles hard and playing with gravity. Soon she was spinning, face forward, every limb tucked in. She snapped open, pushing herself backwards again. Soon she was dizzy, but exhilarated. She was still spinning towards the ground at unreasonable speeds, but had not a fear in her mind.

That is, until she hit the water head on.

Scootaloo wasn't expecting to hit the water so soon, but had definitely picked up speed as she was doing her tricks. She quickly sunk further and further from the surface, into a dark abyss of warm (but not too warm) wetness. Her arms flailed aimlessly as she tried to claw her way up back to the surface. She was running out of air, and accidentally sucked in a bit of water. Scootaloo decided to do something incredibly dangerous: rely on her wings for support. Luckily, she was used to them propelling her on land, and they helped her to surface once more.

Scootaloo floated towards the edge of the pool, coughing up water and shaking her fuschia mane out. That had been quite a thrill! Maybe Scootaloo had done a good job, and maybe she'd gotten her Cutie Mark! She looked to her flank for an answer, but it provided nothing. Just a smooth orange surface. No, Scootaloo had not gotten her Cutie Mark. Disappointed, the filly shrugged.

Scootaloo took a towel off a nearby rack, and wrapped it around herself. She found her scooter nearby, and placed the helmet atop her soaked head. She road away, not even caring what numbers the judges gave her. It was still worth a try.

[silversigil]

As Prime Meridian looked up at massive construct ascending into the clouds; it was an impressive feat even for the pegasi. Prime was not exactly one of the best swimmers but he had done a good bit of skydiving a while back, even being modest in describing his skill in that matter would still seem impressive to most. Regardless, that was a while back and even though he had no problem with heights he knew that there was a good bit of risk in this.

As he ascended up the multi-colored ladder he contemplated what he should do for his routine. Aside from a hoof-full of flashy moves he had picked up most of his trick were pretty standard; the occasional flips and twists along with a style of gliding straight down in a freefall while guiding his direction, so he would most likely go with what felt right while he was falling.

In his thought he almost didn’t notice he had made it to the top, as he rose up he saw the top of the platform. To his side he saw fairly well packed stands and the judging booth. A well built earth-pony stallion, and a pegasi and unicorn mare all sat at the judge’s booth. It was his turn to jump, except for a pair of goggles he had nothing with him looking down the ladder it seemed he wasn’t being rushed so he proceeded to stretch for a few moments.

After he felt ready and limber he walked over to the diving bored. Leaving a few feet in between him and the end of the diving bored he paused and took a few deep breathes. In a few short seconds he silently ran forward and dived off the edge and began his fall.

Angling his body as to pick up a large amount of speed he began to tuck into a ball and spin, as he spun faster and faster he kept precise count in his head…17…18…19…20 at this he released himself self from a ball formation started making himself corkscrew downward and directed himself into a small cloud diving through it he caught a good bit in his hoofs and tails as to leave a cloud trail as he spun downwards. Nearing closer to the body of water he readjusted his body so he would land back hoofs first. Falling into the water with a well sized splash swam up and out of the water and waited to hear of the judges’ decision.

[HarringtonSleuth]

Harrington Sleuth didn't think the ladder was all that high up...until he stood at its base. His pupils dilated and his eyes bugged out, nearly touching the goggles he brought with him and placed on his head, as he stared up the rainbow ladder that ascended high into the sky. It was so tall, he couldn't even see where the platform was! This wouldn't normally be a problem, but the officials already informed him as they did every other contestant, especially Pegasi, that he had to climb to the platform. He sighed and nodded, then proceeded to the rainbow ladder.

One rung at a time...that's the only way I can get up this thing. Time to see what all the hubbub about this event is.

He pushed himself up onto his hind legs, secured his hooves on the fourth rung from the bottom and pulled up and onto the ladder. He steadied himself before he progressed up toward the platform, alternating between front leg and back leg so he didn't stretch himself out too much. He thought this would be alright as long as he kept this up. As he climbed his way up, he started calculating what sorts of tricks he would do on the way back down.

Maybe I'll start with a few flips, then skydiver-style spins...see where that will take me...I'll have to account for--

He clung to the ladder as his thoughts were interrupted, however, when the wind picked up and started making the apparatus shake and wobble. His eyes bugged out again as the ladder moved.

Sweet Celestia, don't let this thing blow away! I like my life!

Once the gusts died down into breezes, they stopped shaking the ladder, and Harrington breathed a sigh of relief before he proceeded back up. The cool, moist air started to seep in and didn't help with the chills that shot up his spine when the ladder leaned with the wind. At long last, to his surprise, his hoof didn't touch a rung, but the board itself. He hoisted himself onto the platform, now at the top of the most extreme diving board ever created. Of course Cloudsdale was tasked with making this thing--nopony else would dream of such a sport!

He started devising what dive he would execute. Given he wasn't Rainbow Dash, high speed was probably not something suited to him. But he was a Pegasus, so he figured for a finale, he would incorporate some flight trick before he hit the lake. He only took about 20 seconds to run through his possibilities as he didn't want to keep the judges waiting longer than necessary. He slid down the goggles he brought with him, ready for the dive.

He backed up, rushed forward, bounced off the board and leaped into the air, tucking his hind legs in when he began with a few front flips, though he closed his eyes at the start because he couldn't watch from how high up he was as he went into a free fall. He slowed down and spread his hooves out, spinning as he fell in this new position. His left front hoof lowered below rest of his body, which caused him to start spinning and flipping backwards when it caught a cloud at an awkward angle. His heart pounded faster and he screamed in panic and flailed a little as he continued this impromptu backwards cannonball, but steadied himself as the lake started coming into sight. He stopped screaming once he felt gravity not changing on him.

He opened his eyes so he could properly adjust for his finale. This was the one part he had completely figured out at the platform and wanted to get right so desperately. He waited until the right moment, then unfurled his wings and tilted his body so he used his momentum to change direction. He pulled a vertical U-turn, missing the water by inches, then looped around twice before he folded his wings back in, his momentum carrying him like a ragdoll into a backflip as he went up just a little higher, then gravity took over again as he watched to make sure he would hit the water. He stuck his front hooves out a half-second before he splashed into the water, waited for its buoyant forces to stop him, then he swam back to the surface, onto the land around the lake that he saw as a blue button what seemed like days ago.

His legs rattled worse than the ladder ever did when he stood on dry, solid ground. He moved out of the way so he could dry off, relieved that he survived, didn't completely embarrass himself and had some ground to delude himself into thinking he had a shot to win. Even if it was a delusion, he wanted to believe it enough that he did.

[RarityDash]

Cloudchaser yawned. Maybe this wasn't the most appropriate time to yawn--the spiky-maned blue pegasus mare was at the bottom of a towering construct that extended well into the clouds above, prepared to clim said construct and jump off of it into the lake far below as part of this Iron Pony competition being watched by countless. The pony couldn't really help it though; she was just tired. Between her job, her friends and preparing for today, sleep had been scarce to nonexistent throughout the previous 24 hours. Crowds were cheering and there was an atmosphere of excitement all about, but Cloudchaser, in her condition, was having some trouble adjusting to it all.

That's not to say she wasn't excited about this event. She had watched the Cloudsdale pegasi build this thing and everything about it screamed mega awesomeness of a sort you rarely saw. Cloudchaser was no Wonderbolt, but when it came to flight, she was all about style; any chance to show off huge in front of a crowd was too good to pass up. The competition was perfect for her, even if she supposed it was supposed to be more about diving than flying. Still, it was pretty much the same idea, right? Going fast and showing off along the way? it was just more of a downward type deal. Thinking about it like that, this was totally nothing for the cool Las Pegasus born mare.

Giving another yawn the spunky-cool mare stepped toward the ladder leading up to the top. While diving wasn't very different from what she was used to if she thought about it, climbing sure wasn't a very pegasus-y thing to do. She could fly up to the top in a matter of seconds, but climbing this towering thing was gonna be the hardest part of this whole deal. "Well, here goes nothing," the tired mare said with a sigh and a gulp as she took her first step onto the ladder, feeling suddenly more than a little nervous.

One step up followed by the next; before long the mare had soon made fair progress into the sky. Looking downward, the ground seemed far away. Between that and how terribly the platform swayed with the wind, Cloudchaser really had to give her props to any earth pony or unicorn with the guts to try this crazy stunt. As a pegasus, her wings were there to catch her, but for a grounded pony, one small slip could spell some rather messily unpleasant news. Slipping was a real possibility too. The climb was not easy, especially for a pony who's strong suit really wasn't being strong. Chaser was all style and flexibility, with enough speed where it counted--this climb was totally out of her element.

She hadn't even really thought about it either. That morning, she had spent all this time planning her dive, and all the awesome tricks she was going to pull off as she made it. She hadn't even thought about the climb, but here she was half way up the ladder and feeling even more bucking exhausted then she could have ever imagined. The physical exertion and her pre-existing tiredness were not a good combination. Pulling herself up, rung after rung, not feeling like she was getting any closer to the top, Cloudchaser's strength just continued spiraling downward; as time went on, she feared she'd pass out mid clime and follow it.

After a few more tentative steps up the ladder, the blue pegasus could feel her eyes start to close. Her grip started to slip. She struggled to force her eyes open, but her vision was becoming a blur. She feared she had lost it. She hardly felt the ladder under her hooves anymore. She became increasingly sure that the only dive she would be making would be backwards off of this ladder and into the hard ground below. Her hooves continued to slip. Her eyes looked out into the clouds as the last of her strength prepared to leave her behind.

A rainbow. It was faint, but she could see it just in the distance. When a Ponyville pegasus sees a rainbow, their thoughts invariably drift toward the same mare. Chaser smiled as she remembered the tornado and all the work every pegasus in Ponyville had put into it. Dash had put so much into training all of them, forcing even the most timid of the bunch to do their part in bringing the needed water up to Cloudsdale for the rainy season. She hadn't given up in training any of them, even when they themselves felt like giving in. Chaser could just hear her yelling at her now, telling her to keep climbing. She could see Flitter, she could see all of them actually... all of her friends. They needed her to keep going and not give up. They would be expecting nothing less!

Chaser's failing strength returned and she quickly continued up the ladder until, finally, with many heavy, pained breaths she reached the top. She collapsed on the wobbly platform and just lie there for a moment, unable to move. Then she fell asleep. Not for a particularly long time, granted, but for about fifteen full minutes, the ponies in the crowd had no choice but to watch as the spiky-maned mare slept heavily atop the narrow, wooden cloud-supported plank. Her sleep was only interrupted when a nearby thunder cloud decided to make its presence known.

At the sound of the loud thunder crash, Cloudchaser's collapsed form shot upward back onto its hooves. She stumbled back, surprised to find the surface below so unstable. For a moment, she remained entirely unaware of where exactly she was or why. She looked down to see the crowd and the lake and all else far below. "Oh yeah," she said as she rubbed a hoof through her mane. She gave a small laugh and nodded. It was time for her dive.

After her perilous climb and the following catnap, Cloudchaser had no idea what she had exactly planned to do up here that morning. Her mind was entirely blank. She thought about it for a while, looking up as she did, but it just wasn't coming back to her. Just then, the nearby thundercloud that had been her alarm clock went off again, causing her body to jump. She glanced back at it. A smile appeared on her face. This might be perfect.

The pegasus mare jumped upward and kicked the large thundercloud down and forward so that it was hovering far above the lake. She nodded. This was gonna be perfectly awesome and dramatic. "Okay, everypony! Cloudchaser is gonna show you all how this diving thing is done!" she shouted out cheerfully. She then ran along the diving board as swiftly as she could and made her jump out into the sky.

She dove head first, wings spread, but not flapping, front hooves stretched out in front of her. She aimed her dive so that she went straight through the center of the thunder cloud and continued on the other side. A few seconds later, the thunder roared. Just in time with it, she did two consecutive flips before returning to her prior stance. From there on, each time the thunder sounded, she did a trick. First it was a double spin, and the next time a spinning back flip. Then, just as she was about to hit the water again, the thunder sounded again and she did a swift aerial double spin before returning to her diving posture and splashing powerfully into the water.

Chaser swam under the water for a while, emerging only at the next thunder crash, at which point, she soared back up into the sky, propelled by her wings. She climbed all the way back upwards to her cloud and with a powerful buck cleared it from the sky. She then soared back down to land before the screaming crowd and judges. A huge grin on her face, the spunky mare swept her wet mane back with a hoof and then waved to the crowd, feeling like she had pulled off something nothing short of great.

[Techno Tealeaf]

Derpy patiently waited at the base of the ladder for her turn to dive. As the pony before her left the diving area Derpy placed a hoof on the ladder and started to climb up, she made it a whole three rungs up the ladder before she slipped and fell back down to the ground. She landed with a soft thud onto her back.

"Whoops!" She giggled as she picked herself up.

She started her climb again although this time she kept her eyes on her hooves. She carefully placed each hoof as she climbed, her muzzle was scrunched up in concentration and her tongue was poked out from the left side of her mouth. The wind started to pick up a bit as she got closer to the platform, she instictively fluttered her wings to keep her steady in the strong winds and gripped the rungs tighter.

After what seemed like hours Derpy finallly made it to the platform. She shook her head and let the wind blow through her mane and tail. Derpy grinned and took a deep breath to settle herself down, after a few moments she started to gallop as fast as she could off of the platform. Just as she reached the end though she tripped over her own hooves and awkwardly fell off the edge. She tumbled head over flank as she fell, the world spun around her making her dizzy. Her legs flailed as she opened her wings and got herself upright again.

It was too little too late though, just as soon as she had corrected herself she splashed into the water with the pegasus equivalent of a belly flop. As she fell into the water her wings were pulled up painfully behind her. After a few tense moments she surfaced and struggled to doggy paddle her way to shore. Once safely on the ground she gave her wings a gentle flap and winced. Nothing was broken, but she had definately pulled something. She waved to the croud and smiled to let them know that she wasn't seriously hurt. She awkwardly held her wings open as she made her way to the medical ponies waiting at the sidelines.

[Rosewind]

Skylar Song trotted cautiously to the ladder of the platform and looked up it. She turned to her friends who nodded in support.

"Come on Skylar! You can do it!" Jupiter yelled. Skylar smiled back and started up the ladder. She was about half way up when it started to wobble frighteningly. The weather suddenly changed creating a huge downpour upon Skylar and everyone else below her. Blinking rain out of her eyes, she clung onto the ladder, only taking tiny steps up it. When the downpour finished Skylar breathed a sigh of relief, and clinging on to the ladder with one hoof, she wiped her glasses clean with the other. When she could finally see, she carried on up the ladder, constantly worrying about what she was going to do for her dive. Lifting both of her hooves onto the board at the top, she had finally reached the top.

Brilliant. She thought. What am I supposed to do for my dive? She shuffled cautiously to the edge of the diving board as it wobbled in the breeze. Wondering what she had gotten herself into, she jumped off the board and pointed herself downwards, like an arrow or a rocket. She spread her wings and straightened out, using them as a bit of a parachute to give herself some time to think. She pointed herself down again and spun around as she rocketed to the water, her wings creating an interesting pattern. Before she hit the water, she flew in a circle and sort of barrel-rolled into the water, creating a massive splash. When she resurfaced she was faced with the grins of Jupiter and Pesadilla, whom of which had been forcibly woken up to watch the events.

Aqueous Heart - This Skylar is braving the weather quite well. Good solid form on the way down. 9!

Mistea Soakspray - She did okay I think. Pegasus moves are all the same. 9!

Wyndway Falls - Aww yeah! LOOK AT THOSE PEGASUS WING MOVES. That's how it's done, Mistea! 15!

FINAL SCORE: 33

Parhelion watched intently as Skylar Song climbed. He swallowed nervously as the wind picked up, and mentally urged his fellow pegasus to climb. It had been well and good, weeks ago, to decide to be brave and take on the sky dive, but looking at that climb--well, it was different being here on the ground and seeing the tower stretch dizzingly upward.

Soon the filly was a lilac speck. Clouds swept in from the west, darknening the sky with unnatural speed. Parhelion had heard that the weather was going to be 'left rough', untouched by weatherponies, in this area, and the swift-moving dark mass trailing its shimmering rain caul proved it. Shadows swept across the ground and the tower dissapeared. "Hold on..." Parhelion said quietly, an instant before a torrential downpour forced him to look away.

As quickly as it had come, the rainstorm passed, and the tiny dot of the other pegasus continued on. The wait seemed interminable. Now she had made it, Parhelion found himself assailed by worries--what if she did the exact thing he had planned? What if she gave a stunning performance? What if--there she was!

Her dive unfolded like a blooming flower, slow at first, then gaining in speed and complexity as she descended, rolling around her own axis, wingtips tracing designs in the air. Parhelion whooped as the swept over the water, bringing up a wave before making a final flashy roll and dropping in. With a grin he started up the ladder himself.

The gray pegasus was a third of the way up when he heard the creak. His wings shot out, and he started to disengage himself, then stopped the reflex and held on. "It's not going to fall," she said aloud, half-certain and half-praying. "Okay, okay. Move, weatherpony. You got this."

He climbed steadily, closing his eyes. He listened to his own breathing. The creaks and groans of the tower grew louder, and it began to sway noticeably, then almost sickeningly. "Don't stop. Just the wind," he said. "Like your breath. Breath of the sky. It's just moving with the breath of the sky." He moved slowly, but steadily, making sure he had a firm grip with all hooves before moving on, feeling the rhythm of his old friend, the wind as it moved the tower.

In his mind, perfect blackness. Then, the image of the lake appeared. Finally himself and the platform at the top of the tower. He held it in his mind, saw his planned dive in vivid detail, ran it again and again, willing the image into his muscles as he--

--he was at the top. He faltered, surprised at how quickly it seemed to have come. His heart raced, his blood as loud in his ears as the rushing wind, the cheering crowd. "You can do this," he said, and hoped that his upraised head and slow pace hid the giddy panic that circled his heart and stomach like a swarm of butterflies.

He was at the edge. "Now."

Parhelion stepped off, folding his wings in against his body. The tips flared briefly, tilting him nosedown. It was silent. The lake was so far below. A bank of clouds came between him and the ground, the lake, and he shot into it, opening his wings to spiral and trailing a corkscrew of silver cloud-stuff behind him, his long white mane and tail trailing in the center of the vortex. Keep the lake centered. A tiny correction as he gathered speed, then he folded his wings again. His spiral doubled, tripled in speed; he was an arrow, a cannon-shot, a comet of grey with a white tail and the faintest bow-wave of cloud wrapped around it. The image was reflected in the wind-rippled lake, two comets reaching for one another with deceptive laziness.

A collumn of white rose into the air and the reflection was obliterated in a thousand sparkling waves. Water rained down in droplets, catching the sun like diamons and causing a wonderful, soft rushing sound. Below the water, trailing another cone of bubbles, Parhelion was dazed, but weeks of practice kicked in and his body swam almost of its own accord to the shore.

He emerged far to the left of the judging stables, almost facing away from them, and for a moment was totally, visibly shocked. Keep going, keep going! He turned toward the audience stand, smiling, and spread his wings high, framing himself with them, and then bowed deeply first to the audience, and then to the judges.

Parhelion rose and trotted to where he and his fellow contestants would await judging, wondering how many ponies could see the wobble in his knees.

Aqueous Heart - My, look at that showponyship! I think it was a graceful dive. A solid 11!

Mistea Soakspray - That finishing move at the end was lovely. I especially liked the added corkscrew. 13!

Wyndway Falls - YEAH! PEGASUS POWER REPRESENT! LOOK AT THOSE WINGS GO! WOOO! 18!

FINAL SCORE: 42

This was it, the chance to prove himself to his fellow Aeroblades and the other ponies. For weeks Sky Flare spent training as the sky dive platform slowly took shape in the sky. Wing pushups, sit ups, speed drills, and stunt practices. He knew his dive had to be fast, accurate, and of course awesome!

Finally it came time for the event. Dressed in his Aeroblades uniform, he climbed to the top of the diving area.

"No guts, no glory," Sky said as he placed the goggles over his eyes.

Taking a running start, he leapt from the platform. He knew this wasn't meant to be a flight performance. It was supposed to be a dive, and the more stunts he could do while free falling the better. He started with a triple sommersault, his fiery contrail making several loops. Then he pulled out of the sommersault and made a few small corkscrews. Finally he positioned himself nose first towards the lake and begal to spin his body. His contrail wrapped aroung him, making it look like he was on fire. He then plunged into the lake, releasing a column of water into the air.

He appeared out of the water and removing his goggles took a little bow in front of the judges before joining the other competitors on the side.

Aqueous Heart - Hmm...I think I've seen better. I'll give him an 8.

Mistea Soakspray - A fire move? Interesting indeed. It was almost magical. 12!

Wyndway Falls - Looks like a lucky day for the Pegasi! I liked that triple somersault. You get a 14!

FINAL SCORE: 34

[Rosewind]

Sparky stood at the bottom of the ladder, and snorted. "Easy!" He started the climb up the rainbow colored planks of the ladder, his claws gripping it confidently. Heights? No point being afraid of them when you've got wings! He flapped them, and grinned determinedly. His tangerine eyes looked up at the platform. It was still a long way off, especially for a baby dragon, but he kept pulling himself up each step. It could be a lot worse, but it could also be much better. Sparky sighed, his small arms beginning to ache. He hadn't even dived yet!

Will this ladder ever end? Sparky thought to himself. He could still see the divng board, and he focused on getting there, as the ladder swayed precariously in the wind. He ignored the rocking motions, and kept going, his arms pretty tired by now. He didn't mean to be slow, but he was only a baby after all. He frowned a little, as his stomah rumbled. He really should have eaten before he decided to do this. Although, being up this high was kind of refreshing. He could feel cold water vapour condensing on his scales and wings, and he knew he must be near the top, and then, he felt his claw grip the diving board itself. Finally!

He ambled happily to the edge of the board, and pulled his goggles over his eyes. Looking down, he saw the shimmering blue dot that must have been Ponyville Lake. He smoothed down the ridge of light orange spines over his head, as he backed up for a running start. He ran a few steps before cartwheeling over the edge of the boardand into the open air, feet first. He stretched out in midair, streamlining his body, spreading his wings out and pirouetting, wisps of cloud catching the spines on his wings, trailing down into a white, pearly vortex, each strip of cloud twisting and dancing as Sparky span in the air, leaving a pretty spiralling pattern for a large distance behind him. He grinned, spreading his arms and flipping over so he was headfirst, and he pulled his wings in, putting his arms together above his head as he approached the water. Sparky caught a splash of rainbow on his claws, an unintentional mistake, but nobody needed to know that. As he hit the water, the remaining rainbow on his claws mixed with the water and sent glittering droplets, every color of the spectrum into the air. They caught the sunlight and twinkled before falling back to the lake as the color fizzled out.

Sparky smiled and swam back to the surface of the lake. He swiftly got back to shore, and stood proudly, bowing to the judges. He strutted soundly back to Lavender Blush, who was clapping her hooves happily. "That was brilliant Sparky!" She grinned.

"I know! But what do you expect? I am going to be the best flyer in Equestria after all." He smirked, puffing his chest out. Lavender just raised an eyebrow as they joined the other competitors.

Aqueous Heart - A dragon? How interesting. He didn't show much strength, though. Let's give him a 6.

Mistea Soakspray - Aqua, are you kidding me? He's a magical creature! That dive was quite well done with the rainbow finish. Easily worth 12!

Wyndway Falls - Anything with wings is awesome by default. I've yet to see anypony -- or anydragon -- pass up anything without wings. 12!

FINAL SCORE: 30

The time had come. Fear shot straight through Vivre Vrai's spine causing shivers to overcome her faked calm. Standing at the bottom of the ladder she gazed up deep into the sky. It seemed to stretch on forever and ever. The light teal Pegasus shuddered at the thought of the distance she was about to fall. Though in all honest falling was the only thing going for her. Virve Vrai was never a strong flyer, but falling? Falling was easy. Anypony can fall. All she needs to do is fall with style. The fearful Pegasus was brought straight back to her foalhood by the splash made from the previous contender. Silence overcame the poor young mare as her head was filled with the chants from her past. The various colorful insults she faced.

"Snap out of it kiddo. You'll do fine! Remember its all for fun" The reassuring words were followed by a small peck on the cheek from her special somepony and fellow band mate Rabble Rouser. Vivre Vrai turned a let a cheerful yet still faintly hesitant smile creep across her face. The statement was true though. Each member of the Filly Force Five planned to compete in each of the challenges. Wether it was for publicity? Charity or even as Rabble said "for fun", didn't matter. Vivre Vrai wanted to prove something. Prove she could accomplish this mammoth task and even better maybe win.

Slowly but surely she started her way up the ladder after giving a friendly wave and nod to her 4 friends whom would await her at the bottom. One hoof after another she clambered up the soft cloud ladder. It seemed to go on and on. Infact it seemed to get bigger as it broke the cloud cover. Vivre Vrai suddenly cling tight to the ladder as it began to sway side to side. The weather was picking up and this was causing her heart to beat oh so fast. Her eyes were closed tight and for a few seconds she refused to move. Though when the thoughts of her friends swooped into her mind she smiled and loosened her grip. "Time to go".

Vivre Vrai began to mumble to herself as she steadily closed the gap between her and the platform. All self-doubt and fear for the height seemed to have drained from her. It wasn't long before she arose triumphantly at the top. Now filled with courage and adreniline shooting through her veins she made her way to the end of the diving board. Vivre Vrai turned and faced her tail end to the drop. The moment was now.

She leaned back onto her hind legs and as time seemed to slow down for her she fell backwards off the platform. Her hind legs stayed perfectly stuck together as she spread her forelegs out to each side. For the first moment of the fall she kept her wings firmly closed in as she began to speed to the ground. Her first move was to bring her forelegs back in and tuck into the shape of a bullet. As she did this her body twisted as her head became the point driving her aerial assult on the ground. Soon she started to spin as she became almost drill like upon approaching a cloud about to pass under her. Just before she hit the cloud she halted the spin, kept all of her limbs in tight and spread her wings.

She collided with the soft cotton like material. All of a sudden everything became to serene. She seemed to reach a state of pure mental calm. Something like this seemed so odd but so right. To feel safe during a speedy descent was something that used to seem unnatural to her. But not this time. As Vivre Vrai exited the cloud she left the outline of what looked like a phoenix rising cut into it. She noticed her golden blonde mane now danced freely in the wind. Her mane band had tore right up from the sheer speed. Next up was the finish. Now she was lost for ideas though, something spectacular? Maybe something easy? Then it hit her. Finish with a cannon ball. She pulled herself into the bullet shape once more to pick up speed then instantly curled up into a ball. As she soared to the ground she started to spin. Faster and faster! THEN!

She quickly found herself encased in cicular torrent of water as it exploded up from the previously stable body it once had. Each speckle and drip of water reflected the bright burning sun as they simply cleaved through the air.

It was less than a second later that she found herself escaping from the water onto dry land and into the embrace of a friendly hugs. As Rabble and Vivre Vrai met the massive spash she made was only just resting back into the motionless pool. Vivre Vrai felt extremely happy about this. She knew now that what mattered is that she took part and gave it her best shot. She trotted over to where the other contestants stood awaiting the results. She looked back up at the diving board and simply smiled. "I did it".

Aqueous Heart - I've yet to see an Earth Pony do it better than a pegasus. How disappointing. This dive was nice, though. An 11.

Mistea Soakspray - Feeling generous, Aqua? It's clear this pegasus has an appreciation for magical creatures with that phoenix hole she stuck in the cloud. That is a 17!

Wyndway Falls - Very nicely done! I totally agree Mistea. Pegasi are ROCKING this competition. 17!

FINAL SCORE: 45

This was it, the big day, the big jump the big...Diving board! Colton Cloudkicker, the proud, white coated and blue maned, right wing of the Aeroblades pegasus was ready for anything as he paced towards the bottom of the ladder. He walked with power in his stride, a determined look in his eyes and wings extended outwards to show that he was a contender, a contender just like everypony there, a contender who would beat the odds and do what he must and this most important of days!

...Of course all this power walking and wing showing didn't hide the fact that Colton was as jittery as a hairless pony during Winter Wrap Up. His stride grew less and less powerful as he got closer and closer to the base of the ladder. As he did he was constantly being egged on by his avian companion and long time pet, Sparks the sparrow. The bird kept shouting chirps of encouragement as the pegasus continued walking, his nerves becoming more and more prominent as he inched closer and closer to what he perceived as 'The big moment'. Colton has never had a problem with heights, however the gathering crowd was the main cause of his rather out of character skittishness. Usually Colton would fly and practice his tricks in solitude, but now he had no choice. The pegasus kept his head facing down, trying not to look up at the reality that, quite frankly scared him.

Before he knew it though, Colton had found himself at the base of the ladder. He turned his gaze upwards to see the Goliath of a challenge set before him...and he gulped. His breathing intensified and his heart rate with it, he knew there was no turning back but he wished that wasn't so. He looked back for a brief moment and saw the way he had came in; it's like it was calling to him, like a sanctuary. Sadly, Sparks quickly flew into his gaze and turned his master's head back towards the ladder. The bird spouted a few more chirps of encouragement, which started to sound more like commands at this point, and left Colton on his own.

The pegasus took one long, deep breath and slowed everything down in his mind. He blocked out the crowd as best he could, and as he did, placed a hoof onto the first rung of the ladder, then the next, then the next; and so on and so on. With every rung, the pegasus made more of an effort to try and calm himself. He began mumbling a few words under his breath, "Iron Pony they said...it'll be fun they said." Colton stated as he continued climbing.

Upon reaching the middle of the structure, Colton took a moment and went to reassure himself, "Okay, okay...how bad could it honestly be...?" He stated as he saw nothing other than a pony making their dive. His gaze followed the contestant as they made their descent, and then Colton saw all the camera flashes, and nearly had a slight heart attack. He held onto the ladder like a foal holding onto a parent's leg as he took one more deep breath, and continued skyward.

Not long after his near, panic attack, Colton had reached the top. He reveled in the fact that he had made it this far, that the supposed 'hard part' was over. But really, Colton knew that was just the prep work. He peeked over the edge of the board and saw what was going to be his next destination. He also saw all the cameras and ponies that were cheering in anticipation. Colton tried once again to make it all go away in his head, and just remember his technique he had planned. And with that, Colton took a step back, put his goggles on, put some actual power in his stride and jumped.

Colton knew that his routine was only going to work if he acted fast, but he also had to be fast for it to work. The pegasus closed his wings to his sides and nose dived towards a nearby cloud. Right before he made contact with the cloud, he darted a slight bit to the right and skimmed the edge of the cloud. He adjusted his position so he grabbed a clump of the cloud mid fall and took it with him, creating a straight line of cloud.

The pegasus prepped himself. He saw another cluster of clouds coming and saw the opportunity for his signature routine, which he had named, 'The Cloud Kick'. He headed straight for a large cloud and as he did, flipped himself around in mid air so he was going hind hooves first. He readied himself, pulled back his legs, turned a few degrees and slammed his hind legs down on the cloud. Instead of dissipating, a shock wave traveled through the cloud, and then back up towards Colton. The pegasus used the momentum gained from the cloud to travel to another cloud on the way down and do the same, and then another, and then another! Zigzagging down towards the ground from cloud to cloud.

When Colton saw water, he ducked his wings into his sides and dove muzzle first into the lake, sputtering slightly and with a rather big splash. The pegasus got all four hooves onto shore and looked around, seeing the many photographers and spectators. However, after all that, he didn't back down. He raised his front hooves up in the air, triumphant in his own accomplishment before heading back the way he came in the first place; a very happy bird waiting for him and a smile on his face.

Aqueous Heart - Kicking clouds to gain momentum? Smart. A 15!

Mistea Soakspray - It was well-executed, but I didn't see anything technically amazing outside of kicking a few clouds on the way down. A 7.

Wyndway Falls - Very nice! This Colton has spunk. I think he's part of the Aeroblades, right? Wing me impressed with the cloud manipulation. 18!

FINAL SCORE: 40

[Rosewind]

Scootaloo simply couldn't believe how tall that ladder was. She had spent the last five minutes staring at it, wondering how on earth she was going to tackle such an enormous climb without her wings. She no longer knew which scared her more, the climb or the dive. Scootaloo took in a deep breath of fresh air, attempting to calm her racing heart and jangled nerves.

"Do it for Rainbow Dash."

She whispered to herself, placing one hoof on the ladder and beginning the long climb. After she'd heard of the Iron Pony competition, Scootaloo knew it would be the perfect way to try and find her Cutie Mark. After all, she was pretty agile. And if she liked the feeling of wind on her face while she was on her scooter, maybe diving would be fun! She began to wonder if maybe some practice would have helped, even learning the proper way to jump off a smaller board. She shook her head as she lifted herself off the ground. If this was her true talent, it would come naturally. If not....that would be something to consider later!

With every notch in the ladder, Scootaloo's comfort grew. Was she going to kick flank? Indeed! Thats who she was! She was going to show Apple Bloom that she wasn't a chicken, Rainbow Dash that she was cool, and she might even get her Cutie Mark! She had nothing to lose!

By the time Scootaloo reached the top of the ladder, she was exhausted. All she wanted was to sit down and have a nice cool glass of chocolate milk, her arms aching and her legs shaking like never before. And she was physically fit! But Scootaloo shook her head, and straightened her mentality out. She was making this jump. Immediately!

Scootaloo turned her head and saw the judges waiting for her jump. She saw an audience of screaming and questioning fans. They were probably curious about her size, about her abilities. Sure, Scootaloo was small, even for her age, but she was about to prove that she had the abilities of someone much older AND bigger! If only she knew how to jump off...

The orange filly had a small, momentary panic attack. Was she supposed to jump face forward, or feet forward? Wings up or down? It was probably just like regular jumping, she decided. But before she could jump off, a gust of wind took the young filly down with it.

Scootaloo was bewildered, one moment waiting on the cloud to jump, and the next she was falling through the air at unreasonable speeds. She caught her balance, spreading her arms and legs out wide and flattening her body out. As she free-fell, she spun a bit in every direction. She screamed at the top of her lungs, absolutely terrified. She had never gone this fast before, and as fun as it was she feared hitting the water below. She couldn't belly flop, she would have to straighten herself and hit it legs first. But how?!

Scootaloo used every bit of force she had, Scootaloo pulled her arms and legs in, tilting herself down ward again. She tucked her head in, closing her eyes, and moving faster than ever. She giggled, enjoying the feeling of plummeting towards Ponyville. She didn't know how far she was from the ground, but she savoured the feeling of the wind rushing in her ears, and the cold air chilling her in the most satisfactory way. She opened one eye, to a slit, because she knew that if she opened it any more the whipping air would sting her whites.

She saw many, many feet below her still to go. Hundreds, maybe. Realising this was still her moment to shine, Scootaloo giggled and forced the top half of her body to face the ground, pushing her stomach muscles hard and playing with gravity. Soon she was spinning, face forward, every limb tucked in. She snapped open, pushing herself backwards again. Soon she was dizzy, but exhilarated. She was still spinning towards the ground at unreasonable speeds, but had not a fear in her mind.

That is, until she hit the water head on.

Scootaloo wasn't expecting to hit the water so soon, but had definitely picked up speed as she was doing her tricks. She quickly sunk further and further from the surface, into a dark abyss of warm (but not too warm) wetness. Her arms flailed aimlessly as she tried to claw her way up back to the surface. She was running out of air, and accidentally sucked in a bit of water. Scootaloo decided to do something incredibly dangerous: rely on her wings for support. Luckily, she was used to them propelling her on land, and they helped her to surface once more.

Scootaloo floated towards the edge of the pool, coughing up water and shaking her fuschia mane out. That had been quite a thrill! Maybe Scootaloo had done a good job, and maybe she'd gotten her Cutie Mark! She looked to her flank for an answer, but it provided nothing. Just a smooth orange surface. No, Scootaloo had not gotten her Cutie Mark. Disappointed, the filly shrugged.

Scootaloo took a towel off a nearby rack, and wrapped it around herself. She found her scooter nearby, and placed the helmet atop her soaked head. She road away, not even caring what numbers the judges gave her. It was still worth a try.

Aqueous Heart - Did that little pegasus just ram into the water head first? Well erm, have to admire her spirit! Let's give her a 10.

Mistea Soakspray - Oh my! I hope she's okay. That dive certainly was...er...interesting. A 5.

Wyndway Falls - *facehoof* Well erm...she's learning, you two! Head flops are all the rage in Cloudsdale! I give her a 13 for grade A effort!

FINAL SCORE: 28

As Prime Meridian looked up at massive construct ascending into the clouds; it was an impressive feat even for the pegasi. Prime was not exactly one of the best swimmers but he had done a good bit of skydiving a while back, even being modest in describing his skill in that matter would still seem impressive to most. Regardless, that was a while back and even though he had no problem with heights he knew that there was a good bit of risk in this.

As he ascended up the multi-colored ladder he contemplated what he should do for his routine. Aside from a hoof-full of flashy moves he had picked up most of his trick were pretty standard; the occasional flips and twists along with a style of gliding straight down in a freefall while guiding his direction, so he would most likely go with what felt right while he was falling.

In his thought he almost didn’t notice he had made it to the top, as he rose up he saw the top of the platform. To his side he saw fairly well packed stands and the judging booth. A well built earth-pony stallion, and a pegasi and unicorn mare all sat at the judge’s booth. It was his turn to jump, except for a pair of goggles he had nothing with him looking down the ladder it seemed he wasn’t being rushed so he proceeded to stretch for a few moments.

After he felt ready and limber he walked over to the diving bored. Leaving a few feet in between him and the end of the diving bored he paused and took a few deep breathes. In a few short seconds he silently ran forward and dived off the edge and began his fall.

Angling his body as to pick up a large amount of speed he began to tuck into a ball and spin, as he spun faster and faster he kept precise count in his head…17…18…19…20 at this he released himself self from a ball formation started making himself corkscrew downward and directed himself into a small cloud diving through it he caught a good bit in his hoofs and tails as to leave a cloud trail as he spun downwards. Nearing closer to the body of water he readjusted his body so he would land back hoofs first. Falling into the water with a well sized splash swam up and out of the water and waited to hear of the judges’ decision.

Aqueous Heart - Great form and function. See you two, this pony knows how to show strength and grace. 14!

Mistea Soakspray - He just did some spins. I'm not complaining, it was a solid dive. 9!

Wyndway Falls - Hmm, It was okay, I guess. It was a bit bland for me. 9.

FINAL SCORE: 32

Harrington Sleuth didn't think the ladder was all that high up...until he stood at its base. His pupils dilated and his eyes bugged out, nearly touching the goggles he brought with him and placed on his head, as he stared up the rainbow ladder that ascended high into the sky. It was so tall, he couldn't even see where the platform was! This wouldn't normally be a problem, but the officials already informed him as they did every other contestant, especially Pegasi, that he had to climb to the platform. He sighed and nodded, then proceeded to the rainbow ladder.

One rung at a time...that's the only way I can get up this thing. Time to see what all the hubbub about this event is.

He pushed himself up onto his hind legs, secured his hooves on the fourth rung from the bottom and pulled up and onto the ladder. He steadied himself before he progressed up toward the platform, alternating between front leg and back leg so he didn't stretch himself out too much. He thought this would be alright as long as he kept this up. As he climbed his way up, he started calculating what sorts of tricks he would do on the way back down.

Maybe I'll start with a few flips, then skydiver-style spins...see where that will take me...I'll have to account for--

He clung to the ladder as his thoughts were interrupted, however, when the wind picked up and started making the apparatus shake and wobble. His eyes bugged out again as the ladder moved.

Sweet Celestia, don't let this thing blow away! I like my life!

Once the gusts died down into breezes, they stopped shaking the ladder, and Harrington breathed a sigh of relief before he proceeded back up. The cool, moist air started to seep in and didn't help with the chills that shot up his spine when the ladder leaned with the wind. At long last, to his surprise, his hoof didn't touch a rung, but the board itself. He hoisted himself onto the platform, now at the top of the most extreme diving board ever created. Of course Cloudsdale was tasked with making this thing--nopony else would dream of such a sport!

He started devising what dive he would execute. Given he wasn't Rainbow Dash, high speed was probably not something suited to him. But he was a Pegasus, so he figured for a finale, he would incorporate some flight trick before he hit the lake. He only took about 20 seconds to run through his possibilities as he didn't want to keep the judges waiting longer than necessary. He slid down the goggles he brought with him, ready for the dive.

He backed up, rushed forward, bounced off the board and leaped into the air, tucking his hind legs in when he began with a few front flips, though he closed his eyes at the start because he couldn't watch from how high up he was as he went into a free fall. He slowed down and spread his hooves out, spinning as he fell in this new position. His left front hoof lowered below rest of his body, which caused him to start spinning and flipping backwards when it caught a cloud at an awkward angle. His heart pounded faster and he screamed in panic and flailed a little as he continued this impromptu backwards cannonball, but steadied himself as the lake started coming into sight. He stopped screaming once he felt gravity not changing on him.

He opened his eyes so he could properly adjust for his finale. This was the one part he had completely figured out at the platform and wanted to get right so desperately. He waited until the right moment, then unfurled his wings and tilted his body so he used his momentum to change direction. He pulled a vertical U-turn, missing the water by inches, then looped around twice before he folded his wings back in, his momentum carrying him like a ragdoll into a backflip as he went up just a little higher, then gravity took over again as he watched to make sure he would hit the water. He stuck his front hooves out a half-second before he splashed into the water, waited for its buoyant forces to stop him, then he swam back to the surface, onto the land around the lake that he saw as a blue button what seemed like days ago.

His legs rattled worse than the ladder ever did when he stood on dry, solid ground. He moved out of the way so he could dry off, relieved that he survived, didn't completely embarrass himself and had some ground to delude himself into thinking he had a shot to win. Even if it was a delusion, he wanted to believe it enough that he did.

Aqueous Heart - I can admire a pegasus that uses his wings as a finisher, not a crutch. This dive was easily a 13.

Mistea Soakspray - It was sort of boring, though, Aqua. He didn't do much on the way down. At least technically. Let's give him a 7.

Wyndway Falls - You two clearly don't know a good dive when you see one. That wing finisher at the end was pro! 19!

FINAL SCORE: 39

[SteelEagle]

Pathfinder prided herself on a certain flavor pf physicality inherent to any true adventure. She did not pack on the muscle, as even if tightly coiled such bulk proved cumbersome in the winding paths of a ruin. No, she preferred a tight coil of muscle surrounded by air and bone. Yes, she preferred to be half-starved a quarter of the time like any real adventurer was. It was then that true spirit was shown as you had to face down seriously undesirable circumstances with your stomach revolting endlessly, your wits and awareness tested. Adventuring deserved to be challenging or else it was little more than a silly exercise in foalish fun, and while she considered her entire existence blessed by that sense of fun, she was also blessed by true adventure. She was doubly blessed! Life was grand, and in its grandeur she had decided to partake in the Iron Pony competition. After all, if she could dominate a ruin, surely she could dominate some silly dive!

She was not only a pegasi, but had been born and raised in that very center of pegasi culture, society, and learning, Cloudsdale. It held no secrets and that was a good thing, as otherwise she would have been intrigued by it and would have spent an absurd time investigating it. That was a dreadful prospect, her love for the city confined to familial attachments and little more. The point in the end was simply that the fact that ponies from that city had helped build the tremendously exciting event did not surprise her and it held nothing even close to intimidation for her. It was exciting and as she watched the ponies who had already taken the dive getting judged, she hatched a plot. She was good at plot hatching and associated ventures and her lips were thoroughly licked as she trotted behind the judges.

"Hay hay hay! Is there any sort of order or can a pony climb up there and win this thing already?" Pathfinder asked as she drew uncomfortably close to the three judges, her voice cracking with excitement and her eyes pleading as much as they were boring holes through each forehead they targeted.

[Rosewind]

Pathfinder prided herself on a certain flavor pf physicality inherent to any true adventure. She did not pack on the muscle, as even if tightly coiled such bulk proved cumbersome in the winding paths of a ruin. No, she preferred a tight coil of muscle surrounded by air and bone. Yes, she preferred to be half-starved a quarter of the time like any real adventurer was. It was then that true spirit was shown as you had to face down seriously undesirable circumstances with your stomach revolting endlessly, your wits and awareness tested. Adventuring deserved to be challenging or else it was little more than a silly exercise in foalish fun, and while she considered her entire existence blessed by that sense of fun, she was also blessed by true adventure. She was doubly blessed! Life was grand, and in its grandeur she had decided to partake in the Iron Pony competition. After all, if she could dominate a ruin, surely she could dominate some silly dive!

She was not only a pegasi, but had been born and raised in that very center of pegasi culture, society, and learning, Cloudsdale. It held no secrets and that was a good thing, as otherwise she would have been intrigued by it and would have spent an absurd time investigating it. That was a dreadful prospect, her love for the city confined to familial attachments and little more. The point in the end was simply that the fact that ponies from that city had helped build the tremendously exciting event did not surprise her and it held nothing even close to intimidation for her. It was exciting and as she watched the ponies who had already taken the dive getting judged, she hatched a plot. She was good at plot hatching and associated ventures and her lips were thoroughly licked as she trotted behind the judges.

"Hay hay hay! Is there any sort of order or can a pony climb up there and win this thing already?" Pathfinder asked as she drew uncomfortably close to the three judges, her voice cracking with excitement and her eyes pleading as much as they were boring holes through each forehead they targeted.

Aqueous Heart furrowed his thick brow at the upstart pegasus, "Of course. The way up is open, if you can handle it." He grinned, stretching his rock-solid Earth Pony neck. "I'll be keeping an especially close eye on your dive."

Mistea Soakspray placed her hoof across Aqua's chest, sighing deeply. "Please excuse my co-judge. We would be honored to see your dive in short order. Just climb up when you are ready!"

Wyndway Falls stretched over the top of the table, offering her fellow pegasus a wing-five. "Heya! You look like you're ready to show us all you've got! I'm sure you'll give 'ol Aqua something to think about!"

Aqua rolled his eyes. "Obvious bias." "You shut your mouth." "Both of you, QUIET!"

[hinata2000100]

This was it. This was Twilight's event. She's dived many times, and knows how to do many moves as she falls. Although, applying logic to this, hitting the water from such a height would be like hitting concrete. "Maybe this water has been enchanted so that doesn't happen?" Twilight thought to herself as she looked up at where the diving board was. She looked at the judges, and wondered how exactly they judged, and how strict they were. She had gotten better at magic, and she could at least make her horn glow. Perhaps that could help her win some points with the judges? She didn't know.

She took one last look at the judges, and started to climb with the most determination her cute little foal face could show. She took a deep breath as she got higher, and the air levels got a bit thinner. She could see some storm clouds off in the distance, but she wasn't worried. She kept climbing the seemingly endless ladder, and eventually made it up. She took another deep breath, and started to jump on the board.

She kept jumping until she had a satisfactory height, and then she jumped off. As soon as she left the board, she started doing flips, and started doing several somersaults in a row. She started to spin like a drill, and started to make her horn glow. a brilliant lime green light shone from her horn, and with her angle and force of descent, made her look somewhat like a shooting star. She did a couple backflips, and then started to spin in a horizontal motion, covering some of the area in her magic. As she reached the bottom, she spread her arms out and fell into the water, and her horn made the water glow as she got out, coughing water out and shaking her mane dry. She "deactivated" her horn, and went to go get a towel. She then went to the judges, and smiled at them brightly. "How *cough* How did I do?" she asked the judges happily, still coughing out water.

[Bramble Rose]

Rainbow Dash fought down her nervousness, trying to get ready for her trip down. She'd been practicing this particular event for weeks, getting it just right. She'd pushed herself to the limit, she'd practiced till she could do the routine in her sleep. She'd even gotten Rarity to help her plan it out for grace and style. She knew she could do it, she knew it'd be awesome, but she always had these last minute jitters. She stepped up, ready to volunteer herself to start climbing next, when that baby dragon did its dive. Spiralling clouds, rainbow splash finish ... that ... that was almost exactly what Dash had been about to do! That's no fair! Dragons weren't even supposed to be *able* to manipulate clouds! How'd that even happened? Dash's was bigger, flashier, but ... now she'd just look like a copycat!

She swallowed, stepped back, let other ponies go ahead of her. No, no ... nononononono... she couldn't give up, but she couldn't go through with her practiced routine... She barely even saw any of the following dives, as she burrowed into her own head, beating aside the doubt and fear to focus through and hit that core of inspiration. She needed something cool. She needed something rad. She needed something AWESOME. At least 20% more awesome!

Finally, she pulled it together. Yes, that would do. She fluttered her wings and drifted off, using all her weather senses ... she sculpted a cloud here, a cloud there, measured the wind speed, ran the variables... and gave each cloud a nudge, sending it drifting off into the distance... before finally returning to the crowd at the base of the ladder.

She pulled her wings in tight, started on her way up. She wasn't sure about this contraption ... wood ... on clouds? No matter how many unicorns they got in to enchant the wood, it just didn't feel ... right. But she climbed on, and on, occassionally fluttering a wing to stabilize the towering ladder as it swayed in the breeze, glancing up at the less winged competitors above her. Dash was perfectly safe, but this was dangerous for the others! Well, they had pegasus ponies around to catch the others, she supposed. She kept climbing, giving a soft sigh, and keeping her own eye upon the non-winged competitors, ready to help catch them if need be, and stabilizing the ladder for them.

Finally, though, she made it up to the top. Gah. It would have taken her less than ten seconds to get to the top with her wings! Why did everypony have to climb the ladder? Ah well. She waited her turn, then stepped forward to the edge, pulled a bottle of rainbow from under her wing, and touched each of her hooves plus her tailtip into it, then finally touched her nose into the bottle. Timing ... timing ... just wait... here they came ... five seconds... four ... three ... All right. Aaaand, GO!

===== ===== =====

She leapt off the platform and spread her hooves wide. She'd separated out the liquid rainbow, so there was only a single color on each hooftip, on her nose and tailtip. The six colors spiraled around each other as she fell, spread-eagled, forming a hexical helix in the air, keeping her wings tucked in tight to her back. She set in a good spiral as a basis, then tucked her hooves in, pulling the helix in tight, then thrust out again, letting the liquid rainbows splatter from her extremities to send little mini-rainbows flying out like a fireworks burst. The rainbow trail splattered and sputtered to an end as she ran out of the rainbows, just in time... clouds were drifting in from every direction, and Rainbow Dash grinned eagerly. Looks like she had timed it perfectly.

There was an old pegasus stage tradition - the Cloud Play. It involved standing behind a thin wall of clouds so that the shadows of your wings cast upon the cloud. Masters of the craft could twist their wings to create just about any shape they wanted - pegasus squadrons, waving trees, a dramatic landscape, or a fluttering butterfly. It was an ancient and renowned tradition ...though that hadn't stopped those three athletic jerks in high school from making fun of her and the rest of the theatre club for practicing it. But now...

The clouds had been floating in from all directions, drifting towards the tournament grounds ... and as Rainbow Dash plummeted towards the ground, they one after another drifted into place, just in time for Rainbow Dash to hit them. She struck pose after pose, each cloud slowing her down a little bit, as she punched holes through them. She wasn't a master, but she had a few shapes she could do. The first one she punched into the cloud was Princess Celestia's cutie mark, and the second was a new one shaped like a cresent mooon, for Princess Luna. The third, a heart, was for Princess Cadence. Her wings tucked in tight as she punched an earth pony into the next cloud - spread wide for a pegasus for the fifth, and then slid up along her back and poking out over her head to make a unicorn for the sixth cloud. She'd have loved to do more, but there were only so many clouds she could stack up all at once!

As she passed out the bottom of the sixth cloud, she grinned an eager, bright-eyed grin, and finally put her wings to proper use, propelling her downwards with increasing speed. She was *going* to finish this off the same way... Rarity had been *quite* enthusiastic about this ending! The mach cone started to form around her, narrowed, crackled with energy... just as she hit the surface of the lake, the mach cone snapped, and the rainboom flooded into the water itself, sending it flying up into the air in a giant rainbow-colored water spout. It hit the clouds she'd plunged through, lighting them up with rainbow color, sprayed out across them and exploding like another series of fireworks, reverberating across the sky!

She let out a sigh of relief as she reached the shore, stepping out and not even bothering to look for a result. She'd pulled off the routine *perfectly*, and if the Stalliongrad judge gave her a low score, well, at least she knew she'd done awesome!

[Blueblood]

*Well, the ladder wants a sure set of hooves. Got that, at least...* Flying Brick, of Stalliongrad, had been hesitant about entering herself for this particular event; as impressive and gravity-defying as her street acrobatics were, they weren't a patch on a pair of wings as far as heights went. And diving? *Fuggedaboutit,* the umber earth pony had thought to herself, as she smacked her gum on the sidelines, *The water ain't a thing you wanna drop into, not downriver from the factory district.*

The clarity of the landing lake, combined with the somewhat reassuring presence of an earth pony on the panel of judges, had finally induced the visiting mare to join the line. And as she watched the performers go in front of her, she wasn't sure what she regretted most, the joining or the initial hesitation. *That cloud kicker took the one idea I got for this! Kick flips off a few clouds, grind a rainbow to a triple spin-* She halted short in her train of thought. Could Earth Ponies even do that? She'd heard there was some skill or spell or something that'd give you that edge, not that she'd ever been able to get that advantage.

"You're freaking yourself out here, Brick. Don't think, just remember, the key is forward momentum and the right angle. Forward momentum and the right angle." She muttered the mantra to herself, fully aware that it applied more to her own sport than this one. She shut her eyes, trying to think of some way to apply her favorite maxim to a water event-

Her eyes burst open. Of course, nopony was likely to think of that! The ladder was open in front of her, and she spared no seconds for thought. She took the ladder at a running start, like some steep fire escape she'd mount to start a public routine. By the time all four hooves had hit the boards, she was in her "zone." Each step was instinctual, her trained muscles twitching in reaction to each sway, as if anticipating the vagaries of a loose screw. It was a long climb to the actual board, but if there was one edge an earth pony could boast over a pegasus, it was endurance.

She lost no momentum as she reached the summit, grasping the top handrails with her front hooves an instant before launching herself into a mid-air somersault, slamming into the board on her back hooves so as to slide down the board as it bent downwards, reaching the tip as it sprang back up, sending her flying into the air in a manner not usually associated with bricks.

Sans wings, there was not much in the way of style that she could add on the way down. Sure, she'd taken a few forward flips off the launch, but that wasn't the main goal here. It was a high dive, but even flying bricks fall fast, and if the mare wanted to pull off her sudden inspiration, she needed to use every foot of fall to set it up. The slight deviation from the vertical was essential here, and to maintain it, Flying Brick had to plan each twist and turn to hit each cloud at the right angle. They didn't slow her down much, but each fraction of an inch off-center mattered.

Less that half a minute later, there was the lake. Taking all the muscle energy she'd reserved during the dive, she suddenly pulled her back end down, slightly below the front. The angle of the dive, plus the angle of attack, plus the sheer momentum Flying Brick had brought to the landing had caused her to skip over the surface of the water. Or, maybe bounce was the more appropriate term, since at that speed water effectively becomes a solid.

The first "skip" gave her enough air time to pull off another mid-air twist before getting herself back into the right angle to skip again across the water. The acrobatics had to stop for the rest of them, she had to conserve momentum if she didn't want to finish with an unimpressive plop into the water. There were only three "skips" in total, and the third brought her clear to the shoreline. Extending all four hooves, she hit the sand bent-kneed, before straightening up to look straight at the judges' table. "And she sticks the landing!" Flying Brick spat out in a kind of pained rush of air before collapsing.

Dear Luna, everything hurt! Her entire bottom side, where she had struck the water, was a bright red instead of the usual burnt color, and the draining away of the adrenaline rush had made her aware of all her rattled bones and tenderized muscles. She didn't feel like moving for a while...

[SteelEagle]

A little bit of encouragement could go a long way when the subject is already half-mad and highly delusional, and a little bit of encouragement was all the judges had given her. Good enough for an adventurer. Good enough for Pathfinder. She smiled broadly as visions of her emerging success played tiddly winks with her common sense, and she trotted rather than flew towards the base of the ladder, not seeing the great deal about using wings when hooves were just as sure to get her where she needed to be. Standing at the base of the ladder, Pathfinder took it in, the sheer verticality and height stunning to those not as well versed in pegasi intimidation. Height was the one thing they could hold with certainty above all others, and with it they used it effectively to scare those who clung to the ground. She was not beholden to that simple law and regarded the ladder with equal measures respect for its height and disregard for it.

Pathfinder started climbing, just another ladder on an another adventure. Her hooves were sure and her back was was straight as she ascended hoof over hoof. Hoof over hoof. Hoof over hoof. It wasn't anything too special and she was much happier to be ascending rather than descending, which was a common experience for her. Going down a ladder on a broken wing was never a fun experience as within the confines of the cave she could not feel Celestia's warm light or even in desperation feel the touch of Luna's eternal moon. No, this was much better as anypony felt infinitely more safe under their gaze than alone in the darkness underground. Pathfinder didn't necessarily feel unsafe in the darkness but even she would admit to a degree of comfort in the open. Hoof over hoof, she climbed. Eventually the wind started to pick up and thrashed around her relentlessly, pegasi-nutured weather acting as a barrier to the weak willed. It was amateur level stuff at its worst, holding absolutely no challenge for her. She could just as easily found herself in the maw of some beast as she could be drinking something refreshing, so a slight change in weather was less of a bother than perhaps intended.

She reached the top swiftly, experience and sheer excitement sending her rocketing up the ladder. She reached the top and trotted assuredly to the end of the board, happy to be up in the sky amongst her type that so casually treated that which was considered unusual and awe-inspiring by others. It was quite the drop! Exciting. The flavor of life was danger and a personal sense of disregard for it, and today she was looking upon a buffet. It would be good enough just to jump for the sheer entertainment value, but she was not here on this day for the joy of the matter. That was a side bonus, but no, not the point. Today she was in it to win it and hopefully pawn the fame off for some bits to fund more adventures. A perfectly moral and obvious solution. But first she had to win and for that she needed a plan, and she came prepared for that. After all, they didn't say she couldn't use something for a spectacular finish!

Pathfinder went to the start of the board, stretching herself out. Her tail flitted to and fro of its own volition as she prepped for victory. Finished, she allowed herself a moment of peace. This would be glorious, amazing, worthy of both her and every adventurer who toiled in ruins far below endlessly and in many cases anonymously. Less for them though and more for herself, here now was a chance to prove to even her former comrades in the city of the pegasi that she was worthy of them, and more to a bitter edge, better than they ever thought she was. Daring Do would know that Pathfinder's Daring and Pathfinder's Doing allowed her to stand with her, look like her, and emulate her. The bits would be nice too.

"For Daring Do!" She screamed and ran down the board, starting to bounce, bounce, bounce only a third down the board. She took the biggest jump and was rejected into the air halfway down the board, falling backward as a top-heavy pegasi was wont to do. She barely passed the end of the board, her head missing by a single length of hair, and she started her dive down to the lake far below. She continued to flip in the air end over end backwards, cutting through the clouds in her way with a repeating pattern. It looked nice but wasn't part of her routine or plan.

She tucked her body in and took the form of a rock, punching through a cloud with abandon. She picked up speed until around her the air seemed to shimmer and break in terror. It was a nearly dangerous speed to be going, which meant that it was the perfect time for her routine to start. Her wings spread out, but entirely too wide. There would be no hard stop or extensive wing work on this dive. That'd be too easy and too common; how would that impress the judges? Instead, her wings peeked out at an angle not far from her body. This stopped the rolling effect of her rock formation, but not by much. Sticking it out there for longer eventually lead to her no longer spinning, but that was just the start. The wings stayed out for a moment longer in that formation and she started to fall forward as opposed to backward. Wings retracted and then bent at the opposite angle. She started falling backward. Forward, backward, forward, backward, the hooves of a clock gone mad in increasingly manic intervals. Greater speed with every motion, greater degree of movement. She continued to fall through the sky as the back and forth continued

Finally, she allowed herself to fall forward until she was pointed straight down. She evened out with the aid of her wings until she was aimed like a missile at the lake. A cloud positioned itself between her and the prize, depth incarnate. She sent one hoof into her saddlebag and with a smile on her lips felt it reach the prize. One quick snap of a motion sent a blue ball rocketing from the falling pegasus down through the cloud, cutting through it like a hot knife through butter. It kept on falling and falling and falling through the sky, speed increasing almost unnaturally until it was right above the water- and stopped. For a moment, it just sat there above the water, reflecting the disturbed water below. Pathfinder above shot through the hole that the blue ball had made. The tufts of cloud that caressed her tried to fill in the gaps left by the ball but instead just packed in around an oversped, underfed pegasus. When she popped out of the hole, she extended her back hooves and bucked the undercarriage of the cloud. She was shot towards the lake at a much quicker pace.

As she came closer and closer to the lake at an incredibly irresponsible speed, the blue ball below that sat calmly above the water starting to discard that veneer. It radiated light green waves that hugged the water like some sort of suit, taking on its motions and character but adding to it a sinister glow. Underneath the ball itself, water seemed to be pushed away as if it were a crater. It had been found in some old, decrepit ruin and likely had some sort of importance to the world at large. She couldn't find anything but found a use for it as some sort of light-making device that was shiny. And explodey. That part was important.

The lake came up and threatened Pathfinder increasingly with every passing nanosecond. Her instincts were honed by years of adventuring and dulled by as many years of likely brain injuries, but it didn't take an expert to realize what had to be done. It just took somepony who had done it in desperation after being unable to move the ball any other way from its ancient pedestal. She had to buck it. Pathfinder waited until the very last moment of her dive and once more did a one-eighty, this one without the aid of her wings, and pulled herself almost back into a rock. As she reached the ball, she uncoiled and bucked the neigh indestructible ball with all of the power given to her by a near endless drop and cloud aided speed. Her two back hooves smashed into it and a devastating crack was audible to all in the area, a high pitched whine followed by silence. Pathfinder was shot back up directly. Under her, the blue ball lost all color and the green radiating waves that hugged the water were sucked back into it. The blank space underneath it filled up violently, waves crashing up to meet the ball. The ball wobbled in place, crackling green energy slashing the sky around it before in a last, final gasp, it shot out. More than four dozen lines of magic broke out of its and fizzled and shot in the air like fireworks. The entirety of the lake and the air above it turned into a brief and violent kaleidoscope of color and sound before the ball turned blue once more and fell into the water- Pathfinder behind it.

Dazed, confused, excited and overjoyed, she fished it out and tossed it into her saddlebag before pulling herself up to the surface and taking a deep breath. Her dog impression followed and a minute later, one more wet pegasus pulled herself out of the water. A sick, happy smile spread as she trotted on all four legs out- though the back two quaked and wobbled with the force of impact. .

[Mojo]

Professor Clyde Krashkop

Professor Clyde Krashkop had something to prove to himself. The determined gray maned lime green Pegasi came to the Iron Pony competition determined to prove that an older stallion could compete with the 'younger generation.' He had climbed bigger mountains in his foalhood back in Germaney, so he was no stranger to the dizzy heights of the ladder.

As he began climbing the long ladder upward, he was being followed by a friend, young Julibee Flyer, a petite white furred blonde Pegasus mare hovering near the elderly stallion as he ascended up the ladder and towards the clouds.

"Professor! Turn back! Don't do this! It isn't safe!"

"Nein! You vill not talk me out of dis fraulein Jubilee! I came to dees games to prove meinself und I vill not stop now!"

"I'm worried about you, Professor! That's a long, long way down and no offense, but you're not a spring colt anymore!"

"Your concern is duly noted, but no vone vill stop me! Besides fraulein, I have safety measures!"

"Safety measures?"

"Ja! See on mein back? It is mein latest invention, vone I call dee parachute! It vill break mein fall if I drift out of control on mein vay downvard. Dere is nuting to fear!"

"A pair-of-shoot? How does it work?"

"All I have to do is pull on dis rope und it vill open! Simple as spliting atomic particles!"

"Spliting WHAT?"

"Oh, nevermind! See Julibee? I have reached dee top! Vish me luck!" Professor Krashkop neighed as he trotted across the top of the platform and gazed downward upon Ponyville, now a tiny speck as seen from this height. Sudden fright shook the elderly lime green Pegasus! He hadn't been THIS high up in the air since his foal days when he climbed Mount Maneterhorn in his beloved Germaney. The Professor normally never even FLEW this high up, so the instant realization of what he was preparing to do now stunned him.

"Perhaps I.. vas a bit hasty about doing dis ting," the now scared Pegasus stallion muttered as he slowly began to walk backward. When he right hind hoof missed the platform, the Professor suddenly stumbled and fell from it. As the still airborne Jubilee screaming at the top of her lungs, Professor Krashkop rolled several times in the midair as he descended.

"Now vhat do I do?" the falling Professor thought to himself. Thinking quickly, he spread out his wings to help stablize his downward flight. Now that he had his bearings, the elderly stallion used his left wing to 'bank' and went into a spinning 'corkscrew' dive.

"Dis is not so bad. Vhat else can I do?" the Professor thought quickly before using his wings to 'stop' the spin and reached his front hooves towards the water. It was then he gasped, seeing that his corkscrew diving motion had drifted him away from the water and towards the edge of Ponyville itself! Thinking fast, the gray maned stallion jerked on the parachute rope, causing the large, white canvass device to deploy, instantly sending Professor Krashkop straight upward.

"Vonderba! I am saved!" he shouted, lifting all four hooved feet into the air in celebration. His premature jubilation was cut short when his small ears heard the distinct sound of the lovely parachute ripping from the middle.

"ACK! UNEEMAL!" he shouted as his body once more plunged downward. This time, the clever Professor used his wings to glide himself towards the water and away from the town. As he breathed a sigh of relief, the gray maned Pegasus eased his wings up slightly, causing him to go into an unexpected barrel roll. Unable to regain control of his descent, all the poor elderly stallion could do was scream the rest of the way down, until he splashed down in the water below. Immediately Jubilee dived down towards him, grabbing part of his shredded parachute in her mouth while guiding him towards the shore.

"Are you ok, Professor?"

"Ja! I am fine, dear fraulein," the panting Professor muttered. "Not exactly how I planned it, but it vorked und I survived! I vonder vhat dee judges vill tink?"