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Flight Camp [finished]


Danae

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Flight Camp takes place in this thread.

Teacher(s):

Madden(male)(Pegasus), Gladwin(male)(Griffin)

Students:

Powdered Snow (pegasus) (filly), Hopesong (pegasus) (young filly), Inkblot (pegasus) (older foal) (female), Cloudius (Colt) (pegasus), Snowball (pegasus) (filly)

.:CURRENT EVENTS:.

First flying lesson. Involves a flight test.

.:PAST EVENTS:.

Flight camp starts! Be sure to introduce yourself to the other ponies/griffons!

---------------------------------

Inkblot groaned loudly. Here she was, at flight camp. Most pegasi looked forwards to flight camp so much they couldn't sleep the night before. Not Inkblot. Her mother kept forcing her into all kinds of physical activity- the list went on and on. Footraces, gymnastics, dancing, even martial arts, and now flight camp. Her mother had signed her up for it as soon as the advert appeared in the paper. She walked up to the front of the class. "Hi, everypony."she mumbled, then slunk away. Here comes the teasing, she thought to herself.

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Thunder was currently checking things over on a clipboard, making sure everything was ready for when he was to begin instructing the new students. He had some extra time on his hands, so being an instructor at this Flight Camp seemed like a fun idea. Fond memories of his own time in Flight Camp, back when he was younger, resurfaced. He had to admit, things weren't always perfect, but in the end he was happy he had attended. Now he got to teach other students how flying worked too! It was going to be an interesting year, that much he knew.

"Just wait Thunder, this'll be a great experience!" he said to himself, as he waited for the students that would be attending his instruction to all file in. It seemed a few were starting, but he'd give it a bit more time before beginning.

( Hope this is alright. Wasn't sure exectly how the schedule goes and what-not )

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Hopesong's quaked in her hooves as she looked around. Cloudsdale. It hardly seemed real to her, yet here it was before her. The home of the pegasi, the great city in the clouds, It felt like something out of some storybook she'd read back home and yet here it was. A similarity could hardly be found between the proud pegasi city and the small hermitage nestled on the edges of the Roughtrider Ridge that the young filly and her mother called home.

Hopesong couldn't help but think of her mother as she looked around. Her mother was an earth pony, so she would never see this place. Typically Hopesong wasn't particularly cognizant of such a difference between herself and her mother. In her mind it seemed silly to think there was something she could do that her mother couldn't, and that included flight. Yet here she was in this place where her mother couldn't follow. The mere thought was so peculiar to the young filly.

Hopesong was used to being away from her mother, who often had to leave her behind at home.. She was also somewhat used to being away from home, though always with her mother and rare to the point where she viewed it as a treat. She couldn't however remember another time she had been away from both her home and her mother at once. Walking around that unfamiliar place with nopony familiar to guide her, it just felt strange, and in a way terrifying.

It had been a shocking suggestion for Hopesong. Her mother returned from one of her jobs bringing her usual assortment of gifts and apologies for being late. Among them had been a flyer the mare had picked up in Canterlot advertising the event Hopesong had come to this city for: Flight Camp. Hopesong, wise beyond her years had understood the broken look in her mother's eyes as she passed the advertisement to her daughter that day. While Hopesong never thought about how she was different from her mother, her mother surely never stopped thinking about it. The wings on the filly's back were a painful reminder of how there was nopony there capable of showing Hopesong how to use them.

Flight camp was a solution for them both. Hopesong could learn how to fly properly as a true pegasus and her mother wouldn't have to feel inadequate over the matter. Hopesong couldn't have refused for that reason, even if the idea of coming out here to this unfamiliar place had been nothing but daunting from the start. Hopesong really wasn't sure how to feel about any of it though. it was all just such a far cry from home.

Wandering around the cloud city, the young filly finally found the camp. She entered slowly, feeling remarkably awkward. She wasn't a why pony per see, but she just hadn't had a lot of experience interacting with others. She was anxious of the crowd. She felt out of place. Still, she wanted to see what it was all about. She found her way into a small crowd of others about her age to wait and see what would happen.

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Cloudius came into the classroom, holding his wings tight against him. Cloudsdale was amazing, an entire city built of clouds. While Talonopolis had been inhabited by Griffons, they preferred to use more conventional materials, and growing up there had meant he'd had few chances to see proper pegasus architecture. He'd gotten here a day early, mostly so he could take a tour around the city.

Cloudsdale's primary industry might be weather production, but it's age and importance had given plenty of time and money for beautification. Givenhis own lifelong interest and talent for cloud sculpture, it was amazing to see the works of old masters in real life. Rodein's Little Earth Pony, the Celestine Chapel, Da Pinion's glorious Sforza Pegasus, crafted with such care and craft that it had yet to show any decay or sublimation despite it's centuries of existence.

But that wasn't why he was here. He was lanky for a pony, even a pegasus, as if someone had taken a regular pony and stretched him in all directions. This included his wings, which were longer and more flexible than most. While they were a great help in sculpting, thay made him slower than most pegasi, and unmaneovrable, though he could glide with the best of them.

Talonopolis hadn't had any specialist flight clinics, at least for pegasi, so now that his family had finished their tour of duty at the embassy, and moved back to Canterlot, they'd arranged for him to board here in Cloudsdale and go to Flight Camp. It was the first time he'd been away from his family. He missed his parents, and especially his adoptive little sister Clawee, but he was looking forward to making new friends, as there had been few families with ponies his own age at the Embassy, and none had stayed at long as his.

He moved up to the group just as a white and green patched pegasus broke the ice. "uh... Hi. I'm Cloudius"

Another thing his extra long wings were good for was covering his flanks, literally. He wanted to see if he could make some friends before they found out that his flanks were as bare as a new-born foal. It wasn't fair, he'd known all his life that his talent was cloud sculpting, but his flanks didn't seem to notice. He'd heard all the nasty slurs and jokes, but he hoped at least a few ponies here would see beyond the flanks to the pony behind them.

He tried to strike up a conversation with the pegasus filly. "So, what's your name?"

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"Inkblot." the filly said with false cheer. "Who are you?" She nervously looked around, trying not to stare at Cloudius's wings. Boy, were they huge. "Where are you from?" she asked, trying to strike up a conversation. "You don't exactly sound like you're from Cloudsdale."

---

((OOC comment: Are my RPs too short? This is my first time RPing here.))

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Gladwin idly glided, checking a clipboard on his way to his classroom. On the said board, was all the activities he had planned out for the up-and-coming fliers. Why, it seemed like only yesterday that he himself was here, learning how to fly for himself. Now here he was, a teacher. He had only planned a small stop by Cloudsdale, for nostalgia, but instead ended up applying to be a teacher. Of course, it wasn't as if he had to BE anywhere, he always kept himself on a very flexible schedule. That schedule was 'Do-what-you-want' from wake till sleep, but it worked.

He nodded, finishing his list a second time, and assured himself that nothing was left out. He entered the class to find a few of the young fliers already there, as well as the teacher whom he assumed he was to work with. 'Might as well make a good first impression' Gladwin thought to himself as he cleared his throat. "Hey, the name's Gladwin. I'm guessin' you're the other teacher, right?" He looked alright, his color reminded him of lightning. He was a little disappointed that it wasn't another Griffin like him, but Gladwin was used to life giving him lemons. He was determined to make this a good year for everyone in this school, or his name wasn't Gladwin the Griffin.

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"Cloudius." He smiled. "I did say, but I guess you're a bit nervous. Truth be told, so am I."

He noticed a griffon join the pegasus teacher at the front. "As to where I'm from, same place as him. My parents worked at the embassy in Talonopolis, so I grew up there. I've only been back in Equestria for a few months. How about you?"

He idly scooped a small ball of cloud from the ground, and started crafting it with a wingtip, slicing, teasing out and sculpting with a deft pinion feather. Unfortunately, in the process, it uncovered his blank flank to his new acquaintance.

(OOC: I think your comments are about right. Introduction posts are always longer than usual. I'd say a good regular post, part of a dialogue is 2 or three sentences. Of course, if you want to set a scene, or show some inner monologue in your character, it can run longer.)

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Thunder watched the students begin to file in, a few of them introducing themselves. He already knew their names thanks to the student list on his clipboard, but it helped him memorize who the names belonged to when they introduced themselves. They had Inkblot, Cloudius, and Hopesong so far, all of which seemed to be talking amongst themselves for now. Thunder would introduce himself in due time, but he found it more important that they make friends with each other for now.

It was about that time that he heard a voice address him. Looking to the side, he saw a griffon. It was unexpected to see one, he had to admit. Thunder had never really met a griffon personally before. The other teacher introduced himself as Gladwin. Thunder smiled, nodding as he did so. "Good to meet you Gladwin. I'm Thunderflash! I guess we're working together to help the little ones fly then, eh?" he mused. A second quick glance at the clipboard said that everyone but a pony named Powdered Snow had arrived. Perhaps he or she would turn up soon. "You new at this too? This is my first time being an instructor." he said admittingly to Gladwin, watching the young ponies mingle with one another.

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Hopesong felt awkward as she stood with the others in the class. She looked in the direction of the teacher. One of them was a griffon. She hadn't been expecting that, but it was kind of cool. A good number of griffons lived in the Roughrider Ridge, and with her home overlooking the Everfree Forest, a viable hunting ground for them, truth be told, she had probably met more griffons than she had other pegasi. Neither number was very high though.

It was hard to really get much from this particular griffon or the other teacher, a pegasus, but they looked nice enough. Hopesong looked forward to learning from them. She hoped she didn't disappoint them. Her classmates also seemed interesting. It was weird for her. She had never seen so many ponies in her own age group, much less in one spot. She wasn't really sure what to say to them to break the ice. Her lack of experience with social interaction was frustrating sometimes.

She wanted to say something at least though. Swallowing her anxiety, Hopesong approached a nice pair of classmates that seemed to be introducing themselves to one another. She smiled at them.

"Hello there," she said, in a somewhat shaky voice. "I'm Hopesong, and I'm from the Roughrider Ridge," she introduced herself in a soft voice. "I look forward to flying with you!"

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Gladwin nodded, "Yeah, looks like it." Gladwin was relieved beyond measure that he was working with somepony who was friendly, and seemed relatively nice. "Honestly, I've never done anything like this before. I was just passing through and saw a posting about the position, so I just took it." Gladwin shrugged, smiling a weak smile. "I haven't been 'home' for a while now, so I decided to drop by, and I figured what better way to spend time here?" Gladwin checked his clipboard again, and eventually decided he had the entire thing memorized, "Right, so should we introduce ourselves to the class?" He nodded toward the small gathering of young pegasus who he assumed was their pupils.

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Cloudius turned and smiled at the green pelted pink maned newcomer. "Happy to meet you Hopesong. I'm Cloudius, and this is Inkblot."

Then he turned back to his original companion, looking worried. "Sorry, I should have let you introduce yourself, but I thought the sooner we all know one another the better. I'm not used to being around pegasi my own age... and now I'm babbling and making a total mess of it."

He slapped his forehead with the wingtip that had been crafting the cloud which had been starting to take an equine form.

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"Oh," Hopesong started, surprised by the other young filly's question. She smiled. "Well, it's a mountain range to the West. It's on the other side of the Everfree Forest, but before you get to the desert and all that."

Hopesong gave an awkward laugh. "And I'm not used to being around other pegasi my age either," she said looking at the colt. "Or other ponies period..."

"Or anyone at all besides my mother and Sable, my cat, really..." she said looking down. She laughed again, feeling sorry for herself.

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Cloudius sighed with relief. "Thanks."

He listened with interest to Hopesong, and said, "In my case, there were plenty of adults around, but the Equestrian embassy at Talonopolis didn't have many families, let alone ones who stayed for any length of time. About the only constant in recent years is Clawee, my sister."

He'd gone back to shaping the small puff of cloud with his wingtip. He drew two small streamers of cloud out of the back of the equine shape, and shaped therm slicing into the rear edge to create pinions. A few other finishing touches, and it was clearly a pegasus, not greatly detailed, but well proportioned and shaped. "Done."

He suddenly realised his bare flank was uncovered and drew his wing back to his side with a slight gust that made the cloud sculpture drift in front of him.

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Inkblot paused, then said "Sorry if my question was rude. I don't meet new ponies a lot, so I wasn't sure what to say." She glanced at Cloudius, who was standing in front of a cloud-sculpture of a pegasus. "Wow. How did you learn to do that?" she asked in awe.

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Thuderflash nodded as Gladwin suggested they introduce themselves. "Got it. And don't worry, I'm new at this too. I'm here for the same reason you are, so we can relate on that matter." he added, hoping to ease the griffon's nerves. The last thing they needed was to be nervous themselves after all. They were supposed to be the rolemodels! Thunder took a step forward, clearing his throat to get the young students attention. "Alrighty! Welcome to Flight Camp everypony! We're gonna have lotsa fun, and we'll get those wings flapping and getting you off the ground in no time! My name is Thunderflash, one of your instructors..." he said loud and clear for the little ones to hear. Thunder left his sentence hanging for Gladwin to take over and introduce himself, as well as say anything he might want to say.

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Two kilometers above the white landscape of the flight camp grounds, a tiny dot traced lazy circles through the empty sky. Snowflake was in that special place where body and mind floated free. At this height one would have thought the shear winds would rip the wings clean off a gryphon, never mind a fragile pony. Yet her luscious glacial mane and tail barely so much as wafted in the calm air. This was the Zenith, the place where two tidal forces of atmosphere collided, canceling out to form a thin band of total stillness. Few could reach this height; fewer still could remain there long enough to use its unique properties to traverse vast distances. Here, in this quiet little place she hung on wings whose span was easily twice her own height. One beat from these impressive appendages would have likely been enough to get the girl air born, if it weren’t for her frumpy figure. Though she had lost a lot of the weight that had once plagued her, the filly was far from a Canterlot-starlet.

Drunk on a mixture of euphoria and oxygen deprivation, the filly closed her eyes in a look of contented tranquility, folded her wings away and left herself to the whim of gravity. No Pegasus in their right mind simply allowed themselves to fall, control was paramount with such things. But this seemed to be exactly what the lass had done, skipping along the surface of the powerful winds before breaking the zenith to drop like a stone.

Perhaps, if she had been the showy type, this could have been part of some elaborate routine, a sharp dive followed by a sudden deceleration as an impressive show of power. But Snowflake sought to impress nopony, simply enjoying the feel of the unbidden air buffeting her falling form.

As she reached the first cloud layer, still far above the camp grounds, feathers slowly began to peak from her sides, straightening her corkscrew before gradually stretching to gently take control of the decent. By the time Snow was visible from the camp they had already stretched to their full span, slowing her fall into a leisurely glide.

Finally her hooves touched down on the cloud base, trotting a little way to lose the last of her momentum. Shaking out her windswept mane the Pegasus nickered and drew a long steadying breath from the clean morning air. Another glorious summer at flight camp was about to begin.

Her landing had brought the filly within a stone’s throw of the leader’s hq and her quarters within. Unbuckling the flight safe saddle bags, she trotted into the cloud structure and deposited her belongings in the lounge. There were already four sets of bags adorning various corners and cloud-couches. Clearly the other team-leaders and the instructors were already here and settling in. Was she late?

Resolving not to risk missing any important introductions and announcements, Snowflake opened her bags and withdrew her camp uniform. Within moments she had slipped into the old green vest and adjusted her mane to accommodate its matching beret, both adorned with the brightly colored ‘Robin’ team logo. While she had only just passed her instructors course for her temp position at the flight school, she probably wouldn’t become a tutor here just yet while there were team leaders still needed. ‘Robins’ always contained the youngest or weakest fliers, who often needed a lot of encouragement or someone to talk to if homesickness should strike.

Satisfied with her appearance, the mare trotted back out into the campgrounds and set her sights on the communal hall. Servings as a mess, teaching hall and night time leisure area, the Hanger was the most likely place new campers would be assembled. Sure enough the large open space within housed a gathering of twenty or so campers, all chatting excitedly among themselves. Towards the outside of the corral of youngsters the tutors kept close watch on the foals and had begun their introductions.

“Sorry I'm late!” She whispered cheerfully to Galdwin, stepping into line with the two instructors and the other group leaders. Taking up an easy stance, her eyes flicked over the large group of younglings, still wearing the giddy smile that had followed her the whole trip through the zenith, thankful that she hadn't missed much with her dawdling.

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Gladwin nodded to the new arrival of Snowflake, he himself was never one to be on time anyways, so he could definitely relate, "You haven't missed anything," he whispered back. He then took a step forward, stepping out of line, "I'm Gladwin," He looked over all of the students, making eye contact with each one as he spoke, "I'm a very laid back kind of griffin, so look at me more as a friend rather then an leader," A warm smile broke across his face, "Welcome to Flight Camp though, we're all going to have a great time here." He stepped backwards, and then gave a nudge to Snowflake, urging her to introduce herself as well. He figured his introduction went off well, and was rather satisfied with it. It could have gone much worse after all.

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The sculpture was only a small thing, made from a football sized lump of cloud. It measured around 12 inches from nose to tail. Cloudius tried and failed to avoid looking too pleased when Inkblot admired the work.

"I've always had a talent for cloud sculpting, and I've worked hard to improve it. Watch this!"

He gave a careful sweep of his wing behind it, and the sculpture moved forward, across and away from the crowd of students, it's wings appearing to flap as it glided through the air.

He suddenly realised the teachers had started to talk, and straightened up, looking forwards as the pegasus and the griffon introduced themselves. then a third pegasus appeared, with wings even longer than his, though she was a bit wider in the fuselage than he was.

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Starting slightly that she had been asked to speak so soon, Snowflake ginned apologetically and waved at the other team leaders. They had all been mingling with the crowd of foals until now, urged by the filly’s gestures to join the front ranks beside the tutors. Each was dressed similarly to the frumpy Pegasus, though the uniforms were of different colors and bore varying insignia. Clearing her throat quickly, Snow stepped forward along with her comrades to address the gathered foals.

“Wotcha campers! Looks like we’ve had a great turnout this year. I hope you’re all ready for a crazy summer at flight camp! I’m Snowflake, one of the team leaders. In a little bit, the tutors will let you know which flight team you’re going to be on; Ravens, Swallows, Turns or Robins.” She stated, indicating each respective leader as she called out their group “Each flight team has their own dorm and leader, like me! We’ll be taking care of you while you’re here and organising evening activities. So if you need anything, have a problem or something you need to talk about, just come find one of us. We don’t bite, promise.”

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Cloudius listened to the new instructor, wondering whether the teams were by skill level or randomly selected, when he realised that the team leader's wings were as long as his own. If she was an instructor, she might be able to show him how to use his overly extended wings less clumsily. While his long unusually flexible wings were wonderful for cloud crafting, they made him a poor flyer.

He could glide and soar with the best of them, but when it came to speed and most of all maneouvring, his long wings gave him the flight characteristics of a cargo airship. A badly handled cargo airship at that. It was one of the faults he was here at Flight camp to improve on.

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Gladwin nodded to himself, thinking the introductions were going well so far. He liked Snowflake's energetic and fun introduction and was sure that she would be a great team leader. He was excited to see how the rest of the leaders would introduce themselves as well. He could clearly remember his days in flight camp, and they were honestly some of the funnest days of his life, and he really wanted to pass those fun days onto the pegasi of this generation, and it was up to them to make it so.

Gladwin also scolded himself for not being as energetic. He was a bit nervous though, honestly, and wasn't exactly acting as himself at the moment. He knew that if he was going to contribute to this, then he needed to be fun, energetic, and most importantly he had to be himself.

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Hopesong listened with interest as the instructors and team leaders began to introduce themselves and explain more and more things about the flight camp. So they were going to be divided into four then, each under one team leader? Then they'd be learning in turn from each of the different instructors? It was beginning to come together for Hopesong where she had been a little confused before. She nodded as the older pegasi explained it all.

She was still a little uneasy about the whole thing. She felt kind of out of place there. She missed her mother more than when she was alone with just Sable. Still, some part of her was looking forward to this, to making friends, to learning how to fly better. Maybe she was still confused. She couldn't really tell. As frightened and unsure as she was in that moment, she was eager to start this new experience.

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