[Adventure] The Wind Shear Passage

[Scythe]

It was still dark, the sun barely lightening the horizon. Nocturna was already present at the entrance into the [colour=#800080]Wind Shear Passage[/colour]. A huge cloud with a small building was flying infront of the gaping maw of the mountain which was the canyon. During the winter days it looked even more scary. In that building the manager of this event was waiting for her, so he could assign a [colour=#800080]supervisor [/colour]to their team, who also acts as leader to bring everypony home safely.

[colour=#0000ff]Nocturna [/colour]had to check in at the start of the passage earlier than the rest of the team. Unfortunetaly it didn't go according to plan.

Later when the sun was finally peeking over the edge of the horizon the snow was glowing beautifully. The blue mare waited for all of her team to arrive. "Team" - she wouldn't really call it like that. They were a random bunch of ponies and a griffon who all wanted to gain the [colour=#800080]Descent Medal[/colour] for passing the [colour=#800080]Wind Shear Passage[/colour] in three days or less. Some she knew, most she didn't.

At least she could be certain all of them are decent flyers - one who wasn't wouldn't attempt this challenge.

[colour=#0000ff]"Well guys. It seems like our supervisor is sick and there is no replacement. Nopony else wants to be responsible for a group attempting a challenge like this"[/colour], she bowed her head down in defeat. Was that already the end of the journey?

Then suddenly the manager appeared and put a badge on Nocturnas side bag. "I heard you are a Shadowbolt, so I assign you hereby the leader of this group, we will supervise the time differently. Have a nice journey."

[colour=#0000ff]"Wait, you cannot just... I cannot take this responsi- ...".[/colour] Before she could properly respond he flew away.[colour=#0000ff] "Oh dear Celestia..."[/colour], she put a hoof on her face and sighed, turning around to the group and looking at them with a puzzled look. They might not be able to see it but Nocturna suddenly felt not that great about the challenge anymore. [colour=#0000ff]"Eh heh... "[/colour], her self-confidence crumbled for the moment.

[Snowshoe]

Rain Maker's arrival to the Wind Shear Passage was pretty...obvious. Subtlety was not in her vocabulary. The blue mare with a blue mane (quite similar to their team lead, in fact) was flying in, a pair of saddlebags packed with food, supplies, and her notebooks, hung from her side.

And she was accompanied by humming. A rapid little tune, the Apple Arrow Overture...which melded into something completely different.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaappleoosa where the wind comes sweeping down the plaaaaains...and the wavin' wheat, can sure smell sweet..." she flew over Nocturna and the group below, banking around when she realized she'd over shot it.

"And when we say....Yo! A-yip-aye-o-ee-yay! We're only sayin' you're doin' fine Appleoosa, Appleoosa! Ap, pl, eo, osa, Appleoooooooos-AH!" She continued her singing as she banked back around, landing on the final, loud vowel of the word Appleoosa. She grinned brightly and tucked her wings in, looking over at the Shadowbolt, team leader, and new friend of Rain Maker's, Nocturna.

"Mornin'!" she said brightly. The snow, and the fact they were about to take a headlong flight into a challenge most pegasi never dared to, didn't seem to affect her mood one bit. She even had a little striped red and white scarf around her neck, though more for show than any attempt to ward off the cold.

"Sorry, I'm a tad late. Slept in," she admitted. "Which is weird. Y'know, given how exciting this all is." She grinned. "When are we going in?"

[TheInvisiblePony]

Hugo was excited And maybe even that may be a bit of an understatement. Ever since coming to Equestria he'd worked as a strong-griffon, doing various heavy lifting related things, and he had to admit it could be a little dull from time to time. But this - this 'Wind Shear Passage - was going to be a different beast entirely. This was not just a show of strength, but a test of honor. Ever since he heard of the passage, he took it as a personal challenge, and Hugo always went out of his way for those.

In this case, going out of his way meant waking up earlier than he normally would, but that wasn't much of a problem. He was just happy to have made it onto one of the few groups attempting to make the journey. As he flew what he assumed to be the final part of his preliminary journey to the peak, he heard something of this 'Nocturna' being handed the supervisor role, which he figured probably suited her. Curiously, he also heard a different pegasus altogether singing of all things. As he approached the group he mentally pined over not knowing the song; otherwise he would have joined in the revelry. Instead, as he gave a last few flaps as he landed, he gave out a hearty laugh.

"Good to know I'm not the only excited one." He looked down into the canyon before continuing "This should make quite the story."

He smiled broadly with his beak, and stood with the proud stance that only a griffon could manage. Looking around, he reasoned there would be at least a small amount of waiting, if only to let the others arrive and such. He only had one slight fear, and even then it wasn't really a fear. Looking at the two pegasi before him, Hugo wondered if he could manage to be as fast. Certainly he could endure the flight, but from his experience most pegasi tended to be faster than him. Of course, speed probably wouldn't be the focus of this flight, so he reassured himself with that. Dangerous flight or no, he was determined to make it through.

[Scythe]

Seeing the mare she got to know recently Nocturna quickly felt confident again - at least one face that wasn't foreign to her.

[colour=#0000cd]"Oh hey Rain Maker, I already wondered where you've been, thought you couldn't wait for this to start?"[/colour], her voice was still marked by her unsureness and it sounded like a bad excuse not to deal with what she just told everypony. A loud sigh later she finally got it into her head that if this is journey is going to start somewhere soon she has to take the role assigned to her.

[colour=#0000ff]"Okay everyone, I think we are all here because we want our Descent Medal, right? So in order to be able to attend this challenge we need a leader. I am not sure why they picked me for that, but I do not mind doing this so we can all have this chance to gain what we want."[/colour]

Her false self-confidence turned into real self-confidence, at least partially. The mare flapped her wings and lifted herself up into the air with her side-bags, which contained food, water and a blanket. [colour=#0000ff]"In ten minutes we are allowed to start, so get ready. You might want to take this chance to talk to everypony, we might need to rely on each other."[/colour]

[Snowshoe]

Rain Maker giggled a bit. "Like I said, I slept in. I dunno why. Probably stayed up too late last night or something. But I had a coffee and everything so I'm ready to go!" she said happily, flaring out her wings and grinning.

She was more than ready. She might not be an extreme flyer or anything, but this was still going to be fun in any case, and totally useful for her book. "Naw, I'm here for the sights," Rain teased with her tongue sticking out of her mouth.

She gave a nod, checking her saddlebags over once she was done talking. Ten minutes to prep herself for some of the hardest flying she'd ever have to do. She checked to make sure she had her notebook, some pencils, and of course, the essentials. Food, water, camping gear. A book to read.

"This'll be so~o cool," she said idly as she looked over her stuff.

[Scythe]

Listening to Rain Maker the mare realized something important - very important - she didn't mention when she just talked to everypony. Even though they all turned away from her already and were talking to each other she was sure this one thing was important enough to interrupt them.

[colour=#0000ff]"Excuse me"[/colour], she said, waiting for everyponies attention, [colour=#0000ff]"even though we are all eager to get the medal, fly as fast as we can, be better than the ones before us or trying to have a wonderful adventure that we can talk about with our children - never forget one thing: Have fun doing so."[/colour]