Everfree Forest Team Meeting! [Shadowbolts only for now]

[lordbrony]

LightWind glided and landed softly without a sound on the grassy clearing in the outskirts of Everfree forest, not far from his hut.

The indigo Pegasus then slipped off his saddlebag and gently placed it on the ground, letting his mind wander..

It had been a relatively good year by his standards, he’d finally found a job that he found tolerable and he might even say, stretched him just a wee bit. Performing with the Shadowbolts was much more liberating than the Wonderbolts; shows were smaller and while the crowds were more rowdy and less family orientated, they more likely to sit still, hearts in their mouths and gasp after the stunt was done. Much much more palatable than the near non stop noise from the crowd and party atmosphere that usually accompanied the Wonderbolts that usually irritated him to no end.

Off season came and LightWind had taken the scenic route home from their last show, even making a detour to Cloudsdale to visit his parents. He did try to tell his parents exactly what he was doing, but when he mentioned that he’d been in his current job for about a year, they rest of his words were drowned out by a collective gasp from his parents and before he knew it he had been bear-hugged by both of them to the point of near suffocation and his train of thought repeatedly broken by them repeatedly alternating between how proud they were of him and relief at how their ‘useless son” finally finally made good.

His next stop was the printers at Manehattan, who had printed the next batch of Shadowbols promotional material, normally the Wonderbolts had somepony run these errands for them but well the Shadowbolts was a leaner outfit with a much smaller budget and LightWind had this task dumped on him, being the only pony with seemingy the most free time. Thinking back on that, LightWind allowed himself a wry smile; the print shop pony had raved about how he was a secret Shadowbolts fan and how he was dying to meet them in the flesh not knowing that there was an actual live Shadowbolt standing right in front of him, except that particular Shadowbolt didn't often make it to press conferences, or at least not in any publicly recognizable form.

LightWind laid out the leaflet and poster samples alongside some documents from the team manager regarding the upcoming season. He then settled down and reached into his other saddlebag, pulled out a few fresh oranges and started snacking slowly, one of the many enjoyable perks of having an actual well paying job.

“I wonder when the rest will get here”, he thought as he scanned the sky lazily for any sign of his other teammates. “Team meeting and first practice of the new season is due to start in 15 minutes.”

[Davroth]

'Being a Shadowbolt comes with certain advantages' thought Opal Shards as she made her way to the clearing that served as the training ground for the Shadowbolts. Now that she had a well paid job, she could actually buy the ingredients she needed instead of lifting them from the cloud factory. She had spend all her free time perfecting her recipes, and even worked on some new ones. And of course, she had been training, too. This might not be the Wonderbolts, but that didn't mean she could slack on her flying training.

As Opal came closer to the training ground, she saw a couple of clouds drifting in her direction. This was perfect. 'I might as well make a good entrance for my first real training.' she thought, as she drove the clouds over the training ground. Hiding above them, she took one of the pouches out of her saddlebag and began to sprinkle powder on the cloud, increasing the moisture in the cloud. Satisfied, she saw that the cloud slightly swell under the wait of the additional water. Next was the temperature. Hovering in the air, Opal flapped her wings creating wind that streamed around the clouds, cooling them down. This wouldn't be enough, though. Producing another pouch from one of her bags, Opal began to dust a crystalline substance into the air, that started to mix with the now even heavier looking cloud.

It probably started to snow now under the clouds, but that didn't concern her much. She'd only need a few more moments to set this up. Opal had trained this trick hundreds of times in the past few weeks and had a good feel for it now, and she decided to tone it down a bit. She wanted to leave some room for surprises later. She flew some circles, creating a cyclone in the air, just over the clouds, and started to collect bits of snow and hail in it, condensing them further and further, until she had a shard of ice, of about her own size. Then, stopping the cyclone, she send the piece crashing down to the ground into the centre of the clearing, herself in pursuit. It crashed into the ground, splintering into pieces, and Opal opened her wings, landing in the middle, softly touching the ground, and then finally landing.

She looked around, and saw only a single pegasus standing at the edge of the clearing.

[Vinyl Scratch]

"Hello team. I see there aren't very many of us present yet." Nightshade stepped out from the brush, into the glistening moon, wings tucked tight at his side. "If you have any information on when the others will show up, speak up. I'm not the biggest fan of waiting."

He was clearly impatient, yet he kept his calm appearence and continued mulling about, taking random, sudden stops to stare into the nighttime sky, admiring the stars. "Oh yes, Opal, I nearly forgot to mention that I saw your trick... Impressive. Nightshade gave a small applaud, lasting only a second or two.

After a minute, Nightshade figured some practice might be of some use to pass the time that seemed to drag on for longer than had actually been wasting away. His wings loosened and sprang out; casting feathers in a couple different directions. He rocketed into the night sky, leaving a static-charged smoke trail behind him. He curved at a 50 degree, gradual angle and accelerated, reaching a very nerve-wracking altitude. This was immediately followed by a sudden drop. Nightshade tucked his wings in and dive bombed towards the ground. He emmited a purple aura as he fell, seemingly crackling with electricity. He pulled up and forward at the last possible second, avoiding the canopy of the forest by a few inches and as he arched back up, he missed the ground as well by only a few inches. He paused in the air and started to float back down.

Nightshade landed; wings tucked away at his side once more. He looked at the other Shadowbolts and said nothing. He gestured at them, trying to encourage a stunt, but he got no immediate response. He walked over to small boulder and lay on it, facing the blue night directly in it's shady and mysterious face. He was simply waiting, waiting for both the rest of the squad and for some sort of conversation from the Pegasi, although it wasn't apparent at the time...

[lordbrony]

As he watched Opal toy with the Weather above him, LightWind mused on the obsession most of the weather ponies he had met with process and perfection. Sure he had played a part setting up clouds while in weather control, but it usually involved him scattering them leisurely as he pleased and then getting yelled at later for silly things like the "the clouds should be blah blah meters apart from another cloud blah blah". Silly things that didn't interest him.

His train of thought was broken by Nightshade announcing himself, then proceeding to showboat as usual. "He seems annoyed" thought LightWind as he spied Nightshade gesturing at him. "Nightmare Night must have not gone as well as he had wanted" and knowing Nightshade's perfectionist streak that was probably it.

"I hope somepony come's soon, its getting too dark to check over the promotional material and I'm down to my last orange" LightWind though "If Nightshade sees me idling he'll make me practice" That last thought leaving a bad aftertaste

[Davroth]

'He certainly has the traits of a Shadowbolt team captain' though Opal Shards, watching Nightshade's little performance. 'Right down to the air of arrogance and mysteriousness.' She smiled coldly, her eyes relaxing a bit.

Now that she was at the edge of the clearing, Opal took a few moments to make her wait more comfortable. The nights were cool this time of the year, so it wouldn't take much to reach the desired effect. Gently flapping her wings to create a a bit of wind around here, she reached around her head to the hidden pouches underneath her mane and brought forth a hoof full of glistening, white powder, which she dusted into the air. With certain joy she saw that her breath started to condense in the air, and that the plants on the ground covered with tiny ice crystals. She shook her long mane in the cold wind, taking in the sensations, and lay down on the ground, folding her wings.

"A shame some ponies don't take appointments serious." She said, conversationally, "Whatever could keep them from a team meeting?"

[Willow Whisper]

To some ponies Yahom was late, but he considered himself in time enough. His father had once told him the ponies in this land were always rushing to do this on time or that before this deadline, dividing up minutes and hours like seconds were more precious than bits or jewels. His father had shaken his head sadly, missing Unyasi, but Yahom liked the fast-pacedness of it. He liked to hurry and rush, but clocks for whatever reason had never quite made sense to him. He could be on time sure, but on his own time, not some clock's. The striped golden pony soared over fields and trees toward the meeting spot, and grinned when he saw the tell-tale signs of other Shadowbolts in the distance. Somepony was making a cloud heavy with rain, then snow, ending in a giant ice shard that flashed in the moonlight. Another pony he could just barely see against the evening sky, trailing sparks that danced along their flightpath. He gave a yell of delight, and raced forward in a puff of golden feathers, determined to join in the display. He had been cooped up in Trottingham, minding his mother's shop for too long. Tonight it was time to cut loose with his team-mates, get some real practice in, and fly until he couldn't fly anymore.

As the mixed pegasus neared where the group had settle, he began to fly in large loops that grew into steadily faster and tighter rings. His speed and wings whipped up the evening breeze which traveled with him, lending him further speed as the growing twister coalesced around him. The small cyclone sucked in clouds and ripped dying leaves off trees and plants below, giving itself body. The devil whirled and twisted through the air like a mad dancer, howling like some fierce and hungry animal. The funnel touched down a distance away from the assembled Shadowbolts, churning in place as the pony responsible was a yellowish black blur racing along its circumference. The pegasus raced up along the edge of the miniature cyclone, until he escaped its pull and soared high above it, still flying in tight loops. He cackled like a mad pony and dove down into the eye of the beast he'd created, spinning tightly as he flew straight down and away from view. Moments later the cyclone bulged and broke apart, the winds dispersing with a dying breath of air that sounded almost like a sigh. Yahom stood reared on his hind legs, panting and grinning fiercely as he pawed at the air with his hooves and beat his wings.

"Hey! How have yo-ogh..." He lunged forward to canter toward them but teetered, and staggered around in a dizzy circle instead, wings flapping out of sync as he struggled for balance. The lanky striped pegasus saved himself from an ungraceful fall by sitting down heavily, though he still rocked in slow circles. Yahom laughed as he caught his breath, causing the many earrings in his hears to jingle and clink. "How have my team-mates been?"

[lordbrony]

Knowing his teamates' predisposition for reckless speedflying and various weather control obsessions, Lightwind had the good sense to weigh down the promotional material by partially lying on it, so they were relatively safe.

Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said of the orange he had been balancing on his hoof, and just as he was about to open his mouth, a vortex yanked it out and he was left comically biting thin air; Followed by watching his orange get caught up in a mini cyclone which hurled it off into the far distance.

"Hey! How have yo-ogh..." He lunged forward to canter toward them but teetered, and staggered around in a dizzy circle instead, wings flapping out of sync as he struggled for balance. The lanky striped pegasus saved himself from an ungraceful fall by sitting down heavily, though he still rocked in slow circles. Yahom laughed as he caught his breath, causing the many earrings in his hears to jingle and clink. "How have my team-mates been?"

Lightwind looked in his direction, shook his head slowly and gave a small sigh

[Vinyl Scratch]

-- Temporary Placeholder Post --

[Neoniie]

Firefly sped through the air above Cloudsdale, a panic of lateness drawing ever closer. She was never late for any ocassion or even her self-imposed task, being the regimened scheduler that she was. How could I have overlooked the notice for the Shadowbolts meeting on today's page, she chastised herself. Late, and on my first proper meeting as well, we're off to a great start! Her thoughts dripped with sarcasm throughout her hurried flight, not helping the disadvantageous situation in which she found herself. Even her usual pride had abandoned her at the moment, making any sort of self-assurance nearly impossible.

Luckily, the dark treetops of the Everfree Forest began to fly by beneath her outstretched hooves. With a downward acr, the pink pegasus descended into the treetops. She landed without her customary lightning effects and aweing stunt, knowing that such an entrance would only draw attention to her lateness. Curbing her dramatic tendancies, the mare trotted quietly into the clearing designated by the Shadowbolts. Attempting to belnd in with the Shadowbolts already present, she took a position near the very end of the line. She took in a deep breath, attempting to calm her still jittering nerves and hoping that nopony would notice that she had been absent previously.

[Vinyl Scratch]

Nightshade took a deep breath of the brisk air and studied his surroundings for a few moments. He thought about his comrades, now gathered in the opening, some sitting, some upright. "Okay Filies and Colts, we have some planning ahead of us. Help is appreciated, we need to get through this as smoothly and efficiently as possibly do we can get to practicing and scheduling shows. First order of business is teams, we have the Reserves and Starters, but not much more than that, it would help if you all identified yourselves as starters or reserves, it'll make this all much easier." Nightshade sat in an awkward way atop the small, rotting trunk, thinking to himself about his blueberry tarts at home...

* * * I know this is against normal RP, but let's keep replies to a minimum to allow for more responses more quickly. This is, after all, for planning purposes, and should your opinion be difficult to get across through RP, after your character's reply, simply leave a note in OOC stating what your opinion is, exactly.

[Willow Whisper]

Yahom shook off his dizziness, and slumped comfortably on the ground, content to laze now that his fast flying theatrics were complete. He looked over the assembled Shadowbolt's, and flashed them friendly grins. He didn't really know any of them, but that didn't matter. Each of them looked fast and capable of the same type of madness he enjoyed, and that was worth of some type of brotherhood. He could hardly wait to get started. When Nightshade asked for identification, he flared his wings and was among the first to speak. "I'm Yahom, or Cyclone Frenzy. Reserve."

[Vinyl Scratch]

Yahom shook off his dizziness, and slumped comfortably on the ground, content to laze now that his fast flying theatrics were complete. He looked over the assembled Shadowbolt's, and flashed them friendly grins. He didn't really know any of them, but that didn't matter. Each of them looked fast and capable of the same type of madness he enjoyed, and that was worth of some type of brotherhood. He could hardly wait to get started. When Nightshade asked for identification, he flared his wings and was among the first to speak. "I'm Yahom, or Cyclone Frenzy. Reserve."

(( OOC )) This is what we need guys! Involvement is key! If you make a SB char, then you should at least be involved a bit, some of us aren't active at all, and it's a bit disappointing. I'm hoping we get more involvement here! The more the better!