The Greatest Rival

"Hey there. Are you lost, kid?"

Zipperflash startled at the sound of a voice. He whirled to face the stranger, fluffing every teeny feather he had in a show of dominance. "...No! I ain't lost!" Zips said hotly. "I-I'm waitin' for my momma, so you just shove off, you hear?"

The blue stallion failed to be intimidated, only giving a gentle smile. "...You've been sitting out here for twenty minutes. It's raining pretty hard."

"Is it? I hadn't noticed, genius." Zips rolled his eyes, and shook his sodden coat miserably. "...This is where my momma said to wait for her. She said she might be a little late, but I'm not supposed to wander from this spot here. Mom's orders!" Zipperflash promptly stomped a little hoof against the bit of cloud he was sitting on, proudly lifting up his head.

"I don't think your mom would want you sitting out in the rain. It's really coming down out here, you'll get sick." The blue pegasus colt shook himself, scattering water. "Why don't you come back inside the mess hall? The flight teachers are making hot cocoa for everypony. It's the kind with little marshmallows!" He grinned brightly, wagging his tail at the prospect of food.

Zipperflash felt his belly rumble, and for a moment, he was sorely tempted....but then he remembered himself, and inched away from the other colt. "Go away. I'm not supposed to talk to you."

"Huh? ...Ohhh." The colt seemed to realize something. "Yeah, I'll bet your momma doesn't want you talking to strangers, right? Well, my name is Stor-"

"Aerostorm." Zipperflash glared. "I know who you are, feathers-for-brains. You're Rainbow Dash's son, while I'm the son of the amazin', clearly superior Lightning Dust. I'm Zipperflash, remember that name! My momma and your momma are sworn rivals-therefore you are my sworn rival. My momma said I'm not s'pozed to fraternize with an enemy like you- our only interaction should be a burnin', glorious rivalry the likes of which Equestria has never seen."

"I'm flattered, really, but rivalries aren't really my thing." Stormy smiled. "Flight camp is nice and all, but I'm mostly here for the free cookies."

Zips goggled in disbelief. "....L-liar! You're Dash's kid, competition is in your blood! Lookit that medal hangin' on your scrawny neck! You raced the eight top fliers in your age class and came in first! You set a new track record! Do you have any idea how amazin' that is? You came in over six and a half seconds before the other fliers!"

Stormy laughed. "Ah, well, only because Momma said she'd make me get a haircut if I didn't try."

Zipperflash stomped closer, outraged. "S-shut up! You're the best flier here! Fate brought us together! You don't get to treat our rivalry like a joke!" He flapped his wings, fluttering up in Stormy's face like an angry bumblebee.

"....Would it make you feel better if I let you have my medal?"

"Yes-no-you-Argh!" Zipperflash sank to the ground in defeat. "I don't want you to let me have it! I wanna steal it from you when I'm big enough to crush your flight record! I want an actual rival, not some fluff-headed flowerboy!"

"Sorry." Stormy sounded genuinely apologetic, frustrating Zips to no end.

"...I'll just have to get better at trash-talk." Zips muttered to himself. "Yeah, that's it. I'll get so good at goadin' you into races you'll be beggin' for the chance to eat my dust!"

"That sounds nice and all, but I really don't wanna miss that hot cocoa. You can keep being my sworn rival indoors. C'mon, out of the rain-" He gently nudged Zips forward, and the little colt protested, but froze when he suddenly felt the rain stop.

 "That's a little better, isn't it?" Stormy had flared his oversized wingspan, neatly shielding Zipperlash from the downpour. Even as cold rainwater pelted his own coat, he didn't hurry the colt along, instead offering only a sweet smile. From behind Stormy's shaggy mane, Zips caught sight of a bright, blue eye looking down at him, twinkling with warmth.

"Um..." Zipperflash's face felt weirdly hot. He clutched angrily at his red cheeks, praying the bigger colt didn't notice.

Momma didn't say you'd be so pretty. Why is he so freakin' pretty? And nice?! This ain't fair! That dirty, rotten, beautiful cheater!

"I-I'm still gonna kick your flank six ways to Sunday when we race. You're still my sworn enemy, fluffboy, and nothin' will ever change that." Zips swallowed. Hesitantly, he walked just a little closer to Stormy, and he furiously denied the way his heart fluttered at Stormy's chuckle.

"But maybe....maybe hot chocolate with marshmallows is worth a temporary ceasefire."  

~~~~~~~~~~

doofy lil zipsy meets his lifelong rival/hero super senpai crush, Aerostorm
Zips and Stormy attended Flight camp together, although Stormy is a few years older (behold his super skinny girly years)
no worries, Lightning Dust did eventually show up to pick Zipsy up (as always he was happy to see his momma)

Zips will get really good at trash talk someday and become the sole pony able to provoke Stormy into competitiveness:
Despite the rivalry Zips views Stormy with pure hero worship and is the p much only pony to ever call him by "Aerostorm" at all times, whatta dweeb

As adults, Stormy views Zips as a pest/rival and is completely unaware of Zips's fawning adulation and doofy crush

textures borrowed from here: Rain Texture

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