Spitfire flew towards Cloudsdale, heading for her mother's house. As she landed a fiery blur shot out of the house, grappling onto Spitfire, who was only able to keep her footing by flapping her wings.
"Hey Spark, how's it going?" Spitfire asked
"I flew circles around everypony in flight school! Thanks to you." she exclaimed, hugging Spitfire.
Sparkfire Flare was a miniature version of Spitfire. They had both got their appearance from a certain family member, but Spitfire liked to say Spark got it from her. They had the same yellow coat, orange and yellow-streaked mane, and soft brown eyes. The only difference was her cutie mark. Sparkfire's cutie mark was orange wings surrounded by lighter orange sparks, while Spitfire's resembled a Phoenix bursting into flames.
"I told you. You're going to be a Wonderbolt one day Spark, I just know it." Spitfire congratulated, ruffling Sparkfire's short-cropped mane.
"Speaking of the Wonderbolts, how are things going with your team dear?" Stormy had come out of the house, smiling fondly at her two daughters.
"Good mom. But we should probably head back now. The last time I was away this long without leaving proper supervision Rapidfire nearly burned HQ down. Ready to go Spark?" Spitfire asked
"Yes!" Sparkfire exclaimed, jumping into the air. "I can't wait to see all my friends again!"
Sparkfire didn't have any friends at her school, she was too talented, everypony was jealous of her abilities. Spitfire recalled Rainbow telling them something similar had happened to her when she was in flight school. Spitfire wished Sparkfire had her own Soarin and Fleetfoot. Her friends had been there for her as long as she could remember. They would encourage each other when nopony else in school did. Sparkfire didn't have that. Instead, she had that support in her family, and the only friends she knew, the Wonderbolts.
"Alright filly, let's head out. Want to race to HQ?" Spitfire suggested
"Yeah! Last one back has to give up their dessert tonight!" Sparkfire cried, Stormy Flare laughing. She was well aware of her two daughter's notorious sweet tooths.
"You're on sis! I'll beat you, get ready to go to bed without Thunderlane's famous cookies!" Spitfire agreed, taking off as well.
"Goodbye girls." Stormy said
"Bye mom. I'll bring Spark back in a week or two. Is that enough time?" Spitfire asked
"That's perfect dear. see you then." Stormy replied
"Bye mom." Sparkfire said
"Ready?" Spitfire asked, and Sparkfire nodded "On your marks, get set-"
"Three-two-one-go!" Sparkfire yelled, shooting off.
"Hey! That's cheating!" Spitfire cried, chasing after her, laughing.
The two raced through the streets of Cloudsdale, zooming past unsuspecting pegasi. They kept pulling ahead of each other until they neared the mountain Wonderbolt HQ was perched on.
"Hit the runway at a slow glide, that way you won't accidentally trip over yourself when you hit the ground." Spitfire advised her sister, who nodded and opened her wings further, shifting from a fast dash into a smooth glide. Spitfire did the same. She knew how to land at a fast pace, of course, but wanted to make the race fair for Sparkfire.
They skidded to a halt on the runway at the same time, standing a few paces away from each other. They turned to face each other.
"I win!" They said together "No, I win!"
"You tied." Rainbow settled for them, landing nearby with a filly on her back.
"Hey Rainbow. Who's that?" Sparkfire asked
"This is Scootaloo, she and I are practically sisters. Her aunts asked me to watch her for a few days while they worked on selling their old house. I thought you two might like to meet, since you're the same age." Rainbow explained, bending down so the filly could hop off.
She had a purple, short mane, and an orange coat. Her cutie mark was a tri-colored shield with a dark pink wing within. The wing had a light pink lightning bolt inside it. The two fillies trotted up to each other, looking inquisitively at each other.
"Scoot, this is Sparkfire, she's Spits' little sister." Rainbow introduced
"Hi!" Sparkfire said energetically
"Hey." Scootaloo replied, smiling
"You wanna come raid the kitchens with me? Last time Spitfire brought me over Surprise taught me how to sneak past Thunderlane and get cupcakes." Spark suggested
"Yeah!" Scootaloo agreed, and the two fillies ran into the building.
"Thanks Rainbow." Spitfire sighed in relief
"No problem. I know Spark doesn't have many friends her age, so I thought if I introduced her to Scoot, she'd get a chance to come down to Ponyville sometime and meet the rest of the CMCs." Rainbow explained
"Nice." Spitfire said "I'll definitely bring her down if she bonds with Scootaloo." she added
"Cool. I'll be with Soarin. I assume you and Fleet will be in your room?" Rainbow asked
"No, actually. I'm going to be spending time with my sister. Fleet said she'd join us too, I was thinking I'd tell Spark about us." Spitfire explained
"You haven't told your family yet?" Rainbow asked
"Haven't gotten the chance to. I'll see you later Rainbow." she headed inside, finding Fleetfoot.
"Did I jutht thee two mithchievouth little fillieth heading for the kitchen?" Fleetfoot asked
"Yeah. Rainbow brought Scootaloo, she and Spark have really hit it off." Spitfire responded, smirking "Thunderlane won't know what hit him."
"He'th not here. I thaw him heading to Ponyville, thomething about getting hith brother. We might have three foalth running around here pretty thoon." Fleetfoot told her
"Oh boy. Those kids are gonna get into all sorts of trouble." Spitfire shook her head, as Thunderlane came up.
"Hey Spitfire," He began.
"Fleetfoot already told me you were bringing your little brother up here." Spitfire said
"Sorry about that, my folks made me. They said I needed to spend more time with Rumble." Thunderlane explained "I saw Sparkfire and Scootaloo running into the kitchen, they had better not be trying to eat some of my cupcakes." Thunderlane narrowed his eyes.
"Knowing Spark, it's likely. And I think if you want to protect your cooking you'd better get in there." Spitfire responded, as Rumble came up behind his brother.
"Hey bro, what's going on?" Rumble asked, and Thunderlane ran towards the kitchen.
"Scootaloo's here, and Spitfire's sister, if you help me guard my cooking from them I'll give you a cupcake!" Thunderlane called
"I dunno, I'd rather help them raid the kitchen and have a lot of cupcakes than just one." Rumble said, taking off and zooming ahead of his brother.
"Come on, I want to see this." Spitfire nudged Fleetfoot, who giggled.
"How can I thay no? I want to thee it too." Fleetfoot said, and they followed the two.
"Rumble, how could you?!" Thunderlane was yelling at him, Scootaloo and Sparkfire were laughing. The two fillies had their hooves full of sweets. Rumble had a cupcake in his mouth, and cookies in his forelegs.
"Sorry bro, but they offer a better deal. See ya!" Rumble said around the cupcake, and they took off, Spark and Rumble leading the way from the air, Scootaloo running after them.
"Wait up guys! she called. They skidded to a halt after ducking into a room.
"Can't you fly?" Sparkfire asked
"No. I've been trying, and I'm getting really close, but I can't fly yet." Scootaloo replied
"That's okay, you're still cool." Spark commented, and Scootaloo smiled.
"Hey, Spark, can I talk to you?" Spitfire asked, poking her head into the room.
"Sure sis." Sparkfire agreed, following her sister to her office.
"I saw that little raid on the kitchen. Hope you had fun." Spitfire mentioned
"Yeah, it was really fun, can I go visit Scootaloo and Rumble in Ponyville?" Sparkfire asked
"Of course, I bet they'd love that. But I wanted to talk to you about something else." Spitfire said as they entered the Captain's office.
"Why is Fleetfoot here?" Sparkfire asked
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, but you can't tell mom just yet." Spitfire said
"Okay. So what is it?" Sparkfire asked
"Well, you see, Fleetfoot and I..." Spitfire tried to say, but the words got stuck in her throat. What if Sparkfire didn't like it? Fleetfoot came up beside her and pushed her muzzle into Spitfire's neck.
"We've been dating Thpark. Are you okay with that?" Fleetfoot asked
"Of course. And I won't tell mom until you say I can Spitfire, I promise." Sparkfire said
"Thanks sis." Spitfire said, then nuzzled Fleetfoot.
"No problem." Sparkfire replied.