Chapter 10: Exercise in Futility
Cloud construction looked a good bit different from ground construction. Having visited Manehattan a couple of times, Dawn and Scootaloo had seen big-city construction sites; heavy-girders interlocking into a skeleton of the building-to-be, whilst scaffolding ran up and down its sides like so much red and brown moss. In contrast, Cloudsdale construction was surprisingly clean and tidy. There were no scaffolds, as befitted construction workers who could fly between levels without the need for ladders. In place of girders, flat panels of stiff, construction-grade stratus clouds were shaped into walls, waiting for the layer of cumulous padding that would go over them once the building's shape was complete. Even though the building was, perhaps, only halfway finished, it looked far more complete than its ground-bound cousins did. Clouds, having no applicable weight, didn't require the support that surface buildings did, so upper floors jutted out at angles that would have been just plain wrong for a building made out of steel or wood. The carved cloud columns favored by Cloudsdale architects largely served a purely aesthetic purpose.
Even as they approached, the two young pegasi could sense the presence of additional ponies lurking behind walls and in the upper floors of the unfinished structure, including a few familiar ones.
Scootaloo smirked and chuckled, striding confidently forward. Now that they had clearly reached the destination intended for this confrontation, there was no need to fake being frightened, herded prey. "Really, Cyclone? You're going this far over a couple of gold laurel crowns and a fancy title?"
"There's way more on the line than that," said Cyclone, striding out of the unfinished structure, coming out where the front doors would stand, once it had been completed.
“Yeah, I've heard," said Scootaloo, raising an eyebrow. She glanced over at Dawn again and saw that he was simply standing by impassively, letting her take the lead in this.
"You've heard?" asked Cyclone, her cold, haughty demeanor fading, replaced by a shifty nervousness.
"Yeah," said Scootaloo. "Gramps and Granny are planning for you to inherit and you've gotta prover your worthiness and yada yada..." Scootaloo waved a dismissive hoof. "It's annoying that they're so stupidly picky that they'd make a pony jump through a bunch of hoops for all that stuff."
A pair of shadows moved in the upper stories of the building before leaping out to glide down. Alto and Nimbus Stratus landed on either side of Cyclone, their eyes blazing with anger as they glared at Scootaloo. Whatever plan they had been following had clearly been forgotten.
"Don't you dare refer to us so casually, you little brat!" snapped Nimbus. "We've been more than lenient with you and that mutant freak you've been consorting with. But the time for games is at an end."
Scootaloo bristled at the way Nimbus talked about Dawn, her wings twitching with a desire to strike the arrogant witch down where she stood. However, a gentle breeze teased her primaries on one side, drawing her attention back to Dawn. She didn't need to see him to know he was looking at her. Likewise, without having to take her eyes off of her grandparents, she knew he was shaking his head.
Right, she thought. Don't let them get to you.
Instead, Scootaloo took a breath and let the anger caused by Nimbus' remarks slide off her, like water from the surface of a stone, trickling down to pool somewhere around her hooves. There it waited for the time that anger was needed, for when she needed her passion to fuel her strength. She suspected that time was coming soon.
Instead, she narrowed her eyes and speared Nimbus with a flat stare, one devoid of anger or fear or just about any other emotion for that matter. "What's the big deal anyway? I know the Best Young Fliers Competition is famous and all...but why in the hay would you go all organized-crime over this?"
It was a legitimate question. The Best Young Fliers Competition drew interest and participants from all across Equestria and its results would be related across several countries. As the winners, Scootaloo and Dawn were essentially famous. The gold laurel crowns that they had been given looked wonderful in a trophy case and the title of Best Young Flier looked very good on work applications and resumes. But aside from that and a day to spend with the Wonderbolts, there wasn't all that much else that went with it. Some champions had been sought out for endorsements in the past, but never aggressively and, unless there was some sort of gambling operation involved, there wasn't an expectation of a lot of money changing hooves over who the winner was. Scootaloo got the distinct impression that her stiff-necked grandparents were not running a secret gambling ring and trying to fix the odds. So it begged the question of what else was at stake?
In response to her query, Alto lifted his head and sniffed sharply. "There is no need to explain anything to a half-breed runt from a backwater earth pony village. You have no comprehension of the importance of our city's pride, of promoting the right ponies."
"Uh huh...?" said Scootaloo.
"Forgive me if I'm wrong," said Dawn, actually looking at Scootaloo as he spoke, making it clear to everypony that he was addressing her, "but I seem to remember that Rainbow Dash won the competition a few years back."
"Yep," agreed Scootaloo.
"Did she ever tell you about getting jumped by a bunch of thugs trying to take her crown from her?"
"Nope."
"Huh..." said Dawn, turning his attention back to Nimbus and Stratus. "It seems that was never an issue in previous competitions. Are you sure that there's nothing personal going on here?"
The two elder pegasi winced and shuffled back slightly. Their reaction, however understated, was all that Dawn and Scootaloo needed to confirm Dawn's guess. "Sh-shut up, you freak!" snapped Alto.
"We allowed the issue of Rainbow Dash to slide because she was originally from Cloudsdale," added Nimbus, clearly improvising the excuse on the spot.
"Riiiiiiight," said Scootaloo dubiously. She turned her gaze back to Cyclone, who still stood between Alto and Nimbus, looking out of her depth. As the conversation had gone on, it was ovious that the Little Princess had been sidelined. She was looking back and forth between Nimbus and Stratus in confusion, clearly thrown off by their vehemence.
"And what do you think, Cyclone?" asked Scootaloo. "Are you okay with being used like this? Is the Stratus name and everything that comes with it really worth being used in acts of petty oneupmareship?”
"You're talking to us, you brat," snarled Nimbus. "This does not concern her."
"Are you sure?" asked Scootaloo, canting her head and injecting a taunting tone into her voice. "'Cause I'm pretty sure you two were leaving it up to her until you jumped in." Ignoring their sputtering response, she focused on Cyclone again. "What about you? Are you okay with this? Is being made the winner of the competition on somepony else's say-so really that big an achievement? What about Sunflower?"
Sunflower's name drew a visible wince from Cyclone, prompting her to cringe.
Scootaloo pressed on, sensing a chink in the arrogant mare's armor. "If Dawn and I were to concede anything, that would make Sunflower the winner of the competition. Are you okay with that, or are you supposed to step over her too?"
"I..." Cyclone's mouth worked, but she apparently had no idea about how to answer that.
Scootaloo felt the corners of her mouth turn up into the tiniest of smiles as she realized the reason for Cyclone's hesitation. Even if she's an arrogant priss...she really does care about Sunflower.
Instead, Nimbus answered for her. "Of course she is! That low-class waif is just another tool in Cyclone's arsenal. A tool can never be allowed to outshine its wielder."
"Uh huh...?" said Scootaloo, noting that Cyclone didn't seem to happy with that. She wasn't exactly furious at what Nimbus had just said, but she clearly wasn't comfortable with it either. Scootaloo narrowed her eyes to focus on Cyclone. "Is it really worth it, Cyclone? This is what these ponies want from you, to be somepony who throws away anypony else, tramples your closest friends if they happen to be in your way, and destroy anything you care about so you can get ahead. And maybe that's worth something. Maybe you'll get their inheritance, whatever it is, and maybe you get their pull and influence. But will that really do you any good?"
Scootaloo narrowed her eyes and glared at Cyclone. "When Sunflower sees the pony you're willing to become in order to get what these two feathering jerks have to offer, are you gonna be happy with the look in her eyes?"
"That's none of your business," snarled Alto. "The weight of all that we accomplished, the purpose we bear. We need a pony worthy of that. We need a pegasus with the strength to stand on her own, to accomplish great things with her strength of body and will. She needs the power to bend other ponies to her will so that the necessary things get done. A weakling who relies on friends to help them accomplish anything, who can't manage anything on her own, is worth nothing."
Nimbus' eyes narrowed as her glare intensified. "You are not worthy of the honor you currently bear. A half-breed freak like yourself wouldn't have been able to win that competition without assistance. So you turn to the filthy mutant beside you to give you the edge you need, denying ponies with the strength to compete on their own their rightful chance at victory."
Scootaloo didn't need to fake the yawn that escaped her. In the past, a tirade like this would have had her bursting with simmering anger. The pain of being insulted for the fact that her mother was an earth pony or that her coltfriend sported an unusual set of eyes was still a stinging one. Her grandparents' attitudes weren't all that different from her father's. When she had been a foal, her father's disappointment and disapproval had been like a weight on her back, pinning her down. Every time he scolded her for not living up to his expectations, every time he berated her for wasting her time because she was spending it with her friends, had driven shards of pain into her heart like daggers. The old Scootaloo, the filly under her father's domineering hoof might have been cowed by the angry words and cold stares her grandparents were giving her. But the mare she was now didn't even flinch, because she understood the ponies in front of her.
"Whatever," she said. "I obviously ain't gonna get through to you senile morons. Dawn and I are gonna head home now." She gave Cyclone a serious look. "You really need to think about what you really want and what you're gonna have to give up if you want what these idiots have to offer. But ask yourself, is it worth becoming ponies like them?"
Cyclone's gaze flickered uncertainly from Alto to Nimbus, her expression more uncertain than ever, almost as though she were seeing these two ponies for the very first time and comprehending what they really wanted from her. From the look on Cyclone's face, she was not very happy with the idea of being a pony like them.
"You aren't going home," said Nimbus, pulling the tattered remnants of her haughty demeanor around herself like a ratty cloak. "You will be going to the hospital and your saddlebags will be a little bit lighter. After our ponies are finished with you, I think you'll see the wisdom of admitting your defeat. We can get that in writing at a later date."
Alto nodded to one of the thuggish ponies looming at the entrance to the construction site. "Get them," he said.
Through their wind-sense, Scootaloo and Dawn felt Stratus Family's hired hooves close in. There must have been around twenty of them in total. Faint stirrings in the wind at the edge of her range suggested to Scootaloo that there might be more still. Idly, she wondered just where people like her grandparents found so many thugs to act as muscle for them.1) For most ponies, it would have been impossible odds. Even for skilled fighters, it would have been long odds. For her and Dawn, it was hardly even worth bothering over.
"I'll take 'em," she said.
"They're all yours," replied Dawn with a chuckle.
With a beat of her wings, Scootaloo launched herself into the air. Her attackers did the same, charging at her from all directions. A couple flew low to the clouds and rushed straight at Dawn, who seemed to hardly even notice them. Oh well, she thought wryly, it's their hides.
The air between her feathers buzzed and snapped. She snapped one wing straight out. A bolt of lightning lashed out with a whiplike motion and equally whiplike crack, striking her nearest attacker, who screamed shrilly as arcs of electricity danced across her body, making her muscles spasm. She dropped in less than a second, twitching until she hit the clouds with a dull thud. Thankfully, the cumulous padding around a construction site was a little fluffier and thicker, in case of accidents, so she was unlikely to be severely injured by the impact, though the burns across her skin and the tattered state of her scorched wings indicated she wouldn't be flying for a while.
Scootaloo hadn't even paused after launching her first strike. She whipped the wing she'd just used to launch that lightning bolt around in a tight arc, throwing her body into the motion so that it spun her in a complete circle, the crackling bold of energy trailing along like a streamer. Scootaloo swept it across another six ponies with the attack, knocking them away, screaming in pain and sparking loudly.
The rest of the gang had closed in. A pony came at her from behind and above, his fetlock curled around a heavy truncheon that he swung straight at the back of her skull. Scootaloo ducked without even looking, the wind of the bludgeon's passing teasing her mane as it missed her by mere centimeters. Her wings blurred, moving so quickly that the motion was almost invisible to the naked eye, as she drove a column of air directly up into the stallion's gut. His breath exploded from his lungs and the truncheon dropped from his grip. Wasting no time, Scootaloo used a wing to direct another blast of air across her back, smacking the stallion and launching him into one of his comrades, the next pony who had been closing in on Scootaloo. The two collided with a thud and the crunch of broken bones.
Scootaloo paid them no mind. Another pair of ponies were closing from below, trying to catch her from either side. With a grin, she whipped her wings up, then rapidly, down, swinging them in tight arcs, even as she kicked straight down with her hooves, pushing off of the air itself. Her body seemed to vanish as she abruptly accelerated upwards. At the same time, she used wind currents to gently nudge her two ventral attackers just slightly closer to each other, so that their clubs smacked into each other's faces instead of just whipping through empty air.
"Ouch," she said with a since as she heard still more bones break and the two ponies drop to the clouds, their bodies limp.
The two that had ignored her in the favor of attacking Dawn had closed in on him at that point. The young stallion barely seemed to even notice their presence. Neither of his would-be attackers reached him. Instead, they were slammed straight down into the clouds, as though flattened by powerful hammer-blows. They hadn't even seen Dawn's wings move.
The remaining ponies tried to surround Scootaloo as she rose higher into the air. Scootalo extended one wing out in front of her, then swept it around in a broad arc, putting the strength of her entire body into the motion. Her magic pulled in the air around her and directed it into a small, but powerful tornado. The roaring winds sucked in her remaining attackers, whirling them around her, the screams barely audible over the tornado itself. Scootaloo flared out her wings, forcefully breaking the tornado and sending the thugs flying. A few hit hard against the rigid stratus sheets that formed the structure of the cloud building in front of her. The luckier ones slammed into the padded clouds at the structure's base or were thrown all the way out of the construction site to slam into nearby buildings.
All her current attackers out of commission, Scootaloo exhaled and allowed herself to descend, settling back onto the clouds and regarding Nimbus and Alto with a smirk. "You were saying," she taunted.
Nimbus and Alto stared at her as though she'd grown a second head. They clearly hadn't expected their cadre of thugs to be effortlessly thrashed to within an inch of their lives.
Nimbus was the first to rally, blinking and shaking her head, as though she were trying to clear her vision. "You..." she snarled.
"Let me make this clear," said Scootaloo. "You can't make us do anything. It doesn't matter whether you have twenty toughs or a hundred. They'll go down just as easily. All it does is show exactly what kind of a pony you are."
"This isn't the end of this," said Alto. "You will regret defying us."
"I don't think I will," said Scootaloo. "Why don't you call the rest of your thugs and see what happens?"
The two elderly pegasi froze and blinked. Scootaloo wondered what had caused them to tense up so suddenly. At first, she thought it was surprise at the fact that she'd known about the other ponies waiting in the wings. But then she looked more closely at their faces and realized they were confused.
They don't know what I'm talking about, she realized, which meant that the ponies hovering just outside the reach of her wind-sense didn't belong to the Stratus Family. They were with somepony else. Scootaloo wondered who else would be involved in this whole affair.
She got her answer a few seconds later, when the ponies that had been waiting suddenly rushed in. Once again, there were about twenty of them. But they moved much faster than the last batch of thugs, dashing in with incredible precision and grace as they swooped into cut off all routes of escape. A few of them were armed, but none with the heavy truncheons wielded by the Stratus Family's enforcers. As she felt the thin, supple, mail uniforms they wore over their coats, Scootaloo realized exactly who was moving in, especially once she sensed a certain pony taking the lead.
Spitfire dropped down directly in front of Scootaloo and Dawn, positioning herself between the younger ponies and Scootaloo's grandparents. Cyclone's ears went back and she backed away even further, almost to the point of retreating back into the half-finished building. However, before she could make it, a pair of ponies in gold and blue flight suits landed behind her, cutting off that route of escape.
"Well well," said Spitfire, a smirk on her face. "And here I thought we'd have to wait a lot longer before you two finally showed your true colors."
"What is the meaning of this?" demanded Nimbus. "How dare you interfere with us?"
"You interfered first," replied Spitfire blithely. "Besides, I'm well within my rights to have the two of you arrested for attempted coercion through force, among other things. We got to watch the whole thing. It's gonna be enough to put the two of you away for a long time."
"Ridiculous!" shouted Nimbus. "You would support these two brats over us, after everything that we have done for this city."
"These 'brats' have done way more than you have, not just for Cloudsdale, but Equestria itself," replied Spitfire. "And even if that weren't the case, I still think the two of you are overprivileged scum. True, you might have done great things at one time. But you've spent too long basking in the glories of your past accomplishments and think they give you license to do whatever you please. I'm here to educate you otherwise."
"We won't stand for this," protested Alto. "Captain Spitfire, it's clear that your judgment in this situation has been compromised. We are holding you accountable for the bias in your judgments. Since you refuse to take action, we decided to take matters into our own hooves. The Wonderbolts' standards are-"
"None of your concern," replied Spitfire, her voice rumbling like thunder, actually making the clouds around her shake. Her wings flared and her body flashed, releasing a wave of flames outward. The clouds beneath her hooves roiled and turned to steam with a loud hiss as Spitfire stalked forward towards Alto and Nimbus, her anger a palpable force that held them in a vice grip, leaving them with barely enough strength to breathe as she came in closer and closer.
"Let me make this clear," said Spitfire. "I am not accountable to you. There are only about ten ponies in this entire country with the authority to hold me accountable for anything and neither of you are on that list. The standards by which I judge others are mine. The Wonderbolts are mine. You can scream and wail all you want, but nothing will change those facts, least of all a pair of ponies like you."
Alto and Nimbus were reduced to quivering wrecks as they cowered away from Spitfire. Cyclone was even worse off, tears streaming from her eyes as she sank down into the clouds, almost as though she was hoping she could phase through them and disappear.
"Get these two idiots out of my sight," said Spitfire, giving the Wonderbolts standing behind Alto and Nimbus a commanding look. "Turn them over to the Guard with a complete report of the situation. The rest of you..." She looked around at the thugs that had been beaten down by Scootaloo and Dawn, "...take care of these morons. Get medical treatment for the ones that need it and make sure that they're all in custody."
The Wonderbolts snapped into motion to carry out Spitfire's orders. As they did, Spitfire walked the rest of the way up the steps until she stood over the prone and shaking Cyclone. "We need to talk, young lady."
Cyclone squeaked unintelligibly as she stared up at Spitfire with wide eyes. Seeing her fearful look made Spitfire sigh. "Come on. Get up. I'm not gonna hurt you."
Slowly, Cyclone stood up on shaky legs. As she did, her gaze went from Spitfire to Scootaloo, then Dawn, as the latter two came up behind the Wonderbolt Captain.
"Right now, Cyclone, we're gonna have a serious talk about your future," said Spitfire, her voice soft, but her tone firm. She wasn't going out of her way to be intimidating, but she was making it perfectly clear to Cyclone that she wasn't playing around. "As things stand, we have enough evidence to put Nimbus and Alto away for a long time, probably for what's left of their miserable lives. Their assets are gonna end up being seized. Their influence is going to be kaput. The way things are right now, you aren't going to get a single thing from them.
"Where that leaves you is your decision. At the very least, you're gonna be outta the running for any inheritance from them because, once this is all over, there isn't gonna be anything left for you to inherit. In the worst case scenario, you could end up being implicated as an accomplice to their crimes and end up in prison right along with them. Your sentence won't be as severe, but you'll still lose several years of your life and end up with a blemish on your record that's gonna be dogging you for what's left of it."
Cyclone whimpered. As Scootaloo watched the interrogation unfold, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the other mare, despite her previous attitude problems.
"Wha-what do I do?" asked Cyclone.
"You have a few options," said Spitfire. "If you truly feel that you stand behind the Stratus Family and everything that they stood for, you can go down right along with them. But, if you're willing to accept that you were on the wrong path, you need to cooperate with us and the Guard. That means that you'll probably end up testifying against them in court."
"T-testify..." Cyclone's eyes went wide. Her head turned and she directed a horrified glance at Nimbus, who was still going through the process of being restrained by a pair of Wonderbolts. The older mare turned and gave Cyclone a commanding glare, clearly threatening dire consequences if Cyclone spoke out.
"There's a spectrum of options available," said Spitfire. "But cooperating fully and giving your testimony is the only way you're gonna get off the hook without anything more than a slap on the pastern," said Spitfire. She hadn't missed the nonverbal exchange between Cyclone and Nimbus. "Whatever else, you need to know that there's nothing those two can do to you if you decide to speak out. When I'm finished, they won't have any influence at all."
Dawn's ears perked up, prompting Scootaloo to look at him. A second later, she understood why when she sensed another pony approaching through her wind-sense. What was more, she recognized the contours of this pony and the rather unique slipstream she produced as she flew. "Sunflower! What are you doing here?"
"Eek!" squeaked Sunflower, stumbling through her landing, perturbed by the way Scootaloo had addressed her by name, even before turning around to look at her. "Geez! How do you do that?"
"There's a trick to it," said Scootalo with a wry smile. "Again, what are you doing here?"
"I..." Sunflower paused and took a moment to survey everything around her. "I'm not stupid. I knew something was up when you two decided to fly me home. I decided to see what was going on." She sighed. "But I lost you for a little bit. Then I heard thunder and wind over here and..." She waved vaguely at the construction site, where Wonderbolts were still working to restrain and move the thugs that Scootaloo and Dawn had beaten down.
"Yeah," said Scootaloo, giving Sunflower an apologetic smile. "Things got a little crazy here for a minute. Cyclone's sponsors decided they weren't gonna take 'no' for an answer and tried to use their hired hooves to force the issue."
"Cyclone, is this true?" Sunflower looked past Scootaloo, Dawn, and Spitfire at Cyclone, "Did you really try to force Scootaloo and Dawn give up their crowns? Are you really that desperate to win?"
Cyclone sniffed and whimpered, shying away from Sunflower's gaze. "I..."
"It sounds more like Nimbus and Alto forced her into it," said Dawn softly, giving Cyclone a small smile. "More than anything, it was clear that they were running the show."
"Given the circumstances, it would be easy to call Cyclone a victim of coercion as well," said Spitfire. "It's obvious that she was mostly trying to follow the demands that Nimbus and Alto laid out for her."
"I...It's true...partly," said Cyclone, sinking down. "Everypony still talks about what they did. Alto and Nimbus have their portraits enshrined in the Flight School's Hall of Fame. Their names are in our textbooks as the ponies who helped revolutionize weather production. They're two of the biggest names on the donor roll for the school." Sunflower nodded in agreement with Cyclone's words.
Cyclone continued apparently unable to stop herself from talking. "When I...When I made it into Flight School on a full scholarship, they came to me. They offered to sponsor me, to help me get ahead once I graduated. They said that I could be like them, that I could engrave my name in Cloudsdale's history. They told me they needed to entrust their inheritance to somepony worthy of it.
"But I wasn't the only one. There were a few others. They told me that only one of us could come out on top, that a pony who wanted to get things done had to be able to make the hard choices and do what was necessary. So I did. I made sure that, no matter what, I was the one who won."
Standing beside Scootaloo, Sunflower shivered. She had known that Cyclone had gone to pretty extreme lengths to keep her standing in Flight School and remain worthy of the Stratus Family's esteem. However, she'd never realized just how far Cyclone had gone.
"And after Flight School?" prodded Spitfire.
Cyclone was weeping openly now. "I guess I satisfied them. After I graduated, they got me and Sunflower top spots as cloud wranglers. When the competition was coming up, they naturally said that a pony worthy of their inheritance would come out on top. Then, a couple months ago, they really started getting pushy about it. They said that I had to do whatever it took to ensure that I took home the crown for Cloudsdale, that I had to make sure that nopony else stood in my way. They said that, if it was necessary, I should do whatever it took to make sure any other contenders weren't able to get the top spot."
"Did they give any names?" asked Spitfire. "Did they list anyone they specifically wanted you to beat out."
"N-not really," said Cyclone. "I recognized Scootaloo's name because they were always ranting about her and her father. After that, I put two and two together."
Spitfire nodded. "Let's get to the Guard station. We'll get the rest of your testimony there."
"I'll come too," said Sunflower.
Cyclone froze in place and stared openly at Sunflower. "Y-you will?"
Sunflower smiled ruefully. "Even though you're a pain in the flank sometimes, you're still my friend. At the very least, I owe you for all the clouds you helped me get so that I could practice my routine."
"Thank you," said Cyclone, her head dropping. "I'm so sorry."
"It'll be okay," said Sunflower, coming up alongside Cyclone and draping a wing over her back. The two of them began to follow the Wonderbolts out.
"As for you two," said Spitfire, grinning at Dawn and Scootaloo, "I'm guessing your friends and family are wondering where you've gone off to."
"Yeah, we should probably get back," said Scootaloo, using a breeze to playfully ruffle Dawn's feathers. "I bet your Mom's getting worried."
Dawn nodded soberly and the two of them said their goodbyes to Spitfire before taking to the air.
About an hour later, the two of them caught up with the rest of their group. Explanations were required, especially since Rainbow had seen the lightning in the distance and had determined that they were fighting someone. Fluttershy and Caramel were shocked to learn that Alto and Nimbus were willing to go so far in order to wrest the Best Young Fliers title from them.
"That seems so...petty," said Caramel.
"That's my grandparents in a nutshell," replied Scootaloo with a sardonic grin. "Oh well. It's all over now. I doubt they're gonna be out of prison soon and they're not gonna have any influence after this."
"I'm glad that everything turned out all right," said Fluttershy as she gently rocked Pepita back and forth. She and Caramel were riding in one of Twilight's hot air balloons, while Rainbow and Soarin' towed the craft along at a decent pace. Both of Dawn's younger siblings were asleep in their parents' arms, snoring gently as the balloon began its descent.
"Either way, I'm ready for bed," said Scootaloo. "It's been a long day."
"Yeah...don't count on it squirt," said Rainbow, giving her younger sister a mischievous smirk.
"What does that mean?" demanded Scootaloo.
"You won the competition, you beat your grandparents' plans, you met the Wonderbolts," said Rainbow, "but there's one big mistake you made."
"Huh? What?" Scootaloo canted her her head as she looked at Rainbow.
"You gave Pinkie Pie a whole day's head start."
Scootaloo's eyes bulged in their sockets and she whipped her head around to stare at Dawn, who was giving her a similarly shocked look. "Um...do you think I can hide out at your place for...like...a couple months or something?"
"I don't think that will help us," replied Dawn.
"We could run away."
"You think that would work?"
"...No."
"Oh well."
"Yeah, time to face the music."
Rainbow's assessment of what lay in wait for them at Ponyville had been impressively accurate. Sure enough, the party was already in full swing when they arrived. Dawn always wondered just where Pinkie managed to procure such a volume of fireworks. Fortunately, Fluttershy and Caramel were able to break away to settle the sleeping foals back into the cottage. Dawn and Scootaloo weren't so lucky, as they were rapidly snared by Pinkie Pie and planted securely in their positions as the guests of honor.
"And don't you even think of running," scolded Pinkie as Rainbow and Soarin' snickered behind her back. "I have a very particular set of skills, skills that make me a nightmare for party ditchers like you. If you stay and enjoy the party, that'll be the end of it. I won't look for you. I won't pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will throw your party."
Dawn and Scootaloo glanced at one another silently. Finally, Dawn looked back at Pinkie, his ears pressed up flat against the sides of his head. "Okay."
Pinkie's extremely serious expression vanished, replaced by her usual look of complete joy and excitement. "Yay! Let's have tons of fun!"
All told, the party was very enjoyable, even for Dawn, who wasn't a big fan of such affairs. After all the years he'd spent living in Ponyville, he'd more or less acclimated to Pinkie's ways though. The games were fun, he had plenty of friends around town now, and Pinkie always made sure that there was something that he could enjoy eating. Dawn no longer go queasy from eating particularly sweet or rich foods, but he still didn't consider them his favorites, something Pinkie Pie and Bon Bon, his father's business partner and co-owner of their candy store, took as a personal challenge.
However, Dawn was more than happy when the party finally wound down well past midnight, much later than he usually stayed up. Both he and Scootaloo were fighting to keep their eyes open by that point. Convinced that they were sincere in their tiredness, Pinkie Pie finally released them from the party to go home and rest. Dawn and Scootaloo shared one last kiss goodnight before heading to their respective homes. Dawn barely had the presence of mind to go through his evening routine of washing and brushing before climbing into bed and pulling up the covers. He was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.
The next day, the competition, the weeks of preparation that had led up to it, the conflict that had followed after, and the party of the night before all seemed like a distant dream as Dawn and Scootaloo settled back into their routines. Dawn returned to working in the teashop and Scootaloo went back to working on the Weather Team, this time as a full employee, rather than an apprentice. Rainbow Dash and Soarin' returned to Cloudsdale, their leave at an end.
Dawn enjoyed the peace while it lasted. The announcement declaring him and Scootaloo the victors of the competition had gone out across Equestria through the papers. A few days later, it was followed by the announcement of Spitfire's invitation for them to participate in the next session of the Wonderbolts Academy, making him, Sunflower, and Scootaloo the youngest ponies to attend the Academy since Spitfire had taken over the Wonderbolts, to say nothing of the fact that they’d been invited without even needing to apply. Much to their surprise, they learned that Spitfire had extended an invitation to Cyclone as well.
The news caused quite a stir. But, thankfully, the reporters seemed more interested in asking Spitfire for details than Dawn and Scootaloo and, consequently, generally didn't cause much of a disruption to their daily lives. That wasn't to say that they were completely ignored. A particularly intrepid reporter from Manehattan had come to ask them about the competition and the invitation. Upon his request, he even got to see a demonstration of their training regimen.
The resulting article had generated some interest, but nothing overly invasive. The paparazzi stayed clear of Ponyville. However, Dawn and Scootaloo were surprised to occasionally receive letters asking one or both of them to train some aspiring martial artist or other. They were always careful in their replies, Dawn in particular, since he had been officially recognized as a master of the Gale King. He was hesitant to share the art's skills frivolously, reflecting that he'd been marvelously lucky to have a student like Scootaloo. If he ever thought about sharing his skills with others, he felt he would have to be very careful about selecting potential students. The destructive power that even a novice student of the Gale King could wield was not something to be taken lightly.
Dawn and Scootaloo soared over Ponyville at a slow pace, cooling down after their latest training session. Scootaloo had another invitation for dinner with Dawn's family, something she'd gladly taken advantage off. Her mother's boyfriend was over again and Scootaloo was happy to give them some privacy. Seeing her home drifting a little ways above the town, Scootaloo said her temporary goodbye to Dawn and banked away from him, intending to get a shower in before heading over.
Dawn continued on his way home, reveling in the feeling of the cool evening air. It was getting chillier. Autumn was around the corner. Scootaloo had told him that the Weather Team was already planning out the snowstorm schedule for winter. Twilight Sparkle was organizing the Running of the Leaves and Pinkie Pie was planning the Harvest Festival. Everypony was going through their familiar routines as the months and seasons danced by like a fleeting dream.
Consequently, Dawn was in a contented mood as his family's cottage came into sight and he swooped in for a landing, touching down right on the front porch. "I'm home," he said as he came in the door.
"Big Bro!" squealed Larksong as she launched herself at him. Dawn caught her up in a hug. A second later, the filly pulled back and wriggled her nose. "Stinky!"
"Big Bro needs a shower," said Dawn with a laugh as he set her down.
"Wanna play!" exclaimed the filly.
"We will," promised Dawn. "But let me get my shower first. Remember, your Big Sis will be coming over too."
"Sista Scoot!" shouted Larksong, jumping into the air.
"Remember to behave," said Dawn with a teasing smile. "Sister Scoot only plays with good fillies who behave themselves."
"I good!" said Larksong urgently.
"Welcome home," said Fluttershy as she came to the door of the kitchen.
Dawn went over and nuzzled her and said hello to Caramel in the kitchen before going to greet Pepita in his playpen. After that, he took his shower. A few minutes later, Scootaloo arrived and the two of them spent a hefty hour and a half playing with Larksong, flying her high into the air and juggling her between them before coming in for dinner, eating while Caramel and Fluttershy quizzed Dawn and Scootaloo about their day. Everything was going perfectly.
During the conversation, Caramel happened to glance out the window and stared. "Did anypony call a fancy carriage?" he asked.
"What are you talking about?" asked Fluttershy before following her husband's gaze. When she did, her jaw dropped. "Oh my."
Dawn and Scootaloo had to lean across the table to see what was going on. As they did, they saw a rather large, ornate carriage on approach to their front yard. Its body was assembled from ebony, while the wheels shined with plated gold. Further gold designs ran across the sides of the carriage, gleaming in the light of the setting sun.
The six pegasi pulling the carriage were large, muscular specimens, the kind that gave Dawn an ominous feeling, which was only exacerbated by the slender swords they wore at their sides. Flying alongside the carriage was an officious-looking old mare with curling white hair. Her faded-yellow coat was concealed by the ostentatious blue and red livery she wore. Clutched between her forehooves was a bundle of cloud.
Dawn and his family, along with Scootaloo, temporarily abandoned their dinner to see what was going on. They reached the front door just in time to see the carriage come to a landing in the front yard, scattering animals as the wheels clattered against the ground, churning up the sod, mixing black dirt with the green of the grass. One of the pullers had landed too close to a birdhouse mounted on a pole, knocking it over with a bump from his shoulder. The robin couple within fled, screeching obscenities at the intruders, which were ignored as the stallion turned to unhitch himself from his harness.
Dawn saw Fluttershy flinch, her eyes narrowing at the group. He was silently glad that the robins hadn't had any eggs or chicks in the house at the time. Where her animals' babies were concerned, Fluttershy was more than happy to confront ponies who dared disturb their abodes.
The six pullers disentangled themselves from their harnesses with practiced ease, swiftly moving to take up their positions, forming two rows that flanked the pair of doors on the side of the carriage, standing with the same rigid attention that one could find in the Royal Guards keeping watch in the corridors of the Royal Palace. Dawn observed them carefully, noting that they seemed plenty competent, apparently comfortable serving as both transportation and muscle.
The old mare who'd followed the carriage landed between the two rows of stallions and set the cloud she had been floating so that it hovered about a foot off the ground. With smooth, practiced motions, she molded the cloud, spreading it out so that there was enough space for at least two ponies to stand comfortably on its surface.
Her chore complete, the mare moved to the doors themselves. She cleared her throat dramatically before speaking in a surprisingly resonant voice with only a faint hint of raspiness. "Announcing Swift Bolt and Moonstone Gust of the Gust Clan."
"Who?" Dawn cocked his head in confusion and looked over at Scootaloo and his parents. They all shrugged in return. Apparently it was one of the old pegasus families descended from their pre-unification culture. However, none of them had heard of it before. Granted, none of them were experts on the various pegasus families who had once wielded tremendous power and political clout over the pegasus cities.
The doors of the carriage swung open to reveal a pair of ponies who stepped out onto the cloud platform that had been prepared for them, holding themselves with all the poise and arrogance Dawn remembered seeing in Scootaloo's grandparents. He could easily see these ponies as being contemporaries of the Stratus family or Meadowlark, the leader and public face of the tribalist uprising a few years back.
The mare was a few years older than Fluttershy or Caramel, though nowhere near as venerable as Scootaloo’s grandparents had been. Her body and face were immaculate, devoid of any wrinkles that might have accompanied age. She had a healthy figure that suggested regular exercise, but only so much as to prevent her from accumulating any fat, rather than to build any real strength or endurance. The setting sun shimmered off of her silvery coat and practically shined through her white mane, which cascaded smoothly down the left side of her neck. Her cutie mark was a cluster of scattered, dark-gray feathers. Her pale-blue eyes reminded Dawn of chips of ice as they zeroed in on him. Her lips curved upwards in a smile and she affected an expression of happiness so plainly forced that Dawn thought he could have pulled it off her face like a mask.
The stallion’s coat was a much darker gray, bordering on black even. Like his wife, he too was in excellent health and shape. His mane was a silvery color that was nearly a match for his wife’s coat. Like his wife, it had been combed out straight, though it had also been parted neatly in the middle so that each side ran about halfway down his neck, silvery bangs framing a pair of light-green eyes. The stallion’s flank was decorated with a cloud column. He was the more reserved of the pair, regarding Dawn and his family warily and shifting uncomfortably as he stood a little behind his wife, clearly letting her take the lead in this situation.
Dawn expected them to use the cloud platform as a step to descend the rest of the way to the ground and then proceed through their pullers-turned-guards. However, neither of them made a move to descend any further, instead treating the edge of the platform as some kind of absolute boundary that they could not cross under any circumstances…almost as though they loathed the idea of actually touching the ground.
Moonstone Gust smiled at him for a long, silent moment, which stretched out long enough to become uncomfortable as he wondered what it was that they wanted. Finally, like an actor suddenly remembering a missed cue, she gasped and threw her hooves up to her mouth. “Oh! It really is you. Didn’t I tell you dear? I told you it was him.”
“Ha!” laughed Swift Bolt lamely, grinning in a plainly forced fashion. “Yes…you did.”
“The moment I saw your face in the papers, I knew it had to be you,” said Moonstone.
“And who am I?” asked Dawn, raising an eyebrow, beginning to feel a little annoyed with the inane theatrics Moonstone was bombarding them with.
“Why you’re Storm Shadow,” said Moonstone, “our son.”