Piercing the Heavens

by Calm Wind

Chapter 67: Secrets Are No Fun

For those of you who did not see my blog... The part 2 finale ended up being too long, so i broke these 15K words off of my plan and made them their own chapter... The finale of part 2 will be chapter 68

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MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind
Chapter 67:

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“OW! Stop it!” Squall yelled as Bliss moved his wing around. He was lying on his side on a trainer table with Bliss standing behind him. She had on hoof placed gently against the swollen spot where Dash struck him during the derby, and was using the other to move his wing around. The magic in her horn was glowing softly and small rings of magic had bound Squall’s arms and legs together, holding him down after he had refused to sit still.

“Trying to pull your wing away from me is only going to make it hurt more, honey,” Bliss calmly explained as she felt around the base of his wing and his shoulder. “I need to make sure everything is where it’s supposed to be.”

“But it hurts!” Squall whined angrily as he winced and flinched.

“Stop being a baby,” she replied quietly as she checked the range of motion before gently putting his wing back down.

“Rgh!” Squall grunted as his wing snapped back to his body and Bliss released her hold on his limbs. He glared at her, but she literally didn’t give a damn as she remained professional.

“Looks like it’s just bruised and swollen. Nothing’s broken and you still have full range of motion,” she turned to an assistant behind her, a young, yellow unicorn mare with a straight red mane that came down to her shoulders. “Mahogany, could you get an ice bag for him, please?” she asked as she stepped away from the table.

“Yes, ma’am!” the unicorn replied with a nod and quickly turned towards the ice-maker in the corner.

“And be careful, he bites!” Bliss added as she moved onto the next table, where Little Star was putting up with Twister hovering behind her with three plastic bags-worth of ice shoved in his mouth. Bliss grabbed Twister by the head with her magic and pulled him away towards the sink, shaking him until he spit all the ice out.

“Um…” Little Star spoke up, lying on the table beside Squall. Squall grumpily looked towards her as he remained on his side. “Sorry about that,” she apologized.

Dash observed from the other side of Squall as Star apologized while balancing an ice pack on her back. It was a bit stiff from Matteo’s vice grip. It was part of the derby, but they had gotten so used to fighting while they were all protected by training armor. It was different to strike a friend with nothing to soften the blow. Star probably felt even worse because the derby was a deception. The Wonderbolts probably intended it to be an ‘on the fly’ or an ‘unprepared’ situation, but she still felt bad.

“About what?” Squall lifted an eyebrow. Star blinked and flattened her brow, pointing directly at his wing as the yellow unicorn returned and placed the ice bag over the base. Squall glanced at his wing and then back at Star. “This?” he pointed to his wing. Star nodded, which only seemed to make Squall confused. “Why the hell would you apologize?” he suddenly asked.

Dash didn’t know how to read the situation. Squall was questioning why Star would apologize for hurting him? He was turning down her sympathy?

“Because I did it to you… and it hurts,” Star explained simply while holding a hoof out. Squall scowled at her.

“What, you think I can’t take a hit?” he suddenly questioned. Star rolled her eyes.

“Squall, that’s not what I’m—”

“You hit me once!” he snapped at her before throwing one of his hooves out towards Matteo. “You all hit Matt about, I dunno, thirty times, and you specifically tried to rip his head off! You’re not asking him if he’s okay! So why me?!” Squall let his hoof fall and just in frustration. “I’m not a push over, dammit.”

Star looked like she was about to get angry, but Dash quickly waved her hoof back and forth in the air, catching Star’s attention. Dash made a swift motion with her hoof across her neck and shook her head. Star blinked, look down at Squall, who was looking away from all of them and angrily pouting. She sighed and turned to lie back down as the yellow unicorn brought her a small ice pack. She set her sore front hooves on it and glanced at Squall one more time.

“Sorry…” she repeated before facing forward. Squall glanced at her before looking back down and sighing in frustration.

Dash looked away from the two of them and faced forward at the empty trainer table across from her. Leave it to Squall to take a feel good situation and kill the mood… at least for somepony. Star was happy as could be moments ago, but as soon as she confronted Squall, that was destined to come crashing down. Dash looked about the training room at the rest of the recruits, they were all in there for post workout treatment, and the general mood was uplifting. Despite the fact that fifteen of them ran away and undoubtedly knew it may have sealed their fates, they seemed happy that it was all in fact, fake. Some were even talking about how cool it was that the Wonderbolts had the means to create such amazing illusions.

“Whooooop!” Twister suddenly flung past Dash’s vision and landed perfectly on the top of his head on the trainer table across from Dash.

“No touching my ring,” Matteo spoke up. Dash glanced over to see Matteo put his arm back down on the double trainer table, specifically the one with his golden ring, most likely after using it to toss Twister. Dash focused on Matteo as Twister began spinning like a top on his head. She was startled briefly as the shadow of one of Matteo’s wings cast over her.

Matteo was being helped out by two unicorns and an earth pony. The two unicorns were working on removing the tape and wrappings around Matteo’s wing bases as he held his wings open for them. The earth pony was hauling two very large bags of ice over to the tables. Matteo’s eyes twitched only for a moment as some of the stray tape pulled a feather or two off as the unicorns removed it, and then he showed absolutely no discomfort as the large bags of ice were heaved up and plopped down rather roughly against his body.

“You’re a real brick house, you know that?” Dash commented as Matteo slowly refolded his wings, retracting the shadow from over her. Matteo glanced towards her. “Seriously, it was like I was punching a wall…” she added as she shook her hooves out.

“Griffon warriors are taught from a young age to never falter. Showing pain or discomfort to an enemy’s blows is dishonorable.”

“I had a feeling I was gonna get some more griffon lingo,” Dash chuckled as she listened.

“Building a strong body is the first and most important part of our training,” Matteo continued. “Our body must be the stone wall that protects our honor and repels our enemies. For if they are to knock us down, our honor is their’s to take.” He finished while reaching his arm up, balling up his talons and tensing his arm. Dash’s eyes widened slightly as she saw his powerful muscles visibly bulge and flex beneath his fur and feathers. “We cannot protect the honor of the Griffon Kingdom if we cannot first protect our own.”

“I swear your arm’s bigger than my body,” Dash chuckled. “Honor… you griffons really hold that in high regard, huh?” she asked. Matteo snorted.

“Not all. Our traditions are more or less honored, but many fail to uphold a proper sense of honor. Delinquents… kind of like my wife,” he said with a slight grunt of frustration. Dash couldn’t help but laugh. That definitely explained Gilda.

“But hey, you love her right?” Dash reached over and nudged him. Matteo nodded.

“She’d be dead if I didn’t,” he added calmly, earning a blank look from Dash. Griffon culture was so much different than theirs. She looked away from Matteo for a moment before hearing another grunt of frustration from him. She turned back and saw him grinding his beak lightly as if in deep thought.

“Something on your mind, big fella?” Dash asked without much thought, feeling talkative. Matteo looked back at her for a moment before giving a single, weak shrug.

“I was just thinking about the test,” he said. Dash waited for him to continued, but then she remembered who she was talking to.

“What about it?” she pressed.

“Deception,” Matteo answered without hesitation. Dash blinked as he continued to not look at her, rubbing the tips of his beak together as if it were a bad habit.

“Deception?” Dash wasn’t sure what that meant. Did he mean the test? She didn’t have to ask, he was on his way explaining.

“I can’t say I approve of the way the Wonderbolts have taught us certain lessons and tested some of our abilities. Specifically the way they seem to enjoy… fooling us,” the rubbing of his beak began making a loud clicking noise each time the flicked the top and bottom points together. Dash scrunched her face for a moment. It wasn’t a very pleasant sound. “That’s the third time they’ve told us one thing and done another. It’s not what I would call a good practice,” he stopped clicking his beak and turned to Dash. “Tell me... If in the next hour or so, something drastic happened, would you believe it were a crisis? Or would you assume it to be another test?” he suddenly asked her. Dash wasn’t expecting the question, but after briefly thinking it over, the answer was clear yet unclear.

“I’m… not sure. I mean, we did just get duped,” she answered while rubbing her chin.

“Precisely,” Matteo grunted. “Fool me once, shame on them, fool me twice, shame on me… but a third time? I feel my trust is wearing thin. I don’t feel like this would be a very good mindset to have. Hesitation can get one killed in battle.”

“And you’d be right,” a new voice came from beyond Matteo. Dash’s ears stood up incredibly fast and almost spun in circles as her brain registered the familiar voice.

Soarin stepped around Matteo’s tables and flashed them both a smile.

“Hey!” Dash cheerfully greeted him.

“First Commander,” Matteo greeted as well. Soarin nodded to them both as he stepped between their tables. Dash’s wings began fluttering lightly against her body and she got goose bumps all over. Soarin’s mere presence had such an effect on her. As soon as she heard his voice she felt her heart pump and her fur stand on end. God, it had been so long since she got to spend real time with him. Maybe it was because she was sure she made it, but she suddenly felt like she was anticipating being with him without restrictions.

“I can understand why you’re skeptical about us always deceiving you… but you’ve gotta understand,” he began while addressing Matteo. “The Wonderbolts are not like the Sky Wings. We aren’t the primary military force, we respond to the abnormal and what the Canterlot Royal Guard can’t handle. Most if not all the times we are called upon, it is last second and unplanned,” he explained.

“But that doesn’t justify the deception, sir,” Matteo kept the formality despite making an argument against him. “How can we be battle ready if we are uncertain of the problem’s validity?” he questioned. Soarin smirked as Dash tried not to swoon behind him.

“How many active members are there in the Sky Wings?” he asked. Matteo blinked.

“One thousand, two hundred and fifty seven. Three hundred of which are of superior rank. Seven hundred of lower rank, and two hundred and fifty seven new recruits as of this year,” Matteo answered without missing a beat. Soarin nodded.

“Now, how many elite Wonderbolts are there?” He asked Matteo. Matteo hesitated, doing the math quickly in his head.

“Eighty?” he answered, earning a nod of approval from Soarin.

“Exactly, only eighty,” he smiled. “We are incredibly selective in terms of who we let into our elite ranks. It’s incredibly difficult just to become an on compound recruit. From there, they have to earn their spot in the elites by proving their skills over time compared to older veterans. The deception during our training is part of what makes us strong.”

“Strong?” Matteo lifted an eyebrow. “It makes me skeptical if anything,” he was adamant to uphold his end of the argument. Soarin glanced at Dash briefly, but she was too busy looking Soarin up and down. Soarin chuckled and turned back to Matteo.

“Look at it this way, big guy,” he said. “The deception is our way of seeing who is truly ready to be in our ranks. We are the best of the best among pegasi. We do not falter, and we do not hold back. No matter what the circumstance, it is our job… it is our calling to protect Equestria from extreme catastrophes. The test you all just so gloriously became the first to beat was meant to test resolve,” he winked. Matteo remained silent as if thinking it over. “Your fellow Wonderbolts went down, some were even killed, but did you stop to mourn? Did you break and run away? Or did you remain firm and complete the mission? Did you save Equestria from further death and destruction?”

Dash found herself out of the Soaringasm zone and actually listening in as Soarin spoke. It was true, during the test, when Soarin appeared injured, she broke all thought of what was going on and thought only of him. If not for him sternly ordering her to attack, she probably would not have passed the test. However, it wasn’t like she suddenly took his word and ran with it, she turned to the dragon with the intention of protecting Canterlot and him.

Dash began to wonder how life would be like this. If the Wonderbolts were truly meant for battle of such scale, how often would one of them die? Was it really that bad, or was the simulation an exaggeration? It had to be, she didn’t see any Wonderbolts use signature moves. However, despite that, she still felt the shock when she saw Wonderbolts ‘die.’

“Things like that can’t be taught in a classroom and gym,” Soarin continued. “Wonderbolts must be unbreakable in spirit, and we purposely expose our recruits to such things in order for them to experience it and feel it for themselves. Give them a taste of what could happen on a battlefield with the odds stacked against them. Catch my drift?” Soarin smiled. Matteo thought it over, the clicking of his beak starting up again for a moment before he nodded.

“Actually… that does make sense… and it is quite effective,” Matteo found himself switching sides on his own argument. Soarin turned to Dash and gave her a grin.

“It’s one way we like to show how much we care about our recruits and selection process. We would not want to bring those who are not ready into our ranks. And those who are ready will know what it feels like to lose a comrade beforehoof, so they may fight their hardest to prevent it from happening,” Soarin ended.

Matteo actually looked impressed. Dash loved every word of Soarin’s explanation. She also liked him sounding so smart and informational. Check off more ways that she found him sexy.

“All done,” Bliss suddenly walked up and removed the ice bag from Dash’s back. Matteo’s focus shifted as the unicorns returned to his side and did the same with his ice.

Soarin turned his attention to Dash, the two smiling happily at each other. Until Dash reached out and gave him a light smack across the face. Soarin didn’t see it coming blinking and shaking his head out.

“What was that for?” He asked with a nervous chuckle.

“For making me think you were critically injured. I was worried sick, you know…” Dash clarified, remembering how terrified she was when she saw Soarin faking a severe injury. Soarin chuckled sheepishly.

“Well… actually, I was supposed to ‘die’ right there,” he admitted.

“What?!” Dash grabbed her mane. “You guys are terrible! As if I didn’t feel traumatized enough at that moment!”

“I wanted to give you a tougher choice,” Soarin shrugged. "Silver thought I helped you, but I disagree. I wanted you to choose between helping me and completing the mission. Part of being a Wonderbolt is also trusting the strength of your fellow flyers. The fall would have hurt a lot, yes, but I would’ve lived. In fact, I forcibly pushed you off to try and drive that point home. I don’t know about you, but I think that led to a rather positive result, eh?” he stepped up and nudged her in the side lightly.

Dash pouted and blushed lightly at the same time. She didn’t like the deceptions either, but Soarin was right, it led to her pulling off something that had never been done before. She and four others took the fight to the dragon at a time where all others had run away.

Dash’s ears suddenly flopped down.

Speaking of those who ran away…

She scanned the room until her eyes landed on Thunderlane. He was lying flat on a trainer table across the aisle and three tables to her left. He had an ice bag on each limb, plus one between his wings, and wore an expression of mixed frustration and depression. An expression he had been wearing since the end of the test.

Soarin followed Dash’s head and also laid eyes on Thunderlane, a small frown replacing his smile.

“He doesn’t look too happy…” Soarin commented quietly. Dash nodded.

“He’s been like that since the test ended,” Dash said as she turned and looked at Soarin.

Soarin kept looking at Thunderlane for a moment before moving away from Dash. And turning around the front of her table towards Thunderlane.

“What are you doing?” she whispered. Soarin turned and patted her on the head.

“Stallion talk,” he winked before continuing on. Dash huffed, blushing, but smiling. She was gonna kick his ass later for the head pat.

“What’s up Thunderlane?” Soarin asked casually as he approached. He clearly knew what was up, but he wanted to establish his intentions immediately. The last thing he wanted Thunderlane to think was that he had come to berate him for running. Some ponies take failure harder than others, as Soarin had witnessed quite recently with Storm Front.

Thunderlane’s ears stood up and he looked towards Soarin upon hearing his voice, but he quickly looked right back down.

“Rgh…” Thunderlane grunted in response. Soarin sighed, keeping his eyes on Thunderlane while walking up beside Thunderlane’s table.

“Alright, I know exactly what’s bothering you. The test, right?” he asked, while keeping his tone casual. In general, Soarin liked to push aside rank when he spoke to others, but here it served a different purpose, being like a friend to Thunderlane after all.

“Rgh…” Thunderlane repeated while stuffing his nose into the crease between the padding of the trainer table. Soarin shrugged.

“Sorry to bother you,” he pushed away from the table.

“I screwed up,” Thunderlane suddenly spoke up, slightly muffled by the table padding. Soarin turned right back and listened. “That’s it isn’t it? I know now what the test was for, but miraculously five ponies solved it… and they only take five ponies to the recruit squad, right? So much for all the crap I put up with this month,” he groaned.

“Thunderlane,” Soarin leaned against the table. “You didn’t screw up. The test isn’t designed to be beaten,” he shook his head. "The fact that you and the rest of the recruits ran away doesn’t take away from what you’ve all already earned by right. The selections will be out soon, and even if you didn’t make it into a recruit squad, you still earned your Wonderbolt wings as a reserve.”

“I know…” Thunderlane groaned in frustration. “I just feel like a coward,” he added. Soarin burst out laughing, earning a disturbed look from Thunderlane. “What?!” he reacted while glaring at Soarin. Soarin quickly waved his hooves out in front of him.

“Nonono… not you,” he managed to say between laughs. “Thunderlane, I was the first to turn and run during the test when I was a recruit!” he winked. “Screaming like a little filly, I might add!”

Thunderlane just stared at Soarin blankly as if trying to comprehend a first commander in the Wonderbolts screaming in fear.

“Oh man… Silver gave me a mouthful for the scream, Fleetfoot didn’t leave me alone about it for months!” Soarin continued while chuckling.

“You still got selected?” Thunderlane cocked an eyebrow. Soarin shrugged.

“We all turned and ran during my test once Silver went down. I was just the first. I guess I earned my place during the rest of our training month because I sure as hell didn’t earn it there,” Soarin smiled, but Thunderlane still looked down. Soarin sighed and pushed off from the table. “Look Thunderlane, keep your chin up, if you think about it, you are one of the top twenty ponies among the THREE HUNDRED that initially showed up for the tryouts. If that’s not earning some respect I don’t know what is.”

Thunderlane lifted his head up and looked up at Soarin. He had a point. Thunderlane still felt bad about how he handled the test, but it was true, he had come so far. Soarin moved away from his table, but he had left Thunderlane with plenty to think about.

“Nicely done,” Dash whispered to Soarin as he returned to her side.

“Thanks!” Soarin smiled before reaching up and scratching his face. “Gah, this thing can be so uncomfortable sometimes…” he complained as he pushed his goggles down from his forehead and let them dangle around his neck.

Dash watched with admittedly a little pleasurable interest as Soarin slowly removed the mask of his flight suit, closed his eyes, and shook his head out, to get his mane out of his face. Dash internally squeed as he sighed contently and looked back at her. He snickered when he saw the look in her eyes. More so her expression. Her eyelids were slightly closed and she was biting her bottom lip.

“See something you like?” Soarin turned his head to the side while bouncing his eyebrows.

“What do you think?” Dash replied while throwing him a smug smirk.

“Oh, for CRYING OUT LOUD!” Squall suddenly yelled out from beside them. Despite his sore back he pushed himself up and turned to face the other direction, the ice packs falling off his back as he shifted.

“Whoopsie!” Little Star hovered down to retrieve the ice bags for him.

Soarin and Dash both blinked in surprise before blushing and chuckling awkwardly.

“I think for once…” Silver’s voice startled them both from behind. They both flinched and sharply looked towards him. “That I’ll have to agree with Happy over here,” said Silver as he pulled his goggles down around his neck and made a head motion towards Squall. “The way you two are eying each other I expected a slow saxophone to be playing,” he added. Before Dash or Soarin could say anything in response, Silver turned away from them and loudly cleared his throat. “Everypony listen up!” he shouted to all the recruits. The young, yellow unicorn flinched and froze in place, but Bliss tapped her on the back as she walked up the aisle.

“Not you, honey,” she said while nudging her assistant along.

“So as I’m sure you’re all aware of by now,” Silver began. However his tone was strange. It was calmer than usual. “We’ve been doing a lot of work behind the scenes to give you all unique experiences. We had to fool you a little bit, but would you have felt fear if you knew the dragon was fake?” he paused. Twister slowly raised his hoof in the air. “Didn’t think so,” he started walking slowly down the aisle. “I feel like I owe a little bit of an explanation for the fake schedule as well. It was part of the test,” Silver continued. “With the end of the training drawing near, it was inevitable that some of you hotshots would think that a final test of some kind was approaching. The final week on the schedule was put in there to throw off your mental preparation, to be surprised and have to react on the fly as we do all the time,” he paused and glanced at Matteo, seeing that he looked displeased and was glaring at him. “Don’t smile too hard, fluffy. Your face might get stuck like that,” he said, not intimidated at all by Matteo’s clear disapproval.

“Oh, the banquet,” Soarin suddenly spoke up. Silver nodded.

“I’m getting there, son,” Silver clarified as he returned to the front of the aisle. “My work as your flight instructor is now officially over. You’ve all rightfully earned a spot in our ranks. Recruit squad, or reserve, you’ve all the right to be proud,” he cracked a small smile. “And I’d like to personally say that it’s been a pleasure, this was a special group.”

Dash felt her heart swell in her chest and she was sure the rest felt the same thing. Hearing Silver address them in such a positive manner was such a turbo boost to the self-confidence. Silver really had become an impactful individual to the recruits. A simple compliment from him could make them feel so accomplished.

“Now, moving forward…” Silver started up again. It was only at this point that Dash suddenly registered what Soarin had asked Silver a moment ago. A banquet? “Tomorrow afternoon at three, we are having a banquet to celebrate and officially welcome you all into the Wonderbolts. It’s in the mess hall, but stop cringing, we are hiring real chefs to make the food. There is no fancy dress code, but you are all required to be in uniform. OFFICIAL uniform. As in, before the end of the night you all have to stop by the equipment cage and get measured for your first personal Wonderbolt flight suit.” He paused as a wave of excitement spread across the recruits. Of course, over the flight suits. The recruit uniforms were similar, but lacked the sleeves and some of the markings. They were also not quite as shiny or tight fitting and sleek.

“Alright, alright, quit wetting yourselves,” Silver chuckled. “Also, we’ve already taken the liberty of contacting your families. They’ve known about the banquet for a week and we hope to see them all there to witness your ascension.”

A sudden high pitched, wimpy squeak came from Dash’s left. She blinked, her thoughts on the subject completely derailing as she turned her head towards Squall. She looked at Little Star beyond him first, thinking the noise came from her. However, Star was looking at Squall with a look of surprise. Dash turned her head slightly to see Squall, his head picked up off the table, looking in no particular direction, but his eyes had widened and his pupils shrank.

Did… Squall make that noise?

Her own thoughts interrupted her as the banquet came back to mind. Her mom and dad were going to be there? That meant…

She glanced at Soarin, who was currently looking at and listening to Silver.

That meant she finally got to prove to her dad that she was dating the Soarin! Dash sneered contently. She had visited her parents twice since her relationship with Soarin started. Her dad was adamant at thinking she was bluffing. That was typical of her dad. He was just like her, not believing those who talked themselves up unless they could convince him otherwise. Now she could throw it in his face with a victorious smirk as the two had done to each other many a time. At least her mom believed her, she was much easier to convince.

She was also excited to get her own, custom fit flight suit! She had worn an official uniform in the past, but it was an extra/emergency replacement that didn’t fit perfectly snug. She was so ready to finally get her own custom made uniform, words couldn’t describe it.

“So make sure you all get that done. That’ll be all… and,” Silver saluted them. “Job well done, all of you. As you were!” he let them know he was finished and turned to leave. Dash was prepared to converse with Soarin again, but before either of them could speak they both looked towards Silver.

Silver had stopped after two steps and turned to look at Thunderlane, who was still looking a bit dejected. Silver sighed, turned around, and moved towards Thunderlane, slowly approaching him. Dash and Soarin glanced at each other before observing.

“Thunderlane,” Silver spoke up. Thunderlane looked up in a similar manner as he did when Soarin approached, only it was much stiffer, showing the effect and the power Silver still had over them.

“S-sir?” Thunderlane tried to sound enthusiastic but it crashed and burned hard. He was still angry, plain and simple. He couldn’t hide it from anypony, definitely not Silver.

“I know why you’re angry,” Silver began without even asking. Silver had learned how to read most of them through simple expressions, which was a little scary, but Silver always covered all the bases. “You’re pissed about your handling of the test and wish you had done it differently. Right?” Silver completely picked the words right out of Thunderlane’s mouth as if he had dealt with this multiple times in the past, and knowing Silver that could be many times.

“It’s true, you made a mistake, but if you think being perfect is what makes a Wonderbolt, then you’ve got it all wrong,” Silver continued. “Pride, dedication, perseverance… those are all things a Wonderbolt needs, and you have given us a fine view of all three,” he suddenly complimented. Dash watched as Thunderlane’s eyes opened and he slowly looked up at Silver. “The first day of training I was more than certain you’d tuck your tail between your legs and run away. Well, you proved me wrong. You proved me wrong and you continued to fight, scratch, and claw your way through each day of the training. It was remarkable to witness,” Silver reached up and placed a hoof on Thunderlane’s shoulder.

“Whether or not you made the recruit squad doesn’t matter. Becoming a member of the reserve is just as much of an accomplishment. You worked hard and you proved to us that you deserved to be called a Wonderbolt,” he gave Thunderlane’s shoulder a gentle pat. “Don’t ever forget that,” he gave Thunderlane a nod before turning and leaving behind what looked like a much different pony than the one who was sulking and mentally berating himself moments ago.

“Damn…” Soarin chuckled as Dash glanced towards him. “Now I look like a chump. I wish I could motivate like that… he just blew my words right out of the water,” Soarin shook his head with a smile as he watched Silver leave. Dash shrugged.

“Soarin, this is Silver Lining we’re talking about here. You couldn’t one-up him if you tried,” said Dash as Soarin turned to her with a lifted brow.

“I see you’ve been fully exposed to the Silver Lining phenomenon,” Soarin joked, hearing words from Dash that all Wonderbolts used when talking about Silver.

“He’s been in my face for the past month. Wasn’t too hard to put together,” she replied confidently while whisking her mane over her other shoulder. Soarin was too busy looking at Thunderlane to notice the smarmy mane flip.

“You know… I was worried when Spitfire assigned Silver to train you guys. It had been a long time since he instructed a group of recruits. But the more I thought about it and saw him working with you guys, the more I realized how lucky you all were,” he looked back at Dash. “You were trained by the best. He may not be a lead squad Wonderbolt… but when it comes to turning a pegasus into a Wonderbolt, nopony comes close.”

Dash listened as Soarin praised Silver. It was very special to hear Soarin speak to highly of a Wonderbolt who ranked below him. Soarin never let rank get in the way of judgment, but at the same time it really spoke for Silver and all he had done throughout his career as a Wonderbolt and was still doing. To have a Wonderbolt of such high importance, motivation, and pure experience last well beyond the typical age of stepping down was a boon to them all. He offered knowledge and important lessons to all around him, making everypony better. Soarin was right, Dash was lucky to have such an incredible pony as an instructor and as a mentor. Silver had become a figure of great influence to Dash, one that she would never hesitate to follow, listen to, fight beside, or defend.

A few of the recruits were beginning to leave. Dash decided to get moving as well, especially because she wanted to get her uniform measurements. She lightly moved her wings around, now having had the ice bag off for a few minutes. Pleased with it feeling better, she hopped down from the table as Matteo and Twister began the process of leaving as well. Dash glanced over at Star and Squall.

Squall was still icing and being checked by Bliss. His expression hadn’t changed since his sudden squeak. He looked terrified. Dash was curious, but with Bliss working on him, she had no real opportunity to ask. She looked towards Star instead. She couldn’t see her over Squall, but Dash knew she was behind him somewhere.

“Star, want to go get our uniforms fitted now?” she asked. Star looked up from behind Squall, but Dash was surprised to see she was sitting on the same table as him. She quickly shook her head.

“Oh, no I’ll do it later, go ahead, I’m gonna stay with Squall until he’s ready to go,” she stated loud and clear. Something that Squall would protest instantly, but he was still in some strange state of shock. It happened at some point during the banquet explanation, but Dash wasn’t paying enough attention to remember exactly what moment caused Squall to react. She also took note of Little Star. She was staying with Squall. She definitely felt bad about hurting him, even if it was minor, and Squall’s little outburst when she tried to apologize probably didn’t make her feel any better. Part of it was probably the motherly way she went about them, but she clearly just wanted to show she was sorry, even if she had to do it without speaking. Dash didn’t mind at all, because it would definitely give Squall another reason to see that they were trying very hard to befriend him.

Dash turned to Soarin, who had been looking at her while her back was turned to him.

“What?” she asked with a small smile. Soarin stared for a moment, making Dash snicker at his goofy expression before he blinked and shook his head out.

“Sorry I was distracted by the heavy concentration of awesome right here,” he made a circular motion towards her with his hoof. She snorted and pushed him lightly.

“You’re such a—”

“Especially around your plot, the awesome glows back there!” he added while looking up and bouncing his eyebrows.

“Hey!” she glared and pouted while blushing. The pout was quickly replaced by a smile as she shook her head. She didn’t ask him at first because she assumed he was busy, but he had been sticking around the training room with her for so long she decided to go ahead. “Okay Mr. Plot-gazer, wanna walk with me?” she asked as she stepped out in the aisle. She held down a giggle as Soarin’s reaction was almost before she finished asking.

“Sure! I’ve got some time,” he quickly agreed, walking side by side with her towards the training room door.

“A-HEM!”

They both froze right before Dash reached the door. They turned to see a clipboard hovering towards them, wrapped in an aura of Bliss’ magic.

“Sign out please,” she asked calmly as she walked by them towards her small desk opposite of the door.

“Oh, right…” Dash grabbed the clipboard and the pen attached to it, glancing up at the clock and writing down the time she left and what treatment she received. She dropped the pen back onto the board and moved to hand it back to Bliss, but Soarin stopped her.

“Wait, wait, give me that,” he whispered with a devilish smirk on his face.

“Huh?” Dash was delightfully curious as he took the board from her. There had to be something silly going on.

“We have a running gag where we randomly sign up Fire Streak for ridiculous or sexual sounding treatments. They usually get caught on the board immediately, but there have been a few glorious moments where they get left on until he sees them,” Soarin explained as he picked up the pen while snickering. Dash stifled a chuckle.

“You guys are terrible, I love it!” she said as giggled to herself. Soarin’s smile seemed to become wider as he wrote. He put the pen down and turned to show Dash. In the sign in column Soarin had written: ‘Fire Streak. Treatment: Intense inner-pelvic massage, double stimulation.’

“PFFFFFFFF!!!” Dash threw her hooves and her wings over her mouth, her cheeks puffing out and her face turning red as she struggled to hold it in.

“Heehee, shhhh!!” Soarin chuckled as he casually and quietly stepped over to Bliss. She had her back turned to them, going through some Wonderbolt medical reports that had been plopped on her desk. Soarin carefully placed the clipboard down on the other edge of her desk before turning and pointing towards the door. He and Dash scampered out in a fit of quiet giggles.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Bliss sighed and grabbed the clipboard with her magic.

“I wonder what it is this time?” she asked herself as she looked over the board. She snorted quietly as she saw it. “That’s a new one,” she as she rolled her eyes and smiled while grabbing the pen and scribbling over it.

---

“A banquet, huh?” Dash asked as she and Soarin started a slow walk towards the equipment closet. They had to cross the lobby and walk a little ways down the west hall. It wasn’t long, but it had been a while since they could just be in the same place, they wanted it to last. “How long has that been planned?”

“It’s always put together three weeks in advance, invitations and everything,” Soarin chuckled. “Sorry for always fooling you guys, but… well you already heard it all in there,” he explained. “Oh, by the way, I took the liberty of inviting all of your friends too. Bulk Biceps and Derpy as well.”

“What?” Dash blinked and stopped for a moment. “Awesome! Thanks Soarin!” she smiled and gently rubbed up against him. He thought of everything for her.

“Your friends were all a given, but I wanted Derpy to visit for Storm as well, you know about them right?”

“Oh yeah, I do,” Dash nodded. “Storm is always so happy to talk about her.”

“I figured if I was inviting Derpy, I had to include Bulk. Those two and Thunderlane all made the trek to support you, it only seemed fair.”

They kept walking, Dash not removing herself from Soarin’s side. The second she pressed against him and felt his familiar warmth she was stuck to him. The hallways were pretty clear of other ponies, but even if it was full neither of them would care.

“How long’s it been?” Soarin suddenly asked as he opened his wing and draped it over her. Dash suddenly felt all tingly in the best way as his wing gently fell over her body.

“Since what?” she asked as she sighed quietly.

“Since we’ve done… I dunno, anything?” he asked with slight frustration in his voice that was accompanied by his wing closing slightly tighter over her. Dash shrugged.

“Long enough for me not to remember… that or I was too busy being awesome during training,” she snickered. Soarin suddenly fully extended his large wing, wrapped it around her and lifted her up. She yelped quietly in surprise as her hooves left the floor.

“By being awesome, you mean you were getting run ragged by Silver?” he said with an obviously fake dramatic tone. Dash pouted and crossed her hooves.

“I hate you and your big, sexy wings,” she complained with a smile forming on her lips. Soarin chuckled and set her back down. Soarin was glad that they were getting a little quiet time. From the moment they started down the hall he was dreading somepony ruining the moment… most likely Fleetfoot, but for once she seemed to be not where he and Dash were.

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow…” Soarin spoke up again as Dash continued to walk while pressed to him.

“Why is that?” she asked while resting her head against his moving shoulder.

“You’ll see, we have something fun planned for after the banquet. We may get a chance for some… private time,” he said with a tone in his voice that Dash recognized. She pushed off of him, giving enough distance to turn her head and give him a devilish grin.

“I like the sound of that!” she said as the grin seemed to grow wider by the second. “I mean… I enjoy any time I get with you but…” she swayed her body back and forth as they crossed the lobby and entered the west hall. “Knowing we may get some of that kind of private time… oooohoohoohoo, you’ve got me excited now!”

“Assuming that’s what I meant,” Soarin rolled his eyes, giving her a serious look. Dash’s expression flattened and froze, wondering if she said something wrong. Soarin did last three seconds before snickering and laughing. “Who the hell am I kidding?! Of course that’s what I mean!” he chuckled as he swung his plot around and bumped his flank against hers.

“You’re an ass,” she pushed back against his flank and pressed herself against him again. “With a perfect ass,” she winked while swinging her tail over and brushing it against his.

As much as the two were enjoying toying with each other, they were approaching the equipment cage and a line of recruits outside of it.

The two reluctantly removed themselves from each other before stopping and facing each other.

“Well…” Dash pouted. “Guess we better part ways here, don’t want to gross out the others.”

“Yeah…” Soarin frowned and glanced at the line of recruits forming outside the doors leading into the equipment room. Matteo was standing outside the door, but Twister was nowhere to be seen, probably getting fitted. Soarin suddenly looked between the line and Dash twice as if contemplating something.

“Soarin?” Dash tipped her head to the side. Soarin suddenly grabbed her arm.

“Come in here for a moment,” he pulled her towards a classroom right beside them before any of the recruits in line could look in their direction.

“Whoa!” Dash yelped as Soarin tugged her into the room and quietly closed the door behind them. Dash smirked and lifted an eyebrow before Soarin could turn towards her.

“Couldn’t wait, huh? This is surprisingly bold, are you sure nopony will hear us?” she assumed she knew where this was leading. But to her surprise, Soarin turned to her with a very warm, caring smile on his face as opposed to a lustful one.

“As tempting as that is, that’s not why,” he chuckled. “I wanted to tell you something, preferably in private because it’s very personal,” he explained.

Dash picked up on his words and suddenly felt a different wave rush through her, one that felt similar to the night they shared right before the final day of the tryouts. The night he made her feel… all incredibly tingly unlike anything she had ever felt before. She stepped towards him, keeping her mouth shut to let him do his magic.

“Rainbow Dash…” he placed a hoof on her shoulder. “You are, far and away, the most incredible mare I have ever met in my life.”

What an opening line. Dash’s legs immediately felt wobbly. She wasn’t one to easily get romantic and swoon, but Soarin had this effect on her.

“I just wanted to say,” Soarin slowly slid his hoof from her shoulder to caress her neck. “That it is truly amazing to have watched you come so far. You know how much I value dedication… watching the mare I love take herself to the next level through such hard work and devotion was such an exhilarating and unforgettable experience. You are amazing, you truly are,” he moved his hoof from her neck to her cheek. “I’ve never felt more excited than I do watching you continuously wow us all over and over again. I couldn’t have discovered a better mare in my life than I did the day I first met you. I just wanted you to know how much I admire your progress and I look forward to your future here… and our future together,” he ended with a bright smile as Dash felt like her face was going to explode.

Praise overload. Praise overload. Dash felt like her ego and confidence were going to burst.

“You’ve earned everything you’ve worked for and I couldn’t be happier to call you mine, c’mere,” Soarin lightly tugged her forward.

Dash didn’t fight it. She let him draw her in, closed her eyes, and waited for it.

Soarin softly planted their lips together, sliding from a simple brush of the lips to them gently locking their mouths together. It was so slow and caring. Dash felt like she was melting as they remained connected for a few seconds, pulling away slowly only to repeat the motions for three more soft, slow, deep kisses.

When Soarin pulled away, she was shivering with delight, blushing and smiling. She still didn’t know how Soarin broke through her usual tough exterior with loving, heartfelt acts so easily… but part of her never wanted to know. It was something only he could do and it felt like nothing else she had ever felt in her life. She wanted it to remain a mystery because that was the fun of it… that’s what made it special.

“You look content,” Soarin chuckled when he saw the dreamy look in her eyes.

“And you look hot…” Dash said as she swayed slightly. Soarin snorted and shook his head while laughing quietly.

“I love you so damn much, Dashie,” he said, blinking in surprise as she reached her head forward and landed another kiss, one that she started and held for a good ten seconds before pulling away.

“And I love you too, you big dope,” they smiled, looking into each other’s eyes for another moment before Soarin saw a shadow pass by the blurred window on the door.

“You should get your uniform,” he nodded while patting her on the shoulder. “I’ve got something to take care of right now anyway. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow at the banquet if not earlier,” he nodded as he pulled her into a tight hug. Dash immediately returned the hug as tightly as she could.

“Thank you Soarin… for everything,” she added quietly into his ear, something that made his heart swell with joy.

“Anything for an awesome pony like you,” he pulled away and winked.

Dash giggled and tossed her mane over her other shoulder in her typical awesome fashion as the two turned to the door.

Soarin slowly opened the door and peered out to make sure the coast was clear before the two quickly stepped out.

“See ya!” Soarin smiled and waved as he turned and trotted down the hall back towards the lobby.

“Bye…” Dash replied with a content sigh, her wings inadvertently fluttering and causing her to float towards the equipment room despite her legs still moving as if she was still on the ground.

She had Soarin on the brain… so much so she didn’t even notice as Twister walked past her… on the ceiling. She was that distracted.

---

Soarin had something very important to do.

“I’m sorry Commander Soarin, but the princess is busy,” the guard spoke plainly. Soarin blinked as the two guards barred his way from the back door to the throne room.

“Pardon?” Soarin had heard them loud and clear, but being told Princess Luna was busy was generally accompanied by how long it would be until she was available or at least information on what she was currently doing. This time it was just ‘busy?’ “Uh… do you know when she’ll be available?” Soarin asked to follow up.

“No,” the guard replied simply. Soarin lifted an eyebrow.

“What’s she doing?” Soarin dropped his professional tone, slightly annoyed.

“Nothing of your concern,” the other guard quickly replied, the two exchanging glances.

Part of Soarin felt like he deserved a little bit of this after how hard he and the Wonderbolts had fooled and led on their recruits, but this wasn’t training, this was a serious matter that directly affected him.

“Is she really busy? Or did she tell you to say she’s busy?” Soarin snapped slightly. The guards didn’t answer. “Son of a—”

Soarin was cut off as a low humming, but incredibly loud noise that sounded like a BVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV sounded from the opposite end of the hall. It sounded like a boat whistle. Soarin cringed and turned around in time for a large wave of water to crash into him and the guards, filling the hallway with at least five feet of water.

“ALL ABOURD THE RUSE CRUISE!!!!!!” a voice called out as Soarin emerged above the inexplicable water and a yacht that just barely fit in the width of the hallway floated up to them. The voice was all Soarin had to hear for everything that just happened to make sense.

Discord’s head popped over the edge of the boat to look at Soarin and the two frantic guards treading water below the yacht. He was wearing a sailor hat, had a corn cob pipe hanging out the side of his mouth, and one eye heavily squinted. His chin was also huge, about five times larger than it usually was.

“Well, blow me down!” he remarked as he pulled out a telescope, extended it until it reached about a foot above Soarin and the two guards and looked through it at them, his eye appearing on the lens, blinking and glancing at the three of them. “These r’the biggest fishies I ever sawr!” he said in a very quick and quiet tone without moving his mouth at all.

Art by: Noble Savage (Deviant art: thatdamntenpin)

“Are you even CAPABLE of making a normal entrance?” Soarin asked while grabbing the telescope and yanking it towards him. Discord’s eye on the telescope glared at Soarin before it disappeared and the telescope retracted, picking Soarin up out of the water with it. It pulled him all the way up to be eye level with Discord.

“I yam what I yam! And that’s all what I yam!” Discord yelled in the strange voice again and let go of the telescope. Soarin yelped as he dropped back down into the water. Discord puffed his chest out and pounded his fist against it. “I ain’t no tailor, but I know what suits me!”

“What’s going on?” One of the guards asked as Soarin emerged above the water again and shook his head out. The other guard shrugged.

“You think I know?”

Soarin growled and glared up at Discord.

“Discord, you are the worst at getting to the point! Or are you actually just messing with me this time?” he yelled up. A lot of banging and clattering suddenly came from inside the yacht

“Where’s the entrance to the exit?!” Discord yelled from inside the boat. Suddenly a door appeared on the side of the boat and opened, revealing Discord standing with his arms out at his sides with his forearms pointing down and the pipe was spinning while making a noise similar to a winding crank. The pipe eventually stopped and Discord blew into it twice making a TOOT TOOT noise emerge with small puffs of smoke.

“Yeah, you’re just being an ass,” Soarin sighed.

“Leave us not jump to seclusions!” Discord made no sense as he continued to speak in a tone what was really hard to understand already. Discord glanced up at the back door to the throne room, blinked, looked back down at Soarin and smiled as his chin shrank back to normal size. “Actually, I thought I’d just distract you until she came through the door,” he explained casually in his normal voice.

“What is going on in—!?”

Luna’s voice came from beyond the door. The guards both suddenly became alarmed.

“M’lady, don’t—!” one of them tried to warn her, but Luna opened the doors from the other side and yelped as the water filling the hallway rushed into the throne room, crashing against her, knocking her over as the two guards, Soarin, and the yacht all flowed in.

“Woooo HOOOO!!!!” Discord cheered as he water skied in on the backs of the two guards. The water level fell to about an inch after spreading out to the corners of the throne room. All the guards present were startled, but as soon as they saw Discord, they all simply remained at their posts, knowing nothing they could do would change anything.

Soarin quickly stood up and shook himself out the best he could. He looked towards Luna, expecting her to be livid, but to his surprise, she just laid on the floor, completely soaked, mane slick and pressed down to her body, and let out a simple, exasperated sigh. It was as if nothing surprised her anymore when Discord was involved, just as with the guards about the room.

“Thou art truly intolerable…” Luna said as she stood up, her body and main dripping. “Now could you please clean up this mess?” she snarled at him, yet remained calm.

“Party poopers… party poopers everywhere…” Discord sighed before snapping his fingers. The water disappeared, Soarin and Luna were dry, and Discord reclined as he floated in small circles around them. The two of them simply shook their heads before Luna looked down and realized that Soarin was in the room.

“Ah, Soarin of the Wonderbolts! What brings you here tonight?” She asked, but before he could answer she flinched. “Oh, we hope thou did not have to wait long… there was something we had to attend to,” she looked away from Soarin as she spoke.

“Oh, no… only long enough for this dick to have a good laugh,” Soarin glanced towards Discord only to see a yo-yo being dangled in front of his face. The yo-yo was spinning, but suddenly stopped instantly. The word ‘problem?’ was written on it. Two seconds after, it spun and flew back up to Discord.

“We are pleased, we’d hate to keep you waiting,” Luna sounded very intent on making sure Soarin wasn’t affected by her mystery schedule. Soarin knew if he asked he wouldn’t get an answer, he’d come to expect that from Luna.

“I actually just had a question… regarding the magic. I was hoping you could shed some light on something for me,” as soon as Soarin asked, Luna looked extremely interested. She even took a few steps closer to Soarin.

“How hath thy magic behaved?” she quickly asked before letting him continue.

“More than I have!” Discord chimed in rather triumphantly. Both Soarin and Luna completely ignored him as Soarin answered.

“It’s been very dormant lately and is more or less completely listening to me, I think I might be finally getting the hang of it,” said Soarin confidently.

Discord blinked and glanced down at Soarin as he and Luna conversed. He fixed his eyes on Soarin’s horn, glancing between the horn and Soarin himself. He grunted quietly and shook his head.

“That is splendid to hear!” Luna said enthusiastically. “But pray, tell us, what is it that’s on your mind?” she asked, referring to Soarin’s request.

“Right,” Soarin nodded. “Now, remember when I told you I was having strange dreams? Ones where past events replay differently or something terrible happens and leads to physical pain?” he explained, recalling the other times he brought his dreams up to Luna.

“Yes… have you had more of the same?” Luna asked. Soarin shook his head.

“I haven’t actually,” Soarin quickly pointed out. "But I have had another kind of dream as of late. One that I wouldn’t call recurring, but it’s always the same thing with different words.”

“Words?” Luna lifted an eyebrow and tipped her head slightly. Soarin nodded.

“More specifically, two voices conversing." Soarin paused to see if Luna would respond, but she looked deep in thought. Behind Soarin, Discord suddenly turned over on his invisible recliner and looked down at Soarin in surprise as Soarin continued. “The voices are both distorted and warped, I can’t put them to anypony I know. The only thing I can tell is one is male and one is female…” Discord’s eyes widened slightly as he listened. “And they seem to be fighting for control of something, or somepony. I think it might be me because one time the horn was mentioned,” Discord blinked multiple times and smirked as Soarin kept going. “Sometimes they are arguing, sometimes they are jawing and taunting each other. It’s happened four or five times now, but the strangest part of it is that I don’t feel like I’m dreaming when I hear them. I feel like I’m right there listening, and unlike my previous dreams, I wake up without any of the pain or headaches I did before. Do you have any idea what’s going on?”

“We…” Luna had a very blank expression on her face. “We have absolutely no clue,” she said with a very disturbed look on her face. Soarin could tell she wasn’t bending the truth, she genuinely looked worried. “Voices? Talking about the horn? Talking about you? This is alarming, what could it mean?” Luna pondered as her eyes darted about the ground. If Luna was worried, Soarin suddenly didn’t feel to secure.

“OOOO! OOOOOOOOO!!!!!” Discord suddenly made annoying noises from above them. Both Soarin and Luna looked up to see Discord floating up right while holding a hand up in the air and supporting his arm with the other hand. “I know! I know! Pick me!”

Soarin and Luna glanced at each other, both very skeptical, but curious nonetheless.

“Thou knows what Soarin speaks of?” Luna questioned Discord. Discord zipped right down beside her and draped an arm over her shoulders.

“You bet I do!” he said while nodding and grinning. He remained nodding and grinning for ten seconds before Luna glared.

“Well?” she snapped. Discord let go of her and backed away while holding his hands up in the air.

“Oh, I’m not telling,” he said with a wink.

“Wha—”

“WHAT?!” Luna stomped, cutting off Soarin and making him flinch as her hoof caused a small tremor and the ground below her cracked. “Discord, we can tolerate your shenanigans, but withholding important information such as this shall not be tolerated!” she exploded. Luna was clearly sensitive to anything regarding the magic and the threat it posed to not just Soarin, but to everypony else. Discord’s beard and eyebrows were blown back as Luna somehow managed to remain one notch below the Royal Canterlot Voice, but her remained still. He crossed his arms and gave her a very serious and stern look.

“I’ll tell you Lulu… but only if you tell Soarin what you’ve been keeping from him first!” he proposed.

Luna’s anger escaped from her face and was replaced by a defeated expression. Her ears flopped down and she opened her mouth to protest, but she couldn’t find the words. Soarin’s eyes widened and he quickly turned to face Luna.

“Ah… and that’s all it takes!” Discord cackled. “Oh, Lulu… you really aren’t prepared to make sacrifices are you?” he paced in a circle around her. “You’ve established your authority quite nicely, but you still can’t seem to make the bigger decisions. “You aren’t going to tell him, are you?” Discord stopped in front of her, leaned his face towards hers and stuck his snake tongue out at her, flipping it up and down in an annoying gesture.

Luna sighed and sat down on the floor.

“No… we’re not,” Luna admitted. Soarin flattened his brow and he quickly stepped up to Luna.

“Princess, seriously?!” he said in disbelief.

“WE SAID WE ARE NOT!” her voice boomed, its power rushing against Soarin and forcing him to take back his steps. Her anger seemed to fade instantly as Soarin fell back on his plot. “We… we can’t,” she admitted. Discord burst out laughing.

“If you choose to snooze, then you lose on the ruse cruise!” he yelled out as he slithered up into the air and perched on top of the throne. “Ah… so much lying, so much deception, so much chaos! You’ve all been making me blush lately!” he draped his back over the throne and hung upside down before both of them. “Sorry Lulu, but if you’re going to keep your little secrets, then I am too,” he snickered. “Maybe sooner or later you’ll understand how everypony you’re lying to feels… and then maybe I’ll share with you what I know,” Discord snapped his fingers… and disappeared.

Soarin frantically looked about the room, but there was no indication of Discord. He was gone, taking what he knew about Soarin’s dreams with him. He groaned in frustration and looked towards Luna. She looked very beaten, something he hadn’t seen in a while. He had no idea what caused Luna’s recent burst of authoritative actions, but clearly Discord had something to do with it. The way she reacted to Discord just now made it seem like she had much on her mind that he could easily dive into and make her think about.

“Leave us,” Luna suddenly ordered. Soarin flinched in surprise.

“What?”

“I said LEAVE us!” Luna ordered slightly louder. Soarin remained still, but after a few seconds sighed and got up.

As he walked towards the door he was swearing to himself internally. His life had become such a jumble of mysteries. Why couldn’t anything be clear? If not for Dash and his friends keeping him happy, he would have easily gone insane by now.

“Soarin,” Luna suddenly spoke his name before he reached the door. Soarin stopped in his tracks and glanced over his shoulder at her. She was still looking down, but she continued. “We have our reasons for remaining tight lipped. It is not to keep things from you, but to protect you. Please understand,” Luna explained.

Soarin wasn’t sure how to reply. Keep things from him for his own good? Was that supposed to make him feel better? Looking back on all of this though, he felt like in a way he deserved it, after all he had just got done deceiving the recruits pretty hard. It was much different and more important circumstances, but thinking of it as karma made it seem worse that it was or could be, so it would have to do for now.

He didn’t reply, he simply turned back and continued until he left.

---

It was going to be hard to sleep tonight.

Rainbow Dash was still bouncing. Getting measured for her first genuine Wonderbolt uniform made her so excited she could barely contain it. She bounced from the equipment room to dinner, she bounced while eating dinner, and she bounced all the way back to the barracks where she was still slightly bouncing. She had seen herself in a Wonderbolt flight suit already when she visited the compound months ago, but it was an emergency suit, a generic size. This was being made for her, it would fit her and her body perfectly, be sleek and snug, showing off her body as well as giving her the full genuine look of a Wonderbolt. Just thinking about it was enough to make her explode into confetti, Pinkie Pie style.

Obviously, she was also very excited about the banquet and the announcement of the recruit squad. She hadn’t been chosen yet, but unlike the tryouts she felt confident that she knew exactly who was going to be chosen. During the tryouts she overconfidently assumed that her high score performance would land her the open elite slot and straight into her full dream come true. Of course that didn’t go quite as planned.

This time though, she was 300% certain. From what she learned from Silver, from how well she and her friends had performed over the month, and how she rallied them to carry out an action never before seen in Wonderbolt training, it was pretty clear they’d be chosen. They got an ovation from the whole Wonderbolt force for crying out-loud! Dash knew she was in, and she was ready, more ready than she’d ever be. Looking back she almost felt it was better that she was initially rejected. It gave her a chance to learn and grow through the training, from her new friends, and through Silver’s guidance. She wouldn’t trade those for anything.

The mood in the barracks was strange. Strange in the sense that it just felt so relaxed. With the training over, it felt like the first time they could walk around and be at their leisure without worrying about Silver surprising them with something. Silver was still present, currently in his room ‘reviewing our month long training data’ as he claimed before disappearing.

Dash had just finished washing up, but she was so not ready for bed. After putting all of her toiletries and taking a nice long, but subtle look at her framed picture of Soarin and herself, she closed her footlocker and turned around. Lights out was in forty-five minutes and she had enough energy to rival a little filly on a sugar rush. She glanced around the room, looking for something to possibly distract her or help her get rid of some energy.

She caught a glimpse of Thunderlane right before he disappeared into the bathroom. She wanted to talk to him herself, but she didn’t know for the life of her how she was going to top what Soarin or Silver said in terms of positive encouragement.

Squall was apparently still not back, or in the bathroom as well, but Dash didn’t see him walk in. Squall had been acting weird since the training room. His scowl had been replaced by something that could only be described as mortified. It happened during the banquet discussion, but again Dash couldn’t remember when exactly.

A loud noise that sounded like a light whip-crack followed by rustling came from the corner of the room.

“Blast it…”

Dash looked over to see Matteo, once again struggling to get his bed in order. Every time he tried to straighten out his sheets and pillows, he somehow managed to launch the bedspread half-way across the room.

Dash thought about going to help him, but before she could make a move, Little Star was already on her way, hovering while carrying the bead-spread back to him.

Dash still found it incredibly amusing that Matteo was such a klutz when it came to everyday tasks. He could fight off five ponies at once and keep control of his flight while said ponies are dragging him down, he could lift upwards of four hundred pounds and could take hits without flinching… but he couldn’t make his bed, and whenever he tried, it slowly got worse until he gave up in shame. It made her chuckle wondering what else he was pretty much useless at, not to look down on him, it was just funny because he tried regardless. Gilda never struck Dash as a seasoned housekeeper, but if she was married to this big dope she probably had to keep everything in order.

Then it hit Dash. Friends and family were being invited. It was a long trip, but was Gilda going to be at the banquet tomorrow? Bringing along two cubs and being pregnant? After the last time they met that was going to be a very interesting reunion.

As for Little Star, Dash wondered about her parents. Star was thirty, that meant her parents were probably quite past their prime. But she was less curious about the age more curious about the size. Wouldn’t it be ironic if her parents were both huge? She also wondered if Star had any siblings, something she hadn’t really thought about for any of the other recruits besides Thunderlane.

Then… Twister.

Dash glanced around. There was no sign of him in the room. She hadn’t seen Twister or Squall walk in yet. Come to think of it there were only about twelve of the recruits present so it’s not like it was strange they weren’t there.

What was more important on her mind at the moment was… Twister’s family. They invited everypony’s family. Assuming they showed up, what were his parents like? Well that was also assuming he had parents. That was a rather depressing thought, but she didn’t know much about Twister at all. He had learned very little from his random acts of poetic personal space violation and rubber knives.

He once loved a mare that he said she reminds him of, that liked the fact he was nuts.

He spent his life being told he was wrong, didn’t care and did it all anyway, causing him to be cast out and shunned.

Meaning… did he have parents? At least ones he kept in contact with? Being ‘cast out’ gave her the impression that that wasn’t the case.

Dash sat down on her bed.

The bed frame suddenly made a painful creaking sound. It had made many sounds in the past but that was a new one—

“Whoa! OOF!” Dash yelped and grunted as the bottom bunk suddenly tipped and landed on the floor with a loud THUMP. She quickly stood up and turned around. Her mattress was tipped forward, as if it broke off the frame at the head of the bed. “What?!” Dash frowned as she frowned at her now incredibly lopsided bed. The head was touching the floor with the hoof of the bed still attached. She stepped forward and crouched down to look where her bed had broken from.

The screws had popped right out, it seemed unlikely that it would happen on both sides of the bed, but it did, and there was no way she’d be able to sleep on it.

But… it gave her something to do. She was sure a little bed fixing would help her use a little bit of the energy she had all built up. She recalled Silver mentioning a tool box in the large maintenance closet that was beside the entrance to their barracks. It was where all the mops, cleaning supplies, tools, and assorted needs of the janitorial crew were kept.

Without a second thought, Dash turned and walked over to the closet. She turned the door knob and opened the door, flipped the light on, and saw exactly what she expected. The closet was walk-in, about ten feet long with tools, mops, brooms, and the like everywhere. She saw what was definitely a tool box in the middle shelf on the left.

Perfect, she just needed a screw-driver. She walked in and reached for the tool box.

SLAM

Dash’s ears shot up and she looked back to see the door to the closet had shut by itself. She blinked and was about to move, but right before she could the lights went out, leaving her completely in the dark.

She froze. Not sure what was happening, but for some reason… in the back of her mind… she felt like she knew what was going to happen. At least she knew who was going to happen.

The ceiling had three incandescent lights. One by the door, one in the middle, and one in the back. The one in the middle suddenly flickered on, keeping all of the light in the center of the room.

Yep, Dash was completely right. There was suddenly a glass wall in the middle of the room that had little holes in it as if it were some sort of barricade. A stool had appeared in front of Dash and on the other side of the wall… sitting on a stool of his own, was Twister.

He was wearing what looked like a blue prisoner garb that was the same color as Dash’s fur. His mane was no longer wild and out of control, but completely straight and slicked back. He slowly looked up at Dash with a very vacant look on his face, but accompanied by the very faint traces of a smile that seemed like it had been stuck to his face forever. The smile seemed to grow slightly upon seeing her, but by such a small margin that it was almost unnoticeable.

“Hello… Dashie,” he said in a very calm yet unnerving tone. “How nice of you to come see me.”

“No,” Dash said plainly while folding her ears back. “Not this time Twister,” she said as she turned and opened the tool box.

“Oh, that’s so hurtful…” he said without moving from his spot, but simply following Dash with his eyes.

“I don’t give a damn, you’re not messing with me this time,” Dash adamantly stated as she found the screwdriver and turned towards the door. She was reached for the doorknob.

“And here I thought you’d be interested…” Twister suddenly said. Dash stopped as her hoof touched the doorknob. Why did she stop? She couldn’t figure out why she did. “After all, I am a mystery am I not? Some ponies can’t resist mysteries.”

Dash slowly looked over her shoulder towards him. He was still standing in front of his stool, the look on his face had not changed, and each time she looked at him his eyes stared directly into hers. Twister chuckled, but his face barely moved.

“You ARE interested…” he continued. “Don’t deny it, I know you are. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t have stopped.”

“Rgh…” Dash groaned and rolled her eyes. He was right. In fact, it was kind of creepy because she was just thinking about him. “Fine,” Dash turned and faced him completely. “I’ve known some crazy ponies in my life, but you’re the first I can’t figure out,” she admitted. “But you could try to talk to me without all…” she glanced around the closet. It was the same, but the glass between the two of them made it seem like a prison, dungeon, or some sort of asylum. “THIS,” she motioned at the glass.

“Oh, come now… this one is pretty tame,” Twister continued to speak without moving a single muscle around his face except to move his mouth. The blankness of the stare and expression was starting to freak Dash out a little, it just looked so wrong. “I didn’t even tie you up this time!” he looked towards the stool on Dash’s side of the glass. “I didn’t think I’d have to this time, so I merely provided the stool.”

Dash scrunched her face and walked directly up to the glass, a little miffed that he was reading her so clearly, and in an attempt to face him and push the small bit of uneasiness from her head. Twister, without missing a beat, moved right up to the glass as well. The two stared at each other through the glass, Dash glaring, Twister’s face once again, remaining exactly how it was from the beginning.

“I don’t like the way you get into my head, Twister… in fact, I hate it.” Dash growled. “But if this is the only way I’m figuring you out, then I’ll bite.”

“Mmmmmmm…” Twister released a very creepy, low sound. “That’s rather slippery of you, Dash… I like that,” he motioned to the stool behind Dash. “Sit. Please.”

Dash took a short, exasperated breath, looked behind her at the stool, and slowly sat down. After she did, Twister backed up and sat down on his own. Again, his blank eyes remaining locked with Dash’s throughout the whole motion.

“It must be nice…” Twister spoke up. “Being normal. You know… how everypony is besides me. Going about your lives every day, bringing you and your strengths out for all to see but frantically hiding your weaknesses.”

Dash didn’t speak. She let him talk, hoping that the less she said, the quicker it would all go.

“Nopony embraces what truly makes them different… do you know what truly makes a pony different, Dash?”

“Humor me,” Dash said flatly.

“It’s not the things they are good at… it’s what they fail at,” Twister said. Dash felt like his eyes were looking deeper into hers with each passing moment. “When a pony is about to fail… what they do in the last seconds before the inevitable is who that pony really is. Do they brace? Do they panic? Do they cry out? Do they… do nothing?”

“Let me guess, you do something entirely different?” Dash tried to call his play for him. She felt a slight shiver as Twister finally moved part of his face, but only moved one of his eyebrows up as the rest of his face remained completely unchanged.

“Of course!” he said with his voice also breaking tone for just a brief moment. “The problem with ponies is that they can be read. There are many basic reactions and feelings you can expect from anypony at different given times that change depending on the pony. You can claim to be as different as you want, but in the end, it’s always one of three or four different responses. But no not me… not me at all. To me, failure just another chance to be myself.”

“What do you do?” Dash asked, startling herself because she had just told herself to keep quiet. It was as if she was denying that she wanted to hear more.

“A question? For me? You’re getting bolder than I thought…” Twister’s expression brightened very slightly, the curl of his lips moving just a little higher. “Let me give you an example. I once got into a fight when I was younger… I’m no physical specimen, Dash… he beat me senseless. But want to know what I decided to do right before he knocked me down?” he paused. “I decided that later I would find him… tie him to a chair… and eat his lunch in front of him. And I did… along with a side of fava beans and a glass of griffon Chianti.”

Dash blinked several times. Twister got back at a bully by eating the bully’s lunch with a glass of fine wine and beans on the side? As weird as that was, this was Twister she was talking to, he had to do something beyond drastic to surprise her.

“Well… I guess even back then you weren’t short of imagination,” Dash said sarcastically while looking around the room.

“Imagination, Dash, is all I have instead of reason,” he said very slowly. Dash shifted uncomfortably in her seat as Twister scooted his stool slightly towards the glass. “The world is unkind to me, it has rejected me time and time again. Imagination is all that keeps me alive. I can’t have the world as it is, so my mind changes it… I make it my world with my rules, and I can do whatever I please. To me… all ponies are transparent. All I have to do is watch them and I can figure everything out. Ab… so…lute…ly… ev…ery…thing…”

Dash swallowed. She wasn’t intimidated. That would be the wrong word… she wasn’t scared. She had no reason to be. She was doing this voluntarily, but even though Twister had kept his hooves off of her this time she felt more vulnerable than she had any of his previous acts. She didn’t like it, and she wasn’t going to let him win.

“Right, sorry Twister, but you don’t scare me,” she lied. “I’ve had enough, I gotta go fix my bed,” she lied again and began turning in her seat to get up.

“No, no, no… You were doing fine,” he spoke up quickly, freezing Dash in place. She turned her head to see the same frozen expression on his face as if he was confident she wouldn’t leave. “You stayed, you listened. You stayed, you showed interest. You let me share a specific story from my past with a place, time, and everything. That’s something I’ve never done with anypony before. You’ve earned that much trust and then you scoff and start to leave… I expect better from you Dash, I really do.”

Dash ground her teeth together lightly as she gave in and turned back around.

“I knew you’d stay,” Twister let a few short, spaced apart laughs escape his mouth. “Because after all, you’re Rainbow Dash, the bravest, toughest pony around… a label you’ve preached and stuck by your whole life… right?”

Dash didn’t answer. Twister suddenly, and without warning, pushed off his chair, stepped quickly up to the glass and pounded a hoof against it while leaning forward and pressing his forehead to it as well. His blank expression changed to a very wide, creepy smile that froze upon his visage the moment it was formed much like his previous expression.

“No… that’s wrong, isn’t it?” He said as his eyes stabbed into Dash. She scooted back on the stool, nearly tipping it over and releasing a quiet yelp. Twister turned his head clockwise until it was perfectly sideways.

“Let me tell you, what you are Dash… and who you’ve been. Cloudsdale born and raised, from a young age you dreamed of being the best… the best at what? You didn’t even know, you just wanted to be the best, at everything. You got into fights and into scuffles. You were bullied for being the little rainbow that thought she was a thunderstorm. You had accomplishments, yes, but they came within the wake of many errors and failures… crashes, and bruises. It made the victories sweet but were they worth the pain? You always talked tough, but when your chances came to prove yourself, you folded, curled up like a little foal and shivered, hoping it would all take care of itself. That’s something you’ve never overcome is it? No, the nerves never truly die do they? But you hid them behind your acts of brashness and bravery, which you actively looked for and sometimes created yourself in hopes that no one would suspect you were actually afraid of many things. Oh, sure, sure, you’ve found your calling… you want to be a Wonderbolt as do we all… but even then you were afraid. Seeing them up close for the first time must’ve been such an eye opening experience. It’s rough to see just how weak you are with your very own eyes. To experience… possibly first hoof what they are capable of and the kind of threats they face… are you really prepared to fight against anything? Could you make the choice on your own without encouragement? Could you face something that truly terrifies you? Given your history… I don’t know if you could.”

Dash stood up sharply, an absolutely terrified look on her face as she shivered and shook uncontrollably.

Twister had just… literally played back her whole life to her. How her life as a filly was, how some experiences with her friends had gone, and how her first meeting with the Wonderbolts went.

How? How did he know? They had only just met, and as he had told her, he had had his own life apart from hers.

HOW.

DID.

HE.

KNOW?!?!

She felt a sharp rush of anger and violation. She was pissed that he somehow knew all of her weaknesses. She felt violated that he was so easily able to look at her, watch her, and know so much about her from it. It just felt wrong. But she couldn’t find the words to express it, it was almost as if she was enraged and stunned at the exact same time.

Twister’s face suddenly reverted back to the vacant stare and the faint smile. His head turned back upright and he stepped back from the glass.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk… ponies… all of them. Hiding from what defines them. Choosing to close themselves to reality and thus… never actually learning or growing…”

Dash flinched as the single light in the room began to flicker.

“How much happier they would be… if they were like me. Accepting your flaws and making them what defines you. The world would be such a happier place if everypony followed my lead, wouldn’t you think?”

The light stopped flickering. Dash blinked in surprise when she saw Twister was no longer wearing the blue prison garb.

“Hiding behind false faces… instead of letting it all go and being happy,” Twister chuckled as he turned and walked towards… a door?

Dash sharply turned around and saw that the door behind her had disappeared. She felt something rub against her as she moved. She looked down to see SHE was now wearing the blue prison garb.

“If you ask me…” Twister spoke up as he turned the door knob. Dash frantically looked back to him. “That makes all of you crazy… not me,” he said with a sneer and opened the door, revealing the light from the barracks.

“Twister!” Dash shrieked as she moved forward and pounded her hoof against the glass. Twister waved to her as he stepped out.

“Goodnight, Dashie… You look so very lovely in blue.”

The instant Twister closed the door, the light went out and Dash felt like something flung her backwards and she shut her eyes.

“GRH!” a male grunt came from behind her as she crashed into something and fell over on top of it. “Dash?! What the hell?!”

Squall’s voice?

Dash opened her eyes and looked around. She was right outside of the janitor’s closet, up against the opposite wall and apparently had been flung right into Squall as he was coming through the door.

Completely disregarding Squall, Dash got off of him, and ripped the door to the janitor’s closet open, boiling with a confused anger. She flipped the lights on to reveal the same old janitor closet. No glass wall, no Twister, no nothing. She shut off the light and slammed the door shut before staring into the barracks right at Twister’s bunk. There was a signpost at the head of his bed that read “TwIsTeR” with an arrow pointing down to a lump in the sheets.

Not even considering that last time this happened he wasn’t actually there, Dash flew straight towards the top bunk and threw the sheets off to reveal a body length pillow with Twister on it striking a sexy pose. Dash blinked and her jaw dropped as she felt incredibly disturbed. She looked back at the sign… it now read “sucker” with an arrow pointing at Dash.

Noble Savage (Deviant art: thatdamntenpin)

She growled and ripped the sign off the head of the bed. The sign now read “Ow…”

She wanted to give Twister a swift kick to the face, not just for messing with her, but for absolutely playing with her fears and emotions like that. This time he made it about her as well as him and that creeped her out.

“Wait… what?” she looked towards her bed to see it was completely fixed. She dropped the sign and glided down to her bed. The head was completely reattached, she bent down and examined the screws, all in place perfectly.

“You’re weeeeeeeeeeeelcome!” Twister’s voice snaked into her ears. She yelped and her head shot up, turning and glaring at him as he stood beside her, his mane and face back to normal. She was an instant away from grabbing him by the neck in pure rage, but right before she could.

“GLCK!!” Twister sputtered as a large griffon arm extended and grabbed him around the neck. Dash flinched as Matteo hoisted Twister up to eye level and glared at him more harshly than Dash had ever seen Matteo glare. “O hai burd!” Twister greeted him cheerfully.

Matteo held up a body length pillow that had… an image of Gilda on it that was identical to the picture of Gilda that Matteo had stored in his footlocker.

Art by: Noble Savage (Deviant art: thatdamntenpin)

“What… is… THIS?” Matteo sharply hissed at Twister.

“What? You don’t like it? GAH!” Twister grunted as Matteo’s grip on his neck tightened.

Matteo turned and began walking towards his bed space with Twister while giving him a VERY detailed explanation of what he would do if Twister ever tried to go through his things again.

Dash stood completely still, and then flopped down onto her bed.

Forget it, she was going to give Twister a piece of her mind, but now the idiot was lucky if he’d live through the night after the Gilda body pillow stunt. Was she disturbed? Yes. Was Twister a creep? Double yes. But forget it, the whole exchange had just made her incredibly exhausted.

Dash blinked and shifted to look towards Matteo and Twister. Matteo was in the process of holding Twister’s face to the footlocker and asking him over and over again what he wouldn’t touch anymore, but Twister kept giving him random answers so it continued.

Exhausted… she was exhausted now. Right after feeling like she wouldn’t get any sleep.

Twister didn’t… read that she was looking for a reason to get tired… did he? Was this all just to make her tired?

Dash flattened her brow. Twister was crazy. She wouldn’t put such a silly thing past him. But now that she knew how perceptive he was of others, she felt like it was unwise to ever think he couldn’t do something.

---To Be Continued---

Author's Note:

And here it is! The chunk i tore off my finale plan... honestly i kind of like this better. It feels awkward to transition from one day to the next in the middle of a chapter.

So What's up with Squall? What has him all flustered?

A banquet approaches!

Soarin and Dash got some private time!

Dash gets a new uniform soon!

Discord keeping things from luna keeping things from Soarin!

What's planned for after the banquet?

JEEZ TWISTER WHAT THE HELL?!

fun

Cookie to anyone who catches the three references. One is obvious, another is subtle, the last is right there, but i wonder who will get it?

Thanks for reading i hope you enjoyed!

(The OC Mahogany belongs to the user: MahoganyMlp)

Comments

[melodicstream]

YES! THE DING ARRIVED!

*starts furiously reading*

[Noble Savage]

I'll read it when I get home, still working. But still WOO NEW CHAPTER!!

[HB_DS2013]

After eating a big, scrumptious piece of pot roast for lunch, Twister became borderline-philosophical.

[Kestrel]

I'm surprised you released it before you even got home! Some day at work, eh?

Anyway, nice chapter. Twister is still creepy, and I want to know what's up with Squall.

[WildStallion]

Is it crazy I think I'm understanding Twister more?

Edit: Also the banquet, hmmm, wonder if Wave and Spitfire will finally talk and maybe Misty and Fire will talk.

[SageBrony07]

Intense chapter. Great job. Unfortunately I think something is going to disrupt that banquet and trigger the next part. I guess we will see soon. It will probably be about the Shadowbolts, or about Soarin's magic. Thanks for the great chapter. Good luck with the next one.

[melodicstream]

Nggh! Those Soaring wings grabbing Rainbow Dash!

Awwww at that Thunderlane. He received so much praise! I hope that he leaves with a smile on his face. ^^

Also, OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!! We get to meet everypony's family? That's awesome! I've always wanted to know how Twist and Squall's family were like. Or who knows? Maybe I won't... Anyways, will Storm Front also be getting his dad there? That would be an awesome surprise for him!

Also, that Squall development. He overthinks too much. I wonder how he'd act if he were drunk.

And I must be honest, but I've never really liked how Little Star handles Squall. She just doesn't seem to... get him. Like, if I were to handle Squall, I wouldn't let him speak to me. I'd just put a lot of thoughts in his mind and leave him to process them. After a while, I'm sure I'd get through to him. BUT I CAN'T DO THAT AND THAT LEAVES ME ANXIOUS!!!

Speaking of how the sky is green, this chapter just proves why Twister is basically one of the best characters. He has a way of understanding ponies. I mean, the way he understood Dash was simply... amazing! The only bummer is that Dash is too fed up with him sometimes. She should play his games a little more often, like get immersed in them. That way she would extract much more information from him. Anyways, I really like Twister in this chapter because he basically broke down his thought process. It told us that he could be normal if he wanted, but he doesn't because then it would mean he wouldn't be accepting himself as he really is. And that's what I find the boldest about him and that's why I identify myself the most with him. Also, I've always wonder how his voice sounds when he speaks. My brain kinda cracked when he monologued that whole thing, because I never ever imagined him speaking formally, and for some reason it sounds really deep, which doesn't really match his body and face. Get it? No? Okay... .-.

Popeye reference?

And goddamn! I wish I could find somepony and have the same relation Dash and Soarin are having right now. They're just so smooth together!
If I never get a special somepony because they don't act like Soarin and/or Dash, I'm gonna blame you and send Twister to unscrew your bed while you sleep! :v

Anyways, great chapter! And I'm not looking to be demanding - quite the contrary, actually -, but I just hope I won't have to wait as much to get the next chapter. This fic is just too good for me to be able to withstand a whole week without a chapter! :v How else will I get my weekly dose of Twister's insanity?

(PS: I got most of my insanity back thanks to Twister in this chapter. )

[melodicstream]

5485219 Probably Squall when he sees his parents.

[Ice Blade]

Loved it! I believe you made a movie referance to something with Twister can't remember it though... Plus the more I think about it Squall and Star situation is similiar to that of Gajeel's and Levy's from Fairy Tail, both like eachother but are too embarressed or oblivious.

[Azure_Shadow]

Quite a nice chapter, very good job as usual.

[Hestia]

It's okay, Thunderlane. I still love you.

Still can't give him a hug, though.

Anyway, I can't wait to see how that banquet goes. Someone's going to end up heavily bruised by the end of the night.

[PersephoneSunSpark]

There's just so much awesome in this chapter I have almost no words other than in parts I was dying of laughter and I was squeeing like Fleet and Star during the fluffies~

[natis120]

Twister disturbs me... I know who the voices in Soarin's head belong to! It's so darn obvious! The male voice belongs to Descent and the female voice belongs to Starry Skies! At least I think they do...do they? Good chapter, I look forward to the next one! More fan art coming soon!

[Soul Dust]

Nu Calm, Stahp wit ur cliffhangrs pls ; -;

[Calm Wind]

5485024

in his own messed up way!

[Calm Wind]

5484939

Cheers brother!

[Calm Wind]

5485048

Hahaha yeah this was a rare case of absolutely nothing going on at work, me anticipating that, and me sending the full chapter to work so i could finish it

[HB_DS2013]

5485543 Twister, Matteo, 'Lil Star, Squall and Storm, are they your OC's?

[Calm Wind]

5485051

Twister is quite the mystery isn't he? but he seems to trust Dash and only Dash, i wonder why?

[Calm Wind]

5485215

Yay! it made it again!

[Calm Wind]

5485219

Oh i don't know if i want to be that predictable... or do i?

[SageBrony07]

5485574 We'll see. Some stories, I'm spot on with what is going to happen, others I can't even predict what is going to happen next chapter. Anyway, great chapter. I can't wait to read the next part.

[Calm Wind]

5485241

You know i like those big wings!

The fact that Little Star doesnt know how to handle him can be considered one of her flaws Star is quick to anger despite her attempts to be super friendly, and Squall is basically her worst nightmare

The reason that Twister's dialogue was so formal is because the whole scene was a tribute to Silence of the Lambs Hannibal Lecter... "Hello, Clarice..." Quite possibly the only way i could make him any creepier, cause that movie... is messed up... but REALLY good.

And yep, Popeye the Discord man!

And... yeah... i wish i could have someone like that too... to be honest the reason i write their relationship the way i do is i love the confidence on confidence type of relationship, something i have never had despite having had more than one relationship

(Well i got a long chapter to write, but it's gonna be a real fun one! )

[Calm Wind]

5485305

You would be right about Twister...

It was a tribute to Silence of the Lambs.

[Calm Wind]

5485359

Yes, Fire holds something Special with Misty, being able to talk to her so freely compared to others... but now Storm comes along and can do the same? i wonder how Fire will take it?

[Calm Wind]

5485428

Twister is best jolly fat man!

[Calm Wind]

5485432

Thanks bro!

[SeaBreeze173]

Another awesome chapter and Discord playing Popeye the Sailor Man just made it better! Brings back childhood memories, and I'm only 17!

[melodicstream]

5485610 You should reference My Little Pony. I heard it's a great show.

And the wings! I mean, I was already happy with Soarin winghugged her. BUT THEN HE WINGGRABBED HER. OMMGGGGGGG *winggasms*

And Twister isn't creepy! :v He's simply... Twister! =D

And well, at least you had relationships. I, on the other hoof, never had one.

[Calm Wind]

5485465

Hehe yep you snuck your way in there!

and... well... the fact that this is a shipping story turns a lot of people away before they ever even try to read it

[melodicstream]

5485620 DOES THAT FREE UP SOARIN?

*tackles Soarin*

[Calm Wind]

5485467

Oh you all think i'm so brutal.... wahaha i'm such a tease

[Calm Wind]

5485468

I love me some snarky soarinddashie fluff!

[Calm Wind]

5485491

But why would Descent and Starry Skies have conflicting interests?

Or is it them? I DONT EVEN KNOW!!!

(I do... but thats an interesting theory )

[Calm Wind]

5485554

yes i created them for this story, along with Arctic Blast, Point Dex, Air Mach, Macho Savage, and (sigh) Autumn Rain

[Calm Wind]

5485566

I heavily agree! xD

[Calm Wind]

5485542

Aw any suspense i give will be labeled as a cliffhanger now?

Welp, the night ended and the new day starts the next chapter, and it will be a fun one!

[Calm Wind]

5485592

img1.derpicdn.net/img/view/2013/10/7/443467__safe_solo_pinkie+pie_animated_clothes_upvotes+galore_dress_3d_gala+dress_sfm.gif

[Calm Wind]

5485632

It doesnt matter how old you are, if you have never been graced with the awesome and hilarious that is Popeye the Sailor, you havent lived That cartoon is comedy gold, even by todays standards.

[Calm Wind]

5485633

well... it's hard. It's nice, but it's really hard, because if something goes wrong, it hurts more than any physical wound ever could...

[melodicstream]

5485671 Aww, I know, I know *hugs you* That's why you'll always have friends there to support you. ;)

[Calm Wind]

5485679

and im glad i do

[SeaBreeze173]

5485667 I used to watch it with my grandpa. several months ago we watched the movie with Robin Williams as Popeye. Of course he's seen it hundreds of times but it was the first time I'd seen it. I couldn't stop laughing!

[Azure_Shadow]

I really empathize with Thunderlane here, I'd probably act much in the same way he did. Out of all your characters you've written, I'd say Thunderlane is the closest to me personality wise, extreamly close second being Storm Front.

[kimba_1962]

Popeye, Arnold Horshack, Hannibal Lecter. What do I win?

So Twister specializes in probing ponies' inner lives. He must work for the NSA on the side. I think he has picked his main target well. Dash gets peeved at him but never quite enough so to completely break off any relationship with him. I imagine that her friendship skills have something to do with that.

The healing process begins with Thunderlane. Actually, I think that Dash could do quite a lot to cheer him up above and beyond what Soarin and Silver Lining did. After all, she KNOWS him and, what's more, has given him a hard time for a while. A word of support from her would wipe out a lot of previous jabs. He would also know that she'd be there to support him in future Wonderbolt related endeavors.

Squall and his parents... Can't wait to see that dynamic! And some leftover ships still need to come into harbor... Ch 68 should be something.

[CowgirlVK]

Finally got to the end of the chapter. Good one. Now to bed I go. Twister... Go pick on somepony else! I think Doctor Lilly Feathers needs to scedral a therapy session... how does a couch sound? HUMMMM!

[Umbrea]

Twister is the story of my life. How does he know me so well?

[melodicstream]

5485880 Wait. Then did you got back at a bully by eating its lunch with a glass of fine wine and beans on the side?

[Easyglider]

Did… Squall make that noise?

Ooooo Squall's family....

He looked terrified. Dash was curious,

(/._.)/ Squall's family \(._.\)

Dash wasn’t paying enough attention

Pls

Looking forward to the climax of part 2.....i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/430/609/3d9.png

[Darth Redbeard]

what ever keeping, I can understand part of it