The Life and Times of a Winning Pony

by Chengar Qordath

The Pony Who is Tired of Pretending Her Life Isn't Perfect

I was late getting into work the next day.

I generally try to be a punctual pony. It’s a habit my parents encouraged, and West Hoof made it pretty much mandatory. When your CO tells you to be somewhere at 0600, it’s in your best interests to plan on being there by 0550 at the latest. Bad Things happen if you don’t make it on time.

In my defense, I had some pretty understandable reasons for not showing up on time. If I’m being completely honest, a big part of it was down to the fact that going into Tornado Day meant dealing with Derpy and Blossom again. I had no idea how or if they had worked out their disagreements, though judging by the lack of catastrophic collateral damage it seemed that the fight hadn’t come to blows. Still, I had a feeling that having to spend all day working with both of them had a lot of potential to get interesting, especially since Blossom was the acting weather boss now that Rainbow was in the hospital.

Of course, it might also bear mentioning that the mare I’d banged last night woke up in the mood for a couple more rounds this morning. After all the crazy drama yesterday, I needed the purely physical one-night stand to blow off a little steam and provide some much-needed tension release.

I arrived at the training grounds and met to find a group a ponies that looked noticeably smaller than yesterday’s crop. Nothing extreme, but we were short a couple ponies. I guess the news about Rainbow being out hadn’t gone over all that well. Blossom and I might be great at all the technical nuts and bolts of management, but neither of us had Rainbow’s knack for making a bunch of draftees actually want to do weather work.

Don’t get me wrong, we could round up the strays. It’s called Tornado Duty for a reason–ponies aren’t allowed to just pick up and go home because they’re not sure about showing up. Without Rainbow’s force of personality, odds were we’d have to resort to less pleasant methods of getting things done. Reminding ponies that shirking Tornado Duty carries a very hefty fine would get them all to show up, but there’s a huge difference between the fired up enthusiasm Rainbow could generate and sullen resentment we would get from strong-hoofing ponies into showing up.

That’s not to say that we were planning to use all stick and no carrot: a couple picnic tables had been set up off to the side of the training area and loaded down with enough baked goods to represent a significant chunk of Sugarcube Corner’s inventory. Free food is always a good way to make ponies show up for something.

Blossom was in the middle of a conversation with Raindrops, but the instant she saw me she waved me over. I wasn’t all that surprised to see that both of them didn’t look very happy with me. I suppose I couldn’t really blame them–I’d picked a bad day to show up late for work. Blossom probably would’ve felt better taking over if I’d been there to back her up, and Raindrops has always taken weather work a little too seriously for her own good.

Guess I better get started on the apologies. “Sorry I’m late. Stuff happened, and...” I tried to come up with something that would give me a legitimate reason for not showing up on time, and couldn’t find one. Well, not unless I wanted to start lying or saying that my personal life being a gigantic mess made it okay for me to leave the ponies who needed me hanging. Even if I wanted to try and sell a line of horseapples like that, Blossom was mixed up in it too and she’d managed to get to work just fine. “I’ve got no excuse. Sorry, it won’t happen again.”

Blossom sighed and gave a sharp little nod. “Well, you’re here now, that’s what matters. Raindrops is filling in for me while I fill in for Rainbow Dash, so–” Whatever she was about to say next disappeared into a coughing fit that sounded nasty enough to get me a bit worried. I gave her a couple pats on the back, and after a while she coughed herself out. “I’m fine,” she insisted hoarsely. “It’s just a little cough.”

“You’ve had that ‘little’ cough all morning,” Raindrops grumbled, though I was pretty sure I could detect a hint of concern underneath the sourness. That’s kinda how Raindrops works–don’t let the grumpy and serious exterior fool you, she’s a sweetheart deep down.

Blossom let out an annoyed growl that transitioned into another couple coughs. Okay, definitely starting to get a little worried about her now. A healthy pony doesn’t cough that much. Despite the fact that it was very obviously not true, Blossom stuck to her story. “I’m fine, really.”

Raindrops and I shared a look, and I’m reasonably sure I was mirroring the worried frown on her face. A blind pony could tell that Blossom wasn’t all that healthy. Blossom seemed to pick up on our silent exchange, because she sighed and very reluctantly conceded. “Okay. I’m a little under the weather. What do you expect me to do about it? We need a manager running things, and after what happened yesterday I’m the best pony for the job. I don’t have time to be sick.”

“It doesn’t really matter if you have time to be sick or not,” I declared. “The fact is, you’re clearly coming down with something.” Blossom opened her mouth to argue the point, but instead of words all that came out was another coughing fit. Thanks for proving my point, Blossom. “Look, I can handle things here. Go home and get some rest.”

Blossom gave a stubborn shake of her head. “No. Morale’s shaky enough as it is, if we change who’s running Tornado Day on everypony again things will go to Tartarus.”

Okay, she had a fair point there. Few things are worse for morale than not having a clear chain of command. All the ponies who didn’t want to be here anyway would start feeling like they could get away with shirking their duties, and every single pony that didn’t show up would encourage the rest to drop out too. Once your command authority collapses, it’s very hard to start building it back up again.

Still, that meant we were leaving a sick pegasus in charge. Hopefully, we could find ways to mitigate that. “Okay, you’re the boss, Blossom. Just try to take it easy and run things from the ground. Maybe send Twilight to Zecora’s to get some medicine for whatever you’ve got.”

“We could send Twilight if she was here,” Raindrops grumbled. Sure enough, a quick look around showed no signs of Ponyville’s sexiest librarian. Darn.

“Not much we can do except hope she shows up on her own,” Blossom added with a sigh. “She was helping with Tornado Duty as a favor to Rainbow Dash. If she doesn’t want to keep helping out now that Rainbow’s not running the show, there’s not much we can do.”

“Relax, she won’t leave us hanging,” I reassured Blossom. “She probably just caught up in one of her research projects or something.”

Raindrops looked between the two of us with a frown and took a deep breath before speaking. “I have a suggestion to make that I’m pretty sure isn’t going to be very popular, but hear me out.” Both of us turned to face the temporary assistant manager. “I think we need to consider canceling Tornado Day. I looked over the numbers, and Rainbow’s plan depended on just about everything going right. Right now our manager’s in the hospital, our backup manager is sick, and our other backup manager is in a pretty shaky position to actually take over. No offense, Cloud Kicker.”

“It’s fine,” I reassured her. “Rainbow did kinda fire me right in front of everypony. Sure, we settled things up later, but until the boss tells everypony I’ve got my job back it’s gonna be a little hard to make all the draftees accept me as an authority figure.” I gave a quick shake of my head and got back to the more important topic. “Still, we can’t just cancel Tornado Day. Well, we could technically do it, but that would just kill the boss.”

“This is her dream project,” Blossom added. “I wouldn’t feel right about pulling the plug on it while she’s in the hospital.”

“More like a vanity project,” Raindrops grumbled under her breath. Hate to admit it, but she did have a bit of a point there–this whole Tornado Day thing definitely had some of Rainbow’s classic over-ambitiousness. “If you’re that worried about how canceling it will affect her, think about how she’ll take it if things fall apart on her completely. Right now she can back out and not get hurt too bad by it. She’s in the hospital, Cloudsdale would understand. If it gets all the way up to Tornado Day and it all explodes in her face ... that would be bad.”

That’s not to mention that the weather bosses wouldn't be the only ponies Rainbow was failing in front of. “Especially since one of the Wonderbolts is gonna be here to supervise.” I shot a worried look in the direction of Ponyville Hospital. The boss could live with having the folks above her in the weather service food chain being unhappy with her, but having a big project crash and burn in front of a Wonderbolt would tear her apart. I’m pretty sure that a big part of why she wanted the break the record for strongest Tornado came down to the fact that she would be doing it in front of the captain of the Wonderbolts. Hay, it was probably a big part of why she hatched this whole Tornado Day scheme in the first place.

Blossom was frowning at both of us. “So we either kill Rainbow’s pet project, or we risk having it fail spectacularly.” Another coughing fit cut off anything else she might’ve been planning to say, but she’d gotten the main point across.

“Not sure which one of those options I hate more.” I frowned and scuffed a hoof along the ground. “Maybe we should talk to Rainbow about this. This ... I wouldn’t feel right making a decision like this without checking in with her first.” One thing’s for sure, if we pulled the plug on Tornado Day she wouldn’t take it well. Rainbow and I might’ve patched things up, but I was a little hesitant to go against her on a project she was so invested in. She might not be a perfect pony, but she was still my oldest friend.

“Rainbow won’t let you end Tornado Day.” Raindrops frowned at nopony in particular. “You both know it, she’ll say something about how everything that’s going wrong can still be fixed if we all just buckle down and give a hundred and twenty percent. She’s not going to let this go until it crashes and burns.”

Blossom shot her a worried frown and pondered that for moment, then firmly declared. “You’ve got a point, but I think it’s a little early to say that Tornado Day is doomed. If we can round up the rest of our strays that weren’t tempted back by all the free food Pinkie Pie gave us, then we’ll be fine. I don’t know if we'll be able to break the record like she wants, but we’ll have more than enough wingpower to pull off the tornado.”

Cutting off the trickle of deserting ponies would do a lot to restore everypony’s confidence. That just left the question of who was on roundup duty–I didn’t want Blossom doing it when she seemed to be one bit of physical exertion away from coughing up a lung and Raindrop was just a temporary emergency assistant manager. So, I guess that left only one pony cut out for the job. “I’ll see what I can do. Between a little sweet-talking and reminding everypony that there’s a big fine for skipping out on weather duty, we should be able to get everypony back. Just give me a list of all the ponies who’ve gone AWOL on us, and I’ll get to work.”

Blossom looked to me and gave a quick nod. “Okay. We’ll need to have somepony actually do a proper head-count. Twilight was handling most of that before, and since she’s not–”

The rest of what Blossom was about to say abruptly vanished when a flash of purple light in the middle of the training field revealed our local librarian. The unicorn was nursing a very large cup of coffee, and shot the three of us a sleepy smile. “Sorry I’m late, I had an absolutely incredible night of studying.”

“It’s fine,” Blossom quickly assured her. Blossom looked every bit as relieved as I felt to see the unicorn back in action–Rainbow had shifted a lot of the finer points of organization for Tornado Day over to Twilight, to the point where it’d be kinda difficult to keep it all running without her. Not sure if that was a smart move on Rainbow’s part; Twilight was great at organizing, but leaning so heavily on a non-weatherpony for getting Tornado Day to happen didn’t quite sit right with me.

“So...” Twilight took a long pull from her coffee. “Where do you need me?”

“Could I get a quick headcount? We’ve got ponies missing, and I need to know who isn’t here so we can start rounding them all up.” Blossom sounded surprisingly ... in-charge. I guess being the weather boss kinda suited her.

Twilight finished off her coffee and gave a sharp nod. “Yes. Listing ponies. I can do that. Spike! Where’s my list of ponies? Spike!” Twilight frowned and looked around for her pet dragon for a bit, then facehoofed. “I ... think I left my number one assistant at the library. I should probably go get him. And maybe some more coffee too.” A second later she teleported away, presumably to retrieve both of those things.

Blossom stared at the space our volunteer organizer had so recently occupied and huffed, then turned back to face me. “Well, while we’re waiting for her to get your list ready, there are a couple things I need to talk to you about, Cloud Kicker.” She shot a slightly sheepish look at Raindrops. “Not weather-related things.”

“Right.” Raindrop gave a quick nod. “I’ll keep an eye on all the trainees.” With that said, she trotted off to give the two of us a bit of privacy.

“So, I’m guessing you want to talk about what happened at the hospital, right?” Kind of an obvious subject to discuss, though I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to bring it up or not. I guess I couldn’t just spend my entire life ignoring it, but I really didn’t want to discuss the whole drama issue between Blossom and Derpy. Too bad just pretending none of that had happened wasn’t an option.

Blossom shot me a slight frown, then seemed to force it away. “I ... look, Cloud Kicker ... why didn’t you tell me things with you and Derpy had gotten serious? You told me the two of you were just friends-with-benefits.”

Okay, that one caught me by surprise. I guess I should’ve seen it coming though; of course Blossom wouldn’t know that Derpy and I had gotten closer while I was on the outs with her. I hadn’t intended to leave her in the dark, but... “Do I start with the part where we were barely even speaking to each other, or the part where I figured you would get upset if I told you that I was getting serious about somepony else?”

Blossom grimaced and gave a pained nod. “Okay that’s fair. It’s just...” Blossom trailed off with a sigh. “I might have tried not to be quite so confrontational if I’d known the two of you were starting to care about each other like that.”

Oh. Yeah, I guess that would explain a thing or two. I’d been a little surprised that Blossom was so gung-ho about breaking me and Derpy up, but if she thought the two of us were still nothing more than banging buddies to each other that would make a bit more sense. “So ... does that mean I’m not stuck in a crazy drama-filled love triangle anymore?”

Blossom ducked her head and couldn’t quite meet my eyes. “Sorry. It’s a little late for me to take all that back. I don’t feel right about wanting to break up a serious ongoing relationship, but I still want something more with you.” Blossom tentatively reached and put a hoof to the side of my face. “I just ... I missed my chance with you because I was scared of being rejected. I don’t want to end up repeating that mistake by not fighting for the pony I love.”

Okay ... getting into awkward territory here. Nothing a hasty change of subject couldn’t fix. “So ... did you kiss and make up with Derpy?”

Blossom took the hoof off of my face and gave a self-conscious cough. Or at least, I hope it was self-conscious. I guess it’s a good thing I got my Feather Flu shot a month ago. When you’ve got my lifestyle, staying up-to-date on your vaccinations is just common sense. “We ... worked a few things out,” Blossom conceded, “and we’ll try to keep things from ever getting that badly out of hoof again. But ... well, it’s hard to get around the fact that we both want the same pony.”

“So ... no kissing and making up? Darn.” I gave her a playful little poke in the ribs. “I would like to see that. Especially the ‘kissing’ part.” I smirked and nudged her again. “Hay, I’ll make you a deal: you kiss and make up with Derpy, and you’ll get one smooch from me.”

Blossom grimaced for a moment, and then called out, “Derpy, I need to speak with you.”

Wait, she wasn’t really going to...? No way, I’d obviously been teasing her with that. She was just counter-teasing or bluffing, there’s no way she would ever really...

Derpy trotted up to the two of us with a slightly worried frown on her face, though she shot me a quick little smile. “Yes, Blossomforth? Is there something– Mmph!”

Okay. Wow. Yeah, Blossom was gonna do it.

They were kissing. Well, Blossom was kissing her, while Derpy was just kinda standing there in shock. In any case, it was incredibly hot.

After a couple seconds of lip-lock, Blossom pulled away from an utterly shell-shocked Derpy. After pointedly wiping her lips, she turned to me and announced with a smirk. “I don’t like to lose. I’ll collect on that kiss you owe me later, right now I need to wash the taste of muffins out of my mouth.” That's an innuendo that would've left her blushing like a–well, Blossom, if I'd've called her on it two weeks ago. Now? I wasn't even sure if it had been unintentional.

She made a point of brushing against me as she walked past. What the hay happened to my prudish and easily embarrassed friend?

Oh, right. Me.

Derpy still looked like she’d just seen a buffalo in a tutu dance by. “Uh, Derpy? You alright there?”

Derpy blinked her mismatched eyes a couple times, and gave a quick shake of her head and reattached her jaw from when it had hit the ground. “I–uh, Cloud Kicker? Did Blossomforth just kiss me?”

“Yeah,” I answered with a grin I wasn’t even trying to hide.

Derpy started blushing furiously. “She used tongue, Cloud Kicker!”

And ... yep, popping a wingie. “How good was she?”

That earned me a very annoyed glare from Derpy. “Cloud Kicker, why do I have a feeling you had something to do with this? And what was that about how you owed her a kiss?”

“Uh ... I might have made a joking comment about how much I’d like to see the two of you kiss and make up ... in a literal sense.” I let out a slightly sheepish chuckle and scuffed a hoof on the ground. “I wasn’t expecting her to jump on it like that.”

Derpy gave an aggravated flick of her ear. “Cloud Kicker, she just kissed me. In public.” Oh yeah, we kinda did have just about every pegasus in Ponyville for an audience. Oh well. I’ve done far worse than kiss while other ponies were looking, though I will say that the whole thing back on the campus lawn at West Hoof hadn’t been planned quite that way. Apparently the Background Pony spell I’d gotten put over the two of us couldn’t quite stand up to what happens when I started banging a real screamer. The demerits were so worth it, though.

Still, I had an aggravated fillyfriend to calm down.“Hey, it was just a little kiss, it’s not that big a deal, Derpy.” I grinned and leaned in close enough that our noses were almost touching. “I think I see what the problem is–you want me to kiss you so you can stop thinking about what Blossom’s lips felt like, don’t you? And so everypony know you’re my fillyfriend.”

I was a little surprised when I felt a hoof on my chest pushing me back. “Cloud Kicker...” I found myself on the receiving end of a annoyed, wall-eyed glare. “You need to stop leading Blossomforth on. Stunts like this are only going to encourage her to keep holding onto that crush–the sooner you stop stringing her along and–”

“I am not stringing her along!” I snapped at my fillyfriend.

“You. Just. Promised. To. Kiss. Her.” Derpy ground out between clenched teeth. “So either you’re stringing her along, or you really meant it. Which is it?”

“I was just joking around with her, okay?” Great, now I was getting all defensive. “I didn’t think she would take me seriously!”

“You...” Derpy let out a groan and applied hoof to face. After a couple seconds of frustrated silence, she let out a heavy sigh. “Cloud Kicker, please, for the love of Celestia think before you do things like that,” she pleaded. “You know Blossomforth is interested in you, and you should know better than to say something that will encourage her like that.”

“Hey, we were just joking around, it’s not a big deal.” Derpy didn’t even dignify that with an answer, she just hit me with that wall-eyed look of displeasure I was really starting to dread seeing. I guess if I’m completely honest with myself, she had a point. I mean, Blossom had been getting pretty bold and assertive about her interest in me. Her jumping right on something I told her might get a kiss from me ... yeah, I guess that shouldn’t have surprised me so much.

Now I was in a bit of a tight spot. I might have been joking when I said it, but I had still offered to kiss her. After what she did with Derpy, odds were she was expecting me to make good on the offer. That would complicate things. “Uh ... I think maybe I messed up a little.”

“Ya think?” Derpy grumbled.

“So, um ... Blossom might be under the impression that I owe her a kiss now...” I began uncertainly. “If I were ... well ...”

“No,” Derpy answered firmly. “Let her down easily, but you are not going to kiss that mare. Do you have any idea how much worse that would make things?” Derpy let out an aggravated groan. “Cloud Kicker, maybe you need to start asking yourself if you’re ready for a serious relationship or if you want to just keep fooling around with somepony else.”

Uh ... whoa. That sounded bad. “But Derpy...”

Derpy cut me off with an angry wave of her hoof. “Don’t you ‘but Derpy’ me. Leading that mare along has caused us–me, especially–enough headache and her enough heartache. We can't change her mind for her, but you can change yours.” She went ominously silent for a long moment, and then very quietly added. “And I can change mine, too.”

Oh. Oh horseapples. Yeah, I was in big trouble here. I had to fix this. Now. “Look, it’s just that Blossom’s my best friend, but I haven’t exactly been that great of a friend to her lately. I just wanna do right by her, okay?”

Derpy glowered at me and gave an aggravated flick of her ear. “So your idea of doing right by her is to dangle a muffin in front of her and then constantly pull it out of reach?”

“No!” I stared at Derpy, aghast with horror. “That's ... Derpy, that's not what I'm trying to do!”

“Well it is what you’re doing!” Derpy snapped at me. “That mare wants you bad enough to yell at me in the hospital and kiss me just to get a scrap of affection from you! Maybe you need to start thinking about what you did to put her in that state.”

All my frustration with this whole situation just came boiling out. “Well gee, if she's that desperate for me to show her a little affection, then maybe I should kiss her!”

Derpy’s eyes narrowed and she gave an angry little snort. “Fine. Go kiss her. It won’t bother me. I did say I didn't mind you sleeping with other ponies, so what's a kiss? You can even go and sleep with her if you want, what’s that but another notch on the record?”

I’m not sure whether I was offended or hurt that she actually thought I was the kind of pony who would go around banging ponies for some kind of trophy thing. Banging is something a pony does for mutual fun, not some shallow point-scoring trophy thing.“It's not like that, Derpy!”

“Could've fooled me.” Derpy grumbled bitterly. She hesitated for a moment and licked her lips before continuing. “Cloud Kicker, you're hurting a lot more than just her by teasing her like that. It wasn’t a big deal when it was all just fun and games for you two but now that she's serious about things ... sweetie, I fought with her while our friend was hospitalized. Dinky came back from foalsitting with some very awkward questions following Blossomforth's attempt to seduce you, ones I had to answer after you practically moved in with us a couple weeks ago.” She took a single step forward and looked me straight in the eyes (as best she could). “So if it's not like that then please, tell me what is it like?

I took a deep breath, and tried to answer as calmly and reasonably as I could. “Look, I just wanna do right by both of the mares I care for. That's all.”

“You're not,” Derpy answered bluntly. “I’m ... wait, both of the mares you care for?” Derpy looked off to the side at Blossom, who was in the middle of talking to Twilight. Then she turned back to me and very quietly murmured. “I see.”

“I...” Oh horseapples, that whole ‘both’ line really shouldn’t have come out. It’s just–well Blossom’s my best friend, of course I care about her! Anypony would! “Look, Derpy, I didn’t mean it like–”

Derpy didn’t even give me a chance to explain myself. She just turned her back on me and walked away.

Great.

Just abso-feathering-lutely great.

I trotted over to Twilight and Blossom. Right now, some work to get me out of here and keep me distracted from the whole Derpy situation just sounded lovely. “You two got the list AWOL ponies together yet?” My voice came out a lot terser than I’d intended.

“Yeah, right here.” Twilight helpfully levitated a list of ponies in front of me.

“Cloud Kicker?” Blossom shot me a concerned look. “Are you alright?”

“Peachy,” I answered tightly. “I’ll be back with the rest of our conscripts.”

---

I really should’ve thought this through.

In theory, getting all the ponies who’d run off on us back on weather duty was a simple enough job to pull off. At first it had all gone simple enough–the ponies who weren’t pretty much instantly shamed into coming back on weather duty when I showed up at their house all hopped back into line when I mentioned just how big the fine for shirking weather duty actually was. The closest I had to a real problem was one or two ponies who just didn’t answer the door when I showed up at their homes, but I figured the notes I slipped under their doors would get the job done.

There was just one problem–the last pony on my absentee list. Well, technically her name was right at the top of it, but I certainly wasn’t going to go see her first. Guess it figures Twilight would notice that Fluttershy wasn’t there before anypony else.

For a moment I seriously considered just heading straight back to the training grounds. I’m pretty sure Blossom wouldn’t blame me for not going to Fluttershy’s place, and in all honesty we didn’t really need her to pull off the Tornado anyway. I had plenty of excuses for dodging this.

So why was I walking up the path to her cottage?

I guess part of it might be that I wanted to check up on her after what happened with Rainbow yesterday. Rainbow did say something about getting into an argument with Fluttershy, and considering what Rainbow had been like yesterday that was enough to make me understandably worried.

That sounded a bit like an excuse though. I guess ... well, maybe with how much what happened back at Flight Camp had been hanging over everypony’s head lately, I just wanted to see her. It sounds strange when I put it that way, but ... yeah, I wanted to see Fluttershy, and have some words with her. I’m not even sure why.

I knocked on her front door, and after a couple seconds a bunny opened it. If it were anypony else’s home, a rabbit answering the door would be weird. The rabbit crossed his paws over his chest, and glared at me suspiciously.

“Um ... hi.” How are you supposed to talk to a rabbit anyway? That was Fluttershy’s thing, not mine. “So ... is Fluttershy around?” Kind of silly to even ask that question when as far as I could tell the rabbit wouldn’t even give me an answer.

In fact, all the rabbit did was keep his arms crossed and continue silently glaring at me.

Right, looks like I wouldn’t be getting anything out of the rabbit, and there was no sign of Fluttershy. Well, if I’m honest, I’d been pretty torn about coming here in the first place, so I guess I could just call it a bust and move on.

I turned around and started trotting down the path away from Fluttershy’s home. However, I only got a couple steps before something smacked into the back of my head. I turned back around, and saw Fluttershy’s doorkeeper looking at me with a smug little smirk on his face. “Did you just throw something at me?”

The bunny gave a very self-satisfied nod.

So Fluttershy’s pets hated me. I guess that shouldn’t be a surprise. “Look, I’m going, okay?” I turned around, and got all of two steps before a half-eaten carrot bounced off the back of my head. I whirled back around to glare at the belligerent bunny. “Okay, seriously. I’m a nice and generally pretty easygoing kind of pony. I don’t want trouble, but I’ve had a couple pretty rotten days, and if you keep pushing me...”

I turned back around and started walking, then jerked my head to the side on pure instinct. Just in time to to see a rock come shooting over my shoulder to pass through the space my head had just been occupying.

Okay. Fine. I turned back to face the annoying little rabbit and cracked my neck. “You called down the thunder, now get ready to reap the whirlwind, little bunny.” After all the horseapples I’ve been dealing with, a little cathartic violence against a jerk of a bunny sounded ... rather nice.

Fluttershy walked in on us right as I was in the process of pinning the little hell-rabbit down on the floor of her living room. I’m not quite sure what I was really planning for it, beyond teaching the little bunny a lesson about how I was not a pony to be trifled with. I didn’t want to seriously hurt him or anything, just ... establish dominance, I guess.

My childhood fillyfriend stood in the doorway of her own home, her jaw slack with surprise as she stared at the two of us. “C–Cloud Kicker? What are you doing here? Why are you fighting with Angel Bunny?”

The rabbit’s name was Angel? Never knew Fluttershy had an ironic sense of humor. I felt a tiny little pang of guilt as I removed my hoof from the tiny little beast, who made a couple of very rude gestures at me before hopping off to go do ... whatever it is rabbits do. I felt like I owed Fluttershy some explanation for why I was in her house, beating up her pet bunny. “He started it.”

Fluttershy surprised me by actually looking me in the eyes and putting a little steel into her voice. “I’m very sorry that he did that, but he’s still just a little bunny, and you’re a big strong pony.”

Great, I’ve been in her home for less than a minute, and I’ve already assaulted one of her pets and made her upset. Gee, no wonder our relationship didn’t work out.

Fluttershy seemed to give a slight shake as her moment of assertiveness left her, and soon she was hiding behind her mane and shooting me nervous looks again. “Um ... why are you here?”

Oh, right. After the little skirmish her inappropriately named rabbit, I’d almost forgotten why I’d come over in the first place. “It’s about Tornado Duty,” I answered stiffly. I guess trying to keep things a bit formal and businesslike was one way to cut down on the massive awkwardness. “You didn’t show up at the training grounds, so...”

“Oh.” Fluttershy gave a guilty little flinch that made me feel like a complete bully. “I’m sorry, it’s just ... I thought it would be better if I trained on my own for a bit, so that’s why ... um ... why I’m here. That’s ... that’s not a problem, is it?”

“No, you’re fine.” I certainly didn’t want to kick up a fuss about the fact that she technically wasn’t turning out for weather duty. If she said she was training on her own, then that was good enough for me and would be good enough for Blossom. I certainly wasn’t going to slap Fluttershy with a five hundred bit fine for shirking.

“So what kind of training setup do you have anyway?” I asked in a desperate attempt to keep the conversation going. “Weightlifting? Wing-ups? Flying trials?”

Fluttershy was about to answer when a squirrel ran up to her with a mask in it’s paws. A mask with a pony’s face on it. My face, in point of fact.

Okay. That was ... that was something.

“Uh ... Fluttershy?” I shot an understandably questioning look at the little critter. “Why is that squirrel carrying a mask with my face on it?”

“Meep!” Oh great, Fluttershy was getting to the point where she was too embarrassed or scared to actually speak coherently. That hadn’t taken me very long.

I thought about dropping the matter to spare her any further humiliation, but my curiosity got the better of me. “For that matter, why do you have a squirrel-sized mask with my face on it in the first place? Please tell me this isn’t some kind of really weird fetish...”

Well, so much for not making Fluttershy any more embarrassed. Maybe Derpy had a point about me needing to work on the whole ‘think before you open your mouth’ thing.

Fluttershy immediately began blushing furiously and couldn’t even bring herself to peek out at me from behind her mane. I did at least startle her badly enough that she actually managed to regain the capacity for coherent speech. “N-no! It's not like that. It’s for the training I’ve been doing.” Fluttershy shuffled her hooves uncertainly, and her ears went flat against her head. “It’s ... well you know how nervous I can get while other ponies are watching me, so...”

Oh. So the pony-mask was for some sort of performance anxiety training exercise. I guess that made sense. I mean, Fluttershy’s not a very strong flier on a good day, but she’s a lot better than point five wingpower. Hay, I’d seen how badly she choked while doing the test yesterday. Training to beat her nervousness would do her a lot more good than building up her muscles–it didn’t matter how good her wings were if she couldn’t find the courage to actually use them. “Okay, got it. Sorry about the whole...” I waved a hoof vaguely in the air. “That was just me making a bad joke.”

That seemed to make Fluttershy slightly less mortified than she had been. “Oh. Okay.” A moment later she peeked out at me from under her mane. Okay, we had eye contact. That was a good sign. “It’s just–I want everypony to see that I really can be a good flier, and to do that I need to learn to not be so nervous when ponies are watching me. So ... um ... I was thinking that maybe–well, sorry, but you really, really make me nervous when you’re around. So–I was wondering if maybe you could...”

Oh wow ... she was actually kind of reaching out to me. That was a really bold move on her part. Not that I was about to complain, especially since it sounded like she might be trying to work her way around to asking me to actually spend a bit more time around her.

Fluttershy let out another high-pitched squeak and broke eye contact with me a for a bit, but after a couple seconds she seemed to find enough courage to speak again. “I was ... if it's not too much trouble, could you stay a while? While I–um, while I train. And just watch? If–if that wouldn’t be too much trouble for you. Actually, I know you’re probably very busy right now getting ready for Tornado Day, so maybe ... um...”

I jumped in before she could talk herself out of asking me to help. “Oh, I’d be happy to lend a hoof, Fluttershy. You’re the last of the ponies who didn’t show up for training that I needed to check on, so I’ve got time to help you.” Technically I should be heading back to give Blossom a hoof, but Tornado Duty could wait for a bit. Fluttershy was actually asking me to spend time with her. That was huge.

This might be a chance to start patching things up with Fluttershy. If Blossom was here, she’d tell me to forget about Tornado Day in a heartbeat.

A very tentative little smile appeared on Fluttershy’s face. “Oh. Good.” She gave a nervous little flutter of her wings before rapidly blurting out. “It’s just that if I'm gonna stop being nervous when ponies watch me fly it makes sense to have the pony who makes me the most nervous of all help me train, right?”

Okay, we were definitely ... yeah, this was big. Helping her train was a big deal, and it meant we’d be spending a fair bit of time around each other. Like, several days. This was quite possibly the best chance I would ever get to patch things up with her, and I certainly wasn’t going to let it slip past. Had to wonder why she had suddenly gotten so bold as to reach out to me like this though. “Um, alright, I guess. Fluttershy, are you sure that's what you want? I mean, I know how badly you react to me–you could start off with somepony a little less nerve-wracking.”

“Well, maybe, but...” Fluttershy actually brought her face out from behind her mane to look at me directly. “It’s just that if I'm going to be ready to do my part on Tornado Day, then I don't have time to take things slowly. I–I want to stop being so scared, and show everypony that I really am a good flyer. I don't want to just have point five wingpower when everypony else is flying with ten or more, and I don’t want to be scared anymore!”

I very slowly approached and hesitantly put a supportive hoof on her shoulder. She gave a surprised little jump at the unexpected physical contact, but she didn’t break away or gave any sign that she minded it. “Eepy, you stared down and yelled at a dragon last year, and you’re terrified of dragons. I know you have it in you to deal with a little performance anxiety”.

A disturbingly cute blush appeared on Fluttershy’s face. Dammit, stop thinking that way, Cloud Kicker. I really didn’t need to start lusting after her right now. “I ... um ... maybe. I–I guess that dragons are scarier than other ponies, but–well, I’m still scared of dragons. I just got a little upset at the one that hurt my friends and–um–forgot I was scared of him for a bit.”

“So now all we have to do is help you forget that you’re scared of other ponies, and we’ll be fine,” I concluded with a hopeful grin. Always good to have a game plan.

Fluttershy ducked her head and her lower lip started trembling. “But ... but what if I do badly and everypony laughs at me and makes fun of me? And everypony's going to be watching me, so if I make a mistake everypony is going to see it!”

I knelt a little closer to her–I still gave her enough space to respect her personal bubble, but I was near enough to show some support. “Eepy, I make mistakes all the time. Hay, Derpy makes mistakes about twice a day, and she doesn't care. You’ll be fine. Besides, if anypony makes fun of you for it, they've got something else coming...”

Fluttershy turned away from me with a nervous little squeak and quietly whispered. “Oh ... you would ... for me?” She gave a quick shake of her head and met my eyes. “I mean, you shouldn't hurt other ponies just for saying something, even if it is mean, but you would really do that for me even after ... after?”

“Of course I would,” I confirmed. “I ... I know things haven’t been right between us for a long time, but that doesn’t mean I don’t ... well, you’re still an important pony, okay? Besides, we both know that what happened back at Flight Camp was mostly my fault, so I figure I ought to at least keep an eye out for you to make up for it.”

Fluttershy surprised me by looking me straight in the eyes and speaking firmly. “No! It wasn't your fault. I um...” Her moment of assertiveness faded away into an embarrassed blush and a tiny little whisper. “I was the one who kissed you first...”

If kissing was all we had done, there wouldn’t have been any problems. “Yeah, but I kept things going when you weren't comfortable. I...” Now it was my turn to trail off uncertainly and nervously paw at Fluttershy’s floor while I gathered my thoughts. “If it weren't for your personality, you could've ended up with my reputation. I really would've earned Rainbow's beatdown for that.”

If Fluttershy’s directness had taken me by surprise then what happened next absolutely floored me. It actually took me a moment to process just what the narrowing of Fluttershy’s eyes and the sudden tightness of voice mean. Fluttershy was angry. “You didn't deserve what Rainbow Dash did to you. I know she means well, but sometimes she just makes me so frustrated.” Fluttershy’s voice started going from its normal gentle tones to something hard and furious. “She’s been such a horrible friend to you! We were so happy together, and then she ruined everything!”

Oh. Wow. I’d been a little surprised when Rainbow said that Fluttershy had yelled at her yesterday, but now I could believe it. I guess it made sense, really. It took me and Rainbow a lot of work to sort through what happened at Flight Camp, and I won’t deny that I spent a while severely pissed at her. The first couple apology letters she sent wound up in the garbage, but eventually I just got tired of being angry at her. Even then, we spent a lot of time talking things out.

I’d bet Fluttershy never did that. Fluttershy’s not good at confrontation. Rainbow and I sat down and talked things out, but I’d be willing to bet every bit I had that she just told Rainbow that she wasn’t angry and buried all those negative feelings deep down. That’s kinda been a problem Fluttershy’s had for a while: when all that anger gets buried, it inevitably starts building up, until one day it all just explodes out when the right stimulus comes up. Finding out Rainbow just fired me over what happened at Flight Camp was one hell of a trigger, especially if Fluttershy was already feeling emotionally fragile after what happened during training.

Maybe that was why she was reaching out to me now. I’d come here because the whole Flight Camp thing had been on my mind a lot lately. Guess it figures that what happened might be on her mind too.

I sat down beside her. “Look, Fluttershy. Rainbow made a mistake. It was a big one that hurt all of us. Hay, Rainbow’s still hurting for it every day. I don’t think she’s ever really forgiven herself for what she did. Hay ... um ... don’t tell anypony this, but she’s not in the hospital because she crashed from stunt flying. She ... she got a little self-destructive, and basically forced me to hurt her. She ... afterwards she said she felt like she deserved a beat-down from me.” I could feel my eyes actually watering a little bit when I said that. “I ... I hated her for a while, but holding onto all that anger just hurts too much.”

Fluttershy let out a sad little sniffle, and I scooted a bit closer to her. “I know,” she whimpered, “and she tries so hard to be a good friend now, but there are still times when I just ... when I can’t help but be upset with her. And then I feel just awful about being angry at one of my friends, but no matter how bad I feel about being upset with her, I can’t stop feeling that way!”

I scooted a little closer to her. “Hey, it’s okay, Fluttershy. You don’t have to beat yourself up for being upset with her. Rainbow wouldn’t want that.” I gave an awkward little cough and added. “Besides ... well, even if she hadn’t jumped to conclusions, it’s not like we were doing fine up to that point. I mean, the whole reason she blew up was because you weren’t okay with us doing ... what we were doing.”

Fluttershy looked at me out of the corner of her eye and immediately started blushing. “I ... I didn't mind it so much ... the first time. It was ... nice. It’s just that ... um...”

I felt my cheeks getting a bit warm as well. It was kinda hard to think back on my first bang without actually, you know, thinking back on it. “Yeah, I liked it too, but we were both too young for that.”

Fluttershy couldn’t quite bring herself to meet my gaze. “We were both young, but I was the older one, so ... um...”

I shook my head; no way I was going to let her put all the blame for this on herself. “Eepy, we were–what, twelve? Thirteen? We didn't have any business doing the business.”

Fluttershy gave another one of her dangerously cute little squeaks and ducked her face partially behind her mane. “Well, I suppose not. I ... I'm sorry I didn't tell you. That I was ... that I was uncomfortable. I should’ve talked to you instead of going to Rainbow Dash...”

For some reason, one of the razor-thin scars Rainbow had left on my muzzle itched. I ignored it and scooted away from Fluttershy ever so slightly. “Hindsight’s always twenty-twenty, Fluttershy. What Rainbow did wasn’t your fault. Besides, with the way I kept pushing ... I could have really hurt you. Hay, in a way Rainbow was right–you were so scared of telling me no that I pretty much did ra–”

“NO!” I about jumped out my horseshoes in surprise when Fluttershy cut me off and actually yelled at me. “You did not! Never say that!”

“I pushed you into it!” I insisted. “You didn't want to do it and I did it anyway!”

I jumped in surprise when Fluttershy put a hoof on my chin and turned my head to meet her eyes. “You did not rape me!” She declared with uncompromising firmness. “Never say that! Never ever ever!”

I hesitantly put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. “Eepy–Fluttershy...”

Fluttershy started trembling, and I could see tears starting to form in her eyes. “I was scared and nervous, but it was the first relationship I'd ever been in! You were probably scared too! Anypony would be nervous!”

I sighed and lowered my head to stare uncomfortably at the floor. “Yeah, it was my first time too, and I was a little nervous. That’s probably why I pushed ahead way too fast for you.”

Fluttershy let out a tiny little whimper, and when I looked over at her I saw that her shaking was getting worse. Great, now I was making her feel bad again. Nice going, Cloud Kicker. “Maybe, but that's something I should've talked to you about. You would've stopped if I asked you to. Instead I went to Rainbow Dash, and then she tried to kill you!”

“And Rainbow had a right to!” My voice cracked a bit as the memories resurfaced, from the memory of the fight as much as the night Fluttershy and I had leading up to it. “I did force it, Fluttershy–you weren't comfortable, and I didn't pay attention to the warning signs.”

Fluttershy gave an angry shake of her head. “No, she did not have the right to hurt you!” She let out a bitter little sniffle. “I went to her for advice, and instead she ... she...” What little self-control Fluttershy still had broke completely, and she began openly sobbing. “I'm sorry Cloud Kicker, I'm so sorry! It’s all my fault and I’m so sorry!”

Seeing Fluttershy crack was enough to break my own self control, and soon I had tears coming down too. “Aw, jeez, now I’m getting all weepy too.” I very hesitantly lifted a wing for her, and Fluttershy didn’t even hesitate before moving under it and wrapping one of her own wings over me in response.

For a while we lay there together, wrapped in each other’s wings and crying our eyes out. Just two hurt ponies, trying to see if being with each other could finally make the pain go away. Celestia, why did it have to hurt so much? “We've both been living with this for so long. I knew we were both hurting, but I had no idea it was eating you like this...I'm so sorry.”

That just made Fluttershy let out a tiny little mewl of pain. “No, I'm sorry.” I felt her wing tighten around me. “I know some ponies think you must've done something to me, when it's really me who was awful to you...”

I pulled up a little closer to her, so we were pressed up right against each other, and looked her dead in the eyes. “You were not awful. You were you–nervous about what we'd done, then horrified when the boss misunderstood. You just didn't know how else to react.”

Fluttershy let out a guilty little whine and turned away from me, though she was still looking at me out of the corner of her eye. “But ... but you were so hurt...”

I forced a smile onto my face for her sake. “Yeah, I got a little busted up, but nothing that didn’t heal. The scars aren’t that bad, and you can't even see them under my fur. Besides, a Kicker needs a couple battle scars. I got better. You ... you were the one who really didn't come back from it. You were one of my best friends before we bumped things up, and I ... well, I backed you into a shell.”

Fluttershy sniffled and put a hoof on my cheek. “Where you got hurt here, from Rainbow ... that healed. But–but where I hurt you, you’re still hurt.” Her hoof moved down to my chest, resting right over my heart. “You haven't had a happy, meaningful relationship since then. I know that's not a coincidence, and I know it’s because I hurt you.”

I let out a heavy sigh and tried to figure out how to put what I wanted to say next. On the one hoof, it wasn’t fair for Fluttershy to blame herself for the way I chose to live my life, but at the same time it’s kinda hard to deny that happened back at Flight Camp probably had a big influence on ... well just about everything with my life. “Yeah, kinda been doing the swinging single thing for a while, but ... Derpy and I ... I dunno, we might be onto something...”

Fluttershy smiled at me, but there was something ... I dunno. I couldn’t quite put my hoof on it, but there was something a bit off about Fluttershy’s smile. “R–Really? That's ... I'm so happy for you.”

Seems wrong that Fluttershy was happier about me hooking up with Derpy than I was right now. “Yeah ... I dunno, Fluttershy. Dinky's cute, Sparkler's cool, and I really like spending time with Derpy, but ... I'm kinda freaked out.”

Fluttershy put concerned hoof over her mouth for a moment, and then gave me a gentle little squeeze with the wing she still had wrapped around me. “Oh my. What's wrong?”

I let out a weary sigh. “Well, there’s a couple things that are really tripping me up. First is just trying to figure it all out, y'know? I mean, this isn’t exactly the light-and-casual kind of thing I’m used to dealing with. At first I thought it was just me and Derpy being bang buddies, but I feel like I’m getting pulled in deeper and deeper, into this big relationship I never signed up for the first place. Hay, Dinky and Sparkler are starting to get attached to me too ... like ...” I let out a frustrated groan. “I didn’t sign up for a big committed relationship, and now I’m not only getting that with Derpy, I’m also slowly turning into Mom Number Two for her girls. I mean, they’re good fillies and all, but...”

“It’s a very big adjustment,” Fluttershy finished for me. “Being a caretaker is a huge responsibility, even if you’re just somepony who helps out a little instead of full-time.” I guess a pony who spent her life taking care of animals would know a thing or two about how much work being a nurturer is. “So what was the other thing that’s bothering you?”

Yeah, because just getting into a relationship I probably wasn’t entirely ready for wasn’t nearly enough. I swear, I almost wished I’d tossed together an impromptu Orgy Night earlier instead of just having a one-time bang with a single pony. Hay, if the drama kept up at it’s current rate I might just tell everypony to go feather themselves while I went off to Las Pegasus and took a crack at setting a new record for the biggest orgy in the history of Equestria.

“So, yeah. The other thing is, Blossom has a crush on me.” I groaned and corrected myself. “No, it’s not just a little crush, this is something a lot bigger than that, and it's not gonna go away unless I shut her down hard. And I really don’t want to do that because of how this whole thing with Derpy got started ... I’ve got these rules that I said kept me and Blossom from ever hooking up, but then I went and broke them for Derpy. ”

Fluttershy shot a confused little frown at me. “What are these rules of yours?”

Oh, yeah. She wouldn’t know about all the rules I came up with after things between us got bad. It’s not like I had ever sat her down and told her why I had a bunch of rules I’d come up with to stop something like what happened at Flight Camp from ever happening again. “After ... well, us, I came up with rules so that nopony else I banged would get hurt. I came up with a couple of them after what happened at camp and others got added to the list over the years.”

Fluttershy flinched and gave a miserable little squeak. “Oh. I ... I'm sorry you had to do that because of me.”

I gave a quick shake of my head. I swear, I could stub my hoof and Flutters would find a way to blame herself for it and start apologizing to me. “Nah, after what happened I needed the guidelines. Problem is, the one time I break my rules I hurt somepony I care about all over again.”

I felt Fluttershy’s wing tighten around me again in a reassuring little squeeze. Have to say, nopony can top Fluttershy when it comes to offering a little bit of gentle reassurance. “But you didn't mean to hurt anypony, did you?”

I massaged my forehead with a hoof. “Hay no. But it doesn’t really matter if I meant to or not, because I did. Blossom and I–well, we got into a fight. It's not as bad as us, but ... I'm scared it could turn into it again. And Derpy, jeez, I don't wanna hurt her or her girls, but the longer this thing with Blossom keeps going on...” I trailed off with a weary sigh. “They’re both really important to me, and I don’t want to hurt either one of them, but I can’t see any way out of this without breaking somepony’s heart. The problem is that trying to play the pony in the middle just ends up hurting both of them instead. I just ... is it too much to ask to want a way out of this that doesn’t hurt anypony?”

Fluttershy shot me a worried a little frown. “Oh dear, that is quite a difficult situation. Um ... I know you would never want to hurt any of them, and you'd try to do what's right. Um ... I'm sure you'll find a way to take care of things.”

I sighed and snuggled up a little closer to Fluttershy. “Celestia, I hope so. The manticore's way outta the cave now, and it’s too late to put him back in.” I gave a short, bitter little laugh. “Kinda an ironic choice of words, considering one of my family’s old marriage rites involves killing a manticore to prove the strength of your love for your intended.” One of my family’s stupider traditions, though thankfully one that died out a long time ago. In fact, I’m not completely sure Dad didn’t just make that one up to mess with me.

Fluttershy let out a horrified gasp. “That’s terrible! How could anypony do that to a poor little manticore?”

Poor? Little? Okay, I know Fluttershy can be a total sweetheart, but that pony has a very different definition of those words from what everypony else uses. Most ponies don’t use terms like ‘little’ to describe a giant pony-eating beast. Then again, I was talking to a mare who according to Rainbow Dash could reduce a full-grown dragon to tears in about a minute. After you’ve made a dragon cry, I guess manticores do seem little by comparison.

Fluttershy gave an awkward little cough and returned the conversation to the subject we’d been on before getting sidetracked by my stupid family traditions. “So, um ... you blamed yourself for what happened with us, right? Even though you really shouldn’t have. Because – because you felt like you'd done something that hurt me. If – if hurting somepony worries you that much, then I know you'll try as hard as you can not to hurt Blossomforth or Derpy or her fillies.”

My head dropped down and I rested my chin on my hooves. “I've already hurt Blossom. It was a stupid stupid fight, and the fact that I’ve been ... not fair to her is hurting her too.” I let out an annoyed little snort. “Plus Derpy kinda pointed out that I might be ... unintentionally encouraging her to keep holding out hope for me. I don’t know, I just want things between her and me to be okay, but it seems like trying to fix things just makes them more and more complicated. Plus ... well Derpy was pretty understanding about it at first, but I can’t really blame her for being a little bugged that I’m trying so hard to bond with a mare who’s made no secret of the fact that she wants to bump Derpy out of the way so she can have me for herself.”

I sighed heavily and admitted something I’d kind of been reluctant to face. “Blossom deserved a fair chance with me. I knew how she felt about me, and I just pretended not to notice for a long time because I didn’t want to mess up our friendship.” I let out a disgusted little groan. “No, our friendship could’ve survived it. I just didn’t ... Blossom’s not a casual kinda pony, and she means a lot to me. Hay, we’ve never even kissed or anything, and I care about her more than all but two of the ponies I’ve banged. If we’d ... there’s no way I could’ve hooked up with her and not had it get serious. She means too much to me to be a one-night stand. Hay, I seriously thought about running for it when I realized how serious things were getting with Derpy, but by the time it all came hammering home for me it was too late to get out without hurting everypony involved.”

I gave a bitter, humorless little laugh. “So there you go. I hurt my best friend because I was scared of getting pulled into a relationship with her. I let my personal ... thing cause trouble for us, and now I’m stuck in a situation where no matter what I do, I’ll end up hurting somepony I care about. Yeah, I’d say I’m a pretty rotten pony.”

I felt a hoof on my chin as Fluttershy turned my face so she could look me in the eyes. “Cloud Kicker, you are not a bad pony. You’re a pony who made some mistakes, but you just told me a little bit ago that everypony makes mistakes. And you're going to fix everything that went wrong because of the mistakes you make, right?”

On an impulse, I leaned my forward a bit to rest it on Fluttershy’s shoulder. It just felt so ... right. I guess that’s just something about Fluttershy; just being around her could make a pony feel safe and comforted. “I'm trying, but I’m not sure how to balance what everypony needs. How do I deal with Blossom being in love with me when I’m already in a relationship with somepony else? I mean, if I just tell her back off she’ll be crushed, and it’s really not fair to do that to her after everything else I’ve put her through. But the longer she goes on chasing me ... Derpy’s already starting to wonder why I’m not doing much to discourage her, and she’s worrying that maybe it’s because I care more about Blossom than I do about her. What am I supposed to do to fix this without hurting one or both of them?”

Fluttershy gave my cheek a gentle little nuzzle. “I'm sorry, I don't know.” I saw the corners of her mouth turn up in a cautiously optimistic little smile. “But I'm sure that with as much as you want to find a way to fix things, you will.”

I groaned and buried my face in Fluttershy’s wonderfully soft fur for a moment before answering. “Yeah, I hope so. ‘Cause if I don’t find a way to patch this mess up–I don't want things with Blossom or Derpy or maybe even both of them to end up like another ... us.”

A hint of steely determination I wasn’t used to hearing from her entered Fluttershy’s voice. “That will not happen.”

Seeing how resolved Fluttershy was kinda gave me a bit of a morale boost. Her strength helped me be stronger too. “Damn straight. Blossom's been my best friend for years and I’ve known Derpy since Flight Camp, I'm not gonna just let that end.”

Fluttershy favored me with another one of her optimistic little smiles. “As long as you feel that way, there's hope.”

“I had hope with you, Fluttershy.” I answered mournfully. “I need more than that for this. Losing Blossom or Derpy would be bad enough, but there're fillies in the mix this time around too. That’s ... Celestia, if Dinky or Sparkler got hurt ‘cause of all this ... that would kill me.”

That got me another little reassuring nuzzle from Fluttershy. “They won’t be hurt, because I know you'll find a way. I believe in you.”

Okay, Fluttershy’s optimism was starting to get a little infectious. If she really believed I could find a way to fix of all this ... well maybe, just maybe, she was right. “Thanks, I...thanks.” I took a moment to just relax and enjoy this. Her. It felt like a part of me that had been missing for a decade was finally back in place. “I've missed having you around, you know.”

Fluttershy’s eyes started watering, but she was smiling at me through the tears. “I missed you too, Cloud Kicker.”

Next thing I knew, there were a pair of yellow forelegs wrapped around my chest, squeezing like they never wanted to let go. To be fair, I was hugging her back as hard as I felt comfortable doing. Apparently Eepysqueak was comfortable with hugging me hard enough to start making my ribs creak. “Missed you too Eepysqueak, but I kinda need oxygen..."

The pressure on my lungs dropped down to manageable level, and Eepy gave an apologetic little flinch. “Oops. Sorry. I was just so excited that we’re finally...” She trailed off and shot me a nervous, almost frightened. “Um ... we are friends again, aren’t we?”

I tightened my own hug on her a back and added in a nuzzle. “No. We never stopped being friends.”

I couldn’t see her face, but somehow I still knew she was beaming. “Yay.”

As we sat there holding each other, something finally clicked for me. Why I’d finally come to Fluttershy. It was simple, really. With all the crazy going on in my life, I needed a friend to turn to. Rainbow was still in the hospital, not to mention that she was ... well, historically speaking she doesn’t handle delicate issues all that well. Plus, even though we had patched things up it was probably gonna be a bit before I felt like turning to her in a moment of weakness. Blossom and Derpy were obviously out, since they were right at the center of this whole mess.

That left me with pretty much no close friends to turn to. I’ve got plenty of casual acquaintances and bang buddies I could’ve talked to, but this whole mess isn’t the kind of thing you dump on anything less than a really close friend. Threesome buddies are great for a little casual fun, but unless you’re looking for a bit of consolation sex they’re not so great when you need emotional support.

So when push came to shove and I needed a pony I knew would be there for me, I found myself on Eepysqueak’s doorstep. I’d spent years hiding from her because I was so afraid that I might hurt her again that I never really tried to fix what had gone wrong with us. I’d patiently tolerated Rainbow’s ham-hoofed attempts to make us settle things, but deep down I guess a part of me always thought it might be better this way. That as long as there was this distance between the two of us, I didn’t have to worry about hurting her anymore.

I can be a real idiot sometimes.

Eventually the two of us came out of the hug, though we didn’t quite let go of each other. It was almost like we were afraid that if we did, we might lose what we had if we stopped holding onto each other. “So ... everything’s good now?”

“Yes,” Eepysqueak confirmed with an ecstatic smile. A second later her smile faded away into uncertainty. “Well ... there is one thing. Um ... well, Twilight gave me a book about repressed anger after what happened with Iron Will, and ... um ... considering what happened with Rainbow Dash yesterday, I think maybe I should ... um ... tell you that there is still one teeny-tiny little thing I'm just the slightest little bit upset with you about.”

I felt a sudden knot of dread in the pit of my stomach. Oh Celestia, please don’t take this away from me. Not now, not when we’re so close... “Yeah?” I could hear the tiny little tremble of fear in my voice.

Eepysqueak seemed to pick up on my sudden worry, and gave me another reassuring little hug. “No, no, it’s nothing bad. It’s just that ... um ... you never really gave me a chance to explain.” Eepysqueak ducked her head behind her mane for a moment, then took a deep breath and gathered her courage. “I ... um ... I did love you back then. It was just ... well I was scared and confused. But ... when I tried to explain you thought I didn't ... and then you never let me...” She gave a quick shake of her head. “No, I should’ve gone to see you in the hospital, but I was too ashamed to. The important thing is ... I just want you to know that I wasn’t–”

My eyes were already watering when I gently cut her off with a hoof over her mouth. “I got it Eepy. Thanks.”

Once I’d had enough time to think back rationally on what had happened that day, I started wondering if maybe I’d made a bit of a snap judgement breaking up with Eepysqueak. That sense of perspective didn’t come until years later though, and by then it was way too late to fix things if I’d been wrong. Besides, it was easy to come up with ways to justify my decision in hindsight. Hay, I’m pretty sure our parents would’ve been pretty strongly opposed to us continuing as a couple after everything that happened at Flight Camp in any case. Mom and Dad had not been happy when they found out I’d lost my virginity, and I expect Eepy’s parents felt the same way.

Plus, in my defense, I did have some mild brain damage when I decided to break up with her.

But hearing that, and finally knowing for sure that she really had loved me just as much as I’d loved her? Yeah, that was big. Hay, if I’d known that it might’ve ... well, let’s just say thinking she didn’t love me played a part in a couple other bad decisions I’ve made over the years. Not that I was gonna shift the blame on those choices. After all, I’d still been the one to make them.

Eepysqueak cleared her throat very softly and started blushing bright red. “I ... there’s one other thing I need to tell you. Um, after Camp, I began thinking ... and then years later, when Derpy moved to town, there was that Pegasopolian guard costume ... it's why I didn't come out on Nightmare Night after that. I, um, didn't want to risk hurting you again, but...” She let out a high-pitched squeak before confessing in a barely audible whisper. “I liked what I saw.”

My jaw dropped at that. Saying she loved me back at Flight Camp was one thing, but now it sounded like things hadn’t stopped there. “Eepy ... did you really still ... all this time?” I tentatively brought a hoof up to stroke Fluttershy’s cheek. “If ... if you'd told me...”

Eepysqueak gently nuzzled my hoof, and let out a tiny little whimper. “I wanted to, but I was scared of hurting you again! And I was ashamed, because after what happened at Flight Camp, how badly I hurt you, I didn’t deserve to love you anymore!”

Oh Celestia, she was tearing up on me again. I brought up my other hoof and gently cupped her face. “It’s okay Eepy.” I couldn’t help but chuckle a little bit when I added. “You don’t need to start beating yourself up just ‘cause you liked the way I looked in that silly costume. I mean, the whole idea behind it was ‘Sexy Pegasus Soldier.’” Mom and Dad had certainly been less than amused by that particular choice, especially since the whole dropping out of West Hoof thing was still a little fresh in everypony’s mind.

Eepy gave an adorably little blush as squeaked out. “Oh! Well, um ... it did help me appreciate ... your ... um, yes. But, I don’t think I really realized that I still l–loved you until I saw how you helped care for Derpy when she moved here. You were there to help when she needed you, and you were so kind ... and I started really remembering the filly I had a crush on and saw how she'd ... grown into a mare I could care for. But after everything that happened I know I don’t deserve to feel that way, because I hurt you so much and if I keep feeling that way I’m just going to–”

“Eepy,” I gently cut her off. “It’s okay. I really wish I'd known how you felt about me. I should've talked to you after what happened at Flight Camp instead of jumping to conclusions and running off. If I'd known you felt something for me ... I would've given you the time you needed, Eepy. You were worth the wait.”

I leaned down and and gently kissed her on the lips. It seemed like the thing to do. Eepy’s eyes went wide with shock, but before long she started to hesitantly return the kiss. After a couple seconds I pulled back. Eepy tried to follow my lips, and let out a very quiet little whine of protest when the kiss finally ended. I could relate. Kissing her just felt so ... right.

Eepy was blushing bright red, and from the heat in my cheeks I’m pretty sure I was in the same condition. For a long moment we both just sat there, staring at each other with open mouths. To my surprise, Eepy was the first to regain the capacity for coherent speech. “That was ... I’ve wanted ... um ... yes. Thank you. I ... I don't want to lose you again. Your friendship means so much to me...”

Hearing her say that made something click–it hurt, a little bit, that it took me this long to come around and say it, but at the same time I was happy I could finally tell her. “I don’t want to lose you either.” I’ve spent enough time around ponies to get decent at reading body language. Between her flushed cheeks, the way her hooves were twitching like she wanted to wrap them around me, and how her lips were still pursed very slightly, I could tell what she wanted. If I was being completely honest with myself, I wanted it too. I nervously licked my lips and almost hesitantly suggested. “Um... how about one more? For good luck.”

Eepy very slowly nodded, and leaned forward to meet my lips again.

Comments

[Comma-Kazie]

What the hay happened to my prudish and easily embarrassed friend?

Oh, right. Me.

Perfect Cloud Kicker moment right there.

[Barnabi]

An update exactly when I needed something to do for 15 minutes!!

[Avid Reader]

Oh. Update.

Finally some closure. Other problems off to the side. Needing to deal with Blossom...

[Flare]

Awwwwwwwwwwww Yeaaaaaaaah, finally winning pony, The study is very good, and The Album made me happy, but this is what I really like

[mrjerrio]

Got the email update, was about to rage because I thought someone outbid me on pony cards. Nope, Life and Times updated. Time to read.

Edit: Alright done... wait a minute.

Plus, in my defense, I did have some mild brain damage when I decided to break up with her.

Hey, that's what I said!

[Rainbow87dash]

Lol Just realised the title
Charlie Sheen Winning
[youtube=9QS0q3mGPGg]

[Cloudhammer]

Cloud Kicker, you silly filly *facehoofs hard enough to punch through my face*

Love the new chapter Chengar

[JustPassingBy]

Oh. Shit just got a even more compllicated.
You know, i think there is no logical way to end this story with happy ending.
Especially for my favorite pony of this story - Blossomforth.

[JonOfEquestria]

Oh Cloud Kicker, what the heck are you doing?

J.

[sinatra45]

What's that? Love triangle too complicated? Buck it, you're Cloud Kicker! Kick it up a notch by bringing your first love into the equation!

[Blue Fire]

Awesome

Somehow this is the best story on FIMFiction.

[Otterbee]

Ohhhh no, Cloud Kicker. You don't... Why? What? Why would you... Gaaaah.

It's hard to feel sorry for her because it's pretty much all her fault.

[Steady State]

Oh Cloud Kicker. Why you so good at getting into these situations?

[Seether00]

Okay, that was nice, but kissing Fluttershy seems like reopening a can of worms.
I don't see this ending well. Better hope nopony finds out.

[HikariToYami]

This just gets worse and worse, CLOUD KICKER! WHY ARE YOU BEING DUMB!?

Still though, this is so freaking great

[Darkarma]

Really funny thing, I just watched Hurricane Fluttershy a few minutes before this was updated. Coincidence?

[Destructorspace]

Oh... My.

If you were using herds, all would be fine and dandy, as long as they could get along with each other. As of right now, I can't see any other way for this to have any sort of good ending. (Not even mentioning the wrench Luna is evidently planning to throw into the works...)

[mrjerrio]

1468698 Love triangles are too manestream. Love quadrilaterals are where it's at.

[Wild Zontars]

1468802
Buck that, wait until Luna comes back into the picture. At this rate, it won't be long before we get a love dodecahedron.

[Tinandel]

Oh boy... it never rains but pours... Fluttershy, you are best pony, but could you have possibly picked a worse time?

[Farnham]

Oh Cloud kicker, you done goofed. Again.
You know, out of all of those involved, I feel the worst for Blossomforth. She's one of the only ponies in Ponyville who hasn't gotten any "alone time" with Cloud kicker. That's gotta sting.

[Kaelzoroden]

Cloud Kicker
what are you doing
Cloud Kicker
stahp

[sinatra45]

1468802

But since Derpy is involved, it must come in rhombus form.

[Cynderfall]

This is such an interesting story. One of the best in my opinion. Keep up the good work.

[Vortex]

Now seem like an excellent time for an involved third party to wonder what been taking Cloud Kicker so long and bust in unexpectedly.

[Darkarma]

I can see it now, Cloud Kicker's Angels, Fluttershy, Derpy and Blossomforth. They answer only to themselves and to the Princess of the Moon; combatting friendship catastrophes one Pony at a time!

[Meltian]

I almost expected another "And then we ___" at the end there.

Awesome chapter!

[Makokam]

....
Ya know what?
Buck it.
All of it.
Just buck everything.
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

[Menelaus Redz]

Even though things look grim for Cloud Kicker to come out of all of this with little to no ruined friendships, I believe that she can do it. Heck, she wouldn't be a "Winning Pony" if she can't pull something off.

[gcsmith]

And the triangle becomes a quartet.

[sidewayz2013]

OH MY GOSH THANK YOU FOR UPDATINGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!! Now I have something to do after school!

[Trinary]

*smacks head against desk. Repeatedly* Aaaaargh! Cloud Kicker!!! You know we love you but why must you have the dumb?! It's Rainbow Dash who's in the hospital for potential head trauma, not you! What's your excuse?

I'm over the moon to see and update. I liked the appearance of Raindrops and the discussion over Tornado Day. 'Hurricane Fluttershy' is one of my all-out favorite episodes but now I have no idea how it's gonna play out. It was nice and sensible that CK went to Fluttershy to patch things up....Fluttershy being angry with Rainbow Dash about the Flight Camp fiasco and break up and CK's observation about her never dealing with her anger is logical. Fluttershy's a sweetheard 90% of the time, but she buries everything so deep that when it comes out she turns NASTY, a la Iron Will thing. So, another great chapter, looking forward to more and...well, sorry CK I love you but I'm buying Derpy some steel-shod horseshoes so she can properly kick your butt.

Nothing personal.

[Midnight herald]

It's almost like Cloud Kicker has finally realized she's able to love again and is making up for lost time. She is already such a committed pony to her friends and responsibilities that it makes it close to impossible to prioritize between the ponies she cares for. An endearing flaw to be sure, and an upcoming shitstorm I'm afraid/excited to see.

[Kavonde]

Okay, first: I guess we know what's gonna happen in a future chapter of "Study of a Winning Pony," don't we?

Second: Cloud Kicker, Taking a Third Option is generally supposed to make things less complicated, dammit!

Awesome chapter. CK and 'Shy's reconciliation was heartwarming. And now things are even worse, despite that. Man, Chengar, people talk about me tormenting Blueblood, but the emotional torture you're putting Cloud through puts it to shame

ADDING: ... Am I really the only person so far to have picked up on that first thing?

[Sforzando]

And suddenly a love quadrangle rears it's terrifyingly confusing head

[Phantom240]

Oh... My.
Didn't see things progressing like THAT. This is turning into quite an epic saga

[Loki]

I dunno, that thing at the end... it's very subjective, but one would think that anypony could work up at least a modicum of self restriction, no? Especially somepony who has lived almost her entire life by those self imposed rules she mentiones so frequently.

[Dreamer of Dragons]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

[Tarox]

Some powerful stuff going on in this chapter, very emotional. I really wish there was an easy way for Cloud Kicker to deal with everything but of course that wouldn't make for a very interesting story now would it?
Side note, I can't decide which scene I want to see from Inuhoshi more: Blossomforth kissing Derpy or Cloud Kicker and Fluttershy finally making up.
The funny scene or the tear-jerking adorable one.....
Inuhoshi if you read this please consider doing both!

[Elusive Belle]

In the latest news, Cloud Kicker reintroduces Fluttershy into her over complicated life......

And now we move to Morning Dew for the weather

images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20070507234716/uncyclopedia/images/b/be/Shitstorm-flyer.jpg

[Keyesty]

Need to choose between Ditzy and Blossom? Pick Eepy!
Now, it can't complicate things any, right?

[Fire Soul]

You know, most would be very upset with Cloud Kicker right now. But, with how Derpy is (don't get me wrong, Derpy's a wonderful Mother and a perfectly good marefriend), I just don't think she and Cloud Kicker would work out in the long run. It's all too obvious that Cloud Kicker has been in love with Fluttershy still after all this time, and I can really relate: I know how long it can take to recover from feeling like the love of your life has ripped your heart out and left it on the floor to be trampled on.

Not to mention that no matter how much Blossomforth may try, neither she or Derpy can every measure up to how Eepysqueak/Fluttershy makes her feel. Derpy got to her in a moment of emotional weakness, and is trying to change her to be the kind of pony that Derpy wants her to be, and perhaps that's a good thing since it's clear that somewhere deep down, Cloud Kicker wants to have that deep emotional connection. But, as I said, she's still hung up on Fluttershy. If she wasn't, she would've resisted kissing her just like she can resist any other time when she gets turned on but knows that something's a very bad idea.

Blossomforth just seems to reek of desperation. I mean with Fluttershy and Cloud Kicker it's one thing, they were in love and they basked in that love together, and they never felt wrong about it, though perhaps Fluttershy was unsure regarding the more physical aspects of their relationship. They never stopped loving one another though. Blossomforth on the other hoof, she has been just standing at Cloud Kicker's side like a lovestruck puppy, never once speaking up about how she felt, and Cloud Kicker never felt the need to take the step to make things more serious between them because she just didn't feel for Blossomforth in that way, and because she was afraid of getting more emotionally invested.

Now, with everything that's happened, all the drama thus far? There's just too much damage between them for any kind of romantic relationship to develop. Blossomforth just seems like she's trying so damn hard to backpedal and correct her mistake of never speaking up, it just wouldn't work out. At least, I don't think it would. As I said, she sounds and looks desperate, though some may perhaps just say that she's determined and Cloud Kicker should feel grateful that she cares enough to still try despite the odds stacked against her. I just really don't think it would work out.

Nor do I think that Derpy's completely good for Cloud Kicker either. Derpy's wonderful, yes, but she's much too serious as a single Mother to really be able to enjoy the kind of fun-loving lifestyle Cloud Kicker's far too used to to give up for a family that's not even hers by blood relation. If anything, Derpy and Twilight would make a good couple because of how mature they both are, and Cloud Kicker just isn't that kind of mature. If it doesn't cause problems more than it already is (see Cloud Kicker's favorite brand of socializing and joking around, which is leading Blossomforth on and really upsetting Derpy right now, which is a key part of Cloud Kicker's personality and way of having fun with her life), I will be really surprised.

Really, I can only see her and Fluttershy being together again, because aside from Cloud Kicker making the huge mistake of dumping her because she thought that Fluttershy didn't actually love her, and then Fluttershy's mistake of being too ashamed to go and talk to Cloud Kicker after all the drama was over, they have never ever been at one another's throats. Sure, they've both changed over the years, but the fact that they still both feel so 'right' with one another, as Cloud Kicker was putting it, and the fact that they both sure as hay love each other still should say enough for anyone questioning the possibility of a second relationship between them working out. It felt GOOD to finally reconcile with Fluttershy, and the moment she found out that Fluttershy never stopped loving her, her whole demeanor changed. Perhaps she doesn't realize it now, but she still loves that mare, perhaps even more now than she did when they were younger.

There's also the fact that Fluttershy is more assertive now and very unlikely to let that same mistake happen if they were to get back together. Fluttershy's also so very caring, loving and kind and understanding, and Cloud Kicker is very much the same way, just much more playful and, though this would more than likely stop if she and Fluttershy got together again, physically adventurous with many ponies that she finds herself attracted to. Perhaps they seem like opposites in some ways, but their personalities also mesh wonderfully because neither of them would ever stop trying to make the other one as happy as they could possibly be. That's just how Cloud Kicker is, and it's always been how Fluttershy is.

[Blue Fire]

1469025

Hopefully this story will have more than 300.000 words

[Flare]

*click* and next chapter begins with Cloud Kicker and Fluttershy getting cought in the act by Derpy or Blossomforth

[Esle Ynopemos]

No, it's all right, it's just a friendly kiss. ...Right?

...Right?

[TS9644]

1468644 I gotta agree with you there, even though Blossom is also my favorite, I have a feeling that she is not going to end up in a very happy situation

[Steel Resolve]

[Phantom240]

1469114
You're incredibly insightful. Let's see how the story plays out. I hope you're right.

[Balmas]

No. Cloudkicker, don't do this to yourself. Don't do it to Derpy and Blossomforth. Wasn't the whole reason you went there to get Fluttershy? Isn't your life complicated enough already?

[Shellsh0cker]

1468598

Seriously? You just now got that?

And wow, Cloud Kicker. Please cut this off at the pass before things get even more complicated.