• Published 21st Dec 2012
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Forgiveness Pending - Kiroberos



Moon Mender's adventure continues right where left off. He jumps at the chance for a new life, but will his old one truly leave him in peace? Some things are better off forgotten.

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Chapter 48

Rainbow winced again as I laced another line of energy through the muscles in her left wing. It was apparently the more sensitive of the two. She had explained that for most pegasi, the wing opposite their favored hoof was the more sensitive of the two. I hadn't realized ponies had a favored hoof. Mine was easy to guess, however, being the one not covered in metal bracing.

"Are you sure you want me to do this, Rainbow?" I asked again, watching her shift to panting and squirming as I went through each of her flight muscles with the lines of energy.

She let out a weak groan and arched a little into my hoof's touch. I waited patiently, and she finally exhaled, shifting back under control of herself. "Hah, hah, yeah. Make them adjustable, remember. I want to be able to slowly increase the tension in them while practicing," she murmured.

The lines were meant to either enhance or restrain her muscle movements. After I'd explained to her what I could do, and was further surprised by her extreme knowledge of flight muscle anatomy, she'd told me that there were lesser flight muscles that were really, really hard to work individually. A lot of pegasi had problems with it, apparently, and she wanted to know if I could specifically help her exercise those. It, well, evolved from there.

"Just be careful with these. Not only are the wings going to get really tired, really quickly, but this enchantment is feeding off your own magic supply, so your fatigue will increase faster," I warned again.

Rainbow smiled back at me, cheeks rosy, before nodding. "I know. I'll stay low and over the lake. Uh, thanks for worrying about me, of course. Can you keep watch for a water rescue if need be?" she asked, eyes softening a bit.

I gave her a smile and nod, of course, and she grinned. At least by the shade of her cheeks, I was reminded that her squirms were from pleasure rather than pain. It was slightly awkward thinking I was the one giving it to her, but apparently it felt good when my magic went inside a pony's body. As in, really good, which made me feel even more awkward when I considered Pinkie's reaction a while back. At least it didn't seem to affect the Crusaders in the same fashion! Too young, maybe?

"I'm so never using my magic on anypony unless I absolutely have to," I muttered a moment later, causing her to laugh between pants.

"I dunno, Mender. You could just rake in the bits if you took up massaging. Oh, oh, ah, um, is there any way I could get you to keep going after you're done?" Rainbow asked, giving out another light groan as I tied off the line of energy into the main cluster on her back. Her wings were getting really complex now! I just kept layering the enchantments onto it, and tying them together. The jets from earlier were still technically there, but now I had wired muscle manipulation into them as well.

Sighing, I shook my head lightly towards her. "Rainbow, you know that's a bad idea. This is getting a little weird, too. I didn't realize you even liked me like that before today," I warned, more than a little uncomfortable in her request.

"I told you, Mender. I like both stallions and mares, but only because I happened to, well, start liking particular ponies of both genders, if that makes sense? Sexuality isn't as important as the individual that catches my interest. Soarin's more just a fantasy, honestly. I was kidding there. Applejack and you, so far, are the only ponies that, um, interest me," she admitted, her blush increasing slightly as she glanced back at me again. Oh. Well, that made more sense and made me feel a little better.

She just looked back at me for another minute before relaxing again and continuing with, "I only tried dating once before. That was way back in flight school with a dude my friend, Gilda, set me up with. It, well, didn't go so well. He got pushy and I broke it off barely a week in after he tried to go too fast. I mean, I like fast and all, but I'm not gonna let myself get used like that! It left a bad taste in my mouth for a while."

"That makes sense. I take it you started to get interested again after meeting Applejack?" I inquired, pleased to take her mind off the sensations during the last stretch as I wired up the central enchantment.

She snickered and shook her head, however. "Nah. We were friendly with each other for the most part, but we were more rivals than anything at first. She's an amazing competitor, and really pushed me when we went head to head. I guess the tension built to admiration, and then I realized that, well, I loved the mare. I really do. I care for her and want to be with her as more than a friend. That revelation surprised me, and got me thinking about a relationship again." By the time she finished, I had completed the enchantment and sat back up again, slipping off her back and sitting beside her instead. The leaves crunched under my weight, and I adjusted myself as Rainbow sat up again, stretching.

"Friendship first is a good way to do it, isn't it? I know I don't know much about relationships, but they seem more an upgrade to friendship than something that replaces it," I suggested, smiling as I watched the graceful mare stretch out her back legs, then each and every muscle in her wings.

She grinned at me, of course. "Of course! I imagine it's a lot like friendship. Only a lot stronger. Oh, and with sex," she agreed, nodding twice. I chuckled and shook my head towards her, causing her to grin further. "To be honest, Twilight and Fluttershy probably wouldn't mind. It's not like I'm a stranger," she added, winking and causing me to blush again.

"I'd say you had a one track mind, but the enchantment probably didn't help much," I admitted, averting my gaze. Hesitating for a moment, she finally nodded absently towards me.

"Well, yeah, it did feel good and the wings are sensitive on a pegasus anyway, but a big part of it was who was doing it, too, to be honest. It's weird, but I kinda feel better now that I admitted to liking you," she corrected, tilting her head in consideration.

It was strange how little it bothered me at this point. Sure, I was used to being 'new' and 'exotic' in Ponyville, which was probably why a lot of ponies were interested, but I assumed, and hoped, that would die down over time. This didn't bother me as much as normal, though, because she had real feelings behind it. It wasn’t just a shallow interest in something ‘new’.

"Why do you like me in particular? Even though I know you've said it a couple times, I thought you were just being silly and didn't think I was 'cool' enough for you," I asked, tilting my head towards her as she rotated in place and stretched one wing out at a time. Warm-up exercises, maybe?

"You're dependable and I can trust you to have my back, for one. That's super important to me and obviously a quality AJ has in spades! Sure, you're an egghead like Twilight, but I think she's cool, too! So, don't doubt me. I might not be Honesty, but I'm not lying." She puffed up while saying it, apparently having finished her stretches. A part of me was a little surprised when she gave that particular answer. She'd thought it through, I noted.

Considering it for a moment, I nodded in agreement. "I've trusted you for a long time. If I hadn't offended your sensibilities that night, things probably would have gone better. Even though what I was saying sounded absolutely crazy, you still checked on my story after going to get the doctor. You believed in me at probably my lowest point ever, and that means a lot," I decided, my mouth following along with my thoughts. Her eyes got bigger as I went on, and she got another light pink tint when I smiled back up at her. "Well, my point is that I don't have a problem with how you feel, because I already feel close to you and relaxed when around you, so it doesn't faze me. I don't want to distract you from your goal, however," I summarized, a little frustrated that I wasn't better with words. Twilight probably could have summed up everything in a couple sentences.

Her eyes shivered slightly and, just for a moment, she looked distinctly not Rainbow Dash. I'd never seen her features relax and soften in quite that manner before she peeked left, and then right over her shoulder. Eh? Apparently satisfied in what she did or didn't find near us, she nodded to herself and shifted closer to me suddenly. My eyes widened, but she simply leaned forwards and lightly brushed her muzzle along my jaw, her neck lightly resting against the side of mine.

A second passed as I lightly reached up with my left foreleg and hugged her back, understanding her intention suddenly. I felt her smile and press a bit closer, sighing softly and losing the nervous tension she'd been holding onto. What, was she afraid I'd laugh at her, or accuse her of going soft or something? Her hugs were surprisingly feminine, displaying a good deal of affection as I rested my jaw against hers.

We stayed like that for a surprisingly long time. Almost a minute passed before she gently backed up a bit, giving me a soft smile. "It's weird how easy it is for me to accept you, but I guess I see a part of me in you and can relate to your past. I know yours was far worse, but you're still here and trying to be positive, and I can respect that," Rainbow muttered, staring at me intently for a moment.

"I'm glad. I know that not everypony in Equestria is sunshine and happiness, so if you want to talk about, I dunno, things, I guess, I'm available to listen," I offered. My more ideal viewpoints on Equestrian life were shattered with the rather vicious news stories. Yeah, not everypony was friendly, that was for sure! I wondered if Dash had encountered some of those not-so-friendly ponies in the past as well.

She coughed and looked away for a moment. "Okay, starting to sound like some sort of therapy session or something. So not going there! If you wanna hear more about my amazingly awesome, super exciting past, you'll have to bribe me. The only way I'll confess is via pillow talk!" she declared, winking at me with her tail starting to whip back and forth.

I gave a slow blink, my mind unable to keep up with the conversation suddenly. 'Therapy' confused me somewhat, as I didn't immediately associate any part of her being injured that I might have been attempting to fix. Normally, I applied that particular word to muscle correction after severe damage was accrued. Stepping back, I went back to the root of the word. To heal or restore something, usually after a successful diagnosis. Weird. Wait, could she have been talking about her feelings? There were official means in which to fix feelings here? The concept was totally foreign and I made an immediate mental note to ask Twilight about it later.

'Pillow Talk' sounded more like a social event or reference of some sort. I, well, mostly doubted she was referring to a literal interpretation. Talking about pillows would be amazingly dull, and talking with pillows seemed impractical, if not a choking hazard. Given it being a cultural thing, I decided I had a very low probability of figuring it out on my own.

By the time I shifted back to reality, her smirk had faded, and she gave me a confused stare instead. "Oh, sorry. I was trying to figure that statement out," I apologized, followed by, "What exactly is 'Pillow Talk'? Is that where we pile up a bunch of pillows or something and lie on them while talking? Or is there some sort of ritualistic pillow combat I'm not aware of that decides the verbal victor and who gets to ask what to whom?" They were just guesses, of course.

It had been a high probability from the moment I decided to ask her, so I mentally counted down from three. I only got to one before she burst into laughter and rolled over onto her back, and I sighed, just letting her get it out of her system. While she was busy, I pondered if it was a good thing that I decided it was just faster to make an idiot of myself than try to explain my reasoning behind it.

It took her almost a full minute to calm down to just a few giggles and snorts. Sitting there, I kept my head averted, feeling a little dejected. Still, I was used to that feeling when sometimes dealing with Rainbow's verbal quips. While loyal to a fault and rather mirthful, she could be downright abrasive in personality sometimes. She finally noticed my posture and expression and sunk a bit, shaking her head.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. You're new here. Um, sorry. Pillow talk is when you're relaxing in bed with your head on the pillows with your mate, enjoying the relaxing feeling you apparently get after mating and just talking," she explained simply.

Oh. I blushed lightly, but nodded. Ah, she had been flirting again, then. "Apparently? You must not have ever mated before, then," I deduced, sitting upright again and out of my sullen pose.

She froze, eyes widening drastically before she started awkwardly laughing. "Oh, slip of the tongue! Of course I've mated! Lots of times! So many times, I've lost count!" she exclaimed after recovering from her stunned expression.

I just stared at her. Okay, I was dense, but if she had expected 'that' to work on me, I felt kind of insulted. She fidgeted slightly, then blushed and looked away from my gaze as if it burned her. "Oh fine. Just, um, don't tell anypony else! I'm kinda a virgin," she whispered, starting to sound like Fluttershy suddenly. I raised an eyebrow, a bit confused.

"Uh, maybe I'm missing something because I'm new here, but is it really that big of a deal? You're young, so I would have thought, probability speaking-" I started, running my thoughts by her out of confusion.

"Yes, it's a big deal! It's extremely uncool that I don't have any experience whatsoever with anypony! I'm the coolest pegasus in Ponyville, no, in Equestria! But I've never been with anypony?!" she interrupted, sinking a little in her spot. It was that big of a social event?

I blinked, and then pointed out, "Uh, I might be wrong, but I don't think it's really a social thing. Shouldn't you be more focused on simply being with a pony you care about and sharing your experiences with them?"

She stared at me for a second before sighing and sagging her wings down. "Well, yeah. I'm not going to mate with just anypony. It's just, I don't have any experience! When I finally do get with Applejack, I'm going to be horrible and that's just, well, not cool!" she continued. Ah, now that struck me as the real reason for her problem with it.

"I'm not sure if that's the important part or not. I mean, sure, I assume that a healthy sex life is good for a relationship, but I doubt Applejack is going to be upset, given that it's totally new to you. It might even be new to her and turn into something you two can experiment with and work on together?" I offered, blushing lightly as I realized I'd accidentally slipped 'experiment' into the statement. Damn it, Twilight! That word was ruined forever for me now.

Rainbow stared at me in surprise before thinking for a moment. "Um, I'd never thought about her not being experienced either. Now that I think about it, I've never, ever heard of her dating anypony, ever," she muttered, sounding more like she was talking to herself then realizing I was still here.

"See? She might think it's even more special that you're a virgin, too," I pointed out, followed by, "That worried me for a while with Fluttershy and Twilight, but Fluttershy especially pointed out that no matter what happens in the future, it's not going to change how they feel about me. I suppose that probably applies to if I'm terrible or not as well." I'd expected to not be very good, even with a ton of memories of mating as a Keldarian. Not that, well, I wanted to remember those memories. That I was remembering right now. Damn it!

Rainbow finally smiled and nodded to me, looking quite a bit more relieved than she had been prior. We both relaxed for a moment before she opened her wings again and looked up at the sky again. I glanced up, noting it clear, if not somewhat overcast. There was a cool nip to the air that made me glad I had thicker fur. Taking to the air again, Rainbow experimented by hovering for a little bit, then sent the 'feeling' of the number two down the link. As requested, I shifted an impulse back to her, and the tension in her wings doubled. She winced momentarily as she almost fell out of the air, but managed to maintain her flight and nodded.

"Are you sure about this, Rainbow? You can just practice with the enchantment if you want," I pointed out, frowning at her faltering.

"Psh, it's fine! You just surprised me, is all. Now you get to watch the amazing Rainbow Dash as she puts on a private air-show just for you!" she announced, puffing as she lifted into the air further.

Smirking, I stuck my tongue out at her, wiggling the tip as it extended three feet from my body. Her eyes widened in surprise, then, half a second later, she blushed while staring at it. I didn't give her time to weird out and pulled it back into my mouth before gesturing towards the lake. Who knew what the silly mare was thinking? I'd rather distract her before she put her barbed tongue to use instead.

She grinned and nodded before flitting backwards, still sporting a soft flush as she spun and took higher to the sky. Her movements were slightly more sluggish, but her wing muscles were operating under twice their normal friction and strain, so it was to be expected. Frankly, I thought she'd just fall out of the air, but then I remembered that she could technically comfortably carry up to two full-size ponies by herself, so she was probably fine.

With that, her routine started, and I sat back to watch, smiling at the loops and darts and just admiring the mare's agility. Flight looked fun, but also so empowering. She could go anywhere, and there was something appealing to that. It took me a moment, but I accepted that I admired her in general, not just for her wings and skill, but her personality and mind. She had courage to fight through scary moments and get things done. It was a certain motivation that I lacked. Silently, I tried to take in as much of it as I could while watching her dance across the sky on prismatic wings...

* * * * *

Okay, Rarity was right. There was something to be said about a healthy air of paranoia and preparation. Installing the parachute enchantment into Rainbow's wings was definitely one of those. The stubborn mare had practiced for almost an hour under double tension, despite repeated suggestions for breaks. She was getting frustrated at my concern, but no more than three minutes after my most recent one, a bolt of pain shot through the link.

Having been zoning, my head snapped into position in time to see her gasp in midair, her left wing locking up and buckling against her side. The link told me muscle cramp before my mind even identified it, and I felt her start to panic as she careened over the lake. My impulse fired down the link a moment later and a parachute of thin barrier magic popped out her back, slowing her to a swaying drift as I dove into the water again.

Two minutes later, I set a soaked and gasping cyan pegasus onto the shore of the lake. I tried to detach the enchantment, but she swatted my hoof away a moment later and struggled to try to get back up to her hooves again. "I said I'd be fine! Why did you install a parachute?! Didn't you trust me?" she growled before gasping as her wing spasmed and she tripped, landing hard on her shoulder.

"This isn't exactly giving me much reason to, Rainbow. You promised me you'd take it easy, and you just worked yourself into a wing cramp," I pointed out, giving her a skeptical glare as I followed. Her energy tried to flow back into the enchantment again to activate its jet functions, but I turned it off before she could power them up.

"Gah! No! I want to keep practicing! This is nothing, Mender!" she groaned, lifting her torso off the ground before I physically pushed her back down again. "Hey!" she continued, shooting me a confused and slightly panicking look as I rolled her over.

Shaking my head, I sighed and informed, "I'm not turning the enchantment back on until you recover. Now relax your left wing." My tone surprised me by shifting rather stern and commanding, more so than I thought I could.

Rainbow's eyes widened slightly, and she surprised me even more by actually doing as I instructed and extending her left wing. "W-What are you going to do? You don't know healing magic, I thought," she asked hesitantly, accidentally admitting she injured her wing and not realizing it.

Gently, I extended my left foreleg, sliding my rough brace off before touching the top of her wing with my hoof. "I don't. I'm fairly good at massages though, and this helped Pinkie get over her pain," I reasoned, wanting to help as best I could. Rainbow's eyes shot open and she looked back at me suddenly, which surprised me a bit more.

"Ah! W-Wait, you don't need to-" she started to say before I rolled my eyes and shot a spike of my magic into her main wing muscle, combined with a gentle knead. "...to... oh. Oh.... Hah... oh, wow," she continued, stunned voice melting into a throaty pant as she immediately collapsed onto her stomach. Ha! Miss Tough Mare enjoyed massages, too, I noticed.

Smirking, I decided to lay it on thick and push more energy into her muscles, heating along the tense and twitching area as I softly pushed the knots out, letting the sore and tender wing get some much needed rest and attention. She was surprisingly vocal about it, giving out a low and long groan as I ran my hoof along the full length of her wing, my energy dancing through her fur.

"How's this, then? I've never tried massaging a wing before, but I think I'm familiar with the muscles in it. Do you want me to get the flight muscles in your back, too?" I asked, not wanting to linger too long on the wing itself. Twilight's mentioning of it being an erogenous zone was still fresh in my mind, and I only wanted to stay long enough to remove her pain. Her expression indicated that I had definitely managed that.

"Oh... ah! You can do anything you want to me, just don't stop," she murmured, sinking a bit lower against her stomach as she shook next to me. I raised an eyebrow, but shrugged as I shifted to her back between the two wings instead. After a light moan, she relaxed a bit more, this spot seeming less intense and more calming to her. That's when I realized her back muscles were a mess of spasming twitches. Joy.

It took me almost five minutes to get her relaxed to satisfaction. She lay in the grass, totally limp with both wings sticking stiffly out to each side of her. Her forelegs were spread out to each side of her head, and her back legs were pushed tightly together, her tail tip flicking back and forth as if fanning the hot air away from her. To my surprise, I was getting 'heat' through the feedback link somehow, my body temperature increasing the longer I worked on her. It was interesting to say the least, although I didn't know what was causing it. It was a bit electrifying, to be honest, but I stopped myself from continuing the massage past what was needed to get her feeling better.

After stopping, I relaxed against the grass and let myself cool off idly, enjoying the sounds of her light snoring slowly picking up intensity. A few memories of a barracks danced into my head, and finding odd comfort in my snoring squad. It was a reminder that I wasn't alone. Of course, I didn't need her snores to tell me she was there. The link was ever present and I was always 'aware' of where the owners were. Fluttershy's feeling showed her in the town market right now, while Twilight's was in the basement of the Library, undoubtedly busying herself with experiments. Pinkie was harder to track, but I finally picked up on her over at Sweet Apple Acres for some reason.

Of course, even if the link failed somehow, at this range, I could very easily smell the mare. She was normally accompanied by a sweetish smell of fruit that was hard to place. Something soft on the palette with a hinting of sweet, but not too potent. Now, however, there was also an underlying spicy smell to it, which I could only assume was because of her estrus pheromones. It wasn't unpleasant, exactly, but if I paid too much attention to it, I noticed my heartbeat picking up. Scary.

Instead, I pulled up one of my data sheets on the disks and started reading instead, deciding to distract myself and be useful at the same time. Twilight would be so proud...

* * * * *

It was almost an hour before Rainbow's whining and whispering about Applejack ceased, her wings repeatedly twitching and moving in her sleep. I counted no less than four full expansions and retractions as she dreamed. Of course, I was happy she was apparently having good dreams, but just a tiny part of me was irked that even though I had been the one to so pleasantly usher her into them, she still dreamed about Applejack instead. It was strange, stepping back and looking at the feeling. When had I started putting more emphasis on my own ambitions? I knew I only really wanted Twilight and Fluttershy, but I suddenly realized that I wouldn't necessarily be bothered if Rainbow was telling the truth about liking me. A part of me had always liked her, and hadn't she already proven to be the epitome of trustworthy and loyal?

A deep unease settled into my head as I frowned. This didn't feel like me, really. When had I become selfish, wanting more than what my station allowed? What did my station allow? I didn't really even deserve Fluttershy and Twilight. Suddenly I wanted Rainbow Dash, too?! Sighing weakly, I shook my head and flipped the page on the data sheets in my eye display. No, it wasn't right to think like that. All I needed were Twilight and Fluttershy.

The reading was proving dry at best, unfortunately. Apart from operating ranges for a 'remote uplink', all I'd found so far was composition and creation information. Well, if I wanted to make more of them, I suppose, I was set. Snickering to myself, I peeked back at the uplink data and noted the ranges. Biorhythm and audio could be accessed at ranges of nine hundred 'Mm', it said. As I knew the range on it was significantly larger than nine hundred millimeters, I could only assume it was actually in 'megameters', which was a little scary. Suffice to say, it would operate undoubtedly anywhere in Equestria. From the surface of my old home planet to our first moon's orbit was a 'mere' three hundred and ninety megameters, I suddenly recalled.

Regardless, the 'emotional composition' range was significantly shorter, listed at five meters. That must have been the empathy link I experienced. It was a little disconcerting that they labeled it as 'emotional'. That indicated they knew the sources of power were sapient. How much did Dr. Kyliona know about Equestria? I flipped through another page of specifications, starting to feel rather bored. None of this actually told me the purpose for these samples, or what the disks actually did to myself or the 'host creature', as they labeled it. That was a bit scary, too. I closed the file a moment later and moved onto the next, listed as 'LMNS Controls'. I had no idea what that was, but my search had flagged many listings of 'disk', 'crystal', and 'link' in the file, so it was next up on my reading priority. Maybe I'd get an official name for the bloody things and be able to refine my search a bit. Otherwise, looking through a few thousand data files was going to take a really, really long time.

My eyes widened as the title expanded on the first page that it opened up. 'Link Monitor and Nanite Surveyor' was at the very top of page, followed by a subtitle of 'Control Listings'. A detailed picture of one of the disks was under the subtitle, and I couldn't look away from it. Nanite?! Oh. Oh hell. My eyes flicked down to note the first section was a summary of the controls for one 'LMNS Unit', and showed the parts of the disk and what would light up when links were registered. Jackpot, for better or worse.

My hyper-alert mind jumped back to attention when I heard a thump and cracking noise in front of me. My ears snapped back around and I looked up into the woods near our clearing by the shore. A fast glance showed Rainbow was still sleeping, and an urge shot through me suddenly. No, she wasn't about to get ambushed by anything on my watch while she slept. Feeling protective, I stood up lightly and stared into the forest line, my barriers slowly lighting up along my legs and chest before sliding across the ground and forming a dome around her as well. Another light snap. Something small was moving through the brush close to the path used to get here. It couldn't have been bigger than a pony, by the sound of the movement. I remained alert as my ears swiveled, following the sound.

It didn't take long for me to spot a flash of orange in the bushes. I raised an eyebrow as a small, purple tail slipped under one of the lower trees, barely noticed by me. Scootaloo? What was she doing off the beaten path and trying to stealth? I relaxed a little, but kept my barriers up, just in case it was a clever mimicry of my young filly friend. Better safe than sorry, in my case.

My eyebrow rose even further as I watched the tail disappear from view, and silence resume from the bush. Was she hiding from me? A quick glance upwards showed me a still swaying branch, broken and hanging by a tiny strip of bark from a tree above the bush. Ah, she fell. Immediate concern drifted through me, and I sighed. Rainbow's barrier was left up as I walked past it, and headed for the bush.

Distinctly, I noticed it shivering lightly as I approached, and I lowered myself to peek under it. Two magenta eyes stared back, and she gave a weak swallow after freezing for a moment. "You don't have to hide, Scootaloo. Are you okay? Did you hurt anything in the fall?" I asked softly, attempting to appear as non-threatening as I could. It probably didn't matter, given that she knew what I was capable of.

"Ah, I'm sorry! I, um, I didn't mean to spy on you two! I was looking for you and I stumbled across you both and, um," she started rapidly apologizing.

Holding my hoof up, I opened my mouth to interrupt her when I was cut off by a particularly loud snore from Rainbow. Sighing, I waited for her to quiet again before assuring, "I'm not mad, Scootaloo. I'm surprised and a bit concerned if you hurt anything."

She stared up at me for a moment, as if gauging my sincerity before shaking her head. "Um, the bush broke my fall, so I'm fine. What are you doing out here with Rainbow?" she asked, easing up on her crouched down position and slowly sliding out from under the bush. Oh yeah, Rainbow wasn’t supposed to be here.

"She officially requested that I help her with an enchantment to practice better for the race coming up. I was actually the one that walked in on her, so don't get her in trouble, okay?" I requested, frowning a bit down at the little filly. She seemed to not care too much for authority, one way or another, so I doubted I had to worry really. Oddly, I heard a light choke amidst the snore behind me a second later, and a wave of surprise and happiness drifted through me. Ah, the brat was awake then and faking it. I was impressed. Her fake snores were amazingly like her real ones!

Scootaloo rapidly shook her head, eyes widening drastically. "No way! I'd never, ever get Rainbow Dash in trouble! I won't tell anypony else that she was here," Scootaloo promised instantly, causing me to smile again. Oh yeah, that was another good reason I didn't have to worry about Scootaloo telling on her. How had I almost forgotten about that? Dash sent a wave of what could only be described as pride at that. Heh.

"It just surprised me a bit to see you two, um, together. I was maybe wondering, since you couldn't be my dad and all obviously, if I might luck out and get you as a brother instead," she explained.

I gave a slow, confused blink, both at her suggestion out of seemingly nowhere, and the blast of shock and embarrassment from the link behind me, the snoring stopping instantly. Uh, okay, I was probably missing something again. "Uh, I didn't know ponies could adopt siblings, too. Is that, uh, common?" I asked, raising an ear up as I tilted my head at her.

She snickered and nodded, surprisingly. "Kinda! I was just, it was so, well, I mean, it was absolutely awesome when Rainbow said I could be her little sister! Best. Day. Ever!" she squealed, causing me to snicker and nod. It must be a thing here, then. The haze of embarrassment shifted to warm instead behind me, and I inwardly grinned back at Rainbow through the link. A stutter followed, and then a blushing scowl and I resisted laughing. What, did she honestly think I wouldn't notice she was awake?

"I noticed you seem to look up to her quite a bit. Although, she is an amazing mare," I agreed, nodding twice to the little filly. I got a massive grin back, and she nodded twice.

"Totally! I figured you thought so, too. That's why I was wondering, when I saw you two here, um, together. I mean, she totally let me in on her crush over AJ, and I know you know about it, but seeing you two..." She trailed off, as another brief bout of confusion hit me. Wait, that meant...

My eyes widened a little, and I stared back down at her in surprise. "How many ponies know about her crush, anyway?" I asked, undoubtedly adding the other two Crusaders to the list now, too. That was a lot of ponies!

Scootaloo snickered and shook her head. "Don't tell her I said this, but sometimes I think the only pony who doesn't know is AJ herself," she pointed out, averting her eyes and getting a light blush again. Hmm. There was evidence I'd noticed contrary to even that, but I decided not to say anything, feeling the irked sensation coming from Rainbow now. A wise pony knew when to shut up in front of angry mares.

"So kinda like Spike. Gotcha. Well, at least that means that it's widely accepted and she shouldn't have any problems when she finally tells her," I deduced, intentionally a few decibels higher in order to grind the point home. Instead I only got a bit of confusion, and sighed. She was almost as dense as I was. Almost.

The orange filly snickered but shook her head again, standing fully and stretching her wings out a little. "Nah. She doesn't have anything to worry about, I don't think. Not the way AB talks. Uh, Rainbow's not supposed to hear that, either," she reminded, looking past me at the 'sleeping' Rainbow Dash. Uh... oops.

Coughing lightly, I averted my eyes as the wave of shock hit through the link, and I felt her heartbeat skyrocket. The biorhythm readout also showed spikes of chemicals shoot into her bloodstream, and I felt her get a little 'wiggly', for lack of better words. Okay, this was awkward enough already. "Uh, don't do anything rash and get her in trouble, Rainbow," I warned finally, out loud. Scootaloo's eyes shot open fully and she looked past me again.

Rainbow sat up instantly with an exasperated look, eyes wide. "But, but, did AJ say something about me or something?!" she asked rapidly. Maybe I was dense, and sure, I'd only been here for a month or so, but that still felt like a live minefield she was walking into. Considering I noticed it, that was really saying something! Scootaloo's eyes bugged out, both of her forehooves shooting up to her muzzle, as if to hold back the secret she'd just accidentally confessed.

"Uh, you probably shouldn't ask that, Rainbow. Honestly, if you want to know how Applejack feels about you, you should probably just ask the mare," I suggested, covering for the now hiding Scootaloo, who was using me as cover.

Rainbow shifted to a skeptical glare instead, adding, "Why are you giving out relationship advice? Didn't you almost get run over by a bed when you tried to ask Twilight out the first time?" Well, that had gotten altered in her head a bit! My ears flattened back an instant later and I shifted to a flat glare instead.

"I didn't ask her out. You drew her attention to it in the worst possible way, and then ran off before helping to defuse the situation!" I reminded. She puffed a little, angling her wings down as her ears flattened, too. For just a moment, I found myself distracted, wondering why that was an instinctive reaction, before remembering that I was supposed to be mad.

"She's your fillyfriend! You're supposed to be able to handle her yourself, not rely on somepony else to," she shot back, missing the point completely.

Groaning, I reminded, "She wasn't at the time! She was your friend, too, and you created the problem in the first place."

Scootaloo got her gumption up again and hopped out from behind me a moment later. "Stop it, you two! It was a super long time ago, so it's not worth fighting over. Besides, Twilight's your fillyfriend now, so it all worked out, right?" she questioned, little wings flittering as she tried her hardest to smile up at me. I noticed hesitation in her eyes, and wondered why she had to drive herself to being brave around me.

Rainbow huffed and crossed her forelegs, nodding and agreeing with, "Totally! It all worked out, so you have no need to be angry with me!" My ears dropped again as my eyes narrowed at her, but Scootaloo hopped between us instead, rapidly shaking her head at Rainbow as well.

"Rainbow! You always told me that if you cause a problem, you should be loyal first and foremost and fix it for your friends, right? I heard your prank did get Mender in a lot of trouble, and hurt his feelings, so shouldn't you fix that instead?" the little filly asked softly. Idly, I wondered if she kept a Rainbow Dash quote book or something, but the sentiment was still nice to hear. Yeah, that was actually good advice. I decided to take it to heart myself as well.

Dash's expression softened into a frown instead, and she relaxed her tightly held forelegs a moment later. Seeing a potential opening, Scootaloo chose that moment to attack. "Besides, isn't he currently doing you an important favor in order for you to better win over Applejack? If you're mean to him, he might not help you train anymore," she reasoned. Ouch. That was a low blow, and I stared in surprise at the little filly, not realizing she could be so downright devious. Although, that was kind of defeating the point of her prior show of morality.

Rainbow's face dropped into a look of stunned revelation and I inwardly groaned. It wasn't like I was going to ruin her chances with the race just because I was mad at her. She didn't really think I was that shallow, did she? "Ah! Um, uh, shoot! I didn't think of that! Um, I'm really sorry, Mender. You'll still help me practice, right?" she asked hesitantly, shifting a little closer and moving her forehooves together with a light begging gesture. Or she did think I was that shallow...

Sighing, my ears drooped lower and I stared at her sadly. "Rainbow, even if I'm upset with you, you're still my friend. This race is super important to you, and I'm not going to lessen your chances with it by not helping," I assured. Her face fell as she probably picked up my intent through the link.

There was a light, awkward silence between the three of us for almost a full ten seconds, a nervous Scootaloo looking back and forth between Rainbow and me, unsure of what to say, it looked like. Finally, Dash smiled lightly and opened her wings up fully. For a split second, I thought she was going to fly away. She lifted airborne in a fluid hop, easily drifting over Scootaloo's head with a single flap, and then glided downwards at an angle directly into me.

My eyes widened, but I caught her and cushioned her impact as she fell into a gentle and relaxed hug against me. "Yeah, deep down, I knew that. You might not match Honesty all the time, but you're a pretty good example of Loyalty. I think that's what I like best about ya," she admitted, pulling herself tighter and squeezing over my shoulders. Smirking at the rare display of affection from the cyan mare, I wrapped my forelegs around her waist and gently squeezed, earning a sigh. Admittedly, I didn't hold myself to any standard in truth telling, but loyalty was something I felt strongly about. I'd never really thought about it before, though.

Scootaloo made a light gagging motion with her hoof behind Rainbow, but remained silent. I couldn't help but notice she also wore a rather pronounced blush, and grinned at her. She glared back, of course. Rainbow cut in first, however. "Okay, enough mushy stuff. You're cool, and I admitted that, so there! Don't tell anypony," she finally requested, blushing lightly before letting go of me again. I let her slip backwards and away from me, still amused.

"Aww, I'm hurt. I'm sure if it was Applejack, you'd hug her all day," I teased, actually finding her rare cases of carefully concealed affection rather endearing. Deep down, I realized she really was a nice mare, if not a bit stubborn and blustery. I wondered idly if there was a term for that. She kinda ran hot one moment, and cold the next.

Rainbow predictably blinked, then tinted lightly pink with that, looking a bit flustered as Scootaloo snickered and nodded. "W-What?! Hey, you're no different than her. What, do you think I wouldn't?!" she asked, narrowing her eyes and puffing herself up a bit in defiance.

A bit of confusion hit me, and then I realized she didn't know I was teasing. Hmm, note to self, I'm still not the best at getting my point across in a social situation. I decided to try to remedy the situation as best I could. "Uhm, well, actually I was-," I started to mutter, also suddenly realizing I still was bad at social situations and didn't know how to remedy it in the first place. With nothing else for it, I decided honesty was probably the best policy. It would probably get me bucked into a tree for teasing her, but she wouldn't be mad afterwards! I hoped.

"Oh, that's so it! Scootaloo, time me!" Rainbow ordered suddenly. Huh? The little orange filly threw a salute and dove sideways to Rainbow's saddlebags, which she'd deposited next to mine before I layered her with the enchantment. She retrieved a stopwatch from the left one, as if knowing exactly where it was, and nodded to Dash.

"Uh, time what, exactly? I don't-" I started to ask before Rainbow gave a short nod to Scootaloo and promptly pounced me. Oh. Oh hell!

"Twenty-four hours! I'll show you!" she boasted, smirking before squeezing me a bit harder and burying her face in my fur. My turn to blush. Coughing, I tried to pry her off of me, but she just grinned at my attempt. "Ah, going to really make it a challenge, huh? Don't make me give you incentive to hold me," she warned, causing me to stop instantly. Ack! She didn't mean...

"Rainbow, I was just teasing you! Uh, I appreciate the gusto, but you really do like Applejack more, so it's to be expected. It's not like I was really sad or-" I tried to explain.

Scootaloo held up a hoof and shook her head to me. "You're not helping, Mender," she warned, causing Dash to snicker and resume her resting position. Suddenly, I realized that this wasn't so much about her wanting to 'win' anything as an excuse to snuggle with me.

Frowning, I decided to go with the civil approach first. "So, this is your heat talking, right?" I inquired, raising an eyebrow towards her. Predictably, she blushed and looked away from me, but didn't directly answer. Scootaloo gasped, however.

"Do you really like him like that, Rainbow?" she asked, looking surprised as that faint blush came back to her cheeks. For 'not being interested' in things like this, she was awfully inquisitive.

Rainbow smirked and turned back to me, slowly edging forwards instead. "Yeah, he's a pretty cool stallion, like I said. Not to every mare's taste, but he definitely suits mine. I wonder if I could convince AJ to join his herd," she murmured, voice shifting lower as her eyes lidded slightly. I felt my entire body heat up, then realized that it was actually hers heating up instead. My eyes widened as that smell suddenly flooded the area, and I felt...

No! Bad! My chest, hips, and shoulders exploded into tentacles, causing both Rainbow and Scootaloo to yelp. The mare on top of me didn't have time to react, however, as she was yanked off me and tangled up in the extra limbs, hauled into the air and away from me. Panting, I glared up at her, unable to get that smell off me or slow my heartbeat, it would seem. Damn it, Rainbow!

"That's it! This is... no. You can't do this, Dash. This is why you're not supposed to be here!" I suddenly realized, announcing it out loud at the same time. She yanked lightly at the tentacle wrapped around her right forehoof before smirking and looking back down at me instead.

"Oh, come on, Mender! I mean, if this is the way you want to play, too," she cooed. Okay, definitely her heat talking. Heat. Huh.

Raising an eyebrow to her, I shrugged suddenly. "Fine. If your heat is this bad, time for a bit of cooling off," I suggested. Her eyes widened momentarily before I dropped the tentacles back down and dunked her into the lake. After making sure she went into the water, I simply let go and pulled my tentacles back in before anypony wandered into the clearing accidentally. That would be my luck, too.

Scootaloo started laughing when Rainbow resurfaced and gave me a soggy glare. The cyan mare treaded water for a moment before yelling out, "Jerk!" I laughed finally before shakily standing up again. The throb of blood danced through my ears and that smell drifted all around me. Damn. Shaking my head to try to clear it, I ran at the lake on sudden impulse. Rainbow's eyes widened, but it was far too late even as she brought her hooves up. My cannonball formation hit the surface less than a meter away from her, and she gave out a shocked yelp as she got washed sideways, dunking under again.

Surfacing, I gave a pleased groan when I realized I couldn't smell it anymore. She floated a good two meters away from me now, giving me that oh-so wonderful death glare. I shot my best one back as Scootaloo ran up to the shore we had just departed. "Don't give me that look. You know you were out of line," I warned, getting kind of tired of this. She didn't need to know, of course, but it was hard enough telling myself not to be selfish. I was with Fluttershy and Twilight, however, and Rainbow was definitely not a part of the herd. Sure, she was cute, dependable, and downright sexy sometimes, but I... I really cared for both of the mares I was already with, and it wasn't worth hurting them. I was better than that.

She stared at me for a moment, undoubtedly tasting the flurry of emotions I just shot through. Finally, she relaxed and nodded while floating there. "Okay, yeah. That was underhooved of me. I knew my smell would get to you. Uh, I'm sorry, Mender. I Pinkie Promise that I'll be good for the rest of the cycle," she suddenly apologized, eyes softening a little. I was somewhat proud that our relationship had developed to the point where she rarely tried to hide her intentions and feelings from me anymore.

Slowly, I nodded to her, accepting her promise. "Okay. It's a promise, then. I'll keep helping you with the wing thing, just ease off the flirting, okay? Even joking, it's a bit, um..." After I hesitated, I realized I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to say there. What was it, exactly? A temptation? No, that implied there was a chance I'd go for it. It was certainly stressful, but that wasn't quite what I was going for either.

She nodded anyway. "Yeah, I'll lighten up on it. My heat just makes me do, uh, embarrassing things. Well, it doesn't make me, but it does make it seem like a pretty good idea. Cheating is bad, though, and you so don't have permission to be with me," she agreed, coughing lightly and totally missing the point. Wasn't she supposed to be after Applejack?! Also, it wasn’t ‘just’ about permission. She kinda had to get mine, too, which she seemed more intent on simply seducing out of me.

Scootaloo, however, was far faster on the uptake than I was. "Hey, don't forget about Applejack! She's the whole reason you're doing this," the little filly reminded.

Rainbow glanced her way for a moment before smirking lightly and nodding. "Of course! I've got to get her to say yes, first. Then, maybe with a bit of hard cider helping me out, I might be able to broach the subject of a herd. Heh," she murmured, eyes dancing mirthfully.

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Your heat's getting to you again, Rainbow. Dip back under the water for a bit before we start practicing again," I suggested, paddling back towards the shore again. Eh, screw it. Dealing with this was getting to be a bit much for me right now.

She muttered something quietly as I swam back, but I missed it as my head dipped under. Looking back, I saw her giving me a look of innocence as she slowly sank back under the water with a grin. Well, that was probably a bad sign. I hesitated for a moment before shaking my head. Eh, Future Mender could deal with it. Current Mender was going to take a nap, as I was now exhausted.

Scootaloo smiled at me and helped me out of the water once I hit shore. I gave her a tired nod before flopping onto my side, not so interested in moving anymore. The swimming was starting to make my leg hurt from all the exercise, and I exhaled, just letting my body rest.

"Are ya tired, Mender? Maybe you should sleep for a bit?" Scootaloo asked softly, actually giving a rare look of concern towards me.

I smiled and nodded idly. "Yeah, I probably should. Hopefully Rainbow's going to be too busy practicing for a while and won't try anything while I'm unconscious," I muttered, closing my eyes softly.

"She Pinkie Promised not to. You don't break a Pinkie Promise. Ever," Scootaloo explained, and I felt her shiver even without looking. Okay, she had me curious, but it sounded like one of those things I probably shouldn't ask about. I just assumed professional hit squad and left it at that.

Resting, however, I suddenly realized that technically only my body was tired. In order to get just a bit more out of my time, wouldn't it be best to tire my magic out, too? If the theory was right and they were both 'plugged' into the same spot, then that would get me better even faster. But what to do in order to use up more magic?

Smiling suddenly, I opened my eyes again and looked back up at Scootaloo, who gave me a curious look after realizing I was staring at her again. "I need to use up more magic and don't feel like moving too much to do so. But I have an idea. Could you turn around, Scootaloo?" I inquired politely, smiling at her.

The orange filly tilted her head towards me, looking a little unsure, but she nodded and slowly rotated around in place, still sitting down. My eyes lit up and a particle scan shifted along her back to analyze the muscle structure. As I predicted, they were underdeveloped for her size, which was probably the reason foals couldn't fly until they were older. Their wings and muscles had to expand to fit their larger bodies. Still, if I could shrink the enchantment down, the results could be interesting! Plus, I wanted to practice my contraction techniques anyway.

"Uh, w-what are you doing?" she asked, fidgeting a bit under my intense stare, then hesitating after nothing happened for several seconds, apparently.

Frowning, I extended my left hoof out and traced along her spine, causing her to start as I fed a bit of energy into her. "Wah! That tickles, Mender!" she squeaked, blushing lightly as she looked back at me.

"Oh, sorry. I wanted to use up more of my magic, and I was considering trying to shrink the enchantment down to fit you as well, just for practice," I explained, absently feeling along her flight muscles with the energy lines. Her body wasn't displaying the telltale shivers or flushing that Fluttershy and Rainbow got, but she did have the secondary twitching of the wings when I fed energy into the muscles. It should technically work still, and I was glad that it wouldn't affect her in, well, 'that' way. While I was just barely comfortable enough to help Rainbow, doing the same to Scootaloo was a huge no for me.

The little filly frowned, but relaxed a little now that she had been told what I was up to, it would seem. A second later, a damp Rainbow Dash wandered back over, shivering a bit but looking considerably more coherent than before. She momentarily gave us a questioning look before shrugging and sitting down next to me again.

"Sorry about that, by the way. I did warn that my heat is, like, really bad. I'm a lot better now," she assured, voice sounding a little tired and soft, but it struck me as honest again. I was glad she was leveling with me, and the relaxed attitude was definitely helping. I nodded to her while focusing.

"It's okay, Rainbow. I understand. Just try to keep me in the loop with what your plans are involving me, okay? It's kinda scary sometimes when you get pushy," I asked, sighing weakly afterwards. It wasn't an ideal situation, but she was my friend and talking it through would help.

Her ears shifted back a ways and she got a momentarily glum look about her before nodding. "I know. Uh, I'll be totally frank with you, then. I like you. You've got a lot of personality traits and stuff that I like, and you're easy on the eyes, if you catch my meaning. I'm partial to blue," she informed, smirking lightly as she nudged the fur up on my foreleg. I gave her an amused yet skeptical look, but nodded for her to continue while I layered on the basics for Scootaloo's wings. Interestingly enough, the little filly seemed content to just listen to Rainbow, smiling the entire time with her ears rotated to face her.

"Still, I haven't known you anywhere near as long as AJ. Don't get me wrong. I definitely trust you. As much as I trust anypony, really. You've proved yourself and paid your dues, and I can totally respect that," she continued after collecting her thoughts for another half a minute. I shivered at that one. Dues? Is that what it was called? I tried not to be bitter, of course, but I realized that my thoughts had been getting darker lately. Slowly, I was shifting more and more negative, which only made me more irritated. She kept going this time, however, knocking me out of my self-reflection. "So yeah. You're a cool pony, got a lot of things I like, and are admittedly tasty to look at. The heat just makes that last part so much worse! But I still haven't known you as long as AJ. Honestly, I don't know you any better than most of the other girls do. Actually, I think only Twilight knows more than any of us. You're closer to her, I can tell. But..."

Noticing the hesitation, I sighed and nodded while finishing lacing the flight muscles and beginning on the actual jets. "You don't like me as much. I get it," I assured, frowning as I realized the normal thrusters wouldn't fit on her wings. I'd have to make an energy extension just to add the normal amount of jets, rather than the extras like Rainbow had access to in an emergency.

Rainbow's ears flattened back and she sighed a second later. "Well, yeah, but you don't have to sound so negative about it! Sheesh. I like you, like you. You're only the second pony for me to feel that way about. I mean, really feel that way about, not the stupid crushes I had when I was little." She tried to make me feel better, but I was a little confused as to where this was going.

Scootaloo squirmed a little, and I couldn't tell if it was the conversation or my manipulation of her wing muscles. A moment later, she revealed it was the topic by asking, "Does that mean I might get Mender as a brother after all?!" She grinned over her shoulder at the same time, and I rolled my eyes. This time I was on to her cute little indirect reference.

Rainbow snickered before I could say anything, though, shaking her head. Yeah, honestly, that's what was the most obvious outcome. I mean, Applejack didn't- "I've obviously gotta talk AJ into it. I can't be a member of two herds at once, so combining makes more sense," the cyan pegasus elaborated, a mirthful sparkle in her eyes.

I almost, almost fell on top of Scootaloo in my shock. Thankfully, I recovered fast and glared back at her, having no way to tell if she was serious or pulling one on me. Again. She just smirked, telling me absolutely nothing to my frustration. "That's very much not a good idea. You'd better be joking," I warned, flat look of annoyance probably reflecting in my tone.

Her eyebrow rose a bit, and she inquired, "Oh? Why is it a bad idea?" Seriously?

"I didn't think I'd need to point out how much Applejack and I aren't exactly on good terms. Not just what happened that night, but ever since meeting her. I got off on the wrong hoof and never recovered. She'll never agree to it, and think less of you probably for even suggesting it," I reasoned, look of annoyance shifting to a softer, more neutral expression as I looked away from the two pegasi.

Rainbow watched me for a moment before sighing weakly and stretching her wings out. "She wants to be your friend, Mender. You gave her another chance, and she sure isn't going to waste it like that. Don't underestimate her," she warned, sounding rather sure of herself. I gave a light sigh, then turned back to continue on Scootaloo's wings. She was giving me a rather sad frown, but looked away when I moved to look at her back again.

Absently, I finalized the compression and started stringing the enchantments into her energy pools. It felt like I was starting to sink in negativity, honestly. Ever since I found out what I was, after Nirru ruined everything, it felt like I was stuck. I couldn't escape and as much as it tore me apart inside to admit it, I was forced to realize that I could never actually achieve what I really wanted all along.

It really sank in, finally. I'd never be a normal pony. I'd never know what it was like to have my own existence outside the shadow of somepony else. To have memories that didn't bleed through into events that I never experienced. I didn't have parents. I didn't have family. My old race was dying rapidly, and my new one I just found out I wasn't a part of. I was the first and last of my kind, and there was no changing that, or looking away.

Giving a light tug, I tied off the enchantment from myself and let the magic go. It felt like a part of me fell away with it, and I was suddenly hit by a good amount of fatigue, a throb going through my head. Scootaloo perked up, and then glanced backwards at her wings a second later, undoubtedly having realized that was what I was messing with, and feeling me stop. She looked almost disappointed when she saw they didn't look any different. Dash eyed us both cautiously, also looking for changes.

"Visualize using them, and open them up," Rainbow suddenly suggested, going off the very correct hunch she undoubtedly got from her own enchantment.

Scootaloo nodded to her before focusing and stretching her wings out. Orange and crimson light danced out from them, a web of energy expanding out in a much larger wing shape, lit up by glowing thruster disks and hundreds of balancing tabs, not unlike feathers. Her eyes widened as she took in the glow, and Rainbow smirked as she watched.

"You gave her the jets?" she asked, a moment later, shifting her attention to me instead of the filly.

I nodded absently, laying down on my side and feeling my whole body throb. My magic was definitely hooked into my vitality, I confirmed. It felt like I'd just run fifty laps after doing martial fall recovery practice. "Yeah. Not like yours. Just enough to balance out the thrust to weight ratio. Mmm. About like normal wings for an older pegasus," I explained in brevity, deciding that even talking sucked.

Rainbow shifted to a concerned look, but gave a sudden start as Scootaloo let out a high-pitched squeak next to her. Both of us looked over again in time to see the little filly hovering a couple feet off the ground, gently trying to keep her balance while her body also tried to squirm in excitement.

"R-Rainbow! I'm flying!" she almost screamed, eyes looking huge and dancing with energy. It brought a certain warmth to suddenly see her look so delighted, and even though I felt like crap, I felt her slowly hauling my mood back up again.

Rainbow didn't need any help beaming at her, and nodded. "Heck yeah! I didn't expect ta have to teach ya for a year or so more, but with Mender's help, I guess we can get a jump on it! Want a flying lesson?" Rainbow asked, smile shifting to a knowing one instead. Uh oh.

The light from the wings flared up as Scootaloo's emotions literally caused the wings to lift her even higher into the air, her whole body shivering in shock and excitement. "R-Really?! You mean it?! Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" she exclaimed, spinning in a circle, and going totally off balance as she did so. Rainbow laughed as she hopped forward and caught Scootaloo, who was now upside-down and going into a nosedive.

I snickered, not realizing that it would make the little filly so happy. The two hugged for a moment, Rainbow smirking down at Scootaloo before glancing over to me instead. I spoke up finally, giving the standard warning. "They're going to make you get tired far faster, Scootaloo. They're hooked into your energy supply. There's also an emergency parachute in them that will go off under several conditions. If it does, the wings will power down until it fills back up with enough energy to work again, so take breaks or the wings will turn off for a while." Rainbow's chute technically had the automatic safeguards, too, but I figured the wings going away would be considerable incentive for the little filly. Rainbow already knew her limits. She just willingly chose to disregard them...

Scootaloo's eyes widened for a moment before she nodded rapidly towards me. She surprised me, however, by hopping off Rainbow and pouncing forwards, grabbing onto my chest and squeezing into an unreserved hug. My eyes widened, but I smiled gently a moment later and wrapped my right foreleg around her back, careful to not singe myself on her overactive wings that now refused to turn off.

"Thank you, thank you, Mender! You really are an awesome stallion! Aaaah! I can't thank you enough," she murmured, backing up slightly and looking down at me with wide eyes.

I snickered and shook my head. "Thank me by having fun and practicing well. I expect you to be showing me tricks Rainbow taught you by the end of the week. I'm, uh, I think I'm gonna take a nap, so don't mind me," I excused, getting really tired. Yup, I imagine this is what a unicorn felt like after using a lot of magic.

Rainbow frowned, despite Scootaloo's oblivious laughing and spinning. "You sure you're okay, Mender?" she asked hesitantly, looking concerned.

Weakly, I gave a nod and tucked myself up again after Scootaloo fluttered off. "Yeah. I wanted to get myself tired out using magic, and I guess it worked. I'm just going to take a nap while you two practice. Remember, be careful," I cautioned again, smiling at the mare.

She gave a gentle grin back and nodded, taking to the air on just her normal wings. "Of course. I'll make sure nothing happens to her, or me. Thanks for worrying, Mender," she cooed, winking and turning away, zipping after the out of control Scootaloo, who was now doing barrel rolls along the tree line. I blushed, the way she said that having stirred many a thing inside of me. The tone she took saying my name especially was electrifying, and I suddenly realized it might take longer to fall asleep than I had initially counted on.

Groaning, I flopped back onto my side, listening to the laughter and happy shouts. Not everything was negative. Life was slowly normalizing again, despite my penchant for ungodly horrible luck. Again, I drifted back to hoping Sweetie would talk to me again, and idly thought of ways I could try to appease her. I really had no idea what to do. My body slowly relaxed, as I tried to think back to everything she said. There had to be something, but I just couldn't think of anything that would make the situation better. Heh, plenty that could make it worse, of course. No, I wasn't going to let it get worse.

Feeling tired again, I gave my last bit of mental resolve to promising to try harder when I woke up. It was about time I got a hold of my own life. I'd get back in control of things, and force myself to stay positive! I had to. Giving up wasn’t an option. With that declaration sapping the remainder of my fortitude, I relaxed and let myself slip into dreams.

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