Why Are You Here?

“Today sucked.”

An exhausted sky blue pegasus flew through the air, fighting to keep himself in the sky. This day at Wonderbolts training was especially difficult, not only because of the recent Changling invasion scare and post wedding party, but also because Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts, seemed to be a little upset about something. Sure, she was more demanding than usual, but she was acting extremely cold as well.

The stallion couldn’t quite put his hoof on what it was that was bothering Spitfire so much. Maybe it was because of the invasion…or maybe, just maybe; just hear me out on this one, maybe it was his fault. Like the time he accepted Rapidfire’s challenge to drink a whole gallon of milk in under and hour and proceeded to puke all over the Wonderbolts’ cafeteria. Or like the time he secretly sent a trick rose that sprayed water to her office. She did not like that one, but in hindsight it probably wasn’t a good idea to hide just around the corner to watch the fruits of his labor, then laugh hysterically at the success of his prank.

It couldn’t have been because he showed up late that day. Fine, it may have been a couple of days since the Wonderbolts had practiced and trained together because of the royal wedding, but tardiness was something that the stallion made sure of at least every other day. Yeah, that’s right! It couldn’t have been because he was late, because she didn’t even mention it today. She just told him to get suited up because today was going to be a tough workout.

Still, the fiery colored mare seemed to be picking on him especially. Like if he didn’t do some impossible trick like, single-handedly create a tornado or break the sound barrier, she would make him do laps around Cloudsdale coliseum; three times with his legs and five times with his wings. And, NO! Not the track inside the coliseum, the WHOLE FREAKING COLISEUM! Oh, and did I mention no water breaks? No? Well, yeah, no water breaks. The weighted saddle bag that she made him carry didn’t make things any easier either. If Spitfire was going for the, “Drill Sergeant from Tartarus award” she had his vote.

“Mares, I’ll never understand them.” Soarin sighed.

Sure, he may never understand them, but that won’t stop him from pursuing them. I mean, come on! Some of them really got it going on! Just look at Spitfire herself, she’s got to be one of the most bueatiful single mares in all of Equestria!

Soarin, despite living a quick 15 minute flight from Wonderbolts HQ and Cloudsdale coliseum, finally had his two story cloud home within his sights after half an hour of flying. Sure his house was by no means a piece of art, but with it being free (on the Wonderbolts bit) who was he to complain? It may have been a plain run of the mill cloudsdalian home, but hey, no rent!

“Let’s see door or window?” He said squinting at the front door, adjacent open window, and eventually, second floor bedroom window.

He was approaching his home at a speedy 10 miles per hour and wasn’t slowing down to open his door. Slowing down would require more effort than staying idle and letting the momentum carry him into his home.

“Window it is.” The pegasus said less than enthusiastically.

With his wings as sore as they were, there was no way he would be able to maneuver his way into his bedroom window on the second floor. So the couch in the living room on the first floor would have to do. As gracefully as he could muster, which wasn’t much, he flew in through the first floor window to the living room tucking his wings in at the last second as to not hit the window frame. Unfortunately for him, he still had momentum when he landed and his dead legs weren’t helping out in the ‘slowing’ process. So he then proceeded to stumble forward until he hit the back part of the couch and flip himself over, kicking over the lamp on the end table next to the piece of furniture.

“Ow…”

Soarin probably would have gotten up to clean the mess that he made (sweep it under the rug or couch, whichever was more convenient), but he landed in a somewhat comfortable position on the couch, and wasn’t about to use energy again.

As tired as he was physically he was still racing mentally.

Sure Spitfire’s hot, but she sure had a hard time being cute. Fleetfoot had a good amount of cuteness, but you would be hard pressed to compare her to Spitfire in terms of hot. It doesn’t mean that he would be opposed to dating her. (This is just strictly in terms of rating…REALLY!) Then there is Surprise...you know what, detail wouldn't even need to be required, you just need to know she’s got too much energy for one pony to handle.

“Rainbow Dash.” Soarin sighed out loud to no pony in particular.

Well that was strange. He wasn’t even thinking about her! The dark blue maned stallion just said her name instinctively; and instantly, because of those two words, he was going through all the files about her he had stored in his mind. They hung out together at the wedding right after she performed her sonic rainboom. That was something else. Soarin had never seen something so beautiful in his life, and she herself was easy on the eyes as well. Whenever she smiled it was easily the most adorable thing Soarin had ever had the privilege to lays eyes on. Not to mention her Beauty was near, if not on the same level as Spitfire’s!

A plume of smoke made its way inside his nostrils, which he breathed in.

“Smokin’ hot.”

He sniffed the smoke again.

“Smoking? Smoke?” Soarin followed his nose and focused his eyes to the black smog in front of him. And where there is smoke, there is…“FIRE!” The light blue pegasus yelled as jumped off the couch and flew to the closed front door completely forgetting about the soreness all over his body…and that doors don’t open automatically. He then proceeded to ram the door knocking it off its hinges and falling to the ground below, along with the door.

“AAHH! I’M GONNA DIE!” Soarin yelled covering his eyes with his fore hooves. “Wait, I have wings!”

After the ‘derp-endous' epiphany, Soarin spread his wings and faced downward. Using the momentum of his fall, he pulled up, eventually going completely vertical. He soon reached where his front door used to be and landed expertly just inside his home.

“Aww, Yeah! Like a pro-o-OHMYCELESTIAMYWINGSHURTSOMUCH!” He cried falling into a crumpled heap on the cloud paved floor. The lightly shaded blue pegasus laid on the ground for several moments, moaning.

Soarin perked his ears up when he heard a well tuned whistle coming from some pony in the kitchen. The sore stallion lifted his head to see the smoke was emanating from his precious ‘Food Storage Facility’.

The pegasus forgot about the soreness and sprinted full force into one of his favorite places in his cloud home.

“HOOVES OFF MY PIES YOU DEVIENT SACK OF…” Before Soarin’s pitifully copied kung fu kick almost came in contact with the intruder, the pegasus stopped himself mid flight to look more closely at his oddly familiar guest.

The steel coated unicorn turned around from the frying pan that was incinerating ‘something’, coughing all the while, and looked upon the stunned stallion.

“Soar my boy!” The elderly stallion said ecstatically. His mustard yellow eyes were practically glowing from how bloodshot they were.

“Grandpa?!?” Soarin said landing prone on his kitchen floor, jaw hanging agape.

“Oh-hohoho Soar-soar my little grandfoal, I haven’t seen you in forever!” The elderly stallion ran up to his much younger relative and proceeded to pick his head up around his neck to hug him tightly, nearly blocking Soarin’s circulation to his brain. “How have you been little Soar? You know you’ve gotten quite heavy since the last time I held you. One of these days..." He stifled a sniff. "...you’ll be too big for your old pap to pick you up."

Soarin’ sighed and picked himself off the floor where he then stood in front of his emotional grandfather. When he got to all fours he broke free of the elderly stallion’s grip.

“Grandpa, how are you even standing up here? This entire house is made up of nothing but condensed clouds.”

“Cloud walking spell. Geez, don’t they teach you kids anything in school these days?”

Soarin’ walked over to the smoky frying pan and removed it from the stove while also turning it off.

“You know son, you should probably get a new stove. This one seems to be lacking in its cooking ability.”

“It’s not the only thing.” Soarin’ muttered under his breath before turning back to his grandfather.

“So how has school been these days; those colts in the upper grades still pickin’ on you?”

Soarin’ sighed. “Grandpa.”

“And what about that shy little filly you had crush on, you still not together with her yet?”

“Grandpa.”

“Oh, sorry I keep yammering on, it’s just been so long since I saw you.”

“PAP!”

“Yes Soar-soar?” the old pony said, a goofy grin plastered on to the old stallion’s muzzle, eyes still bloodshot from the smoke.

“What are you doing here?”

“What? I can’t be a good pappy and visit my favorite grandfoal?

Soarin facehoofed before speaking again. “Grandpa…I’m your only grandfoal.”

“I know that Soar! Just promise me you’ll change that once you graduate school, because you know that in-laws count as well.”

“Grandpa I graduated high school seven years ago. I’ve been apart of the Equestrian Air Force for the past four years; where’ve you been?!” Soarin asked rhetorically, then instantly regretting the question.

Soarin’s grandfather’s demeanor changed to a more depressed state. “Really...has it…has it really been that long?” The old pony then looked off into space trying to recollect any time that he might have lost with his only grandfoal.

Soarin saw the dismay on his grandfather’s face and sighed. He felt bad for his grandpa. The light blue pegasus knew that his elderly relative had been absent for not only most of his grandfoal’s life, but his own foal’s as well. And he would never be able to make it up to his son, at least not anymore.

“Pap, I’m sorry for bringing that up, but…”

“No, no, you’re right.” The old pony interrupted looking back at Soarin with heavy eyes. “I missed a lot in your life and even more in my son’s life…t-there’s no excuse for my negligence as a father.” A single tear fell from Soarin’s grandfather’s left eye.

“Well, if it’s any consolation Pap.” Soarin allowed a small smile creep up on his face. “I had a great father, so his father must have been just as great.”

The elderly stallion’s smile returned to him after that statement. “Thanks son.” He then walked up to his grandchild and gave him a hug, which Soarin’ returned. “Heh, looks like you finally out grew you old colt.” The ‘old colt’ was referring to the fact that Soarin was half a head taller than himself now.

“Yeah, time and a little bit of exercise can work wonders on a pony’s growth.”

It was funny to Soarin, he couldn’t remember the last time he hugged any member of his family, let alone his grandfather. They finally let go of their embrace after several seconds. After they broke, Soarin wanted to get back on the topic at hoof.

“Why are you here?”

“You don’t waste time do? You certainly have become a good stallion.” The steel colored unicorn began to walk to the egress that led to the living room before turning back to Soarin. “Come with me, this will take some time to explain.”

As the baby blue maned unicorn left the room, Soarin just stood in the middle of the kitchen with a puzzled look on his face. What could his grandfather, his last known living relative, possibly have to tell him? Perhaps it was a hidden family fortune. Maybe he needed a place to stay because he can no longer support himself because of his elderly age…uh, oh…

“Oh Celestia, no.” Soarin muttered aloud.

“THIEF!” Soarin’s grandfather yelled from the living room. Soarin shook back into reality and dashed into the living room.

“HOOVES OFF MY PIES YOU DEVIANT SACK OF…wait.”

Soarin exited the airspace of his living room and broke his kung fu kick stance to observe the almost empty room. His eyes scanned the room moving from couch, to recliner, coffee table, and finally, end table.

“Grandpa…there’s, no pony here…” The oxford blue maned stallion muttered with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Soarin’s grandfather spun his head around, face showing that he was in complete disbelief at what his grandson just said…or about something else, Soarin couldn’t tell.

“Are you blind son!? Do you not see that your nice lamp has been knocked over?”

“It’s not that nice.”

“Or that your once grand front door is not only off his hinges, but is completely missing from your house?”

“Yeeaah…about that…” Soarin said, smiling awkwardly.

“We are clearly dealing with an expert door thief!” The old stallion then began to pace in front of Soarin, eyes cast on the ground in deep contemplation. “We must do something about this injustice! I propose we get in touch with the military immediately!” He said with the upmost conviction.

“For a door theft?”

“You’re right Soarin, the military’s incompetence is unbelievable these days.”

“I work for the military!”

“Then I guess our next best option is to request an audience with Princess Celestia.”

“It’s a door.”

“Well, I guess it is a LITTLE overboard to get Celestia involved.” The old pony looked at the new gaping hole in the cloud home, rubbing his chin vigorously. “Yes, I agree. PRINCESS LUNA IT IS! I’ve always wanted to see if she was into well seasoned, and might I add, attractive unicorns.

“What?”

“Now about that audience…”

“Pap, I got rid of it.”

“You did what now?” The elderly stallion finally looked at his younger counter part with a puzzled look, expecting a good excuse for this one.

“Yeah I got rid…of it, the door I mean.”

“Why?” Soarin’s grandfather asked quickly.

“I, uh, donated it?” Soarin flashed a goofy grin.

“You donated it?”

“Yep. I donated it.” Soarin said with a little more conviction.

“To what organization?”

“The what?”

“You heard me. To what organization?” Soarin’s grandfather started to eye him suspiciously causing the younger pony to start sweating again for the millionth time today.

“The, uh…the, uh orphanage.”

“Orphanage?”

“Yeah, the orphanage for uh, let’s see, for…’Misplaced Kittens Where There Are a Severe Lack of Doors.’”

“The Orphanage for Misplaced Kittens Where There Are a Severe Lack of Doors? Wow Soarin…just, wow.” The old unicorn said, closing his eyes in an almost disappointing way.

The young pegasus sighed in defeat. “Yeah, yeah. I know…”

Soarin’s grandfather then opened his eyes to look at the young sky blue pegasus. It looked like he was about to cry. “You son, have a heart of gold.”

HE BELIEVED THAT! “Uh, yeah, they were really struggling and I just felt like it was my uh, responsibility to help in any way I could!” The Wonderbolt said proudly.

“Outstanding! That’s my colt!” The old stallion started to trot up to Soarin showing that he was going to give him a hug.

Soarin held out his hoof to stop his grandfather’s advance. “Uh, grandpa, you were going to tell me why you’re here.” He said with annoyance creeping in on his statement.

“Oh, right.” The old equine’s attitude got more solemn and he proceeded to walk to the front of the couch where he thus sat. “Come sit. Unless you prefer to stand; this is pretty big news.”

Soarin’s muscles screamed at him to sit down. The young pegasus quickly obliged his surprisingly intelligent muscular system and sat down on the recliner perpendicular to the couch.

“I guess I should start with your cutie mark, as I’m sure you’ve wanted to know your whole life as to why it is the exact same as the Wonderbolts symbol.”

“Well, actually dad told me…”

“It’s called an inherent marking, and it’s only suppose to…”

“Pap! I already know what an inherent mark is. It’s when a cutie mark or relative mark is passed down in the family genes. Apparently some pony back in our family history had this same mark, and now I have it. Dad did tell me getting the same mark is incredibly rare though, but still.”

Soarin’s grandfather began to smirk. “Did he tell you how rare it was?”

“Well…not how rare, only that it barely ever happens.”

“I’ll tell you how rare.” The elderly pony said matter-of-factly earning Soarin’s undivided attention. “It only happens in this family.”

The young pony’s eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.

“What…?”

“Yes Soar, it only happens in our family. The last member to have that mark was my grandfather, your great, great grandfather; whom you’ve been named after.”

“My…great, great…great, wait a minute. How many greats?” Soarin stuttered.

“Yes! Another interesting fact is that the mark goes all the way back to the origins of the Wonderbolts; all the way back to the ‘Wondrous Lightning Bolt.’ Lightning Bolt, the first Pegasus to ever break the sound barrier AND your ancestor, was called by the princesses themselves to lead the pegasus race to peace. After the decent of Commander Hurricane following the first fall of Discord, the pegasus race was left leaderless and scrambled. Princess Celestia decided that direct order from her or her sister would seem tyrannical, so she appointed Lightning Bolt to lead them. With the new power of authority, she blessed him with amazing physical abilities so that he would not only lead them, but be able to protect them as well.”

“I don’t get it. What does that have to do with me?” Soarin was following, but with such a vague story he didn’t have much to go on.

“The blessing didn’t stop with Lightning. It continues on through our family, all the way to you!” The old pony began to smile; a hint of nostalgia seemed to come with it.

“But I’m nothing THAT amazing. Sure I’m a Wonderbolt and I’m a good flyer, but I have a hard time beating Rapidfire in a race, let alone Spitfire or Fleetfoot!”

“That’s because you haven’t awoken your power yet!”

“What? What power?”

“The power that is stored within you! And with my help you’ll be able to break the sound barrier at will; you’ll have the strength of 20 stallions!” The old pony got of the couch and spoke passionately. “Soarin, you’ll have all of your senses heightened! You will become the greatest you that you will ever be! Nothing will be able to stop you.

“How? How are you going to do that pap?” The light blue pegasus was getting more unconvinced the more his grandfather was speaking. Sure he was old, but Soarin didn’t think that his grandpa had gone completely insane.

The old unicorn’s horn began to glow in a faint yellow as he turned back to his grandson. “You want to know how?”

With a glowing horn pointed straight at him, Soarin naturally had to ask. “Pap, what are you…”

*Zap*

Soarin removed his forelegs from his face and opened his eyes to see his coffee table had been blasted in two. “GRANDPA! What are you doing!?” Soarin yelled jumping off the recliner.

“Hah, how do you feel?” The old unicorn said lifting his head to observe the non-existent results. “Oh, I missed. Hm…let’s try that again.”

“NO WAIT!”

*Zap*

“MY CHAIR!” Aforementioned ‘chair’, which Soarin had just hopped off of, was now in pieces.

“Oh, did I miss again?” Soarin’s grandfather said with an awkward smile

“PAP! Stop blasting my home!” Needless to say, Soarin was unappreciative on the new lay out of his living room furniture.

The elderly unicorn rubbed his chin and spoke to himself. “Maybe I’m not using the right spell.” While Soarin was pathetically weeping in fetal position on what used to be his recliner, his ‘pap’ was conjuring up a different spell. The unicorn’s horn then started to glow in a magnificent golden aura. “Okay, I think this is the one!”

*Sniff* “You think wha…”

*ZAP*

This time hitting the correct target, the golden aura enveloped Soarin as he began to float, not under his own power. The bright aura began to glow brighter and brighter until…

*Thump*

“Ow.” Said the prone baby blue pegasus.

“Woo, that was somethin’ Soar. Do you feel super powerful yet?” Soarin’s grandfather’s legs began to wobble. “Wow, who turned off the gravity and turned on the vertigo?” He then collapsed appropriately.

“Ugh, pap, what the hay was that? Pap?” The young Wonderbolt then got to his hooves and walked slowly over to his grandfather. “Pap, you alright?” Soarin said with a hint of worry in his voice.

“Mnya…extra pickles…please.” The sleeping unicorn said with goofy grin plastered on his face.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Soarin took this moment of peace to think. His grandfather was passed out on his living room floor which he almost destroyed and he had no place to stay. “Well, I guess you can crash here tonight.” The younger pony proceeded to grab onto his grandfather’s left foreleg and drag him over to the only piece of cushioned furniture left in his living room, his couch. After Soarin laid his older relative on the soft structure he noticed that his soreness had reprieved and in its place was an incredible tiredness that the young pegasus could not believe.

Soarin felt like he could pass out at any moment. This sensation gave him yet another reason to ‘hit the hay’, so to speak. When the sky blue Wonderbolt reach his cloud bed, which he made himself, it didn’t take him five seconds before he drifted off into unconsciousness and was lost to his dreams.

---

Help! Somepony please, help! My foal needs help!

…

Please welcome Equestria’s newest hero, Soarin!

…

Have you really cared about me this whole time?

…

You are correct sir! I did end him! HAHAHAHAHA…

...

YOU SAID YOU LOVED ME! YOULIARIhateyouhelpthanksyou’reaheroflyuntouchablemaybeyoushouldthinkthisthroughSoarinpleaseyoupromisedfamilySoarinthinkdon’tdieSoarinforaslongasi’veknownyouSoarinSOARINSTAYALIVE…

SOARIN!

…

… …I love you…

Unwelcome Visitor

View Online

Soarin’s eyes shot open following his vague dream, panting heavily. He quickly sat up and looked around his room. Realizing that he was awake now, he wiped the sweat off his brow, and controlled his breathing repetitions back to normal and got off his bed to stand on all fours.

“Whoa…”

The sky blue Wonderbolt rolled his neck and stretched out his legs, hearing a good amount of cracks and pops at each slight movement. He started to hop and trot around his room with virtually no effort.

“Wow! I fell great!”

In fact he did feel great, better than he had ever felt in the morning at least. That was until he thought about getting breakfast, and that’s when the excruciating pain hit his empty gut.

“Oh…Celestia…I’m DYING!”

The immense amount of strength and energy had left him and a new wave of pain hit him. This pain was much different than the soreness that he had gotten over from training yesterday, but at least with this pain he knew what he could do to cure himself.

“Breakfast.”

Soarin' struggled with each step, but he eventually made it down stairs into the living room; trying to stay as quiet as possible so as to not wake his grandfather. His stomach would not make it easy for him though.

*Rumble*

“Whozzawhazit!?” The elderly pony sat up from his laying position on the couch and tried to look through closed eyes whilst moving his head to and fro.

Soarin' stood absolutely still, eyes wide, staring at his groggy relative. The steel coated unicorn eventually sighed in defeat, lying back down.

The young pegasus took this opportunity to move as quickly and quietly as possible in his emaciated state to the kitchen. He opened up his fridge and appropriately pulled out a pie that had a sticky note attached to it that said: ‘Emergency Pie’.

“Today, a great sacrifice will be made in the name of hunger. I thank thee blueberry pie for offering thyself as a tribute.” He said theatrically.

Soarin' couldn’t wait to devour his desert and skipped heating it up and simply ate it cooled. He might have preferred his pies freshly baked and warm, but any pie is a good pie when hunger strikes. After the pie was placed on the circular table, its days (or seconds) were numbered.

“Ah, that was delic…”

*Rumble*

“What? I’m still hungry?”

Soarin' again walked over to his fridge and opened it up to see only one remaining ‘emergency pie’ left. The sky blue coated pony sighed in defeat and moved on to make something else. He grabbed a plastic container that held assorted berries ranging from raspberries, strawberries, and even blackberries out of his fridge. He opened up a cabinet, grabbed a large bowl and a box that said ‘multigrain oats’ on it and placed all the items on the counter.

“That’s right, no milk.” Soarin' secretly cursed the diet of a Wonderbolt. “I guess water will have to do.”

After he mixed the items together in the bowl and added water, it didn’t take him three minutes before he was on to his second bowl. The rapid eating must have been causing quite a ruckus, for it woke the sleeping unicorn in the other room.

“You know you’re supposed to chew your food before you swallow it, right?”

This light-hearted comment ironical caused the opposite effect as some quick gags followed.

“*Cough* Gran-*cough* pa, what are you-*cough* doing here?*cough*”

Soarin’s grandfather chuckled walking into the kitchen and taking a seat next to the table. “Didn’t I answer that last night? But more importantly, how do you feel?”

“Like I was just choking on some juicy cardboard, why do you ask?”

“You know what I mean Soar-soar.”

“Pap, you know I’m 23, right? You don’t have to call me Soar-soar anymore.” Soarin' said with a hint of aggravation. “Well if you have to know whatever you did last night, worked! All of the soreness in my body is gone and I woke up with so much energy.” Soarin' then threw a couple of quick jabs in the air to emphasize how great he was feeling.

Soarin’s old relative smirked. “Well, I guess with your true powers being released, along with the 15 hours of sleep you got, it’s no wonder you feel so good.”

“Hah, I don’t know about those ridiculous powers you’re talking abou…Wait, 15 what?” Soarin' said with a little bit of fear.

“Yeah.” The elderly unicorn said motioning his hoof to the hand clock above the fridge. “It’s 10’O clock now, and I distinctly remember it being 7’O clock at night not one minute ago.”

“I’M LATE!” Soarin' yelled, tossing his now empty bowl in the sink.

“Oh, I’m sure it’s not that serious. I was actually wondering since it’s such a gorgeous day we go out and catch up on lost times.” Soarin’s grandfather said with a smile.

“No, I can’t pap. Spitfire’s gonna kill me for showing up four hours late to practice.” The pegasus put the box of multi grain oats back in the cabinet, threw away the now empty plastic container of assorted berries and trotted passed his old relative. “I really got to go, make yourself at home for now.” Soarin' then made his way into the living room, his grandfather struggling to keep up.

“Well, maybe we could go out and get some ice cream later tonight…”

“Yeah, sure, whatever, got to go.” He said now in front of his door way.

“Love you son!”

“Yep, bye.” And with that, Soarin' made one swift motion with his wings and was in the sky leaving a very powerful gust of wind in his home.

“Goodbye Soarin.” The aging pony whispered.

…

“Bit of a brat, don’t you think Re’em?” A voice gruff called from what seemed to be the kitchen

“What? Who’s there?”

The voice didn’t immediately respond, so Soarin’s grandfather made his way slowly to the kitchen, horn glowing in a faint yellow. When the baby blue maned unicorn made his way to the kitchen, his eyes widened at the sight of a new visitor. There sat at the small kitchen table, a pony wearing a black coat with a hood on, using both hooves to sip on a small cup of tea.

“Dusk…”

“Hello Re’em. Long time no see.” The mysterious pony said, turning his head to his visitor. With this motion, the tip of a dull gray horn was able to be seen, but the hood still shrouded the rest of his facial features in darkness.

“How did you get in?” ‘Re’em’ said with a hint of fear.

“You’d be amazed how easy it is to enter a home with no door.” Dusk said in complete sincerity.

“You know what I mean!” Soarin’s elderly relative snapped. “How long have you been in here and how did neither Soarin' nor myself notice!?”

“Re’em, you know me better than any pony. You know sneaking is my specialty.”

Dusk took a final slurp of his tea before setting the now empty cup down on the small circular table in the middle of the kitchen.

“Right, how could I forget…Shadow.” The elderly unicorn said, narrowing his eyes.

The cloaked pony lightly chuckled. “How nice of you to remember my old moniker…‘Prowler’.”

“DON’T call me that.” Re’em growled lowering his head showing that he was ready to fire any magic he could conjure.

While remaining seated, Dusk raised both hooves in the air. “Whoa, take it easy Re’em, just tryin’ to recollect old times with a friend.” He said in a calm, playful manner.

“Those ‘old times’ sucked, and even worse; they kept me from my family.”

“Oh please, don’t give me that garbage.” Dusk said lowering his hooves back down. “You and I both know that you’re lying through your teeth, and these past 11 months prove that.”

Soarin’s grandfather raised his head to show a look of complete and utter shock.

“Oh yes Re’em, I know. Your grandson’s popularity really backfired on you this time. It’s amazing how easy it is to get an address of a celebrity.”

The hooded visitor got to his hooves and began slowly approaching his ‘friend’. When Re’em finally shook out of his shock he lowered his head again as his horn began to glow in a familiar faint yellow.

“Don’t get any closer!” The old unicorn yelled.

Dusk stopped appropriately and then softly chuckled. “I would ask what you were doing for those 47 and a half weeks, but, heh, I already know that answer. You were trying to find a way to prolong the spell, weren’t you?”

The light on the old pony’s head faded as he looked away in shame.

“Thought so.” The hooded unicorn said smugly. “And I can reassure you that you couldn’t have found anything, because such a thing does not exist.”

“I…I only wanted more time.”

“Don’t we all?” Dusk said. “But unfortunately for you, that time is up.”

“What?! That’s not…you said I had a year…” Re’em stumbled over his words as he started to perspire noticeably on his forehead.

“Yes, well, things change, and it turns out that I can’t keep a single spell activated for that long, much to my dismay.”

“You…you LIAR! I bet you just want your power back is all.”

“Okay, okay, you got me. Even though you hold only a fraction of my power, I’ll need everything I can get if I want to take down your grandson.”

*Crash*

A well placed hoof found its mark on the shaded muzzle of Dusk. The strike was powerful enough to knock the unwelcome visitor to his back, sliding along the cloudy floor. He slid until he hit the back of his head on the large middle leg of the circular table causing it to fall over, along with its only content.

“YOU WON’T LAY A HOOF ON MY GRAN-”

*Crack*

A tremendous amount of force landed on the back part of Re’em’s head, causing him to fall face first on the cloudy marble floor.

“And you won’t lay another one of your dirty little hooves on my master!” A stern feminine voice commanded.

As the dazed unicorn tried to rise, a hoof was placed on the back of his neck to keep him humble.

“No need to be so rough with him Misty. He couldn’t hurt me even if I let him try…And I did let him try.”

The pressure on Soarin’s grandfather’s neck dissipated and he returned to all fours, albeit a little woozy from the blow. He must have been hit pretty hard because he thought he saw that Dusk was no longer under the table…Actually he wasn’t near the table at all. The hooded pony was leaning lazily up against the fridge, showing no signs of damage.

Re’em turned his head to look at the pony who had struck him. The mare was no taller than he, actually, a little shorter, and sported a coat much like Dusk’s, but with no hood.

Soarin’s grandfather had to ask. “Who are you?” He asked still trying to see straight.

“Oh, I’m sorry Re’em, this is my most beloved and loyal subject, Misty.”

The mare stared daggers into Re’em. Her crystal blue eyes were the most beautiful and terrifying thing he had even seen. It almost looked like she was blind, yet she couldn’t be, because she stared directly into the old unicorn eyes, unblinking.

“This beautiful pegasus mare has been my servant for about eight years now. I know you’re a little confused because you haven’t seen her before, but that’s only because you’ve never really had a reason to meet her before, so I saw to it that you didn’t.”

“And now I do have a reason for meeting her?”

“You struck The Master.” Misty muttered stoically

“Only because he threatened my grandson!”

“Oh, that reminds me!” Dusk said turning to the vanilla coated mare. “I was going to tell you later, but I guess telling you now won’t hurt. Go keep track of the ignorant Wonderbolt, I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Yes Master.”

“NO, wait!”

But before the steel coated pony could get a hold of the mare, she flew swiftly out the kitchen window. Her white and azure mixed mane and tail flowed gracefully in the air as she left an icy mist trailed her path.

The old unicorn turned to his visitor, fire in his eyes. “YOU, YOU WON’T…” That fire quickly burnt out.

A sudden pain shot through the chest of Re’em as he knelt. He began to sweat profusely even though the high atmospheric air was cool.

“Sorry Re’em, but your time is up. It’s time to collect what’s rightfully mine and eventually steal your family’s proud heritage.”

Dusk began to move towards the crippled pony, the tip of his horn glowing in an inequine dark grey.

“W-wait, you-you don’t have…it all.” Re’em struggled with every breath.

“What was that?” The hooded pony said in more amusement than curiosity.

“You…won’t be able to-to obtain the full…Wonderbolt power.

This statement piqued Dusk’s interest.

“Hmm, I have a funny feeling that you’re bluffing.”

“I’m…I’m not.” The unicorn said still struggling as his eyes started to roll back.

“Alright.” Dusk said zapping Re’em with a light grey beam instead of the aforementioned dark grey. “Elaborate.”

Soarin’s grandfather was savoring every breath. He finally, after a few moments of deep inhales and exhales, got to his hooves.

“Well?” the hooded pony said impatiently.

“His powers aren’t fully developed.”

“Like I said, elaborate.”

“I awoke his powers and they’re a little tired. It’s like when some pony wakes up, they’re tired and it takes a while before they feel one hundred percent. They need breakfast, maybe stretch a little. Are you getting what I’m saying? If you take his powers, the quality will not be enough to accomplish your goals.”

“How long will it take the power to…’wake up’?”

“I don’t know. It depends on Soarin, whether he will accept and grow his abilities, or neglect his purpose. This entirely depends on how he will react.”

“That wasn’t what I asked.”

Re’em could feel a subtle pain return to his chest with that statement.

The old unicorn winced. “Ugh, could be a week, a month, even years…we just can’t really tell. If it helps any, I could help him grow his gift and that would probably…”

“No, that won’t be necessary. I think I know a better way; and sorry to say old friend, but it doesn’t involve you.”

Re’em did not like this; his frustrated voice and angered expression showed that much. “It won’t work either way. If you are going to try to take his full power than you will fail, but if you try to take it now, not only will you fail, but even if you succeed, it will not be enough to accomplish your goals.”

“Yes, yes, you said that already. On the contrary, I will win…” The hooded pony turned his back on Re’em and began to walk away, horn glowing unbeknown to Soarin’s grandfather. “…at the cost of his life.”

The baby blue maned unicorn’s horn began to glow in a dim yellow.

“NO YOU WON’T!”

Re’em fired a magical beam, trying to take advantage of this chance.

Dusk chuckled. “Heh, fool.”

Mesmerized

View Online

Soarin’ could feel the brisk morning air flow rapidly through his mane like he had never felt before. With one burst of his wings, it seemed to him that he took off faster than he ever had before and, not only did he take off at an insane pace, but also pushed his cloud home slightly backward in the process.

“This. Is. AWESOME!”

The young pegasus slowly shut his eyes allowing his senses to expand; he could fell moisture in the air around him, the humidity itself, the density of the clouds just beyond his wings, and even the pressure of the atmosphere.

Soarin’ couldn’t explain it. The best way the Wonderbolt could put into words, would be to say that he himself was the air, he was the atmosphere, he was…the sky.

“The sky…” Soarin’ muttered barely audible even to himself over the sound of air rushing past him.

The sky blue pegasus’ eyes crept open, a goofy smile glue on his muzzle. It quickly left him as a state of confusion was on it now, probably because the air like cone that was now forming in front of him.

Soarin’ slowed himself to get a better look at it, but this action caused it to dissipate.

“What was that?” He asked to no one in particular.

The young Wonderbolt flew at a more controlled pace, but despite only flying for what he thought was only five minutes, he had Cloudsdale Coliseum in sights.

“Uh, oh, time to face the captain’s wrath. Celestia help me and Luna guide me.”

Soarin’ might have felt amazing physically, but he knew that the nightmares of Spitfire’s training were in his future.

---

“Well, look who it is!” A rough voice called out as Soarin' landed near the cloud sprint track.

“Sup Rapid, where’s Spitz?” Soarin’ asked.

A grey pegasus stallion with a dark blue mane known as Rapidfire trotted up, fully dressed in Wonderbolt attire, including the trademark gold goggles firmly strapped over his eyes.

“I don’t know. She just left to check on something, but when she comes back expect Tartarus to pay for missing the morning…”

The dressed Wonderbolt lifted his goggles revealing his light blue eyes and started to squint at his pale blue friend, eyeing him up and down. It was a little uncomforting for Soarin’.

“Uhh, is there something on my face?”

“Did you get taller?” Rapidfire continued to squint.

That was a strange question. Someone doesn’t just grow overnight night, but as you get older it is a fact that you do get smaller.

“I don’t know, maybe you got shorter.” Soarin' said, chuckling.

Rapidfire was about to respond to the less than flattering retort, when a white coated mare popped out of the cloud floor that the two stallions were standing on.

“Hi Soarin'!” Yelled the bright bouncy yellow maned pegasus. “I thought you weren’t going to make it after that brutal workout yesterday, I’m still sore.” Sure she said that, but her optimistic smile and outgoing personality certainly made it seem like she was ok.

“Yeah, well…”

“Geez Soar, what have you been eating?

“What?”

The mare walked up to Soarin' and put a hoof on his shoulder, feeling along his neck all the way to his wing joints.

“…Whoa…” the mare managed to breathe

“Uh, Surprise, I don’t think this is appropriate.” Soarin’ said, clearly feeling more awkward by the second.

Surprise seemed mesmerized. Soarin' turned to Rapidfire with pleading eyes as if he wanted him to do something. The dark blue maned stallion seemed dumbfounded and was probably going to be useless in this situation.

“What going on here?”

Yet another mare, this time an icy maned and butterscotch coated pegasus flew to the group to investigate.

“Fleetfoot, thank Celestia you’re here! Could you maybe get Surprise off of me?”

The mare trotted up next to Rapidfire to get a better look at the scene.

“So, you’re telling me to get a mare off of you? What? A big strong stallion like you can’t get a little filly off of yourself? Spitfire must have tortured you worse than I thought yesterday.” The butter colored mare said, chuckling.

Surprise then turned her head to Fleetfoot, yellow mane bouncing as she did so.

“Fleets, you have to check out Soarin'. He’s all big and muscliy now!”

“I can see him fine from here.”

“No, I mean, you have to feel him!” Surprise said, trotting over to get Fleetfoot.

Fleetfoot tried to resist, but being the lightest and smallest Wonderbolt on the team wasn’t helping her, or the fact that Surprise had inequine grip strength.

“It’s okay Surprise; she doesn’t need to violate me too.” Soarin' protested.

“Nonsense, Soar.” The overactactive white mare said, stuffing a noticeably uncomfortable Fleetfoot in Soarin’s personal space.

Fleetfoot’s eyes were averting Soarin’s as she looked left, right, up, and down. As she did this, the icy blue maned mare would catch small glimpses at the stallion’s frame. His newly toned triceps were perfectly shaped. The light blue pegasus trapezius muscles seemed large and powerful, but not overbearing. Lats, abdominals, all the way to his gluteus; perfectly balanced of what a pegasus stallion should look like.

“O-okay, maybe just one touch.” Fleetfoot managed to mutter as she raised her left fore hoof to Soarin’s right shoulder, face furiously blushing as she did so.

“…Soft…” Fleetfoot whispered. “His coat…it’s so soft.”

“I KNOW RIGHT!?” Surprised nearly screamed.

“I can’t believe what I’m seeing.” Rapidfire said mouth still agape.

“What the hay is going on here?”

All eyes, except for Fleetfoot’s, were now on the hovering fiery colored mare in Wonderbolt attire. Soarin' didn’t know if he was saved or doomed; saved because maybe he could get some actual help, or doomed because Tartarus hath no fury like the wrath of Captain Spitfire.

Rapidfire was the first to speak.

“I have no idea.”

Surprise then flew up to Spitfire, practically beaming in excitement.

“Cappy, you have to take a look at Soarin' now, he’s HAWT!”

“Hot?” Spitfire asked inquisitively.

“No, not hot. I mean hawt.” Surprise said matter-of-factly.

“Just go make sure the Mess Hall is ready for our lunch break, okay.” Spitfire said with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

With that Surprise left with an ‘okie dokie’ and a salute. Spitfire then landed next to Rapidfire. The Captain made one fierce glare at him, signaling him to either take a hike or do laps. He promptly chose the latter. Hikes were notoriously difficult and dangerous for Wonderbolts since Spitfire made it a point that they couldn’t use their wings…or ropes.

Now with just two more ponies to deal with, the bright orange and yellow maned mare made a bee line to Fleetfoot who had her hoof rubbing Soarin' from his neck to his wings. She stopped for a brief moment at the wings before proceeding to the Wonderbolt symbol on his flank.

“FLEETFOOT!”

“Huh, what?”

The mesmerized mare snapped back to reality and stood at attention facing the Captain of the Wonderbolts, a small drip of saliva dripping off her lip as she did so.

“What are you doing?” Spitfire questioned damningly.

“I-I, uh, um…a massage?” The stuttering mare said with an awkward smile.

Spitfire simply stared death at Fleetfoot, and apparently that was all it took. She shot off faster than most racing Pegasi take off during a flying sprint. The captain then turned her attention to the now relieved stallion.

“Oh, thank Celestia you showed up Spitz. I wasn’t going to last much longer.”

“Where the hay have you been?” Spitfire asked, her stern amber eyes not leaving Soarin’s emerald green ones.

“Uh…”

“You do realize that it’s nearly noon and practice was supposed to start at six, right?”

“It wasn’t my fault though!” Soarin' said defensively.

“Really? Last time I checked, you had an alarm clock just for things like this. I should know, because I was the one who bought it for you so you wouldn’t oversleep!”

“My grandpa came into town last night…”

“I don’t care; you should have been prepared-”

“I haven’t seen my last living relative in six years!” Soarin' yelled a little louder than intended. This earned him wide eyed stares from his teammates in the arena.

Spitfire stood there, eyes as wide as can be, staring at the stallion, who was now calming down.

“And the only reason I didn’t stay at my house is because…if I can wait for him after all this time, he can wait for me for a few hours.”

“I’m…I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” The deep yellow coated mare said, looking away from Soarin'.

“Yeah, well…I guess…I guess I’m sorry too.” The light blue pegasus stallion said with a dash of disappointment, mainly at his own outburst. “I think I’ll go get suited up now.”

“Yeah…” Spitfire muttered, still not looking Soarin' in the eye.

The oxford blue maned pony trotted over to the main stadium tunnel, leaving a slightly depressed mare to herself.

“Well…at least he’s here now.” Spitfire said to herself before turning her head to the tunnel that Soarin' had just taken to get to the locker rooms. She turned back to the grey spot on the clouds that Soarin' had just…

“Wait.” The captain of the Wonderbolts mumbled as she trotted over to where Soarin had just stood.

The cloud had actually gone grey, turning almost into a raincloud. The mare began to look to see how much of the cloud had gone grey. Amazingly, the radius of grey was ten meters. She then started to fly up to get a better look, but strangely enough, the grey was starting to dissipate back to white.

“That was weird.”

---

After about ten minutes, Spitfire had the rest of the Wonderbolts lined up and in position for a relay.

“Alright, everypony take your marks.”

“Wait!” Yelled a certain white coated, high pitch voiced mare.

“Ugh, what is it Surprise.” Spitfire grumbled, and also somewhat frustrated that she SOMEHOW made it back it time from the Mess Hall in time to make the relay.

“Aren’t we gonna wait for Soarin'?”

“Nope. Get set!” Spitfire said quickly.

“Wait!” A voice yelled, this time from the sky.

“WHAT?” The captain yelled out of frustration.

“I’m here.” Soarin' said, dressed in an incredibly tight Wonderbolts suit. Usually the suit is just supposed to hug the occupant, this time it seemed to be constricting the occupant, and the awkward smile on the young pegasus stallion’s face showed it.

“Uh, Soar, did you decide to steal one of the mare’s outfits just so you could look swole?” Spitfire asked, trying to crack a joke at the same time.

“What? No! This is mine. I think I just got bigger.” He said observing himself to the best of his ability.

“Yeah, I guess you should lay off the pies.” Spitfire said jokingly, as she unconsciously started to take a closer look at Soarin'. Letting her eyes wander. She observed his tight biceps, firm deltoids, wing traps…

“Uh, Spitfire?” Soarin' asked nervously.

“Huh?” The captivated mare said.

“What are you doing?”

This question quickly snapped her back into reality as she saw where she was currently at, standing right in front of her teammate. Spitfire retracted her hoof that was extended involuntarily toward the barrel of her male friend.

“Uh…I was just, uh…Get in line.” The captain commanded, now totting away, her face a redder shade of yellow.

Soarin' didn’t question Spitfire when she was in one of her moods and today was no different. He swiftly made his way in the line of Wonderbolts to get ready for the relay.

Seven Pegasi stood behind a non existent line that was marked by two flags that were on both sides of the cloud track. They were doing some lazy stretches, rolling their necks and fetlocks, extending their wings and generally just psyching themselves up for a race.

Spitfire made her way to a low hovering cloud just above the track while the rest of the team was prepping.

“Alright Wonderbolts, take your marks!” The captain commanded, which the team quickly obliged.

“Get set!”

With this, each Pegasi tensed up, wings flaring, ready to release an exponential amount of energy to explode of the line.

But Soarin’s misfortune was something to behold today.

*RIIIP*

Soarin' sat on his rump immediately trying to hide the newly formed hole in his uniform. This actually caused the tear to grow even larger as it made its way in between his wings before ceasing its growth.

“Uh…”

“Soarin', what was that?” Spitfire asked with some concern.

“It was Soarin' big old butt ripping his Wonderbolt flight suit!” A certain yellow maned mare belted out, who was now rolling around, laughing hysterically.

“I-It was an accident!” Soarin' said in desperation as Spitfire flew down from her cloud to inspect the torn suit.

The yellow mare landed and began to trot around to see wear the rip was and how bad too. Soarin' was just turning his rear away from her from sheer embarrassment.

This little game of chase the tail earned some giggles and snickers from the rest of the team. Spitfire soon realized what they what chuckling about and stopped giving chase, her face a little more red than usual.

“Darn it Soarin', if the suit is really in that bad of shape just fly up to headquarters and get a new one.” The captain commanded.

“But my backup suits won’t fit me any better than this one did.”

“Ugh, then go see if they have bigger ones, if not, they’ll take your measurements and get you a new one.”

“Right then and there?” Soarin' questioned.

“I don’t know if it’s right then and there or if it will take a couple of hours, but they’ll get you a new one, one way or another.”

“Okay…so I just…”

“Just get going to HQ Soarin'!” The Captain yelled.

“Right! Sorry, see ya later.” With that Soarin' took off with an audible boom, leaving a fairly large dent in the clouds and a powerful gust. With one flap of his wings he was 15 meters in the air, and with another boom he was out of sight headed towards Canterlot.

The seven Pegasi stood there, eyes wide, mouths agape, and manes blown back from either the strong gust of wind or the awesome display of wing power that Soarin' just shown off.

“…He’s amazing.” Surprise mumbled.

“He totally would have kicked our flanks in this race.” Fleetfoot said.

“What happened to him?” Rapidfire said to no one and anyone who would answer to which none obliged.

“Alright, goggles on!” Spitfire said, finally recovering from the moments of awe that she was just in.

“On your marks!”

The six remaining Wonderbolts obliged.

“Get set!”

"…"

“GO!”

---

Soarin' once again blazed through sky on minimal effort.

“Aw yeah, I could get used to this.”

Just when he said that, the same rouge white barrier started to form again.

“A barrier…” The baby blue pegasus said to himself, trying to recall something his grandfather said about barriers having to do with the wind.

He slowly stared gaining speed. This in turn made that white wall of air shrink down on him. Soarin' had to know what this strange phenomenon was and why it only appeared when he was reaching incredibly fast speeds.

He flapped his wings faster. The white wall was now a perfectly formed cone.

He flapped once more. It shrunk.

Another powerful beat and the barrier was closing in on him. A couple more seconds and the cone will close and…

“WATCH OUT!”

Soarin' quickly shoot open his eyes to see a flying carriage directly in his path. He then expertly avoided the carriage while also avoiding the pegasi that were transporting it.

This evasive maneuver caused him to slowdown somewhat, making the white barrier of wind to dissipate. He looked backed to see if something, if anything, happened to the carriage that he dodged.

Luckily, all he saw were a couple of upset Pegasi waving there fore hooves around like some angry elderly fuddy-duddy. Soarin' turned his attention back to his front, much to his dismay he had reached Canterlot and was forced to slow his speed to a more leisurely pace, lest he ram into buildings.

The Wonderbolt made his way towards the middle town, nearing HQ. When he landed in front of the large white facility with the large “Wonder-bolt” at the top of the building for all to see, he wasted no time entering the five story building, which was actually connected to a row of buildings on both sides.

He trotted through the good sized foyer, moving past a couple of plane looking couches and pale blue cushions that formed a waiting area to the front desk. The cream coated mare sitting at the desk was shifting through some paperwork, either mindlessly or trying to be organizational…Soarin’ couldn’t tell.

The sky blue stallion coughed slightly to get the attention of the busy mare. When she looked up to see a Wonderbolt in full uniform standing before her she quickly dropped what she was doing to ask a very commonplace question.

“Hello, how may I help you Mister Soarin’?” She asked with a proper smile.

“Hello.” Soarin’ took a slight second to look at the name plate on the desk so he may retort in the same respect she did him. “…Miss Quill, I was wondering if the Wonderbolt’s personal tailor was in. I ripped my suit and I need a new one.”

“Oh, yes! Mr. Fitting is in his office right now, I’ll tell him that you’re here to see him.” The secretary said as she quickly got up and left down a hallway off to her right.

After a few short moments, Miss Quill returned to escort Soarin’ to Mr. Fitting’s office. When he entered, Soarin’ was met with a joyous hug. It was a little discomforting to say the least.

“Oh Soarin’, long time no see, stinker! My, you sure have gotten big!” The silver colored unicorn said in the most fabulous of accents.

Soarin’ pulled away from the swift hug, awkwardly smiling. “Yeah, long time no see Mr. Fitting.”

The unicorn began to wave his right fore hoof around as if he was trying to wipe away the Wonderbolt’s last statement. “Please, Soar-soar…” Soarin' hated that nickname, “You’ve known me longer than that. Please call me by my first name. Though I may be dressed in my suit, you don’t need to be so formal around me.”

The young pegasus sighed. “Okay…Mr-”

“And drop the Mr., mister.”

One more sigh from Soarin' later… “Jubilate.”

“Yeeesss?” The bright yellow maned unicorn asked in an almost teasing sort of way…again very uncomforting for Soarin.

“I need a new suit.” The sky blue pony said turning to the side so Mr. Fitting could see the large tear that led up to his wings; he gasped in accordance to seeing this. “This one tore and it’s the same size as my back-up suit. Do you have a spare that will fit me?”

The slightly older pony began to trot back to his desk. “Well, let me check for back-up suits in my files. The Wonderbolt closet is on the second floor and I didn’t bring my key to unlock it, but I do keep all Wonderbolt clothing on file, and the best part is that I have all the size fittings written down.” He said, pulling out a key in one of the drawers in his desk.

Mr. Fitting then made his way to a file cabinet to the right of his desk up against the wall. He put the key in, turned it, and the drawer opened immediately going the full length until it stopped, exposing the immense amount of paperwork inside. Jubilate side stepped the drawer expertly and, without looking, pick out a file that was tagged: Wonderbolt flight suits.

“Here we are!” The unicorn said, splaying its contents out over his desk. “Now that we have the paperwork, I need to take some measurements.” He then pulled out some measuring tape from his desk and went to work with his magic.

While Mr. Fitting was taking measurements with his magic in control of the tape, he was sifting through the paperwork. In less than 20 seconds he was done.

“Well, I’ve got some bad news Soar. We don’t have a spare in your current size. We had some backups in your previous size, but whatever workouts Spitfire’s been making you do is working. Your body has almost swelled to Celestian guard status, but you still seem perfectly proportionate to that of a Pegasi.”

“So…that means…”

“That means I’m going to have to make a new one from scratch, and that might take a week to ten days.” The unicorn said matter-of-factly.

“Ten days!?” Soarin' yelled.

“Maybe two weeks, because I don’t have the correct fabric for a safe flight suit. I’m going to have to talk to Fancypants tomorrow about gettin the correct fabric. Until then you’re going to have to practice without one.”

The dark blue maned pegasus’ head dropped. “Can’t, Wonderbolt regulations require all members to be fitted properly for all official practices.”

Fitting sat back in his chair and brought his right hoof to his chin and began to contemplate deeply. He then closed his eyes and chuckled lightly.

“Well, I guess you’re going to have an extended vacation.” The unicorn said smugly.

Soarin’s demeanor quickly changed with that one statement. “Really? Can you really do that for me?” The pegasus said hopefully.

“I could…pull a few strings.” Soarin' could either cringe or chuckle at the pun, he chose that ladder. “And that does mean for Spitfire too. I’ll talk to her today, so she’ll stay off your now tone flank…for now, no promises when you’re suit’s done.”

“Sweet! That means I got the day off starting now, right?” Soarin' asked eagerly.

“Yep.”

“Woowho! Peace in the middle east Jubilate. Say, ‘Hi’ to the wife and kids for me!” The Wonderbolt said quickly, existing the room in record time.

“WAIT SOARIN'!” The unicorn yelled.

“What?” Soarin' said, peeking his head back into the room.

“Could I have you’re suit please, I don’t like wasting perfectly good fabric.”

“Sure, I guess.” No sooner had Soarin' ushered those words out of his mouth that a magic aura surrounded him, assisting him in the removal of his outfit.

After the suit was removed it went over to Mr. Fitting, hovering slightly above him, with some magical assistance of course. “Thank you Soar, I‘ll probably use this in a little experiment I’ve been accruing.”

“Alright then, bye Mr. Jubilate.”

“Bye, Mr. Bolt.”

Soarin' wasted no time leaving HQ and heading for the nearest ‘anything’ that served food. Vacation meant he could eat anything he wanted right? The first one he came across just so happened to be a donut shop, Donut Joe’s to be exact. Soarin' knew it was a good place; he had eaten there a number of times before, but not in a while, not since that time at the Royal Wedding with…

“Rainbow Dash…” Soarin' mumbled absent mindedly as he entered the tannish colored donut shop.

“Why if it idn’t my favorite Wonderbolt. Soarin', how ya doing? ” Asked the burly unicorn who looked like he was just checking something on the oven.

Soarin' smiled as he entered the near empty shop. “Hey Joe. I’m good, and I’ll be doing even better when you bring me six of your freshest donuts.”

“You got it! I got a baker’s dozen of glazed donuts that just came out of the oven 15 minutes ago. Hope you can handle the heat.” Joe said smartly.

Soarin' took a seat at one of the stools along the counter of the shop. “You know I can.” The pegasus said in complete confidence.

“Alright. Let’s see what you got,” Said Joe as he floated a tray of six freshly glazed donuts in front of Soarin'. Aforementioned pegasus didn’t waste anytime devouring the tasty treats. “Geez, Soarin' slow down. You’re gonna choke…again.”

The Wonderbolt let out a loud belch as he finished the six donuts in ten seconds flat. “Next!” Yelled Soarin', not noticing the four stallions entering the shop.

“Hey, Donut Joe!” Yelled the new arrival.

The professional flyer and baker turned to see the new arrivals.

“I gotta bone to pick with you!” The not-so-large dark brown earth pony said in a very heavy Manehatten accent. “That caterin’ order I had yesterday for my niece’s birthday party; you over charged me for it!”

“I did?” The tan unicorn question, shocked at the statement.

“Yeah! And I want my money back!” The stallion continued to yell.

Soarin' took this time to observe the obnoxious pony’s company. The largest of the group, who was an earth stallion, stood an inch or two taller than Soarin'. He had a black coat and yellow mane. Thee other two seemed to be a pair of unicorn twin stallions, one with a light-purple coat and dark purple mane. The other had a dark purple coat and light-purple mane.

All three were letting their loud friend do all the talking, but not without nodding mindlessly to everything the small earth stallion said.

“Whoa, whoa, calm down. Do you still have the donuts?” The baker asked.

“What? Of course not, they got eaten at the party and you didn’t give me a receipt.” The earth pony was getting more belligerent.

“You didn’t ask for one.” Donut Joe said coolly.

Soarin' chuckled lightly at this, earning the attention of the posse.

“You think somethin’s funny big guy? If you got jokes, I’d love to hear ‘em.” The woody colored pony trotted over to Soarin', puffing out his chest as he did so, trying to intimidate the professional flyer. It didn’t, but what got Soarin' a little worried was that the trio of ponies that came in with him were now surrounding the pegasus.

Soarin' stayed silent, keeping his eyes forward.

Donut Joe intervened verbally, but still staying behind the donut shop’s counter. “Keep him outta’ this. I don’t want to call the authorities.”

“You don’t have to Joe, I’ll get them myself.” Soarin' said as he hopped off the stool and trotted with some urgency towards the front door trying to get past the group. He didn’t succeed, as he was stopped by the silent, large earth pony.

“Hold up, swoled up!” Said the obvious ringleader.

“Listen, I don’t want to have to hurt you guys.” Soarin’ said. This bluff had such emotion that it could probably intimidate a kitten into stop purring and become mildly annoyed…almost.

The uproarious laughter reinforced the ‘almost’ part.

“Listen, Muscle Milk,” The small pony began, chuckling.

“Muscle milk?”

“You don’t know who you’re messin’ with. So why don’t you just back to sittin’ down and pickin’ your nose, ‘kay there Roid Rage?” The brown stallion finished with a pat on Soarin’s head.

“Roid Rage? Listen bub, I don’t have to take that-“

*SMASH*

A chair from one of the tables near by made it way to the back of Soarin’s head. It broke apart on contact. The vertically challenged pony was overjoyed.

Nice one Bubba!” He said to the black coated earth pony. “I didn’t think you’d catch on to my-“

“OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?!” Shouted Soarin' turning to the stunned large earth pony.

“Wow…he’s still conscious…Hit’em again.” The dark brown pony said

“What?! NO!”

*Smash*

Another chair fell apart after it hit Soarin's head. “Will you stop that!?” Soarin' shouted, not even taking the time to cover his head.

*Smash*

“I SAID, QUIT IT!”

“Try a table.”

*SMASH*

“THAT”S IT!” The Wonderbolt yelled flaring open in wings sending a strong gust outward. The wind was so strong, that it knocked all four of the hostile visitors off their hooves and sent them flying until they hit the donut shop walls. All of the shops tables and chairs were now flying debris as the gale forced wind blew everything away. A lone chair found its way outside onto the street after it broke one of the windows, startling a peaceful pedestrian.

Eventually the wind died down and Donut Joe, who was still behind the shop’s counter, looked up from his make shift bunker to observe the damage. His shop was destroyed. Tables flipped, chairs broken, half and half cream along with other liquids littered the walls and floor, with Soarin' at the epicenter of it all.

The light blue pegasus looked around at the damage that he caused…well most of it. The four other stallions were lying in the debris, most of them unconscious after they struck the walls at such immense force. Surprisingly, the only one with his wits still about him was the brown earth pony with the bad attitude.

“Wha-what did, what are you? He said before passing out.

Soarin’ turned back Joe who looked like he was about to hyperventilate and break down into tears at the same time. He made one the last look to rest of restaurant before turning to back to the owner of said restaurant. That goofy smile that the Wonderbolt was known for was back on his face. “Uh…I can fix this.”

The Boom and the Search

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“Well, that was nice Joe to let me off like that.” Soarin’ said as he gingerly glided through the air over Canterlot. “I thought he was going to blow a fuse when I ruined his shop like that. Of course, he did tell me to leave as soon as possible before he did something he might regret.”

The Wonderbolt brought a hoof to his chin as contemplated what Joe meant by ‘something he might regret’. Maybe the sharp silverware the baker was caressing like a small foal could hold a clue.

“Nah, Joe wouldn’t do that…

…

…Would he?”

Soarin’ made his way to a small cloud over Canterlot, landing on it softly. It felt softer than usual, but also more firm at the same time. The pegasus couldn’t explain it, but he felt that the cloud was trying extra hard to keep comfortable, as well as better protected.

As the pale blue Wonderbolt laid down he began to ponder about the past events of the day. He actually woke up well rested for the first time in a long time, and had actually grown in size, albeit somewhat, but still. He tore his suit (on accident), and got a two week vacation because of it; fended off four attackers while simultaneously destroying his favorite donut shop.

“I guess that’s productive…”

But one thing that stuck out in Soarin’s mind was that strange cone-like barrier that formed around him when he was flying beyond his normal speed.

“Maybe…” He mumbled to himself.

The Wonderbolt quickly got to all fours and bolted off the small cloud, the force causing it to fly opposite to where he was headed. He was over Canterlot now, so Cloudsdale was a short flight to the northwest, Foal Mountains to the east would prevent a smooth flight, so would the erratic weather the Everfree to the south would also do. Essentially, any flight east would put him farther away from Cloudsdale. North is a good choice, but at the speed he would be flying it would get cold to quickly. Ponyville was to the southwest so...

“West it is.”

All out; that is what was on Soarin’s mind, going all out right now. He was in the best shape of his life and if he was meant to break records today, than by the goddesses he was going to do it.

In one short minute he was over Unicorn Range in between Cloudsdale and Ponyville, and the dreaded barrier had formed once again. What amazed Soarin’ the most was that despite that amount of force he was exerting from his wings, he wasn’t getting tired. It felt that same as if he was on an extended flight.

With more powerful beats of his feathered limbs the cone closed in on him. His eyes were beginning to water badly and instinctively reached up for his goggles, only to find nothing there. Although the irritation in his eyes was annoying, it didn’t cause him to slow down, if anything, he got faster.

The cone was crushing him now. The air pressure was unbelievable, yet the Wonderbolt pushed onward not allowing anything to stop him. Soarin’ didn’t know what would happen next, but he didn’t care. Whatever was going to happen was going to happen now…

*BOOM*

“THIS. IS. AWESOME!!!” Yelled the speeding Wonderbolt.

Soarin’ felt reborn, the speed was like a never ending drug that he only got more of by going faster. It was the same felling that pegasi had when they first flew. And that was exactly Soarin’ at this moment; he had learned to fly again, for the second time in his life.

The shockwave from the boom created a navy blue ring expanding outward with a lightning bolt frozen in time in the epicenter of it all. The bolt extended from the earth below to the heavens beyond the clouds above. Static ran around the ring as it grew in circumference.

Soarin’ kept up his mach speed for almost five minutes, choosing not to speed up nor slow down. As he flew, the light blue pegasus began to recall his grandfather’s words, this time with a little more solemnity. Maybe what his relative said had some merit to it. Today’s events definitely seemed to prove it, that’s for sure.

The stallion finally lowered his speed when he saw the summit of Smokey Mountain. Cloudsdale was a good hour flight away, and that was at a decently fast pace for any normal pegasus. Luckily for Soarin’, he wasn’t a normal pegasus. He was a Wonderbolt, the epitome of what every great aspiring flier should be. And for him it shouldn’t take but 30 minutes, and maybe with his new found speed a little less. The pegasus didn’t want to waste anymore time, he definitely had some questions to ask to his grandfather.

Soarin took a look at the descending sun off to the west. He estimated that it was about half past three, and if he didn’t take his time getting home, he would arrive a little before four.

“Alright Pap, you’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do.”

And with that the Wonderbolt took off again; this time northeast to the floating city of Cloudsdale, creating yet another visual display of lights, lightning, and grace…with an explosion thrown in there too.

--- --- --- --- ---

Soarin’s house was with sight. He entered Cloudsdale air space not two minutes ago and was now flying past Cloudsdalian homes at a more reasonable pace, but still at a hurried speed.

“PAP I GOT TO TALK TO YOU!” Soarin’ yelled as he flew into his still door-less cloud home. He checked the still wrecked living room to start with, being that it is the room that connects the rest of the home to the outside, excluding windows. He found no one.

“Grandpa?” The pegasus said quickly glancing in the kitchen…No pony.

Laundry room? Nope. First story guest bathroom. No cigar.

“He better not be sleeping in my bed upstairs.” Soarin’ proceeded to stomp up to the second floor, making sure that if anything was in the floating house they would feel every vibration caused by each step.

He stepped inside his room not bothering to open the door, probably because there were no doors inside his house. One of these days he would need to invest. Soarin’ saw a crumpled heap of a blanket that was hiding something inside. Floating himself over, he grabbed on to the cloth and tossed it onto the floor yelling as he did so.

“GOT YOU!”

Once again, nothing, excluding the pillow that flew out of the mess of a blanket. Soarin’s brow furrowed at this.

“Grandpa! What the hay are you at?”

Scanning the rest of the second floor didn’t take long, and that search as well proved fruitless. Giving up on the missing elder, he made his way back to the first floor clearly a little more than frustrated.

“I can’t believe it! He’s gone again! That old fart has been gone for six years, shows up at my house, uses my stove, laser beams steroids into me, then leaves without saying goodbye?! What kind of pony, let alone grandparent, does that to somebody?”

Soarin’ continued his fuming escapade all the way to the kitchen. “…And I swear if he’s eaten anymore of my foo-“

*crack*

“OW!” The light blue stallion jolted his right fore hoof upward from the sudden pain, and also from the cracking sound that emitted from where he placed his hoof. He glanced down to shards of what looked to be ceramic tile with a small handle. “What the…”

Soarin’ picked up the pieces, careful not to injure himself further. He placed the contents on the small circular table in the middle of his kitchen. Whatever it was, it looked liked it had once been a cup of some sort based on the broken handle. The shards were a dull brown and didn’t look like anything that would hold any value. If Soarin’ had gone to a potter and ask for a cup like this to be made, it didn’t look like it would be too much trouble.

“This isn’t mine, and I don’t remember Pap bringing anything with him.” He said.

Soarin’ thought back to when he first saw his grandfather yesterday, he didn’t have any luggage nor did he have any clothes on. So, stowing this thing away seemed a bit too difficult. Maybe he could have gone out and bought it, but it’s not like a unicorn can just sprout wings and fly away, even with magic.

And why was it even broken in the first place? And why was it in the middle of the kitchen?

“There’s no way there could have been…” Soarin’ drifted off in thought before bolting outside to search the premises of his house. “PAP, WHERE ARE YOU!?” He looked around frantically to see if any pony might have noticed something. His neighbors might have seen something; he would need to check with them first.

A young couple lived closest to him off to the right of his house about 100 feet away. Soarin’ flew up to the door knocking politely, but with some haste. A young light-purple coated pegasus mare answered the door. “Yes, can I help you?”

“Yes, I’m looking for my grandfather, he’s gone missing and I suspect there might have been a break-in-” The young mare gasped at this. “-I need to know if you or anyone else living in this home have seen or heard anything suspicious from 10am to 4pm from that house over there.” Soarin’ motioned over to his house that was adjacent to the one he was at now.

“Well, no. I can’t say I have. I just returned from the Cloudsdale General Hospital. I’m a nurse there.” She said as she motioned to the dull green scrub she was wearing. “I wouldn’t have been able to, and my husband has been at the cloud factory since nine this morning.”

“Darn it!” Soarin’ yelled clenching his jaw, causing the mare to flinch. “I forgot it’s a weekday! Nobody probably saw anything!”

“W-well actually, there’s an old stallion that lives on the other side of your home, he lives there by himself and is retired. If any pony has seen anything, it would most likely be him.”

Soarin’ perked his head up and to the other side of his home. Sure, he knew it was there, but he never knew the pony that lived there. “Thank you for your help!” The pegasus stallion said hastily before bolting off.

“Wait! Should I contact someone?!” The mare tried calling out, but it was too late. Soarin’ was already gone.

The Wonderbolt arrived at the simple cloud home, this time on the opposite side of his house and knocked on the door with a little more urgency than last time. A grey elderly pegasus stallion with a darker shaded mane answered the door a few seconds later. “Can I help you sonny?”

“Possibly-“

“Possibly? Son, either I can help you or I can’t. So which one is it?” The old pony asked interrupting Soarin’.

“I believe you can. My grandfather’s gone missing and I believe there was a break-in at my house. I need to know if you have seen or heard anything suspicious from that home.” Soarin’ said, once again pointing over at his cloud home.

The old stallion took one step to look out to right of his home. He observed Soarin’s house for a few seconds before taking a step back into his house. “Yes I did.” Soarin’ got excited. “There was some yelling and some bright flashes of light coming from your house last night.” Soarin’ wasn’t excited anymore; he was actually getting a little frustrated.

“No, no, not last night. Today!” The young pegasus yelled.

“I’m going to have to ask you to lower your voice colt. This is my property and I will not be disrespected by some belligerent hooligan on my own doorstep!” The old pony yelled right back in a condescending tone.

Soarin’ couldn’t believe this guy! The sky blue pegasus was looking for his missing grandfather, and this old fart was giving him unnecessary troubles. The old pony could help, but he is just so full of himself that he won’t take the time of day to do so.

The young stallion inhaled deeply and exhaled just as much; he couldn’t let this opportunity slip away, his grandfather was missing and he needed Soarin’s help.

“I apologize sir, I’m just a little stressed because my Pap is missing.”

The old grey pegasus paused for a moment, seemingly a little surprised at the apology. “Well, I see you have at least some manners; maybe you could try asking those questions again with a little more self-control and maturity.” The old pony said in a very fatherly way.

A couple years’ military and professional flight training prevented Soarin’ from smacking the disrespectful coot across the muzzle.

Soarin’ simply nodded, “Yes, and thank you. I was just trying to know if you saw or heard anything suspicious coming from my home from 10am to 4pm today.” He stated in a very soldierly tone.

“Yes I have.” The older pony said without hesitation.

Soarin’ was taken aback momentary before barraging the grey stallion with more questions. “What did you see? Did you hear anything? Was my Pap in pain?”

“Slow it down sparky and I’ll show you.” The grey pegasus said as he took a step back into his house while motioning Soarin’ to follow. The Wonderbolt quickly obliged .

One quick left turn later inside the dusty old home and they were both in what appeared to a living room slash study. Under the only window at the far end of the room was a couch that could fit about three fully grown stallions. The pair of Pegasi made there way to the window, passing by a desk on their right which was adorned with a few empty picture frames and one or two books.

“And this is what I can see.” The old pony said as pointed with his right fore hoof to Soarin’s house. From the window Soarin’s house could be seen about a hundred feet away with other homes further away in the background. No discernable features could be made out from the Wonderbolt’s home at this distance aside from the only window on the first floor.

Soarin’ stepped forward to get a better look out of the window. He noticed that from this angle the window he was looking at was the one from his kitchen, where he had found the pieces of ceramic cup.

“So, what happened?” Soarin’ said turning back to the grey stallion.

“Well, some time before noon I was at my desk catching up on some of my reading when I heard some yelling coming from your home. Your yelling from last night was pretty annoying, but the argument seemed a little more volatile this time around. Even though it seemed a little more serious I was able to ignore it.”

“What were they arguing about?” Soarin interjected.

“I don’t know colt! Do you see how far away we are from that house? I’m surprised I was even able to hear anything at my age.” The elderly pony said, aging ignorance surfacing once again.

“Right, sorry.” The young pegasus reluctantly said.

“Anyway, as I was saying, even though I was able to ignore the arguing I was not able to ignore the loud thump that I heard.”

This re-perked Soarin’s interest immediately.

“I went to the window to see if I could find out anything. Unfortunately, I couldn’t, and yelling soon died out too. I went back to my desk to read in peace finally when I noticed some strange lights reflecting off my wall just above my desk. When I turned back around an odd dark blue light was coming from that window, but it was dying out quickly. I was about to go back to reading again, when I saw this black object about the size of a pony fall out from underneath your house.”

“A PONY?” Soarin’ was panicking now. “Did you get a good look at him? Did he have a grey mane!?” With each question he took a step closer to the old pegasus.

The grey stallion quickly shoved Soarin’ back to a more comfortable range. “Will you just stay calm for two seconds? No it wasn’t a pony; I said it was about the size of one. And no, it didn’t have a grey mane, it was all black…or at least from what I could see from here.”

“So...you’re saying you’re not sure?” The Wonderbolt said quickly.

“Listen, I’m just saying to you what I saw. That by no means says that I have eagle eyes, but I’m fairly certain of what I saw.”

Soarin’ turned away, glaring at the floor slowly getting more frustrated by the moment.

“After that, nothing else happened. Your house was quiet, and I’ve been having a peaceful day until now.”

That sealed it for Soarin’. “Alright thanks for your help.” He said quickly before leaping out the window.

Soarin’ could vaguely make out the sarcastic ‘you’re welcome’ response as he flew to the ground a mile below his house. Luckily he didn’t live near the Rainbow Run-off where excess rainbow material would form Winsome Falls, so lakes of rainbow juice would not inhibit his search.

Immediately when he reached the not-so-dense forest that was below his home Soarin’ began to scan the area for anything out of the ordinary. Gliding just above the woods for several minutes yielded no results, and it began to frustrate the Wonderbolt greatly.

“I don’t get it!” The pegasus yelled. “I should be right below my house, why is nothing here?” Soarin’ looked up to the skies above searching for his house as a slight breeze blew through his disheveled mane.

“Wait a minute.” He muttered to himself as a realization hit him. “The wind! What was I thinking? Anything falling from the height definitely wouldn’t fall straight down. The wind would push it at least a hundred yards or so from that distance.”

Soarin’ flew up more feet to get a better feel of the pressure in the air to determine what direction the wind was blowing. He closed his eyes instinctively letting his oneness with the sky expand. (You know, with him being a pegasus and all).

“Southeast, the wind is heading southeast.” He mumbled to himself.

A few more minutes of flying led him to a less dense area of the woods where trees were sparse. It didn’t take him long to find something. The sun’s descending light reflected off of something on the ground. Soarin’ quickly investigated only to find that it was his door.

The rim of said door beginning to show signs of evaporation; it was a cloud door after all. Soarin’ took a quick look around to see if anything else was out of place in the innocent forest.

“GRANDPA!” The pale blue pegasus called out. A few leaves brushing up against each other were his only answer. “Pap, can you hear me?” He called out again yielding the same result.

Soarin’s anger was building and the headache now forming was not helping him stay calm, nor was the rumble of thunder near by. The pegasus took to the skies again just above the woods and continued to head southeast, all the while screaming for his grandfather.

The setting sun was now being blocked by inclement storm clouds that seemed to appear out of no where, but Soarin’ was not paying attention as he kept his gaze on the ground below, looking for anything that might aid his search.

The forest soon became an organized mess of apple trees, and Soarin’s migraine was picking up steam, as well as the wind. This in turn made it more difficult to fly. Not wanting to strain himself further, and also to stay out of the rain that was being to form, the stallion found a lush apple tree to cover himself and rest.

“How can I be this tired?” Soarin’ panted as he laid his right fore hoof on the tree. His vision began to blur as the world around him continued to darken from the grey clouds and setting sun. The light blue pegasus looked up to the torrential sky above and let out one last call simultaneously with a lightning bolt that struck a nearby tree.

“GRAANDPAAA!”

His cry echoed along with loud rumbles of thunder. With the rain pouring down and lightning streaking across the sky, Soarin’ passed out.

Minor Problem

View Online

It was about mid-morning in the apple orchard as three little fillies were casually trotting together.

“So, what do we need to do again?” The orange filly with a purple mane asked as she walked with her two friends through the messy orchard.

“Ah already told you Scootaloo, we need tah clean the debris that that storm blew around last night.” The light yellow filly with the pink bow in her red mane responded.

“Not sure how you can forget something like that being that we’re walking through a messed up apple orchard.” The white filly with the mixed pink and purple mane said.

“I know what we’re going to do Sweetie Belle! I asked what we need to do.” Retorted the orange pegasus filly known as Scootaloo.

“What we need tah do is make ah lot of piles of branches and apples that fell of the trees last night, so that when either Applejack or Big Macintosh come ‘round with the wagons they can just put ‘em in without any hassle.” The earth filly named Apple Bloom said.

“What caused that storm last night anyway?” Scootaloo asked. “We weren’t scheduled for any rain ‘till like, five days from now.”

“Ah don’t know, but hopefully Miss Rainbow Dash won’t get intah too much trouble because of it.”

“Why would she get into trouble!? She didn’t do anything wrong!” Yelled Scootaloo.

“Uh actually, it would make sense that she would be mostly to blame being that, you know, she is the head weather mare and everything.” The unicorn filly named Sweetie Belle said.

“It’s still not her fault!”

“On the contrary—“

“Girls, enough!” Apple Bloom yelled interrupting a possible argument. “Let’s just focus on cleanin’ up. Look, we’re at the west limit of Sweet Apple Acres now. You guys know what tah do, once you’re done makin’ a big pile, we move clock wise ‘round the Acres.”

The two friends looked up were the apple tree line ended, they then split up to form piles of broken tree branches and twigs while Apple Bloom created piles of pruning apples. The trio was making quick work of the debris, unfortunately for them, Sweet Apple Acres is a big place, so this was probably going to take all day.

“Alright girls, this area’s clear. Let’s move on.” Apple Bloom commanded with a cheerful smile leaving behind the newly formed piles of debris for a more northerly destination.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders, you know what tah do.” Apple Bloom said as the three split up again in their new area.

As soon as Scootaloo turned away from her friends, a pile of light blue hair and feathers under a near by apple tree caught her eye. “Girls, check this out!” She said as she sprinted to the object.

“Whoa.”

“What, what is it Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom asked as she ran up to the now still pegasus filly with Sweetie Belle close behind.

“Look.” Scootaloo said as she pointed to the unmoving light blue pegasus stallion under the apple tree.

“Is…is he dead?” Sweetie Belle asked after she caught up to the rest of the CMC.

“Ah don’t know, let me check.” Apple Bloom said as she approached the stallion’s head. The earth filly then put her ear on his ear and furrowed her brow as if she was supposed to hear something.

“What are you doing?” Scootaloo asked raising her brow.

“What’s it look like ah’m doin’? Ah’m checkin’ his pulse, you know, tah see if his brain is still on.” Apple Blood said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“I don’t think that’s how you—“

“Shh, I think I hear somethin’” Apple Bloom said interrupting Sweetie Belle.

Only the sound of the breeze blowing through the leaves was heard.

“Let me try something!” Scootaloo practically yelled as picked up a twig and starting poking the stallion in the face. The pony, which the three fillies now knew was sleeping, stirred at this, swatting the stick away.

The girls jumped back and continued to observe the pegasus from head to hoof to which Sweetie Belle discovered the lightning bolt with wings that was this pony’s cutie mark. “Hey girls, check out his cutie mark!” She exclaimed pointing to the waking stallion’s flank.

“Huh, so…his special talent is…weather forecaster?” Apple Bloom questioned.

“It looks familiar…” Scootaloo said as she drifted off into thought. Her eyes widened as a sudden realization hit her. “It’s the Wonderbolt symbol!”

“You mean that group of flyin’ acrobats that Rainbow Dash is tryin’ tah get into?”

“Yeah, yeah! Oh my gosh, when I tell Rainbow, oh man, she’s gonna be so happy and grateful that she’ll actually spend more than one hour with me!” The little orange pegasus let out a high pitched squeak in joy causing her friends to cover their ears in pain.

“Uuh…my stomach.” The prone pegasus groaned opening his eyes only to cover them with his fore hooves. “Oh, Celestia why is the sun so bright?”

“Um, Mr. Wonderbolt, uh, sir…are you okay?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Soarin’ turned his head away from the sun to focus on where the squeaky voice had come from. After he rubbed his eyes to clear his blurry vision away he saw three little fillies standing side by side. One a white coated unicorn, the other an apricot colored earth pony, the other, who held a grin that spelled she had some sort of plan, was an orange pegasus.

After quickly looking over the trio Soarin’ decided to answer the little unicorn’s question.

“Yes. I’m soarin’, and my name is Hungry.” The stallion said groggily.

“Uh, we’ll take that as ah no. Do you need—“ Apple Bloom was suddenly interrupted by a ground vibrating grumble to which the adult pony crumpled to fettle position whilst gripping his gut.

“Soo-o-oo…hungry.”

“Sounds like we need to get him some food.” The little unicorn filly said turning her head to her two companions.

“Yeah, but where are we going to get food way the heck out here?” Scootaloo replied to her horned friend. Apple Bloom deadpanned at her two friends for a few moments before they realized they were standing on a farm with an apple orchard…with apple trees…that had apples in them.

“Ooh…” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo said in unison.

As the adult pegasus was writhing in pain on the muddy ground the trio of friends stacked themselves on top of each other starting with Apple Bloom on the bottom, then Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo balancing herself on top as she plucked an apple off the tree.

After dismounting, the little orange pony trotted around to Soarin’s face and proceeded to stuff the groaning stallion’s mouth with the apple, which he quickly gobbled up. After swallowing the apple the light blue pegasus’ eyes shot open and he quickly got to his hooves, shooting up into the tree devouring all the delicious red orbs in reach.

The CMC stood just bellow the tree with mixed emotions; Apple Bloom in awe, Sweetie Belle in slight disgust, Scootaloo simply watched anxiously with a large grin on her face.

The navy blue maned pegasus floated calmly back to the earth below with a slight bulge on his bellow now. When he landed he let out a loud yawn followed by a belch and turned to the three children who were staring.

After a few seconds of awkward silence Soarin’ finally decided to speak.

“Uh, hi?”

“Hi Mr. Wonderbolt!” Yelled the little orange pegasus filly. “My name’s Scootaloo, what’s yours?”

After slight hesitation on the stallion’s part he answered with a generic cocky smile on his face. “My name is Soarin’, expert flier, and all around awesome guy.” A little leftover piece of apple dripped off his chin after he said that.

Soarin’s answer might have earned some ‘oo’s’ and ‘aah’s’ from Scootaloo, but her two companions were a little less awestruck.

“Yah sure can eat there Mr. Soarin’.” The small earth pony said motioning to the apple tree now baron of any apples.

The Wonderbolt turned his head to observe the tree; broken twigs, a lot of missing leaves, and no apples. Soarin’ turned back to the filly readying himself for an excuse. “Well…SURE! I am an athlete after all, and athletes need all the nutrition they can get! And besides, I’m sure whoever owns this place wouldn’t mind if one messily apple tree doesn’t have any apples…”

The sky blue pegasus stallion trailed off has he started to observe the rest of the orchard, which was no worse for ware. Pruned apple littered the wet ground along with a lot of good sized twigs and branches, the leaves were innumerable to count, and there were a scarce amount of apples still left on the trees.

“What happened here?” Soarin’ asked wide eyed.

“A big ‘ol storm blew through here last night and destroyed the orchard. No pony was hurt, but it sure did ah lot ah damage.” Apple bloom said as she idly kicked a pruning apple on the ground.

“The town got hit pretty hard too, but not as bad as the orchard.” The unicorn filly piped in.

“Yeah! And now because of some freak rogue storm, the head weather mare is getting yelled at!” Scootaloo jumped in adding her own two bits to the conversation.

“Well…” Soarin’ said. “It is the head weather pony’s job to make sure that the skies are nice, neat, and orderly. I should know; I used to work as a weather pony in Cloudsdale before joining the Wonderbolts.”

“Really?” Scootaloo questioned with vested interest.

“Yep. I worked hard for two years while training regularly. So I should know, that, while weather can be a bit unpredictable at times, it is ultimately the head weather pony’s responsibility to make sure everything runs smoothly.” Soarin’ finished with his chin up and eyes looking off into the distance as he finished his amazingly wise lecture.

Scootaloo’s head drooped and she sighed in defeat. “I guess Rainbow Dash really will get into trouble.”

“Whozzawhatnow?” Soarin’ asked as his eyes shot wide and he turned to Scootaloo.

Continuing to mope, the little pegasus filly replied. “Rainbow Dash, she’s the head weather mare and like, the fastest, coolest, and all around most awesome pony in the history of forever. That’s why I don’t think she did anything wrong.”

“Well I don’t think she did anything wrong either.” The Wonderbolt stated firmly.

The three fillies all let out a 'huh' while they gave him questioning looks.

“I know Miss Rainbow Dash, and I must say that being neglectful and lazy in her duties does not sound like her.”

“Not neglectful or lazy, have you even met her?” Apple Bloom asked incredulously. Sweetie Belle quickly followed up with a ‘Seriously’.

“Yes I have, and knowing her as well as I do, I have decided to help her. Because it would be unbecoming of any stallion not help a mare in need, especially one as sweet, kind, and thoughtful as the beautiful Miss Rainbow Dash.”

“Yeah, he hasn’t met her.” Sweetie Belle said to Apple Bloom to which the filly replied with a firm ‘Nnope’.

If Soarin’ heard what Sweetie had just said he didn’t show any signs of it as he started to gently flap his wings so he could start to ascend. Scootaloo was absolutely beaming at the stallion now.

“No need to fear, I will get Miss Dash out of trouble and sort this whole thing out.” Soarin’ then bolted off leaving the three fillies alone in the orchard again.

Scootaloo turned back to her friends. Her eyes were practically tearing up in joy. “That guy...was so…AWESOME!”

“Ah’m gonna have tah disagree with you on this one Scootaloo.” Apple Bloom retorted.

“And I’m going to have to agree with Apple Bloom. That guy was almost the very essence of the word ‘dork’.” Sweetie Belle said.

“Or goofball.” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both laughed.

“Yeah right, you two are just jealous. That guy was totally the definition of cool.” The pegasus filly said with a confident smirk.

“Excuse me.” A familiar voice from above the fillies spoke. The three friends looked up to see Soarin’ smiling awkwardly with a blush on his face whilst rubbing the back of his neck. “You guys wouldn’t happen to know where Rainbow is, would you?”

“The Mayor is holding a public meeting at town hall right now. She should still be there.” Sweetie Belle replied.

“Right, thanks!” The stallion said before zooming off again.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both looked back at an awkwardly smiling Scootaloo and deadpanned at her.

“Well…” The orange filly said. “Maybe it was just the heat of the moment, and that’s why he forgot to ask where she was.” She finished with a satisfied smile on her face.

A cough was heard, again, above the trio’s heads.

“Um…where exactly IS town hall?” Soarin’ asked still grinning awkwardly.

“That way.” Apple Bloom said pointing eastward. “It’s the tallest building in the middle of town, it’s kinda’ hard tah miss.”

“Alright, thank again!” Soarin’ then took for a third time.

Once again, Scootaloo’s two friends deadpanned at her, to which the purple maned filly grinned, and not entirely unlike Soarin’s nervous grin. “Aright, so maybe we should go to town hall…you know, to make sure everything’s alright with Dash.”

“Agreed.” Apple Bloom said before running toward town with her two friends

---

“Miss Dash, answer the question.”

“I did.”

“Miss Dash, please cooperate. We need to know what happened.”

“I already told you what happened! I DON”T KNOW!”

The town meeting had been going on for about an hour now and almost nothing had been accomplished. The town received a good amount of property damage from the storm the previous night; ranging from damaged shingles to broken windows, holes in roofs, and broken tree branches. All in all, total damage from the storm was being estimated near 10,000 bits, and all under the noses of the sleeping weather team.

It had felt like an interrogation to Rainbow Dash. For the last hour she had been pelted with questions like: ‘How could you let this happened?’ or ‘Are you even qualified to be a Weather Pony?’ She could deal with the condescending questions, what she had a hard time tolerating were the unnecessary jeers and catcalls she got. Thing like: ‘You’re fired!’, and ‘Incompetence is intolerable.’, or ‘Of course she doesn’t know what happened, what else would you expect from someone as lazy as her?’ That last one made her jump out of her seat and look for the sorry soul who said that, to which everyone else had simply glared at her.

The tan earth pony mare sighed behind her court room-like podium and gave the cyan pegasus a pleading look. “Rainbow, if won’t tell us anything, then there’s no way we can help you through this.”

“I don’t need help through anything, because there is nothing to tell. I woke to the crack of thunder and saw a storm over Ponyville. So, I got up and gathered the rest of the weather team as fast as possible to break up the storm. When I had them gathered the storm started to dissipate.” Rainbow said finishing with a huff as she sat back in her chair.

Not so subtle murmurs were heard from the crowd.

“It’s TRUE!” Rainbow yelled to everyone in the room.

The grey maned earth pony mare simply grimaced and rubbed the back of her neck. “As much as I would like to believe you Miss Dash, even I know that clouds just don’t appear then disappear like that. This isn’t the Everfree.”

“I know that Mayor Mare.” Rainbow Dash groaned silently as she looked to the wooden floor.

“Did you get the report from the Cloud Factory?” The Mayor questioned.

“Yes. You should be getting it soon.” Rainbow replied almost in complete defeat now as she slumped down in her seat. “The only place that was supposed to receive clouds last night was Vanhoover and Hollow Shades. There were no reported stray clouds headed for Ponyville.”

The Mayor let out a heavy sigh as she picked up a paper on her podium and idly read it. She then looked back at Dash before speaking again. “I guess I have no other choice then. Miss Rainbow Dash you are hereby suspended as the Head Weather Pony without pay for one month, and will be sentenced to 200 hours of community service.” After the mayor was done speaking she weakly let her mallet fall on her wooden podium.

“THAT’S NOT FAIR!” Rainbow cried out.

“Aw, the poor wittle filly gonna miss out on her afternoon naps?” A mocking voice said from the small crowd behind her.

Rainbow jumped out of her seat and into the air to face the crowd. “Who said that!? Why don’t you be a real stallion and show yourself!?”

“That’s enough Dash! Now I’m going to have to ask you to leave Town Hall peacefully or be escorted out.” Mayor Mare ordered.

Rainbow lowered herself to the ground and sighed deeply before heading towards the door. Just as she was about to reach it, the doors burst open to reveal a pale blue pegasus stallion with a dark blue mane standing there with a confident smirk on his muzzle…and a little piece of an apple peal stuck on his cheek.

When Soarin’ saw Rainbow in front of him and every pony else staring, his heart sank a little. “Am I…too late?” He stuttered.

Rainbow sat there, eyes wide and dumbfounded along with the rest of every pony in the room.

After a few seconds of speechless staring, Mayor Mare finally spoke up. “Um, may ask your name sir, and why you have decided to interrupt a public town meeting?”

The pegasus stallion shook himself out of his silence induced stupor and answered with complete confidence. “My name is Soarin’, and I am a Wonderbolt!” He posed slightly with his chin tilted slightly upward.

The crowd was now full of energy as they realized they had a celebrity in their midst. The mares were now chatting amongst themselves about how ‘handsome’ and ‘cute’ the new arrival looked, while some of the stallions stood there in awe and others questioned why he was here in the first place.

Mayor Mare quickly adjusted her glasses and messed with mane to make it more presentable, while at the same time trying to be the one who was the most professional in this situation. “Why are you here, if I may be so blunt?”

“I heard about what happened here in Ponyville. I’ve seen the destruction and I’ve heard about the possible punishment of the head weather mare, Miss Rainbow Dash, and I have decided to help her.”

“WHAT?” Was the question that was asked from virtually everyone in the room, except from Rainbow whose jaw had dropped. Soarin’ winced a little from the sudden explosion of sound that was coming from the crowd who spoke quite loudly about the current situation.

“He’s helping her?”

“It’s because of her that I have to close my business for a week to replace my windows!”

“There’s no way that’s Soarin’!”

The jeers continued from the crowd continued until the Mayor trotted back to her podium and started slamming her mallet down. “ORDER! ORDER I SAY!” The Mayor yelled.

The talking quickly quieted down and Mayor Mare motioned for Soarin’ to come to the front of the room…and for someone to smack Rainbow out of her frozen state. A pegasus mare with a grey coat and a golden yellow mane obliged the second order.

“OW!” Rainbow yelled as she glared daggers at the mare who hit her. “Geez Derpy, you didn’t need to hit me so hard!” The grey pegasus simply smiled and retorted with a ‘Mayor’s orders’.

“Come on Dash, we gotta’ case to win!” Soarin’ said to Rainbow as he trotted up next to her, giving her his trademark goofy smile.

Rainbow beamed at Soarin’ as the two started to trot back to the front of the room, struggling ever so hard not to fan girl in front of her idol in a room full of ponies staring at them.

“It’s good to see you again!” The Wonderbolt said as the pair made it to the front of the room.

“Y-yeah, it’s good to see you too.” Rainbow stuttered.

“So uh, how’ve you been?” Soarin’ questioned. Rainbow gave him a questioning look and began to look around the room. As the stallion began to look around the room to find out what Rainbow found so interesting about the surrounding environment he caught to what it was. “Oh…right.”

Mayor Mare let out a cough to which Soarin’ flinched and quickly faced forward. “Are you two done yet?” she questioned.

“Y-yes ma’am!” He saluted.

“Now, I’m usually not allowed to do this, but if some pony as prominent as a Wonderbolt is willing to stake their exuberant reputation on one pony…” Rainbow gulped heavily as she started to sweat. “Then I guess we can give Miss Dash another chance.”

“Right! So I would first like to begin with a question: What is Rainbow being charged with in the first place?”

“Negligence.” The Mayor stated promptly. “She is the head weather mare, so all atmospheric phenomenon ultimate fall under her responsibility. This includes the storm that happened last night.”

“And you would be correct in all that you said just now, but I think you’re forgetting it takes two to tango Miss Mare.” Soarin’ stated confidently.

Mayor Mare arched her brow. “How so?”

“While it’s true that Rainbow holds the title of Head Weather Pony, the Cloud Factory is mostly to blame for over producing the inclement clouds that destroyed so much property. Just check the factory. I’m sure you’ll find the real culprit.” The stallion stated without a hint of doubt in his logic.

An assistant of the mayor then trotted up to the podium and gave her a piece of paper. Mayor Mare quickly scanned it and set it down. “Well Mr. Wonderbolt as luck would have it, I have the report right here.” She said less than enthusiastically. “Of course, I wouldn’t have needed it because Miss Dash has already told me what’s on it.”

Soarin’s eyes widened in curiousity. “She did?”

“Yes, she said that no clouds were commissioned for Ponyville last night, and no reported strays were ever spotted. Don’t believe me? Here’s the report.”

Soarin’ quickly trotted up and snatched the paper and began to read. His facial features seemed to show more and more of a defeated look the more he read. After glancing over it he sighed and gave the report back to the Mayor.

Not willing to give up Soarin’ spoke up again. “That still doesn’t explain where the storm originated from.”

“Well, allegedly, the large mass of storm clouds formed on their own, moved on their own, and dissipated…On. Their. Own.” The Mayor said putting special emphasis on the last three words.

“Self maintaining clouds?” Soarin’ question incredulously. “I’m sorry, but clouds just don’t appear and disappear like that, this isn’t the Everfree.”

“That’s exactly what I said not five minutes ago.” The tan earth pony behind the podium deadpanned.

“Who told you about the clouds?” The light blue pegasus questioned.

The mare simply pointed the cyan coated pegasus with the spectral colored mane behind Soarin’.

“Oh…” Soarin’ muttered starting to get a little nervous. Rainbow was showing even worse signs uncertainty. She started biting onto her front hooves to the point where bits of it would fly off. Beads of sweat were starting to drip off her muzzle, and he had only made things worse.

The dark manned Wonderbolt began to look around the room, trying to find any source of inspiration that would serve in a sudden epiphany that would help Rainbow’s case. All he saw were the questioning looks of the audience behind him. He could pretty much guess what they all were thinking; ‘This guy’s a Wonderbolt? Seriously?’

Soarin’ looked to the wooden floorboards beneath his hooves and sighed in defeat. He practically felt the heart break of one of his biggest fans as she saw one of her heroes look like an idiot in front of the small town crowd. The pegasus then heard the subtle opening and closing of a door, followed by the quiet murmurs of ‘excuse us, pardon us’. He dejectedly looked over to the crowd one last time to see three familiar fillies in the front row.

Great, now those impressionable fillies, whom he had made himself out to be some sort of hero for them, would now see him get humiliated in a room full of ponies. Soarin’ especially felt bad for the orange pegasus who seemed absolutely ecstatic to meet him. She had the attitude of a fan, but more importantly, she had the eyes of pupil, a student, someone who would be willing to do almost anything to be like the ones she looked up to. Scootaloo was her name, a name he hoped he wouldn’t forget.

“What a minute…” Soarin muttered to himself. The Wonderbolt got that epiphany he was looking for. “Your Honor!” He beamed.

“Yes Mr. Wonderbolt?” She said in an almost condescending way as she propped her elbow and hoof to hold up her chin.

“Have you ever heard of a Rogue Storm?” He asked with confidence.

“Can’t say that I have. This isn’t some other theory with more holes in it than swiss cheese, is it?”

“Well, your honor…” Soarin’ turned to face the crowd behind him, “Fillies and gentlecolts, allow me to explain one of the rarest phenomenon’s in weather, the rogue storm.”

Soarin’ flapped his wings a couple times and began to hover in the middle of the room. The stallion looked to the mayor, then back at the crowd. Once he had every pony’s attention he began.

“A rogue storm is essentially a set of clouds that can appear out of no where, and disappear just as quickly. What makes this possible is the magic imbalance in the atmosphere. I believe that the strange magic in the air above the Everfree got mixed in with the magic that was making its way from Cloudsdale to Ponyville, forming those clouds. That would explain why that storm appeared out of no where.”

The crowd started murmur amongst themselves again. After thinking for a few seconds, the mayor decided to speak. “Well…that explain where they came from, but where did they go?”

“That part is simple.” Soarin’ stated. “The clouds rained themselves out. Sense the storm formed in the same way that storms form over the Everfree, they disappear in the same way as well…by precipitation.”

The crowd began talking again, seemingly in agreeance to what Soarin’ had just said. Rainbow let lose a sigh in relief amongst the noise, while Scootaloo was letting lose the ‘I told you so’ card to her two friends, to which they deadpanned.

“Alright, order. Order in the court.” Mayor Mare said whilst hitting her mallet on her podium causing the crowd to calm down. “Do you have anything in terms of proof that might back up your claim Mr. Soarin’?”

The pale blue stallion turned back to the podium and descended back to the wooden floor boards below. His confident smile turned into a serious stare as he answered the tan coated mare with the green tie. “Ma’am, I have been a pegasus all my life. I have several years of military and professional flight training, and in those years I have learned a lot of shocking things. I would be willing to stake my position on the Wonderbolt’s to say that Miss Rainbow Dash is indeed innocent of all charges against her.”

The room went silent for a few moments from Soarin’s shocking claim. Rainbow’s jaw had dropped as well as the CMC’s, except for Scootaloo who was positively beaming at the amount of ‘cool’ that the Wonderbolt stallion was radiating.

After a few more seconds of silence the mayor began to chuckle as she was gathering all her papers on her podium together. “Well, Mr. Wonderbolt, I’m not sure about the rest of everyone else here, but you’ve convinced me.” Soarin’ let loose a breath that he wasn’t aware that he was holding and wiped his brow. “If you are willing to put such high stakes on the line for a pony you barely know, than I think you are being extremely genuine.

After collecting her papers the mayor stacked them and picked up her mallet for the final verdict. “I Mayor Mare, after hearing all that has been presented here today, here by declare that Rainbow Dash of Ponyville, innocent, and cleared of all charges brought up against her.” The mayor let her mallet fall against the podium and the celebration began.

The CMC were jumping for joy as Soarin’ fell to his rumped and let loose an incredibly stress relieving sigh. Some ponies in the crowd applauded as other began to leave through the main entrance. Rainbow bolted to Soarin’ and gave him a huge hug.

“Thankyou-thankyou-thankyou.” Rainbow said continuously as she gave the stallion a quick peck on the cheek.

Soarin’ smiled drunkenly. “Yeah, thank you Soarin’.” He said brainlessly. The moment would not last forever though.

“AAAAHHH!”

Everyone in town hall turned toward the open door to see where the scream had come from. Rainbow dashed out of the room leaving a still dazed Soarin’ to recover from the physical affection and scream. After the stallion shook his head a couple time he bolted out of the room to check on the commotion out side.

When he got there it was utter chaos. Ponies were running to and fro trying to get their homes while some were trying to grab their children so they could eventually do the same.

Rainbow, who was hovering in the air just out side of town hall, quickly stopped a panicking mare to ask her what was going on. The cream colored mare broke free and galloped away, but not before saying what was wrong.

“URSA!”

“What!?” Rainbow exclaimed as she flew higher to find the ursa. Sure enough, entering market street on the far side of town was a large blue bear with what appeared to be constellations running along its body. She quickly flew back to Soarin’ who had just made it out of town hall and who was now fluttering above the dispersing crowd. “Soarin’, I got to go get Twilight, keep the ursa busy ‘till then.” She then flew off.

Soarin’ stammered. “You’re getting who? And keep what busy?” The Wonderbolt flew higher to get a better look around town; it was then that he saw what Rainbow was talking about. The giant blue bear was about the size of a regular Ponyvillian home and was making its way through what look to be the street where vendors would sell there goods. It also appeared that it was chasing something.

“A pony!” Soarin’ yelled as he took off to where the ursa was at. It only took him a few seconds to reach the pony, he quickly swooped up the icy color coated mare that was being chased by the ursa. He flew a good distance away from bear before setting down the pony that he saved. “Get to safety ma’am. I’ll take care of the bear.”

The mare turned back to Soarin’ and thanked him for rescuing her. He blushed at the fact of how beautiful her crystal blue glowed when she spoke. When she ran off Soarin’ noticed that she was a pegasus.

“Of course she would forget that she has wings, who wouldn’t?” He said sarcastically as he took to the air again. The large ursa had knocked over a honey stand and was eating most of it contents when Soarin’ had made his back to Market Street. “You know, that’s called stealing where I’m from.” The pegasus said in a very lecture-like tone.

The ursa turned its head to face Soarin’, honey still dripping off its black nose. The bear let out a loud roar and charged the smirking stallion. The Wonderbolt simply flew over the lumbering creature as it crashed into a kiosk in the middle of the street.

“Come on, that’s the best you can do?” Soarin’ asked in feigned disappointment.

The bear removed itself from the debris and charged again. At the last minute Soarin’ once again flew over the beast letting out an ‘Ole’ as he did so. The ursa skidded to a stop before charging again. Soarin’ repeated his motion again, but the ursa was ready. The beast jumped as the pegasus flew up to try to avoid the charging bear, but couldn’t avoid it this time and smacked right into the ursa’s face.

When the ursa landed Soarin’ pealed himself off its face and stood on its muzzle to gaze at its raging eyes. The pegasus smiled awkwardly before quickly poked the beast in its right eye. The ursa let out a high pitched roar and covered its face, but not before Soarin took off again. As the bear was disoriented the pale blue stallion took this time to deliver one swift buck to the nose, causing a sickening cruuunch sound to emanate. What followed was a roar so loud and high pitched that it caused Soarin to fall from the sky whilst clutching his ears.

Soarin’ made sure he at least landed safely on all fours before covering his ears again. What went from screaming now went to whimpering as the ursa laid down and covered its snout. The bear opened its reddened tearful eyes to observe the damage that the forceful pegasus caused. The ursa moved its blood stained paws to check on the damage…and it was damaged. So much so that Soarin’ winced and let out an ‘oo’ when he saw the pain that he had caused. The ursa’s nose was dripping blood and was smashed inward, the bone appeared to have multiple breaks that made the nose look zigzagged.

The ursa let out a choked out sobbed and began running away frantically back to the woods, crying all the way. Soarin’ didn’t know large ferocious beasts could cry, that kind of made him bad.

“Oh well, at least it isn’t tearing up the town anymore.” He sighed.

A purple light then popped up next to him. When he turned, he saw a frantic looking unicorn with a lavender coat and purple mane with a pink stripe running through it and Rainbow Dash next to her.

“It right over here Twilight…” Rainbow tapered off she saw an ursa-less street before her. She turned around to look behind her then left, then to her right, finally to Soarin’. “Soarin’, where did the Ursa go?”

This gave yet another chance for Soarin’ to look impressive and he wasn’t about to let that go. “Yeah, well…” Soarin’ puffed out his chest as he feigned a stretch. “That ursa didn’t who he was dealin’ with so I had to show him. With a couple left hooks, a right cross, and a nasty buck to the nose, I sent that little baby cryin’ all the way to his mama’s house.” The Wonderbolt finished with a smirk on his muzzle.

“No way! You actually went one on one with Ursa Minor and won!?” The cyan coated pegasus mare asked in disbelief. Soarin’ answered Dash by simply nodding. Rainbow responded by let out a very un-Rainbow fan squeal.

Twilight was less than ecstatic though. “So…the ursa ran back into the woods then?”

“Yep.” Soarin answered.

“All the way back his mother’s house?” Twilight deadpanned.

“Probably, why do you ask?” He questioned.

“Have you even seen an Ursa Major?!” Twilight exclaimed.

“That…that’s what that was, right?” Soarin asked he pointed back to the woods. When he looked back at Twilight and saw she looked like she was about to pummel him, he then looked to Rainbow whose teeth were clattering uncontrollably, but still decided to ask, this time with a little less confidence and a little more sweat on his brow. “…Right?”

RROOOOAAAAARRRRRR!!!

“Oh, buck me.”

Major Problem: Part 1

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Soarin’, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight were all quaking in their figurative boots after they heard the earth shaking roar of the Ursa Major.

“Oh, man, what are we going to do?” Rainbow Dash asked aloud as she unconsciously spread her wings.

“Don’t worry Dash, we’ll think of something!” Soarin’ exclaimed as he placed his front hooves on the cyan pegasus’ shoulders and shook her slightly.

A subtle, but deep thud was felt by the trio of ponies that made them all turn and look toward the forest where the Ursa Minor ran into just moments ago. They couldn’t see anything yet, just a flock of birds flying out of the canopy of trees a couple miles away.

Twilight was the first to recover from the ground shaking thud. “We need to alert the town!” She turned to the pegasus mare who was now starting to calm down. “Rainbow, you need to gather the weather team and tell them to help evacuate everypony in town. After that, get Fluttershy, we may need her.”

Rainbow saluted and was about to take off, but stalled to ask Twilight a question. “What are you going to do?”

Another thud was felt.

The lavender unicorn remained calm and answered. “I need to head back to the library and send a letter to Princess Celestia. We’re going to need all the help we can get.”

The head weather mare of Ponyville simply nodded before taking off. Twilight then turned to Soarin’ giving the pale coated pegasus a stern look. “Because most of this is your fault, and you can somehow take on an Ursa Minor by yourself, you get the privilege of keeping the Ursa Major distracted.”

“What!? My fault!?” The Wonderbolt yelled.

“Yes, YOUR fault! If you had been thinking with your brain instead of your brawn, MAYBE we could have figured something out, without putting the whole town in danger!”

“Yeah, like you could have done any better.” Soarin’ muttered sarcastically.

The unicorn mare glared at the stallion. She was about to respond until a stronger thud was felt under her hooves. She held her tongue. “Just…do something to help out a town that’s about to become a playground for a giant bear!” She yelled.

The pegasus snorted, and with one powerful stoke of his wings he was in the air. The gust generated from his feathered appendages caused the mare to lose her balance and fall on her rear. As he hovered about a hundred feet in the air he called out to her. “I’ll show you how a Wonderbolt gets it done.” Soarin’ said before taking off over the Everfree.

Twilight quickly got to her hooves and observed the stallion fly away with a look of slight shock on her face. “That…that guy was a Wonderbolt?” She shook her head to get her mind back on track and took off toward her home.

Soarin’ was flying over the Everfree now…and he did not like it. The fear of taking on a monster bigger than the one he just faced moments ago made his blood run cold...unless it was just the chill in the air that made it seem so chilly, Soarin’ had a hard time deciphering which one.

The atmosphere over the creepy forest made this whole situation unnerving as well. The sky felt so different to Soarin’ for some reason, he felt like it had a mind of its own. It was almost…hostile, and the gradual build up of misty clouds was not calming his nerves.

None of these factors could keep him from his objective, however, he had a town to save. As much as he would hate to admit it, that purple unicorn mare named Twilight had a point. It WAS kinda’-sorta’ his fault.

A fog was starting to build up now as he flew further into Everfree airspace. The dark blue maned pegasus had been flying for only about two minutes now, but that was enough time to lose sight of Ponyville and get lost in the sea of clouds.

“Geez, can’t even see ten feet in front of me.” Soarin’ sarcastically commented. He could actually see about 50 feet before the density of the clouds got too thick. He came to a stop and closed his eyes. The pegasus extended his senses trying to feel if anything was disturbing the clouds. Of course, being that the weather over the Everfree was self maintaining, it was fairly difficult.

Soarin’ felt nothing out of the ordinary in terms of weather…or as ordinary as weather could get in the Everfree, but something did bother him.

“It’s quiet.” Soarin’ said to no one in particular. The loud thudding had stopped moments ago and only the sound of the occasional gust of wind was heard. Maybe he should have been paying more attention to his surroundings, that way he may have at least been able to find this supposedly enormous beast by now.

Soarin’ was starting to get a little impatient now, he was supposed to be in a fierce battle with a ferocious beast by now! A victory over an Ursa Major would be told throughout the ages. A stain glass window in Celestia’s main hall would be made the hour after he defeated the dreaded beast. Mares would come by the thousands just to—

“Where did the wind go?” Soarin’ questioned out loud. The pegasus felt the breeze dissipate as he had been fluttering forward mindlessly. From what he could remember, the wind had been blowing from east to west.

The Wonderbolt looked east, which was to his left. What he saw when he looked over was puzzling, it was a very large densely packed cloud that started from the roof of the canopy all the way the way to the misty clouds above. It wasn’t moving, which was strange. Don’t all Everfree clouds move on their own…all the time?

Soarin’ cautiously flew forward through the fog toward the cloud. He poked it. Nothing happened. He then started peeling the cloud like one would an orange. When the pale blue stallion finally managed to make a hole big enough to see through, he immediately regretted it.

The eye must have been the length from Soarin’s tail to his head in diameter. The red pupil shrunk when it focused on the gaping pegasus, revealing its orange iris. Soarin’ exploded backwards dismantling the dense cloud with the gust that was produced from the beat of his wings. The stallion had no time to see the beast in full form as he heard an incredible volume of air being pushed aside by some large object coming down on him at an incredible speed.

Time slowed down for Soarin’. The Wonderbolt’s pegasus magic was expanding beyond anything the stallion had ever felt before, the three-dimensional world around him was becoming as plain as day. It was not in the sense that he could see it, but in the sense that he was it. Anything that disrupted the molecules in the air Soarin’ could feel its size, direction of motion, and even the speed at which it was traveling.

The object, whatever it was, was moving downward at a hooked angle. Air, Soarin’ felt, was moving around and between the object. It was a hand or paw of some sort. The pale blue stallion shifted to his left slightly allowing two large appendages to fall to his left and right. A resounding thud along with the breaking of trees was heard as Soarin’ refocused on his target.

The beast was enormous. Soarin' had never seen a dragon in real life before, but he heard that they could get over a hundred meters long on; this beast was twice that. Its coat was a translucent purple with what looked like constellations adorning its fur. The Ursa Major was glaring at the pegasus when suddenly Soarin' heard a subtle cry coming from below.

When the Wonderbolt looked into the canopy of trees below the Ursa Major he noticed the blue bear which had just defeated minutes ago, pawing at the larger bear. This action earned the attention of the purple behemoth. The blue cub continued with a couple more murmurs and grunts, adding in a few gestures, the last of which went from the Ursa Minor's broken nose to the dumbfounded pegasus above.

The Ursa Major smiled motherly at the cub before picking it up and placing it a safe distance away. The death glare that Soarin' got following the familial display made the pegasus nearly wet himself.

"Well, you seem to have your hooves-er, um, paws full at the moment, so I'll be on my way now," The pale blue coated stallion said nervously.

The Ursa Major roared, making the air itself tremble. The vibration created instability for Soarin's wings, and he began to fall because of it. When regained his stability Soarin' noticed the large bear charging. Not wanting to remake the same mistake he made with the baby ursa by flying up, he chose to make the only remaining logical decision...

Soarin' ran away.

Super Soarin'

by Brony of Truth

Why Are You Here?

Unwelcome Visitor

Mesmerized

The Boom and the Search

Minor Problem

Major Problem: Part 1