//------------------------------// // Uneasy Interludes // Story: Oncoming Storm: Love and Wargames // by Chengar Qordath //------------------------------// The next few days at school were ... weird. Rainbow and I still had classes together and stuff, but it was hard to pretend everything was going normally when it was all so ... abnormal. I stole another glance at her out of the corner of my eye, but this time I caught her doing the exact same thing. She hastily looked away, trying to pretend she’d been staring out the window instead of looking at me. I promptly returned my attention to English class, or at least pretended to do so while privately stewing about my girlfriend. Ugh. This stupid awkward avoiding each other thing had been going on for too long. We needed to talk things out, and the only thing stopping us was our own nervousness over making the first move. Which was just silly, because one thing me and Rainbow definitely had in common was that neither of us were cowards. Once class was over I tracked her down in the hallway. She was in the middle of talking with Twilight and Fluttershy, but when they spotted me heading their way they both carefully slipped away, leaving us alone for our private chat. I cleared my throat, my feet shuffling as I stood in front of her. Deciding that it was past time to finally go up and talk to her was a lot easier than actually making it happen. For lack of any better ideas I opened with, “Hey.” Rainbow opened her mouth a few times and had one or two false starts before finally just following my lead. “Hey.” Well. I guess this was technically progress. At least we were actually talking to each other now, even if it was just monosyllables. However, I wasn’t going to give up that easily. “Um ... so ... we got lunch now. Did you wanna ... um ... you hanging with the rest of your pals, or have you got a bit?” Rainbow grimaced. “I, uh .... kinda wanted to trade desserts with Pinkie Pie today. And maybe ask Twilight for some help with my homework.” Oh. Guess I should’ve seen that coming. That was the kind of stuff she might’ve asked me about if things were better, but they weren’t. “Okay, I’ll just...” I started to turn away, but she grabbed my arm before I could leave. “I wasn’t ... um, I’ve got plenty of time to do that after we ... you know.” She sighed and rubbed the back of her head. “So ... look, I...” She stood there, one hand gesturing vaguely as she tried to find the right words. “Yeah?” I asked, secretly hoping she’d make the first move and spare me from having to seize the initiative. “Yeah.” She stood there for several seconds, then coughed. “So I was ... that is ... you, uh...” She grimaced, her head dropping as she couldn’t quite bring herself to look me in the eye. “So, uh, the tournament’s tomorrow, right? That should be awesome. Gonna have to touch up the paint jobs on everyone tonight, make sure they all look cool enough to show them off to the rest of the world. You know how it is.” “Yeah, gonna be doing the same.” Just because my army was all about digging trenches in the mud didn’t mean my miniatures should look ugly. Well, it actually kind of did, but it needed to be an artistic kind of ugly. Sort of like a movie actor who had a few carefully placed bits of dirt on his face to show him looking appropriately roughed up without actually damaging his perfect photogenic looks. I cleared my throat. “Um ... you’re still riding with us, right?” Rainbow bit her lip, then shrugged. “Sure, I guess. I mean, I didn’t ask anyone else for a ride. And ... you know, it’s ... even if things’re...” I knew exactly what she was trying to get to, even if the words weren’t quite coming out. Since I hadn’t been doing great with talking either, I decided to try something a bit more direct. Instead of talking I went up and wrapped her in the biggest, tightest hug I could. She jumped a little bit, probably just from surprise at the sudden hug, because a moment later she returned with enough force to make Pinkie Pie proud. We held each other for a long time, letting that say everything we hadn’t managed to put into words. And really, the words probably wouldn’t have done as good a job of saying it anyway. I probably would’ve kept it up for a while if not for the fact that we were still in school. Once we broke the hug, I finally managed to get the other half of what I needed to say. “M’still mad at you, butthead.” “Who’re you calling a butthead?” Rainbow shot back, poking my belly. “Pony-Twilight might be the Princess of Friendship, but you’re clearly the Queen of Buttheads.” “If I’m your queen, then I expect you to obey my commands from now on,” I shot back. “And ... well, still love you. Even if you are a butthead.” “Sap.” She leaned in a bit closer and murmured. “And I still ... you know, you too. Even if you are a flake.” “Bah.” I gave her a half-hearted punch in the shoulder for that. For a moment I was tempted to push a bit more on the big relationship stuff, but ... nah. There’d be time to do that later. Besides, we’d already made pretty big progress just by getting to the point of talking to each other again. I didn’t want to jump straight into what could be another heated discussion. I stuck to a much safer topic. “So what’s your plan for the tournament anyway? Still gonna run your weird hodgepodge army of elves, dwarves, trolls, and pirates?” “Their name is the Legion of Awesome.” Rainbow grinned, her chest puffing up with pride. “And duh I’m gonna use them. I mean, they’re only the best army ever. My army is led by a dwarf whose special power is to make explosions bigger and more devastating.” She grinned like a kid in a candy store. “Better. Explosions. How could I not use him?” I could think of several reasons, mostly the fact that my army had huge defense bonuses against explosions whenever they were dug into their trenches and foxholes. But Rainbow cared far more about making her army awesome than about making sure it was mechanically viable within the game’s current meta. Especially considering... “So where do the Elves and Pirates fit in?” “The pirates are bringing all the guns off their ships, including the big huge one that it takes a dozen guys to move,” Rainbow explained as though it was obvious. “So lots of explosions. And you forgot the most important part about the Elves. They’re not just Elves, they’re ninja Elves from the frozen northlands. That makes them substantially cooler.” “Well of course they’re cool,” I shot back with a smirk. “You just said they were from arctic glacier territory. I just hope they don’t give the rest of your army the cold shoulder. I’m sure once you get past the frosty exterior, they’re very ice.” Rainbow groaned and rolled her eyes. “Lucky I don’t have anything to throw at you... I mean, seriously, Cloud. Puns? I thought you had better taste than that. I blame Sparkler, she’s a bad influence. You never did this before your parents adopted her.” While I was normally all for blaming my little sister for ... well, everything, this time it wasn’t her fault. “How can I resist when you make it that easy?” Rainbow snorted and slugged me in the shoulder. “I’ll show you easy.” I started to open my mouth, but she figured out what was coming in time to slam a finger over it. “Don’t say it. Just ... don’t.” I rolled my eyes and gently removed her finger. “If you don’t want to be teased, don’t hand me golden opportunities on a silver platter” “Or you could just not,” Rainbow grumbled good-naturedly. “I thought you learned all about discipline and self-control and stuff with all your army brat training.” She smirked and poked me again. “I mean, look at your mom. She’s got tons of it, but it doesn’t look like any of it passed on to you.” I shot an unamused glower at her, and she flinched. “You definitely inherited her pissed-off glare though. It’s like the Stare, except it’s slightly less painful since it’s not coming from someone as nice as Fluttershy, but scarier since it’s coming from a special forces badass.” “That so?” I tried to keep the glare going, but I couldn’t come close to matching Mom in that field. Nobody else come close to matching her at making you feel like a completely disappointing failure with just a single look. “Yeah.” Rainbow shivered melodramatically enough to earn Rarity’s approval. “I swear, if you turn into some scarily badass but eternally disapproving mom whenever we get around to the whole kids thing...” She trailed off, her cheeks lighting up. “Um ... uh—anyway! You forgot about about the trolls in my army. Who are awesome. I mean, one guy screams at his troops so loud they get superpowers, and the other goes into battle with a bunch of bears.” She sighed and shook her head. “Wish I could’ve fit in the guy with a giant monster alligator too, but I needed the heavy infantry. And ... um, whatever the military term is for trained battle bears. I’m sure the army has an acronym for them, right? You guys have one for everything.” “Only things that actually exist,” I countered. “I don’t think any real armies have actually used squads of trained bears as a major unit.” “See, this is why your ‘realistic’ army is so boring compared to mine.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “It’s all boring and normal and doesn’t do anything cool or interesting. I mean, the only special ability your guys have is that they can dig holes in the ground to hide in.” “It’s called using terrain to your advantage and taking cover,” I groused. “The whole point of the army is to seize objectives, then fortify them and dare the enemy to come at me. That and having officers and a commander who provide them with nice buff bubbles.” Rainbow snorted and rolled her eyes. “Still playing it safe. You’re so busy fortifying and worrying about defense that you don’t actually get anything done.” “The best offense is a good defense,” I countered. “The longer I keep my guys alive and in the game, the more damage they’ll do.” “No, the best offense is a good offense,” Rainbow insisted. “Doesn’t matter how safe your guys are if they just sit around in their holes not doing anything cool. The whole point of having an army is to go beat up the other guy and be awesome doing it.” I sighed and rolled my eyes. “No, the point of having an army is to win. I mean, don’t get me wrong, your army looks cool and has a ton of crazy yet awesome stuff in it, but it’s all over the place. There’s no plan or tactical cohesion to it. It’s just ... it’s like you looked through the unit list and picked stuff purely on the basis of how awesome it sounded without ever thinking about whether it would actually work together.” Actually, considering I was the one who’d initially gotten her into the hobby in the first place, I knew for a fact that was exactly how she’d started out. When I’d first showed her the rulebook she’d gone straight for the crazy over-the-top stuff that was just so ... Rainbow. Of course, she didn’t see it that way. “Sheesh, Kicker, not everything is a super-complex plan. Sometimes you’re almost as bad as Twilight when it comes to all this planning ahead and coming up with checklists and stuff. You gotta be bold, seize the initiative, and improvise. It’s like that one book you loaned me says, no plan survives contact with the enemy.” “Why am I not surprised you remember that one but not ‘If you fail to plan, then you’re planning to fail’?” I groused. Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Because there’s more than one valid opinion.” She poked me again, a little bit harder than last time. “You’re always so ... I dunno if it’s stubbornness, or if you’re just so sure that you’re right that you automatically assume anyone who disagrees with you is just too dumb to get it. Sure, I get it, you like your guys who sit in their safe little bubble and dig holes to protect themselves. But c’mon, you include stuff like that guy who dual wields lightning spears, or the guy in custom-made steam-powered armor. That sounds way cooler than another set of guys who just around being safe all day.” “You make it sound like I don’t do anything but sit around playing it safe all day,” I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest. “It’s not like I don’t have any fun or do anything a bit risky, but there's a difference between being bold and being reckless.” “The point is to have fun!” she snapped. “Sometimes you’re just ... it’s like you think I shouldn’t do anything that’s not part of your plan for what I should do, even if I think your plan’s boring and I just wanna do something silly and awesome. Of course bear infantry or turning the pool into jello is crazy! That’s the entire point of it!” “And it doesn’t matter if I think it’s a bad idea and you shouldn’t do it?!” I shot back. “When I tell you that your army has poor synergy, it’s not part of some dastardly scheme to steal all the fun out of your life! I’m just trying to help you!” The two of us glared at each other for several seconds, neither of us willing to back down. Rainbow finally broke the stand-off, sighing and shaking her head. “You are such a stubborn dope sometimes.” “Takes one to know one.” Rainbow smirked at me. “You know you just admitted you’re a dope, right?” “Shut up.” A second after I said it I regretted it, wondering if I’d come out sounding too harsh. Sure, I was annoyed at Rainbow for being so ... herself, but I didn’t ... ugh. Stupid Rainbow. I tried to steer the conversation back into safer-ish territory. “Though ... um, speaking of the whole wargame tournament thing, stopped by the shop on the way here, took a look at the brackets. If we both win all our early matches, we go up against each other in the quarter finals.” Rainbow grinned, a competitive gleam in her eye. “Oh yeah? Don’t expect me to go easy on you. After all, gotta show you why your whole boring playing it safe thing is gonna blow up in your face when you go up against the Legion of Awesome.” I smirked, starting to get into the spirit of things. “I think I can handle your legion of mismatch. You wanna talk about boring plans and thinking too much? My army will shoot yours to bits before they get within a mile of them. You’ll be wiped out before you can even figure out what the most awesome final words would be.” “I don’t need a plan, being awesome comes naturally!” Dash shot back. “So does losing.” “Not to me.” Rainbow grinned and nodded towards the CHS trophy case, which had gained quite a few new items thanks to her. “Besides, I bet you’ll be so nervous about ruffling some feathers you’ll get rolled over before you even reach me.” Oh, it was on now. “I think I’m gonna enjoy kicking your butt far more than a proper girlfriend should.” “Only way that’s happening is in your dreams,” Dash shot back. “If you want to focus on  something a bit more realistic, feel free to kiss it.” “Bah.” I playfully swatted at her, which Rainbow easily dodged. “One of these days, Dash...” Her teasing, competitive grin widened. “Yeah, one of these days you might start to get fast enough to almost keep up with me. But only when I’m not using my magic. Or really even trying all that hard.” “Oh no, none of that,” I bumped my hip against hers. “It’s no fun to beat you if you’re not actually trying. Takes all the achievement out of it. I’d rather get my butt kicked a dozen times than have you hand me a pity win. Not that I’d need more than once chance to beat you.” Rainbow snorted and punched my shoulder. “You’re a nutcase. Thinking you could beat me, that’s textbook delusions of grandeur.” No way I was going to let her get away with that. “We’ll see how that works out this weekend. And then, once you lie in the ashes of defeat, seeing that I have brought all that you built to ruin ... then you can admit that I’m right.” I smirked and tapped her nose. Rainbow scoffed and swatted away my hand. “Never happen in a million years. By the time we’re done, you’re gonna be apologizing to me after my awesomeness makes mincemeat out of your wussy, playing it safe plan.” “You’re crazy if you think that’ll happen.” I caught her eye, and our competitive grins shifted a bit. I started to lean in towards her, and her lips pursed in response. Then someone loudly cleared their throat behind us. We both quickly jumped apart, shuffling awkwardly as Vice-Principal Luna glowered at us. “No PDAs in the hallway, you two. Move along.” Damn. Luna-blocked. After school, it was off to the Apple farm for a bit more training. There was still a part of me that wondered just how crazy my life had become when magical pistol training was now a normal part of my daily routine. Still, considering the fact that getting mad while holding a nerf gun left me with a burned hand and Applejack with bruised ribs she was still sore at me over, it was only prudent to get my magic under control. We were pretty sure I’d gotten things under control enough to avoid any more accidental outbursts, but pretty sure wasn’t good enough. Besides, it gave me an excuse to play around and see exactly what else I could do. Even if we’d kind of shifted gears from just trying random things to testing whether I could produce consistent results. Much like with the marksman training Mom and Dad had pushed me through years ago and still kept up semi-often, it wasn’t good enough to hit the target once. I had to do it every single time. Sunset was watching me this time, leaning back against the fence at a safe distance. We’d also attracted an audience in the form of Derpy. I was a bit nervous about having the world’s most accident-prone girl anywhere near guns, but I hadn’t had the heart to tell her she couldn’t come. Especially since I hadn’t really spent much time with her lately. Between all the Special Rainbow Time, family, and hanging out with the rest of the Rainbooms for help with my magic, I just hadn’t had much time with the Derpster. I made sure my ear and eye protection were firmly in place, then looked back to them. “You two safe?” Derpy grinned and shot me a thumbs up that quickly transformed into a sheepish grin when Sunset had to adjust her earplugs. Once that was done, Sunset shot me a second thumbs up. “The high speed camera is ready. Remind me to thank Twilight for letting us borrow it.” “Will do.” Sunset’s collection of magical analysis equipment was certainly getting more and more elaborate with each passing day. Twilight’s parents seemed to be fine indulging her scientific whims as long as she didn’t completely break the bank, and apparently the other pony version of Twilight was fine with providing Sunset any magical tools that could make it through the portal in working order. Hopefully between the high-speed camera and that weird orb Sunset said was something called an aetherscope we’d get some useful data. I took a deep breath, then focused on the target we’d attached to one of the many tree stumps in Applejack’s orchard. Once I was ready, I called out. “Thunderbolt shot, test twenty two. Firing in three. Two. One.” I pulled the trigger. There wasn’t anything crazy about the shot itself, and it hit the little paper target without doing anything crazy. The impact on the tree trunk was another matter entirely, as the impact sent splinters flying out, and once the dust cleared a fist-sized chunk of wood was missing from the old tree stump Sunset picked up the camera and quickly checked the playback. “We got everything.” Derpy winced as she pulled out her earplugs. “It’s such a nice change of pace for explosions to happen without me being involved with them.” I snickered and rolled my eyes. “Oh come on, you’re not that bad, Derpy. Well, aside from that one incident with the popcorn. And the oatmeal thing. Or when...” I trailed off as I realized I was kind of defeating my own point. “Okay, fine. And it’s a good thing you’re straight, ‘cause if you and Pinkie ever slept together and you got powers from her...” Derpy’s cheeks lit up even as she snorted in laughter. “C-Cloud!” Sunset rolled her eyes and grinned. “She’s got a point. I don’t think the local insurance rates could take it. Or they’d just rewrite their policies to say that they don’t protect against Acts of Derpy.” She paused, her grin fading a bit as she cleared her throat. “Of course, my current working theory is that you gaining powers was a unique one-off circumstance due to Rainbow’s powers being in flux since she just got them. For the moment, actually confirming it would one way or the other is tricky.” Derpy nodded along, grateful for the shift in topic. “Yeah, a sample size of one isn’t really much to go off of. And expanding the pool would be...” “I’m not asking the girls to go out and hook up with a bunch of random people just to get me more data,” Sunset deadpanned. “Especially since that wouldn’t replicate the same circumstances anyway.” Her eyes flicked over to me. “You and Rainbow are a lot ... closer.” “You would know.” Sunset had read my mind back when the powers first showed up, just to make sure I wasn’t in the middle of turning into another crazed magic-fueled psycho. Big surprise, that had given her a bit more insight into the big relationship I was in. Of course, the reminder of Rainbow was enough to get me distracted thinking about her instead of the magical tests I was supposed to be focusing on. Derpy took over the conversation, oblivious to what was on my mind. “So ... um, moving on from the weird and awkward turn this entire conversation has taken...” She cleared her throat. “Did the camera catch what we needed?” “Yep!” She held the camera up for us, letting us see the playback. “It’s all here. Of course, it’ll have to wait until we get it on Twilight’s computer to run some serious analysis. Right now all we have is a small screen and an app on my phone.” “They really do have an app for everything,” I idly murmured. “So, what does the gun magic analysis phone app tell us?” Sunset tapped a few buttons, then nodded to herself. “Well, going off what we can tell about the angle of the shot and impact and my quick and dirty estimate of your muzzle velocity, then comparing that against the control group tests we did earlier...” I tried to follow along, but all the complicated physics had never been my favorite topic. Though I suppose it could’ve been a lot worse. If Rainbow was here, she probably would’ve gone unconscious about thirty seconds into the lesson, and now we’d all be struggling to follow Sunset over the sound of Dash’s snoring. Well okay, maybe not that bad—she cared about anything with my magic. Usually the only thing that made her completely check out was boring school lectures that honestly made me struggle to stay engaged too, and I was one of the good students. Sunset cleared her throat, and I realized she’d stopped talking. “So, you get all that?” I quickly tried to cover. “Huh? Yeah, sure.” Judging by her wry grin, Sunset didn’t buy it for a second. “It’s alright, I did get a little technical. So where did I lose you?” “It’s not...” I sighed and massaged my forehead. “Sorry, I’m just a little...” I waved my free hand around in a vague sort of gesture. Derpy frowned, then walked over and put a hand on my shoulder. “You okay?” “Yeah, it’s just...” I bit the bullet and came out with the truth. “You heard about me and Dash having that blow-up, right?” “More or less.” With a hint of a smile, Derpy explained, “I got the news in Rainbowese.” I could guess what that meant. “So, ‘Cloud's a butthead.’” Derpy snorted softly. “In about a dozen different variations, yes.” “We heard about it at lunch the next day,” Sunset chimed. “Well, not exactly heard about it, but she got really moody when Rarity asked about that tournament you two are doing this weekend.” Derpy’s wall-eyes rose a bit at that. “Since when was Rarity into wargaming tournaments?” “She’s not.” Sunset shrugged. “But she did give Rainbow a bit of artistic advice when it came to painting up her models. Apparently a good working knowledge of fashion and color balance can be applied to telling Rainbow what colors would look awesome on Pirate Elves.” “Arctic Ninja Elves,” I corrected idly. “Anyway, sorry if I’m off my game. Just ... y’know, got some stuff on my mind.” “Hey, we all have bad days.” Derpy walked over to the fence and tried to take a seat on it. The wooden fence promptly collapsed beneath her, sending her tumbling to the ground with a startled yelp. She groaned, but held up a hand to keep us from rushing over to check her. “I’m okay. Nothing hurt but my pride. And my back. And my butt. And Applejack’s fence.” She sighed, surveying the damage. “I’ll help her fix that later. Assuming she’ll let me after what happened with her barn, even though I had no idea the chickens would react that badly.” “Don’t worry about it,” Sunset assured her, helping her up. “Stuff breaks all the time on the farm, they’re used to fixing it.” “Right,” Derpy shifted her attention back to me. “And in the meantime, one thing I can help fix is Cloud and Rainbow.” She smiled hopefully at me. “So ... um, if there’s anything you want to talk about, just to get it off your chest...” “Yeah.” I took a deep breath and ordered my thoughts. “It’s just ... you know, we talked some, but stuff is still up in the air. It’s ... I guess we wanna make up, but we’re also both still kinda mad at each other too. It’s like one of those sitcoms where both of us would be happy to settle things and forgive each other just as soon as the other one apologizes for everything.” I groaned and slumped down a bit. “It’s just ... you know, we’re almost certainly gonna work through it eventually, but we haven’t done it yet so...” “It’s just one of those things where you both need some time to figure it out,” Sunset assured me. “Happens all the time with arguments and relationships.” “Especially when you both want to work it out,” Derpy chimed in with a smile. “I mean, when she was talking to me Rainbow went on about how you were a stubborn stupid jerkface, but I never once heard her say anything close to wanting to break things off. It’s ... she might be frustrated, hurt, and upset, but she’s still firmly behind making things work with you.” “I know that feeling,” I grumbled. I thought back to the last talk we’d had. “I just ... we’ve known each other for years, and I think I get her pretty well, but then she comes out with something and I just don’t know what to make of it.” I hesitated a moment, then asked them. “Am I boring? I mean, that was one of the things Rainbow said. So...” I groaned and slumped back. “Okay, maybe not exactly like that, but ... you know. Kinda-ish?” “I think I get it,” Derpy agreed. “I mean, you’re usually the one who tries to be the...” She bit her lip, frowning and searching for the right words. “Well, when it comes to Rainbow’s pranks I’m usually fine with going along with them, and Fluttershy only objects if she thinks they might be a bit mean. You’re the one who always brings up the ... practical stuff.” “Well someone has to,” I groused. “It’s .. if Rainbow’s doing something she’s going to get busted for and earn three weeks of detention, someone ought to point that out. You know how Rainbow can get: so excited she doesn’t think things through.” Sunset frowned at me. “Cloud, no offense, but I think you might not be giving Rainbow enough credit. It’s ... I don’t think you were telling her anything she didn’t already know about the jello pool prank. Getting away with it was never the point. I think Rainbow would much rather deal with some detention than pull off a huge prank and not get any credit for it.” “Good point,” Derpy agreed. “Really, the closest she usually comes to subterfuge is wanting everyone to know she did it without leaving any solid evidence for the principals to punish her with. Like if she had someone help her with a solid alibi...” She shot a pointed look my way. “Her alibi was terrible,” I grumbled. “Nobody would believe Rainbow Dash was in study hall. It took me all of five minutes to come up with something better.” “So why didn’t you?” Derpy probed. “I remember back in middle school you were always helping Rainbow get away with her crazy schemes. What changed?” “I was helping her,” I grumbled. “I told her it was a bad idea and she wouldn’t do it.” “Because it was too big, she couldn’t get away with it, and everyone would know it was her.” Derpy smiled at me. “Now, I’m just a silly old me who’s not an expert in all things Rainbow, but I don’t think ‘This prank is so huge and awesome that everyone will know only you could’ve pulled it off, and nobody would be able to ignore it’ is going to be a very convincing argument.” “Well not when you put it like that,” I grumbled. “But...” Sunset held up a hand to cut me off. “Okay, I know the sum total of my romantic experience is manipulating a guy so I could be more popular, but I think maybe you need to try looking at things from Rainbow’s perspective.” With a wry grin, she admitted, “One thing I can say for my magical mind-reading powers, I’ve gotten way better at seeing the world through other people’s eyes. It might be worth considering that what you see as just providing basic common-sense advice might not come across that way to Rainbow.” Derpy nodded along. “When it comes to an argument, everyone thinks they’re the one who’s being completely reasonable and the other person isn’t.” “Well yeah, but...” I trailed off, spending several seconds trying to come up with a good response before finally admitting, “I’m trying to think of a way to say that the difference is that I’m right and she’s wrong, except in a way that doesn’t sound quite so much like I’m falling into the problem you just pointed out.” Derpy gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “It’s okay, Cloud. We all make those mistakes. It’s what makes us human.” Sunset grinned and added, “Or what makes us trans-dimensional magical unicorn ponies who happen to currently have the body of a human.” “Accommodating that is going to add a new layer of complication to our pronouns,” I chimed in. The good humor didn’t last for long before my mind got back to Dash. “So, uh ... you think I might have messed up with her?” Derpy shrugged. “I’ll give her the same advice next time I see her. I don’t think it’s a matter of either of you being wrong just needing to see the other’s point of view.” “Right.” I let out a long sigh. “I guess we’ll figure that out eventually. In the meantime, I think we’ve got enough testing with my magic. You want to try some of yours, Sunset?” “Sure.” She froze a second later, her friendly smile fading away. “Wait, you don’t mean...” “Yup.” I pulled out a couple sabers I’d borrowed from fencing club. “It’s a good way to see if we can develop your mind reading past touch range and apply it to other things.” “Or it’s just an excuse for you to smack me with a fencing sword while I’m wearing a blindfold,” Sunset grumbled. “Your eyes can deceive you, don’t trust them,” I answered in my best impression of a wise old man. “You must learn to stretch out with your other senses. Trust your feelings. Clear your mind of distractions. Let go of your conscious self and act on instinct.” Sunset snorted and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, whatever you say Obi-Wan. If you’re the expert, how about you try it first and show me how it’s done?” I wasn’t going to fall for the bait. “You’re the one who can tap into the Force.” I frowned and shifted topics as something occurred to me. “Though actually, that whole idea of putting away conscious thought to run on instinct is a lot older than Star Wars. Dad tried to explain all the philosophy behind it once while he was teaching me a couple Krav moves, and Aunt Wind tried to go into the psychology of it when I asked her, but...” I shrugged. I wasn’t stupid, but advanced psychology and philosophy were a bit past my field of expertise. “Anyway, you ready?” I gave my blade a dramatic flourish. Sunset slowly weighed the blindfold. “As I’ll ever be. Worst case, I get a few bumps and bruises. Best case, I get way better at using magic.” Derpy grinned. “Plus Cloud has some frustrations to work out, and could use a target to smack around with a sword for a bit.” I rolled my eyes. “No really, this all for Sunset’s benefit. Mostly. At least fifty-one percent.” Sunset sighed and put the blindfold on. “The things I do for friendship. Though be aware, if you strike me down, I’m going to come back really pissed with you.” “So noted.”