"Phew..." Flame said and wiped the sweat from his forehead as both Pegasi took off from one of the cloud houses and flew straight through the north Cloudsdale street. "I'm glad that this bag is no longer that heavy... How many letters do we have to deliver right now?"
Derpy took a quick look at her note on her hoof. After confirming how many adresses left, she turned back to her friend and happily exclaimed. "Just only two letters!"
"Oh, thank Celestia," he said. "I'm not sure if my body would appreciate being in such exercise for any minute longer." Flame didn't lie. In the beginning, the brown bag filled with tons of letters was so heavy, that both Flame and Derpy had to hold the bag together until the weight dropped down enough (after an hour) to make the blue Pegasus carry the bag without a problem.
When the fire-maned stallion asked Derpy if she always has to deliver such amount of letters, the gray Pegasi said that if it wasn't for her boss –with whom she spoke today– she would be at home by now.
However, instead of having a whole day for herself, Derpy's boss gave her a new task of delivering a lot of letters to Cloudsdale because, apparently, nopony else was available. She also mentioned that post office was –thankfully– next to the cafeteria where they both met. That helped her a lot with carrying the bag full of letters since she didn't have to worry about doing something wrong that would cause all letters to be lost in the process.
Flame nodded, not quite getting why she was the only available hard-working mail pony. After all, he thought that there were enough ponies in this profession, but it seems that not many of them are Pegasi.
The gray mare and Flame Thrower flew for a while until they both stopped at the crossroads and waited until the green light let them continue their flight. It didn't take too long for other Pegasi who flew through the same street to stop as well.
As Flame watched all Pegasi flying from the opposite street, he reminded himself of why he got here in the first place. He still didn't know where his sister's address is, and top of that, it looked like there was a very low chance of him getting there faster. He wasted already to much time, so he decided to give it a shot and ask the gray Pegasus about it. Hopefully it won't turn out to be another dead end. "Uh, Derpy?"
Derpy Hooves moved her head and looked at the blue Pegasus. "Hmm?"
"Do you maybe know where is a street called Wavey Wings Street in Cloudsdale?" Flame Thrower asked.
It took a second for Derpy to process the question (which made Flame a little bit nervous giving the fact he would be lost as probably he knows no pony else who could help him find the address,) then, by slowly taping one of her hooves under her chin; Derpy tried to remind herself said street. "Wavey, wavey, wave– Oh, I know where it is! But you mean upper Wavey Wings Street or lower Wavey Wings Street?"
Flame looked back at his friend with visible pure confusion on his face. "What?"
The gray mare took her hooves and raised them once higher and once lower as she begins to visualize her words. "Wavey Wings Street is divided between upper and lower sector. Upper Wavey Wings Street's houses have in their adresses slash after house number, which basically means how high in the sky the house is located, while lower sector only has numbers."
The fire-maned stallion moved his head towards his saddlebag as he opened it to get a piece of paper with his sister's address and read it once again to be sure. "Then, I guess it's higher, 'cause it says 11/5. I was actually so confused about this slash five. Overall, I think it's a weird address... Who even came up with higher and lower sectors?!"
"We may never know" – Derpy put one of her hooves under her chin in thought as one of her eyes moved higher than the other eye – "but why do you want to find that street?"
Flame Thrower sighed and put the piece of paper back into his saddlebag. As he turned his head back, he locked his eyes on the image of ponies flying by. "I wasn't supposed to actually meet any of you today because I was planning to visit my sister to tell her myself that I'm back. But, I couldn't find the street so–"
"You asked Cloud Chaser, and she said she doesn't know too, but maybe somepony at our meeting will know, right?" Derpy Hooves finished his sentence before Flame could even say a word.
The blue Pegasus gave her a weird look as if she told him that clouds are made of marshmallows. "Yeah, that's pretty much how it was..." he said while he dropped the idea of figuring out what his friend just performed.
When no more Pegasi were crossing the street from the opposite side, the light changed to green, and soon all Pegasi from their side –including Flame and Derpy– took off from the cloud that they were standing on the whole time which let them continue their flight.
After a few minutes of reassuring silence between both Pegasi, Derpy looked at fire-maned stallion and decided to break it by asking something that she had in her mind since they left the cafeteria. "Uhm, I heard from Compass Star that you were gone for a quite long time. Can I know why did you leave?"
It didn't take to long to for the blue Pegasus to turned his head towards gray mare and with the smile said. "Yeah" – Flame nodded and made a maneuver that lat him evade few cloud obstacles on his path. After doing so, he quickly flew back on the same level in the air next to his gray friend – "it was because I wanted to prove to everypony that I'm somepony worth having a cutie mark and that I'm capable of doing great things," he explained.
"Did you succeed in that?" Derpy asked while she looked at the blue Pegasus next to her.
"Yeah, just look on my flank," Flame pointed on his cutie mark as then, for the first time, the gray mare fully saw Flame's cutie mark. "That's my trophy for not giving up and keeping myself with thoughts that I can be as cool as The Wonderbolts themselves! Wait... I'm already way cooler than them!" he smirked.
"So nice to hear thatl! Although I have to say, that your cutie mark reminds me a little bit of Rainbow Dash's cutie mark," the gray mare said.
The connection that Derpy noticed in both Rainbow and Flame's cutie marks raised some interest in his mind. "Maybe it says that we're related or something like that? I'm not so sure about that, but the fire on top of my cutie mark surely goes with my mane and name."
Derpy giggled and said, "Yeah! Your name, mane, cutie mark, but– wait... what's your special talent?"
Flame Thrower smiled upon seeing that another chance of his storytelling arises. "Wanna hear a story about it? I'm sure that at his point, I'm quite good at this."
"Yeah, why not–" before she could finish her sentence, she flew directly into the cloud-made fence behind which stand house "–oops, it looks like we arrived."
Flame Thrower chuckled upon seeing Derpy's silly image of being stuck in the cloud-fence. He flew to his friend and gave her his hoof to get her out of the fence. She took it and slowly got out of the fence trap.
As the blue Pegasus landed on the cloud ground next to his friend, he asked, "This is our address?"
"Yep!" she stated and then looked at her friend with a more saddened face expression. "I'm sorry, but your storytelling will have to wait," Derpy said while she shook off some of the clouds that left on her coat.
"You have no idea how happy I'm to hear that," Flame Thrower said as he chuckled once again.
"But it was you, who sugges–"
"I know, I was just kidding," the fire-maned stallion interrupted her sentence quickly as he saw a confused look of Derpy; he sighed and added, "Anyway, let's deliver these letters."
Two and a half hours later...
"So, this is it, right?" the blue Pegasus stated, as he and Derpy both now stood on the front yard before the two-story cloud tower. After one and half hours of helping Derpy deliver the letters, the blue Pegasus finally stood before his sister's house.
The Cloudominium as the sign above the doors said, was obviously made from clouds. There was a big rainbow that stretched from the top of the roof towards down to the cloud-ground. It also had a look of a tower with attached clouds around and a rock-lined path on the front yard that leads to the entrance. In some parts of the front yard were smaller rainbows that also leads down the cloud towards the ground below.
"Yes, this is Wavey Wings Street 11 upper sector. It's a little bit far away from the center of Cloudsdale, so that's why there are not many cloud houses, but it's also very close to Ponyville," Derpy explained. While the fire-maned stallion looked up, he noticed a very familiar symbol. He had no idea how he didn't notice that when they both arrived, but now he was with no doubt surely convinced that it is Rainbow Dash's house.
'Rainbow waterfalls, blue walls, and a giant symbol of the cloud with a rainbow bolt coming out of it... Yep! that's my sister's house,' Flame Thrower said to himself in his mind.
The blue Pegasus begins to walk towards the door. As the gray mare begins to follow him as well, he said. "Then, let's see if my sister is at hom– wait!" Flame Thrower suddenly stopped, which caused Derpy to bump into his tail. As she shook her head after a collision the fire-maned Pegasus turned back towards the gray mare. "I was so occupied with getting here that I completely forgot about what I'll say when I'll be standing in front of her!"
Derpy Hooves smiled reassuringly as she took one of her hooves and patted her friend on the shoulder. "Rainbow Dash is your sister, so whatever you say, she will be happy to see you."
The fire-maned Pegasus' nervousness begins to fade as it got replaced with hope and a smile. "You think so?"
"I know so," she chuckled. "But we may never find out if you don't knock on the door!"
"Yeah, you're right. Thanks, by the way," Flame Thrower said with a smile as Derpy nodded with a smile and replied, "It's nothing."
The fire-maned stallion turned back towards the path to the entrance. He took few steps, and followed by the gray mare, soon stood before the door with another sign.
'Welcome to the house of the most awesome pony in whole Equestria!' The fire-maned Pegasus smiled once he read the sign that reminds him so much about himself, but at the same time... about his sister.
'The second most awesome pony,' Flame thought as he chuckled to try to cheer himself up. After all, he is about to meet his sister after five years! He hasn't seen her how she grew up – he left when she was still a filly. Now, she had her own house, and apparently, she owned a doormat with herself on it...? Flame Thrower couldn't believe it either. But, that's what he saw as he unintentionally looked down. He had to admit, having such a doormat is cool, but at the same time creepy and weird as heck.
'Maybe I should get my merchandise too? Like some cool t-shirts or stickers, not a doormat for su–' his thoughts got interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. As he looked up, he saw that it was his friend who pressed the button.
"Sorry, but you just stood there for a little while, and I couldn't resist peeking this button," Derpy Hooves said with a sheepish smile.
Flame Thrower took one of his hooves and waved it dismissively. "It's all good."
He sighed, any second now his sister will appear at the door and everythi– "Derpy, I understand you can't resist this button, but, don't you think it's a little bit too much pressing it ten times in just a few seconds?"
"Uh, sorry, I'm done," she said with a sheepish smile as she moved away from the button.
Flame rolled his eyes as they both waited... waaited... waaaited and...
Nothing.
Completely zero reaction or sound from the other side of the door.
As Flame Thrower begins to realize that she is probably not at home, he decided to knock a few times at the door anyway. When it resulted in no reaction again, he decided to use his secret tactic. That should for sure make a some sort of reaction, but If not, that means she is for sure not at home. "Let's try this..." Flame said as he sight and while looking at the windows he shouted. "Hey! I'm Uhm... Soarin! And I'd like to invite you to join the Wonderbolts, yep it's totally true! All you have to do is open the door!"
Again, silence... That means she is not at home.
"Why did you say that? You don't want your sister to take you as somepony else, don't you?" the gray mare with confusion on her face asked.
"It's not like that," he facehoofed himself as he dropped his head down. "I remember that whenever Rainbow Dash heard about anything related to The Wonderbolts from kids in our neighborhood; she couldn't resist to fly by and start talking about how cool they are and such stuff. So I thought, if somepony would say such a thing, she would definitely show up," Flame Thrower looked back to his friend as he still kept his head down. "Doesn't matter, if she was at home, I think she would come out by now."
Derpy saddened, and after a moment, asked. "Oh... so what now?"
The fire-maned Pegasus turned back and looked up to notice that the sun was still in the middle. "Well, that means, from what my mother said, she is probably in Ponyville," he sighed once again and then added. "The problem is, I wasn't in Ponyville since I was a young colt, so probably many things changed. You see how I thought I know Cloudsdale as good as my own hoof and how it turned out... let alone trying to find my sister in Ponyville."
The gray mare scratched the back of her head as she thought. "Well, we actually delivered everything that I had for Cloudsdale, and after leading you to Rainbow's house, I was supposed to fly back to Ponyville's post office. But since you are flying to Ponyville too, maybe I can take you to Sugarcube Corner. From what I know, Rainbow Dash is there very often, so maybe–" the gray mare didn't have a chance to finish her sentence as the blue Pegasus jumped on her, embracing her in a warm hug, by the way almost making Derpy fall to the ground and fixing her eyes for a quick moment. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!!" he said with a big grin.
Derpy giggled as she returned the hug, and after a few seconds, broke it. "No problem!" She took off the ground and flew into the air. "Are you coming?"
He chuckled and as well took off, "Lead the way, m'lady!"
Derpy Hooves giggled once again, and soon they both begin to fly in the direction of Ponyville, which happened to be not so far away from Rainbow Dash place, as she previously mentioned. Also, Flame Thrower did as he said and followed the gray mare all the way to Sugarcube Corner.
The path to Ponyville didn't take too long, as Flame's friend said earlier. It took only five minutes to get them to the center of said town.
Soon both Pegasi softly landed on the ground where he assumed was the center of Ponyville. Flame looked around to notice that the town from his foalhood didn't change that much. More buildings, that's for sure, but other than that, nothing very much changed.
When he looked behind he noticed that Town Hall still stands in the middle of the town, as Flame remembered, but he quickly noticed some other changes. The whole building looked like after a major renovation and was looking much better than the last time he saw the building. Maybe it was due to the newly painted cream paint walls or so polished pink windows that illuminated the Town Hall's interior from the ground floor and the first floor where said pink windows were located. Flame couldn't wrap his head over it, but while he tried, the blue Pegasus noticed the same old reddish pointed-stylized roof, which apparently hasn't had gone through the renovation.
When Flame Thrower got more familiar with the appearance of the cream-colored rotunda, the blue Pegasus begins to look around as he looked over the main road that cuts through the center of the town. Just then, he finally notices some town's inhabitants.
Like the last place he visited, Ponyville was a mix of various races of ponies. He saw a red Earth pony stallion with a blond mane and green eyes. The red Earth pony had a big green apple as a cutie mark and looked like he pulled a wooden cart filled with an apple pile. For some unknown reason, Flame found this stallion awfully familiar.
Eventually, he decided to move to the next inhabitants, which happened to be a couple of unicorn and Earth pony mares that sat on a nearby bench.
The cream mare had curly dark blue mane with violet stripes and teal color eyes. She resembled the exact three sweets as her cutie mark.
While he had no care in the world how they sit on the bench, the next mint-colored mare with cyan mane sat in such a way that it had to make a reaction out of the blue Pegasus.
He didn't understand the way she sat. Instead of sitting like all ponies does, the mint mare sat in such a way that her back was facing the bench while her hind limbs hung down on the edge of a wooden bench. She also kept her forelimbs next to her. For Flame, however, it was not a usual sight, and that definitely got him interested.
Meanwhile, it looked like both mares were talking about something until the mint mare noticed Flame's gazing from behind her friend. The mint unicorn leans out past her friend, which made the cream mare look behind her as well. Thanks to that, the blue Pegasus noticed her cutie mark – a gold lyre.
Still, glazing like a creep on some ponies is not something that Flame would like to have on his account, so he decided to wave his hoof in the meaning of hi with a nervous smile on his face.
Apparently, both mares didn't find it wrong because they smiled and even waved back. After doing so, they turned their heads towards each other and moved with their conversation.
Flame Thrower sighed with relief. 'My curiosity is gonna doom me someday...' he scolded himself in his mind.
"Flame?" Derpy asked as she pulled out Flame from his thoughts while he had focused eyes on an orange unicorn with brown mane, who just entered one of the houses. He couldn't see the rest of his appearance, but that pony looked awfully familiar to him too. Still, as soon as Derpy's words reached his ear, the fire-maned Pegasus quickly turned his head in her direction to give the gray mare his full attention.
"Yeah?" Flame Thrower asked as he moved his head towards the gray mare.
"I asked if that's okay if I leave you here. I have to go back to my work to leave this bag" – Derpy took her hoof and pointed on Flame's saddlebag where he hid Derpy's bag for letters – "and report that all letters got delivered."
It seemed that his gray friend was talking for a long time, but due to his glazing, he didn't hear a word. However, as soon as he realized what Derpy said, his facial features took a more sad look. "Aw, I thought I'd have a chance to talk with you more and finally tell you how I got my cutie mark."
She took her hoof and begun to rub her forelimb as she sighed and looked down. "I'm so sorry, Flame! I thought we are still gonna have some time, but... it looks like it will have to wait."
"I heard that from somepony before," he smirked upon reminding himself that Cloud Chaser still didn't get a chance to know the whole story of his journey. Although he wouldn't care or even dare to always mention that, if it only wasn't for the fact that they are his friends, and it would be nice of him to told them what he has gone through in five years. Also, it's always cool to mention that he had amazing adventures, even if it comes with the price of hour-long storytelling, which after doing so, his mouth feels so dry like if it was Bone Dry desert. "But you still didn't tell me where that Sugarcup, or whatever it's called, is located," Flame added as he knew that it was the biggest one of the many reasons they both ended up in Ponyville.
"Oh, you're right! I'm sorry, " she looked up and chuckled after she hoofed her forehead. "You see that building with a gingerbread-like roof and a tower that looks like birthday cake?" the gray mare asked as she pointed to the said building on the horizon.
"I thiiink I see..." he tried to focus his eyes even harder, and to do so, he leaned but quickly stepped back as Derpy took off and flew before him.
"Okay, then I hope you gonna find Rainbow Dash there! Although I really have to get going..." she looked at the nearby clock tower and soon added. "Bye, Flame! Hope to see you soon!"
Derpy waved and just wanted to take off, but...
"WAIT!" the blue Pegasus yelled almost immediately when the gray mare took off. She looked behind with a surprised and confused look.
"You forgot" – he turned his head to his saddlebag and took the empty bag with Ponyville's post office emblem – "thys," he added while he holds the brown bag in his mouth.
"Oh! Thanks, I'm so silly," the gray mare giggled as she flew to the blue Pegasus and landed before the fire-maned stallion and took the bag from him and threw it at her back.
"Okay, I think I got this. Thank you, Derpy! Looking forward to meet ya again!" Flame said, and soon they waved each other for the last time, and after that, Derpy took off and flew in a different direction.
With a simple sigh, the blue Pegasus looked around once again as his eyes finally rested on the view of a pink fountain with scultputer of a grinning Earth pony mare that stood –with the usage of her right hind leg– on something what looked like a ball.
"Well, maybe I could use some walk and a little bit of chilly relax," he put one of his hooves under his chin. "I didn't have a good walk for a littl– oh, to heck with that! I can't risk my sister getting away again!" he took off and bolted towards Sugarcube Corner, which might be finally the place where he will find his sister. As always, his mane color followed him all the way to the said place.
A moment later, he landed before the supposed Sugarcube Corner with a good impact that took some dust from the ground. Ponies around looked a little bit surprised, probably because they knew only a few Pegasi that could fly with such speed, and Flame's sight was a completely new thing to Ponyville's inhabitants.
'Another impression on some random ponies... Well, more points for awesomeness for me!' Flame Thrower thought as a small smirk appeared on his face.
The fire-maned Pegasus looked at the building. As apparently all buildings in Ponyville, Sugarcube Corner, had cream-painted walls, but that was the only similarity to other buildings that were around. The roof indeed looked as it made of gingerbread with a white frosting stroke that goes around the whole roof, but Flame didn't even think about tasting it. He also noticed the cupcake-like tower that had actual candles on top. Overall, the whole design of the building looked tasty...
After finally taking his eyes off the building, Flame Thrower quickly trotted the gap between him and the door to Sugarcube Corner and pushed it to enter the building. Once the blue Pegasus finally got inside, he closed the door behind and begun to look all around the place.
The first thing that he noticed was the interior decorated with various types of sweets. From the wooden walls with some sweets to candy cane-like columns. There was even a table next to the wall with a few cupcakes on display. Even though the idea of trying anything was very encouraging, he managed to hold back.
As the fire-maned stallion moved his eyes from the teal-colored floor, he noticed straight before him a wooden counter with cakes and other pastries on display. Unfortunately, there was no sign of anypony behind the counter, so he decided to keep looking around. On his left side, there could be seen stairs leading up, but when he noticed that all the ponies sat at the tables on the right side of the bakery, he realized that the stairs might lead to an inhabited part of the building.
Flame Thrower decided to enter the room on his right and –as soon as he did so– the blue Pegasus noticed that it kept the sweets-like design with a little bit brighter color of the walls and four windows through which natural light illuminated the room. The free space in the room got filled with wooden tables where three of them were placed near the windows, and the other three were in the middle, arranged in the row. All the tables by the windows were being occupied, while in the middle only one table has been occupied.
As the blue Pegasus looked around and saw nopony that could look like his sister, he began to worry. 'Please, don't tell me she's not here either...'
Soon enough, Flame Thrower reminded himself that there still is a chance. 'If Derpy was right, then there has to be somepony here who at least saw her today... Well, going back to asking, I guess,' he finished his sentence in his mind.
The fire-maned Pegasus looked around and finally settled his view on the first table in the middle. There was a white unicorn with a blue mane, eyes, and blue spark as a cutie mark. Next to him sat a buffed white Pegasus with red eyes, blonde mane, and weight as a cutie mark. It looked like they had a good conversation with each other until the white Pegasus turned to the table behind him where two Earth ponies were sitting. One of them being purple maned and coated mare with magenta eyes, while the other one was mare as well but with an orange mane, green eyes, and lighter than her mane coat.
The white Pegasus yelled something like 'YEAH!' and decided to show off his muscles to nearby sitting mares from what the white unicorn sitting next to him only chuckled.
Flame Thrower decided eventually to approach them and –without being obligated to somehow get through the tables– he took off from the floor and rapidly, but carefully, flew towards the first table.
Soon, he got close enough to the table to make both white ponies notice him. "Hey! Uhm, do you guys maybe saw a cyan mare with magenta eyes and rainbow mane just about this high?" Flame gestured with his hooves a high that Rainbow Dash may have. He wasn't sure about that because the last time he saw Rainbow was when she still was a filly, so he had to imagine her size after so many years of not seeing each other.
"You mean, Rainbow Dash?" the white unicorn asked.
Flame –after hearing the question– nodded and said with a hope of finding faster than last time where his sister is. "Yep! Do you know where she is?"
The look on the white unicorn's face made it straight, the answer won't be anything the blue Pegasus hoped for. "Sorry dude, but I just arrived. What about you, Bulk?" The white Pegasus replied with a shake of his head which clearly stated that he also has no idea.
"Okay... *sigh* thanks anyway," Flame Thrower said as the hope and excitement quickly vanished from his face.
He left the table and after looking around he realized that there was more than one table being occupied, so hopefully no pony will mind if he asks a few more ponies. Maybe somepony will actually know, otherwise...
'Ughh! Looking for her house was too much pain already and I don't want to repeat that,' the blue Pegasus said in his mind as he lazily flew towards the end of the room flying by tables.
Just then, Flame Thrower reminded himself that since he got here; he saw nopony who looked like they were in charge of the bakery. 'Do these ponies serve themselves or what?' the blue Pegasus thought.
The fire-maned stallion decided to look around in any sight of bakery workers. His eyes slowly scanned the whole room and the counter all the way to the entrance. While he didn't notice anypony in the entrance, other ponies who were present at the tables enjoyed their time with their friends while they eat a slice of cakes, pies, or cupcakes.
Flame Thrower thought that maybe workers took a break, or they are just busy baking all those sweets. So, if he waits for a while, somepony will show up for sure. But, it doesn't mean that he can't ask other ponies while he waits for a worker to show up.
As he moved his gaze from one table to another, he realized that –while he really wants to get to know where his sister is– there's no way he will bring himself to ask all ponies that are present in Sugarcube Corner. The first try resulted in complete failure, and if the second one goes the same way, he will simply just go out and start looking for Derpy. He bet that finding a post office is probably much easier than trying to find Rainbow Dash.
The blue Pegasus looked on his left as he slowly flew through the small space between the tables. He had to choose somepony who might actually know anything regarding his matter, but, how do you know when someone knows anything about the matter based on their appearance?
Flame Thrower sighed as the first pony that he saw was very exhausted looking, sand-colored Earth pony stallion with dark gray mane and green eyes that had some visible bags under them. He sat in the companion of cream-coated Earth pony mare with green eyes, magenta mane, and brown unicorn stallion with white mane and blue eyes.
As soon as Flame begins to look at the trio of friends, the sand-colored stallion's eyes slowly begin to close, and soon his face met with the wooden top of the table with a hearable thump sound. The, now sleeping, stallion friends' groaned with frustration as they rolled their eyes upon seeing the silly image. Meanwhile, flying by Flame Thrower, couldn't help but chuckle upon having a deja vu.
Once, the blue Pegasus focused again, he took his look from the trio and slowly begin to move it towards the end of the room until he saw a view that immediately conquered his mind and caught him off guard.
Next to the big window was sitting a gray Earth pony mare with dark mane, that looked so shiny upon reflecting –the now slowly heading towards the ground– sun.
As Flame stayed suspended in the air, he could swear he started to feel some feelings that he thought were long gone. Gladly, the gray mare keep her eyes on the view outside the window and didn't notice the glaring at her blue Pegasus. Eventually, she moved her –as Flame thought as soon as he saw– beautiful deep purple eyes to look at what she bought to eat. It was also that moment when Flame Thrower for the first time noticed the pink bowtie adoring her neck, and a pink treble chlef as a cutie mark.
The fire-maned stallion didn't know why, but he couldn't stop glaring at her. She resembled some kind of elegance beyond any other mare that Flame got to know that made his brain stop partially working and receiving only the view of the said gray mare.
Suddenly, a memory from not too long ago appeared...
"But, I still believe that somewhere out there, there's a second half for everypony!"
When memory ended, Flame realized its message, but he still wasn't sure if that's the right moment, or, if he had to be honest, is strong enough to make a move. After a fiasco with trying to start a romantic relationship, the blue Pegasus never tried to do it again.
The fire-maned stallion was partially glad that thanks to his journey, he was constantly being occupied with adventures, and thus he didn't need to focus on such things. But now, when fate gives him such opportunity to actually start a friendly relationship with a pony that lovestruck him and then eventually if things would get better evolve into something more, he needs to decide whether try to make friends with her or simply ignore his silly emotions and fly away from it.
Flame felt a wave of nervousness that he recently felt too many times as the thought of approaching the gray mare appeared in his mind. Asking if she knows anything regarding the fact where is his sister might be a good excuse to start a conversation, but...
'Wait, what am I doing? Nervous or not I have to find my sister!' he thought and tried to motivate himself to approach the gray mare. A hope appeared with the thought that maybe he eventually would get not only information about his sister but also a potential relationship with the most beautiful mare he has ever seen. That did the work.
Everything that was going on around him didn't matter as Flame Thrower gulped and begin to fly towards the table where the gray mare was sitting. As he was getting closer to her table, nervousness, that he hoped he got rid of, started to rapidly rise, until...
Unexpectedly, Flame's wings folded as he was so close to the gray mare's table, and with a good impact, he landed flat on the floor. The sound of Flame hitting the floor that everypony felt and heard made the gray mare jump a little bit in her seat and then she moved her eyes on the floor with a worried expression as she noticed there a blue Pegasus. "Oh dear, are you alright?"
The gray mare wanted to jump off her seat and help the blue Pegasus, but Flame, upon noticing her question and realizing the fact that he might just make a fool of himself in front of a mare that he wanted to impress, quickly spiked up onto his four hooves and said, "I'm okay, I'm okay!" he said as he added the last okay when he turned back to other ponies who were staring at him. "Nothing is broken, just move on, ponies!" he said nervously to starring ponies, and they did as the blue Pegasus said.
Flame upon noticing that the staring disaster from all ponies in Sugarcube Corner has been averted, moved back to face the gray mare, but as soon as he did so he lost again his confidence upon seeing her face. "Oh, thanks Celestia. I've thought for a moment that you've broken your wings."
The most delightful accent that he has ever heard, that was what Flame thought when he heard the gray mare directly speaking to him. "N-no! You see–" he unfolded his wings without a problem "–everything is okay!"
"Oh, so that wasn't the reason for you falling on the floor. Coming back, what was the reason then?" As soon as she asked the question she noticed an uncomfortable look on the blue Pegasus face and added. "Of course, you don't need to tell me if you don't want to."
The blue Pegasus shook his head. "No, it's o-okay! I just... uh, I just wanted to ask you a question a-and... got a little bit nervous, to be honest."
Instead of getting scolded or laughed at as Flame years ago received, he got a genuine smile from her as she softly said, "There's no need to worry. I certainly do not bite."
After hearing that, it only boosts his interest in her, as well his confidence... at least enough to make him speak properly. "Okay... so I'm looking for somepony, and more specifically, I'm looking for Rainbow Dash. My friend told me that she was here before, but I got here and she is nowhere to be seen. I asked somepony about it, but they said they have no clue since they arrived shortly before me. And my question is, have you seen her here, or maybe, you know where she might be right now?"
"Uhm, I can confirm that Rainbow Dash was here, but I'm afraid that I don't know where Rainbow Dash might be right now-"
"Oh... t-that's okay, Uhm... so, I'm sorry for interr-"
"You didn't let me finish! I've wanted to say that I do not know where she might be right now, but I recommend you not to ask some random ponies of that, but rather try to ask Pinkie Pie about it. From what I know, she is a close friend of Rainbow Dash,"
"Pinkie...Pie?" As soon as he asked with no idea who was that Pinkie Pie, the gray mare pointed on the pink pony that was walking towards one of the tables from the kitchen with cake on her head, while her tail served as a tray for cupcakes. When the pinkie mare finally reached the table, she lowered her head letting the cake slide down on the table. After the chocolate cake was placed on the table, she moved her tail in an arched way and let the cupcakes slid down on the table as well. The family of yellow Earth pony grinned upon seeing that their sweets finally arrived and soon begin to rapidly consume them on which the pinkie mare giggled and by grabbing the tray with her mane she happily hopped back to the kitchen.
'Okay, first of all, now she appeared? And second thing, how the heck she managed to do that?!' Flame Thrower asked himself in his mind, but quickly he shook his head as he didn't want to start a debate whether what he saw was real or not.
He looked back to the gray mare and with a smile he said. "Okay, I'll give it a try. Thank you, Miss... uh..."
'Seriously, why I have to make this so awkward?!' he begins to scold himself again, but he was stopped once he looked on the gray mare.
Instead of getting angry, she understood that they have just met and didn't even introduce themselves to each other properly. Upon noticing embarrassed blush on the blue Pegasus face, she giggled gently behind her hoof and soon added. "Octavia Melody. And it's nothing, I'm very glad to help."
'Octavia... such beautiful name...' Flame Thrower thought as blush made an appearance on his face.
When Flame spaced out, Octavia used the chance and decided to let the blue Pegasus that she would also like to get to know his name. "Also, you wouldn't mind telling me your name, would you?"
Not expecting that whatsoever, Flame almost fainted. "Of course n-not! My name's Lame Thro- I mean, Flame Thrower!"
Again her gentle giggle made him calm. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Flame Thrower!"
"And it's great to meet you, Octavia... Melody!" the blue Pegasus said.
After a few seconds of nervous smiling and having no idea what else to say he finally managed to speak. "I guess, I'll have to go looking for that Pinkie...Pie and ask her out- I mean, ask her if she knows anything!"
Octavia looked confused at the blue Pegasus for a moment after hearing what he said but adding that he corrected himself she justified it as a simple slip of the tongue. "Oh well, then I certainly don't want to hold you back. I really do hope you will find Rainbow Dash, and that, we will see each other soon!"
"Yeah, exactly! So, uhm, bye!" Flame nodded and waved with the usage of one of his hooves as if he had to move on and start looking for that pink pony, but for some reason, he still stood in the same place.
"Is there anything else you would like to ask?" Octavia asked as she thought their conversation ended, but when a blue stallion didn't move at all, she realized that he has probably something more to say.
'Don't worry, you've got this!' Flame Thrower thought to himself as he sighed.
"Uhm, maybe... what would you sa– *THUMP*" before the blue Pegasus could even formulate his question he got very loudly interrupted by the sudden opening of the door.
Everypony present in Sugarcube Corner looked towards the entrance to see a white unicorn mare that after a few seconds of scanning area as if she was looking for somepony rushed with the piece of paper hold by her teeth towards the table where Octavia sat.
Soon, the white unicorn passed by the blue stallion; basically, making Flame almost fell on the floor due to her speed and strength. Although, when she finally reached the table, she stopped and begin to inhale as she tried to catch a breath.
Flame Thrower meanwhile, had no idea what in the world happened as he slowly balanced himself out of the very dangerous situation that could result in him meeting the painful wooden floor once again. He looked up to notice that the white unicorn actually wear some kind of pink glasses and headphones on her blue-aqua-divided mane as she jumped on the seat next to Octavia.
"What is it, Vinyl? And, please, don't tell me you just rushed all the way here to tell me that electricity went out... again." Octavia rolled her purple eyes upon thinking that her friend has another drama that she would have to take care of.
However, the white mare shook her head as she took the paper with her magic that she carried from her muzzle and placed it before the gray mare.
"What's that?" Octavia asked as she took the paper in her hooves and begin to read. "Canterlot's Royal Orchestra... rehearsal?!"
She couldn't believe that such information appeared with her not knowing anything until now. "It scheduled for tomorrow?! Oh Celestia, I need to prepare!" Octavia put the piece of paper back on the table as she took one of her hooves and placed it on the white unicorn's shoulder. "Thank you, Vinyl! You're such a good friend!"
The white unicorn saluted as in the meaning of 'No problem!'
However, Flame upon seeing what happened, cleared his throat to remind that he is still here.
Octavia looked towards standing Pegasus and with a slightly embarrassed expression said, "Oh, please excuse my roommate's behavior. She is rather... an energetic pony to say the least."
"It's okay," he smiled at Octavia and then moved his head to the white unicorn. As he got closer he straightens his forelimb to greet the white unicorn. "Nice to meet you by the way! Vinyl, am I right?" Vinyl nodded, took his hoof, and shook it.
When they were done with introducing, Octavia was finished drinking her tea as she put it back on the table and jumped off her seat. "Well, it's been nothing but a pleasure to have a conversation with you, but now I have to get back to my home and prepare for tomorrow's rehearsal," she said to the blue Pegasus.
Even though that wasn't good news for the fire-maned stallion, he tried to keep his cool and with a forced smile, he said.
"O-okay! Uhm, then bye! I'm looking forward to meeting you again!"
Octavia giggled once again and said. "You don't need to worry about that. I'm pretty sure that we will get more than one chance to meet, Flame Thrower."
The blue Pegasus smiled after hearing that, and soon as the gray Earth pony noticed the hour on the clock, she quickly trotted towards the door. As she stopped before opening the doors she yelled. "Come on, Vinyl!"
Vinyl looked on the blue Pegasus. When Flame looked back at her the white unicorn as she saluted, put her headphones back, and with a motion of her head to the beat to the music, she quickly galloped towards the exit where her friend waited.
As Octavia opened the door to let the white unicorn exit first, she waved her hoof towards the fire-maned stallion. Flame Thrower didn't hesitate to quickly return the gesture in kind of nervous way. After that, she trotted through the door and close it behind.
When the gray mare and her friend was gone, Flame Thrower realized something that he was supposed to ask. 'Wait... NO! I forgot to ask her if she would like to go out for dinner or something,' he facehoofed himself.
The only chance for having such a unique mare as a friend was gone and he didn't even ask her anything regarding their future meeting. Well... he will have to trust fate. Still, there's a matter of finding his sister. "Anyway, where's that Pinkie Pie?"
"HEY! What do you need my help with??" as soon as he heard the squeaky voice from behind, Flame Thrower bolted into the air with a terrified expression and caught the first thing that got into his hoof, in this case, a chandelier. The blue Pegasus holds himself to the thing as if his life would depend on it, but when he noticed pink pony laughing out loud he realized that is probably Pinkie Pie.
He also noticed –as he was hanging on the chandelier– that all ponies present in the bakery were again looking at him. "Mind your own business, would ya?"
"Maybe stop bringing attention to yourself for more than a minute?!" the white unicorn from the first table that Flame approached yelled.
"Whatever!" He growled and then softly landed on the floor.
As Pinkie eventually calmed down she raised from the floor on which was rolling before and said, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you."
The blue Pegasus took a very embarrassed look on his face as he quickly decided to justify his actions. "You didn't scare me, only... uh, caught me off guard!"
As Flame noticed Pinkie's look that clearly said that she was not buying any of that, he decided to move on. "Anyway, I need to know where's Rainbow Dash and Octavia told me that–"
Before he could finish his sentence, Pinkie put her hoof on his muzzle, silencing him. "Sorry, but can we like... go somewhere else and talk? Everypony's still hearing what you say even if they are not looking."
As Pinkie took her hoof from his muzzle, he said with irritated the whole situation voice, "Fine! Where do you want to talk?"
"Follow me!" the pink pony said as she begins to hop towards the counter which happened to be straight from the entrance.
When they finally reached the counter, Pinkie Pie walked beside, while leaving Flame Thrower before the counter. "Now, we can talk!
The blue Pegasus looked on his left where the room with tables was literally a few steps away, and with hearable sarcasm said. "Well, that makes a heck of a difference..."
He sighed and then decided to just stop caring about that and simply ask. "Okay, so as I said, Octavia told me that you're Rainbow Dash's friend and I need to know where she is. I've got here because another friend of mine said that last time she saw Rainbow Dash, she was here," the fire-maned Pegasus explained.
Pinkie simply chuckled and then took Flame in an embrace with one hoof. Blue pegasus got a little nervous of sudden action and wanted to get away from her embrace as far as it's possible. Too bad, her embrace was too strong to resist. "Everypony is my friend, and Rainbow Dash is my bestest friend! Nice to meet you, by the way!" She broke her embrace and then looked at Flame with a look like she realized something. She put one of her hooves on her chin in thought.
'Oh no, I have a bad feeling about this,' Flame thought.
"Are you..." she gasped and her eyes widen as if she looked like she realized something big. "ARE YOU RAINBOW DASH'S FAN?!" Pinkie Pie shouted and placed her hooves on the table to raise herself above the blue Pegasus. She even got so close that her head was about a few inches from Flame Thrower. If not for him lowering himself, he was more than certain that she would bump him right in the face.
Still, in a lowered position, he looked nervously around to see how many ponies were looking at him right now. Apparently, not the whole bakery was focused on him again. 'Cool, now they don't care.'
Flame let a sigh and then slowly pushed Pinkie back to make her go back behind the counter. "I'm not anypony's fan... and definitely not Rainbow Dash's fan!" he growled and then put one of his hoof on his face and closed eyes. Once he got calmer, he opened his eyes to see widely smiling Pinkie and decided to try again.
"Look, I'm only looking for Dashie. If you know where she is, then great, if not..." He stopped in mid-sentence as the thought of the possibility that Pinkie Pie doesn't know about it either crossed his mind. "Just please, tell me that you saw Rainbow Dash."
"Of course! I think, she was here like an hour or two ago with another friend of mine, Applejack. They were talking about something, then Applejack said that she and her family are going to prepare for Summer Sun Celebration that's coming next week. Oh, I think they will make some of their Apple pies! You should totally taste them, but I'm not sure if you're more into pie's or the cider that will be there as well!" Pinkie happily exclaimed.
"Summer Sun Celebration, huh?" he asked, and as soon as he asked he remembered that there was indeed coming to a big event next week. He got to know about that when he was still in Las Pegasus. It was actually one of the many reasons why other ponies decide to depart as well that day. "Oh yeah. Totally, slipped my mind..."
However, Flame Thrower shooked his head as he reminded himself that there's something far more important. "Anyways do you know where Rainbow Dash is right now?"
"Hmm..." Pinkie put once again a hoof under her chin as she thought. "She said she's gonna help Applejack with repainting the barn."
'Rainbow Dash volunteered to help repaint the barn...? Oh, I have to see that!' he thought as a grin formed on his face.
"Yes! But, wait, where's that barn?" Flame Thrower asked.
Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes as if she expected the blue Pegasus to actually know the place. "On Sweet Apple Acres."
Still, it didn't say too much in terms of the location for the fire-maned stallion, so he had to ask again, "Okay, great, but more specifically where's that place?"
The pink pony sighed upon being asked another question, but even though she pointed her hoof towards, what the fire-maned Pegasus thought, west. "It's on the edge of the town and you're a Pegasus. All you have to do is fly high enough in the sky to notice a big old red barn on the horizon. That's the Sweet Apple Acres."
"Thank you so much! Now, she has to be there! Gotta go, bye Pinkie!" he waved and then turned around to make his way directly to the door.
Pinkie waved back and chuckled as he watched the blue Pegasus making his way towards the door. "You're very welcome! I know that you're probably a new pony in the town, but soon enough you will know every corner-"
She stopped herself before letting a bigger gasp than last time. "YOU'RE A NEW PONY IN THE TOWN!" As soon as she stated that out loud, she rushed towards the door to the kitchen behind her, and before the fire-maned Pegasus could realize what happened, she was gone.
However, he could swear that before the pink pony fully disappeared behind the door, he heard her yelling, "MRS. CAKE!!! We got an emergency!"
Flame turned back and made a very confused look on his face. "Okay...? This place is weird."
After saying that, he turned back towards the door, open it, and stepped outside; closing the door behind. He took a good breath to let all the fresh air from the outside to fulfill his lungs and then looked up.
'(...) you're a Pegasus. All you have to do is fly high enough in the sky to notice a big old red barn on the horizon,' Flame repeated Pinkie's words in his mind as decided to give it a try and bolted into the sky.
As he put one of his hooves above his eyes to make a better view, Flame noticed that something that fit Pinkie's description actually appeared on the horizon. Without any more hesitation, he said, "This is it! She has to be there, there's no other option!" And as soon as the blue Pegasus finished the sentence, he burst towards the direction of the barn.
It didn't take too long for the blue Pegasus to flew throughout Ponyville and direct on the offroad path towards the east that got him, after two minutes, to the place he was looking for. He suspended himself above Apple orchard immediately as he noticed it, and soon, begin to look around.
The first thing that took his attention was Apple orchards which stretched far beyond the horizon and surrounded the whole farm. On the ground and next to the entrance, he saw freshly new-planted corns that have just begun to grow and groundwater well placed close to a nicely developed cornfield.
On the opposite side, Flame saw –what he thought– a wooden chicken coop that stands out from other buildings on the farm since most buildings were painted red, but this specific coop was not painted at all. He even noticed some chickens going out of the coop. Also, there were animal pens which half of them was empty and the other half has been occupied by pigs.
Before Flame looked at the barn, his eyes caught sight of an orange building behind the barn that had a barrel-like designed roof and some accents with carrots. The path to said building lead from the farm, but Flame had no idea whatsoever what that building is supposed to do other than having something with carrots as the field with carrots before the building and other carrot-like decorations visually said.
Finally, the blue Pegasus landed with his eyes on the red barn that he was so eager to find. It looked like the barn was inhabited due to the visible curtains in the windows and flowers on the windows sills. Also, the roof had a typical barn-designed metallic look, but with a small tower and few vertical roof windows.
He also noticed that the barn had a big wooden door in front of the building, but he assumed that the actual entrance had to be that smaller extension on the right side where a smaller path from the main path leads to.
Before deciding to make another move, Flame looked up to notice a wind direction indicator with a big red apple on top of it. "Okay, it has to be that barn that Pinkie was talking about," he looked down to see if anypony appeared near the farm, but found no one.
"Although, I think it's the only farm in the area," the blue Pegasus looked around, again nothing caught his eyes that could be taken for a farm that he had to find. "Nah, it has to be that one!"
With more confidence knowing that this for sure has to be the location he was looking for, he finally stated, "Alright, let's see if my sister is there-" Flame noticed something was off and as the realization finally comes in, he facehoofed himself. "Why am I talkin' to myself? Ugh... this whole looking for Dashie thing is making me go crazy!" he sighed and after doing so he landed on the ground with all of his four hooves with good impact leaving his mane colors behind. Flame looked on the arched entrance with apple to the farm and saw letters 'Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres!' that finally destroyed any pieces of uncertainty that still remained.
While entering the farm, Flame decided that instead of approaching the door, he can just simply look around, and maybe his sister will eventually show up. After all, Pinkie said that Rainbow Dash was helping her friend with repainting the barn. Although the barn looked fine from the front and side, the fire-maned stallion assumed that they probably finished those parts (due to him noticing that paint didn't dry enough thanks to the color) and moved on behind the barn. So. he had a place where he should look first.
Without wasting any more of his time, Flame decided to head towards the path and then turn behind the barn. But before he could make a few steps, on his path appeared a yellow filly with red mane, orange eyes, and magenta bowtie adoring her mane.
Surprisingly, he didn't notice her before, when he was looking if anypony is around. After thinking about this whole thing a little bit more, Flame realized that he acts as if he was planning to break into the barn and steal something. "Uhm... Howdy, stranger! What's bringin' you to Sweet Apple Acres farm?" the yellow filly finally bring Flame's focus to reality.
As Flame looked down, he quickly answered. "Uh... well, I'm looking for Dashie. I heard she was helping her friend over here."
"Dashie?" the yellow filly asked not very sure why that nickname sound very similar until she finally realized. "Oh, ya mean Rainbow Dash? Sure, she is with mah sister. Rainbow Dash is helping her with paintin' our good ol' barn," she turned back and looked in the barn's direction.
"They probably start paintin' the last wall," she scratched back of her head with one hoof as she returned her look back to the blue Pegasus. "So, if you wanna talk to her, go behind the barn and then you should catch 'em."
"Okay, thanks for the info," Flame Thrower nodded to the yellow filly in exchange for a little –but still– help, which the yellow filly returned.
"No problem, stranger," she said. "By the way, the name's Apple Bloom. It's nice to meet ya!" the yellow filly stretched out her hoof towards Flame which the blue Pegasus took. To his surprise, the yellow filly shook their hooves stronger than he expected, and before he knew, his foreleg was swinging up and down in rapid motion.
As the yellow filly finally released his hoof, he looked at it as the hoof begin to slightly hurt. 'Okay, apparently all Apple family folks have a lot of strength.'
"Don't need to call me stranger. Also, nice to meet you, Apple Bloom! I'm Flame Thrower, and as you probably have noticed, you're talking to the best Pegasus that Equestria has to offer!" Flame Thrower always had this thing to impress everypony with his talents, but when it comes to foals, it's almost his duty to inspire a younger generation. That's why he decided to mention that he's the best, which may or may not be true.
Again, to much of his surprise, the yellow filly, instead of looking impressed, chuckled. "Ya for a sure sound like Rainbow Dash! Are ya her fan or somethin'?"
"Seriously, you too?" he facehoofed himself once again. He didn't know why blue coat nowadays meant that you're Rainbow's fan, but he couldn't care less.
"Haha, Ah'm just messin' with ya!" Apple Bloom said as she chuckled once again. "Anyway, Ah have to help mah grandm–"
Before the yellow filly could finish her sentence, a loud shout came from the door as the green elderly looking mare with white mane and orange eyes appeared standing in the frame behind the yellow filly. "Apple Bloom! On mah apple pies, where did that filly–" she looked around and when she noticed Apple Bloom talking to somepony she said. "There ya are! Stop talkin' with that fella and help me gettin' these" –she took in her muzzle one of the boxes and throw it outside– "old boxes off the attic. We need them all outside before sunset for Big Mac to collect and take 'em to Ponyville."
"Ugh, grandma why do we have to clean up the attic today?" the yellow filly looked behind and then back to the blue Pegasus. "Ah'm sorry, but Ah gotta help my grandma."
"No problem at all, it was nice to meet you," Flame said. Apple Bloom smiled and trotted towards the door where her grandma stood and soon disappeared as she entered the house.
Meanwhile, the elder pony looked back on blue Pegasus and asked. "Are ya lookin' for somepony? Or maybe ya are one of those fellas who try stealin' our apple cider, hmm? Better start runnin' or else–" Flame Thrower had no idea what the elderly looking mare was talking about, but good that Apple Bloom eventually came back when she heard her grandma's yell and told the green mare that Flame is only looking for Rainbow Dash. "Hmm... okay, but stay away from our supplies! Got it?"
Flame scratched the back of his head confused as ever. "Uh, okay..."
The elder pony smiled. "Good pony," she said, closing the door with a loud slam.
The blue Pegasus upon seeing that pony is gone sighed with relief as the whole scene finally ended. 'Note to myself – don't even dare to piss off Apples,' he thought.
Flame shook his head, and without any further hesitation, started walking straight ahead. However, after few steps, the blue Pegasus decided to give some thoughts about what elder mare said before. He knew how apple cider is important for Ponyville and the Apple family's business, but he didn't know that they protect their supplies that much. Flame also remembers how his father used to say that cider from the Apple family is the best drink that ever got a chance to exist.
Unfortunately for Flame, his father never really showed him where is exactly the place of creation of such tasteful drink. But now, when he was in the place; looking at the barn and nearby surroundings, he could swear that he felt for a second nature and all the hard work done by family members to provide what's the best from their apple orchards.
Just then, the blue Pegasus start hearing some voices of conversation from afar. Flame didn't even notice, while he was again taken by his thoughts, that he trotted the distance from the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres and was very close to the end of the barn. As the distance between him and the end of the red wall of the barn didn't exist anymore, he decided to take a peek from behind the wall on, what he thought, source of earlier heard voices and...
"There she is!" Flame Thrower said quietly to himself, but visible excitement on his face. He couldn't help but form a little tear (that he quickly swiped from his eyes) when he finally, after talking to several ponies and flying from one place to another, found his sister.
A big grin appeared on his face as he now noticed how much his sister changed while he was gone. She wasn't Flame's little sister anymore, but her most recognizable part - messy rainbow-colored mane, was still visible. Although, he had to admit. Even if her mane got a little bit longer, it was for sure more cleaned up than when she was a filly.
But, to much of his surprise, Flame didn't think his plan through... again. 'Wait, how am I gonna approach her? It's not like I can just randomly show up after so many years! Ugh, I knew I should send her a letter too,' he thought as he facehoofed himself.
The blue Pegasus didn't want this reunion to be so casual, after all, they didn't see each other for five years. He demanded from himself to make this something a way more fun and memorable.
As thinking out the plan took few seconds, Flame finally got an idea as an even bigger grin appeared on his face.
Meanwhile on the opposite side...
"Couldn't you just paint the whole wall from the bottom to the top? That way it would be a lot easier!" Rainbow Dash was arguing over a good amount of minutes with her friend, because of how slowly the orange Earth pony was doing her job of painting the bottom of the wall.
The orange pony with a stetson hat rolled her eyes and put the pencil from her muzzle back into the bucket with red paint. "Ahem... no wings, Earth pony?" she pointed the obvious. "How Ah'm supposed to paint from the bottom to the top if Ah can't even reach the top?!"
Rainbow Pegasus suspended herself in the air and blew a raspberry upon hearing what her friend said. "Then get yourself a ladder or something! It'll be ten times faster than painting the whole wall all by myself!"
"Rainbow, it's not always about bein' the fastest," she facehoofed herself and soon added. "Besides ya ain't even paintin' the whole wall!"
"Whatever! But still, I think-", Rainbow Dash didn't get a chance to end her sentence, while she and her friend heard like if something quickly cut through the air before they could even see what that was.
"Did you hear that?" Rainbow Dash asked as both ponies begin to look around. After scanning the whole area, Rainbow Dash saw nothing that could be taken as the source of what they heard before. However, the earth pony with a stetson hat decided to look up, and, to much of her surprise, she noticed a blue Pegasus who was slowly flying behind her cyan friend.
When the fire-maned stallion suspended himself behind Rainbow Dash, he took one of his hooves and put on his muzzle. "Shhh..." he visualized to the Earth pony, while Rainbow Dash shrugged and looked back on her friend. "Nah, it was probably nothing."
The cyan mare however noticed the confused look on her friend's face and asked. "What?" Her friend didn't reply, but instead, she gestured with her hoof to look behind her. Rainbow Dash sighed as she thought that it was probably her friend trying to make fun of her. To much of her surprise, instead of seeing nothing, she met with the yellow eyes of the blue Pegasus. "Boo."
"AAAA!" Rainbow Dash yelped, and after doing so, landed with her back straight on the ground.
When the cyan mare slowly begins to look once again, she noticed that both the Pegasus and her orange friend were laughing out loud. "Yeah, very funny, Flame... I– wait!" she raised from the ground and looked up again, but this time she looked like she couldn't believe it. "Flame?!"
"Haha, did you miss me, sis–" Before he could finish his sentence, his sister flew directly into him as she embraced her brother into a hug. Flame Thrower however got taken back a little due to the force with such his sister flew into him, but quickly returned the hug. "I see that now we don't mind hugs," he added with a smirk.
"Oh, shut up," Rainbow Dash said with a smile while she slowly breaks the hug, but still kept each other close. "I've more than some right to do so after not seeing each other for a few years, bro."
"Uh, great to see ya both so happy and hate to break it, but... who in the hay are ya?" the orange pony asked as both Rainbow Dash and Flame Thrower looked back on Dashie's friend.
"Oh, right..." Rainbow smiled nervously and then added. "Applejack, this is my big bro... Flame Thrower!"
"On sweet apples! Ya never mentioned before that ya have a brother!" Applejack stated while being a little bit confused with the fact that her friend has a brother, but she smiled and decided to greet him anyway. "Nice to meet ya, pardner!"
Upon noticing first Applejack's confusion that now was replaced with a smile, Flame said. "Don't worry, I didn't know either that Dashie has a brother... Nice to meet you too, Applejack!" As he looked at his sister, Rainbow Dash gave him not very amused glance. "What? As far as I know, you never shared with anypony about my existence."
Rainbow Dash sighed upon realizing that her brother was right. "I know, but when Pegasi in Cloudsdale was talkin' about you so much, I just simply wanted to avoid any conversations about you. You have no idea how long they could talk about how much time it will take you to get back and such stuff!"
"Oh, you mean my moment of fame that I didn't even know about..." Flame said as he and Rainbow Dash landed before Applejack.
"Somepony told you about it?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Yeah, Cloud Chaser said... thanks for letting me know by the way," he turned his head away from his sister and looked straight ahead.
"Ugh, sorry okay? I just wanted to talk with you about so much, but whenever we got with the family to write a letter to you, I had no idea what to write!"
"I know, I know..." Flame sighed as he looked once again at his sister, then he shook his head and added with much more enthusiasm. "Anyway, instead of sad faces, we should be happy, because Super Siblings are once again united!"
Applejack again, being not privy to what both Pegasi was talking about, asked "...Super what?"
Rainbow Dash slightly chuckled before saying, "It's just how we named ourselves back when I was still a filly and when Flame was helping me with the practice."
"And I still hold my opinion that I'm a better coach than that Rainbow Blaze dude," Flame added upon which his cyan sister rolled her eyes, but kept a smile on her face.
Just then Applejack looked at the sky behind both Pegasi. The sun was slowly disappearing behind the horizon as the sky took more orangeish color. The reflection of the sun's rays created an amazing image that both Pegasi and Earth pony could share together. All of them were in awe upon seeing such beautiful background. "Wow, look at this sunset... surely looks so beautiful," Applejack said. While she begins to look on the opposite side for a better view, she noticed a big red stallion with an attached wooden cart, who apparently waited for either her younger sister or her grandmother to pack more boxes. "Howdy, Big Mac! Let me help ya with that boxes," Applejack however decided to help her brother herself and trotted from both Pegasi towards the pile of boxes.
Flame only looked back on the red stallion, and after seeing him up-close, he finally realized who that is. Also, when Applejack mentioned that it is Big Mac he was one hundred percent sure that it is indeed his old –and only– friend from Ponyville. Apparently, the red stallion noticed him and probably also didn't have a problem with recognizing his old friend as he looked back and wave with one of his hooves towards Flame.
The fire-maned Pegasus waved back, and with a smile, he turned back to his sister as another realization crossed his mind. "Hey, Dashie?"
"Yeah?" Rainbow Dash asked without taking her eyes from the slowly hiding sun.
"Could I..." –Flame Thrower scratched the back of his head nervously as he wasn't very sure if his sister will accept him. Well, there was always an option to live with parents.– "y'know, stay at your home before I get a job?"
It took a second for the cyan Pegasus to reply, but it was probably due to the fact that somehow she really liked the view of the few last moments of the sun, before the moon with all mighty-looking stars from Princess Luna will take control. "Of course! But better be prepared, because you're so tellin' me what happened on your trip."
Flame chuckled, probably due to the fact how many ponies would like to hear about him talking all day about his journey. "Deal! And you are gonna tell me what happened when I was gone." The cyan mare turned her head towards her brother and nodded. After doing so, they both slowly looked back on the horizon when the sun was nowhere to be seen as the sky from behind become darker and some stars begin to flare on the –soon to become– night sky.
After five years, they finally have their sibling reunion...