Cloud Kicker pointed me in the direction of the Pegasi Corps HQ that was conveniently located in the center of town.
I agreed to give her a kiss and we went our separate ways. I flew over to the nearest cloud and tested it out.
Success! I have the ability to stand on clouds. I sprinted toward the center of town but on my way I looked at all the floating buildings. I had to fly across to other buildings to get to certain places but for the most part it was flat and easy to walk around in. Probably because foals can’t fly but I’m not an expert on Cloudsdale…
Doesn’t mean I can’t come up with good theories.
“Halt!”
I spun around to look at the pony who said that too me. I immediately assumed it was a guard. I was right. Two guards came out of the sun and landed beside me.
“State your business Minotaur!”
“I’m not a Minotaur.”
“Like Tartarus you aren’t. Where did you get the wings Minotaur?” He said with hostility that was ill placed.
“We should check his armor and see if he’s stolen anything.” Said the one on the left.
“Sir you need to come with us.” Said the one on the right.
I lowered my hood. “Like I said I’m not a Minotaur.” I said calmly.
“By Starwirls beard.” Said the one on the left.
“Now tell me why you’re pulling me over to ask some questions while you let everyone else go on without incident.”
“…Well Minotaurs are untrustworthy so it’s protocol to pull them over.”
OK what? I’m going to need to check this out. But other than that I know prejudice when I see it…and hear it.
“You two follow me to HQ.”
“W-why are we going there.” He had worry in his eyes. Just as I suspected.
“Because I’m going to ask Barricade if that is protocol. I have the authority to plead a case to Celestia herself. If you don’t want to make this an international incident and have to deal with the sovereign ruler of this great nation then I suggest you accompany me to the Pegasi corps HQ.”
“N-no you can’t make us!” He shouted. “If you touch one of us then we have the right to arrest you.”
“Then consider me a criminal because I’m going to drag your asses to Barricade.”
“Y-you are under arrest.” They pointed their spears at me. I responded by cutting of the tips of the spears with my Excalibur.
They started to shake with fear and flew off.
“OH no you don’t!” I flew after them and grabbed them by their tails. I brought them to the ground and knocked each out with a swift blow to the head. I then lifted them over my shoulder and carried them to the HQ.
I noticed the pegasi that flew by kept giving me odd looks…well odder looks than what they were already giving me. I myself was having fun. Who can say they brought the police to their police chief just to watch the police get spanked? ME!
Though I must admit some of those looks I was getting were more than just simple confusion or ‘this is awkward.’. In fact some regarded me with hate. I quickly formulated a theory.
Pegasi capital. Home of mostly pegasi. I’m sure after a while of being the masters of the sky will get to one’s head and make them believe they are part of a superior race. Since they are the only race that can fly other than griffons then it is easily believable that they have prejudice towards ground animals and ponies.
But Equestria is the center of love and friendship…why is there hate?
I must ask Barricade.
Most of the way to the center of town went uninterrupted. That is until…
“Hey you!” A blur zipped passed me and did what I assume was a backflip and then landed in front of me. I realized this blur was a Pegasus. Then two other pegasi landed next to her. They all were wearing pony jump suits that were blue and had lightning bolt symbols all over them. Which I thought was pretty cute. And yea they were the wonderbolts. “Put those guards down now or we will arrest you!”
“These guards are being taken to Barricade. They displayed prejudice and threatened to arrest me when I asked them to accompany me to the corps HQ of Cloudsdale.” I said in the calmest way I could.
“…prejudice?” Said the leader.
“Yes prejudice. I’m taking them to Barricade to have them properly disciplined and hopefully discharged for misconduct.”
“…Barricade?” The name struck a note in the orange pegasi’s mind. She had a look of concern when I said it. “You’re bringing them to Barricade? That’s a bad idea. She’s training recruits and if she’s distracted for a second she lashes out at the poor soul who would distract her…I’ll come with you to make sure you don’t get. Well hurt. Uh we’ll help you get to the hospital if she tries to kill you.”
“So I gained companions? Sweet. Help me get there cuz I don’t know where I’m going.”
“Well follow us and prey Celestia can help you.”
Getting to Barricade would be easy now. Our path to the corps HQ was rocky and filled with gaps. I admired the very Greek styled buildings of Cloudsdale. Hell even their bars had fancy pillars. One of the guards woke up while I was carrying them and he groggily looked around. He realized he was being carried and yelled for help.
“Guards help!”
“Shut up. None will come for you. I’m taking you to Barricade for misconduct.”
“Y-you can’t do that!”
“But we can.” Said Spitfire drawing the stallions attention. His worried expression turned to fear.
“Uh hehe umm…He harmed Equestrian guards?”
“In my defense. You were about to arrest me without cause.”
“You don’t know how the law works!”
“Why would you assume that?”
“Because you’re an uncivilized Minotaur…human…”
“My capital is a great castle that rests on a floating island. Our sky scrapers touch the fabric of the heavens and our feet have walked across the surface of the moon…tell me dishonorable one…can a civilization as grand as mine truly be uncivilized if it can work together in such a way to achieve the feat of going into space?”
There was a silence that persisted for five whole minutes until Saurin spoke up.
“Did your civilization really touch the moon?”
“We even took pictures of the earth from there. I can’t show you them because I’m trying to find my way back. And I wouldn’t pre pack for going to another world if I didn’t expect it. At least I have wolfGear as proof that we are powerful.”
“What do you mean?” asked Spitfire.
“He was created by humans…specifically me. I chose what color his hair and skin would be. I even chose whether he would be a man or a woman.” I could only guess that their mouths were open…so I looked back and found they were positively slack jawed. But thankfully they weren’t lagging behind.
“How do we know you’re not lying to us?” Said Fleetfoot.
“It wouldn’t matter if I told you the truth or not. I’m easily more powerful than all of you. So even if what I said was false then it won’t change the fact that I can hold your fates in the palm of my hand.”
I said that without actually thinking it through. They started to eye me suspiciously. I figured I should play that role of fates wielder anyway. Technically I can ruin someone’s day if I wanted to.
Now there was a Greek looking fortress that seemed to have a very large door for an entrance. I was actually impressed by how intimidating the building was. It also had a mile long stair highway to get inside. I actually felt sorry for the poor soul who had to design a building to look so intimidating…but mainly because of the stairs.
“Well I ain’t walken up those.” I spread my wings and flew up to the top of the steps.
“Hey question.” Said the conscious guard I was carrying. “If you could fly the whole time why wouldn’t you?”
“Because I wanted to look around and have a good time. You’re keeping me from doing just that. If it were up to me I would have you executed for wasting my time.” I said in a harsh voice.
“Wow that’s barbaric.” Said Spitfire who landed next to me while having her hooves crossed in disappointment.
“No barbaric is a god who rains fire on cities for fun. I’m one of the most forgiving immortals you’ll meet. But I don’t know what I am now…maybe my immortality is gone now…” I paused in front of the door. I think one of the guards was about to make a smart ass comment before I spoke up again. “Nah I’m still can’t die even when my body is destroyed.”
The wonderbolts exchanged odd looks before Puppet Master pushed open the double doors.
Looking inside I expected a waiting room like setting. But no it was a straight up fortress.
“Hey this is the corps HQ yea?”
“Yes why?” responded Fleetfoot.
“Where’s the-oh there’s the command structure.” Over on the far field of cloud there was a square building that stood next to twenty barracks buildings. Each barracks could hold fifty soldiers if there were three bunk bunk beds. They were long enough to hold several platoons and there were enough to possibly house an army if needed. Oh and the fortress was massive. I was impressed with the floating rings of cloud and spearman training going on at once. However I found my ‘angelic pegasus’ barking at a recruit who seems to have wet himself.
“Miss Barricade.” I said.
“WHO DARES INTERRUPT MY-” Her eyes met my figure and her expression of pure rage transforms into a friendly smile. “Oh Puppet Master. What do I owe the visit?” All three of my companion’s jaws dropped to the floor.
“Well I was going to drop in and give you flowers until these two stopped me in the streets.” I threw both the pegasi over my shoulder and they made a soft poof sound when they contacted the cloud. “They tried to arrest me.”
She looked puzzled. “Why is this guard unconscious?”
“They wouldn’t come quietly.”
“Why’d you apprehend them?”
“My question first. Is it protocol to stop minotaurs?”
“No why?”
“They stopped me on those grounds. I believe they had some prior prejudice towards minotaurs and stopped me to ask me questions.”
“I see? But why did you go out of your way to tell me this?”
“Because they tried to arrest me.”
She wore a face of shock. “On what grounds?”
“I threatened to bring them to you for retraining. Frankly I don’t feel safe with guards like these stopping all nonpegasi.”
“You two better have a good explanation for this.” She said glaring at them.
“In our defense.” Said the conscious stallion. “We only tried to arrest him after he said he would attack us.”
“I said no such thing! And you know it. You threatened to arrest me when I threatened to drag you back here. You even pointed your spears at me!”
“WHAT!” Boomed Barricades voice. It was so loud that it caused the whole training ground to literally stop. Not even a bird dared to chirp.
The other stallion woke up and immediately when he opened his eyes his expression became fearful when his eyes met Barricades glare.
“To barracks three! I will deal with you later. If you even try to leave then I will consider you traitors and have you hunted down!”
Shit did I really leave that good of an impression on her last time? Fuck…well I have a reliable ally to turn to when the going gets tough.
The guards ponies briskly trotted away towards the barracks. I looked back at my three companions who were still wide eyed and dumbfounded.
“Need anything else pup?” Said Barricade when the guards were out of sight.
“Dunno, a romantic dinner. A movie. Maybe gaze at the stars at nightfall. Glaring contest?”
She flew up and hit me on the back of the head.
“Don’t be flirty with me Mr.”
“Oh ok do you want me to order you to get dinner with me?”
“Not like I wouldn’t be tempted but I’m on duty.”
“Fair enough. I should check out Cloudsdale. If anything interesting turns up I’ll tell you about it later.”
“Bye pup. Tell wolf we need to meet.”
“Will do.”
Spreading my wings I took flight out over the walls of the cloud fortress. However I didn’t realize my companions joined me until Spitfire took her pace next to me.
“Hey!” She yelled over the rushing wind.
“Yea?”
“Where are you going?”
I slowed down to a hover and found that all three of my companions actually followed me.
“I’m not sure. Maybe muck about Cloudsdale or go to Ponyville and meet up with some friends.”
“How about we get to know you. I haven’t known Barricade to befriend ponies so quickly. And I want to know what you did to my old drill instructor to make her so friendly toward you.”
“THAT’S NOT HOW YOU HOLD A SPEAR!” Barricades voice boomed over the walls of the fortress.
I winced when the voice came over the walls and pierced my ears. “Damn. Hate to be that guy.”
“Yea…let’s get outta here before I have flash backs.”
I should totally mess with her. “I kinda already miss her beautiful booming voice.” I said with a goofy grin. Saurin looked at me funny and so did Fleetfoot, but Spitfire was on the brink of tears…from laughter.
“Y-haha-you think she’s pretty? Haha! Oh wow I’ve never seen someone admire her like that before. Yea some look up to her-actually we all do- but wow you are really love struck aren’t you?”
“Nope. It’s just a running gag. Though I don’t see why you ponies wouldn’t find her pretty. She’s intimidating yea but why do you guys not give her much of a chance.”
“It’s not like we don’t give her a chance. It’s more most stallions can’t take her demanding personality. Hey it’s why she was left with Fluttershy after she had her first foal. Her husband could only put up with her for so long.”
“Wait immediately after Fluttershy was born he left?”
“Eeyup.” Said Saurin.
“Wait so you guys know Fluttershy?”
“Barricade brought her in during take your daughter to work day. I think she was impressed by her mom’s ability to demand respect. She stood there wide eyed and smiling the whole time.”
With that mental image of a baby Fluttershy smiling at her mother while she barks at recruits was…adorable.
“Aww that’s just so cute!”
“Hey I know a restaurant we can go to.”
“Ugh ok then. That’d be nice. What’s the restaurant?”
“Well it’s one of the most expensive places on-“
“Whoa whoa whoa treating me like a king? Fuck explanations let’s get going!”
“Haha sure follow me.” She zipped off with her fellow members toward the east side of Cloudsdale. I followed suit.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“W-why?” Said the elderly stallion toward the figure of a human. It had a poofy afro and a tux, with sun glasses that covered his eyes. His demonic wings remained motionless on his back.
All around them was a burning village. Not a soul left in the village. Corpses littered the ground all around them. A burnt newspaper was being held to the ground by the human’s foot.
“Because I like to kill.” Came a voice from the evil entity. He lifted up the stallion with one hand and thrust his Excalibur into his chest. “And my favorite sword was given away.” He said letting go of the dead stallion. His body crumpled to the floor and all the air pooled out of his lungs creating a sickening gargling noise.
“Now that I’ve had my fun.” wolfGear turned toward the direction of Ponyville. “I can get to work.”