Sky Streak’s Guest Chambers
An hour later:
“That was the MOST beautiful thing I’ve ever SEEN!”
Another hour later:
“WAAAHH!” *sniff* “How can you simply choose to move on after something as incredibly moving as that? WAAAHH!!!”
Yet ANOTHER hour later:
“And did you see the way that he held…”
“Rarity.”
“Oh! And didn’t Luna simply look dazzling in…”
“Rarity.”
“And your brother, Twilight…”
“Rarity…”
“Oh, and of course Princess Celestia was impeccably—”
“RARITY!” Applejack shouted.
“Really, Applejack, there’s no need to yell; I’m right here,” Rarity replied, apparently appalled at the outburst.
“We’ve gone through this conversation at least fifteen times by now. Can’t we just look at Sky’s pictures in peace?” Applejack said, obviously exasperated.
“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie said excitedly, bouncing on the bed. “He’s got some pictures of some places I’ve never been to before! It’s just so exciting to hear about new places!”
“Um, Pinkie? Could you please stop bouncing?” Fluttershy asked in her normal barely-audible voice. “You’re scattering Sky’s pictures all over the bed.”
“Stop bouncing? Don’t be silly!” Pinkie protested.
“Then you can bounce on the floor!” Rainbow Dash suggested (in a somewhat forceful manner) from her perch on the bed’s canopy.
“Okey-dokey-lokey!” Pinkie said, bounding off the bed and hopping around the room, apparently to a beat that only she could hear.
Sky had become accustomed to the banter, and he proceeded through the pictures almost as if there was nothing to distract him at all. He sat on the bed, sifting through his pictures, recalling the memories from long ago. Twilight, who sat opposite him, used her magic to lift the pictures to show the others.
“Oh, haha, this is one from my really early days in Cloudsdale. Also, if you look in the background on the left…”
“Hey, that’s me!” Fluttershy commented, rising into the air in surprise.
“Wow, Fluttershy, you haven’t changed much from those days,” Spike said from Applejack’s back, seeing the picture.
“Oh, you think so?” she responded in a disappointed tone, her ears flattening.
“It ain’t like it’s a bad thing, y’know. We wouldn’t have it any other way,” Applejack responded with a smile.
“Oh, I see,” she said, her cheerfulness returning in a flash.
Sky continued to sort through his pictures until his eyes widened suddenly, and he flipped past the picture a bit too quickly.
“Hey! What was that one?” Twilight asked, pulling the picture out of the stack with her magic.
“Oh, that? It’s, um…nothing,” he said innocently.
Twilight suddenly burst out into laughter, letting the picture fall to the bed. Sky attempted to recover it, but Rainbow Dash swooped down and grabbed it before he had the chance. She, too, busted out laughing within a few moments.
“What’s so funny?” Pinkie said, having ceased her frolicking. She and the rest of the ponies were now looking at the photo. In it, a young (and rather displeased) Sky Streak was dressed in some long orange cone that expanded from front to back.
“What the hay is that supposed to be?” Rainbow Dash said, still giggling uncontrollably.
Sky let out an exasperated sigh. “That was me on Nightmare Night. When I was young, I used to eat carrots all the time. So my mom thought it would be cute if I dressed up as one.”
“You certainly look excited about it,” Rarity observed.
“Thrilled,” Sky replied sarcastically. He snatched up the picture and put it back with the rest of his collection. He sifted through a few more before finding one that made him smile softly.
“What have you got there, Sky?” Twilight asked.
He offered it out to her. “That’s a picture of my family in Foalumbus shortly before I moved to Coltlanta. That’s my mom and dad in the back, with me and my sister in front.”
“Aw, she’s a cutie!” Twilight squealed. “She reminds me a little of Applebloom; so innocent and excited.”
“She is. She’s much more grown up now, and I’d love to go back and visit her soon. I haven’t seen her for several months. Maybe I’ll get the chance before the Council gives me my assignment.”
“Hey! We can’t see!” Pinkie exclaimed. “We wanna see the picture!”
Twilight turned it to face them, and it was almost comical when they all said “Aw” in perfect unison.
“She’s simply adorable, Sky. What’s her name?” Rarity asked.
“Oh, uh, Cinnamint,” he replied, remembering that he had only told that to Spike and Twilight.
“Certainly seems to fit, seein’ as how she’s got those colors like they are,” Applejack agreed.
“You should bring her to Ponyville sometime. We could throw a party for her!” Pinkie suggested with her usual gusto.
Sky saw Spike’s eyes widen in alarm as he shook his head slowly and mouthed the word “no” to him. Sky smiled in acknowledgement. “Maybe once she’s met all of you, but not right at the start. That would be a bit…overwhelming.”
“Okay!” Pinkie said cheerfully. “As long as there’s a party, I’m happy!”
Sky chuckled a bit, then turned to the window on the other side of the room. The sun was sinking out of sight below the horizon, casting both the sky and the land below in a warm shade of orange. Slowly, he got up from the bed and floated over to the window, where he watched as the sun finally faded from view.
“Sky? Everythin’ alright?” Applejack asked from the bedside.
“It’s wonderful,” he replied. “Ever since my family left Cloudsdale, I’ve felt like I was missing something. It was like I lost part of myself when I left my colthood home. I made new friends in Foalumbus and Coltlanta, but it wasn’t the same. And even when I went back to visit, I only went back because I thought I could find that part of me that was missing. I went to see my old friends, but too many of them had moved away…or moved on. And I had been left behind. Even when I was in Canterlot after that, I think the reason that Princess Luna came to talk to me was because she saw that I was looking for something, and she wanted to offer me the chance to find it.”
The room was silent for a moment, then there was the sound of Spike’s feet pattering on the floor as he walked over beside the pegasus. “And I accepted because I thought that maybe she knew something that I didn’t. Turns out she did. I just didn’t see it until I came to Everfree Forest.”
“And what was that?” Twilight asked, though Sky suspected that she knew the answer.
He turned back to face them. “Friendship, of course. I had been moving since the day I left Cloudsdale, and I never really gave myself the chance to form friendships with anyone. I was so desperate to find what I was missing that I failed to consider that maybe I wasn’t giving it the time I needed to. Until I met Twilight and Spike, who offered to help me, even though they hardly knew me. And when the time came, I realized that friendship isn’t just something that you get; it’s also something that you give. And each of you have shown me a great deal of that friendship. But now, I feel that I’m able to return that to you.”
They were all beaming at him. Spike, who was now standing beside him, shrugged and sighed reluctantly. “I’m not one for mushy stuff, but I gotta say, I’m glad you finally came around. And it’s been nice knowing you.”
Sky arched an eyebrow in confusion. “It’s been wha—”
A soft, but fast-moving object slammed into his face, smacking his head away from the baby dragon. “Pillow fight!” Spike shouted, pulling back his pillow back into a ready position.
Sky turned back around as he rose into the air. His eyes leveled mischievously. “I hope you know what you’ve started.” With that, he darted across the room, grabbing a pillow in mid-flight. The girls quickly had their own pillows at the ready within mere moments. “Oh, this is gonna be good.”
Their laughter continued far into the night.
In a far corner of Equestria:
A lone windigo flew its solitary flight through the cold night. There had been virtually no other living things within the area for hours. Yet this one remained, riding on the wind.
Suddenly, a deafening roar split the air. A great green dragon flew overhead, announcing its majesty to anything nearby. The windigo paused in its flight, watching the dragon fly off further to the north. Then, apparently making up its mind about something, it took off after the dragon, its teeth bared in a crooked smile.
And its red eyes glowed in menace.