//------------------------------//
// Chapter Ten: Judgment, Part One—Desperate Appeal 
// Story: A Compass for a Lost Dreamer 
// by reflective vagrant 
//------------------------------//

"Zecora!  I think she's coming around," Lightning Dust heard somepony call as she woke up to the scent of something putrid.
Opening her eyes, she saw her Aunt Spitfire looking at her with great concern.  She was still sporting her green tinted coat and mane.  "Don't you ever frighten me like that again," Spitfire said as Lightning Dust started to realize where she was at.  She was on a bed inside Zecora's hut.  She also realized that the putrid smell was coming from something smeared on her nose.
"Ghugh!  What is this?" she asked, trying to wipe the stuff off her nose as best she could.
"Something Zecora said would help," Spitfire answered as Lightning Dust got up and sat the edge of the bed.
"Huh?  How do you kno-," she began to ask before remembering it was Zecora that fixed both of their backs.  "Oh, right."
Spitfire gave her a wash cloth to finish cleaning the gunk off.  As Lighting Dust's head cleared some more she remembered why she came to Zecora's in the first place.  In the middle of washing up the rest of her face she paused in realization of the situation she was in.  She glanced at her aunt.  "Oh no..." she whined as she put her face back in the washcloth.
Upon seeing Lightning Dust was alright and up to speed with what was going on, Spitfire went from worried to furious.  "'Oh no' is right.  You have a lot of explaining to do."  Which really meant she was about to have things explained to her.


* * *


Zecora looked like she wanted to help Lightning Dust but knew she couldn't.  She simply stayed silent and tended to her cauldron for her evening meal, or a potion.  Lightning Dust couldn't tell which and didn't dare look long enough to see.  Spitfire was expecting her full attention and not giving it simply wasn't an option.
Spitfire was chewing Lightning Dust out for what seemed like hours before they even left the hut.  She spoke with enough vinegar in her voice to pickle her tongue several times over.  Back at the academy, Lightning Dust didn't take it personal.  She knew it was her aunt's job, but right then with her out of uniform she felt like finding a hole to crawl into and dying.  Spitfire was so angry she ended up covering several points multiple times like 'your parents were worried sick about you', 'no letters, no calls', 'we didn't even know if you were alive'.

It wasn't until they had gotten back to town and in the semi busy evening streets of Ponyville that Lightning Dust was even able to get a word in edgewise, but it didn't help.  It made it worse.  "But I'm doing alright on my own, really."
"Really?  From what Zecora told me, you half-starved yourself, bucked a pony in the face, threw your back out, and nearly got yourself killed."  Spitfire stopped in her tracks and looked her niece right in the eye.  "It was sheer dumb luck you have even made it this far!  Give me one good reason I shouldn't clip your wings the moment I get you home."
Lightning Dust's ears went back as she thought hard.  She had her own reasons but her aunt was in no mood to hear her desires to rejoin the Wonderbolts.  Though it was technically possible it was a fool's errand.  It would have to be something her aunt could understand through her anger.
Seeing her pause and not think of anything Spitfire said, "I didn't think so.  We're going to get your stuff from the inn and leaving."
Lightning Dust wasn't done thinking of a reason yet.  'She is too angry at me to listen.  I know she is just doing what she thinks is best for me but dam it to Tartarus!  Why does she have to care about me so stron...  That's it!'
Blurting out an answer before she could think it through, she gave her best argument, but started it off in the stupidest of ways.  "There's a boy here th-," she began to say before being cut off.
"A boy!?  On top of all this you've went and had an affair with some stallion!?" Spitfire exclaimed, misunderstanding Lightning Dust's argument.
"It's not-" Lightning Dust tried to clarify.
"No!" Spitfire interrupted as she shoved her face into Lightning Dust's own.  "Say another word and I'll pin you down and clip your wings with my own teeth right here and now!"  The maternal anger in her face had been coupled with a desire to kill.  "And let's pray your stallion doesn't run into me or I'll make sure he regrets ever messing around with my niece behind my back."  There was no getting through to her now.

Coming up to the counter at the inn, Spitfire demanded to know what room Lightning Dust was staying in so she could grab her things.  The Inn Keeper's response put a snag in Spitfire's plan.  Lighting Dust had lost her key when she ran her heart out to Zecora's hut and they had to get the spare key from the counter, but Serra only stood there at the counter calmly, refusing to give it to her.
"Ma'am, I know you are upset with your niece for something and I respect that," Serra said in a very calm and controlled manner, "But you will lower your voice in my inn or I will not give you so much as the time of day."
"You have no idea who you're dealing with lady," Spitfire said in anger, as she leaned over the counter to get into Serra's face.  The desire to kill still raged in her eyes.  "Just give me the key to my niece's room, and nopony gets hurt."
Serra continued to stay perfectly calm and stared right back into Spitfire's eyes.  "I'm not scared of you.  I will tell you one last time.  Lower your voice and get out of my face."
Lightning Dust knew what was going to happen, though she had no idea who was going to win.  Spitfire was trained, but if Serra's fighting spirit was anything like her son's then there was going to be a showdown here.  Wayside did call her 'the scaryest pony I have ever met' and Lightning Dust knew by now that it wasn't all bark.  She backed up from the counter to get out of the way before Serra was even finished talking.  She wasn't sure just how ugly this might get.  Spitfire raised a hoof to strike.

It was over in seconds.  Serra had grabbed Spitfire's punch, pulled her over the counter, and flipped her into the wall behind her upside down.  Spitfire couldn't use her wings to maneuver because the motion was too fast.  She barely had time to open her wings by the time she hit the wall.  Whatever it was, Serra was clearly well practiced with the move.  Right after Spitfire landed on the wall Serra took a swift punch to her opponent's gut before she even started to fall.
Once Spitfire was limp on the ground behind the counter, Serra hefted her up like she was nothing and tossed her back over the counter rather unceremoniously.  She landed on the ground in front of the counter like a rag doll.  Spitfire's body was completely limp except for her mouth, which was wide open and gasping for breath.
"I'm sorry but this area is for employees only," Serra said in a confident and somewhat cocky, yet professional manner.  "Honey!" she called to the Kitchen. "Put the kettle on.  We have a guest that could use some tea."
"Already did."





Keen Wit was finally finished with his homework when he heard his mom doing her thing down stairs.  Having an inn was tricky at times if you didn't know how to keep order and his mom was good at that.  Anypony on his mom's side of the family was good at that.  Even his late grandmother...
Keen Wit stopped in his thoughts as he raised his hat just enough to touch the horn his Gran-Gran had given him.  He missed her.  She was the only relative he had on either side of the family that was a unicorn like him.  Everypony else on his dad's side were pegasi and everypony from his mother's side that he had ever met were earth ponies.
Even his Gran-Gran from his dad's side was good at keeping order.  Although she did it in a different way than the Pepper family, she was still good at it.  She was good at many things, including listening to a little colt that just needed an ear.  She was the only reason he never tried to break off his horn to fit in.  She was the one that taught him not to be ashamed of what he was and was the one that inspired him to try to study how to use it, even if he didn't have the courage to show it to anypony just yet.
Still, the connection between him and his Gran-Gran ran deeper than just the horns.  She taught him so much before she passed on.  She taught him so many little things that he couldn't keep count of them all, but most of them were about how to learn.  As she laid on her deathbed, she told him not to cry.  She had no regrets and he shouldn't either.  The last words she said to him would forever be burned into his mind.
"Keen Wit.  Don't let anypony tell you something just can't be done.  Whatever path you choose to take in life is bound to be a hard one, but don't give up on it.  Promise me you will always do your best to stay true to your heart.  Don't ever give up on your dreams once you find them.  The sky is not the limit.  Shoot past even the stars."
He looked over to the poster of the celebrities Spitfire and Soarin from the Wonderbolts.  Both him and his dad were huge fans.  If it wasn't for their project, him and his dad would blow their spare money on tickets to every show they could afford instead.
Just under the poster with the Wonderbolts was his chest with the pain charge lock, which held everything he owned pertaining to the project his Gran-Gran inspired him to do.  He went over to the chest that contained the books he had been studying so hard on, then put his hoof on the chest.  He would find a way.  The stars weren't his dream but he knew what his grandma meant.
What his dream was most ponies thought impossible, but it wasn't.  It was just difficult.  Through sheer luck his dad and him had cracked the core problems in the designs already.  He just needed to get the little things all together.  That's why he scraped and saved every bit he could.  He needed some expensive materials and lots of them if he was going to make it work right.  His dad was firm on only paying for half.
If anypony ever heard what he wanted to do they would just laugh at him.  So it was just him and his dad.  Their secret project in Gran-Gran's memory.  They wouldn't show to anypony until it was finished.
He had studied the little things enough that night and decided against breaking the books out again.  It was scary earlier with Lightning Dust finding out his secret.  When she was staring down at him, he felt that he might wet himself from being so scared of what she would say.  He was so excited about how she agreed to teach him right then and there that he barely had enough focus to do his homework.  He had enough excitement for one day.  He decided to go to bed early.
As he climbed into bed he thought about going down stairs to see what the commotion was about, but still decided on going to bed instead.  Although he kind of liked most of his mom's teas, he didn't really care for his mom's special 'talk things out' tea.  Besides, it's not like it could have been somepony really interesting downstairs, like one of the Wonderbolts.





"Your first mistake was getting upset.  It improves power but dulls perception.  You left yourself wide open and didn't even know it," Serra said to Spitfire as her guest sat at the kitchen table, getting her wind back.  "Your second mistake was refusing to calm down.  If you can't control yourself, you can't control the fight," she continued while placing a mug of herbal tea on the table in front of Spitfire.  "And your third mistake was picking a fight with a Pepper.  We don't mess around when we fight," she finished as she sat down with her own mug.
"Pepper..." Spitfire thought aloud.  "As in Lieutenant Colonel Cloud Pepper?"  She slowly inhaled.  "Wonderbolt close quarters combat champion?"  She slowly inhaled again.  "Honored instructor of returning cadets?"
Lightning Dust internally cringed at this.  It was what she wanted to avoid thinking about ever since she decided to not return home.  When actually accepted back, returning applicants were given an even harder course with extremely unforgiving conditions.  Nopony had passed them for generations now.  Not since the regimen was revamped at princess Celestia's command.  The modern grading method was always kept secret from civilians and anypony below the rank of Major.  Even her aunt didn't know how it was done.  Only the most grueling and cold drill instructor held the position of being in charge of the returning cadets and the occasional ex-Wonderbolt wanting back in.
For the last seven years it has been her that held that 'honored' position, Lieutenant Colonel Cloud Pepper.  The pegasus that would be her new drill instructor when she returned to the academy on what was considered a fool's errand.  Looking back, it would have been a lot easier to just have been careful to not get kicked out of her aunt's cadet squadron.
"Oh, you're a Wonderbolt fan?" Serra piped in at Spitfire's comment, after drinking her mug slowly in one long sip.  This snapped Lightning Dust out of her thoughts.
Spitfire realized she almost blew her cover with mentioning this.  "Sorta," she said, trying to make the blush forming in her cheeks look like it was out of embarrassment.
"And yes.  Cloud Pepper is my second cousin once removed on my mother's side," she said while pouring herself another mug of tea.  "Though she was technically adopted," she added, seeing the confusion on Lightning Dust's face.  Serra had told her that Keen Wit was the first non-earth pony to be born to the Pepper family since it got its name.  "So what was getting you so upset if I might ask?" Serra inquired to move the discussion forward.
Spitfire took a moment to collect her thoughts.  She drank some of her tea before she spoke up, "Lightning Dust never came home after she left the Wonderbolt academy.  When she didn't show up her family was worried sick.  I came here to bring her home as soon as I heard news of her being here."
"Oh my.  Sweetie," Serra exclaimed softly when she heard this, "You really need to tell your family how you're doing."
"And what?  Tell them I'm almost broke and hurt bad but recovering fine?"  Lightning Dust answered back skeptically.  "They would come in mass number and drag me home!  I was plan-"  She saw her aunt giving her a raised eyebrow at what she was going to say.  "...OK, 'thinking' about writing them after I got my first paycheck and found a more permanent place to stay."
She looked down at her own tea mug that Wayside had given her while Serra helped 'Campfire' into the kitchen.  She hadn't touched it but she held onto it fast.  There was something about having something to stare into besides all the eyes looking at her, judging and weighing every little thing she did, that held a certain level of comfort.  Though it wasn't much she was still happy to have it.
She was so nervous that she felt that if she slipped up in the slightest then this chance bit of luck would slip through her hooves and she would be back to square one.  She couldn't bring herself to form any more words.
Spitfire had gotten most of her wind back but still hadn't recovered from the shock of being beaten by a civilian, both physically and the blow to her pride.  She was having trouble of thinking of what to say at this point as well.
Serra was working extra hard to help them let out their stress by being as neutral and accepting as she could.  She couldn't contribute much to the conversation while doing this.
Wayside was just listening, taking it all in but keeping his distance.  It saved brain power to keep from having to fight everypony in the argument and he could use that brain power he saved to think on a more productive solution.  After the awkward silence he had one.  "Well kid, you're three days away from that first paycheck you mentioned and you can still write to your family to tell them how you're doing.  The only problem I see is a place to stay when your paycheck comes in."
At this both Spitfire and Lightning Dust looked at him funny.  It made sense but it didn't seem to fix anything, until he finished that is.  "Why don't you and your aunt hang out for a few days and try working on that last one.  That is if you have the time Campfire, and if you aren't still dead set on taking her home."
Spitfire remembered the dye she used on her coat had an enchantment imbued into it which kept it from fading for several days but also kept it from being washed out.  She couldn't return to work like this even if she wanted to.
Now that she had calmed down, the excuse to finally spend time with family and not at work was just too tempting.  Even if she still had to drag her home right after, she rarely had time to spend with any of her family and wasn't wanting to waste it now.  "Alright.  You get your paycheck in three days?  Then you have three days Lightning Dust.  Three days to convince me I shouldn't drag you back home but that's it, and I had better meet this stallion you mentioned by then."
Lightning Dust opened her mouth to correct her but held off a moment to think.  Instead she finally picked up her tea meekly and said, "I think you would like him," then finally took a sip.





The Innkeeper and her husband were preparing for bed.  "Are you sure about this?  There isn't anything you can do?"
"I have a lot riding on her staying here but I can't fight her whole family Serra.  Her contract says she can still leave at any time.  I haven't been able to get the mayor to authorize a long term contract for her with her being so young."  As he climbed into bed beside his wife, he sighed heavily.  "The only chance I have is convincing her aunt to let her stay.  That is something only she can do.  All I can do is support her and make sure we aren't getting in the way."
"Then let's hope she does convince her, or the mayor will have your hide.  She hasn't worked long enough to get the mayor off your back yet."
"The mayor isn't the only one that will be upset with me."  He gestured to the top corner of the room that was in the direction of their son's room.  "Keen Wit told me she just agreed to teach him today."
"So that was what that smile in the park was about," Serra said with a small smile.
"Serra, you know what this really means don't you?"  He gave her a concerned look.  "He has finally opened up to somepony besides us again.  He never even told his magic tutor or his friend about his dream to fly.  If she goes right now it'll crush his heart."
Serra lost the feeble confidence and her smile from her last thought.  "...I know."
Wayside gave a soft wail full of years of grief.  "If I were a stronger flyer I would have promised to teach him myself and we could have avoided this whole mess."  He thumped the nightstand beside his bed with his hoof as hard as he could.  "Why did I have to be born with such weak wings?"
"..." Serra said nothing for a moment, knowing she needed to let him vent a few breaths of frustration to calm down.
As his breathing steadied out she tried to console him.  "Because those weak wings are what let us meet in the first place."  She moved up beside him gently, placing her head against his neck.  "Without them we wouldn't even have our son."





It was getting late and Serra and Wayside had agreed that they wouldn't mind Lightning Dust sharing her room with her aunt, if it was just for three days.  So the two pegasi retired for the night.
"How did the old innkeeper know your pay check was in three days anyway?  Why would you tell him that?" Spitfire asked as she climbed into bed.  With Lightning Dust's back healed, the cloud bed was put back into recycling and the old mattress returned.
"Wayside isn't the inn keeper.  His wife Serra is," Lightning Dust answered.  "She is the one in charge of the inn, not him, and I didn't tell him when my paycheck would come in.  He told me.  He's my boss," she said while climbing in beside her.  It was only a one bed room.
"That...  That explains a lot, but you still have a lot more to explain tomorrow Lightning Dust."  As Spitfire said this, she pulled the covers over herself before relaxing, not wanting her niece to see just how sore she was from the fight.
"Will you actually let me explain this time?" Lightning Dust asked in a skeptical tone while she pulled the covers up over herself as well.
"Only if you don't try to run off again," Spitfire stated in a manner that implied she wanted a response.
After a pause, the only response she got was, "Good night aunt 'Campfire'," as her niece turned out the lamp next to the bed.
Spitfire was irritated at first but became surprised when Lightning Dust called her by 'Campfire'.  She remembered back to when she first got the nickname on that fateful camping trip.  It was made out of an unspoken trust between her and her niece when she was a filly.  Lightning Dust never actually promised to not say her real name but she understood why she shouldn't.  Even back then Spitfire was something of a celebrity.
It wasn't quite a promise she had made just now.  Her niece might still try to run off if she felt she needed to, but with as brash as she had been that day it was probably the best she would get.  As she thought about it, maybe it was more than she even deserved.
But that isn't what made Spitfire surprised.  Lightning Dust had just said her fake name in the same manner she did when she had made it up on the spot back then.  She used to be one of the most understanding and respecting of fillies, but something had changed in Lightning Dust over the years.  She grew more arrogant and less understanding.  She spent more and more time in the gym, hiding from her mom as often as she could.  She only said the name 'campfire' out of necessity in public anymore.  Even then, she would often revert back using her real name when they were alone despite being reprimanded about the risk to her identity getting out.
This was first time her niece had said it voluntary like that in years.  Though it was laced with a strong dose of irritation at the edges, there was no mistaking the main tone in it.  Something in her niece had changed again.  She had started to respect and trust others again, but Spitfire had no idea what had done it.
She'd get her chance to find out tomorrow.  She would just have to make sure to listen this time.





The next day.  "Huh, your aunt isn't that bad Lightning Dust.  I think she even sped us up a bit," Sunny Rays said to Lightning Dust and Spitfire as they came in to land beside her.
Spitfire refused to leave her niece's side at all that day.  She even followed her to work.  She acted as Lightning Dust's wing pony while they got the storm clouds for a light sprinkle over Sweet Apple Acres and the neighboring farm land.  Agricultural land needed just a little more water than town to keep the crops going strong.
Spitfire had to hold back her flying ability to keep under cover and in turn slowed her niece down.  Despite this, Lightning Dust was able to take half as many trips to fill the same quota with her aid, making up for it.
Pretending to be winded, Spitfire gave a soft thanks.  She thought back on the last few hours.  Lightning Dust took orders without complaint and was paying attention to her coworkers' actions.  She even showed the responsibility of a lead pony and kept an eye out for Spitfire when she acted as her wing pony.  'She's become more of a team player.'

Once they were alone at the inn after work they looked into finding a late lunch.  Pretty soon a small argument formed.  "There is no way I am eating any more of that 'prison food'," Spitfire retorted, pushing the bag of oats and alfalfa across the bed to her niece.
"Come on.  You ate it this morning," Lightning Dust said, pushing the bag back across the bed.
"Only because we would have ran late otherwise," Spitfire retorted again while ignoring the bag being pushed back to her.  "We have time now.  So we are going to get some real food."
"But you know I'm broke.  The oats aren't really that bad."
"Who said you were paying?"  Spitfire asked rhetorically, pulling her plump bit bag out of her saddle bags.
Resisting the urge to slap her face with her hoof, Lighting Dust responded, "I forget you get paid like a fat rat."  Defeated, she asked, "Could we at least not go to the restaurant at the plaza?"
'Could her stallion friend work there?'  Spitfire grew a wild grin.  "The restaurant at the plaza it is then."


* * *


On the way to the restaurant Lightning Dust hoped one of the crazy locals might pull some stunt and get her hurt so that she could go to the hospital instead.  Alas, the town was fairly calm that day.

Once at the restaurant, Lightning Dust picked a booth that was as hidden as possible.  Spitfire let her, knowing she still couldn't get away or hide even there.  Lightning Dust sat as low as she could and kept her face turned towards the wall.  She hoped whoever waited on them wasn't somepony that worked with her yesterday.
Fate has a way of torturing somepony in the most agonizing ways when given the chance.  It was not only one of the ponies she had worked with, but a pegasus that had learned to put the menus under her wing from her and was bound to recognize her.  "May I take your- Hey Lightning Dust!  Good to see you again!"
'She had to call my name.  If she hadn't I might have been able to deny it, but no!  She just had to call my name,' Lightning Dust thought while still turned the other way.  Somehow she had managed to shrink down further after this.  She gave no response.
Spitfire looked back and forth between her niece and the waitress as her niece did her utmost to become invisible.  "Oh, have you known my niece long?" she asked with a subtle mischievousness growing at the edge of her smile.
"No.  I just met her yesterday," the waitress answered.  "She came in here looking for a little work to earn some money to tide her over to pay day."
"She did, did she?"  Spitfire said curiously as she turned to look at Lightning Dust fully, who was avoiding eye contact completely at this point.
"She was the best waitress-" Lightning Dust just slipped out of her seat at this word, causing everything but her mane to be hidden under the table. "-we have ever seen work here.  She even showed me how to hold certain things under my wing to keep it simple.  That trick has saved me a lot of trouble already today," the waitress explained, while oblivious to the situation between the two ponies sitting at the table.
"Just let me die..."  Lightning Dust cried softly while her aunt lost control, pounding her hoof on the table and laughing her flank off when she found out what her niece had done.
"You ran away from home to-"  She stopped to muffle a laugh.  "To get away from your mom's restaurant just to have to, ha-ha, work in a restaurant!?" Spitfire exclaimed while holding her gut from the pain of holding back the laughter.  The fact that she didn't want to work at her mom's restaurant was no secret to Spitfire.  She didn't even have to say it for her to know.
"I'll come back to take your orders later then." The waitress responded, finally realizing what she just did.
"Just let me die..." Lightning Dust repeated as she laid on the ground under the table, covering her head in embarrassment.

After a few minutes that seemed like hours, Spitfire had finally calmed down and looked under the table at her quivering niece.
"As funny as it is, I can understand why you did it."
Lightning Dust slowed her quivering and raised an ear.  Refusing to get up, she listened to her aunt while still covering her face.  "Your mom practically forced her dream down your throat.  She tried to get you to learn as much about running the restaurant as she could, but the restaurant wasn't your dream.  You wanted to live your own life, not hers.  You-"
Lightning Dust feared her aunt figured out she was still trying to rejoin the Wonderbolts when she paused like that.  She would know it would be 'impossible' and drag her home thinking it was a waste of time.  She breathed a little easier when she heard her aunt guess wrong.
"You needed to get out on your own and find a new dream, but you had a rough start so you swallowed your pride to make ends meet.  I think I can respect that."
Lightning Dust looked up at her aunt when she heard this last part and just stared at her square in the face.  That was unexpected.  Her aunt and her had grown somewhat bitter towards each other over the years even though she still looked up to her.  It was like she was looking into a glimpse of the past when she looked at her aunt's face.  There in front of her at that moment was the same loving face she remembered from all those years ago.  She thought, for only a moment, she might not have to give her the slip when her paycheck came and her time was up.
Her aunt fixed that real quick.  "That doesn't mean you're off the hook yet.  It will take more than this to convince me and I still expect you to introduce me to that stallion of yours."  Just like that she was back to the present, problems and all.


* * *


After lunch and a glare at the waitress from Lightning Dust, they ran into somepony.  It was somepony that Lightning Dust hoped might be able to help her get back at her aunt.  Somepony that would make her sweat in fear but not actually cause any harm.  The only pony in town that knew who her aunt really was aside from herself—and Zecora even though she wasn't a pony—Nurse Redheart.
"Hey Nurse Redheart," she called out to her as Redheart was walking towards the school house.  "I want you to meet somepony."
Spitfire was at odds with this sudden change in mood.  Her niece had done her best to hide so far today yet now she is going out of her way to introduce her to somepony.  Something was off.
"I'm on my way to pick up my daughter but I can spare a moment.  Who is it you wanted me to meet?"
"This is my aunt.  My aunt 'Camp'fire," Lightning Dust said with an exaggerated wink.
"Oh, nice to meet yo-" Nurse Redheart started to say before it registered who she was really meeting.
Nurse Redheart stood there, staring at Spitfire.  Spitfire grew nervous under that stare.  She knew that kind of face.  It was the face of a fan.  That's what was off.  Her niece had just ratted her out.
For a few seconds Spitfire was in a state of panic.  "It is truly an honor Ms. Campfire," Nurse Redheart said as she came up and shook her hoof wildly.
Spitfire was confused with how this pony recognized her but still used her fake name.
"I never thought I'd actually get to meet one of-"  She paused briefly to form her words carefully.  "Your profession face to face.  Don't worry.  I can keep a secret.  Confidentiality is a part of my job.  I won't tell anypony you're in town."
Nurse Redheart stopped shaking her hoof and trotted off to the school house with a look of glee on her face.
Spitfire looked at her niece coldly.  Lightning Dust was just smiling from ear to ear.  "How could you?"
"I knew she wouldn't tell," Lightning Dust said confidently.  "I just wanted to see you sweat for embarrassing me back at the restaurant."
"But what if she does tell?"  Spitfire reprimanded her.  "This disguise will be useless.  It will be even harder to devise a new one."
"Then I have to go home and we both lose," Lightning Dust answered without a care, confident that it wouldn't happen.  "But let's wait until you start drawing a crowd before we do that.  You wanted to meet the boy, right?"
"Your stallion friend?  Let's go.  I had better be meeting a complete gentlecolt after what you just pulled."
"Oh, trust me.  You'll like him."  'Complete gentle'colt' indeed.'


* * *


"I thought we were meeting your stallion friend.  What are we doing at the school house?" Spitfire asked as she eyeballed Nurse Redheart wearily from across the schoolyard.
"We are.  Here he comes now," Lightning Dust said as she saw Miss Frizz Lane walk out with Keen Wit.  The teacher came up with him and met her at the gate.
"Hello again Lightning Dust.  No hard feelings from last time?"
Miss Frizz Lane was the one that taught all her student's to not talk to strangers.  Serra didn't worry about her son, knowing he could handle himself.  His teacher however, being raised in Los Pegasus, was not too keen on her student walking off with some strange pony.  She had started lobbing anything she could get her hooves on, trying to scare Lightning Dust away when she tried to pick up Keen Wit for Serra.  Serra had to come down to the school to explain Lightning Dust was alright.
"Na.  Only thing that hit was the eraser and it didn't hurt for long." Lightning Dust said without a care before turning to Keen Wit.  "Hey twerp!  Did you miss me?"
"Um...  I was kinda focused on my school work," Keen Wit answered with meek honesty.  "But I did at recess," he added with a smile.  Miss Frizz Lane walked back to the school house as the rest of the school foals were leaving. "Hey Lightning Dust, who's this?" Keen Wit asked as he pointed at Spitfire.  "She looks familiar but I can't place it."
"Well my dad says I take after her," she responded to keep him in the dark about her real identity.  She had pushed that line enough.  "This is my Aunt Campfire."
Spitfire looked at the colt in confusion.  "I don't get it.  Is this his little brother and we're meeting him here?"
"What?  I'm an only child," Keen Wit responded at the odd remark.  "But I wouldn't mind having an older brother-"  He looked up at lightning Dust with a hopeful smile.  "Or sister."
Lightning Dust gave a warm but stern 'don't push your luck' glare at the colt.  She then looked back at her aunt and spoke up, "I think I've left you in the dark long enough."  She moved beside Keen Wit and began to introduce him, "I never said he was a stallion.  You assumed that when you were angry yesterday.  This-" she said as she extended her wing to gesture to Keen Wit, "-is Keen Wit.  The 'boy', as I tried to say, I have just recently taken under my wing so to speak."  She folded her wing back to her side.  "He's Serra and Wayside's son."
"Hey!  Are you the one mom threw around last night?"  Keen Wit asked her.
This caught Spitfire off guard.  She had no idea the innkeeper had a son.  She looked keenly at them.  She didn't believe her niece would take a colt under her wing.  Her niece probably just bribed him to act the part when she wasn't looking.
Spitfire looked at her niece with a face of skepticism.  "So what is Lightning Dust trying to teach you?" Spitfire asked Keen Wit.  If it was another pegasus she wouldn't have to ask, but an earth pony generally didn't have much to learn from a pegasus that they couldn't learn from somepony else.  So nothing came to mind.
Keen Wit looked scared for a moment then he soon got a look of cunning in his eye and went over to Spitfire to whisper in her ear.  Spitfire listened to him quietly.  At first she seemed to listen intently.  Her face then turned to confusion for a moment before she busted up, laughing hard for the second time that day.  "Ha-ha!  You were right.  I do like him.  He sure can spin a tale," she said as she recovered herself.
Looking down at Keen Wit, she addressed him directly, "Alright.  You don't have to tell me."  She glanced up at Lightning Dust with an underlying message.  "I think I have pried into enough privacy for one day."  Lightning Dust could see in her aunt's eyes that she wasn't convinced, just playing along.





After they got back to the inn, Keen Wit was told to go look for the key for the room that Lightning Dust was staying in since he didn't have any homework.
"Isn't that a lot to ask of a colt?" Spitfire asked.  "She could have dropped it anywhere between the hut in the forest and town.  That's a lot of ground to cover."
All Serra said was, "Don't worry.  I know he can do it.  His eyes are almost as sharp as his mind."

A little while later, Keen Wit was doing his best to find the key as his mom asked.  Lightning Dust had described the path she took to him and he was combing it diligently.  He could do it a lot faster if his horn was working.  Metal detection was the one spell he could perform while his hat was on so that he could still keep it hidden.  He often found cents or even full bits on occasion when he walked down the street with it as he exercised his horn.
However, since he was under doctor's orders to not to use his horn, he had to fall back on older tricks.  Tricks he had used before he learned his second and most recent of the two spells from Twilight.  Using just his eyes, he combed the ground to see anything shiny or in the rough shape of the room key.
He didn't have to look far.  It was just outside the park next to the fence.  On the way back he started to wonder about this 'aunt Campfire' Lightning Dust introduced him to.  He could tell it was definitely her aunt.  They had the same eyes.  It was not so much the color, which was definitely similar, but the spirit.
He liked her at first, but when they were walking him back to the inn he could see there was some tension between them.  He couldn't place it but whatever it was it wasn't something they wanted to say in front of him.  This worried Keen Wit.  What was making his friend so scared of her aunt?

As he approached the inn he saw Campfire pass by the window by the bench.  Since his mom was waiting on him to get the room key, he knew she wasn't coming from Lightning Dust's room.  She must have used the tiny public restroom at the end of the hall.
Just as he got in earshot of the reception area of the inn, he overheard them talking.
"Good.  You haven't ran off," Spitfire said with the same tension as before, only she made no attempt to hide it this time.
"You were expecting me to?" Lightning Dust asked skeptically, throwing the same tension back.
"I...  It was a possibility," Spitfire responded in a guilty voice.
"Well, could you blame me?" Lightning Dust asked as if the answer was obvious.  "It's not like I asked you to come here and force me to come home."
Hearing this made Keen Wit freak out.





"No!" Lightning Dust heard Keen Wit yell from the door of the inn, dropping the room key to the floor as his mouth let go of it, long forgotten.  He must have found the key early and over heard them on his way back.
He ran up to them and placed himself between them, not too much unlike when Iron Will attacked.  This time however, he wasn't facing away from Lightning Dust but hugging her around the neck tightly.  All the while he was still screaming "No!  No!  No!"  Still holding onto her tightly, he looked at her aunt with fear and said, "No!  Don't take her away.  I don't want her to go.  She's my friend.  Just, just go away!"
Lightning Dust was shocked.  She didn't know what to do.  So she just stood there and let him scream.
Spitfire was suddenly at a loss for words from the colt's commotion.  She just stood back and watched him yell at her from around her niece's neck, unsure what to think or say.
After a few moments, Serra and Wayside had heard the commotion and had stumbled upon the scene.  "Keen Wit..." was all Wayside could say as he approached but stopped.  He couldn't bring himself to tear his son away from her in such a state.
Everypony there stared at Keen Wit hold onto Lightning Dust with a practical death grip.  The back of Lightning Dust's neck started to hurt from him squeezing so hard.  Serra and Wayside couldn't do anything.  He was clearly not going to listen to her aunt now.  She was the reason he was upset.
Lightning Dust tried desperately to comb through the options of what to do.  Hardly a minute had passed since Keen Wit started yelling, yet he had worked himself into being so upset that he couldn't even form words anymore.  All he could do was hold his eyes closed tightly and pout while still clinging to Lightning Dust's neck.
Lightning Dust knew she was the only one that could do anything for him now.  She had to calm him down and get him to listen.  She couldn't do it with everypony else here.  She had to be alone with him for a while.
She knew what she had to do for him.  Even though she was willing, it wasn't something she ever thought of doing before.  With her bond to the colt still being new, the idea still left a bitter taste in her mouth.  She still hadn't quite gotten used to not being a loner anymore.
With a disgruntled sigh she flapped her wings just enough to raise herself and Keen Wit off the ground.  As he started to dangle from her neck not even an inch off the ground, she took him up in her forelegs.
"Serra.  Could you get the door for me?" she asked as she hovered there, holding Serra's son.
Serra looked at her admirably, knowing what she was about to do.  "Try to be back before dark."  Serra responded as she opened the door to let Lightning Dust fly out and carry Keen Wit through the sky.  The three remaining ponies followed her outside and watched.

As Lightning Dust and her passenger flew off, Spitfire just stood there, dumbfounded in disbelief of what she saw her niece doing.  It had happened so quickly that she had to run through the events of the last few minutes in her mind to make sure.  "A Child's Flight?"
A Child's Flight was when a pegasus would carry a child that can't fly, or at least can't fly yet, through the air to experience the sensation in the innocence of youth.  It was a slow and tedious task for the one carrying the child and was not performed often.  It wasn't even expected of parent pegasi to do it.  It was a terrible risk for any pegasi of less than normal strength to perform on their own.  Even for strong flyers like Spitfire who could do it safely, it left the flyer unbelievably exhausted.  The great price was only outweighed by the great need to comfort a child.
Though it was possible to transport ponies in a flight carriage, it wasn't the same.  A Child's Flight was a very personal endeavor where the participants don't simply go from point A to point B.  They drift in the sky and allow the child to play as they hold them, acting as the child's wings.  They listen carefully to what the child wants to do, doing their best to accommodate them through their first glimpse of the freedom of flight.
Spitfire's wings once again flared with the phantom pain from the night of Lightning Dust's Child's Flight as she thought about it.  It was something only a parent pegasus or somepony that held a child almost as dearly did, but for those that dared do it, it was a truly magical treat for the child they cared for.
After a moment longer as Lightning Dust was still climbing up higher into the sky, Spitfire realized her niece couldn't possibly be faking this.  "I couldn't believe it at first, but she really has taken him under her wing, hasn't she?" Spitfire said as she looked over to the other two ponies that had come outside with her.  They didn't even look back at her.  They just watched the beginning of their son's special moment from a distance.
The colt's father said, "I can't count how many times I have wanted to do that for him."  She saw him hold his somewhat ragged wing in a quivering hoof while refusing to break his gaze.
Spitfire knew what he was talking about the moment he grabbed his wing.  He was a weak flyer and couldn't hold his son long enough to perform a child's flight of his own.
"Please Lightning Dust," he said as he let go of the wing.  "Make this a moment in his life that he will never forget."