A grey shard flipped through her fingers, quickly reaching her pinkie before making its way back to her forefinger by passing on the underside of her fingers. With a sharp flick of hand, the shard started spinning in perfect balance on the tip of her middle digit, right in front of stoic, brown eyes.
The office’s door was slammed open, letting an annoyed, silver-haired sergeant in. Crystal cocked an eyebrow at the woman in the room, who was sitting cross legged on top of the large, oaken desk in the middle of the room.
“May I ask you to use a seat instead of my desk, Spitfire?” Crystal asked in a cold, even tone.
“You may ask, and the answer’s no,” Spitfire replied, her brown eyes still focused on the shard that was now in her open palm.
“Why are you here already?” Crystal asked after rubbing her temple in annoyance. “You only check the trainees once every three months, and your last visit wasn’t even a month ago,” she reminded.
“Here!” Spitfire flipped the shard to Crystal as if it was a Bit.
“You came here to give me a stupid piece of...” Crystal started in an annoyed tone while catching the thrown object mid air.
As soon as the shard touched her skin, the sergeant interrupted herself. Her ice blue eyes quickly turned to the grey object in her hand. It had a strange, yet familiar feeling to it, and she couldn’t put her finger on it.
“Try your thing on it,” Spitfire demanded slowly after noticing her sergeant’s expression.
“What?” Crystal asked, blinking in confusion.
“You know, your thing!” Spitfire repeated with a roll of her wrist.
Crystal voiced short, and nearly mute ‘oh’ of understanding before tightening her grip on the small object. In the following seconds, Spitfire felt the temperature of the room drop as the haze around the sergeant’s fist became more intense. The redhead officer saw a layer of hoarfrost appearing on the other woman’s hand before it grow thicker and thicker.
Crystal let out a low groan of concentration right before the thick ice around her fist completely shattered, causing a small cloud of white, icy dust to scatter in her office. She slowly opened her fist, letting more snow fall on the ground before the grey shard slid out of her grip, and touched the floor with a low cling.
“What the hell?” Crystal whispered with wide, shocked eyes as Spitfire picked the shard up after stepping down the sergeant’s desk.
“That’s interesting,” Spitfire commented casually, while inspecting the shard, seeing it completely untouched by the sergeant’s magic.
“Spitfire, what is this?” Crystal asked slowly.
“I can’t be entirely sure,” Spitfire replied. “I have a theory, but I need to check it. Though what just happened seems to have confirmed my suspicions a bit.”
“Suspicions?” Crystal tilted her head with a cocked eyebrow.
Spitfire nodded. “What can you tell me about that blonde who fought with Shields three weeks ago?”
“What does she got to do with that thing?” Crystal blinked in confusion.
“I’m not really sure,” Spitfire answered with a casual shrug. “Tell me what you know about her,”
Crystal stared at her superior, and long time friend, with narrowed eyes before she opened her mouth to answer.
“Cloud Nimbus Kicker, eighteen years old,” Crystal stated calmly. “Born in Cloudsdale, spent the majority of her life in Ponyville, a small town near the Everfree Forest.”
“Never heard of it,” Spitfire commented slowly.
“Like I said it’s a small town, barely more than a village,” Crystal added with a shrug. “Though, that might change in a nearby future. The local orchard started to export a pretty neat apple cider.”
“Anything else?” Spitfire asked, while taking a mental note to try that cider.
“So far she’s shown rather amazing skills in hand to hand combat,” Crystal said with a slightly admirative tone. “She’s got no style, and has never practiced any martial arts before coming here, but her reflexes and reaction times are among the bests in the whole compound, and from what I heard from her opponents, she packs quite a punch for a girl of her stature.”
“So, her advantage against Shields wasn’t just because she made her lose her temper,” the lieutenant let out as her sergeant nodded slowly. “What about her magic?”
“Combat wise? Very below average!” Crystal commented with shake of her head. “She’s talented at basic weather manipulations, extremely talented I might say, but she can’t muster any offensive shapes at all.”
“That bad?”
“Hang on! I must have her record somewhere.” Crystal waved her interlocutor to stay still as she went to one of her shelves.
~~~~~
“Ok… Cast!” Blossomforth shouted the order for the teams eight and twelve.
A volley of lightning bolts flew in front of Blossomforth and her fellow private, Ace Orator, before they shattered all the targets lined up across the courtyard. All except the right center target, which still hadn’t been damaged since they started the lightning bolt exercices about an hour ago.
“Look, let’s give it a rest,” Ace said slowly as Blossomforth groaned in frustration at the once again un-touched target.
“No, I won’t give it a rest!” Blossomforth said sternly. “The exercise will go on until the two squads can manage a perfectly synchronized volley!”
“That’s not the problem and you know it!” Ace argued with a sigh before turning his gaze at the five recruits gathered around the last one at the other end of the court. “She can’t do it, let’s leave it at that for today.”
“Ace, she has to do it! It’s the most bas… What now?” Blossomforth interrupted her reply when she heard angry shouts coming from the group of recruits.
“Damn it, Kicker!” one of Ford’s teammates with very short brown hair, Manerick, shouted angrily. “Can’t you do it right at least ONCE?!”
“Alright, that’s enough!” Ford stood protectively between Cloud, who was looking at ground in shame, and Manerick. “Shouting will lead us nowhere!”
“Tss, why am I not surprised to see you siding with your bitch, Mustang?” Stardust, the redhead from squad twelve, asked with disdain.
“What did you call her, punk?” Gale asked furiously, taking a threatening step toward her not-so-fellow ginger, also holding a quite pissed Ford back.
“You heard what he said,” Manerick added with a snorted laugh. “A part from waving her ass and spreading her legs for Mustang, she can do nothing!”
“Really?” Silent asked in an even tone, though her anger at the two men was clearly visible in her golden eyes. “So, you’re saying that kicking both your asses thrice in yesterday’s sparrings is nothing?”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean anything on the ground!” Stardust retorted with an angry blush as Gale and Ford snickered.
“We’re the future Jupitarian branch of the Royal Guard!” Manerick explained. “We’re supposed to strike from the sky and bring a rain of thunder on the enemies of Equestria! Not punching her way through like the useless Eponian whore with wings over there!” He waved at Cloud’s slightly shivering form.
Cloud’s teammates flared their wings open in defiance, ready to tackle the two neighsayers. Though their actions were interrupted when the end of a staff appeared before the brown-haired Jupitarian, only to slam itself on his face with a sinister crack.
“I hope you don’t mind me disciplining Manerick a little, Ace,” Blossomforth asked in a cold, angry tone as she rested her staff against her left shoulder.
“On the principle, I do mind it a lot,” Ace stated calmly. “On a more personal level, I was about to suggest it,” he added with a shrug.
“What the hell, Blossom?!” Stardust asked angrily as he helped his teammate back on his feet. “You broke his nose!”
“Well, maybe that’ll make him learn to not mess with my team, Cadet,” Blossomforth commented apathetically.
Ace took the responsibility to help his underling to the infirmary before Stardust decided to leave the training court. Blossomforth, being the only superior left on the court, could have ordered him to stay to continue the exercise, but she let him go and dismissed the others. Like Ace had implied it earlier, they weren’t ready to get the exercise correctly no matter what.
“Kicker, wait a minute!” Blossomforth called for the blonde.
Silent, Gale and Ford glanced at Cloud with worry before she nodded them to continue without her. The blonde took a few steps back in order to face her squad leader. Since their brawl on the first day, they had silently decided to not provoke each other too much, something that usually ended with a slight sexual-poke from the blonde cadet, and a frustrated growl from the officer in training. Though, Cloud had realized it was serious business this time.
“...I’m sor…” Cloud began softly.
“How?” Blossomforth asked abruptly. “How come you’re not able to do it?” Cloud didn’t answer. “You do know that casting a lightning bolt is the most basic manipulation in the Guard, right?”
“Yes, I know,” Cloud replied in a low whisper.
“And, do you realize that during the three weeks and a half you’ve been here, you still haven’t made any progress in that aspect?” the future officer asked sternly.
“I know.” Cloud’s reply was so quiet that her squad leader barely heard it.
Blossomforth sighed. “Look, I’m not saying you’re not talented in Jupitarian magic! That would a huge lie. But conjuring a cloud as quickly as you can isn’t really what we look for in Jupitarian Guard’s skills.”
“I can still fight!” Cloud argued slowly.
“When you and your opponents have both feet on the the ground, yes!” Blossomforth admitted. “In airborne combat, you basically have everything to learn,” she reminded slowly. “No offense, but a twelve year old from Cloudsdale is more efficient in the air than you.”
“It takes more than being raised on a patch clouds to make a good Jupitarian soldier,” Cloud replied with a hint of defiant pride.
“True, but a good Jupitarian soldier can do much more than you do,” Blossomforth assured softly. “He can shoot lightning bolts while you can’t even produce the tiniest spark. He can soar through the skies as if he was one with the wind while your flying is rough, sloppy like one of an early teenager. A real Jupitarian soldier carries the weapons of Nature itself : Tornados, Hurricanes, Thunderstorms…. You, on the other hand, can make beautiful clouds,” she ended in a low tone. “That’s what expected from a weather manager, not a Royal Guard soldier.”
At that remark, Cloud winced. It was the same argument she had had with her parents when she informed them of her decision all over again. In the heat of the argument, her mother had used the same reasoning as Blossomforth, if only much louder and a bit crueler from the blonde’s perspective than the young officer in training.
“You probably have good reasons for wanting to be here, Cloud,” Blossomforth said compassionately when she noticed the hurt expression on the blonde. “But, I think it’s best for you to try your luck somewhere else. Not everyone is cut out to be a soldier.”
Blossomforth watched Cloud for a few seconds before sighing slowly when the only response she had from to blonde was her hanging her head low. Apparently Cloud couldn’t argue back. The future officer gave squadmate a light tap on the shoulder before walking away to let her have some time alone.
“What did I tell you?” Crystal asked Spitfire with a shake of her head as the pair watched the scene from the right side of the courtyard, undetected by two trainees. “The girl can’t conjure lightning. She’s been trying since her second day, and so far no progress at all,” she added with a pinch of sadness.
“So?” Spitfire asked back with a frown. “Why aren’t you teaching her how to do it if that’s the case?”
“I have,” Crystal replied. “After a full day with me, the most powerful spark she sent was barely above the level of static electricity. It’s like she’s not meant to do it.” she shook her head. “I don’t know why you’re interested in her, Spit’!” she looked back at Cloud on the courtyard. “What the heck is she doing?” she asked loudly.
“Huh?” Spitfire glanced where her sergeant was looking.
Cloud stood with her wings widely spread on her back, an intense frown of concentration on her face while tiny sparks of electricity came out of her palms.
Come on… Come on! At least just one Faust-damn time! Cloud thought desperately.
She pushed her hands forward with a low grunt, causing a feeble lightning bolt to fly out of them before dissipating itself in the air only thirty centimeters in front of her. Her extended arms started to shake in frustration after her once again failed attempt at casting.
“Wow, that was amazing, Kicker!” a group of passerby trainees called sarcastically.
“A total shocker we could say!” Another whistled in a faked impressed tone, earning the laugh from the rest of his friends.
“Why doesn’t she go ask her boy toy for some advice?” the sole woman of the group asked in a loud “whisper”.
“You mean Mustang?” The first one asked back.
Ignore them… Like Vinyl said: Words can hurt more than punches, but only when you let yourself hear them! Cloud took a deep breath, and breathed out slowly to calm down.
“I thought she was having a thing with one of the two cadets in her squad… Considering how flirty she’s with them.”
“Silent and Gale? Nah! If she’s having a thing with a girl, that’s probably Blossomforth!”
“They seem to get along nicely, despite their rough start, right?” One asked playfully.
“Oh! That’s how she does it? She’s sexing her way to the top?” the girl suggested with an expression of overplayed realization.
“How else do you think she’ll get anywhere in the Guard?”
That was the last straw for Cloud. She suddenly, and strongly flapped her wings to take off and flew away from the training court. Pleased with themselves, the small group of trainees was about to head back to their dorm, only to freeze in their tracks. Literally.
“What the…” the one at the front of the group started as he noticed his, and his friends’ legs trapped in ice, before freezing, not literally this time, when his gaze fell upon their sergeant-instructor.
“I know it’s not the holiday season yet, but tell me, what is the first verse of the Heart’s Warming Eve’s carols?” Crystal asked in a cold voice, as she walked up to the trainee closest to her.
“Huh…”
“..The fire of friendship lives in our hearts?” The last one to have mocked Cloud’s performance suggested uneasily.
“Good!” Crystal nodded. “The second one now!”
“... As long as it burns… huh..”
“We cannot drift apart!” A third one completed as his friend seemed to block on the lyrics.
“Very good! Now keep that in mind when you’ll be drifting together as one large, cold friendship iceberg!” The sergeant snapped her fingers and the ice started to grow along the trainees’ legs.
That’s a bit mean… Spitfire thought as she watched the sergeant disciplining her recruits. Oh, well. As long as it works for her. She shrugged before looking in the direction Cloud had flown off. For a supposed sloppy flyer, she can get far away really fast! she commented mentally when she spotted the tiny, purple, moving dot in the sky.
The fiery-orange-haired woman popped the joints of her spine and her neck as she stretched before leaning forward on her right leg. During so, her golden, light-made wings spread widely on her back. Her amber eyes focused on Cloud’s flying form, like a hawk watching a little rabbit from its perch.
I think that’s enough of a head-start The lieutenant thought with a grin before disappearing in a blink of an eye.
~~~~~
“Mom, just hear me out, please!”
“FORGET IT, CLOUD NIMBUS KICKER! WE’VE ACCEPTED MANY ODD THINGS FROM YOU, BUT WE’RE NOT GOING TO LET YOU THROW AWAY YOUR FUTURE FOR A WILD FANTASY!”
“It’s not a wild fantasy! I’ve been preparing for this! It’s been nearly two years since I started training with AJ!”
“Because Jacquelyn is going too?!”
“Of course not! She’s needed at the farm more than ever with Vinyl going to Manehatten for her studies! Also, she’s not really interested in becoming a guard…. She would kick some asses though…”
“Watch your language, young lady! Raaagh… What the hell did we do wrong with you?”
“W-What?!”
“You curse! You sleep around like a filthy whore!... Yes, we know about that! Stop with the wide eyes! It’s not like you ever tried to hide it! And now this ridiculous idea of joining the Guard!”
“Ha, because joining the Guard is so much worse than whoring myself as I seem to have been doing according to you?”
“Well, your father and I thought you’d grow out of that phase eventually… But, seriously, why do you even want to go?”
“I want to do something to protect those I care for! Do something I could be proud of… Actually be somebody!”
“Pfft, you think you can’t be somebody doing what your father and I do for a living?! You think that our job isn’t WORTH SOMETHING?!”
“NO! Of course not! I… I just don’t think it’s what I’m meant to do, that’s all.”
“Cloud, there’s no way that joining the Guard is what you’re meant to do! Your magic is far away from what they ask… It’s not you at all!”
“How do you know that, Mum?!”
“Cloud, I raised you! I know what things you’re capable of and becoming a guard isn’t one of them!”
“My friends think the opposite!”
“Not to sound rude, Cloud, but your friend Jacquelyn is far from being the smartest apple of the bushel!”
“DON’T YOU DARE SAY ANYTHING BAD ABOUT HER!!! I OWE HER MY LIFE!”
“Just because she saved your life doesn’t mean she’s right about what’s best for your future!”
“Just because you gave birth to me doesn’t mean that you are as well! I’ll do what I think is best for my future in the way I chose!”
“How?! By spreading your legs open for the first newcomer?!”
“..........”
“..I..I di-didn’t mean to…”
“Save it!... You meant every word of it!”
“Cloud, wai…”
“DON’T TOUCH ME! I’m done with you! This family! This stupid job you and Dad always wanted me to do… I’ll prove to you that I can do what I want with my life and the way I want!”
*****
“...I’ll prove to you… tss, big talk for nothing in the end,” Cloud whispered to herself, with tears filling her purple eyes as she remembered the last time she spoke to her mother while landing in a small oasis close to the San Palomino Desert.
“I guess that if you run off in the desert after facing difficulties, you’re right. Big talk for nothing!” a woman’s voice said from behind Cloud’s back.
Startled by the voice, Cloud jumped around and looked behind her. When she saw the captain of the Wonderbolts leaning casually against the trunk of a nearby palm tree a few meters from her, Cloud quickly tried to brush her tears away, though it was nearly impossible for Spitfire to miss them.
“W...what...What are you doing here?” Cloud asked in a dumbfounded expression.
“I happen to like oases like this one.” The lieutenant explained with a playful smile, waving at the small, verdant patch of paradise near the dry and deadly desert around them. “It’s warm and refreshing at the same time. You just arrived when I was relaxing against this palm tree.”
“What a coincidence,” Cloud said with suspicion. “Also, I saw no one in the oasis before I flew down!”
“Maybe I arrived during the time you flew down… Ever thought of that?” Spitfire asked with a small grin.
“I would have seen you flying down here!” Cloud argued slowly.
“I’m not sure…” Spitfire said pensively as she conjured her golden wings and started to hover a few inches above the ground.
The next thing Cloud saw was Spitfire’s nose standing a few millimeters before her own. The sudden coming closer startled the blonde who fell on her backside after taking, and missing a surprised step back.
“Did you see me flying the seven meters that separated us?” Spitfire asked in a playful chuckle. Cloud slowly shook her head in awe to answer. “Than you probably didn’t see me landing before you, not to mention that tears tend to blur one’s vision.”
Cloud’s answer to that poke was to throw a meaningful glare at her superior before simply turning her back on her to glance at the small pond of the oasis.
Spitfire blinked in confusion. She had expected some embarrassed mumbling about not actually crying from the cadets. That’s what she usually got as an answer whenever similar situation happened with trainees, or even completely formed soldiers. Never had a cadet cast in her direction a glare that could so easily be translated to a simple “Bitch!”.
Needless to say, Spitfire was impressed.
“I guess I deserved that one,” the orange-haired officer stated in reconciliation. “Do you mind if I sit here?” she pointed at the spot on the grass next to Cloud.
“I don’t really know you, but I doubt you’ll take no for an answer,” Cloud replied slowly with a shrug.
“And you’d be right!” Spitfire nodded before sitting cross-legged next to the blonde. “So what was that back at the compound?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Cloud muttered sourly, her eyes fixed on the pond.
“Huh… I didn’t take you for the type of girl to brood in misery.” Spitfire jabbed with a smirk.
“It’s not like you know me,” the blonde replied apathetically.
“True,” the lieutenant admitted. “But you kinda left a big impression on me the first time I saw you.” She glanced at the trainee with a softer smile. “The unknown newcomer easily holding her ground against one of the best soldiers in training while throwing playful taunts and smirks at her opponent.”
“...Like you said.. Holding my ground!” Cloud stated with sadness. “It’s not like it’s actually of any use up there.” she pointed at the small mountain on top of which stood the training grounds.
“You actually believe the shit those two from Squad twelve told you?” Spitfire asked, snorting a good hearted laugh. “Their stupidities about ‘strike from the sky with a rain of thunder’?”
“But…”
“Kiddo, Jupitarians only represent one third of this nation’s population, and even less when you look at the whole world’s,” Spitfire reminded slowly. “If we were only using that rain of thunder bullshit, we would have been thrown away from the military soon after the invention of the lightning-rod!”
“Yeah but…”
“Why do you think we make the cadets train ground side first?” Spitfire asked. “Most of the time, a Royal Guard soldier has to face opponents on the ground. Flying can be an advantage, but there are many ways to prevent us from doing so. If you’re only capable of fighting air borne, then the Royal Guard of Equestria isn’t the place for you.”
Cloud slowly smiled at the lieutenant. “Thanks for sayin’ that,” she added softly.
“You’re welcome!” Spitfire nodded. “Now that you’re all smiles and sunshine again… Would you mind answering some of my questions about you?”
“Q-Questions about me?” Cloud asked back in complete confusion.
“Perfect!” Spitfire said casually, taking the blonde’s question for a yes. “First of all, where did you learn how to fight like you do?” she asked eagerly. “Winterjet showed me your records. A ratio of nine victories over one defeat in unarmed sparring, though she did comment that your style is nothing but brutish blocks and rather violent comebacks.”
“Winterjet?” Cloud tilted her head with a frown.
“Crystal’s nickname,” Spitfire explained. “A group of trainees are probably getting the origin of it as we speak,” she added with a short laugh.
“Huh.. okay then. For your question, I trained with a friend before coming here,” Cloud replied simply.
“That’s it?” Spitfire cocked eyebrow. “What kind of training?” she added when the blonde nodded.
“Endurance training for most part, and sparring with her,” Cloud explained with a warm smile. “Every day, she walked to my house to wake me up at the crack of dawn. Then it was jogging all the way to her family’s farm, helping her and her siblings in their morning chores,”
She paused for a brief moment as she chuckled at the many good memories that came back at her.
“I remember one time she decided to make me and her sister go on a trek in the forest… Not the Everfree of course!” Cloud specified quickly. “On the way back, Vinyl and I nearly collapsed of exhaustion while AJ was still as fresh as a daisy. Compared to us that is! She literally threw each of us on one of her shoulders, picked our bags up and jogged all the way back to the farm!”
“Woaw!” Spitfire let out in shock. “Really?”
“I still have trouble believing it myself, and I was there to see it!” Cloud commented with a chuckle. “The monster of Ponyville, people call her that every once in a while. She hates that nickname, saying that it makes her something bigger than she is… She has never seen how great she is,” she added with a sigh.
“You think a big deal about that ‘AJ’,” Spitfire commented slowly. “You sure she’s just a friend?” she asked with a cocked eyebrow.
“Sadly for me, she’s just a friend. The best I could ever hope for though, only tied by her sister.” Cloud smiled playfully. “I think a big deal about her, because she’s something else… A real force of Nature.” Cloud looked in Spitfire’s direction with determination in her eyes. “That’s the reason I’m good in combat. After two years of sparring with her, what the others can do isn’t enough! The few that can actually throw a punch as fast as her haven’t enough strength to even think of being close to hers!”
“You know? That’s a bit farfetched,” Spitfire commented slowly. “Though, the facts seemed to prove you’re not lying.” she shrugged. “Now, my other question!”
Spitfire searched through her right pocket before extending her hand above Cloud’s. She opened her hand and, a few seconds after, Cloud felt something tiny, solid, and strangely familiar touching her skin.
“It feels familiar to you too, huh?” Spitfire asked when she noticed the puzzlement on the blonde’s face. “Have any idea what that is?”
Cloud looked at the grey shard in her palm.
“I don’t why you’re asking me but, should I guess...” Cloud scratched her chin as she brought the shard to her eye level. “It’s a puff of cloud. It has the same sensation, sort of.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“Though I have never seen that kind of sustainability in a shaped cloud before. Not even on a house in Cloudsdale!” she added, trying without success to bend the shard like it was possible to on any traditional cloud-walls.
“You sure about that?” Spitfire asked doubtfully.
“Yes, I’m sure!” Cloud frowned at the lieutenant’s question. “Why do you think otherwise?”
“Well, I’m pretty sure YOU are the one who shaped this thing,” Spitfire replied with vigor, pointing at the grey shard.
“ME?!” Cloud pointed at herself in total disbelief.
“Remember your fight with Shields? When you conjured a cloud around yourself to protect you?” Cloud nodded. “Odd move by the way!” Spitfire commented matter-of-factly. “As you know, I intervened and dissipated whole your cloud and Shields’ wind-drill. With the exception of that shard that somehow managed to withstanded my Shaping.”
“Really?” Cloud asked, dumbfounded. “And you think I did that?”
“Yes, I do,” Spitfire replied with a nod. “Don’t know how, but you shaped a cloud that could resist my heat, and Crystal’s freezing. You can imagine how piqued my interest is!”
“Kinda,” Cloud admitted slowly. “But I don’t think I could ever do it again.”
“That’s loser talk, kiddo!” Spitfire glared at the blonde. “And I don’t train losers!”
Cloud blinked several times at that sentence. “I’m sorry. What?!”
“From now on, you’ll train with me!” Spitfire assured. “Or at least after I talked to Crystal about that… I wonder if she still likes coconut ice cream… That should make a good bribe if she does,” she thought outloud with a pensive frown.
The blonde was at loss of words. Spitfire Maverick of the Wonderbolts was talking about training her.
“Why?” Cloud managed to whisper.
“Huh?” Spitfire let out as she was brought out of her thoughts.
“Why do you want to train me?” Cloud repeated slowly.
“Well, your thing with clouds intrigues me, so I’ll need to check on you.” Spitfire explained while raising her thumb. “You obviously need training in Combat Shaping and Airborne Fighting. Things the Bolts are expert at.” she raised her forefinger. “And finally, I have nothing better to do at the moment!”
“You’re telling me that the Captain of the Wonderbolts has nothing better to do than to train a backwater town newbie like me?” Cloud raised a doubtful eyebrow.
“It’s not as great as they say in the pamphlets.” Spitfire shrugged with a chuckle. “All jokes aside,” she added softly. “When I saw you earlier for that lightning exercice, you reminded me a lot of myself when I first arrived in the training grounds.”
“What do you mean?”
“When I was your age, I had the same problem as you,” Spitfire replied softly. “I couldn’t throw the tiniest lightning bolt.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah, really!” The lieutenant nodded. “I was about to fly away just like you, but someone held me back and helped me get around it. You can see what good it did in the long run,” she added while showing her ranking strips and her golden winged bolt on her uniform jacket.
“You think I’m like you?” Cloud asked in a whisper.
“Not exactly like me,” Spitfire said playfully. “But I think you got potential. I wouldn’t even suggest training you if I didn’t!”
“But what if I can’t do it like you did? What if I never manage a lightning bolt for example?”
“Who said I ever managed it?” Spitfire asked back with a wide grin, earning a shocked gasp from Cloud. “Look, kiddo, it doesn’t matter. What matters is what you do with the ability you have. How you mold it to meet your expectations. THAT is the true way of Jupitarian combat!” she said sternly. “And considering your thing with clouds, you’ll manage lightning just fine!”
“Casting lightning and conjuring a cloud isn’t really the same mechanic,” Cloud argued.
“That’s true for us!” Spitfire agreed. “But, think about a thunderstorm, where do the bolts come from?”
The blonde blinked in confusion.“Huh… they come from… Oooooh!” Cloud let out in realization.
“See?” Spitfire asked with a chuckle.