Tales of Apple Scratch: The Lieutenant Cloud Kicker

by Mariacheat-Brony


The cloud braves the snowstorm in the desert

        A heavily panting, and sweaty Cloud landed with her back on her bed, her cheeks red as apples from Sweet Apple Acres. Her body was on fire, her muscles were sore, her chest raised high when she tried to gather as much air as possible. It had been so much more than what she had expected when she had accepted that offer.

“Gotta hand it to your friend, Kid,” Spitfire remarked with an impressed nod from the door of Cloud’s new room. “Training with her sure built up your stamina. Not many people would have lasted the whole afternoon doing the same training as Bolts.”

Cloud sat up on her bed to look at her newly-appointed trainer.

“You..You mean to tell me that ALL the Wonderbolts train like they’re in a bloody “sauna”?” she asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Hehe. No, the temperature’s just my personal touch.” Spitfire explained with a chuckle. “You’re lucky you’re not doing this with Crystal… You’d be cackling teeth by now!”

“If you say so…” Cloud fell back on the mattress while looking around the single bedroom she had been assigned to on the other side of the compound. “I really couldn’t have stayed in the barracks with the rest of my team?” she asked softly.

“No.” Spitfire shook her head. “Considering what I’m have planned for you, you’d have woken up earlier than them, and gone back to bed well after their curfew. It’d have been annoying for them.”

“I suppose,” Cloud admitted. “I feel bad for not letting them know where I am though,” she added, remembering how she had packed her stuff while the rest of her team was at the mess as soon as Spitfire and her went back to the compound earlier that day.

“Well, as soon as I think you’re good enough, I’ll let you back into the regular program,” Spitfire comforted with a small smile.

“Really?!” Cloud asked incredulously.

“Yeah, Crystal wasn’t really happy that I stole one of her recruits like that,” Spitfire explained with air quotes on the word “stole”. “Also, the Bolts are starting a tour in a two months or so… Unless I take you with me on that tour, something that I’ve no intention to do, it’ll be hard for me to watch over your training.”

“I guess,” Cloud whispered with a shrug. “We’re gonna do what we did today everyday?”

“Getting cold feet already?” Spitfire asked back with a smirk.

“No!” Cloud bluntly answered. “I’m just curious!”

        The lieutenant kept staring at her now personal trainee’s eyes until noticing that, despite the blonde’s fatigue, they shone with a more than awake determination. At that, her smirk changed into a more genuine smile.

“It’s going to be the program for a few days,” Spitfire explained. “Then, you’ll learn how to fight airborne… Once that I’m satisfied with your level in that , we’ll start working on your Shape!”

“My shape?” Cloud let out in confusion.

“Yep!” The Lieutenant nodded. “I’ll answer questions tomorrow though. Get some rest! You’ll need it!” she claimed before stepping out of the room. “Actually… Hit the shower first. You kinda stink!”

“That’s always good to hear,” Cloud muttered as the door was shut behind the Lieutenant.

        Very reluctantly, the young trainee pulled herself out of her comfortable bed to head to the small bathroom. After quickly taking her clothes off, she hoped in the shower. As she felt the hot water falling on her skin, Cloud started to think about the cloud-shard Spitfire had claimed was her doing.

        There was not a single way for her to have done that, despite what the Wonderbolt believed. She had never seen or heard of anything like that, thus even less possibly done it herself. Condensing a cloud to the point it’s solid as metal, and making it resistant to extreme temperatures, according to Spitfire, was something akin to legends for Cloud.

The blonde sighed and glanced at where her trousers were, focusing on the pocket in which the shard was. She turned the faucet off and went to pull the shard out. It felt like whenever she touched a cloud: the lightness, the softness,... All matched completely except the solidity.

“I wonder if…” Cloud’s hand surrounded itself with a white haze as she tightened her grip on the shard.

        She closed her eyes in concentration while she tried to change the shape of the shard. With a low groan, she looked at the object in her hand, seeing it unaltered.

“Of course…. Huh?!,” she muttered sourly before blinking as a puff steam from the running shower touched the mysterious material still surrounded by Cloud’s magical haze, only to be absorbed by it instantly.

        With barely contained excitement and puzzlement, Cloud gathered the moisture of the bathroom into a compact, football-sized stratus. She ‘’grabbed’’ it and pushed it in contact with the grey shard, then focused her magic to try to shape it again.

        Cloud let out a very quiet wow when she saw the piece of solid-cloud absorb all the moisture she had gathered. After a quick inspection, the blonde was about to frown in disappointment, but that was just before she noticed it. Cloud brought the shard closer to her eyes, finally seeing clearly the tiny bump on its side.

“That much humidity for such a little modification.” The blonde sighed slowly. “What an odd shape.” Cloud scratched her chin pensively. “I wonder if Vinyl has read something similar in her light-reading history books… I should ask her in my next letter!”

~~~~~~~

“So, as you probably heard, the thing that makes the difference between the Jupitarian Corps and the rest of the Guard is quite obvious… Airborne Combat!” Spitfire said sternly as the sun started to appear from beyond the horizon. “What says Airborne Combat also says Airborne Armor!” She turned her gaze to Cloud’s still sleepy face. “Are you following me so far, Newbie?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Cloud replied with as much vigor she could muster in her slightly sleepy state.

“Good!” Spitfire nodded before she started pacing in front of the blonde trainee. “Now, I know that many others commented that your flying was below the level of an average trainee, and they’re absolutely right about that!” Spitfire glanced in her direction to see any reaction, smiling mentally when she saw none. “But I doubt that those punks will do any better wearing a thirty kilogram, full body armor!” she added with a smirk, nudging at the plate armor on the rack behind her.

“Huh, permission to ask something, Ma’am!” Cloud frowned a bit at the sight of the armor.

“Granted!”

“Isn’t that a Knight’s armor?” Cloud asked slowly. “Like for the guards riding horses?”

“Huh!” Spitfire let out in a surprised tone. “You have an eye for that, Newbie. That’s pretty good.”

“And, aren’t Jupitarians’ armor much lighter than those?” Cloud’s question was laced with a bit of uneasiness. “To not bother their flying?”

“That’s true! Which is exactly why you’re going to put that on!” Spitfire nudged the armor again. “Since you have to catch up on the rest of the recruits’ flying skills, we’re gonna take the toughest method! Apparently, that works well for you. Any other questions?” Spitfire didn’t give Cloud enough time to answer. “No? Great! Now suit up!”

“Huh…”

“Didn’t you hear me?” Spitfire asked impatiently. “I said: Suit up!”

“I know, Ma’am...It’s just that I’ve never worn armor before...Sooo, I don’t know how to put it on!” Cloud stated in embarrassment.

        The renowned lieutenant blinked before pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance.

“I’ve got a lot more work than I thought with this one,” she muttered before signaling the blonde to come closer. “Come, I’ll show you ONCE how you do it!”

~~~~~~~

“Come on, Newbie! Fly Faster!” Spitfire yelled as Cloud painfully flew laps above the oasis where the lieutenant had decided to take her under her proverbial wing.

        The younger blonde, wearing the heavy armor set, crashed after finishing her lap, right at the officer’s feet, regretting it instantly as the oasis’ sand passed in between the plates and started to itch.

“Fifty seconds,” Spitfire commented, glancing at her chronometer. “Lame! Do it again!”

“You *huff* do rea-realize *puff* we’re in...fuck-fucking desert, right?” Cloud asked, panting heavily. “I’m literally cooking in my juices like a roast beef in this thing!” She bumped the heavy, nearly burning chestplate with her fist.

“Then find a way to cool yourself down, Newbie!” Spitfire retorted with a shrug. “I’m not really a beef person… I prefer fried chicken.”

        Cloud stared at her with a dumb expression until she realized the lieutenant was waiting for her to do something. She looked at her surroundings, noticing the small pond a few feet from them. Spitfire tilted her head in curiosity when the blonde in armor extended her fog-surrounded hand towards the pond.

“I wouldn’t advise water. The armor will get…” The lieutenant interrupted herself when a dense fog appeared above the water point.

        The fog quickly condensed itself in a thin, white cloud, which was immediately drawn up by Cloud’s hand. The newly-formed cumulus was completely absorbed inside the armor through the interstices of the gauntlet. Soon after, Cloud let out a relieved sigh.

“A cloud-blanket keeps you warm during winter, and fresh during summer,” the blonde explained when she noticed her instructor’s questioning look, not feeling as hot as she was a few seconds ago.

“Not bad,” Spitfire said with a short nod. “Now, you have no excuse for a bad chrono! Fly up!” The lieutenant snapped her fingers before pointing at the sky.

If it weren’t for her sexy ass, I’d start to hate that woman! Cloud stared sourly at the lieutenant as she looked up to the infinite azure above them.

        It took Cloud a lot of effort to stand back up with the weight of the armor, even though her cloud-vest underneath the plates made the whole deal more comfortable. She conjured her large purple wings and took off, oblivious to the fact that her wings were the center of attention of the famous officer’s amber eyes.

Just an hour of flight with the armor on, and her wings started to change already.

She had noticed the base of Cloud’s wings was a bit sturdier and thicker than before, while her wingspan seemed larger, barely noticeable for an untrained eye, but the change was there. The lieutenant couldn’t help to think positive about that trainee, even if she decided not to show it to the trainee in question…. At least not too much.

~~~~~~~

“All right! Take a break!” Blossomforth ordered to the five cadets of squads eight and twelve.

        While she turned to Ace to decide what exercises they would do next, the cadets relaxed their stances and lowered the blunt swords they had been dueling with. It was their second week of swordsmanship training, and so far only Ford had shown visible progress in that area.

“Ford, could you show us that parry again?” Gale asked as the boys went to sit on the nearby bench.

“Sure!” The blue and yellow haired man nodded.

        He rolled his sword-holding wrist and took stance in front of the redhead and waved her to attack him. Gale lunged forward to strike her opponent with a piercing blow. Ford took a step to the left and nudged Gale’s blade away from its course with the flat part of his own. The redhead recovered from the parry before raising her sword high and making it coming down on Ford’s skull.

        The male cadet lifted his blade to stand in the way of Gale’s, and when the impact was about to happen, he tilted his wrist to the left. Because of that, the attacking sword slided along the edge of the defending one, bringing about Gale’s arms and upper body down to the ground, thus making her completely vulnerable to a counter attack.

“The key’s to wait for the moment just before the blades touch,” Ford explained as Gale stood back up straight. “Only then, you can change the flow of the strike. You want to try?”

“...Not now,” Gale said after a short reflection. “I’ll practice with Silent or…. Well, just with Silent to get the move right before trying to go against you,” she added sheepishly after pausing awkwardly in the middle of her sentence.

“Still no news from Cloud?” Ford asked with a defeated sigh.

“Not since she left after that lightning exercice two weeks ago,” Gale replied in a low tone. “Blossomforth says that her replacement should arrive anytime soon.”

“I still can’t believe she just left like that,” Ford commented sourly. “Without telling us, or leaving a note!”

“She was ashamed of leaving the compound,” Silent butted in slowly. “Can you really blame her for not wanting to be seen during that?”

“Not really,” Ford admitted. “I just thought she’d say goodbye at least.”

“Oh, please!” Manerick commented from the bench with a roll of his eyes. “You’re just sad because you didn’t get alone time with her!”

“Manerick.” Ford glared at his teammate angrily. “Shut up, or ...”

“Or what, Mustang?” Manerick asked with a sly grin. “You’ll spray me with some water?” he added with a mocking laugh.

“Hey, come on now, guys! We’re on the same team, remember?” Stardust said calmly, hoping his two teammates would not get in a fight again.

It had been happening a lot since Cloud’s departure, and, while Stardust had at first sided with Manerick, he was getting annoyed by his black-haired teammate’s frequent taunts about the blonde’s sudden leave. Manerick remained oblivious to his attempts at peacemaking, as always.

“Don’t mind him, Ford,” Silent recommended quietly. “He’s just frustrated that no girl ever touches his butt since Cloud’s not here to kick it anymore,” she added in a matter-of-fact tone, earning mocking snickers from Gale and Ford.

“Alright, you guys!” Ace called loudly. “Back in line!”

“I wonder what Cloud’s up to now.” Gale thought out loud as the five trainees were walking back to their team leaders.

“She’s probably back to her life,” Silent commented slowly. “Probably trying to bed her sexy friend Applejack without much success.” She noticed the cocked eyebrows from her two friends. “She talked in her sleep sometimes…” The grey-haired girl added with a light blush.

“Huh?!” Ford and Gale let out slowly, more shocked by the fact someone actually resisted the blonde’s charms than her talking dirty in her sleep.

~~~~~

“Nice weather we’re having today, right?” Spitfire asked casually, as she relaxed on her deckchair a few feet away from the oasis’ pond.

“Indeed,” Crystal commented from the deck chair at the right of Spitfire’s. “It feels like a summer day at the beach.”

“How’s the training going back at the compound?” the lieutenant asked with curiosity.

“All good so far, except that Shields keeps bugging me about when her team’s going to get its new fourth member for the past three weeks,” Crystal replied casually. “I’m getting tired of this situation, you know?”

“Mah, don’t worry!” Spitfire waved off. “The Bolts are going on a tour in less than a month. You’ll have the newbie back by then!”

“Has she made any progress so far?” the sergeant asked, straightening on her chair to look at the heavy-armored flyer trying to push her way through a tunnel made out of a snow storm above the desertic patch of sand a few yards away.

“Her flight time went down from fifty seconds to twenty already.” Spitfire glanced in the same direction as her silver-haired friend. “Thanks for the storm-tunnel by the way!”

“You’re welcome,” the woman with long, white hair on the deckchair at Spitfire’s left muttered sourly. “Though, if I had known that when you said ‘come and relax at the beach with Crystal and me’, you meant ‘come help Crystal conjuring a nature defying environment for the girl I’m training while I’m getting tanned’, I wouldn’t have come!”

“Fleetfoot’s got a point,” Crystal commented slowly. “I thought you’d be the one training her when you demanded to temporarily remove her from her squad. Not that you’d ask us to do it!”

“She has to get used to different weather conditions, hasn’t she?” Spitfire asked, lowering her sunglasses to glare at her two friends and colleagues. “Besides, I just asked you to conjure a snowstorm, it’s not that big of a deal for you two!”

“We’re in the middle of a desert, Spitfire,” Fleetfoot remarked slowly. “It’s not that easy!” Crystal nodded in agreement.

“Yeah… Try to say that without the two of you sunbathing on deckchairs and I’ll start believing it,” Spitfire retorted with a cocked eyebrow. “How long has she been in there already?”

“I’m maintaining the wind’s strength, I didn’t pay attention to the time!” Fleetfoot replied with a shrug.

“Same, but with the snow,” Crystal added apathetically before she leaned back on her chair and closed her eyes with a sigh.

“Oh, well,” Spitfire shrugged before turning her head to Cloud, who was still flying through wind and snow as fast as possible. “Newbie! I saw your foot going out of the ring! Let’s start another thirty minute session!”

Spitfire couldn’t clearly hear it, or see it through the artificial snowstorm for that matter, from where she stood, but it was obvious that Cloud was protesting that decision. Though Cloud’s protests made her stop flying forward, which caused her to be swept away by the strong winds.

The lieutenant simply pushed her sunglasses back over her eyes and lied down on her chair, resuming the important activity she and the other two Jupitarians had been doing while Cloud tried to brave the storm: sunbathing.

How dare she make me start all over again?! I only had two more minutes left! Cloud thought furiously as she recovered from her distraction. And, how dare she invite the Sergeant and that other chick to lie around in swimsuits to get tanned when I can’t even ogle! No one keeps Cloud Kicker away from sexy women in swimsuits! NO ONE!

        The blonde let out a long, frustrated groan, -Intensive training with Spitfire didn’t leave her with enough energy to relieve some stress- and extended a fog-surrounded-hand forward. Instantly a large, puffy, white cloud appeared before her.

        Cloud focused her magic and her flight steady despite the wind, snow and hailstones disturbing her, and her newly-conjured cloud started to change its shape at her will. The cumulus, turning bigger and greyer as it was absorbing the humidity in the air, took the form a drill as large as the Jupitarian who created it.

        As the strong wind got caught up in its indents, the cloud-made drill started to spin, even though its shape wobbled a bit under the wind’s pressure. Cloud then conjured two handles inside the drill’s inner cone, then started to fly forward, now free of the windy obstacle. The drill dug through the tunnel without too many difficulties other than a few patches of the shape that were ripped off every now and then, only to be recreated by Cloud’s magic soon after. At each lap, the drill’s path leaned closed to the outer edge of the tunnel.

“Spitfire?” Fleetfoot called softly, her head turned in Cloud’s direction. “Did you know it was possible to make a drill out of a cloud?”

“Huh?” Crystal and Spitfire let out simultaneously as they both blinked their eyes open before sitting straight up.

“Not to my knowledge, why?” the lieutenant asked with a yawn.

“Because there’s one who just pierced the tunnel Crystal and I made,” Fleetfoot commented matter-of-factly. “And it’s heading our way.”

        The armored trainee let go of the cloud-drill, which made its way up above the three sunbathing women, thus blocking off the sun. Spitfire lifted her glasses up her forehead to cock an eyebrow at Cloud who simply replied by snapping her fingers.

        The grey cumulus delivered its water immediately after, soaking the three ranked guards as quickly as hundred full buckets were emptied simultaneously. Due to where the cloud came from, the water was ice cold, and the two Wonderbolts were wincing constantly at its contact while Crystal didn’t seem affected at all. The shower stopped when the cloud had turned pure white and started to dissipate because of the heat of the desert while the snow storm behind Cloud died down.

They couldn’t wear white bikinis?! They would have been bit transparent with all that water! Cloud thought with a huge disappointment as Spitfire passed her hands through her hair to pull her bangs away from her face after putting her shades down .

        What happened next startled Cloud a lot. Spitfire closed her eyes before all the water on her body and in her hair evaporated in an instant. Then, the lieutenant slowly stood up and made way toward the young Jupitarian at fault, drying the patches of sand her feet touched in a blink of an eye.

        Cloud gulped nervously as her trainer and hierarchic superior, as she just remembered, walked in her direction, her face impassible like a granite wall while her amber eyes shone with a great sense of authority.

For one of the few times in her life, the young blonde ignored the lubric part of her mind, which was screaming her to not panic and to act all seductively in front of the smoking hot, bikini wearing woman, like she would normally do. Then again, she had never thought to meet a woman LITERALLY smoking hot before.

Spitfire stopped a few inches in front of Cloud and crossed her arms, inadvertently pushing her attributes together, though the blonde didn’t dare look at them, and tilted her head to stare down at the purple eyes of her trainee.

The Wonderbolt wasn’t much taller than the cadet, barely three or four inches of difference, but Cloud felt as if she was standing before someone incredibly much taller, like when she saw Applejack facing that manticore nearly two years ago.

She also felt completely naked in front of the stern, amber eyes, despite the massive, heavy armor Spitfire made her wear to all their training sessions, and definitely not the good kind of naked she was used to.

“Kicker, I’ll ask this only once.” She used her name. Spitfire never used her name. It was always Newbie, Rookie, Kid, and so on. “Are you and I friends?”

“Huh… pardon?”

“Are you and I friends?” Spitfire repeated, pointing at herself and Cloud back and forth.

“I...I’d say not really?” Cloud suggested.

“You’re not sure?” Spitfire asked with a surprised tone while her face remained stern. “It’s an easy question though.”

Cloud uneasily swallowed before licking her lips. “No, we’re not… Ma’am.”

“Well, that’s already better,” Spitfire commented. “Then, why did you think you could pull that stunt back there?” she thumbed above her shoulder, pointing at Fleetfoot trying to dry, and warm herself a bit, but failed as her towel was completely soaked. Crystal simply had simply gone back to sunbathing.

        Cloud didn’t reply and started to look down at her feet.

“Eyes up and head straight, Kicker!” Spitfire barked loudly. “You’re not a little girl caught taking a cookie from the jar! You’re a grown woman training to become a guard!” The eye contact was made again. “I asked you a question. I’d like an answer.”

“I… I was tired,” Cloud explained after a brief hesitation.

“Tired?” an orange eyebrow raised itself a bit.

“Well,... yes.” Cloud took a short breath. “Tired of flying laps through forty degrees. Through snow storm until you decide I should start again because you lost count of the time!” Spitfire didn’t say anything. “And it’s not the first time it happened! About every day since I started training under your ‘’supervision’’, if I can call it like that, you made me start over plenty of times for no reason, and I’m tired of this!”

        Cloud paused for a few seconds, expecting a response from Spitfire.

“It doesn’t look like you’re done,” the lieutenant remarked slowly. “Go on. Does something else tire you?”

“Yes. That stupid armor tires me!” Cloud replied sourly. “It’s really uncomfortable, unnecessarily restrictive, heavy as a bloody boulder.” She pointed an accusatory finger at the renowned officer. “You said you’d train my flying for a few days then we’ll move on to fighting! It’s been more than three weeks already! If I had known you’d only make me do wing-ups and fly in circles with armor on, I’d have stayed under Sergeant Pagetonas’ training and probably have learned quite a lot of things by now!”

“I’m starting to like this girl. What about you?” Crystal whispered with a smile as Fleetfoot’s teeth were still chattering. “Go have a swim in the pond, girl. The water is most likely warm enough.”

“So, you want to train in Jupitarian fighting styles already, huh?” Spitfire asked with a shrug. “What If I think you’re not ready?”

“I am ready!” Cloud assured strongly. “I want to learn how to fight!”

“Fine,” Spitfire replied, relaxing her stance and uncrossing her arms.

“....Pardon?” Cloud blinked in total confusion.

“You’re right. It’s time we move on to something more interesting, and that I take a much more active role in your training.” Spitfire nodded calmly.

“What?!…”

“Let’s start right now!” Spitfire said as she placed her right palm on Cloud’s chestplate. “First lesson. To dodge this…”

        Cloud felt an incredibly, intense burning sensation in her chest before a sudden and powerful gust of hot wind catapulted her on a nearby dune, half-way burying her in the sand.

“... don’t pull pranks on me again!” Spitfire ended her warning with a small smirk. “Though, that shape was pretty good… For a newbie,” she added with a brief wink as Cloud was still trying to comprehend what had just happened. “How did you make the cloud tough enough to resist Fleetfoot’s winds?” she asked with curiosity.

Cloud extricated herself from the sand, resisting the itching, as her armor was now full of it before she answered.

“A very good friend of mine turned me to some expert,” Cloud explained softly. “A very old expert...”

~~~~~~~

Hey there, Cloudy!

Say, you’re really getting trained by Spitfire Maverick?!
That’s so freaking awesome! She’s like the strongest Jupitarian soldier of the last six generations!

You’ll have to tell me more about it in your next letter. Or even better, let me know when you have a leave. -Is that how they call it in the military?-, I’ll send a letter to AJ, so that you two can come to Manehatten to visit, since it’s half-way between Las Pegasus and Ponyville.

Anyway, things for me are going along smoothly. Teachers are pretty cool, and my roommate is pretty awesome. You’d like her. Though I’m not letting you near three yards from her. She’s too sweet and cute to be corrupted by the likes of you. Hahahah!

Regarding what you asked me about, it took me a bit of time, but I managed to find something you might find pretty useful, and rather surprising on top of that. I’m still shocked by it. Anyway, it’s in the book I sent with this letter. Chapter 9.

I really hope it can help you.

Your friend,

Vinyl Almata Apple

Ps: AJ told me about that picture at the train station. Good one! ;)

        On the desk of Cloud’s room, right next to the letter she had received from her friend in Manehatten, laid a rather small book, with a simple, brown, leather cover with a silver, pegasus-shaped engraving on the front, right below the title :

Legends of old Pegasopolis”.

The book was opened at the page two hundred and sixteen, on which started the chapter nine, which was entitled as followed:

“The Most Talented Cloudsmith of Pegasoplis : Shadow Kicker
&

The Legend of Thundersteel Weapons