Two months passed since the arrival of Moon Bolt. Not too long after her disappearance, Rainbow Shine made the arrangements needed to rightfully claim Nimbus as her own. Since Nimbus only had two more years left till he would be considered an adult, the process would be fairly easy. Although, Nimbus's refusal to make a10 mile trip and sign his name of approval was the only thing making the process difficult.
Eventually, after Nimbus gave her a three hour speech on how he can't be part of the Rainbow family because he only has one color in his mane, Rainbow Shine gave up and told Nimbus she didn't need a piece of paper to tell her who she could call her child. Nimbus cried for about an hour right after hearing that.
"Congratulations, you're the first bastard child of this family." Rainbow Dash told Nimbus as soon as he told her he was like the brother she never had.
"Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow Shine snapped at her daughter.
"What? He is a bastard. Am I wrong, Dad?" Rainbow Dash looked to Storm for assistance on the subject. "That's what you used to call him before you learned his name."
Curiosity hit Nimbus harder than a heavy weight boxers hay maker to the chin. "How long DID it take you to learn my name, Da-err Storm." Nimbus had gotten around to calling Storm "Dad" pretty comfortably for the past few weeks, but not in front of Rainbow Dash. He would watch himself from calling Rainbow Shine "Mom" too, when Rainbow Dash was around, but he usually called her that out of habit.
Storm set more focus to his dinner plate and began to smack loudly, giving himself an excuse to avoid Nimbus's question as best as possible. "Well, you see, Nimbus. I always knew who you were, but...."
"But..." Nimbus pushed the issue "What kind of "but" are we talking about here?"
Rainbow Dash laughed "Not that one musician's butt." Rainbow Dash pointed the fork she had stabbed into her broccoli at Nimbus, bringing back up the memory of a Unicorn Nimbus was trying to forget. "That one you dated for like a week. What was her name? "
Nimbus slammed his hooves on the dining table and leaned over in Rainbow Dash's direction. He threatened her with a butter knife in his hoof and over his shoulder. "You should you wouldn't bring that up!"
Now that Rainbow Dash had saved him from answering the embarrassing question, Storm took the opportunity to act like he was suddenly interested in the conversation. "You were dating somepony, Nimbus? Who was the..." Storm swallowed as he tried to put on the best supportive smile he could conjure. "...the lucky mare?" As far as Storm could assume, any mare who would choose to date a colt like Nimbus probably didn't have a whole lot of options or any good ones.
"Melody! That was her name! The pinkish unicorn who could play multiple instruments at a time." Rainbow Dash answered for Nimbus. This was one of the very many chances she had to embarrass Nimbus as best she could. "Nimbus only liked her because of the way she played the saxophone."
"What happened with her?" Storm asked.
Rainbow Dash guided her hoof to Nimbus, telling him he had now had the floor again. "Why don't you tell him, Nimbus?"
Nimbus's left eye was twitching, a sign of how short Nimbus's fuse was right now before exploding at Rainbow Dash like a block of C-4. "I didn't know I was one of her seven colt friends."
Storm didn't know how to respond except saying "Oh..."
"But Nimbus was one of the top three." Rainbow Dash pointed out with her forelegs crossed against her chest. "Guess who was in first."
Rainbow Shine wasn't anymore amusement in this than Nimbus was. "You don't have to tell us who-" Rainbow Shine started to say but Nimbus was already half through saying who the "winner" was.
"It was a black mustang. I think him being black is kind of self explanatory as to why he was in first." Nimbus's tone of voice was as dark as his eyes were right now.
Storm raised an eyebrow as to why Nimbus put the pony's ethnicity so bluntly. "What does him being "black" got to do with anything?"
Rainbow Shine knew exactly why Nimbus was bringing up the pony's ethnicity, but was too ashamed to admit it. There was a reason why Mustangs were proud to be referred as "Stallions" from time to time, especially the darker colored ones.
"Why don't we talk about something else?" Rainbow Shine pleaded, begging Celestia that for one night she could have a nice dinner with the family without having somepony arguing, even if it was harmless fun.
"Sure, why don't we talk about Rainbow Dash's ex?" Nimbus suggested. He swerved his head to the right, dodging the fork he had anticipated Rainbow Dash would throw at him. The fork stabbed a half inch into the wall and shook like a flung door stopper.
"You son of a bitch!" Rainbow Dash spat at Nimbus. "YOU PROMISED!"
"Rainbow Dash, not at the dinner table!" Rainbow Shine snapped at her again a second time for cursing.
"No,no" Nimbus shook his head and smiled. "She's right. My mom is a bitch."
"Nimbus!" Rainbow Shine sneered at him. "I know your mom isn't the....most pleasant mother out there, but you still need to show her respect."
"I showed her the door before she left."
Rainbow Shine felt like she was backed up into a corner between two teenagers. "Storm! Help me out here?'
Storm was still stunned and wanted more information on this "Ex" Rainbow Dash had. "In a minute. Rainbow, who's this ex of yours, and why are we just NOW hearing about him? From Nimbus?"
Throwing another piece of her mom's silver ware at Nimbus was all Rainbow Dash could think about. He had really thrown her under the bus this time. "It was just someone stupid." She answered, looking at the candle holder in the middle of the dinner table. It was hardly used and mainly collected more dust than it burned candles. Perhaps it would be aerodynamic enough to fly through the air.
"Yeah, Cloud Slope. The pegasus who can make art with clouds." Nimbus elaborated for Rainbow Dash so her parents could get an idea of who he was.
Then name rang a loud bell for Storm. "You mean the kid who takes clouds from the factory I work at?! That guy's a punk. Why in Equestria-"
Guilt washed over Nimbus when he realized he might have played with more fire than he could handle. He wanted to get Rainbow Dash back for bringing up his ex, but he didn't want her getting in trouble for it. "S-storm, that's the guy she WAS dating." Nimbus intervened.
"Was?" Rainbow Shine asked.
Nimbus wanted to himself for the bigger he hole he had just dug. He looked over at Rainbow Dash. By the glow of red fire burning in her eyes, he could see that she was strongly considering throwing something else at him. What she would throw this time, he didn't know.
He shrugged and smiled at her. How was I supposed to know she would catch on?
Rainbow Dash jerked forward at Nimbus slightly with her hooves thrown in the air. How about by not saying anything? AT ALL!
The silent language Rainbow Dash Nimbus were using got easily translated by both Storm and Rainbow Shine. Just like when they were younger, Rainbow Shine and Storm used to use the same silent language when they wanted privacy in public.
"What else are you two keeping from us?" Rainbow Shine asked. She was more surprised that Rainbow Dash had started dating behind her back rather than being mad at her about it. "I know you two are both getting older but no secrets okay?"
"If we can't trust you to tell us that you're dating other ponies, how do you expect us to trust the ponies that you're dating?" Storm added.
Of course, both Rainbow Dash and Nimbus knew Storm was right. It was just a matter of admitting it.
"He's got a point, Rainbow Dash. We need to tell them." Nimbus confessed.
"NO!" Rainbow Dash declined. She clutched at the candle holder she had been staring at for so long. "If you do, I'll never forgive you."
"You're dating somepony else? Who is he?" Storm asked rather strongly.
Rainbow Shine punched Storm in the shoulder to calm him down. "Do you hear yourself? It's no wonder they won't tell us."
Waving his hoof, Nimbus made his way to Storm. "No, no. Mrs. Rainbow, it's cool."
Being called Mrs. by Nimbus turned on more light bulbs in Rainbow Shine's head than she would have liked.
Nimbus held his hoof out to Storm and greeted him with "Hi, I'm Nimbus, it's finally nice to finally meet you Mr. Rainbow."
Storm looked at Nimbus's hoof, up to his face, then back down to his hoof.
"You're supposed to shake my ho-"
"I know who you are, Nimbus." Storm reminded him. "I've known you for eight years. The hell are you doing?"
Nimbus smiled and laughed at Storm. He rolled his eyes back to look At Rainbow Dash who was now behind him with her wing over his shoulder. "Yeah...well...when you first met me, I was Rainbow Dash's friend."
"Dad" Rainbow Dash started. "Nimbus is...my new colt friend."
***
"That didn't go as bad as we thought it would." Nimbus told Rainbow Dash. He winced when she pulled tightly on the linen bandage she was wrapping around his head. "Do you have to be so rough with that stuff? It's bad enough that my wing is in a sling." Nimbus wiggled his wing to show Rainbow Dash.
"Shut up, you big baby."
"That's another thing." Nimbus said quickly after Rainbow Dash's childish insult.
"What, the fact you still sleep with a stuffed animal like a baby?"
"There's no age limit for plushies!" Nimbus turned his head to yell at Rainbow Dash, but she pulled hard again on the bandages, spinning Nimbus's back around faster than he could see.
"You see, this is why that one unicorn left you."
Nimbus had a comeback he had been waiting for this exact moment to use. He knew he'd more than likely be smacked upside the head for it, but he'd be worried if Rainbow Dash went a day without hitting him. It was their strange alternative way of kissing. "Yeah" Nimbus started with a twisted smirk on his face. " but you're the one dating me now. So, what does that say about you?"
Even though Nimbus had his head turned away from her, Rainbow Dash could see the stupid smile he had with her sixth sense. Just as predicted, Rainbow Dash smacked Nimbus on the back of his head with the back of her hoof. Rainbow Dash indeed hit Nimbus everyday, if not every other day, but she always did it with an open hoof, never a closed fist.
"You do know the whole point of wrapping my head is to prevent further injury, right? ...don't think hitting the back of my head is really going to help."
"Oh, shut up. You're not really hurt. So stop whining like you are." Rainbow Dash said, right before hitting Nimbus in the back of his head again.
"Whining? You want some whining? I can give you some whining!" Nimbus inhaled deeply before Rainbow Dash stopped him from starting his crying rant.
"Nimbus, don't. You're not a good actor. You never were. I don't understand why you keep trying."
Behind Rainbow Dash's hoof, Nimbus grumbled the words "Well, screw you too."
***
Rainbow Dash and Nimbus made their way home within a half hour before their given curfew. They were going to leave again not too long after, but Nimbus told Rainbow Shine and Storm he'd bring Rainbow Dash back home safely before they went off to the live play theater this evening. Of course, playing a harmless joke on them for old times sake was always a good idea before leaving late in the evening.
Looking over himself once more, Nimbus asked Rainbow Dash, "You think this is taking it too far?" He flicked his fake injured wing in the restricted amount of space he was allowed to move it. "Your mom is kinda ....well, motherly towards me. I think she might freak out when she sees me in this condition."
"Of course she's going to freak out. That's the whole reason we're doing this in the first place." Rainbow Dash reminded Nimbus. She held out her wing cordinated it with her words to help her explain. "We're not TRYING to scare her, we're just trying to remind her that we're still friends even thoght we're dating now." She turned back towards the front door of her house and was about to knock urgently, but Nimbus asked her a question she almost slapped him for.
"Do you think she thinks we had sex yet?"
Breathing in deeply to control her temper for Nimbus's safety, Rainbow Dash spun around with her eyes and slowly said "Nimbus...you and I have never had sex, not even with each other."
"We got pretty close once."
"No, we didn't!" Rainbow Dash snapped quickly, opening her eyes back up to show the raging fire burning in them.
"....yeah, we did. Remember it was right after-no- it was right ON your last birthday. It was late at night, and before I started sleeping on the couch. You woke me up and told you were hot. I told you to open a window, but you kept telling me how "hot" you were. It took me a few minutes to catch on what you were saying. I got up on the bed and rubbed on your-"
With the single hoof she infamously wore a single horse shoe on, Rainbow Dash smashed all the power she could exert onto the top of Nimbus's head. "THAT NEVER HAPPENED!"
Ignoring the temptation to paint the memory a bit more fully, Nimbus held his hoof over the crown of his head. "Now that we're dating, that's technically domestic violence."
"You want to really sell this joke and have me break your wing for real?" Rainbow Dash's words were cold and serious enough to send a frightening chill down Nimbus's spine.
"You'd hit me all day if you could, but you'd never want to actually hurt me." Nimbus wanted to believe what he just stated was true, but watching Rainbow Dash cracking her hooves back and forth like she was getting ready for a heavy weight fight told him otherwise.
"Then don't tempt me." Rainbow Dash warned Nimbus before she blindly knocked on the front door behind her with her wing.
After seeing her knock on the door where she lived, Nimbus asked Rainbow Dash "Why would you knock on the door of your own house? Don't you have a key?"
***
The knock that echoed through the quiet house startled Rainbow Shine so much she nearly hit her head on the ceiling when she jumped. She looked over in the knock's direction as it was followed by a series of other knocks with no rhythm what so ever. It sounded urgent but she figured somepony would be yelling and screaming if anything was urgently needing attention.
Hindsight told Rainbow Shine she should have gone towards the door and listened to her gut feeling. As soon as Storm had opened the door, Rainbow Dash came into the house crying and dragging a bloody Nimbus behind her.
Rainbow Dash just kept screaming "I don't know what to do! T-there was just so much blood! Dad, please help him!"
Storm let go of the door he was holding onto grabbed Rainbow Dash into a comforting hug. "It's okay. Just calm down and tell us what happened."
The biggest question on Storm's mind was why Nimbus was bleeding if his wing and head were already wrapped in a cast. Shouldn't the bleeding from his nose and mouth be the first thing they stopped?
Rainbow Shine came running into the room to see the mess of blood and broken bones that had rolled into her living room. Keeping herself calm for Rainbow Dash and Nimbus's comfort, Rainbow Shine asked as comprehensible as she could. "What happened to Nimbus, Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow Dash still had her face dug into Storm's chest as she answered her mother "N-Nimbus was trying to show me a new trick a-and he crashed! I had to carry him and bring him home as fast as I could, b-but...oh Nimbus!" Rainbow Dash pulled her dad tighter closer to her face as she sobbed harder.
Storm was too quick to buy Rainbow Dash's story, like Rainbow Shine just had. "You said...NIMBUS was trying to show YOU a trick, not the other way around?" Storm knew that Nimbus knew he would have to at least join the Wonder Bolts if he truly wanted to impress Rainbow Dash with a few air tricks.
Rainbow Dash looked up and nodded to Storm. "H-he thought it would strengthen our relationship if he could try to be as good a flyer as me."
"Strengthen...your relationship?" Storm repeated. He looked at the same expression he and his wife were both showing at that moment. If they could read each others mind physically they would see that they were both thinking the same thing as well. Storm and Rainbow Shine could see two things wrong with Rainbow Dash's statement.
Number one, Nimbus could never be as "good" a flyer as Rainbow Dash. Mainly because Nimbus wouldn't want to. Sure, Nimbus had a bit more agility and acceleration than Rainbow Dash, but Rainbow Dash would always smoke him and leave him in the dirt with her speed, stamina, and determination.
"If you brought him here as fast as you could, why is he wrapped up in cast?" Storm asked Rainbow Dash slowly, even though he probably already knew the answer.
Moving for the first time since he got dragged into the house, Nimbus stood up, pinching the bridge of his muzzle to stop the blood flow. "Terd yew day werdn't bye eat." Nimbus grumbled with a mouth full of blood he was tempted to spit on the carpet. He decided not to spit on the newly laid carpet or Rainbow Shine would have his head for sure.
Rainbow Dash stopped her crying suddenly and yelled "Oh shut up, Nimbus, or this time I'll break your teeth when I punch yo-" She stopped yelling after realizing she had just broken out of character and her little game was over. Even though both parents were giving her chance to explain herself, Rainbow Dash persisted to keep the cruel joke going.
"Oh, Nimbus!" Rainbow Dash cheered. She tried to wrap her hooves around his neck but Nimbus put up a stiff wing to keep her at a distance.
"Yew bersted maw jaw ant slummed me enter dee werl. Screw. Yew." Nimbus said as coherently as he can. After pushing Rainbow Dash away with his wing and looking to Storm and Rainbow Shine, Nimbus asked, "Cern aye yews ern if dee bat tears to crean myserf erp?"
"Bat tears?" Storm looked to Rainbow Shine for a translation. "What's he talking about?"
Rainbow Shine rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Of course you can use one of our BATH TOWELS" Rainbow Shine leaned angrily towards her husband at the emphasis of the word. Once she laid the word on him, Rainbow Shine focused back on Nimbus. "You know where they are, just help yourself and put it in a separate pile of dirty laundry once you're done."
Nimbus nodded in understanding and glared at Rainbow Dash before walking away and telling Rainbow Shine "Tank yew."
Nimbus came out of the bathroom a few minutes later to see Storm, Rainbow Shine, And Rainbow Dash all gathered in the living room. They were all strangely quiet. Rainbow Dash was squatting ontop of the arm rest of Nimbus's sleeping couch. The silent vibe in the room scared Nimbus uncomfortably. Even when he asked "Is something wrong?", they all remained.
Rainbow Dash spoke up finally but her voice was almost so inaudible Nimbus had to lean in from where he was standing to hear her. "I-I don't how to say this...but...."
Nimbus hated how Rainbow Dash and her parents always built up tension before telling anypony anything. Just like at the hospital those past few months, the feeling was like down the barrel of a loaded gun, you know the bullet's going to come out sometime and you're it's going to hit you no matter how fast you think you are.
Rainbow Dash cleared her throat before speaking back up "Mom was doing a bit of research on you and umm well....S-she found out you and I are siblings with a different mother."
Lost for words, Nimbus stood in place only changing his facial expression. If he and Rainbow Dash were truly siblings, how come Storm didn't recognize his own son? Was he not there, if so then why? Why wasn't he there for-
Rainbow Dash began to snort and slapped her hooves over her mouth. Both Storm and Rainbow Shine's eyes pointed to Rainbow Dash dissapointedly for not keeping her bearing.
"I'm sorry!" Rainbow Dash bursted out in laughter. She fell over off the arm chair she was resting on and flapped her wings furiously over her head. "I-I just can't hold it in any longer!" Rainbow Dash crunched herself up and pointed rudely at Nimbus. "D-did you see the look on his face? H-he thought we were actually related!"
Nimbus huffed in deeply, filling his lungs to their full capacity before he breathed out through his nose. It was all just some cruel joke. A stupid prank on Rainbow Dash's part. Judging from the way Storm and Rainbow Shine were looking at Rainbow Dash laughing to herself, they probably had nothing to do with her shenanigans, they probably on promised to keep quiet so Rainbow Dash could play her joke.
Ignoring Rainbow Dash as she continued to laugh and point, Nimbus walked past her and made his way towards the front door. He wanted nothing else to do with her today. They always went back and forth with their teasing and their jokes, but Rainbow Dash had taken it too far today.
It wasn't until Nimbus started to close the door behind him that the wheels in Rainbow Dash's head started to spin. Nimbus was actually mad this time. She was half expecting him to yell at her or call her one the stupid insulting names they made up for each other, like he always did. He had just walked past her without saying a word or even looking at her.
Nimbus shrugged off her shoulder and pushed her away softly to a distance. He didn't like being so rude to Rainbow Dash but he needed a way to tell her he was angry with her without having to talk to her. He wanted to be alone like the time she wanted be alone when his mother came around.
He didn't really know where he was going to go. He wanted space to think but Rainbow Dash knew everyplace he'd run to hide....except Canterlot. Canterlot was really the only place he had never gone with Rainbow Dash, and for good reason. He had promised her almost two years ago that her first trip to Canterlot would be to go see the Wonder Bolts perform live. She wouldn't look for him there, or even if she did, she'd had nowhere to start looking since she had never been there. Nimbus made goo number of trips there back when he was doing part time courier work and got pretty familiar with the area.
There was one place in particular Nimbus had in mind to hide, the Canterlot library. It was a pretty large area and he had always wanted to sit a top of the library's highest tip to watch the sun set. Today seemed like perfect timing. It was a quiet area, lowly populated around this time, and only a little less than an hour flight away.
Nimbus had his scheduled destination and something to mark off his personal list of things to do. Now it was just a matter of going through with it.
Surprisingly, Nimbus was able to shut the door behind himself without looking back. He felt terrible (and a bit like a drama queen) for making such a scene, but this was his way of getting back at Rainbow Dash. There was no doubt he probably wouldn't be able to make it back before the show tonight, but Rainbow Dash would care less whether they made it or not, just as long as Nimbus came back, or at least that's what Nimbus hoped for.
***
The flight to the Canterlot Library didn't take as long as Nimbus had anticipated. He wasn't purposely trying to get there in record time or even fly fast at all for that matter. No need to complain though, Nimbus was able to catch a glimpse of a small group of students from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns coming out of the library. From one of the mare's tone, he figured out that they were sharing some rather juicy gossip amongst each other.
Nimbus had no interest in the subject whatsoever, but all of the unicorns were strikingly cute and attractive, especially for them all being a bunch of book worms.
After the girls left the premises, Nimbus looked around from his aerial position to see if anypony was watching him. It wasn't technically legal for any sort of flying creature, save for birds, to perch themselves on top of buildings. Not only was it frowned upon to all the other ground bounded races, but most facilities a bunch winged air heads sitting on top of their ceilings with the possibility of somepony falling through and costing tons of bits in damages and legal issues.
The coast was clear for Nimbus to perch himself wherever he pleased without somepony seeing him. There was a small open patio attached to one of the ends of the library on the top floor, it was also equipped with a lonely telescope placed in far right corner. Although Nimbus could properly place himself here without somepony giving him an issue, he still had the risk of getting in trouble for not being a proper member of the library. Only those with proper validation were authorized on the top floor of the library.
The sun would soon be setting and the roof overhead the patio casted a large enough shadow for Nimbus to hide himself in. Nimbus dropped himself to the patio deck wit ha bassy "thump" when his rump hit. He looked behind himself and through the glass door that lead inside of the library. Somepony had definitely heard him and could obviously see him on the other side. Nimbus couldn't make a clear picture of who was on the other side of the stained glass door but it was no librarian. Whoever was on their way had a fairly petite build and walked with a bit too much energy to be an old raggedy mare who stamps books.
Twilight Sparkle used her magic to open the glass stained door separating her and Nimbus. She caught a cold chill of the breeze when she allowed the outside air to enter inside of the library. She used another spell, right after opening and closing the door behind her, to tighten the book bags she had to her sides in an effort to warm herself.
Nimbus was a bit awe struck by Twilight's appearance. She was a really attractive mare, way more that all those mares put together from the group he saw earlier. He was lucky that Twilight was too focused on keeping herself warm to notice Nimbus's eyes running back and forth through her entire body.
"Aren't you cold up here?" Twilight asked Nimbus with a shiver.
Nimbus was caught off guard by the question. "What?" he asked, requesting her to repeat herself.
"It's a lot warmer inside." Twilight tilted her head towards the door she came through. "My friend, Nora, and I just started heating some hot cho-"
"Nora..." Nimbus repeated the name forwards and backwards through his head. He looked up at the sky , hoping something would fall and hit him in the head to remind him where he heard that name. "Nora, Nora, Nora...." He knew there was a reason why the name stuck out like a single white cloud in the clear blue sky. Nimbus looked over at Twilight to see she had backed up back towards the door with her magic around the handle, ready to sprint back inside if this stranger danger Pegasus did anything funny.
"You.... might know her because she writes stories for major newspapers form time to time?" Twilight was starting to realize why Nimbus might have known who Nora was. Twilight had actually seen a picture of him Nora was using in the interview she had with him that never happened. If Nimbus was trying to get his way into the library to get to her friend Nora, Twilight would have to stop him.
Nimbus made a snapping noise with his wing when he remembered Nora was the one who wrote story on him taking a bullet for Rainbow Dash those few months back, he was absolutely unaware of the interview Twilight was scared he had read. "That's Nora! I have been meaning to pay her a visit."
The idea of zapping the Pegasus intruder with a incapacitation spell crossed Twilight's mind more time than once. It would take some time to charge the spell though, and from the way Nora had talked about Nimbus, he was supposed to be pretty fast, fast enough to charge Twilight midway through her spell if he wanted to.
There was possibly another and more logical solution but Twilight figured she should at least let Nora decide what to do in this situation herself. This is what Nora should expect if she was going to keep lying about her interviews.
Twilight nodded and pushed the door opened behind her with a faint glow from her horn. "She's...in here." Twilight hoped Dim Light, the librarian, wouldn't see her letting in a non-member on the top floor of the library.
Nimbus followed in a few feet behind Twilight, avoiding to look directly behind her out of respect. He already felt a bit guilty for looking at her the way he did earlier, but he by no means regretted it.
Off to Nimbus's left and right were strong solid white support walls that touched from the ceiling to the floor filled with books. At the end of each line of books was a small push cart filled with others books of the same category. The library had run out of space for all their books years ago and had to place some of the more ignored books onto carts before they were transferred to a more unfortunate or smaller library.
The lighting inside was incredibly adequate and served every area of the library with proper light. Tiny lamps with firefly size fires were decorated at each table. The lamps floated barely above the tables with a levitation enchantment that were placed on each one.
"Whoa, that's so cool!" Nimbus bursted out, pointing at one of the floating lamps. A choir of "shhs" were followed by Nimbus's loud outburst. He ducked his head in between his shoulders, tucked his tail between his legs, and smiled embarrassingly. "Sorry." He apologized quickly in a tone he quickly realized belonged to Fluttershy.
Twilight laughed lightly at Nimbus's tip hoofing when he tried to be more quiet. "The ponies here only care if you talk too loudly, not if you're walking, Mr....." Twilight didn't know for sure if "Nimbus" was the actual pegasus or just an alias Nora had used for him.
"It's Nimbus." Nimbus told Twilight in a whisper.
"Twilight" Twilight introduced herself with a smile. She was having second thoughts about Nimbus. Even though she thought he was a threat as of a few seconds ago, he seemed relatively normal. Nothing shouted out the word "Hero" like Nora described him as to Twilight and her news stories, but she didn't completely doubt it.
"So, why WERE you outside on the balcony?" Twilight asked, hoping she didn't step over an boundaries with her question.
Nimbus didn't mind answering. Talking and pointing with his wing at the balcony he and Twilight just came from. "Ehh, I was over there mainly because I just wanted some alone time." He didn't forget why Rainbow Dash wasn't with him right now. It had been quite some time now since Nimbus went anywhere by himself. If it wasn't for what happened about an hour ago, he and Rainbow Dash probably wouldn't have noticed if somepony attached a three foot piece of rope between them.
Judging form the answer, Twilight knew Nimbus WAS upset about something personal, but he seemed a little awestruck and amazed by the inside of the Canterlot Library to be negative. She didn't know whether if she was in the right position to pry further or not about Nimbus's problem. Instead, she just asked another question that had an obvious answer.
"This is your first time?....in the library I mean." Twilight corrected herself quickly.
The innuendo Twilight thought Nimbus would have caught onto clearly went over his head. "Yeah." Nimbus nodded, looking left and right at all the neatly positioned books. "I been at the front door before, but I was just doing courier work to deliver some ordered books."
"Oh, you're a courier?" Twilight asked with a slight interest. She thought perhaps if he delivered books to the library, he could deliver books she been meaning to get her hooves on for some time now but were too far away.
"Not...really. Not anymore." Nimbus made a strange gesture with his face like something flew into his eye. "I only do work for my friend, Sky Forge, to deliver some of her weapons, armor, and stuff she makes, but that's like once every few weeks, if that."
"Oh, school caught up with you? I know flight school for Pegasus gets pretty hectic around the end of your last three years." Twilight's knowledge of Flight School surprised Nimbus, but he shouldn't have expected less from a student attending Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.
The patch on Twilight's book bags was the dead giveaway that told Nimbus who she was. Also, seeing how far both sides of her saddle bags were stretching the material, she was either the top student or at least trying to be. "No, I just miss my weekends. What about you though? That saddle looks pretty full."
"Oh, this?" Twilight bounced the saddle on her back. "This isn't school, these are just for my own entertainment when I get done with all my assignments."
Nimbus resisted the inclination to call Twilight a nerd behind her back. "Entertainment like what?" Nimbus was beginning to wonder how much monger it was going to take them to reach Nora. Twilight couldn't have come from very far.
Twilight quickly clicked open one end of her bags and floated a thick black hard cover book towards Nimbus.
"String theory?" Nimbus read out loud, squinting at the book title as he tried to make sense of what string theory was. "You're into knitting and sewing?"
"No, no." Twilight laughed. She floated the book away from Nimbus and in front of her view. "String Theory is the theory of multiple universes existing, to put it blankly."
"Oh, like if everypony was the opposite gender of what they were?" Nimbus asked. He only knew a slight bit about multi-verses because of a comic book issue of "Bat Mare" where Bat Mare gets thrown into another universe by the evil PWNtanium.
"Yes, that's actually right. I wouldn't expect a Pegasus to know anything like that, no disrespect." Twilight admitted.
"Meh." Nimbus shrugged casually. "I read a...'book' on it once."
Sitting at a table a few feet away form Twilight and himself, Nimbus saw a light orange unicorn with short pink hair wearing a light tan head wrap just over her horn. She had a book laid out in front of her that was glowing with bright pink magic connected to her horn. Even stranger about her appearance was the half red left foreleg she had. Nimbus thought about asking Twilight about it but after looking at it a second time, he felt like the question would be a little too personal for him to ask on his first impression.
The unicorn also had the same faint pink glow over her eyes but Nimbus could still clearly see her slightly intriguing blue-green eyes. Her eyes were wide open and staring off into the empty space in front of her as she was...reading the book with her mind?
Nimbus couldn't exactly tell what was going on. Standing in place, Nimbus stretched and leaned his neck down towards Twilight and asked "Who is that and what's she doing?"
Just as Nimbus had guessed, Twilight told him "That's Nora, and she's reading that book you see on the table with her mind."
"I didn't even know unicorns could do that."
Twilight shook her head slowly at Nimbus. "No, well not like she can. Nora has the natural ability to do so, it's how she got her cutie mark."
Nimbus cocked and turned his head in different directions and positions to try and get a look at what Nora's cutie Mark was, but she was leaned in too close to the table for him to see it properly. "Is she aware that we're here?"
"Not really..." Twilight walked over towards Nora and waved her hoof over her eyes to demonstrate how deep into the book and her magic Nora really was. "It's kind of like when somepony is standing behind you and you have that 'sixth sense' that they're there, even though you can't physically detect them."
Nimbus went over to Nora and stretched out his wing towards her back. "What happens if I-"
"DON'T TOUCH HER!" Twilight warned quickly but it was too late.
Nimbus's wing touched Nora's back before he even heard Twilight open her mouth. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as he saw quick flashes and visions of shadowy figures dressed in black jumping in between the dark corners of his tunnel vision. He couldn't make out what was happening, but he felt like he knew exactly what to do.
It took Nimbus a few seconds to realize that he mimicking and following the shadowy figure in front of him. He felt nimble and spry, like he could run across lily pads in a pond if he wanted to. He had never felt so light and acrobatic like this ever, it was absolutely exhilarating.
Once Nimbus finally caught up with the shadowy figure in his vision, his dream stopped and he opened his eyes back to the real world and looking up at two concerned unicorns standing over him.
"W-what in Tartarus was that?!" Nimbus got back back to his hooves with the assistance of Twilight's base level levitation spell. "That was amazing I feel-I feel like a ninja!" Nimbus shouted excitedly to only have the whole left corner of the library shush him right away.
"That's not entirely surprising." Nora spoke for the first time since Nimbus had arrived. "I WAS reading about the art of the ninja, until you interrupted me."
Nimbus flashed some teeth at thw two unicorns were exchanging expressions between each other. "Sorry about that, but it didn't seem so dangerous."
"That's just it though." Twilight started as she put her hoof over Nimbus's forehead. "You don't have a fever, no nausea, you're not even green or foaming at the mouth."
"Wait, I'm supposed to be sick?" Nimbus asked. He looked himself over and trotted around in circle before facing Twilight and Nora again. "I feel completely fine, better even!"
"You are supposed to be sick-"
"Keyword: SUPPOSED TO." Nora emphasized for Twilight with an interruption.
"-but you said, you feel fine?" Twilight looked to Nora and said to her. "This might actually work out for you."
Nora looked at Nimbus to see him smiling with an open side expression before she looked back to Twilight and said simply "No."
"Don't be like that, Nora, do you want to get in there or not? He could get you inside help you conserve your energy for what you really need to do." Twilight was being a bit stern with Nora.
"Hold on, I feel like I"m being volun-told to do something. What exactly am I doing?"
Nora glanced over Nimbus. "Well, he's not as dumb as most Pegasus you run into."
"He did jump in front of a bullet though instead of just pulling his friend out of the way and swatting the gun out of the other pony's grasp." Twilight reminded Nora.
"True." Nora agreed without debate. "But the 'Celestial Archives' were made before the development of guns, so we should be good."
"What about arrows though? He might jump in front of those."
"I think as long as his friend isn't there, he won't jump in front of anything."
"Do you think he's smart enough to open the door for you?"
Nimbus's smile had dropped way back in the beginning of the conversation going on between Nora and Twilight. "You two do know that I'm standing right here." He said, tapping the ground beneath his right front hoof. "I can hear everything you're saying."
Nora spark a pink light at the tip of her horn and conjured a light pin-holed shield over herself and Twilight. Nimbus saw that she had placed a private-room spell between the two of them and him so he couldn't hear what they were saying. He wished he had been able to read lips or body movement. Their mouths were moving but the pinhole shield was preventing him from hearing anything they were saying.
"Stupid unicorns and their damns spells." Nimbus pouted. He sat down his rump hard on the ground and crossed his wings over his chest. "Think they're all smart and stuff." Putting on his impression of unicorns, Nimbus placed his wing high over his head to represent a horn. "Look at me, I'm a unicorn, I can count by 47 and sing my ABC's backwards!"
Making a hole wide enough to reveal her face with her own magic, Twilight stuck her head out and told Nimbus. "We can still hear YOU."
Nimbus froze with his wing still stiffly above his head. "...I knew that." He lied.