//------------------------------//
// I'm doing what now? Amber comes Home 
// Story: To Have Wings 
// by googolplex 
//------------------------------//

	“I- Who- What,” I fumbled over my words like a stuttering imbecile. Of course, there was a dragon standing outside my house, and not only was he polite, but he worked for Princess Twilight, too? That is it! I have officially gone insane.  
“Yeah Twilight, I mean,” he corrected himself “Princess Twilight likes to keep to her schedule.” Okay, not insane. He held out an empty claw, and I stared at it, and he stared at it. Then he looked up at me, then back in his hand. “Do you have it?”
“Oh!” I quickly turned me around and started running towards my room before I had even realized it. Thankfully it was right where I had left it. Otherwise I probably would have never found it. My mind was buzzing with too many things, like the fact that there was a dragon at my doorstep. Princess Twilight, if you can read my mind, stop trying to surprise me, please. It’s been only a day and I am so much more confused now than I was before I snuck into the Royal Wing. 
As I headed back, I could hear conversation being exchanged. My mother and father had finally woken up, and they were in the kitchen, talking to someone. 
“Oh no,” I said aloud as I walked in on them. They let the dragon in. 
“Good morning, Son,” my mom said cheerfully. “Do you know who this is?” 
“No,” I answered, “but I am going to guess that he is some sort of aid to one of the princesses.”
“Cloudy, he is much more than just an aid,” my dad answered me. “Spike is Princess Twilight’s personal assistant.”
“Personal assistant?” Wait a second. He can’t be THE Spike.  I thought that he was supposed to be a pony! I mean I know Spike is not exactly a traditional Canterlotian name, but “He’s a dragon?” I said as I thought it.
“Of course I am,” Spike answered. “Or at least, I hope so,” he chuckled. Now he was making fun of me, too. Thanks, Mom and Dad. 
“Here’s your letter,” I sort of spat both my words and the letter all over Princess Twilight’s assistant. It was not on purpose, so I felt kind of bad about it. Well serves him right for making fun of me anyway.  
“Uh, thanks,” he said wiping the spit off his cheek. Both of my parents looked back at me with these expressions of pure rage. 
“Sorry,” I whimpered and lowered my head. 
“What is the letter for?” My mom asked. 
“Well, you see, I, uh,” I stuttered again. If it has not already been painstakingly clear, I’m not so good at the sentence structure department. 
“Cloudy here has been given the chance to go to school at Twilight Academy,” Spike cut in. 
“Wait I’ve been what?” 
“That’s what this letter is for,” he held up the letter. “He should get an acceptance letter by Monday, and he can move in when the new school year starts.”
“You’re pulling our legs!” My dad shouted with a huge grin on his face. Seriously, I hope that Spike is kidding. “My son gets to go to the most prestigious academy for the academically gifted ponies?”
“Well nothing is set in, Stone,” Spike winked at me. I winced at the pun. “But it all depends on this letter. Speaking of which, I guess I had better send it before I forget.”
“Would you like some tea,” my mother asked. 
“I guess I could stay long enough for tea,” he replied. Right after, he lifted the letter in front of his face, and completely incinerated it with green flame. 
“What’d you do that for!” I shouted. 
“Twilight said she wanted it right away,” he answered me. 
“So you burned it up?” I said in a stressed voice. 
“Don’t be silly,” he waved me off. “Twilight would probably kill me if I did that. So I just sent it instead.”
“With fire?” Okay, I know I may not be the smartest pony, but I do know what happens to paper when it is that close to a flame. 
“Son, it’s magic,” Mom cut in. “He can send small items to a designated place through his green flame.”
“Oh.” Oh is right. Now I feel a little embarrassed. I forget sometimes that magic is not restricted to ponies. Almost anyone or anything can use it. 
My mom sat a hot cup of tea in front of Spike. He then proceeded to pick up a spoon and empty most of the sugar jar into the tea. 
“Thank you, and sorry I’m a bit of a sugar addict,” he said still carefully taking spoonful after spoonful of sugar. 
“It’s no problem at all,” my mom replied with a smile. “So tell me,” she sat back down across from Spike. “How long have you been looking at my son?”
“I’m afraid it is confidential,” he answered taking a sip of tea. “However, I can tell you there is a certain length of a waiting list, and Cloudy is close to the top. Hence, the letter.”
“When did you tell him?” My dad curiously asked. 
“Yesterday sometime in the evening,” both of my parents gave Spike some confused looks. “Yes, the letter time is short, but it implies the readiness of the student and how much they are willing to commit.” Spike took another sip of tea and glanced up at the clock behind my parents. “Oh my would you look at the time.” He stood up. “Thank you for the tea again and Cloudy, you should receive a letter in the mail by Monday,” and then he left, door gently closing behind him. 
“So,” my father said, turning to me and giving me some weird and awkward stare, like a maniacal doctor meets an unsuspecting new test subject, “reading some books, huh?”
“Yeah,” I sighed and nervously chuckled, trying to hide my face. Why in the world was I not told about this? The least Princess Twilight could have done was warn me! But no, now I have to undergo my parents’ interrogations, and they’re military trained!
“You know if you would have told us the truth from the start, we wouldn’t have gotten so worked up,” my mom said as she put her wing over me. 
“Yeah but,” I thought for a moment. I still have no idea if it is even okay to tell my parents that I got caught in the library. Sure everything is fine, but what if Princess Twilight is really strict about that stuff? “Not that I don’t love you guys, but I wanted to do this on my own and see how far I could get.”
“Well now you’re just showin’ off,” my dad said with a chuckle. “So that doohickey in your room is part of you trying to get into Twilight Academy?”
“More or less,” I shrugged. While I couldn’t tell if Mom was buying the whole story, I could definitely see my dad saw through some parts. He was still giving me that suspicious eye. 
“Well when is it due?” He asked after a few minutes of pondering. 
“Not sure, but I handed in one of my blueprints.”
“Thought your mom threw those away?”
“That wouldn’t be the first time you guys have done it, whether or not it was knowingly.”
“When have either of us accidentally thrown one of your ‘blueprints’ away?” He huffed. 
“Actually on several occasions,” I snickered. It felt good to push back at my parents. Now they have to feel bad about taking away my stuff. “There was the time mom thought she would be nice and clean my room. Then you took a collaboration of my things and threw them away because I apparently took too long to pick them up. That’s just to name one for each of you.”
“Okay, you win that one,” my dad sighed and gave up. I wanted to jump and holler, but I kept my cool. Finally, I won. Whether or not it was fair still laid on the table, but who cares? I won!
“Well the new school year starts in a month, so you’ll have plenty of time to prepare once you find out, won’t you?” Mom quickly took her wing off me and turned her head away. I think that meant I was in some sort of trouble with her. I am not too sure what that means or if I really am in trouble though. 
“Oh hey, your sister comes home tomorrow,” my dad said as he sat in his recliner. “Have you told her yet?”  
“No not yet. I wanted to make it a surprise with everypony.”
“Well now the cat’s out of the bag so you had better tell her quick.”
“Good point,” I sighed. Dad was right. I think I should probably had better go and get something nice for her. She is a great sister, but she has separation issues sometimes. So I am definitely going to have to smooth things over with her.



The next day came too quickly for my taste. I completely slacked off on getting something for Amber and now I might be in trouble. Hope I can make it to the closest shop and back in time. 
Oh hey that’s right, I forgot to mention the names of my family. My dad is Silver Shot, Mom is Scarlet Gem, but everypony just calls her Ruby. My sis and best friend ever is Amber Bolt, and as the name implies, she a very fast, orange colored pony, and the best aunt ever is my Aunt Dew. Okay it’s actually Morning Dew, but Aunt Dew sounds better to me. Aunt Dew comes over to watch us while Mom and Dad are off on work trips.  
I rushed to the store and got the nicest little trinket for a necklace I could find. I hoped she would like it. It was a red heart pendent with the Elements of Harmony of the Six Heroes of Equestria embroidered on it. If she did not like this, well I like it. Then again, I have no idea what I would do with jewelry. I don’t exactly have a taste for it, other than it being shiny and I have that sort of attention span that makes me look at everything shiny.
I made it home before she did, so thankfully I had time to wrap her gift. It was not long after I had wrapped the gift when a faint, subtle pop had filled the air. It was her, definitely had to be her. I could recognize that sound anywhere no matter how loud the ambience was. Any second now, my little sis will come right through that door. 
Then the door flung open. A nearly unrecognizable orange pegasus with a blue mane covered by a pair of goggles that sat atop her head and wearing leather jacket with a silver wing pin and a name tag on it that said Thunderbolt. She smiled and waved at us. 
“Hey guys, I’m home!” I galloped straight towards her and gave her the biggest hug I could give her. She quickly returned the hug. 
“Hi Sis!” I shouted, still hugging her. 
“Hi,” she said. I noticed she was struggling for air. Guess I hugged her a little too hard. 
“So how’d you like it?” Mom asked as she and Dad caught up with me. 
“It was awesome!” She shouted. “But they said I needed to work on my agility. Like that matters,” she said with a cocky grin. “I’m the fastest thing out there!”
“Oh really now?” Dad acted impressed. “I bet you set all the records then didn’t you?”
“No just six,” she answered, still holdng that huge smirk. 
“How much?” I asked curiously. 
“Well, the quarter I beat by a half second and the half I beat by one.” My jaw dropped. I knew my sister was fast, but that is extremely fast. 
“You’re kidding right?” I asked. “Major Soarin set the quarter and it was eight and a half seconds! And General Rainbow Dash set the half at ten!”
“Did the quarter in 7.8 and the half in 9 even,” she dusted off her jacket where her nametag was. “That’s how I got the name Thunderbolt. Gone in a flash and the only thing you hear is a crackling boom!” she said waving a hoof in the air. “Still,” she said starting to hang her head down, “I set the other four for the slowest times.”
“But you’re good at the straightaways aren’t you?” I asked trying to cheer her up.
“Yeah, but even the straightaways didn’t keep me from biting it every corner. I just can’t stop quick enough.” That would explain the silver badge instead of the gold badge. She definitely has speed on her side, but as much speed as she packs, she a danger to herself.
When she was six, she challenged a group of boys who were teasing me to a race. Yeah that’s right, my little sis tried to stand up for me. She won the race, but broke her nose, jaw, both her forelegs, her right wing, and a couple of ribs. She couldn’t stop fast enough and smashed right into the side of a small shop. She was in the hospital for two weeks before she was conscious again. 
When she woke up, I told her how crazy she was and that she should never do it again. I was probably more furious than my parents were. Of course they were not there when I was screaming for help. That was the scariest moment of my life. I thought I had lost my sister. Thank Celestia I did not have to experience that. Which reminds me. 
“Hey sis,” I said a little nervously. 
“Yeah?” 
“I have something I need to tell you,” I pulled out the small box, “but first I want you to open this.”
She took it and carefully unwrapped the box and took off the lid. Her eyes lit up instantly and I knew then that she liked it. 
“This is awesome!” she screamed as she hugged me. Now that she hugged me, I am really not too sure if she really liked it or not. It felt like she had a death grip on me and she was trying to kill me. 
“I wanted to get you something nice so that you would know that no matter where I am, I’ll still be here.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, starting to give me puppy dog eyes. 	
“Well, uh, I, uh,” I sort of coughed words out. “I might be going to a new school this coming semester.” I said with my eyes tightly shut. 
“But,” she had tears starting to well up, “we always go to the same school.”
“I know sweetie,” my dad interrupted, “but Cloudy might have a real chance at going to Twilight Academy.”
“Twilight Academy?” she said excitedly. “You mean The Twilight Academy?” I nodded. Then she screamed, then hugged me. “That’s so awesome! My big brother, the smarty pants, is finally going to a smart pony school!” You know, fillies and mares confuse the heck out of me. 
“So, you’re not mad?” I asked.
“Mad? How could I be mad? You’re going to Twilight Academy! That’s like every smart pony’s dream!”
“Well it isn’t official yet,” Mom cut in. “He has to wait on a letter tomorrow to see if he passes the entrance requirement.”
“Oh,” Amber said. “Well I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
“We’ll see,” I answered. 
The rest of the day, Amber told stories of Wonderbolts Academy, and we all sat and listened, laughing at her silly tales and discussing the more important ones she had. It was clear she had a blast, and if she gets the chance, I hope she goes back next year.  



The next day, the letter came in the mail I nervously opened it in front of my parents. There were two different pieces of paper in them. I pulled out the one at the front and read it aloud:
Dear Stone Cloud,
I am pleased to inform you that you have been selected to enroll at Twilight Academy. You will be taking classes specific to your cutie mark  I frowned there.  Details about the school and your enrollment options will take place on the first of August in the headmaster’s office. We look forward to your presence and we hope you have a wonderful rest of the day. 
Sicerely, 
Headmaster Thinker. 
“Well now it’s official, our son is an official smarty pants,” my dad said with a smile. 
“Congratulations Cloudy!” Mom hugged my tightly. “Were so proud of you.”
I began to wonder how much of this was a setup by Princess Twilight. I waited until I could go back to my room to take out the second letter. As I thought, it was from Princess Twilight. It read:
Dear Cloudy, 
I don’t require that your letters be strictly formal, however yes, keep my formal name. Your designs are great, but I noticed that you have nothing on the specs of your feathers. I would like you to concentrate on those for the next couple of weeks. Refer to the Pegasus book I gave you, chapter four. Also, in the bird book, chapter four. Both of them cover how wings work. However, in chapter ten of the Pegasus book, I think you might find some helpful tips on how to get your machine to properly fold its wings. 
Sincerely,
Princess Twilight Sparkle. 
Well if that was not just extremely vague. I sighed and put the letter on my desk. I guess that means more reading for me, doesn’t it? Good thing I actually like reading.It almost sounds like she knows what I'm doing. If she know so much about how it works, why does she not just build one herself, or better yet, why does she not just tell me what to do?
“Hey! We’re going out to celebrate, dork!” my sister came in and slammed her hoof on my door. I may not have wings, but I’m pretty sure I just flew I jumped so high. 
“What is wrong with you?!” I shouted back at her. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!”
“And what if I am?” She evilly smiled. “Come on, we’re going wherever you pick, dork.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“Dork, dork, dork, dork.”
“Fine I was thinking we should go to that Cheese Sandwich place, but now-“
“Aw come on Cloudy! I was just joking!” She pleaded. It was where I actually wanted to go anyway, but I was going to wait until we got there.