//------------------------------// // The Truth Of Youth // Story: It's All Downhill From Here // by B_25 //------------------------------// It was a beautiful Tuesday afternoon. Perfectly sunny skies had been scheduled for the entire afternoon, so there was no better time to train as far as Spike was concerned. The young dragon had arrived in the town square extra early, prior to their one o’clock arrangement, just so he could enjoy the warm sun and gorgeous blue sky. He sat on one of the available benches and took a deep breath of fresh air. The sun hitting his scales, the wind lightly brushing against his spines… nothing was going to put a damper on this perfect day. Well, except for a rather grumpy pegasus… ***** Ugh! I can’t believe that traitor! Cloudchaser stormed down the road from her house to the town square. Her brow was furrowed and she wore a scowl that would make a minotaur run to its mother. Of all the things she could do to me, that was too far! If it wasn’t enough she stole Thunderlane away from me for the games, now she has the nerve to ask me for bits so she can have lunch with him? Cloudchaser could feel her face heating up as she continued thinking about the conversation she had with her sister that morning. She was going to train with Thunderlane for the day but needed some bits so they could eat while they were out. Normally, her sister needing bits was no big deal whatsoever. But Flitter knew very well how her sister felt about Thunderlane. So at that point, she may as well have been adding insult to injury. Cloudchaser was many things: athletic, smart, kind, competitive…. and jealous. Very jealous, and that jealousy also paved way to her short fused temper. Ergh, now those two get to spend the whole day together doing  Celestia knows what. This is so not fair. As she plodded her way toward the town square she earned raised eyebrows from many of the townsfolk. But she could care less what others thought at this point. I just need to get through my training with Spike, get home and plot ways to get revenge on Flitter. Simple enough. She had entertained the idea of just blowing off the whole training regimen, but even in her clouded frame of mind she knew that'd be unfair to Spike. So she decided to go anyway. But that didn't mean she was happy about it. ***** Spike slouched on his back, beginning to drift off in his seat. Unfortunately, he didn't get to as a loud voice sent him jumping into the air. "Get up!" "Ah!" Spike thrashed around, trying to regain his balance and see who was there. Upon turning around he was met with a straight-faced Cloudchaser. “Oh, hey.” “Hey,” she replied, letting out a deep sigh. “You ready to get started?” “Right now? Like, immediately?” Spike wasn’t looking forward to moving from his spot on the bench quite yet. “Uh, yeah, it’s one o’clock.” “Uh, ‘kay,” Spike said, hopping down from the bench. “I figure the best place to train will be out on Sweet Apple Acres. There’s a lot of room over there, and Twilight said she already had a training exercise ready for us.” “Well, then I guess we should head over there,” Cloudchaser said. Without a second glance, she flipped around and began walking toward the path that leads to the Apple family farm. Spike scratched his head and ran in pursuit of her. Okay, I totally don’t remember her being this cold before. As they walked side-by-side, the silence and tension grew. This is going to be a long day. ***** Cloudchaser sped through the sky, eyes peeled for her target. This training exercise they'd been doing was testing the limits of her patience and energy. She swooped to the ground in the middle of a small field and searched the horizons. Her attention was broken however by a sound of loud panting behind her. "Di..didya find anything?" Spike said, about to collapse to the ground. "Nope, nothing!" Cloudchaser yelled, stomping a hoof. "Me neither," Spike said, still gasping for air. "And I swear, I searched everywhere!" "Not everywhere, obviously!" Said an all-too familiar voice. The pair turned around to see Scootaloo, followed closely by Sweetie Belle and AppleBloom, approaching them. "Hehe, yeah. We were just hiding' under that bush over there," Applebloom said, directing a hoof toward a large bush that was in plain sight. "Ergh!" Cloudchaser slapped her hoof to her forehead. "You know, when you said we were doing training exercises I didn't know it'd just be an impossible game of hide and seek." "Hey, don't blame me," Spike said, taking a step back. "Twilight just said she had arranged for a training exercise out here. I didn't know what it was." "Yeah," Scootaloo butted in. "And you two will need a lot more exercise if you wanna win your scavenger hunt thingy." "Oh, what do you know?" Cloudchaser snapped back.. "I know we just won three out of three games of hide and seek with you guys over the past 2 hours," Sweetie said with a proud smile. "Eeyup. And from what ah can tell, a scavenger hunt is just a fancy game of hide 'n seek!" Cloudchaser wanted to respond, but she had no argument. She was bested by three fillies. "Fine." Noticing the upset tone his partner carried, plus his own tired state, Spike figured it was time to call it a day. "Alright, I think that's enough for today. I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat." "Yeah, same," Cloudchaser said. The two of them waved goodbye to the CMC and started walking toward the gate to the farm. "Wait a sec!" Applebloom called out after them. "Oh what now..." Cloudchaser mumbled, turning around along with Spike. "Just a tip to help y'all out. Applejack always says that the more hooves you have, the lighter the load. So maybe if y'all tried working together more, you'd do better!" With that tidbit of wisdom, Applebloom ran off to join her friends. Cloudchaser and Spike looked at each other for a moment, an awkward silence taking hold of the air, before they both continued out the farm gate. The walk back to town was just as quiet and awkward as the walk to the farm. Both were tired, and a bit annoyed with how their training turned out. “So…” Spike began, “I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty parched. You wanna stop by the café before heading back? My treat.” Cloudchaser initially wanted to object so she could return home and just burrow into her blankets, but she was pretty thirsty, too. “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind a drink.” ***** The two of them sat down at an empty table inside the small café with their drinks they ordered. Spike got a lemon-lime soda and Cloudchaser had a large mug of root beer. “So, I was thinking about what Applebloom said,” Spike said, looking across the table at Cloudchaser. “I think she was right. You know, about us needing to work together.” Cloudchaser didn’t say anything, but gave a slight nod of her head. “I mean, I was going back and forth on the ground, while you were going all over the place in the sky. All that ended up happening was we both got tired out and frustrated.” “Yeah, I guess,” she replied. “We did seem to waste a lot of time.” “Yeah,” Spike said, taking a quick drink of his soda. “And like Spitfire was saying, teamwork is super important if we want to win.” Cloudchaser let out a deep sigh in response and rested her head on her hoof. “Umm, are you alright?” Spike asked. “Not that I mean to pry or anything, but you’ve been kinda, I don’t know, off all day.” Cloudchaser perked her head up for a second, but then rested it back on her hoof. “It’s nothing. You wouldn’t really understand.” “Try me,” Spike said with a smile. “If you don’t wanna talk about it, that’s cool. But my best friend is probably the biggest drama queen in town, so I’m pretty sure I’ve got enough experience to help.” Cloudchaser spun her straw around in her cup for a few seconds and finally responded. “Alright, I guess I owe you an explanation.” Spike straightened up in his chair. “Okay, what’s up?” “It’s just some drama with my sister and… somepony else,” she said with a slight blush. “Thunderlane?” Spike asked. “How did you know?” she retorted. "I don't know. Maybe the way you were staring him down the other day." Cloudchaser felt her face heat up. "That obvious?" Spike nodded in response. "Yeah, so I assume you have feelings of some kind for him and you're not too thrilled about your sister getting to be with him for the games?" "Well, yeah!" She said, a tad louder than she meant to. "She knows how I feel, but now she's always talking about him, and she's telling me all this flirty stuff he says to her,and this morning she even had the nerve to ask me for bits so they could go out!" "Ouch, that's rough," Spike said, taking a sip of his drink. "The jealousy bug bit you pretty hard, huh?" "I am not jealous," she said with a narrowed glare. "I just don't like how Flitter wants to steal him away from me." This was a delicate situation. A situation Spike has had to deal with multiple times between his close friendship with Rarity and living with Twilight. On one hoof, he knew there was no point in arguing further at the moment. On the other, he figured he should at least have the decency to point out a particular aspect of Thunderlane's reputation. "You know, as far as Flitter stealing him away, you really don't have much to worry about." "What do you mean?" Cloudchaser asked. "Okay, how can I put this..." Spike scratched his chin in thought for a moment. "Thunderlane has a tendency to come across as really charming to a lot of the mares he associates with, but it usually never really means anything. At least not to him." "So you're saying Thunderlane doesn't actually like my sister?" "No, I'm just saying he's not always honest with his feelings. You feel me?" She thought about what he said for a moment but just shook it off. “Maybe. But it still doesn’t really help the situation.” Spike mentally facehoofed before chalking it up to denial. Thunderlane had used his charm and wit to woo quite a few of the towns’ mares, only to move on to another one when he got bored. He was rather infamous amongst many of the towns’ stallions, but the mares just flocked to him. It was a vicious cycle, one that many of Spike’s friends have been a part of. “Alright, well, just be careful alright,” Spike said. Cloudchaser nodded nonchalantly and hopped for her seat. “So, when are we gonna do this training thing again. Tomorrow?” Spike hopped of his chair. “Yeah, that sounds good. Same time and place?” “Sure, I’ll be there.” Cloudchaser started to walk away but turned around at the door. “And thanks for the drink, and for listening to me.” “No problem,” Spike responded. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” “See you tomorrow.” With a smile and a wave of her hoof, Cloudchaser trotted out the door and flew off, leaving Spike on his own. Hopefully she’ll be in a slightly better mood tomorrow.