Timid Light
The sunlight stabbed straight into Flash's eyes like a lance as the last of the cloud cover dissipated. His face scrunched up in an unsightly grimace as he tried to ignore it; he was entirely too comfortable to move even a finger to block out the painfully intrusive light. Eventually, despite his best efforts, he began squirming as the light continued its relentless assault on the lingering haze of sleepiness that he so desperately wanted to throw himself back in to. The final nail in the coffin was when a few soft knocks on his door boomed like thunder in the relative silence. Breathing in deeply, he held it for a count of ten and let go in a huff as his heart rate began to pump faster, sending a surge of energy through all his limbs.
Making the most of his temporary boost in energy, he hopped out of his hammock and landed lightly on bare feet that curled up instantly on contact with the icy tile floor. Biting back a yawn, he vigorously rubbed the sides of his legs through his gray sleeping shorts to help the goosebumps go away faster. Reaching a hand up and under his loose shirt to scratch at his stomach, he made his way to the door and opened it without ceremony, leaning on the door frame as he blinked his slightly teary cornflower blue eyes at his timid cousin, Fluttershy. She was looking down slightly at him and gave a little huff that was barely audible as she crossed her arms loosely, wrinkling the formless light blue tunic that fluttered around her light gray leggings.
Where Flash had features one could describe as rogueish, Fluttershy was a vision of beauty. Where his skin was a burnished copper, hers was fair porcelain that never blemished despite the long hours she spent in the sun. His hair was a brash, spiky mop of light and dark blue while hers was a gentle cascade of rose pink locks that hung to the small of her back. Even their personalities were just as different, Flash being quick to act on his impulses and speak his mind without a second thought, whereas Fluttershy was tentative and planned everything out well in advance, with multiple contingency measures just in case something went awry, never speaking her mind unless unusually impassioned.
“Mornin', Shy,” he said around the yawn he thought he'd conquered. “Ain't it a bit early to be up and about?”
“It's dawn, Flash,” she replied with only the faintest shadow of a furrow in her brow to show her annoyance. “Don't you remember what today is?”
His expression went slack as he drew a blank from his sleep addled mind.“Saturday? That's not until tomorrow, right?” he supplied as an answer that he hoped would be cheeky enough to buy himself a thimble of mercy.
His hopes were in vain as her eyebrows twitched down into a shallow furrow in an uncharacteristic display of displeasure while her turquoise eyes flashed dangerously. “You promised to help me go shopping and stock up on all my supplies today.”
“Oh!” he said as it all came back to him. “Right! Just... uh... Just one sec...” With a burst of magic, he quickly and gently shut his door before disrobing and changing into a sleeveless tunic of a light blue-green color and bluish-gray leggings. When he opened his door again, he saw that Fluttershy's expression hadn't changed in the slightest.
“That was five,” she stated calmly enough that it made Flash begin sweating slightly. Today was a bad day to wake up late and forget a promise he had made to his cousin, because she was apparently channeling her mother. “Now come on,” she said in a quiet tone that brooked no defiance as she turned and walked off down the hall and toward the stairs leading up to their launching platform. Flash scurried along, cringing as he imagined all the extra splurging she would do to make him pay for his forgetfulness. Hopefully she wouldn't make him make her vile beast of a pet's meal today. He swore that little ball of fluff was out to get him after he made one silly little comment about rabbit soup.
Once outside, Flash darted up so that he was standing by Fluttershy's side as they neared the end of the launching pad, gaving her a happy-go-lucky grin as he slipped one hand into a pocket while pointing at her with the other. “Look, I'm sorry for forgetting about helping you out today, but at least I didn't make other plans, right?”
Fluttershy reached up to brush some hair away from her face as she looked over at Flash with an expression that said “You're really trying to do this right now?” Out loud, she said in an even tone, “That just goes to show you have a strong sense of self-preservation.” Flash's face fell; he chuckled nervously as he broke eye contact and looked off into the distance. Fluttershy's cheeks twitched as she hid her face behind her hair so he wouldn't notice her smile. “We're dropping by the market first, so come on.”
With that, she took off without any great pomp or flourish with Flash right behind her. Flash suspected she was worried about her mother returning from the Senate in a foul mood and wanted to get her errands done as quickly as possible. For his part, he just hoped he would survive long enough to make it back home.
***
Star Catcher returned home from the Senate in a spectacularly foul mood. She loathed those lazy Senators who only wanted to preserve the status quo. If she had the ability to pluck each and every one of their wings for a few throw pillows, she would do so in a heartbeat, just so they could pad someone else's rear for once. It was still over an hour before lunch when she arrived at her modest house. It was a simple two story affair with more than enough room for all three residents to stretch their wings and legs. She just wanted to lay on her lounge, spread her wings with a bottle of her favorite vintage of elderberry wine in hand, and not move from that spot until the wine was completely gone. She did precisely that, foregoing a cup in favor of drinking directly from the bottle.
She had drunk about a third of the wine when Flash and Fluttershy returned, both loaded down with bags and packages, though Flash had the distinct disadvantage of carrying three bulk bags of animal feed. They went about their chores without so much as a word to her. This suited her perfectly; she would talk to them when she was ready and not before, and she knew that they knew not to disturb her. Soon, she heard the sounds of Fluttershy starting in on making lunch.
The sounds of things being moved around and the chopping of ingredients provided no clues about what was being made. A few minutes later, when the hiss of chopped vegetables dropped in olive oil and a certain spiky aroma wafted through the air, ginger stir fry was what immediately came to mind. Another aroma, thicker and more savory, soon joined the first—beef, no doubt, for herself and Flash, as Fluttershy preferred to keep to a vegetarian diet supplemented by the occasional portion of fish. As the meal was cooked, Star lay in the other room fuming childishly for a bit longer before finally getting up with a tiny sigh and walking to the kitchen with barely a waver to her steps. She had to blow off some steam in a nonviolent way every so often, or she'd just explode on one of the more infuriating Senators and likely get her feathers plucked for a year or two. She still kept up the training regimen that she'd practiced ever since her time in the military, but she quickly found that she should in no way connect fighting with blowing off steam. She was angry enough as it was without conditioning herself in that way.
Once she had settled in at the table, she had a cup brought over to her, filled from the bottle she had brought with her and the bottle taken away without a word from Fluttershy. She knew better than to argue with her daughter with her when she knew she was in the right, especially since Fluttershy had honed her looks and expressions into formidable weapons that she used on her family without hesitation long ago. Star thanked her daughter with a smile, knowing that she did it for her own good, and got a smile in return as well. There wasn't much of a wait before the meal finished cooking; when all three had been served, they began eating with gusto. After the first bite of the deliciously tart and spicy stir fry, with the beef adding a delicious and robust flavor to the dish, Star told Flash and Fluttershy exactly how badly her day was going and how it was going to be a bad three weeks ahead of them as she'd be out of Cloudsdale for the Congregation before the end of next week.
“So... you're going to be the ambassador for the Avens at the Congregation,” Flash said in a carefully neutral tone. She had been drinking for a while, so she was more mellow than usual and decided to let that one slide. “Why you of all people?” Immediately after the words left his mouth, Flash cringed, fully expecting to have the side of his head smacked, but only received an unamused chuckle from his Aunt.
“Probably because I've made more than a few enemies in the Senate to date, not to mention those same enemies wanting to get me thrown out under the pretense of a vote of no confidence if I mess this up.”
“That seems a like a double edged sword to me,” Fluttershy said with a serious expression. “Sure, you aren't known for your use of tact, but you get things done, right? If you do well at the Congregation, you'll only heighten your standing in the Senate to the point where you could run for office without using the military as a platform...”
“You're right, Fluttershy, and that's why I'm worried...” Star said with a sigh as she took another gulp of her wine to wash down her latest mouthful of stir fry. “I'm sure they might try to sabotage my efforts in some way or other that I won't spot until it's too late. They want me to pressure the Earthlanders to reconsider, or even forget about their inter-clan collaboration. But I'm an ex-officer, not a politician. Most of them have been raised to their roles since their first molting, but I'm still learning the subtler sides to this whole affair.”
“I'm sure you can handle whatever they throw your way,” Flash said with a grin that tried to be confident but fell short by a good distance, making him look like he had just drank a cup of sour milk and knew he was in for a bad time.
“That's not the issue,” Star replied as she flipped her knife into a reversed grip and stabbed it into the aged wood of their small table, adding yet another mark to the dozens that littered the area around her normal spot. “It's the fact that I need to find out what they have planned and stop it from happening before it happens. I don't think I'll be able to, especially with the cohort that's being assigned to be my honor guard either.”
“Dash's Devils,” Fluttershy said quietly as a conflicted expression crossed her face. She had been friends with the daughter of her mother's strongest rival when she had been much younger, but politics had spoiled their relationship as Dash's father had forbidden her from spending any more time with her. Fluttershy still missed her old friend to this day, but from what she could learn about her exploits, she had achieved her dreams without any exploitation of her father's position exactly like she had wanted to. Fluttershy was happy for her, even if she wasn't sure Dash remembered her at all after all this time.
“That's right,” Star replied. “The daughter of Prism Bolt is the head of the cohort, so that leaves me with no idea about whether or not she may hold a grudge against me by proxy or not, but I won't leave anything to chance.” She paused for a moment as her expression hardened and her eyes seemed to lose some shine to them. “I'll put them in their place if need be. Hard enough to remember not to get involved in the affairs of their betters.”
Flash and Fluttershy shared a worried look between one another and a nod. There was no way they could let her go without going along as well, not if they wanted to avoid an inter-tribal scandal. Fluttershy, being a medico, would be allowed to choose the squad she would go with unless a more senior medico took it. Flash would have a harder time of it as he'd probably be denied a transfer to the cohort that would be guarding his Aunt on the grounds of being overstaffed because of all the other hopefuls wanting to have this on their record. He'd probably owe more than a few favors by the end of everything, but it would be worth it to be there in case his family needed him. Of course, it went without saying that neither of them would tell Star about their plans, because she'd probably try to stop them from going.
The knock on the door came as a surprise to them, especially when they saw the Aven who waited on the other side: The Quartermaster of Dash's Devils, who bore the unfortunate name of “Derpy”—whether this was her real name or a cruel nickname, nobody in the house quite knew—and was notorious around the training yard for being the deadliest accident-waiting-to-happen. The uniform she wore looked distinctly out of place on her because her golden eyes constantly appeared to be looking in different directions. Fluttershy let out a tiny “meep” of surprise and shut the door so that only the faintest of slivers could be seen through. The woman on the other side tilted her head at the odd display and shrugged her shoulders as she rifled around in her bag for a moment before pulling out a stack of letters, flipping through them and pulled out a pair of them before sliding them through the crack, one being addressed to Fluttershy and the other to Flash, both bearing the wax seal of their respective military branches.
“Derpy” smiled and left without a word, jumping into the air to fly away and making it only after almost crashing right back to the ground. Turning her attention to the letters, Fluttershy opened hers and felt a trio of emotions surge through her at the same time. She was being requested to travel with the Ambassadorial cohort due to her skills in healing, and to bolster the ranks of their medical staff due to the sudden influx of troops. She was excited, relieved and terrified at the same time.
“Who was it, Fluttershy?” Flash asked as he came from the kitchen. He noticed her odd expression and looked to see what she was holding, reaching out and taking his proffered letter without a word. After opening it, he quickly found that it was orders for a temporary transfer to the Ambassadorial cohort to help with security. “I guess this takes care of that,” he said with a little laugh. “Can't say I expected this, but at least Aunt Star can't hound us for keeping an eye on her now.”
“It's... a little scary...” Fluttershy replied with a faint full body tremor. “But also exciting... Rainbow Dash has some of the best medicos in the military and I'm sure they know so much that isn't in textbooks. Now I have a chance to learn from the best there is and oh! I'm just so excited!”
“Whoa! Take it easy there, tiger!” Flash said with a laugh. “Just remember that we have other things that are a bit more important...”
“Oh, I'm sorry... I was just so excited...”
Flash chuckled at that. “I know, and I don't blame you. Just keep in mind that we have to be there for your mom if she needs us...”
“Of course,” she said immediately as her expression firmed. “I just hope she doesn't get too out of hand...”
“With us being nearby, I'm sure she'll be better than if she had been on her own,” he reassured her.
“I hope so...”