Recasted

by The Fiery Joker

Chapter 5: Weathering a Storm

                
                
One could argue that sunrise is the most beautiful part of the day. The way the sky slowly changed from pitch black to a soft blue and how the gray clouds transition to a royal purple can catch even the most perceptive off guard.
                               
But the best part comes when the sun breaks the horizon. Magical things happen to the vast skies as Celestia’s burning star slowly rises. The purple clouds transform into a vibrant orange as the sun’s red rays streak across the sky, which changes from purple, to red, then to orange, then yellow, and finally a deep blue.
 
To see this multi-hued wonder untainted by buildings or land and to have a clear view of the entire horizon is supposed to be a sight that would make one’s eyes misty. The only place a pony could view this spectacle in all its glory would be at the ocean, where a single pony happened to be observing.
                               
A deep blue pegasus with a red hurricane cutie mark perched himself on a plateau overlooking the shining blue ocean. His body rested comfortably on the ground while his forelegs dangled off the edge of the cliff.
                
“A storm is coming...” he thought as the beach breeze blew through his messy red mane. A bright orange circle rippled as it slowly rose from the horizon. The pegasus smiled. No matter how many times he viewed the morning sun, it was breathtakingly beautiful each time. Each day was different. There were sometimes clouds, sometimes it was clear. Today was special though, and this pony knew it.
                
The pegasus decided he needed to be complacent no longer. His toned limbs stretched and popped as he stood up straight. He turned away from the ocean line and took one final look at the beautiful sunrise. His eyes calmly closed; an adventurous grin crept to his face as he crouched his body and his head lowered.
 
A silent countdown entered his head.
                               
Three…
 
An energy slowly started to gather from the bottom of his hooves and began to rise throughout his body.
 
Two…
 
This fire inched up his body and spread to his wings, causing them to stretch and flare out.
 
One…
 
His eyes shot open, filled with a blazing determination.
     
FLY.
         
The blue pegasus leapt from the ground and nosedived over the side of the cliff. The pegasus did not extend his wings or try to fly; rather, he let himself fall. Adrenaline pumped throughout his entire body as the weightless sensation coursed through him. Wanting more of his artificial high, he then twisted his body around and outstretched his limbs, adopting a sleeping appearance as he fell through the air. His heartbeat quickened as the sound of the roaring waves below threatened to swallow him.
 
“Wait for it…” the pegasus thought. “WAIT FOR IT…”
                               
With a look of pure concentrated thrill on his face, he swung his legs around and twisted his body perpendicular to the ocean. Fear a foreign concept to him, he accelerated towards the crashing ocean like a torpedo. His wings shot out at the last second, rocking him backwards as the air gathered around his wings. His timing that of an expert, Aqua Jet’s flight path curved perfectly, causing him to narrowly escape plummeting into the gaping maw of the ocean.
                               
Aqua Jet let out a loud whoop as his daredevil feat was accomplished. He soared across the surface of the sparkling golden ocean, small waves shooting out on both sides of him. For fun, Aqua Jet shoved his front hooves partly into the water, causing large spraying outwards. He then tilted his body to the right towards the shoreline, causing a medium-sized wave to slowly rise from the left of his hooves. As he flew, the wave continued to rise until it reached a height of a small building. Thinking quickly, he flapped his wings hard and darted over the top of his newly created wave. He halted himself in place as the wave began to reach its peak.
                               
A moment of silence.
                               
Aqua Jet breathed heavily and sweat beads as the wave’s top began to slow. The bubbling strains of foam on the flat ocean started to drift towards him at the wave's crest. The wave started to become thin towards the top, making the wave curve downwards. He gave a small bat of his wings which pushed him forwards slightly. As the wave began to straighten, Aqua Jet slowly slid down the wave’s curved surface making a white foam streak form behind him.
                               
The crackling of the water slowly grew in Aqua Jet’s ears. The wave began to tilt over which Aqua registered as his cue to act. He pointed his body towards the end of the wave, the water passing under him at a faster rate. He leaned hard against the wall of water, pushing as the wave gave heavy resistance. Faster and faster Aqua slid down the wave, his body beginning to shake from the speed. Finally, the crest of the wave came crashing down, forming a perfect cylinder over Aqua Jet.

All his preparation came to this moment, and it paid in spades. No longer needing to push, the pegasus relaxed. He rocketed down the crystal clear tube, feeling an exhilaration unlike any other. Water droplets sparkled as they flew past the proud face of the daredevil.
                               
“YES! I did it!” Aqua Jet thought triumphantly to himself. “I finally did it! I-”
                               
His moment of ecstasy quickly vanished as he felt something like a rock hit the back of his neck.
                               
                               

                               
Aqua Jet gasped for breath as he broke the surface. Foamy water stung his eyes as he attempted to open them. The salty liquid rushed into his mouth, filling it with a vomit-inducing taste. He quickly spat the foul water and rubbed his face trying to see.

Aqua panted for a few moments as he instinctively started to kick under the water. Luckily he knew how to swim, but because his wings were drenched he couldn’t fly out.
                               
“Oowwww...” he whimpered while rubbing the back of his neck. “What hit me?”
                               
Aqua Jet looked around him. The placid blue ocean still held evidence of aftershocks of his latest escapade, with small white waves spread across the surface, but nothing that seemed like it would be able to strike him from behind. His eyes drifted towards the empty shoreline.
                
"Ehh...whatever, I'll think about it later." He paddled towards the beachfront, silently thankful the waves weren't too fierce in face of the oncoming storm. His rotating legs eventually hit the sand and sank partly into the wet muck. The water tickled him as a small wave brushed against the back of his legs.

Once Aqua reached drier sands, his hooves firmly planted themselves in preparation to dry himself. Aqua Jet shook his body violently, his hair and mane thrashing about and spraying water all around. He repeatedly flared and contracted his wings, determined to get every last drop of water out.
                
”WHAT IN CELESTIA’S NAME??”
                
Aqua Jet’s eyes shot open. A fuming and slightly damp red unicorn lay squirming on the sandy beach, thrashing about and trying to stand up while uttering a long string of euphemisms and curses. It stood up and turned on Aqua Jet, eyes flashing with anger before turning into surprise.
                
"Aqua Jet?”
               
“Oh, hey Brand. ‘Sup?”
                
Firebrand stared at Aqua as if he wasn’t believing what his eyes were telling him. “What in Equestria are YOU doing out here so early?”
                
"Umm...” Aqua murmured while rolling his head back. “I was just... practicing a new move out in the ocean. What does the showpony do on a beach in the morning?”
                
“I go for a run here nearly every day.” Firebrand’s head gestured towards the shoreline. “I was just taking a break here before I was...” he paused and gave a not-so-subtle glare at Aqua Jet. “Unpleasantly aroused.”
                
"You work out?" Aqua Jet asked, tilting his head and raising his eyebrow.
                
"Yeah. Helps me start the day fresh and prepared for anything.” Firebrand mused with a hint of pride. “Plus I think it's kinda fun.”
                
"So...” Aqua Jet shifted, his eyes looking Firebrand over with a puzzled expression on his face.
                
“You work out?"
                
Firebrand blinked twice before answering. "Yes...” Firebrand’s tone started to become combative and his eyes darkened. “Is that such a foreign concept to you?"
                
"Naw, it's just... Well...umm...” Aqua Jet scratched the back of his mane, trying to put what was in his head into words.
                
“You work out.”
                
"YES. I EXERCISE.” Firebrand answered, completely flustered. “WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME EXERCISING?"
                
"Nothing!” Aqua Jet exclaimed while taking a step back and waving a hoof. “I just...never expected you to be the kind of guy that does that. I mean, you sit in your house all day playing flutes and trumpets.”
                
"Hey! I don't just do that!” Firebrand protested.
                
“Riiiiiiight. Whatever dude.” Aqua Jet probed with a smirk on his face.
                
“Listen you, there’s more to being a musical director than just playing instruments for the whole day! For instance, I also..." Firebrand stopped as soon as he saw Aqua Jet snickering.
                
“What are you laughing at?” Firebrand asked while poorly disguising his irritation.
                
“You don’t need to prove a dang thing to me.” Aqua Jet laughed. “I’m just teasing.”
                
“Like I need your approval...” Firebrand muttered. He brushed more of the sand off his body with his hoof, though to his chagrin it was more difficult with the water that loosely coated him.
                
“So how long did you run for?” Aqua asked coyly. “5? 10?”
                
“Miles?”
                
“Minutes.”
                
The brick unicorn flushed a shade of saturated red visible through his brick coat. “For your information, I was...” Firebrand stopped again as he caught Aqua Jet's muffled snickers, and fought back the urge to argue further.
 
“Celestia darn it, how does he do that???” His chest clenched and he released a restrained exhale as Aqua Jet chuckled harder. He wasn’t going to let the pegasus make a fool out of him. “You think you know my weakness?” Firebrand thought. “Fine then. Two can play at that game.”
                
“It’s still better than what you can do.” he bluffed.
                
"Riiiiiiight.” Aqua Jet scoffed. “Nice try, but that isn’t going to work.”
                
"Aww, what’s the matter?” Firebrand began to circle around Aqua Jet, a mischievous grin creeping its way onto his muzzle. “Is it too much for you? Is this just the one thing that’s...” Firebrand stopped behind Aqua, looking as condescending as he could. “Impossible... for you to do?” Firebrand sneered evilly as he saw Aqua Jet’s left eye twitch. “Hook.”
                
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Firebrand said as he raised a hoof and pointed down the shoreline. “You see that tree over there? First one to the tree wins." “Line.”
                
Aqua Jet followed Firebrand’s hoof. A pair of thick palm trees protruded from the side of the beach cliff. It was a fair distance, probably 300 or so meters. Nothing that would wear him out.  

"You got it.” Aqua Jet said, face ablaze with the spirit of competition. “You're going down, showpony.”
                
“Stinker.”
                
"But first...” Firebrand’s gaze narrowed upon Aqua Jet’s other Celestia given gift; the one that wasn’t his competitive attitude at least. “You're not using your wings.”
                
Aqua Jet looked towards his side and shrugged. "Okay, fine then. I won't use my wings.”
                
"No.” Firebrand’s eyes locked onto Aqua’s. “I'm tying them so you won't cheat.”
                
"What?” Aqua Jet recoiled. “Dude, come on. I'm the Element of Honesty, remember? You seriously think I'd stoop that low?”
                
The faint sound of chirping crickets resonated over the ocean’s waves.
                
"Ouch."
                
Firebrand didn’t reply to Aqua Jet’s injured pride. His horn glowed red as some vines ripped themselves from the nearby cliff. With great dexterity, Firebrand looped the vines multiple times around Aqua’s torso. With a mischievous grin he gave a gentle yank, causing Aqua Jet to yelp and glare daggers.
                
“There. My wings are tied.” Aqua Jet grumbled. “Do you feel better?”
                
“Yes, in fact. Very much so.” Firebrand said while fighting back the urge to smile.
                
Aqua Jet snorted and grimaced as he shifted his wings to a comfortable position inside the vines. He took his place on the starting line and counted with his hoof. “You ready to eat your words?”
                
Firebrand’s eyes didn’t meet Aqua’s competitive glare, “Has anypony ever told you that you talk a lot?” he deadpanned as he shifted next to the pegasus.
                
Both stallions crouched low, and pushed lightly in the sand for pre-match leverage. For a moment there was faltering silence. The ocean's waves next to them crashed on the shore, resembling an enthusiastic audience cheering on a final race between two rivals.
 
Aqua Jet’s teeth flashed. “Three… Two… One…”
                
“GO!”
                
Both ponies launched themselves forward, kicking up the sediment and spreading it all around. They galloped down the shoreline, bodies neck and neck. Aqua Jet was surprised; the unicorn was keeping up with him. He was a royal guard, but unicorns were genetically less athletic than pegasi or earth ponies.
 
Still, Aqua Jet was determined to win. He closed his eyes and powered his hooves in the sand, giving himself an extra burst of speed. Smiling confidently, he turned his head, expecting to see the musician behind him.
                
To his surprise, Firebrand was still right next to him. Fighting back to urge to say “what” and lose precious air from his lungs, he shoved his legs into the sand again hoping to gain a lead on him, but the unicorn still managed to keep up.
                
“Darn it!” Aqua Jet thought bitterly. “This sand is slowing me down! How does he-”
                
“I go running here every day.” Firebrand’s words echoed.
                
“Oh...well, then I can just use my win-”
                
….
                
“Crud.”
                
The race continued, neither pony gaining nor losing any ground. As they turned to near a rock face, Firebrand darted to the left and cut Aqua Jet off on the turn, placing himself in the lead with the finish line quickly closing in.
                
“What the??? How did he-” Aqua Jet’s mind started working at a breakneck pace. “He started on the left, and we had a left turn so early in the race...so THAT CHEATER!! Oooohh…Tell me not to cheat and you do it yourself!? Oh, IT IS ON!!!”
                
Aqua Jet immediately whipped his head around and clamped his teeth on the bindings around his wings. With a strong yank of his head, the vines immediately came loose and freed his bound limbs. No longer restrained, the pegasus flapped his wings and rose off the ground, smiling as the exhaustion from running vanished.
                
“See ya, sucka!” Aqua jeered as he hovered over the galloping unicorn.
                
Firebrand’s eyes widened in surprise and indignation as he looked up. “The hay Aqua! I thought I said-”
                
“You cheat, I cheat!” Aqua yelled as he flew ahead, the tree almost within reach.
                
“I didn’t...” Firebrand snorted half the remaining air out of his lungs. “Okay if that’s the way you want it!”
                
A soft crackling rung in Aqua’s ears. He turned his head over his shoulders to see Firebrand’s horn immediately began to glow a bright gold.
                
“Oh no you don't!” Aqua Jet immediately angled his body downwards and divebombed towards the red unicorn. He outstretched his foreleg and reached for Firebrand’s horn in an attempt to halt the spell. His foreleg made contact with the horn, causing the aura to immediately fade and halting the spell. However, Aqua’s momentum caused him to continue moving forwards and the two stallions collided. They tumbled and rolled over each other in the sand before hitting their finish line hard. A loud wooden thud announced their arrival to the destination and a cloud of dust kicked up from their constant movement.
                
When at last the dust settled down, the two threw themselves away from each other and spun to face the other.  Each stallion breathed heavily as they locked eyes, their gazes not moving in the slightest.
                
The silence broke as small snickers escaped Aqua Jet’s mouth. Firebrand was less amused, and let his eyes narrow.
                
“That...” Aqua breathed. “Was fun.”
                
“Whatever you say...” Firebrand growled as he stood up and brushed sand off his body.
                
“Usually you’re so uptight, showpony. I’ve never seen you act like this before.”
                
“Yeah? Well, don’t get used to it.” Firebrand said.
                
A large boom interrupted the two stallion’s conversation. Both ponies snapped their heads towards the source of the noise. Over the ocean’s horizon, a large mountain of dark silver cloud loomed, filling the ponies’ stomachs with dread.
                
“Yeesh.” Aqua cooed. “Those clouds don’t look friendly.”
                
“A storm?” A look of concern crept onto Firebrand’s face. “Nopony said there was going to be a storm today.”
                
“Guess there is.”
                
Not getting the answer he wanted, Firebrand sighed. “When’s it going to get here?”
                
Aqua Jet put a hoof to his chin and allowed his gaze to drift upwards. “Ehhhh... around noon, I guess.”
                
“Ugh.” Firebrand groaned. “I don’t wanna be here when it hits. We should get out of here.”
                
“What? Aw, c’mon, don’t be a spoilsport.”
                
“No.” Firebrand huffed. The unicorn stallion spun around and walked away. “You’re welcome to stay, but I’m leaving.”
                
Aqua Jet stood in place, looking between the storm and the retreating musician. Feeling a twinge of abandonment, he trudged after the stubborn Firebrand.
                
“You’re a real party pooper, ya know that?” He whined with a half-lidded glare out of the corner of his eye.
                
“It’s a freaking hurricane. I’m not stupid enough to stay for something like that.”
                
Aqua Jet sighed. “I was hoping you were.”
                
“Say wha-ahh?”
                
A freezing drop of water landed directly on the end of Firebrand’s nose, sending a sharp chill throughout his body.
                
“Rain?”
                
He was answered by a thundering boom. The enormous sound rippled and vibrated the area, pounding the air in the two stallions’ chests. The ocean surface out in the distance began to ripple as the torrential downpour began its attack, unleashing a giant wall of rain.
                               
“Shoot!” Aqua Jet shouted, a look of concern piercing the usually apathetic face. “That storm’s getting here faster than I thought! We’d better get a move on!”
                
“But I thought you said that it wouldn’t be here until this afternoon!”
                
“Well, I was wrong! Let’s get out of here!”
                
“He was...wrong? Firebrand thought as he galloped down the shoreline. How could a pegasus misjudge something like that? And someone on the beach patrol no less???”

The temperature around the two dropped almost instantly, piercing their coats with cold wind. Rain came soon after and overtook the stallions, enveloping them with a freezing shower of icy darts. The barrage of water pounded the dirt, filling their ears with loud and constant popping.
                
“Horseapples!” Firebrand thought. “We need to get out of this rain now!”
                
“Look over there!”
                
Aqua Jet pointed towards the cliff’s face. Firebrand’s eyes followed Aqua’s hoof, but they struggled to make out what the pegasus was trying to reference. The rain completely obstructed his sight, covering his view in a gray haze.
                
“I don’t see anything!”
                
Firebrand felt a pressure on his chest, and soon realized his hooves were no longer touching the floor. A pair of blue forelegs wrapped themselves around Firebrand’s torso, and he looked up to see Aqua Jet above him gripping his body.
                
“What are you-”
                
“Just shut up and hold on!”
                
Firebrand was about to retort about him not holding on to anything, but he thought better of it and allowed the pegasus to carry him where he wanted. Water accumulated on Firebrand’s muzzle as the two stallions sped forwards. Firebrand’s eye finally caught what Aqua Jet was talking about. Through the dense mist, he could see a small hole in the cliffside large enough for somepony to enter. Possibly even use to shelter from a storm.
                
“Oh.”
                
The world changed from a light blue to a dark grey as the two entered the umbrella of a cave. The biting stings of freezing rain ceased their assault as well, much to the relief of the two stallions. Aqua Jet released his hold on Firebrand, letting the red unicorn hit the ground with a soft plump while Aqua Jet’s powerful wings let him land gracefully on the sand.
                
Aqua Jet shook the water off his body again, thankful that he was once again dry.
                
“Ahem.”
                
Aqua Jet turned around. Firebrand stood with a look of concentrated fury dripping from his face.
                
Oh wait, that’s water. All over him. Steaming too for some reason.
                
“Ahhh-Whoops. Sorry.” Aqua Jet grinned sheepishly.
                
“Water.” Firebrand scowled. “I. HATE. Water.”
                
“Oh, gimme a break.” Aqua Jet sighed as he looked outwards from the cave. His eyes took in the massive spectacle created by the giant force of nature. Black clouds now covered the entire sky, and the sounds of falling rain and howling wind were almost deafening. Aqua Jet squinted his eyes. Because it was so early in the morning, there was very little light making it almost impossible to see.
                
“This is a bigger storm than usual." Firebrand noted. "How bad is this exactly?”
                
“Oh it’s bad, pretty bad, but I can’t see how bad.” Aqua replied.
                
Firebrand took the cue. His horn crackled and began to shimmer a brilliant gold. A bright yellow ball appeared at the base of his horn and and traveled to the tip, bathing their surroundings in a soft glow.
                
“Oh...” Aqua Jet’s eyes widened. “Very bad.”
                
Large understatement. Giant waves as large as a hill formed and immediately crashed down on the shore. Rain puddles increased to the size of ponds in mere minutes, and he was pretty sure that foliage wasn't supposed to be flying across the horizon. Aqua Jet grimaced. If he flew again out there, he’d be swept up in an instant and only Celestia knows where he’d end up.
                
“When can we get back out? I’m kind in a hurry.”
                
"I dunno... but my best guess is..." Aqua Jet's mouth portrayed slight disgust. “All day. You won’t be getting back until tomorrow, probably.”
                
Firebrand wasn’t sure what happened next, but something akin to a freezing chill jolted up his spine while simultaneously the contents of his stomach jumped halfway into his throat. He blinked twice before realizing he forgot he was supposed to be breathing.
                
“I’m sorry, I must’ve misheard you." He said through a forced neutrality expression. "But I thought you said we wouldn’t get back until... tomorrow.”
                
“Yeah. Why?”
                
Firebrand’s eyes expanded to saucers. “No...”
                
“What?”
                
“No. No! NO! NO!!”
                
“Dude, are you okay?”
                
Firebrand began to run back and forth at the entrance, desperately looking for a way out. All he was greeted with was another thunderclap. “NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO!”
                
“This is...weird.” Aqua Jet jaw hung loose a little bit at the display. Firebrand was usually calm and saw things objectively, even if he did fly off the handle most of the time. To see him acting like the world was coming to an end was out of place, to say the least.
                
“What’s wrong, Brand?” Aqua Jet asked.

Firebrand faced Aqua Jet with a heartbreaking look of worry plastered on his face. Aqua Jet tensed; if Firebrand was this worried, it must be very bad. Aqua braced himself for whatever horrible tragedy was coming out of the unicorn’s mouth.
                
“It's the worst possible thing... Kindle and Spark are at my house right now, and there’s nopony there to look after them!” Firebrand explained hysterically. “Mom and Dad entrusted me to take care of them while they were on vacation, and now a hurricane is attacking the house and I’m supposed to be there!" The unicorn buried his face in his hooves. "This is bad. This is bad. This is bad! This is bad! My parents are going to kill meeeeeee...”
                
Aqua Jet breathed a sigh of relief. “Whew, I thought it was something serious...”
                
“THIS IS SERIOUS! My siblings are alone and without a guardian to look out for them! What if they break something?! What if they hurt themselves? They could trip down the stairs! The refrigerator could fall on them!"
                
Aqua Jet didn’t know what was weirder; Firebrand jumping to worst case scenario or what his idea of worst case scenario was.

“Ummm... dude, the chances of that happening are kinda slim.”               
                        
“But it still could happen! Which is why I’m going out th-”
                
Aqua Jet shoved his leg in front of Firebrand. “Don't. You go out there, and you’ll be sent back to Ponyville in a cupcake box.”
                
Shaking his head of the mental imagery, Firebrand turned around and looked around their shelter. “But...we still need to find a way out of here! Umm...” Firebrand glanced down the tunnel. “Where does this cave lead to? Let’s follow it! It may lead out of here.”
                
“Dude, chill. If we just wait it out, we’ll be okay.” Aqua Jet said while looking at the passing storm. “I mean, it might not stay the whole day; that was just a guess. I mean, if we're lucky, maybe it'll last just for a few hours or it’ll weaken a little later so we can probably... wha?”
                
His view of the storm began to darken. Confused, he turned around to ask why Firebrand turned his light off, but the unicorn wasn’t next to him. He barely caught a glimpse of Firebrand’s werelight in the tunnel and soon realized he was about to get left behind.
                
“What the- Hey, Brand, wait up!"
                
Firebrand didn’t slow down and kept trudging onwards, his horn illuminating the tunnel in a phosphorescent glow. The darkness seemed to be all encompassing, but Firebrand’s spell managed to paint a detailed enough picture. Water could be seen and heard as it dripped from hanging stalactites. Jagged cave walls erred to and fro as the depth continued onward. The winds outside echoed throughout the tunnel, a violent cry of hatred for anything in the storm’s grasp.
                
“Oh, I hope Spark and Kindle are safe...” he thought worriedly. “Of all the times I couldn’t be there, it had to be during a hurricane."

Firebrand's eyebrows furrowed. A huge mass of dread began to form in the pit of his stomach. "The timing couldn’t be any more perfect; the second I lower my guard, the worst possible thing happens. When my parents find out about this, my flank is going to get chewed something FIERCE...”
               
Without any sort of light at the end, the cave seemed to go on forever, filling the unicorn’s heart with chills. Still, he would not stop until he could potentially undo the mistake he made. There had to be some way out of this, some easy loophole to get himself out of the cave and instantly next to his siblings like nothing was wrong. Things usually fell into place like that. Maybe he could ask Aqua Jet to-

Firebrand flinched as something touched him. Upon glancing to his side, he found a stout blue wing brushed up against it. He followed the wing with a raised eyebrow to the oblivious pegasus next to him, staring off into space with wide eyes.
                
“Aqua Jet, can you stop touching me?” Firebrand said in mock politeness.
                
Aqua Jet blinked out of his stupor. “Uh?"

"I said, stop touching me." Firebrand repeated, his jaw beginning to tighten. "That means, please remove your wing."

Aqua Jet glanced over to his wing, and returned a very confused look.

"Why?"

Firebrand released a tight breath. He just needed to explain himself; he wasn't going to let himself get angry this easily.

"Because I asked you to." Firebrand stated.

Aqua Jet hesitated for a second, then sighed and retreated to the side. He cocked an eyebrow and made a face that said, “Happy now?” Firebrand snorted and continued down the tunnel.
                
The two slowed down as a fork in the road appeared, a large crevasse dividing the path. Firebrand glanced towards each, taking in each one's characteristics. One path led upwards to the right, and the other sloped down to the left. The one that descended to the left was damp and filled with puddles.

Firebrand tilted his head to the right and followed the path with his eyes. His first observation was that it was much drier and it looked much safer. It also didn't help that since they were underground, a downward path was unlikely to lead them out. On top of that, they did need to head upwards in order to get out of the cave. Satisfied with this logic, he wordlessly started heading towards the upper path.

“Whoa, wait a second, Brand.” Aqua Jet stepped in front and shook his head. “We can’t go this way.”

“And why not?” Firebrand asked with a raised eyebrow.
                
“I dunno, something just tells me we shouldn’t.”
                
Firebrand blinked, all emotion drained from his face.
                
“Look Brand, take it from the guy who’s at the beach all the time.” Aqua Jet stepped closer to the downward tunnel to illustrate his point. “There’s no water down there. None at all. That’s gotta mean that during normal storms the water that would usually flood in here gets drained somewhere. I’d have to say that’s our best bet if we want to get out of here. I mean the other trail looks like it... Brand?”
                
The unicorn wasn’t there. In fact, he had already started going down the other direction, much to Aqua Jet’s alarm.
                
“Waaa... Why does he keep ditching me...” Aqua Jet whined as he dashed after Firebrand. “Jerk...”
                
The faint sound of clopping echoed behind Firebrand, eliciting a scowl from the unicorn. “I don’t have time for your stupid self-aggrandizing musings and theories; we are wasting too much time as it is...” Firebrand thought. He cast his horn down the tunnel, showing nothing more than continuing darkness for the long run; stalactites and stalagmites being the only decoration the cave had to show. Needless to say, it was not what Firebrand wanted to see.

“Ugh, if I had just not let myself get sucked into his stupid little games, I wouldn’t be in this mess...” He casted a sideways glance towards the pegasus and snorted. “That colt is so immature. And I only have myself to blame for stooping to his level...”

Firebrand slowed down; something immediately felt off. He looked back towards Aqua Jet, and found the pegasus standing uncomfortably close again.
                
“Aqua Jet, what did I just say?” Firebrand deadpanned.
                
“What?” Aqua Jet mumbled.

Firebrand’s temper flared. “I just told you to stop being so close to me. Could you please remove yourself from my flank?”

“Why do you care? It’s not like we’re...” his eyes shifted. “You know…”
                
“You are touching my butt with your wing." Firebrand deadpanned. "It’s making me uncomfortable and you’re annoying, and I would appreciate it if you would respect another pony’s personal space.” Firebrand huffed as he increased his pace, placing himself a few meters ahead.
                
“Okay, mom...” Aqua Jet muttered under his breath.
                
“I’m a trained musician.” Firebrand said. “I can hear what you said and... oh great.”
                
The two ponies stopped. Before them lay a steep, rocky slope as tall as a small building. Firebrand lifted his horn to shed some more light on the cliff and groaned. Multiple protrusions of rock scattered themselves all over the cliff, almost forming a natural ladder. It certainly made the wall climbable, but not wholly safe do due the size of it if he were to fall. On top of that, an obstacle of this caliber wasn't doing much for Firebrand's current hasty and easily irritable mood.

“Perfect. Just great." Firebrand grumbled as he started to climb. "Now we get to perform a death-defying climb while lost in a cave and all because of that stupid storm."

He carefully placed his hind hooves on hard bases and pushed upwards, reaching for the next rocks. He studied the wall as he climbed, making sure he had solid footing before continuing on. He couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy as the expressionless Aqua Jet flew past him, making easy work of the obstacle that the tempest forced him into. "This doesn’t make any sense. Why would the pegasi schedule a storm this big in the first place?”
                
“It wasn’t the pegasi.” Aqua Jet replied plainly as he flew upwards past the unicorn.
                
“What? But...you..” Firebrand stammered as he lifted himself upwards a little more. “You… all control the weather...”
                
“Not on the beach. The beach is completely random, like the Everfree Forest.” Aqua Jet said while landing on the top of the slope. “We don’t control that kind of thing. The ocean’s just too big to keep track of, so anything could happen out there.”
                
“But that’s stupid!” Firebrand cried. He reached up with his hoof towards the top of the slope but came up short. “We have weather patrols all over Equestria that’s just about as big as the entire ocean. I don’t see why it shouldn’t be the same here.”
                
Aqua Jet sighed as he grabbed Firebrand’s hoof and lifted him up. “Be real here. Other than -urgh- kelpies, nopony lives in the ocean. What would be the point of patrolling it if nopony’s around?”
                
“Oh, I can think of a few reasons, like,” Firebrand gestured with a hoof to the surrounding area. “How about, look where we bucking are.”
                
Aqua Jet paused, wondering for a moment if it would be in his best interests to drop him.
                
“No one would have to know... Nah, I need his light to see.”

Aqua Jet grunted, pulling hard with his athletic legs. Some resistance quickly notified that Firebrand was heavier than the average unicorn. Aqua gave a couple bats of his wings, making it a little easier to hoist Firebrand up.

"Well, I'm glad we're done with that." Firebrand panted as he continued walking forwards. "Now we just need to-"

Firebrand's heart jumped as his hoof met air and he immediately collapsed to the ground. Firebrand's body reacted almost instantly and pushed back with his hind legs. Due to his surprise, he stumbled over his own legs and landed clumsily on his rear.

"Jeez, what is it with unicorns and almost falling off cliffs?" Aqua Jet thought coyly to himself.

Firebrand gasped for breath as he regained control of his brain from his instincts. He shook the adrenaline from his head making his next obstacle eventually came into focus.

The pathway immediately gave way to a steep, but not vertical ridge. He could barely see rocks the size of his head at the bottom that looked to him like little pebbles.
                
“A cliff, this time downwards.” Firebrand scowled. “This is unbelievable! Is the entire universe just against me today???”
                
“Oh my gosh, Brand, shut up…” Aqua Jet thought as he placed a hoof to his face. “That’s not even a cliff; it’s more of a slope…”
                
“Look, don't be such a wimp. It’s not that steep. just slide down it.” Aqua Jet reasoned.
                
Firebrand scowled. “Well, excuse me if I am wingless and actually have to work to overcome things.”
                
"What." Aqua Jet’s eye twitched. "Did the unicorn just say he had to work hard? The ones with..." He released another pained breath. He was quickly losing the tolerance to ignore Firebrand, but he wasn't going to lose his cool.

“F.y.i., I’m not the one who said we should come here in the first place.”
                
“Well, what were we supposed to do? Lollygag around at the entrance and just wait for the storm to go away? I don’t know about you, but that seems like a big freaking waste of time to me.”
                
Aqua Jet’s eyes thinned. “Has anypony ever told you that you talk a lot?”
                
“Funny.” Firebrand looked over condescendingly. “I told you the same thing earlier. Can’t take a little criticism, so you throw it back. How mature.”
                
“Dude...” Aqua Jet moaned as he rolled his eyes. His body tensed as he released a voiced breath. The warped logic exhibited by Firebrand made him instantly lose interest in continuing the conversation. “Whatever...”
                
“Typical." Firebrand scoffed. "A pegasus not accepting responsibility. If you pegasi actually did your jobs instead of gaffing off something important like a tropical storm, then maybe we wouldn’t be in this mes-what did I just step in?”
                
Firebrand lifted his hoof. His upper lip raised in disgust as he found a sticky, smelly white substance sticking to his hoof like glue.
                
“Yuck!" he squealed, shaking his hoof vigorously to get the viscous slime off. "What the heck is this stuff?”
                
“Ummm... Brand, I’d keep the volume down a few notches...”

“Why should I?” Firebrand demanded. Aqua Jet didn’t answer, and instead pointed upwards. Firebrand followed his hoof and gasped.

Dotting the cave’s ceiling were hundreds of little brown winged creatures. Their wings folded over their tiny bodies as they dangled vertically from the ceiling, almost like an upside down flower field. Except without the flowers. Or sun. And with bats. Lots of bats. They seemed asleep... or at least dormant. If awoken, the ponies would have to deal with another storm; this one much less pleasant.

“That... is just freaky." Aqua Jet gasped.

Firebrand looked down at his hoof. "So I just stepped in...” Surprise hit his face before it contorted into a repulsive grimace. “Oh Faust, Mother of Celestia, disgusting!”

“Shut up, Brand!” Aqua Jet hissed.

Firebrand immediately clamped his hooves over his mouth. Without warning, a putrid odor forced itself into his nose, causing him to gag. Firebrand's chest tightened as he realized that in his haste, the guano was now placed directly in front of his nostrils. Firebrand gagged and removed his hoof, making choking sounds in his throat and valiantly resisting every urge to taste his breakfast again. He looked up again once his stomach calmed down; the ceiling didn’t stir or react.
                
“Oh thank goodness...” Firebrand rasped, nearly collapsing to the floor, not noticing Aqua's feeble attempts at disguising his amusement.
                
The unicorn took a few deep breaths (and silently chastising himself) and looked at the slope below him. He could slide down it, like Aqua Jet said, but he could just as easily tumble down and severely injure himself. “Just one obstacle after the other." he thought glumly. "Storms, winding paths, bats, and now, cliffs."

Firebrand cast a sideways glance to the pegasus closely huddled next to him again. "Lucky Aqua can fly down and he...wait....oh my bucking...”
                
Gritting his teeth, Firebrand stopped and glared venomously at Aqua Jet, nestled upon him once more like a little foal that wouldn’t stop clinging to its mommy.

“For the last time Aqua, get off me!” Firebrand yell-whispered as to avoid waking the looming doom.
                
Aqua Jet gave a slightly pained look. “Why is it so bad that I’m standing next to you?”
                
“For the umpteenth time, it makes me uncomfortable! Now stand somewhere else and let me focus!” Firebrand ordered as he shoved the pegasus away with his foreleg.

“You did not just shove me.” Aqua Jet said darkly, eyes filled with a strange emotion.
                
Firebrand didn't notice Aqua Jet's sudden change of tone. “Well, asking nicely didn't seem to work. So let's try not so nice: Stay away from me.” Firebrand ordered.

He took a tentative step off the edge and braced himself. He shifted his weight and began to move down. Inch by inch he slid down, actually feeling a small thrill rush as the air blew past his face. He reached the bottom with a triumphant grin. “Well, crisis averted. The bats aren’t going to be a problem at least. Heh heh, sorry Shenanigans, Murphy’s Law didn’t get me this ti-”
                
Something hard shoved itself into Firebrand’s side. He hit the ground with a hard thud and slid across it, dirt and rocks digging into his coat before coming to a halt. Confused and exasperated, he picked himself up and turned to see what hit him. His eyes widened in even more confusion and exasperation.
                
Aqua Jet looked down, lips curled into a condescending frown.

"Oops." Aqua Jet singsonged. "Sorry. Didn't see you."

"What the hay were you thinking, Aqua Jet?!"  Firebrand stood back up. "I could've been seriously injured!"

"Aww, did the widdle showpony chip a hoof?" Aqua mocked. "I thought you were a soldier, not a priss. Playing those sissy flutes must be making you soft."

"You child!" Firebrand shouted, his veins aflame with the fury of an inferno. "Just because I shoved you doesn't give you the right to hit me back! Retaliation is not something you should-"

“Blah blah blah blah blah.” Aqua Jet interrupted while flapping a hoof left to right. “Boy, you have a lecture prepared for anything don't you? Everything just has to be so perfect. As soon as somepony does something that doesn't fit daddy Firebrand's law, you jump down their throats like some bossy control freak."

"Oh, so it's come down to name calling hasn't it?! And I am not a control freak!"

"You sure act like one." Aqua replied smugly. "Yell like one too."

"Shut up! If it weren't for me you'd still be... wait... what did you say?"

Aqua Jet's head tilted. "I said you yell like one. Why?"

"Oh no..." Firebrand's tail tucked between his legs and his eyes drifted upwards.

"What are you..." Aqua Jet faltered. His cheek twitched as horrific realization flooded into his head. He glimpsed over his shoulder to and found his fears confirmed; Twenty glowing red eyes stared back at them, looking very, very, unhappy.

“Umm...Brand?” Aqua Jet eyes drifted backwards, yet his head remained still as stone. “Bats aren’t dangerous... are they?”

Firebrand didn’t return his gaze, instead remaining fixated on the creatures above and not daring to move an inch. “Well, I’m no expert, but there is the risk of Rabies and/or Tetanus.”

Aqua Jet gulped, and his eyes hesitantly returned themselves to the ceiling. Hundreds of eyes now gazed at the two trembling ponies.

“I’m... thinking we should start running. Like...now.”

"Hang on a second." Firebrand whispered. "Look."

Firebrand pointed at the hundreds of steely red eyes glaring back at them. "They haven't done anything yet. Maybe if we just back away slowly, they won't-"

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!!!!!!!!!

“Okay, run!"

The ceiling erupted in a sea of leathery fury as the entire colony of bats descended upon the two ponies. Firebrand and Aqua Jet surged their legs into the ground and leapt away, galloping down the tunnel. The sounds of high-pitched shrieks stroked their fear, their hearts throbbing in their chests just as their race for their lives started.

Aqua Jet soon realized he would get more speed by being airborne. He took off and charged ahead with every intention to place as much distance from himself and the winged demons pursuing them. His vision became darker as he flew ahead, causing him to narrowly miss a sharp rock impacting his face. He slowed down and looked back at the light-giving stallion trying to keep up with him on the ground.

"Goshdarnit, Aqua Jet!" Firebrand scowled forwards. "Why did you have to be stupid and set off these bats?"

"Me!?" Aqua Jet screamed back. "You're the who shouted the loudest, Mr. Musician!"

"This wouldn't have happened if you didn't assault me first!"

“Don’t act like you didn't have it coming!” Aqua Jet yelled as stalactite nearly scraped the side of his fur. "Now go faster so I can see where I'm flying!"

"What?! I don't take orders from you, you little-"

Another screech from the bats interrupted their argument. The fear stabbed them in their hearts, actually making their limbs move faster. They refixed their gazes on the way forward and shut their mouths. On they ran, no matter what the obstacle. Neither wanted to take any chances with slowing down to be careful when facing each obstacle that came into view, so both ponies ran into difficulties.

Aqua Jet weaved in and out of the dangling stalactites, but not coming through completely unscathed. Despite his agility, he received multiple scratches from the hanging rock formations. Firebrand was faring little better, as many large rocks blocked his path, forcing him to quickly use combinations of levitation and acrobatic running.

Firebrand's mind raced. "We can't keep running like this! We need to do something about those bats!"

"Why don't you come up with something, fearless leader!" Aqua quipped.

"You're not helping!" Firebrand shouted back, mind racing. "I know it's difficult, but try saying something useful!"

"Okay, try shouting at them! Maybe you can nag them to death! It's what you're best at!"

"You useless little-" Firebrand gasped as something clicked in his mind. "Wait... Of course! Bats navigate by sound! And, if it's loud enough they become frightened by it! And my special talent is-"

Firebrand whirled himself around and slid to a halt. He bent his horn low and crouched before the oncoming storm.

"Brand!? What are you doing???"

Firebrand's grit his teeth as his horn fizzed and sparkled. A large translucent red cone grew at the base of his horn, swirling around violently as the unicorn gave it more power.

"Echolocate this, you bloodsucking freaks of nature!!!" Firebrand shouted. A shrill squeal burst from the top of his horn towards the oncoming swarm. The soundwaves rippled the air, forming multiple aerial shockwaves. The spell engulfed the colony of bats, scattering their formation into a state of chaos.

Firebrand grinned, proceeding with the next part of his plan. He slowly walked forwards, pushing the spell with it. The bats slowly obeyed his subliminal command and began to retreat down the tunnel. The malevolent shapes eventually disappeared down the tunnel, along with their unholy screeching.

Firebrand breathed slowly, his head feeling slightly like a watermelon as the adrenaline stopped pumping. He stood back up tall and proud, filled with the pure satisfaction of defeating a mighty foe.

"You idiot!"

Something long and blunt connected with Firebrand's face. His head flew backwards and forced his body to the floor. Firebrand stood up, gritting his teeth and wiping the dirt from his face.

"Idiot???" Firebrand shouted. "I just saved our lives!"

"And almost got us killed! We're in a cave you dolt! Your stupid sound magic could've caused a cave-in or rockslide you moron!"

"That doesn't mean you get a free pass to attack me!" Firebrand galloped right into Aqua Jet's face and pressed his nose right on Aqua's. "What is it with you? All you do is just walk around, be useless and just mooch off my light. I'm leading you through here on the generosity of my heart, and what do you do?! You spit in the face of the pony here trying to help you! Some friend you are! And then you try and cuddle me like I'm your mother, or like I'm your..." Firebrand backed away and huffed. "Never mind. And top it off, you think that by me not complying with your childish needs, you can hit me and it suddenly makes it all better!"

"Yes. Yes it does." Aqua Jet replied quietly, lowering his head into a sinister glare.

Firebrand paused. His body slowly angled away from Aqua, getting a strong inkling of malicious intent coming from the pegasus. “If you so much as dare to think of laying another hoof on me…”
                
“Oh,” Aqua Jet grinned evilly. “I dare far too much!”
 
Aqua Jet charged. Hooves stamped the ground as the stunned soldier was suddenly taken to the ground, dashed hard. The pegasus did not stop there, raising his front right hoof up high and connecting it with Firebrand's face. Former instincts kicked in, however, and Firebrand wrapped his hooves around Aqua's leg and thrust himself upward, throwing the raging pegasus off of him. However, Aqua Jet immediately changed angles in the air, his natural speed allowing him to instantly recover. him to dash the unicorn against the wall. Rock met Firebrand's back hard, doubly so by the two strong hooves pressed against his chest.

Firebrand shot his hooves under and between Aqua's grip, executing a perfect hold breaker. Aqua's forelegs shot to the sides, momentarily surprising the blue pegasus. He then quickly pushed both of his forelegs, knocking Aqua and the wind out of him.
 
Aqua Jet wasn’t done with Firebrand yet, and immediately regained his balance from his stumble. He leapt off the ground and charged the unicorn again. Firebrand dodged the second charge easily, sidestepping out of the way and hoping the pegasus would crash against the wall. Instead, Aqua's body curved in midair, effectively landing on the wall as if it were the ground. He immediately propelled him self off and swung his right leg towards Firebrand's face. Firebrand parried the blow with his left leg, and countered with his own more precise right hook. He hit nothing, as Aqua twisted his head and dodged, and swung wildly at Firebrand with a flurry of punches.

Firebrand face tensed. He was able to effectively parry or shield himself from each assault, but the pegasus was far too fast for him to fight back and the numerous rushes started to wear down upon him. His mind began to shift further into combat mode as the attacks continued.
 
"Foe: Pegasus. Speedy and bold. Very straightforward attacker. Brutish even. Not giving me any time to breathe or counter. Meeting him head on, ineffective, too fast, advantage him. Have to use deception or surprise. Best method... Ambush? Lack of hiding spots. He can... see... me...”
 
Firebrand dimmed his horn. The last vestments of light began to dim until darkness swallowed their surroundings. Upon realizing what was happening, Aqua Jet immediately darted at the unicorn to finish him off, but Firebrand melted into the darkness before at which point the unicorn made his move and disappeared. Aqua Jet's blood began to boil in panic, but his determination and pride refused to allow him any moment to cower. His eyes darted around the area but all he could see was pitch darkness, no silhouette of the unicorn to be found.

"BRAND! BRAND, WHERE ARE YOU?!"
 
The walls echoed with dark laughter, sending chills up the pegasus body.

“Pathetic, Aqua. Absolutely pathetic." Firebrand's voice echoed. "You made three very fatal mistakes. Your first mistake: challenging a pony who's been trained as a Royal Guard."
 
A crackling rock sounded from behind him. He immediately spun around and charged at the sound, hoping to get a number up on the unicorn. His hoof connected with nothing, making him flop ungracefully to the ground.

“Second mistake: Challenging a pony whose special talent is sound."

“This isn’t funny! Where are you???” Aqua Jet whipped his head and body around in panic. Now matter how he tried, he couldn’t find the source of the voice; it seemed to come from all around him.

"Third mistake..."

Aqua Jet saw the area in front of him glow slightly and heard the familiar sound of crackling magic behind him. He was suddenly surrounded in a golden glow and lifted off the ground. Then in one swift motion, he was hurled at the wall closest him. Aqua yelped as he hit the wall and fell to the ground, groaning in pain.

"Letting me know exactly where you are."

Firebrand slowly walked over to the pegasus, standing tall over his defeated foe. He didn’t wear a look a triumph or pride. Rather, his lips pursed in pity and revulsion.

“We’re not going together anymore.” Firebrand stated. “Any time we are together it leads to us getting bucked. Here’s the plan. You go one way, I’ll go another. Everypony wins.”
                
“What!?” Aqua Jet squealed wide-eyed in fear. “But how am I supposed to see-”
                
“You should have thought of that before you attacked me.” Firebrand glowered. “I'm sure you'll find some way. Why don't you go back to the cave's entrance? You seemed very content there.”
                
Firebrand turned his body and started to walk away, abandoning the blue pegasus in the darkness.

"Wait a sec!" Aqua Jet pleaded, slowly rising to his hooves. "You can't leave me!"

"Just try to stop me." Firebrand sneered, then cocked his head with a condescending gleam in his eye. "Hang on; You tried that before. Didn't work out so well, did it?"

Aqua Jet's heart raced. He leaped off the ground and barrelrolled over the pegasus. “Just wait a second! Let me-"

"Aqua. I am warning you now." Firebrand growled, his horn beginning to spark. "You had better get out of my way."

In spite of the pure venom-laced tone, Aqua Jet didn't back down. He instead clenched his jaw and took two deep breaths. “It’s now or never...”
                
“Brand... I…I gotta tell you something…”

"And I'm not listening." Firebrand shoved his shoulder into Aqua Jet and pushed him aside. Aqua rebounded and moved himself back to the unicorn's side with a desperate look in his eye.

"Dude, this is important! I-"
                
“Whatever it is, I don’t freaking care!” Firebrand shot back and shoved him away. “There's nothing you can say that will change this! I’m sick of dealing with you. You have been little more than a large inconvenience for the entire day. I hope to not see you any time soon, possibly ever again! Now, I'm going to do us both a favor and disappear! Goodbye!”

Firebrand's horn began to dim, slowly enveloping both stallions in black. Aqua Jet began to hyperventilate, his breaths coming up shallow and weak.

"No! No! Brand, don't leave me!" Aqua pleaded. "I need to tell you something!"

The last of Firebrand's spell fizzed out and the unicorn faded away into the darkness. The sound of gradually quieting hoofsteps entered Aqua's ears, making Aqua Jet enter full on panic mode.
                
“Brand! Please don't go!”

The hoofsteps suddenly stopped.

...

"He didn't..."

...

Firebrand froze in mid step. His eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and a hoof dangled in the air in shock at what he just heard.

...

"He... said..."

...

That word. That dreaded, evil word.

...

Please.

"No! No! NO! I've wasted too much time here! He had his chance! He's going to have to... but... he... ARGH!" Firebrand’s mind cried out to ignore Aqua and just continue on, but his conscience began to assault his mind with thoughts and actions against his own wants. His eyes twitched and his lungs spasmed as he fought heroically against his moral programming, but ultimately his resolve faltered and Firebrand halted in place with a low groan. “Please” was the word, an almost hypnotic spell that Firebrand could not say no to.

“What is it…” he growled. “I swear on all that is holy and righteous if this isn’t important...”
                
Aqua Jet’s legs began to quiver. Redness flushed his cheeks as his heart rate quickened.

“I’m…" he breathed, fumbling over his words. "I’m scared of the dark.”

"What?"

"I’m scared of the dark.”
                
Any patience Firebrand had left was lost. “Spit it out, already!”
                
“Alright, alright! I’m scared of the dark!”
                
The air around the two ponies became still. The statement echoed down the cave, and with each reverberation that came back, the pegasus winced as his dark secret was revealed time and time again.
                
“You’re… what?” Firebrand said in disbelief. Aqua Jet didn’t answer and instead looked away in utter humiliation.
                
Firebrand began to stare at the crimson-maned pegasus, starting to reevaluate his opinion of him.
                
“…I can’t believe it. The fearless daredevil Aqua Jet, afraid of the dark? He performs death-defying stunts on a regular basis, half of the time with a blindfold, and he’s afraid of a little darkness? How is that…” Firebrand shook his head. “No, no, I can’t judge him. There’s probably a reason for it. Should I ask him what it is? Well, maybe I shouldn’t. It's probably a personal traumatic- Wait, how long have I been thinking? SHOOT! He’s probably-”
                
“Listen, Aqua, I want you to know that-“
                
“Just forget it.”
                
Aqua Jet let his head droop low and whipped his body around so Firebrand couldn't see the complete shame on the pegasus’ face.

"Well..." Firebrand stammered. "We... we should keep going. The sooner we get out of here the better."

Aqua Jet didn't reply. Without lifting his head, he walked past Firebrand and didn't look the unicorn in the eye.

A strong wave of guilt struck Firebrand. All those times that Aqua Jet was violating his personal space, he was just scared and wanted a friend to make him feel safe and that he wasn't alone. Every time that happened, Firebrand just pushed him away and shunned him. Firebrand couldn't shoulder all the blame, as he had the excuse of ignorance, but it still didn't alleviate the knot in his stomach formed by pure guilt.
                
“Aqua...”

"Shut up." Aqua Jet hissed.

A twitch attacked Firebrand's face, but he quickly subdued it. "Listen, Aqua, I-"

"I said, shut up." Aqua growled through gritted teeth, his tone becoming combative.

Firebrand fumed. How dare this stallion spurn him when he's trying to comfort his broken friend? The nerve! Maybe he should just dim his horn and let him suffer, just to show that impudent stallion-

...

"Wait, what the buck am I thinking? Was I really just about to do that? What kind of pony would do that to a distraught friend?"

Firebrand's eyebrows furrowed. He was just about to do something incredibly cruel, and it would have felt really good to do so, to exercise that sort of power over him. Like a control freak.

What Aqua said began to eat at him. Why would Aqua Jet say those things? Was he really so controlling? Did he really think everypony else was beneath him? Aqua wasn’t the type to say things he didn’t mean, so he wouldn’t say those things just to hurt him.

Firebrand turned his head. Aqua's face seemed to relax; The tension on his skin was mostly gone, and his jaw looked looser. He figured now that the poor stallion had calmed down, he could ask the question weighing heavily on his mind.

“Aqua, when we had that argument...” Firebrand looked at the ground. “Did you mean what you said? Am I really a control freak?”
                
“Yup.” Aqua Jet replied without emphasis.
                
Something akin to a poison dagger stabbed Firebrand in the chest and gave a little twist for flair.
                
“Ouch.” Firebrand said low-spiritedly. “That was blunt.”
                
Aqua Jet shrugged. “Call it like I see it, dude; I ain’t gonna sugarcoat it.”
                
Firebrand felt a stir of bittersweetness. “Maybe that’s for the best.”

“I mean, you never acted like this before today.” Aqua continued. “Seriously, what gives? You don’t usually blow up at small things this easily. Big things sure, and things that deserve it, but not small things. And seriously dude, I've never seen you so... heartless."

"What?" A space in Firebrand's chest felt like it was smashed into a million pieces.

"I'm dead serious. You were about to abandon me back there. Abandon me. In a dark cave full of cliffs and bats even. It's like you don't even care about what happens to me. Hey, newsflash, without your light, I could've gotten seriously hurt or even..." Aqua Jet halted his speech, and gave a heavy sigh. "Dude, what gives? Why are you acting like this?"

Firebrand didn't know how to reply; he was stricken at his very core. His mouth hung open and his eyes darted across the ground. “I…” Firebrand breathed, trying to offer some sort of theory. “I… I just... I... I don’t know…”

“Uh huh.” Aqua Jet mumbled and let out a long sigh. "I think I do. It's your bro and sis. You're too worried about them, and that's making you panic. Usually whenever something doesn't go the way you want it, you plow through anything that gets in your way. And I guess... today that thing in your way happened to be me."

Firebrand blinked. Aqua's words actually made a ton of sense. Firebrand was the sort of pony that made sure things went his way, and the more serious it was, the harder he would try and make the situation be fixed.
                
"I have arachnophobia.”
                
Aqua Jet looked up and tilted his head. “You have a rack o’ what now?”
                
Firebrand sighed. “Arachnophobia. It means I’m scared of spiders.”
                
“What?” Aqua Jet stammered. His face wore multiple expressions from shock to confusion before finally resting on curious. “Why are you saying this to me?”

"Guilt complex. Call it payback for you entrusting me with-” Firebrand paused to find the most politically correct words. “-a secret like yours.”

"No way." Aqua Jet chuckled in disbelief. “The big tough Firebrand, scared of spiders?”
                
“Yes.” Firebrand deadpanned. “Got bitten by one as a foal, sent to the hospital, and been terrified of them ever since.”

Aqua Jet was taken aback at how nonchalant Firebrand was in admitting this.
                
“…dude, your life sucks.”
                
“Not completely.”
                
Firebrand shrugged it off and continued his trek forwards with Aqua Jet. Not long after that and not unexpectedly, Aqua Jet started to approach Firebrand again. But before he touched, he began to back off, knowing what was coming.

“It’s fine Aqua, I don’t mind anymore.” Firebrand prompted. Aqua Jet gave a hard-luck smile and wrapped his wing around Firebrand’s back, sending a shock throughout his body. Firebrand opened his mouth, about to protest that wasn’t part of the deal.

The words never came out. Aqua Jet still had that wide-eyed, frightened look in his eyes about his surroundings, but he was also smiling. Firebrand released a held breath and decided against asking him to remove the wing. "He needs this." he reasoned. However, his mind went back to their fight, and what was said between them.
                
"He seemed to get his mind off our surroundings when we were talking..." Firebrand pondered, studying the pegasus' face. "Well, when he was talking, at least. It looks like he can only have one thing on his mind at a time. If I can get his train of thought moving, maybe he won't be so... scared." He could still scarcely believe this was the real Aqua Jet: cowering in the face of danger that wasn't even there.
                
“Aqua..." He turned to Aqua Jet hesitantly. "I... heard something about you wanting to start your own team of Stunt Flyers. Is that true?"
                               
“Yeah.” Aqua glanced over at Firebrand, but then returned to looking at the blackness around him.
                               
“Why not just join the Wonderbolts?”
                               
Aqua Jet's ear twitched. His eyes narrowed, a look of minor offense taking hold on his lips. “Dude, many reasons. One: They’re the Princess’s professional flying squad. Imagine the amount of responsibilities they have, the image they have to keep up,  There’s no way I could handle that.”
                               
“Oh, I know that feeling...” Firebrand thought as memories of being in the Royal Guard came back to him.
                               
“Two: Suits look stupid.”
                               
The statement took Firebrand completely by surprise. A childish grin broke through his features before he began chuckling.
                               
“Yeah, I guess the uniform is a little silly-looking.” Firebrand said, choosing to ignore that a wacky uniform doesn't say anything about professionalism. He would know, he was a guard.
                               
"Three: When I look at them, I dunno, I just see... acting.” Aqua Jet started looking around him. Not in fear, but in reflection. “They’re just doing it just because they have to. They do tricks and stuff, but none of it's exciting or daring. There’s no passion behind it. I’ve just seen better.”
                               
"From yourself." Firebrand stated flatly.
                               
Aqua Jet burst into a cocky smile.
                               
“Exactly.”
                               
Firebrand rolled his eyes and snorted. Aqua Jet had a huge ego, and being the Element of Honesty didn’t help matters much. His logic went something like “Because I’m the Element of Honesty, if I say I’m awesome it must be true!”  Aqua Jet was not afraid to let the nearest pony know how awesome he was and didn’t care who he offended. He sort of admired that fearlessness, but worried it might get him into trouble if he wasn’t careful with his tendency to be blunt.
                               
“Aqua Jet and careful?” Firebrand thought while trying to hide a chuckle. “That’s an oxymoron if I ever heard one.”
                               
“And four: I want to be somepony great. To be remembered. Somepony others can look up to. I’ll admit, the Wonderbolts are cool, it’s just...”
                               
He stopped walking and looked down. scratching the back of his crimson mane as he tried to put what was in his mind into words.
                               
“I don’t want to be just another Wonderbolt. Many ponies have already done that. I wanna be recognized as somepony who actually did something. Why join something great when you can MAKE something great?”
                               
Firebrand stared at the pegasus, studying him. This was a side of Aqua Jet he’d never seen. This lazy self-indulgent bum actually had a dream? And a respectable one at that?
                               
"Huh. That’s very... ambitious of you."
                               
"Hey, stop using big words... I can’t stand when everypony I know uses words I don’t know the meaning of."
                               
“It means you have a dream and the drive to make it a reality.”
                
“Yeah, doesn’t that sound so much cooler than saying ambi-tishus?”
                
“Ambitious.”
                
“Dude, whatever.” Aqua Jet huffed as he turned away.

Firebrand couldn’t help but smirk a bit. Obviously he had touched a bit on Aqua Jet’s ego. The pegasus wasn’t exactly the brightest bulb in the socket, after all, but he was pretty harmless in it. After a moment, Aqua Jet spoke up.
                
“Soo... you work out.”
                
If it were any earlier, Firebrand would have blasted him right there, but given the civility of their recent conversations, he just rolled his eyes and growled.
                
“I thought we went over this; I exercise." Firebrand explained. "It’s part of any healthy pony’s routine. That’s it.”
                
“Naw, it’s just...running on sand... never thought that would break me off so fast.”
                
“Maybe you should do it some more.” Firebrand suggested. “The sand’s terrible traction is a huge workout, and exercise is always more fun with a buddy.”
                
“Yeah! That sounds like a gre-” Aqua Jet stopped suddenly, eyes wide with shocked realization. “Wait a second. The band geek is inviting me to work out with him?” Aqua Jet thought. “Wha... This is wrong on so many levels...”
                
“Aqua? You okay?”
                
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine." Aqua Jet replied glumly, his ego bruised even more. "Let's just get outta here."
                
Firebrand continued moving forward, satisfied he had finally reconciled with Aqua Jet. Well, at least they weren't at each other's throats, so it was a huge improvement. He cast his light further down, feeling a bit better about the situation he was in.

The two walked together for what seemed like an hour, and it began to wear on the less patient Firebrand's mind. The cave almost didn’t seem to have an end. Even with his magic illuminating the area around him, all he could see ahead of him appeared to be miles and miles of incomprehensible darkness. It also didn’t help that another fork in the tunnel appeared.

"Another fork."

Firebrand cursed.

“Another one... Another stupid delay!!!” Firebrand wailed. He stomped at the ground, thoroughly frustrated at the constant stream of obstacles. “How am I ever going to get back home if this keeps up! The storm, the cave, everything is going wrong! What are we going to face next, a raging, hungry Ursa Major?!”
                
Aqua Jet turned and gave as gentle a tone he could muster. “Dude, it’s outta your hooves. Chill out.”
                
“But my brother and sister! They’re my responsibility! I need to make sure they’re-oof!”
                
Firebrand was cut off by two hooves being shoved into his shoulders. The soft dirt rose up to impact his backside with shock forcing his eyes shut. When he opened them,  two giant red eyes filled with lucid frustration fixated on his.
                
“Chill. Out.” Aqua Jet repeated.
                
A silence lingered, with Aqua Jet standing over the unicorn, glaring down at him. Firebrand didn’t feel fear though, rather a tingling of surprise. An instinct told him to shove the pegasus off, but the bright red eyes staring at him told him... no... commanded him to stay. Aqua Jet pressed his face right into Brand’s, keeping his body secured to the floor both mentally and physically.
                
“Brand, no if’s, but’s, or “I just’s.”" Aqua lectured, his eyes locked onto Firebrand's. "You’re panicking and it’s not making you think straight. The more you think about it, the more it’s making you lose your head. You'll probably just put us into more danger by doing that."

Firebrand was about to deny that claim, but Aqua's uncharacteristically stern expression kept his mouth glued shut. Firebrand looked off to the side. He had to admit Aqua had a point. "Look dude, just calm the heck down and don’t worry about it. Your bro and sis? We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. You're overreacting about things that don't even matter right now. Right now, we just need to keep going... wherever we’re going.”

Firebrand remained silent for a moment, staring at Aqua Jet with wild eyes. They remained there for a few moments, neither stallion moving an inch. A sigh of defeat left Firebrand's mouth. "You're right..." he muttered glumly.
               
“Glad I finally got through to you.” Aqua smiled as he got of “Now he can stop whining and I can-”
                
“Wait..." Firebrand's ears flicked. "Do you hear that?”
                
“Hear what?" Aqua Jet asked quizzically. His body shrunk back. "It's not the bats again, is it?!"
                
"No it's not, it's sounds... different." Firebrand glanced behind Aqua, staring in contemplation at the dark hole behind them.. “It sounds like...water. Rushing water.”
                
“Rushing water?” Aqua Jet repeated, putting a hoof to his muzzle. “But that could only mean...”
                
A look of horror broke through Aqua Jet’s expressionless face as realization struck.
                
“FLASH FLOOD!” Aqua Jet screamed and instantly sped forwards through the tunnel, with Firebrand galloping close behind. As they ran, the faint sound of rushing water grew in their ears. Firebrand resisted every urge to look back and see the torrent of death pursuing him despite him hearing the water swiftly approaching. Aqua Jet however, was able to chance a glance behind him due to his ability to fly.
                
“Brand! You have to run faster! I can’t see where I’m flying!”
                
“I think I’ll just run faster to save my life, thank you very much!” His heart pounded from concentrated survival instinct as he sped onwards. Even though he was fleeing for his life, Firebrand noticed something odd. He felt the ground begin to meet his hooves at a faster rate.
                
“What the... How can they be- These tunnels are sloped upwards! Perfect! If we can just outrun it, it’ll eventually slow d-”

His hoof dropped into a dip in the floor, causing him to stumble and fall face-first into the ground.

The light guiding Aqua Jet flickered. Because of the last two times this happened, he instantly knew what caused it. Aqua turned his head around and gasped; Firebrand lay unmoving on the ground and the flood swiftly approached him.

“Brand, no!”

The flood paid his cry no heed as the waves engulfed his friend. Aqua Jet cursed and flew away, knowing if he tried to rescue him, he would be swallowed by the flood as well. Still, as he outflew the water, the darkness overtook him. Yet his previous fear was not found. It was instead washed over by a new feeling of pure despair.

Firebrand was lost to the flood. Aqua had failed to save his companion. His friend. Despite the band pony’s geeky nature and how annoyingly commanding he was, he didn’t think he would lose him like this. What made it worse was he was beach patrol. It was his freaking job to save ponies from disasters like that, so not only did he fail at his job, he failed as a friend. He silently prayed from the bottom of his heart that Firebrand was still alive, but his weather-trained mind told him the hard truth that his survival was unlikely.

A glimmer of light caught Aqua Jet’s eye. The end of the tunnel! It was finally there. If he continued to fly onward, he’d make it through and outrun the torrent. He could hear the water flowing after him, the backs of his hind legs getting wet. Putting every ounce of strength into his wings, he grit his teeth and reached towards the light.

The blue blur burst from the cliffside. His eyes stung by the sudden change of light as rain started pelting down upon him. He turned around and viewed the hole he burst from. The water flooded out of a hole in the rock face, creating a small waterfall. Yet as Aqua Jet made his landing, he rushed back towards the pseudo-waterfall, looking for the slightest shade of mahogany or yellow.

“There!”

There, laying not so far from the bottom of the waterfall, was a convulsing unicorn’s body. Filled with hope, Aqua Jet forgot his fatigue and flew towards it. He landed a few feet away and gasped. Firebrand’s body was covered in small lacerations and purple bruises. The worst part was his face. It contorted into a horrifying expression of pain. Short harsh breaths escaped Firebrand’s mouth as Aqua Jet approached.

“Brand?”

Firebrand’s eyes slowly opened. The two stallions locked eyes.

“Brand?” Aqua Jet’s eyes widened hopefully.

“Water...” Firebrand rasped, his body shivering. “I... Hate... Water...”

Aqua Jet beamed. “I’m so glad you’re alive. I was afraid I’d have to do mouth to mouth.”

“Sorry, I don’t swing that way.” Firebrand coughed up water as he tried to move. He treaded carefully with his movements to see which of his limbs were usable or not. He started with his forelegs, gently shifting them from the ends to the tops. Nothing was broken; just a big laceration on his left leg. He moved to his hind legs and repeated the process. He smiled as nothing seemed to hurt... then winced as a sharp pain shot up his right leg.

“Whoa, Brand, is anything broken?” Aqua Jet said with rising concern.

“No, not broken...” the unicorn respired. “Maybe sprained, definitely bruised, but not broken...”

“Man, where’s Jinx and his voodoo juice when you need it?” Aqua Jet thought. He then shook his head and chuckled. “On second thought, I don’t think I want to see Firebrand out for a loop, he might turn into one of those angry guys at a bar that decide the half-ton bouncer there is ‘really ticking him off.’”

Firebrand grunted as his limbs slowly began to cooperate. Making sure not to put pressure on his right hind leg, he stood up tall. Taking two determined breaths, he pitifully limped forwards on three legs.

“I’m almost there...” he mumbled. “Just hold on... I’m almost-” His foot struck a dip in the dirt causing him to fall forwards. Aqua Jet caught him before he hit the ground, and pushed him back up to his feet.

“You still need your personal space?” Aqua Jet said with a smirk.

Firebrand tried to look annoyed but failed. “If I wasn’t halfway paralyzed, I’d beat you within an inch of your life.” Firebrand shot back with an obvious joking tone. He paused and looked away anxiously. “Can I... lean on you while we walk?”

“Sure, bro. What are friends for?”

Firebrand gave a warm smile as he draped one of his forelegs over Aqua’s torso and shifted his weight onto the blue pegasus.

The rain suddenly began to stop. The sun broke through the gray clouds, bathing the two wet ponies with warm sunlight. Firebrand looked upwards and squinted his eyes.

“Aqua, I thought you said that the storm would last the whole day.”

Aqua shrugged. “Well, I was wrong.”

Firebrand rolled his eyes. “You know, for the Element of Honesty, a lot of your statements turn out to be false.” Aqua Jet stuck out his tongue, and the two burst into chuckles, reconciling in their robust laughter as they headed back to Ponyville.

“Hey, I think I can walk again, could you give me a boost?”

“Sure, dude.”

Aqua Jet gave a light shove to Firebrand’s side, setting him straight up. The unicorn didn’t fall over immediately, which they both took as a good sign. Aqua still kept close as to make sure that Firebrand wouldn’t immediately fall over again.

When Firebrand and Aqua Jet returned to the musician’s house, he quickly ran limped up to the door and banged on it. His breath quickened and sweat beaded down his head as he heard somepony trotting up to the door. A purple aura surrounded the door as it slowly opened. Shock and relief consecutively overtook him when he saw Twilight Sparkle there.

Twilight at first looked surprised to see him, and concern spread across her features as she scrutinized the two stallions’ cuts and bruises. She silently gestured for them to come in and they obeyed.

“Let’s play Stratego now!” A small raspy voice chirped from the other room.

“No, you’ll cheat at that too.” A little filly's voice deadpanned.

“How do you even cheat at Stratego?” The raspy voice whined.

“You’ll find a way.”

They’re okay… They’re okay… Firebrand closed his eyes and let out an enormous sigh of relief. His legs visibly loosened and his head drooped a little.

“Thank goodness... What happened?” Firebrand turned around with a smile. He was met with Twilight's face filled with an expression of disappointment and placid anger, causing his smile to vanish.

“They were just playing outside when the storm hit. I took them in because you weren’t here.”

“You weren’t here.” Her words echoed. Firebrand shuddered; he had known this was coming, but it hurt all the more to be reminded of his failure.

“How could you do this, Firebrand?” she said as she advanced upon Firebrand, the definition of indignation radiating from her. “What in Celestia's name were you thinking? A hurricane comes and you’re nowhere to be found! Your brother and sister were so worried about you! I was worried about you! Honestly Firebrand! I was literally just about to write to the Princess to send a search party out for you!"

Firebrand stood still as a statue, a stern look plastered on his unmoving face in spite of the verbal assault, but the wounds were easily visible in his eyes.

"How could you leave your siblings alone during a crisis like this?" she continued. "That’s not only irresponsible, it’s chargeable negligence! You’re their temporary guardian, entrusted by your parents for their protection! They could've been seriously hurt, or worse because of your absence! Where in Equestria were you!?"

Aqua Jet ground his teeth; he couldn’t stand to let Firebrand be lectured like this. “Hey Twi, lay off him, it’s not his fau-”

“Stay out of this.”

To Aqua Jet’s surprise, the words came from Firebrand. His eyes burrowed into Aqua Jet, ordering him to back off. Aqua Jet saw that look before; that very same look Firebrand had when he told Aqua his greatest fear. Aqua Jet nodded weakly and took two steps back.

Firebrand took a reserved breath before continuing. “I have no excuse. I should’ve been there for my family but I wasn’t. I should’ve been aware that a hurricane was coming but I wasn’t. I failed, pure and simple, and there's nothing I can do to change it."

Firebrand's voice was so calm it was unnerving. Aqua Jet couldn't believe that he was just rolling over and accepting the blame when he didn't do anything wrong. Why would he-

"I'm sorry I made you worry." Firebrand continued, eyes drifting away. "That was pure insensitivity on my part and I only hope I can make it up to you. You have no idea how much I am thankful that you took my siblings in when I wasn't able to. Now, if you are finished, I would like to see my brother and sister so I can apologize to them also.” Firebrand said as he began to move by Twilight.

"Oh..." Aqua Jet breathed in understanding. Firebrand didn't care about winning the argument. He just wanted to do whatever it took to get to see them. Winning this just wasn't worth it to him.

“Wait, Firebrand-” Twilight protested as she stepped in front of Firebrand.

“Twilight, I would like to see my family.” Firebrand snapped, alarming Twilight, who actually looked a bit hurt. Firebrand grit his teeth and drooped his head, silently scolding himself for his outburst. “I'm sorry... Look, I've just-I’ve been waiting too long for this; whatever you want, it's going to have to wait.”

Firebrand trudged into the next room, not looking at the shocked Twilight who sidestepped timidly out of the irate musician’s way. He stepped into the next room with the two bickering foals, leaving two very stunned ponies in the lobby.

“Aqua Jet?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah?"

Twilight paused. “…What happened between you two?”

“What do I do...”

Celestia paced back and forth, repeatedly mumbling the same phrase to herself over and over.

“What do I do... what do I do...”

The Equestrian princess stopped pacing and glanced out her window. The sky was now a bright orange, signifying the arrival of twilight. Celestia sighed and rubbed her eyes with a hoof. Her horn glowed and levitated her giant jewelry off her imposing figure. The ornaments floated across the room and decorated themselves on a ponyquin in the corner. With a weary groan, Celestia moved to her large bed and dropped herself on it. The blankets muffled the deep moan she gave as her body took a break from the constant walking. She was very grateful none of her subjects were able to see her in this mental state; they would lose confidence in her as a ruler on the spot.

Her room was in shambles. An enormous pile of scrolls formed in the center stretching all the way to the ceiling. each containing a complaint over the aftermath of the recent force of nature. From the fancy embroidered scrolls of Canterlot to the rough scrolls of Manehatten, it seemed everypony in Equestria wanted Celestia to just pop in and fix everything. The outcry from the people had been unexpected at best, frightening at worst, and now she was trying to figure out how to make amends despite it not being her fault.

“How am I to go about this?” Celestia moaned. “There’s so little time to make amends for this silly controversy. They honestly expect me to fix it now, and some even have to gall to suggest it's my fault! It was a random storm; one I had no control over. Why can’t they understand that?” As she told herself this, a voice in her head spoke otherwise.

“They regard you as a deity, of course they expect you to have some degree of omnipotence and omniscience,” the voice in the back of her head argued.

Celestia furrowed her brow in annoyance at the insolent voice. “Silence, you. Simply because I am immortal doesn’t exactly define me as all-powerful. I may be an alicorn, but even so it's completely impossible to repair everything by mys-”

Her internal debate was interrupted as a sudden flash of green appeared and a scroll tied in a red velvet bow materialized. It plopped onto her bed with an unceremonious thump. Celestia let out a light growl; the last thing she needed was another complaint. She was about to throw it atop the pile until something about the scroll clicked in her head.

She brought the scroll closer to her eyes and scrutinized the tie around it. "Red velvet... Twilight?" She slowly removed the ribbon and read with rising interest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today, Firebrand and Aqua Jet showed me another power of friendship. Whenever something unexpected happens, or when you are afraid, one of the easiest solutions is to have a friend to lean on. Impulses like panic and fear can cloud your judgment and make you lose sight of the bigger picture, but a friend can always be there to make sure you go in the right direction. They can be there for you when the world seems hopeless and pull you out of the darkness, no matter how impossible it may look. Even if you’re both afraid or panicking, just leaning on each other in times of trouble can help you both survive.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Celestia blinked. She put a hoof to her mouth in contemplation, reflecting in her head over what she just read.

“Guards?” she called softly.

The two large doors to her bedchamber promptly opened. Two white unicorns clad in ornate golden armor walked in and bowed low as they approached, showing the Princess proper courtesy. Their eyes drifted across the current state of the bedroom, but wisely elected to keep silent about it and ignore the aftermath of the disheveled princess' stress.

“Yes, Princess?” they recited in gruff unison.

Celestia didn’t look at them. Her eyes wandered towards the window, bearing witness to coming of the night. As the moon slowly peeked over the horizon, the regent of the sun allowed a genuine smile to break her features. She knew exactly how to deal with the problem.

“Could you... please fetch my sister?”

"Aqua Jet is guilty, your honor," Prowler said. "And I intend to prove it!"

"The sentence is a year in prison."

"He broke the law." Firebrand spat. "He deserves to be punished."

"Aqua Jet. We, the people of Ponyville, find the pegasus Aqua Jet..."

GUILTY.