• Published 26th Jun 2013
  • 3,633 Views, 260 Comments

Tales of Apple Scratch: The Lieutenant Cloud Kicker - Mariacheat-Brony



[humanized] (a side story to Apple Scratch) What drove Cloud Kicker into joining the guards? How did her training go? Who

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A fiery escape from the mountain

At the forward base camp, just outside the command tent,..

“SOARIN! FLEETFOOT! GET YOUR ASSES IN GEAR RIGHT NOW!!!!” Spitfire roared through the court of the maneuvers’ base camp, startling a lot of the trainees who had just debriefed their day of patrol.

“Lieutenant Maverick! Control yourself!” Shining ordered with a frown.

“Oh no, no, no, no! You do not tell me to control myself, Captain Paladingus of Equestria!” Spitfire retorted, meeting her superior’s angry gaze with a glare that clearly showed her own anger overcame Shining’s by a large margin. “I told you to send someone to see why Squadron 7 was late for debriefing, but noooooo! ‘There’s always one or two squadrons late at every maneuver. No need to make a big deal out of it!’” She badly told in her best imitation of Shining’s voice as she quoted his answer to her earlier demands to go look for the squadron of her protegée.

As Spitfire vented her frustration on the Captain of the Royal Guard in front of everyone in the main court, Soarin and Fleetfoot landed behind her, the latter having her bow, quiver and short swords strapped on her back, the former with his twin maces attached to his belt. A few moments later, Spitfire turned to Flash, who had explained to his superior what happened.

“How do we find them?!” Spitfire asked in a shout.

“They said they would make a huge fire to signal their presence,” Flash explained, gulping nervously at the furious brown eyes shooting him down. “You should see it when you start flying over the Great Rift, maybe even before…”

“How long before we reach them?”

“Huh… It took me forty-fifty minutes to fly here,” Flash replied slowly.

“All right,” Spitfire added before facing her two comrades. “You heard our destination?”

“Yep!” Fleetfoot nodded casually.

“Loud and clear, Spit’!” Soarin half-assedly saluted.

“Good!” Spitfire let out as her golden, light-made wings appeared on her back. “Meet you there in fifteen minutes!”

In a gust of wind worthy of a tornado that startled all the horses of the camp and a great deal of the soldiers, the three Wonderbolts had left the main court. Flash blinked in shock before glancing in the same direction as Shining Armor. His mouth gaped open when he saw three light-blue dots vanishing in the horizon. Crystal walked up to them, her eyes glaring at the until-now green field that filled the main court of the camp.

“I told you we would risk less by letting her go after them earlier,” Crystal reminded as she kicked the completely dried grass casually. “The Rift is in for an even more desertic climate than usual…”

“Crystal, please, remain quiet,” Shining whispered with a long sigh.

“Aye, aye… Now, Sentry, you’re gonna debrief what happened with me,” Crystal added for the Initiate.

“...I already debriefed that with Captain Armor and Lieutenant Maverick,” Sentry replied in confusion.

“Do I look like any of those two or even to care that you already debriefed that with them?” Crystal asked with a cocked eyebrow. “No? Then, don’t question my demand and come with me!”

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

Tunnels beneath the Great Rift, thirty minutes later…

Blossomforth, Sunset and Gale were busy pulling as hard as they could to move the pudgy grey mass that blocked the tunnel they had taken after the escapees a few minutes ago.

They had kept being pursuited by Diamond Dogs along their network of tunnels for a good ten minutes before the barking noises behind them finally diminished to a full stop. The trio had looked back while the former slaves kept on forward, only to see a dense, grey cloud blocking the intersection they had taken with no signs of the blonde that was running behind them minutes prior.

“Come on! Come on! Get loose!” Gale growled under her efforts to de-conjure the grey mass before them.

“...I...I can’t gather enough power to evaporate it,” Sunset let out in a tired voice, the magical, teal glow on her hands vanishing softly. “I’m completely out,” she added before falling on her knees, panting heavily because of her magically-exhausted state.

“GOD DAMMIT!” Blossomforth snapped before conjuring a small wind-drill around her fist and punched the cloudy mass before her, causing only her wind to blow in their direction instead of blowing the obstacle away. “Why did she do that?!”

“...You heard their Alpha, right?” Sunset whispered slowly as she leaned her head against the solid, yet soft to the touch, mass of cloud. “He wanted her more than all of us for some reason… She probably did it as a diversion… A chance for us and the prisoners to escape...”

“We could have make it with her with us!” Gale protested angrily.

“Be realistic, Gale,” Sunset stated painfully. “They were about to catch us and you know it… Cloud took another route than us, and the Dogs stopped following us… They didn’t care about catching all of us since the moment the Canës woke up.”

Her words were met with a deep silence. Gale looked back in Blossomforth’s direction only to see the always strict officer in training pressing both her palms on her eyes in a frustrated sob that she tried to make it pass for a growl. It would have convinced Gale if she hadn’t spotted the glint of tears in Blossomforth’s eyes before she put her hands on them.

“...Wh-What do we do now?” Gale asked hesitantly. “We’re not going to abandon her?”

“She… She made her decision,” Sunset stated in a sad voice. “Her life in exchange of all ours and the success of the rescue.”

“...... Let’s move,” Blossomforth stated slowly, her voice low but resolute. “She decided to remain behind for our sake… It would be an insult to waste her sacrifice like that.”

“...Right,” Gale admitted slowly.

“...Sure,” Sunset agreed with a brief nod, feeling a single tear roll along her cheek before she stood up.

Her tear made it down her jawline before it disappeared in a audible hiss. Sunset blinked in shock as she heard more hisses from around her. Her mouth and throat felt suddenly suddenly dry as she witnessed the sweat of her arms evaporate in a single second. One glance toward Gale made her realize she wasn’t the only one feeling that. Much to her surprise, the grey cloud that blocked the tunnel turned whiter by the second until it dissipated itself before her, revealing the head of a Canis Minor that had remained there to watch over the until-now blocked path.

The beast growled at Sunset, barring his night-like fangs and inching his large maws closer to her. Then there was a sharp and echoed whistling sound before a golden, orange and light blue blur flew above her, quickly followed by a loud bang and a cloud of dust where the gigantic wolf head stood seconds ago. Sunset and the others coughed loudly because of the dust and their dry throats as the whistling sound grew distant very quickly.

Another whistling sound came from behind them, this time more slowly and calmly, and it was accompanied by an air of freshness that was most welcome after the sudden dry spell. When the dust cloud died down, Sunset could only gasp at the unconscious Canis Minor embedded into the tunnel wall, a large, red, smoking bruise clearly visible on the side of its head.

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

Cloud hit the ground of a large cavern five minutes away from where she had been separated from her teammates after a Canis Minor managed to land a hit on her right wing with his paw. Her wing hadn’t withstanded the strength of the blow and had snapped in two pieces, making her hold back a yell of excruciating pain. With only one wing left on her back, Cloud stood up with difficulty before she noticed that she was surrounded by Diamond Dogs and two of their oversized cousins, her hand trying to reach for her fallen sword a few feet from her.

One wing broken by a giant predator… Déja vu! Cloud thought with a mental roll of her eyes before something tugged strongly on her remaining wing.

The blonde barely had the time to see two grey-furred bulldogs pulling her purple appendage before an axe blade came down on its base. This time, she couldn’t hold her scream back. One of the Diamond Dogs behind her pushed her back on the ground with a strong kick in Cloud’s now wingless back. Nearly blinded by pain, the blonde Jupitarian only a saw a black furred blur slowly walking in her direction. It wasn’t up until he was just three feet from her, that Cloud recognized the wounded Alpha.

“I finally have you, Sky-woman,” The Alpha growled slowly, pulling his dented blade from his loincloth.

“Nuh-huh! I don’t give myself to Diamond Dogs,” Cloud bantered in a weak voice as she pushed herself off the ground. “The fleas are kinda gross…”

“Do not insult me any more than you already have!” The Alpha snapped ferociously, causing his pack to growl angrily at the blonde.

“If by insulting you, you mean kicking the crap out of your doggies, then I’m not sorry for it,” Cloud replied in a mocking cough.

“After all that you did to us… To me...” the Alpha rambled feral growl. “You burned my sons and many of my brothers with your magic… You’ve wounded me and killed my guards with your blades… You’ve freed my slaves… You’ve forced me to awaken the Mighty Sirius and his pups to catch you.”

“Flatterer,” Cloud whispered with a wince as she stood straight, feeling her back hurt like hell.

“... And now, you’re before me… Without your kind’s precious wings: the source of your magic!” The black Diamond Dog grinned malevolently. “And, also deprived of any weapon … An easy kill for me!” he added slowly before swinging his bone-made sword at a defenseless Cloud Kicker.

CLANG

“Let me tell you a little something my mentor told me when I started training with her,” Cloud said slowly to the Alpha as the Dogs around them barked in surprise at the sight of the white Nimbo-gladius in Cloud’s hand that had blocked their leader’s blade. “Jupitarian wings are nothing but a mere expression of our magic and one of the many means for us to fly. You don’t need wings to shape the world around you,” she quoted Spitfire before conjuring another Nimbo-gladius in her left hand. “And I’m about to shape the world so that you’re not in it!”

With a short grunt, Cloud plunged her second conjured blade deep into the Alpha’s throat before she buried her other blade in his chest. The Alpha’s showed surprised shock while he was drowning in his own blood, letting out hideous gargles as the dark crimson liquid poured out of his maw and chest.

The pack around Cloud howled in fury before they all lunged forward the blonde who let go of her kill. Cloud knew she couldn’t escape anymore: Despite her training, she needed a few minutes to recover from the rip off of her wings. The time seemed go slower for her right now, as Cloud witnessed the long fall of the lifeless Alpha to the ground, her two Nimbo-gladii still deep inside his carcass. She hadn’t really planned on not making it back from her very first deployment, but Cloud consoled herself in the fact that her teammates were probably safe because of her sacrifice, as well as all the slaves they had freed. It gave her a warm sensation in her chest despite the cold of Death waiting impatiently for her. She let that feeling of warmth invaded her body as she closed her eyes peacefully.

Hisssssssss

“Gyaarhhh!” Cloud let out as the warm, reassuring sensation started to feel like a scorching desert.

Cloud opened her eyes to see her sweat turned into steam as well as her Nimbo-gladii. All the Diamond Dogs around her had stopped their charge to hold their throat with their tongue hanging out of their maw, much like domestic dogs would during a heatwave, also probably just like Cloud at that precise moment. From the tunnel she had come through a few minutes ago, Cloud saw a swift, tricolored blur: light blue, golden and orange; flying down in front of her.

“....Sp.. Spitfire?!” Cloud asked in shock as her mentor stood before her. “How did you fin…”

SLAP

“That one was for not showing up at base camp to report!” Spitfire explained angrily as Cloud’s left cheek showed a red mark of hand on its surface.

“It ...It wasn’t really my faul…”

SLAP

“That one was for recklessly going underground and for having this stupid sacrifice idea!” Spitfire explained abruptly as Cloud’s other cheek turned as red as the other.

“...... You know… I don’t think you have the right to do that,” Cloud muttered under her breath before Spitfire slapped her a third time. “What was that one for?....Ma’am?”

“For back sassing me and also because three is Equestria’s golden number!” Spitfire stated as casually possible before glancing at the tight pack of panting Diamond Dogs and the Canës Minor around them. “That’s inconvenient…. So many dogs and none brought a pair of slippers or the newspaper…” she commented before her gaze fell on the two ripped off, purple wings on the ground.

“...Lieutenant?” Cloud called after a few seconds of silence.

Silence that was interrupted by Spitfire whistling sharply over the sounds of canine panting and growling aimed in her direction. Cloud felt a sudden gust of wind before something pulled her in the air of the cave at top speed. Before she could blink, Cloud was dropped into the tunnel by a white-haired woman in a light blue suit with a bow, a quiver and short blades strapped on her back.

“Your teammates are waiting five minutes away with Soarin,” Fleetfoot explained quickly before Cloud could ask her anything. “You’re probably going to get slapped a few more times by them too,” she added with a empathic smile.

“But what about Lieutenant Ma….”

From behind Fleetfoot, a loud bark was heard before it was overcome by an incredibly loud bang. Cloud gasped in shock when she a Canis Minor being catapulted onto his smaller cousins, a red, smoking bruise on its chest. Whimpers of terrors were then heard as a strong fire seemed to have started where Spitfire had been a few seconds ago.

“Don’t worry about her,” Fleetfoot waved at the blonde to go. “Now go. Your friends are worried!”

Cloud nodded slowly before running away from the fight happening in the cave behind the white-haired Wonderbolt who looked back to see a tornado of white fire carving its way in the mass of fleeting Diamond Dogs. Quickly, only the nine massive, star blue dogs remained relatively unharmed by Spitfire’s fire shapes and kept their threatening stance while the Diamond dogs ran away through other tunnels that were connected to that cave.

“...Creatures with bodies made of stars and the light that comes out of them,” Fleetfoot whispered as she remembered the textbook definition of the Celestial beasts. “Quite logic they don’t fear your scorching Shapes, Spitfire,” She added when a massive ball of fire shattered on a Canis’ head, leaving it unharmed. “FEEL FREE TO CALL FOR HELP ANYTIME, SPITFIRE!!” she shouted loudly.

“FUCK YOU, FLEETFOOT! I DON’T NEED HELP!!!!”

“I was just saying. No need to be rude about it!” Fleetfoot frowned sourly as another loud bang resonated through the cave. “.... Soarin was right… She always keeps the best toys for herself,” she muttered as another Canis was thrown against a cave wall.

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

Later, at Base Camp

“...And then the Canis Major bursted in the cave, bared its teeth at you and growled at the Minors to go back with it,” Shining repeated what Spitfire had just told him to end her debrief of her rescue operation.

“Basically, yes!” Spitfire nodded in agreement. “Ask Fleetfoot if you don’t believe me!” she added, pointing at the white-haired Jupitarian behind her.

“Huh-uh,” Crystal let out, her gaze still focused on the gathering outside the command tent. “If the Canës Minor went back with their mother, what is that one doing here?!” she asked with a cocked eyebrow, pointing at the house-sized blue dog that was lying outside base camp without any care of the hundred of soldiers in training gawking at it.

“That I don’t know,” Spitfire replied in her most sincere tone. “He’s been following me peacefully since we left the Great Rift.”

“I’m not sure, but I think it sees you as its pack leader now,” Soarin suggested slowly.

“Really?!” Spitfire asked in surprise.

“Well, you definitely showed it who’s boss!” Fleetfoot reminded slowly. “That’s how wild dogs and wolves work. The weak follows the strong and dominant individual.”

“Then why the others didn’t follow me too?” Spitfire asked with curiosity.

“Probably because they didn’t think you were more dominant than their mom,” Soaring let out with a shrug. “Which is weird because bears are scarier than any dog…”

“What now?” Spitfire frowned in confusion. “What bear are you talking about?... Why are you all looking at me like that?” she asked when all the officers in the tent threw knowing grin at her.

“Nothing,” Crystal said casually,”...Mama Bear,”

“What?!” Spitfire asked, even more confused.

“As soon as your cub was in danger, you rushed to her rescue after nearly biting Shining’s head off for holding you back,” Crystal explained with a triumphing smirk. “You can try to deny it all you want, but we all know Mama Bear Spitfire is attached to her cloud-shaping cub!”

“That’s ridiculous!”

“Well, you literally put the entire cave on fire after you saw they had damaged her wings,” Fleetfoot jested softly.

“What was I supposed to do after that?! Letting them go with a tap on the muzzle?!”

“Spitfire, from what Fleetfoot told me on the way back, you went full throttle on them right off the bat… You never do that,” Soarin stated slowly. “Usually, you like to play a little with your food before eating it properly.”

“And there you gobbled them up like a grizzly does to a salmon,” Crystal commented with a small grin.

“ENOUGH WITH THE BEAR JOKES!!”

They kept on pestering Spitfire for a good minute until the orange-haired woman grumbled some death or beat down promises to all the officers around under her breath, with a low growl very much like a bear.

“All jokes aside, what are you going to do about it?” Shining asked, nodding at the oversized and star-made dog lying around patiently.

“Why do you ask me?” Spitfire asked back with a frown.

“You brought it here. It’s your responsibility,” Shining explained slowly.

“And don’t think of passing it on to me,” Crystal let out abruptly. “You already passed your protegée to my care, I’ll not fall for your new pet too!”

“You’ve been wanting to have a dog since you were five,” Soarin reminded with a mischievous chuckle. “Now’s good opportunity. You don’t even have to buy it.”

“Soarin! Yes, I kinda always wanted a dog, but not one that would make pool a every time he’d piss on the lawn or could step ON the mail-man instead of chasing after him,” Spitfire snapped angrily. “Besides, do you imagine how much that thing must eat?!”

“You should have thought about that before bringing it here,” Shining let out with a shrug.

“WHAT?!”

“Hey, Crystal, how are the kids from Squadron 7 doing?” Soarin asked with genuine curiosity as Spitfire stood up to argue with Shining about the massive, blue canine problem. “I noticed that the Arcanium girl was wounded.”

“Just a flesh wound,” Crystal replied with assurance. “The girls were just exhausted. The medic kept them all in the infirmary for the night. He said what they need the most at the moment is complete bed rest.”

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

The infirmary, a little while later...

“.... I..Hunnnn...I don’t… Gaaah Don’t see ho-how that’s following the do-Ooooh-doctor’s orders,” Sunset let out with difficulty as her throaty moans interrupted her every two or three words.

“..R-right…” Blossomforth stammered before biting her lower lip to prevent herself from screaming in pleasure. “...He..said.. Com-comple-plete bed rest!!!”

“W...Well, we’re all completely… OH MY GOSH! resting… WOW! on a Bed,” Gale reminded in a moaned chuckle.

“...A-and… he never...stated it had...to-to be on se-sepa-parated beds,” Silent whispered, her voice dripping with pleasure as she gripped the cloud-made mattress strongly.

“T-true!”

“I gu-guess!”

“That’s the spirit, Girls,” Cloud stated with pride in an ushered whisper as she was applying pressure on Sunset and Gale’s respective spine with her hands while her wingtips were doing the same to Blossomforth and Silent’s.

“How did you learn to massage four people at the same time, Kicker?” Sunset asked as she glanced at the blonde kneeled between her and Gale’s face down lying bodies.

“Hmmmm, lots of practice with triplets back in my hometown,” Cloud explained casually before she found a tight knot just below the Titanian’s wound. “Only now, I have wings large enough to have only one of them do the trick on a person,” she added, nodding at her large, purple appendage busy on the two women lying at the extremities of her conjured cloud-bed. “Though, the fact they were apprentices at the local spa might have something to do with how good I am at this… Or at least how good I think I am at this.”

“Mhmmmmm, really good!” Silent let out with a long pleased sigh.

“Agreed!” Blossomforth moaned as she relaxed completely.

“Ten out of ten!” Gale nodded slowly, closing her eyes in satisfaction.

“A++!” Sunset purred softly.

Cloud smiled softly before continuing her massage on the four girls around her for a good twenty minutes in silence. Grinning mischieviously, she lowered her four massaging limps to a certain right part of her teammates’ anatomy. She kept pressure on their lower backs for about thirty seconds, earning four approving, long moans, before she raised her hands and wingtips off their body, this time earning a collective ‘aw’ of disappointment.

SLAP/SLAP/SLAP/SLAP

The blonde’s four massaging limbs made contact once again with her four teammates’ bodies, only this time, it was a briefer and much more vigorous one situated much lower than their respective lower back. They all turned around in shock and in anger before gasping loudly while an infirmary shirt was thrown between Sunset and Gale. Four sets of cheeks turned brightly red as their owners gulped simultaneously in a sign of collective nervousness. They looked at each other once until Gale’s shocked expression changed into a sly smile before she sat up to pull her own shirt off. She was almost instantly imitated by her three companions.

Cloud Kicker’s Master Plan for Banging

1) Letting them experience the Kicker Touch for twenty to thirty minutes. Forty if barebacks!

2) A single provocative slap on the right buttcheek. Always the right one!

3) Lose the top.

4) Profits! LOTS of Profits!

Cloud grinned in triumph as a now shirtless Sunset crawled up to her to press her lips against hers while the three other Jupitarians of the room came closer as well, purring like cats in need of caresses. I love it when a plan comes together…

Author's Note:

Now imagine Cloud with a big cigare in her mouth and it will be perfect :p

Tripe update straight from the south of France (where I happened to have wifi :p)

Normally I had wrote this as one chapter, but I decided to divide it in three parts.

I hope you like it.

Thanks to my editing team for their job on that. ;)

Don't hesitate to leave a comment about those ^^

Yours Truly,

Mariacheat-Brony. (and now, to the POOL!!!!!)