New things for a puzzled little cloud
Canterlot’s Arcanium female dorm tower,
Sunset looked up from the book spread open on her cushion to glance at the door behind her after hearing soft knocks coming from beyond the dark oaken surface. The puzzled Titanian glanced at the clock on her nightstand before wondering out loud who could bother her at seven in the morning. She put her thin, rectangular reading glasses off her nose to the nightstand and stood up with a short groan when the person behind her door knocked again, this time with more insistence and strength.
“....Just a second… Just a second, it’s not like there’s a fire going on…,” Sunset mumbled to herself as she grabbed her satin, red robe from her desk chair before putting it on. “Unless another stressed blockhead decided to have an early training,” she added before reaching for the door, the banging still increasing in intensity. “I’M HERE, YOU CAN STOP!!”
Sunset’s angry shout just before she unlocked her door and opened it enough for her to stand on the threshold startled the person who had been knocking on her door. Sunset was looking down a seventeen, maybe eighteen year old petite, dark skinned girl clad in the Celestia’s School for the Gifted, the institution to which the Arcanium was attached, uniform. The younger student coughed in her hand to recover from the surprise and rearranged her shoulder long dark purple hair so that her pink and violet streaks in it were perfectly as right as rulers. The girl looked familiar to the robe-clad Titanian, but she couldn’t remember having any interactions with her before this morning.
“Good morning, Miss Shimmer,” the young student started politely. “I’m Twilight S…”
“It’s seven in the morning!” Sunset interrupted her abruptly.
“Well, I was told that the Arcanium Students were to rise with the Sun… Isn’t that your Leitmotiv?”
“.... It’s Like the Sun and the Moon, we will rise to fight darkness!” Sunset stated in annoyance. “And that’s the oath of the Order of the Golden Shield, by the way!”
“...Oh,” Twilight let out in surprise. “It is?”
“Yep! Now, why were you knocking at my door this early?” Sunset asked with narrowed eyes.
“Well, I’m helping at the School Library,” Twilight explained in a factual tone. “And I’m here to tell you that you didn’t return the Genealogy through the ages: the story of Equestria’s greatest noble families in time... I’m here to collect the book back as well as the twenty-five bits of fine for turning the book in late.”
“.....” Sunset blinked in shock. “I paid to keep the book for a longer period of time,” the curly-haired Titanian reminded with a glare aimed at the short-haired one.
“I know, but that extended period ended yesterday and thus you had to return the book yesterday afternoon… But you didn’t!” Twilight stated as a notepad and a quill floated from behind her in front of Sunset’s face, the latter pointing at yesterday’s date written on the former, right next to her name and the one of the book.
“And you came here at this hour to tell me that?” Sunset asked with a cocked eyebrow.
“The library’s official starting hour for returning the book is six thirty. So you are late again,” Twilight stated matter-of-factly.
“....…”
“Can I have the book now? The monthly reshelving starts in twenty minutes and I don’t want to get behind schedule,” Twilight explained.
“...I’m still working with it so can’t I just keep it and give you the fee for another prolongation?” Sunset asked after a deep breath and trying her best to not sound annoyed.
“It’s against the library’s procedures to give two loan-prolongations for the same book. It’s to make sure no student monopolize a book when others might need it,” Twilight said in an even tone.
“You mean that someone’s waiting for that book?”
“Not at all!” Twilight stated calmly. “The school library just doesn’t allow that. If you want to keep the book, you’ll have to give it back to the library, pay the fee for returning it late and then come to the library to borrow it again. Could you please hurry? Spike’s going to start reshelving without me and I’ll have to double check to see if he didn’t make any mistakes!”
“Wel...”
Sunset didn’t get a chance to end her sentence as she felt a soft wind tickling her neck, causing her to look inside the room. She briefly shrieked, causing Twilight to jump back in surprise, before she grabbed the old book that had been thrown at her in her magic along with a small pouch full of bits. After glaring ferociously at something in her room, Sunset reluctantly gave Twilight the borrowed book and bits for the fine.
“There’s someone inside?” Twilight asked in a tone that almost sounded like it wasn’t a question. “I’ve read that sleepovers aren’t allowed on the campus,” she reminded in a warning tone.
“Yeah, and that’s why all the rooms in this tower are provided with queensize beds,” Sunset retorted sarcastically.
“.... It’s still against the rules…”
“Don’t you have your reshelving thing to do with your boyfriend?” Sunset asked with narrowed eyes.
“Oh! Spike’s my assistant, not my boyfriend!” Twilight quickly replied with a starting blush. “He’s like nine years old, that would be gross… Plus I don’t have the time for this and my brother will probably be all snappy…. I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Figured as much,” Sunset whispered though Twilight heard her.
“....But you said it yourself....”
“Yeah, but I didn’t believe it… You don’t strike me as the type to look for one.”
“Well, I’m not.”
“It’s all good. People are differents. There are those who waste their time and money in University to get all the girls or the boys they want, those who focuses themselves on their goals, and those who prefer the company of nine year old boy and spend time reshelving the school library,” Sunset stated casually, earning a confused expression of the black girl. “Those who enjoy their life, those who works on the success of theirs, and those who need to get a life for short!” Twilight’s expression fell at that last comment. “Go get it!” Sunset smiled warmly before slamming the door shut.
“That wasn’t really nice of you,” Cloud’s voice called her from her bed as Sunset locked her room door.
“She was annoying,” Sunset muttered as she went back to her bed. “And why did you throw that book?!”
“She wasn’t going to leave until she gets the book back,” Cloud stated as she stretched her arms. “Besides, what’s that deal about genealogy? You’ve had books on the matter lying around everytime I came to visit.”
“If you want to make in the high society, you’ve got to know the past of the families that composes it,” Sunset replied as she rested the lower contour of her bed. “Also, I was busy reading that book!”
“No, you weren’t!”
“Excuse me?” Sunset cocked an eyebrow at the blonde still beneath her sheets.
“You were prone in bed, over your sheets, with JUST your reading glasses on waiting for me to jump on you as soon as I would wake up!” Cloud stated with a knowing smirk.
“And how would you know that since you’ve been sleeping until miss annoying librarian knocked at my door?” Sunset asked with narrowed eyes.
“No, I’ve pretended to sleep to watch you… You’re really cute with your glasses on.” Cloud winked, earning a mad blush from the Titanian. “Now, my train leaves in a bit more than two hours, so I have just enough time to spar three times with you!”
“You can’t be serious!!! Princess Celestia herself comes to check on today’s trials!!!!” Sunset shouted with indignation. “Rumors has it she’s going to chose the best student to become the head of the next generation of the Council of Harmony! Do you realize how big this is?!!!”
“....... I can go up to four times,” Cloud smiled deviously.
“Five!”
“Four!”
“I said Five!”
“Four and I’ll do the thing you like!”
A blue-green flash blinded Cloud for a very short moment before she felt Sunset’s body appear on her lap, her arms around the Blonde’s neck. The Titanian pressed a pair of hungry lips on the Jupitarian’s as the robe she had been wearing was discarded away by Sunset’s magic.
“Deal,” Sunset purred into the kiss before Cloud brought her hands up her bare back to embrace her paramour.
**********************************************************************************************************
Four rounds of ‘’sparring’’ later,
“Feeling relaxed enough to wow Princess Celestia?” Cloud asked softly as she took her shirt from a nearby chair while Sunset rolled underneath the beige sheet of her bed.
“Some might say too relaxed,” Sunset purred before rolling on her stomach, biting the tips of her right fingers as Cloud walked away from the bed while putting her purple shirt back on. “Mmmmmm, I think I could watch you walk away from me forever,” Sunset said in a soft amorous tone, her eyes focused on the blonde’s lower back.
“So, I’m not allowed to get back to you then?” Cloud asked playfully looking back at Sunset while grabbing her pants.
“Well, when I’ll be in the Council, it would be scandalous to have a Ponyville soldier visiting me at night,” Sunset stated softly. “Now, if said soldier were to become my personal bodyguard, it would be easier to hide such scandal,” she suggested in a hopeful tone.
“The Arcanium’s best apprentice, who has reminded her instructors of Shining Armor himself, would need a bodyguard?” Cloud asked with a brief chuckle, earning a casual shrug of shoulders from her interlocutor. “While your body is definitely worth guarding, I don’t think it needs someone other than you to do it.”
“I can’t guard it from the lonely cold of the night,” Sunset reminded with a suggestive wink as Cloud, now fully dressed, went back to the bed.
“I don’t think that’s compatible with my status as Royal Guard,” Cloud reminded slowly. “And our sex-friends status might not be appreciated in Canterlot,”
“.....We could be more than that,” Sunset suggested uneasily in a whisper after a short silence.
“.......”
“...What do you say to that?” Sunset asked softly before seeing Cloud’s shocked expression. “I mean, I know we said it was all in good fun and that the main reason is to get pleasure and stress relief… I also know that you like to have variety and I know I could hardly stop you from going to see other people…. Though, maybe that part could be less frequent so that we could have more time together...” When Cloud still didn’t say anything, Sunset looked down to the mattress. “...It was just an idea I had….”
“... I don’t know, Sunset,” Cloud admitted softly once she finally got out of her stun. “What you want is a serious relationship… but I’m not sure I can provide you that… I know I like you: you’re funny, determined, intelligent, strong, and while you’re a bit bitchy with some, you want to do good in the long run,” Cloud explained softly. “I mean, some of the ideas you’re going to suggest the Princesses if you’re chosen in the Council…”
“When I’m chosen!” Sunset stated with assurance.
“Right,” Cloud rolled her eyes playfully. “Some of the ideas you’re going to suggest when you’re chosen in the Council are really good.”
“You actually listened to me when I said those?” Sunset asked with a small smile.
“Just because you’ve always explained them to me half or totally naked most of the time doesn’t mean I never recorded a few things you said… I’ve got to admit it was really hard sometimes!” Cloud confessed playfully before turning more serious and resting her palm on Sunset’s cheek. “I like you, Sunset, I really do, and not just because you’re the second sexiest woman I’ve ever been with…”
“Second?!” Sunset narrowed her eyes in anger before she caught a playful glint in Cloud’s eyes. “....And they say I’m self-centered,” she added with a short chuckle.
“You’ve ever seen a girl sexier than me, Sunset?” Cloud asked with a knowing grin.
“....I’ll say no just to preserve your massive ego,” Sunset replied sarcastically before nuzzling Cloud’s hand softly. “...There was a ‘but’ coming in your sentence.”
Cloud sighed sadly. “... I really like you, Sunset, but I don’t think I’m capable to love you like you’d want me too.”
“Maybe you are and you just didn’t realize it yet,” Sunset argued half-heartedly. “You won’t know before trying…”
“...I suppo...” Cloud started softly before she snapped her head to the door. “Someone’s coming!”
“...What?” Sunset asked as Cloud let go of her face before she heard rapid footsteps coming her way.
Sunset barely had the time pick her robe up before her room door was slammed open by dark purple magic aura. Immediately after, someone stormed inside her room but the young Titanian didn’t need that to know who had come to visit. By her door stood the headmistress of the institution, the woman who had mentored Sunset along with many others during their four years in the Arcanium training program: Master-Arcanist of Canterlot, Velvet ‘Starlight’ Sparkle.
“Master,” Sunset called as innocently as possible. “Why the sudden bre…”
“Where is she, Sunset?” Velvet asked sternly, while flicking a misplaced lock of purple and grey hair out of her ebony-colored face.
“Who are you talking about?” Sunset asked slowly. “There’s no one here but me.”
“It’s not what I’ve been told a few moments ago,” Velvet retorted with narrowed eyes. “I know someone else was in your room this morning and I think it was that blonde slut from Las Pegasus whom I’ve forbidden to come here after I caught the both of you last year!”
Damn that library girl! Sunset thought angrily while keeping her face straight. “No one was here this morning.”
“Your hair’s a mess, I can see that you’re naked under your robe, this room stinks of sweat and sex, the stains on your sheets are clearly coming from someone, and there are Jupitarian Corps boot-prints on the carpet!” Velvet stated after sweeping the room with her piercing light-blue eyes. “You know better than to take me for an idiot, Sunset!”
Damn that woman’s eagle-eyes! Sunset winced in discomfort before sheepishly looking at a clean area of her sheets. “She left two minutes ago,” she lied in a very convincing defeated tone.
“I would have seen her coming down the stairs,” Velvet remarked as she went closer to Sunset’s bed.
“She flew away by the balcony,” Sunset explained softly.
“Impossible,” Velvet stated with a shake of her head. “I’ve enchanted this tower to stop anyone from jumping or flying from the balconies after that skank visited you a few months ago.”
“Oh,” Sunset let out in surprise before yelping as her master’s magic engulfed her bed.
Velvet levitated the furniture, along with Sunset who had been sitting on it, to see if there weren’t a blonde Jupitarian hidden under it. When she could there wasn’t, Velvet magicked the bed back in its original place and then went to Sunset’s dressing. Once she opened it, the Master-Arcanist only found the apprentice’s clothings, ignoring their owner’s protests about privacy.
“Where is she hiding, Sunset?” Velvet asked in a low threatening tone.
“I told you she le…”
“If you want your chance to have your trials today, you will tell me where she is!” Velvet shouted impatiently, earning wide shocked eyes from her student.
“She’s hiding inside the curtains!” Sunset quickly replied in panic.
At that precise moment, said curtains fell from the bar that kept them hanging thanks to a sudden breeze. Velvet barely had the time to raise her arms before the thick, and ironically made of velvet, curtains fell on her before bands of fogs wrapped around the Master’s struggling form to restrain her inside the burgundy fabric. Sunset stood there with her mouth agape as Cloud landed from the ceiling next to her bed.
“Looks like it’s my cue to leave,” Cloud stated in whisper as rested her left hand on Sunset’s cheeks again. “Look, focus on your trials today, we’ll continue this conversation after you’re settled in Canterlot Castle, okay?”
“...The castle?!”
“Isn’t that where the Council Members reside?” Cloud asked with a small wink before Sunset smiled softly. “One last thing,” Cloud suddenly pressed her lips on Sunset’s as she squeaked in surprise before relaxing into the kiss. “....For good fortune!” she explained in a rush after breaking the kiss.
Giggling softly, Sunset watched Cloud running to the door before helping her master to take off the curtains and the cloud-made restrains of her. As soon as Velvet was free, Sunset pointed at the open door of her room. Velvet barely caught sight of the blonde standing on the railing of the tower’s spiral staircase. The Master-Arcanist growled in obvious anger as Cloud quickly saluted her with two of her fingers before the soles of her boots started to slide down the railing.
“I swear I didn’t think or know she would do that to you,” Sunset quickly assured in an apologetic tone as Velvet pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance.
“As soon as today’s trials are over and that the Princess is gone, you’re on dishwashing duty until the end of the semester!” Velvet stated angrily.
“Understood, master,” Sunset nodded sheepishly. It’s not so bad...
“No magic allowed!” Velvet added sternly.
I had to think that, hadn’t I? Sunset thought as she bowed her head in submission.
**********************************************************************************************************
The next day, Las Pegasus Jupitarian Corps formation compound,...
“You’ve asked for me, Sergeant?” Cloud asked after being allowed to enter Sergeant Pagétonas’ office.
“Have a seat, Kicker,” Crystal said as she wrote the final sentence on the evaluation she was writing. “How was Canterlot?”
“...How do you know I’ve been to Canterlot, Ma’am?” Cloud asked in surprise.
“Master Sparkle’s letters travel faster than the train,” Crystal explained, pointing at an open envelope with the Arcanium’s sigil stamped in wax on her desk. “She demands that I take actions against you for what you did to her and, for breaking in her students’ dorms to make them fall into the same, shameless depravity that inhabits you,” Crystal stated slowly. “I’m quoting her on the matter.”
“.....Master Sparkle is quite theatrical in her formulations,” Cloud whispered softly.
“So are you in your escape according to her,” Crystal commented casually as she signed the document before her. “Sliding the railings of a eight-floors-high spiral staircase after restraining her in a room’s curtains and giving her a mock salute…”
“...I sorta panicked,” Cloud confessed softly.
“Yet you still got time to have a little chit-chat with her student before escaping,” Crystal looked up from her evaluation from after stamping the compound’s sigil on it. “I don’t know whether to be angry at you for causing such scene by escaping her or to be a bit proud of you for actually escaping her in the first place.”
“It would be normal of you to be angry, Ma’am,” Cloud admitted slowly.
“You’re right, Kicker. Perfectly right!” Crystal nodded as she slipped the evaluation form in a folder before putting it in her desk’s top drawer. “Especially since it’s not the first time Master Sparkle sends me a letter about you. I’ll have to thank Captain Armor for telling her where you’ve been stationed for the last two years and a half. I hardly get any sympathetic mails from famous people. Especially some recommending me to put the peripatetic woman that happens to train under my supervision on a leash so that she keeps her diseases for herself or the rest of your trainees… Fascinating mail, isn’t it?” Crystal asked with a displeased frown after reading a passage of Velvet Sparkle’s letter.
“I guess,” Cloud shuffled uneasily on her seat.
“Do you have any idea of the position you’re in right now, Cloud Kicker from Ponyville?” Crystal asked abruptedly, her fingers drumming her desk as her ice-looking eyes were piercing through Cloud’s scared purple eyes. “Do you have any idea of what’s going to happen to you for upsetting the Master-Arcanist of Canterlot?”
“Getting kicked out of the Royal Guard?” Cloud suggested with fear.
“That’s not a bad idea,” Crystal nodded slowly. “I’ve been thinking of three months of stables duty, but getting rid of you would save us the trouble of this ever repeating itself!... Such a shame though… Getting kicked out just before being promoted.”
I HAD TO SAY THAT, DIDN’T I? Cloud shouted at herself in her head. “... P..Promoted?”
“Yes,” Crystal nodded with a frown plastered on her face. “You were supposed to get the rank of Sergeant first class for your performances as a soldier and for your natural sense of leadership on the battlefield, under Spitfire and my recommandation. Even Blossomforth recommended you for a promotion… And all that is going to be ruined because you couldn’t keep your pants on!” Crystal shook her head in disappointment.
“...Oh, Gods!” Cloud brought her hand to her face. “I’ve fucked up!”
“Yes, you have,” Crystal agreed coldly. “But, I don’t like doing tedious things as promotion paper work for nothing, so we’ll have to think of something to make you stay…”
“There’s a way for me to remain in the Guard?”
“It’ll depend,” Crystal stated as she stood up from her chair.
“On what?” Cloud asked in an hopeful tone.
“On the mood I’m in after you’re finished,” Crystal smirked slyly as her leather corset fell to the ground, letting her mountains clear for Cloud to…
“I have doubts that it happened like that,” Blossomforth interrupted Cloud’s tale with a frown. “That sounds more like how you wanted it to happen, Cloud.”
“Oh, come on, Blossom!” Ace shouted in indignation as he rested his empty mug of beer on their table. “Don’t interrupt her like that!”
“It was getting really interesting,” Manerick called with a frown earning nods of approval from the rest of his team and Cloud.
Manerick had grown out of his beef with Cloud during the last two years. At first it had been to prevent the now stronger Ponyvillian from kicking his asses too hard during practice, a genuine camaraderie had bloomed between the two of them. While he would often admit that he would never be as friendly as Ford with the blonde, be it with benefits or not (something that was secret for no one amongst the two teams), he could remain civil with her and have a good laugh more often than none.
“Pagétonas’ Mountain-sized, to quote Cloud, breasts aren’t that interesting,” Silent commented with a frown for her seat on Gale’s laps while the redhead had her chin resting on one of her shoulders.
“Of course, they are!” Ace, Manerick, Ford, Stardust, Gale and Cloud shouted back in unison, the same disbelieving shock present in all their voices.
Blossomforth rolled her eyes with a displeased snort while Silent cast a hard, golden stare at the girl she was sitting on. Gale held sheepishly her gaze for a brief moment before muttering something about the scout’s own chest being much more attractive nethertheless. Silent kept her frown before smiling softly at the redhaired and gracing her with a tender kiss on the lips.
“Whipped,” Ace commented with a smirk before called the waitress for another round of drinks.
Gale pushed her lips forward to deepen the kiss with the lithe markswoman on her lap. As one of her hands held Silent’s face close to hers, causing her to tilt her head before letting her tongue come in action, Gale used her free hand to give Ace the middle finger.
“Gale might be whipped, Ace,” Cloud remarked playfully at team twelve’s leader. “But I think that at least she’s getting laid tonight,”
“Damn right, she is,” Silent purred, her voice barely above a whisper before she went back to one of her favorite pastimes tonight: keeping Gale’s lips busy with her own.
“Want some water to calm that burn, chief?” Ford asked as Manerick and Stardust were openly mocking their team leader, even Blossomforth cracked a smile at the mumbling blond.
“Don’t get cocky, Mustang!” Ace reminded with a small frown on his face. “Unlike Cloud here, you don’t outrank me!”
“For now at least,” Ford mused in a slightly hopeful tone before raising his glass in Cloud’s direction. “Come on, one more time! For the recently promoted Sergeant Cloud Kicker, hip hip…”
“Hurray!” all the Jupitarians at the table shouted cheerfully, earning a sheepish blush from the concerned blonde.
**********************************************************************************************************
Cloud had gone to the bar while her friends and teammates were celebrating her promotion by having the time of their lives. Ace, Manerick and Stardust had left their table in the hope of succeeding at Cloud-Kickering, as a slightly drunk Ford had called it a while ago, a group of girls that had been more than intrigued by the four, fit and muscular male soldiers. Ford, who wasn’t drunk this time, had decided to remain at their table with Blossomforth, discussing about their respective plans after they had been stationed out of Las Pegasus. Apparently he had decided to return to Baltimare and try to apply for the Naval Forces. As much as he enjoyed Las Pegasus, he missed the ocean and the fact it gave him much more interesting landscapes to paint than the desert.
Her gaze went to Gale and Silent who were snuggling each other tenderly on the redhead’s seat. While they had been together since their fateful night with Sunset, Blossomforth and Cloud herself in the infirmary after their first maneuvers, the two of them had kept their relationship rather private over the last two years. Discrete little kisses exchanged after practice, or occasionally holding hands when they headed to the mess hall, or nuzzling each other to sleep in Gale’s bunk whenever Cloud managed to drag Blossomforth away to give them a little privacy. Yet tonight, Silent and Gale had been very expressive in their public displays of affection, and as much watching their tongues duelling against one another and their stealthy gropes at each other would have been such a turn-on, Cloud could only manage a strained smile at them, since she knew their reasons for their sudden lack of restraint.
Cloud knew they wanted to spend their evening and end it on a really high note as they were going to break-up during the night for Silent was leaving tomorrow for Canterlot for another two years long period of training in the Lunar Guard. They had decided to put an end on their relationship now before they could get separated on bad terms because of the distance. It hadn’t been easy for both of them to accept their mutual decision, the porcupined and chopped training dummies had been way too frequent during those three painful days. Seeing them together now not only made Cloud feel bad for them, but also made a think about what Sunset had suggested before Master Sparkle showed up.
The idea of a more serious relationship with Sunset hadn’t even popped once in Cloud’s mind during the two years of their friendship with benefits. Though the same could be said about all the partners she ever had since she started dating at the age of fifteen. Yet, it hadn’t been out of her thoughts since she boarded on the train that left Canterlot. Was she even capable of a serious relationship like the one Gale and Silent had shared during two years? That was the question that poisoned her thoughts since this morning.
Her two teammates had been happy, despite a few arguments here and there, yet they had decided to break things up before their respective jobs and localisation did the job. Would the same happen to Sunset and her, should she decide to try? Sunset had also briefly talked about maybe having less casual partners. Could Cloud really settle down with someone without have a casual fling once in a while, especially if Sunset was going to be a member of the Council of Harmony and thus would probably have even less time than before for the two of them? Could she resist the temptation. Cloud was rather happy with her free status, even if she had mostly kept it to two constant partners during her training, with a few exceptions, yet images of her living together with Sunset, snuggling every night with her before simply sleeping, or even images of getting married in the future had made its way to her thoughts. As uncertain as she was on this possibility, Cloud couldn’t deny that those thoughts were quite appealing in their own rights.
Had she finally reached ‘the moment of truth’ in her life? The moment when she’d finally get out of her adolescent phase, as Vinyl liked to call her flirtatious habits, in favor of becoming a serious adult woman. Cloud was really uncertain about that, so uncertain that she had decided to follow one of her father’s saying for the first time: Any truth can always be found at the bottom of a bottle. Sadly, in his relative wisdom, Tornado Kicker never thought of telling his daughter how many bottles’ bottom one had to search for.
“Well, looks like you’ve taken some advances on being an officer, Kid!” a voice playfully commented as Cloud put her fourth beer mug on the counter after emptying it swiftly. “Sergeant for a day and already trying to drown yourself in alcohol! Usually that happens when one becomes at least Lieutenant.”
“So that’s when you picked up your thing for bourbon, Lieutenant Maverick?” Cloud turned to Spitfire as her mentor picked her bourbon on the rocks.
“Nope, I got that from my first paper-work saturday as the Captain of Wonderbolts,” Spitfire claimed with pride before raising her glass to Cloud who had just been given another beer. “Congratulations, Sergeant First Class Cloud Kicker!”
“And congratulations to you too, Lieutenant Bride-to-be,” Cloud raised her glass as well, pointed at the golden ring with the orangish gem embedded on on Spitfire’s right ring-finger. “When did that happen? It wasn’t there during that final test you gave me.”
“The day after,” Spitfire explained after the two women clinked their glasses together before she noticed an expecting glint in her protégée’s eyes. “He took me to a fancy restaurant, had them play my favorite song, champagne and he proposed after they brought the cake… You know, like how those usually happens,” she quickly explained with a certain fondness in her tone before looking at her future husband discussing with the bartender while he was preparing his cocktail.
“I can’t say that I know how those are supposed to go, Lieutenant,” Cloud stated softly. “So, when’s the big day?”
“We haven’t decided on the precise date yet, but it should happen during the last two weeks of August,” Spitfire replied as Trend arrived at her sides.
“Can’t wait to be there,” He claimed softly, gracing his fiancée’s cheek of a brief peck. “So, you’re Spitfire’s protégée, Cloud..Puncher?” he asked with hesitance, pushing his thick rimmed glasses up his nose a bit.
“Kicker,” Cloud corrected while extending her hand for the blond to shake it.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…” he quickly started while shaking hands with her.
“It’s okay,” Cloud assured with a smile. “It’s no big deal since the Lieutenant here doesn’t actually remember my full name as well.”
“Now, now! Don’t get cocky with me, Kiddo. I’m still your superior,” Spitfire reminded playfully with an attempt at a stern face before taking a sip of her glass.
“Sorry, Lieutenant,” Cloud stated submissively before taking another mug of beer the bartender had extended to her after she finished the one she had been holding. “As an apology, let me take care of your next drinks,”
“You can afford it, Kiddo?” Spitfire asked as Trend glanced absently around the bar, his eyes stopping on Gale and Silent’s entangled forms with curiosity.
“... I should try to write a paper on that ‘’Opposite attract’’ thing,” the writer mused softly as he saw the brawny, pale woman in red kissing the lithe, tanned blue-wearing woman on her lap. “I keep on witnessing it everywhere I go.”
“Not that you have to go far for that,” Cloud stated after assuring her mentor she had the money to pay for their grown-ups drinks, pointing at the Wonderbolts’ Captain and her future husband. “You’re already very opposite.”
“I guess that’s true,” Trend admitted with a soft chuckle. “Say, I’m curious about how exactly did Spitfire train you, would you mind sitting with us for a little bit so that I can ask you some questions?” he asked with polite curiosity.
“Why aren’t you just asking the Lieutenant?” Cloud asked back in confusion.
“He’s writing his annual paper about the Wonderbolts at the moment,” Spitfire explained casually. “That’s how I met him if you’re curious about that.”
“That’s a question I’ve been wondering about a few times,” Cloud commented with a nod.
“Well, the thing is that after seeing you the other day, he’d like to ask you a few questions about you,” Spitfire continued her explanation in an even tone.
“With your permission, I’d like to have a small paragraph or two talking about you, Spitfire’s secret protégée,” Trend said with excitement.
“It’s not really a secret,” Cloud commented with a puzzled frown. “Plenty of people at the compound and in Canterlot know about me training under Spitfire’s supervision.”
“Well, the common people don’t know about you. It could give you a good image for your career,” Trend stated with enthusiasm.
“...I guess,” Cloud let out softly. “But I don’t want to intrude on your evening with the Lieutenant!”
“Relax, Kid,” Spitfire calmly said. “We’ll have other evenings and now I have an excuse to buy a congratulatory drink for your promotion.” She eyed Cloud’s beer with a small snort. “Though not that beer though, something actually worthy of sergeant first class. Ever tried whisky?”
“Nope!”
“You’ll like it!” Spitfire stated with a smile before the three of them went to find a free booth after Cloud warned her friends that she would be with her mentor for a while.
**********************************************************************************************************
Cloud had had harsh wake-ups in the past: her sister dropping herself on top of her sleeping self, her mother barking and banging at her door to go to school, Applejack somehow pulling her out of her bed and room with a lasso thrown through her window, or even one of Blossomforth’s failed attempts at humor that had involved a whistle at four in the morning. Yet none could compare to the feeling that had just woken her up. It felt like something inside her head was trying to burst through her skull with repeated strikes of a steel pickaxe.
La… Last time I try to mix beer and whisky. Cloud thought with great difficulty as she massaged her temples in her hands while sitting up on the bed. I’ll just stop drinking altogether…. Well, Just one bottle of hard cider a week at worse…. Okay, maybe two!
Cloud tried to open her eyes but quickly decided to keep them shut as a brief moment of her retinas being exposed to a dimmed but still present light almost worsened her headache tenfold. After searching blindly her way out of bed, Cloud found it by falling off of it like a sack of potatoes. Groaning like a grumpy bear freshly out of hibernation, Cloud managed to push herself off the ground. Then she gropingly looked for the bathroom in the hope of finding some aspirin, blinking occasionally to get a blurry vision of her immediate surroundings, thus preventing her from other misfortunes with the furnitures.
Thankfully, the sounds of the water running led her safely to the bathroom. Silent was probably getting ready for her afternoon train to Canterlot. She had always been the first one to ever go their dorms’ shared bathroom. Cloud blindly felt the door with her hands as the sounds of water falling in a sink was heard from beyond it before she gave it three soft knocks that made her cringe in discomfort.
“Hey, Si...… Do we have some aspirin in there?” Cloud asked in a throaty groan that made her voice sound like a man’s. “I...I think I hit the bottle too hard…”
“...Same here...” Silent’s voice came in a gruff and displeased tone. “... Co-ooohhh- Come in.”
Huh… Wouldn’t have thought Silent would ever get drunk… Cloud rubbed her eyes open before entering inside the bathroom.
The light of the bathroom attacked her eyes, causing her to groan in discomfort before she stood in front of the available sink. Cloud fumbled slowly to grab the bottle of aspirin that stood open between the two sinks. After popping two tablets in her mouth, Cloud opened the faucet to drink from it. Then, Cloud spooned some of the water with her hands before splashing it in her face, like Silent had been doing since Cloud stepped inside the bathroom. Felling relatively fresher than before, Cloud yawned loudly in front of the mirror as her sight became less blurry.
“.... You dyed your hair orange last night, Silent?” Cloud asked sleepily, watching the reflexion of her friend’s now fiery hair in the mirror. “..... And how much fondation did you use to have your skin so whit…..” Cloud started before Silent looked in the mirror as well, making her see that her friends’ eyes had gone from golden to hazelnut.
Both the women in the bathroom stared at each other through the mirror of the bathroom for a few seconds, blinking in total shock.
“....Lieutenant… Did you lose some sort of a bet with Sergeant Pagétonas that made you check the compound’s showers?” Cloud asked slowly.
“...Noooo,” Spitfire replied in a whisper.
“Then, why are you in my dorm’s bathroom?” Cloud asked fearfully.
“I have a better a question, Kid, why are you in my suite’s bathroom?” Spitfire asked back in a shaking tone, causing Cloud to look around a bit.
It was way too luxurious to be one of the Compound’s bathrooms, if the burnished brazen or golden faucets, mirror frames and the polished oak furnitures around them were of any indications. While looking around, Cloud took notice of a detail that didn’t help her feeling better this morning, despite just having taken two tablets of aspirin.
“I think I have the best question, Lieutenant,” Cloud stated slowly as she faced back Spitfire’s reflexion. “Why exactly are we both naked?”
There was a short silence that was cut by a loud and deep snoring that came from outside the bathroom. Without realizing it, both naked soldiers picked up a nearby bath robe and went to the threshold and took a peek at the bedroom by just passing their heads past it. Trend was snoring with his mouth open, a dribble of saliva rolling past his lips to his chin and his body taking all the place it could on the large double bed. With their heads somehow clearer than when they each had woken up, Spitfire and Cloud could assess the state of the bedroom and how much three sets of clothings could be spread in it.
“.............huuuh,” Cloud started uneasily as she spotted a bra, which she recognized as her own, hanging from the hatrack close to the suite’s door.
“I think I’m gonna stop drinking,” Spitfire muttered before she pinched the bridge of her nose with a small sigh.
“I think I’m gonna follow your example,” Cloud whispered as Spitfire kept the pressure on the space between her eye. “Are you okay?”
“.... I need a shower,” Spitfire stated sternly in response to Cloud’s worried question. “I want you and all your stuff out of the building by the time I get out of the stall. Is that clear?” Spitfire asked after lower her hand off her face.
“Crystal clear, Ma’am,” Cloud replied softly as Spitfire turned away from the door and went to the stall. “......... Spitfire. I’m sorry. I don’t really remember what happened. It’s all a blur but, knowing me, I’m probably the one who started it, and I’m sorry for that.”
“....... It’s okay, kid,” Spitfire sighed softly, her gaze focused on the shower curtains. “We were drunk and we allowed ourselves to go too far. We’re all to blame in this story… So, I guess I’m sorry for letting that happen....”
“So… We’re good?”
“Do you plan on telling your friends about it?”
“While they probably wouldn’t believe me if I ever told them, it’s not in my intentions… I’ll pretend it never happened,” Cloud assured quietly. “Heck, I was so drunk that I don’t really remember what we exactly did. It’s even kinda hard for me to believe whatever we did actually happened,” she added with a nervous chuckle.
“Then we’re good, since nothing ever happened,” Spitfire replied, a brief laugh escaping her own lips. “You should go before Trend wakes up…”
She heard Cloud turning around to leave the bathroom as she opened the curtains of the shower, a small flash of lucidity rang through her mind about a topic of that seemed to have distraught her young, and back-then drunken, protegée.
“Cloud!” she called gently.
“....Yes?” Cloud answered with surprise, both from her mentor’s gentle tone and the use of her first name, especially considering the circumstances.
“That girl you told us about yesterday… You might want to really try it with her. You sounded quite smitten about her,” Spitfire let out softly.
“That’s what you remember from last night?” Cloud asked slowly, her tone partially shocked by the fact she had spoken about that yesterday, and partially offended by the fact that Spitfire remembered that over her performances.
“Well, when you started rambling about her in your drunken state, you ignored that waitress with a cleavage the size of a valley bending over two feet next to you to pick up the broken glass a customer had dropped by accident,” Spitfire explained softly. “That’s the sort of rare things you tend to not forget.”
“... And I didn’t steal a glance at that waitress?!”
“She didn’t even seem to exist to you,” Spitfire stated slowly.
“....Wow! That’s something.” Cloud was as surprised as Spitfire had been when she had witnessed the scene in question.
“There are some opportunities that can’t be missed, Cloud,” Spitfire stated as she went inside the stall. “Love is probably the most important of those, so don’t miss it because you’re too scared of what may or may not happen, or because you think it’s going to be too hard for you.”
“....It feels kinda weird that you’re telling me that now,” Cloud replied in a chuckled whisper. “I mean… Considering the circumstances…”
“...Kinda…” Spitfire admitted slowly, her own chuckle escaping her lips. “But it doesn’t make it any less true. So, go for it!”
“.....”
“No, seriously go! I’m in the shower now!” Spitfire snapped playfully before drawing the curtains close and then putting her robe off.
“Right, sorry!”
Cloud broke out of her brief silence before she went to get her clothes that had been scattered around the room back with the stealth of a cat. Cloud gathered all her clothes in less than a minute and went back to the bathroom to get dressed. As soon as she was dressed, Cloud made way to the small terrace accessible by the bathroom, wondering about the use an hotel suite could have for such terrace in the first place until she spotted a hot-tub filling most of the small terrace’s space. Bringing her fingers to her chin, Cloud observed the outdoor pool with great interest, oblivious to the fact that Spitfire’s head peeked from beyond the shower curtain to see where the draft she was feeling was coming from.
“Stop staring at that hot-tub and fuck off, Kid!” Spitfire’s sharp order startled Cloud out of her thoughts on how it would be awesome to do it in a hot-tub with a certain, curly-haired Titanian. “And close that door behind you!” Spitfire added sternly before bring her head back behind the shower curtain once Cloud had closed the door and taken off in this early morning.
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HOW COULD YOU!?! Being OK with Cloud X Sunset is horrible! What about Cloud X Twilight?
Also... First
4928973
I know, I'm a terrible person
4928986 Quick Question: Are you gonna update Onward to the Equestrian Games soon?
4929098
Once I'm finished with CK's chapters
-Sigh- Poor Cloud, she wouldn't understand what really happened exactly until later. Oh well, at least we know how does this ends. And during the CKxSS thing... I was kind of screaming internally because, what are the odds of being only a few meters of your most-promising-girlfriend-in-the-future and do not notice this?
Awesome chapter, I'm really looking for the next and final one!
4929106 I have a question: Is there a possibility of Velvet coming to visit her children in Equestrian Games?
Because I don't see the point of setting her up as a character and having her dislike Cloud if there isn't going to be a confrontation about Cloud and Twi's relationship or something along those lines. Because the whole Shining Armor finding out bit was kinda anti-climactic, the only one who was actually mad was Cadence.
4929106 YAAAAAAAY!
4929154
You've answered to your question
Drama... Drama everywhere!!!
4929161 YAY!
Silent and Gale should coincidently get posted together at some point so they can get back together. I want to put up the idea that nothing actually happened between Cloud, Spitfire, and Trend, I think even drunk Cloud would remember something. But I was laughing, I admit part of me thought she got drunk and flew back to Sunset's place. Remember everyone, friends don't let friends fly drunk!
Now I'm wondering how would Twilight's mother react to Cloud being her daughters new girlfriend? Imagine the hilarity on that!
Hmm well you write sunset x cloud pretty well I thought. (Psst try making a different story all together with them as a pair if that helps.
)
Wait so this story is ending soon?
Oh man! If Princess Cadance was this bitchy to Cloud Kicker, Twilight's Mom, Velvet, is going to chew her up once she finds out about their relationship!
Of course, she can't do anything about it with Princess Celestia backing them up! 
By the way, I think it would be really hilarious if Sunset found out that the girl she was being mean to earlier was the daughter of her master. 
That would have be priceless! 
Second of all, Silent & Gale breaking up?
I can understand their reasons from the amount of distances between their two desired jobs.
I hope they can get back together at some point in time. 
BUT WHYYYYY?!
Third, Cloud Kicker better not have made that up with that brief yet unexpected fling with Sergeant Pagétonas (She goes by "Crystal" as well, right?)! Also, why did you end it so abruptly like that when we were getting to the good part?! Dammit, Blossomforth!
On a serious note, I do like this chapter on how Cloud Kicker gives it a lot of thought on a potentially serious relationship regarding with Sunset Shimmer. And I also like how Cloud Kicker and/or Spitfire didn't make any sexual advancements/attractions to each other before, during, or after they went out drinking. It shows how deep of a relationship they had as teacher/protegee and even friends.
Lastly, I only have one thing to say regarding with one of my favorite lines in this chapter:
BURN!!
In regards with what Ford's plan was after his training, I definitely assumed that he would be working as a guard in Baltimore, but I didn't expect on him joining the Naval Forces. Nice touch!
I commend you for that! 
OOOOH MY GLOOOOB!!!! jajajajajajaja what´s gonna happen when Velvet find out the relationship between Twilight!??! hahahahahaha
+ 
jealous rarity :D jajajaa
....Trend will appear in the games??...you know...
now we now why sunset hates twilight
4929314
Crystal Pagétonas is her full name
And the reason why it stopped so abruptly was because CK was blatantly lying 
Crystal is my character whom Mariacheat borrowed. He asks me about what she'd do/react every once in a while, and I can safely say that she would not flash her Snow-Peaked mountains for Cloud like that 
4931248 Yeah, I knew it was your character for awhile.
I just wanted to make sure that Pagétonas and Crystal were the same person since the former name has been mentioned more often lately than the latter of the two.
Also, thanks for clarifying on whether CK was telling the truth or not. I have to admit, that definitely would have come out of left field if it really happened.
4931358
Nah, Crystal's faithful to her own girlfriend/future wife... Dunno if Mariacheat will ever have her mention her xP
4931359 That's true, and no I don't think he did mention that in this story. From reading her bio once, I do remember on how Crystal also goes by "Waterjet" and how she and her wife conceived two children together.
4931359
WaterjetSorry, I meant to say, "Winterjet."
4931395
Sure you did :P And we changed that because it didn't quite fit. So if it happens, they're likely to just adopt instead. Unless Mariacheat does allow my fucked-up idea of how they get kids the "Normal" way xP
4928973 You seem to forget that Cloud and Sunset technically happened before Cloud and Twilight, which means that Twilight actually kept Cloud and Sunset apart since they didn't get to talk about a serious relationship, because Twilight decided to be a little snitch and tell Velvet (Reference?) that Sunset had somebody in her room. Then years(?) later, Twilight hooks up with Cloud? What the fuck!? Great job MC, now I hate Twilight. Again.
4931851 But you forget that Twilight had no idea that it was CK! I think!
4931851
I don't think there's one.... or at least, none intentional
Also, don't hate on Twilight, it's her parents fault she was an annoying goody two shoes when she was young...(actually it's my fault because I wrote her like that
)
It's indeed years later that Twilight and CK meet up officially (around four),
4931888
and yes, Twilight didn't know it was CK, Also CK barely heard the twilight say her name or see her that day, so both didn't know who the other was..
4931969 Okay, okay, I don't hate Twilight, but I'm not happy with what she did, even if it was unintentional. Also, what if CK found out that it was Twilight that day? That WAS the day that the princess chose who was going to be the head of the Council of Harmony, and it is Twilight, right? Twilight could relate that day's events to CK, and CK would realize that the girl at the door was Twilight. *Sigh* So many potential issues. Also, with that reference, I was thinking of Tigerswirl's Just Another Wild West Story. (Great story by the way) Her characters are like, ancestors, to the characters Towards the World, A Summer at the Farm, etc. Anyway, Twilight's ancestor is Velvet Sparkle, so that's why I thought it was a reference.
Did they have a three some?Damn she's the lady killer
