Vulnerable

by Nimbus92

It's just how I feel

"Nimbus!" Rainbow Dash continued to yell at her friend who had been stationary for the past four minutes. He hadn't moved or said a word since he stopped. Rainbow Dash was now concerned for his health and terrified that she had finally pushed the poor pony too far past his limits. The rented cart was supposed to be a cruel prank to get Nimbus to pull around because she was too lazy to walk anymore. Now that he was no longer moving, Rainbow Dash was upset that her personal transportation wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, and now she had to go out of her way and get him fuel so he could get a move on again.

Rainbow Dash hesitated before leaving her comfortable cart she had only enjoyed for a short time. Rainbow Dash took to the sky and looked down below for anyplace that supplied water. While she stayed hovering in the air, Rainbow Dash heard and felt the rumbling of her stomach telling her it was time to refuel. She shrugged Well, Nimbus isn't going anywhere soon, so I guess it wouldn't grab a bite to eat while I'm at it. It's his fault that I'm up here in the first place. Rainbow Dash flew down and sped to the hay fries vendor she had seen earlier. She was thankful that the hay fries, hay burger, and water were complimentary of the exchange, but anything else was going to cost some bits she didn't have.

Rainbow Dash stood in line for a good minute before arriving to the front placing her order. The order had came so fast she wondered we she had waited in line for so long. She sat herself alone at nearby table and unbagged her food from the eco-friendly recycled paper sack they were placed in. Rainbow Dash took a large bite from her fresh and sizzling hay burger before seeing in hindsight, she should have ordered two waters. The hay burger was nice and juicy like she liked it, but the dry bread she had bitten into dried her mouth.

Rainbow Dash stretched out her neck and looked over at the length of the line. She did not want to get back in the line just to get one water. Even more, she didn't want to stand while eating, she wanted to enjoy her meal. She contemplated over whether or not she should crack the bottle for sake of her dry mouth. Rainbow Dash stretched out her hoof and twisted off the cap with a tiny clicks. One quick sip couldn't comprise the purpose of the whole bottle, she decided. She placed the tip of the bottle to her lips and felt the cold crystal clear beauty flow into her body, taking away the dryness in her throat.

She enjoyed the feeling and empty places the water had filled. It wasn't the bottle started to crumble from the lack of it's contents that Rainbow Dash realized she had already drank half of the water. She pulled the bottle and placed far away from her. The water inside the bottle was an evil succubus who had seduced Rainbow Dash into drinking her selfishly with no concern for Nimbus's state.

Sitting in silence while the gears in her head finally began to turn faster with the enrgy she provided herself with, Rainbow Dash shrieked and scared the family of four behind her who were trying to enjoy an nice fruit salad, the very fruit salad that had gotten thrown to the ground in the mother's flinch when Rainbow Dash snapped suddenly. "Crap! Nimbus! Water!" Rainbow Dash grabbed and placed her food back into the paper sack and snatched the water bottle back up before taking off to where she last left Nimbus.

When Rainbow Dash caught sight of the empty cart, she feared somepony had taken advantage of Nimbus at his weakened state. "Somepony stole my taxi!" She roared throwing her food into a corner of the cart. She looked around and tried to find any clues as to where Nimbus or his captives could have gone off too.

Whoever these ponies were, they were good, really good. Rainbow Dash couldn't find as much as even a distinctive clue or any moan of complaining. Rainbow dash didn't wander too far off from her cart and went to a jeweler pony who must have at least seen something.

"You!" Rainbow Dash started, threatening the pony with at sharp blade of her wing. She held the tip of her wing underneath the delicate unicorn's chin and pressed harder as she asked "Where did they take my friend?" Rainbow Dash had no time for introductions and needed to find Nimbus quickly before she had to pay the late fee for not returning the cart back on time.

The male unicorn grasped the tip of Rainbow Dash wing and pushed it back gently with a hint of his magic. "Miss, who exactly are you talking about? Nopony gets kidnapped at the exchange." The unicorn adjusted his glasses as Rainbow Dash continued to fix her glare on him like two homing missiles. "Nopony even tries to steal anything at the exchange. The guards would hastily solve that kind of problem."

To Rainbow Dash's knowledge, the unicorn was lying and was either a member of the party that stole Nimbus from her or a party to the ponies that did. "How about we do that then?" Rainbow Dash hopped over the counter and pinned the poor unicorn down with both her wings crossed at his throat. She could felt the unicorns neck tense with fear. If he wasn't involved then why would he be so scared? Rainbow Dash knew the unicorn was hiding something. "Let's get the guards over here. "I'm sure they'd LOVE to hear how you kidnapped my friend."

"I didn't steal any-" Rainbow Dash hushed the unicorn before he could get another word out.

"Just tell me who the blue and blonde pegasus went and things don't have to get violent." Rainbow Dash had no intentions of actually hurting the pony, but she felt the need to assert herself to this criminal scum if she was going to want any answers.

The unicorns ears perked up. "Wait. That's who you're talking about?"

Obviously, Rainbow Dash fierce interrogations was getting her results. "Oh, now you remember?" Rainbow Dash looked behind her and saw a pony approaching the counter. The pony was carrying a large bag of something that couldn't be identified right away. It must have been one of the ponies who was working with the unicorn, and the bag must have been where they were keeping Nimbus.

Rainbow Dash left the unicorn where he was and leaped powerfully over the counter. Her training granted her the ability to clear over the obstacle with grace. She was glad it was her performing this task and not anypony else, or else they would have gotten hurt. Nopony had her athletic abilities or the fire that burned in her heart. She dropped in front of the stallion. He was an ugly shade of green that went horribly with his green mane. She barked at him "Drop the bag."

The stallion didn't question her loud voice or her authority. He did as he was told and dropped the bag with a heavy thud. Rainbow Dash wished she had instructed him to drop the bag slowly. She feared that Nimbus had been dropped on his leg and wouldn't be able to pull her back to the cart rental. She knew would never hear the end of it if she had to haul Nimbus back. "Now beat it!" Rainbow Dash glared with widening eyes, but she didn't realize that the pony had already run off while she was lost in her train of thought.

Rainbow Dash pulled the string to the bag and ripped open the top of the bag. "How's your leg?" Rainbow Dash asked once the bag opened, only to be presented with an assortment of various pots and pans. "Damn it" Rainbow Dash looked back and jumped over the counter. She barely was able to catch the unicorn crawling away from his booth slowly. She bit onto his tail and dragged him back. " I told you to stay put."

The unicorn had almost fully made it out of his booth, but now Rainbow Dash had dragged him half way back inside. The unicorn screamed for help, but there were no guards within earshot and the passing by ponies were all too afraid to find out what was happening, so they stayed out of it. In a desperate cry, the unicorn yelled "Your friend, the blonde one, he went to that booth over there!"

Rainbow Dash poked her head outside the booth flap to see exactly where "over there" was. The unicorn had his hooves over his forehead, but his horn distinctively pointed to the dark brown booth with multiple displays of swords, armor, and items Rainbow Dash had never seen before. After distinguishing that the booth was a blacksmithing booth, Rainbow Dash bent down to the unicorn's fetal position and whispered "Was anypony else with him? How many were there?"

The unicorn held onto himself tighter. "Only one, a mare."

"Of course!" Rainbow Dash stomped with the unintentional result of scaring the unicorn underneath her further than he was already capable of. "These guys, whoever they are, must have known Nimbus wouldn't question following a mare in to a dark booth." Rainbow Dash scoped out the booth and confirmed that there was nopony else there waiting for her to walk into a trap. She began to low crawl her way in a very stealthy manner. Her goal was to catch the mare, take her down, and save Nimbus. The plan was solid and completely fail safe.

Rainbow Dash felt full control of the situation until she heard a voice she instantly recognize yell in plea. The voice was surely Nimbus's there was no doubt about it, but she couldn't comprehend what he was saying. Rainbow Dash walked faster to the booth and made sure her hooves didn't make enough noise to alarm the ponies inside. She saw the items displayed across the booth for the second time and gasped. They must have been using the weapons or some of the crude tools inside to torture Nimbus.

She didn't want to go barging in there, but Nimbus's second crying plea forced her to rip and lunged inside blindly. Rainbow Dash saw her target immediately. She was a huge mare and definitely had a size and weight advantage over Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash, though, had a speed and surprise advantage over the brown mare. Despite the distance between her and the brown mare, there was no way the brown mare was armed and ready for a sneak attack.

Unfortunately, Sky Forge was familiar with quick drawing her hammer as a natural habit. Sky Forged waited and side stepped once Rainbow Dash got within striking distance. Sky Forge brought the full blunt force of her hammer on top of Rainbow Dash head. There was no need for a hard strike, the hammer had more than the needed weight to knock out the average pony, but Sky Forge hated the fact that somepony had interrupted her first actual moment with another colt and bursted in after her first kiss.

Rainbow Dash fell immediately in front of Nimbus and smiled. Rainbow Dash kept one hoof on the stricken area and another stretched out for Nimbus's face. "My friend...you're okay. They didn't hurt y-" Sky Forge brought down her hammer over Rainbow Dash's head with a second swing and knocked her out unconsciously. Needless to say, Rainbow Dash into a deep sleep, remembering to display her unusually loud obnoxious snoring that Nimbus more than cared for.

Nimbus took Sky Forge's hammer from her before went for a third strike to Rainbow Dash. "NO! I...know her."

Sky Forge huffed and puffed. She had never been attacked before had even thought of using her blacksmith hammer as a weapon before until now. Sky Forge gasped when the rage inside of her flushed to her cheeks with embarrassment. "Oh my goddesses." She had been so startled by Rainbow Dash's aggressiveness her mood instantly transitioned into a hostile hulking anger she didn't even know existed inside of her. "Oh my goddesses." Sky Forge repeated. "Did I due that to her?"

Nimbus just simply nodded and put Sky Forge's hammer back where it belonged against her hind leg. "It's okay." Nimbus flipped Rainbow Dash over and put his ear to her chest. Her pulse was still strong and very well alive. Although, her snoring should have been a definite sign of that. "She's okay."

"Oh my goddesses" Sky Forge put a wing to her chest and one to the sleeping Rainbow Dash's forehead. "T-that was..." Sky Forge pushed herself and wing hugged Nimbus to her. "I was really violent!"

***
Rainbow Dash woke up a few minutes after and rubbed the top of her head with a hoof. The pain would have been mind numbing if should could have felt anything. She had to search for her legs before standing up. Rainbow Dash tumbled and tilted like she was on a roller coaster. The room felt like it was spinning even while she was stationary. Rainbow Dash tried to grab onto something to balance herself on, but it served no purpose as the room, or booth rather, continued ot spin. She felt like throwing up, but the hay she had ingested earlier remained to settle in her stomach.

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and keep them shut until things started to clear back up. After about a minute her senses began to come back and she could hear, smell, and feel everything again. She opened her eyes slowly and saw the brown pony who hit her from earlier staring right into her eyes, a few inches away from her face.

"She's awake." Sky Forge told Nimbus, who was at the front of the booth talking to an incredibly out of place Griffin. Sky Forge offered Rainbow Dash a wing up but got it rejected back to her when Rainbow Dash slapped it way.

Rainbow Dash looked behind her and saw Nimbus continue to talk to the strange Griffin. She was glad that Nimbus's legs were all still functional and ready to pull carts. Rainbow Dash turned her attention to Sky Forge. The mare in front of Rainbow Dash on the other hoof was a whole other question to answer. "Why did you kidnap him?" Rainbow Dash demanded. She still believed that Sky Forge had kept Nimbus agianst his will and tortured him from earlier. As far Rainbow Dash knew, she and Nimbus were still in danger.

"He said you might be acting weird...." Sky Forge started. She went looking to Nimbus and saw now there were two Griffins now. Whatever Nimbus saw must have upset the Griffins or been something they didn't want anypony to see. "He mentioned you two hadn't eaten in awhile and that...well"

"Well, what?" Rainbow Dash raised her voice to Sky Forge.

"He said you're no you when you're hungry, his words not mine, honest." Despite knocking out Rainbow Dash with two strikes from her hammer. Sky Forge didn't want to make the wrong first impression on Nimbus's best friend. Based on what Nimbus told her, Rainbow Dash was pretty hostile towards meeting new ponies. Especially ones who bash her in the head with hammers. "My uncle and I have a small stash of potatoes if you want to help yourself." Sky Forge offered.

Rainbow Dash refused Sky Forge's offer at first, but the growling in her belly told her to change her mind and reminded her she had only taken a few bits from her hay burger from before.

After munching on one of the potatoes Sky Forge provided and watching her work on the forge for awhile, Rainbow Dash gave Sky Forge a simple nod. Sky Forge returned her nod with an awkward smile that was a little too obvious to see she was faking. She went back to her steel began to hammer it down again. From finding Nimbus about an hour ago, Sky Forge had lost some serious hours of work, but she was already ahead of her quota for the next two weeks so there was nothing to worry too much about.

Rainbow Dash stared back over at Nimbus who was now surrounded by three Griffins. Rainbow Dash pushed the piece of potato to the side of her mouth and asked "What's going on over there?"

Sky Forge didn't need to look up from her work to know what Rainbow Dash was talking about. "He's been at that for a good minute now. Said he saw something and went over to confront them about it." Sky Forge held the blade she was hammering to her eye view and turned it side ways to check it's straightness. "So far nothing's really happened." Sky Forge was about to set the blade down until she heard a large grunting nose coming from one of the Griffins right before he back clawed Nimbus across the chest. The powerful arms of the Griffin sent Nimbus flying back towards the sword stand carrying several sharp blades.

Sky Forge gasped when she feared that one of the blades was going pierce Nimbus, but the worry went away when Nimbus flared his wings and stopped himself mid-air. Without even flapping his wings, Nimbus stayed afloat in the air like he was standing on the air. He placed his back legs behind himself and kicked the air to launch himself towards the Griffin trio.

The Griffins were more than surprised to see Nimbus so quickly, and in mid-air as well. The darker blue of the Griffins, the likely leader of the trio and the one who struck Nimbus, raised his claw and swiped for Nimbus's head. Sliding across the air with his wings folded behind him, Nimbus dodged the swipe and elbowed the Griffin's side. Nimbus rolled himself onto the Griffin's back and held on tightly as he tried to fly away.

The other two of the Griffins looked up and watched in awe as their friend struggled in a tussle with Nimbus. The booth's roof blocked Rainbow Dash's view and prevented her from seeing what was happening. She threw the last tiny bit of potato into her mouth and left the booth far enough to look up and see two silhouettes fighting in the sky. The silhouettes were too high and far away too clearly see who was who, but after concentrating on the both of them for a good amount of dedication, Rainbow Dash saw one silhouette was distinctively larger than the other. Judging by the way the smaller silhouette was going back and forth and around the larger one, she drew to the conclusion that the smaller silhouette was Nimbus.

Rainbow Dash looked to the other two Griffins and asked "What happened? What started all this?" The two Griffins didn't acknowledge her right away. Rainbow Dash snapped again "HEY!"

Still no response from them. Rainbow Dash grunted in frustration and looked back up to only see the Griffin from up above beginning to fall where she was standing. Rainbow Dash bolted backwards and dashed back forwards when the Griffin landed where she was last standing.

The Griffin had suffered some pretty major bumps all over his face and his bottom beak seemed to be unhinged. Nimbus followed and landed back down not too long after. He first focused to the other two Griffins who were watching him in awe as he stood over their leader.

A cling of steel feel to the ground as Sky Forge dropped the hot blade and rushed outside and around her booth to Nimbus. "What happened? I thought you two were just talking."

Nimbus brushed Sky Forge away form his attention and glared at Rainbow Dash. She had no idea why Nimbus was staring at her so angrily. She shrugged and lifted her hooves to show she was innocent. "What?!"

Nimbus had one eye shut tightly from the sweat that had dripped into it. A huge red mark was placed across his chest from where the Griffin had slapped him. "A little help would have been nice!"

***
"Thanks for catching these guys for us, kid" The guard told Nimbus as he hauled the three Griffins into the back of a caged sky chariot. "If it hadn't been for you, we wouldn't have caught them."

"Speaking of which" Sky Forge said while tapping her wing on the guards black armor. Even though Sky Forge had large respect for the law, she was very well pissed that they took ten minutes to respond, but she hid it very well with her constant smile that resembled more of a shady back alley smirk than your typical friendly neighborhood smile. "Where were you all for the past two hours? I hadn't seen a guard on the sky or ground until now."

Rainbow Dash nodded agreeably. She rememerbed while she was enjoying herself on the cart the sky had been very clear. It was no wonder why she thought it seemed so odd at the moment.

"We were all called to a much more important matter, madam." The guard was intimidated by Sky Forge's build, but she was too naive to see it. "Y-you see, there was, or we thought there was an accident, but it turned out to be nothing more than a distraction for these scum to get their grabby claws over everypony's merchandise."

"And it took you two hours to catch on to that?" Nimbus grunted while hauling over the bag of stolen merchandise that the Griffins had almost got away with behind him. "Ponies here making a living here trading their possessions, and you were about to let them get away with it?" Nimbus dropped the bag handle from his mouth and continued to bark. His words were sharpened from the brutality of his anger. "Who do you think are to let these ponies suffer?"

"Who do you think YOU are?" a pony in an special distinctive set of armor different form all the other guards. His armor had a real glossy shine to it. Nimbus could actually see his reflection in the chest plating of the pony's armor. His helmet was spiked back with the same material as his chest armor. Unlike all his brethren, this guard had armor to the back of his wings, which no undoubtedly made it a challenge to fly, but made up in protection what you would lose in agility. This pony had armor on all his legs as well. There was nothing too distinctive about them, like the rest of his armor, but he did have them unlike every other guard.

Sky Forge was in awe at the armored set she had the honor of laying her eyes upon. She knew right away with any question in her mind what kind of material the armor was forged from, but chose to keep her mouth shut for the moment.

Removing his helmet, the heavily armored pony revealed his onyx coat and silver mane. The pony used his deep blue eyes to stare down at Nimbus and identified himself. "I'm Slash Vedette, the special forces guard in charge of everything guard related between here and Cloudsdale." The space between Cloudsdale and Rainbow Falls was pretty substantial, but Equestria didn't really have a need for a full special forces team. So, giving Slash a wide area to cover as well as being the only one kind of made sense. Like everypony required to be special forces, Slash had combat experience in the field more than once and had the medals to prove it. He was a war-hero still in his prime stuck in peace time.

Slash continued to leer at Nimbus. At thick line tension was set in place between the two ponies glares. The tension was too thick for the other guard breathe properly. "S-slash, this is the kid I was telling you about."

Slash let a small laugh jump in his throat. "So you're the one who can dance on air then, huh?"

Nimbus didn't respond. Like all his two dodging abilities, Nimbus welcomed his new found power to walk on move on the air, but didn't quite understand how he discovered it. He did feel like explaining himself to this Slash stallion either, no matter how elder he was to him.

"No pegasus has been able to dance on the air like that since the days of the Old Empire." Slash placed his helmet back over his face. His helmet hollowed and presented his voice with a deadly echo. "That's real gift you got there, kid. Don't abuse it." With that, Slash turned to his brother in arms with his metal clad hoof on his shoulder. "I watch Princess Serana for the next two hours, and I DON'T want to come back because I have to baby-sit and tell you how to do you're job, solider. "

Once all three of the young pegasus were released to go back, Sky Forge was the first to talk "Did you see that armor Slash Vedette had?"

"Can we just call him Slash for short?" Nimbus requested. Nimbus didn't like how Slash called him "kid" and talked to him like he was a little colt. Nimbus was the one who captured to Griffins, with little effort of course, and Slash couldn't even show him a little respect for that?

Sky Forge's voice was exploding with sparks and dancing fire "That ARMOR was made from dragon bone!"

Rainbow Dash twitched her head to Sky Forge "Dragon Bone? But that would have to mean-"

"Exactly!" Sky Forge confirmed.

Nimbus was annoyed that Rainbow Dash and Sky Forge didn't mention the bit of information they expected him to know. "That would mean...what exactly?"

Sky Forge exchanged glances with Rainbow Dash and both spoke simultaneously "You mean you don't know?"

"Of course, I don't know! Why else would I ask?"

Sky Forge over joyed to fill Nimbus in with a lesson about another type of forge "That would mean that Slash had to kill a dragon in order to turn it's bones into armor."

"But what forge can turn dragon bone into armor? Dragon bone isn't stone, cloud, or metal." Nimbus was wondering exactly how many other types of forges there were out in Equestria, as well as beyond Equestria.

"He would need a Ripped Forge, and before you ask, a Ripped Forge is a forge that was believed to have been created by a necromancer, named Grogar, who wanted to give his undead army the most powerful armor and weapons to be ever known to all the races around the world." Sky Forge looked down at the ground below. She imagined seeing the very forge she was currently talking about placed right below her. She could see it's magic being flowing to blacksmith's hammer who made the armor. "The only known Ripped Forge to ever have been proven to exist lies with Tartarus."

"If Slash's armor is really dragon bone, wouldn't that make him a murderer?" Rainbow Dash looked exactly where Sky Forge was looking but couldn't see Sky Forge's imaginary scene.

Sky Forge shook her head "It was probably someone Slash went to war with and kept as a relic for that very reason."

Nimbus and Rainbow Dash escorted Sky Forge back to her uncle before going back and meetign up with the rest of Rainbow Dash's family. Sky Forge told them both to wait one minute. Coming back from a leather pack in the corner of her now packed up tent, Sky Forge placed a small red glistening light rectangular object in Nimbus's hooves. "That's a brimstone lighter." Sky Forge told Nimbus as she clasped Nimbus's hoof tightly over the red lighter. "This is what I'll be using to talk to you. Do the see the four digit number underneath?" Nimbus looked under the lighter and nodded with confirmation. "That's your personal contact number. Mine's 2712. You can enter my number in that four number pad lock combination you see on the side of the lighter."

Nimbus began to play and spin the pad lock combination to a various number of sets. "How do I actually talk to you with this though?"

"Oh, that's easy." Sky Forge took out a small sketch pad from the same pack she used to get the lighter. Sky Forge scribbled a picture onto a single page of the tiny notebook and ripped it out. She took out another lighter from the pack again and clicked a flame open using the opposite hoof from the one carrying the lighter. The free shone green and danced lightly. Sky Forge held the tiny note to the flame. "Now watch." She placed the note into the fire and the paper got consumed into the flame.

After being consumed into the flame, the paper turn to a green glowing float of dust and flew towards Nimbus's lighter. The paper turned back to its original form from the green dust and into Nimbus's hoof. The picture Sky Forge had drawn onto the piece of paper was a large heart centered with a dotted smile. "Now you can talk to me whenever you like." Sky Forge blushed. "I'm not expecting a letter once a week or anything, but it would be really nice to hear from you."

Nimbus gave Sky Forge one last smile before telling her his final good bye. He and Rainbow Dash made their way back Rainbow Dash's parents who were impatiently waiting for them to return next to the newly filled trading cart they had hauled on the way to Rainbow Falls.

When Storm had asked what they did today, Rainbow Dash and Nimbus made sure to leave out the part where Nimbus walked on air and beat up a Griffin.

***

The diner seemed to have taken taken only a few hours to prepare for such a large family, but nopony was complaining. All the of the Rainbow Family took their seats and passed around the plates so everypony could get what they desired. The table was decorated with large assortments of fruits, vegetables, fried hay, and the one plate of limited bacon for those ponies did prefer meat. Nimbus had never eaten bacon before and placed one strip of the freshly cooked meat onto his plate. He usually got his protein from plants and other alternative sources, but he had never tried protein from another animal. It wasn't an uncommon practice to be known for ponies to eat meat. Just not everypony accepted that tradition too well as others did.

Nopony dared to dig into their plates until grace was said. Storm stood highly from the end of the table and announced loudly "I know everypony was expecting me, the stallion of this house, to say a few words over diner." Rainbow Shine bowed her head away with embarrassment as her husband referred to him self as the stallion of the household when clearly he was the ONLY stallion of the household. "But I decided to give the floor for this special to a special pony who deserves it more than I do."

Ponies all around the table began to chatter and ask who Storm could have possibly chosen to speak. Rainbow Dash patted Nimbus on the back and pushed him up in his chair. Nimbus didn't realize what was happening until all eyes in the room were on him. He swallowed hard and noticeably.

Nimbus was not a very strong public speaker and had no idea how to even say grace. Storm opened for Nimbus "This is Nimbus everypony. Even though everypony knows why I would give him this opportunity, I feel the need to repeat it. Nimbus." Nimbus felt an uncomfortable area of attention between him and Storm. "Nimbus" Storm continued with a raised glass in his wing. " I can honestly say you deserve this more than anypony else at this table. You, not even an official member of this by blood, went out of your way and put your life on the line for my daughter in more ways than I can count."

"So, more than three is what you're saying?" Wind Fighter commented. Everypony around the table, save actual residents of the house hold and Nimbus included, all laughed lightly at his joke and drew gradually to silence so Storm could respectfully finish.

"You've got about the mental capacity of a bird, but the heart larger than any lion would dare challenge. I want to thank you, for always being there, and to always be there for me, my wife, my family" Storm waved his glass across the entire table. He was careful not to move the glass too quickly and spill any of it's contents. "and most of all for my Rainbow Dash. I hereby make you an honorary member of this family." Storm stretched out his wing closet to Nimbus, and opposite to the one holding his glass, and gave Nimbus a nice strong wing hug. "Welcome home, son. I give you the floor."

A small hoof full of ponies clapped lightly, but most everypony else waited until Nimbus spoke to give their full applause. Nimbus stood there silently for a quiet few seconds before Wind Fighter stood up and commented again "You'll go into a burning house, but you can't talk to your own family? That hurts, nephew."

The laughter and friendly atmosphere Wind Fighter's joke provided was the confidence Nimbus needed to finally speak. "W-well, I guess I'd like to start by saying a couple of thanks. First, I'd like to thank my wings for always being by my side and my legs for supporting me every day of my life."

Either the Rainbow Family was too easily amused, or they really good actors. Everypony hollered with enthusiastic laughter, except for Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash had lowered her face into her hooves and swore "Goddess damn it, Nimbus." underneath her breath.

With mostly everypony's laughter died down, and being perfectly placed in his comfort zone, Nimbus got to the serious part of his conversation. "On the real though, I'd seriously like to thank all of you for allowing me to stand up here today. I'd like to thank Storm and Rainbow Shine for allowing me to walk inside their door each time I come over. Personally, I'd like to thank Storm for allowing me to walk Rainbow Dash outside the same door without threatening to kill me." Storm shined a friendly smile of pearly white teeth towards Nimbus. "and lastly, and most certainly not by any means less" Nimbus held his wing out towards Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash shook her head no. This is your speech, not mine! Nimbus only continued to push his gesture towards her father with no means of giving up. Falling to the peer pressure, Rainbow Dash raised herself standing next to Nimbus, nervous as he was when he first stood up. You're making a mistake." Rainbow Dash said behind clinched teeth.

Nimbus shook his head no. No, trust me. This is going to be good. "I'd like to thank the greatest friend in this entire world, the b-e-a-utiful mare who made me the stallion I've become today."

Rainbow Dash flipped her mane and hid her face behind it's many colors. "Goddess damn it, Nimbus."

"I don't know where to even start with you, Rainbow Dash. You've been more than a friend to me. You've never once doubted me. When I'm with you, I'm more powerful than I could ever imagine, and even more vulnerable to you than you could possibly imagine." Rainbow Dash punched Nimbus in his shoulder to prove his statement true. "You given me more than I could ever imagine and stayed beside me longer than I would ever ask you to. There's nothing I can really do or say tell you how I feel or make up for everything you've done for me. I guess...what I'm trying to say is...." Nimbus hesitated before saying the three strongest words anypony could say to another, and possibly the three scariest words he had ever wanted to tell Rainbow Dash. "I love you."

Rainbow Dash stayed behind her mane and heard her whole family applauding loudly when Nimbus finally came to the final conclusion of his speech. Making sure nopony could see her, Rainbow Dash mouthed the words "I love you too."

After everypony got done clapping and cheering, Hot Shot shot up from his chair and hollered "Oh, goddess, you're no purposing, are you?"

Nimbus froze up in the awkward position that Hot Shot had out him in. "N-no...We're only sixteen."

"Oh, thank you, Celestia! I thought we were about to have shotgun wedding on our way!" Hot Shot took his seat and got ugly looks of disgust from his entire family. "...What? You were thinking it too!"

"Real mood killer there, Hot Shot. Nice job, jackass." Wind Fighter made a slicing sound as he drew his hoof in cutting gesture across his neck.

"I'm about to kill a certain family member!" Storm pointed his bread knife at Hot Shot.

A bell was rung at the front door and Hot Shot went rushing for it. "Oh, look! Somepony's at the door, I'll get it!"

"Saved by the bell" Stratus said as she placed her cane back underneath the table.

Hot Shot came back to the dining table with a creepishly large smile across his face. "Guys. I think I redeemed myself!"

"Why, you thinking about suicide? You don't have to do that, Hot Shot. I'll do it for you." Wind Fighter said as he began to trot towards Hot Shot with his wings flared up like a rattle snake tail telling it's prey "I'm coming for you."

"No, no you won't." Hot Shot went back to the door and helped walk a delicate skinny mare into the room. "Nimbus, do you know who this is?"

The mare was completely unrecognizable. Her coat was a light shade of jade color with her wing tips three shades darker. She was defiantly older and Nimbus knew he had never seen her cutie mark ever before. It was a picture of an orange moon with a lighting bolt in front. Nimbus felt the strong desire to take a jab at Hot Shot in order to given. Plus, most of the family had already taken several jabs at him already. "Is that a hooker you ordered?"

"Nimbus!" Rainbow Shine snapped at him.

"I said one thing...." Nimbus bowed his head low.

Rainbow Dash patted his back lightly "If it means anything to you, I thought it was funny."

The jade colored mare made her way towards Nimbus. Her walk was very proper and slow paced. She was probably a pony of high importance. She reached out for Nimbus's hoof and grasped it tenderly. Nimbus didn't know who this mare was, or what exactly what secret Hot Shot was hiding. It was the very first words the mare spoke and the light touch she used to touch Nimbus's face.

"Nimbus. I-is this my baby boy, Nimbus?" The mare's voice was light and soft like angel food cake.

Nimbus's eyes widen with the mind-boggling fact that he had finally meet the one pony he thought he'd never meet. "Mom?"

POWER UP! <Nimbus>

[Air Walking]: Well, what's the point of walking on air if you can fly? I'll tell you what's the point of walking on air, you illogical piece of shit. Tell me, can you swing a sword in the air without losing your balance? Oh wait, that's right, you can't balance on air! Until now that is! With this ability you can bring the smack down to you opponents' candy asses. Power more energy into your swings and attacks in the air by standing on the air for balance.

Comments

[Spectrum]

Decided to comment after I saw your thanks on my user page ^^
This story is awesome and really REALLY deserves so much more likes than it has! You pulled off a likable OC and are able to write great character interactions. And I LOVE the chapter lengths, you put great detail into your writing! My only critique would be some grammar mistakes here and there, but they're nothing major or distracting. Keep it up!

[Nimbus92]

4375248
Your comment was totally what I needed right now. I was debating on whether on not to carry on with the story because of the lack of attention it was getting. I know my grammar and spelling errors kind of frequent, but I told my self to get more absorbed in the story and shrug off the grammar. I plan on making the corrections between now and this weekend. For real though, thank you.

[Nimbus92]

4387997
Thanks! This chapter was a whole lot of fun to work on. Longer than the rest so far, but I like it.

[Wonderstruck]

you should post your fic here: https://www.fimfiction.net/group/378/folder/777/1/post-your-fics-here
maybe it'll get some more attention