Piercing the Heavens

by Calm Wind

Chapter 103: Absolutely Twisted

MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind
This chapter was edited by both Kestrel and Lucky424

Chapter 103: Absolutely Twisted

---

The soft glow of the barrel fire sitting five yards away splashed a warm, orange glow against the two sitting nearby. The light danced about the different shades of blue fur on the two faces that kept endlessly nuzzling together. Soarin and Rainbow Dash were aware that they were delving heavily into the realm of ‘public display of affection,’ but to be fair, they weren’t the only couple in the battledome that was sharing a blanket, and thoroughly rubbing their heads together as they stayed warm. In fact, Fire Streak and Misty Fly were sitting at the same barrel, right across on the other side of it. Misty was doing everything in her power to turn Fire into her personal pillow, to the point where she knocked him over on his side while trying to continuously increase the level of snuggles.

Either way, it wasn’t like they had anything better to do. The Wonderbolts were resting and trying to stay warm as the Renegades gave them time to do so. They were even delivering mail for them now too. It was safe to say that the Wonderbolts owed Descent and the Renegades… as they had been saying and thinking over and over again since they first appeared. It was something all the Wonderbolts had on their mind and when the time came, they would be ready to repay that debt in full force, working with the Renegades to reach the goals of both groups.

They only hoped their combined power would be enough. They still didn’t fully understand the depth of what they were up against. Hopefully they could get some answers out of their captive Shadowbolts eventually, because they needed some badly.

But for now… it was time to rest. Something they also desperately needed. And who would say no to cuddling? Well, maybe a few…

---

“Nice to see our captain has forgotten all about us,” Squall scoffed as he glanced two barrels down towards Rainbow Dash and Soarin.

“Oh hush you…” Star said dreamily as she teetered back and forth beside him, swooning and watching Soarin and Dash with wide eyes. “They are just too cute!” Star squealed while leaning towards Squall… who leaned away in tandem while scrunching his face.

Storm Front chuckled as he watched Squall and Star from beside them. He figured the rest of Foxtrot was used to it by now but it was amusing to see it for himself. Squall acted differently around Star. If any of them got too close or invaded his personal space, he tended to lash out at them or tell them to get lost. With Star… he still showed disapproval and discomfort, but he didn’t make any attempts to push her away. The faces he made and his overall reactions were definitely a source of light-hearted humor. They emitted an air of ‘I don’t know if I like this or not’ and tended to end with Squall’s usual long, drawn out ‘stop it’ groan.

Storm glanced towards Matteo briefly, noticing that the big griffon was looking a little sleepy. He was already lying down, unlike the rest of them and nodding off. However, he seemed to keep forcing his eyes back open and looking towards something. Storm followed Matteo’s eyes over towards the barrel between theirs and the one that currently had the two couples.

Twister was sitting IN the barrel, completely unfazed as he was surrounded by flames. He was scrubbing his back with a loofa and whistling as if he was taking a bath… in the fire.

Of course, that’s what was keeping Matteo up. Twister had been more or less targeting Matteo with his shenanigans since the whole rest period had begun, mostly through diving and hiding in his thick feathers for warmth. Matteo had become, as expected, fed up despite not being able to do much about it, and was trying to keep an eye on Twister. Though in the end, Storm was sure Matteo knew that his efforts would ultimately be fruitless, plain and simple.

Storm blinked…

And Twister was gone. The barrel fire now vacant, not that anypony else would attempt to bathe in flames. He didn’t go very far though. Storm spotted Twister sneaking up behind Fire Streak and Misty Fly. The two had sat up after Fire managed to ‘gain the upper hoof’ and hold onto Misty instead of vice versa, and it seemed that Twister was about to invade somepony’s personal privacy… again.

Twister leapt towards them with his arms outstretched as if he was going to join in the hugging, but right before impact, Misty turned and looked towards him. Her eyes widened and she pushed Fire away from her while reaching up and putting Twister into a headlock, slamming him down onto their mattress. Twister simply looked up at her with his lips puckered as she glared down at him in disapproval.

Misty suddenly fell flat, blinking in confusion as Twister somehow vanished. She looked directly upward and rolled aside as Twister swan dove from above, but landed face first, flat on the mattress.

“Recruit Twister!” Fire spoke up with an annoyed grunt. “Cut out this nonsense imme—”

“LOOK OUT BELOW!” a voice rang out from above. Fire looked up, his eyes widening as Surprise dove in from above. “SILLY CITIZEN’S ELBOW!” she yelled as she drove her elbow into Twister’s back. Twister released a loud sound that resembled a goose honk before Surprise pinned him down by the neck and back.

“SWEET MOVES!” Macho Savage’s voice rung out from literally the other side of the battledome once Surprise’s wrestling technique was complete.

“What in the…” Fire shook his head as Surprise looked up at him and giggled.

“You can’t scold silly!” Surprise began as Twister flailed and made turkey calls beneath Surprise's grip. “If ya wanna beat silly, ya gotta counter it with silly, silly!” she explained as she kept Twister down.

Storm slowly shook his head as he watched the whole encounter from start to finish. What exactly made that stallion click, if at all? Dash had relayed multiple interesting tales to him about Twister’s mysterious, incredibly strange, yet harmless shenanigans she had experienced, and if she couldn’t draw any solid conclusions after that, then he sure as hell wasn’t going to. Dash had mentioned Twister spoke of a twisted, troubled past in subtle terms in between disturbing actions. At least that’s what she felt Twister was conveying, there was no way of knowing if Twister was spinning the events of his life to fit a certain theme or if there was any truth to what he was saying either.

Storm was admittedly just as curious to know as Dash was… and he didn’t doubt Matteo, Little Star, and even Squall shared their curiosity to a certain point. Would they ever know for sure?

“Now, I’m not even gonna bother asking Twister…” Little Star’s voice caught Storm’s attention as he turned to face her. She had stopped playfully teasing Squall and was back sitting in her spot beside him. She too, apparently was watching Twister’s little encounter with squad three. “But I’m curious,” she continued as she looked towards the rest of them. “Who did you guys write to?” she asked, waiting for any of them to respond.

“My wife,” Matteo spoke up, saying nothing further as he continued to lie on his stomach. Star grinned as she looked towards Matteo, focusing on him.

“Say anything special?” she asked, ever curious about the romantic lives of her friends.

“No.” Matteo put simply. Star blinked, her eyes widening for a moment before they flattened slightly.

“Sheesh, aren’t you the romantic?” she said sarcastically as Storm snickered beside her. Matteo lightly shook his head.

“Griffons express affection physically. Sweet and fluffy words, whether written or spoken, do little to stimulate us,” he explained flatly. Star huffed and pouted at him before her lips curled into a snide smirk.

“Actually I think I could have put that together,” she said as she turned her head slightly to exaggerate her smirk. “Seeing as how your wife has already popped two buns out of the oven and is baking a third,” she teased with a giggle. Matteo only grunted in response, turning his head to face away. A little bit of embarrassment was actually squeaking through. Star wasn’t about to let up there, it wasn’t often one caught Matteo in a flustered state. “I have a hard time imagining you being affectionate at all. Though, knowing you and griffons in general, it probably involves violence.”

“HRM!” Matteo cleared his throat in a manner that sounded both incredibly awkward and forced. “Male griffons have needs…” he said, barely avoiding a stutter in the process.

“Oh stop,” Star burst into giggles. “You’re a guy. Don’t try to snake out of this one with your culture. I know how testosterone works, stallions just express it differently. Right guys?!” she looked up and back and forth between Storm and Squall. Storm scrunched his face, looking away as he rubbed the back of his head. Squall just instantly avoided eye contact with her. “YEP! Spot on!”

“Alright, fine!” Matteo grumbled as he rested his chin down on his talons. “If you really wish to keep talking about my sexual relationship with my wife, then by all means—”

“NO!” Squall cut him off while shuddering. “I got the clue when I found your damn pillow!”

“Alright, alright…” Star sighed while shaking her head and looking towards Matteo. “I was just teasing ya big dope,” she refrained from going further, instead turning to Storm. Storm noticed her eyes training on him, and figured he was next. “So who did you write to, Storm?”

“Derpy,” Storm answered instantly with a smile on his face. Star blinked and tipped her head to one side.

“Who?” she asked. It looked like she was trying to remember if she had heard the name before. Storm was quick to clarify.

“The mare who broke the endurance course record during the tryouts. Remember the mare that I met up with during the banquet?” he explained. Star blinked and her eyes widened slightly.

“Oooooohhhhhh, her!”

“That’s right,” Matteo spoke up while looking at both Squall and Star. “We weren’t all acquainted until after she left. Derpy Hooves was one of Dash’s friends along with Thunderlane and…” Matteo paused and furrowed his brow. “Who was that loud white pony again?”

“Arctic Blast?” Storm cringed, “She was definitely not a friend…”

“No, no…” Matteo shook his head. “The white stallion with the muscular body and tiny limbs,” he clarified.

“Oh!” Storm chuckled. “That was Bulk Biceps, Coach Pec Bounce’s son.”

“Yes… that rambunctious pony…” Matteo snorted.

“Well,” Storm turned back to Star to get back on track. “Derpy and I were bunkmates during the tryouts. Honestly, it was hard NOT to quickly grow attached to her. She was just so naturally happy and cheerful, anytime something made her worried, I had this urge to help her just so I could see her smile again,” Storm paused as he scrunched his face. Little Star was giving him the goofiest swooning look.

“Awwwwwwww… you guys met here and became a thing? That’s so adorable!” she commented while pressing her hooves into her cheeks, squishing them inward. Storm stole a quick glance at Matteo, who noticed and lifted an eyebrow as Storm smirked.

“I’m happy to say that I’m not a griffon when it comes to expressing my feelings romantically,” he joked as Matteo snorted in amusement and Star giggled. “I wrote a pretty fluffy letter to her, but believe me, if you saw the adorable giddy look on her face every time I talk sweetly to her, you’d want to do the same thing. She just makes me so happy.”

“You’re making me more and more jealous by the second…” Star said dreamily as she snuggled herself into her own blanket while sighing dreamily.

“What? You wanted to know,” Storm snickered as Star’s demeanor became more and more ridiculous.

“You’re damn right I did, hun! PLEASE! Tell me more!” she demanded while giggling.

“If you say so,” Storm shook his head at her while smiling. “Derpy is a little out there, but it’s in a cute way. It compliments her bubbly personality. Everything she does makes me smile, even if it’s silly or clumsy. She has this innocent charm that’s unmatched. She absolutely adores being cuddled and pretty much melts in my arms every time I hug her. She makes these cute little noises when I do too. In short…” Storm smirked. “She’s the most adorable thing in Equestria and she’s MINE,” he finished with a little bit of added snark as Star continued her blushy, girly giggles.

“I definitely need to stalk you two someday,” she spoke up as she swayed back and forth. “It sounds like you and her are a one way ticket to the best kind of heart attack.”

“Pff…” Squall suddenly scoffed from beside them. Star flattened her brow for only a moment before glancing snidely at Squall.

“Took you long enough, Mr. Grumpy Wings,” she spoke up before Storm could give any sort of response to Squall. Squall lifted an eyebrow at her.

“What?” he asked as Star, still wrapped in her blanket, bounced lightly on her plot towards him.

“You like to act like you find nothing cute, well I see right through you, tough guy!” she reached one of her little hooves out of her blanket and nudged him while giggling.

“Nnnnnggghhhhh…” Squall looked away from her while groaning. Star pulled her arm back into her blanket and pulled it tight before looking at Squall curiously.

“So who did you write to?” she asked him. Squall released a quiet grunt.

“Parents,” he said simply. Star blinked.

“That’s a surprise, I thought you didn’t like them,” she mentioned as Squall rolled his eyes.

“I don’t,” he clarified while stealing a quick glance at Storm, who looked like he was trying his hardest not to say anything. Their past disputes on family weren’t an issue between them, but it wasn’t something they’d forget.

“Oh? Then why did you write to them?” Star leaned herself towards him, causing him to lean away naturally.

“I knew if I didn’t, my dad would have probably done something stupid like rally a search party or crusade to ‘brave the dangers of the unknown’ to find me. And probably get himself killed in the process,” Squall said while rolling his eyes multiple times. Star listened carefully, giving him a lot of analytical looks as he spoke, and continued to do so after he finished. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You definitely have a certain way of saying things…” Star pondered out loud, a smile slowly forming on your lips. “But with the right spin… it definitely sounds like you care about your parents regardless. It sounded like care.”

“It’s not,” Squall quickly shot down her statement with a snort, but she only giggled.

“Yes it is…” she said goofily while shedding her blanket and fluttering her wings to put them face to face. Squall glared at her, but she only giggled.

“Nnnnnnggggghhhhh…” he groaned again while averting his eyes and scrunching his mouth.

“You look like you need a BIIIIIIIIIIIG hug!” Star teased him as she hovered closer. Squall was pushing the limits of how far one could lean without tipping over, but Star kept lined up with him, eventually reaching him and wrapping her little arms around his neck and hugging him.

“Stop,” he demanded.

“No,” she quickly denied. Squall puffed his cheeks out, looking ready to protest, but as usual with Star, he didn’t. “You are gonna get snuggled and LIKE IT!” Star giggled as she jokingly nuzzled her cheek into his neck.

“Nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Squall released his signature louder groan as Storm Front and Matteo both watched awkwardly.

“What exactly is going on here?” Storm asked with a chuckle. Matteo snorted and turned his head to rest it sideways on his arms.

“I’d rather not get involved,” he stated, flinching for a moment as Twister suddenly walked by him. Storm trained his eyes on Twister, watching as he walked towards the cuddle struggle while wearing a pair of librarian glasses and a fake moustache that matched his mane. He had a clipboard in one of his hooves that was marked ‘shipping,’ which he held up and made a few marks on before moving along casually.

Storm just shook his head, purposely disregarding Twister as Squall continued to be snuggled into submission by Star.

“Looks like the Renegades are back,” Matteo chimed in. Storm turned and looked towards the entrance to the battledome. As Matteo had said, the Renegades who had left with the mail were entering and dropping their empty mail bags on the floor. Storm was about to dismiss it, but then he saw Descent walk through as well… with a mail bag…

---

Descent followed behind the rest of the Renegades as they entered, pulling his goggles down and shaking the snow out of his mane as he walked right past the rest of them without taking off his mail bag. He immediately began looking around for Storm, but somepony got to him first.

“Whoa, hold on a second,” Spitfire approached him after surveying the returning Renegades. “You went to deliver letters too? What happened to ‘personally hoof-picking the best for the job while I remain here?’” she quote his own words. Descent blinked and glanced around again before answering.

“After some brief contemplation I saw fit to deliver the letter to Princess Twilight personally,” he lied without hesitation, refusing to reveal any sort of emotion that drove him towards the real reason he did it. He was ready to counter any sort of skepticism from Spitfire, but instead got something else.

Spitfire was looking at him with a blank, yet somewhat flat expression that slowly turned into a furrowed brow.

“You went… to Ponyville,” she said slowly. Descent could read it in her expression. Relating him to Ponyville clearly only brought one thing to mind. It seemed that he wasn’t the only one who wouldn’t soon forget the event that set everything into motion between the two organizations.

“Indeed I did,” Descent replied and returned her gaze in a manner that made it quite clear he understood what she was thinking. Spitfire folded her ears back and huffed.

“I’m sure that was an interesting experience for you,” she said with blatant sarcasm. It was well placed sarcasm, and Descent was not opposed to it, considering what his objective was a year ago, but he found himself chuckling. Spitfire looked at him quizzically as Descent not only nodded, but smiled too.

“As a matter of fact…” Descent paused as he recollected everything he just experienced. “It… was a very pleasant experience,” he said in a tone that was uncharacteristically soft. He glanced back at his uniform. “I was so distracted by it that I nearly forgot to pick up my flight suit on the way out,” he shook his head as he looked away from Spitfire, scanning the surrounding area until he spotted Matteo. Knowing the son of Massimo was acquainted with his son, it didn’t take long for Descent to spot Storm’s brown fur and yellow mane. “Excuse me,” Descent stepped away and moved towards Storm, leaving behind a confused, but interested Spitfire.

“Hmm…” Spitfire examined him carefully as he moved away, not quite sure what to make of what she just saw. Descent was still his normal, brutally serious self, but little bits of emotion were squeaking through.

---

“Hm?” Matteo suddenly lifted his head up from his arms, his eyes narrowing into a firm glare. With Squall still being affectionately harassed by Star, Storm was the first to notice. It was a glare Storm had seen a lot lately, but it wasn’t aimed at him. Which… could only mean one thing.

Storm looked over his shoulder to see his father approaching while wearing a mail bag. Descent was looking directly at him, but as he grew closer, his eyes shifted towards Matteo and hardened into a fierce glare to counter the one he was receiving. Storm swallowed nervously as Descent grew closer. It was clear Descent was coming over to see him, but with Matteo so close by, he wasn’t sure what would happen.

Descent stopped right beside Storm, but kept his eyes locked in a battle of fierce gazes with Matteo. Matteo began to release a low growl from the back of his throat, his talons opening and closing, making audible scratching noises against the battle dome floor. Descent’s lips curled into a confident smirk.

“You have your father’s battle glare,” Descent spoke up. “And are as equally unwavering in the face of mine. Good… I expect no less from the son of the strongest warrior I ever faced.”

“HMPH!” Matteo grunted, clicking the bottom point of his beak against the top as if he was restraining himself from engaging Descent in battle. Storm didn’t dare say anything until the little exchange was complete, remaining completely silent with his eyes darting back and forth between them.

Despite the gravity of the air between the two, Descent turned away from Matteo and looked towards Storm.

“Storm,” he addressed him while making a small head motion to his right. “Come with me for a minute,” he said simply before turning his back and walking away.

“Huh?” Storm blinked as he looked at Matteo, who was still looking away, and then back at Star and Squall, whose little struggle against each other had paused due to curiosity. Twister of course, was nowhere to be found. “Ah!” Storm quickly got up, seeing that his father was not stopping or waiting for him, and followed behind in a canter to catch up, doing his best to keep his blanket from falling off as he moved. As soon as he was beside Descent, he glanced at his father’s face to see the usual serious expression. Storm was still not used to that face. Every time Descent had briefly visited him throughout his colthood, it was always with a smile. He understood this was how his father truly was most of the time, but since it was new to him, he couldn’t help but feel he was being pulled aside for something serious.

But then Storm realized that they could have stopped numerous times as they walked around. It looked like Descent was trying to find a spot where they could have some privacy, if any. He ended up stopping at a barrel near the wall that was unoccupied, and the closest ponies were two barrels away. It seemed to suffice.

Descent made his way around the barrel to somewhat block him from view of any others and sat down. Storm followed, moving around in front of Descent before sitting down as well, looking into the serious gaze of his father and anxiously awaiting what he wanted to talk about.

Then Descent suddenly exhaled and his expression softened slightly. It didn’t lighten too much, but there was a clear difference. It was as if he had two separate states of mind set aside, one for business, and one just for Storm. It didn’t seem fake though because it was reminiscent of how Descent had always looked while visiting him in the past.

“So… Storm,” Descent spoke up, breaking Storm’s thoughts completely and causing him to focus on his father as the orange flicker of the fire nearby caused the shadows to dance about their faces. “I saw you place a letter in the pile.”

Storm froze and his eyes widened.

“Uh…” he winced and bit his lower lip. “Yeah, I did… but,” his eyes widened further as he eyed the mailbag that Descent was still wearing.

“Based on your face, I’d say I don’t have to explain what I did because of it,” Descent called out Storm’s thoughts. Storm’s ears drooped as he stared at his father in disbelief.

“Wait, whoa, whoa, you… went to Ponyville?! And…” his mouth hung agape. “Oh god…” he lowered his head as he looked up at Descent. Descent lifted an eyebrow as his son shrunk before him. He let out an amused snort before shaking his head.

“What are you doing?” he asked as Storm wore a look of complete defeat.

“You met… you… uh… my… er…” he stuttered, clearly never expecting such a scenario to happen so soon.

“Your marefriend?” Descent stated flatly, causing Storm to flinch.

“Um…”

“Derpy Hooves?” Descent switched which eyebrow he had raised.

“Uh…”

“Storm, stand up,” Descent ordered.

“Huh? Oh…” Storm looked down, finally realizing that he had lowered himself all the way to the floor. He quickly pushed himself up, but remained stiff and worried.

“Storm…” Descent furrowed his brow. “RELAX.”

“I… sorry…” Storm took a deep breath, looking at the floor for a moment. “I guess… I just…”

“Didn’t think I’d find out?” Descent finished for him. Storm flinched… again.

“Well… I had a feeling you would eventually, but…” Storm looked up and around. “Given where we are right now…”

“Curiosity provoked the cat,” Descent added as Storm looked up at him curiously.

“Isn’t the saying, ‘curiosity killed the—?’”

“Beside the point,” Descent quickly cut him off after butchering the saying. He growled as Storm continued to look uncomfortable. He didn’t know if it was his demeanor, which was something that he rarely changed, but the fact that Storm seemed afraid of the whole situation was starting to bother him. “STORM!” he said his name sternly, causing him to freeze up completely. “For the love of Celestia… is there something about this situation that’s implying I’m angry?”

Storm blinked, looking Descent in the eyes before looking his face over.

“Er… I hate to break it to you, Dad… but you do have a naturally stern look,” Storm pointed out. Descent grunted before cracking a subtle smirk.

“I guess you’re seeing the natural me now…” he quickly shook his head. “No, the smiles I put on back when I used to visit you were not fake, but I admit, smiling was something I didn’t do very often, it felt unnatural, but I did it for you.”

“Then why aren’t you smiling now?” Storm tipped his head to the side.

“Too many ponies around,” Descent answered instantly.

“PFFFF…” Storm’s cheeks puffed up as he held a hoof over his mouth.

“What?” Descent scrunched his face as Storm tried to hold back laughter, but failed, letting a few chuckles loose.

“Can’t not look like a hardass around your comrades?” Storm asked as he continued to chuckle.

“Believe me,” Descent grunted as he looked away. “With the idiots I have to keep in line, it helps,” he growled and looked sternly at Storm again. “Hey! We’re NOT talking about me here!”

“Sorry!” Storm stiffened and shrunk backwards, but the goofy smile on his face remained.

“We’re talking about Derpy Hooves… who I met,” Descent reminded Storm. Storm swallowed and stood up straight awaiting his father to continue. “She is a little… out there,” he said first. Storm gritted his teeth. While he didn’t disagree on Derpy being a little bit of an airhead, he was hoping Descent didn’t see that as bad. “But she was very friendly, letting me right into her house like a neighbor. I admit, my appearance had me worried, but she and Ponyville in general didn’t seem to care at all. Well, at least most of them.”

“That’s the kind of mare she is…” Storm was under the impression Descent was speaking negatively and he was scratching and clawing in his brain to find a way to sway his opinion, but—

“I like her,” Descent suddenly added.

“But she—” Storm blinked. “Wait… you do?”

“You sound surprised,” Descent narrowed his eyes.

“No! No…” Storm quickly held out his hooves, his blanket dropping to the floor. He shivered, reaching down and picking it back up before continuing. “I’m… glad you do, I’m just curious as to why. You don’t come off as somepony who is easy to sway… no offense.”

“None taken because you’re right,” Descent agreed. He smirked again. “In fact, I didn’t even tell her who I was. I wanted to see her unbiased reaction to your letter and… her reaction definitely spoke towards how she feels about you.”

“Really?” Storm smiled. “What did she do?” he asked eagerly.

“She read the letter over three or four times, clutched it to her heart, and squealed like a giddy little filly while hovering in the air,” Descent recalled Derpy’s extravagant reaction.

“Oh…” Storm sighed happily as he blushed lightly. “Well, she absolutely adores sweet words… I tried my best to give her—”

“I know, I read it,” Descent cut him off.

“YOU WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?!” Storm fired straight up into the air out of his blanket, making it halfway to the ceiling before falling back down and landing right in front of Descent and grabbed his shoulders. “You… you… DAD!” he yelled while trying to shake Descent by the shoulders, but he mostly remained in place. “Oooohhhh… Dammit…” Storm’s face turned bright red as he looked down. “That was… supposed to be for her eyes only…”

“Obviously,” Descent said stiffly as he lightly pushed Storm off of him. “However, I wasn’t just there to judge her. I was there to judge you too.”

“Me?” Storm looked right back towards him with his ears pointing straight upward, the remains of the embarrassed blush still clear and present on his face.

“Yes,” Descent nodded. “Storm… while I’ve done the best I could to make brief time for us over the years, I feel like I’ve missed a lot. We’ve never had much of a chance to sit down and talk about things happening in your life, the experiences you’ve had, or the other ponies you’ve met. I’ve gotten to watch you grow up, but it was from behind a thin veil that separated us, the guise that I kept up for so long. While my trip to Ponyville was a very interesting experience, the highlight of my trip was what I learned about you.”

He paused as Storm listened intently, now more curious than embarrassed.

“What I took away the most from my encounter with Derpy… was the kind of stallion you’ve become,” he cracked a small grin. “The way Derpy reacted to your words, the words you wrote to her, and how she described you to me before I left… all spoke greatly towards your character,” he watched as Storm’s face became blank, as if he was unsure what to say or how to feel. “It made me very proud to hear that my son had become such respectable stallion, and that you’ve learned to love and care for others, grasping opportunities that I have never had.”

“Aw, Dad…” Storm smiled, his ears folding back as he felt his chest swell with delight.

“Don’t let go of her Storm, she cares just as much about you as you do her. I do not regret the life I have lived, but I envy you for those you have met and known,” Descent added as he reached back for his mailbag. “And I have something for you…”

“Oh?” Storm blinked, his eyes lighting up as Descent shuffled through his bag. He thought that there was going to be no returning mail… did Descent violate that rule for him?

All thoughts on the possibility were immediately shoved aside in Storm’s head when Descent turned back around and held out his hoof. In it, the small, hoof made plushie of Derpy, crafted by Derpy herself. Storm stared at it, his mouth slightly agape as he reached out and took the plushie into his hooves and held it in front of him.

“She wanted you to have this…” Descent spoke up as Storm’s eyes remained locked on the plush. “So that you could see her every day even though you two are apart,” he released a single chuckle. “A mare who wants something like that for my son is definitely okay in my book.”

“She is so adorable…” Storm smiled as he tipped his head forward and lightly bumped his forehead against the soft material of the plushie’s nose. “This is totally something I can imagine her doing… I miss her so much.”

“And she misses you,” Descent relayed her words. “She also wanted me to tell you that she loves you very much…” as he expected, he felt a little weird saying such things, but he did it for his son. “And that she can’t wait to see you again.”

Storm listened to Descent as he delivered Derpy’s message. His eyes widened slightly as he stared at the plushie and took it all in. Descent flinched as Storm suddenly stepped forward and hugged him. Descent’s eyes widened and his pupils darted around to see if anypony was looking. Not that he didn’t want to give his son a hug, but…

Who was he kidding?

Descent returned the embrace with one arm as Storm held onto him tightly with the plushie still in hoof. Storm Front was the only light in his dark life. He could make an exception and drop his guard… but only a little.

“Once things die down, we need to sit down and talk more,” Descent suggested. “I want to know more about your life, all the things that I missed.

“Agreed,” Storm nodded against Descent’s shoulder. “And… thanks Dad…”

---

Descent and Storm were not as hidden as Descent thought or wanted to be. In fact, Descent had failed to notice that they were almost in direct eyesight of Soarin and Rainbow Dash. The father and son duo were a good five barrels away from them, but it was easy to watch them from their position.

“I’m so glad for Storm,” Soarin spoke up as her rubbed his hoof on Dash’s opposite shoulder. She gave his shoulder a nuzzle as she listened. “He was always so down on himself and worried about his dad. I could almost see it weighing him down in everything he did. Since Descent showed up… well, Storm’s been looking like a different pony.”

“Yeah,” Dash agreed as she too looked over. “Though I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around it.”

“Around what?” Soarin asked her as he lightly squeezed her against him.

“Descent being Storm’s father. After all we’ve been through with Descent, he just doesn’t fit the description Storm continuously gave him. I mean, I know all about everything now, but it’s still hard to grasp,” Dash explained.

“No, I hear ya,” Soarin agreed. “But ponies have reasons for keeping things secret. Descent didn’t want Storm to ever have a part in the life he led. Obviously that broke down and he knows now, but I can see Descent’s reasoning behind it. I guess the big guy has more of a heart than we thought, he was just a professional at hiding it.”

“And some ponies…” Dash suddenly dug her nose into the crook of his chest and shoulder roughly, causing him to flinch lightly. “Hide things when they really shouldn’t.”

“I apologize for my stubborn insolence, I will not fail you again,” Soarin answered jokingly, acknowledging his reluctance to be straightforward about his troubles as Dash snickered and bumped her head against him in response.

“Oh stop. At least you can’t get away with it when I’m around,” she pulled her head back and stuck her tongue out at him.

“Sheesh you two…” Fleetfoot suddenly spoke up from the barrel across from theirs. Soarin and Dash both perked up and looked over. “Just bang in that blanket while you’re at it…”

They were both paying such close attention to each other that Fleetfoot had gone almost completely unnoticed. She still had herself entirely covered, barely more than her nose and eyes exposed to the cold. Soarin chuckled when he saw her and her barely changed state of blanket cover.

“I’ll restrain myself if you come out from hiding and tell us why you’re acting so weird,” he asked to jokingly compromise.

“Yeah, no,” Fleetfoot quickly covered her eyes. “If that’s the price, just start having sex, don’t mind me!” she stated firmly. While she had somewhat returned to her usual self post…whatever she had done, she was still refusing to let anypony know. Soarin knew that, but it was refreshing to have a temporary card to play against her usual shenanigans.

“Where’s Descent?” A new voice chimed in, causing Soarin and Dash to look over their shoulders. Lightning Dust and Starry Skies were trotting towards them. “You, horn-boy,” Starry said bluntly as she pointed at Soarin. “You seen Descent? He was supposed to be back out with us hours ago.”

“‘Horn boy?’” Soarin said to himself briefly before making a head motion over his shoulder. “He ran a personal errand, now he’s with his son.”

The moment Soarin mentioned Descent being with Storm, Starry furrowed her brow and grunted. Soarin watched her carefully as she stepped around them, not recognizing Fleetfoot covered in the blanket as she moved to get a better view of the father-son duo not too far away.

“I just don’t get it,” Starry huffed. “Where the hell did this come from? This isn’t like him at all,” she thought out loud as Lightning Dust walked up beside her.

“Maybe the big guy has a soft side?” she suggested.

“HA!” Starry instantly released a single guffaw while looking at Lightning Dust like she was crazy. “Soft side? Descent?” she shook her head. “And Griffons are vegetarians,” she replied with an intense amount of sarcasm in her voice. Dust shrugged.

“His life has been hell, right?” she asked Starry. “Maybe this is his way to get away from it.”

“Pfff,” Starry rolled her eyes. “I’ve been through just as much hell as he has. You don’t see me going around looking for hugs, ugh…” Starry cringed and shivered. “I can’t stand affection. Ponies are better off keeping their hooves to themselves.”

Dash flattened her brow at Starry’s very blunt opinion of love and care, but Soarin was snickering. Dash followed his eyes to so Fleetfoot had poked her head back out from the blanket and was looking towards Starry with sly amusement. Dust was still trying to reason with Starry.

“Yikes Starry, a hug isn’t gonna kill you,” she said while scrunching her face. Starry scoffed.

“But it might kill whoever tries to hug me,” she said coldly, unaware that Fleetfoot was shuffling towards her from behind in her blanket.

“Surprise attack!” Fleetfoot suddenly yelled as she leapt out of her blanket and onto Starry’s back, wrapping her arms around her neck.

“AHH!!!” Starry immediately yelped and frantically looked over her shoulder.

“Snuggle time!” Fleetfoot giggled as Starry looked at her completely mortified. Her eyes narrowed into a harsh glare and she growled as Fleetfoot jokingly rubbed her body up and down Starry’s back.

“I am giving you EXACTLY three seconds to get off of me before I break every bone in your body,” she hissed, but Fleetfoot looked directly into Starry’s eyes slyly, unaffected by the death glare. Lightning Dust slowly backed away, knowing full well what happened when one crossed Starry while she wore that glare. Fleetfoot shifted forward on Starry’s back to press her face into Starry’s.

“One,” Fleetfoot began to count as she drew close. “Two,” she snickered. “Three!” she finished while pressing her nose to Starry’s.

Soarin, Dash, and Dust all cringed as Starry lurched her body to the side, shaking Fleetfoot off. Fleetfoot landed on her hooves, but looked right up into an incoming hoof from Starry. Without dropping her snarky smirk, Fleetfoot dodged right, grabbed Starry’s arm, and pulled her into herself.

“Gah!” Starry yelped as she slammed into the Fleetfoot. The two fell flat on the floor and began wrestling as Fleetfoot sneered and Starry growled.

“Uh…” Dust blinked as she looked up at Soarin and Dash, then back down at the two wrestling mares. “Okay then…” she relaxed, seeing that despite Starry’s killing intent, Fleetfoot was not so easily beaten, and kept putting Starry in a position where she could neither get free nor land any hits.

“I didn’t know you liked me this much!” Fleetfoot joked while they tangled on the floor.

“I'd rather rinse my mouth out with broken glass!” Starry snarled back.

As they grappled on the floor, Air Mach, Macho Savage, and Lightning Streak all approached while just casually walking. The three of them stopped and stared at Fleetfoot and Starry on the floor, all exchanging brief glances before they turned and sat on the floor, observing as they offered each other hoofbumps.

“Hey! We have an audience now! Come on Starry! Feel it!” Fleetfoot continued to giggle as Starry began to growl and snarl ferociously.

“This is too weird,” Soarin spoke up as he and Dash watched. “And honestly, I thought Starry would learn by now that Fleet doesn’t back down so easily.”

“Doubt she’ll forget it after this,” Dash snickered as the ‘event’ in front of them drew a few more stallions… and High Winds.

It got to the point where the two were rolling around on the floor. Fleetfoot snatched up her blanket as they rolled and started wrapping it around them. A few minutes of struggling, grunting, laughter, and spectator hoofbumps later, the two of them were completely wrapped in the blanket, pulled tight by Fleetfoot with the two of them back to back, only their heads sticking out.

“How did you even get us like this?!” Starry struggled, but was completely stuck.

“Trade secret!” Fleetfoot snickered as she managed to turn around and teasingly rub her nose against Starry’s ear. Starry quickly folded her ear to avoid it.

“GAH! STOP IT!” she frantically yelled as she struggled.

“You got yourself into this mess! Now you gotta deal with it!”

“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!” Starry growled and yelled as she moved her head and folded her ears sporadically to try and avoid.

“What in the HELL is going on over here?” Descent asked as he and Storm pushed through the crowd of stallions. He blinked when his eyes landed on Starry, looking defeated and a little panicked as Fleetfoot rested her chin atop Starry’s head with a goofy smile. He furrowed his brow and raised an eyebrow.

“Descent, HELP!” Starry whined as she continued to grit her teeth and growl.

“NOPONY CAN HELP YOU NOW!” Fleetfoot continued to be silly as Descent sighed.

Off to the side, Soarin and Dash had enjoyed the entertainment, both shaking their heads with amusement.

“Never a dull moment in the compound,” Dash commented while glancing up at Soarin.

“Even when it’s planted in the northern mountains and we’re hiding from strange ponies trying to kill us all. Really, sometimes I wonder just how sane we are,” Soarin said jokingly.

“I lost all hope for my sanity the moment I got to know all of you guys,” Dash nudged him in the chest.

“That sounds about right,” Soarin chuckled in response as he looked over towards the scene. Descent and Lightning Dust were trying to pull Starry out of the blanket, as the stallions and High Winds booed at them. They were struggling due to Fleetfoot’s apparent skill of trapping another pony in a blanket with her.

“I’m feeling kind of stiff,” Dash leaned away from Soarin and shook out her arms, shedding the blanket from her shoulders to stretch out her wings. Soarin watched her move, glancing back at the blanket wrestling before turning back to Dash and nodding.

“You know what?” Soarin spoke as he stood up and grabbed a spare blanket nearby on the floor. “I’m feeling like a walk. I don’t mind resting all day, but I gotta stretch my legs…” he cracked his neck and forth before shaking his mane out.”

“Want some company?” she fluttered her eyelashes at him.

“You don’t have a choice in the matter,” Soarin smirked in response as he tossed the extra blanket to her, landing it right on her face.

“Hey!” she laughed as she grabbed it, but before she could pull it off her face she felt feathers against her back. She yelped as Soarin grabbed her with his wing and scooped her right up off the ground. Dash flattened her brow, but grinned at him as he began carrying her away from the cacophony and through the battledome. “It’s called a ‘walk’ for a reason, Soarin.”

“Shhhhhhhhh… no tears…” Soarin replied goofily as Dash giggled and let it happen.

“You’ve got until the doors to have your fill, or else I’m going right for your exposed sides Mr. Ticklish, and don’t think I won’t,” she smirked as Soarin flinched lightly.

“Yes ma’am.”

---

Rainbow Dash and Soarin left the battledome behind them, stepping out into the cold, but much quieter hallway. Soarin put her down as promised, but not before getting another vigorous threat to be tickled.

“So, uh…” Soarin shrugged. “Normally I’d suggest we head into town or something, but… kind of hard to do that right now,” he said as he stared out a nearby window in the hallway, taking in the sight of the artificial blizzard raging outside.

“Yeah, I dunno, that might be a little hard,” Dash chuckled as she trotted up to the window and looked out. Soarin walked up beside her and watched the blizzard, the wind whistling as the snow sprayed against the window. “It’s funny how much things can change, huh?” Dash spoke up as she rested her arms on the cold windowsill and placed her chin atop them. “A year ago, I didn’t even know you guys were a military force, now here I am as one of you… and… I feel so calm despite the danger.”

“Then you’re definitely one of us,” Soarin said with a light chuckle as he shifted and leaned up against her. “I used to be afraid… very afraid of everything. Now we get into trouble or go into hiding, or whatever… things that you’d think would have me on edge feel natural. It comes with the job. I know we have a little bit of comfort going right now with the Renegades helping us out, but we are technically one slip up away from being under attack.”

“Natural, yeah…” Dash nodded. “That’s exactly how it feels…” she smirked. “I think I have to thank Silver for driving that into my head so quickly.”

“That’s the whole point of the ‘The Test’ too,” Soarin continued. “Shock the recruits with something way more dangerous than they’d ever really face and they’ll never feel so nervous again. Well, at least on a crisis level, it helps breed the calm approach to any situation.”

“Yeah, and I still hate how good of an actor you are,” Dash joked while pushing against him, remembering Soarin’s ‘injured’ charade during the test. “Make that all of you. I thought for sure we were all dead.”

“We like to think we’re multi-talented,” Soarin said jokingly, earning a few giggles from Dash. “Speaking of Silver…” Soarin’s tone suddenly turned serious. Dash blinked, not expecting Soarin to bring up her mentor. “How is he holding up?” Soarin asked, looking directly at Dash.

Dash froze for a moment, unsure how to proceed. She knew for a fact that Silver had been struggling. She saw the state of his body herself and just how broken he is beneath the guise of his unbreakable spirit. She trusted Soarin, and didn’t want to lie to him, but at the same time she felt it would lift a weight off her chest if she told somepony. Soarin, obviously, was the first pony that came to mind to talk about things like this, but he happened to be associated with somepony Dash didn’t want to spill the beans to… Spitfire.

In fact, a thought hit Dash as she contemplated what to say… she hadn’t talked to Soarin at all about Silver… at least as far as she could remember, barely if any at all. She had been receiving personal training under Silver, but wasn’t that supposed to be a bit of a secret as well? So much had happened she couldn’t remember what was meant to be told and what wasn’t. Everything happening right now seemed so much more important than a few personal training sessions.

“Dash,” Soarin smiled and looked down as he let a few light chuckles go. “Relax, I know about your training with Silver.”

“Huh?” Dash blinked. “How did…”

“Well, for one,” Soarin reached a hoof up and booped her nose with his hoof. “You always have this distinct look on your face when you’re nervously trying to figure out what to say.”

“What? I do?” Dash furrowed her brow and pouted at him.

“And that’s the face you make when you’re being cute and grumpy,” Soarin booped her nose again.

“Stop that!” she pushed him away while giggling. “Okay… so you know, I guess Silver told you.”

“I kind of figured it out, but yeah, he told me too. Honestly, I’m jealous. I wish I had a pony like him for a mentor… I want to hear all about that too, but first, seriously how is he holding up?”

“What do you mean?” Dash asked him, nervously thinking it over. It was fine if Soarin knew Silver was training her, but what about the rest of it? About Silver’s body?

“You’re making the face again,” Soarin grinned. Dash groaned and put a wing over her face.

“Seriously, stop! You’re going to make me paranoid about it!” she whined as she let her wing fall off her face and puffed her cheeks at him. Soarin shook his head lightly before his expression turned serious.

“Worried about telling me how poorly his body is holding up?” Soarin suddenly asked. Dash froze again, her eyes widening.

Soarin… knew about Silver’s secret?

“I’ll take that face,” Soarin reached to boop her nose again, but she quickly reached up and pressed her hoof over his to prevent it. “As a yes…” Soarin turned away from her and glanced over his shoulder. “C’mon, we haven’t done much walking on this walk yet. Let’s walk and talk,” he suggested as Dash gulped and trotted up beside him. The two aimed towards the lobby and walked slowly with no true destination in mind. They moved beneath the dim working lights and enjoyed each other’s presence as well as the warmth of the blankets.

“So… you know, huh?” Dash sighed and her ears flopped down. “So much for keeping the secret…”

“Actually…” Soarin sighed. “It really isn’t a secret… to any of us in the Wonderbolts, at least among the elites.”

Dash stopped right in her tracks for a brief moment, causing Soarin to come to a halt a few steps ahead of her. Soarin smiled weakly at her.

“Hey, the Wonderbolts look after one another… and Silver is a very important part of our family,” Soarin’s smile grew stronger as Dash found her motion again and caught up.

“So you guys all know about… what he’s been doing? How…” she paused and her ears flopped down. “How broken he really is?”

“I don’t know if broken is the right word to describe it, but yes,” Soarin confirmed as they reached the lobby. They paused for a moment as Rivet flew by, guiding two unicorns who were lifting a heavy metal cylinder towards the giant pillar sticking through the lobby. Soarin and Dash angled their path to stay out of the way of Rivet and all the repairs taking place.

“Silver has been here for longer than all of us, and no matter how many times the old guy tries to hide it… we see it,” Soarin explained. “His movements are stiff, he grimaces often, he spends more time in the training room with Bliss than the rest of us, and from what Wave Chill tells us, he has a hard time just rolling out of bed in the morning. In fact, he usually…”

“Shoo’s him out before getting up, he told me,” Dash cut off Soarin while sighing. “Silver has let me in on a lot… most of which I kind of learned by accident, but know nonetheless. Every part of me wants to tell Spitfire and get him out of danger but…” Dash trailed off.

“I’m sure suggesting that went well,” Soarin chuckled.

“Nope, not one bit.”

“And believe me, we’ve all thought about that too,” Soarin let his ears flop down. “We’ve all talked about it amongst ourselves and have considered on many occasions letting Spitfire know about our concerns, but… how could we?” Said Soarin as Dash turned her eyes towards him. It was already a bit of a shock that the ‘secret’ she was keeping wasn’t much of one at all… but were the rest of them being just as secretive? “Have you seen how hard Silver tries? Have you seen how passionate he is about everything that is the Wonderbolts? There’s nothing that can keep him down, not even being beaten senseless… which,” Soarin paused and cringed. “Which I still feel really bad about…” he said as he glanced up at his horn, remembering when the yellow magic ran free and led to him severely beating up Silver in a training battle. Dash remembered it just as well.

“But even if you were in control, would you have held back against him?” she asked as they made their way around the workers in the lobby and into the east hallway. Soarin chuckled and shook his head.

“That’s why I said I don’t think ‘broken’ is the right word to describe Silver… because no matter how battered his body is, he’s still the Iron-Horse Silver Lining. You ever punched him? It’s like hitting a thick sheet of metal. Plus, if we hold back while training with or against him, we pay for it hard,” Soarin shook his head. “I’ve had my share of bruises while training, but I’ll definitely say the worst ones came from taking it easy around Silver.”

“I can fully relate to that,” Dash smirked as she thought back on all the training her had done with Silver. If she gave any less than her best, he’d make her regret it.

“And that’s exactly why we’re so hesitant,” Soarin continued as they paused and looked back into the lobby. “Silver is a driving force among us. We all like to give positive encouragement, but so much comes directly from Silver alone. He doesn’t only talk the talk, he walks the walk and pulls us all along with him. We are all better flyers because of him. We are all stronger because of him. You don’t find ponies that have an effect like that on all around them very often,” Soarin and Dash both looked at each other as they turned and started walking into the east hallway.

Dash agreed with everything Soarin said. She would not be the Wonderbolt she is right now if not for how hard Silver pushed her. She had learned so many lessons from him and gone through so much personal, vigorous training. Would she be where she was if somepony else had been in charge of her? Definitely not.

She never doubted how great Silver was, but hearing all of this from Soarin was putting things into a new perspective… an even greater perspective. Silver wasn’t just having an effect on her, he was having an effect on everypony he came near. While she still worried about him and felt the need to protest his choice to keep going and hide the pain, she couldn’t deny everything that he was and what he stood for… the stubborn old fart. But, it did make Dash wonder…

“You think Spitfire sees it too?” Dash suddenly asked, drawing Soarin’s attention. “I mean… Silver is a good seven years over the average retirement age, you think she’s keeping him around because of it?”

“I couldn’t tell you,” Soarin shook his head. “But I’m sure you can understand why we’re hesitant to risk it.”

“Hmmm…” Dash hummed as she put everything she knew about Spitfire together. It didn’t take her long to see it.

“Spitfire is very adamant about her duties. She will follow Wonderbolt code even if it’s against her interests. While I don’t believe she would let it control her completely, none of us want her to even consider it. Silver’s pain is visible, I’m sure she’s seen it, and if Silver is still here, it’s safe to assume she doesn’t want him gone either… but for good measure we just don’t bring it up.”

“There really is no pony like him, is there?” Dash added.

“Like I said, they are hard to come by,” Soarin nodded. “Silver is like a father figure to us as well. The day Silver retires will be a sad day for all of us. I hate to put it this way, but I’m glad he held out until after all of this began. We need a pony like him around in tough situations.”

“He’s a different kind of awesome,” Dash agreed. “And… I hope he’ll be alright. I mean, I know he’s Silver Freaking Lining, but he’s done so much for me… and for us, I can’t help but worry a little.”

“Yeah…” Soarin nodded as the two went quiet, continuing down the hallway all the way up to the end of the east hall, staring at the door leading towards the stairs to the basement. They didn’t want to get in the way of any work being done on the compound, so they turned around to walk back.

“Kind of limited where we can walk, huh?” Dash shrugged as they started moving back towards the lobby.

“I wasn’t expecting too much,” Soarin tipped his head back and forth. “But whatever, I’m just happy to spend some time with you,” he said while looking towards her and smiling. Dash turned her head and returned the smile right back to him.

“WHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!” a voice suddenly yelled out as something shot by right between them, causing them to twirl and stumble. After turning around a couple of times, the two shook their heads out and got their bearings.

“What the hell was…?” Dash spoke, but quickly trailed off as her eyes widened.

“What?” Soarin blinked as he too started looking around, his expression going blank. “Uh… what the…?” Soarin was equally stumped.

They were still in the Wonderbolt compound, there was no doubt about it, but… the hallway had changed. It was endless in both directions, nothing but continued hallway and doors for what looked like miles. No matter how hard Soarin and Dash looked to the left and right, there was no end in sight. The lobby was gone from view, and despite only walking a few yards, the wall behind them had vanished, revealing a hallway that extended forever in the other direction.

“Uh… okay…” Soarin commented as he stood on the tips of his hooves to try and see as far down the hallway as he could.

“What the actual f—” Dash cut herself off as she looked towards the closest door. “Huh?” she blinked as she spotted a sign hanging from the doorknob by a thread. “Soarin,” she quickly got his attention as she moved towards the door. Soarin watched curiously as he followed right behind her.

“What’s it say?” Soarin asked as he moved up beside Dash.

“Uh…” Dash lifted an eyebrow. “‘Review session scheduled for ‘no-pants’ o’clock?’’” Dash read off the sign.

“No pants o’clock?” Soarin furrowed his brow as he repeated the words. Dash turned the sign over, to see if there was more on the back, but it was blank.

“What does this even mean?” she asked herself as she looked up towards the door, but as she did… the door suddenly flew open, nearly knocking both her and Soarin over. Dash stumbled back into Soarin, who caught her before she could fall and the two stared up at the open door.

“GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!” Twister suddenly popped out of the door, rearing back on his hind legs… wearing a pair of dress pants. He reached into his wing and pulled out a massive clock that was several times larger than him. “LOOK AT THE TIME!” he yelled while pointing to the clock hands. They were moving so fast around the clock that they were blurry. There were pairs of pants in place of where the numbers were supposed to be on the clock that were all identical save for the twelve spot, which had a pair of pants that was crossed out with a red X. The clock hands suddenly slammed into place, both pointing to the icon crossing out the pants. “IT’S NO-PANTS O’CLOCK!” he yelled as he slammed the clock to the floor and kicked it, making it roll down the endless hallway. “DON’T WANT TO DISAPPOINT YOU GUYS!” he added as he reached down and completely ripped the pants off of his lower body, complete with the painful sounds of tearing fabric.

Soarin just stared straight forward at Twister. It wasn’t like he had never experienced strange ponies before, hell he knew Surprise, but… what?

“I should have known…” Dash released a long exasperated sigh and slammed a hoof over her face as the giant clock suddenly rolled by behind them from the opposite direction as if it had circled the earth. She stole a quick glance at Soarin as he sat with his mouth agape. It was a little scary to her just how calm she had become in the wake of Twister’s random shenanigans and seemingly impossible scenarios… but this time she had a buddy along for the ride. Why did he rope Soarin into this one? Asking definitely wouldn’t work, but she wouldn’t put it past being something simple like ‘being bored.’

“Twister!” Dash yelled as the clock rolled by behind them again. “I know you’re probably bored out of your skull, but I’m really not in the mood for this right now and…” she paused and thrust her plot backwards, slamming it into the face of the clock as it rolled by again, causing it to tip and fall against the wall. “And did you have to annoy Soarin too?” she continued.

Soarin slowly turned his head towards Dash, admittedly a little in awe of how casually she was taking this. She had mentioned Twister and his antics to her in the past, but… seriously, what was going on?

“Now now…” Twister was suddenly riding on Soarin’s back in the blink of an eye. “Hold your horses there, young lady!” He pulled a bowler hat out of his wing and smacked it onto his head, causing his neck to telescope between his shoulders before bouncing back out with a loud SPROING. A big sticker in the shape of a sheriff star badge had appeared on his chest that had the words ‘truant-officer’ on it. “We can’t have you playing hooky!” he pointed at her as he dismounted Soarin and placed himself behind Dash.

“Twister, I swear to Celestia if you touch my—” Dash was cut off as Twister placed both hooves on Dash’s plot. She immediately bucked at Twister’s face, but he appeared in front of her.

“HA! CAT-LIKE REFLEXES!” he said while pressing his nose to hers before appearing directly behind her again and shoving her into the door.

“WHOA!” Dash tried to anchor her hooves, but they slid across the floor as if it was coated with butter… and upon closer inspection… it was. Dash slipped and slid across the floor until she crashed into the door and fell through it, tumbling into the classroom.

“Dash!” Soarin yelled out and was ready to follow, but Twister slammed down onto Soarin’s back with a saddle.

“GO MY NOBLE STEED!” he yelled as he opened his wings and flapped them to create a back draft. The push forced Soarin to take a step forward right onto the butter coated floor, causing him to slip and fall, his chin hitting the floor as he began to slide across it.

“Whoooahhaooaoaaaaahhh!!!” Soarin flailed his hooves, trying to stop himself as he slid into the classroom, with Twister still on his back despite the awkward face-down-plot-up angle Soarin was in as he slid.

Once Twister had them both in the room, the door slammed and the lights shut off, leaving both Soarin and Dash in complete darkness. Everything went silent for a few moments.

“Um… Dash?” Soarin spoke finally.

“What?” Dash replied with a clearly exasperated tone.

“Is this normal for—”

“Yes,” Dash cut him off.

Suddenly the lights came on, revealing the classroom in its entirety, but it looked quite a bit different. For starters, it looked like a schoolhouse. There was a blackboard on the wall instead of the usual whiteboard and there was a teacher desk at the front, with an apple on it. Several open cabinets filled with arts and crafts supplies lined the right wall, a sink with a cabinet labeled ‘SNACK TIME!’ on the other. There were multiple motivational posters on the walls with cats on them, as well as the ABC’s lining the wall near the ceiling. To complete the look, Soarin and Rainbow Dash were both sitting at school desks, the usual long tables removed.

Only they were roped to the chairs. Their limbs were free, but the chairs were attached to the floor, making it impossible for them to move. It was also strangely warm in the room, as if they were completely cut off from the cold.

Soarin examined his surroundings with a mixture of confusion and disbelief as Dash remained staring straight forward with a flat look on her face. She glanced at Soarin as he looked completely mortified and sighed.

“I’ll see if I can get us out of this,” she said casually as Soarin continued to not quite be sure if he was dreaming or not.

“GOOD MORNING CLASS!” Twister suddenly popped up from behind the desk wearing a pair of large glasses and holding a retracted teacher pointer in his hoof. “This review session is now… well… IN SESSION!” he said with a silly tone as he pressed a button on the side of the pointer. It suddenly shot outward, extending towards Soarin.

“AH!” Soarin ducked as the pointer zipped past his head and hit the snack cabinet, smashing right through the door.

“Oh, this thing is SO finicky!” Twister snickered as he pressed the button again. The pointer retracted, pulling the tip out of the snack cabinet with seventeen cookies stuck on it. Two of the cookies flew off the pointer, one landing on Soarin and Dash’s desks each as the other fifteen went right back to him, shooting off the pointer as it stopped and arcing around into Twister’s open mouth as he swallowed them whole. “Educational nutrition at its best!”

“Twister,” Dash spoke up in a very flat tone as Soarin remained silent, letting her handle it.

“Now class,” Twister ignored her and stepped out in front of the two of them while whirling the pointer around.

“Twister…” Dash growled.

“It’s time for us to look back on everything we’ve learned about… ME!” he pointed to himself with a wide smile before zipping up to Dash and getting into her face. “AND YES, THIS WILL BE ON THE TEST.”

“Twister!” Dash raised her voice a little, but Twister shifted over to Soarin.

“YOU MUST BE NEW AROUND HERE! Perfect! We can get you up to speed as well, heheheheh!” He pulled back from Soarin. “After all… we’ve got a lot of readers who are dying to figure me out…” Twister paused as a hatch on the floor labeled ‘The Jim Hoxey Moxey’ suddenly opened. Three ponies stuck their heads out. An orange unicorn mare with a darker orange mane, a light blue pegasus mare with a mane and tail of different blue shades, and a grey stallion with a black mane.

“What the…? Is this the right hatch?” The grey stallion scratched his head before Twister pushed all three of them back into the opening, slammed the hatch shut and spontaneously welded it shut with a blowtorch and welder’s mask before throwing said tools out the window, the breaking of the window making the sound of a dog barking instead of glass shattering.

“BUT I AIN’T GONNA MAKE IT THAT EASY. WAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Twister danced around their desks before bending his body backwards and belly flopping onto Soarin’s desk, sliding across the desk and onto Dash’s, eating the two cookies that had been placed on them.

“TWISTER!” Dash yelled as loud as she could while slamming her hooves down on him before he could slide off her desk. “CUT IT OUT! If you’re gonna bother me, do it LATER and don’t get others involved in this crap!” she ordered. Twister was out of her grip in an instant, his hooves pressed hard to her desk as he got in her face with an exaggerated flat expression and his eyes pointing in different directions.

“I WILL NOT TOLERATE MISBEHAVING PONIES!” He lifted his hooves from the desk and reached all the way back behind his head. He flung them back forward with something in his hooves. Dash yelped as Twister slammed whatever it was over her head, creating a loud HONK noise as he did. Whatever it was, it didn’t hurt, and when he stepped back, Dash looked up to see a large cone hat on her head with the word ‘DUNCE’ written down it.

“Oh for the love of…” Dash reached up and tried to pull it off, but as she suspected before the attempt, it was stuck.

“NOPONY APPRECIATES MY WORK!” Twister flailed about as he trotted in circles around Dash’s desk. “I SPENT THIRTY SIX YEARS IN LAW-SCHOOL TO EARN MY DOUBLE MAJOR DEGREE IN PHYSICS AND CREATIVE WRITING. IT WAS THE FINAL STEP TO MY DREAM OF BECOMING A GRADE SCHOOL TEACHER!” Twister jumped back and grabbed the edge of his desk. “YOU’LL NEVER INVENT GRAVITY, THEY SAID! TWO PLUS TWO IS FIVE THEY SAID! TALKING, CANDY COLORED, MINIATURE CARTOON HORSES, THEY SAID! WHO’S LAUGHING NOW!? WAHARWAHAHAHAR! HUP!” Twister threw his arms up, flipping his desk completely and tossing it across the room.

“I’m scared… and confused,” Soarin admitted as he watched the table flip and hang in midair for a few seconds before landing perfectly upright, with the apple still resting on the surface in the same place.

“Just let it happen…” Dash sighed as she rested her chin on her hoof. “He never does any actual harm and stops once he’s had his fill.”

“SO!” Twister zipped up onto Soarin’s desk and reclined on it. “LET’S REVIEW!” he exclaimed in a flamboyant voice before zipping over to his desk and pushing it all the way back to where it began… only the apple had turned into an orange. “A-HRM!!” Twister suddenly coughed and held his hoof to his mouth. He began to cough over and over again, each one more violent than the last before finally. “AAAAAHHHGGGG HUCK!” Twister snapped his head towards the chalkboard and coughed up a thick cloud of chalk dust that splashed against the board. When the dust cleared, the board was covered with multiple diagrams and doodles of himself done with varying degrees of artistic ability. At the top, the whole thing was titled: ‘Freaky Twister.’

“Whoa!” Twister grunted a few times while patting his chest. “I should probably cut down to only one pack of chalk a day…” he did a quick pirouette before tapping the pointer against the board and looking directly at Soarin. “Let’s start with when I tied up your honey in the ladies room!”

“Wait, you did WHAT?!” Soarin blinked as his eyes widened. Under any other circumstances he would have been glaring, but he was too confused to do so.

“Soarin I told you about that,” Dash reminded Soarin. Soarin glanced at her, his eyes reverting to normal.

“Oh… right…” Soarin scratched his head. “Sorry, so much has been going on, I guess I forgot.”

“HENCE THE REVIEW!” Twister zipped up and slapped the pointer against Soarin’s desk. “If I only had small clues about myself in four places across one hundred and three chapters, I’d be just as confused as the readers! So pay attention!” Twister zipped back up to the board. Soarin cocked an eyebrow and looked at Dash again, but Dash shook her head before he could ask her anything. Twister inhaled sharply.

“Where was I… AH YES! MARE BATHROOM POETRY!” Twister tapped an image on the board of himself dancing, drawn incredibly well. It was right beside a picture of Dash, drawn like a three year old crayon doodle, tied to a stool. “Our first encounter where I expressed to our female protagonist how she reminded me of a very, VERY special pony in my life…” Twister’s body… twisted around itself as he clutched the pointer to his heart and hearts began to literally float up from his head. “Ah… that pure white mare… her colorful mane… how much she adored my craaaaaaazy way of doing things when all others pushed me away. Ahhhhh…” he said as he began to tip to one side. “I was afraid she didn’t like me, just like the rest, but the ways she led me on and revealed how much she enjoyed it… aaaaaaahhhhhh…” But no matter how far he tipped in his dreamy daze, he remained off the floor. “A one of a kind mare… I’d do anything to get her back… but…”

Twister suddenly scrunched his face as he sprung back upright, and poked a large heart floating above his head with the pointer, making it explode with an absurdly loud POW. Soarin and Dash both winced, shutting their eyes for a moment, but a moment was all Twister apparently needed to completely change what was up on the chalkboard… and the orange on his desk was now a pear.

The blackboard now read ‘Twist Ledger’ on the top and was filled with different diagrams, and the rubber knife labeled ‘dramatic effect’ was dangling from a pin in the corner of it. Twister took a deep breath.

“On to part two!” Twister had a clear sound of slight grumpiness in his voice, but never losing the sneer. “When I tied you to a bed and walked around with a knife… like I was going to turn this into a popular gore fic or something about/not actually about pastries… BUT!” Twister reached up and grabbed the knife, flinging it towards Dash. Soarin gasped as he watched the knife careen towards Dash, he didn’t have the reach to stop it, nor did he have time to focus his magic, but Dash didn’t even budge.

Soarin blinked as the knife bounced off of Dash’s chest and wobbled through the air, landing on Soarin’s desk. Soarin blinked, poking the edge of the knife to discover it was a rubber knife. He yelped and pulled his hoof away as Twister slammed his cheek down on Soarin’s desk over the knife and began rubbing it against the rubber edge.

“IT STILL UNDERSTANDS ME!” he said as he picked his head up, the knife remaining attached to his cheek. “But oh, ho, ho…” he let the knife fall off of his face before leaning in towards Soarin’s face. “I believe during this time… I told Dash she was the only one I trusted… but… I have you here now, don’t I? I wonder why I trust you too?” He leaned too far forward and landed belly first on Soarin’s desk. “Guilty by association! She trusts you, so I guess I do too!” He reached up and grabbed Soarin’s face, turning his head towards Dash as she continued to sit and look incredibly annoyed. “Isn’t she a gem?”

“Uh…”

“BESIDE THE POINT!” Twister catapulted back in front of the blackboard and pointed a picture of himself drawn Phablo Phillicasso style with a tear falling up. “Twas during our second encounter that I revealed my struggle… the lack of understanding from others,” Twister smacked the pointer against three images of ponies walking away from him. “Everypony else was free to do as they pleased, but when I tried? Oh, no… not little old me… I can’t be who I want, it’s wrong… at least that’s what everypony told me. I had nopony who understood me… and nopony who tried to.” He turned around and faced his back to them. “Losing loved ones is hard… something that brings you down… and only the support of friends can help put you back on your hooves.” He fell onto his back and scooted across the floor until he was under Dash’s desk. “Am I riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight?” he asked.

“And you had nopony to do that for you…” Dash continued for him monotonously. “Because the only pony who ever understood you and would be that pony for you was also the pony that you loved…. Twister can you hurry this—?”

“CORRECT!” Twister’s head shot up, jamming through the bottom of her desk and out the wooden top. “Wow! That was like, forty-five chapters ago! Somepony has done her homework!” he fired through the hole in the desk, making the sound of a firecracker as he shot back over to the board. “But now I have you to understand me! And…” Twister pointed the pointer at Soarin. “Somepony else I feel is worthy of my story! What fun! I’ve never had two friends before!”

“Friends?” Soarin lifted his brow. A tomato came flying out of nowhere at Soarin’s face. “Ah!” Soarin ducked. The tomato flew over his head. “Nice try—AH!” Soarin yelped as an apple pie hit him directly in the face, splattering all over him.

“I know for a fact you like pie! My first gift to you as a friend!” Twister chuckled as he reached forward and pulled the pie off of Soarin’s face. The pie somehow reassembled as he dropped it on Soarin’s desk, sucking all of the splattered bits of pie off of Soarin as if he was never hit. Soarin looked down at the pie slowly realizing that there was no way he was going to understand any of this. Twister was right about him liking pie, but he hadn’t eaten any in a long time for healthy dieting reasons. Following Dash’s example, he didn’t reach for the pie, he just sat there and did nothing as Twister went on. Twister took another deep breath.

“Lights please!” Twister yelled, and on cue, the lights went off, turning back on a second later. The board had changed again, but this time only had one large image of him and Rainbow Dash sitting on stools with a pane of glass between them. The title on the board now read, ‘Twistable Lecter’… and the pear on the desk was now a pineapple.

“Ah… this moment was special…” Twister turned and pressed his face against the blackboard and dragged it across the surface, smearing the chalk on his cheek and distorting the image. He sharply turned towards Soarin with chalk dust all over his face and sneered. “Oh! Let’s have you experience this one directly! We are friends now after all, and I can prove it! Because friends know everything about each other!”

“Twister…” Dash suddenly growled, catching Soarin’s attention quickly. She had expressed to him to just ‘let it happen…’ so why was she going against that here? “I’m still creeped out over this one, just stop already.”

“NO,” Twister slammed a second dunce hat over the one Dash was already wearing, the letters on this one were lined with blinking Hearth’s Warming lights. Dash’s only reaction was to grunt and glare harder, which didn’t have an effect on Twister at all. “Now then!” Twister turned back to Soarin and leaned onto his desk. “Let’s play a game! Friends play games all the time!”

“Do I have a choice?” Soarin asked as he too, started to feel a little annoyed. He blinked and looked over Twister’s shoulder as the blackboard had been completely erased and just the word ‘NO’ was spread across its entirety. “I don’t know why I asked…” Soarin gave Twister a nod.

“The game is called…” Twister pressed the button on the pointer and it extended back towards the blackboard, catching a small ring neither of them had seen before. Twister pulled it down, unrolling what looked like a large classroom map, but instead it was just a big white poster that read ‘HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW SOARIN?!’

“What?” Soarin blinked as he looked the poster over.

“You first,” Twister offered as he released the ring of the poster and it shot back up. Soarin looked towards Dash, who only shook her head.

“Just do it… and don’t be too weirded out after,” she explained. Soarin furrowed his brow and looked back towards Twister.

“I’m Soarin, the Wonderbolt Power Flyer, first commander and second in command in the lead squad,” Soarin said simply. Twister bounced his left eyebrow at Soarin.

“That’s it?” he snickered. “Oh come on… am I the only pony around here who is willing to look at themselves a little deeper?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Soarin scrunched his face.

“Is that all you see when you look in the mirror? HMMMMMMMMM, my stallionly princess?” Twister reached the pointer forward and poked Soarin in the chest. “You only see what’s on the surface? Only acknowledge what you’ve done right?”

“I don’t think I’m perfect… if that’s what you’re getting at…” Soarin leaned away as Twister leaned over his desk and moved his face closer and closer to Soarin’s. It was as if Twister was examining him closely. “Will you cut that out?”

“Oh, just give me a moment, I’m only looking right through you…” Twister snickered. “You see… I pride myself in being quite perceptive… I can read a pony through their mannerisms and behaviors. I’ve had plenty of time to watch nearly everypony in the compound and believe me, you’re all hiding something, suppressing things you wish to forget about yourselves,” he pulled back and leaned towards Dash. “I’ve already done it to Dashie Washie over here. I wish you could have seen the look on her face!”

“I swear I’m gonna knock you silly after this… for real this time, Twister,” Dash growled as her patience wore ever thinner.

“And I…” Twister ignored Dash, focusing back on Soarin. “Have you all figured out as well!”

“You expect me to believe you can tell me about my flaws and regrets just by watching me?” Soarin flattened his brow. Twister’s smile grew as he plopped his plot down on the floor in front of Soarin’s desk and rested his arms on it, planting his chin on his forearms.

“Let’s see…” he slowly licked his upper lip from left to right. “Your large amount of confidence in yourself wasn’t always there… was it?” he began as Soarin blinked. “You were never a go-getter… you would watch incredible things and simply say, ‘I could never do that.’ You accepted that you were mediocre and were poised to live your life that way. As long as you could be comfortable and eat lots of pie… you’d be happy!”

“Uh…” Soarin’s mouth hung slightly agape.

“If it wasn’t for a good friend of yours pushing you along, you never even would have considered the Wonderbolts! But old habits die hard… you found a way to keep your lack of effort attitude even after you became a Wonderbolt. Your priorities shifted to your mind, body, and ability… but then you shunned anything else you wanted, claiming it wouldn’t be worth it or you had no time. You pushed many away, and burnt many bridges before they could even be built for the sake of ‘your career’… when in reality you just didn’t want to put forth the effort!”

“No! That’s… that’s not true! I…” Soarin suddenly freaked out. Twister was reading him completely.

Dash had turned to pay attention. There were a few things even she didn’t know about Soarin here. She knew about how he was neglecting what he wanted… but this talk of a lack of effort? This was new.

“I’ve changed! I have Rainbow Dash now! I will ALWAYS give her my full effort!” Soarin suddenly growled, glaring at Twister.

“You think one thing is enough to redefine you completely?” Twister snickered, his sneer growing incredibly wide. “What about your family?”

Soarin and Dash both stared at Twister wide eyed, Dash joining in on the surprise and disbelief.

“My family… But…” Soairn looked down.

“Haven’t made much of an effort for them, have you?” Twister bounced his eyebrows. “You’re too busy, you don’t have time… not even to write to them? Not to mention Rainbow Dash over here was another pony who had to encourage you in the right direction…” he glanced between them. “What? Please, it’s not that hard to put together, I can almost picture it… you told her you didn’t have time for love… and she tore you a new one for it… which eventually led you to force yourself slightly out of your habits for a marefriend. Face it, ‘first commander’… you only give real effort where you have your mind set… and everything else… just vanishes behind you.”

Soarin remained frozen in place, staring at Twister in pure, perplexed, quizzical, dumbfounded disbelief. Based on his reaction to Twister’s words, Dash found it safe to assume that Twister, like he had with her, had completely read Soarin top to bottom. Lack of effort was never something she associated with Soarin. With how hard he trained, how serious he was about being as strong as he could be, and how devoted he was to her. The thought had never once crossed her mind, at least not since their first times together in Ponyville. But she had been curious about his lack of communication with his family… and as it turned out, it was another case of how he was with her. Did he do it intentionally? Definitely not, but it was clearly something Soarin was aware of… and didn’t like to acknowledge.

Soarin was getting the full exposure to Twister and his antics… only unlike Dash, he was getting it all at once instead of little bits at a time. Why Twister decided to rope Soarin in, Dash wasn’t quite so sure. He explained it as Soarin being somepony he could trust by the deep association with Dash, but in reality, Dash was never quite sure she could believe Twister’s true intentions through his word alone. The fact remained that he had yet to do anything that was truly detrimental. He wasn’t causing disruptions like Rapidfire, nor was he hindering the Wonderbolts in anyway. He was just… weird… and creepy… and disturbing.

“I WIN!” Twister tipped backwards and rolled along the floor back over to his desk, passing underneath it before standing upright and beaming victoriously.

“How did he…” Soarin continued to stare for a few moments before slowly turning his head towards Dash. Dash shrugged.

“Like he said, he did the exact same thing to me. Don’t ask me to explain it, I can’t,” she said, hoping the way she remained calm would help Soarin feel a little less mentally violated. That marked three of the times Twister had messed with her… meaning he was almost done.

“YOU’D BE RIGHT!” Twister yelled as he smacked the blackboard. He yelped as the board unlatched from the wall and tipped forward, crashing on top of him and falling onto the desk… which capsized as the legs all snapped in half. “CHEAP ASS IKEA!” Twister yelled from beneath the blackboard as he pushed up against it and eventually tipped it all the way back up to the wall.

And of course, as he put it back up, the pictures and diagrams had changed. Now it was a bunch of doodles with wooden ships on it and at the top the board read: ‘S.S. SoarinDash’. Also, the pineapple on his now flattened desk had turned into a pumpkin.

“Oh god…” Dash let her head fall onto the table as she recalled the strange dream that Twister somehow found his way into. She glanced up at Soarin to see that he hadn’t reacted much to the new board, looking as if he was still trying to fathom how Twister replayed his past and his flaws to him… when they had never once spoken. Dash turned and looked back at Twister as he inhaled sharply again.

“Last but not least… THE SHIPPING WAR!” he said excitedly as he pointed to all the ships in the picture. They all had the same, strange mix of pony names that Dash remembered in her dream. “Obviously… the shenanigans here are not as important as what I—” Twister was cut off as all of the ships in the picture turned towards a single one that was labeled S.S. Flashlight. He turned around and placed his hooves on the board. “Not again! Stop, stop, give it a chance!” Despite Twister’s words, the ships fired the drama from their head cannons and the S.S. Flashlight sunk again… like it had in the dream. “I’m gonna have to have a talk with the captains of all these ships…” Twister grunted before turning back around.

“ANYWAY…” Twister turned back around and zipped up between their desks. He glanced at Soarin, who was still staring forward. “Psst…” he tapped his hoof on Soarin’s desk. “Pay attention, you can rethink your life later,” he said with a snicker as Soarin shook his head out and gave Twister a weak glare. “All the shipping wars aside… what Dashie here learned during my little joint dream effort,” he leaned over onto Rainbow Dash’s desk. “Was that… I have… encountered the love of my life again… in fact, she had been there all along where I couldn’t touch her… but it was not a happy encounter,” his eyes narrowed into a glare as he averted his eyes from them both. “And… I was oh… so… sad… to learn that she had found love elsewhere…” he pushed away from their desks and walked up to his collapsed desk. “I was crazy… I was shunned… I was hunted… and the one hope I clung to was I’d have her… and she’d understand… she’d protect me… she’d love me… she’d make them all understand… and yet…” Twister turned and leapt through the air onto Soarin’s desk. He grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him lightly.

“Somepony else… somepony else… somepony else…” his grip weakened and he slid onto his stomach in front of Soarin, who went back to looking confused as Twister released a defeated wail. “She… had somepony else…” he said in a very hushed tone.

This was new, even to Dash. When Twister revealed this info to her in the goofy dream… he remained goofy, even talking about how it made him snap, but it ended there, he didn’t elaborate on it. Here… his demeanor was completely different… broken even. She was sure it would shift at any second to something else, but… for the moment, was Twister showing them more? Something even she hadn’t heard yet? There were a few tidbits included he had not revealed before.

“She is so perfect… she deserves everything… And I… I could have given her everything! But she went for another. He was nothing, nothing compared to me!” Twister began slamming his back hooves on the floor. “He had no imagination! He was bland! He was one track minded! He was…” Twister slammed his face multiple times against the desk. “He was… apparently what she wanted… which stung. It stung deep… stabbed at my very heart. After all the times she had told me she loved my crazy, unpredictable nature in the past… she went for somepony who was normal… did she lie to me? Was it just sympathy? Did she lead me on beyond her own tricks?” Twister turned over on his back, staring straight up at the ceiling. “It didn’t matter… not anymore. I saw what I had to see… I saw that she had chosen another over me… the one chance I felt I had at being understood… and loved… gone… out of my reach forever… I was not him, and never could be him… oh, what I would do… what I would give to feel that way again… even if it was just for her to know I care… to know that though her eyes are elsewhere… I’m still here…” he slid off the desk and stood up between them, his sneer gone, his face taking a serious expression Dash had seldom seen from him. “I would do anything…”

“So now, Dash…” he turned his head towards her. “Now do you understand? Even if just a liiiiittle…?” his face slowly began to go right back to its usual, creepy smile… but the change was so slow that it added a whole new disturbing level to it. “What I’ve been through… it’s enough to knock any number of screws loose…” his head began to tip slightly to the right as his smile eventually reached its maximum length. His head turned slightly towards Soarin. “And I embrace it… I don’t chase it away. My flaws define me… they always have, and don’t I look just absolutely HAPPY with myself?” he said to Soarin as he began to snicker.

Soarin and Dash glanced at each other for a very brief moment before focusing back on Twister, now both equally learning something new about Twister despite their lopsided exposure to him.

“If you don’t acknowledge your flaws… you don’t learn from them… and if you avoid what has helped define you… then how can anypony else truly understand you?” He snickered and poked Soarin in the chest. “Don’t look so disturbed… you should be happy somepony knows all about you… he glanced at Dash and snickered. “EVERYPONY should feel great about that because…” he stepped away from them slowly and the lights began to dim. “It’s not like I have anypony like that… at least not anymore…” the lights went off completely, leaving them in the dark. “But you two… perhaps…” Twister’s snicker echoed in the darkness. “Perhaps you two are capable… this was a fun conversation… let’s do it again sometime…”

---

“Huh?” Soarin blinked. He looked to his left to see Dash standing right beside him. She too, was blinking and looking around. They were right back where they started, in the hallway outside the classroom, in the cold, with their blankets draped over them. Before Dash could say anything, Soarin stepped towards the classroom door, shoved the door open roughly, and flipped the lights on.

It was all perfectly normal, the same classrooms he had known throughout his Wonderbolt career. He turned the lights off and let the door close slowly, turning to Dash with his brow raised and a disturbed look on his face.

“When you told me that a pony on your squad was crazy…” he trailed off as Dash sighed.

“I meant it,” Dash grumbled to herself as she sat down on the floor.

“I assumed you meant, like Surprise crazy… but that…” Soarin shook his head. “That was just messed up… how did he do all of that?”

“I don’t even know how Surprise or my friend Pinkie Pie back home do their much tamer crazy stuff… believe me, I haven’t the foggiest,” Dash shook her head with a flat look on her face. “And don’t bother trying to find him and ask… you won’t get a straight answer.”

“Well…” Soarin looked himself over. “You also weren’t kidding about him never really causing any harm… I feel perfectly fine.”

“And that’s why it pisses me off,” Dash sighed as she lied flat despite the cold floor.

“And I thought I knew interesting ponies…” Soarin released an awkward chuckle as he stepped over to Dash reached down to pick her up. She stood with his help and rolled her eyes.

“Recruit Squad Foxtrot… reporting in,” she said sarcastically as they began to walk back towards the battledome.

But neither of them were without questions. Dash got to see Twister express true emotion… or at least that’s what it seemed like. She wondered if there was any more to his story… more about this mare of his… maybe about the stallion who ‘stole’ her from him. Twister revealed just how much he cared for the mare. At first it seemed like a simple attachment, maybe some jealousy, but he was still clinging to it regardless… just how broken was Twister’s mind… if it was even broken at all? Sooner or later… she’d be able to piece it all together, she felt like he was giving her all the clues to paint her own picture, but for now Twister remained a mystery. But as long as he continued to be helpful in her squad, she wouldn’t be skeptical of his intentions. If she could even call them intentions…

At least now she wasn’t the only one who experienced him… now Soarin could vouch for her and prove that she wasn’t just having weird dreams or seeing things.

---

“So what do you plan to do?” Luna spoke up as she walked beside Spitfire. The two of them entered the lobby from the east hallway, turning towards the recruit barracks.

“Actually, I was going to ask you first,” Spitfire replied as the two glanced at each other. “I may be the captain here, but you are technically the highest authority.”

“We are afraid that interrogation is not our forte,” Luna exhaled, blowing a cloud of mist from her nostrils into the cold air. “These Shadowbolts we have captive may hold the key to us figuring a few things out. We’ll leave the methods up to you.”

“Good,” Spitfire agreed as they stayed near the wall to avoid the workers moving about in the lobby. “Because, honestly… I don’t know if I want any of the Renegades handling the interrogations. This will require a firm, controlled approach and I get the feeling Descent or Starry Skies will resort to beating it out of them.”

“Agreed,” Luna cringed. “We commend the former Shadowbolts among the Renegades for their service to us, but they lack a degree of… control. We take it you didn’t tell Descent?”

“I told him we’d hold them for a while and then interrogate them, but I wasn’t specific,” Spitfire winked at Luna. “They’re busy, so now’s our chance. After assessing the situation, I’ll send for Silver and Fire… and we can begin question—YIKES!” Spitfire suddenly flinched as something landed on her back, Luna yelped as well, causing both of them to turn their heads and look behind them.

“Oof… this isn’t as comfortable as I thought it would be…” a familiar, unwanted voice met their ears as they glared. Discord had his snake body draped over their backs. “You need to grow a few feet Spitfire, putting myself at an angle like this can’t possibly be good for my back,” he chuckled as Spitfire quickly and roughly pulled herself out from beneath him, but Discord’s body remained floating. He picked himself out into the air and set himself down in front of them. “Why the long faces? I thought you’d be happy to see me!” he said with a fake tone of disappointment.

“Where have you—?!” Luna cut herself off and groaned. “You know what? We don’t even know why we bother.”

“Ah! You’re learning!” Discord chuckled as he reached forward and booped Luna’s nose. She bit at his finger, but it bent out of her reach. “I’m so proud!” he looked around the lobby at the current state of the Wonderbolt compound and whistled. “I really like what you’ve done with the place by the way… I’m honestly astonished that you managed to get that ancient piece of machinery down there started!”

Spitfire blinked, her eyes widening before glaring at Discord.

“Hold on a second…” she tipped her head to the side. “You knew about it?!”

“Of course I did!” Discord curled his body down to place his face in front of Spitfire’s. “I can remember a time when this place used to fly all around… it’s honestly a pity that they anchored it down. I was always a fan of it. Even when I was a statue, I could watch it flying all about… what a sight it was, and believe me it’s hard to impress a god,” Discord slithered over to Luna and put an arm over her shoulder. “Even Lulu here knew about it!”

“What?” Spitfire looked towards Luna. Luna used her magic to remove Discord’s arm from her before shaking her head.

“We did not consider it an option… we admit that we too were surprised it worked,” she admitted.

“Honestly, I was on the verge of saving you all myself…” Discord spoke up, causing Spitfire to sharply turn her head back to him. Luna did the same, but offered a glare. “Oh, don’t give me that look Lulu, I know the rules… not that I haven’t broken them in the past. But it was going to be only if absolutely necessary. But I didn’t even need to!” he stepped back and threw his arms out triumphantly. “Kudos to you mortals for making a miracle happen, I admit I was so impressed that I just let you handle it.”

“Rgghhhhhh…” Spitfire planted her hoof right into the center of her face and rubbed it slowly around. “Whatever… I’m not going to try making sense of your reasoning.”

“Indeed, that’s for the best,” Discord patted her on the head with a smirk.

“OH, HELL NO!” a voice suddenly came from the west hallway, catching all of their attention, including several of Rivet’s workers. The voice had come from Rainbow Dash, who was standing just inside the lobby with Soarin as the two looked towards the trio of Spitfire, Luna, and Discord. “Come on, come on!” she suddenly got behind Soarin and started pushing him along. “I’ve had my fill of crazy today already, I’m NOT dealing with Discord right now!” she said as Soarin quickly agreed and complied.

The three watched as Dash and Soarin made their way around quickly and disappeared into the east hallway.

“Huh… I wonder what that was all about?” Discord blinked as he tipped his head and rubbed his chin curiously.

“Look, we’re busy,” Spitfire spoke up, seeing an opportunity in the interruption. “If you want to taunt us with all the stuff ‘we don’t know,’ you can do it later… we have something to take care of,” she stated as she and Luna began moving around him.

“Ah, ah, ah…” Discord quickly teleported in front of them before they could get any further. “Please… both of you should know by now that I don’t show up without a good reason. I have plenty of other things I could and SHOULD be doing, so honestly you really should cherish my presence,” he said giving a bow.

“Then get to it!” Luna snapped, obviously losing her patience. Discord reclined slightly, expecting the Royal Canterlot Voice, but Luna managed to keep it just below.

“I feel so appreciated…” Discord sighed as he put his hands on his hips… or whatever he had around that area on his snake body. “I couldn’t help but hear something about interrogations… but I came to tell you… you may want to consider something else first,” he said in a serious tone. Spitfire and Luna glanced at one another.

“Pray tell, what that would be?” Luna lifted an eyebrow. Discord turned himself to the side as he crossed his arms, wagging a finger.

“Chaos magic is a very, very potent form of magical energy… there’s a reason that no mortal is able to wield it. Your enemies have been using an imitation of said magic with their bodies enhanced by the crystals… can you see where I’m going here?” he looked back and forth at the two of them, but got no response, only blank looks. He flattened his brow and sighed. “Perception is lacking these days…” he turned and faced them. “What happens when you introduce something into your body that doesn’t belong… that gives you an incredibly enhanced and good feeling… use it for extended periods of time… and then take it away?” he asked while moving his arms slightly across his body with each section of the explanation.

Luna and Spitfire both stared for another moment before both of them perked up, their eyes widening and their ears pointing upward. Discord lifted his brow and tipped his head to the side.

“In fact… a few of them are about to snap. You’d better hurry if you don’t want your prisoners… and source of possible answers to… oh, I don’t know, die or be driven mad from extreme pain.”

Not another word was spoken. Luna and Spitfire broke into a sprint towards the recruit barracks.

“Honestly…” Discord sighed as the two disappeared through the doors. “Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one around here that has my head screwed on straight …” he said, his head spinning around on his neck as he snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash of chaos magic.

---

“Move aside!” Spitfire yelled as she and Luna galloped towards the door at the end of the barracks hallway. The two earth pony security guards standing outside both looked towards them curiously. Spitfire skidded to a halt in front of them and grabbed the first guard by the shoulder. “I SAID MOVE!” she pulled him away from the door as the second security guard quickly backed away.

Luna approached the door, readying her magic to open it, but she halted as a gut-wrenching scream of pain suddenly came from inside of the room. Luna gasped and quickly used her magic to rip the door open as Spitfire ran up beside her. The two stepped into the dimly lit room and both gasped.

“AAAAUUUGGHHHH!!!! AAAGGGG!!! AHHHHHH!!!!” a Shadowbolt mare closest to the door was crying out and shaking as she clutched her body, shivering and writhing on her mattress on the floor.

“HAAAACCCCKKK!!! AHHHHH!!!!!” two more down from her, a stallion had begun to hack and cough, spitting up blood as the rest of the Shadowbolts began to shift away. Only two were suddenly showing signs of extreme pain, but the way the rest of them move suggested they were very weak, all shifting with jittery, uneven movements.

“Ahhh… AHH!” a third, a mare among the rest shifting away suddenly tipped forward, clutching her chest. “AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!” she cried out as she fell over, shaking and shivering on the floor, kicking her back hooves out as she began to slightly foam at the mouth.

The rest of the captives looked terrified, as if they realized what was happening… and aware it would start happening to them.

“AAAUUGGHHH!!!!” A fourth, a stallion threw his hooves up to his head and began to flail around before running into a wall and throwing his hooves out, pushing away all those near him.

As Spitfire watched in horror, Luna quickly called forth her magic and used it to create shield domes over the Shadowbolts who were showing the sudden intense signs of withdrawal. She turned and looked at Spitfire with a sense of urgency in her expression.

“CAPTAIN SPITFIRE!” she called back to her. Spitfire slammed her eyes shut and shook her head out before turning around and stepping out of the door and pointing at the two guards.

“You!” she pointed to one of them. “Go to the battledome and grab four or five strong Wonderbolts! You!” she pointed to the other as the first took off into a gallop. “GO GET BLISS! NOW!”

---To Be Continued---

Author's Note:

Art in this chapter was done by Foxenawolf, and the twister image was an edited vector image of Dash edited by EasyGlider.

Oh dear... this doesn't look good...

But seriously... wtf Twister... how dare you make me have fun unlocking the randomness of my brain for all to see

I hope this was as fun for you all to read as it was for me to write.

Looks like Silver's secret... isn't so secret after all! But... none of the Wonderbolts want him gone (not even Blaze) after what he's done for them and what he's been... it's no wonder they'd do whatever it takes to keep him around. You don't find ponies that drive others like he does often.

But all that aside... again... what is up with the Shadowbolts?! We shall finds out... next chapter

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!

Comments

[Darth Redbeard]

I foresee a great mystery.

[BlabideeblahMLP]

Let's do it again sometime...

Let's not. No, really, let's not.

I was so psyched for this chapter, but after I read through all of it, I came to a conclusion that I don't want to admit, even to myself.

Calm, I no longer like this story.

It's plain. It's boring. Everything takes far too much time. It makes no sense. All but one character slowly deteriorated into something I don't like, and that one character is nothing more than a punchline now.

I'm sorry, Calm, but I can't fool myself anymore. This fic is terrible.

[Delphinus Shimmer]

AMAZING CHAPTER AS ALWAYS!!!!!
And twister wtf...

[Sylvian]

I saw Jim Hoxworth

As always, amazing chapter, Calm! Can't wait for more!

[sonicx]

Twister yelled as he smacked the blackboard. He yelped as the board unlatched from the wall and tipped forward, crashing on top of him and falling onto the desk… which capsized as the legs all snapped in half. “CHEAP ASS IKEA!” Twister yelled from beneath the blackboard as he pushed up against it and eventually tipped it all the way back up to the wall.

OOHH FUUCCCKKK I CAN'T STOP LAUGHING

[Prism Shine]

I want to animate this chapter.

But first I need to know how to do advanced animating.

[Prism Shine]

OMFG, CALM!

THIS STORY IS ON FEATURED!

SEE, LOOKIE!

orig09.deviantart.net/9841/f/2015/275/c/c/screen_shot_2015_10_03_at_11_32_12_am_by_solarasylum-d9bq7up.png

[RaiinbowFrost]

Amazing chapter Calm. Also, Twister why you do this?

[Arad]

After our conversation at the Crystal Fair, my first thought was... "Oh hey, it's the Soarin Strapon fic!"

[Those Kids In The Corner]

“The game is called…” Twister pressed the button on the pointer and it extended back towards the blackboard, catching a small ring neither of them had seen before. Twister pulled it down, unrolling what looked like a large classroom map, but instead it was just a big white poster that read ‘HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW SOARIN?!’

And here I thought it would be the game Twister.

[Witching Hour]

Man... that scene with Twister was just what I was expecting... **sighs**

And I see what you're doing there... **giggles and gleefully looks forward to the next chapter**

[Hooper_Canson]

Ah… that pure white mare… her colorful mane… how much she adored my craaaaaaazy way of doing things when all others pushed me away. Ahhhhh…” he said as he began to tip to one side.

Okkkkkkkk, wait a second right meow, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut is Twister secretly Discord? Which would explain his antics (to a degree) and the mare he is referring Celestia and maybe he was secretly in love with her and is now relenting in the fact that even he can't get her back at the moment(and the stallion could anyone of Celestia's consort she is bound to have over the thousands of years she has ruled), just a wild out of place thought, friggin PM me if i'm right (I won't tell I swear on me mum) or if I'm wrong.

also A+ cupcakes reference

[NyOs29]

Those crystals are like Opium or other morphine drugs: makes you feel good, deadens you to pain yet the withdrawal symptoms are harsh to the point of madness!

On top of that it's starting to look like the Wonderbolts are just struggling with the first wave cause if Celestia's prophecy is true whoever this Kayn Ost figure is they're using the Shadowbolts as shocktroopers in order to weaken the defenses of the world's government starting with Equestria's because with two Alicorns it's the strongest.
And I'm starting to see a pattern, every time the Shadowbolts and Wonderbolts clash the Shadowbolts always have the upper hand: first the cannon, then the shield the prevents the cannon from being disarmed before it fires, and now these Falcons while what do the Wonderbolts have at their disposal? A century-old airship that even if it did have weaponry or at least some means of defense it has most likely long since been removed and they have nothing to prevent the Shadowbolts from imprisioning them all in a sphere of chaos energy and killing them outright.

No offense Calm but this story's plot is starting to get a little too stretched out and overtly complicated and is starting to sound more like a sequel of Between a Rock and a Pie.

Hey, Twister go bake yourself in a cake and ship the entire thing to Pinkie Pie!

[Calm Wind]

6486075

*shrugs*

So long

[Calm Wind]

6486227

The totally innocent Strap on

[Witching Hour]

6486279

FFFffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-- WHY DID I MISS THIS?! HOW DID I MISS THIS?!

I feel so ashamed... **discards "comprehensive reader" badge of honor**

[Azure_Shadow]

Woohoo! Looks like we're going back into plot territory once more! Finally!! This'll
Be great!

[Hooper_Canson]

6486298 38.media.tumblr.com/da0a0b11fe655e54659a8aa292929208/tumblr_inline_nu4w8et4Di1r3eymz_500.gif

I have insane theories for everything

[Calm Wind]

6486298
6486279

Except for the fact that Discord was confused by Dash's eagerness to get away from him through he lobby at the end

[CowgirlVK]

Twister... alright, my brain broke.

[Hooper_Canson]

6486305 eh just chalk it up to Discord being a good actor...but hey it was just a theory...

A!
pbs.twimg.com/media/B8jMlbbCIAAEZpk.jpg

Thanks for watching!

[Witching Hour]

6486305

Admittedly, I was only referring to the description of Twister's "lost love"...

[BlabideeblahMLP]

6486285 So long, Calm. I hope we can remain friends.

[Train wreck]

LE GASP! many a huge gasp in this chapter.

[Aelflonra]

“You can’t scold silly!” Surprise began as Twister flailed and made turkey calls beneath Surprises grip. “If ya wanna beat silly, ya gotta counter it with silly, silly!” she explained as she kept Twister down.

Surprise's?.. Or better, "her" maybe?

Storm stole a quick glance at Matteo, who noticed and lifted an eyebrow as he Storm smirked.

Drop "he". Or "Storm"...

Uh... the thing surprised me the most... THE PINEAPPLE DIDN'T TURN INTO A WATERMELON, WHAT COULD THAT MEAN??

[Sylvian]

6486280

I can agree with the crystal thing, Opiate based drugs do cause major side-effects especially when you're no longer able to take them. But while they do deaden the pain, they also make your reflexes next to nothing, slowing your response time and even causing sever hallucinations in some cases.

I'd say they're closer to perhaps Epinephrine or some other adrenaline based drug. Overdosing on that would be -extremely- painful and could cause the fact their coughing up blood and convulsing, it could depending on how much they've used, cause a minor stroke which would cause the neurological symptoms...

But, then this is a magic crystal, so I'd say it'd be a good mix of what your thinking, and what I'm thinking.

[Siren Bliss]

(Gallops in) Here she comes to save the day!!! (superhero stance)

[Falsewarrior]

Twister.... I dont even know how to react to you any more.....

any way i think i figured out who the mare Twister is talking about, but im not sure. I'm going to wait and see if my prediction is correct.... if he even tells us

[Sylvian]

6486444

I can just see you standing in a Wonder Woman stance.

[ChangelingNumber32]

I liked Storm Front and Descent's little talk. It reminded me of conversations I've had with my own father. Well done!

[Soaring Soarin]

Damn that part with twister was freaky really liked his message about accepting your flaws

and jeez looks like the wonderbolts are gonna have a lot on their hooves with helping the shadowbolts with there crystal withdrawal

Also hi new readers

mrwgifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Tom-Hanks-Waves-Hello-Reaction-Gif.gif

[Witching Hour]

6486444

**sends Witch in to help as well... Because it's my head and I can**

[Jim Hoxworth]

*hair is slightly burning from welding* waht?

[Jim Hoxworth]

But seriously, that was a fantastic chapter. I really needed that pick-me-up. It- *promptly falls asleep from exhaustion*

[Dusk_Writer]

Twister, just oh gossshhhh
I have a theory on him. He is Discord. That would explain his disappearances and him having no aura, he was created by Discord. That mare he used to love was Celestia but she loved that blue pony in Soarin's head. Or it could've been Dash, but she's not white.

And that second pic by foxena XD Their expressions, priceless

That convo with descent was sweet!

Wow, shadowbolts. I feel sorry for them.

What do u have in store for us next

[The Forgotten Comrade]

Loved Starry and Fleetfoot that was the best.

However, the Twister scene... I was never gone on them.

Still a good chapter though.

[SageBrony07]

That was beyond the random. Great job thanks for the update

[AdmiralWilson]

Other then my brain being slightly broken from twister... As usual, it was a really great chapter. It was nice to see storm again, as he is still my favourite character. Fleet seems to be coming out of her shell-shock... Don't know whether to be happy or scared.... Now we have the shadowbolts... I'm gonna be honest, I feel really bad for them. As far as I can tell, they were just under the influence of the magic/drug. So although the have definitely made some poor decisions, I can't label them as 'evil'... Which made that end scene tug at the heart strings a bit. In short, don't let them die calm! They need hugs, not death!

[moonrose]

HELLLP I CANT DECIDE IF I SHIP STARRYxFLEET OR CALMxFLEET!!!

Oh twister just

Wait a moment

An orange unicorn mare with a darker orange mane, a light blue pegasus mare with a mane and tail of different blue shades, and a grey stallion with a black mane.

a light blue pegasus mare with a mane and tail of different blue shades,

Looks at avatar,
...
Is that....
Me??!

(It's ok if it's not)

[harts fire]

ok I was over this chapter twice yes it is that good and yes there is just so much in it to try and understand as strange as it sounds Twister makes more sense in this chapter then you may think at first. if you don't believe me look closer.
the art work is out standing.
and the chapter is perfect.
Harts Fire

[NyOs29]

6486305

it's rather rinse my mouth out with broken glass!

Need to change the first word in that sentience of Starry's to "I'd" or "I would" Calm.

[Creative Quill]

For a second there I thought Twister was going Persona 4 on us.

[Jim Hoxworth]

6487038 It is...

[Vegetable Sorbet]

Decent chapter, lots of great interaction going on. I find it interesting that there seem to be very few secrets that manage to remain secret amongst the lead 'bolts, though I guess a close, enclosed environment like the Compound isn't the best for keeping secrets secret - I've gotta wonder exactly how Silver thought he was managing to pull the wool over everyone's eyes in the first place.

Always nice to see more of Foxtrot interacting, and I actually kinda agree with Squall - as nice as it is to have Dash & Soarin' together, it does kinda feel like she's neglecting her squad.

Twister, of course, is being typically Twister, and now he's bringing Soarin' 'into the loop', as it were, which leads me back to...

6486279 6486298 6486854
The "Twistcord Theory" (as I'd love to call it, if I didn't think it would get misconstrued as a shipping name). I keep debating this one - for every piece of evidence I find to support it, there seems to be something that goes against it, only for something else to counter that as well. I find it fitting that it should be as... twisted and complex as it appears to be...

Anyway, I think this is the first time we've actually had a solid appearance of both Twister and Discord interracting with people at around the same time - one of my strongest arguments for Twistcord was that there seemed to be times when one or the other would be inexplicably absent (and that another character would point out the obvious absence) at a point where the other had had some focus.

[Eveyann]

ok right I know a lot of people have been saying this but it been at the back of my mine for ages now and this chaptor kinda proved it for me, twister is discord, pure white mare colourful mane, Celestia. Who do people ship discord with (other than flutters, but she's taken ) Celestia. Only Discord can be as crazy as twister and notice how they never have shared a scene (other that the universe would implod if they did) Stallion that took celestia from her, the blue magic or as i said before Sombra, maybe this is what turned him evil in the show.

Squall acted differently around Star.

dammit calm what is with you and fluff, littlesquall is so cute, yep that my ship name and i'm sticking to it

Twister was sitting IN the barrel, completely unfazed as he was surrounded by flames. He was scrubbing his back with a loofa and whistling as if he was taking a bath… in the fire.

I am so drawing art for this that is amazing, it brings a whole new meaning to nice hot bath
pre07.deviantart.net/a487/th/pre/i/2012/327/1/9/lava_bath_time_for_lord_satan_by_icelion87-d5lxj7x.jpg

“You can’t scold silly!” Surprise began as Twister flailed and made turkey calls beneath Surprises grip. “If ya wanna beat silly, ya gotta counter it with silly, silly!” she explained as she kept Twister down.

Great now I ship them
thesocialpotato.maryfaye.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/I-will-sink-with-this-ship.png

“Griffons express affection physically. Sweet and fluffy words, whether written or spoken, do little to stimulate us,”

everyone has some fluff inside them, embrace it
img14.deviantart.net/1adc/i/2012/307/2/4/embrace_the_fluff_by_skullcollectorcubone-d5jv1nn.png

“You’re making me more and more jealous by the second…” Star said dreamily as she snuggled herself into her own blanket while sighing dreamily.

I relate to star a lot i ship so many things, i have an armada of ships and i'm emotionally attached to every single god damn one of them. Every where i look i'm like relationship goals
d2ws0xxnnorfdo.cloudfront.net/meme/493554

“So who did you write to?” she asked him. Squall released a quiet grunt.

did star just ask squall if he was single, not what she mean, whatever i still ship it
i128.photobucket.com/albums/p185/JC125_photo/tumblr_m7r84a4clP1qexygt.gif

He had a clipboard in one of his hooves that was marked ‘shipping,’ which he held up and made a few marks on before moving along casually.

p'fffffffffff hahahahahahaaaaaha!!!!!!!!!!!!. Twister i love you, That's me everyday that is. Even Twister see's the unresolved sexual tension between these two!
s2.quickmeme.com/img/a3/a398573acb643b162473744ee5aca3d51e889dd26c0fc9bb93720dafdac672e0.jpg

“Trade secret!” Fleetfoot snickered as she managed to turn around and teasingly rub her nose against Starry’s ear. Starry quickly folded her ear to avoid it.

uurrrrgggghhhhh now i ship them, you kill me calm
I'm also creating fan art for this too

“That’s the whole point of the ‘The Test’ too,” Soarin continued. “Shock the recruits with something way more dangerous than they’d ever really face and they’ll never feel so nervous again. Well, at least on a crisis level, it helps breed the calm approach to any situation.”

And to trick all of calms readers into thinking that all their favourite charactors are dead, it took me a while to forgive calm when i he tricked me into thinking Silver was dead. I literally stopped reading for 3 hour just solidly crying, my parents still don't think im mentally stable.
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/37/f7/69/37f7698a29569c90238850fe01b47815.jpg
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/78/ce/16/78ce1674f33cb9cb95792a9387cb8769.jpg
toonsofdisney.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/73f54c8da35a4420e71d7dec235ffbfd.jpg
static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Mfw+my+favorite+character+dies+found+on+pinterest_9262f7_5189172.jpg
DON'T THINK I'VE FORGOTTEN

“Silver has been here for longer than all of us, and no matter how many times the old guy tries to hide it… we see it,” Soarin explained. “His movements are stiff, he grimaces often, he spends more time in the training room with Bliss than the rest of us, and from what Wave Chill tells us, he has a hard time just rolling out of bed in the morning.

As you can see from my last statment, I'm VERY attached to Sliver SO DON'T YOU DARE KILL HIM

“It’s time for us to look back on everything we’ve learned about… ME!” he pointed to himself with a wide smile before zipping up to Dash and getting into her face. “AND YES, THIS WILL BE ON THE TEST.”

This gives a new meaning to teachers talking about themselves instead of teaching
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/aa/41/34/aa41346d101171ce057fa7e280718d80.jpg

And of course, as he put it back up, the pictures and diagrams had changed. Now it was a bunch of doodles with wooden ships on it and at the top the board read: ‘S.S. SoarinDash’. Also, the pineapple on his now flattened desk had turned into a pumpkin.

hey the S.S. Soarindash i made that on calm's Minecraft realm #shamelessselfpromotion
vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/warframe/images/9/9e/Grave-and-most-glorious-moderately-shameless-self-promotion.png/revision/latest?cb=20150918135129
also twister is me, obsessed with shipping and completely insane
sd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/i/im-crazy-so-what-bitches.png

the ships fired the drama from their head cannons and the S.S. Flashlight sunk again…

everybody hates flashlight

I think the moral of this chaptor for me is Ship Happens

can't wait for next chaptor to see what happening to the shadowbolts

[Calm Wind]

6486052

indeed!

6486143

What cannot simply do the twist

6486184

I love how she draws griffons!

6486190

It was about time i stuck him in there

6486194

cl.jroo.me/z3/v/Z/t/d/a.aaa-Cheap-ass-ikea.jpg

[Calm Wind]

6486211

Oh god, Wouldn't Twister make a great Looney Toon? xD

And awesome! i love when i hit the feature box ^_^ those three slots on the bottom are meant for longer, well liked stories that get updated

6486225

Simply because he can

6486261

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/09/1966_Twister_Cover.jpg

6486265

oh? what am i doing?

[Calm Wind]

6486279

And yes i totally referenced Cupcakes

6486310

i can't brain today i have a dumb

6486311

i.ytimg.com/vi/T7lmwMFUiHI/maxresdefault.jpg

6486385

AND GASPS WE SHALL HAVE!

6486393

IT WAS A PUMPKIN ALL ALONG!

(And thanks for catching those! )

[Calm Wind]

6486444

we need art of this... stat...

[Calm Wind]

6486445

Once you get Twisted... you can't get... uh... never mind im not good at rhyming (I say even though i had Twister recite a poem )

6486535

Thanks! Glad you liked that part, i feel like Twister kind of overshadowed a lot of the other stuff that happened in this chapter

6486545

Twister is indeed interesting in what he conveys... not just how he conveys it After all... the number one rule about creating characters... is to make their flaws more prominent than their strengths The flaws and how the characters handle them, in the end, are what really define them.