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

> Prologue: When a small cloud discovers apples
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Are you sure you’re going to be ok, Cloud?” Nimbus Kicker, a Jupitarian woman with short brown hair, asked to her seven year old daughter as she was dropping her in front of her new school.

“You’ve asked ten times already, Mom,” Cloud Kicker, a two-toned blonde haired girl with small fuschia wings spread on her back replied in an annoyed tone. “It’s going to be fine! School can’t be that much different in here than in Cloudsdale.”

“OK.” Nimbus sighed with a small smile. “Be a good girl and don’t get into trouble,” she added before hugging her daughter.

“Mom, don’t you have to go to work?” Cloud asked, her cheeks red from embarrassment.

        After her mother took off to her job in the weather patrol, Cloud hovered slowly toward the schoolhouse. She looked around, noticed that she was the only kid with her wings spread. Knowing that a lot of Jupitarians lived in town, mostly employees of the weather management team, she found odd that she didn’t spot any other Jupitarian kid with his or her wings spread.

        Cloud landed on top of the school’s climbing frame before watching with curiosity all the other kids coming into the schoolyard for the first day of the school year. She frowned a little when she saw none of them arrive by flying or teleporting, they all came to school on foot or through carriage. Despite seeing horses drawing said carriages for the first time of her life, -- After all, it was very hard to breed horses when you lived on clouds.-- she couldn’t help to be a bit disappointed. 

When her parents told her that they had to move out in a town near Canterlot, she had imagined tons of different peoples doing things she had never seen before, such as Titanians teleporting around instead of walking or Eponians running at a speed that could make flying speedsters look like they moved in slow motion.

Clearly, she had read too many stories about mythological heroes of the other races. Heroes such as Puddinghead, one of the six founders of Equestria, said to be an eight foot tall giant stronger than hundred men, or Starswirl the Bearded, the most powerful mage in history, who was able to protect his city from a Windigo’s attack with a single spell during the Long Winter.

Having no elements of comparison in Cloudsdale as only Jupitarians could live there, Cloud had assimilated what the story told about those extraordinary people as a general truth about what common Eponians and Titanians were capable.  

Added to the fact that the first years of school in Cloudsdale were mainly to teach how to fly and how to interact with weather magic safely instead of history of the three races, it was rather understandable that Cloud held on so much to those stories being actual facts.

She had sadly found out that those stories weren’t really factual. So far, all the people she had seen since her arrival in Ponyville a couple of days ago were not at all like what she had imagined they were. Well, that might have changed when she saw a cart driven by the tallest man she had ever seen stopping in front of the school. 

The driver was around six feet and a half tall and was wearing a brown hat on top of blond-orange hair. Cloud had never seen a hat like that one. With the strong winds in Cloudsdale, hats weren’t really fashion standards.

Soon enough, her attention went to the four other passengers. Cloud noticed a rather tall boy with the same hair color as the driver jump off the cart, have what looked like a serious conversation with his father before entering in the schoolyard. Cloud quickly shift her gaze to the persons at back of the carriage: a beautiful blonde woman with her two daughters.

The woman and one of her daughter, the one that looked exactly like a smaller version of her mother, looked like they were trying to gently convince her other daughter to let go of her. What surprised Cloud was how different the two girls were from one and another. 

The one who needed to be convinced had deep blue hair with electric blue streaks in it while her sister was blonde just like their mother. The blue haired girl also looked paler and tinier than her sister.

“She’s probably younger than the other,” Cloud whispered to herself.

        The blue haired girl finally let go of her mother, who gave her a last reassuring kiss on the forehead, before getting down of the cart with her sister, firmly holding her blonde sister’s hand. The two sisters said goodbye to their father before heading to the schoolhouse as the bell started to ring.

“Oh, well.” Cloud jumped from the top of the climbing frame. “Time to get in class,” she added before slowing her fall with wings to land delicately on the ground.





        Cloud had to wait in front of the classroom with the blue haired girl she had seen before the bell rang. Apparently, they were the two new students in the class, so they had to introduce themselves to the others.

        Cloud was surprised to see the blue haired girl in the same class as her. She did look one or two years younger than her at least. As the teacher was announcing them to the rest of her classmates, Cloud noticed that the girl at her right was extremely nervous, despite having her gaze locked on her sister’s reassuring smile. The teacher asked the blue haired girl to speak up.

“Hmm, hi,” the blue haired girl said with a slightly trembling voice. “My name’s Vinyl Almata Apple Scratch. I’m six years old, nearly seven... And... huh.... I look forward spending the rest of the year with you,” Vinyl said in a tone that showed that she wasn’t totally convinced by what she was saying.

        Cloud tilted her head in confusion at the reactions of her new classmates. As soon as Vinyl said her name, they started to whisper among themselves with a mix of curious and doubtful expressions. Even the teacher cocked an eyebrow at the nervous girl’s name. The only one who didn’t react ‘badly’ was Vinyl’s sister who nodded with an encouraging smile, ignoring some of her classmates calling her.

“Ok, Vinyl, you can go sit wherever you want,” the teacher said casually. “And now....” He frowned when he looked at Cloud as Vinyl quickly sat next to her sister. “Girl, you probably don’t know it yet, but I must ask you to dissipate your wings, it’s against the school’s rules.”

Cloud looked at her fuschia wings with a puzzled frown. Dissipating her wings was something she only did to go to sleep, as wings were essential  for her former daily life in Cloudsdale, and because sleeping with small wings conjured was just uncomfortable if you wanted to sleep on your back. 

“Why?” she asked with curiosity.

“To make all our students realize that all races are equal,” the teacher replied.

“Why would you do that?” Cloud asked with confusion. “They aren’t equal at all!”

        A pregnant silence filled the room after Cloud’s remark. As the teacher frowned with a restrained anger at the new pupil who was growing more and more scared and embarrassed at every second passing. 

        The teacher had known a lot of people who were saying the same thing as Cloud. Mostly Cloudsdalians who spent their time to bully Eponians around when he was kid. Bullies who thought that their ability to fly and to control weather made them superior to others. The teacher hated that sort of people more than anything else.

“Your name?”

“Huh... Cloud Kicker, sir.”

“And where are you from, Ms. Kicker?”

“I’m from Cloudsdale,” Cloud replied uneasily.

“Looks like living in the clouds does make you think you stand above others,” the teacher muttered with an angry scowl. “Care to elaborate your view on this rather prickly debate?”

“My what on what?” Cloud asked in confusion.

“Why do you think that the three races aren’t equal?” the teacher explained, trying to be as calm as possible.

“Oh, well that’s obvious,” Cloud replied, glad to have finally understood what was asked of her. “We simply can’t do the same things. Eponians are capable of tours de force that Jupitarians and Titanians can only dream about doing themselves. As for what Titanian magic can do, it’s so cool: being able to makes things fly around, to transform things into others....” she began her explanation with a very visible excitement.

        The teacher was pleasantly surprised as Cloud kept on telling what Eponians and Titanians could do and why it made them so cool to her. Her explanation quickly diverted to what she had read in mythological tales, earning chuckles from the others pupils and the teacher as Cloud made it sound like those tales were the actual truth.

“What’s so funny?” Cloud asked softly, blushing in embarrassment.

“You do know that not every Titanian can do what Starswirl the Bearded could, right?” the teacher asked, his anger completely vanished as he had realized that Cloud wasn’t like the typical arrogant from Cloudsdale at all. “Or that people as strong and tall as Puddinghead aren’t really the sort you meet at every corner?”

“Well, I know that now....” Cloud whispered with a pout.

“If you have Eponians and Titanians in such high esteem, why did you say that they aren’t equal?” the teacher asked with curiosity.

“Huh, I just told you why,” Cloud replied with a puzzled expression.

“No, you’ve just pointed out their different abilities...” the teacher remarked.

“Well, if their abilities are different, that means they’re not equal, right?” Cloud asked.

The teacher blinked for a couple of seconds before realizing something. “What exactly do you understand by being equal?”

“Huh.” Cloud searched for her words. “When two persons are equal it’s like they aren’t different from each other at all,” Cloud suggested hesitantly. “Kinda like in arithmetic...”

        The teacher blinked again at her answer before he started chuckling softly. Said chuckles quickly turned to a good hearted laughing fit.

“That’s not it?” Cloud asked with worry.

“Not exactly,” the teacher answered with kindness. “It’s a little more complex than in arithmetic.” he noticed the defeated frown on her face. “Don’t worry, you didn’t do anything wrong. You just misunderstood what I meant. Go find a seat, and dissipate your wings, please,” he demanded softly.

“Ok.” Cloud nodded, relieved to not having angered her new teacher, before doing as instructed and finding a free desk at the back of the class.

“Ok, kids!” The teacher tapped his hands together. “Normally, we start the year with nice exercises so that you can get to know each other. But since you practically all already know each other from last year, we.... Yes, Jacquelyn?” the teacher asked as Jacquelyn, Vinyl’s supposed sister, raised her hand.

“Sir, what about Vinyl?” Jacquelyn asked. “She don’t know anyone except me!....”

“Doesn’t!” the teacher corrected without thinking. “As for your cousin, then...”

“Sister!” Jacquelyn interjected.

“Pardon?” the teacher asked, cocking a surprised eyebrow.

“Vinyl’s ma sister, not ma cuzin!” Jacquelyn insisted, causing a lot of conversations between the rest of her classmates.

“Children, be quiet!” the teacher said loudly, hoping to end all conversations in an instant. 

“Jacquelyn, don’t lie like that!” a boy with short brown hair, sitting behind the blonde nearly shouted.

“Ah ain’t lyin’, Caramel!” Jacquelyn retorted loudly as she turned around to face the shouting boy.

“Jacquelyn, we’ve known you since forever,” a girl with spiked, silvery grey hair said from the back of the class. ”We know that you only have an older brother and no sister!”

“Children...”

        The teacher didn’t notice as he tried to regain control of his class, but that last comment caused Vinyl to start crying a little, her head hanging low as she tried to hide her tears from everyone who was now staring her.

“Well, Ah do now!” Jacquelyn shouted, angered by her sister’s tears.

“Liar!” Caramel shouted back at her. “She can’t be your sister! She doesn’t even look like you!”

        At this, Vinyl sprung from her chair and ran to the door before anyone could stop her, tears rolling along her cheeks. Her right hand shined in a blue aura before a loud blue explosion blasted the door open, letting the way open for her.

“Vinyl, wait!” Jacquelyn shouted, concern taking the place of anger in her voice.

        The blonde stood from her desk before punching Caramel in the nose, making the young boy yelp in pain before falling from his chair, his hands pressed on his nose.

“That’s fer makin’ ma sister cry!” Jacquelyn groaned before running after her sister in the corridor. “Vinyl, wait for me!” she shouted before disappearing into the corridor with the teacher on her heels, calling after the two girls.
 
“Well, at least that resembled a little to what I’ve read about what Eponians and Titanians could do,” Cloud commented, chuckling mockingly at her injured boy, as the class was without any supervision. “Serves you right!” she added for Caramel

        When Caramel stood back up, he turned around to glare angrily at Cloud as the rest of the pupils turned their shocked and frightened gazes at her.

“Did I just say that outloud?”

        Her closest classmates nodded with a blank expression as Cloud remembered a wise sentence from her mother:

Be a good girl and don’t get into trouble.

“Monkey feathers!” Cloud muttered. “It didn’t even take me one full class to do the exact opposite!”





        After that incident, Cloud had seen neither hide nor hair of the two sisters during the rest of the day. She had tried to understand why her classmates reacted like they did when Jacquelyn claimed that Vinyl was her sister. She thought of asking them, but they were all avoiding her for some reason.

        The reason was actually that Caramel and some of his friends were pissed off at her for mocking him in the classroom. Cloud had been a bit scared when Caramel, now with a rather ridiculous bandaid on his nose, and his three friends tried to corner her during recess. But her fear didn’t last long, for she found out that Caramel and his friends were all four Eponians, and that they were mediocre climbers.

        Cloud spent most of that day’s recesses on top of the climbing frame, mocking the four boys’ attempts to climb up to get her. She had to recognize that they were stubborn and kept on trying harder after every time they failed. Just like Eponians were supposed to do, according to the tales she had read in Cloudsdale. Cloud was happy that at least something she knew about the other ‘races’ was actually true.

        The school day now over, Cloud was still on top of the climbing frame, waiting for her mother or her father to come pick her up. Her parents had told her that they might not be there for when the school ended, but Cloud didn’t mind. She kept staring at sky from the top of her perch. It was odd for her to watch the clouds move from below them instead of watching the ground slide from above the clouds.

        Nearly all kids of her year were already gone. Caramel and his group left among the first ones, not without waving goodbye at Cloud, much to the concerned party’s incomprehension. At some point, Cloud stopped staring at the sky, and decided to look around the schoolyard. 

“What the..?” 

Cloud cocked an eyebrow as she spotted a familiar blue haired girl jumping to grab what an older boy with spiky black hair was levitating in a white magic aura above her. Cloud took off her perch and flew toward the girl and the boy. As she hovered above them, she noticed that the boy was levitating a small, red and round thing that Cloud had never seen before.

“Give it back!” Vinyl cried as she jumped as the bully floated her stuff in her reach before lifting it higher. “It’s my apple!”

“You’ll have to jump higher than that, shorty!” the bully mocked the little girl, lifting the apple higher above his head.

Cloud hovered down to delicately land her right foot on top of the boy’s head before snatching the apple from the white magic aura that kept it floating in the air. 

“Hey, what’s that you’re fighting for?” Cloud asked with curiosity, her eyes focused on the red apple, as Vinyl had called it, in her hand.

“HEY! GET OFF MY HEAD YOU!” the boy bellowed with anger.

The bully tried to grab Cloud’s ankles but missed as the Jupitarian took a few feet of altitude with two flaps of her wings. Vinyl watched in awe the winged girl fly up before letting herself drop her foot on his skull a little more heavily than before, causing the bully to yelp in surprise before tumbling on the ground. Vinyl couldn’t help to giggle softly at the scene.

        Her giggles were interrupted as Cloud was surrounded by the same white aura that surrounded Vinyl’s apple a minute ago. 

“What the?” Cloud asked in a panic as she couldn’t move her wings, or any other part of her body for the matter. “What’s going on?”

“Let her go!” Vinyl shouted as the bully stood up before pushing her on the ground.

“Shut up!” the boy yelled before turning his attention on Cloud. “Tell me, if you break those magic wings, do you actually feel the pain?” he asked with a sadistic grin.

        At that question, Cloud’s eyes snapped wide open with fear.

“Hold on...” she began with a shaking voice.

“I guess I’ll find out in a minute....”

“I SAID LET HER GO!” Vinyl yelled before a small blue explosion sent the bully toppling a few meters away.

“Wahaaaa!” Cloud panicked as the magic grip around her dissipated itself, letting her drop to the floor. “Pheww!” She sighed in relief when she managed to flap her wings strong enough to hover a few inches above the ground, thus avoiding the impact.

“You okay?” Vinyl asked with concern.

“I’m fine, thanks,” Cloud said. “Why didn’t you do that earlier?” she asked with an impressed tone.

“Did what?”

“That blue explosion thingy! That was so cool!”

“Oh...” Vinyl blushed at the compliment. “Huh, I didn’t do it on purpose... it just happens sometimes.”

“Awwww,” Cloud sighed in disappointment. “That’s too bad.”

“I’m so gonna kick the....” the bully growled as he stood up, only to be rammed back to ground by an angry blonde little girl, Vinyl’s sister, Jacquelyn.

“Ya leave them alone, Neon!” Jacquelyn said angrily. “Or Ah’m gonna tell ma big brother on ya!”

“Too bad he isn’t here!” Neon said furiously.

“Hum-hum!” a masculine voice with an accent similar to Jacquelyn’s chimed in from behind Vinyl and Cloud.

“Mac!” Vinyl and Jacquelyn beamed at the newcomer, who Cloud recognized as the tall boy who had arrived in the same carriage as the two sisters earlier today.

        Cloud had guessed that he was rather tall for a boy this morning, but seeing him from close changed her definition of tall. Mac was easily a head taller than Neon who towered over Cloud with at least a foot and a half. Not to mention that Mac was way more sturdier than Neon.

“Howdy, Neon,” Mac said in a cold, casual tone. “Watcha doin’?”

“Huh, nothing, Mac,” Neon stammered in fear.

“Liar!” Cloud accused him loudly. “You made Vinyl cry by taking her apple away and making her jump to catch it!” 

“Is that true, Sugar?” Mac asked softly as he kneeled next to the blue haired girl who nodded vigorously. “Ya go ‘round bullyin’ ma little sis, Neon?” he asked the bully coldly before standing up.

“Wowow! She’s your little sister?” Neon asked incredulously, pointing at Vinyl who stuck her tongue out at him. 

“Eeeyuuup!” Mac said, cracking his knuckles in a threatful way.

“Since when?” Neon asked, slowly backing away from the taller boy.

        Cloud cocked an eyebrow at that question.

“None of yer business!” Mac replied sternly.

        Neon stared at Mac, then at Vinyl, then back at Mac before taking a deep breath and swelling out his chest with a stern, brave face.

        Then he turned around to run away in fright, only to be chased by Mac. Both boys got out of the sight of the three girls when they turned the corner of the school house. The three girls giggled when they heard Neon’s voice let out a high pitched scream of terror. When their laughter died out, Cloud gave Vinyl her apple back.

“Here!” Cloud smiled. “I wonder why he tried to take it from you...”

“Huh, it’s my snack,” Vinyl explained.

“That’s food?!” Cloud asked with wide eyes.

“O’ course it is!” Jacquelyn answered, cocking an eyebrow at the winged girl. “Ya never had an apple before?”

“This is actually my first time seeing one,” Cloud replied softly.

“Really?” Cloud nodded. “Here! Have a bite then!” Vinyl suggested happily as she extended the apple to Cloud.

“No, it’s ok!” Cloud shook her head. “It’s yours, I’ll taste one some other time.”

“You’re right. It’s mine, and I don’t mind sharing it with a friend,” Vinyl explained with a smile, earning a nod of approval from her sister.

“All right, then.” 

Cloud grabbed the red apple before taking a small bite of it. She masticated with attention for a couple of seconds under the watchful gaze of the two sisters. Cloud slowly swallowed before standing still with an impassible expression.

“That.... That’s the sweetest thing I ever ate!” Cloud said with a happy grin.

“Apples are sure as sugar the best fruit in all of Equestria,” Jacquelyn assured with pride.

“Well, I’ve never really had any fruits before but I’m willing to bet you're right!” Cloud said happily, returning the apple to Vinyl who took a voracious bite of it before passing it to her sister.

        They sat in triangle, chatting about Ponyville and Cloudsdale. Vinyl and Jacquelyn were in awe at the everything Cloud was telling about the City in the sky, while she was exactly the same at how they describe their town or their family’s farm. 

Their chat sort of became a small picnic when Jacquelyn pulled a few more apples out of her schoolbag. Cloud discovered that they were all kinds of apples; green, yellow, red, red with yellow patches, green with red patches... Jacquelyn had explained all different names of the apples she had brought, but Cloud couldn’t really remember them as she was confused by the fact Jacquelyn made the comparison between the fruits and some of her relatives who apparently had the same name.

“Say,” Cloud asked slowly after a while. “How come you didn’t come back in class, earlier?”

Vinyl looked at the ground. “Well, huh... I didn’t feel like coming back after... what happened,“ she explained with sadness before being hugged by Jacquelyn.

“Why didn’t you go back to your home then?”

“Well, it’s rather far from here,” Jacquelyn explained. “We ain’t allowed to go back without our big brother with us, so we had to wait for him.”

“Quite normal, I suppose,” Cloud assented before remembering something from earlier. “Why did everyone acted like that? I mean.... They all seemed very surprised that you two are sisters.” The two sisters looked at each other with a knowing gaze, Jacquelyn grabbing Vinyl’s hand reassuringly. “I mean I got a bit surprised because I’m new around here, and because you have blue hair while she’s blonde,” Cloud pointed at Vinyl then at Jacquelyn. “But they looked pretty damn shocked.”

“That might be because I didn’t even know Jacquelyn until two month ago....” Vinyl explained slowly with a trembling and pained voice.

“Huh?” Cloud tilted her head in confusion.

“I....I’m not really Jacquelyn’s sister... Mac’s not my real brother... Same for Mommy and Daddy...” Tears started to fill Vinyl’s red eyes. “... I ran away from my first home and somehow manage to get here at the beginning of summer... Jacquelyn found me when I was eating apples on her family’s farm.” She sniffed loudly, rubbing her tears away with the back of her hand. “They said I could stay with them if I wanted to, and I never left the farm before today...”

“Wow.” Cloud let out with a blank tone, too shocked to say anything else.

“You’re going to hate me, right?” Vinyl asked with a sob. “Just like the others in class, you’d ’not want to stay friend with a liar like me...”

“Vinyl....” Jacquelyn whispered softly.

“Me? Hate you?” Cloud asked loudly, finally breaking out of her shock, and startling the two other girls. “Are you not right in the head or something?”

“Huh?” Vinyl asked in confusion.

“Why would I hate my first friend because of something like that?” Cloud asked. “Well, I may envy you a bit but that’s not the point.”

“You envy me?” Vinyl asked with surprise. “Why?”

“Because, even if you’ve known them for two months only, you’ve got an awesome big brother and a cool sister!” Cloud explained while Jacquelyn smiled with a small blush at the compliment.

“But they’re not my real....”

“From my point of view, only real siblings would punch someone in class for making you cry, or go after the one that bullied you.” Cloud interrupted Vinyl with a smile.

“I...I..”

“Plus, you’re way too cool for me to hate you!” Cloud said cheerfully.

“I’m cool?” Vinyl asked incredulously.

“Yeah, you’re nice, you’re fun to talk with, and you can do those blue explosions!” Cloud explained excitedly.

Vinyl blushed with small smile, her tears now completely absent on her face. “I can’t do them at will, you know?” she said sheepishly.

“It will come with time,” Cloud assured. “Heck, I remember when these used to conjure and dissipate randomly whenever I tried to fly...” She fluttered her fuschia wings for a bit. “... Luckily, the floor was made of clouds back then,” Cloud winked playfully as the two girls chuckled happily at her tale.

“Girls, time to go home,” Mac said as he walked to them, rubbing his hands with a triumphant grin.

“Okay,” the two sisters said happily before standing up.

“What did you do to Neon, Mac?” Vinyl asked.

“Ah put him back in his place. He won’t bother ya anymore,” Mac smiled. “So, Vinyl, ya want a shoulder ride back home?”

“YAY!” Vinyl cheered.

“All right then!” Mac chuckled while lifting his blue haired little sister to make her sit on his rather large shoulders.

“Hey, what about me?” Jacquelyn protested.

“Yer too fat for shoulder ride.” Mac joked as Vinyl loudly stuck her tongue at her sister.

“Ah ain’t fat!” Jacquelyn shouted, tapping her tiny arm fiercely. “That’s pure Apple Family muscle!”

“If ya say so... But Vinyl’s still lighter than ya, so she has the right to a shoulder ride,” Mac explained.

“Fiiine! But Ah get a piggyback ride fer the way home tomorrow!” Jacquelyn claimed.

“O’ course!” Mac nodded before picking his backpack and Vinyl’s schoolbag up with his right hand. “Let’s go!” he said before walking to the school gate.

“Bye, Cloud!” Vinyl waved at her new friend.

“Bye, Vinyl! Seeya tomorrow!” Cloud waved back as Vinyl nodded happily.

“Cloud, thanks,” Jacquelyn said softly as she stayed behind her siblings a bit.

“Thanks for what?” Cloud asked with curiosity.

“For what ya said to Vinyl about Mac and me,” Jacquelyn explained with a small smile. “She needed to hear that from someone outside the family. Also thanks for being her friend!”

“Any time!” Cloud winked.

“Seeya tomorrow!” Jacquelyn said before catching up with her siblings.

“Seeya!”

Cloud watched the three siblings until they went out of her sight, munching on the last apple she had left. After that, she turned her attention back to the sky, spotting her mother flying toward school from afar. Cloud decided to take off to her halfway, throwing her apple core in the school garbage truck as she flew above it. 

“Owww!” a pained voice shouted from the garbage truck.

        Cloud looked down, and had to bite her lip to not laugh at what she saw. Neon was lying in the garbage truck, rubbing his forehead with a pained grunt, an apple core lying next to his head.

        Cloud grinned devilishly as an idea came down to her. Her left hand got surrounded by a white foggy aura before she made her forefinger move in circles. A tiny white cloud, merely bigger than a soccer ball,  slowly appeared above the bully’s head, unbeknownst to said bully. The newly formed cloud turned light grey in a matter of seconds before Cloud clacked her fingers.

        Neon suddenly received an ice cold shower directly from the cloud which slowly begin to disappear as it was losing all its water on the ‘trashed’ bully below it. Neon tried get out of the rain and the garbage truck, only to slip on the wet litter and to fall head first in a disgusting brown puddle formed by the trash and the rainwater.

“That’s for threatening to ‘break’ my wings!” Cloud laughed at the bully’s misery before flying to her mother.

Ponyville wasn’t really what she had expected it to be, but it was fun nevertheless. Cloud had tasted something she had never eaten before and already made two friends. It wasn’t what she had imagined, but it was worth it. Who knew what Ponyville could bring her next?

> Vinyl & Applejack's birthday party
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        In the second largest bedroom of the cloud-house which was floating above the western side of Ponyville, Cloud Kicker, now sixteen years old, was sound asleep on her bed, delicately snoring while probably still in the world of dreams. Her massive curtains were drawn, leaving her room in a nearly total darkness despite the unusually clear, blue sky of that particularly hot Saturday of November. Cloud was in the perfect condition to sleep in for the rest of the morning.

        But, that was without taking in consideration the small, purple haired girl with translucent, pale yellow wings, hovering a couple of feet above that sleeping mass which Cloud was. The little girl managed to to contain her evil giggles with her hand, before ceasing to flap her wings, thus letting herself drop on the still asleep Cloud.

        The poor victim snapped awake when she felt something landing heavily on her stomach, sputtering a few choked grunts. The impact half-buried her in her cloudmade mattress, making her unconsciously conjure her feathery, dark fuchsia wings which flapped uncontrollably, as if trying to keep their owner in the air. Cloud looked at what had fell on her before glaring angrily at the snickering girl on her belly.

“Good morning, Big Sis!” the little girl said innocently.

“Alula....” Cloud growled in anger while lifting her little sister by grabbing both her wings with her hand. “Why did you do that?”

“Mommy asked me to wake you up,” Alula replied with a pained voice. Jupitarian wings were very sensitive for a little girl, and Cloud’s grip on them was far from being gentle. “Cloud, you’re hurting me.”

“Maybe that will teach you to not jump on me while I’m asleep,” Cloud explained coldly before letting go of her sister, making her land butt first on the puffy mass which the house’s floor consisted in.

“Why are you so mean to me?” Alula asked with an angry put, flaring her tiny wings in a gesture of defiance.

“Why are you so annoying?” Cloud retorted.

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“Am not!”

“Are too!”

“CLOUD!” Nimbus shouted from outside the room. ”Be nice with your little sister!”

“Why am I the one being told off?” Cloud asked in anger. “She’s the one who jumped on me while I was asleep!”

“It was probably an accident,” Nimbus stated in annoyance. 

“Sure it was,” Cloud muttered while glaring at Alula who stuck her tongue out at her sister, thus confirming her culpability to Cloud. “Next time, I’ll throw you out the window. Am I clear?”

“I can fly back up, dummy!” Alula replied with a smug grin.

“Not if I tie your wings up first,” Cloud whispered in a low, threatening tone.

“Then, Mommy will punish you for the rest of your life!” 

“She already did when she gave birth to you!” Cloud retorted before standing up to reach for the bathroom’s door.

“MOMMY! Cloud said that she wanted to throw me out the window!” Alula shouted while following Cloud into the bathroom.

        After that shout, it took Nimbus only a split second to join her two daughters in the second floor’s corridor. She immediately cast a dark glare at her eldest while said eldest was doing the same to the youngest who was faking tears since the moment their mother came in the corridor.

“Cloud, is that true?” Nimbus asked in a ice cold voice.

“I wasn’t serious about it....” Cloud muttered, still glaring at her little sister.

“Apologize to her!” Nimbus ordered.

“Absolutely out of question!” Cloud replied. “Not until she apologizes first for jumping on me while I was sleeping.”

“You know that she probably just lost control of her wings while flying above you,” Nimbus stated.

“While I know that’s not true at all, why would she even need to fly above me to wake me up?” Cloud asked angrily.

“I was just practicing my flying,” Alula said with a sugary, apologetic tone. “I didn’t do it on purpose. I’m sorry, Cloud,” she said with small tears in her blue eyes.

        Cloud had to give something to her sister: she was a damn good actress for an eight year old. Their mother kneeled down to hug her youngest daughter, before returning her attention to her eldest.

“Well?” Nimbus asked matter-of-factly.

“Well what?” Cloud asked back.

“She apologized. Now it’s your turn.” Cloud answered by an unintelligible grumble. “Cloud Kicker, you will apologize if you want to go to today’s party!”

“Fine!” Cloud sighed in defeat. “I’m sorry for what I said to you, Alula. It won’t happen again...” Nimbus nodded before going back downstair with Alula in tow. “... as long as you don’t push it,” she added in a whisper before entering in the bathroom.





        Later that day, Cloud was flying toward Sweet Apple Acres when she spotted two familiar girls who were walking along the path to the farm with a few bags levitating in a mint green aura behind them. She waved at them when they noticed her before flying above the fence of the southern orchard. Cloud quickly spotted the large pond next to which a few tents were set up. 

She grinned when she saw a tall blonde girl wearing a worn out, brown stetson. She nose dived toward the blonde with a high pitched whistle. She was about to tackle her friend with a surprise-hug when she was suddenly stopped a few inches away from the blonde, her entire body surrounded by an electric blue aura.

“You’re no fun, Vinyl.” Cloud pouted for two seconds before smiling widely at her blue haired friend.

“I wasn’t gonna let you break yourself trying to tackle AJ, was I?” Vinyl asked with a chuckle.

“Can you put me down?” Cloud asked casually. “So that I can give a proper hello to you birthday girls.”

“Hmmm, tough call, Sis,” Jacquelyn chimed in, grinning at the pose their levitating friend was currently posed in. “Ah think she looks nice like that.”

“In that case, neither of you two will get your present,” Cloud replied with a smirk.

“Ok, I’m letting you go,” Vinyl excitedly said, quickly dissipating the magic aura around Cloud’s body.

        Cloud flapped her wings a couple of times to land safely on the ground. Then, she pulled her two friends into a strong embrace which they both returned eagerly.

“Happy birthday, girls,” Cloud said cheerfully.

“Thank ya kindly, Cloudy,” Jacquelyn whispered with a happy smile.

“Thanks, CK,” Vinyl said, before tightening her grip on her winged friend. “Now, you mentioned presents,” she added with an expecting glint in her eyes as she broke the hug.

“Don’ ya remember Papy’s lessons on patience, Sis’?” Jacquelyn casually asked with a chuckle, before freezing with a slightly worried expression, her gaze focused on her blue haired.

        Cloud winced at that remark as well, albeit internally, as it remembered her the most somber part of the Apples’ life. It was three years and a half ago, a few weeks after their mother, Ariane Apple, had died while giving birth to AppleBloom.

        The death of their mother had been even harder for Vinyl to cope with than it had been for Macintosh and Jacquelyn. As her friends needed all the help they could have, Cloud had spent as much time as possible at Sweet Apple Acres to comfort them. Cloud was even present when Vinyl had snapped at Jonah when he tried to comfort her one morning two weeks after that fateful incident.


*****




“It was your fault, Dad! You just had to make a fourth child! Mac, AJ and I weren’t sufficient, were we?”

“Vinyl, that’s not true!”

“Or, maybe I wasn’t sufficient. After all, I’m not real Apple! I’m just the package AJ picked up on the road! No wonder you and Mom tried to have a real third child!”

“Vinyl....how ...how can you even think something like that? Ariane loved you like her own flesh and blood..... I love you like my very own child. Just like I love Macintosh, Jacquelyn, and Appleblo...”

“DON’T SAY THAT THING’S NAME!”

“She’s not a thing, Vinyl. She’s your little sister!”

“That’s not my little sister! It’ll never be! That’s just the thing that took Mom away from us.....From me....”

        After that, Vinyl ran away from the farmhouse, rivers of tears flowing out of her eyes, leaving the rest of her family in the living room. Jacquelyn had locked herself in her room while her brother and grandmother were trying to console her sobbing father. Cloud had wanted to fly after Vinyl, but Granny Smith said that she need some time alone, and that Jacquelyn probably needed the support of a friend at that moment. Cloud had spent the rest of the day comforting her distraught, blonde friend.

        Later that day, Jonah took his horse to look for Vinyl when they noticed she wasn't anywhere on the farm’s grounds. Her father suspected that she was at her secret spot in White Tail Woods, and rode over there to get her back home. 

After a hour long wait, the rest of the Apple Family and Cloud heard an incredibly loud explosion accompanied by a bright flash of blue light coming from White Tail Woods. Within a minute, Macintosh and Jacquelyn had prepared their own horses before galloping at full speed toward where the explosion had occurred, with Cloud flying a bit ahead of them. 

        Quickly enough, the trio was joined by a squad of Jupitarian Guards who had seen the explosion back in Ponyville. Around a quarter of hour later, the group arrived to a clearing in which Cloud saw the most disturbing scene she had seen in her life.

        Jonah’s horse laid on the ground in a large pool of blood next to a rather large crater, a great deal of his throat ripped off from its neck. A few meters away from the crater, a couple of trees had fell, the base of their trunks crushed as if something heavy had landed on them, a dark crimson bat wing crashed into the bark of one of the trees.

“Dad.... Dad... please... please wake up...”

        The whole group turned to face the source of the quiet, shaken voice. The guards, the Apples, and Cloud’s gaze fell on a crying Vinyl, with blood coming out of her right ear, gently hugging her father while he laid unconscious on the floor, a large scratch on his right arm.

“I’m sorry, Dad... Sorry for what I said... I take it all back.... But please wake up.... We need you .... Please, Daddy, please.... I beg you … Don’t leave us too.”


*****




        A small part of the Guards squad had flown Vinyl and Jonah to the hospital while the rest searched the area for the beast responsible of the attack soon after Vinyl had mumbled something about a manticore. The squad came back later at night. They had tracked the beast until the trail lead deep within the Everfree Forest. Despite most of the Guards being willing to bring the responsible beast down, none of them volunteered to venture in the Everfree Forest for that.

        The damage to Vinyl’s ear, caused by the magic explosion she had instinctively created to chase the manticore away, was healed easily thanks to a spell of a Titanian doctor, normally without any consequences for her daily life. 

Jonah’s condition on the other hand was far from being good. While his only wound was a large scratch on his arm, the issue was that it had been caused by the manticore’s stinger. Manticore’s venom was extremely hard to collect, only major city hospitals, like in Canterlot, or Manehatten, had access to it in order to synthesize an antidote.

They had sent Ponyville’s fastest Jupitarian, Ditzy Doo the newly hired post-woman, to get the antidote from one of Canterlot’s hospitals. Despite having made the round trip half a day faster than planned, Ditzy had arrived too late. Jonah had died a couple of hours before Ditzy crashed into the hospital’s lobby, a large bottle of antidote in her hand, not without having a serious conversation with his three children before his passing. What exactly had they talked about, Cloud didn’t know, and she never pried her friends into speaking about it as it wasn’t her business at all. 

It took a few months, but life had taken back its course in Sweet Apple Acres, with a few changes here and there. At Cloud’s great surprise, Vinyl had taken upon herself to take care of their newly born sister with the help of Granny Smith. It might have been by guilt more than anything else at first, but the most genuine love and affection quickly took over the blue haired Apple’s guilt as the main reason for her to take care of AppleBloom.

In the end, no one in the Apple Family blamed Vinyl for what happened, despite her claiming otherwise during the first weeks that followed. And those in Ponyville who had dared to say otherwise had been put silent with the only time Granny Smith had told off some worm tongues who had whispered something nasty about her blue haired granddaughter. Needless to say, the naysayers turned mute after the Matriarch’s outburst.

        Still, speaking about Jonah Apple, or mentioning him, was something that people avoided to do in Vinyl’s presence, fearing that it would upset her like it used to three years ago. And, her own sister brought it up by accident.

“AJ, Cloudy...” Vinyl whispered softly. “I’m not gonna start crying like a baby. You can stop looking at me with those worried expressions,” she said with a short smile that looked a little bit forced to be completely genuine.

“Are ya...” Jacquelyn began in a whisper before Vinyl pulled her head close so that their foreheads could touch.

“Applejack, I’m fine. I have you and Cloudy by my side, the cousins are here too and the rest of our friends are on their way. Now, it’s time to have fun, not to be sad!” Vinyl said with conviction.

“Alright, Sugarcube!” Applejack nodded before gently pecking her sister’s forehead.

“Not that that sweet sisterly bonding session is making me jealous or anything,” Cloud said with a chuckle. “But you want your presents now or later?” she asked, her hand playing with the buckle of her bag.

        Vinyl let out a small whimper while focussing her pleading, red eyes on her sister who stared at her for a few seconds before sighing in defeat.

“Ah can’t say no to that,” Applejack admitted sourly. “Ah suppose that now is as good as later.”

“YAY!” Vinyl shouted while happily raising both arms in the air. “What have you got for us?”

Cloud chuckled as she pulled a thin squared package out of her bag. “That’s for you, Vi’.”

        Vinyl excitedly ripped the wrapping off, revealing a record holder with a purple musical clef on the cover. The blue haired scanned the cover with attention.

“Mmmm, Octavia Philharmonica...” she whispered with a reflective frown. “Where have I heard that before?”

“It’s the first record of an upcoming cellist in Manehatten,” Cloud explained. “The guy had the record shop said that’s she isn’t really well known as a musician at the moment, but she’s going to make it big in a year or two according to him.”

“Oh yeah,” Vinyl said with a short nod. “I’ve read a small article about her in the newspapers last time I spent a weekend at Uncle Orange’s house. Apparently she’s the daughter of a High count or something...”

“Some prissy princess who’s born with a golden spoon in the mouth, surely,” Applejack muttered sourly.

“Even if that’s the case, as long as she plays good music, she’s fine by me. It’s not like we’re ever gonna meet her,” Vinyl replied, rolling her eye at her sister’s remark. “Anyway, thanks for the gift, Cloudy.” she gave her friend a nearly bone crushing hug.

“Don’t thank me before you listen to it.” Cloud pulled out a large package she offered to Applejack. “Here you go, AJ.”

“Ah’ll be... New gloves!” Applejack commented happily as she saw the brand new, orange boxing gloves out of their wrapping. “Thanks a lot, Sugarcube. Ah needed a new pair.”

“Yeah, Big Mac told me you broke the old ones while sparring against him,” Cloud explained casually. “They should be tough enough for you, though I suggest you go easy from now on... If not for them, do it at least for Mac’s sake.”

“Are ya implying that I hurt ma big brother during practice?” Applejack asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“I wouldn’t know since I don’t watch you practice,” Cloud replied with a shrug. “But, I suppose there’s a good reason if people don’t bother Mac because they fear what you’ll do them, and not the opposite like it used to be.” Cloud let out a good hearted laugh, soon joined by Vinyl.

“Very funny,” Applejack muttered sourly before noticing the huge shadow covering the pond and its surroundings. “Ah thought it was supposed to be sunny today,” she commented as she spotted huge dark grey clouds hiding the sun.

“And to make things better, it’s starting to rain,” Vinyl said as she felt a few drops falling on her arm. “So much for a ‘beach party’ by the pond,” she added sourly.

“Give me a minute!” Cloud said cocky before taking off.

“What do you know, presents and a show from Cloudy.” Vinyl watched her Jupitarian friend fly up to the clouds’ level.

“She’s sure as sugar spoilin’ us today,” Applejack commented cheerfully.

        Cloud had landed on top of the largest rain cloud in the sky. She rolled her wrists and shoulders before focussing her weather magic in her hands which were now surrounded by a light, white haze. She halfway pushed her fingers into the cloud, and closed her eyes in concentration, her wings widely spread behind her back.

        The cloud started to deform itself; slowly forming tentacle-like extensions which merged with the other rain clouds as soon as they came in contact with each other. Within the next thirty seconds, sky was occupied by one enormous, compact rain cloud.

        Cloud snapped her eyes open while giving a powerful flap of her wings before making her hands do a quarter turn. The few inches around her hands suddenly passed from dark grey to pure white. In a matter of seconds, the white patch grew larger and larger, soon occupying the entire surface of the cloud before it started to dissipate itself into the air, just like when someone popped a soap bubble, letting the sun shine all over Sweet Apple Acres.

        Satisfied with herself, Cloud flew back to her friends as their cousins were applauding her for saving the outdoor birthday party. She landed next to her friends, before making a short, reverential bow.

“This beautiful, sunny day has been given to you by the Amazing Future Weather Manager Cloud Kicker,” she said in a bragging tone.

“So much modesty in yer words, Cloudy,” Applejack commented.

“You’re settled on following your parents’ ‘wingflaps’ then?” Vinyl asked with curiosity.

“Ok, first of all, that’s a really bad wordplay coming from our class’ top student.” Vinyl childishly stuck her tongue out at her. “And, to answer your questions, it’s not like I could do something else with my abilities,” Cloud said matter-of-factly. “...or with my current GPA,” she added on a sourer note.

“It’s still higher than mine, Sugarcube,” Applejack stated casually.

“Yeah, well, your dream is to run Sweet Apple Acres,” Cloud pondered for a few moments. “Or to become the best rodeo woman in Equestria. Both of them don’t really require outstanding academic performances.”

“Anyway, Cloud, you could always become an escort,” Vinyl suggested with a devious grin. “Since you change dates as often as AJ breaks sandbags.”

“Hey! Ah don’t break sandbags as often as that!” Applejack shouted in offense.

“I don’t change partners as often as that, do I?” Cloud calmly scratched her chin in reflexion. “You know? Maybe I do...” She made a casual shrug. “Anyway that’s not important. Let’s focus on this party!” Cloud shouted excitedly.

“Good idea!” Applejack nodded before narrowing her eyes toward something behind Vinyl. “Ah think Bonnie and Lyra just arrived...”





“Uuurrghhh... I don’t have any strength left to finish that pie...” Bonnie leaned lazily on the back of the couch, her hand resting on her stomach with a nine tenths eaten slice of pie lying on a plate in front of her.

        The double birthday party finished about an hour ago. Most of Applejack and Vinyl’s cousins took the train to get back to their homes, while the concerned party had moved to their barn-lounge with Cloud, Bonnie, Lyra and their older cousin, Fiddlesticks, to have an after party followed by a sleepover.

        Vinyl and Lyra were enjoying the cello’s melody on the Apple’s new record in the corner of the barn while Applejack and Fiddlesticks had gone to look for blankets. Bonnie had decided to finish one of Granny Smith’s remaining apple pies, something that turned out to be too much for her to handle.

“Here, let me help you with that, Bonnie.” Cloud took a forkful of Bonnie’s pie before putting it in the concerned party’s mouth. “Now, chew!” Cloud chuckled while making her friend’s jaw move up and down with her hands.

“Ffankff...” Bonnie said, smiling through her mouthful. “You’re a real pal, Cloud.”

“Good to know ya consider a good friend whoever feeds ya, Bon,” Applejack chuckled as she walked back in the barn/lounge, her arms full of blankets she tossed on the nearest couch.

“Jealous much, AJ?” Cloud suggested playfully, still making Bonnie chew her pie with her hands.

“Hardly,” Applejack replied with a shrug. “Ah ain’t keen on being fed like a baby,”

“Hey! I’m not a baby!” Bonnie shouted.

“Great, you’re happy now, AJ?” Cloud asked playfully. “Now, she’s gonna be cranky all night long because you’ve upset her. It’s gonna mess up her sleep pattern.”

“Girls!” Fiddlesticks called as she entered the barn with a large case containing a lot of bottles and glasses, interrupting Bonnie’s retort. “Ah found the booze! Now, we can have fun!”

        At that claim, Vinyl and Lyra quickly turned off the record player, and dashed on the nearest couch. Lyra chose to sit upside down, next to Bonnie, who just had to turn her head to have a pleasant conversation with the teal and white haired girl’s knees.

“Can’t you sit normally?” Bonnie asked with a cocked eyebrow. 

“I didn’t come here to hear the same things my mother says all the time,” Lyra replied with a shrug. “Let’s drink!”

“Sure thing, Sugar, but first.” Applejack passed her hand under Lyra’s shoulder. “That’s ma spot.” Applejack suddenly lifted Lyra’s upper body off the couch.

“WAHAAAAA!” Lyra screamed in surprise as she was tossed over the couch’s back, landing behind it with a small thud. “Owwwie!”

“Did you have to do that?” Vinyl asked as Applejack sat in Lyra’s place next to Bonnie who was checking to see if Lyra was ok.

“It’s ma spot, and Ah like it,” Applejack explained with a shrug.

“You do know that only dogs have designated spots like that, right?” Cloud asked jokingly.

“Bon’, get down a little bit,” Applejack demanded softly.

        Bonnie obediently lowered her head just enough to allow Applejack’s arm to extend above it. The blonde farm girl pushed Cloud’s face with her hand with a sufficient strength to make the Jupitarian to pass over the couch’s back. Another soft thud was heard from behind the couch, soon followed by two pained yelps. Apparently, Cloud had fallen on top of Lyra.

        As soon as Cloud and Lyra recovered from being flipped over the couch by Applejack, Fiddlesticks started to serve some hard cider for the small group. As the alcohol started to be effective on the girls’ mind, except on Applejack who had a clearly superior tolerance to alcohol than the others, the drinking games began to replace the casual topics of conversation. Now the five girls were busy playing Never Have I Ever.

“Ok Bon-Bon, yer turn,” Applejack called after filling everyone’s glass.

“Bon-Bon?” Bonnie asked, tilting her head with curious frown. “That’s new....”

“Who cares about that?” Cloud asked impatiently. “Hit it, girl!”

“Alright, alright...hum... Never have I ever...” Bonnie’s eyes lit up with a malicious glint. “...made out with a girl.”

Without much surprise, Cloud swigged down a good portion of her glass. What took the other by surprise was Lyra doing it as well after casting a knowing smile at Cloud. A detail that didn’t go unnoticed.

“I sense there’s a story behind this,” Vinyl said with a devious grin.

“Not much of a story,” Cloud explained casually. “Lyra wanted to experiment, and I was willing to be her guinea pig.”

“Though, I’m a bit mad at her because of that,” Lyra said while badly faking her anger toward the blonde Jupitarian. “Now, I can’t kiss anyone without thinking about her,”

“Aren’t you the sweetest thing?” Cloud playfully ruffled Lyra’s teal hair. “I wasn’t that good.”

“Cloudy, you rocked my entire world with that kiss.” Lyra’s cheeks, already pink because of the alcohol, took a deep shade of crimson.

“Aww, come here, Sweetie!” 

Cloud pulled Lyra into a deep and passionate kiss. The young lyrist’s face became even more crimson before she completely gave into the kiss, rolling her eyes with a long, pleased moan. When the contact with Cloud’s lips broke, Lyra mumbled a few incomprehensible words before she leaned back on the couch with a blissful smile.

“Hmmm!” Cloud licked her lips sensually. “Minty! Just like I remember.”

“If you want to take it further, CK, there’s another barn about two hundred meters away to the South,” Applejack suggested with a smirk.

“I don’t think it’ll be necessary. In my opinion, Lyra’s out of commission for the rest of the night,” Bonnie commented while poking at Lyra’s face, earning no reactions whatsoever.

“She must be rather impressionable for turning like that with just a kiss,” Fiddlesticks commented with a pinch of smug disdain.

“You can say that only because you haven’t tasted the huge blob of the sexiness that is our Cloud Kicker,” Lyra drunkenly affirmed before returning to her groggy state.

“I would have preferred another choice of words, but I get the compliment. Thanks!” Cloud remarked with a short chuckle.

“Anytime! Anytim....” Lyra muttered before instantly falling asleep on the couch, her high alcohol level and her grogginess from kissing Cloud having taken her last sparks of energy.

“Ok, hit me!” Fiddlesticks demanded to Cloud with determination. “She thinks no one can resist you, Ah’m gonna prove her wrong!”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Fiddle,” Vinyl warned with a knowing smirk.

“Yer bitin’ off more than ya can chew with her,” Applejack added, bearing the same smirk as her sister.

“Ah had ma share of experiences, girls,” Fiddle remarked boastfully. “It ain’t gonna be a youngster like her who’s gonna make me dizzy,”

“Your funeral,” Bonnie joked while tenderly putting a blanket on top of Lyra.

“Doesn’t that break the promise I made you two about me never doing things with your relatives couple of months ago?” Cloud asked to the birthday girls.

“Does she look like Big Macintosh to you?” Vinyl asked back. “Because that promise mainly concerns him.”

“Definitely not!” Cloud said with a low hungry tone as she gave a fiery glance at Fiddlesticks’ features.

        The concerned party tried to hide her growing blush as the younger girl came closer, her confidence was rapidly falling apart under the burning purple gems that were Cloud’s eyes. Suddenly, she didn’t feel like a nineteen year old woman with experience. There was something about Cloud that made her feel like a first-timer. Maybe it had to do with the fact it was her first time with another girl. She didn’t get the time to think about it as Cloud’s lips locked hers.

        The simple peck on the lips quickly become a very passionate French kissing session. Fiddlesticks completely lost it. Cloud’s lips and tongue were like a drug, she couldn’t get enough of them. All too soon, Cloud pulled her lips away, only to have Fiddlesticks grabbing the back of her head to pull them back. That didn’t seem to bother Cloud much though.

        Their passionate kissing lasted for a minute or two before it was interrupted by a loud stomp that startled them both. They looked at the rest of the group, finally remembering they weren’t alone, to see Applejack’s booted foot on top of the coffee table which had now short cracks on its surface, much to Vinyl’s displeasure.

“Rude much, AJ?” Cloud asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Well, excuse me for stopping ya two on yer road to bangin’ right in front of us,” Applejack replied with a chuckle, ignoring Vinyl’s complaints about the state of the coffee table.

“Come on, I know you have zero experience in that domain AJ, but seriously, HOW can you mix up kissing and banging?” Cloud asked in disbelief.

“Ah ain’t mixin’ up things.” Applejack shook her head. “Ah’ll say the fact that Fiddle’s hands are under yer top makes it pretty obvious of what would have happened if I hadn’t interrupted y’all.”

“Her hands?”

“Ma hands?”

        They both looked down and noticed with surprise that Fiddlesticks’ hands were indeed under Cloud’s t-shirt, her right at the level of her breasts and the left on her lower back. Fiddlesticks, her face now bright red of embarrassment, backpedaled away from Cloud, eliciting the drunken laughter of the other three.

“Well, well, well, you sure are a stealthy, horny type of gal.” Cloud stated with a chuckle while replacing her t-shirt normally. “We’ll see the extent of the horny part a bit later in the barn AJ mentioned earlier,” she whispered to Fiddlesticks’ ear in a low, sensual purr.

“...O..Ok!” Fiddlesticks nodded slowly.

        The group, minus Lyra who was still sleeping like a log, went back to the game with, as sole difference compared to before, Fiddlesticks holding onto Cloud like a needy cat. That didn’t faze the other three at all. It had been a bit weird when Cloud started to occasionally bring her dates along whenever they went out, or whenever they had a get-together, but it stopped bothering them quickly enough.

The two Apples didn’t mind their cousin’s behavior. They knew better than to question the attitude of those who had been exposed to their friend’s weird, sexy, magical aura, -Applejack had found that name- and on top of things, Fiddlesticks was three years older than them. Granny Smith had always taught them to not mingle into their elders’ business, Macintosh being the only exception they ever made to that rule.

The game continued for about an hour. And with what Cloud had done to Lyra and Fiddle, the game quickly changed to a kinkier version. At some point, a rather annoyed Applejack interrupted the game.

“Can we stop with those ‘first times, lovers and all that’ type of questions?” she asked angrily. “Ah’d like to drink at some point!” She pointed at her glass which had been left untouched for about forty minutes.

“It’s not our fault if you’re way more prude than everyone of us, Sis,” Vinyl mocked her sister.

“Ya, ah ain’t speakin’ to ya no more!” Applejack affirmed with a pout.

“Tone it down a notch, you’re gonna wake Lyra up,” Bonnie quietly warned.

“What did I do so that you don’t want to speak to me anymore?” Vinyl asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“How come ya never told me that yer first kiss was with Neon of all people?” Applejack asked with an offended tone, referring to one of the earlier revelations that had occurred because of the drinking game.

“Because I knew you’d freak out like that, maybe?” Vinyl suggested with a roll of her eyes.

“Called it would have happened by the way!” Cloud said to Bonnie. “Send me the money you owe me, Bon-Bon!”

“I’m liking this nickname more and more,” Bonnie said casually before opening her bit bag. “We had said fifty bits on Vinyl’s first kiss or sixty? I don’t remember well.”

“Lyra!” Cloud called to the sleeping mass at her right. “Vinyl’s first kiss: fifty or sixty bits?”

“Sixty!” Lyra grunted in a sleepy whisper before instantly retreating in the arms of Luna.

“So much for not waking her up,” Bonnie muttered angrily as she started to count her bits for Cloud.

“Thanks, Lyra.” Cloud noticed Fiddlesticks’ puzzled look. “Lyra’s sorta the bookie of our little group,” she explained matter-of-factly.

“How could you have kissed him? He was such a bully when we were kids!” Applejack shouted.

“Yes, he was! WAS, AJ, as in ‘the simple past of the verb to be’!” Vinyl explained angrily. “He apologized for his past behaviors many years ago, and I forgave him.”

“Maybe, but how did y’all end up kissing?”

“We became friends when I started to get interested in music, and he must have developed some sort of a crush on me after that,” Vinyl supposed. “As for the kiss, he told me he might have feelings for me before he had to go to Trottingham with his family. I wasn’t sure about what to do, so I kissed him to figure his and my feelings out, end of the story!” Vinyl explained matter-of-factly. “Since he told me in his latest letter that he had found a girlfriend over there, you can guess what was the conclusion of that kiss.”

“You’re not jealous?” Bonnie asked with curiosity.

“Not one bit,” Vinyl replied honestly. “There wasn’t any … I don’t know... magic in that kiss we shared. It was just not bad. I’m actually glad he found someone who likes him like that. He deserves it.”

“Bon-Bon, it’s Applejack who’s the jealous one because she hasn’t had her first kiss yet.” Cloud said jokingly.

Bonnie, Fiddlesticks and Vinyl giggled at that statement while Applejack’s ears became bright red of embarrassment.

“So what? Ah’m waitin’ for my special someone instead of rushin’ it like y’all,” Applejack defended herself uneasily. “Beside, Ah got time! Big Mac’s three years older than me, and he never had any girlfriends.”

“Well, no offense, cuz, but yer big brother ain’t really a model to follow in that regard,” Fiddlesticks chimed in casually. 

“True,” Vinyl admitted. “He’s all quiet and shy... Not exactly the lady killer type of guy.”

“Though he’s quite fetching,” Bonnie commented casually. “Big, strong, rather well endowed.... I’m talking about his muscles,” she added quickly when Vinyl and Applejack glared at her. “I couldn’t possibly know what his…thing’s size would be.”

“I know someone who should know!” Lyra emerged from her sleep, though her gaze was still sleepy and unfocused. “Cloudy should know, since her first time was with Big Mac!”

“WHAT?!” Vinyl and Applejack asked simultaneously, staring at Lyra in disbelief while Cloud froze with her eyes wide open in shock.

“Well, I saw them going out of one of the barns the day after we celebrated the end of the school year and Cloud’s birthday,” Lyra drunkenly explained. “She had Mac’s shirt on because she couldn’t find her top anymore. She saw me and we talked for a bit... But I don’t remember if she said anything about his size though.... You should ask her, Bonnie, but don’t say anything to Vinyl and Applejack!” 

Lyra waved her finger as a warning gesture, not realizing she was waving at Fiddlesticks instead of Bonnie, or that Vinyl and Applejack were just a meter away from her. The next things that happened were a feathery, purple blur that flew through the barn’s door before closing it, only for it to be broken open by an angry Applejack with Vinyl right on her heels.

The sounds of the crashing door, angry shouts, pleas for AJ and Vinyl to calm down and a small boom characteristic of Vinyl’s Applebucking spell were more than enough to sober and completely wake Lyra up. Bonnie slowly clapped her hands with a dark stare directed at her teal and white haired friend who looked at the ground in shame.
	

> The end and birth of a monster
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Two weeks had passed since that fateful saturday night in which Cloud had probably lost her two best friends forever. Cloud had spent most of the two weeks in her house; the Kickers didn’t take very well learning that their daughter got a black eye from one of her best friends because she had slept with that friend’s brother on her sixteenth birthday. That got her grounded for a month. Not really because of the fight, if we could call that a fight, and the black eye that followed, but more because of the fact that their daughter wasn’t a virgin anymore.

Cloud had accepted the first two weeks of being locked up in her room without hesitation. She needed some time alone, to cry about her lost friendships until she slapped her face and convinced herself to make everything in her power to apologize to Applejack and Vinyl, and to make it up to them. Cloud broke out of her room when she decided that she had passed enough time inside it. Her parents seemed to have forgotten it was quite hard to lock a cloud-shaper like her up in a cloud-made construction. 

As soon as she was out of her cloud-house, Cloud noticed quickly that the weather was a far cry different from the last time she had been out of her house. Winter was coming at the same pace as December was; most of the trees were out of leaves and the sky had a dark grey hue due the number of rain clouds in the air, and the temperature was way below the level of that fateful saturday. 

After having put warmer clothes on, she had flown around town until she she hovered above the marketplace which had many unoccupied stalls, including a familiar apple stand.

Not a real surprise they’re not here in this kind of  weather. Cloud commented internally with a sigh. I should try at Sweet Apple A...

“Ya betrayed our trust, Cloud! You broke yer promise! Yer nothin’ but a liar, and Apples don’t make friends with liars! Ah never want to see ya again!”

        Cloud shivered uncontrollably, and it wasn’t because of the cold weather. Applejack’s words after Vinyl’s spell had forced her to stop her flight had hurt her a lot more than the lone punch she received from her angry blonde friend, and were still hurting her whenever she thought about them.

If only I hadn’t drunk so much that night, none of this would be happening! Cloud thought while tears were rolling out of her eyes. Of all the people at that party, why did I have to sleep with Mac at that time?

        Cloud had both loved, and hated having sex with Macintosh since the very first moment she woke up the day after it had happened. 

She had loved it because Macintosh had been very thoughtful, and gentle with her, yet she remembered him also firm and strong when he had to. The first time every girl would dream of. Plus, Mac being considered as the best hunk of a man by all of Ponville’s girls, straight and lesbian alike, having the chance to be his first time did a good job building up her ego, even if she couldn’t exactly brag about it.

Yet, she had hated it because she knew it could break things up between her and her two best friends. Sure, Macintosh had always been a good friend from the first day she saw him, and he was good-looking as one could be. But he was just that for Cloud; a good-looking friend. It was a great relief that she saw that Mac looked just as scared as her when they woke up next to each other. Cloud was glad that he understood her reasons for not telling anyone about it, probably because he feared his sisters’ reaction as much as Cloud, maybe even more.

Though, she couldn’t chase the feeling that she had hurt him when she wanted to dismiss their fling just like that. She didn’t want to, but keeping her best friends was more important to her than the rest. If she had fallen in love with him, it would have been a total different situation. Cloud was convinced that, in that case, Applejack and Vinyl would have support her all the way. Except that she wasn’t, maybe he was (And if that was the case, he hid it very well.), but he’ll always be a good friend to her. Not even a banging buddy, just a friend who she had made a mistake with.

“I’m really a selfish person,” Cloud whispered with a wince, disgusted at her own thoughts. “I’m only thinking of making things better for myself! Because I don’t want to lose my friends! I never gave Mac any considerations about that night. I just went with the flow of things when it was convenient for me.”

        She hadn’t noticed it before, but she had flown the rest of the way to Sweet Apple Acres while her mind was focused on her situation with the Apple Sisters. She conjured her small cloud to have an observation point of the farm. She saw from afar a small figure with a light blue winter jacket levitating a rather large stack of chopped wood to one of the Apples’ warehouses, a taller figure clad in red pulling a large cart in tow.

Vinyl and Mac are gathering wood for winter... I wonder where Applej....Jacquelyn is.... Cloud thought with sadness. Only her friends can call her Applejack, and apparently I’m not really one of them anymore.

        She used her cloud to move stealthily above the farm, until she spotted Jacquelyn by the stables, currently serving lunch to the family horses. Cloud swallowed her spit with difficulty. She knew that the key to get her friends back was convincing Jacquelyn to give her a second chance. 

Jacquelyn was the stubborn one of the family, and the one who’s the most astride on trust and honesty. If she gave Cloud a second chance, Vinyl was likely to follow without much resistance. Ever since the very first day they became sisters, Vinyl had always trusted Jacquelyn’s opinion.

Cloud took a deep breath before preparing herself to fly down of her cloud to have a talk with Jacquelyn, but stopped her movement at the thought of the word ‘talk’.

What exactly am I going to say? That I’m sorry for having sex with her brother despite my promise? Sure, that promise was made a bit after it had already happened, but it wasn’t the first time Vinyl and App..Jacquelyn had expressed their worry about my behavior toward their brother. They wouldn’t have minded if I had dated Mac normally, but they didn’t want him to become nothing more than a name on my tally. Something he has sorta become in the end. Sure it was more by accident than anything else, but that doesn’t make it any less true.

I can’t blame it on alcohol. It would be too easy, and Jacquelyn would retort that if a bit of alcohol is enough to make me forget about my promise and common sense once, what would stop me from doing it another time?

        She turned to all the arguments she had planned on bringing up in the conversation, and couldn’t help to think that they all seemed pretty easy to counter. In all honesty, she doubted that what she had to say would convince Jacquelyn of trusting her again. Heck, she wasn’t even sure she would trust herself with those arguments.

“Why.... Why did I even bother?” Cloud whispered with a trembling voice. “It was a mistake to have come here!” She shook her head vigorously before abruptly flying away from her perch with a loud whistle, leaving a few purple feathers falling in her trail.

        She flew until she found one of her favorite spots in the surroundings of Sweet Apple Acres: a rather large, natural hot spring right next to the southern edge of White Tail Woods where she and her friends used to go swimming during winter whenever Jacquelyn and Vinyl were willing to ditch their chores. They had chosen this emplacement as it was situated a bit outside the farm grounds, so the Apples couldn’t track down their daughters as quickly as they would if Cloud and them were hanging out by the pond inside the farm grounds.



She took her winter jacket off because of the temperature, the heat of the air around her was beginning to make her sweat. She kinda like being sweaty when she was sad about something. It was easier to hide tears when your entire face’s sweating, for herself as much as for the others.

Cloud rested her head in her right palm before sighing softly, her mind slowly wandering to something entirely different as her problems with the Apples for the first time in two weeks. Another benefit of a warm bath, or a sauna as it fit the current situation more; it relaxed the body and the mind more effectively than anything else.

“Huuurgh! How can you stand the heat?” a very shrill, girly voice asked in annoyance from behind Cloud.

Cloud turned her head toward the source of the voice with shock.

“Alula... What are you doing here?” she asked in disbelief as she watched her little sister taking her coat off, as her translucent yellow wings dissipated into the air.

“Mom said that she and Dad would have to watch over you since you came back from the Apples two weeks ago,” Alula explained casually as she sat next to her big sister. “So I followed you. Luckily you didn’t fly too fast along the way.”

“So, you’re here so that you can squeal on me because I’m out of the house?” Cloud asked angrily with narrowed eyes.

“Nope!” Alula replied innocently. “I’d have had to just tell Mom that I saw you flying away of the house earlier.”

“Why are you here then?” Cloud asked, more by curiosity than anger this time.

“Because I want to know!”

“What?” Cloud blinked in confusion.

“I want to know what happened!” Alula repeated with conviction. “Mom timed you out in your room, but no one told me why!”

“Maybe because it’s none of your business?” Cloud suggested with a roll of her eyes.

“Well, I still want to know!”

“When you’re older, maybe Mom will explain you...” Cloud said apathetically.

“And why are you like that?!” Alula asked in anger.

“Like what?”

“You’re all boring since two weeks! Mom timed you out and you didn’t argue!” Alula vented her frustration out. “Whenever I kicked you under the table at dinner, you never reacted! Every time, you just finished your food and went back to your room! Last Thursday, I jumped on you to wake you up, and you just asked me to leave you alone. You even said please!”

Cloud had no idea about how to respond to that. She kept staring blankly at her little purple haired sister raging about her behavior during the previous two weeks.

“That’s not you, Cloud!” Alula shouted angrily, pointing an accusatory finger at her big sister. “You’re supposed to be mad at me when I kick you when we’re eating. You’re supposed to shout at me and to threaten me of throwing out of the window when I jump on you in the morning before pushing me on the floor, because you hate it when I do that! You’re supposed to argue with Mom whenever she tells you off or when she sends you to your room! And you’re not supposed to cry during the night!” she yelled with a crack in her voice.

Cloud blinked as her mind processed what Alula had just shouted.

“How do you....”

“I can hear you from my room, you know?” Alula said in a shaken whisper. “I could hear you cry at night for two weeks. That’s not something you do! You don’t cry! I know so because I’ve been trying to make you cry for years, and you never did!” Alula’s voice took back her furious bravado, but Cloud couldn’t miss the worry hidden beneath it anymore. “Do you know how vexing it is?”

        Cloud didn’t answer, she simply passed her arm around her little sister and pulled into a long hug, much to Alula’s displeasure.

“Hey! Don’t do that! You’re all sweaty and gross!” Alula struggled against her big sister’s grip in vain. “I said...Let me go... “ Her struggles became less and less vivid. “I’m gonna tell Mom about....”

“Thanks for caring, Alula,” Cloud whispered with affection, interrupting Alula. “Even if it’s in some weird, annoying way,” she added with a short chuckle.

“Dummy... Wh-who said I cared?” Alula stammered in a whisper before returning the hug nevertheless. “And, I’m not weird!”

        The two sisters hugged each other for a couple of minutes.

“You’re gonna tell me why you’re sad?” Alula asked softly after breaking the hug.

Cloud sighed. “Well to make it simple, I kinda broke a promise I had with Vinyl and Jacquelyn,” Cloud explained with caution. “And, they’re mad at me.”

“Oh, ok,” Alula replied casually, her curiosity satisfied at the moment, though she knew that Cloud wasn’t telling everything. “Did you apologize to them?”

“No, not really.”

“Why? You did a bad thing, then you have to apologize. That’s what I do with Mom, and it has always worked,” Alula explained simply.

“I wish it was that simple,” Cloud said with a chuckle. “I’ve done a really bad thing, and I know they’re not going to forgive me.”

“How can you know they won’t forgive you if you don’t even try to ask them to forgive you?” Alula asked in confusion.

“I guess you’re right,” Cloud admitted with a short giggle. “I’ll just....”

        A loud stomach rumble interrupted her sentence.

“Someone’s hungry so it seems,” Cloud mocked her little sister who was looking at her in confusion.

“It wasn’t me,” she said with sincerity. “I thought it was you because you skipped breakfast this morning.”

“It wasn’t me eit...”

        A deep and loud growl came from behind them. Cloud’s eyes widened when she heard heavy steps coming closer to her and her little sister. She instantly summoned her wings and grabbed her sister’s belt.

“ALULA, TAKE OFF NOW!” Cloud yelled before a powerful flap of her wings made her quickly leave the ground.

        Cloud somehow managed to hear Alula screamed in terror under the thunderous roar that overcame all the nearby sounds. She glanced at her hand who was holding her sister’s belt and saw with relief that it was still attached to Alula’s trousers, and that, most importantly, that Alula was still in it.

As she took a little bit of altitude, she looked down and saw a massive yellow and crimson furred animal passing a few inches below the tip of her feet with an impressive leap.

How? We’re about sixteen meters in the air! How did it... 

Cloud interrupted her thoughts when she saw the rest of the beast’s body passing, and noticed a dark crimson, leathery bat wing attached to it. She recognized it instantly. It was a manticore. She heard a whistle coming from behind her.

“Shit!” She flapped her right wing to push herself to the left while grabbing Alula with her other hand. “Alula, spread your wings!”

“Wh-What?”

“SPREAD YOUR WINGS!” Cloud ordered before tossing Alula into the air.

        As soon as her little sister left her grip, Cloud felt something massive hit her right wing’s primary bone, breaking it with a sinister crack. The strength of the impact sent her spinning down to the hot spring. Despite the huge pain she felt, she managed to catch a glimpse of her little sister hovering in the sky with her yellow, translucent wings before falling into the water.

        She quickly swam back to the surface, ignoring the sudden change of temperature. She quickly noticed the manticore on the spring’s bank. The beast looked a two meter tall lion with a crimson mane, and a one meter and a half long, dark brown scorpion tail. The beast had its eyes fixed on the flying silhouette of Alula who was calling Cloud.

“ALULA, GO AWAY!” Cloud shouted instinctively, before covering her mouth with her hands.

        The manticore didn’t seem to have heard her though. It still had its eyes focused on Alula.

“Cloud! Are you ok?” Alula shouted with worry.

Cloud was far from being ok. The manticore had broken her wing. That wouldn’t have any consequences in the long term as Jupitarians wings are a simple expression of their owner’s will and personality. That was why Jupitarians wings had so many different colors, shapes, or aspects. Any damage to a Jupitarian wing was dissipated at the same time as the wing itself. 

However, the pain caused by the hit always remained for a time between five minutes and a hour, depending on the damage suffered. The wings would hurt like the wound was fresh if re-conjured too early. Someone could learn how to drastically reduce that time only by undertaking a special training in flight camp. Cloud was supposed to do that training during the following summer.

        Cloud, now wingless for a rather long period, swam back to the part of the spring’s bank behind the manticore. She was wondering how it hadn’t noticed her. She hypothesized that the the fog caused by spring must have masked its sight, and that the hot water must have covered her own smell. But how come it didn’t hear her shouting. Cloud looked at the beast and noticed an important detail: it only had one wing.

All the gears put themselves in place as she remembered a remark a doctor had made about Vinyl’s health three years and a half ago.

“She was very lucky we treated her ears so quickly! If the guards hadn’t brought her here, she would have lost her hearing ability within the next two days.”

White Tail Wood... Manticore... One wing... probably deaf. Cloud thought in realization.  It’s the same manticore that killed Vinyl and AJ’s father! 

“It’s focused on Alula...” she whispered to herself. “As soon as she goes away, it will follow her. She doesn’t fly fast enough to distance it. And if she gets tired, it will probably jump like it did before to grab her... Ok, I know what to do!” she said with resolution while picking a large pebble up.

“ALULA! I’M GOING TO DISTRACT IT!” Cloud shouted to her little sister. “ONCE IT FOCUSES ITS ATTENTION ON ME, FLY TO TOWN AND WARN THE GUARD!”

“WHAT?!” Alula shouted back in disbelief. “BU-BUT....”

“DO AS I SAY!” Cloud ordered as she readied her throw. “ONE! TWO! THREE!” 

        She hurled the pebble with all her strength at the deaf manticore who received right on top of its head. The monster turned around to face what had attacked it with narrowed eyes. Its predatory glance quickly fell on Cloud, a prey much larger than the one it payed attention earlier, and, above all else, on the ground.

“GO!” Cloud shouted before dashing toward the woods, noticing from her peripheral vision Alula flying toward the town and the beast running after her according to her plan. “Now, let’s just hope that I can distance it through the woods.”

As soon as she reached the forest, Cloud started to slalom in between the thin beeches of the forest. The manticore, being massive as it was, had the most troublesome difficulties to follow her prey without losing its speed, or occasionally crashing into a trunk, thus stopping for a few seconds before continuing the chase which went for more than fifteen minutes.

I can’t go on like this forever... Cloud thought as she lowered her head to pass below a branch.  I’ve got to find a way to lose it!  She heard the branch crack behind her as well as the manticore’s roar way too close to her liking. Okay, at the next big tree in front of me, I’ll go right at the last second... it should crash head first into the tree.

        When she spotted a large oak in front of her, Cloud put her plan in action, and dashed toward. At the last second, she sharply turned to the right and hear with satisfaction a loud crack indicating that the manticore had indeed crashed into the tree. She was out of trouble.

        That was, without accounting for the beast’s right paw which scratched Cloud’s calf while it was flaying randomly to the right. Cloud let out a loud grunt of pain before losing her footing and falling on the ground.

        She tried to stand back up, but the pain of her leg was too intense for her. She heard the manticore recover from her headbutt with the tree, before she felt the heavy steps coming closer. Her instinct kicked in as she rolled on the side, avoiding being stomped on by the beast right paw. Only to be stomped on by the left one.

        Completely immobilized with a massive lion paw nearly crushing her stomach, Cloud couldn’t do anything but watch in terror the feline head coming closer to hers, drool falling all over her torso. 

Images of all her relatives and friends flashed in front of her eyes, as she sensed the end coming. An image of Vinyl, Applejack and her arm in arm, laughing at a supposed joke, was the last one she saw. She closed her eyes, not willing to have an image other than one of her with her friends in her mind.

I wanted to tell you in person, girls, but since the circumstances played that way... I’m sorry for what I did... Vinyl, Applejack, from the bottom of my heart... thank you for being my friends during all these years...  

Tears rolled from her closed eyes as the warm breath of the beast she could feel on her face could tell her that she was about to be devoured by the beast. The manticore let out a satisfied growl before Cloud heard the maw coming closer.





CRACK

“GET. THE. FUCK. AWAY. FROM. HER!” a voice which Cloud recognized instantly yelled in an unbridled fury.

        Cloud opened her eyes to see the manticore’s face being deformed by a booted kick, breaking one of its fangs in the process. The beast got propelled away to Cloud’s left side, liberating her from the massive paw which was crushing her. The manticore crashed loudly against a nearby tree, knocked unconscious.

Her gaze went up along the leg responsible of the saving kick, passing above the orange winter jacket with a red apple embroidered on the right side of the chest, ending its course on a familiar freckled face with blonde hair wearing a brown, worn-out stetson. Though the familiar face was bearing an unfamiliar expression. 

Cloud had thought she had seen her blonde friend madly furious two weeks ago. But the expression of wrath and rage Applejack had on her face made look that past moment as nothing more than a commonplace annoyance. Cloud was convinced that she would piss herself if that furious stare was directed toward her.

“AJ?” Cloud asked in disbelief.

“Cloudy, are you ok?” Applejack asked as she kneeled down next to Cloud, her rageous expression completely replaced by one of concern and worry. “Can you move?”

“I don’t know...” Cloud tried to sit up, only to wince in pain as her nearly crushed ribs hurt like hell. “No, I can’t!” she let herself drop on the ground.

“It’s gonna be ok, Cloudy,” Applejack said in a motherly tone, patting gently her friend’s head. “Alula found me and told us everything. Vinyl took Alizée and went to warn the Guard! They’ll be here shortly.”

“AJ, why....”

        The manticore roared in anger as its regain consciousness. Cloud and Applejack snapped their heads toward the beast who was now on its four, ready to leap at the two girls.

“Tsk, ma punishment didn’t get through apparently,” Applejack muttered, her rageous expression on her face, as she stood up. “Hold that for me, Sugarcube,” she put her hat on Cloud’s head before striding over her friend.

“AJ, wait!” Cloud shouted. “You’re not going to fight this thing, are you?”

“Cloudy, that thing has already taken away someone very important to me,” Applejack answered in a cold tone. “Ah ain’t gonna let it go away after it tried to do it again!”

        The manticore roared again and charged at Applejack. The beast leaped at the farmer, ready to bite her head off. Applejack couldn’t dodge as the manticore would just continue her leap until it landed on Cloud. She took the only option she had: stopping the beast’s charge. 

        Applejack lunged toward the beast, grabbing its mane with her two hands before knee striking its jaw. Cloud heard another crack followed by a pained whimper coming from the manticore. With great amount of suffering, Cloud managed to sit up against a trunk, finally getting to see properly what was happening.

        What she saw was something she would always remember, and probably cause a few nightmares in the process. The manticore was backing away from Applejack, another of its fangs was broken and its tongue was only being kept in one piece by an inch of bloodied flesh. Apparently the manticore’s tongue was hanging out of its maw when Applejack knee struck it.

The manticore flared its only wing open in defiance, masking its rising scorpion tail from Applejack’s view. Though from where she was, Cloud couldn’t help but noticing it.

“AJ, watch out for its stinger!” Cloud warned in shout, just a second before the stinger came crashing down on Applejack.

“Thanks for the warnin’, Cloudy!” Applejack caught the tail with one hand, carefully avoiding being cut by its stinger, before shoving it in a nearby trunk, thus getting the beast anchored to a tree.

        Unable to free its tail from the bark, the beast tried to paw Applejack. The blonde farmer dodged the hit and came close to the beast to pass her left arm around the manticore’s neck before locking her arms in a choking grip. The beast tried to break free from the farmer’s grip to no avail, letting out loud, scared roars.

“That’s for ma father!” Applejack whispered coldly before making the neck of the manticore do a sudden twist.

A loud snap resonated through the forest while it was accompanied by the choking of the final roar of the manticore which stopped struggling against Applejack’s grip. The farmer let go of the predator’s body which fell on the ground with a loud thud.

“Wow!” Cloud let out in amazement.





        The guards showed up within the minutes that followed Applejack’s victory over the manticore. They had trouble in believing Applejack’s story about how a two meters tall manticore had been found near two sixteen year old girls with a fractured jaw, its stinger stuck in a tree, a few fangs shattered, and finally a broken neck. Cloud couldn’t really blame them. She had witnessed the scene and she had trouble believing it had actually happened.

        Applejack lost her patience after the third time she told exactly what happened, and angrily demanded that Cloud was taken to the hospital. Cloud was treated for her scratches on her calf and her cracked ribs. Nothing too serious, but she would have to stay in bed for a few days. Applejack entered the room as soon as the doctor and nurses said they were done and left the two girls alone.

“The guards sent a messenger to yer parents, and Vinyl just left to go pick yer sister up from the farm,” Applejack said casually as she sat next to Cloud’s bed.

“She didn’t want to speak to me?” Cloud asked with worry.

“The exact opposite, Sugar,” Applejack affirmed. “She just said that ya and Ah had things to talk about first.”

“Ok.” Cloud nodded before taking a deep breath.

“I’m sorry for what I did!”
“Ah’m sorry for what Ah did!”

The two blondes stared at each other in silence before bursting into a loud fit of laughter, which turned short as Cloud’s laugh turned into a pained squeaking because of her sore ribs.

“Ya first, Sugarcube,” Applejack said softly when Cloud managed to recover.

“I’m sorry for having broken my promise,” Cloud said with sincerity. “What happened with Mac wasn’t something I had planned to happen. I had a few drinks too much, and I didn’t think before acting.”

“Kinda true,” Applejack agreed. “Though, Ah’ll be a tad hypocrite for me to judge you on that matter. Of all our group of friends, Ah’m the most impulsive one.”

“Yep, that’s our Applejack,” Cloud giggled softly. “Punching first, kicking seconds, and thinking about the problem whenever the first two don’t work.”

“Ah should feel offended, but since it’s the truth, Ah ain’t gonna bother.” Applejack shrugged with a wink, before turning a bit more serious. “Cloudy, why didn’t ya tell us it had happened?”

“I was scared about losing you and Vinyl as my friends,” Cloud replied with sadness. “I know that I made this promise after it happened, but I couldn’t help but feel that I had betrayed your trust...”

“So ya didn’t break our promise like ya said ya did in the end.” 

“That’s playing on the words, AJ,” Cloud retorted. “It doesn’t change the fact that I did something I knew it would upset you. Being drunk doesn’t excuse that.”

“That’s what makes the difference for me, Sugarcube,” Applejack said softly. “Ah called ya a liar because in the heat of the moment, Ah got messed up in the dates. Ya never lied to us about it, Cloudy, just like ya didn’t technically break that promise,”

“AJ, we both know that you don’t do technically on that subject,” Cloud claimed.

“Yer right, it ain’t exactly in ma temper to do that,” Applejack admitted slowly. “But, Ah’m willing to forgive ya, even if the reasonable part of ma mind tells me otherwise.”

“Why don’t you listen to your reason then?”

“Because Ah prefer listenin’ to ma heart a lot more than ma reason,” Applejack calmly stated.

“Your heart?” Cloud asked in a shaken voice.

“Sugar, when Alula found me and told me that ya were in danger,” Applejack explained. “Ma reason told me to go warn the Guard about it, ma resentment for what ya did told me to not bother,” Applejack admitted that one in disgust. “And, ma heart told me that ma best friend was in danger and that Ah had to save her maself...” Applejack locked her eyes with Cloud’s. “It didn’t take me more than a tenth of second to decide what Ah should listen to,”

        Cloud grabbed Applejack’s shirt and pulled her friend into a tight embrace, softly crying happy tears on her friend’s shoulder. While a bit surprised at first, Applejack quickly hugged Cloud back and patted her head gently.

“I’m so sorry for what happened, AJ.” Cloud sobbed. “I truly am.”

“Ah know, Sugarcube,” Applejack whispered with kindness. “And if yer willing to forgive me for callin’ ya a liar, givin’ ya a black eye, and for sayin’ that ah didn’t want to see ya again, Ah’ll forgive ya as well.”

“Idiot! Of course I forgive you!” Cloud managed to chuckle between sobs. “Besides, I kinda deserved that black eye,”

“Ah forgive ya too.” Applejack smiled softly. “And, don’t say that again!”

“Only if you promise me that we’ll stay friends forever,” Cloud said as she broke the hug, her eyes still shining with tears.

“Ya promise ya won’t ever go after ma brother?” Applejack asked with a chuckle.

“Don’t worry about that,” Cloud assured firmly. “Your brother’s surprisingly small compared to his size, I can find better.” Applejack let out a gagging noise with a wince. “Too early for jokes about your brother?”

Applejack brought her thumb close to her forefinger. “A little bit.” Applejack sighed to recover from the joke. “In that case,..” She spat in her hand. “Friends forever?” she asked, extending her hand to Cloud who spat in her own hand.

“Friends forever!” Cloud affirmed with a genuine smile while shaking Applejack’s hand. “Oh, and that...” she used her other hand to bring Applejack’s face closer. “..is for saving my life.”

        Cloud gave a big kiss on Applejack’s cheek which became as red as a Red Delicious. Cloud broke the kiss with a loud pop, leaving a blonde farmer standing right next to her with a blank expression.

“Hmm, even my kisses on the cheek can do that,” Cloud commented in a professional tone. “Gotta keep that in check.”

“Ya know?” Applejack seemed to have recovered from the kiss. “Ah really thought ya were going to kiss me on the lips when ya brought me closer....”

“You want me too?” Cloud asked hopefully. “Because I wouldn’t mind at all!”

“Na, Ah’m good,” Applejack replied frankly. “Still waitin’ for ma special someone!”

“Awww!” Cloud sighed in defeat. “Well, If you ever change your mind, you know where to find me.”

“Yeah but Ah don’t think...”

“I DON’T CARE ABOUT BEING QUIET IN THIS LOBBY! TELL ME WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER!” a man bellowed in anger in the corridor.

“Looks like yer dad has arrived...” Applejack commented.

“FOR THE TENTH TIME, HER NAME’S CLOUD KICKER! SIXTEEN, LONG TWO-TONED BLONDE HAIR! PURPLE EYES! CUTE AS A BUTTON!” a woman yelled in fury.

“Aaaaand my mom as well,” Cloud said in embarrassment.





“You want AJ to train you?” Vinyl asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“That’s what I said!” Cloud nodded firmly.

        It had been a month since what Cloud and her two best friends had called the Big Macintosh situation. Cloud had cleared out of the hospital, to the great displeasure of the teenage nurses in training, without any long term consequences two weeks ago. Life was back to what it was before the incident, if you don’t count one tiny detail.

Cloud’s parents, now aware of her dating history, refused to let her go out at night until she’s eighteen. On top of things, Cloud was convinced she was being watched constantly by one of her parents whenever she was out. There was definitely something weird about those clouds that seemed to follow her around.

The three friends were enjoying an afternoon snack at Sugarcube Corner, and Cloud just told her friends about her new idea.

“Well, Ah suppose Ah could train ya, but why exactly do you want to be trained for?” Applejack asked with curiosity. “Ya ain’t really an athlete, but yer quite fit nevertheless.”

“If I want to pass the physical tests for joining the Guard after we graduate, I’d need to be on top of my game,” Cloud explained.

“Wowow! Hang on a minute!” Vinyl interjected. “You want to join the Guard now?”

“Where does that come from?” Applejack asked in disbelief.

“Look, I felt sorta helpless after the manticore’s attack,” Cloud said in a low tone. “I thought I could save my sister and...”

“You did save Alula that day, Cloudy!” Vinyl remarked.

“Yes, but if AJ hadn’t shown up, I’d be a big pile of manticore shit by now!” Cloud replied.

“Aaaand now Ah can’t eat my chocolate fondant! Thank ya kindly!” Applejack muttered as she dropped her dark brown pastry on its plate with a frown.

“What I mean is that I thought I could protect myself and my little sister, but I couldn’t!” Cloud explained, ignoring Applejack’s rant about her pastry. “I’m not ridiculously strong like AJ, nor do I have your magic explosions to chase monsters away, Vinyl.” Cloud let out a long sigh. “The only thing I can do is create clouds.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Vinyl asked softly.

“Nothing at all,” Cloud replied softly. “It’s just... I want to be able to protect myself and the others.” 

“If that’s what ya want to do, then Ah’ll gladly train ya!” Applejack nodded with a smile. “But, it’s gonna be hard. Ah ain’t gonna be sweet on ya, because yer ma friend.”

“Considerin’ you’re not really sweet on Mac and me when we train with you, I think you don’t really need to tell her that,” Vinyl commented sourly.

“I think it’s gonna be good in the long run,” Cloud said, stopping Applejack as she was about to retort to her sister. “The guard’s training is gonna look like day in the park after training with the Monster of Ponyville for two years,”

Applejack groaned loudly while her sister and friend laughed at her. “Ah swear if Ah ever find the one who started this here nickname, he’s gonna get it!”

“Anyway, you’re sure about joining the Guard?” Vinyl asked.

“Definitely!” Cloud nodded before looking at Applejack. “And who knows, maybe one day, I’ll be the one saving you,” she added with a wink.

Applejack blinked. “Ah’m starting to think that’s just one of yer schemes to get some ‘thank ya for savin’ ma life’ kisses,” Applejack said with narrowed eyes.

“I’m starting to think that as well. The perks of wearing a uniform, huh?” Vinyl suggested with a knowing smirk.

“Well, I’m starting to think....” Cloud took a sip of her cup of cocoa. “...you’re onto something!” she smiled playfully.
> First meetings in Las Pegasus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So, that’s it then?” Applejack said slowly, her gaze sliding along the waiting, blue locomotive and its wagons in Ponyville Station. “Yer really leavin’.” she sighed before facing the smaller blonde next to her.

“Come on, AJ,” Cloud said softly, resting her hand on her trainer/friend’s shoulder. “It’s not like I won’t come back!”

“Yeah, but with Vinyl gone to that fancy boardin’ school, an ya leavin’ for trainin’, Ah’m gonna be all alone!” Applejack pouted.

“Awwww!” Cloud cooed in a very girly fashion. “I’m gonna miss you too, Honey!” she whispered with affection as she hugged her friend.

“Do not call me ‘Honey’!” Applejack growled before nonetheless passing her arms around her friend’s shoulders. “Ah still got enough time to kick ya unconscious and throw ya in this here train, if ya do!”

“Nah, I’m good!” Cloud assured playfully before sighing softly. “Thanks for seeing me off, AJ! I really appreciate it,” she added in low whisper.

“It was a pleasure, Sugar,” Applejack replied gently. “Ah wasn’t gonna let ya leave Ponyville without a proper goodbye, was Ah?”

“I know but it’s so early. Beside us and the train people, there’s no one here.” Cloud argued slowly, pointing at the nearly empty platform on this morning of September.

“It ain’t much earlier than what Ah’m used to, Sugarcube!” Applejack replied with a wink.

“I suppose,” Cloud replied with a chuckle before breaking the hug. “I should get going,” she stated as the sharp whistle signaling the departure of the train rang throughout the station.

“All righty then!” Applejack nodded with a comforting smile. “Don’t hesitate to write, Cloudy. Ah sure as sugar would like to know if ma trainin’ is worth somethin’ compared to the Guard’s!” she added playfully while Cloud grabbed her travel bag and walked to the wagon.

“Well, training with you made this...” Cloud slapped her well-toned, right buttcheek with a spicy gaze directed to her friend. “...even more enticing than it was before. It’s certainly something, isn’t it?”

        Applejack reacted much like Cloud had predicted she would: a slight blush followed by a few grumbles and the farmer pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance. During the two years she had trained with the farmer, Cloud had the opportunities to witness those gestures many times. 

Luckily, since the Jupitarian had already a foot on the train when she teased Applejack with her frisky behavior, she avoided the flick of nose that would have followed like every other time she teased her friend. 

The one time Applejack had almost broken her nose while doing so had convinced her to not poke Applejack when she was in range. Many would think it would have convinced her to change her behavior, but making her freckled friend uneasy was worth the risk.

When one of the station workers closed the door of her wagon, Cloud gave Applejack a final wave and pulled a small envelope from her rear pocket before throwing it through a window to the farmer. Cloud blew a small puff of wind to make the envelope fly to her friend, and settled on a seat close to a window.

“Thank ya for training me, AJ,” Applejack read out loud the note on the envelope she had caught mid flying.

        She opened it and pulled out a small note that said: So that you don’t forget about me! An extremely puzzled Applejack turned the note in her hand, noticing it wasn’t a paper note but a photograph.

“Hehehe!” Cloud chuckled softly as she saw Applejack instantly turning redder than the reddest apples of her family orchard while the train was slowly leaving the station. “How do you like them apples, Applejack?” she whispered before settling comfortably on her seat to watch the landscapes from the train.


*****


“Excuse me?” a man’s voice called Cloud out of her slumber from outside her compartment. “Can I take a seat?”

“Huh… Oh, sure, go ahead!” Cloud replied with yawn while rubbing her eyes open.

        Since the train to Las Pegasus had to leave Ponyville a bit later than dawn, Cloud had decided to catch up on her sleep. After all, she was in for a twenty-four hour ride. When the blur of sleep left her eyes she saw the man who had just entered her until now empty compartment.

        He was a young man, maybe three years older than her at best. He was wearing a light blue jersey that couldn’t hide the athletic build he had despite being a bit too large for him. Now, he wasn’t built like Macintosh, though Cloud was certain that she would only find men more muscular than her friends’ brother in a Half-giants tribe, should that even exist.

        The man put his travelbag above the other seat of the compartment before passing his hand through his short, dark blue hair with two bright yellow stripes in it, one on each side of his head. Then the man sat down across Cloud before casting a shy smile in her direction.

Well, isn’t he a cutie? Cloud thought while she returned the smile gently. “Hi there!”

“Good afternoon,” he replied politely.

        Cloud waited for him to say something, but he didn’t. He simply tapped his thumbs together while gazing absently outside the moving train. If her past experiences were of any indication, Cloud wasn’t used to men not trying to flirt with her, whether she wanted or not. Though the latter wasn’t really common occurrence. 

She brushed it off quickly. Maybe he was in a happy relationship and didn’t have to look around, maybe she wasn’t his type of girl, he could be gay for all she knew, or extremely shy with girls. Or her charms weren’t as good as she thought they were…. though she really hoped it wasn’t the case for the latter.

“So, which town did we just leave?” Cloud asked after not recognizing the landscape outside.

“Baltimare,” he replied casually.

“Huh, that far already?” Cloud commented to herself. “I sure took a long morning nap.”

“I suppose you needed it,” the blue haired young man commented slowly.

“Sort of,” Cloud agreed with a small smile. “Someone sure tired me out yesterday,” she added as she thought back to her last training session with Applejack.

“Boyfriend, huh?” the man commented casually before realizing that he had voiced his thoughts out loud.

Cloud blinked before flashing a seductive smile at the man, causing him to blush in embarrassment. She knew that her choice of her words hadn’t been the best to talk about her physical training with her friend… though, wrestling with the tall blonde, clashing bodies together in attempts to throw her off of herself… It wasn’t that far from what the man had imagined.

“Maybe…Maybe not.” Cloud replied with a wink, causing the man to look straight at the ground, his blush deepening. “My name’s Cloud Kicker!” she added before extending her hand to the man.

“Hmm.. Ford Mustang,” Ford replied, slowly shaking Cloud’s hand.

“Mustang, huh? You don’t look like the wild type,” she commented slowly.

“Quite the opposite actually,” Ford replied with a sheepish chuckle.

“Well, I hardly give kicks so who am I to judge?” Cloud asked jokingly, relaxing her interlocutor a bit. “Where are you heading?”

“Las Pegasus,” Ford replied matter-of-factly.

“Trying your luck in the casinos?” 

“Not really,” he commented in a sour tone. “Royal Guard’s training grounds,” he specified when he saw the interrogation on the blonde’s face.

“If I hear you correctly, it wasn’t your decision,” Cloud commented with sympathy.

“You heard right.” Ford nodded slowly. “Being a guard is a family tradition that I can’t skip apparently.”

“Family traditions can be a tad annoying when they don’t match your aspirations,” Cloud agreed slowly.

“Glad to see I’m not the only one with familial issues of that order.” Ford nodded sympathetically.

“It’ll give us something to talk about in the barracks at the end of the day.” Cloud’s comment puzzled Ford. “I’m also going for the training grounds, though it’s against the familial traditions in my case,” she explained with a chuckle.

“You actually want to become a royal guard?” Ford asked with a dumbfounded expression.

“Why is it that hard to believe?” Cloud asked with annoyance, repeating the same question she had kept asking to her parents since she told them what she wanted to do with her life.

“Well, you don’t really look the part, no offense!” Ford explained uneasily.

“What part do I look then, Ford?” Cloud snapped bitterly. “The one of a nameless weatherwoman?” 

“While there’s nothing wrong with being in the weather management, I was thinking something more along the line of modelling,” Ford replied, scratching his nose sheepishly.

“Oh!” Cloud let out in surprise. “Really?”

“Well, you’re kinda really pretty so...yeah, really,” Ford mumbled with a small blush.

“Thanks.” Cloud gave him a coy wink. “It’s getting a little cold, don’t you think?” she asked with slight shivers.

“I don’t really think so,” Ford replied in confusion. It wasn’t really summer anymore, but it was still a rather mild temperature.

“I’m still going to grab a sweater though,” Cloud replied before standing up to reach for her bag above her seat. “It’s a bit warmer where I come from!”

        Tall as she was, which didn’t mean much compared to Applejack or Ford, Cloud had to stretch to grab her bag, inadvertently lifting the downside of her baggy T-shirt, thus giving the man in the compartiment a much more interesting sight than the moving landscapes.

“Are you going to help me, or you plan on staring in the hope that my pants eventually disappear without reason?” Cloud asked playfully after a minute or two spent trying to reach her bag.

“Oh, huh, sure!” 

Ford quickly stood up to help her, his cheeks red because of what she had suggested. Though he couldn’t deny that hope had made its way through his mind, even for a second.

As soon as he took a step in her direction, a loud and sharp screeching sound rang through the whole compartment before the train came to a sudden stop. Cloud let out a very high pitched shriek when the momentum of the train made her, and most likely every one on the train, fall backward.

“Aouch!” Ford groaned, rubbing the back his head that had bumped into the edge of his seat during his fall. “What happened?”

“I think it was the emergency brake,” Cloud supposed from on top of Ford. “Looks like you softened my fall… That’s good news!”

“Glad I was useful for something,” Ford replied with a roll of his eyes. He didn’t like the role of safety cushion very much.

“Well, that too. But I was mainly talking about the feeling I have on my buttocks that makes me think you’re totally, 100% not gay!” Cloud grinded her backside against the blue-haired man softly twice. “That’s really good news for me!” she looked back at him with a very sensual smirk before slowly licking her upper lip.

Ford’s face became as red as a tomato and froze in his sitting position with Cloud straddling him. After a good minute long lack of reactions from the young man, Cloud sighed.

“The girls told me to be very careful when I tease boys.” Cloud shook her head. “Poor lads only have enough blood to circulate through one of their heads when they blush too much!”

        It turned out that it had been a teenage girl who had pulled the emergency brake after seeing a wild deer being hunted through her wagon’s window. Cloud had been puzzled by that explanation the train manager gave her, but she left it at that.

        The rest of the journey had been without any problem whatsoever. The only downside was that Ford spent all his time focussed on the pencil strokes he gave to his sketchbook. Apparently, he didn’t like being riled up like that and decided to ignore Cloud’s attempts at a more casual conversation. 

        The silent treatment kept going for hours, but Cloud was sure she could befriend him before long. Ford probably liked that what happened actually happened. After all, he hadn’t left the compartment after her teasing despite his clear annoyance. By the time, they both got off that train, things would certainly be better.


*****


“Thanks again for the sketch, Ford,” Cloud commented as the pair got out of Las Pegasus station. “You didn’t have to give it to me though, you know?”

“Mah, see it as an apology for being a bit boring during the first half of the trip,” Ford waved off casually. “Also, you obviously liked it…”

“Is that how you pick up girls, Ford?” Cloud asked playfully. “Drawing them a nice portrait so that they fall for you?”

The artist cocked an eyebrow at the blonde. “You’re asking so that you see if you can use it as a dating trick, aren’t you?”

“There’s a bit of that,” Cloud admitted with a shrug. “But, considering I’ll have to learn how to draw from the start, it might not work out for me. Also, I’m just curious to know if you’re hitting on me?”

“No, I’m not,” Ford replied with a sigh. “I’m not interested in a relationship, I already told you!”

“Who said anything about a relationship?”

“And, the same goes for the friend with benefits business!” Ford added sternly with a growing blush.

“Wow, don’t get ahead of yourself, Mister Mustang,” Cloud replied loudly, a silent chuckle on her lips. “We’ve met like yesterday. We should get to know each other a little bit first.”

“We should get going!” Ford muttered before conjuring a pair of light made, sky blue wings on his back.

“Ha, I didn’t know you were a Jupitarian,” Cloud stated as her new friend hovered a few feet above the ground.

“It never came up,” Ford replied with a shrug. “Is it going to be a …” a feathery, purple appendage brushed his cheek as Cloud flapped it and its twin to stand at the same altitude as him. “... Apparently not,” he commented slowly. Feather wings huh? Well, she’s more in touch with her animal side, sort of…

“Shall we?” Cloud asked, pointing at the mountain a bit outside of town on top of which was located the Jupitarians training facilities.

“Let’s go,” Ford replied with a sigh before the pair flew to the mountain.


*****


“Well, that’s cosy,” Cloud commented as she entered inside the dorm she had been assigned to.

        The room was the textbook definition of a military dorm. Two bunk beds, four tiny cupboards, a weapon and armor rack situated next to the door. All four spots were occupied by a complete set of a dark brown, studded leather armor, while the weapon rack only held a spear against the wall with a green and pink ribbon tied just below the blade.

“Looks like there’s only one top bed left,” the red-head, who had been assigned to the same dorm as Cloud, remarked.

“Claimed!” the third rookie, a tanned girl, with grey hair and golden eyes called from the last top bed, sticking photos on her portion of the wall.

“When did she get there?” the red-head asked in confusion.

“Not a clue,” Cloud replied while scratching her temple. “I didn’t even realize she was behind us.”

“For a good reason, I was three meters ahead of you two,” the grey-haired girl commented in an apathetic tone.

“Huh,” the pair let out before shrugging and starting the get themselves settled.

“So, what’re your names?” the red-haired asked after taking the bed under the grey-haired’s. “Mine’s Gale Swiftwing.”

“Silent Cloud,” the grey-haired replied matter-of-factly.

“Name’s Cloud Kicker,” Cloud introduced herself casually as she started to put her clothes in a cupboard. “Where are you from?”

“Cloudsdale,” Silent answered simply.

“I’m a local actually,” Gale said with a smile. “Born and raised in the wonderful, city-sized scam that is Las Pegasus!”

“What about you, Cloud?”

“Ponyville,” Cloud replied, earning questioning looks from her new roommates. “A small town located five hours East of Canterlot, right at the edge of the Everfree Forest,” she explained.

“THE EVERFREE FOREST?!” The pair shouted with horror.

“Who in their right mind will settle a town so close to that creepy forest?” Gale asked in disbelief.
 
“It’s not that bad, you know?” Cloud said slowly. “It looks like a normal forest when you’re outside of it.”

“Yeah, but there are monsters!” Silent remarked slowly.

“The town isn’t getting invaded by Everfree’s wildlife every two days,” Cloud stated. “Some beasts used to get out of the forest occasionally, but the Guard always chased them back where they came from, and it’s been a few years since the last incident.” Without counting mine a year and a half ago. She thought while holding back a wince at the memory.

“If you say so,” Gale let out slowly. “Any ideas on who’s the one sharing the dorm?”

“Apparently, each dorm represent a team of two or three rookies and a squad leader chosen among the cadets from the Military School… Westpoil? Westfoot?...” Silent tried to figured the name out.

“West Hoof, actually!” a fourth voice came from the door.

        All three new cadets turned their head to the door, seeing a young woman leaning against the door frame, wearing camo pants, a white t-shirt with a “L” armband on her right sleeve. She had slightly pale skin with freckles on her cheeks, and her striped, green and light purple hair was in a military cap.

“Hi,” Cloud, who was the closest to the door, called politely. “This is Silent Cloud, Gale Swiftwing, and I’m Cloud Kicker!” she introduced everyone before extending her hand to the newcomer. “And you are…”

“..Here to tell you three to get dressed!” the newcomer finished the sentence sternly. “You have ten minutes to go to the main courtyard before Sergeant Crystal explains to you how are things going to be here.” She walked out of the room. “Don’t be late! Also, training starts right after that!”

“....Rude much?” Gale asked after their possible roommate left the dorm.

“A bit,” Silent agreed with a nod before jumping from her bed to get her training clothes out of her bag.

“What do you think, Cloud?”

“Hum? I think she’s got cute freckles, and the potential for a nice butt,” Cloud replied with a shrug.

        Her roommates stopped what they were doing before slowly exchanging a glance, then cocking an eyebrow at the blonde, something that didn’t go unnoticed by the concerned party.

“What? It’s true!” Cloud argued. “Just like you have really beautiful hair, and your chocolate-milk colored skin is to die for!” she added pointing at Gale, then at Silent, who both blushed at the compliment.

        The pair didn’t reply, and simply started to get changed as well. When the three women were clad with the same outfit as their purple and green haired roommate was, minus the armband, they went to courtyard, joining the rest of the new cadets.

        It took a bit of time before the cadets stood in a decent line formation, but when the sergeant instructor, a woman with snow white skin, icy blue eyes and long, ashen grey hair, found it satisfactory she started to talk.

        Sergeant Crystal explained the ground rules of the compound and went over the system of squads: Each dorm would host a squad with future officer in training, who were all in a line across the cadets’ front row. They all had the same armband as the girl who had told Cloud, Silent and Gale to get ready. 

        While the rules were pretty simple and clear, Cloud had troubles in getting them. It wasn’t that they made no sense for her or anything. She just kept being distracted by the two mounds trying their best to burst the instructor’s leather bustier open.

        She wasn’t the only one with that problem, of course. A lot of boys were in the same situation as her, only she had been placed on the front row. After the sergeant walked past her, Cloud closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm her thoughts.

“What I’m saying is annoying you, newbie?” Crystal asked angrily a few seconds after Cloud exhaled quietly.

“Huh?” Cloud opened her eyes, finding her previous distractions right in front of her. Damn! They’re bigger than AJ’s!

“I’m talking to you, newbie!” Crystal shouted.

“I’m sorry, Ma’am!” Cloud let out before standing to full attention, looking up straight into the cold pools of blue that were the sergeant’s eyes.

“What’s your name, newbie?”

“Cloud Kicker from Ponyville, Ma’am!”

“Ok, now answer my question, Cloud Kicker from Ponyville!” Crystal ordered sternly. “Did what I say annoy you?”

“No, Ma’am!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

“Then what was I saying that made you sigh, Miss Kicker?”

“....” Cloud’s irises shrunk to the size of a pin tail. She had no idea what the sergeant had said. Her mind had been filled with leather bustiers cracking open under pressure at that time. “It wasn’t a sigh, Ma’am,” she said sheepishly.

“That wasn’t the question, Kicker!” Crystal remarked angrily.

“I know, I was… just pointing that out.” Cloud nervously gulped.

“You can’t answer, can you?” Crystal cocked eyebrow. “Do you know what’s your purpose in this compound?” she asked when Cloud shook her head as a reply.

“Huh… To listen to whatever you tell me to do, Ma’am?” Cloud suggested uneasily.

Crystal waited in silence for a short moment. “Looks like you’re not as stupid as I thought you were, Cloud Kicker from Ponyville,” she said calmly before turning to the line of team Leaders. “What’s your team by the way?”

“Team 8, Ma’am!”

“Shields, you know what to do with her!” The sergeant called to the green and purple haired girl who nodded before the sergeant resumed her speech.

“Well done, Cloud,” Ford whispered after Crystal had dismissed the cadets. “Now, your squad leader is going to give you a hard time.”

“Ford, if you ever want something to happen between us, you will not say another word!” Cloud groaned bitterly.

        Though her sour mood diminished when the blue haired man remained completely mute for the brief moment he stood next to her. She couldn’t help but to lightly giggle at the artist/future guard’s silence. When Shields called her and her teammates to move straight, Cloud took advantage of the situation to give a discrete slap on his backside with her right wing while taking off after the squad leader.


*****


        True to Ford’s warning, the leader of squad 8, Blossomforth Shields, gave Cloud a hard time for embarrassing the squad in front of Sergeant Crystal by making her do the double amount of warming up exercises. It was tiring, but training with Applejack for two years had done a fantastic job on her stamina, as well as on her butt. (She insisted on stressing that point!)

        While Cloud was doing her extra push up series, Blossomforth had decided to make Silent and Gale have a little spar so that she could gauge their skill in hand to hand combat. In the end, Gale turned out to pack more punch than Silent who had shown to have a natural skill at passing her opponent’s defense when said opponent wasn’t expecting it.

“Ok, you girls can have a break!” Blossomforth said as the two girls took their breath back. “Now, Kicker, have you finished?”

“Just one left!” Cloud replied before going down for the last one.

“Just one left, who?” Blossomforth asked, resting her foot on Cloud’s back to prevent her from pushing up.

“... Really?” Cloud looked up with a cocked eyebrow. 

“I’m your squad leader, Kicker,” Blossomforth retorted with a shrug. “You’ll address me as such!”

“No one told me to,” Cloud said with narrowed eyes.

“I’m telling you to!”

“Yeah, not gonna happen like that, Blossom!” Cloud shook her head. “Now, take your foot off my back, or I swear to Faust, your cute developing ass will hit the floor really hard!”

Blossomforth blushed at the mention of her backside. “Don’t talk about my…”

        She didn’t get the chance to finish her sentence as a feathery, purple wing suddenly bashed her nose with great strength. She recoiled from the hit before she felt two legs entwined around her own, tripping her on the ground. Blossomforth let out a very girly yelp of pain when her buttocks hit the dirt as hard as Cloud had predicted.

“I had warned you!” Cloud said while dusting herself off. “While you sound really cute when you’re hurt, I’m going to leave it at that!”

Blossomforth growled with her cheeks red from anger, or embarrassment, well, a little bit of both. Her translucent white wings spread wide open on her back before she jumped from the ground to tackle the blonde.


*****


“How come you’re always tired when you come here?” Crystal asked the woman with large sunglasses and a cap with a winged thunderbolt on the front at her right with a cocked eyebrow.

“Oh, I wasn’t tired when I arrived, Crystal,” the woman replied after yawning for the tenth time since the pair had started their tour of the training grounds. “But, seeing you fill all that paperwork took the funk out of me!”

“I only filled one form,” Crystal retorted with a roll of her eyes. “I wonder how your unit doesn’t go bankrupt with you doing the paperwork.”

“Well, as a matter of fact, I don’t do paperwork!” the woman with sunglasses chuckled. “I have someone who does that for me!”

“That explains it,” Crystal said with a shrug.

“So, anyone you wanted to show me?” 

“Yes.” Crystal nodded. “Private Blossomforth Shields!” 

“I heard of her from her father,” the woman commented. “According to him, she’s one of the best spears in West Hoof!”

“And he isn’t exaggerating!” Crystal agreed with a nod. “She’s a natural with a spear or a staff, and her skills in hand to hand combat are quite good as well.”

“Has she found her shape yet?” the woman asked with curiosity.

“She started training it,” Crystal commented. “It’s not perfect yet, but she’s getting it so far!”

“Nice.. what’s going on?” the woman asked as she noticed the crowd massed around the training terrain five.

“Not a clue,” Crystal let out in puzzlement before noticing a blond squad leader nearby. “Orator, what’s going on?”

The leader of squad twelve, Ace Orator, snapped his head to the sergeant when he heard her. 

“One of the newbies picked a fight with Blossomforth, Ma’am,” he replied. 

“And you’re all standing there to watch the cadet getting beaten up?” Crystal asked with disgust.

“Hum, actually the one who’s gotten beaten up so far is Blossomforth,” Ace specified slowly.

“...What?” Crystal blinked in shock before making her way through the crowd.

        When she arrived in the front row, Crystal saw the blonde she had talked to during her speech grabbing Blossomforth’s punch before it touched her head, then punching her opponent's stomach in response.

“The blonde’s not bad,” the woman with the sunglasses, now sitting casually on a cloud a meter or two above Crystal, commented with interest. “Don’t interrupt the fight!” she ordered when the silvery haired sergeant was about to move. “I wanna see who’s going to win!”

“What?!” Crystal growled as she flew to woman’s level. “I’m not answering to your request! I’m stopping this now!”

“Sergeant, it wasn’t a request, but an order!” the woman specified in a stern tone.

        Crystal glared at the woman before sitting in silence crosslegged next to her on the cloud.

        In the mean time, Blossomforth stood back up, wiping the blood that was coming out of her lower lip. The blonde was giving her a much harder time than what she would have first imagined. 

Of course, she had made huge mistakes in her punches in the beginning as she attacked in a fit of anger. But after Cloud’s first parries, she had calmed down a bit. She was still furious for the initial humiliation, as well as for the others that followed, but Blossomforth had kept her anger in her mind.

Why can’t I land a blow on her?! Blossomforth thought angrily. I used all the tricks I knew, and she blocked my hits every time! Is she a black belt in some Neighponese martial arts or something?

“Can we stop now?” Cloud asked slowly.

“Not until I kick your ass!” Blossomforth shouted with pride.

“Well, the easiest way for that is to invite me for dinner first,” Cloud replied with a shrug.

“Huh?” Blossomforth, along with a few people in the audience, tilted her head in confusion.

“A dinner date first, then we get a room somewhere, and if the date was nice, I’ll let you have your way with me,” Cloud explained with a smile. “Just don’t use any leather binding, it marks the skin a little too much.”

“WILL YOU STOP THOSE STUPID INSINUATIONS?!” Blossomforth yelled with a mad blush, as quite a few cadets snickered at her. “I’m not into that sort of things!”

“Oh, I get it! It’s okay, I know a guy who can do it if you’re not into girls…”

“That’s not what I meant! I’m not into BDSM!”

“... So you are into girls then?” Cloud asked in a hopeful tone.

“RAAAAAAAGGGHH!” Blossomforth forgot about not attacking in a fit of anger and charged the blonde without precautions.

“Quite an unorthodox distracting technique,” Crystal commented while Cloud kneeled to dodge Blossomforth’s kick. “But it’s quite effective.”

“Are you sure it’s a technique?” the one with the glasses said casually. “I get the feeling she was sincere,”

“That’s it!” Blossomforth shouted as she used her wings to throw Cloud off her back after the Blonde had pinned her on the ground. “Playtime’s over!”

        Blossomforth closed her fist before it was surrounded by a tiny tornado. Dust and small pebbles started to getting dragged toward the tornado, just like Cloud’s hair. The blonde was suddenly snatched forward by a sudden and really strong gust of wind. 

        Blossomforth’s tornado-ed fist went toward a completely defenseless, catapulted Cloud, forming a clumsy, bulky shaped drill with the wind. Despite the roaring wind, Cloud heard several shocked gasps from the older cadets. Whatever Blossomforth had done, it wasn’t good for Cloud.

        Cloud focused her magic as quickly as she could, but she had no idea of how to divert a tornado-made drill. In desperation she joined her hands together, forming a cocoon around her with the first thing that came to her mind: a cloud.

        From within her cocoon, Cloud hear that the wind-drill was about to reach her before she felt an intense wave of heat coming from in front of her. The heat instantly dissipated the cloud, and it was so intense that the blonde felt her mouth and her throat incredibly dry.

        Someone stood before her, but the shape of the person was nothing but a blur. It was like she was looking at a mirage. The one thing she clearly saw was the drill Blossomforth had created flying straight to the sky before it collapsed on itself.

        The heat became more bearable after a few seconds, dispelling the mirage effect, thus allowing Cloud to see who had come between her and Blossomforth attack. She saw who she presumed was a superior officer thanks to her complete uniform, but what caught her attention were the golden yellow wings on the officer’s back and the flame-like shoulder long hair.

“Now, Private Shields,” the woman with the golden wings said calmly to a shock-gaping Blossomforth. “Jupitarian magic isn’t supposed to be used in a hand-to-hand combat,” she added in an even tone. “Do you understand that, Private?”

“Y-yes…”

“Yes, who?” The orange-haired woman asked sternly, pulling her sunglasses down to glare at the quivering Blossomforth.

“Yes, Lieutenant Maverick!” Blossomforth bowed her head in submission.

“Good. Now get up there in give me fifty!” the lieutenant Maverick ordered calmly, putting her glasses back up to cover her eyes. 

“Yes, Lieutenant!” Blossomforth nodded before taking off swiftly to start flying in circles above the compound.

Maverick glanced at the shocked faces of the cadets. “Don’t you all have practice to do? MOVE OUT!” she barked sternly, instantly causing the entire crowd to fly away like a bunch of scared birds, some in a more literal sense than others.

“Thanks, Ma’am,” Cloud said in a quiet, hoarse voice.

“Dry throat, huh?” Maverick said calmly as Cloud winced with her hand on her throat. “I have that effect on people.” she chuckled before waving at Silent and Gale. “Bring her some water, you two!”

        Gale and Silent quickly nodded before flying straight to the closest cooler, located in the cafeteria across the compound. When they returned soon after with a large bottle of water, which Cloud almost chugged down in a one swig, Maverick calmly picked her cap up from the ground, as well as a three inches long, light grey shard which was stuck in it. She gave it a curious glance before putting it in her pocket as the three cadets weren’t paying attention to her.

“Well, I’m off!” Maverick let out as she dusted her cap before putting it on her head. “See you another time, newbies!” she tipped her cap at the trio before returning to her tour of the compound with Crystal.

“Who was that?” Cloud asked when the sergeant and the lieutenant were out of ear shots. “Why did Blossom act like a scaredy cat in front of her?”

        Silent and Gale blinked in shock, and turned their heads to the blonde.

“Are you really asking who was that?” Gale asked in shock, pointing at the leaving pair.

“Huh, yeah!” Cloud nodded.

“Kicker, that was Lieutenant Spitfire Maverick!” Silent said in disbelief.

Cloud’s eyes widened in shock. “You mean…”

“Yes, Captain of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire!” Gale nodded. “Fire Angel Spitfire. Fastest flier in Equestria, Spitfire. Or, Strongest Jupitarian in the entire Royal Guard, Spitfire! Your choice.”

“Oh my gosh,” Cloud let out in awe. “I… I was just saved by the Most sexy ass on the planet three years in a row according to Playcolt magazine, Spitfire? That’s just freaking AWESOME!”

        Silent and Gale simply facepalmed at Cloud’s remark. They haven’t known the blonde for even a day, and they could already see that they didn’t have the same priorities in life.


> The lone cloud in a desert oasis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        A grey shard flipped through her fingers, quickly reaching her pinkie before making its way back to her forefinger by passing on the underside of her fingers. With a sharp flick of hand, the shard started spinning in perfect balance on the tip of her middle digit, right in front of stoic, brown eyes.

        The office’s door was slammed open, letting an annoyed, silver-haired sergeant in. Crystal cocked an eyebrow at the woman in the room, who was sitting cross legged on top of the large, oaken desk in the middle of the room.

“May I ask you to use a seat instead of my desk, Spitfire?” Crystal asked in a cold, even tone.

“You may ask, and the answer’s no,” Spitfire replied, her brown eyes still focused on the shard that was now in her open palm.

“Why are you here already?” Crystal asked after rubbing her temple in annoyance. “You only check the trainees once every three months, and your last visit wasn’t even a month ago,” she reminded.

“Here!” Spitfire flipped the shard to Crystal as if it was a Bit.

“You came here to give me a stupid piece of...” Crystal started in an annoyed tone while catching the thrown object mid air.

        As soon as the shard touched her skin, the sergeant interrupted herself. Her ice blue eyes quickly turned to the grey object in her hand. It had a strange, yet familiar feeling to it, and she couldn’t put her finger on it.

“Try your thing on it,” Spitfire demanded slowly after noticing her sergeant’s expression.

“What?” Crystal asked, blinking in confusion.

“You know, your thing!” Spitfire repeated with a roll of her wrist.

        Crystal voiced short, and nearly mute ‘oh’ of understanding before tightening her grip on the small object. In the following seconds, Spitfire felt the temperature of the room drop as the haze around the sergeant’s fist became more intense. The redhead officer saw a layer of hoarfrost appearing on the other woman’s hand before it grow thicker and thicker.

        Crystal let out a low groan of concentration right before the thick ice around her fist completely shattered, causing a small cloud of white, icy dust to scatter in her office. She slowly opened her fist, letting more snow fall on the ground before the grey shard slid out of her grip, and touched the floor with a low cling.

“What the hell?” Crystal whispered with wide, shocked eyes as Spitfire picked the shard up after stepping down the sergeant’s desk.

“That’s interesting,” Spitfire commented casually, while inspecting the shard, seeing it completely untouched by the sergeant’s magic.

“Spitfire, what is this?” Crystal asked slowly.

“I can’t be entirely sure,” Spitfire replied. “I have a theory, but I need to check it. Though what just happened seems to have confirmed my suspicions a bit.”

“Suspicions?” Crystal tilted her head with a cocked eyebrow.

Spitfire nodded. “What can you tell me about that blonde who fought with Shields three weeks ago?”

“What does she got to do with that thing?” Crystal blinked in confusion. 

“I’m not really sure,” Spitfire answered with a casual shrug. “Tell me what you know about her,”

Crystal stared at her superior, and long time friend, with narrowed eyes before she opened her mouth to answer.

“Cloud Nimbus Kicker, eighteen years old,” Crystal stated calmly. “Born in Cloudsdale, spent the majority of her life in Ponyville, a small town near the Everfree Forest.”

“Never heard of it,” Spitfire commented slowly.

“Like I said it’s a small town, barely more than a village,” Crystal added with a shrug. “Though, that might change in a nearby future. The local orchard started to export a pretty neat apple cider.”

“Anything else?” Spitfire asked, while taking a mental note to try that cider.

“So far she’s shown rather amazing skills in hand to hand combat,” Crystal said with a slightly admirative tone. “She’s got no style, and has never practiced any martial arts before coming here, but her reflexes and reaction times are among the bests in the whole compound, and from what I heard from her opponents, she packs quite a punch for a girl of her stature.”

“So, her advantage against Shields wasn’t just because she made her lose her temper,” the lieutenant let out as her sergeant nodded slowly. “What about her magic?”

“Combat wise? Very below average!” Crystal commented with shake of her head. “She’s talented at basic weather manipulations, extremely talented I might say, but she can’t muster any offensive shapes at all.”

“That bad?”

“Hang on! I must have her record somewhere.” Crystal waved her interlocutor to stay still as she went to one of her shelves.


~~~~~


“Ok… Cast!” Blossomforth shouted the order for the teams eight and twelve.

A volley of lightning bolts flew in front of Blossomforth and her fellow private, Ace Orator, before they shattered all the targets lined up across the courtyard. All except the right center target, which still hadn’t been damaged since they started the lightning bolt exercices about an hour ago.

“Look, let’s give it a rest,” Ace said slowly as Blossomforth groaned in frustration at the once again un-touched target.

“No, I won’t give it a rest!” Blossomforth said sternly. “The exercise will go on until the two squads can manage a perfectly synchronized volley!”

“That’s not the problem and you know it!” Ace argued with a sigh before turning his gaze at the five recruits gathered around the last one at the other end of the court. “She can’t do it, let’s leave it at that for today.”

“Ace, she has to do it! It’s the most bas… What now?” Blossomforth interrupted her reply when she heard angry shouts coming from the group of recruits.

“Damn it, Kicker!” one of Ford’s teammates with very short brown hair, Manerick, shouted angrily. “Can’t you do it right at least ONCE?!”

“Alright, that’s enough!” Ford stood protectively between Cloud, who was looking at ground in shame, and Manerick. “Shouting will lead us nowhere!”

“Tss, why am I not surprised to see you siding with your bitch, Mustang?” Stardust, the redhead from squad twelve, asked with disdain.

“What did you call her, punk?” Gale asked furiously, taking a threatening step toward her not-so-fellow ginger, also holding a quite pissed Ford back.

“You heard what he said,” Manerick added with a snorted laugh. “A part from waving her ass and spreading her legs for Mustang, she can do nothing!”

“Really?” Silent asked in an even tone, though her anger at the two men was clearly visible in her golden eyes. “So, you’re saying that kicking both your asses thrice in yesterday’s sparrings is nothing?”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean anything on the ground!” Stardust retorted with an angry blush as Gale and Ford snickered.

“We’re the future Jupitarian branch of the Royal Guard!” Manerick explained. “We’re supposed to strike from the sky and bring a rain of thunder on the enemies of Equestria! Not punching her way through like the useless Eponian whore with wings over there!” He waved at Cloud’s slightly shivering form.

        Cloud’s teammates flared their wings open in defiance, ready to tackle the two neighsayers. Though their actions were interrupted when the end of a staff appeared before the brown-haired Jupitarian, only to slam itself on his face with a sinister crack.

“I hope you don’t mind me disciplining Manerick a little, Ace,” Blossomforth asked in a cold, angry tone as she rested her staff against her left shoulder.

“On the principle, I do mind it a lot,” Ace stated calmly. “On a more personal level, I was about to suggest it,” he added with a shrug.

“What the hell, Blossom?!” Stardust asked angrily as he helped his teammate back on his feet. “You broke his nose!”

“Well, maybe that’ll make him learn to not mess with my team, Cadet,” Blossomforth commented apathetically.

        Ace took the responsibility to help his underling to the infirmary before Stardust decided to leave the training court. Blossomforth, being the only superior left on the court, could have ordered him to stay to continue the exercise, but she let him go and dismissed the others. Like Ace had implied it earlier, they weren’t ready to get the exercise correctly no matter what.

“Kicker, wait a minute!” Blossomforth called for the blonde.

        Silent, Gale and Ford glanced at Cloud with worry before she nodded them to continue without her. The blonde took a few steps back in order to face her squad leader. Since their brawl on the first day, they had silently decided to not provoke each other too much, something that usually ended with a slight sexual-poke from the blonde cadet, and a frustrated growl from the officer in training. Though, Cloud had realized it was serious business this time.

“...I’m sor…” Cloud began softly.

“How?” Blossomforth asked abruptly. “How come you’re not able to do it?” Cloud didn’t answer. “You do know that casting a lightning bolt is the most basic manipulation in the Guard, right?”

“Yes, I know,” Cloud replied in a low whisper. 

“And, do you realize that during the three weeks and a half you’ve been here, you still haven’t made any progress in that aspect?” the future officer asked sternly.

“I know.” Cloud’s reply was so quiet that her squad leader barely heard it.

Blossomforth sighed. “Look, I’m not saying you’re not talented in Jupitarian magic! That would a huge lie. But conjuring a cloud as quickly as you can isn’t really what we look for in Jupitarian Guard’s skills.”

“I can still fight!” Cloud argued slowly.

“When you and your opponents have both feet on the the ground, yes!” Blossomforth admitted. “In airborne combat, you basically have everything to learn,” she reminded slowly. “No offense, but a twelve year old from Cloudsdale is more efficient in the air than you.”

“It takes more than being raised on a patch clouds to make a good Jupitarian soldier,” Cloud replied with a hint of defiant pride.

“True, but a good Jupitarian soldier can do much more than you do,” Blossomforth assured softly. “He can shoot lightning bolts while you can’t even produce the tiniest spark. He can soar through the skies as if he was one with the wind while your flying is rough, sloppy like one of an early teenager. A real Jupitarian soldier carries the weapons of Nature itself : Tornados, Hurricanes, Thunderstorms…. You, on the other hand, can make beautiful clouds,” she ended in a low tone. “That’s what expected from a weather manager, not a Royal Guard soldier.”

        At that remark, Cloud winced. It was the same argument she had had with her parents when she informed them of her decision all over again. In the heat of the argument, her mother had used the same reasoning as Blossomforth, if only much louder and a bit crueler from the blonde’s perspective than the young officer in training.

“You probably have good reasons for wanting to be here, Cloud,” Blossomforth said compassionately when she noticed the hurt expression on the blonde. “But, I think it’s best for you to try your luck somewhere else. Not everyone is cut out to be a soldier.”

        Blossomforth watched Cloud for a few seconds before sighing slowly when the only response she had from to blonde was her hanging her head low. Apparently Cloud couldn’t argue back. The future officer gave squadmate a light tap on the shoulder before walking away to let her have some time alone.

“What did I tell you?” Crystal asked Spitfire with a shake of her head as the pair watched the scene from the right side of the courtyard, undetected by two trainees. “The girl can’t conjure lightning. She’s been trying since her second day, and so far no progress at all,” she added with a pinch of sadness.

“So?” Spitfire asked back with a frown. “Why aren’t you teaching her how to do it if that’s the case?”

“I have,” Crystal replied. “After a full day with me, the most powerful spark she sent was barely above the level of static electricity. It’s like she’s not meant to do it.” she shook her head. “I don’t know why you’re interested in her, Spit’!” she looked back at Cloud on the courtyard. “What the heck is she doing?” she asked loudly.

“Huh?” Spitfire glanced where her sergeant was looking.

        Cloud stood with her wings widely spread on her back, an intense frown of concentration on her face while tiny sparks of electricity came out of her palms.

Come on… Come on! At least just one Faust-damn time! Cloud thought desperately.

        She pushed her hands forward with a low grunt, causing a feeble lightning bolt to fly out of them before dissipating itself in the air only thirty centimeters in front of her. Her extended arms started to shake in frustration after her once again failed attempt at casting. 

“Wow, that was amazing, Kicker!” a group of passerby trainees called sarcastically.

“A total shocker we could say!” Another whistled in a faked impressed tone, earning the laugh from the rest of his friends.

“Why doesn’t she go ask her boy toy for some advice?” the sole woman of the group asked in a loud “whisper”.

“You mean Mustang?” The first one asked back.

Ignore them… Like Vinyl said: Words can hurt more than punches, but only when you let yourself hear them! Cloud took a deep breath, and breathed out slowly to calm down.

“I thought she was having a thing with one of the two cadets in her squad… Considering how flirty she’s with them.”

“Silent and Gale? Nah! If she’s having a thing with a girl, that’s probably Blossomforth!”

“They seem to get along nicely, despite their rough start, right?” One asked playfully.

“Oh! That’s how she does it? She’s sexing her way to the top?” the girl suggested with an expression of overplayed realization.

“How else do you think she’ll get anywhere in the Guard?”

        That was the last straw for Cloud. She suddenly, and strongly flapped her wings to take off and flew away from the training court. Pleased with themselves, the small group of trainees was about to head back to their dorm, only to freeze in their tracks. Literally.

“What the…” the one at the front of the group started as he noticed his, and his friends’ legs trapped in ice, before freezing, not literally this time, when his gaze fell upon their sergeant-instructor.

“I know it’s not the holiday season yet, but tell me, what is the first verse of the Heart’s Warming Eve’s carols?” Crystal asked in a cold voice, as she walked up to the trainee closest to her.

“Huh…”

“..The fire of friendship lives in our hearts?” The last one to have mocked Cloud’s performance suggested uneasily.

“Good!” Crystal nodded. “The second one now!”

“... As long as it burns… huh..”

“We cannot drift apart!” A third one completed as his friend seemed to block on the lyrics.

“Very good! Now keep that in mind when you’ll be drifting together as one large, cold friendship iceberg!” The sergeant snapped her fingers and the ice started to grow along the trainees’ legs.

That’s a bit mean… Spitfire thought as she watched the sergeant disciplining her recruits. Oh, well. As long as it works for her. She shrugged before looking in the direction Cloud had flown off. For a supposed sloppy flyer, she can get far away really fast! she commented mentally when she spotted the tiny, purple, moving dot in the sky.

        The fiery-orange-haired woman popped the joints of her spine and her neck as she stretched before leaning forward on her right leg. During so, her golden, light-made wings spread widely on her back. Her amber eyes focused on Cloud’s flying form, like a hawk watching a little rabbit from its perch.

I think that’s enough of a head-start The lieutenant thought with a grin before disappearing in a blink of an eye.


~~~~~


“Mom, just hear me out, please!”

“FORGET IT, CLOUD NIMBUS KICKER! WE’VE ACCEPTED MANY ODD THINGS FROM YOU, BUT WE’RE NOT GOING TO LET YOU THROW AWAY YOUR FUTURE FOR A WILD FANTASY!”

“It’s not a wild fantasy! I’ve been preparing for this! It’s been nearly two years since I started training with AJ!”

“Because Jacquelyn is going too?!”

“Of course not! She’s needed at the farm more than ever with Vinyl going to Manehatten for her studies! Also, she’s not really interested in becoming a guard…. She would kick some asses though…”

“Watch your language, young lady! Raaagh… What the hell did we do wrong with you?”

“W-What?!”

“You curse! You sleep around like a filthy whore!... Yes, we know about that! Stop with the wide eyes! It’s not like you ever tried to hide it! And now this ridiculous idea of joining the Guard!”

“Ha, because joining the Guard is so much worse than whoring myself as I seem to have been doing according to you?”

“Well, your father and I thought you’d grow out of that phase eventually… But, seriously, why do you even want to go?”

“I want to do something to protect those I care for! Do something I could be proud of… Actually be somebody!”

“Pfft, you think you can’t be somebody doing what your father and I do for a living?! You think that our job isn’t WORTH SOMETHING?!”

“NO! Of course not! I… I just don’t think it’s what I’m meant to do, that’s all.”

“Cloud, there’s no way that joining the Guard is what you’re meant to do! Your magic is far away from what they ask… It’s not you at all!”

“How do you know that, Mum?!”

“Cloud, I raised you! I know what things you’re capable of and becoming a guard isn’t one of them!”

“My friends think the opposite!”

“Not to sound rude, Cloud, but your friend Jacquelyn is far from being the smartest apple of the bushel!”

“DON’T YOU DARE SAY ANYTHING BAD ABOUT HER!!! I OWE HER MY LIFE!”

“Just because she saved your life doesn’t mean she’s right about what’s best for your future!”

“Just because you gave birth to me doesn’t mean that you are as well! I’ll do what I think is best for my future in the way I chose!”

“How?! By spreading your legs open for the first newcomer?!”

“..........”

“..I..I di-didn’t mean to…”

“Save it!... You meant every word of it!”

“Cloud, wai…”

“DON’T TOUCH ME! I’m done with you! This family! This stupid job you and Dad always wanted me to do… I’ll prove to you that I can do what I want with my life and the way I want!”


*****


“...I’ll prove to you… tss, big talk for nothing in the end,” Cloud whispered to herself, with tears filling her purple eyes as she remembered the last time she spoke to her mother while landing in a small oasis close to the San Palomino Desert.

“I guess that if you run off in the desert after facing difficulties, you’re right. Big talk for nothing!” a woman’s voice said from behind Cloud’s back.

        Startled by the voice, Cloud jumped around and looked behind her. When she saw the captain of the Wonderbolts leaning casually against the trunk of a nearby palm tree a few meters from her, Cloud quickly tried to brush her tears away, though it was nearly impossible for Spitfire to miss them.

“W...what...What are you doing here?” Cloud asked in a dumbfounded expression.

“I happen to like oases like this one.” The lieutenant explained with a playful smile, waving at the small, verdant patch of paradise near the dry and deadly desert around them. “It’s warm and refreshing at the same time. You just arrived when I was relaxing against this palm tree.”

“What a coincidence,” Cloud said with suspicion. “Also, I saw no one in the oasis before I flew down!”

“Maybe I arrived during the time you flew down… Ever thought of that?” Spitfire asked with a small grin.

“I would have seen you flying down here!” Cloud argued slowly.

“I’m not sure…” Spitfire said pensively as she conjured her golden wings and started to hover a few inches above the ground.

        The next thing Cloud saw was Spitfire’s nose standing a few millimeters before her own. The sudden coming closer startled the blonde who fell on her backside after taking, and missing a surprised step back.

“Did you see me flying the seven meters that separated us?” Spitfire asked in a playful chuckle. Cloud slowly shook her head in awe to answer. “Than you probably didn’t see me landing before you, not to mention that tears tend to blur one’s vision.”

        Cloud’s answer to that poke was to throw a meaningful glare at her superior before simply turning her back on her to glance at the small pond of the oasis. 

Spitfire blinked in confusion. She had expected some embarrassed mumbling about not actually crying from the cadets. That’s what she usually got as an answer whenever similar situation happened with trainees, or even completely formed soldiers. Never had a cadet cast in her direction a glare that could so easily be translated to a simple “Bitch!”. 

Needless to say, Spitfire was impressed.

“I guess I deserved that one,” the orange-haired officer stated in reconciliation. “Do you mind if I sit here?” she pointed at the spot on the grass next to Cloud.

“I don’t really know you, but I doubt you’ll take no for an answer,” Cloud replied slowly with a shrug.

“And you’d be right!” Spitfire nodded before sitting cross-legged next to the blonde. “So what was that back at the compound?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Cloud muttered sourly, her eyes fixed on the pond.

“Huh… I didn’t take you for the type of girl to brood in misery.” Spitfire jabbed with a smirk.

“It’s not like you know me,” the blonde replied apathetically.

“True,” the lieutenant admitted. “But you kinda left a big impression on me the first time I saw you.” She glanced at the trainee with a softer smile. “The unknown newcomer easily holding her ground against one of the best soldiers in training while throwing playful taunts and smirks at her opponent.”

“...Like you said.. Holding my ground!” Cloud stated with sadness. “It’s not like it’s actually of any use up there.” she pointed at the small mountain on top of which stood the training grounds.

“You actually believe the shit those two from Squad twelve told you?” Spitfire asked, snorting a good hearted laugh. “Their stupidities about ‘strike from the sky with a rain of thunder’?”

“But…”

“Kiddo, Jupitarians only represent one third of this nation’s population, and even less when you look at the whole world’s,” Spitfire reminded slowly. “If we were only using that rain of thunder bullshit, we would have been thrown away from the military soon after the invention of the lightning-rod!”

“Yeah but…”

“Why do you think we make the cadets train ground side first?” Spitfire asked. “Most of the time, a Royal Guard soldier has to face opponents on the ground. Flying can be an advantage, but there are many ways to prevent us from doing so. If you’re only capable of fighting air borne, then the Royal Guard of Equestria isn’t the place for you.”

Cloud slowly smiled at the lieutenant. “Thanks for sayin’ that,” she added softly.

“You’re welcome!” Spitfire nodded. “Now that you’re all smiles and sunshine again… Would you mind answering some of my questions about you?”

“Q-Questions about me?” Cloud asked back in complete confusion.

“Perfect!” Spitfire said casually, taking the blonde’s question for a yes. “First of all, where did you learn how to fight like you do?” she asked eagerly. “Winterjet showed me your records. A ratio of nine victories over one defeat in unarmed sparring, though she did comment that your style is nothing but brutish blocks and rather violent comebacks.”

“Winterjet?” Cloud tilted her head with a frown.

“Crystal’s nickname,” Spitfire explained. “A group of trainees are probably getting the origin of it as we speak,” she added with a short laugh.

“Huh.. okay then. For your question, I trained with a friend before coming here,” Cloud replied simply.

“That’s it?” Spitfire cocked eyebrow. “What kind of training?” she added when the blonde nodded.

“Endurance training for most part, and sparring with her,” Cloud explained with a warm smile. “Every day, she walked to my house to wake me up at the crack of dawn. Then it was jogging all the way to her family’s farm, helping her and her siblings in their morning chores,”

        She paused for a brief moment as she chuckled at the many good memories that came back at her.

“I remember one time she decided to make me and her sister go on a trek in the forest… Not the Everfree of course!” Cloud specified quickly. “On the way back, Vinyl and I nearly collapsed of exhaustion while AJ was still as fresh as a daisy. Compared to us that is! She literally threw each of us on one of her shoulders, picked our bags up and jogged all the way back to the farm!”

“Woaw!” Spitfire let out in shock. “Really?”

“I still have trouble believing it myself, and I was there to see it!” Cloud commented with a chuckle. “The monster of Ponyville, people call her that every once in a while. She hates that nickname, saying that it makes her something bigger than she is… She has never seen how great she is,” she added with a sigh.

“You think a big deal about that ‘AJ’,” Spitfire commented slowly. “You sure she’s just a friend?” she asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Sadly for me, she’s just a friend. The best I could ever hope for though, only tied by her sister.” Cloud smiled playfully. “I think a big deal about her, because she’s something else… A real force of Nature.” Cloud looked in Spitfire’s direction with determination in her eyes. “That’s the reason I’m good in combat. After two years of sparring with her, what the others can do isn’t enough! The few that can actually throw a punch as fast as her haven’t enough strength to even think of being close to hers!”

“You know? That’s a bit farfetched,” Spitfire commented slowly. “Though, the facts seemed to prove you’re not lying.” she shrugged. “Now, my other question!”

        Spitfire searched through her right pocket before extending her hand above Cloud’s. She opened her hand and, a few seconds after, Cloud felt something tiny, solid, and strangely familiar touching her skin.

“It feels familiar to you too, huh?” Spitfire asked when she noticed the puzzlement on the blonde’s face. “Have any idea what that is?”

Cloud looked at the grey shard in her palm.

“I don’t why you’re asking me but, should I guess...” Cloud scratched her chin as she brought the shard to her eye level. “It’s a puff of cloud. It has the same sensation, sort of.”

“That’s what I thought.”

 “Though I have never seen that kind of sustainability in a shaped cloud before. Not even on a house in Cloudsdale!” she added, trying without success to bend the shard like it was possible to on any traditional cloud-walls.

“You sure about that?” Spitfire asked doubtfully.

“Yes, I’m sure!” Cloud frowned at the lieutenant’s question. “Why do you think otherwise?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure YOU are the one who shaped this thing,” Spitfire replied with vigor, pointing at the grey shard.

“ME?!” Cloud pointed at herself in total disbelief.

“Remember your fight with Shields? When you conjured a cloud around yourself to protect you?” Cloud nodded. “Odd move by the way!” Spitfire commented matter-of-factly. “As you know, I intervened and dissipated whole your cloud and Shields’ wind-drill. With the exception of that shard that somehow managed to withstanded my Shaping.”

“Really?” Cloud asked, dumbfounded. “And you think I did that?”

“Yes, I do,” Spitfire replied with a nod. “Don’t know how, but you shaped a cloud that could resist my heat, and Crystal’s freezing. You can imagine how piqued my interest is!”

“Kinda,” Cloud admitted slowly. “But I don’t think I could ever do it again.”

“That’s loser talk, kiddo!” Spitfire glared at the blonde. “And I don’t train losers!”

Cloud blinked several times at that sentence. “I’m sorry. What?!”

“From now on, you’ll train with me!” Spitfire assured. “Or at least after I talked to Crystal about that… I wonder if she still likes coconut ice cream… That should make a good bribe if she does,” she thought outloud with a pensive frown.

        The blonde was at loss of words. Spitfire Maverick of the Wonderbolts was talking about training her.

“Why?” Cloud managed to whisper. 

“Huh?” Spitfire let out as she was brought out of her thoughts.

“Why do you want to train me?” Cloud repeated slowly.

“Well, your thing with clouds intrigues me, so I’ll need to check on you.” Spitfire explained while raising her thumb. “You obviously need training in Combat Shaping and Airborne Fighting. Things the Bolts are expert at.” she raised her forefinger. “And finally, I have nothing better to do at the moment!”

“You’re telling me that the Captain of the Wonderbolts has nothing better to do than to train a backwater town newbie like me?” Cloud raised a doubtful eyebrow.

“It’s not as great as they say in the pamphlets.” Spitfire shrugged with a chuckle. “All jokes aside,” she added softly. “When I saw you earlier for that lightning exercice, you reminded me a lot of myself when I first arrived in the training grounds.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I was your age, I had the same problem as you,” Spitfire replied softly. “I couldn’t throw the tiniest lightning bolt.”

“Really?!”

“Yeah, really!” The lieutenant nodded. “I was about to fly away just like you, but someone held me back and helped me get around it. You can see what good it did in the long run,” she added while showing her ranking strips and her golden winged bolt on her uniform jacket.

“You think I’m like you?” Cloud asked in a whisper.

“Not exactly like me,” Spitfire said playfully. “But I think you got potential. I wouldn’t even suggest training you if I didn’t!”

“But what if I can’t do it like you did? What if I never manage a lightning bolt for example?”

“Who said I ever managed it?” Spitfire asked back with a wide grin, earning a shocked gasp from Cloud. “Look, kiddo, it doesn’t matter. What matters is what you do with the ability you have. How you mold it to meet your expectations. THAT is the true way of Jupitarian combat!” she said sternly. “And considering your thing with clouds, you’ll manage lightning just fine!”

“Casting lightning and conjuring a cloud isn’t really the same mechanic,” Cloud argued.

“That’s true for us!” Spitfire agreed. “But, think about a thunderstorm, where do the bolts come from?”

The blonde blinked in confusion.“Huh… they come from… Oooooh!” Cloud let out in realization.

“See?” Spitfire asked with a chuckle.

> The cloud braves the snowstorm in the desert
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        A heavily panting, and sweaty Cloud landed with her back on her bed, her cheeks red as apples from Sweet Apple Acres. Her body was on fire, her muscles were sore, her chest raised high when she tried to gather as much air as possible. It had been so much more than what she had expected when she had accepted that offer.

“Gotta hand it to your friend, Kid,” Spitfire remarked with an impressed nod from the door of Cloud’s new room. “Training with her sure built up your stamina. Not many people would have lasted the whole afternoon doing the same training as Bolts.”

Cloud sat up on her bed to look at her newly-appointed trainer.

“You..You mean to tell me that ALL the Wonderbolts train like they’re in a bloody “sauna”?” she asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Hehe. No, the temperature’s just my personal touch.” Spitfire explained with a chuckle. “You’re lucky you’re not doing this with Crystal… You’d be cackling teeth by now!”

“If you say so…” Cloud fell back on the mattress while looking around the single bedroom she had been assigned to on the other side of the compound. “I really couldn’t have stayed in the barracks with the rest of my team?” she asked softly.

“No.” Spitfire shook her head. “Considering what I’m have planned for you, you’d have woken up earlier than them, and gone back to bed well after their curfew. It’d have been annoying for them.”

“I suppose,” Cloud admitted. “I feel bad for not letting them know where I am though,” she added, remembering how she had packed her stuff while the rest of her team was at the mess as soon as Spitfire and her went back to the compound earlier that day.

“Well, as soon as I think you’re good enough, I’ll let you back into the regular program,” Spitfire comforted with a small smile.

“Really?!” Cloud asked incredulously.

“Yeah, Crystal wasn’t really happy that I stole one of her recruits like that,” Spitfire explained with air quotes on the word “stole”. “Also, the Bolts are starting a tour in a two months or so… Unless I take you with me on that tour, something that I’ve no intention to do, it’ll be hard for me to watch over your training.”

“I guess,” Cloud whispered with a shrug. “We’re gonna do what we did today everyday?”

“Getting cold feet already?” Spitfire asked back with a smirk.

“No!” Cloud bluntly answered. “I’m just curious!”

        The lieutenant kept staring at her now personal trainee’s eyes until noticing that, despite the blonde’s fatigue, they shone with a more than awake determination. At that, her smirk changed into a more genuine smile.

“It’s going to be the program for a few days,” Spitfire explained. “Then, you’ll learn how to fight airborne… Once that I’m satisfied with your level in that , we’ll start working on your Shape!”

“My shape?” Cloud let out in confusion.

“Yep!” The Lieutenant nodded. “I’ll answer questions tomorrow though. Get some rest! You’ll need it!” she claimed before stepping out of the room. “Actually… Hit the shower first. You kinda stink!”

“That’s always good to hear,” Cloud muttered as the door was shut behind the Lieutenant.

        Very reluctantly, the young trainee pulled herself out of her comfortable bed to head to the small bathroom. After quickly taking her clothes off, she hoped in the shower. As she felt the hot water falling on her skin, Cloud started to think about the cloud-shard Spitfire had claimed was her doing.

        There was not a single way for her to have done that, despite what the Wonderbolt believed. She had never seen or heard of anything like that, thus even less possibly done it herself. Condensing a cloud to the point it’s solid as metal, and making it resistant to extreme temperatures, according to Spitfire, was something akin to legends for Cloud.

The blonde sighed and glanced at where her trousers were, focusing on the pocket in which the shard was. She turned the faucet off and went to pull the shard out. It felt like whenever she touched a cloud: the lightness, the softness,... All matched completely except the solidity.

“I wonder if…” Cloud’s hand surrounded itself with a white haze as she tightened her grip on the shard.

        She closed her eyes in concentration while she tried to change the shape of the shard. With a low groan, she looked at the object in her hand, seeing it unaltered.

“Of course…. Huh?!,” she muttered sourly before blinking as a puff steam from the running shower touched the mysterious material still surrounded by Cloud’s magical haze, only to be absorbed by it instantly.

        With barely contained excitement and puzzlement, Cloud gathered the moisture of the bathroom into a compact, football-sized stratus. She ‘’grabbed’’ it and pushed it in contact with the grey shard, then focused her magic to try to shape it again.

        Cloud let out a very quiet wow when she saw the piece of solid-cloud absorb all the moisture she had gathered. After a quick inspection, the blonde was about to frown in disappointment, but that was just before she noticed it. Cloud brought the shard closer to her eyes, finally seeing clearly the tiny bump on its side.

“That much humidity for such a little modification.” The blonde sighed slowly. “What an odd shape.” Cloud scratched her chin pensively. “I wonder if Vinyl has read something similar in her light-reading history books… I should ask her in my next letter!”


~~~~~~~


“So, as you probably heard, the thing that makes the difference between the Jupitarian Corps and the rest of the Guard is quite obvious… Airborne Combat!” Spitfire said sternly as the sun started to appear from beyond the horizon. “What says Airborne Combat also says Airborne Armor!” She turned her gaze to Cloud’s still sleepy face. “Are you following me so far, Newbie?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Cloud replied with as much vigor she could muster in her slightly sleepy state.

“Good!” Spitfire nodded before she started pacing in front of the blonde trainee. “Now, I know that many others commented that your flying was below the level of an average trainee, and they’re absolutely right about that!” Spitfire glanced in her direction to see any reaction, smiling mentally when she saw none. “But I doubt that those punks will do any better wearing a thirty kilogram, full body armor!” she added with a smirk, nudging at the plate armor on the rack behind her.

“Huh, permission to ask something, Ma’am!” Cloud frowned a bit at the sight of the armor.

“Granted!”

“Isn’t that a Knight’s armor?” Cloud asked slowly. “Like for the guards riding horses?”

“Huh!” Spitfire let out in a surprised tone. “You have an eye for that, Newbie. That’s pretty good.”

“And, aren’t Jupitarians’ armor much lighter than those?” Cloud’s question was laced with a bit of uneasiness. “To not bother their flying?”

“That’s true! Which is exactly why you’re going to put that on!” Spitfire nudged the armor again. “Since you have to catch up on the rest of the recruits’ flying skills, we’re gonna take the toughest method! Apparently, that works well for you. Any other questions?” Spitfire didn’t give Cloud enough time to answer. “No? Great! Now suit up!”

“Huh…”

“Didn’t you hear me?” Spitfire asked impatiently. “I said: Suit up!”

“I know, Ma’am...It’s just that I’ve never worn armor before...Sooo, I don’t know how to put it on!” Cloud stated in embarrassment.

        The renowned lieutenant blinked before pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance.

“I’ve got a lot more work than I thought with this one,” she muttered before signaling the blonde to come closer. “Come, I’ll show you ONCE how you do it!”


~~~~~~~


“Come on, Newbie! Fly Faster!” Spitfire yelled as Cloud painfully flew laps above the oasis where the lieutenant had decided to take her under her proverbial wing.

        The younger blonde, wearing the heavy armor set, crashed after finishing her lap, right at the officer’s feet, regretting it instantly as the oasis’ sand passed in between the plates and started to itch.

“Fifty seconds,” Spitfire commented, glancing at her chronometer. “Lame! Do it again!”

“You *huff* do rea-realize *puff* we’re in...fuck-fucking desert, right?” Cloud asked, panting heavily. “I’m literally cooking in my juices like a roast beef in this thing!” She bumped the heavy, nearly burning chestplate with her fist.

“Then find a way to cool yourself down, Newbie!” Spitfire retorted with a shrug. “I’m not really a beef person… I prefer fried chicken.”

        Cloud stared at her with a dumb expression until she realized the lieutenant was waiting for her to do something. She looked at her surroundings, noticing the small pond a few feet from them. Spitfire tilted her head in curiosity when the blonde in armor extended her fog-surrounded hand towards the pond.

“I wouldn’t advise water. The armor will get…” The lieutenant interrupted herself when a dense fog appeared above the water point.

        The fog quickly condensed itself in a thin, white cloud, which was immediately drawn up by Cloud’s hand. The newly-formed cumulus was completely absorbed inside the armor through the interstices of the gauntlet. Soon after, Cloud let out a relieved sigh.

“A cloud-blanket keeps you warm during winter, and fresh during summer,” the blonde explained when she noticed her instructor’s questioning look, not feeling as hot as she was a few seconds ago.

“Not bad,” Spitfire said with a short nod. “Now, you have no excuse for a bad chrono! Fly up!” The lieutenant snapped her fingers before pointing at the sky.

If it weren’t for her sexy ass, I’d start to hate that woman! Cloud stared sourly at the lieutenant as she looked up to the infinite azure above them.

        It took Cloud a lot of effort to stand back up with the weight of the armor, even though her cloud-vest underneath the plates made the whole deal more comfortable. She conjured her large purple wings and took off, oblivious to the fact that her wings were the center of attention of the famous officer’s amber eyes.

Just an hour of flight with the armor on, and her wings started to change already.

She had noticed the base of Cloud’s wings was a bit sturdier and thicker than before, while her wingspan seemed larger, barely noticeable for an untrained eye, but the change was there. The lieutenant couldn’t help to think positive about that trainee, even if she decided not to show it to the trainee in question…. At least not too much.


~~~~~~~


“All right! Take a break!” Blossomforth ordered to the five cadets of squads eight and twelve.

        While she turned to Ace to decide what exercises they would do next, the cadets relaxed their stances and lowered the blunt swords they had been dueling with. It was their second week of swordsmanship training, and so far only Ford had shown visible progress in that area.

“Ford, could you show us that parry again?” Gale asked as the boys went to sit on the nearby bench.

“Sure!” The blue and yellow haired man nodded.

        He rolled his sword-holding wrist and took stance in front of the redhead and waved her to attack him. Gale lunged forward to strike her opponent with a piercing blow. Ford took a step to the left and nudged Gale’s blade away from its course with the flat part of his own. The redhead recovered from the parry before raising her sword high and making it coming down on Ford’s skull.

        The male cadet lifted his blade to stand in the way of Gale’s, and when the impact was about to happen, he tilted his wrist to the left. Because of that, the attacking sword slided along the edge of the defending one, bringing about Gale’s arms and upper body down to the ground, thus making her completely vulnerable to a counter attack.

“The key’s to wait for the moment just before the blades touch,” Ford explained as Gale stood back up straight. “Only then, you can change the flow of the strike. You want to try?”

“...Not now,” Gale said after a short reflection. “I’ll practice with Silent or…. Well, just with Silent to get the move right before trying to go against you,” she added sheepishly after pausing awkwardly in the middle of her sentence.

“Still no news from Cloud?” Ford asked with a defeated sigh.

“Not since she left after that lightning exercice two weeks ago,” Gale replied in a low tone. “Blossomforth says that her replacement should arrive anytime soon.”

“I still can’t believe she just left like that,” Ford commented sourly. “Without telling us, or leaving a note!”

“She was ashamed of leaving the compound,” Silent butted in slowly. “Can you really blame her for not wanting to be seen during that?”

“Not really,” Ford admitted. “I just thought she’d say goodbye at least.”

“Oh, please!” Manerick commented from the bench with a roll of his eyes. “You’re just sad because you didn’t get alone time with her!”

“Manerick.” Ford glared at his teammate angrily. “Shut up, or ...”

“Or what, Mustang?” Manerick asked with a sly grin. “You’ll spray me with some water?” he added with a mocking laugh.

“Hey, come on now, guys! We’re on the same team, remember?” Stardust said calmly, hoping his two teammates would not get in a fight again. 

It had been happening a lot since Cloud’s departure, and, while Stardust had at first sided with Manerick, he was getting annoyed by his black-haired teammate’s frequent taunts about the blonde’s sudden leave. Manerick remained oblivious to his attempts at peacemaking, as always.

“Don’t mind him, Ford,” Silent recommended quietly. “He’s just frustrated that no girl ever touches his butt since Cloud’s not here to kick it anymore,” she added in a matter-of-fact tone, earning mocking snickers from Gale and Ford.

“Alright, you guys!” Ace called loudly. “Back in line!”

“I wonder what Cloud’s up to now.” Gale thought out loud as the five trainees were walking back to their team leaders.

“She’s probably back to her life,” Silent commented slowly. “Probably trying to bed her sexy friend Applejack without much success.” She noticed the cocked eyebrows from her two friends. “She talked in her sleep sometimes…” The grey-haired girl added with a light blush.

“Huh?!” Ford and Gale let out slowly, more shocked by the fact someone actually resisted the blonde’s charms than her talking dirty in her sleep.


~~~~~


“Nice weather we’re having today, right?” Spitfire asked casually, as she relaxed on her deckchair a few feet away from the oasis’ pond.

“Indeed,” Crystal commented from the deck chair at the right of Spitfire’s. “It feels like a summer day at the beach.”

“How’s the training going back at the compound?” the lieutenant asked with curiosity.

“All good so far, except that Shields keeps bugging me about when her team’s going to get its new fourth member for the past three weeks,” Crystal replied casually. “I’m getting tired of this situation, you know?”

“Mah, don’t worry!” Spitfire waved off. “The Bolts are going on a tour in less than a month. You’ll have the newbie back by then!”

“Has she made any progress so far?” the sergeant asked, straightening on her chair to look at the heavy-armored flyer trying to push her way through a tunnel made out of a snow storm above the desertic patch of sand a few yards away.

“Her flight time went down from fifty seconds to twenty already.” Spitfire glanced in the same direction as her silver-haired friend. “Thanks for the storm-tunnel by the way!”

“You’re welcome,” the woman with long, white hair on the deckchair at Spitfire’s left muttered sourly. “Though, if I had known that when you said ‘come and relax at the beach with Crystal and me’, you meant ‘come help Crystal conjuring a nature defying environment for the girl I’m training while I’m getting tanned’, I wouldn’t have come!”

“Fleetfoot’s got a point,” Crystal commented slowly. “I thought you’d be the one training her when you demanded to temporarily remove her from her squad. Not that you’d ask us to do it!”

“She has to get used to different weather conditions, hasn’t she?” Spitfire asked, lowering her sunglasses to glare at her two friends and colleagues. “Besides, I just asked you to conjure a snowstorm, it’s not that big of a deal for you two!”

“We’re in the middle of a desert, Spitfire,” Fleetfoot remarked slowly. “It’s not that easy!” Crystal nodded in agreement.

“Yeah… Try to say that without the two of you sunbathing on deckchairs and I’ll start believing it,” Spitfire retorted with a cocked eyebrow. “How long has she been in there already?”

“I’m maintaining the wind’s strength, I didn’t pay attention to the time!” Fleetfoot replied with a shrug.

“Same, but with the snow,” Crystal added apathetically before she leaned back on her chair and closed her eyes with a sigh.

“Oh, well,” Spitfire shrugged before turning her head to Cloud, who was still flying through wind and snow as fast as possible. “Newbie! I saw your foot going out of the ring! Let’s start another thirty minute session!”

Spitfire couldn’t clearly hear it, or see it through the artificial snowstorm for that matter, from where she stood, but it was obvious that Cloud was protesting that decision. Though Cloud’s protests made her stop flying forward, which caused her to be swept away by the strong winds.

The lieutenant simply pushed her sunglasses back over her eyes and lied down on her chair, resuming the important activity she and the other two Jupitarians had been doing while Cloud tried to brave the storm: sunbathing.

How dare she make me start all over again?! I only had two more minutes left! Cloud thought furiously as she recovered from her distraction. And, how dare she invite the Sergeant and that other chick to lie around in swimsuits to get tanned when I can’t even ogle! No one keeps Cloud Kicker away from sexy women in swimsuits! NO ONE!

        The blonde let out a long, frustrated groan, -Intensive training with Spitfire didn’t leave her with enough energy to relieve some stress- and extended a fog-surrounded-hand forward. Instantly a large, puffy, white cloud appeared before her.

        Cloud focused her magic and her flight steady despite the wind, snow and hailstones disturbing her, and her newly-conjured cloud started to change its shape at her will. The cumulus, turning bigger and greyer as it was absorbing the humidity in the air, took the form a drill as large as the Jupitarian who created it.

        As the strong wind got caught up in its indents, the cloud-made drill started to spin, even though its shape wobbled a bit under the wind’s pressure. Cloud then conjured two handles inside the drill’s inner cone, then started to fly forward, now free of the windy obstacle. The drill dug through the tunnel without too many difficulties other than a few patches of the shape that were ripped off every now and then, only to be recreated by Cloud’s magic soon after. At each lap, the drill’s path leaned closed to the outer edge of the tunnel.

“Spitfire?” Fleetfoot called softly, her head turned in Cloud’s direction. “Did you know it was possible to make a drill out of a cloud?”

“Huh?” Crystal and Spitfire let out simultaneously as they both blinked their eyes open before sitting straight up.

“Not to my knowledge, why?” the lieutenant asked with a yawn.

“Because there’s one who just pierced the tunnel Crystal and I made,” Fleetfoot commented matter-of-factly. “And it’s heading our way.”

        The armored trainee let go of the cloud-drill, which made its way up above the three sunbathing women, thus blocking off the sun. Spitfire lifted her glasses up her forehead to cock an eyebrow at Cloud who simply replied by snapping her fingers.

        The grey cumulus delivered its water immediately after, soaking the three ranked guards as quickly as hundred full buckets were emptied simultaneously. Due to where the cloud came from, the water was ice cold, and the two Wonderbolts were wincing constantly at its contact while Crystal didn’t seem affected at all. The shower stopped when the cloud had turned pure white and started to dissipate because of the heat of the desert while the snow storm behind Cloud died down.

They couldn’t wear white bikinis?! They would have been bit transparent with all that water! Cloud thought with a huge disappointment as Spitfire passed her hands through her hair to pull her bangs away from her face after putting her shades down . 

        What happened next startled Cloud a lot. Spitfire closed her eyes before all the water on her body and in her hair evaporated in an instant. Then, the lieutenant slowly stood up and made way toward the young Jupitarian at fault, drying the patches of sand her feet touched in a blink of an eye.

        Cloud gulped nervously as her trainer and hierarchic superior, as she just remembered, walked in her direction, her face impassible like a granite wall while her amber eyes shone with a great sense of authority.

For one of the few times in her life, the young blonde ignored the lubric part of her mind, which was screaming her to not panic and to act all seductively in front of the smoking hot, bikini wearing woman, like she would normally do. Then again, she had never thought to meet a woman LITERALLY smoking hot before.

Spitfire stopped a few inches in front of Cloud and crossed her arms, inadvertently pushing her attributes together, though the blonde didn’t dare look at them, and tilted her head to stare down at the purple eyes of her trainee.

The Wonderbolt wasn’t much taller than the cadet, barely three or four inches of difference, but Cloud felt as if she was standing before someone incredibly much taller, like when she saw Applejack facing that manticore nearly two years ago. 

She also felt completely naked in front of the stern, amber eyes, despite the massive, heavy armor Spitfire made her wear to all their training sessions, and definitely not the good kind of naked she was used to.

“Kicker, I’ll ask this only once.” She used her name. Spitfire never used her name. It was always Newbie, Rookie, Kid, and so on. “Are you and I friends?”

“Huh… pardon?”

“Are you and I friends?” Spitfire repeated, pointing at herself and Cloud back and forth.

“I...I’d say not really?” Cloud suggested.

“You’re not sure?” Spitfire asked with a surprised tone while her face remained stern. “It’s an easy question though.”

Cloud uneasily swallowed before licking her lips. “No, we’re not… Ma’am.”

“Well, that’s already better,” Spitfire commented. “Then, why did you think you could pull that stunt back there?” she thumbed above her shoulder, pointing at Fleetfoot trying to dry, and warm herself a bit, but failed as her towel was completely soaked. Crystal simply had simply gone back to sunbathing.

        Cloud didn’t reply and started to look down at her feet.

“Eyes up and head straight, Kicker!” Spitfire barked loudly. “You’re not a little girl caught taking a cookie from the jar! You’re a grown woman training to become a guard!” The eye contact was made again. “I asked you a question. I’d like an answer.”

“I… I was tired,” Cloud explained after a brief hesitation.

“Tired?” an orange eyebrow raised itself a bit.

“Well,... yes.” Cloud took a short breath. “Tired of flying laps through forty degrees. Through snow storm until you decide I should start again because you lost count of the time!” Spitfire didn’t say anything. “And it’s not the first time it happened! About every day since I started training under your ‘’supervision’’, if I can call it like that, you made me start over plenty of times for no reason, and I’m tired of this!”

        Cloud paused for a few seconds, expecting a response from Spitfire.

“It doesn’t look like you’re done,” the lieutenant remarked slowly. “Go on. Does something else tire you?”

“Yes. That stupid armor tires me!” Cloud replied sourly. “It’s really uncomfortable, unnecessarily restrictive, heavy as a bloody boulder.” She pointed an accusatory finger at the renowned officer. “You said you’d train my flying for a few days then we’ll move on to fighting! It’s been more than three weeks already! If I had known you’d only make me do wing-ups and fly in circles with armor on, I’d have stayed under Sergeant Pagetonas’ training and probably have learned quite a lot of things by now!”

“I’m starting to like this girl. What about you?” Crystal whispered with a smile as Fleetfoot’s teeth were still chattering. “Go have a swim in the pond, girl. The water is most likely warm enough.”

“So, you want to train in Jupitarian fighting styles already, huh?” Spitfire asked with a shrug. “What If I think you’re not ready?”

“I am ready!” Cloud assured strongly. “I want to learn how to fight!”

“Fine,” Spitfire replied, relaxing her stance and uncrossing her arms.

“....Pardon?” Cloud blinked in total confusion.

“You’re right. It’s time we move on to something more interesting, and that I take a much more active role in your training.” Spitfire nodded calmly.

“What?!…”

“Let’s start right now!” Spitfire said as she placed her right palm on Cloud’s chestplate. “First lesson. To dodge this…”

        Cloud felt an incredibly, intense burning sensation in her chest before a sudden and powerful gust of hot wind catapulted her on a nearby dune, half-way burying her in the sand.

“... don’t pull pranks on me again!” Spitfire ended her warning with a small smirk. “Though, that shape was pretty good… For a newbie,” she added with a brief wink as Cloud was still trying to comprehend what had just happened. “How did you make the cloud tough enough to resist Fleetfoot’s winds?” she asked with curiosity.

Cloud extricated herself from the sand, resisting the itching, as her armor was now full of it before she answered.

“A very good friend of mine turned me to some expert,” Cloud explained softly. “A very old expert...”


~~~~~~~




Hey there, Cloudy!

Say, you’re really getting trained by Spitfire Maverick?!
That’s so freaking awesome! She’s like the strongest Jupitarian soldier of the last six generations!

You’ll have to tell me more about it in your next letter. Or even better, let me know when you have a leave. -Is that how they call it in the military?-, I’ll send a letter to AJ, so that you two can come to Manehatten to visit, since it’s half-way between Las Pegasus and Ponyville.

Anyway, things for me are going along smoothly. Teachers are pretty cool, and my roommate is pretty awesome. You’d like her. Though I’m not letting you near three yards from her. She’s too sweet and cute to be corrupted by the likes of you. Hahahah!

Regarding what you asked me about, it took me a bit of time, but I managed to find something you might find pretty useful, and rather surprising on top of that. I’m still shocked by it. Anyway, it’s in the book I sent with this letter. Chapter 9.

I really hope it can help you.

Your friend,

Vinyl Almata Apple

Ps: AJ told me about that picture at the train station. Good one! ;)




        On the desk of Cloud’s room, right next to the letter she had received from her friend in Manehatten, laid a rather small book, with a simple, brown, leather cover with a silver, pegasus-shaped engraving on the front, right below the title : 


“Legends of old Pegasopolis”.


The book was opened at the page two hundred and sixteen, on which started the chapter nine, which was entitled as followed:


“The Most Talented Cloudsmith of Pegasoplis : Shadow Kicker
&


The Legend of Thundersteel Weapons”

> A cloudy return and a cloudier mission...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Every year, there were maneuvers organized by the Royal Guard’s two main training grounds. It was the occasion for the trainees to show off their skills in front of the High Command of the Guard, and occasionally in front of Princess Luna. And this year, it was Las Pegasus’ training grounds’ turn to host the joined forces, making it a source of annoyance and relief for their leading figure, Sergeant Crystal Pagétonas. It was source of annoyance for she had to make room for the delegation sent by Canterlot’s training grounds, and source of relief as Blossomforth had finally stopped harassing her for a new teammate in favor of getting ready for the big event.

        Three months had passed since the squad eight was left with three members instead of four. Said situation had weighed much on Blossomforth shoulders as her squad couldn’t compete against the others, despite how talented its three members were: Silent was one of the best aims of the compound, Gale had proved to be talented in the handling of a battle axe and Blossomforth had reinforced her position as number one spear-wielder of the camp. Yet it wasn’t enough to outbalance Cloud’s absence and the lack of her replacement in team exercises.

        The delegation of Canterlot arrived late afternoon in the form of a good forty heavily armored Eponian initiates and a group of fifteen Adepts from the Arcanium, Canterlot’s Magical Warfare Academy. The sixty riders had stormed inside the compound’s court and kept galloping in circles before the tight ranks of the fifteen Jupitarian squads and a disapproving Sergeant Pagétonas. Her crystal blue gaze landed on a particular knight that raised his fist before the aspiring riders formed a perfect line behind him. Crystal tsked with a roll of her eyes before slowly walking toward the commander in a purple and golden armor as he climbed down his horse.

“Pull that one on me one more time, Shining,” Crystal warned as she chased the cloud of dust with a wave of her hand. “And, I’ll freeze the court of Canterlot’s academy for the next maneuvers!”

“What are you talking about, Crystal?” Shining Armor, the recently promoted Captain of the Royal Guard, asked in a playful tone. “What did I do?”

“Your punk riders filled my court with dust,” Crystal sternly replied, though her eyes shone with a rare, good-mooded glint, showing the dust-filled plaza with her hand. “I wonder who told them to make that nice, mustang-y entrance?”

“They’re young and easily excited probably.” Shining shrugged with a smile.

“Just like their commander, I guess,” Crystal suggested with a triumphing smirk.

“Is Spitfire here?” Shining asked, ignoring Crystal’s comment. “She has that trainee of hers to show o…”

        Before he could finish his sentence, a loud bang resonated through the court before clouds of dust obscured the sight of every trainee and officers in the main court. Crystal and Shining both exchanged knowing glances while they each held one bridle of the latter’s horse, who had been startled by the sudden impact.

        When the dust cleared off the court, all eyes fell on the two figures in the center. One was a kneeled knight in the heaviest looking full body armor and the other was standing tall woman in a dark blue ceremonial uniform and a matching cap that barely hid her fiery-colored hair. Curious whispers rang among the ranks of the trainees as Spitfire and the armored soldier behind her both made way to Shining and Crystal.

“What’s up, Boss-man?” Spitfire asked casually.

“Apparently dust,” Crystal grumbled as she noticed her trainees covered in dark brown dust. “Was that necessary?”

“The boss tries to make a great entrance, I’ve got to make a greater one!” Spitfire explained with a warm chuckle.

“Tsss, Wonderbolts!” Crystal muttered a roll of her eyes.

“I suppose I’ll have to just accept it,” Shining commented with a shake of his head before tilting it to see the massive armor following his long time friend. “That’s your trainee?”

“Huh?” Spitfire blinked in confusion before looking back behind her. “Wow! You managed to keep up?!” she asked the armor-wielding soldier in stupor.

        The concerned party simply nodded in silence, much to Shining and Crystal’s confusion.

“... Nice!” Spitfire beamed with pride before facing Crystal once again. “She’s ready to get back to her sq…. Wait!” She smirked and pointed at the targets in the shooting range at West of the courtyard. “Bolt those things up in front of everyone first!”

        The armor-clad woman nodded and walked to the center of the court. The Jupitarian trainees looked at her in confusion when she extended her hand towards the targets. Their confusion only grew stronger when a white haze surrounded it and that a white cloud the size of a sheep appeared before her.

“Didn’t Lieutenant Maverick asked to bolt them?” a trainee asked in a ushered whisper. 

“Why isn’t that armored dude charging up lightning?” another whispered slowly.

“Hey, that cloud was shaped quite quickly,” Gale commented softly. 

“Yeah,” Silent agreed with a nod. “I haven’t see one shaped so fast since…”

“.....” Gale opened her mouth in a shocked expression as Silent let her sentence hanging.

“What?” Blossomforth asked her teammates in confusion. “What’s going…”

A loud and clear rumble drew her attention back at the center of a court while the crowd gasped loudly. The cloud had doubled its size and was turning darker every second as its creator grabbed it strongly. Multiples sparks of lightning sprung from within the cloud and got more numerous as it became darker to the point it turned black. The gauntlet squeezed one end of the thundercloud before it exploded in five loud bangs.

The same numbers of thunderbolts streaked the air in sharp, spirally paths until the touched the center of five wooden targets, shattering them all to pieces while lighting their posts on fire. The horses had reared in terror at the sudden bangs, nearly unsaddling their more than trained riders while the entire Jupitarian corp in training wowed, cheered or whistled at the armored Shaper. Crystal for her part glanced at the fiery results with an inexpressive face before turning back to face Spitfire.

“So, what do you think?” Spitfire asked with a smile. “Come on…. You know you’ve got to admit it!!!” she added playfully, nudging her friend’s elbow with her own.

“Fiiiine! You did an okay job with her!” Crystal rolled her eyes in annoyance, despite the shadow of a smile appearing on her face.

CLANG CLANG

The three commanding officers looked back at where the metallic noises came from, only to see Spitfire’s protegee bumping her fist on her chestplate repeatedly before pointing at the orange-haired lieutenant in a gesture that clearly showed displeasure.

“Oh! You want this?” Spitfire asked with a sardonic smile as she pulled a tiny, silver key from her chest pocket.

“What’s that?” Shining asked with a frown as the armored trainee nodded fervently.

“The key that keeps the armor straps locked up,” Spitfire explained slowly. “She had been, let’s say difficult during training.”

“That’s why this armor looked familiar!” Shining let out in realization as he noticed the engravings that coursed along the metal’s surface of the trainee’s armor. “I thought Princess Celestia forbade the use of Disciplinary Armors after we joined the active forces,” he then added with a frown.

“More strongly recommended to not use them for all purpose like in the past,” Spitfire stated with a shrug. 

“Also, it’s not that big of a deal since you’ve spent most of your training days in one, Shining,” Crystal remarked with a triumphing smirk, earning a small blush from their superior.

“Here, kid!” Spitfire dropped the key in her apprentice’s open palm. “Go back to your squad now! You did a good job!”

The woman in armor nodded before making her way toward the still gawking Jupitarian corps. On her way, she put the small key in the matching keyhole on her left wrists while the three officers started to discuss about the maneuvers after Crystal shouted that all trainees were dismissed until further notice.

The engraving on the armor’s surface glowed blue for a brief moment after she turned the key to the right, thus unlocking the armor. Her hands reached for her helmet and throat-guard as she stepped before Blossomforth and the still stunned Gale and Silent. After pulling the piece around her neck away, she took the helmet off, freeing her long, two-toned blonde hair that cascaded over her back.

Blossomforth’s light blue eyes widened in shock when they met the purple eyes she hadn’t seen at all for around three months. Cloud smiled playfully as she noticed that her squad leader’s expression was mimicked by a lot of trainees nearby.

“Do you happen to still have room in your squad by any chance, Blossom?” Cloud asked with a chuckle. “Also, is Ford around? I might be in great need of his assistance.”


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


        More than two hours later,

 “Ford, are you okay?” Ace asked with worry.

“You can clearly see he’s not fine!” Manerick snapped. “Look at how pale he is! He looks like something dead in a costume of itself!”

        It was dinner time at the mess hall, and Ford had come in on shaky legs, with a more than exhausted expression glued on his face. His teammates were more than surprised when the usually full-of-energy young man’s face fell in his plate of mashed potatoes. They had cleaned him up a bit, but he kept mumbling that he was fine and was eating slowly his food, with one cheek plastered on the wooden surface of the table.

“...Just tired…” Ford whispered sleepily as his hand had difficulty to find his mouth, causing potato mash to fall on his chin.

“Tired of what?” Stardust asked with a frown. “You were completely fine not two hours ago!”

“....A lot can happen ...In two hours,” Ford slowly explained before his fork reached for his plate once again, ignoring the mash on his face.

        Before anyone could make a remark about it, a delicate, woman’s finger brushed it off Ford’s chin. The almost-sleeping soldier in training barely looked up to see Cloud licking her mash-covered finger slowly while casting an intense fiery look at Ford, who blushed madly along with his teammates who didn’t miss a second of what Cloud was doing. She put a pack of six can of energy drink between Ford and his plate while leaning close to him.

“I’m far from being done with you, Mustang!” Cloud whispered sultrily in his ear before giving it a quick lick. “You better be full of energy by the time I’m done eating!” she added when Ford’s body was coursed with intense shivers.

        And with that, Cloud went to grab a plate of her own before having dinner with her once-again teammates, giving a little sway of her hips every three steps as she knew that Ford kept staring at her. Once she was far enough, Ford took one of the cans she had brought and opened it slowly.

“That woman is evil…. With her evil mouth, her evil fingers, her evil breasts and her more-than-evil ass!” Ford muttered slowly as he sat up straighter to chug down his energy drink. “Should I die later tonight, don’t tell her I said that!” Ford added with insistence before taking another can.

“.....What?!” his teammates let out in confusion.


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


        The next day, thirty minutes before the start of the maneuvers...

“KICKER, WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!?” Blossomforth shouted angrily as Cloud walked casually inside their squad barrack.

“Resourcing myself with the help of Ford…” Cloud admitted before sighing blissfully. “Oh gosh, I needed that!” she moaned softly in remembrance.

“...... You… You’re just back in the compound and you’re already getting late because you can keep your hormones in check?!” Blossomforth asked furiously as Gale and Silent finished gearing themselves up.

“Chief, relax!” Cloud let out with a wave of her hand. “I just need to put my armor on and get a weapon at the blacksmith rack and I’m ready!” She stated before taking a vial full of a reddish liquid in her travel bag that laid beneath her recently re-acquired bed.

“What are you drinking?” Gale asked with curiosity while Blossomforth grumbled something under her breath sourly.

“...It has been a while since Blossomforth actually showed her anger out,” Silent mused softly, observing their squad leader while tilting her head.

“Contraceptive potion from Ponyville’s best brewer,” Cloud explained matter-of-factly before gulping it down in one swig. “It also have a nice effect on hangover and it tastes like cranberry juice!”

“YOU DIDN’T EVEN USE PROTECTION?!” Blossomforth yelled so loudly, that it would be a miracle if the whole compound hadn’t heard her.

“I have very active libido, Blossomforth, it doesn’t mean I’m stupid,” Cloud retorted with a roll of her eyes as she took her leather armor off the rack. “I’m just not taking any risks since standard protection isn’t totally one hundred percent safe.”

“Is it now?” Gale asked with curiosity as she helped Cloud with the buckles of her armor since she was already ready for action.

“In the heat of the moment a misplacement or an accidental tear can always happen,” Cloud told with wisdom while taking another piece of her armor from the rack. “And moments were very, very heated last night,” she explained in an ushered whisper.

“Kicker!” Blossomforth snapped angrily, though the effect was lost due to her rosy cheeks. “Just get ready for today’s maneuvers in silence!”

“I’ll tell you two the details when she’s not paying attention to us!” Cloud whispered with a wink to Gale and Silent who both nodded with interested expressions plastered on their faces.


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


“The purpose of today’s maneuvers lies in one word!” Shining shouted to the ranked-up recruits before him. “Teamwork! Today, you lot are going to be split up into fifteen squads of eight soldiers: Four soldiers from the Jupitarian Corps, Three initiates from the Golden Shield Order and One apprentice of the Arcanium!”

“As soon as your squad is assembled we’d departure for this year’s maneuvers grounds!” Crystal barked loudly. “Listen carefully, because there would be no repeat of the team repartition!”

“For squadron number one,” Spitfire called in an authoritarian and serious tone that Cloud hadn’t heard from her during her training with the renowned officer. “From the Jupitarian Corps: Ace Orator, Silver Stardust, Ford Mustang, ....”

        In the next minute, Ford and his teammates broke the formation to join the group of four riders who had been called by Spitfire, not without Cloud discretely waving at Ford who was really puzzled by the hungry looks Gale and Silent were giving him. He couldn’t know it but Cloud had gone really deep into the details of last night. While the three girls quietly giggled at their friend’s expense, Blossomforth chastised them with a dark glare so that they return their attention on Spitfire.

“...For squadron number seven; From the Jupitarian Corps corps: Blossomforth Shields, Silent Cloud, Gale Swiftwing, Cloud Kicker! From the Golden Shield Order: Flash Sentry, Black Stone, Lucky Clover! And from the Arcanium: Sunset Shimmer!”


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


        Cloud’s team had joined the group of four riders. The apparently leader of the group of initiates, Flash Sentry, was a tall man with deep blue hair and was wearing a suit of armor that was quite the replica of the armor Cloud had worn during her months of training with Spitfire. Except that his and his fellow initiates’ were colored in a tacky, bright yellow that clashed strongly with the black clothes they were wearing underneath.

        While Blossomforth was discussing with Flash about who should be leading the squadron during the maneuvers. Apparently that required the Knight to come to boast his ties with Household Sparkle, the family from which came Captain Shining Armor, only to backed up by his two armored comrades. Blossomforth, as well as Gale and Silent, didn’t take it too kindly. Cloud, for her part, was determined into convincing the fourth rider to side with the Jupitarians, since five out of eight was a majority. She just needed to find the best argument to do so.

… maybe a D.… Nah… Definitely a C-cup! Cloud thought with a pensive frown as she observed the only female rider of their squadron. Though, among the largest C-cups!

        Sunset Shimmer was a tanned woman with long, red and yellow, curly hair who looked to be around the same age as Cloud. She was already riding her cream colored horse while apathetically waiting for the argument to stop. Unlike the rest of her squadron, she wasn’t wearing any suit of armor: she was wearing a skintight deep orange and purple one piece outfit under a thick, black cloak. Sunset seemed content with just fumbling with the bridle of her horse with one hand while the other carried her dark, metallic staff. Cloud noticed that both ends of her staff were covered by pieces of leather that were held in place by dark brown laces. 

… She’s gotta wear a push-up bra…They couldn’t be that perky unless she’s immune to the laws of gravity… Then again she’s a Titanian apparently well versed in the art of Magic... She probably knows stuff on how to be more sexy…. That or she’s just born that way… Meh, both are cool in my book!

        Sunset yawned in annoyance before glancing away from the arguing pair, wondering how they hadn’t pulled out their weapons already, considering how high the tone had climbed. Her teal eyes took notice of the armored blonde at her left before her smooth visage took an expression of confusion.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Sunset asked slowly as Cloud’s focused eyes pierced into her intensively.

“Oh, just trying to figure out if your butt is as sexy as your breasts,” Cloud replied bluntly. “It’s quite a challenge with your cloak on, I might add!”

At that moment, Cloud realized three things: One, she was clearly missing Applejack’s blunt and rather endearing honesty. Two, said honesty wasn’t found endearing by everyone. Three, Sunset was clearly in that sort of person, if the blush on her cheeks and her staff flying toward Cloud’s face were of any indication. Cloud caught the staff end midair with a sharp move of her right arm, stopping it short from bashing her skull.

Though she couldn’t block the blunt end of Blossomforth’s spear to bash her stomach a few seconds later.

“Kicker, I told you to behave during today’s maneuvers!” Blossomforth sourly reminded as Cloud held her hand against her belly with a wince.

“Yes, you did, chief,” Cloud muttered in a pained voice.

“One more thing like that, and I can’t be held responsible for what happens to you! Special training or not!!!” Blossomforth barked loudly. “Is that clear?!”

“Like spring water,” Cloud nodded slowly, groaning a bit as she rubbed her stomach.

“Good! Now, let’s move out!” Blossomforth ordered sternly before she started to hover thanks to her white, light-made wings. “We’ve lost too much time already!”

        Flash and his fellow knights barely uttered a word after Blossom’s display of brutal authority, and quickly decided to follow her in silence. Silent and Gale frowned a bit at their squad leader before hovering after her. Sunset kept her gaze on the blonde that had hit on her, smirking at her pained posture.

“Now, a cutie like you shouldn’t be glad of other’s pain,” Cloud stated as she suddenly stopped holding her stomach and stood tall with a mischievous smile.

        Sunset blinked in confusion as Cloud passed a haze-surrounded hand over her armor, making a thin, whitish plate slide from beneath it. The teal curious eyes followed the solid, square that was large enough to cover all of Cloud’s stomach before it dissipated like a puff a steam scattered by the wind.

“You… You did that on purpose,” Sunset let out in shock.

“Yep!” Cloud nodded swiftly. “The girls told me that Blossom barely lashed out and had issues getting obeyed while I was gone… Apparently I’m the only one around which she feels the need to have her authority respected,” the blonde explained softly. “I just think she’s jealous that I didn’t hit on her as much as I did on Ford when I got back.”

“...So you just said that thing about me so that she gets the lead of the squadron after putting you back in the line…” Sunset mused before she gave her horse a start. “...Quite a clever move, I must admit,” she added with a slight rise of the right corner of her lips.

“Don’t worry though,” Cloud whispered sultrily in Sunset’s ear as she hovered next to her trotting mount. “I meant every words I said about your two eye-catching lifelong-companions!” 

Cloud blew softly into Sunset’s ear and then her neck before distancing herself from the now flustered Titanian with a strong flap of her wings. The sudden gush of wind caused by it lifted Sunset’s cloak over her head, blinding her for a few seconds.

Hummmmm, rear buns as endearing and looking as tasty as her front brioches. Cloud thought as her purple eyes stared at the lower back of the struggling, female rider. …...I really shouldn’t have skipped breakfast to have a final round with Ford this morning…. I could have thought of a much sexier comparison!


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


“You know, Blossomforth,” Gale commented as the squadron number seven trotted/hovered along the rocky canyon a few miles West from Las Pegasus. “When you first told us about those maneuvers, it sounded a lot more exciting than the glorified patrolling session we’ve been doing for the last five hours.”

“If you’re not happy about our assignment, you can blame Initiate Sentry here!” Blossomforth retorted slowly.

“Now, Miss, that’s hardly fair,” Flash snapped with an angry frown. “If you had agreed on me being the squadron leader, we would have arrived at the advanced post earlier and would have probably been given a more interesting location.”

“Or, at least one where’s it’s not that hot,” Lucky called as he pulled the collar of his undersuit. “It’s not ideal weather for the horses,” he added while caressing the neck of his mount with softness.

“Being in the Royal Guard doesn’t always include ideal conditions,” Silent commented with wisdom as she took a brief swig of her flask of water. “Though, I must admit the air is too hot to my liking.” She continued before wiping the sweat off her brow.

“That doesn’t seem to bother her,” Black commented while pointing his lance at the far away form of Cloud that had volunteered to scout ahead.

“She seems to have stopped apparently,” Gale said as Cloud glanced beyond the turn of the canyon.

“I’d rather be happy she stays far ahead of us,” Sunset muttered sourly.

“She tried to hit on you after Blossomforth hit her, didn’t she?” Silent asked with a knowing smile, earning a groan of displeasure from Sunset.

“You make it sound like it’s common occurrence,” Lucky commented slowly.

“Because it is!” Blossomforth snarled angrily.

“Blossomforth, she’s often flirty. That’s all!” Gale chastised with a playful roll of her eyes.

“That’s too much already,” Sunset whispered, causing Flash to look at her with worry.

“Maybe I should talk some sense into her,” Flash commented softly.

Gale, Silent and Blossomforth barely managed to hold back their mocking laughter for a second before it resonated through the canyon. The two Jupitarians soldiers kept themselves on their feet by leaning onto Blossomforth who was only standing thanks to her spear. Oblivious to the cocked eyebrows aimed in their directions, the laughing trio kept at it for a good minute.

“Woooooh… I needed that!” Blossomforth giggled softly, wiping her laughing tears away.

“hahaha…. Wait,” Silent let out as she noticed Flash’s bemused expression. “You actually were serious?”

“Boy, she’d wink at you and you’d be on your knees begging for more before you even realizes it!” Gale assured with a shake of her head. “You can ask Ford or Blossom if you don’t believe me!”

“....When did I ever beg for more to Kicker?” Blossomforth asked with a displeased frown.

“You think we never heard you mumbling in your sleep while we thought she was gone for good?” Silent asked with a cocked eyebrow, earning a massive blush from their squadron leader.

“Private Kicker, you will show respect to my authority and bend over that desk right now!” Gale mimicked Blossom’s voice while halfly moaning before she laughed heartedly. “This one still cracks me up!”

“.... And here I thought I could respect you for holding her on a leash,” Sunset commented as Blossomforth tried to hide her blushing face in her helmet. “But I guess you’re not the one holding the leash…”

“Blossomforth could have if Cloud wasn’t that hard to scare…” Silent replied with a shrug. “Then again, the only person to have scared her, from what she told us, would be her friend Applejack… and she still tries to get her in her bed… I think no-one short to the princesses could keep her urges in check.”

“I wouldn’t count on that too much.” Gale commented with a frown.

“Hey, she’s waving at us to come!” Black said as he noticed Cloud making sharp gestures to get over where she was quickly.

“Silent, go see what she wants,” Blossomforth mumbled from beneath her helmet.

“Aye, chief!” Silent saluted before taking off to join Cloud while the rest of the squadron walked to her.

        The grey-haired girl flew beyond the turn of the canyon a good two or three minutes before the rest of Squadron seven arrived there as well. Just enough time for Blossomforth and the others to clear their heads of all the dirty stuff Cloud was capable of. Though, if it hadn’t been enough, what they saw around the corner of the canyon would have cleared their heads instantly.

        Silent was kneeled next to three massive but wrecked carriages on the side of the canyon, examining a dried, brown stain that clashed against the yellowish rocks and dust of the canyon while Cloud looked at their surroundings with a serious face that no one had seen her take since she had arrived at the compound, her hand firmly gripping the handle of her sword. Immediately, everyone tensed and reached for the weapons.

“It’s indeed blood,” Silent stated slowly. “As for how long it has been there, I can’t tell!” she shook her head with a sigh. “With this heat it could have dried five minutes or three hours ago.”

“Did you find traces of any possible survivors?” Blossomforth questioned slowly, wincing as she spotted a small doll among the spilled contents of the carriage. “Carriages like those can easily transport a whole family.”

“None!” Cloud answered slowly. “I spotted foot and horseshoe prints coming here from over there, but around here its a mess of dust and blood…” she shook her head with a groan.

“... They were dragged,” Silent commented as she walked through the many traces around the carriages. “...right toward the East side of the canyon…” she added as she looked at the solid, stone wall that Cloud had been staring at for a while. “Though the traces lead nowhere…” Silent stated as the traces came to a sudden stop a few meters away from the wall.

“You think it’s a set up for the maneuvers?” Lucky asked in a tone that showed his doubts about his own theory.

“If it is, then I give them an A+ for realism!” Sunset commented as she tightened her grip on her staff and on the reins of her mount.

“We could go back to base camp…” Flash started uneasily.

“No, we can’t!” Cloud snapped sharply. “....We’re being hunted right now…” she added in a cold whisper when everyone looked at her with questioning, raised eyebrows.

“What?” Black let out in confusion.

“...Whatever it was that attacked those carriages is watching us…” Cloud explained quietly, licking her lips to keep them moisted. “... I felt that before… Something’s lurking us from around,” she added as she heard the feral roar of a manticore in her head.

“Look, Kicker, you got hunted by guys but that doesn’t…” Lucky began with an uncertain tone.

“Shut up, Initiate!” Blossomforth snapped before walked next to Cloud and looked at her in the eyes. “Kicker, are you sure, and I mean absolutely sure about what you’re saying?” she asked in a whisper.

“This is not a sensation you can forget or misinterpret, Blossom,” Cloud replied quietly. “We ARE being watched and NOT for pleasant reasons!” she assured with firmness.

        The serious tone, so unusual from the playful blonde, and the assurance in her voice was more than enough to convince Blossomforth. She gave the blonde a brief nod and was about to give her orders when Gale fell on the ground and let go of her weapon. The rest of the squadron barely had the time to see two furred and bestial hands grabbing her ankles before she was pulled away from them at top speed.

“GALE!!” Silent, Cloud and Blossomforth shouted in unison as Gale screamed in panic.

        Before anyone could react, Cloud spread her purple wings which had nearly doubled in size during her training with Spitfire and had flew the distance separating her from her friend and grabbed her extended arms with her own. The powerful flaps of her wings stopped the kidnapping short.

“It’s okay, I got you!” Cloud shouted as scared whinnies came from where the four riders were standing a few seconds ago.

        The four battle horses, along with their riders were being pulled underground by similar paws/hands to the ones that were pulling Gale at the moment. There was a pop of green blue light that briefly blinded Cloud’s peripheral view before a matching light levitated the three otherwise-trapped initiates off their saddles to the large boulder where Sunset was levitating them to.

“BLOSSOM! YOUR WIND-DRILL, STAT!!!” Cloud barked loudly over the cries of the doomed equines.

“Ri-RIGHT!” Blossomforth replied before taking off with Silent who picked up Gale’s battle axe beforehands.

        As she had gained a little altitude, Blossomforth took her stance in the air before gushes of winds started to surround the tip of her spear. When her Jupitarian shape took the form of a lean whirlwind, very different from the bulky drill Cloud had remembered facing, Blossomforth dashed for the ground and thrusted her spear into the ground, two feet behind Gale’s.

        A strong wind blew through the canyon as the furried hands let go of Gale and swept all the dirt around her and her team members. The three Jupitarians, hovered to the large boulder where Sunset had teleported herself and levitated the three initiates. Silent kept herself in the air before she tossed her weapon to Gale who was still a bit shaken by what happened to her.

        When the dust lifted by Blossomforth’s shape fell back on the ground, the eight soldiers in training noticed that the four horses were gone and that, where Blossomforth had struck, the cadaver of seven foot tall, bipedal dog laid half-buried in the dirt with his back ripped open by the Jupitarian’s winds.

“Diamond dogs!” Sunset spat at the sight of the dead body.

“I thought they essentially lived underneath gem mines!” Flash commented with an angry frown. “There aren’t mines around here! They shouldn’t be here!”

“Not necessary mines, idiot,” Sunset snapped sourly. “As long as there’s gemstones in the soil, there’s a chance for a pack of Diamond dogs is close to exploit the vein,” she explained abruptly.

“That’s really not the main problem,” Cloud retorted slowly as the dirt around them started shake a bit.

“Then what is the main problem?” Lucky asked worriedly.

“The size of a Diamond dogs’ pack,” Sunset replied as dozens of dog-men bursted from beneath the dirt, some carrying primitively-made mining tools or more traditional weapons. “That’s the main problem here!”

“What do we do?” Silent asked Blossomforth in a worried tone.

        Blossomforth tightened her grip on her spear so hard that her knuckles turned white while she was playing all the plans she could think off in silence. All of her thoughts ended by the same thing: eight piles of dog-food in package similar to what she and her teammates were wearing.

“Blossom, what do we do?” Gale asked again when their leader didn’t reply Silent’s question.

“You wanted the lead, so lead us!” Flash argued as he readied his mace and shield.

“I...I…” Blossomforth stuttered. 

        A strong gust of wind swept around the large boulder they were standing on, startling the Diamond Dogs’ advance. When the dust came down, all could see what had caused it. An incredibly long, undulating, greyish blade had drawn that circle in the dirt. The blade ended in Cloud’s left fist as the blonde Jupitarian was hovering a few meters above her teammates, with puffy namesakes gathering around her.

“Blossom, Gale! Chop down every-cur that attempts to cross that line with your Shapes!” Cloud barked loudly over the howling of the horde. “Black, Lucky, Flash! Should they be overcome at some point, you three bash the dogs back beyond the line!” she added, pointing at the trio’s sturdy, cavalry shields. “Silent, take care of those above us! Sunset, you’re good at fire magic, right?”

“How come you know that?” Sunset asked with a cocked eyebrow as all six others took positions like Cloud ordered them to without any questions. “I don’t remember telling you anything about me…”

“Your friends from the Arcanium didn’t stop talking about their bitch-ass Burning-Star at the mess yesterday!” Cloud replied with a shrug.

“That sounds a lot like me, alright,” Sunset couldn’t help but to chuckle a bit. “What do you want me to do?”

“You’ll take the same role as me!” Cloud stated as the clouds around her turned black and coursed with electricity. “The role of mobile artillery!” she specified with a smirk before a loud thunderclap rang through the canyon.



> The Great Rift is full of clouds this season.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        A primitive axe was blocked by the strong, wooden staff of Blossomforth’s spear, after she lifted it high above her head. Squadron Seven’s designated leader then tilted her weapon down toward the left, sending the offending axe and the furred arms of the Diamond Dog holding it down to the ground. Blossomforth spun her spear in her hands and took a step back before batting the blunt end of her weapon right on her doberman-like opponent’s neck. The Diamond Dog yapped in pain before collapsing to the ground. 

Blossomforth barely got the time to catch her breath when she was tackled by a massive, bipedal Bulldog. The Jupitarian conjured her white wings mid-tackle to flip herself and her opponent so that the large Bulldog landed spine first on a edgy rock with a sickening crack. As the Diamond Dog let go of her, Blossomforth used her wings to gain a little  altitude to observe the scene around her, she was quickly joined in the air by Gale who had picked her spear up before giving it back to Blossomforth.

“Remember when I said those maneuvers were boring?” Gale asked hurriedly as the head of her axe was surrounded by electric sparks. “Next time I say that, slap me!” she added without giving Blossomforth the time to respond before diving toward a large Diamond Dog that was about to lunge on Silent.

The beast was cut in two by the lightning-enhanced guillotine strike of the redhaired Jupitarian when he was about to strike the crossbow-woman in the back. Silent turned around to see Gale with one knee on the ground before slashing the torsos of the Diamond Dogs that were trying to climb on top of the rock from which Silent was shooting. A strong gush wind coming from above them blew the other attackers that threatened to encircle the rock.

As Blossomforth flew down to her teammates’ level, the three initiates of the Golden Sun Order were fighting back to back, forming an impenetrable triangle with their large, yellow shields. They let the enemy charge them and break their claws, teeth or primitive weapons against the hard surface of their equipment before pushing them off. Shaken by the sudden and strong shoves, the Diamond Dogs were defenseless against the lethal blows dealt by the three future knights.

“Sentry!” Blossomforth called loudly as she catapulted a few Diamond Dogs that stood between their rock and the one on which the three initiates had been surrounded. “Rally to us!”

Blossom, Gale and Silent then charged their right fists with lightning before punching the air before them. Three bright, yellow lightning bolts rebounded on the many Diamond Dogs, charring them nearly instantly and thus opening the way for Flash, Black and Lucky to retreat toward the three girls.

“Where are Cloud and Sunset?!” Black shouted as Silent shot a crossbow bolt in the eye of a Diamond Dog that was about to lunge on him while they were halfway from the three Jupitarians. “They stopped bombarding them a while a…”

        His shout was interrupted by Sunset Shimmer appearing between them in a bright, blue-green pop, her cloak half ripped to pieces and her face showing traces of fatigue. The Titanian took the small, leather hood off one end of her staff, revealing a brightly teal gemstone on top of it.

“Stick close to me!” Sunset barked as the gem on her staff glowed brightly as her eyes shone in a magical, teal hue. “Whenever you want, Kicker!” Sunset shouted in direction of the skies as the six other guards moved closer to her.

        They all looked up as Sunset’s magical aura surrounded all six of them, seeing the darkest and largest thunderhead they had ever seen shaped by a Jupitarian. After a quiet wow from Gale, they spotted Cloud holding the center of her lightning-filled namesake thanks to a hazy, white gauntlet that was surrounding her hand.

        With one powerful flap of her wings, Cloud flew down the bottom of the canyon, stretching and pulling the thundercloud behind her. The blonde Jupitarian reached for the ground long before the dark mass of steam and lightning that was following her. Cloud then made a sharp thrust with her fog-surrounded arm, ripping the end of the cloud she had been pulling down, as the Diamond Dogs started to retreat underground with terrified whimpers. A second later, Sunset activated the spell she had been preparing with a loud scream that teleported the squadron seven away from the rain of thunderbolts that ravaged the Great Rift of Las Pegasus a blink of an eye later.

        The three Initiates and the three Jupitarian corps’ soldiers re-appeared on top of the canyon’s Eastern edge in six flashes of teal light. Flash, Lucky and Gale wobbled on their feet for a few seconds before they fell on their knees and brought up their respective lunch. Teleportation sickness was a fairly common occurrence and one of the reasons not many Titanians could master the spell in question, its complexity notwithstanding. 

“Wait a minute…” Silent let out with worry when she counted how many they were. “Where…”

        Black, Blossomforth and she didn’t wait for her to finish her sentence and rushed to the edge of the canyon to look down. In place of the path they had followed at the bottom of the Great Rift now laid many craters wherever the lightning storm had struck, some filled with charred Diamond Dogs bodies from which came columns of black, stinking smoke. Muttering an insult about somebody’s mother, Blossom conjured a small breeze to clear the smoke.

“Look!” Silent shouted, pointing at a small, smooth white sphere that came into view amongst smoke. “It must be one of Cloud’s shapes!”

        Blossomforth and Black sighed in relief as the nimbus-sphere slowly dissipated itself thanks to the former’s conjured breeze, slightly revealing an unarmed Cloud who had her large purple wings wrapped around an exhausted-looking, but seemingly okay, Sunset. Since the two that had remained down below were fine, the trio quickly went to take care of the vomiting rest of the squadron.

“...P-phew,” Sunset let out, panting softly to catch her breath. “That...That certainly was something,” she added as she nearly collapsed in Cloud’s arms. 

“You okay?” Cloud asked softly with worry.

“...Don’t worry,” Sunset replied as casually as her exhausted state permitted it. “I’ve never teleported so many people at the same time before, that’s all… I’ll be fine once I’ve rested a little....You can let go now,” Sunset added uneasily as she noticed the warm and soft mass of purple feathers wrapped around her.

“Hmmmmm, nah!” Cloud slyly smirked as she brought the tired Titanian closer to her with her wings. “I’m rather enjoying this proximity,”

“Cloud!” Sunset warned softly.

“That’s my name!”

“Let me go!” The red and yellow haired girl demanded sternly.

“Are you capable of magiking me off of you at the moment?” Cloud asked playfully, leaning her face closer to Sunset’s flushing one.

“....n-No,” Sunset shied away by looking down with her cheeks as red as her hair, only to see Cloud’s chest tightly pressed against hers.

        That certainly didn’t help in her hope to bring her cheeks to their usually tanned complexion. Against all what her common sense dictated her to do to get away, which involved a knee in the groin among other things, Sunset looked back up Cloud’s face, only seeing the same playful grin from earlier when she had tricked the squadron into picking Blossomforth as a leader.

“You’re not going to let me go, are you?” Sunset whispered with a sigh.

“Not until you thank me for saving your life,” Cloud replied with a wink.

“Thanks for saving me from YOUR thunderbolts after I teleported the others according to YOUR brilliant plan!” Sunset stated with a roll of her eyes.

“Well, YOU had found that plan brilliant, and YOU had claimed that YOU could teleport the others away from the impact zone along WITH yourself,” Cloud reminded softly. “You’re lucky, I noticed that you had remained behind!”

“....Fine, I’ll admit that,” Sunset conceded softly after a short, embarrassed silence. “Thank you, Cloud,” she added in a volume that was barely above a whisper.

“Hmmmm, I would have preferred a kiss on the cheek, but that will do,” Cloud replied with a bright smile as her wings vanished into thin air at her command and that she gently let go of Sunset. “No need to be too greedy!”

“...You think you’re some sort of prince charming or what?” Sunset asked with a cocked eyebrow. “Hoping to get kisses from damsels in distress like that?”

“No!” Cloud replied instantly as she looked around the craters and the smoke. “Prince Charmings are nothing but goody-two-shoes heroes that can’t do anything besides kiss their damsels… I do a lot more than kissing usually,” she added with mirth.

“Pervert!” Sunset muttered under her breath.

“Guilty as charged, Honey. Prince Charmings after all are too good to stoop down to my uncouth behavior.” Cloud admitted with a shrug before she pulled her sword out of its sheath. “Then again, they’re also often too good for our job as Guards of Equestria…” She stated in a low tone as she gave a soft poke on a corpse’s torso.

“What are you doi…”

        Sunset’s question died in her throat as the corpse jerked at the contact with Cloud’s blade. The corpse wasn’t totally a corpse after all. The Diamond Dog, a beige pitbull whimpered slowly in pain as Cloud leaned above him. The blonde Jupitarian sized him up, wincing at the smell of burned fur and the sight of his charred lower body, while he let out heavy and labored breath.

“Sunset, do you know a spell that can stop the pain?” Cloud asked softly.

“No. Medical magic isn’t part of my arsenal,” Sunset replied slowly as she approached the wounded Diamond Dog with caution.

“Too bad,” Cloud stated with genuine regret before she crouched near the wounded Diamond Dog. “That would have made the questioning a lot more humane.”


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


“I say we return to base camp!” Flash suggested with vigor after the questioned Diamond Dog succumbed to his wounds, not before sharing some useful information with squadron seven.

“And leave a group of forty Equestrian citizens at the mercy of a Diamond Dog’s pack?” Gale asked back with anger. “That’s absolutely out of question!”

“I don’t like it either, but what can the eight of us honestly do against a pack the size that thing mentioned?” Flash argued sternly, pointing at the now dead Diamond Dog that Cloud was carrying to the pile of bodies with the help of Black and Lucky.

“We didn’t do that bad during their ambush,” Sunset let out casually. 

“You’ve got to admit that without Cloud’s plan, the outcome could have been a lot more different,” Silent commented slowly. “Underground, there’s no way to conjure a shape that big… Also the Diamond Dogs would have the advantage in a direct confrontation in their tunnels.”

“It would be suicide to attempt a rescue mission just the eight of us!” Flash added after nodding at what Silent said.  “We don’t even know if there’s someone left to be rescued! They could be in the pack’s stomachs for all we know.”

        Gale, Silent and Blossomforth all winced in discomfort at Flash’s suggestion, earning a derisive snort from Sunset. Cocked eyebrows and dark stares were thrown at the only Titanian of the squadron who shook her head in response as Black and Lucky joined the conversation with puzzlement.

“Did you find something funny in our discussion, Shimmer?” Blossomforth asked with narrowed eyes.

“Oh, yes!” Sunset nodded firmly. “The fact that you know nothing! Diamond Dogs don’t eat people, they enslave them!”

“Enslave them?” Silent asked in a disgusted tone.

“Hmm-hmm!” Sunset nodded once again. “They need labor force for their excavations. Usually it’s the lower-class pack members that work in their mines, but they aren’t dumb enough to turn down free workers,” she explained matter-of-factly. “It’s a good thing for us though,”

“Slaves are a good thing for us?” Lucky asked in confusion.

“That means they’re keeping them alive,” Cloud stated with patience before she walked to one of the craters that had uncovered a Diamond Dog tunnel. “We’ve still got someone to rescue!”

“And an A+ for the blonde!” Sunset snapped her fingers then pointed them at Cloud. “Never thought I’d ever say that in my life,” she added more to herself than anything else.

“When you’re done with jokes on blondes, maybe we could think of a plan!” Cloud called sternly. “We’ve wasted plenty of time already…”

“What plan?! There is no plan!” Flash argued angrily. “There’s nothing we can do!” he added pointing at all eight of them. “We’re not enough to free the prisoners if there are any…”

“While I’m sure we could think of a way to do so if you would stop shitting in your pants at the idea of going underground, that’s not what I had in mind,” Cloud replied in a conversational tone.

“How is you becoming a sex slave going to solve anything?” Flash snapped furiously at Cloud’s insinuation. 

“Hey!” Gale shouted angrily at the initiate while Silent threw him a dirty glare and the rest of their comrades stared at him in shock. “How dare you say that to her?!”

“What?! Don’t tell me you’re not thinking that that’s what she meant!” Flash shouted back with venom in his voice. “You’ve implied it yourself: she only thinks about sex!”

        Cloud sighed softly before rubbing her forehead with two of her fingers and turning around to face the initiates’ leader. With one wave of her hand, Cloud ordered Gale to remain quiet.

“You know, Flash, I’m willing to agree a little with you,” Cloud stated slowly. ”Like, right now, somewhere in a relatively small part of my mind, I’m imagining myself lying naked on the fluffiest cloud-bed there is while these four girls…” she pointed at her four female teammates. “... are crawling to me, all wearing the sexiest pieces of lingerie ever made, and all four of them staring at me with the hottest bedroom eyes that could only indicate they’re more than willing to eat me alive, and with their cheeks as red as the ripest red galas.” She paused to look at the four girls in question. “...Kinda like they are right now as a matter-of-fact,” she added playfully as Sunset, Gale, Blossomforth and Silent tried to hide their brightly red cheeks without much success.

“How’s that proving you’re not…” Flash started, his blush matching the girls’.

“But, while I DO keep this little fantasy of mine in mind, along with thinking of plans to actually make it happen…” The blush on the four girls’ cheeks surprisingly deepened tenfold. “Saying that everything I do is related to my sex drive, which might be intimidating for a fair squire like you, is hardly fair to me after I saved your ass not two hours ago when you were yapping at Blossomforth for having the lead of the squadron and were waiting for her to come up with something instead of showing signs of leadership yourself during the ambush!”

        Flash opened his mouth to protest but got silenced by Cloud raising her finger before his lips with a dark glare.

“So, what you’re going to do now is remain silent until you have something of relative importance to say, and only if you can formulate it in way that doesn’t make you look stupid!” Cloud let out coldly. “I didn’t go through two and half years of hard training with the best people I have ever met to be looked down as a common whore by a wannabe knight who’s more preoccupied with his safety instead of the ones of those he’s supposed to protect!” she added angrily before shoving her palm on Flash’s armored plate, making him take a few steps back.

“Girls. Is it wrong for me to get so turned on by this?” Gale whispered to her three blushing comrades pointing at Cloud who was glaring at a speechless Flash.

“No, it isn’t,” Silent, Blossomforth and Sunset simultaneously whispered back discretely.

“As for what I was saying prior to being interrupted,” Cloud continued in a more casual tone, turning her back to Flash. “We survived the ambush, forcing the dogs to go back underground. If they’re anything but stupid, they’ve realized that we’re likely to come back here in force,” she stated uneasily.

“You think they’re going to leave the Rift?” Silent asked after a few seconds of thinking, her blush slowly diminishing as the conversation turned to a more serious matter.

“Along with their slaves, yes!” Cloud nodded slowly. “I don’t know how much time it’s going to take them, but if we wait to come back with reinforcements, and only then start searching for their mines, we will not find them in time!”

“You’re thinking of going down there to look for the mines, aren’t you?” Blossomforth asked with worry. “While one of us go back to warn base camp?”

“Well, I wasn’t thinking of sending anyone actually,” Cloud stated slowly. “I was thinking that Sunset could burn the bodies of Diamond Dogs!” she added, pointing at the pile of cadavers. “That should make a nice smoke signal for the search parties.”

“What search parties?” Sunset asked in confusion.

“We should have reported to base camp an hour and a half ago,” Cloud reminded softly. “Which surely means that Lieutenant Maverick is probably pissing Captain Armor and Sergeant Pagétonas off to get the authorization to go look for us in order to kick my butt for being late. It’s only a matter of time before she gets it.”

“So your plan is that all eight of us go down here to locate the Diamond Dogs and their prisoners?” Black asked curiously.

“Well, not all eight of us,” Cloud replied slowly. “Someone need to stay here to explain what’s going on when the search team arrives…”

“Couldn’t we send one of you four to base camp?” Flash suggested slowly. “To warn them so that they come directly in force.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Blossomforth stated matter-of-factly. “But, I don’t think we can do that…”

“Why?” Sunset asked with curiosity. 

“Well, it’s an infiltration mission,” Gale explained slowly. “That means we need to be able to move quickly and swiftly, which means that our three Initiates are out of it,” she added pointing at the three heavily armored soldiers.

“It would be better,” Lucky conceded slowly. “We’ve been trained to be front line fighters, field fighters. We’re not going to be of much use in those tunnels.”

“But we need enough fighting power to be able to resist and escape if we’re discovered,” Blossomforth added slowly. “Silent must come with us, since she’s the best scout of the compound. Sunset would be our main firepower, since we can’t conjure too big shapes underground. My spear could be useful too, and Gale is one of the best melee fighters I know…”

“So, you want to send Cloud fly back to base camp?” Sunset asked with a frown. 

“Well, after seeing her fight the Diamond Dogs, I’d rather have her with us, but she relied on her shapes to fight from what I saw… “ Blossomforth explained uneasily. 

“I understand, Blossom,” Cloud stated with a comforting smile. “If I have to do it, I wi…”

“Why not Flash instead of her?” Sunset interrupted brusquely. “He’s a Jupitarian too! He could make the flight to base camp.”

“He is?!” The four Jupitarian corps trainee and the two Initiates asked in shock, all turning their eyes toward the navy-blue-haired initiate.

“Huh… I suppose I could,” Flash replied sheepishly as a pair of orange, light-made wings appeared on his back.

“When were you going to tell us that?!” Blossomforth snapped angrily. “That’s kind of important to know!!!”

“...Huh…”

“You know what, I don’t care!” Blossomforth pointed an accusatory finger at him. “Go call for back-up now!”

“Yeah, about that…”

“INITIATE SENTRY, I AM ORDERING YOU TO TAKE OFF THIS INSTANT!!!” Blossomforth yelled so furiously that everyone took a step back from her. 

“Well, I’ve never managed to take off with my armor on,” Flash explained sheepishly.

“FOR FAUST’S SAKE!!!”

        Her eyes full of furry, Blossomforth spun her spear in her hand and slammed the blunt end at the feet of Flash, who was catapulted in the air by a column of ascending wind that got caught in his wingspan. When he had reached a good forty meters of above the canyon, Blossomforth swiped her hand in the air before her, causing another gust of wind to propel a shrieking Flash toward the East.

“NOW FLY!!!!!” Blossomforth barked at the desperate flier before taking a deep breath and facing her other teammates. “You two will remain here to cover our exit,” she said more gently to the other initiates who nodded solemnly. “Shimmer, light the fire.”

“Aye, aye!” Sunset replied with a brief salute of her two, glowing fingers before she pointed them at the pile of corpses.

“Alright girls, you’re ready?” Blossomforth asked after a teal fire started to consume the Diamond Dogs cadavers. “Then, let’s go!” she stated firmly when they all nodded with determination. 


   


> A cloud under the mountain
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Sunset, I gotta say your night-eye spell is really cool,” Gale whispered quietly as the five of them slowly advanced through the dark tunnels beneath the Great Rift, all with their irises slightly colored in a green hue. “How come you know such a spell?”

“Very practical for sneaking out at night,” Sunset replied in a casual whisper.

“Date nights?” Cloud asked with curiosity, her voice barely reaching Sunset’s ears.

“Revenge nights,” Sunset corrected with a small grin.

“You want some tea and biscuits while you’re at it?” Blossomforth snapped quietly at the three women behind her as Silent was scouting a few dozen meters ahead of them.

“Right, sorry!” they all replied sheepishly before advancing in silence.

        Thanks to Sunset’s spell, the group of infiltrators could see in the dark tunnels without the need of a torch that would have been a dead giveaway of their positions. They had left Black and Lucky about an hour ago and had gone deep inside the maze of natural caves and Diamond Dogs’ tunnels. Thanks to Silent’s tracking skills, they’ve been following the path most of the runaway dogs from the ambush had taken for a while now, with Sunset marking the right turns to take for the way back up with small, slightly glowing runes carved into the stone with her magic.

        After Silent pointed to the right at a three-way intersection, they heard distant barks along with noises of a great commotion further down the tunnel. All five women crouched down to be as silent as possible for the rest of their way. The end of the tunnel glowed in a faint purplish light, much to the five Equestrians’ confusion. The exit was narrowed down compared to the rest of the tunnel: while they could have easily walked side by side, the exit was barely wide enough for two of them to pass.

They took positions at each side of the exit, all with their weapons out. After a nod from Blossomforth, Silent rolled out of the tunnel to hide behind a pile of boulders high enough to cover her, her crossbow ready and loaded in her hands. Their tunnel had led them to the top of a natural spiral staircase with a view on the vast cavern down below. Silent observed the way down, noticing more tunnel accesses on the way down the spiral, but still no sight of guards whatsoever. Then she took a deep breath and peaked over the edge of her cover.

She gasped in shock at the sight of the bottom of the cave. It wasn’t the five-hundreds of frantic Diamond Dogs moving around metallic huts in hurry that caused her shock, nor it was the sixty Equestrian prisoners locked up at the other side of the make-shift village. What made her gasp was the source of that purple light that lit up the all cave. 

In the center of the Diamond Dogs settlement, curled up in a ball, laid a gigantic wolf with translucent, purple body along with starry dots everywhere on its skin and a large white star on its forehead. Just the size of the beast was impressive: Even curled in a ball, it was massive enough to cover a surface equivalent to the compound’s main court. Silent’s gaze stopped on the beast’s claws that looked to be the size of an adult man and as sharp as an Istaloñan blade.

“What the heck is that thing?!” Gale whispered in terror, startling Silent who hadn’t noticed her teammates coming closer to the edge of the descent.

“Sweet Faust,” Blossomforth let with her mouth agape.

“I can’t believe it!” Sunset passed her hand in her hair, giving them a sharp but little pull. “A real Celestial beast….”

“A what?” Cloud asked slowly, her purple eyes focused on the massive animal below them.

“An animal supposedly made of stars and the light that comes out of them,” Sunset explained, awed by the gigantic wolf. “One of the most famous sorts on top of that: a Canis Major!!!” she added, her excitement clearly overcoming her worries for remaining stealthy. “One hasn’t been spotted in Equestrian territory in decades!!!”

“How did the Diamond Dogs manage to capture a beast this size?” Gale asked slowly, her brow reflecting her interrogation.

“I’m not sure they captured anything,” Sunset let out softly. “I think they just installed their village here with its consent, since Canës are said to be really friendly to any other canine species. In exchange, they probably have to watch over its cave during its long sleep. Rumor has it that Celestial beasts have a different definition of time compared to us. Their slumber could last for years for all we know...”

“So, they just moved in, built all their huts around it, exploited the veins of the Rift and enslaved people while that thing’s napping?!” Cloud summed up with shock.

“I suppose that’s what happened,” Sunset let out as she looked away from the beast in favor of the running Diamond Dogs below them. “I think they’re packing…”

“Looks like it,” Silent agreed with a nod after peering at them with her pocket telescope.

        Female Diamond Dogs were leaving their huts with their pups in hurry to a large tunnel opposite of the five infiltrated Jupitarians, while a small portion of the males were escorting them. From what the five could see, their evacuation of their women and children was almost done. The three other Jupitarians took their own pocket telescopes. -Jupitarian corps were often picked for scouting missions and thus their standard pack always included binoculars or a telescope.-

        Cloud aimed the lens of her telescope across the ranks of the armed and armored Diamond Dogs that were gathering around the birdcage-like structure in which they had locked up their prisoners. As Cloud scanned amongst the prisoners, wondering how come they were rather nicely lined-up in ranks, she noticed them shaking in terror before two details made her snap her eyes wide open in shock.

“......Oh, no,” Cloud shakingly whispered, her telescope giving her a clear view of a ten year old girl standing on a wet, round boulder with a dirty rope connecting the top of the large cage and her neck. “... Th-they’re about to execute the prisoners!”

“WHAT?!” all four other girls nearly shouted before they pointed their telescope at the cage locking the prisoners up and Sunset snatched Cloud’s.

“T..That doesn’t make any sense!!” Sunset stammered as she saw the ropes around many Equestrian necks. 

“Why would they to do that?!” Silent asked frantically, as Gale kept observing the cage’s surroundings. 

The redhead’s telescope aimed the center of the circle of Diamond Dogs and the huge one that seemed to bark ferociously at his comrades. Gale signaled at her friends to look at what looked like the pack leader while it was pointing at the closest prisoner, earning a collective cheer of agreement from his underlings. One of the other Diamond Dogs walked in the cage excitedly and positioned himself behind the man his alpha had pointed at.

“No time for discretion anymore!” Cloud snarled angrily before conjuring her large purple wings. “I’m going in! Wait for my signal!”

“Cloud, wait…” 

Blossomforth’s sentence wasn’t heard by Cloud, as she had already dived toward the cage and more precisely toward the bipedal Mastiff that rocked the boulder the terrified Equestrian was standing on back and forth with a cruel smirk on his canine head. As Cloud flew down the Diamond Dogs settlement, moisture from the rather humid cave was gathering into whitish columns of steam in the wake of her wings as she drew her sword out of its sheath.

“Shit!” Gale let out in hurry as she stood up along with Blossomforth and Sunset. “She’s gonna get herself killed!”

“She told us to wait for her signal!” Silent reminded, grabbing Blossomforth’s arm.

“What signal?” Blossomforth snapped. “She’s just rushing to her death!!!”

“Hey, look!” Gale nearly shouted, pointing at the trails of fog left by Cloud’s flight.
        
The trails suddenly retracted on themselves, getting bigger and closer to their conjurer's wings. Cloud’s did a quick roll mid-flight before she stomped with both her feet on the primitive cage’s top. The momentum of her descent allowed her to break through the wooden bars instantly before ending her course on the Mastiff tormenting the prisoners. Before the other Diamond Dogs could blink, the large patch of fog caught up with Cloud and blinded them to anything happening inside the cage.

“What the hell?” the Alpha Diamond Dog let out in shock as they heard the sounds of many ropes being cut.

        After that, Cloud charged out of the thick fog, her sword held high above her head. The blade descended on the Alpha’s face before one of its guards blocked it with his shield. Cloud immediately took a long step back with a strong flap of her wings to dodge the bone-made axe swinging where her ribs had been a second earlier. 

“It’s the one that brought down the skies!” a small Diamond Dog, apparently one of the ambush survivors, screamed in terror pointing at Cloud as she raised the tip of her sword a bit.

“KILL HER!!!” the Alpha ordered in a thunderous bark, his eyes red of furor focused on Cloud. “Kill my heir’s murderer!”

The Bulldog-like guard barked strongly before lunging into Cloud, swinging his axe in direction of her head with strength. The axe never reached the blonde’s head, for she had stopped the blow by thrusting her blade into the Diamond Dog’s wrist. He let go of his weapon with a pained yelp before a flash of iron touched his throat. While he fell backward, dark blood spilling from his open neck, another Diamond Dog charged the blonde Jupitarian with his comrade on his heels.


***************************


“Are you certain you’ve never held a blade before today, Kid?”

“Yes, Lieutenant Maverick!”

“Well, that’s the third time in a row that you managed to disarm me… Granted, I’m not really serious about swordplay, but it’s impressive nonetheless…. I’ll try to get Crystal to give you lessons once you’re back at the compound. She’s one of the best blades amongst the Jupitarian Corps … Don’t ever tell her I said that!”

“Of course, Lieutenant!”


***************************


“...Wow!” Gale let out in amazement as a paw holding a sword separating from its canine owner before Cloud slashed his stomach open before parrying another blow.

“She’s not gonna make it!” Sunset growled as she started running down the spiral descent, while Cloud kept on parrying and lethally counter-attacking every Diamond Dog that attacked her. “There’s just too many of them!” she added as more dogs ganged up on Cloud.

“Gale, let’s go!” Blossomforth shouted as she took off, quickly imitated by the redhaired soldier. “Cover her, Silent!” she ordered, causing the grey-haired to shoulder her weapon.

“Oka…. Girls, wait!” Silent lifted her hand suddenly to stop the two Jupitarians. “Look over there!”


***************************


“Are you certain I’m ready, Lieutenant?”

“It depends… Do you feel ready?”

“I guess.”

“There’s no guessing, Kid! Do YOU feel ready for the maneuvers?”

“...N-not really.”

“That’s all good! It means you’ll be careful during them. The Guard doesn’t need hotheads who’ll jeopardize missions because they’re too cocky!”

“....huh… I thought you said to never doubt about…”

“I told you to never doubt about your talent, Kid. Being nervous before your first assignment isn’t quite the same as that.”

“Did you feel the same on your first mission?”

“Nope! Me and my team were so full of ourselves, so confident in our own skills that we rushed into things like wild animals… In the end we succeeded without casualties, but thinking back, we were lucky to have made it alive.”

“... Really?”

“Yep! Skills are important of course, but in the end they are more often not what determines the success of a mission. That…”

“OUCH!!!”

“...Is what wins battles and bring success to a mission. Fight with your head before your fists or sword. Always think before acting. Not too long, because time is a luxury we rarely can afford during a mission. I know you’re capable of that, Kid. That’s why I think you’re ready!... And stop holding your forehead like that.”

“....You hit hard!”

“I swear, you sound like a child who waits for his mother to kiss his booboo better. You better stop because it’s not going to happen.”

“......It would've been nice!”

“Did you say something, Kid?”

“No, Ma’am!”


***************************


        The squadron’s eyes focused on the faint fog that traced a path through the settlement. The haze didn’t seem to get noticed by the remaining Diamond Dogs who were charging toward Cloud, all weapons out. It didn’t reach higher than one’s knee and snaked through the village until it managed to accomplish its purpose: Connecting the cage and the start of the natural spiral staircase Sunset was running down.

“...She’s drawing a path for the prisoners!” Silent explained as the haze separated into two thin lines slowly spacing themselves up to three meters wide.

“Silent!” Gale called when she noticed a bipedal, brown Mastiff swinging a large battle axe to Cloud’s exposed back as she had locked blades with a smaller Diamond Dog.

“Shit!” the grey-haired cursed under her breath before aiming in Cloud’s direction while Gale and Blossomforth started their descent again.

        She couldn’t get her aim steady before the blade was about to rip through the back of Cloud’s leather armor.


***************************


“You’re doing any progress about that cloud-shard, Kid?”

“I think I’m onto something, Lieutenant… I’ll try to show it to you before the maneuvers!”

“Why not showing it now?”

“It’s not ready yet, but I think you’ll like it… I got inspired by that trick you showed me.”

“I’ve shown you many tricks, Kid.”

“Then it will be a surprise for you.”

“Fiiiiiine! Be all secretive, Kid, but I hope for you it’s worthy to be called a surprise!”

“You won’t be disappointed, Lieutenant!”


***************************


        The primitive axe that tried to reach for Cloud’s spine was snapped in two pieces by a clean cut that made the axe owner share its fate. Cloud slashed her front opponent before spinning on her feet, causing the five Diamond Dogs that were about to attack her to fall backwards with deep cuts on their chests, arms, or faces. At that, Sunset, Gale and Blossomforth stopped dead in their tracks while Silent blinked in shock at the sight of the blonde’s wings.

“I wanted to show this to Spitfire first, but I suppose testing these on the field beforehand is a good thing,” Cloud commented as the Diamond Dogs stared in awe and dread at her wings.

        Her purple appendages were fully spread on her back with a shining, haze surrounding the edge of each feather and the wing-bone. Despite their nature, those haze-made blades covering many parts of Cloud’s wings looked as sharp and solid as the actual sword she was holding in her left hand.

“Wha-What trickery is this?!” the Alpha stuttered, pointing his shaking and dirty finger at Cloud’s wings.

“That’s my first original Shape,” Cloud replied slowly. “By condensing the humidity in the air, I can form a cloud which I can manipulate, compress and harden to the point it forms something akin to steel,” she explained slowly as a large patch of fog condensed itself in her right hand, forming a simplistic blade with no feature. “After that, I’ve simply equipped my wings with those Nimbo-gladii.” [from cloud & sword in Latin] “... I think I’m going to call that shape the Wing-blades!”

        Cloud took stance with her two swords in hands, pointing the left one to the Diamond Dog Alpha’s face while she flared her wings wide open, forming a nearly full circle of purple feathers and whitish blades. The Alpha growled threateningly, pulling his own sword from his loincloth belt. At this gesture, all the dogs took one step toward Cloud who leaned more on her right leg, ready to jump.

“SUNSET! LIGHT UP THE PATH!!!” Cloud suddenly shouted loudly, her order resonating through the immense cave and leaving its gigantic resident still sound asleep.

“....... Kinda lame for a signal,” Sunset whispered for herself after she reached the end of the spiral staircase.

        The gemstone at the end of her staff glowed so brightly as she gave it a few spins that it caused the Diamond Dogs at the rear to look in her direction. The fact they turned around made them notice the two hazy trails that went through their settlement from the cage. Before anyone could react, Sunset slammed her staff on the ground, her eyes glowing green-blue as she unleashed her spell. 

        Two pillars of bright, teal fire bursted from her staff before they followed Cloud’s haze-made trails. The pillars then formed two meters tall, scorching walls that coursed through the settlements to the cage. Many Diamond Dogs jumped away from the haze they hadn’t noticed before, but not all of them got this chance. While those who had been in the way were rolling around to extinguish the fire that had caught their furs, some were lucky enough to stand between the two trails of haze. 

Once the walls of fire reached where the cage’s door was, the first prisoners started rush through it, running like hell behind the relative cover offered by the walls of fire. The Alpha ordered his dogs to not let any prisoners escape before Cloud lunged in his direction, all blades out for canine blood. The fastest, soon-former slave stopped dead in his track when, after a curve, he found himself face to maw with a half a dozen of Diamond Dogs warriors trapped in the corridor of fire.

“You’re not going anywhere, horse-man!” one of them growled in a low, guttural voice that terrified the Equestrian.

        A sharp whistle was heard above the sound of the raging fires around them before a crossbow bolt pierced the closest Diamond Dog’s head. All heads turned from where the bolt came from, seeing two armored Jupitarians, one holding a spear, the other a large, two-handed axe, flying down to the group of slavers.

“Oh, yes, they’re going!” Gale shouted as she separated the head of a surprised Diamond Dog from his body. “Stupid dogs!” she added before catapulting another one of her opponents into the wall of flame with a strong flap of her wings.

        For her part, Blossomforth had batted one of the two remaining Diamond Dogs unconscious before she impaled the second one in the chest with her spear. She freed her weapon with one strong stomp in the dying Dog’s stomach, sending him falling back into the green, magic fire.

“Keep moving! The exit is up there!” Blossomforth shouted to the awed slaves, pointing at the top of the spiral staircase where Silent was shooting down another Diamond Dog. 

The closest Equestrians nodded briefly before rushing forward, some of them pulling or carrying the more exhausted ones. Gale started hovering above the fiery corridor to watch over the sixty slaves’ advance while Blossomforth flew to help Cloud against the Alpha and his pack members. The officer in training landed feet first on the shoulders of a Diamond Dog that was about to try to strike Cloud in the back.

“How nice of you to join me, Blossom,” Cloud commented as Blossomforth stood back to back with her.

“Next time you get an idea like that, Kicker, tell me about it so that I can’t approve of it!” Blossomforth bantered slowly, while focusing an intense whirlwind around the blade of her spear.

“Come on, it’s going as smoothly as my plans to bed you,” Cloud joked with a warm chuckle as the Diamond Dogs regrouped around them.

“So, we’re doomed to fail! That’s reassuring!” Blossomforth rolled her eyes with a small grin.

“That’s what you’re saying now!” Cloud replied with a knowing smile before both of them charged into the mass of Diamond Dogs before them.

        On the other side of the settlement, Sunset wobbled on her legs for a brief instant. Maintaining the two walls of fire that went through the full length of the underground village was taking its toll on her mind. On normal circumstances, it would have been an easy feat for her, but Sunset hadn’t completely recovered from the group teleportation from earlier. She rubbed her eyes for a brief instant, only to see a large, rocky mace coming to her face.

The crimson haired Titanian jumped backward to dodge the hammerhead by a whisker. During her jump, her right heel hit a rock and made her roll on her back, breaking her focus even more than the attempt on her life. Because of that, the twin line of fires started to lose their intensity and size before Sunset stood back on her feet and raised her glowing staff as high as she could.

        Her magic gemstone shone brighter as the walls took back their initial height and intensity, a detail that didn’t go unnoticed by the black Diamond dog before her. He let out a loud and sharp bark, causing a few of his companions to jump from their hiding places as the first slaves got out of the magic-made corridor to start their ascension behind Sunset.

“After them!” the one who had attacked Sunset ordered vigorously. “No Horse-people escapes today!” he added sternly as three of his fellow Diamond Dogs lunged forward.

Sunset knew that she wasn’t in a state where she could cast another spell, otherwise the walls of fire would collapse, thus allowing the Dogs to simply run after the soon-to-be former slaves. She didn’t think she could extend them to the point where they would block all the natural staircase. Resolute, she untied one of the straps that held the leather piece that wrapped the lower half of her staff. 

As the straps came loose, Sunset put herself in front of the Diamond Dog ahead of the others and batted her staff in direction of his head. The Bulldog she stroke blocked her attack by biting lower the end of her staff, his teeth sinking deep into the leather that covered it.

“Thanks for holding my sheath!” Sunset whispered with a tiny smirk.

The Titanian pulled her her staff out of her opponent’s maw, leaving her leather sheath in it and revealing the silvery blade that took half of her staff’s length. The Dog-man barely had the time to blink before a long cut gashed his face, sending him backwards with a small whimper. One of the two following him jumped on Sunset with a feral bark, only to be impaled on her blade-staff, though the momentum of his charge made him fall over her.

“Shit!” Sunset muttered as only her upper-body wasn’t blocked by the dead Diamond Dog.

From the corner of her eye, she spotted Gale shoulder striking the third running Diamond Dog. The winged redhead then started to cut her way through the group of Diamond Dogs with wide swings of her axe as they tried to reach for the escapees behind her. Noticing that all the sixty prisoners had started to run up to Silent, who was still shooting at the Diamond Dogs after their prisoners as fast as she could, Sunset tried to focus on forming another wall that would block the width of the natural staircase instead of the long ones that cut through the settlement.

Her focus was broken by something strongly yanking her hair to pull her out from under her kill. With teary eyes, Sunset looked up only to see the same Diamond Dog as before putting his left rear paw on her chest. As she let out a choked cry for help that wasn’t heard over the nearby fightings and the dying fires, the Diamond Dog brought the axe he had apparently traded for his large hammer.

“With you gone, nothing will stop us from getting our prisoners back,” He explained in his guttural voice, lifting his axe above his head. “No more fire now!”

Shit… My chest hurts too much… I can’t focus my mag….

        The axe blade came swiftly down Sunset’s right shoulder before she could blink. She saw a flash of black fur along with a skull white blur before feeling the skin of her collarbone being shaved bloody toward her neck.

...I can’t die here!... I have a mission......I can’t die before it’s accomplished!.... I can’t die now… Not like this.... Sunset closed her tearful eyes with, wishing it would somehow make Death not claim her live.

CLANG

Sunset snapped her teal eyes wide open when she felt the cut on her shoulder stopped from expanding to see that her wish had been fulfilled as a vapory, white blade was blocking the handle of the bone-made axe. Sunset looked at the person holding the haze-made sword, her eyes meeting a purple, hateful gaze directed at the black Dog.

“...Kicker,” Sunset let out softly in relief.

“No one messes with any of my teammates’ perfectly smooth and gorgeous skin!” Cloud growled, not unlike the bipedal curs around her, her wing-blades flaring wide in anger at the Diamond Dog responsible for the bloody cut on Sunset’s shoulder. “That’s a job for my teeth and lips only!”

        Despite the rather life-threatening circumstances, Sunset couldn’t prevent the red to come to her cheeks before the blonde kicked the Diamond Dog off of her. He took a few steps back because of it, and then charged wildly at her, swinging his weapon to her chest. Cloud flexed her body backwards so that the axe passed a few centimeters above her chestplate. During her dodge, her left blade found its way to the Dog’s elbow.

        A furred, black forepaw holding a bone-made axe fell on the ground as its former owner howled in pain. Cloud didn’t stop there and buried one of her haze-made sword deep into his chest, making his howl stop suddenly. The blonde let go of her conjured weapon and went back to pull the Titanian off the ground.

“You okay?” Cloud asked with worry as she spotted traces of tears in Sunset’s eyes.

“I...I’ve been better,” Sunset confessed as she glanced at her bloody shoulder with a wince. “What about the Al…”

        Sunset’s question was interrupted by her suddenly shoving Cloud out of the way before her blade-staff appeared in her hand after a bright flash of green-blue light. With a strong shout and a matching swing of it, Sunset beheaded the one-armed Diamond Dog that had found the strength to grab his hammer back and went to bringing down on Cloud’s back despite his lethal wound.

“Phew,” Cloud whistled in amazement. “Thanks!”

“You’re welcome,” Sunset replied with a brief sigh.

“Girls!” Blossomforth yelled as she flew above them in hurry, a great of the Diamond Dogs pack behind her. “Take the high ground to cover their escape!” she added, pointing at the sixty Equestrians that had already half of the distance that separated the tunnel the five infiltrators had taken to come in and the settlement.

        Cloud nodded firmly before Blossomforth flew to Gale’s aide to allow the redhead to retreat with them. The blonde suddenly picked Sunset up and took off with a strong flap of her wings, ignoring her package’s surprised squeal. They flew above the start of the spirally way up, seeing Gale burying her axe head deep into a Diamond Dog’s stomach before letting go of its handle to grab the dog’s weapon and taking off herself.

“Souvenir!” Gale explained with a small smirk when she noticed Blossomforth’s cocked eyebrow thrown in her direction. 

        Sunset’s eyes and gemstone glowed green-blue for a brief instant as they flew up, causing a large and high wall of fire to block the entire way. The Dogs immediately stopped their pursuit as the magical teal fire rumbled wildly before them. The last Equestrians of the column of former prisoners cheered loudly as they looked back for a few seconds.

“Nice spell, Sunset!” Cloud commented with a large smile.

“You should see me when I’m not in a near-magically-exhausted state,” Sunset sleepily replied, her head tilting over Cloud’s shoulder. “I don’t think I can cast any strong spell at the moment...”

“We’re going to need you to light up some torches to go through the tunnels,” Cloud explained as they flew to Silent while Gale and Blossomforth flew over the end of the escapees line. “Think you got enough juice for that left?”

“Do we even have enough torches for all of them?” Sunset asked, pointing casually at the runaways below them.

“Good question!” Cloud stated as she landed next to Silent who was staring angrily at her now empty quiver. “Silent, do we have some torches?” she asked before putting Sunset on the ground.

“I prepared a few before we went underground!” Silent replied before searching in the small back pack she had taken with her, pulling eight thick sticks with the tip enrobed by bands of fabric and a bottle of burning oil.

        Once Silent had oiled the fabric and lit up the torches, Sunset briefly stopped the first escapees that reached them to give one for each group of six or seven people and to explain them about the runes they had engraved at each intersection to find their way out. While they all nodded in understanding, all didn’t hide their enthusiasm when Silent volunteered to lead them through the dedale of tunnels. The width of the entrance caused them to enter one by one, which delayed the evacuation a lot. 

As Sunset and Blossomforth watched over the evacuation, Cloud and Gale kept peeking down below every now and then to see that the Dogs were still cursing at the wall of fire cast by the latter that was blocking the path. They tensed a little bit when a dozen of them ran toward the fire, large buckets of water in their forepaws, only to relax when the water turned into vapor without diminishing the fire intensity. 

        About two thirds of the former prisoners had gone through the tunnel when a loud, heavy growl came from down below. All Equestrian stopped what they were doing and looked back to the Diamond Dogs settlement as the entire cave shook because of two heavy stomps. The Canis Major had just opened his bright, yellow eyes after moving his two forepaws and shaking his head awake, slightly sneezing in discomfort. The giant beast yawned long and loud before looked down on where his head had been laying a few minutes ago. There stood the Alpha Diamond Dog, blood seeping through the many cuts all over his body, a large assemblage of what looked like citronella leaves in his right hand while his left covered his own muzzle.

“Shit!” Blossomforth cursed, a pinch of terror in her voice, as the former slaves pressed on the entrance with more vigor than before. “You should have killed the Alpha when you had the chance, Cloud!”

“And let Sunset die?” Cloud snapped with a dark glare. “Don’t worry, Blossom. That tunnel is way too narrow for an animal its size to go through and the Diamond Dogs are still blocked by Sunset’s magic!”

        The Celestial animal lowered its head to bring it back to the Alpha Diamond Dog’s level, causing it to throw his citronella fan away and to bark loudly at the gigantic dog. The Canis let out what sounded like a tired growl before it moved its tail away from his side, cautiously avoiding the primitive huts around him. Doing so revealed a rather shocking surprise for the Equestrians that watched the scene. About a dozen of much smaller Celestial wolves were lying against the gigantic one. The Canis Major nuzzled one awake, which led the others to wake up when it started to stand up to nuzzle its mother back.

“... We got to get out of here now!” Sunset let out in panic as still ten prisoners had to enter in the tunnel. “Hurry up!!!” she ordered loudly.

“Why the rush? Even, if they’re tall enough to jump over the wall of fire and smaller than their Mother, they’re still too big to follow us in here!” Gale pointed at the narrow entrance of their escape route.

“Still, I’m not staying in the same cave as eleven house-sized dogs and their castle-sized mother!” Sunset shouted vigorously before a violent shake interrupted her. “

        The cave trembled a little when the Canis Major and its pups, who were still twice the size of the tallest huts around them, took a few steps toward the spiral ascent and its fiery barrier. The Canis Major glanced at the teal fire for a brief moment before bringing its massive paw on the ground just before it.

        The quake that followed this stomp echoed through all the cave, causing a few cracks to appear above the tunnel’s entrance as the Equestrians still present lost their footing. Cloud and Blossomforth looked at the end of the spirally descent, both slowly gasping in shock when they saw the wall of fire had been blown out by the creature’s mere step. Like a sole entity, all the Canës and the Diamond Dogs started their ascension, all barking and growling like a pack of rabid curs. At each long stride of the Canës, the stone around them shook like during an earthquake.

“MOVE! MOVE!” Blossomforth ordered as the cracks above the tunnel became more threatening due to the oversized dogs’ charge.

        The last civilian entered the tunnel as small rocks fell from the ceiling. He didn’t wait for the four guards behind him and ran like Tartarus was onto him, shouting at his predecessors to run faster. Sunset and Gale moved inside it, followed by Blossomforth and then Cloud, who looked back one last time. She noticed that many Diamond Dogs ran into other tunnels along their ascension with the smaller Canës while the Diamond Dog Alpha pointed his claw at her with a furious glare.

“BRING THE YELLOW HAIRED ONE ALIVE!” The Alpha’s thunderous bark could be heard over the cavalcade of his pack members and the massives star-made dogs. “I’ll KILL HER MYSELF!”

“That’s one grudgeful doggy,” Cloud remarked as she stepped inside the tunnel after Blossomforth.

        She gathered nearby moisture into a large, steam-build claw before burying it into the cracks on the ceiling. Cloud ran to the intersection with another tunnel a few meters away, before tearing the ceiling apart. The cave-in that followed completely blocked the entrance of the tunnel before any Diamond Dog or Celestial one could reach it.

“That should block them a little bit...,” Cloud let out to Blossomforth as both looked at the pile of rocks that blocked their pursuers.

        Accompanied by a feral and loud howling, the rocks blocking the tunnel were smashed to dust as a Canis Minor’s head bursted through it. The tunnel being too small for a creature its size didn’t seem to faze it that much, as the walls were crushed by the simple sheer power of the Canis Minor’s advance. It was like a very effective boring machine.

“....Or not at all!” Cloud added with dread as many Diamond Dogs charged into the tunnels from between their huge cousin’s legs before they started running through the tunnels.

> A fiery escape from the mountain
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“How long before we reach them?”

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

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

“Yep!” Fleetfoot nodded casually.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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


        Tunnels beneath the Great Rift, thirty minutes later…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“...Right,” Gale admitted slowly.

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

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

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

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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CLANG

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

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

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

Hisssssssss 

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

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

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

        SLAP

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

“It ...It wasn’t really my faul…”

SLAP

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

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

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

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

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

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

“But what about Lieutenant Ma….”

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

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

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

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

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

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


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


        Later, at Base Camp

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

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

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

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

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

“Really?!” Spitfire asked in surprise. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“That’s ridiculous!”

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

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

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

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

“ENOUGH WITH THE BEAR JOKES!!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“WHAT?!”

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

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


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


        The infirmary, a little while later...

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

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

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

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

“T-true!”

“I gu-guess!”

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

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

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

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

“Agreed!” Blossomforth moaned as she relaxed completely.

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

“A++!” Sunset purred softly.

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

        SLAP/SLAP/SLAP/SLAP

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



Cloud Kicker’s Master Plan for Banging

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

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

3) Lose the top.

4) Profits! LOTS of Profits!



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

        Two years later, an hour after the end of the annual maneuvers,

“I must admit, Kid,” Spitfire said casually as she was walking around the compound with Cloud in tow, while the rest of the corps were called to the courtyard by Sergeant Pagétonas. “You’ve done pretty good during those two years of training with me and Crystal…”

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Cloud replied as she cast a small glance at the riders leaving the compound behind Shining Armor and his white horse.

        Cloud only half-listened to what Spitfire had to say as her eyes searched for red and yellow curls among the masses of cloaked and armored riders. Much like the year before, her squad hadn’t been teamed up with Sunset, and thus Cloud had barely got the time to catch up with her. Even during the breaks, Cloud didn’t get the time to chat with her: the fact that the Titanian seemed to be anywhere but close to her might have something to do with it. 

        She spotted the Arcanium student steadying her mount at the end of the column of knights and mages as the leading riders trotted out of the compound in a rather successful attempt at forming ranks with their horses. Once her horse was ready, Sunset looked around and noticed the blonde glancing in her direction. Cloud gave her a soft wave before she frowned in confusion as Sunset snapped her head away from her, her long and thick cloak twirling around her body in the same direction as her head. 

Barely a second later, Cloud took notice of the brief blue-green halo around Sunset’s fingers as they grabbed onto the reins of her horse before their owner gave it a small tap on the flanks with her heels. The blonde Jupitarian suddenly felt a brief smarting in her eyes and thus blinked in discomfort. When she opened her eyes again to see the back of Sunset’s cloak as she rode away from her, Cloud’s lips slowly left the form of a pout to one of a sly grin.

A sly grin that lasted barely two seconds before the back of her head was whacked strongly. Cloud let out a short yelp of pain as Spitfire continued talking, casually bringing her hand away from the back of Cloud’s head.

“If you could focus on your performances as a soldier as much as you can focus on others’ anatomy, you’d already be among the top tier of the Wonderbolts!” Spitfire remarked in an even tone.

“I can’t fly fast enough to be a Wonderbolt, Lieutenant,” Cloud retorted slowly, not really denying the rest of her mentor’s sentence.

“That’s probably because you lack the proper incentive, Kid,” Spitfire commented with assurance. “I’m sure that if I put a picture of Crystal with her top off in front of you, you could break the sound barrier…”

“......... That’s… worth a try……” Cloud whispered after thinking about the mountains usually trapped under a tight, grey leather corset for a few seconds.

        Those whispered words prompted Spitfire into whacking the blonde’s head once again, only more violently than before. As Cloud rubbed her skull in silence, Spitfire remained impassible while laughing playfully in her head.

“Consider that a very light preview of what you can expect from her if she ever hear what you just said,” Spitfire stated in an even tone before turning around to head back to the courtyard. “Anyway, we should go back to the others now. Crystal should have briefed them for your final exercise!”

“...What exercise?” Cloud asked in confusion, stopping right in her tracks.

        Spitfire didn’t stop walking but none of the less turned her head while sighing in annoyance.

“You really were staring at your next potential boy/girl-toy instead of listening to me, weren’t you?” Spitfire asked, her voice laced with annoyance and, oddly enough, amusement. “Anyway, you’re going to be released into active duty in a few weeks, got any idea of where?”

“If I can chose, it’d probably be back home in Ponyville,” Cloud replied softly, her cheeks bit pink because of the embarrassment of not having listened to her mentor. 

“Really?! Don’t you want to be stationed in grander places?” Spitfire asked in a condescending tone. “With your skills and my recommendation, you could get a place in Canterlot Castle, or in Cloudsdale’s senate …”

“I didn’t go through all that training to be a glorified doorwoman like the Solar Guards or the Praetorians!” Cloud snapped angrily. “I came here to be able to protect people who can’t protect themselves!”

“Is that so?” Spitfire asked in a doubtful tone. “Are you sure that it’s not for the prestige of the uniform? It helps finding suitors after all.”

Cloud frowned sourly at her mentor for a few seconds. “I don’t need an armor to find suitors!”

“After that hot springs incident of last year, I can’t deny that,” Spitfire commented casually in a sisterly tone. “.... I still have trouble meeting that girl at the Maragio without thinking of that day… Poor girl is embarrassed beyond measure every time she sees me,” she added with sympathy

“It’s not my fault if her father had decided to give you and the other Wonderbolts the grand tour of the Maragio,” Cloud countered uneasily in embarrassment. “Anyway, I was on a break…”

“Still, the hot springs? One of the Maragio’s well-known features? A public space? With said casino’s manager’s daughter?” Spitfire cocked a disapproving eyebrow at her protégée. “You’re lucky that I was the only one that spotted you in that secluded meander of the springs!” 

“In my defense, she wouldn’t tell me her name!” Cloud argued strongly. “I didn’t know she was the manager’s daughter.”

“Because you took the time to ask her full name?”

“.......No,” Cloud confessed sheepishly. “It was a spur-of-the-moment kinda thing…”

Spitfire sighed with a brief chuckle. “Well, it might be good if you go to Ponyville then… You wouldn’t risk the sanctions for hitting on one of the higher-ups’ child,” she added warmly before turning serious. “You’re still sure you want go to Ponyville, Kid?”

“If I’m given the choice, yes,” Cloud assured firmly.

“Even if it’s a place for second-rate soldier… I thought I had formed an Elite,” Spitfire stated with sadness.

“I’m as much an Elite as those goons you hang out with after your many derbies!” Cloud snapped angrily. “After all, flying in circle very fast isn’t really soldier-y, Lieutenant.”

        Spitfire blinked at the remark before stopping behind the perfectly formed ranks of fifty-nine other trainees. The lieutenant spun on her feet to face her protégée with a sardonic smile that made Cloud gulped nervously. She had crossed the line with that last remark, and she’ll have to pay for it. It wouldn’t be cheap, that much Cloud was convinced.

“You really think you’re worthy to be called an Elite on par with the Wonderbolts, Kid?” Cloud held Spitfire’s gaze and nodded almost imperceptibly in defiance. “Well, allow me to verify your claim.”

        Spitfire sharply whistled, causing Cloud’s fellow trainees to spun on their heels to face her. Startled by the sudden move, Cloud blinked in surprise when nearly all her comrades pulled their weapons out or started conjuring their shapes. Behind the ranks of the Jupitarian Corps, Crystal sat on one of the two picnic chairs that stood behind her, a tiny grin plastered on her face as she saw Cloud’s dumbfounded expression.

“This, Kid, is your final test,” Spitfire explained softly, waving at the fifty-nine cadets ready for combat. “Knock-out all your little comrades before they knock you out… Then, I might consider you an Elite, even if you wish to be mobilized in that small, but rather sympathetic town of yours.” Cloud’s confused frown wasn’t lost to Spitfire who decided to add a few clarifications in a ushered whisper. “I sent Soarin undercover to pass an order of that fine cider you’ve been smuggling around here…. He came back with a dozen of apple pies.”

“....You want me to fight fifty-nine to one?!!!!”

“Try to see it as a succession of fifty-nine one-on-one fights, Kid,” Spitfire suggested with a shrug before facing Cloud’s adversary. “As Sergeant Pagétonas told you, FIVE THOUSANDS BITS to the one who knocks Kicker out!” she shouted loudly.

        Cloud tensed when all her comrades shouted cheerfully at the promise of payment. A good half of them took off to form a wall of attackers, noticing that Blossomforth was amongst the most forward soldiers in the air, followed closely by Ford, Gale, Manerick and Ace.

“Just so you know, I don’t have those five thousands bits on me,” Spitfire commented in a whisper as she conjured her golden wings. “So I’d be grateful if you win.” 

The lieutenant gave a small patronizing tap on the cheek of her shocked protégée before flying over the mass of trainees to sit on the chair across Crystal, who threw her a glass bottle full of what looked like apple cider. They clinked their bottles together before both ordering the exercise to begin in a simultaneous shout.

“.......Bitch!” Cloud muttered as a large deal of her fellow cadets rushed toward her, or down to her for those that were in the air.


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


        An hour later, at the terrace of a penthouse in Las Pegasus.

“So, my dear Trend, you’ve finally decided to take that big step?” Fancy Pants asked softly the blond writer that sat across him while taking a sip of his tea. “Any idea of a possible date already?”

“It was tough to find a moment between our two rather busy schedules,” Trend replied softly, adjusting his glasses on his nose. “But I found that two weeks long gap at the end of August.”

“Wasn’t she supposed to join us this afternoon?” Fancy’s wife, Fleur, asked with curiosity as she walked by the pair of discussing men, a white robe lightly tied closed. “I’d not mind some female company. Not that you’re not pleasant company, Trend!” she added with a benevolent smile.

“Don’t worry, Fleur,” Trend assured with a brief chuckle. “She was supposed to have something to do at the compound. Something about a special exercise,” he said uncertainly while pensively scratching his growing goatee. “She shouldn’t be long now,”

“I see,” Fleur replied slowly before walking away from the two men and their teas. “I’m going to enjoy the pool while waiting for her, if you don’t mind..,” she stated while untying the belt of her robe.

        The former model had taken three steps toward the long pool of the penthouse, her robe halfly taken off and thus revealing her white one-piece swimsuit that hugged her still smooth figure before close, rumbles of thunder were heard. All the three upper class people on the terrace looked up at the clear blue sky in confusion. While they scanned the skies for the cause of those noises, Fleur blinked in shock when she noticed a mass of leather and purple feathers rolling toward their terrace.

“Oh dear,” Fleur let out in shock when she realized it was a young woman in armor that was catapulted in her direction.

        The woman seemed to recover from whatever had hit her before she reached the edge of the terrace. With one strong flap of her wings, the blonde pulled herself up and used the momentum to skate backwards on the surface of the pool water. Despite the shock of having a young girl crashing on her husband’s terrace, Fleur’s lips formed a mute wow at the rather graceful movement the blonde Jupitarian in leather-armor displayed. Though her awe lasted about four seconds before being replaced by worry as the blonde heels hit the edge of the pool and made her head hit the stone floor quite hard.

“Are you okay?” Fleur asked with worry as she quickly kneeled next to the blonde groaning in pain while Trend and her husband stood up to join her.

        Cloud slowly sat up while rubbing soothingly the back of her head before opening her eyes to see who was talking to her. Her gaze quickly scanned the beauty at her side, stopping a few seconds on the most becoming cleavage offered by her swimsuit and her half-open robe before it landed on her right hand, noticing a golden band on her ring finger.

“...It depends… Do you have a twin sister who happens to be single?” Cloud asked slowly in a hopeful tone, earning a confused raise of eyebrow from the former model.

“...No.”

“Then, I’d say I could have been better,” Cloud commented before standing up with difficulty. “Anyway, I’d ask you to take a few steps back, Ma’am!” she added, softly pushing Fleur away from her. 

“What’s going on..” Trend started before sharp whistling sounds came closer to them.

        There was a strong gush wind that swept the entire terrace and its occupants before three loud clangs resonated from a sudden fog that had hidden the young blonde. The fog vanished a few seconds later, revealing three other armored Jupitarians with their weapons blocked by the wings of the blonde that had wrapped her body prior the impacts of the spear, axe and sword of her attackers.

“Wow! You can form them a lot quicker than before,” Ford remarked in an admirative tone as the tip of his sword pushing against Cloud’s Wing-blades, which had coated her wings in a flash before the impacts.

“Also, you’ve reinforced them quite a bit,” Gale added, while withdrawing the blade of her axe from the cloud-covered wings.

“How about we stop to not cause any trouble for those nice people there?” Cloud asked with a sigh, nodding at Fleur, her husband and his guest. 

“Sorry, Cloud, Lieutenant’s orders,” Blossomforth stated with a shrug. “The exercise stops ONLY when you or all of your opponents are knocked out. Not before, and with no coffee breaks!” she added before jumping backwards to re-take a solid fighting stance with her spear.

        Before any of the owners of the penthouse could say anything to them, Ford and Gale both jumped away from Cloud, forming an equilateral triangle around the blonde who spread her wings open while two, silvery-white hazy clubs formed in her hands. Sparks of electricity surged from the head of Gale’s weapons, an intense but small whirlwind coated the tip of Blossomforth’s spear and a long and large tendril of water snaked its way from the pool to reach Ford’s free hand. 

“Sorry about that,” a newcomer’s voice rang from behind Fleur, Fancy and Trend. “And for being late as well, but the Kid is one tougher nut to crack than I expected,” it added playfully before all three of them looked back at source of the voice.

“With all due respect, Lieutenant Maverick,” Cloud commented, her eyes glancing between her three opponents as Spitfire landed softly on the terrace with Crystal in tow. “Go to Tartarus!”

“Ha! I’m really gonna miss that girl when her time here’s up,” Crystal commented for herself, emptying the bottle of cider she had been carrying along the way here. 

“The prize for the winner has just been upped to ten thousand bits,” Spitfire stated loudly with a smirk. “Five from me, five from Kicker!” she added, earning a dark stare from the blonde.

“Spitfire?!” Trend let out in shock as the Captain of the Wonderbolt walked to him.

“Hi, sweetie,” Spitfire called in soft purr before nuzzling the blond’s nose, earning a disgusted gag from Crystal. “How have you been?”

“Hello, my dear,” Fancy called slowly, eyeing the four young guards’ standoff. “Why are there four armed young soldiers on my terrace?”

“Outdoor exercise,” Spitfire explained casually. “They should take off right now or end it in a few minutes…”

        On cue, Blossomforth lunged forward while thrusting her spear forward, quickly imitated by her two comrades. Ford’s water-whip cracked in the empty air as Cloud dodged it by leaning forward and crouching very low while extending her right leg to sweep the ankle of Gale who had reached her first. With her out of balance, Gale was hit on the side by one of Cloud’s clubs, pushing her in the way of Blossomforth who simply jumped above her thanks to her wings.

        As the whirlwind coated spear dove to her, Cloud spun on herself so that her left Wingblades bashed the side of Blossomforth’s weapon. Diverted of her course, Blossomforth felt a hand grab the back of her collar before she felt Cloud roll over her back, ready to take off away from the tangled pair.

“Impressive,” Fancy commented with a small nod, rubbing the right side of his mustache. “The next generation of Royal Guards looks promising. You’ve done a good job with them, Sergeant,” he added for the grey-haired woman beside his wife.

“Thank you, sir,” Crystal replied with a nod. “Though, the blonde mostly learned from Spitfire,” she added as Cloud was hit by three large, water-bullets in the chest that sent her crash against the wall right to a large picture window. “Any protégée of mine would have anticipated Mustang’s ability with water.” She slyly grinned at Spitfire.

“Cut the Kid some slacks, Crystal!” Spitfire snarled sorely while Cloud whipped her wet hair out of her face to stare down at her male opponent close to the pool. “May I remind you that she already kicked the asses of YOUR fifty-six other trainees?” 

Trend, while surprised by the sudden revelation, glanced at the fight with scepticism. “Maybe she did, but she seems to have a hard time against this Mustang fellow,” he stated as more water-bullets kept her from charging toward the blue-haired man.

        While Cloud was blocked by the barrage of water conjured by a swift succession of jabs thrown at her by Ford, who had sheathed his sword after noticing the pool, Gale and Blossomforth stood up and readied their weapons again. Ford paused his onslaught for a second after Cloud fell on the ground in a loud splash of water. Shaking her head, the soaked blonde pushed herself off the ground, her hands covered by whitish haze. Her opponent’s eyes snapped wide open while Spitfire’s lips turned into a smirk before Cloud slammed her hands on the ground.

        All four fighters then disappeared from their instructors and the high-class citizens’ sight in a thick, instantaneous white fog that covered most of the terrace surface. Fancy and his wife both let out long “ooh”s of admiration while Trend frowned at the fact they couldn’t see what was happening. In the meantime, Spitfire and Crystal pricked up their ears, hearing faint clashes of metals and female grunts coming from within the fog.

        Only when the fog lifted itself up after two loud splashes of water, the audience saw that Cloud had won against her two female adversaries. Indeed, Blossomforth and Gale were both floating face up in the pool, weaponless and with a set of puffy white bindings strapped around their ankles, waists, wrists, torsos and mouths. Gale mutedly sighing into her gag while peacefully drifting along the pool while Blossomforth tried to break her bonds by writhing frantically around, causing only her body to roll so that her face slowly went underwater.

        Before anyone could react on the watermelon-haired woman’s most than probable drowning, Ford saved her by shaping tendrils of water that lifted both tied-up women out of the water before he faced Cloud who was softly pulling her wet hair to make it fall on the back of her head. They stood at five meters away from one another, both with their hands surrounded by a haze of their own: white for Cloud, pale blue for Ford. Purples eyes locked their gaze on the cerulean ones of their owner’s opponent with intensity for a few seconds. 

        Both took one step toward each other at the same time, Ford cracking a new water-whip at the blonde who countered it with a cloud-shaped whip. The two shapes broke apart as soon as they intercepted each other. Ford took another step while jabbing two water-bullets at Cloud. The blonde continued her advance and conjured a Nimbo-gladius in her left hand before cutting the two bullets in half. The two adversaries were six steps away from one another before Cloud grabbed her sword-shaped cloud with both hands and Ford kneeled down to grab the surface of the water.

        The moisture in the air gathered around Cloud’s blade, darkening it as the blonde’s face frowned in deep concentration. In the mean time, Ford stood back up, pulling the whole content of the pool in his grip, forming a massive wave that was ready to crush his opponent in his trail. Trend and Fleur’s mouths dropped wide open at the large quantity of water being lifted by the Jupitarian’s fist as Fancy’s monocle simply fell off his eye. Spitfire and Crystal simply whistled casually while the still tied up girls at their feet simply gasped in silence, Gale in an awed one and Blossomforth in a forced one. 

        Taking one step forward, Ford threw the wave he had shaped at Cloud. The mass of water reached two good feets above the blonde’s height, ready to devastate her and the expensive furnitures that were lying around the terrace. Cloud swept her Nimbo-gladius at the wave that stood before her with a loud battle cry. The dark grey mass in her hands turned black a blink before it touched the water in a white flash.

        An incredibly loud thunderclap assaulted all the spectators’ ears and the glass windows who shook a bit in response before a constant hiss made itself heard as the two fighters disappeared in a massive puff of steam. When the steam was cleared by the wind, all could see the aftermath of the fight under a low but constant rumbling similar to the one heard in a thunderstorm before lightning strokes. 

        Ford was stepping backwards, holding his right forearm in pain as static electricity coursed along the ripped gauntlet and the slightly burned flesh. His eyes were wide open in shock much like the others. Even Spitfire and Crystal, who had been relatively calm along the whole exercise, didn’t hide their surprised expression when their eyes went from Ford to Cloud’s panting form.

        Between the two fighters, there was nothing but steam getting blown away by the wind. Of the seventy cubic-meters of water Ford had pulled out of the pool, it didn’t remain a single a drop. All of it had been vaporized by Cloud’s swing. The veterans eyes landed on Cloud’s hands, or more specifically on what they were holding. Quickly enough, all eyes fell on the black thundercloud coursed with white electric sparks that had taken the form of a simple and bulky sword in the blonde’s hands.

        Cloud’s face was covered in sweat and her purple eyes had lost their playful glint in favor of an exhausted haze. Her chest heaved strongly as each breath she took became more labored than the previous one. Her arms were shaking as her wings slowly vanished from her back. The rumbling coming from her hands slowly became quieter as she lost her grip on what she was holding. She blinked a couple of times, barely seeing anything except the wounds she had inflicted on Ford’s forearm. 

“...Sorry,” she whispered in a guilty tone before her legs gave up on her.

        The ground felt a lot more soft than what she had thought it would as she crashed on it while her eyes had closed mid-fall. She hadn’t thought the ground would groan and chuckle in protest of her collapsing on top of it. Nor it was supposed to be this warm, even if it was the terrace of a penthouse in the middle of Las Pegasus. 

When Cloud felt someone poke her forehead, she slowly opened her eyes, seeing a blue and yellow fabric pressed against her instead of the red bricks of the floor. A flash of orange passed to her peripheral vision, making her realize on who she had collapsed. 

“I yield!” Ford had stated loud and clear, resentment absent in his tone despite what he was saying.

It was only after she heard Ford’s voice that her body allowed her to fall unconscious in her mentor’s arms.


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


        Much later, just outside the training grounds infirmary,

“Feeling better, Kid?” Spitfire asked as she took a deep breath of the night, cool air.

“I’m still feeling a little tired, but other than that, I’m good,” Cloud stated before glancing with fervor at her mentor. “How’s Fo…”

“Your boy toy's perfectly fine, Kid,” Spitfire assured playfully, earning a shocked blink from her protégée.

“Ford’s my friend, not my boy toy!” Cloud protested. 

“That’s not what Crystal told me,” Spitfire commented with mirth. “You should have worked on your stealth if you wanted her to never notice your bi-monthly escapades with him.”

“Huh….” Cloud let out with her mouth agape. 

“If you’re asking why she never confronted you about it, it’s because it never had an influence on your respective performances during training,” Spitfire said casually. “With maybe the exception of him yielding this afternoon… But that could have been just his gentlemanly manners… Again, that’s what she told me.”

“... He is a gentleman,” Cloud stated with assurance.

“Though, once you’re officially a royal guard, do yourself a favor and do not lay a hand, or any naked part of your body on one of your fellow guards,” Spitfire demanded seriously. “Relationships between soldiers, even just sexual, can often end up badly.” 

“Is this why you’re with that Trend-guy?” Cloud asked softly, pointing at her engagement ring. “Because he’s not military?”

“No! I’m with Trend because we love each other,” Spitfire replied with a cocked eyebrow. “What’s that for a question?”

“I don’t know… I just never imagined you for the type to go for someone… less physically inclined than you,” Cloud replied uneasily.

“Well, it’s not about his physique. It’s the way he talks, tells things about how he sees the world,” Spitfire started with an amorous sigh. “How he takes the mundane, the simple, the unappreciated and makes it relat…. WHY AM I EVEN TELLING YOU THAT?!!!!” Spitfire yelled before shoving her finger in Cloud’s upper torso. “The point is no more bedding with soldiers once you’re stationed! I will not have my protégée be the one who had sex with all her company after her first month!”

“First of all, Aouch!” Cloud stated, rubbing where Spitfire had poked her. “Second, I don’t sleep with just anybody… I have standards!” Spitfire rolled her eyes at the blonde’s waving finger. “And lastly, to actually have sex with a whole company would require a minimum of three months, unless….”

“Don’t do the maths, Kid,” Spitfire warned sternly. “I’d rather keep the illusion you DIDN’T think that through.”

“Fine, I’ll do as you say……. That means I can still…”

“YES! You can still go play with your Mustang Boy-toy for now,” Spitfire stated in annoyance with a roll of her eyes.

“Oh, cool!.....What about civilians once I’m stationed?” Cloud asked fearfully.

“As long as it’s legal, you can do whatever you want with people outside the Guard,” Spitfire answered before chuckling softly when Cloud sighed in relief. “If only you could stop thinking about banging everything that meets your standards, Kid.”

“Sorry, Lieutenant, just like you’re not ready to lose your title of Fastest Jupitarian alive, I’m willing to keep my title of Bachelorette Extraordinaire a little while longer!” Cloud snickered playfully.

“The future of the Royal Guard, Ladies and Gentlemen,” Spitfire sighed warmly, ruffling Cloud’s long blonde hair. “You know? All your sexual deviances asides, I’m really proud of you, Cloud. You were fantastic today!” she assured with a smile. 

        Cloud immediately froze in her step. Never before had Spitfire complimented her without a remark on how to improve her stances, her wing placement or anything. It was also the first time Spitfire had called her by her first name since Cloud had started training under her tutelage. Cloud had come to think that the renowned officer had actually forgotten her name since she always referred to her as ‘Kid’. 

“You…. You really mean that?” Cloud asked in a whisper worthy of a little girl to her mother. 

“Let’s just say that I’d take you into the Bolts….If you hadn’t previously stated you’re too slow to fly in circles at derbies!” Spitfire assured with a wink.


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


        Two weeks later, 

“Kicker, report to my office in five minutes!” Crystal shouted in her most authoritarian tone as she slammed the Team Twelve’s door open.

        Almost instantly after the grey-haired officer took one step inside the room, Blossomforth stood at attention, only to be imitated by Gale and Silent a second later. They had been cleaning their dorm when Crystal had walked in, in order to get ready for finally leaving the Las Pegasus compound to go to active duty after two years and a half of training.

“Team Leader Shields, where’s Cloud Kicker?” Crystal asked with a cocked eyebrow at the green and purple haired woman standing by her bunk bed and a half-packed tin trunk.

“She’s away for her last days of unused leave time, Ma’am!” Blossomforth replied in a neutral tone. 

“Right now?” Crystal asked slowly. “Four days away from being sent to active duty, and she has gone on her leave?”

“Yes, Ma’am!” Blossomforth replied with assurance.

“Ma’am, if I may add something on the matter?” Gale asked as neutrally as possible as Crystal frowned in response to Blossomforth’s assurance.

“Granted, Swiftwing.”

“Cloud’s taking her leaves now because she received a letter from the central administration strongly ‘’advising’’ her to take a few days of leave before going to active duty to meet her minimum quota for this year,” The redhead explained, stressing the word advising just enough to imply the air quotes.

“Really? I haven’t been informed about that,” Crystal whispered to herself before turning back to Blossomforth. “Do you know when she’ll be back?”

“She told us she should be back in the afternoon of the day after tomorrow, Ma’am,” Blossomforth answered calmly. “In the evening if there’s a problem with her train.”

“All right. As soon as she’s back, tell her to come to my office at once!” Crystal demanded firmly before leaving the dorm.

“I wonder why Cloud has to go to her office,” Silent let out as they all relaxed their stances to get back to their packing. “You think she found out about her secret stash of hard cider?”

“It would be a shame for us that it’s found a few days before we leave for good,” Gale commented slowly. “Cloud was rather proud of discovering that spot.”

“I’m not sure, but I think Pagétonas found out that Cloud sneaks out of the dorm every two months to do …. Stuff with Ford,” Blossomforth commented sourly.

“You’re jealous of Ford, aren’t you?” Silent commented, cocking an eyebrow at their squad leader.

“I’m not jealous!” Blossomforth snapped with rosy cheeks. “I just don’t get why she risks disciplinary actions for humping him by leaving the dorms past the curfew!”

“Because Cloud humping you after everyone else had left the showers wasn’t risking disciplinary actions?” Gale asked with a playful roll of her eyes. 

“THAT happened only during one of my rare moments of weakness four months ago,” Blossomforth explained angrily, her cheeks passing from pink to bright red.

“Rare moments of weakness?” Gale and Silent asked simultaneously, their eyebrow cocking higher than before.

“I don’t count my sleep-mumblings as moments of weakness!!!”

“Haaaaaa!” The other two let out in comprehension as their bicolor-haired friend sighed longly to calm her burning cheeks.

“Though, you should consider seeing a specialist about that,” Gale added with a shrug.

“What?”

“Well, it’s not a problem if you live on your own, but if you ever start dating someone they might not like hear sleep-talking about bending Cloud over your desk so that you could spank her to teach her to respect your authority,” Silent replied with a slightly mocking grin.

“You promised you’d stop using that against me!!!! I said that ONCE and that was more than two years ago!”

“And it still cracks us up just like when we heard it the first time!” Gale chuckled in a good-natured voice while fistbumping with Silent.

“Anyway, do you know what Cloud had planned on doing during her leave?” Silent asked the flustered green-and-purple-haired woman.

“Catching up with her friends and mostly looking for an apartment, or space for a skyhouse in Ponyville,” Blossomforth explained slowly, glad to change the conversation topic.

“She really plans on going back there after all?” Silent asked with a short sigh.

“Why are you surprised? When Pagétonas told us we could chose where we want to be stationed, Cloud immediately asked for going back there,” Gale reminded slowly. “And I think I’m going to ask to be stationed there as well.”

“Really?!” Silent and Blossomforth asked in surprise.

“Really!” Gale assured with a soft nod of her head. “We’re one of the best teams the compound ever had, and I know it’s thanks to Cloud that we reached that status.”

“Don’t forget that Blossomforth leads the team,” Silent reminded frantically as Blossomforth sighed slowly with a defeated expression on her face.

“It’s okay, Silent,” Blossomforth waved off weakly. “I’m not too proud to not remember it’s thanks to Cloud’s advice that we’ve done so great in our missions and maneuvers.” 

She glanced at the wall on which they had pinned mementos of their returns from mission or their personal exploits, quickly imitated by her two teammates. Blossomforth walked up to the wall and graze one with her finger. The picture, and the newspaper article attached to it, showed the four of them standing proudly in front of a back wall of one of Las Pegasus many casinos while a group four criminals were trapped in the background: One was pinned on the wall, just above a garbage truck, by a metallic crossbow bolt that pierced through the back his of his pants; another was shown spinning in the air thanks to a small tornado; the third was leaning against the garbage truck, his hair standing in a capillary explosion while smoke came out of his face’s pores; and the last one had his body trapped in a white puffy mass that inhibited all his moves.

“The Hurricane Palace Break-in,” Gale let out in a nostalgic tone. “I remember the chief of Las Pegasus Guard Post having a shouting fit with Pagétonas about four newbies interrupting the old farts in action,” she added with a warm chuckle.

“You mean the professionals that arrived thirty minutes after Cloud spotted them in the alley and captured the thieves boss?” Silent asked with a knowing smirk.

“Yeah, those old farts.” Gale nodded before Blossomforth laughed along with Silent, remembering the two close-to-retirement guards that had caught up with them back then, completely out of breath.

“Remember when we got our first scouting in the Everfree?” Silent asked after a while as she brushed her finger against a dark green scale similar to a rock. 

“The Cragadiles sure had big maws,” Blossomforth commented casually, looking at the white scar that ran along the length of her forearm. “And long tails with sharp scales…Thank Faust, Cloud had picked up a few things on Pagétonas’ frost touch. I would have bled to death otherwise!”

“Don’t say that,” Gale let out with a shivering wince before she glanced at a picture she had taken and the blank spot next to it. “Hey, where did the other picture go?”

Silent and Blossomforth leaned to see what picture the redhead was talking about. On the wall, they saw a laughing Cloud with a practice sword in her left hand, the blade resting on her shoulder, next to a pouting and disheveled Ford. It had been just after the friendly competition to see who was the best swordsman of the compound. Ford had finished second after a gruesome defeat against the laughing blonde. The missing picture showed what happened after the first one.

“Oh! Cloud gave it to Ford I think,” Silent supposed softly. “That or Blossomforth threw it away out of jealousy!”

“Considering how she had glared at the poor Ford when Cloud made out with him to lift his spirit up from losing against her, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the case,” Gale mused slowly.

“I AM NOT JEALOUS!!!”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Gale let out in a good-hearted mocking tone as she scanned their memory wall with Silent. “We should start putting those off the wall.”

        Earning nods of approval, even though Blossomforth still frowned at the false accusations of jealousy aimed at her, Gale extended her hand to the largest piece of their collections of trinkets and pictures: the primitive, one-blade battle axe she had stolen from the Diamond Dogs pack during their first maneuvers about two years ago. Gale passed her thumb over the edge of the bone-made blade of the weapon. It was still as sharp as when she had picked it up if the blood that pearled out of her finger was of any indications.

        Silent, for her part, went for the photograph of herself being lifted in the air by her teammates and some of their friends from other teams. She then picked up the dark, light blue and white badge pinned right next to it. It was Silent’s pride: the badge she had received with her letter of acceptance for being assigned into the Lunar Guard. She had gotten their response barely two weeks ago, just ten minutes before this photograph was taken by Ace. Silent was thankful of Sergeant Pagétonas’ recommendation, which had had a lot more weight than the grey-haired trainee had originally thought, but the recommendation from Lieutenant Maverick had been a shocking surprise for her. Silent knew that her blonde, pervert friend had something to do with it, even if she claimed the exact opposite.

        Blossomforth’s hand delicately reached the central piece of their wall of fame, brushing delicately the frame of the picture with an obvious envy. She had always dreamed of being acknowledged by the top of Royal Guard hierarchy: to become a greater officer than her father who had been leading the Royal Guard company in Detrot for more than ten years. She would have given everything she ever had to be in the picture with Spitfire’s hand on her shoulder while both were standing before Thaddeus’ sleeping body. At the sight of the mentor and her blonde student, Blossomforth sighed with a pinch of sadness.

“You okay, Blossom?” Gale asked softly as Silent slowly turned her face to look at their team leader.

“When I first wrote my Dad about my stay here, I mentioned all three of you,” Blossomforth started slowly. “I think I wrote about a full page about how infuriating Cloud was to me…Her carefree attitude, how she would taunt me with her weird date plans, her winks and her bending-over to pick her fork or her knife at the mess.” All the three women chuckled softly as many memories of such events passed through their minds. “My dad told me to be firm and stern with her… To break her to remold her to my preferences… It didn’t work. No matter how hard I pushed her at the beginning of our training, she always simply said ‘harder!’ with that purr of hers and that glint in her eyes. It was more than frustrating!”

“Yeah.” Gale and Silent nodded gently.

“I thought it would be satisfactory to watch her fail at something,” Blossomforth continued slowly. “That I had done what my father had told me when we started the lightning and battle flight exercises : That I would finally break her… I told her that there were people that were never meant to be soldiers because no matter how hard she tried at those, she couldn’t keep up with the rest of us,” Blossomforth stated with regret. “I should have found a way to help her going through that, but I didn’t. I simply threw her failure in her face and walked away from her. I had broken her like my father told me to… and I hated myself for it the moment I thought she had given up and left.”

“I told my Dad about it in the next letter, he said he would have done the same and that any good officer would have done so too,” Blossomforth stated with a frown as Gale and Silent both placed a comforting hand on her shoulders. “When she came back for our first maneuvers, I realized how wrong he had been… A good leader pulls his subordinates up instead of pushing them down… Just like Lieutenant Maverick did with her… Just like Cloud did with us as soon as she came back,” Blossomforth started at the picture of her blonde team member. “...I’ll go to Ponyville too!”

“Huh!?” Silent let out in shock.

“What about your Dad? Didn’t he set up a place in Detrot for you?” Gale asked uneasily, remembering one of her past conversation with Blossomforth.

“I don’t care!” Blossomforth stated sternly. “I’ll go to Ponyville with Cloud and I’ll do my best to pull her to the top of her performances, like a good leader’s supposed to do! I will not give up on her like I did two years and a half ago!” she assured firmly. “Besides, I’ve never liked Detrot. Winters are too cold and Summers too hot there,” she added more lightly. 

“And if the top of Cloud’s performances brings her higher than you?” Gale asked uneasily. “You made it clear that you want to go for the place of Captain of the Royal Guard one day… What if she becomes your superior?”

Blossomforth remained silent for a brief instant. “Then I’ll make sure she remains a superior I could follow to Tartarus and beyond!”

> New things for a puzzled little cloud
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Canterlot’s Arcanium female dorm tower, 

        Sunset looked up from the book spread open on her cushion to glance at the door behind her after hearing soft knocks coming from beyond the dark oaken surface. The puzzled Titanian glanced at the clock on her nightstand before wondering out loud who could bother her at seven in the morning. She put her thin, rectangular reading glasses off her nose to the nightstand and stood up with a short groan when the person behind her door knocked again, this time with more insistence and strength.

“....Just a second… Just a second, it’s not like there’s a fire going on…,” Sunset mumbled to herself as she grabbed her satin, red robe from her desk chair before putting it on. “Unless another stressed blockhead decided to have an early training,” she added before reaching for the door, the banging still increasing in intensity. “I’M HERE, YOU CAN STOP!!”

        Sunset’s angry shout just before she unlocked her door and opened it enough for her to stand on the threshold startled the person who had been knocking on her door. Sunset was looking down a seventeen, maybe eighteen year old petite, dark skinned girl clad in the Celestia’s School for the Gifted, the institution to which the Arcanium was attached, uniform. The younger student coughed in her hand to recover from the surprise and rearranged her shoulder long dark purple hair so that her pink and violet streaks in it were perfectly as right as rulers. The girl looked familiar to the robe-clad Titanian, but she couldn’t remember having any interactions with her before this morning.

“Good morning, Miss Shimmer,” the young student started politely. “I’m Twilight S…”

“It’s seven in the morning!” Sunset interrupted her abruptly.

“Well, I was told that the Arcanium Students were to rise with the Sun… Isn’t that your Leitmotiv?”

“.... It’s Like the Sun and the Moon, we will rise to fight darkness!” Sunset stated in annoyance. “And that’s the oath of the Order of the Golden Shield, by the way!”

“...Oh,” Twilight let out in surprise. “It is?”

“Yep! Now, why were you knocking at my door this early?” Sunset asked with narrowed eyes.

“Well, I’m helping at the School Library,” Twilight explained in a factual tone. “And I’m here to tell you that you didn’t return the Genealogy through the ages: the story of Equestria’s greatest noble families in time... I’m here to collect the book back as well as the twenty-five bits of fine for turning the book in late.”

“.....” Sunset blinked in shock. “I paid to keep the book for a longer period of time,” the curly-haired Titanian reminded with a glare aimed at the short-haired one.

“I know, but that extended period ended yesterday and thus you had to return the book yesterday afternoon… But you didn’t!” Twilight stated as a notepad and a quill floated from behind her in front of Sunset’s face, the latter pointing at yesterday’s date written on the former, right next to her name and the one of the book.

“And you came here at this hour to tell me that?” Sunset asked with a cocked eyebrow. 

“The library’s official starting hour for returning the book is six thirty. So you are late again,” Twilight stated matter-of-factly.

“....…”

“Can I have the book now? The monthly reshelving starts in twenty minutes and I don’t want to get behind schedule,” Twilight explained.

“...I’m still working with it so can’t I just keep it and give you the fee for another prolongation?” Sunset asked after a deep breath and trying her best to not sound annoyed. 

“It’s against the library’s procedures to give two loan-prolongations for the same book. It’s to make sure no student monopolize a book when others might need it,” Twilight said in an even tone.

“You mean that someone’s waiting for that book?”

“Not at all!” Twilight stated calmly. “The school library just doesn’t allow that. If you want to keep the book, you’ll have to give it back to the library, pay the fee for returning it late and then come to the library to borrow it again. Could you please hurry? Spike’s going to start reshelving without me and I’ll have to double check to see if he didn’t make any mistakes!”

“Wel...”

        Sunset didn’t get a chance to end her sentence as she felt a soft wind tickling her neck, causing her to look inside the room. She briefly shrieked, causing Twilight to jump back in surprise, before she grabbed the old book that had been thrown at her in her magic along with a small pouch full of bits. After glaring ferociously at something in her room, Sunset reluctantly gave Twilight the borrowed book and bits for the fine.

“There’s someone inside?” Twilight asked in a tone that almost sounded like it wasn’t a question. “I’ve read that sleepovers aren’t allowed on the campus,” she reminded in a warning tone.

“Yeah, and that’s why all the rooms in this tower are provided with queensize beds,” Sunset retorted sarcastically.

“.... It’s still against the rules…”

“Don’t you have your reshelving thing to do with your boyfriend?” Sunset asked with narrowed eyes. 

“Oh! Spike’s my assistant, not my boyfriend!” Twilight quickly replied with a starting blush. “He’s like nine years old, that would be gross… Plus I don’t have the time for this and my brother will probably be all snappy…. I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Figured as much,” Sunset whispered though Twilight heard her.

“....But you said it yourself....”

“Yeah, but I didn’t believe it… You don’t strike me as the type to look for one.”

“Well, I’m not.”

“It’s all good. People are differents. There are those who waste their time and money in University to get all the girls or the boys they want, those who focuses themselves on their goals, and those who prefer the company of nine year old boy and spend time reshelving the school library,” Sunset stated casually, earning a confused expression of the black girl. “Those who enjoy their life, those who works on the success of theirs, and those who need to get a life for short!” Twilight’s expression fell at that last comment. “Go get it!” Sunset smiled warmly before slamming the door shut.

“That wasn’t really nice of you,” Cloud’s voice called her from her bed as Sunset locked her room door.

“She was annoying,” Sunset muttered as she went back to her bed. “And why did you throw that book?!”

“She wasn’t going to leave until she gets the book back,” Cloud stated as she stretched her arms. “Besides, what’s that deal about genealogy? You’ve had books on the matter lying around everytime I came to visit.”

“If you want to make in the high society, you’ve got to know the past of the families that composes it,” Sunset replied as she rested the lower contour of her bed. “Also, I was busy reading that book!”

“No, you weren’t!”

“Excuse me?” Sunset cocked an eyebrow at the blonde still beneath her sheets.

“You were prone in bed, over your sheets, with JUST your reading glasses on waiting for me to jump on you as soon as I would wake up!” Cloud stated with a knowing smirk. 

“And how would you know that since you’ve been sleeping until miss annoying librarian knocked at my door?” Sunset asked with narrowed eyes.

“No, I’ve pretended to sleep to watch you… You’re really cute with your glasses on.” Cloud winked, earning a mad blush from the Titanian. “Now, my train leaves in a bit more than two hours, so I have just enough time to spar three times with you!”

“You can’t be serious!!! Princess Celestia herself comes to check on today’s trials!!!!” Sunset shouted with indignation. “Rumors has it she’s going to chose the best student to become the head of the next generation of the Council of Harmony! Do you realize how big this is?!!!”

“....... I can go up to four times,” Cloud smiled deviously.

“Five!”

“Four!”

“I said Five!”

“Four and I’ll do the thing you like!”

        A blue-green flash blinded Cloud for a very short moment before she felt Sunset’s body appear on her lap, her arms around the Blonde’s neck. The Titanian pressed a pair of hungry lips on the Jupitarian’s as the robe she had been wearing was discarded away by Sunset’s magic.

“Deal,” Sunset purred into the kiss before Cloud brought her hands up her bare back to embrace her paramour.


**********************************************************************************************************


        Four rounds of ‘’sparring’’ later, 

“Feeling relaxed enough to wow Princess Celestia?” Cloud asked softly as she took her shirt from a nearby chair while Sunset rolled underneath the beige sheet of her bed.

“Some might say too relaxed,” Sunset purred before rolling on her stomach, biting the tips of her right fingers as Cloud walked away from the bed while putting her purple shirt back on. “Mmmmmm, I think I could watch you walk away from me forever,” Sunset said in a soft amorous tone, her eyes focused on the blonde’s lower back.

“So, I’m not allowed to get back to you then?” Cloud asked playfully looking back at Sunset while grabbing her pants.

“Well, when I’ll be in the Council, it would be scandalous to have a Ponyville soldier visiting me at night,” Sunset stated softly. “Now, if said soldier were to become my personal bodyguard, it would be easier to hide such scandal,” she suggested in a hopeful tone.

“The Arcanium’s best apprentice, who has reminded her instructors of Shining Armor himself, would need a bodyguard?” Cloud asked with a brief chuckle, earning a casual shrug of shoulders from her interlocutor. “While your body is definitely worth guarding, I don’t think it needs someone other than you to do it.”

“I can’t guard it from the lonely cold of the night,” Sunset reminded with a suggestive wink as Cloud, now fully dressed, went back to the bed.

“I don’t think that’s compatible with my status as Royal Guard,” Cloud reminded slowly. “And our sex-friends status might not be appreciated in Canterlot,”

“.....We could be more than that,” Sunset suggested uneasily in a whisper after a short silence.

“.......”

“...What do you say to that?” Sunset asked softly before seeing Cloud’s shocked expression. “I mean, I know we said it was all in good fun and that the main reason is to get pleasure and stress relief… I also know that you like to have variety and I know I could hardly stop you from going to see other people…. Though, maybe that part could be less frequent so that we could have more time together...” When Cloud still didn’t say anything, Sunset looked down to the mattress. “...It was just an idea I had….”

“... I don’t know, Sunset,” Cloud admitted softly once she finally got out of her stun. “What you want is a serious relationship… but I’m not sure I can provide you that… I know I like you: you’re funny, determined, intelligent, strong, and while you’re a bit bitchy with some, you want to do good in the long run,” Cloud explained softly. “I mean, some of the ideas you’re going to suggest the Princesses if you’re chosen in the Council…”

“When I’m chosen!” Sunset stated with assurance.

“Right,” Cloud rolled her eyes playfully. “Some of the ideas you’re going to suggest when you’re chosen in the Council are really good.”

“You actually listened to me when I said those?” Sunset asked with a small smile.

“Just because you’ve always explained them to me half or totally naked most of the time doesn’t mean I never recorded a few things you said… I’ve got to admit it was really hard sometimes!” Cloud confessed playfully before turning more serious and resting her palm on Sunset’s cheek. “I like you, Sunset, I really do, and not just because you’re the second sexiest woman I’ve ever been with…”

“Second?!” Sunset narrowed her eyes in anger before she caught a playful glint in Cloud’s eyes. “....And they say I’m self-centered,” she added with a short chuckle.

“You’ve ever seen a girl sexier than me, Sunset?” Cloud asked with a knowing grin.

“....I’ll say no just to preserve your massive ego,” Sunset replied sarcastically before nuzzling Cloud’s hand softly. “...There was a ‘but’ coming in your sentence.”

Cloud sighed sadly. “... I really like you, Sunset, but I don’t think I’m capable to love you like you’d want me too.”

“Maybe you are and you just didn’t realize it yet,” Sunset argued half-heartedly. “You won’t know before trying…”

“...I suppo...” Cloud started softly before she snapped her head to the door. “Someone’s coming!”

“...What?” Sunset asked as Cloud let go of her face before she heard rapid footsteps coming her way.

        Sunset barely had the time pick her robe up before her room door was slammed open by dark purple magic aura. Immediately after, someone stormed inside her room but the young Titanian didn’t need that to know who had come to visit. By her door stood the headmistress of the institution, the woman who had mentored Sunset along with many others during their four years in the Arcanium training program: Master-Arcanist of Canterlot, Velvet ‘Starlight’ Sparkle.

“Master,” Sunset called as innocently as possible. “Why the sudden bre…”

“Where is she, Sunset?” Velvet asked sternly, while flicking a misplaced lock of purple and grey hair out of her ebony-colored face.

“Who are you talking about?” Sunset asked slowly. “There’s no one here but me.”

“It’s not what I’ve been told a few moments ago,” Velvet retorted with narrowed eyes. “I know someone else was in your room this morning and I think it was that blonde slut from Las Pegasus whom I’ve forbidden to come here after I caught the both of you last year!”

Damn that library girl! Sunset thought angrily while keeping her face straight. “No one was here this morning.”

“Your hair’s a mess, I can see that you’re naked under your robe, this room stinks of sweat and sex, the stains on your sheets are clearly coming from someone, and there are Jupitarian Corps boot-prints on the carpet!” Velvet stated after sweeping the room with her piercing light-blue eyes. “You know better than to take me for an idiot, Sunset!”

Damn that woman’s eagle-eyes! Sunset winced in discomfort before sheepishly looking at a clean area of her sheets. “She left two minutes ago,” she lied in a very convincing defeated tone.

“I would have seen her coming down the stairs,” Velvet remarked as she went closer to Sunset’s bed.

“She flew away by the balcony,” Sunset explained softly.

“Impossible,” Velvet stated with a shake of her head. “I’ve enchanted this tower to stop anyone from jumping or flying from the balconies after that skank visited you a few months ago.”

“Oh,” Sunset let out in surprise before yelping as her master’s magic engulfed her bed.

        Velvet levitated the furniture, along with Sunset who had been sitting on it, to see if there weren’t a blonde Jupitarian hidden under it. When she could there wasn’t, Velvet magicked the bed back in its original place and then went to Sunset’s dressing. Once she opened it, the Master-Arcanist only found the apprentice’s clothings, ignoring their owner’s protests about privacy.

“Where is she hiding, Sunset?” Velvet asked in a low threatening tone.

“I told you she le…”

“If you want your chance to have your trials today, you will tell me where she is!” Velvet shouted impatiently, earning wide shocked eyes from her student.

“She’s hiding inside the curtains!” Sunset quickly replied in panic.

        At that precise moment, said curtains fell from the bar that kept them hanging thanks to a sudden breeze. Velvet barely had the time to raise her arms before the thick, and ironically made of velvet, curtains fell on her before bands of fogs wrapped around the Master’s struggling form to restrain her inside the burgundy fabric. Sunset stood there with her mouth agape as Cloud landed from the ceiling next to her bed.

“Looks like it’s my cue to leave,” Cloud stated in whisper as rested her left hand on Sunset’s cheeks again. “Look, focus on your trials today, we’ll continue this conversation after you’re settled in Canterlot Castle, okay?”

“...The castle?!”

“Isn’t that where the Council Members reside?” Cloud asked with a small wink before Sunset smiled softly. “One last thing,” Cloud suddenly pressed her lips on Sunset’s as she squeaked in surprise before relaxing into the kiss. “....For good fortune!” she explained in a rush after breaking the kiss.

        Giggling softly, Sunset watched Cloud running to the door before helping her master to take off the curtains and the cloud-made restrains of her. As soon as Velvet was free, Sunset pointed at the open door of her room. Velvet barely caught sight of the blonde standing on the railing of the tower’s spiral staircase. The Master-Arcanist growled in obvious anger as Cloud quickly saluted her with two of her fingers before the soles of her boots started to slide down the railing.

“I swear I didn’t think or know she would do that to you,” Sunset quickly assured in an apologetic tone as Velvet pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. 

“As soon as today’s trials are over and that the Princess is gone, you’re on dishwashing duty until the end of the semester!” Velvet stated angrily.

“Understood, master,” Sunset nodded sheepishly. It’s not so bad...

“No magic allowed!” Velvet added sternly.

I had to think that, hadn’t I? Sunset thought as she bowed her head in submission.


**********************************************************************************************************


        The next day, Las Pegasus Jupitarian Corps formation compound,...

“You’ve asked for me, Sergeant?” Cloud asked after being allowed to enter Sergeant Pagétonas’ office.

“Have a seat, Kicker,” Crystal said as she wrote the final sentence on the evaluation she was writing. “How was Canterlot?”

“...How do you know I’ve been to Canterlot, Ma’am?” Cloud asked in surprise.

“Master Sparkle’s letters travel faster than the train,” Crystal explained, pointing at an open envelope with the Arcanium’s sigil stamped in wax on her desk. “She demands that I take actions against you for what you did to her and, for breaking in her students’ dorms to make them fall into the same, shameless depravity that inhabits you,” Crystal stated slowly. “I’m quoting her on the matter.”

“.....Master Sparkle is quite theatrical in her formulations,” Cloud whispered softly.

“So are you in your escape according to her,” Crystal commented casually as she signed the document before her. “Sliding the railings of a eight-floors-high spiral staircase after restraining her in a room’s curtains and giving her a mock salute…”

“...I sorta panicked,” Cloud confessed softly.

“Yet you still got time to have a little chit-chat with her student before escaping,” Crystal looked up from her evaluation from after stamping the compound’s sigil on it. “I don’t know whether to be angry at you for causing such scene by escaping her or to be a bit proud of you for actually escaping her in the first place.”

“It would be normal of you to be angry, Ma’am,” Cloud admitted slowly. 

“You’re right, Kicker. Perfectly right!” Crystal nodded as she slipped the evaluation form in a folder before putting it in her desk’s top drawer. “Especially since it’s not the first time Master Sparkle sends me a letter about you. I’ll have to thank Captain Armor for telling her where you’ve been stationed for the last two years and a half. I hardly get any sympathetic mails from famous people. Especially some recommending me to put the peripatetic woman that happens to train under my supervision on a leash so that she keeps her diseases for herself or the rest of your trainees… Fascinating mail, isn’t it?” Crystal asked with a displeased frown after reading a passage of Velvet Sparkle’s letter.

“I guess,” Cloud shuffled uneasily on her seat.

“Do you have any idea of the position you’re in right now, Cloud Kicker from Ponyville?” Crystal asked abruptedly, her fingers drumming her desk as her ice-looking eyes were piercing through Cloud’s scared purple eyes. “Do you have any idea of what’s going to happen to you for upsetting the Master-Arcanist of Canterlot?”

“Getting kicked out of the Royal Guard?” Cloud suggested with fear.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Crystal nodded slowly. “I’ve been thinking of three months of stables duty, but getting rid of you would save us the trouble of this ever repeating itself!... Such a shame though… Getting kicked out just before being promoted.”

I HAD TO SAY THAT, DIDN’T I? Cloud shouted at herself in her head. “... P..Promoted?”

“Yes,” Crystal nodded with a frown plastered on her face. “You were supposed to get the rank of Sergeant first class for your performances as a soldier and for your natural sense of leadership on the battlefield, under Spitfire and my recommandation. Even Blossomforth recommended you for a promotion… And all that is going to be ruined because you couldn’t keep your pants on!” Crystal shook her head in disappointment.

“...Oh, Gods!” Cloud brought her hand to her face. “I’ve fucked up!”

“Yes, you have,” Crystal agreed coldly. “But, I don’t like doing tedious things as promotion paper work for nothing, so we’ll have to think of something to make you stay…”

“There’s a way for me to remain in the Guard?”

“It’ll depend,” Crystal stated as she stood up from her chair.

“On what?” Cloud asked in an hopeful tone.

“On the mood I’m in after you’re finished,” Crystal smirked slyly as her leather corset fell to the ground, letting her mountains clear for Cloud to…


“I have doubts that it happened like that,” Blossomforth interrupted Cloud’s tale with a frown. “That sounds more like how you wanted it to happen, Cloud.”

“Oh, come on, Blossom!” Ace shouted in indignation as he rested his empty mug of beer on their table. “Don’t interrupt her like that!”

“It was getting really interesting,” Manerick called with a frown earning nods of approval from the rest of his team and Cloud.

        Manerick had grown out of his beef with Cloud during the last two years. At first it had been to prevent the now stronger Ponyvillian from kicking his asses too hard during practice, a genuine camaraderie had bloomed between the two of them. While he would often admit that he would never be as friendly as Ford with the blonde, be it with benefits or not (something that was secret for no one amongst the two teams), he could remain civil with her and have a good laugh more often than none. 

“Pagétonas’ Mountain-sized, to quote Cloud, breasts aren’t that interesting,” Silent commented with a frown for her seat on Gale’s laps while the redhead had her chin resting on one of her shoulders.

“Of course, they are!” Ace, Manerick, Ford, Stardust, Gale and Cloud shouted back in unison, the same disbelieving shock present in all their voices.

        Blossomforth rolled her eyes with a displeased snort while Silent cast a hard, golden stare at the girl she was sitting on. Gale held sheepishly her gaze for a brief moment before muttering something about the scout’s own chest being much more attractive nethertheless. Silent kept her frown before smiling softly at the redhaired and gracing her with a tender kiss on the lips.

“Whipped,” Ace commented with a smirk before called the waitress for another round of drinks.

        Gale pushed her lips forward to deepen the kiss with the lithe markswoman on her lap. As one of her hands held Silent’s face close to hers, causing her to tilt her head before letting her tongue come in action, Gale used her free hand to give Ace the middle finger.

“Gale might be whipped, Ace,” Cloud remarked playfully at team twelve’s leader. “But I think that at least she’s getting laid tonight,”

“Damn right, she is,” Silent purred, her voice barely above a whisper before she went back to one of her favorite pastimes tonight: keeping Gale’s lips busy with her own.

“Want some water to calm that burn, chief?” Ford asked as Manerick and Stardust were openly mocking their team leader, even Blossomforth cracked a smile at the mumbling blond.

“Don’t get cocky, Mustang!” Ace reminded with a small frown on his face. “Unlike Cloud here, you don’t outrank me!”

“For now at least,” Ford mused in a slightly hopeful tone before raising his glass in Cloud’s direction. “Come on, one more time! For the recently promoted Sergeant Cloud Kicker, hip hip…”

“Hurray!” all the Jupitarians at the table shouted cheerfully, earning a sheepish blush from the concerned blonde.


**********************************************************************************************************


        Cloud had gone to the bar while her friends and teammates were celebrating her promotion by having the time of their lives. Ace, Manerick and Stardust had left their table in the hope of succeeding at Cloud-Kickering, as a slightly drunk Ford had called it a while ago, a group of girls that had been more than intrigued by the four, fit and muscular male soldiers. Ford, who wasn’t drunk this time, had decided to remain at their table with Blossomforth, discussing about their respective plans after they had been stationed out of Las Pegasus. Apparently he had decided to return to Baltimare and try to apply for the Naval Forces. As much as he enjoyed Las Pegasus, he missed the ocean and the fact it gave him much more interesting landscapes to paint than the desert.

        Her gaze went to Gale and Silent who were snuggling each other tenderly on the redhead’s seat. While they had been together since their fateful night with Sunset, Blossomforth and Cloud herself in the infirmary after their first maneuvers, the two of them had kept their relationship rather private over the last two years. Discrete little kisses exchanged after practice, or occasionally holding hands when they headed to the mess hall, or nuzzling each other to sleep in Gale’s bunk whenever Cloud managed to drag Blossomforth away to give them a little privacy. Yet tonight, Silent and Gale had been very expressive in their public displays of affection, and as much watching their tongues duelling against one another and their stealthy gropes at each other would have been such a turn-on, Cloud could only manage a strained smile at them, since she knew their reasons for their sudden lack of restraint.

        Cloud knew they wanted to spend their evening and end it on a really high note as they were going to break-up during the night for Silent was leaving tomorrow for Canterlot for another two years long period of training in the Lunar Guard. They had decided to put an end on their relationship now before they could get separated on bad terms because of the distance. It hadn’t been easy for both of them to accept their mutual decision, the porcupined and chopped training dummies had been way too frequent during those three painful days. Seeing them together now not only made Cloud feel bad for them, but also made a think about what Sunset had suggested before Master Sparkle showed up.

The idea of a more serious relationship with Sunset hadn’t even popped once in Cloud’s mind during the two years of their friendship with benefits. Though the same could be said about all the partners she ever had since she started dating at the age of fifteen. Yet, it hadn’t been out of her thoughts since she boarded on the train that left Canterlot. Was she even capable of a serious relationship like the one Gale and Silent had shared during two years? That was the question that poisoned her thoughts since this morning.

Her two teammates had been happy, despite a few arguments here and there, yet they had decided to break things up before their respective jobs and localisation did the job. Would the same happen to Sunset and her, should she decide to try? Sunset had also briefly talked about maybe having less casual partners. Could Cloud really settle down with someone without have a casual fling once in a while, especially if Sunset was going to be a member of the Council of Harmony and thus would probably have even less time than before for the two of them? Could she resist the temptation. Cloud was rather happy with her free status, even if she had mostly kept it to two constant partners during her training, with a few exceptions, yet images of her living together with Sunset, snuggling every night with her before simply sleeping, or even images of getting married in the future had made its way to her thoughts. As uncertain as she was on this possibility, Cloud couldn’t deny that those thoughts were quite appealing in their own rights.

Had she finally reached ‘the moment of truth’ in her life? The moment when she’d finally get out of her adolescent phase, as Vinyl liked to call her flirtatious habits, in favor of becoming a serious adult woman. Cloud was really uncertain about that, so uncertain that she had decided to follow one of her father’s saying for the first time: Any truth can always be found at the bottom of a bottle. Sadly, in his relative wisdom, Tornado Kicker never thought of telling his daughter how many bottles’ bottom one had to search for.

“Well, looks like you’ve taken some advances on being an officer, Kid!” a voice playfully commented as Cloud put her fourth beer mug on the counter after emptying it swiftly. “Sergeant for a day and already trying to drown yourself in alcohol! Usually that happens when one becomes at least Lieutenant.”

“So that’s when you picked up your thing for bourbon, Lieutenant Maverick?” Cloud turned to Spitfire as her mentor picked her bourbon on the rocks.

“Nope, I got that from my first paper-work saturday as the Captain of Wonderbolts,” Spitfire claimed with pride before raising her glass to Cloud who had just been given another beer. “Congratulations, Sergeant First Class Cloud Kicker!”

“And congratulations to you too, Lieutenant Bride-to-be,” Cloud raised her glass as well, pointed at the golden ring with the orangish gem embedded on on Spitfire’s right ring-finger. “When did that happen? It wasn’t there during that final test you gave me.”

“The day after,” Spitfire explained after the two women clinked their glasses together before she noticed an expecting glint in her protégée’s eyes. “He took me to a fancy restaurant, had them play my favorite song, champagne and he proposed after they brought the cake… You know, like how those usually happens,” she quickly explained with a certain fondness in her tone before looking at her future husband discussing with the bartender while he was preparing his cocktail.

“I can’t say that I know how those are supposed to go, Lieutenant,” Cloud stated softly. “So, when’s the big day?”

“We haven’t decided on the precise date yet, but it should happen during the last two weeks of August,” Spitfire replied as Trend arrived at her sides.

“Can’t wait to be there,” He claimed softly, gracing his fiancée’s cheek of a brief peck. “So, you’re Spitfire’s protégée, Cloud..Puncher?” he asked with hesitance, pushing his thick rimmed glasses up his nose a bit. 

“Kicker,” Cloud corrected while extending her hand for the blond to shake it.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…” he quickly started while shaking hands with her.

“It’s okay,” Cloud assured with a smile. “It’s no big deal since the Lieutenant here doesn’t actually remember my full name as well.”

“Now, now! Don’t get cocky with me, Kiddo. I’m still your superior,” Spitfire reminded playfully with an attempt at a stern face before taking a sip of her glass. 

“Sorry, Lieutenant,” Cloud stated submissively before taking another mug of beer the bartender had extended to her after she finished the one she had been holding. “As an apology, let me take care of your next drinks,”

“You can afford it, Kiddo?” Spitfire asked as Trend glanced absently around the bar, his eyes stopping on Gale and Silent’s entangled forms with curiosity.

“... I should try to write a paper on that ‘’Opposite attract’’ thing,” the writer mused softly as he saw the brawny, pale woman in red kissing the lithe, tanned blue-wearing woman on her lap. “I keep on witnessing it everywhere I go.”

“Not that you have to go far for that,” Cloud stated after assuring her mentor she had the money to pay for their grown-ups drinks, pointing at the Wonderbolts’ Captain and her future husband. “You’re already very opposite.”

“I guess that’s true,” Trend admitted with a soft chuckle. “Say, I’m curious about how exactly did Spitfire train you, would you mind sitting with us for a little bit so that I can ask you some questions?” he asked with polite curiosity.

“Why aren’t you just asking the Lieutenant?” Cloud asked back in confusion.

“He’s writing his annual paper about the Wonderbolts at the moment,” Spitfire explained casually. “That’s how I met him if you’re curious about that.”

“That’s a question I’ve been wondering about a few times,” Cloud commented with a nod. 

“Well, the thing is that after seeing you the other day, he’d like to ask you a few questions about you,” Spitfire continued her explanation in an even tone.

“With your permission, I’d like to have a small paragraph or two talking about you, Spitfire’s secret protégée,” Trend said with excitement.

“It’s not really a secret,” Cloud commented with a puzzled frown. “Plenty of people at the compound and in Canterlot know about me training under Spitfire’s supervision.”

“Well, the common people don’t know about you. It could give you a good image for your career,” Trend stated with enthusiasm.

“...I guess,” Cloud let out softly. “But I don’t want to intrude on your evening with the Lieutenant!”

“Relax, Kid,” Spitfire calmly said. “We’ll have other evenings and now I have an excuse to buy a congratulatory drink for your promotion.” She eyed Cloud’s beer with a small snort. “Though not that beer though, something actually worthy of sergeant first class. Ever tried whisky?”

“Nope!”

“You’ll like it!” Spitfire stated with a smile before the three of them went to find a free booth after Cloud warned her friends that she would be with her mentor for a while.


**********************************************************************************************************


        Cloud had had harsh wake-ups in the past: her sister dropping herself on top of her sleeping self, her mother barking and banging at her door to go to school, Applejack somehow pulling her out of her bed and room with a lasso thrown through her window, or even one of Blossomforth’s failed attempts at humor that had involved a whistle at four in the morning. Yet none could compare to the feeling that had just woken her up. It felt like something inside her head was trying to burst through her skull with repeated strikes of a steel pickaxe. 

La… Last time I try to mix beer and whisky. Cloud thought with great difficulty as she massaged her temples in her hands while sitting up on the bed. I’ll just stop drinking altogether…. Well, Just one bottle of hard cider a week at worse…. Okay, maybe two!

        Cloud tried to open her eyes but quickly decided to keep them shut as a brief moment of her retinas being exposed to a dimmed but still present light almost worsened her headache tenfold. After searching blindly her way out of bed, Cloud found it by falling off of it like a sack of potatoes. Groaning like a grumpy bear freshly out of hibernation, Cloud managed to push herself off the ground. Then she gropingly looked for the bathroom in the hope of finding some aspirin, blinking occasionally to get a blurry vision of her immediate surroundings, thus preventing her from other misfortunes with the furnitures. 

        Thankfully, the sounds of the water running led her safely to the bathroom. Silent was probably getting ready for her afternoon train to Canterlot. She had always been the first one to ever go their dorms’ shared bathroom. Cloud blindly felt the door with her hands as the sounds of water falling in a sink was heard from beyond it before she gave it three soft knocks that made her cringe in discomfort. 

“Hey, Si...… Do we have some aspirin in there?” Cloud asked in a throaty groan that made her voice sound like a man’s. “I...I think I hit the bottle too hard…”

“...Same here...” Silent’s voice came in a gruff and displeased tone. “... Co-ooohhh- Come in.”

Huh… Wouldn’t have thought Silent would ever get drunk… Cloud rubbed her eyes open before entering inside the bathroom.

        The light of the bathroom attacked her eyes, causing her to groan in discomfort before she stood in front of the available sink. Cloud fumbled slowly to grab the bottle of aspirin that stood open between the two sinks. After popping two tablets in her mouth, Cloud opened the faucet to drink from it. Then, Cloud spooned some of the water with her hands before splashing it in her face, like Silent had been doing since Cloud stepped inside the bathroom. Felling relatively fresher than before, Cloud yawned loudly in front of the mirror as her sight became less blurry. 

“.... You dyed your hair orange last night, Silent?” Cloud asked sleepily, watching the reflexion of her friend’s now fiery hair in the mirror. “..... And how much fondation did you use to have your skin so whit…..” Cloud started before Silent looked in the mirror as well, making her see that her friends’ eyes had gone from golden to hazelnut.

        Both the women in the bathroom stared at each other through the mirror of the bathroom for a few seconds, blinking in total shock.

“....Lieutenant… Did you lose some sort of a bet with Sergeant Pagétonas that made you check the compound’s showers?” Cloud asked slowly.

“...Noooo,” Spitfire replied in a whisper.

“Then, why are you in my dorm’s bathroom?” Cloud asked fearfully.

“I have a better a question, Kid, why are you in my suite’s bathroom?” Spitfire asked back in a shaking tone, causing Cloud to look around a bit.

        It was way too luxurious to be one of the Compound’s bathrooms, if the burnished brazen or golden faucets, mirror frames and the polished oak furnitures around them were of any indications. While looking around, Cloud took notice of a detail that didn’t help her feeling better this morning, despite just having taken two tablets of aspirin.

“I think I have the best question, Lieutenant,” Cloud stated slowly as she faced back Spitfire’s reflexion. “Why exactly are we both naked?”

There was a short silence that was cut by a loud and deep snoring that came from outside the bathroom. Without realizing it, both naked soldiers picked up a nearby bath robe and went to the threshold and took a peek at the bedroom by just passing their heads past it. Trend was snoring with his mouth open, a dribble of saliva rolling past his lips to his chin and his body taking all the place it could on the large double bed. With their heads somehow clearer than when they each had woken up, Spitfire and Cloud could assess the state of the bedroom and how much three sets of clothings could be spread in it.

“.............huuuh,” Cloud started uneasily as she spotted a bra, which she recognized as her own, hanging from the hatrack close to the suite’s door. 

“I think I’m gonna stop drinking,” Spitfire muttered before she pinched the bridge of her nose with a small sigh.

“I think I’m gonna follow your example,” Cloud whispered as Spitfire kept the pressure on the space between her eye. “Are you okay?”

“.... I need a shower,” Spitfire stated sternly in response to Cloud’s worried question. “I want you and all your stuff out of the building by the time I get out of the stall. Is that clear?” Spitfire asked after lower her hand off her face.

“Crystal clear, Ma’am,” Cloud replied softly as Spitfire turned away from the door and went to the stall. “......... Spitfire. I’m sorry. I don’t really remember what happened. It’s all a blur but, knowing me, I’m probably the one who started it, and I’m sorry for that.”

“....... It’s okay, kid,” Spitfire sighed softly, her gaze focused on the shower curtains. “We were drunk and we allowed ourselves to go too far. We’re all to blame in this story… So, I guess I’m sorry for letting that happen....”

“So… We’re good?”

“Do you plan on telling your friends about it?”

“While they probably wouldn’t believe me if I ever told them, it’s not in my intentions… I’ll pretend it never happened,” Cloud assured quietly. “Heck, I was so drunk that I don’t really remember what we exactly did. It’s even kinda hard for me to believe whatever we did actually happened,” she added with a nervous chuckle. 

“Then we’re good, since nothing ever happened,” Spitfire replied, a brief laugh escaping her own lips. “You should go before Trend wakes up…” 

She heard Cloud turning around to leave the bathroom as she opened the curtains of the shower, a small flash of lucidity rang through her mind about a topic of that seemed to have distraught her young, and back-then drunken, protegée. 

“Cloud!” she called gently.

“....Yes?” Cloud answered with surprise, both from her mentor’s gentle tone and the use of her first name, especially considering the circumstances.

“That girl you told us about yesterday… You might want to really try it with her. You sounded quite smitten about her,” Spitfire let out softly.

“That’s what you remember from last night?” Cloud asked slowly, her tone partially shocked by the fact she had spoken about that yesterday, and partially offended by the fact that Spitfire remembered that over her performances.

“Well, when you started rambling about her in your drunken state, you ignored that waitress with a cleavage the size of a valley bending over two feet next to you to pick up the broken glass a customer had dropped by accident,” Spitfire explained softly. “That’s the sort of rare things you tend to not forget.”

“... And I didn’t steal a glance at that waitress?!”

“She didn’t even seem to exist to you,” Spitfire stated slowly.

“....Wow! That’s something.” Cloud was as surprised as Spitfire had been when she had witnessed the scene in question.

“There are some opportunities that can’t be missed, Cloud,” Spitfire stated as she went inside the stall. “Love is probably the most important of those, so don’t miss it because you’re too scared of what may or may not happen, or because you think it’s going to be too hard for you.”

“....It feels kinda weird that you’re telling me that now,” Cloud replied in a chuckled whisper. “I mean… Considering the circumstances…”

“...Kinda…” Spitfire admitted slowly, her own chuckle escaping her lips. “But it doesn’t make it any less true. So, go for it!”

“.....”

“No, seriously go! I’m in the shower now!” Spitfire snapped playfully before drawing the curtains close and then putting her robe off.

“Right, sorry!” 

Cloud broke out of her brief silence before she went to get her clothes that had been scattered around the room back with the stealth of a cat. Cloud gathered all her clothes in less than a minute and went back to the bathroom to get dressed. As soon as she was dressed, Cloud made way to the small terrace accessible by the bathroom, wondering about the use an hotel suite could have for such terrace in the first place until she spotted a hot-tub filling most of the small terrace’s space. Bringing her fingers to her chin, Cloud observed the outdoor pool with great interest, oblivious to the fact that Spitfire’s head peeked from beyond the shower curtain to see where the draft she was feeling was coming from.

“Stop staring at that hot-tub and fuck off, Kid!” Spitfire’s sharp order startled Cloud out of her thoughts on how it would be awesome to do it in a hot-tub with a certain, curly-haired Titanian. “And close that door behind you!” Spitfire added sternly before bring her head back behind the shower curtain once Cloud had closed the door and taken off in this early morning.


        

> Departures from Las Pegasus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Cloud had walked in her team’s dorm as Silent was doing a last minute check on her luggages with the help of Blossomforth. Gale had apparently gone on a morning practice, if the empty spot on the group’s weapon rack where she usually rested her long axe was of any indication. Blossomforth draw her attention on who had just come in, before she tapped on Silent’s shoulder to get her to look away from her stuff. 

“Good morning, Sergeant,” they both said in an even tone as they saluted.

Cloud blinked a couple of times and glanced around to see if Sergeant Pagétonas was behind her before she remembered they were saluting another sergeant than the one they had seen everyday for two years. 

“Riiight… At ease,” Cloud half-heartedly ordered before rubbing her temple softly. “...Do we have something for headaches? Something that lasts longer than aspirin?”

“....Hangover?” Blossomforth asked after she closed the distance separating her from Cloud.

“Yep,” Cloud nodded before sitting on her bunk as Blossomforth prepared a long glass of water for her.

“You need to drink a lot of water,” Blossomforth stated after giving Cloud her glass and leaving the pitcher on the blonde’s nightstand.

“Thanks,” Cloud muttered softly, bringing the glass to her lips.

“Want me to get you one of your aftermath potions?” Blossomforth asked as the fresh water cleared Cloud’s dry throat and fogged mind a little bit.

“If you don’t mind,” Cloud said softly before Blossomforth went to the bathroom and came back with a red vial in her hand. “Thanks, Blossom.”

“You’re welcome,” Blossomforth said calmly while Cloud popped the vial’s tap open. “I hope you know that I won’t do that every time you come to work hungover, Sergeant,”

“I hope so too,” Cloud assured after emptying the vial in one gulp. “Matter of fact, my first order as your sergeant would be to bash my head with your spear any time you spot me getting more than tipsy.”

“I can do that,” Blossomforth snorted with a smile. “I really thought your first order would be for all female guards to wear mini-skirts.”

“....That’s not a bad idea,” Cloud mused playfully. “You’re going to go far with ideas like this one, Private Shields! I might even name you my second in command one day!”

“Such an honor,” Blossomforth sarcastically retorted with a roll of her eyes. “You should probably take a shower… You don’t smell so good,” she added, wrinkling her nose in discomfort.

“Always a pleasure to hear that,” Cloud frowned a bit before standing up and leaning her face close to her armpit. “Even if that’s the truth!” Her frown turned into a wince of disgust at her own smell. “I’ll see you two in a bit.” 

        And with that, Cloud went inside the dorm’s bathroom, oblivious that Silent and Blossomforth were both staring at her with a puzzled frown. Quickly enough the sound of the showerhead running and the blonde’s casual humming tone came from the bathroom, and it was at that moment that Silent and Blossomforth turned away from the door beyond which the sounds came from to look at each other.

“Did Cloud just go in the shower without suggesting one of us should go have one with her?” Silent asked with shock.

“She did,” Blossomforth replied, worry very much present in her voice. “You think she’s sick?”

“I don’t know… She didn’t look feverish or anything, did she?”

“She looked like she had too many drinks last night,” Blossomforth answered softly. “Other than that nothing!”

“.... Maybe she just decided to act more like an officer with us,” Silent suggested after shaking her head to answer Blossomforth’s question. “...It would be hard to obey the orders of someone who’s constantly flirting with his subordinates.”

“I guess,” Blossomforth let out slowly. “Though, I never thought it would change her behavior so fast… Yesterday, she completely ignored Waitress cleavage…”

“Well, she was talking to Lieutenant Maverick and her beau,” Silent reminded slowly. “They probably had more interesting things to talk about…”

“I don’t know...I think there’s something wrong…”

“Something wrong about?” Gale asked as she walked inside the dorm, her large axe resting on her shoulder.

“Cloud went to take a shower and didn’t ask Blossomforth or I to come inside with her!” Silent explained quickly, earning a blank stare from the redhead.

“.... Cloud did that?” Gale asked, turning to Blossomforth who nodded slowly. “The same Cloud that ignored the waitress with the Great Rift trapped under her apron when she bent over two feet from her yesterday?”

“Yes!” Blossomforth nodded.

“Is she sick?” Gale asked with worry.

“We don’t think…”

        A loud noise of something falling on the ground came from the bathroom and interrupted Silent’s answer. All three women looked at each other before they made their way to the bathroom, fearing that Cloud had had a feeling of faintness and collapsed in the stall. With a great strike of shoulder, Gale busted the door open and rushed inside with Blossomforth and Silent in tow. 

“Well,” Cloud’s head peeked out of the shower curtains. “The screws of the towel rack finally gave in,” she said at the sight of the mess of iron bars and towels on the ground just next to the shower. “One of us will have to go to the hardware store, otherwise Pagétonas would not leave us in peace until it’s fixed.” Cloud then turned to see her three teammates looking at her and then to see the door’s state. “.... Not that I particularly care, but why did you break the door down? And why are you all looking at me funny like that?”


**********************************************************************************************************


        A few hours later,

        After the incident in the bathroom, Gale volunteered to go to the hardware store to buy what was needed to fix the door and the towel rack. Cloud and Blossomforth had told her that it could wait for later, but the redhead had insisted on going right away. They knew it was just an excuse to be away from Silent and the fact she was leaving them. Gale had accepted Silent’s reasons for their break-up, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t hurting her. Blossomforth and Cloud knew Gale had realized that it was hurting Silent too, but she still had prefered to stay away from her. 

While Gale was away to the hardware store, the rest of the team accompanied Silent to the train station along with Ford and a great deal of their fellow trainees who were leaving today for their new assigned stations as well. They arrived on the platform a good five minutes before the train would begin his entry into the station, and were bombarding Silent with last minutes recommendations.

“Don’t become a stranger and write to us, okay?” Cloud asked as she hugged the dark-skinned scout softly. “Ponyville is on the quiet side of life so we’ll need some entertainment from the capital!” she jested playfully.

“The closest town to the Everfree forest in all of Equestria on the quiet side of life?” Silent asked with a doubtful, raise of eyebrow. “Hard to believe…”

“The monsters of the Everfree stopped liking the scent of apples a few years ago,” Cloud explained with a shrug. “They’ve come to associate it with danger…”

“......What?” Blossomforth asked, her own eyebrow raised higher than Silent. 

“I’ll explain it to you once we get here.” Cloud waved off casually.

“Riiight,” Blossomforth let out slowly before she went to hug Silent as well. “Anyway, should you need anything, it’s like the sergeant just said. Write to us and we’ll help you in any way we can!”

“Thanks!” Silent returned the hug strongly before letting of the watermelon-haired woman. “It’s going to be weird without you girls….” she admitted in a slightly pained whisper as her eyes glanced around the platform with sadness.

“You’re sure you didn’t want us to bring her here, Silent?” Cloud asked gently as the grey-haired scout sighed deeply.

“It’s okay,” Silent replied with a shake of her head. “We’ve told each other everything last night.” Her cheeks rosied a little at the mention of last night.

“You sure you found the time to say everything?” Cloud asked with a knowing grin.

“...We managed to find some time for that,” Silent admitted sheepishly, her tanned cheeks taking a bright shade of crimson. “You’ll look after her, won’t you?”

“Sure thing, Silent!” Blossomforth and Cloud assured with vigorous nod.

At that moment, the train engaged itself on the platform before coming to a full stop a few seconds later. After a sharp whistle, a large amount of people stepped down of the train with enthusiasm, probably tourists waiting to spend their bits at the casino, thus forcing the group of guards to back away from the train to let them pass. It took a few minutes before the way was clear again. With a final wave to her teammates, Silent passed the bag that kept her crossbow on her shoulder and picked up the travel bag.

“WAIT!” 

A sudden shout stopped Silent from stepping inside the train before a sharp, whistling sound came closer to her. A loud thud and a soft breeze on her back made Silent know that someone had landed just behind her. She slowly started to turn around, but before she could finish her move, two pale and muscular arms were wrapped around her. Her travel bag landed half in the train, half on the platform as Silent recognized instantly the arms around her lithe frame. How couldn’t she have recognized them when she had felt their embrace at least once a day, everyday for two years.

“...I’m sorry… I’m sorry for avoiding you this morning,” Gale whispered in her ear, her voice shaking in a sincere apologetic tone. “... I’m sorry for not helping you with your bags… I’m sorry for not accompanying to the station … I’m sorry for nearly missing your departure because I love you too much to see you go… I know we agreed on this break-up and I won’t try to convince you out of joining the Lunar Guard… I thought I could be strong enough to handle it but I’m too weak for that apparently…”

Silent blinked a couple of times as she could see the tears filling the redhead’s crystal blue eyes.

“...What did you just say?” Silent asked, her voice barely above a whisper and shaking like a leaf in a storm. “Could you repeat it, please…”

“..I’m too weak…”

“No! Before!”

“...Sorry for avoiding you…”

“No! After that!”

“..Won’t try to convince..”

“Just after Because! What did you say after because?!”

The redhead gulped nervously before answering. “I love you too much to see you go,” Gale let out softly, locking her eyes on Silent’s golden ones.

“....... I knew you’d make this hard, Gale,” Silent blurted with a warm chuckle, earning an hurt glare from the redhead.

“Glad to hear that makes you laummmhghghgh!”

        Gale’s frowny retort melted away as Silent pushed her tongue deep past the redhead’s unexpecting lips. The lithe scout brought her hands up to tangle her fingers in the shoulder long crimson hair, while Gale’s tongue duelled fiercely against Silent’s. The redhead’s strong arms strengthened their embrace on the future Lunar Guard, lifting her off the ground a little bit. Cloud and Blossomforth stared blankly at the two women lost in their kiss while some nearby parents chased their children away from the scene before Ford and Ace, who were taking that train with Silent joined the observing pair. 

“Didn’t they decide to break up before Silent’s departure?” Ford asked in a low whisper.

“That’s what they decided, yes,” Cloud replied with a nod as Silent boldly wrapped her legs around Gale’s waist.

“I didn’t know that is how breakups usually happened,” Ace commented before turning to Blossomforth. “Hey, Blossom! Wanna break up with me?” he asked in a low purr, wiggling his eyebrows at the spearwoman.

“Piss off, Ace!” Blossomforth snapped with rosy cheeks.

“Well, I suppose that the Sergeant will break up with Mustang then?” Ace asked playfully before noticing that Ford had pulled his sketchbook and a pencil out.

“Can’t do!” Ford stated as his lead danced on the paper with swift and precise moves of his hand. “I’m capturing the moment!” he explained with a sharp nod at the kissing pair.

“Should I be offended by this?” Cloud asked curiously.

“I don’t know,” Blossomforth shrugged as Ace laughed at her for being embarrassed so fast. “I’m still trying to figure how relationships work for you…”

“...You and me both, Blossom,” Cloud chuckled softly as a sharp whistle rang through the platform.

“AALLLL ABOARD!!!!”

“I guess that’s our cue!” Ace stated as many passengers rushed inside the train, grumbling at Silent and Gale still making out and blocking one of the train doors. “Blossomforth, Sergeant Kicker, it’s has been an honor!” Ace assured with a warm smile at the two women with a brief, playful salute. 

        Rolling her eyes, Blossomforth extended her fist to the blond soldier, who bumped his into it instantly while Cloud saluted him with two fingers before shaking hands with him. The blonde then turned to the artist who had put his pencil away once the whistle rang, satisfied with his first sketch, on which he’d work during the ride. 

“I guess this is it,” Ford let out calmly. “You remember our first train ride?”

“How could I forget?” Cloud chuckled softly. “You had quite the wandering eyes back then!”

“You had quite the revealing pants and habits back then,” Ford retorted with a knowing smile. “Well, to be honest, you still have both,” he reminded playfully.

“Same for your eyes, Mustang!” Cloud smirked, poking at Ford’s sketchbook a few times. “And the same could be told about your mind, if your drawings of me are of any indications,”

“I’ve never asked you to pose in the nude whenever you accepted modelling for me.”

“You’ve never asked me to put my clothes back on though… I’m not sure I would have listened but you could have tried if it made you feel uncomfortable...” She reminded with a triumphing smirk as Ford’s cheek reddened as the many drawings of Cloud popped in his minds.

“...I wouldn’t say uncomfortable is the right word, but let’s go with that for the sake of the discussion,” Ford laughed sheepishly before extending his hand to Cloud. “Anyway, it’s a goodbye I presume…”

        Cloud shook her head and ignored his extended hand to give him a strong hug that he returned after a few seconds long shock. As she broke their embrace, Cloud gave him a gentle peck on the cheek.

“I prefer a ‘’See you around!’’,” Cloud retorted warmly before pushing Ford in the direction of his train. “Have fun finding a new sexy model for your fantasies in Baltimare!”

“Well, Mermaids have been sighted in Horseshoe Bay, so don’t worry about me or my fantasies!” Ford claimed playfully as he walked away.

“And how would you score with a mermaid, Ford?”

“I’d just do what I’ve learned from the best!” Ford assured with a small wink that made Cloud giggle softly before he stepped inside the train sideway to not interrupt Gale and Silent’s passionate kiss.

        Ace followed Ford inside the train, but, unlike his partner, he gave a small tap on the redhead’s shoulder before pulling Silent’s travelbag completely inside the wagon. The small hit on her shoulder reminded Gale that Silent’s train was about to leave. With great efforts from her part, Gale slowly pulled her lips away from Silent’s, a strand of saliva connecting their mouth together briefly before it was swept broken by a small breeze. Her chest heaving as her panting gasps became less frequent, Silent unhooked her legs from around Gale’s waist before the redhead put her down inside the wagon. 

“I love you too, Gale,” Silent whispered tenderly, her forehead touching Gale’s for a brief instant. “I love you, but I can’t stay with you… I’m sorry!”

“I know,” Gale whispered softly. “Focus on your dream, Silent. I’ll just try to wait for you,”

“I’m not asking you to do that!” Silent chastised in a shaken voice.

“It won’t stop me from trying,” Gale admitted with assurance. “Goodbye.”

“...Goodbye.”

        They shared one last, brief, and much more chaste kiss before Gale let go of the grey-haired scout. Silent secured her shoulder bag in her grip as she took a few steps inside the train, her free hand rubbing her tear-filled eyes softly, while Gale stepped back from the train, much to a railway-attendant’s pleasure, who could finally close the door and whistle for the driver to go.

        Said driver made use of his locomotive’s whistle before the wagons jerked forward a bit and then slowly slided along the rails. Gale and Silent maintained eye-contact as long as possible before the train left the station. The redhead kept standing there as the steam-powered vehicle became a smaller figure on the horizon with Cloud and Blossomforth quietly watching over her. Once the train was out of sight, Cloud went to her friend’s side and rested a comforting hand on her shoulder. 

“Come on,” Cloud gently said in a murmur. “We’ve still got some stuff to buy at the hardware store.”

“Okay,” Gale whispered in a sad voice. “...How do you know I didn’t go there already?”

“You’re not as stealthy as you think you are, Gale,” Cloud assured softly. “I’ve noticed you following us the moment we left our dorms. I was just waiting when you’d finally come around and talk to her before she leaves.”

        Gale didn’t say anything in response to that, and Cloud left it at that. After a small, friendly tap on her back from Blossomforth, Gale and her two teammates conjured their wings and took off to go get the materials and tools needed to fix their dorms’ bathroom.


**********************************************************************************************************


        The next day,

        The three girls had made a final check to see if nothing had been forgotten, and so far it didn’t seem like it. Their wall of fame had been cleared of all its articles, pictures and trophies; their bathroom had been fixed the afternoon before, though Blossomforth had accidentally hammered Gale’s thumb during the repairs; and their closets had been emptied of their possessions. 

“You have all of your stuff ready?” Blossomforth asked as she tightened the straps of backpack. “Our train leaves in two hours, so we need to be there quickly.”

“Blossom, relax!” Cloud recommended softly as she pulled the zipper of her travel bag close. “It’s an hour and half long walk to the station at worse. Forty minutes by carriage, or fifteen by flight. We’re not gonna miss our train.”

“Still, I’d prefer if we arrive at the station early!” Blossomforth argued before glancing at Gale’s bunk. “Gale, get up!”

        Gale folded the photograph she had been looking at for the past ten minutes and put it in one of her inner pockets before leaving her bed with a small groan.

“Fine! Fine! I’m up!” Gale stated as she passed the strap of her bag on her shoulder before picking up her Diamond Dog Axe to rest it on her other shoulder. “And ready to go!”

“.....You’re gonna walk around with that uncovered?” Blossomforth asked with a frown. “People will be bothered by this!”

Gale simply pointed at one of the many Royal Guard Insignias on her jacket in response. Blossomforth glared at her for a few seconds before glancing at Cloud for support, causing her to sigh with a brief chuckle.

“Swiftwing, just wrap the head of your weapon with some cloth at least,” Cloud stated in a serious, commanding tone. “We don’t want to make a scene at the train station.”

“All right, Sergeant” Gale shrugged before taking a random piece of clothing from her bag, a bright teal top, and put it on the bladed head of her weapon. “Done!”

“.... Fancy,” Blossomforth admitted before all three chuckled softly at the bone-made weapon wrapped in teal fabric. “Can we go now?”

“You’ve got a date with that ticket guy from yesterday that you’re in a hurry to go the station?” Cloud asked playfully before picking her travel bag and backpack.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Blossomforth rolled her eyes, her cheeks rosing at the mention of a possible date for her as usual. “He barely said three words to me!”

“He was kinda cute, and from what I saw you were his type,” Cloud remarked casually. “You totally could have gotten a date yesterday instead of checking your luggages for the nth time!”

“You, maybe. Me, absolutely not!” Blossomforth stated before grabbing the straps of her travel bag and going to the door. “And now, we’re going!” she ordered sternly while picking her cloth-covered spear that rested against the door.

“Remember that you’re her superior now, Cloud,” Gale reminded as she and Cloud went out of the dorms after Blossomforth. “You can order her around and not the opposite.”

“Don’t remind me too much of that, for I can order you around too.“

“I’ll just shut up then,” Gale quickly stated in response, earning a playful roll of eyes from the young sergeant.

“Sergeant Kicker!”

        Cloud stopped right in her tracks when she recognized the voice of Sergeant Pagétonas calling her in her stern, commanding voice, the only tone the girls had ever heard from the silver-haired sergeant.

“Sergeant Pagétonas,” Cloud replied in a formal tone while straightening her stance, quickly imitated by her two partners.

“Ready to go I see,” Crystal commented, her eyes glancing at the luggages carried by the three Royal Guards who nodded in response. “There’s someone who wants to see you. I’ve told him you were about to leave, but he insists that it’s important and urgent.”

“Ha,” Cloud let out in confusion. “Well, I suppose I have a few minutes. Who’s it?”

“Trend,” Crystal replied with a shrug before inviting Cloud to follow her with a jerk of her head.

“Trend?!” Cloud asked back in surprise. “Why does he want to see me?”

“I didn’t ask!” Crystal apathetically replied.

        With Blossomforth and Gale as surprised and confused as her, Cloud followed Crystal to main building of the compound. In front of said building, Trend was sitting on a bench, his feet batting a fast paced rhythm he was the only one to hear. Cloud could tell he had been sweating like crazy, and while it was a rather hot day, she had realized it wasn’t just the warm weather that was the cause of his sweating. He was clearly nervous about something. 

“There she is,” Crystal announced casually, causing Trend to look up in their direction, his face lighting up immediately.

“Hey, Trend! You wanted to see meeeeghghuuuuuuuUMMMMHHHHHGG!”

        Before anyone could react, Trend had run the distance separating him from Cloud to press his lips against hers with great passion. His passion encountered nothing but shock from the four Royal Guards: If Cloud wasn't having her lips trapped by Trend’s, she would probably gap like an idiot at him. When she felt his tongue push inside her mouth, Cloud groaned in displeasure and tried to push him off of her. His enthusiasm made it difficult for her to do so until Crystal, who had spotted Cloud’s resistance to the kiss, intervened and separated them.

“OFF, NOW!” Crystal barked before unceremoniously shoving both blonds apart from one another.

“WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!” Cloud shouted in total disbelief after Gale caught her to prevent her from falling on the ground like Trend.

“I’m sorry, I should have waited when we would have privacy,” Trend stated amorously as he sat up on the dirt. “But I couldn’t stop myself when I saw you, my love!”

“WHAT?!” Cloud shouted back, barely hearing Blossomforth and Gale repeated her question. “What Love?! What are you talking about?!....WHAT??!!!”

“Since that night we spent together, I can’t stop thinking about you,” Trend declared with tenderness, oblivious to Cloud’s shock and distress.

“Cloud, how could you?!” Blossomforth shouted with shock. “He’s engaged to someone!”

“.I-I.. I was drunk and…”

“That’s your excuse?” Crystal asked with a cocked eyebrow. “Because that’s not a good one!”

“He was drunk too, and Spitfire was with us the whole time!” Cloud added angrily. 

“.......Nice,” Gale let out more to herself than to anyone else.

“It was not nice, Gale!” Cloud snapped at the redhead before Trend intervened.

“It was more than that!” Trend mused with stars in his eyes. “It was better than anything I’ve ever done with Spitfire… We had something more. A much deeper connection! I know it’s destiny that brought you to me so that we can be forever together! That’s why I broke my engagement with Spitfire and came here to ask for your hand!”

        A deep silence was the sole response to his declaration as four pair of wide, shocked eyes turned to look at him, expressions of horrors on all four women’s face.

“...Ask for my hand?” Cloud asked with her mouth agape.

“I can’t fight against what my heart commands,” Trend explained pulling a small box from his pocket.

“Oh, Gods,” Cloud whispered while bringing her hands over her mouth. Don’t open that box! Don’t open that box!

        Trend did open that box, revealing a golden band with a gemstone embedded on it inside it. Crystal’s shocked frown turned into a deep scowl when she saw it. She had seen the ring not long before, though it was around Spitfire’s ringfinger, not in a box.

“..... Huuh,” Blossomforth let out, casting a worried glance at Cloud who had frozen at the sight at the ring.

“.... Cloud?” Gale asked fearfully as the blonde’s hands moved away from her mouth.

“........You’re so dead, Trend,” Cloud whispered quietly.

“Oh,” Trend’s cheeks reddened, remembering another circumstance when Cloud had said those words. “That can wait for later right???”

“No, it can’t,” Cloud calmly explained, a nimbo-gladius forming in her hand. “I’m gonna bury that blade deep into that stupid, commanding heart of yours until it stops beating RIGHT NOW!!!!”

        Cloud took one step forward, her sword ready to be thrusted forward, her fury clear on her face, before Blossomforth and Gale passed their arms around hers and her torso.

“No, Cloud! Don’t do that!” Blossomforth ordered as she struggled to keep her grip on the raging blonde.

“LET ME GO! I’LL KILL THAT MORON WHERE HE STANDS!! LET ME GO!!!”

“Yeah, not really!” Gale let out as she pulled Cloud away from a shocked, and confused Trend.

“AS YOUR SUPERIOR, I’M ORDERING YOU TO LET ME GO AND TO HELP ME GETTING RID OF THAT DUMBASS!!”

“Tempting, but we’re gonna have to disobey those orders, Sergeant,” Blossomforth commented with a sheepish chuckle as Gale and she had put enough distance between Cloud and Trend.

        Though, holding back Cloud wasn’t enough to prevent any harm to Trend, as Crystal finally stepped between the two blonds and punched the male one so strong he went back on the ground instantly. Seeing that caused Cloud and her two partners to freeze right in their tracks. Crystal then picked the ring box up the ground and closed it.

“Up,” Crystal said to a trembling and bruised-face Trend. “UP!” Gulping nervously, Trend stood up as Crystal faced Cloud, her expression stern and commanding. “Sergeant, let go of your weapon. No one is killing anyone around here without me giving the order!”

“ I...” Cloud started slowly.

“Sergeant Kicker, let go of your weapon, or I’ll make you let go of it myself!” Crystal warned in a cold, angered tone. “Good,” she added when the nimbo-gladius vanished from the blonde’s hand. “Now, Trend, be a good little man, and get the hell out of my compound.”

“No, I’m ready to fight for my Lov…”

“Please, finish that sentence, Trend!” Crystal stated in a hopeful tone. "I've been waiting to kick your ass ever since you claimed that Snowdrop was simply a myth and piece of folklore all those years ago... and now? Now you messed with Spitfire. Played with her feelings, and made a mess in my compound. So please... Please give me just one more reason to put you in the hospital right now!"

        Trend locked eyes with the silver-haired sergeant for brief instant before he picked himself off the ground and puffed his chest and take one step toward the sergeant. Crystal stood her ground before her right hand tightened in a fist. Feeling the sudden cold that follow turned out to be too much for Trend’s resolution, and he quickly turned heels and walked away from the four female guards without a word.

“I’ll send you letters, my love!” he shouted loudly in Cloud’s direction, causing many nearby recruits and older trainees to look at their general direction. “HIAAAAARGH!” he shrieked a second later when an ice-made shard flew just under the crotch of his pants.

“He can’t take a hint,” Crystal muttered dryly as Trend now ran away from her.

“Cloud, are you okay?” Blossomforth asked with worry as Cloud grabbed the base of her hair angrily.

“No! I’m not okay!” Cloud snapped loudly. “That ...That idiot broke up with Spitfire because of me! How can I be okay with that?!” Her angry face turned into one of great remorse. “....He had proposed to her and I ruined that!!”

“Hey! HE ruined that, Cloud!” Gale reminded with force. “Not you!”

“I..I..I gotta talk to Spitfire… I’ve got to explain…”

“You will do no such thing!” Crystal stated firmly. “You girls are to report to Ponyville Guard post tomorrow afternoon. You can’t and will not miss that train!”

“B-but…”

“Duty calls before anything else, Sergeant! Remember that!” Crystal barked with authority.

“Screw the call of duty, Sergeant!” Cloud snapped angrily, butting her forehead against Crystal. “I’ve made a mess, and I’ll clean it! I REFUSE to leave Las Pegasus before talking to the Lieutenant Maverick! Do I make myself clear?!”

“You’ve got a lot of guts, Kicker, I’ll give you that,” Crystal admitted slowly. “But you’re way ahead of yourself on this!”

        Slowly, Crystal raised the bottom of her shirt a bit, showing a round mark, similar to a fist impact, of burned flesh a little bit to the right of her belly button. Cloud blinked at the sight of the mark while she heard Blossomforth gasp quietly behind her. Crystal Pagétonas was the Winterjet, the Human Wendigo, some even called her the New Snowdrop. Her having been burned by something was so surreal for the three younger Royal Guards.

“I got this the one time Spitfire and me pissed each other off, and I mean really off!” Crystal explained slowly. "We fought for over two hours, and her fire-fist burned through my frost shapes and left me with this. Likewise she ended up with a frostbite scar on her back. Spitfire's not someone you are able to take care of right now, Kicker,” she stated more gently before she kept going. “Her fiancé, that moron, probably broke her heart in pieces because of his non-sensible affection for you. You're going to take that train let me deal with her right now, because I'd rather you don't become a pile of ashes.”

“She’d attack her?” Gale asked with shock.

“Maybe… Maybe not… It’s a risk I’m not willing to take,” Crystal stated matter-of-factly. “Now, go get your train.” When Cloud didn’t move, Crystal flicked her nose. “That’s an order, Sergeant!”

“......Okay,” Cloud let out softly before all three younger guards left Crystal to her thoughts.

Now, I’ve got to look for a large, unauthorized bonfire… Oh, joy! Crystal sighed before conjuring her wings and readied herself to take off.


**********************************************************************************************************


        The next day, Spitfire’s country residence,

“Took me a while to figure out where you were!” A familiar voice brought Spitfire out of her reverie.

“....Hi, Crystal,” the captain of the Wonderbolts replied apathetically as the sergeant stood to her left. 

Immediately after, Spitfire grabbed a pair of men's pants from the pile of clothes and other trinkets, at the right of where she was sitting, and threw it in the massive fire before her. The silver-haired woman looked at the flames consuming the piece of clothing in silence until Spitfire grabbed a pair of green and orange checkered socks.

“Can I help you with that?” Crystal asked slowly as Trend’s socks joined his pants in the raging inferno before them. “It looks fun.” 

“.... I don’t mind,” Spitfire shrugged before Crystal went to sit on the other side of the pile.

“So, where’s Thaddeus?” Crystal asked with curiosity while throwing one of Trend’s books into the fire. “I didn’t spot him on my flight here.”

“I was supposed to be away a while longer so Soarin’s keeping an eye on him,” Spitfire explained casually, casting a photo of herself hugging Trend with tenderness. “He likes Soarin a lot, though that might have do with Soar’ giving him some pie every now and then,” she added with a brief chuckle.

“Soarin has always been a big softie when it comes to animals,” Crystal commented casually before she went to her pocket. “Trend went to the compound yesterday,” she said, throwing a dark, velvet box she had pulled out of her pocket in front of Spitfire.

Spitfire stared at the box in silence for a few moments. “What for?” she asked as she opened the box to see her former engagement ring.

“He wanted to propose to Kicker with that ring,” Crystal explained before the fire instantly grew more intense. “She threatened to dice him up with her cloud-sword or whatever she calls that shape of hers,” the sergeant added slowly.

“Uh-uh.”

“She’s probably beating herself up over that,” Crystal stated, turning to look at Spitfire.

“Good for her! She’ll learn that there are consequences to her actions,” Spitfire muttered angrily. 

“I doubt that she put the idea of breaking your engagement in Trend’s mind,” Crystal mused slowly. “He had a weird thought process and you know it.”

“She confessed that whatever happened that night was probably her fault! That she had started it!” Spitfire yelled furiously. “You know me! You know I don’t do that sort of stuff!”

“...You said ‘whatever happened that night was probably her fault’... That means you’re not sure yourself,” Crystal pointed out with narrowed eyes. “I get the feeling she wasn’t the only one drunk that night!”

“SO?! You’re going to defend her instead of me?!” Spitfire asked furiously. “That ...That SLUT took my fiancé away from me!”

“She didn’t steal anyone, Spitfire,” Crystal claimed calmly. “Trend left you on his ow...”

“SHUT UP!” 

Spitfire had yelled all her anger out in one instant, interrupting Crystal as the bonfire turned into a scorching column of flames that reached for the sky. The sergeant had to cover her eyes to protect them from the light before the fire died down. When she heard soft, pained whimpers, Crystal quickly stood up and went to Spitfire, who had brought her knees to her chest and laid her face on top of them.

“...Why… why did he do that?” Spitfire asked between heartbroken sobs. “... What does that girl have that made him so easy to leave me after one drunken night with her?” Her lips trembled as Crystal soothingly passed her fingers through her hair. “We’ve been dating for two years… he proposed to me barely three weeks ago… And he threw me away like I was an old pair of worn-out shoes after one night…” Spitfire’s sobs grew louder and more pained. “He didn’t even wait a day to let me know that he had doubts… He just came to me the afternoon after and told me that he had fallen in love with the kid. That they had deeper connection, even if he had just felt it once… That she was better suited for him than me…”

“That man is a moron, Spitfire,” Crystal stated softly. “And believe me, as soon as you’re better, we’ll go on a manhunt… It’ll give Thaddeus some exercise!”

        Spitfire choked a small bout of laughter amongst her sobs.

“Manhunts are illegal, you know,” Spitfire reminded slowly, looking up from her knees before Crystal hugged her head softly.

“Oh, right,” she let out in disappointment. “Probably for the best: Thaddeus would have caught who knows what after gobbling Trend up.”

“I’d rather not have my dog getting sick,” Spitfire stated slowly.

        Crystal nodded while gently rocking Spitfire back and forth, her eyes falling on the still large pile of Trend’s stuff. She then softly went to pick the ring box from Spitfire’s hand, meeting no resistance, and put it on top of the pile. Under Spitfire’s teary and questioning look, the sergeant nodded at the pile a couple of times until the captain of the Wonderbolts understood what she wanted. Soon after, all of belongings that Trend had left in her home, or anything that reminded her of him were the prey of Spitfire’s fiery shape.

“Like a band-aid, it’s best to take it off in one swift move,” Crystal stated slowly as both her and Spitfire turned to watch the fire consume all the pile of clothes and trinkets along with Spitfire’s engagement ring.

“Mhm-mhm,” Spitfire nodded slowly.

“What are you going to do about Kicker?” Crystal asked after a while. “She’s really upset about this all situation.”

“And I’m not?”

“I’m not saying you’re not, Spit’, but she wants to make it up to you.”

“She can by staying away from me,” Spitfire claimed bitterly.

“Spitfire…”

“Let it be, Crystal,” Spitfire shook her head with a long sigh. “I don’t want to see her ever again!”

“Bullshit!”

“Excuse me?”

“I said ‘Bullshit!’!” Crystal repeated slowly. “You will maybe be able to fool others, but not me! I know you care about that girl, Mama bear Spitfire! You’ve been training her for three years, that’s longer than you ever knew Trend.”

“It doesn’t matter, I..I don’t want ...I..I can’t see her again, Crystal,” Spitfire let out with sadness. “I just can’t. I know that every time I’ll look at her, I’ll just see him leaving me for her…”

“Oh,” Crystal let out uneasily. “So what now?”

“Now, I’m gonna do what every woman with an ounce dramatic sense would do in my situation,” Spitfire said as she stood up from the ground. “Lying on a couch and eat nothing but family-sized tubs of ice cream for the rest of the day. Wanna join? I could use some company”

“Eating nothing but ice cream is not very healthy, Spitfire...”

“I’ve got two tubs of strawberry ice cream in the freezer.”

“I’ll gladly stay with you for a few hours!”

        Crystal then followed Spitfire inside her house. After they had entered through the veranda, the sergeant saw the lieutenant stop in front of a picture on one of the furnitures close to the kitchen. Spitfire stared at it for a few seconds before slowly flip it on the oaken surface so that she couldn’t see it anymore, though not before Crystal could see who was on the picture and letting out a saddened sigh. It was a picture of Spitfire gently holding one of Cloud’s shoulder while both stood before the head of a napping Thaddeus, a happy smile on both their face.
> Epilogue : letters, Newspapers and a new start.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



        Missing writer found lost in the forest!

After he went missing four days ago during a hike for his next paper, the success author Trenderhoof was found wandering around the woods near Fillydelphia. Once rescued and back to the civilization, the disoriented writer claimed that the wind and the thunder had been chasing him during the four days of his adventure, despite the fact that the Fillydelphia weather management team assured there had been nothing but slightly cloudy weather over the woods in question during those last four days. He then went on about the forest spirit that ‘’marked'' him as part of its territory, something our interviewer confirmed by the following statement: “He sure smelled like someone who pissed himself.” 

More about Trenderhoof’s stay in the Fillydelphia’s Central Asylum in page twelve.






        First steps for the new generation of the Council of Harmony!

Four years after the last member of this prestigious institution, Lady Cinnabelle, retired after twenty years of faithful duty to the crown, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna finally appointed someone at the leadership of the Council of Harmony and the seat of Representative of Magical Arts. The bright young lady they’ve chosen for this task is Twilight of the small, but well known Canterlot Household Sparkle. 

For those who may not know about this minor Noble Family, it has already given Equestria more than a few important figures or heroes such as the Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor/Sparkle; the Master Arcanist of Canterlot, Velvet Sparkle; and the Head of Luna’s Royal Astronomy Guild, Night Light Sparkle. Respectively Brother, Mother and Father of the new Council Member.

The young Lady’s nomination was a surprise for a lot of people, even for the youth in question, despite the fact that she had admitted having Princess Celestia as her mentor for the last few years. Lady Sparkle confessed to our reporters that she has a lot to learn to be worthy of that honor the Princesses gave her a couple of weeks after her eighteenth birthday, and that she would do her best as long as the Princesses need her. 

More about the young Lady Sparkle and her academic years in page eight, nine, and ten.






        Dear Sunset,

I’ve read about that Council member business, and I figured I could come to Canterlot to see how you were when it was my day off. Sadly, when I arrived at your room in the Arcanium dorm tower, I found out that someone else had taken your room after your departure the day before my visit. I asked around if someone knew where you went, but none of your fellow Arcanium students seemed to know.

Oddly enough it was Velvet Sparkle who told me that I could try to join you at your home in Salt Lick City, though she also told that she’d pull some strings to have me incarcerated if I ever make one step in one of her students direction again. Sadly, my schedule doesn’t allow me to get there to see you, hence the letter you’re reading. Anyway, it’s mostly to ask how are you doing right now. Your sudden departure from Canterlot worried me quite a bit.

Also, I’ve got the time to think about what you asked me before your final trials, and I’ve come to a decision. I’m willing to try if you’re still interested in me. I think it’s time for me to grow up and stop playing around. I’d still gladly play with you of course. I can’t believe I just wrote that. I wonder if it has the same panache as when I say it outloud. Though, you’re probably wondering why I haven’t written something like that earlier in the letter.

Anyway, I miss you a lot and you’ve been in my mind a lot more than I would ever confess to you face to face. What I’m trying to write is that I love you… I really wish I could have told you that in person, but I think it’ll be best for you to know it as soon as possible.

Hoping you’re well and for fast reply from you,

Love, 

Cloud Kicker






        Dear Ms Kicker,

We inform you that no one under the name of Sunset Shimmer, or under that surname seems to have ever lived at the address you’ve noted on your letter. Therefore we’re sending it back to you. 

Yours truly,

Salt Lick City Post Service






        Sergeant Kicker,

I’ve already given you the address Ms. Sunset Shimmer gave to our administration when she enrolled at the Arcanium. Also, I do not appreciate you implying that I misinformed on purpose in your letter. Either she lied during her enrollment, which is a crime by Equestrian law, and while she was a wild spirit, Sunset was not one to break the law, or she simply doesn’t want to see you. I sincerely hope for her it’s the latter.

Velvet Sparkle, Master-Arcanist of Canterlot




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        New Council Member forms the Junior Wonderbolts!!!

The recently appointed Councilor of Sports and Ethics, Rainbow Dash,’s suggestion of a younger Royal Guard unit under the direct supervision of the famous Wonderbolts, both elite stunt flyers and soldiers, has been accepted by their Captain, Spitfire Maverick, and Princess Celestia. The purpose of this young team is to assure the future of the Elite Squadron that are the Wonderbolts by letting a selected group of teenagers learn from them  to diminish the adaptation period for newly recruited Wonderbolts, who are only accepted in their Academy at the age of twenty-one, with a few exceptions like the Councilor’s mother, Firefly, who entered the team at the age of seventeen. 

“It will be a great honor for us to start this program,” Spitfire declared to our interviewer with sincerity. “I hope it will be a good experience for those who’ll get their chance in it, and I look forward working with Rainbow Dash personally, even if I’m a bit nervous. You see, I’ve never had any apprentice of my own, so I don’t really know how to handle it… but I’m sure I’ll figure it out quickly enough.” 

More about Spitfire Maverick and Rainbow Dash in page six and seven






        Dear daughter,

I’ve read something quite surprising in the day before yesterday newspapers. Apparently, the famous Captain Spitfire Maverick never had a protegée before the new Council Member, unlike what you told us in your rare letters from Las Pegasus. Your father and I thought you knew better than to lie about something like that. 

Just so you know, Alula went back from school in tears because many of her classmates told her she was a liar. She had told everyone that her big sister was a special Royal Guard trained by the Great Spitfire herself, despite our warning to not make a too bigger deal out of it for it might be some exaggeration from your part. It looks like we were right in the end, and we’re wondering if you’re really a second class sergeant in the Ponyville Guard. After all, if you lied about your mentor, maybe you lied about that as well. 

Know that your father and I are very disappointed in you right now, and we strongly advise you to not write to us or Alula. Adapting to the life in Cloudsdale had been hard enough for her, she doesn’t need to deal with her sister’s wild fantasies in addition to that.

Your mother, Nimbus Kicker.






        Dear mother,

I’m sorry that Alula got problems because of me. I truly am. It has never been in my intentions to do anything to hurt her in any way, but I want you to know that I didn’t lie to you about everything that happened during my training, and I’m sad to see you believe the newspapers more than your own daughter. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised by this, since that “family sticks together” thingy never actually worked for us.

As for yours and Dad’s disappointment, I’ve been constantly living with it since the day following me being attacked by a Manticore, and I think I’ve had enough of it for the rest of my life. So how about you and Dad take it back and promptly shove it deep in each other’s ass? Maybe if you had done that years ago, that would have sparked something between you two again, and Dad would never have felt the need to visit Mrs Silverrain’s apartment late at night. Yeah, I know about the real reason you wanted to move back to Cloudsdale. Heck, I probably knew long before you did. 

Your former-daughter

PS: For Alula: I’d understand if you’re mad at me, Sis, but know that I love you and that I never lied to you.

PPS: For your information, Nimbus, it was Sergeant FIRST CLASS back then, and it’s Master Sergeant now.




**********************************************************************************************************




        Captain Shining Armor,

        As you know, I’m retiring in a few weeks and in the light of that, I’d like the Master Sergeant Cloud Kicker to take over the command of the Ponyville Platoon after my departure, and thus having her promoted to the rank of Lieutenant First Class.

I know that Kicker is a bit too young for such responsibility, and that she didn’t do the officer training like Master Sergeant Shields, but I can’t think of anyone else taking the reins after me: She’s known and well respected by the townsfolk and the whole platoon; She knows Ponyville like the back of her hand; She’s got a good head on her shoulders despite what some might say; And her service record speaks for itself. 

After all, without her fast thinking and leadership that Hydra incident two months ago would have taken a much more disastrous turn.

I hope you take some time to consider this last request of mine.

Lieutenant Constance Vigilance of Ponyville 






        Captain,

Since when did it become a thing for the Captain of the Royal Guard to have to ask a boot camp Sergeant for recommendations for a backwater town promotion? I have work to do here! I don’t wander around the Castle with my Princess-bride-to-be in order to decide what flowers to put on the tables for my wedding reception. Congratulations by the way!

All jokes aside, I fully support your will of having Kicker promoted Lieutenant. Constant Vigilance might be an old hag now, but I would trust her judgement regarding her own town and troop, and I knew the girl had what it takes to command when she left Las Pegasus, even if someone forgot.

Anyway, you have my opinion on the matter, though I’m still wondering why you asked for it. Have fun at your wedding, and I “apologize” for not coming. Unlike some others, I can’t decide to skip the annual maneuvers.

Sergeant Crystal Pagétonas 






        Captain Armor,

You’ve already complained about the angry letters regarding her flirty attitude, if we can call it like that, whenever she was sent on missions outside of Ponyville, and you will probably have even more of those when she becomes Lieutenant, even if her job's done. That’s all I had to say, and now you can’t pretend I didn’t warn you.

Lieutenant Spitfire Maverick

 


**********************************************************************************************************


“Lieutenant Kicker,” Blossomforth’s voice came from the other side of her office door after three quick knocks. “There are a couple of letters for you.”

“Bring them to me, Blossom,” Cloud replied casually, her eyes following her quill as it glided on the report she was writing. 

        True to her words a year and a half ago, Cloud had chosen Blossomforth as her second in command, much to the watermelon-haired woman’s honor and displeasure alike. Blossomforth had no trouble regarding taking orders from Cloud, but the blonde could still get on her nerves by not respecting the proper protocol when addressing to her: Something Blossomforth knew Cloud did on purpose.

“You should call me Sergeant, Lieutenant,” Blossomforth reminded with a frown as she closed the door behind her. “I shouldn’t have to remind you of that.”

“And I shouldn’t have to remind you that you’re as important as me in running this whole thing, and that the only reason you’re not Lieutenant yourself is because the platoon can’t have two people at the top of the chain of command,” Cloud reminded playfully. “Did you talk to Gale this morning?”

“Yes, I have,” Blossomforth let out as she put the three envelopes on the Lieutenant’s desk, her cheeks a bit rosy at the compliment Cloud had just given her. “She declined your offer to become a corporal, again.”

Cloud sighed with a roll of her eyes. “She still claims she’s fine as a simple axe-wielding grunt?”

“Yes,” Blossomforth nodded. “She also added that, as a simple soldier, she would never have to be concerned by paperwork.”

“Looks like she’s a lot wiser than you and I ever were after all.” Cloud chuckled as she signed the report she had just finished.

“I couldn’t agree more, Lieutenant,” Blossomforth admitted, joining Cloud’s short laugh with her own.

“Now, let’s see what do we have here,” Cloud whispered as she took the three envelopes and checked the sender’s name at the back of the first one. “Haaa, Trend’s monthly letter,” Cloud sorely let out as she extended the envelope to Blossomforth. “You know what to do with it.”

“I can’t believe he’s still writing to you!” Blossomforth said as she threw the envelope in the chimney. “It’s been more than a year since you wrote him to stop sending those because you had no intentions of reading them.”

“Pagétonas was right, he can’t take a hint,” Cloud shrugged as she read the second letter which had been sent by the Mayor. “Well, what do you know… The Mayor tells me that Ponyville has passed the first selection for hosting the Equestria Games.”

“Really?!” Blossomforth nearly shouted with wide eyes. “Wow! And here I thought they wouldn’t even read the Mayor’s candidature letter.”

“Well, Sweet Apple Acres increasing its exportations, and Vinyl and Applejack’s roles in the Royal Wedding Incident must have helped in bringing some attention on Ponyville,” Cloud supposed softly. “She’s asking me to think of the organization of the platoon with the many tourists, athletes and royals that will come if Ponyville’s chosen in the end.”

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared,” Blossomforth nodded while Cloud checked the sender of the last envelope before the blonde froze in stupor. “....Lieutenant?... Cloud, what is it?” she asked with worry when Cloud didn’t answer to her title. 

“It’s...It’s from my little sister,” Cloud let out slowly.

“Oh,” Blossomforth let out casually, not knowing that Cloud hadn’t contact with her family since that letter she sent her parents shortly after the Junior Wonderbolts founding a year ago. “Do you want some privacy?”

        Cloud didn’t reply to her and simply unfolded the letter before reading it in silence. From the movement of her superior’s eyes, Blossomforth deduced that the message wasn’t really long and that it probably wasn’t something important. Though she stopped thinking that when Cloud’s purple eyes lost their ever present, playful glint in favor of a veil of sadness. Cloud let the letter fall on her desk before pinching the bridge of her nose with a long sigh.

“...Sergeant, could you do me a favor and take care of finishing next week’s planning?” Cloud asked in a low, lifeless tone. “I need to clear my mind,” she added slowly.

“...Sure,” Blossomforth quietly replied with a brief nod as Cloud folded the letter back in the envelope before putting in one of her pockets. “... I think there’s a country night at Bon-Bon’s tonight.”

“Thank you, Sergeant,” Cloud whispered, standing up from her desk. “I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”

        And with that Cloud went out of her office, leaving Blossomforth with the stack of paper that composed next week’s planning. After that, Blossomforth sat at the desk and took the planning. To her surprise, most of it was already organized: she only had to complete Sunday afternoon and night shifts. Musing about how quickly Cloud had adapted to commanding a platoon instead of a section of the guard back when she was Master Sergeant, Blossomforth got down to work.


**********************************************************************************************************




        Hey Sis,

It has been a while, hasn’t it?

I heard you were in Cloudsdale recently, something about getting supply for Ponyville’s Guard Unit. I have a friend who’s the niece of Senator Doo, the one you discussed with. (If you’re wondering, no, they’re not related to Ditzy. How’s she by the way?) I was a bit sad that you didn’t come to visit, but I guess that with the last letter you sent to Mom, it wasn’t going to happen. 

Yes, I managed to read that letter, and first of all, I’d like to say that I’m sorry for being mad at you back then. You’re my sister, and I should have believed in you instead of those jackasses. When my friend Scootaloo, Senator Doo’s niece, told me that you were the commanding officer of Ponyville, I was so excited that I ran back home to tell Mom & Dad about it. I realize now that I probably shouldn’t have.

News fly fast in Cloudsdale, and the Weather Management here is really, really tied to the Guard and Praetorians. I didn’t know, but it turned out that Mom & Dad already knew about your promotion… and the other stuff you do. There’s apparently a Lieutenant in Detrot who’s pissed at you for taking his daughter’s promotion when you both finished boot camp. I think he’s the one who started the rumor you slept your way to the top and many think like him because you’re commanding a platoon after a year of active service only…

Mom is part of those, and when I told her about your promotion she… said that she already knew that you had an affair with Captain Armor for that. Her tone clearly showed that for her, that was the only explanation and that pissed me off a lot, and it pissed off Dad as well. 

        He and I yelled at Mom, asking how she could say that with so much certitude when she hadn’t seen you in nearly five years. Mom snapped back at Dad, telling him that considering what he did with Mrs Silverrain back in Ponyville it wasn’t surprising that you had ended up as a homewrecking slut. I’ve never seen Dad so furious. They argued like never before, they even wrecked the living room… They didn’t hurt each other or me, they just broke stuff. It ended with Dad saying he can’t stand Mom anymore. He went out of the house and went back drunk as possible, talking about getting divorced.

I’m staying at Scootaloo’s house for the moment so that they can work things out. I don’t know if they’re going to stay together or not. It’s probably not how you wanted me to contact you again after so long, but I thought you deserved to know about the situation… Also, if they do divorce, I was wondering if I could come live with you instead of with one of them? I really don’t want to take side, and I miss you a lot. 

You don’t have to answer right away, it might not happen at all, though I really want to see you again too, so maybe I could just visit when you’re not too busy. Let me know if it’s possible.  

Love, 

Your little sister, Alula

PS: I just re-read it, and I want you to know that I do not hold you responsible for what's happening between Mom and Dad, so don’t start thinking that.




**********************************************************************************************************


        The fast-paced melody played by the band at Bon-Bon’s had already did a good job at clearing Cloud’s mood. After only five minutes of dancing, Cloud had already received more than a few fiery glances by some of the nearby dancers and the lead fiddler, who she recognized as Applejack’s cousin Fiddlesticks. If she wanted to, Cloud was certain she wouldn’t finish the night alone. And for Cloud, sex was the best way to clear her mind of what weighed on it.

        Despite Alula’s post-scriptum, Cloud was feeling responsible for what happened and was happening with her parents. She didn’t know for sure if she was the cause of her parents’ issues, but her behavior and reputation had exacerbated them. That was one thing she was sure about regarding her parents’ situation. Deep down, she knew that she was trying to forget that by doing exactly what had worsened the whole problem, but she didn’t care at the moment. She needed to forget her parents for a while.

        Thinking about her parents’ breaking apart from one another was making her remember about her own breaking apart from them and the letter with which she had done so. That letter brought back the moment her mentor had rejected her very own existence in the newspaper in favor of a brat of the Council of Harmony. Thinking about the Council brought the memories she had of Sunset. And all those thoughts and memories simply had to get out of her head.

        After taking a pint of cider from Lyra, who had been briefed by Cloud and Blossomforth to never serve the former too much alcohol, Cloud wandered around, her predatory purple eyes scanning the room for the lucky man or woman that would make her forget. After a quick survey of the crowd, Cloud settled down for a young, dark skinned girl with violet hair, sitting alone at a large table. The Lieutenant knew all the pretty girls that lived in Ponyville, and that purple-clad cutie was definitely not from around here.

        Thanks to Applejack and Vinyl’s visit two or three weeks ago, Cloud had a good idea of who the girl was, that fact she looked familiar despite having never seen her before reinforced her suspicions about the girl’s identity. There could have really dramatic consequences to what she was about to do, but Cloud didn’t care. Cloud slowly made her way to the table and sat right next to the girl.

“Huh, excuse me?” she called softly. “I’m guarding this table for my friends.”

“Phew, lucky me!” Cloud let out with a warm smile, earning a confused frown from the chocolate-skin girl. “I thought a pretty girl like you would be waiting for her boyfriend.”

“Oh!” the girl let out with a mad blush. “I don’t have a boyfriend. I’m just waiting for my friends.”

“That’s why I said lucky me.” 

Cloud purred while leaning a bit forward, her purples eyes locking with the girl’s. The girl held Cloud’s gaze for a brief moment before looking away with a small giggle and bright red cheeks. Satisfied with herself, Cloud took a sip of her pint before waving at one of the passing waiters to come here.

“Can I offer you a drink?” Cloud asked as the waitress who had seen her came closer.

“...Glass of white wine, please,” the girl whispered softly.

“Coming right up, Miss,” the waitress replied politely before she faced Cloud briefly. “Careful, Cloud. She came with Applejack and Vinyl.”

“I figured as much, Ruby,” Cloud nodded with a smile. “Thanks for warning me nonetheless.”

“You know Applejack and Vinyl?” the girl asked while Ruby went to get her glass of wine.

“They were my first friends when I moved here from Cloudsdale as a child,” Cloud replied with a smile. “Probably among the best friends I could ever have.” The girl returned her smile. “Cloud Kicker,” Cloud said as she extended her hand toward the dark-skinned girl.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight replied warmly, shaking hands with Cloud. 

        A few minutes later, Cloud was right where she had planned to be: at the table, the ebony beauty’s arms around her neck, and her tongue struggling to keep up against the blonde’s and her mind clear of all thoughts with the exceptions of what she’ll do to Twilight if she would accept to come to her place. Cloud suspected that the Council member wouldn’t mind much, though she would have never suspected how the girl would manage to make her forget all her troubles.