> Vulnerable
>  by Nimbus92
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Am I your best friend or are you my best friend? 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The two ponies positioned themselves on the edge of the cloud. Their coats were almost identical except the colt was a few shades lighter than his filly friend, but a bit brighter. The filly’s mane was absolutely colorful and amazing, where the colt’s mane and tail was a simple sparkling golden glow to it. The both took the time to look over the final product of their master piece of an obstacle course they had been slaying themselves over for the past week and a half. The tiny rainbow-colored mane filly was the first one to break the silence.

"Whew!" she let out, breathing heavily. She turned her head towards her colt friend "Sooo… if you want to back down from my challenge..." the filly started giving the colt a smug smile "You’re more than welcome to, if you’re too scared of losing."

The colt lifted his head in offense and glared deadly at her "Your challenge? I challenged you!" he snorted, lifting a pointed hoof to the fillies face. 

The filly roughly pushed the colt’s firm hoof out of her sight "If the other colts in class couldn’t beat me, what chance do you think you have?" throwing a deadly hoof of her own into the colts face. 

The colt knocked her hoof out of his view, just like she did with his "The only reason you won that race yesterday was because I wasn’t there." the colt confirmed. No matter how strongly his confidence sounded, he knew there was absolutely no way he could beat her if she performed the legendary Sonic Rainboom he had heard about. 

"Now come on, Rainbow Dash." the colt positioned himself over the edge of the cloud again. "Are we gonna race or not? I need to get home before diner!" he licked his chops and arched his wings back. He was prepared for any of Rainbow Dash’s little tricks she might pull to get a head start. After several long seconds of silence, the colt lifted his head to see a blushing blue filly with her head lowered down and digging her hoof into the floor of the cloud below her. 

Rainbow Dash lifted her head with a smile and red blushing cheeks "You called me Rainbow Dash.". She lowered her head again to hide her smile this time "No other pony has ever called me that...” she took a moment’s pause “…the other ponies, except for Fluttershy, call me Rainbow Crash….”
The colt wasn’t quite too familiar with Rainbow Dash acting so “nice”. Rainbow Dash had always seemed like the most awesome chaotically boyish filly he had ever met. Despite the fact he didn’t really talk too much to many of the other fillies in flight class anyways. 

He gave a nervous smile “Well, I mean it’s nothing…I-I just uhh I just have a lot of respect for you is all.”

Rainbow Dash continued to blush “You must really…like me.” she smiled back at the nervous colt before her, moving and brushing up closely against him. 

The colt brushed his mane nervously “Ahhh, well …you know…”

Rainbow Dash then donkey kicked him in the ribs and blasted right over him, leaving behind a small beam of rainbow ,taking him off his guard “Later, Nimbus!” she mocked, as she pulled her cheeks out horizontally and stuck her tongue at him. 

After a few seconds of laying down in his shame, Nimbus picked himself up and snapped back into reality. Rainbow Dash had played and tricked him again to get a head start in the race. Of course, she could have beat him easily anyways. Rainbow Dash might have well just slapped with a frying pan. At least, she wouldn’t have given him false hope. 

“Get back here, you disgusting mule carcass!” he insulted, chasing on after her. At first, Nimbus thought calling Rainbow Dash a rotting dead body would have caused her to turn back and punch him in the nose like she always did. If he timed it right, he could possibly dodge the punch and out a few feet between himself and her before she could turn back around He bolted towards her with a gold beam of light flying off of his mane and tail.

He had started off with fast enough acceleration to catch up neck to neck with Rainbow Dash before she could get very far. The colt turned his head and smiled at Rainbow Dash, in hopes that maybe playing friendly would rustle her feathers. Rainbow Dash groaned angrily as she caught sight of the colt winking and smiling at her. She tried to cut him off by taking a sharp turn at a cloud, but Nimbus caught sight of it and turned very early to avoid crashing into it. The two of them were successfully diving through every loop and turn they had made in their small course. They were even able to effectively glide side by side safely through a series of single cloud hoop simultaneously. 

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at her colt friend as he continued to smile at her and had the spine to say “Try to keep up, Rainbow Dash.” Talking and flying wasn’t exactly an easy task to accomplished, nor was it advised. Having your mouth wide open during a flight without any sort of protection easily invited pest and bugs to soar towards the grand opening of the pony’s throat. It didn’t happen often, but a few pegasai would even choke on a bug and fall to their deaths. 

The two reached the half-way point through the course and turned around to conclude the remainder of their race back at the starting cloud. Rainbow Dash snorted loudly out of frustration as she saw just how easily Nimbus was able to stay on her tail. She could see the starting cloud just up ahead from a naked eye view, the only guaranteed way for her to win this, and keep her reputation as the fastest pony in Equestria, was to perform the Sonic Rainboom! Rainbow Dash searched and found every amount of energy she had left in her fuel tank and pushed her body harder than she had ever expected and had intended to in this race (or any race for that matter). She could fell a cone of air surrounding her body. Breaking the sound barrier was a sure sign that she wasn’t far from performing her Sonic Rainboom, she was doing it! Tears began to drip from her eyes as more air forced and pierced into her eyelids. 

Nimbus took notice of Rainbow Dash’s sudden increase in speed as she began to gradually pull ahead in front of him. He dived down, pushed, and pressed his body hard up against her side, knocking her off her concentration and disrupting her Sonic Rainboom. She started to lose her balance and began to swerve loosely, but she found her moment of opportunity as she quickly grabbed the colt by his mane and pile drove him into the starting cloud.  

Rainbow Dash chuckled at her success “You’re a whole lot crazier than I thought, Nimbus.” she began dusting fluff of clouds off her light blue coat. She continued to speak “For two very good reasons. First, actually thinking I was interested in you, and second, believing you really had a chance to win against me!” She turned her flank towards the colt. "I'm way out of your league on and off the track!" she said turning her head back to him and sticking out her tongue. 

Nimbus picked himself up and brushed off some cloud fluff from his mane as he rudely replied "That we can both agree on, I wouldn’t want to lower my standards that far anyway." 

Offend and incredibly insulted on a very high personal level, Rainbow Dash pulled up a bit of fluff out of the cloud beneath her hooves and furiously threw it at Nimbus. 

He easily dodged out of the way of the projectile. "HA-HA, you throw like a filly!” Nimbus dug his right hoof into the ground to grab a hoof full of fluff, but Rainbow Dash had already gathered another hoof full of the cloud twice the size than the last and in half the time Nimbus could get his fluff ball even started. 

She arched her arm back winding up a ball of pain aimed right for his head. "Game over" she said with a smile as she released the ball from her hoof. The ball rolled from her hoof with the speed of a rocket leaving its launch pad. 

The amount of force from the throw was completely anaerectic and was more than enough to knock Nimbus off the edge of the cloud and quickly send him descending down to the earth. Rainbow Dash gasped and darted towards the end of the cloud with velocity of a bullet and yelled "Nimbus!" She spread out her wings hovered over the edge, trying desperately to search for her friend but he was nowhere to be found. He was gone. There was no sight of him to be seen. 

Then Rainbow Dash remembered thinking to herself with embarrassment "Wait a minute....Nimbus is a pegasus..." 
She couldn’t help but close her eyes and face hoof herself at her own stupidity. Behind Rainbow Dash, she could hear the muffled laughs and the flapping wings of Nimbus. 

Nimbus couldn’t hold in his breath any longer and let out a loud burst of laughter, falling on his side. Barely able to breathe, Nimbus sarcastically asked "How does a pegasus even fall off a cloud anyway?" 

Behind the both of them, and giving them a slight jump, a small quiet squeak replied "It’s a lot easier and a lot scarier than you would think." Rainbow Dash raised and twisted her head around. Nimbus ceased his laughing and turned over onto his other side to face a small delicate yellow filly "I-I’m sorry I uhh ...I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything, but umm Dash you said you would help me feed the butterflies today after class." she reminded, hiding herself behind her pink mane "I mean, but if you’re busy I’d completely understand." Fluttershy spoke softly, almost a whisper at the last few words. 

Rainbow Dash floated and landed gently in between Nimbus and Fluttershy "Oh yeah, completely  forgot I promised that." Rainbow Dash mentioned ,making a pair of crazy rolling eyes and motioning her hoof in small circles by her head at Nimbus, referring to Fluttershy.

Rainbow then faced Fluttershy "Go on ahead, Shy. I’ll be right there, I just got to finish up with Nimbus here." Rainbow Dash then made a silent cutting sound as she brought her hoof across her neck and hung her tongue out the side of her mouth, making a mocking reaction towards Nimbus. 

"Okay Rainbow Dash, you know where!" Fluttershy giggled as she flew on downwards to the earth. 
Nimbus gave Rainbow Dash a disapproving look when she turned back around to face him. Rainbow Dash had no idea why he seemed so ticked "The matter with you?" she asked Nimbus, with the urge to smack the expression off his face
"I saw that" he admitted in a nasty tone. Rainbow Dash laughed at his aggravation. "So" Nimbus continued as he hovered above the cloud with his hooves crossed "What about our race?" 

Rainbow Dash wiped some tears from her eyes but continued to laugh a bit "Tomorrow, rematch, I promise!" Nimbus raised an eye brow at her. "Hey!" Rainbow Dash said now getting to eye level with Nimbus “Consider yourself honored. I never give anypony a rematch, and I mean ANYPONY.” 

“Forgive me if I’m sound ungrateful.” Nimbus snorted

Rainbow Dash gave a slight shrug and sighed “We need our rest anyways, from all this hard work we put into this past week, we deserve it." She began to fly off downwards towards Fluttershy "I’d love to send your blank flank crashing into a mountain next time."

Nimbus slowly uncrossed his hooves with a frown steadily forming on his face. Rainbow Dash saw how upset he looked. She thought maybe Nimbus was think that she was going to ditch him tomorrow, kind of like she was right now. 

She flew back towards him "Tomorrow for sure I promise." Rainbow Dash gently patted him on the head, like he were a pet dog who just learned how to go outside by himself to “do his business” in the grass. 

Nimbus just turned away from her. "It’s not that, Rainbow Dash .....It’s..." He was giving off the impression like someone had just took his toys and stomped all over them in a sand box.  

Rainbow Dash lowered her head towards him "What’s wrong?"

Nimbus turned his shoulder back towards her "When you said 'blank flank'..." Nimbus and Rainbow Dash simultaneously looked at Nimbus’s bare flank.

"Whoa I didn’t mean it like that!" Rainbow said, backing up a bit with guilt. She held her hooves up to her chest like she were a hostage being held at gun point. 

"I know you didn’t." Nimbus said half lying "It’s just I’m the only one in flight school without a cutie mark now. You and Fluttershy both got yours just a few weeks ago.” 

Rainbow Dash placed a strong hoof back onto Nimbus shoulder and tried to be as encouraging as she could "Oh come on, Nimbus, Buck up! That just means you have potential to be something awesome." she smiled back 

"No" Nimbus chuckled, feeling a bit prouder about himself. He jabbed a hoof into Rainbow Dashs chest "That’s you, you’re awesome!" 

She smiled proudly at the comment, refusing to show any modesty “Oh come on now, you could be something cool, I mean not as cool as me though, but maybe something like….” Rainbow Dash thought to herself with her hoof underneath her chin “Oh, a pony with super powers! Where you fight crime and save damsels in distress from horrible monsters.” She finished her speech with hard jabs to air, pretending she were Nimbus fighting off a horde of dragons with only his hooves.

Nimbus half-heartedly laughed “Fine, I’ll remember that the next time you are in trouble.”

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to make a smart remark again, but then remembered and blurted out the name "Fluttershy!"
Nimbus had completely forgotten about her as well. "She’s probably waiting for you, go, but hey don’t forget tomorrow!" He snapped at her. 

Rainbow Dash again set off towards Fluttershy "I know!" she laughed “But right now, I got to feed these starving butterflies!" 

A colorful beautiful rainbow that exactly matched her amazing mane was all that was emitted and left of her as Nimbus sat back down onto the cloud, letting out a sigh of happiness. He considered himself incredibly lucky to have a friend such as Rainbow Dash. Nimbus then put a hoof to his chin as he asked himself "How do you feed butterflies?" Nimbus then dived off the cloud and released his wings moments right before he was a few feet from hitting the ground below. "Rainbow Dash, wait! How do you feed butterflies? I want to see this! Do they even have a mouth?! How do they eat anyways? Rainbow Dash!" 

***

The next morning Nimbus took his usual spot in class, sitting next to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash lowered and sent her hoof towards Nimbus holding a note in it. Nimbus curiously and discreetly took and opened the note slowly, careful not to let the flight coach see him. The note read 'I forgot about the test today.' with a frowny face also drawn in the right corner. Nimbus dropped the note and initiated the action of repeatedly hitting his head across the top of his desk. He and Rainbow Dash had been so focused on the obstacle course they been making for the past week that they both completely forgot to set up a date to study. Nimbus looked nervously at Rainbow Dash. It wasn’t for his own sake that he was worried about. He always could remember everything that was taught in the classroom and figure things out on his own fairly easy. Rainbow Dash on the other hoof had a really good habit of falling asleep during class. Now that Nimbus thought about it, Rainbow Dash actually had a really narcoleptic behavior to fall asleep just about anywhere (even in trees) if she wasn’t doing anything physically active or spending time with friends.

"If I fail this test they might have to start thinking about dropping me out of flight school." she whined quietly, keeping an eye on the flight coach as he paced back and forth to both ends of the classroom teaching today’s lesson that was completely unrelated to today’s test. 

Nimbi let out a huge breath of air “And drop one of their best and fastest flyers? No way!" he said in a cheery tone, hoping to motivate Rainbow Dash not to give up on herself, just like she had with him yesterday. 

Rainbow Dash lifted her head a little higher and quite quickly without getting a blood rush to her head "ONE of the fastest?” She said flipping her mane "Please! I AM the fastest in this school!" she finished raising her hoof in air like she was about to receive a trophy. Nimbus was happy to see she wasn’t showing any signs of Floccinaucinihilipilification, but not at all surprised by the fact that she was still flashing her confidence on display for the whole class to see. He couldn’t hold back a smile.

The test wasn’t as hard as Rainbow Dash had expected. She passed but barely by an inch. If Nimbus hadn’t been so considerate to allow her to look at his paper, she probably wouldn’t have made such a high score. As they both began to fly on their way to their hoof made obstacle course, Rainbow Dash mentioned to Nimbus there was a spot in the Everfree Forest, which she had been told about by another mare in the class, was a sight to see. 

“If you’re just looking for a reason to back out of our rematch…” Nimbus started, but was rudely interrupted and cut off after Rainbow Dash pushed a strong hoof into his mouth. 

“I swear to Celestia, if you’re about to call me a coward or a chicken I’m going punch your teeth into your skull!” Rainbow threatened. 
With the hoof still in his mouth, Nimbus responded with his voice muffled and distorted behind Rainbow’s hoof “Show…thish spawt…ish purty cue, huh?” 
Rainbow Dash smiled brightly and removed her hoof from Nimbus mouth, flinging the saliva off of it. “The word ‘Cool’ can’t even begin to describe the caliber of awesomeness this place has, or so I’m told.” 
“So, have you been there before, or not?” 

“Not at all, that’s why you’re going with me!” Rainbow Dash mentioned cheerily. 

“For the protection in case something happens, or because you can’t help but to admit you actually enjoy my company?” Nimbus asked, smiling widely and talking with a strong sense of optimism enough to make a professional circus performing clown look like a background actor in a play.  

Rainbow Dash smacked Nimbus in the back of his head. The emotional pain of Rainbow Dash hitting Nimbus every ten minutes hurt Nimbus more than it did physically. “Don’t flatter yourself!” She said, as she flew away from Nimbus and towards the direction of the Everfree Forest, “Now keep up! My mom thinks you and I are at the ice cream shop.”

“AH-HA, so you HAVE told your parents about me?!” Nimbus pressed his cheeks together forcing himself to make a larger-than-life smile. “You must really like me!” he squeaked with a silly high pitched tone. Nimbus loved taking every opportunity to act silly around Rainbow Dash.

At first, Rainbow Dash would openly laugh at his random colorful humor, but recently Rainbow Dash would avoid laughing to just fulfill Nimbus’s satisfaction. She knew that Nimbus liked it when she laughed at his jokes. The only times she would allow herself to laugh at his jokes was when nopony else would. “Just shut up and follow me.” she said dryly. 

Nimbus released his cheeks and talked back in his normal tone “Ok, fine, but if we get chased down by a Chimaera or something I’m blaming you!” 

“There are no Chimaeras in the Everfree Forest!” Rainbow teased, hoping and praying to Celestia she was right. 

Nimbus flew up next to her and directly followed right beside her as she began to lead the way, “Maybe not, but I was told by Hoops that somepony saw a Zebra in there.” 

Rainbow Dash stared at Nimbus with the iris of her eyes almost turning into question marks “The buck is a Zebra?” 

Nimbus and Rainbow Dash argued for the next half hour about the existence of Zebras and if one really could be living in the Everfree forest. They both lowered to the ground of the Everfree Forest, once they gotten to the exact location Rainbow Dash had been told about. Nimbus shivered a bit at how dark grey and gloomy everything around them looked. Misshaped trees were scattered everywhere, many of which reminded Nimbus of monsters and old creepy mares who wanted to invite you in for a cup of tea. The horror of it all was almost agitating. Rainbow Dash moved incredibly close to him, brushing her coat up against his. Nimbus could fell the warmth of her coat up against his own, as well as the fast beating heart accelerating greatly.

“Are you as scared as I am right now?” she whispered. 

“More than I would like to.” Nimbus replied behind shivering teeth. 

Rainbow Dash squealed excitedly “I know isn’t this awesome! We are both scared out of our minds and are going on a wild goose chase to find some place we have no idea about!”

Nimbus looked at Rainbow Dash with terror scarred into his eyes “Who are you?!” 

Rainbow Dash chuckled, trying to calm herself and Nimbus down “We are going on an adventure, come on lighten up!” she said flying into the dark trees. 

Nimbus’s ears picked up suddenly at the sound of the word “adventure”. If there was anything that could pull Nimbus out of the abyss of clawing fear, it was the thrill of adventure. He bolted after Rainbow Dash, with his his hooves barely touching the ground “Just like Daring Do!”

“…Who?” 

“Oh yeah I forgot you can’t read…”

Rainbow Dash stopped running dead in her path and slammed her nose into Nimbus’s own face “Hey, it’s not that I can’t read. I just refuse to!”

Nimbus backed away from her and shrugged innocently “Could have fooled me." A blood chilling merciful cry broke in between their conversation sending cold shivers down their manes to the back of their necks.

“What was that noise?” Rainbow Dash asked nervously behind shattering teeth. 

“I don’t know….but can you let go of my neck, please?” Nimbus asked politely, but barely with an obligating plea. Secretly, Nimbus was kind of liked the intimacy of his and Rainbow Dash’s faces touching but the timing and location was all too wrong.

Rainbow Dash looked up and met eye to eye with Nimbus. Nimbus asked once more, slowly this time “Can. You. Let. Go. Of. My. Neck. Please? This fells a bit too….mushy.” Then again, mushy didn’t sound so bad, all present things considered. 

Rainbow Dash made a high pitched “Eww!” sound right before releasing Nimbus neck. “I would never want anything like that!” 
“Trust me, you’re not all that desiring either.” He then walked past Rainbow Dash and continued towards the location of the cry, hoping Rainbow Dash wouldn’t call him on his bluff. Rainbow Dash’s mouth hung open, shocked at what she just been told. 

When she caught back up quietly beside him, Nimbus motioned his hoof up and down, signaling her to get low to the ground and remain as obscure as possible in the tall grass. Rainbow Dash did as she was requested and crouched down in the tall grass. Watching her lower herself behind the tall grass, Nimbus recognized just how hard it would be to hide such a colorful mane such as hers, with all its vibrant colors. He looked back over the bush that hid him from the dark silhouette he couldn’t quite make out.  
Judging from his perception, Nimbus figured the silhouette wasn’t anything pony, or anything even close. It looked humanoid, like a Minotaur with a much smaller frame and small short claws instead of hands. The strange figure also seemed to have a slight hump to its back, he wasn’t too sure if that was natural to the creature or just some sort of growth defect. Either way, what this “monstrosity” was it defiantly didn’t seem very friendly. Then again, when was anything ever friendly in the Everfree Forest? 

“What is it?” Rainbow Dash whispered unexpectedly, giving Nimbus a small startle and panic attack. 

He gradually turned his head, with his mane lobbing in the air, and hushed her stridently. The dark silhouette picked up its head and looked over in their direction with huge green glowing eyes. The two ponies immediately ducked for cover behind the bush, barely allowing the creature a chance to catch a glimpse of them. The creature shook its head slightly and dug its face back downwards to the green earth. Nimbus held Rainbow Dash down with a hoof on her mane, to keep her calm and eased. He could fell her bones shivering underneath his hoof “Don’t be scared, I don’t think it saw us.” Nimbus reassured calmly. 

“I’m not scared.” Rainbow Dash pushed Nimbus’s bolstering hoof from her head. “It’s just cold in this forest!” Rainbow Dash lied quietly. Of course Rainbow was not a pony who was normally known to be scared of anything, but this was also not your normal forest either. This was the Everfree Forest! Nopony exactly knew what was in there or what would happen once you went inside. Rainbow looked back up at Nimbus “Is it safe to look back up yet?” 

“Let me check first.” Nimbus commanded. He lifted his head above the bush once again, slowly. The creature seemed to be devouring something, something small and domestic. Nimbus leaned in a bit closer. “Well it’s a biped that’s for sure” he informed quietly. 

“It's a what now?”

“A biped, that means it walks on two legs, and this one looks like it has claws.” 

Rainbow Dash picked her head up excitedly “Claws?! Let me see!” She stared hard at the dark shadowed creature, trying her best to conjecture what it was. Then her eyes widened with dismay, once she saw what exactly the creature was feasting on. She sent herself back behind the bush, shivering and vomiting as quietly as she could try. 

Nimbus sent himself back down as well, to check on his filly friend. He figured he probably should have warned her first that the creature was eating something. He rubbed her back and asked her “What’s wrong?” It was a rhetorical question, but Nimbus reckoned that was probably a good idea to ask her anyways.

Tears dripped from Rainbow’s reddened eyes “It’s a goblin!” She put a hoof to her mouth to hold in the projectile wanting to leave from out her stomach. She swallowed the vile spew back down her throat to speak “It’s a goblin, and it was eating another filly.” She couldn’t clinch her stomach any more than she already had. Rainbow Dash let out another hurl of this afternoon’s school lunch.
Nimbus continued to rub her back as he inconspicuously looked over his shoulder towards the silhouette again. It was gone, but he could see the remains of it meal. It was defiantly small enough and properly shaped to be a pony. From what Nimbus could see of its carcass, it looked like it was an earth pony. More than likely not anypony they would have known personally, but still the sight of seeing a little pony no bigger or older than they were was still not a pleasant image to be shared. Nimbus turned his full attention back to Rainbow Dash. 

“It’s gone! I say we ditch this place of yours and head back home before-” Nimbus was quickly launched away from Rainbow Dash by a strong forearm. The forearm was attached to a goblin with the same of large green glowing eyes from before. 

Rainbow Dash quickly wiped the drool from her lip and strained her best to flutter out of reach from the goblin. She was successful in escaping from the goblins grasp, but her triumph was cut short as she was tackled by yet another goblin. The tackling goblin wrapped its arms tightly around her body, clinching her wings tightly to her back in a gorilla-griped takedown. She cried for help as she went crashing down into the ground harder than she could bear. Nimbus lifted himself back up to catch the sight of Rainbow Dash being pinned by two goblins. In an absolute blur, Nimbus felt himself being hurled towards one of the goblins holding her down, placing his right shoulder into the goblin’s side, and shattering its ribcage. The ribcage shattered like an egg between a mallet and a counter top. The goblin screeched in anguish, releasing its grip on Rainbow Dash as it seized onto its ribs, rolling on the deck and screaming in pain. Rainbow Dash immediately turned over and drifted herself above the ground. When she got a safe distance from the dispute, rainbow Dash looked dreadfully at Nimbus. 

“Fly, Fly out of the way. I’ll be right behind you!” Nimbus ordered vociferously, hoping Rainbow Dash would be alacritous to actually do what he instructed. 

Rainbow hesitated at the idea of leaving her friend behind before she flew quickly out of sight. Nimbus turned his back around to the other still standing goblin and looked at him with challenging eyes. The goblin charged at Nimbus, its claws were pulled behind its shoulders. Ready and aimed to swipe Nimbus’s head clean off. Again in another blur, Nimbus felt himself easily countering the swipe by lifting himself above the ground and pulverizing the goblin’s head into the rotted grassy terrain. He had no idea where this flash of speed was coming from, but he was definitely enjoying, and the timing this new found speed was giving him could not have been more perfect.  

Nimbus attempted to take flight towards Rainbow Dash, but he didn’t consider the other goblin from before to get back into the game. The goblin caught hold of Nimbus’s lower right leg and brought him back down to the fight. Nimbus turned over on his back and brought his lower legs to his chest. When the goblin had gotten close enough, Nimbus placed both strong hooves into the goblin’s face. It cried and swiped blindly at Nimbus, effectively making contact with his lower left leg. The strike from the goblin left a small deep laceration on Nimbus but it wasn’t nothing he couldn’t shake or shrug off. Nimbus pushed himself through the discomfort in his leg and struggled as he took voyage up to Rainbow Dash. 

Rainbow Dash looked at Nimbus’s freshly blooded wound worriedly, when he finally reached her. She reached to place a soothing hoof on his leg, but Nimbus pushed her aiding hooves away. “It’s fine. I’ll be fine.” Nimbus reassured her, before she could say anything to object. He clinched tightly at the open wound. “Let’s just get back in Ponyville.” He pleaded.

Rainbow Dash nodded her head in agreement. She took one more look at his leg. A small spark had appeared right above it and flashed brightly the next second. “Nimbus, look!” She pointed her hoof sharply at his flank. Nimbus turned his head over his shoulder and saw the most satisfying gift he could have ever asked for, his cutie mark! A small tear of joy ran from eye as he looked at his flank that displayed an orange cloud circling a silver shield centered with a blood red heart right in the middle of it. If sweet victory could be described with an image, it would be drawn with the smile Nimbus wore on his face at that very moment.

***

"There were two of them and you took them both out all by yourself?" Fluttershy squealed in disbelief, still only barely loud enough for the table behind to hear her. "Oh my goodness you weren’t .....I mean ...." her hooves became shook as she took a quick drink of her milkshake trying to calm herself as much as possible. "They didn’t actually try to hurt you did they, Rainbow Dash"? 

Rainbow Dash lifted herself out of her chair revealing the bruises on the left side of her body, from where she had been tackled "No of course not, Fluttershy. Goblins are incredibly nice and cuddly creatures." she said with a bit of poison in her voice.

"Hey clam down, Rainbow Dash. She’s only concerned. Sit your fat flank down and finish your shake." Nimbus said drinking a milk shake of his own, and pushing her shake closer towards her. Rainbow Dash twisted swiftly and dropped back down to her chair, angrily coming eye to eye with Nimbus. 

"And you!” Rainbow Dash started, pointing a solid hoof in Nimbus’s face. Nimbus kept his lips clasped around the straw of his beverage but ceased his drinking, silencing the sucking noise emitting from his half empty cup. 

Fluttershy noticed the tension Rainbow Dash had towards Nimbus at the moment and proceeded to silently drink from her own milkshake, making a quiet slurping sound out of her own cup. She pretended to act like she wasn’t even there, which for her wasn’t all that hard to accomplish or even put any effort into. 

Rainbow Dash continued her tantrum "You could barely keep up with me in a race, but you moved faster than the speed of light when those gremlins attacked me. I didn’t even see you move and all of a sudden you crashed into that monster without any recoil. Explain yourself!” 

Nimbus wore a confused look in his eyes at this, lifting an eyebrow up and arching his head back a bit. "First off, those were goblins not gremlins. Second…" Nimbus peered around the café a bit before finishing his sentence “Hearing you give me a little “Thank you” in public would be kind of nice.”  

Rainbow Dash grabbed Nimbus by the collar of his light blue coat, lifting him off his chair as she hovered above her seat once again. "You’re avoiding the question. Where did you even learn to do that?” Nimbus would have explained himself to his angry, yelling, and beautiful friend, but he couldn’t find any sort of answer with a logical explanation.  

“I don’t know!” Nimbus blurted out “It just sort of…happened!” He knew that he sounded silly, but it was the only response he could think of saying. 

“There’s really no need for you two to be so loud...all the time...or in public at least.” Fluttershy whispered too quietly for either one of the two to have heard her. “Or you could ignore me…kind of like you two always do whenever you guys argue or fight.”

Nimbus gave Rainbow Dash a slight chuckle "Why do you even care how fast I moved? You scared I might at your spot at number one?" 

Rainbow Dash let go off him to drop him on the floor, but she failed to remember Nimbus could actually hover midair before hitting the ground. "It’s not that!" She said crossing her hooves defensively and refusing to look at him "I just want to make sure you’re not holding back on me." 

Nimbus recognized the tone of her voice. She was back to normal (or at least normal for her). Nimbus shrugged and remarked “Trust me, Rainbow Dash, if I had some sort of...” Nimbus held up his hooves and stared into them like he was holding a ball of ancient magic. “Some sort of weird freaky deeky super power that allowed me to gain a burst of speed to move faster than the eye could keep track, making it appear I teleported from point A to point B.” Nimbus lowered his hooves back down and gave Rainbow Dash a friendly smile “You’d be the first one to know.” 

Rainbow Dash ignored Nimbus’s sincerity and his smile. She lowered her head and took a glance at Nimbus’s cutie mark, nearly forgetting the small laceration on his leg. It was now covered over with a small piece of yellow cloth tied together to stop the bleeding and risk of infection. She lifted her head towards Fluttershy “Thanks for treating his wound so kindly, Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash praised gracefully. 

“Yeah, I never really got the chance to thank you properly!” Nimbus added, to show his appreciation.

Fluttershy sighed “It’s kind of hard to have not to, when you two were pounding on my door like my house was on fire, and scaring my parents half to death.” 

Nimbus stroked the back of his mane embarrassingly “That’s was me! My bad, Butterpie” Nimbus apologized sincerely. 
“It’s Fluttter-…” Fluttershy was cut off from the loud and rude slurping from Rainbow Dash’s side of the table.

Rainbow Dash took a final last slurp of her milkshake before she asked Nimbus “Speaking of parents, don’t you think your parents would be pretty concerned to know how you got hurt, once they see that?” She used her hoof to make an imaginary circle around Nimbus’s leg. 

Nimbus rubbed his hooves together awkwardly looking down at the top of the table “I’m actually a bit of an orphan” he mentioned. 
Rainbow Dash’s ears lowered against the side of head significantly “Oh, I didn’t mean to-” From what Rainbow Dash had been told from other orphans in Cloudsdale, Equestria was not known to have a very orphanotrophic atmosphere. There weren’t too many standing orphanages around and those that did exist weren’t exactly all that supportive. It was actually quite common for orphans to be unofficially adopted into a family. Otherwise, the child was left to fend for themselves. It was harsh and the majority of Equestria wanted to help these poor unfortunate ponies, but it was hard trying find a system that was completely solid. It was a luxury Equestria had to afford to lose. Ponies who wanted to take matters into their own hooves and support these orphans were strongly influenced to do so, but expecting help from the government of Equestria was an unfortunate virtue. 

Nimbus could see how guilt-ridden she felt for having putting the topic out on the table. It bothered Nimbus none- what- so-ever but he could see that the felling between him and Rainbow Dash was not mutual. He quickly tried to think of a various ways to cheer her back up. After a few quick seconds of thinking, Nimbus chuckled to himself as he thought of a clever joke “Well the plus side to having no parents is whenever I fail a test nopony has to sign it.” 

Rainbow Dash embraced the humorous tendency and chuckled at the comment. Her ears picked right back up as she laughed at his supportive optimism.  

She punched him in the shoulder “Every time you fail, I fail!” 

Nimbus countered her punch with a punch to her shoulder of his own “Stop cheating off of me then!” 

“Stop leaving your answers s wide out in the open!”

The two went back at each other like this for several minutes with every quick comment and witty insult they could think of. 
After several more hours of joking and punches to the shoulder, Fluttershy decided it was time to fly home. She fled the building holding both of her shoulders after Rainbow Dash and Nimbus both shared turns punching her just as equally as each other, not holding back any power behind their strikes. 

Watching Fluttershy going home, Nimbus suggested it was probably a good idea to head on his way home as well. Rainbow Dash and Nimbus flew together on the way to Rainbow Dash’s house. As they flew side by side, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but to mention to Nimbus how sorry she felt for not knowing he was an orphan earlier.  
“It’s no problem really. Don’t beat yourself up about it.” 

“I’m not beating myself up!” Rainbow Dash snapped, making Nimbus flinch back. Rainbow Dash lowered her head a bit sadly and spoke a bit slower “…I’m just a little upset I didn’t know before.” 

Nimbus shrugged “You’ve only known me for a good two or three months so it’s completely understandable.” 

Rainbow Dash frowned “I know but look at how close of friends we have become the in that short amount of time we known each other. We have hung out every day since we meet. I feel like I’ve known you longer than any other pony I know.” They arrived at her house shortly and stood outside her door. “Well this is my place”" she smiled lightly “Home sweet home.”

Nimbus and Rainbow Dash both landed right in front of the house’s door. Rainbow Dash turned to Nimbus, scratching her mane uncomfortably “The way you saved me from those goblins today….” Nimbus couldn’t help but smile pompously. Rainbow Dash ignored his arrogance and continued “It was …uhh it was pretty cool.” She finished with a nod, looking at him nervously.  

“Is that your way of a ‘thank you’?” Nimbus asked raising his eyebrow. 

“Yeah sure I guess it can be.” Rainbow Dash said,shrugging and looking up at the stars like there was something so interesting going on up there that she just cloud not look at Nimbus. 

“You really suck at this, you know?” Nimbus said in a sour tone. Nimbus was now kind of wishing she hadn’t said anything at all.

“FINE!” Rainbow Dash growled. She kept her head back towards the door of her house to avoid eye contact “thank you…”

Nimbus smiled a bit “What was that?” 

“Thank you…”

“Didn’t quite hear th-”

Annoyed by his childish game, Rainbow Dash grabbed Nimbus by his blue coat and roared “I SAID THANK YOU!” she calmly threw him back on the cloud made doorstep of her house, throwing some cloud fluff to hang in the air as he landed. Rainbow Dash giggled to herself as she said quietly “Punishment from above” 

“What?” 

Rainbow Dash repeated herself “The way you took out those goblins! You were like ‘punishment from above’!” Rainbow Dash added sound effects as she threw punches to the air in between her and Nimbus. “That should be like a catch phrase for you if you ever decide to become a super hero or a wrestling superstar!” 

“Sure I’ll do that right after I get my cape.” Nimbus added entertainingly. Rainbow Dash had really lost it now, Nimbus thought to himself. He continued to watch her as she kept throwing punches and kicks at the air, looking like she was fighting an elusive ninja. He began to believe that Rainbow Dash often shadow boxed on a regular basis when she had the time to herself.  

Rainbow Dash put a small hoof to her chin “Good point, you’re too slow to be a super hero.” Nimbus huffed and swung a right hoof at Rainbow Dash but she easily dodged out the way of it. “See?” Rainbow Dash pointed out. Nimbus let out an aggravated grunt. 
“The time you become a super hero is the time I wear a dress.” Rainbow Dash laughed. 

“You know if you wore a dress you would look quite…” Nimbus paused for a quick dramatic second. Rainbow Dash looked at him oddly. “I’m adding a pause for dramatic effect” Nimbus said with a smile. Rainbow Dash frowned, not at all amused with the colt’s little game. Nimbus continued “…you would look quite dashing!”

Rainbow Dash mimicked a sarcastically excited voice “Oh you’re so original!” She then melodramatically batted her eyelashes at him the same way a damsel would admire her knight in shining armor.   

Nimbus ignored her and whistled loudly at the sight of her house, after finally seizing the chance to take a good look at it. He looked back over at Rainbow Dash, telling her good bye and a good night before turning away. Rainbow Dash leaned out a small soft hoof towards him before he could take off, crossing her hoof with his. “You want to meet my parents?” She asked quickly. Nimbus looked at her nervously. “Don’t worry I’m sure they will like you once they hear that you saved me from a pair of goblins”, Rainbow Dash assured. Nimbus smiled confidently as Rainbow Dash led him inside through the front door of her house and the new chapter of his life. 

***

“Rainbow Dash, please tell me why we are spending the day in Ponyville?” Nimbus complained, dragging his hooves across the dirt road to Ponyville, skating on the dirt. “And why aren’t we flying? We could get there a lot faster if we flew.” Nimbus stretched and flapped his wings out to show Rainbow Dash he was capable of flying, even with an injured wing. Nimbus had gotten the injured wing from racing Rainbow Dash on the old obstacle course again. He had a good lead throughout the majority of the race but his flight pattern was absolutely reckless. He had grown careless and was too busy glorying himself in an inverted flying position to have noticed the flag pole in his path. Nimbus was lucky that the accident didn’t ground him completely, but he was however completely incapable of even TRYING to fly top speed for the next few weeks. 

Rainbow Dash ignored Nimbus’s complaints entirely and instead focused on the town before them “Would you have rather stayed in class?” Rainbow Dash and Nimbus commonly skipped flight class at least once a week or whenever the day was just too “dull” for them. Rainbow Dash brushed the little blue colts’ wing away from her. “We should be meeting up with Gilda within ten minutes after we arrive to the middle of town.” 

Nimbus stuck his tongue out and gagged in disgust as he hung his head at the mention of the Griffin’s name. 
“You don’t like Gilda?” Rainbow asked curiously, already knowing the answer.  

“It’s not that I don’t like her.” Nimbus confessed “It’s the fact that she always thinks I’m trying to steal you away from her.” 

“Oh come on now! She doesn’t think that at all! Gilda actually thinks you’re one pretty cool colt and she doesn’t say that about everypony either!” Rainbow Dash informed. 

Nimbus grunted in defeat, too well knowing there was no chance in convincing Rainbow Dash that Gilda actually disliked his very presence or existence. “I was her best friend until you came around, feather ball!” Nimbus said, impersonating Gilda’s voice poorly. 

“Just TRY to be nice, okay?” 

“I’ll TRY.” Nimbus lied “Right after I hit her over the head with an apple cart.” Nimbus admitted to himself silently. 

Nimbus and Rainbow Dash arrived into Ponyville successfully without any trouble of being stopped by any authorities wondering why they were not in school. Nimbus spun on his stool bored to death as he and Rainbow Dash waited for Gilda’s arrival. Rainbow Dash was also beginning to grow impatient with Gilda, as she proceeded to pick at the dirt in her hooves. 

“AHHH!” Rainbow Dash growled impatiently and slamming her hoof on the table, catching Nimbus off guard and causing him to jump up from his seat into the air. “She said she was going to be here 11 and it’s almost 11:20!” Rainbow Dash turned her head towards the watch tower that sat at the edge of Ponyville. 

“Well, we could just ditch the bird and do our own thing.” Nimbus suggested as politely as he possibly could. He thought that after four years of knowing Rainbow Dash, Gilda would like him or even pretend. 

Rainbow Dash shrugged slightly, knowing if they were to expect to have any fun today Gilda would just have to miss out. “Fine, what should we though? We’ve spent half the morning waiting on Gilda.” 

Nimbus scratched his chin roughly as he searched his mind for suggestions, but his concentration was taken away after the rumble of his belly. He patted his stomach gently “I could go for some hay fries and right now.” 

Rainbow Dash sighed “We have a whole day to ourselves and you want to share some hay fries?” 

“Who said I was going to share? Besides we always have the day to ourselves after school and every weekend.” 

Rainbow Dash grunted at Nimbus “You know how much I love hay fires.” Rainbow Dash crossed her arms and turned away from her colt friend. 

“You’re out of bits again, aren’t you?” 

“Of course not, I just know how easy it is for me to get you to pay for things for me.” Rainbow Dash confessed with a smile towards Nimbus and patting him on the head as she breezed past him. 

They arrived at the café within minutes of flying, getting around Ponyville as Pegasus pony was quite fast and efficient. You didn’t really have to deal with all the traffic nonsense like most of the other ponies did back down on the ground, not to mention all the vendors. Of course there were Pegasus vendors who roamed around the skies of Ponyville, but running into one didn’t happen very commonly. Nimbus just about jumped right into his seat until he decided to disregard and pull out Rainbow Dash’s seat for her. She couldn’t help but to raise an eyebrow at the uncommon gesture. Nimbus did often do nice things for Rainbow Dash but he had always did things like pay for a meal, take her places she wanted to go, save her life etc. the usual sort of thing. Today though, pulling her chair out for her before she sat down was sending her mixed messages. Was Nimbus doing this out of generosity? Was he doing it just to be nice and he was having a good day today? Was he doing it as a sign of affection? Or had he placed a small tack on the chair that she just hadn’t noticed yet? 

After seeing she had been standing there looking at the chair for the past minute, Nimbus finally decided to speak “You going to take your seat?”

“What are you up to?” 

“Nothing!” Nimbus admitted innocently, a bit heartbroken that Rainbow assumed his intentions were up to no good. Rainbow Dash carefully took her seat softly and slowly. She was even more surprised than before when Nimbus pushed her chair in closer to the table for her. Nimbus took his seat across the table from her, trying to figure out why she was acting so weird. Was she planning something? Is she just trying to make this an awkward diner? Is she really confused as to why he decided to pull her chair out? Or was she was just playing naïve with him? Whatever it was, Nimbus didn’t like it one bit. Speaking of bits, the restaurant of Nimbus’s choice did have quite of a “fancy smancy” atmosphere to it. There were at least two water fountains in the middle of the dining area, a very talented and well-dressed band on stage, and the price of the menu was quite expensive. Hell, the side soup was ten freaking bits, once Nimbus took a closer look at the prices. Did the soup come to life and play music? What made it so special to be tagged with that kind of price? “That better be one hell of a soup.” Nimbus thought to himself outloudly.

“So why here?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking at the display of two forks, three spoons and two different types of knives that were laid out in front of her. 

“I didn’t feel like flying any farther, plus I’ve never been here before.” 

“So you’re not planning anything “mushy” are you?” 

Nimbus slammed his hooves on top of the table, rattling all the silver ware and shaking the ice inside the two empty crystal glasses. “What do you think I’m up too?” 

“As soon as we got here you’ve been acting all weird! First you pulled my chair out for me.” Rainbow Dash reminded. 

“I was just being nice!” Nimbus claimed, throwing his hooves in the air offensively “Is that so wrong?” Nimbus then played the image of him pulling out Rainbow Dash’s chair for her through her eyes, in his mind. Seeing it from another perspective, Nimbus could understand why Rainbow Dash would be getting mixed messages. He calmly took his seat back down and let a small breath of air to relax his thoughts. Keeping low eye contact, Nimbus explained himself “Look sorry if I sent the wrong message. I just kind of felt like doing something nice for a change….you know with all the crazy adventures and trouble we have been getting ourselves into lately?” 

Rainbow Dash nodded understandingly. Agreed, Nimbus and Dash did share a great tale of many adventures, ones that were more times than always almost got them killed or worse. Just recently, Rainbow Dash and Nimbus took a trip to the badlands to “check it out”. Their curiosity was cut quickly though when they were chased back to Ponyville by a rather nasty teenage dragon. Even worse, they had to explain all to Ponyville why they attracted a dragon from the badlands in the first place. 

Not too long before that, Rainbow Dash had flown into the Everfree forest by herself, to prove to a group of colts she had no fear. It wasn’t too long before she entered into the forest that she encountered a pack of Timber Wolves. If Nimbus hadn’t followed closely behind her, curious as to where she was going but remaining discreet, she probably wouldn’t have been able to escape unharmed. 
With his eye contact still low, Nimbus gently kicked Rainbow Dash underneath the table “So…I…you’re not mad at me, are you?” Rainbow Dash had gotten so lost in her train of thought, she had become completely oblivious to the fact she was still having lunch with Nimbus. 

“Yeah, of course!” Rainbow Dash kicked Nimbus back a bit harder than he had. “I mean ‘yeah of course’ as in like ‘yeah we’re cool’! Don’t worry about it, I was just being stupid.” 

“You say that as if you’re not already.” Nimbus smiled with his ears picked up high. Rainbow Dash considered smacking Nimbus with one of the empty silver pewter plates in front of her, but she didn’t know exactly which one she needed for eating and which one was just there for decoration. 

After placing her order from the ridiculously expensive menu, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but wonder how Nimbus was able to pay for it, if he could. 

“Nimbus…”

“Sup, Rainbow Dash?” 

“How are you going to…?” Rainbow Dash looked over both her shoulders before asking her question “You know, pay?”

Nimbus crossed his fore legs “I got the bits and plenty more, don’t worry, I got it!” 

“Where the hay in Equestria did you make so much money, are you selling Nightmare Moon Shine or something?” Rainbow Dash’s question echoed all across the restaurant, turning all eyes to their table. She blushed embarrassingly with her ears turning red. She tried to hide herself behind her chair from all the attention.

Nimbus slapped his hoof on his face “No, I got a small job as a courier”  

Rainbow’s ears perked back up “Where did you get time to do that?” Rainbow Dash rubbed her hooves together excitedly “and just out of complete curiosity, how much money?” 

Nimbus growled silently and strongly stated “I got enough.” Just on beat after Nimbus finished talking, their dinner was loudly interrupted by a screaming unicorn. 

Rainbow Dash turned her head towards the entrance doors as the unicorn busted through the restaurant loudly “SOMEPONY HELP! MY HOUSE IS ON FIRE AND MY TWO FOALS ARE STILL IN THERE!”

Rainbow Dash eyes widened worriedly “Oh no! I wonder if there is some way we can….” She turned her view back across the table to find Nimbus missing gone from sight. 

Nimbus had torn open the window and speed up to the open air of the Ponyville sky to spot the burning building. Scanning Ponyville for a burning building only took a few seconds as he followed the trail of smoke. Nimbus pen dropped out of the sky like a dive bomb towards the house, as he performed the signature opening of his wings back up only a few feet above the ground that he was known locally for. He looked at every window or door for a safe opening into the building, but this was just wasting time as the heat of fire increased drastically with every passing second. It was either rocket through the glass or to watch the house crumble. Nimbus took a deep breath to prepare his body for the physical punishment ahead of him. He closed his eyes and slammed in the glass, shattering tiny pieces of glass into his previous wing injury. Crimson blood was now flowing from his left wing like a busted bush of cherries. There was no way he was going to be able to properly fly now, but the lives of foals hung in the balance. Sacrificing a week of flying to save two lives was quite a bargain to Nimbus’s logic. 

Nimbus could hear a cry of fear over the snap and pop of the burning wood. Luckily for Nimbus the cry wasn’t very far and had fairly safe path towards it, despite the blazing fire overhead. He trotted quickly to the foals play room and saw them completely unharmed but dangerously surrounded by the fire. Nimbus pushed his wings past their tolerating punishment meter to overcome the pain of flapping his wings fast enough to make a small gap in the ring of fire. His successful efforts lead him to immediately lift both foals onto his back. The two foals were aware enough to hold on tightly to his mane. 

Nimbus tried to escape the same way he came in but he was in too badly injured to make it out properly. Besides, the hole he made wasn’t large enough to safely escort the foals away from the fire. Large heavy sounds of cracked wood popped over Nimbus’s head. Nimbus looked up in time just see a large beam of fiery death coming for the foals on his back. Nimbus roared as he saw the colors of his environment disappear around him for a spilt second. When the light finally caught up with Nimbus, he looked behind him to see the previously falling beam crash and split behind him. Again, he unexplainably teleported from short distance without intending to do so.  

He lowered his head and admitted to himself in a huff of breath “I really need to find out how I do that…” Nimbus looked over his environment hurriedly but calmly, as he tried to find the safest route out. His search seemed effortlessly until he heard the sound of hooves hit the deck behind him. Nimbus turned to meet face to face with the one and only Rainbow Dash. 
Rainbow Dash looked at Nimbus with determination “What can I do to help?” she offered.

Nimbus looked back over at the window and scaled it back and forth with Rainbow Dash’s size. If she was careful enough, Rainbow Dash just might be able to leave here with the foals without a scratch. Nimbus nudged the foals onto Rainbow’s back carefully. “Take these two out the same way you came, I’ll be right behind you!” Nimbus hid his injured wing away from Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash nodded confidently and faced back towards the window and darted outside to the open without any challenge of difficulty. Nimbus took a few steps back to launch himself back out. As he came within just a few feet from the exit, a large piece of ceiling collapsed in front of him, blocking his escape route. Nimbus scurried away from the sizzling blaze. He could hear the fire cracking and snapping over him. From what he could guess he only had a few minutes before the roof was on top of him. Beads of sweat raced down his neck, his vision was going blurry from the smoke and tears in his eyes, dehydration was becoming his new enemy as the air began to decrease drastically, and the heat of the fire only assured the fact he was going to die in here if he didn’t escape soon. 

Nimbus arched his wings back, crouch his body to the ground, and lowered his head down as he charged the burning piece of wood in his way. Like all previous times before, Nimbus could feel the world around him get slower as he watched the colors and light begin to disappear. He broke through the heap of burning wood and made through the previously made hole in the window, adding several chips of wood and glass splinters into his body, but at least now he was out of the hell hole. If anypony would have seen the whole act, all they would have witnessed was a pony vanish from behind the pile of fire to the other side of the window in less than a blink of the eye. The building finally surrendered to the fire and collapsed just after Nimbus’s daring escape. Nimbus fell onto the soft green grass, blinded by the shinning bright beauty of the sun. He tried to fight the urge to sleep. He wanted to make sure and guarantee Rainbow Dash and the foals were safe, but his mind and body were telling him that it was time to rest. Nimbus felt there was no reason to fight the temptation, he was indeed very tired, and he did watch Rainbow Dash leave the building safely with the foals on her back after all. Nimbus allowed his eyelids to close slowly like the heavy red curtains at the finishing act of a play. He gave himself an imaginary pat on the back. He needed somepony to tell him “Good Job”. Who’d be better than himself?  

POWER UP! <Nimbus> 

[Zero Shifting]: Yeah, you might suck at racing on the track, but can anypony else move 5 yards in less time than the speed of light? Nope! Only you, Nimbus boy! Make it look like you’re using a teleportation spell. Confuse your unicorn friends at this special talent. Scientist will be scratching their heads at how you can move so fast in just a short distance without your skin ripping off of your body. They won’t even be able to explain how you can crash into somepony else’s body and break their bones without busting your own! Worried about the ruining the carpet you stop on? Don’t be! So go wild, Zero Shift across your living room. Knock on your neighbors door, Zero Shift across their living room, fucking I don’t care! 

> You're acting like this is the first time something like this has happened. 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Doc, if you try stabbing me with that needle one more time, you’re going to find it lodged in your throat!” Nimbus’s threat echoed all throughout the hall way for everypony to hear. He had finally woken up after being out cold for the past few hours.  Luckily, he had no severe or any serious injuries. A few minor scrapes and a crippled wing was a regular summer weekend afternoon for Nimbus, espcially with the adventures he and Rainbow Dash had gotten themselves into lately. 

“I think he’s in that room.” Fluttershy said gently as she walked alongside with Rainbow Dash and Gilda. It had only been about two hours since they helped the doctors escort Nimbus to the hospital. Fluttershy and Gilda arrived to scene in a small amount of time after seeing the thick black smoke hovering over Ponyville. It would have been more of a challenge to have missed it.  “Do you think these are sending the wrong message?” Fluttershy asked as she held the beautiful bouquet of dandelions to Rainbow Dash’s face. 

“I don’t know, Fluttershy! Why would I know what he likes?” Rainbow Dash bitterly pushed the dandelions away from her nose. A few of the leaves flew off the delicate dandelions from the harsh treatment. 

Fluttershy held the flowers closer to her chest, safely away from Rainbow Dash and quietly asked “…because, no offense, but…uh you’re with him…like almost every day?” 

“That’s a bit of an understatement.” Gilda added comically, her claws clicking across the tile floor of the hallway.  

“Hardly!” Rainbow Dash argued back, as she flipped her mane out of her eye view “ I don't see him on the weekends too often anymore, now that he's got a side job as a courier. There was even a time when we went three weeks without seeing each other."

“Wasn’t that the time you cried at school when you finally saw him in class after spring break?” Fluttershy asked, laughing quietly. Gilda snickered behind her beak with her claw providing cover for some added discretion. 

Rainbow Dash snarled under her breath “Do you both like breathing?” she asked, raising a single shaking hoof in both their faces. Fluttershy and Gilda simultaneously froze in fear and retracted back a few paces in the middle of the hall, as their eyes widened with terror, their laughing immediately coming to a cease. “That’s what I thought.” Rainbow Dash continued to walk forward, turning directly into Nimbus’s room. She pushed past the doctor as he came out the door way at the exact same time. The doctor opened his mouth to say something, but Rainbow Dash's rough shoulder to his chest shut him up like somepony had held him at gun point. Rainbow Dash smiled as she was greeted warmly by Nimbus, cheering happily at her presence.

“She’s a really hostile pony when you tell her the truth, isn’t she?” Gilda question sounded a whole lot more like a statement with the tone she used to whisper into Fluttershy’s ear. Knowing better to wait until Rainbow Dash and Nimbus had a few minutes to themselves, like Rainbow Dash had asked for before entering the hospital, they both stayed glued to the floor of the hallway. 

“So, hey, I got these for you.” Rainbow Dash shrugged as she handed over a bouquet of dandelions to Nimbus, who was obviously doped out on whatever medication he had been given and prescribed. “I thought you might like them, since well…So yeah, here you go.” Nimbus squeaked happily and hugged the bouquet lightly to his chest. 

“She took my dandelions!” Fluttershy gasped as she looked down in her empty hooves where the bouquet was supposed to be.  

Nimbus set the dandelions on the counter to his left after taking a small bite out of one of them. “So be honest, Rainbow Dash.”

“Aren’t I always?” Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves defensively and raised an eyebrow as she took a seat in the chair adjacent to Nimbus’s right head side of the bed. The chair was a bit more comfortable than Rainbow Dash had expected for a visitor’s chair to be. Hell, she was even debating whether or not she should revenue it before she left. 

Nimbus ignored her commonly known dry attitude and continued with his question “Is my wing injury kinda cool looking or do you think it makes other ponies sick and want to gag at the very sight of it?” 

Rainbow Dash tilted her head away from Nimbus’s left wounded wing as if it were a dying animal she had almost stepped on on the side of the road.   “Every time I look at it, I feel like I can smell it.” 

Nimbus frowned sadly “Well at least it makes a cool story for what it is worth.” 

“No, Nimbus.” Rainbow Dash scooted her chair a bit farther away from Nimbus. “Seriously, I feel like I’m about to barf up my lunch, and I haven’t even eaten yet.” 

Nimbus could see Rainbow Dash was trying to hide the troubled look on her face with a mask of fury and bantering. Knowing Rainbow Dash like he did, Nimbus knew Rainbow Dash already had a mentally written ass chewing for him, for leaving her back at the restaurant so he could go play "hero". He looked for an alternative topic to transition to from his wing. “How are those foals? Did they make it back to their mother safely?”  

“I don’t know, I hoofed them over to the authorities. I had a much bigger problem on my mind.” Rainbow Dash ended her last few words with a bit of venom as she stared at Nimbus angrily. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt back inside the house?” 

Nimbus bit his lip. He now wished she had chosen to yell at him about leaving her back at the restaurant instead. “Look, Rainbow Dash” Nimbus moved his eyes self-ashamedly to the tiled floor of his room “I didn’t want you to worry-” 

“Oh!” Rainbow Dash lifted herself out of the chair before Nimbus could get another word in and landed on the middle of his bed, planting her front hooves digging right into his chest. “You didn’t want me to worry as you were trapped inside a fiery hellhole?!” 

“I got out in one piece, didn’t I?” Nimbus’s eyes meet and followed Rainbow Dash’s gaze as they both looked in chorus at his bloody bandaged wing. “Well… I mean I almost did.” Nimbus knew there was no way he was going to avoid getting his flank chewed by Rainbow Dash for the next hour, or at the very least kicked. He was lucky if she wasn’t already thinking about taking the dandelions and sticking them up somewhere in a place where flowers aren’t supposed to go up in his body. “You’re making a bigger deal out of this more than you should be.” 

“I could have dropped the kids and gone back inside for you!” Rainbow Dash roared digging her hoof deeper into Nimbus’s chest, removing some of the hairs off his sky blue coat. 

“That’s really starting to hurt a little.” Nimbus winced as he tried to gently push Rainbow Dash’s hoof off of him, but Rainbow Dash was putting too much power behind her hoof and Nimbus didn’t exactly have the dynamism or incentive to move it. Being fortunate enough to never actually be stabbed by a dagger or knife before, Nimbus imagined this is how it must have felt. 

“I could have easily gotten you out of there! I barely knew you were still in there until I saw your stupid golden beam right behind you just right before the building collapsed!” Rainbow Dash grabbed Nimbus by the collar of his coat for the four hundredth time this month. “AND I saw you do that stupid vanishing move when you got out.”

“Oh.” Nimbus knew if he wasn’t in deep shit now he was going to be in the bottom of a pile of shit in the next few minutes.  “Y-you saw that?” 

“Duh, I saw it. I was looking for you, you dumb…grrr!” Rainbow Dash spat the words she couldn’t manage to say all over Nimbus’s face with her saliva. 

“Well, you didn’t have to look all that hard. I was only a few feet away.” Nimbus admitted a bit timidly after seeing Rainbow Dash shaking and trembling with anger. 

“Is everything in life just a game to you?!” Rainbow Dash asked with an ear ripping shout. 

Ignoring the back and forth ringing in his ear, Nimbus continued to talk coolly “I’d like to think so.” 

“Nimbus, I swear your crazy actions, your desire to jump at everything that has a skull and cross bones on it, your stupid look at life, it’s all going to be the death of me. Sometimes you just make me want to scream.” 

“You’re screaming now and you’re not dead. So, I think you're exaggerating just a bit.” 

“Nimbus! I swear to Celestia!” Rainbow Dash gripped and curl her hooves deeper into Nimbus’s collar. She pressed her face into the sky blue pegasus’s face with the exhibition of anger, but crystal sparkling tears suddenly came unexpectedly streaming down her face. “I thought I lost you today.” Rainbow Dash began to speak slowly and quieter, inadvertently mimicking Fluttershy’s well-known persona. “When I didn’t see you get back up right away, my heart sank a bit…I didn’t realize how much of a friend you were to me until I thought you were gone forever.” Rainbow Dash brushed her head onto Nimbus’s neck. “I begged and prayed to Celestia that you would be ok.” 

Nimbus stroked Rainbow Dash’s mane softly with his good hoof. He had landed hard on his right hoof nearly twisting it in the completely wrong direction when he fled out of the window earlier. For Nimbus’s sake, thankfully he was a south paw (or hoof) and had just as much, if not more, strength in his left hoof. 

He pulled Rainbow Dash closer into his shoulder fighting back some of his own tears. If there was one thing Nimbus despised, it was showing weakness, especially in front of Rainbow Dash. Nimbus would rather risk injury or the chance of death than to rather let anypony see one ounce of weakness or fear in his body. He didn’t want to cry in front of Rainbow Dash, it would have made a huge impact on his pride. “I guess she heard you then.” Nimbus finally replied, after staying silent for several long seconds and holding Rainbow Dash in his one legged hug. 

Rainbow Dash lifted her head off of his shoulder with small smile “I know I have never said it before, Nimbus, but I just wanted you to know that…”

Nimbus waited patiently for Rainbow Dash to finish her sentence, but the suspense was butchering him from the inside with a fiery chainsaw “Wanted me to know what, Rainbow Dash?” 

“That I-I thin-” 

“This is quite a touchy scene.” Gilda interrupted as she had laid silent, leaning against the door frame of the patient room. 
“Shh, quiet!” Fluttershy softly bucked Gilda in her thigh. Gilda turned her concentration onto Fluttershy, narrowing her eyes down at the yellow fragile pony, her chest lifted high, and her feathers ruffled wildly. “…please?” Fluttershy asked kindly with a weak frightened and regretful smile.  “But I think Rainbow Dash was about to say something... really sweet.” 

Gilda nodded in agreement and turned back to the two ponies that had only become aware of their presence as of a few seconds ago “Oh yes, do continue” she winked at Rainbow Dash “Pretend we’re not even here.” 

Rainbow Dash began to stutter when she tried to speak, but she cleared her throat before speaking a lot more firmly “Yeah, I think I uhh” She looked around the room for a diversion. She caught attention of the half-opened door leading to the connected bath and wash room of Nimbus’s room. “I-I have to go to the bathroom” she lied. There was no way Rainbow Dash was going to finish her original statement in front of her other friends. She had almost completely forgotten that they had come with her.

Nimbus frowned sadly and grunted lowly. “Well again, thanks for the flowers, Rainbow Dash.” Nimbus figured it was probably in his best interest to get off topic to avoid any unwanted attention to himself and/or Rainbow Dash.  He still wanted to know what exactly she wanted to tell him. Locked up feelings is what Nimbus was betting his money on, but he didn’t want to give himself a false sense of hope and put all of his eggs into that one basket. 

“Yeah, No problem!” Rainbow Dash hoof punched Nimbus in the shoulder “We are going to have to get going but I’ll see you later, ok?” 

“Of course!” Nimbus smiled, he twitched uncomfortably underneath the itchy blankets. “It’s not like I’m going anywhere. You’re more than welcome to came back anytime you like.” Nimbus invited warmly.  

Rainbow Dash began to lead her way and pushed roughly past Fluttershy and Gilda out the door “I thought you had to go to the bathroom?” Gilda asked with a smile, trying her best to resist Rainbow Dash’s shoving hooves. 

“I changed my mind, false alarm.” Rainbow Dash successfully removed herself from the room and instructed Fluttershy and Gilda to keeping moving ahead of her. She was about to close the door shut, but not before turning her head around and giving Nimbus a whole-hearted smile. Nimbus returned her smile with an even wider but gorier and bloody smile of his own. She chuckled slightly at his blood coated teeth filled smirk before closing the door behind her. 

Nimbus wiped his hoof across his mouth and looked at the red smear coated on his fore leg. “Great.” Nimbus rolled his eyes at his own stupidity and stood up straighter in his bed. He sat there, silently looking at the closed door his best friend had just walked out of and listened to the heavy ticking of the clock above it. He continued to sit there, thinking to himself, contemplating about what kind of potential there could be between him and Rainbow Dash. The thought of Rainbow Dash and him getting together as a couple, when they were a little bit older of course, definitely crossed his mind more than once. Nimbus smiled to himself as the idea of him and Rainbow Dash being best friends forever painted a beautiful image in his mind. After enjoying himself in his own imagination for a few hours, Nimbus slumped down in his bed and groaned loudly enough to get the nurses attention from the help desk at the other end of his hallway “I’m soooo booooorrrreedd!”  

Later that evening, Rainbow Dash returned and sat in chair beside Nimbus again, she stayed up with him playing her favorite board game. It took and cost Nimbus twenty seven matches and 17 bits to finally find a reason to stop playing and call it a night. He wasn’t a sore loser or anything by any means. He just thought there was no reason why anypony would believe a guppy could be a shark at her own game. Nimbus might not have had any plans for the next week or so, but Rainbow Dash still needed to go to flight school in the morning and the night had already overcome the beautiful glow of the sun. 

“Well, I told my parents where I am going to be for the night.”

“You can’t stay here!” Nimbus stated rather loudly, almost forgetting he had another patient in the same room as he was. He looked over his shoulder to make sure he hadn’t rudely waked him up. 

“Why the hay not?” Rainbow Dash glared at him and placed her hooves on her hips like a little filly being told to go to bed. 
“Umm where are you going to sleep, on the chair? It’s not exactly comfortable I can imagine.”

“Well then…” Rainbow Dash moved her hooves on her hips and hovered above the ground only a few inches “That only leaves only one solution!” Rainbow Dash bopped Nimbus on the nose with a wicked smile and a sinister laugh. 

Nimbus looked at her curiously for several seconds. His eyes widened once he realized the only logical option left for her to get well rested for tomorrow morning. “You are not getting in this bed!” Nimbus stretched his body out to cover as much of the bed he could accomplish. “I’d rather break my other wing than to share a bed with you!” 

“Oh come on, Nimby! It will be like our little sleepover.” Rainbow Dash teased as she poked him on his left wing, knowing well enough she would irritate his wing.  

Nimbus continued to lie down with his entire body stretched out across the bed as he rose his only movable hoof in the air “Ok first off, never call me that again!” 

“Aww but Nimby is such a cute name!” Rainbow Dash continued to tease him, waiting for him to explode with anger. 

“I’m not cute!” Nimbus shouted. Rainbow Dashed had succeeded in pissing off Nimbus and was completely satisfied. 

Rainbow Dash giggled “Ok fine then, Nimby.” Nimbus’s cheeks turned red with frustration and a touch of embarrassment. Rainbow Dash knew he hated it when she called him pet names. “What’s your next instruction of command, sir?” Rainbow Dash smiled with amusement as her colt friend struggled with constricted anger towards her. 

“Second, I am not going to share a bed as soft as this one, with you!” 

Rainbow Dash gasped with excitement “OHMYGOSH OHMYGOSH OHMYGOSH! Just how soft is it?” Rainbow Dash dove into an empty spot in the fluffy bed, nearly sending Nimbus flying off the safety side bars. “OHMYGOSH! It’s almost as soft as a cloud, not as comfortable I’ll admit, but darn it, it’s close!” She snuggled up to Nimbus and began to quickly drift off to sleep. 

“You better not snore!” Nimbus demanded. 

“Who, me?” Rainbow Dash lifted her head up. “I’ll be as quite as a mouse. You won’t even remember I’m here!” Rainbow Dash was having a great time infuriating the colt more than she had intended. She was already thinking of other fun ways to prank, anger, and annoy Nimbus in the morning. “Good night, Nimbus!” 

Nimbus pushed Rainbow Dash forelegs length away and placed a pillow in between her and him, separating her from physically making contact with him. “Drop dead, Rainbow Dash.” Nimbus forced his eyes shut and faced away from the pillow.

Right before shutting her eyes into a peaceful sleep, Rainbow Dash admitted “You know, I could easily just reach over this pillow and poke you all night if I wanted” She chuckled silently as Nimbus turned over, angrily facing away from her and grumbling curses under his breath. 

Nimbus was unaware of Rainbow Dash’s loud obnoxious snoring and couldn’t get a good night’s rest. He looked over towards her to confirm the beastly noise he was hearing was actually coming from her. If he didn’t know any better, Nimbus could have easily mistaken her snoring for a towering Ursa Major. 

“There’s no way a sound of such volume can come from such a tiny filly…” Nimbus whispered to himself with the straightest face he could manage. Nimbus finally passed out later in the night from complete exhaustion.

*** 
Nimbus was finally out the hospital after what felt like an eternity! If it wasn’t for the hospitals fortunate supply of the “Daring Do” book series, he might have gone insane with boredom. Without cutting time any closer, Gilda pierced out the clouds above, striking Nimbus with unsatisfaction in the same manner if he had seen an atom bomb instead, despite the fact Nimbus would have preferred the atom bomb over Gilda any day.. It was absolutely impossible for Nimbus to hide an expression of disgust when she stood right in front of him. 

"Don't tell-" 

Gilda stuck a scary sharp talon into Nimbus's muzzle "I know what you're going to ask and the answer is yes." Gilda refused to remove her claw and only dug it in deeper as Nimbus tried to remove it. "I don't know why it's so important to her, but Rainbow Dash wants you and me to get along." 

"Kind of a hard request when you've impaled my nose. I use that to breath, but considering how badly your stench is, I want to thank you for granting me the relief of not being able to smell you." Nimbus snickered in a funny sounding giggle as Gilda grunted and proceeded to pinch his nose even tighter between her claws. 

Using her other claw and balancing on her hind legs, Gilda stabbed and twisted a separate talon in between Nimbus's eyes. A small cruel smirk spread across her beak as Nimbus ceased his laughter and began to yelp and whine like a wounded puppy. The sight of seeing the colt who braved a pair of goblins (or so she was told) now whimpering right at the tips of claws brought a little bit of unrepentant pleasure to her heart than it probably should have. "Aww, does it hurt?" Gilda cooed ironically. Enjoying herself for a moment longer, she finally released and set Nimbus loose from her grasp. 

Nimbus shook the small pool of tears (that had built up right of the bridge of his nose) off his face. He avoided looking at Gilda and answering her question "Why couldn't Rainbow Dash come to pick me up instead of you?" After wiping the last remainder of tears on his face, "Nimbus asked another question "Actually, why didn't she just send Fl-" 

"She says you make her uncomfortable." Gilda answered quickly with a blunt tone. She then set her focus to picking out a few clumps of dirt that had settled themselves deep underneath her claw. 

"Uncomfortable?!" Nimbus shouted picturing Gilda as Fluttershy for a quick second. "How do I make Fluttershy uncomfortable? I've never done anything to her!" 

Gilda fired a heavily annoyed and disapproving look at Nimbus, then simply saying "The cookie eating competition ." 

Nimbus immediately transitioned from an offended threatening expression to a strong inadequate feeling of guilt "Oh...you mean THAT." Nimbus kicked over a nearby rock awkwardly hoping to find a hole underneath that he could crawl and hide in. "You know when I said "I ate out, Fluttershy" I didn't mean it like it sounded." 

Gilda just rolled her eyes and fluttered her wings out, ready to ascend back up to Clouds dale and get rid of Nimbus as fast as possible. "Just drop it, and come on!" Without warning Nimbus pounced and grabbed on to the shoulders of the Griffon, hanging off of her back like a loose back pack. Gilda kicked and swung herself wildly, throwing Nimbus off without much effort. When she turned and saw the blue colt upside down against a tree, she dove and wrapped her around his tail, lifting him to her eye level. "What. The hell, was THAT?!" Gilda roared, blowing back Nimbus's mane with her voice. 

Nimbus hung upside down, blinking in a baffled sense of confusion "I guess Rainbow forgot to tell you I can't fly for the next few days, huh?" Gilda cheeks turned hot red. Nimbus couldn't tell if she was red with anger or the fact she knew he was goign to have to ride on her back. "I promise, it'll be real quick and fast. You won't even notice I'm on top of you." Gilda only seemed to grow angrier the more he spoke. "You can just drop me off at Rainbow's. She's not that far from here." Nimbus offered "I'll ride you then I'll ride Rainbow Dash the rest of the way, ok? Nopony will even know you and I-" 

Gilda clutched her claw over Nimbus's muzzle once again "Stop talking! I know you're doing it on purpose!" Gilda hissed. 

Nimbus was only able to respond with a puzzled look. 

"Just shut up, get on, and don't tell a soul." Gilda instructed as she threw Nimbus behind her and onto her back. She bolted on up to the air as fast as she could before anypony could see her and Nimbus.

Nimbus gripped tighter onto Gilda and closed the gap between her ear and his mouth when she broke through the clouds. Whispering quietly and voluptuously with a crooked smirk on his face, Nimbus said  "I know this is your first with somepony on top, so I'll be gentle." 
***

When Nimbus and Rainbow Dash arrived to school the next day, they were immediately informed by their class flight coach to report to the head coach’s office first thing. Rainbow Dash questioned why they both had to go, but their flight coach had nothing further to tell them and just repeated himself once more. Nimbus tried to stay optimistic and told Rainbow Dash maybe it wasn’t anything bad, but maybe it was for something good like a reward or something. Rainbow Dash argued though that they were more than likely getting suspended for something that had happened a long time ago. Despite Nimbus’s optimism and opposing opinion, Rainbow Dash was very well undeniably correct. They were in fact suspended for the next three weeks to be exact. 
Rainbow Dash shielded her self-ashamed face behind her hooves. “My life is ruined!” She cried as she sat crashing down on top of the cloud she and Nimbus decided to stop at, after leaving the school premises. “My parents are going. TO. KILL. ME!” 

“Oh come on, Rainbow Dash! You’re over exaggerating, it can’t be that bad.”  Nimbus took a seat next to Rainbow Dash relaxed his chin into his hooves “Hmm it took us four months to get suspended. That’s got to be our best personal record, but I think we are losing our touch. We need to up our game.” 

Rainbow Dash quickly removed her hooves from her face and snapped at Nimbus “Of course you would assume that! You wouldn’t know what’s like to get in trouble with your parents because you don’t have any!” After seeing Nimbus flatten his ears to the sides of head and his smile quickly tremble to a frown, Rainbow Dash comprehended what she had just said. She gasped and slapped her hooves over her mouth. She apologized over and over again until Nimbus decided to speak. 

“It’s ok, you’re right though. I don’t what it’s like to have your parents yell at you for your actions.” Nimbus said quietly and slowly. His mane hung low over his eyes as he forcefully looked away from Rainbow Dash. 

“I didn’t mean it to…”  Rainbow Dash started, biting her lip a bit. 

“Then how did you mean it!?” Nimbus growled, finally picking up his head and poking his face into Rainbow Dash’s “Please explain it to me, because I’m having a real hard time seeing it from any other way!” 

Rainbow Dash knew Nimbus had every reason to be mad at her, and she sure as hell felt guilty about it too. However, she didn’t much favor his tone of voice or attitude towards her, and she wasn’t to just stand there and take that kind of crap from him.  “Look I’m sorry ok, and I didn’t mean to say that! Now will you please take the thorn out of your ass and listen to me?” 

Fortunately for Rainbow Dash, Nimbus knew she didn’t mean it and he couldn’t stay mad at her for any longer than a couple of minutes anyways. Nimbus let out an inhalation of air to calm himself. “Ok….Ok, I’m good now. What do you have to say?” If Nimbus hadn’t respected the bond he and Rainbow Dash shared, he would have listened to his brain and decked her right in the muzzle. As much as he probably would have discreetly enjoyed that, Nimbus knew he would feel like shit the next minute. Sometimes he felt like his brain had a mind of its own. 

After confirming Nimbus was longer mad at her, Rainbow Dash perked up her ears stiffly with optimism, and smiled “Well, seeing that you kind of already owe me twice now…” 

“How do I owe you twice, and for what?” Nimbus interrupted, picking himself up off the cloud. 

Rainbow Dash held her hoof up, almost as if she were counting imaginary numbers off “First off, you still owe me dinner.” 

“Even though that was months ago, but whatever.” Nimbus grunted, but nodded and shrugged agreeably.

“And second, this isn’t the first time you’ve gotten me in trouble with my parents.” Rainbow Dash finished as she put her hoof back down. 

“Gotten you in trouble with your parents? What else have we done as bad as this?” 

***

“As far as I know this kid has gotten our daughter to skip class in and out of school a repeated amount of times, lead her into a burning building, almost got her killed by a couple of goblins a few years back.”

“That he saved her from, don’t forget!” Rainbow Dash’s mom corrected, disagreeing with her husband’s hastily judging accusations of Nimbus. 

“I know that and I’m very grateful for it, but I’m just saying these kids are barley even close to being teenagers and look at the kind of trouble they get into already! Plus didn’t Nimbus just get out of the hospital for going into a fire that our daughter followed him into? What’s going to happen when they get older? We are going to…” 

“We are going to have to trust them!” Rainbow Dash’s mom interrupted once again for the thousandth time. “Yes, they get into trouble, and maybe Nimbus IS the main source of it all.” She knew for a guaranteed fact that Nimbus and Rainbow Dash pretty much planned every little adventure together, so Rainbow Dash was just as guilty as Nimbus was, but the fact the Nimbus actually helped her out with the dishes on more occasions than her husband ever had made Rainbow Dash’s mom a whole lot more thankful to have Nimbus around the house from time to time, and she didn’t want to lose her favorite dish washing assistant.

“Exactly!” Rainbow Dash’s dad agreed quickly. If he had had fingers or any sort of appendages on his hoof, he would have snapped them and pointed one at his wife. 

“But!” Rainbow Dash’s mom was not quite finished just yet “They are friends! Best friends at the very least. That colt comes around this house often enough to be considered part of this family, and we have no right as parents to split them apart!” Rainbow Dash’s mom ended her last sentence with a strong note that left her husband speechless for words and only blurt out a short series unintelligent blabber and nonsense. 

“Ok, fine!” Rainbow Dash’s dad agreed a little unwillingly “But if that colt comes by today for any reason I’m going to giving him a piece of my mind and put my boot somewhere I’ve been wanting to put it for a very long time!” He shook a hoof in air to demonstrate his anger. 

“You see?! I told you this was a bad idea! Your dad is going to kill me!” there was a small whisper from behind the front door of Rainbow Dash’s house. Rainbow Dash’s parents simultaneously turned their heads towards their front door and remained quiet, silently listening to the small whisper. 

“Maybe he will, if you don’t lower your voice, idiot!” said a second whisper which they could easily recognize was their very daughter’s voice.  

“Hey, don’t think I forgot what you said to me this morning, I’m still mad at you!” Nimbus lied horribly. 

“I said I was sorry like twenty times already! I just wasn’t thinking and I forgot! 

“How do you forget that I don’t have parents?! I’ve known you for four years now!” 

“Well MY parents are about to kill us both if you don’t shut up!”

Rainbow Dash’s mom and dad crept closer to the door, careful not to make a sound. They moved their heads closer and pressed their ears up against the door to listen more thoroughly to what the two unaware ponies were saying. 

“Ok maybe they haven’t heard us yet, so maybe we can sneak out of here before….” Rainbow Dash’s dad quickly pulled the door open to reveal himself and his wife behind the door. “Before they know we are here” Nimbus finished sadly, keeping his head turned facing Rainbow Dash but his eyes fixated on her parents. “Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Rainbow Dash!” Nimbus said awkwardly with a forced smile, behind closed teeth. 

“Nimbus! It’s so nice to see you this evening!” Rainbow Dash’s mom greeted warmly. 

“Not really…” Nimbus heard Rainbow Dash’s dad mumble just loud enough for him to barely catch it. 

Despite her husband’s harsh opinion, Rainbow Dash’s mom always thought approvingly of Nimbus. Anypony that could keep up with her Rainbow Dash and make her happy was more than good enough for her! “Why don’t you two come inside? It’s cold out there!” Rainbow Dash’s mom invited. “And Nimbus, how many times do I have to tell you to just call me Rainbowshine?” 

Rainbow Dash’s dad looked at his wife worriedly “Nimbus is coming inside too?” Nimbus trotted inside the home and past the adult stallion as fast as he could, but the stallion stomped a strong hoof between his home and Nimbus. 

Nimbus stared at the limb for a bit and gulped a heavy lump of air before looking at the death glare staring right at him. He kind of preferred that he was back in the hospital again. “H-hi?” Nimbus’s voice was incredibly weak and meek. 

“Why were you and my daughter suspended from school?” Rainbow’s dad got right to the meat and potatoes, directly asking his question without any meaningless stalling.

Before Nimbus could answer the question, Rainbow Dash called for him from inside the house, “Nimbus are you coming?” 

“I’m coming, I just have to get your dad’s permission.” Nimbus answered quickly, hoping she or mom would come outside to save him from his near peril. 

Rainbow Dash didn’t quite hear him correctly, “What?” she asked. 

Nimbus rolled his eyes and repeated, “I’m coming, Rainbow Dash.” 

Rainbow Dash still couldn’t hear him with all the noise being made by her mom as set and prepared all the plates and silver ware on the dining table. “Are you going to come inside, or do I have to make you come?” 

“I’m coming inside, Rainbow Dash!” Nimbus suddenly screamed, almost making his throat start to bleed. His screaming forced Rainbowshine to stop in her tracks and quickly think over the dialog of Nimbus and Rainbow Dash’s conversation. Nimbus pushed past around the limb blocking him from the warm meal awaiting him inside.

Rainbowshine sweetly offered a spot at the dinner table for Nimbus to sit. “And he’s eating with us?!” Rainbow Dash’s dad threw his hooves up in the air. Nimbus took the joy of sitting next to Rainbow Dash at the table and ignored the fact that her dad didn’t even want him within fifteen feet of her or the house. 

Rainbowshine kicked her husband in the side and whispered “Storm! Look at how happy they are!” 

Storm looked over at the dining table in the next room as discreetly as he could. It was clear, even to a pony who was blind, how happy the two ponies were. From what he could see, they were more than likely reenacting some crazy adventure they had out in Ponyville today. Of course, he didn’t throw away the fact that they were both suspended, but a smile spread across his face none the less. As far as he could see, even at the darkest of times, there was always going to be somepony that could make his daughter laugh and love life, whether or not she wanted to. Nimbus might not have been his first choice (or the one hundred sixth choice) for his daughter, but he knew she was more than fortunate to have him as a friend. 

Rainbowshine put a comforting foreleg around Flash’s neck and kissed his cheek. “She’s getting older….” Flash said slowly “It wasn’t too long ago that they were pushing each other on swings.” He moved out from under his wife’s foreleg and on over to his favorite chair and rested his head back up against the headrest. His head sunk into the soft silk pillow that encouraged him to let out a soothing breath of air “And it won’t be too long till we have to worry about what kind of bigger trouble they might get into next!” He turned his head over to his wife “I mean they are both practically two mini daredevils!” 

Rainbowshine chuckled “They are just little ponies, dear! How much trouble and crazy adventures could they get into?”

***

[Four years later…] 

“OK, let’s see if you can dodge this, piss for brains!” Rainbow Dash said pointing a bow and arrow about twenty five yards away from Nimbus’s temple. 

“Oh trust me I’ll dodge the shit out of that arrow, blubber butt!” replied Nimbus enthusiastically. Nimbus thought Rainbow Dash would have objected to shooting a bow and arrow at him, but apparently this is not what has happened.  Like most of their ideas, this one had been in the planning process for several seconds. Nimbus and Rainbow Dash could never figure out how or why Nimbus could move short distances so fast, but they planned on milk the cow on it as much as they could, now that Nimbus could use it at his own free will, but only a few times in a given amount of time. They came to call it Zero Shifting, and whenever Nimbus Zero Shifted it usually took out quite a bit of his energy, which explained why he always seemed to be almost out of breath after he used it. He also had to be very careful when he used it. Nimbus fainted from exhaustion a good number of times the first time he and Rainbow Dash played with his new found ability. 

Nimbus and Rainbow Dash figured it would be wise of them to take their little idea far away from Ponyville and/or anywhere in general where somepony else could get unintentionally hurt. After spending several hours learning how to read a map and taking another two hours learning where to find a map. They both decided it would be a lot safer for the two of them to play with the bow and arrow in the middle of the Rambling Rock Ridge. 

There was really nothing at Rambling Rock Ridge except…well rocks! No civilization, not too many signs of wild life and most importantly: no authorities telling them they can’t shoot arrows at each other. Playing with bow and arrows wasn’t technically illegal in Ponyville, especially when they couldn’t hit each other with them, but it wasn’t exactly something that publicly accepted. The same things applied whenever Nimbus and Rainbow Dash had one of their races through the market part of town, which mainly consisted of how many carts the other one could dodge without crashing into something.  

“EWW! I knew you looked at my butt, you abnormal pony!” Rainbow Dash said amusingly. 

“Oh yeah? Well, you’re a…bitch!” Nimbus hissed, hesitating a bit at the name calling.

Rainbow Dash lowered her arrow and gave Nimbus an unsatisfying facial expression “Really? That’s the best you got?” 

“We’re on ‘C’. Don’t try to skip your turn like you did last time.” Nimbus hollered. 

“You’re a coward!” Rainbow Dash shouted back. 

“You’re a dumb ass!” Nimbus shot back. 

“You’re an egg head.” 

“You’re a feather brain!” 

“You’re a goat!"

There was a pleading cry that tore through the ponies cheering the same way a bullet tore through a layer of paper “Please, stop!...both of you.” Fluttershy cried as she cowered into a fetal position waiting for Nimbus and Rainbow Dash to both shout back at her with mean word and insults.She had been peer pressured by both Nimbus and Rainbow Dash to witness Nimbus for proof just in case they needed a third pony’s perspective for when they wanted to call the Equestrian World Record judges. “This is... too dangerous! W-why am I even here?” Fluttershy repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time. “I-I mean I like you two, but...you've gotten...well, kind of crazy over the past few years."

Nimbus scratched his chin, still searching for any signs of facial maturity with a touch of his hoof “We probably should have gotten Gilda instead. Though, she might have offered to shoot the arrow at me instead. Where has Gilda been anyways?”  He asked, not that he actually wanted her there or anything, but he just figured it would be polite to just ask anyways. Plus he needed to make Rainbow Dash believe he and Gilda were friends. 

Rainbow Dash threw the bow on the ground, realizing and accepting the fact that they were not going to be able to pull of their idea any time soon. “She stopped hanging around me whenever I’m with you. You know, ever since you used her feathers as part of your costume for the Nightmare Night Festival this year.” 

Nimbus laughed out loudly as he remembered how he had jumped from behind a thick cloud to catch Gilda off guard, and grab as many feathers off of her as he could in one attempt. Needless to say, he actually pulled it off a lot more successfully than he had thought “Oh yeah, that was funny. You have to admit I made a pretty cool Werewolf costume though!” 

“She’s still pretty mad at you as will.” Rainbow Dash shouted back at him. She liked and respected Gilda like she would any of her other friends, if not more, but Gilda was starting to develop a bit of a possessive and attachment issue, especially when it was about Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash just couldn’t understand (and didn’t want to understand) why Gilda always wanted her to herself. 

“Oh no.” Nimbus lazily put his hoof over his forehead, and said in an overly exaggerated shocking tone “Gilda is mad at me? Oh gosh, oh boy, oh no, what ever shall I do?” Nimbus had to literally self-restraint himself to not snicker at his own performance. His acting was complete garbage, but he knew Rainbow Dash would have never believed him anyways, even if he was a good actor.  

Rainbow Dash glowered at Nimbus, “And you wonder why you couldn’t make the drama club…” She wanted to dig deeper into why two of her closest friends didn’t like each other, but the sun was already starting to set and it was going to take them just below an hour to get home from their current location. 

“Now, come on, Nimbus.  It’s my family reunion tonight and I really don’t want to hear my mom-” That was all Rainbow Dash was able to get out before Nimbus started freaking out and rushing up towards her like a predator lunging at its prey. 

“Your family anniversary is today?!” Nimbus spat enthusiastically, spraying the question all over Rainbow Dash’s face. 

She ignored the saliva on her face and corrected him “Yeah, MY ‘Family Reunion’, and yes, it’s today. Why are you frea-”  

Nimbus interrupted her once again, grabbing her shoulders and shaking Rainbow Dash wildly, he shouted loudly “Why didn’t you tell me?!” Nimbus had been waiting to meet the rest Rainbow Dash’s family. Thanks to the influence of Rainbow Dash’s father, Rainbow Dash believed a select few members didn’t want to personally see him or have anything to do with him, despite never having met Nimbus before. Rainbow Dash just never really had the heart to tell that kind of thing to Nimbus. “You know how long I’ve been waiting to see the rest of your family.” Nimbus admitted happily.  

“I know.” Rainbow Dash confessed, feeling kind of remorseful for what she was about to say next.  She scratched the back part of her mane and looked down and away from Nimbus “I just don’t think it’s a good idea.”

Nimbus’s smile faded away from his face just as fast as a bullet left the barrel of a gun. “W-what do you mean it’s not a good idea?” He asked heart-brokenly. Nimbus felt somepony had just told that he was about to meet his mother for the first time and came to find out it was all a rude practical joke. He didn’t know whether to feel sad, angry, or both. The two emotions twisted inside Nimbus like a bad combination of water and electricity. 

Rainbow Dash knew she had just practically knocked Nimbus down, kicked in his ribs, and thrown dirt in his eyes, but she had to give him her honest perspective of the situation.. No matter how much it hurt for her to see him like this, Rainbow Dash felt better if she hurt him, rather than somepony or everypony else in her family did. “Look, Nimbus, I want you there just as much as you want to be there, but-”

“Just piss off and go to YOUR family anniversary or reunion or whatever the hell it’s supposed to be.” Nimbus growled loud and rudely at Rainbow Dash.

“Don’t get all mad at me because nopony in my family likes you, besides my mother and me.” Rainbow Dash barked back at Nimbus with a cold shot of the truth. It was cruel, but Rainbow Dash didn’t like Nimbus lashing out his anger at her about something she couldn’t control. 

“You haven’t even given me the chance to meet them, and you’re already assuming they’re not going to like me. How exactly do you expect to react?” Nimbus asked, his voice starting to get raspy. 

“OK, fine! You want to come over and get rejected by my whole family? Be my guest. They’ll run you out of the house faster than I can fly.” Rainbow Dash said, adding salt to the open bleeding wound.  “And, knowing my dad like I do, he’ll find a reason to keep you out of my life for as long as he can.”  

Nimbus dragged his hoof over his eyes dryly. “Is that what this is all about?” Nimbus’s voice was still raspy as he continued to talk. “You’re just scared that your dad is going to kick me out, because you’re too afraid to stand up to him and do what makes you happy?” 

Rainbow Dash pulled her hoof back fiercely and threw it right into Nimbus’s muzzle. Blood splayed ubiquitously all over Nimbus’s face, covering his whole nose in the crimson liquid. He cuffed both his hooves over his mouth to make sure none of the blood would pour in and suffocate him. Rainbow Dash had hit Nimbus several times before, but never in the face. When Nimbus removed one of his hooves away from his mouth, he realized his comment cut Rainbow Dash a little deeper than he had intended it to, but he didn’t regret saying it. It was something he had been meaning to say for quite some time now. 

Despite the fact that his nose was crooked to the left a little, Nimbus bit through the pain and said simply, “That hurt.”  He was kind of hoping to get some small value of sympathy from Rainbow Dash, but she wasn’t budging, or if she was feeling some sort of sympathy she had a great way of hiding it.  Though, he should have known better to piss off somepony who can move twice as fast as him. 

“What you said kind of hurt a bit too…” Rainbow Dash responded back, rubbing the leg she used to punch Nimbus in the face with. She rubbed at her leg like it was a parasite she wanted to get off of her. It wasn’t exactly her fault for punching Nimbus. He had pushed her buttons too far. Her expression stayed the same as Nimbus tried to amuse her. 

Fluttershy could have grabbed the tension in the air with her hoof. It was thick like wood and about as painful to look at as blood. Fluttershy barely even had to whisper for Nimbus and Rainbow Dash to hear her, it was so quiet “I’ll just leave…you two alone…bye” Fluttershy bolted as fast as her weak wings could take her.  

With Fluttershy gone, Nimbus and Rainbow Dash were truly alone. They both avoided looking at each other or even talking to one another. One of them was going to have to be the bigger pony. It was just a matter of who was going to do it and what they were going to say. Nimbus was going to say something sappy like asking about the weather, but it had started to rain so he threw that card off the playing table. 

Rainbow Dash drew up some air in her lungs and whispered “You owe me fifty bits…” 

“What?” 

Rainbow Dash smiled and laughed a bit as the rain began to pour harder and louder. “I said: You owe me fifty bits!” She shouted over the interrupting rain. She looked up at the sky wondering where the clouds had come from and why they hadn't noticed them before.

“Like hay I do!” Nimbus said catching on to Rainbow Dash’s burst of sanguinary “You didn’t shot the bow at me. YOU owe me!” 

Rainbow Dash bolted towards Nimbus and dug her head underneath his and hovered it above her head “Alright, alright, but i don’t have fifty bits.” 

“Then you better make fifty bits.” Nimbus bursted out, trying to push Rainbow Dash away from him. She had done this same act every time she knew she lost a bet. she would cuddle up next to Nimbus, pretend to seduce him a bit, then completely leave him hanging once she knew she was off the hook. 

“Or..” Rainbow Dash flicked her hoof dry before placing it on Nimbus’s chest and making small circles. “How about you let me make fifty bits?” She asked in a very seductive voice, licking and biting the bottom of her lip. 

Nimbus shivered by the tingling sense Rainbow’s hoof made on his chest. He wanted to fall victim to her whip and just give in to the temptation. Nimbus was a moments away from carrying Rainbow Dash underneath him and flying them home as he kept dry, but he fought the urge wanting to escape from underneath his hind legs and bolted away from Rainbow Dash, saying “Nope. Not falling for that again.” Nimbus’s wings knocked Rainbow Dash to the ground and splashed surrounding water all over her. “You’re just going to give me false hope again, leave me all alone, and act like it never happened. Just like you always do."  

Rainbow Dash stood there in her drenched blue coat and called after Nimbus with a small light laugh “Oh, Nimbus. I’m so…WET!” Rainbow Dash had no intentions at all to do anything intimate with Nimbus, but she sure as hell liked watching him think she did. 

“Screw you, and go to hell, Rainbow Dash." Nimbus shouted back, without turning his head.  

Rainbow Dash whipped her wet rainbow mane back behind her. She spread her wings laughing and asked “Hey we stopped at ‘G’, right?” 

“Yeah, and it’s your turn.” Nimbus answered back without looking, too scared Rainbow Dash might be doing something behind him that he would give into. 

“Good because I got a good one for you.” 

“What do you got?” 

“You’re gay!” 

*** 

Due to Nimbus and Rainbow Dash’s familiarity with Ponyville, they were able to find the bank with great ease, and they caught it just in time moments before they closed for the storm coming. Rainbow Dash drew out the money she owed Nimbus and about thirty bits more for her to spend on herself. 

“What are you going to do with that?” Nimbus asked, watching Rainbow Dash pocket the the extra bits she didn’t hand him in a side pocket of the quiver she was holding the bow and arrows in. 

“Just in case I want some fun?” Rainbow Dash was curious as to why Nimbus would ask such a question, but she got her answer right away. 

“With only thirty bits? What kind of fun were you going to have with thirty bits?” Nimbus asked as he trailed behind Rainbow Dash, who had just bolted out the bank doors just so she could run and spend less time through the rain. 

“I wasn’t going to spend all of it.” Rainbow Dash stated, trying to make Nimbus sound stupid for assuming she was going to spend all her money at one place. 

“You can’t do anything fun with tha-” Nimbus’s faced rammed right up to Rainbow Dash hind quarters, his nose almost ending up somewhere his nose was to never venture to. Nimbus heard a heavy audible click and saw Rainbow Dash frozen in place and shivering madly. At first, Nimbus thought Rainbow Dash was shivering from the drench of rain, but that was before he found out where the click came from. 

The click had a heavy thud to it, despite being wet in the rain, it was made by the unicorn that was holding a pistol to Rainbow Dash and Nimbus at point blank range. He had definitely done this before as he immediately demanded Rainbow Dash’s and Nimbus’s money without a pause or sense of hesitation. This was Rainbow Dash and Nimbus’s first time ever really seeing a gun. Nimbus watched the tip of the barrel grow larger the longer it stayed aimed between his eyes. Guns weren’t exactly commonly owned by ponies since only unicorns could properly use them without any pony else having to spend a few hundred more bits to purchase the saddle to fire them. Guns were incredibly hard to come across in Equestria and weren’t exactly distributed all that well, or even very affordable. The fact that this unicorn was choosing to wield a gun rather than threaten Nimbus and Rainbow Dash with his magic was an extremely rare sight.

Nimbus nodded and immediately hoofed over the bits to the magical perpetrator. Nimbus didn’t want to give this guy any reason to  pull the trigger. He might have just gave him Rainbow Dash’s money, but at least they would have gotten out with their lives. Rainbow Dash was a bit hesitant to hoof over her bits so willingly. She watched behind frightened eyes as the unicorn screamed and demanded her money again. She immediately put her right hoof behind her to search for the pocket that was holding her bits. Unfortunately, the gun wielding unicorn had mistaken Rainbow Dash’s action as an effort to defend herself. 

“Get your hoof away from your back!” The criminal barked at Rainbow Dash. 

Rainbow Dash didn't flinch like Nimbus had when the unicorn made the loud demand “I’m just getting you-” Rainbow Dash started to say innocently, but the unicorn barked at her again to remove her hoof from behind her back. When Rainbow Dash continued to keep her hoof behind her back and search for the pocket, the unicorn squinted his eyes slightly as he tightened his magical grip in the wooden handles of the pistol and ease lightly on the trigger with his magic. 

Nimbus felt every red flag fly up in his head. He could see the unicorn’s eyes starting to squint, the magical essence around the gun growing tighter, and even the trigger slowly getting pulled back. Apparently, Nimbus was Zero Shifting again without him intending to do so, but this time was different. He could actually see everything that was going on around him, unlike all the other times where time was just kind of a blur. Nimbus didn’t know if you he was moving so fast that time itself had slowed down, or if the earth had just conveniently slowed down for his sake. Whatever the explanation was, Nimbus knew bullets could fly at a speed up to 1300 feet per second, Rainbow Dash was only standing five feet away, and he could travel (or Zero Shift) up to a speed of 300,00 kilometers per second. So, if he could convert kilometers to feet…

Nimbus now saw the flash of barrel happening before him, which meant the bullet won’t be too far behind if it hadn't already ejected out of the barrel. There was no time for math conversions, no time for thinking, not time for bullshit. The time for action was ticking faster and now was nowhere near fast enough. Nimbus pushed and felt the colors leaving the world around him. He pulled his legs out reaching for Rainbow Dash to tackle her down, hopefully keeping her and himself a safe distance away from the bullet. He felt like the air he was breathing had immediately grown thinner. The already cold blend of wind and rain had now turned to itself into an icy tsunami, consuming Nimbus inside. The world's very existence seemed to be closing in around Nimbus as he saw the bullet( the one he had successfully pushed Rainbow Dash out of the way of) was now coming closing in the distance between him and itself. Nimbus closed his eyes tightly, preparing himself for the suspected immense amount of pain he was about to be confronted with, but it never came. In fact, he didn't feel anything at all, not even the wind or the rain. His sense of feeling didn't come back to him until his chin splashed into the muddy ground that was supposed to be a few feet below him. 

The colors and sounds of the world all came back in a mixed simultaneous blend. It was the kind of scenic feeling you’d  get if you’d had the opportunity to smash a speaker as it was playing music  and the sound waves visually appeared as a series of various colors and contorted shapes. All Nimbus could understand from the world around him was that there was somepony screaming continuously for help and the fact that the wind and energy had been completely knocked out of him. He couldn’t tell if it was still raining or not, all senses had left his body once again. Nimbus tried to curl himself into a fetal position, but he failed miserably in finding his body. He couldn’t feel, see, smell, or taste anything. It felt like being suffocated without the burning fire building in your chest. Nimbus wanted to gasp for air, but he had no idea where his mouth was or how to even breathe anymore. All he wanted to do was sleep. This was starting to get old. First thing Nimbus wanted to do once he woke up was to check and see if he was diagnosed for whatever "reverse insomnia" was called. For now, Nimbus embraced to the beautiful grace of sleep and let it wrap him in its blanket of absence. 

POWER UP! <Nimbus> 

[Aim Dodge]: Whew, if you thought Zero Shifting was a short distance wait until you read this description. So, Aim Dodge, sounds pretty badass, right? Hell yeah, it’s badass! You have a quick slow motion glimpse of everything that is happening in the world around you. You can literally see everything happen right before it happens. Down side: you can only move faster than light for about six inches, maybe two feet in some cases. Never been able to measure the speed at which a fly flaps it’s wings, using only your naked eye? Now you can! Ever wanted to stand in front of a machine gun and dodge every bullet as your friend unloads the magazine on you? Now you can! Ever wanted to get a date with that cute mare but was too nervous to ask out? WEEELLLL.....you still can't do that. 

> Is there any blue berry frosting, or not? Cause I'm getting hungry 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbowshine paced back and forth, about as fast as her breathing was, all around the entertainment room, waiting, hoping to just hear something, anything from Rainbow Dash. It had been far too long since she left the house and the weather outside wasn't going to get any better any time soon. She kept checking the window every ten minutes looking for the sight of her daughter making her way to the door, but every time she checked, it was the same thing. She would see the wind just getting faster and more lethal by the minute. The least of her worries was having to cancel the Family Reunion she and Storm had been planning for the past two months. "Storm..." Rainbowshine looked to her husband for assurance. She was waiting for him to tell her that she had nothing to worry about and that everything was going to be alright, but he just as worried as she was. "You don't think anything happened to them, do you?" Rainbowshine asked, approaching her husband. 

"I'd love to say that Rainbow is ok, but..." Rainbowshine caught on to Storm's absent concern for Nimbus "Something tells me that something's wrong. Like a sixth sense kind of feeling." Storm stood up strongly and asked "You feel it too, right?" 

Rainbowshine nodded. She knew exactly what Storm was referring to. It was the sixth sense every good parent knew about. The sense that was only triggered when something terrible had happened to your child and it was too late to try and fix it. 

Storm bow his forehead on the cold nearly frozen glass of the front window. "She shouldn't have gone out. We TOLD her not to go out. But what does she do? She-" 

Rainbowshine shushed Storm rapidly as a slow pace of hooves clopped repeatedly across their kitchen floor. "Now's not the time, Storm." She said sternly "At least not while your mother is here!" 

"My mother's older than Cloudsale itself." Storm said, keeping his forehead on the glass "She can't hear us all the way from the kitchen." 

"I heard that!" An old dark blue mare mare in a wheel chair said, rolling into the entertainment room, armed with her cane in hoof. She swung it and struck Storm in the back thigh of his left hind leg. 

Storm snapped to action and grasped the thigh firmly in his hooves. "What. The. Hell." Storm swore at his mother. He flinched as she rose her cane above his head. 

"And you swear at your own mother? In front of your own family? Shame on you!" Storm's mother said. She struck him on the head with another swing of her cane, and then she struck his hooves when he clasped them over his mane. The rest of the Rainbow family (that were capable of making it through the storm) watched helplessly but cheered on the ragged-but-hot-blooded old mare who was viciously clobbering her own son with a simple lacquered stick. 

Rainbowshine sighed sadly. "Stratus, please" She pleaded to her mother-in-law "Storm's under a lot of stress right now." 

"He's about to be under six feet of dirt if he doesn't clean his act!" Stratus snapped back. Despite his mother's threat, Storm knew he was fortunate enough to be buried before his own mother. Stratus's brutal beating stopped when a knock at the door over volumed Storm's screaming curses. 

Daisy Cloud, the youngest of all the Rainbow Family, skidded quickly towards the door. "I'll get it!" Her wings were too weak and cold at the moment, as a result of getting through the storm. Her hooves stayed in place at a quick pace right before she shot off. She jumped, aimed for the door knob, grabbed it and twisted it open, all in as little as two seconds. "She hoof pumped strongly as she hooted "Woohoo! Personal best!" 

Stratus rolled her eys and spun around in her chair to face the door. Even though her legs were incapable of carrying her from point A to B, Stratus's wings were willed and strong enough to fly her and the newly added weight of her chair around, as if she were in her prime again. Stratus hovered herself a few inches off the ground, carelessly dragging the wheels of her chair. She was met by an armored black unicorn, once she reached the door. Stratus was about to happily greet the nice young guard, but the unicorn had no time for needless introductions. 

"Are you the legal guardian of Rainbow Dash?" the guard asked firmly. 

"I'm her grandmother." Stratus nodded, taking in the seriousness of the unicorns voice. Through all her many years of living, Stratus knew whenever a guard specifically asked for the legal guardian of a minor trouble wasn't too far behind, but that factor had already been considered by the whole family. "Is she ok?" Stratus asked "Is Rainbow Dash ok?" 

The unicorn made no expression towards the question or the concerned mare, "You need to follow me. We need somepony to help confirm the body." 

***

The aroma of blue berry frosted cup cakes delicately dipped in chocolate filled Nimbus's nostrils. He couldn't raise himself up to a sitting position without the assistance of his hooves, his core hurt too much. His abs felt tight, almost like he had spent a whole week at the gym dedicated to cardio, and he would have believed he did too, if he actually DID cardio more than once a month. Feeling the sides of his stomach, Nimbus could tell that he was getting incredibly soft on the sides. Not fat or flabby exactly, but every time he grabbed the sides of his stomach and let go it would jiggle like silicone for a good few seconds. Nimbus frowned at his physique and was about to tel himself to go on a diet, but the same aroma that woke him up passed through his nose once again. 

Nimbus got to all four hooves and began sniffing around for the source. Finally looking around at where he was, Nimbus realized he was somewhere high up in the clouds, not Cloudsdale though. This place was too open, empty, and quiet to be anywhere near large civilization. Where am I? Nimbus thought. 

He took one step forward and felt absolutely nothing beneath his hooves. He looked and scurried to grab on to something close by, once he noticed he had been standing on nothing at all. He scurried for a good minute before he registered that he wasn't in any danger of falling. In hindsight though, Nimbus slapped himself for not remembering to just flap his wings next time. Nimbus took another look at the ground below him. the sky laid beneath his hooves, he was literally waling on thin air, and he couldn't see much else past that. It was to foggy and he was too far up to make out what was down below. 

Taking another step forward Nimbus heard a call for his name "Nimbus" The calling possessed a very beautiful tone, a harp type kind of sound to it. It called again "Nimbus" whoever this pony,or creature, was Nimbus wanted to find them. The voice lured him in father and father away from his previous spot, but he couldn't find it anywhere. 

Each call seemed it was coming from a different direction. Was there more than one? Nimbus couldn't tell. Finally fed up with looking Nimbus asked kindly"Where are you?!" 

She called him again. "Nimbus?" Except this time her voiced seemed to take more of a boyish tone. 

Not taking note of the immediate difference in the voice, Nimbus asked sweetly "Yes, babe?" 

There was an immediate silence before the voice came back and yelled "Did you just call me babe, guano breath?" 

*** Nimbus's eyes rolled side to side, up and down, and all around before setting themselves in back in a normal stare. Rainbow Dash leaned her head in and pulled his eye lid open to check te dilation of his pupils. "Yeah, they definitely gave you something." Rainbow Dash said, turning her head now to the night stand beside Nimbus's hospital bed. "Oh yeah." She added casually and unamused "they gave you something REALLY heavy." She let go of Nimbus's eye lid, allowing it to slap his eyeball and make him shed a single tear. 

Blinking furiously, Nimbus was able to get rid of the white light that was blinding him. The light started to disappear at an extremely slow pace, but at least now Nimbus could make out objects in front of him, or at least the Rainbow Dash standing on his bed....with her muddy ass hooves! Nimbus immediately snapped into action. He lifted his left foreleg to protest at her, until a sharp pain stabbed him mercilessly in the shoulder. The pain was aggravating. Nimbus could have sworn somepony had taken a double edge knife to his shoulder and twisted it between their hooves like a spin top. 

"Yeah, you probably DON'T want to do that." Rainbow Dash informed. Judging from her tone, Nimbus could tell that she didn't seem to distraught about him being shot, or if she was, she was doing a real good job of hiding it. Possibly one of her many good traits, depending on how one looks at it.  

Now that Nimbus could see better, he noticed the bandaged mildly bloodied wrapping across Rainbow Dash's forehead. He opened his mouth to talk, but as soon as his tongue started to move, his entire throat lit up in a burning fiery sensation faster than the night stand lamp could come on. They must have given him something in his throat as well. 

"Probably should have warned you about that too." Rainbow Dash added, watching Nimbus cough and grab at his throat. "You somehow got a hold of some silicone when the nurse left you alone for about ten minutes. You swallowed a good amount, for some odd reason, before she came back. They got most of it out, buuuut apparently not all of it." 

 Oh great, I'm suffering from Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. Why they even put me in a room with something so dangerous when I'm on drugs?  Nimbus thought to himself as he wondered what else Rainbow Dash was leaving out. Was he an expecting mother now too? Wouldn't surprise him. What did surprise him was how casual Rainbow Dash was acting about this whole situation. Did she not care, or was there something else even wore going on? 

Rainbow Dash smiled crookedly and bopped Nimbus in his nose. "You know what, Nimbus?" 

Nimbus asked What? by responding with a lifted eyebrow. 

Rainbow Dash turned over on her back, her eyes still set on Nimbus, with her dirty hooves up in the air, and kicked playfully. "Your a funny looking mother lover." 

Well, that answers my question  Nimbus thought  She's on drugs too, and some really good drugs  He wondered if they were planning on prescribing a few to her. Just one or two of those babies should make a good weekend or Saturday night. 

Rainbow Dash got back up and put a mud crusted hoof on Nimbus's chest. The force behind it was soft, but the mud clumps and loose dirt made the touch unbearable. Bit sized balls of the mud stuck and clanged to Nimbus's coat deeper than a blood sucking tick, which Nimbus wasn't a complete stranger too either.  Shouldn't they have cleaned her before letting her in  Nimbus thought. He looked down at her hoof and back up at her face numerous times, his expression asking her  What are you doing?  

Rainbow Dash laughed, her saliva and spit from her open mouth rained on Nimbus's face and torso. "Oh, Nimbus, stop being such a Nelly Willy!" 

 Nelly Willy? Really?!  

"Hey! What to see something cool?" Rainbow Dash asked in a neck hair curling whisper. 

 NO!  Nimbus crossed his hooves and pouted his lip out at her, after pushing her and her nasty foul smelling hoof off of him.  Rainbow Dash's hoof dragged across his chest and left a long turd colored skid mark across his chest. Nimbus looked down and wailed his forelegs furiously at Rainbow Dash, translating to  Now look what you did!  Thanks to the stench of Rainbow Dash's hoof mark, he wondered where the blue berry aroma he smelt earlier had came from.

Rainbow Dash, taking no offense to the shove, didn't need to look at Nimbus's reaction to tell what he was saying. She and Nimbus had developed such a good relationship that they could literally read each others minds from across a room just by small expressions to one another. She tilted her head and gave him a slight smile  You're the one who pushed me, smart one  

Nimbus turned his head to the side and keep his left eye in a death glare at her  You're the one on drugs and high in the clouds without any wings  

"You're the one who crapped yourself" Rainbow Dash laughed out out loud with a girly squeal. 

Nimbus snapped his head back and his eyes widened in question  ...what?  

"Oh yeah, forgot to tell you about that." 

 No surprise there  Nimbus rolled his eyes and flashed Rainbow Dash a strenuous expression that lacked humor, happiness, and joy. 

Rainbow Dash sat down at the bottom of Nimbus's extended hind legs underneath the blankets he was under. "When you got shot, the bullet actually didn't really do too much damage to you." Nimbus waited for Rainbow Dash to continue as he adjusted himself to a more comfortable sitting position. "You were only going slightly less faster than the bullet. So, when it made impact it barely penetrated your coat." 

Nimbus's eyes opened even wider than before, his pupils were now almost the size of a dot.  I almost went as fast as a bullet?  Despite the fact that Rainbow Dash was faster than the speed of sound, Nimbus felt like he was the fastest pony to have ever lived! Even though he could only move at the speed of a bullet for about a few inches. Nimbus threw his hooves victoriously and cheered internally  I'm Nimbus, and I am the fastest pony ever!  He stabbed his hoof multiple times at Rainbow Dash's nose, laughing silent, which she translated to  Screw you, Rainbow Dash!  

Rainbow Dash ignored his victorious banter and nodded "Yeah, but you fainted from sudden fear and exhaustion. It put so much stress on your body that you pooped everywhere, making the perpetrator run away." 

That was when Nimbus looked down at Rainbow Dash's hooves and the strangely colored skid mark on his chest in a quivering trauma of fear.  That's all m-me?  

Rainbow Dash nodded quickly and dashed away out of Nimbus's room before Nimbus could reach his hooves up fast enough to her throat. 

*** 

"That's more than I weigh!" Daisy Cloud squeaked as she watched Nurses wash off the fecal matter off Rainbow Dash's hooves. 

"That's not even half of it." Rainbow Dash admitted, sharing a laugh with the little filly. 

"You seem to be taking it fairly lightly." Stratus exclaimed. Wind fighter, Rainbow Dash's uncle, brother to Storm, nudged Stratus with his elbow and showed her the prescription bottle they had given to Rainbow Dash. The contents of the bottle contained tiny little round pills that had a candy apple red coating to it. Excitedly, Stratus popped the cap off and sprinkled two pills from the bottle and took them dryly down her throat. She felt the effects almost immediately and slouched even lower in her wheel chair. "Oh, now I see why. I haven't had these since I was in flight school." 

Ignoring his mothers babble, Storm went to the nurse and asked her "Do you know anything about the body we were supposed to identify?" 

The nurse nodded "I do, but that won't be necessary now. We found out who the other patient was fairly quickly once Doctor Tomahawk entered the medical bay. Doctor Tomahawk immediately identified Nimbus once he saw him. We would have asked your daughter, but she was talking too fast and incomprehensible for us to understand her. So, we found a way t calm her down. Sorry for worrying you, sir." 

Storm rolled his eyes and went back to his family, muttering under his breath "Thank you so much for the dramatic suspense!" 

"He really took the term 'scared the crap out of me' to a whole new level, huh?" Rainbow Dash told in uncontrollable laughter to Daisy Cloud. 

"Who's 'He'?" Daisy and Stratus both asked simultaneously. Daisy asking in a curious tone, Stratus asking in a almost dreamy interested tone. 

"Why, Nimbus, of course!" Rainbow Dash said, shaking the remaining water off f her hooves once the nurses finished towel drying her. 

"Back up. Nimbus?" Wind fighter asked. His was fairly damaged as a result of combat as a royal guard, but he was still pretty audible to understand. 

Rainbow Dash nodded "Yep. the bestest friend ever!" 

"Probably the drugs talking." Rainbowshine informed her brother in law. 

"They're not really friends?" Wind Fighter asked, confused as to who this Nimbus character was and as to why he crapped all over his nieces hooves. 

"No, they are. Really good friends actually, but it's that kind of friendship where they don't say nice things to each other." Rainbowshine said, repeating the phrase back to herself. she pondered if Fighter was going to be able to understand the strange logic behind the relationship of Rainbow Dash and Nimbus. 

Apparently, he did, as Fighter went "Ah" and added "So they're dating." 

Rainbow Dash would have originally blushed red with frustration. Other ponies believing she and Nimbus were dating was ecoming more of a common trend then she'd have liked. Just because they were older now and were seen together more times than they were apart automatically meant they were filly and colt friend? She was about to to quickly deny her uncle's false accusation, but her own father, Storm, beat her to the punch at a much louder volume than anypony could have seen coming."NO!" Storm roared. His voice blasted like a cannon, killing the whole room into silence wit his volume. If Wind Fighter hadn't recognized his own brother's voice, he would have dived for cover fire. Poor Daisy Cloud had gotten so scared from the booming yell that she ended up hanging upside down from the ceiling light with absolutely no explanation how she got there. Storm coughed awkwardly and repeated, quietly this time "No. They are not dating." 

"Brother" Wind Fighter chuckled "You said that like you're almost threatened by this Nimbus fellow." 

"He is." Rainbowshine said bravely, not afraid to give her husband a nod when he shot her with a maddening glare that could have sent an Ursa Minor crying back home to its mother. 

"I am NOT threatened by that bed mane styled energetic fast talking punk Nimbus" Storm stomped his hoof firmly to the ground. Shaking a few empty syringes that laid openly out on the medical tray. 

Everypony in the room, even the nurses, looked at Storm with disapproving and unconvinced glances and said "Yes, you are." 

"What are you scared of, honey?" Rainbowshine asked Storm when she put her head comfortably on is chest. 

"He doesn't know when to die." Storm said firmly and dryly. 

"STORM!" Stratus yelled angrily. 

"No, seriously, this kid doesn't die. He got left to fend for himself by his parents as a foal, attacked by goblins as a colt, had the top of a house fall on him, I think set on fire on hearts and hooves day..." Storm and the rest of his family looked towards Rainbow Dash for confirmation. 

Rainbow Dash backed up away from her family's glares and turned her nose up and away from them. "I don't need to explain myself for what happened. He got what he deserved that day." The drugs were starting to wear off now that Rainbow Dash was progressively coming back to her normal self. 

The Rainbow family all nodded in acceptance of Rainbow Dance's answer and Storm continued from where he left off "And now he's been shot. What's next? A meteor falls on him?" 

"This is all the same guy?" Stratus asked, bringing her cane (she only used as tool to strike ponies with ) to her chin. "Where is he now?" 

"I can take you all to see him" Rainbow Dash said happily, taking poor little daisy cloud down from the ceiling. After setting the delicate filly back on the safe ground, Rainbow turned to heard dad "Once I get done talking with dad though." Rainbow voice had gone from a happy cheer t cold slithering tone. Storm swore he could have heard a hiss come from Rainbow Dash. He tried to ponder why she had suddenly become so angry. He was going to repeat everything he had just previously said back inside his head, but Rainbow Dash's raised and vexed voice made him flinch, knocking his train of thought completely off the rails. "Outside. NOW! Dad." Rainbow Dash said sternly, pointing outside her hospital room and holding the door open for him. 

Once outside and far enough from the rest of the family, Rainbow Dash began to scream at her father "What the HELL is your problem?" 

Completely caught off guard, and completely cross with her attitude, Storm snapped at her "Just who do you thin you're talking to, Missy?" 

"I don't know. That's what I'm trying to figure out. DAD!" Rainbow Dash bursted out. The way she pronounced the word "dad" made Storm think that she didn't know if he was her real father or not. It kind of hurt him to see her questioning who he was so strongly. "You really need to think less poorly of Nimbus." 

Again with this guy! Storm was getting really fed up with how everypony was telling him how to treat the young bastard. "Again?! It's always something with this guy. Nimbus this. Nimbus that. It never ends with him. Why is it so important for me to give this guy my approval?" 

"I don't need your approval and neither does he. I just want-WE just want you to see his intentions for what they really are, rather than what you just believe." Rainbow Dash corrected herself. 

"I've been in his hooves many a plenty of times. He's a guy! You're a mare. I know exactly what his intentions are." Storm fumed. 

"Really?! That's what you believe? That's all you see? Nimbus hasn't even-" Rainbow Dash stopped herself. She would have lied if she said that Nimbus hadn't tried to make a move on her before, not that it would have bothered her to lie to her father, but she needed to be straight with him. Rephrasing herself, Rainbow Dash said "You think that's what was on Nimbus's mind when we were eight?" 

It had been that long? The reality of the fact that Nimbus had been around for that long actually kind of surprised Storm. It even opened his eyes to see that the mare standing in front of him wasn't his little girl anymore, as much as he wanted to deny it. She was on her way to be a full grown mare and really soon she'd be moving out. 

"Dad!" Rainbow Dash blasted. Again Storm had lost himself deep in thought and forgot to answer her question. "Are you even listening to me?" She asked, waving a furious hoof in front of his face. 

"You were about to say that Nimbus hasn't tried anything with you, but you stopped yourself." Oh shit. Rainbow Dash saw what question was coming up next from ten hundred miles away. Storm looked around to make sure Rainbowshine and the rest of the family weren't hanging out in the halls somewhere. "You two haven't...well, you know. You two still do have that small cloud club house, right?" 

In the club house?! Really? Just what the hell did her dad think they did on a day to day basis. Then again, Rainbow Dash could see why her dad would be so skeptical about Nimbus, seeing it from his perspective, but the whole "club house" thing was completely uncalled for. "No!" Rainbow Dash denied truthfully "Nimbus and I haven't even..." Rainbow Dash choice her next words carefully, wanting to avoid the birds and the bees talk in the middle of a hospital hall with her father, especially after she had just cleaned off Nimbus's bodily waste off of her. "We have even...tried anything." 

Well, they haven't had sex. Storm wiped a heavy weight of relief off his forehead before rephrasing himself  Actually, they haven't had sex with each other  The thought of Rainbow Dash carrying around Nimbus's offspring shuddered Storm's mind in more ways than one. 

"I guess we both had the wrong idea about each other, huh?" Rainbow Dash admitted, seeing now that her dad was only concerned about her safety and had no really bad intentions about Nimbus, or at least not personally. "But, do you think you could give him a chance, at least once?" Rainbow Dash pleaded. 

Storm groaned "But why? All I ever see or hear about him is how he gets you two into trouble." 

"Really?!" Rainbow Dash said, taking note that she was going to have to learn to extend her own vocabulary to find another word for the term "really". "I thought we just talked about that?" 

"No, we talked about how he doesn't want to have sex with you." Storm corrected her. 

Rainbow Dash made a very light disagreeing expression and a "meh" noise that read "Well...that's not entirely true." Rainbow Dash said "Let's just say that we both agreed his intentions aren't as shady as you think they are." 

Storm shrugged. He knew Nimbus was probably (if not already) going to have some sort of sexual desire with Rainbow Dash. He actually would have been more concerned and questioned Nimbus's intentions even deeper if he didn't. "Ok, but every time I hear something about him he's getting into trouble." 

"Like when?" Rainbow Dash asked so quickly it almost sounded like a snap. 

Storm had already expected this question and was more than happy to answer it, using the mental list he had prepared. "The goblin attack, the house on fire, him getting shot, him catching on fire-" 

"I'll cut you off right there" Rainbow Dash interrupted "Do you see the connection with all those things, except for the one when he caught on fire?" 

"He went to the hospital?" Storm put bluntly. He was actually surprised with how empty the hallways were, especially during visiting hours and how loud he and Rainbow Dash were going back and forth at each other with nopony making a noise complaint. 

Though not exactly false, Rainbow Dash face hoofed and shook her head, "No. He was saving somepony each time, usually me." Rainbow Dash removed her hoof from her and asked her dad in a less threatening but still firm tone "Or were you only looking at all the things he did wrong again?" 

"What?" Storm blurted out, he knew she and Nimbus got into some fairly small trouble most times than often, it was no secret, but now that he was hearing that Rainbow Dash was in more danger than what he originally thought scared him now more than ever. "You were in life threatening danger?" 

"REALLY?!" There she went again, using that word for the thousandth time. "You never heard about any of that? I'm pretty sure mom talks about it like twenty times each month. Nimbus has saved me more than once and has never thrown it in my face or ever asked anything back in return." That's when it hit Rainbow Dash and Storm at the same time. Even from the very beginning, Nimbus had been nothing but a friend to her. It took Storm eight years to see it, but he was just too busy trying to protect Rainbow Dash with his fatherly love to allow himself to see she already had somepony else to watch her when he wasn't there. 

Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, was taking what she just said to a whole other perspective. She knew Nimbus was loyal to the relationship they shared just as much as she was, but that wasn't always the case. At least, not from the very beginning. 

"I guess owe a talk with Nimbus" Storm said "And an apology" 

"Yeah" Rainbow Dash said quietly, grabbing her foreleg like a snake had just bitten her. " I owe him one too." 


*** 
Nimbus sat up straight and against the pillow neatly placed behind his spine. With all the nurses help, he could get used to this hospitality. He smiled as the nurse threw the towel she used to clean his chest off with in the trash. Nimbus winked and asked her "Pretty cut, huh?" He throat was now fully clear of the silicone, but the magic they used to unlodge it from his throat left a strange empty after taste in his mouth. 

"Excuse me?' The nurse asked, not catching his wink or what he was trying to say to her. 

Nimbus brought a hoof to his chest and pounded it proudly in the same manner a warrior would pound his shield to an enemy "My chest" Nimbus explained "It's pretty cut, right?" The nurse only stared at him, unimpressed with his unoriginal pursuit at flirting. "Yeah, i been doing a lot of chest at the gym lately." Nimbus lied "I think I'm up to like, Oh I don't know, eight plates now." He shrugged casually, giving the impression that being able to push eight plates was nothing. 

The nurse responded "Uh,huh, how much were you pushing when you pooped yourself?" The nurses comment sank Nimbus's morale and confidence down to the very pit of his stomach. She smiled and gave a love tap to his cheek "Take care of yourself, Hun." 

Waiting until the nurse opened the door to walk out, Storm trotted into Nimbus's hospital room. Nimbus's heart began to pump blood faster through his body like somepony had replaced it with a Hemi motor. Being stuck in a hospital bed while he was hooked up to three different sets of wires (all of which Nimbus had no idea what purpose they all individually served) with Storm as his only guest wasn't exactly Nimbus's idea of a good situation. Then again, being in any room with Storm alone made Nimbus want to tuck his tail between his legs. 

Storm read the startled look on Nimbus's face all to easily. He had seen it many times before, from the very time Nimbus use to be three times smaller and just a colt. Storm kept the door open in hopes to that Nimbus would see it as a sign of conviviality and gaiety. Alas, the gesture only extended the timid expression Nimbus was displaying. 

Right when Storm was about to giving him some comforting words, Nimbus broke out into a stuttering stammer "I-I know! I-I-I screwed up. I d-don't mean to put your daughter under constant..." 

Storm held up a silencing hoof up to Nimbus from across from the room, destroying every sense of fear he may have instilled in Nimbus. Storm's eyes were flooded with sorriness and begging for forgiveness. Nimbus had never seen Storm seem so...SINCERE to him before. He must have obviously had a change of heart about something, something that must have been slaying him from the inside for Storm project it so openly. "I just had a really long and...eye opening chat with Rainbow" Nimbus figured Storm must have been referring to Rainbow Dash instead of his own wife. "She told me everything."

Nimbus was getting tired of Storm avoiding certain words and beating around the bush. "L-look, Storm." Nimbus started politely, adjusting himself to a more comfortable position in his bed. Storm looked at him with a questioning stare. "If there's something you're trying to say just go ahead and say it." Nimbus tucked his head in between his shoulders "You don't have to act all...tough around me." Nimbus could feel his whole body shivering under the covers like he had just stepped outside into the snow with no winter clothes. He reckoned this must have been how Fluttershy felt almost everyday. "You've proven that you could kick my ass any day in more times than one." 

Storm did believe that he could dominate Nimbus in a hoof hoof fight back a few years, back in the day, but that was when Nimbus was a lot smaller. Even if the statement wasn't true anymore, Storm knew Nimbus was just trying to give him the confidence he needed. Clearing his throat, Storm admitted "You're not a bad kid, Nimbus. Actually, scratch that. You're not even a kid anymore, you're a man!" 

Storms declaration hit Nimbus's heart with an arrow. Nimbus let a tear roll down his cheek. It was the most polite thing he had ever heard Storm say to anyone, save his wife, Rainbowshine. "W-what's with the sudden change of heart?" 

"Because it takes a real man to take a bullet for my daughter, and I'd be wrong to think any less of you." 

Nimbus felt like he had just been given a gift he had always wanted but was too nervous to ask for. "I don't know what to say. I guess-" 

Storm walked over slowly towards Nimbus's bed, careful not to touch any wires. He leaned over and hugged Nimbus. The hug was tight, strong, and protective. It was the type of hug a father only ever gave to his child. "I'm sorry." Storm said. His eyes were closed and turned away from Nimbus. Nimbus didn't react to the hug or the response until a few seconds later. This was all so sudden and unexpected, he had no idea what he was supposed to do.

Nimbus hugged Storm back with the one free foreleg he had left from Storm's embrace. "Sorry for what?" 

Still hugging Nimbus tightly, Storm admitted "For not giving you a chance to be part of our family. I want you to show up at our family reunion." Nimbus took a second arrow to the heart. "You have always been part of this family." Then another, this was sturck the water works and forced him to rest his head on Storm's shoulders. "And I want you to take your seat next to me when we get back." 

Nimbus was too heart-struck to make a response back. He wanted to call Storm "Dad" before he let him go, but he was too busy trying not to strangle himself with his own tears. 

Storm set Nimbus back easily and said "I'd love to stay and chat more, but-" 

"Nimbus" It was Rainbow Dash. she stepped into the room. He walk seemed like she dragging a steel chain behind her. She looked like a blend of hurt, sadness, anger, and happy all twisted up into a storm that was about to destroy the city. "We need to talk..." 

Shit. Nimbus thought. He knew that phrase all to well. it was a phrase that meant Rainbow Dash must have figured out something he didn't want her to know about it, and now they were going to "talk" about it. Nimbus was so terrified he didn't even notice that Storm had walked out of the room. He must have done it discreetly so he and Rainbow Dash could have time to themselves. 

Nimbus was actually kind of missing Storm now, they had just barely gotten to start to get close now. Nimbus began a few words but Rainbow Dash talked over him. "Nimbus, you and I...we go pretty far back." Eight years technically wasn't that long ago according to some other standards, but considering they were barely sixteen, eight years meant they knew each other for half their lives and there was hardly a few day where they weren't together, even with the fact that Nimbus was working now. Nimbus didn't like the suspense Rainbow Dash was trying to create, but he allowed her to keep talking freely. " I need to tell you something you're probably not going to like, but you need it hear it anyways." 

Was her family all the same in these type of situations, build up so much suspense that it nearly crushes you, then they drop the full weight of what they're trying to say right at the very end? "Do you remember when we went to the Ever free forest?" Rainbow Dash asked. Her voice sounded sad and her eyes were beginning to go faint, like she was remembering a bad memory she had tried so hard to forget. 

Nimbus nodded, remembering the very day he got his cutie mark. 

"Well" Rainbow Dash kept rubbing the foreleg she had her hoof on ever since she entered the room. It was an itch that wasn't going to go away until she admitted to something she really didn't want to say. There was also an invisible fire on Rainbow Dash's back that caused her to sweat continuously, despite how cold the room was. Rainbow Dash's eye were switching from looking to the ground and Nimbus periodically. The scene was very unsettling and uncomfortable for Nimbus. Rainbow Dash was obviously about to drop some heavy shit on Nimbus. Which was only a bit ironic. Since Nimbus dropped some of his own literal shit on her. "That...we..." Rainbow Dash breathed in, letting her lungs fill up with air, and breathed out slowly through her nostrils, the same way she did right before a race. "We were never supposed to find that place I told you about, because it never existed. I was planning on leaving you there in the Ever free Forest as a cruel prank." Rainbow Dash admitted painfully. 

She had kept the secret locked up inside of her for so long. She just never wanted to admit to it because she was scared of the storm that was sure to follow, and she knew that the storm would only grow bigger as time went on, which scared her even more. As time went on by, she just never could build up the courage or find a way to bring it up in conversation. So, as a result, she just completely forgot it happened. 

"That's it?" Nimbus asked, showing little reaction to Rainbow Dash's confession. 

The itch finally left Rainbow Dash's leg, the fire on her back was extinguished, and her eyes set deadly cross hairs on Nimbus's forehead. "THAT'S IT? THAT'S IT?!" Rainbow Dash jumped up onto Nimbus's bed and put her knee deep into his stomach and her nose inches away from his nose. She made it completely clear that she lacked respect for other ponies personal space when she was mad. Nimbus, though, knew this song and dance all too well, and was just relieved her hooves were clean this time. "What do you mean 'That's it'? I've been keeping this locked up for years and that's all you have to say?!" Rainbow Dash's voice had gone from as soft as Fluttershy to as cruel as Nightmare Moon's eternal night. Nimbus had pissed her off again. No surprise. 

"Rainbow Dash, I have something you're really not going to hear." Nimbus answered, making Rainbow Dash back up a few inches and sit down on the bed, away from Nimbus's hind hooves. Her ears were twitching with interest. "Look, I kind of knew you never really wanted to be my friend in the beginning...I mean you were and still are the fastest pony in school." Nimbus said excitedly, putting a cocky smile on Rainbow Dash's face. "So, when you said you wanted to race me, I was honored by the fact that Rainbow Dash, the most popular and only pony to have performed the sonic rainboom, wanted to hang out with an colt like me." 

"Nimbus, it wasn't anything like THAT." Rainbow Dash interrupted. "I wanted to hang out with you a little bit before I thought of the prank," 

"Oh yeah?" Nimbus said sternly "Then where did I use to sit before you and I started talking?" 

Rainbow Dash felt the walls closing in around her and her lie, but she decided to turn the tables and play a dirty hand of her own. "Nopony can remember anything like that. If that's the case where did I sit?" 

"Second row from the right, Third seat from the front, Mr. Compton's flight history class." Nimbus answered strongly. His hooves were crossed and he wore a an modest smile, waiting for Rainbow Dash's answer. 

"That's really creepy, Nimbus." Rainbow Dash pointed out, her thoughts of Nimbus stalking her back when they were kids only growing more intense. "but before we get anymore off topic" Rainbow Dash cleared her throat and tugged at some of the fur around the collar of her blue coat. "I did notice you a little bit before I thought of the prank. I remember you sitting behind me in the row to my right." 

Nimbus was actually surprised to hear that she remembered the classroom so well. He wanted to make a smart remark, but a much stronger side of him told him to shut up and listen. 

Rainbow Dash continued to speak, taking notice how intrigued Nimbus was "I also remember, whenever I would look behind me, your test would be out in the corner of your desk with all your answers clearly marked for me to see, and you would ALWAYS" Rainbow Dash exaggerated some extra on the last word "be looking the opposite direction of me." Rainbow Dash lidted an eyebrow and leaned in closer towards Nimbus. Nimbus got the sense that she was trying to look inside his mind to see what exactly he was hiding from her, despite the fact she knew good and well what he was hiding. "What exactly were you looking at all the time?" Rainbow Dash asked. 

Nimbus could feel the small dark room, that Rainbow Dash was putting him in, close in around him closer and closer. The air around him was thinning and his breathing was starting to increase its pace. He knew lying to Rainbow Dash was an impossible task for him to accomplish. She could and would always see right through them like an open window, but Nimbus couldn't help but to hide the truth. "I really didn't like history class, so I would always be looking at the clock behind me to see what time it was."  

"Nimbus" Rainbow Dash backed up again and gave him an unhappy frown "there was no clock back there. The only clock in that class was in the front of the room." Rainbow Dash saw Nimbus shaking underneath the blankets after being caught red hoofed in his crime. "I need you to be absolutely honest with me..." Rainbow Dash allowed Nimbus a few to build some courage back up before asking "Is the reason you do so much for me because-" 

"Ok!" Nimbus shouted. Rainbow Dash reacted with a small jump in her chest. The shout wasn't exactly an angry one more than it was more of the kind of shout somepony would use to confess something when they know there's no getting out of the corner they were trapped in. "Alright, you already know this, so don't act surprised, but, yeah, I'm in love with you." Nimbus closed his eyes but still remained to look in Rainbow Dash's direction. "For longer than I can care to admit, I've been in love with you, and every year it only gets worse and worse. Every year I've been waiting for you to give me a sign or to just love me the same way back, but you never do." 

Rainbow Dash wasn't likely how cold the room had gotten with the built up tension, it was really uncomfortable and she just wanted it to stop getting colder. " Then if that's the case" Rainbow Dash rubbed and fidgeted with the area behind her ear nervously " why do you still stick around, and how come you've never admitted this before?" 

Nimbus answered the question back really slowly with his tucked against his mane. "Because I don't care, I don't care if you and I are never together the way I want us to be. I'd rather live with that then to lose my best friend over some stupid crush." Even though his eyes were still closed, he could tell that Rainbow Dash was displaying wide range of heartening emotions. 

"I don't feel the same way about you, Nimbus" Rainbow Dash recoiled a bit from her own words, realizing they came out a lot harsher being said out loud than they did in her head. Not wanting to make an uncomfortable situation into an awkward one, Rainbow Dash shook it off and proceeded to finish what she had to say as she out her hoof underneath Nimbus's chin.  She hoped he wouldn't take the gesture from the wrong perspective. "But you should know, you really do have a special place in my heart and you always will." 

Nimbus's eyes finally opened back up barely, too scared to get his hopes up if the Rainbow Dash in front of him was just a figment of his imagination and this whole situation was just another dream, like the blue berry frosted cupcakes he had smelt earlier. "You really mean that?" He asked rhetorically

Rainbow Dash pulled him in for a tight hug, unknowingly pinching one of the lesser important wires that were attached to Nimbus. "Of course, I do." She held on to Nimbus for a few seconds as he rested his chin on her shoulders. "Can we just forget we never had this conversation and just be friends, like we always are?" 

"Yeah, sure." Nimbus answered sadly. Even though he just told her that he was ok with them being friends, Nimbus felt like he outside back in the rain all alone, allowing the rain to run down his face so nopony could see the tears he was trying to hide but couldn't hold in anymore. 

Rainbow Dash and Nimbus both jumped as a series of knocks came from the door leading to the room. After seeing Daisy Cloud's tiny head appear from the viewing window inside the door, Rainbow Dash remembered the rest of her family were all waiting patiently outside to meet the renown Nimbus she had talked about so much. "Nimbus!" she shouted enthusiastically finally releasing the hug and holding Nimbus by his shoulders. "I forgot to tell you. My whole family wanted to meet you." 

Nimbus no longer felt like a stray left outside when he saw the tiny filly bouncing up and down who was trying to get a peek inside, and also when he saw the glowing smile on Rainbow Dash's face, but he was kind of nervous being introduced to the entirety of Rainbow Dash's family so unexpectedly. "Y-you mean your WHOLE family?" He asked, not liking the idea of seeing a bunch of ponies who were all about their first impression of him while he was in a hospital bed. 

"Yeah, well, at least the ones who could make it through the storm. the rest of them will be making it tomorrow for sure." Rainbow Dash informed Nimbus right before opening the door to let her family in the room all at once. 

Nimbus's eyes widened as he the series of so many varieties of the rainbow enter inside his room. There were too many colors moving around and talking in such a small area he couldn't tell which colors belonged to which pony. Hell, the only combination of colors he could recognize were the ones that belonged to Rainbow Dash. If a small hospital room of half of the Rainbow Family looked like somepony had thrown an assortment of paint around the room, he couldn't imagine what a whole house full of the entire Rainbow Family was going to be like. They all gathered around, welcoming and introducing themselves just as colorfully as their manes resembled.  Nimbus felt right at home when they told how happy they all were to have finally meet him. He grew incredibly happy when the little filly Daisy Cloud offered him the blue berry frosted cupcakes he had been craving so long. 
> Stop it! Stop making me do things! 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash groaned as the sound of her alarm drilled its way through her left ear and exit out her right ear. This was an incredibly odd situation for Rainbow Dash. Mainly due to the fact she didn't own an alram clock and she had no idea where it came from. Without moving the back of her head away from her comfortable pillow, Rainbow Dash stretched her left foreleg out and tried to reach for mysterious alarm clock that had somehow magically appeared in her room. After five seconds of having no success in finding the alram clock and only accomplishing to slap her the top of her wooden night stand continuously, Rainbow Dash shot her eyes open wide and realized she has never owned a nightstand either. 

Finally turning over in her bed, and throwing the blankets she didn't know were the only reason she was being kept warm from the cold breeze tearing through her window, Rainbow Dash faced the direction where the banshee like alarm was screaming. She picked the alarm clock and struggled to find the kill switch to turn it off. She held it above her head and looked underneath it, like she was trying to find any sort of anatomically correct body part attached to the clock that would inform her if the clock was a boy or a girl. When Rainbow Dash failed to find any sort of button or switch, she resorted to smashing the alarm clock on her newly founded night stand. She pulled her face in the opposite direction as small buts and pieces began to fly into the air, turning into deadly fragments dangerous to the naked eye. 

After destroying the alarm clock to nothing but a pile of scrap metal, Rainbow Dash breathed in through her nose slowly and out her mouth to catch her breath back. Smashing the loud contraption on top of her nightstand had left deep ugly scratches on the beautiful wood. Since Rainbow Dash didn't originally own a night stand anyways, she didn't mind the damage she'd done to it. 

The cold breeze she felt earlier from when she threw off her blankets hah picked itself up and was now blowing harder than the moment she woke up. Her mane began to wrap around her face into a beautiful mess of colors. Rainbow Dash groaned again when she struggled to spit her mane out of her mouth. At this moment, Rainbow Dash realized her mane wasn't supposed to be this long. To her knowledge, her mane had never been this long before. Making her way to her open window, Rainbow Dash finally saw her own reflection when she slammed the window shut angrily. If it wasn't for the rubber protective seal at the end, Rainbow Dash definitely would've shattered it. 

In the reflection of herself, Rainbow Dash confirmed that her mane was definitely longer, way longer. She even had to brush the majority of it to one side with her hoof in order for her to wear it comfortably. Apparently, her mane, nightstand, and alarm clock were the only new things she had woken up to, her whole room had a completely different arrangement, as well as its architect and layout. Rainbow Dash looked past the reflection in her window to see where exactly she was. 

From what she could tell, she was still in Cloudsdale, but on another side of the city, a more luxurious side. Rainbow Dash looked lower inside her window and saw that she was on the third floor of whoever's house this belonged to. She wanted to assume the house was owned by her, but with what money? There was absolutely no way she could have lived in such a large house all to herself. If that were the case though, who exactly did she share this place with? 

Rainbow Dash her questioned answered when a familiar voice called after her behind her bedroom door. "Hey, I heard noise. Are you ok in there, babe?" Nimbus asked behind the door. His voice sounded tired, more than likely due to the fact he probably ran from whatever part of this mansion he and Rainbow Dash were stuck inside. The fact that Nimbus had referred to her as "babe" set off a trigger inside Rainbow Dash's head she didn't know existed. 

"Babe?!" Rainbow Dash roared. She ran towards the door to rip it off its hinges and smack Nimbus across his smug little face, but her path got interrupted when she came across a loose laying roller skate. She stepped onto the filly sized skate and rolled herself right into the door. Rainbow Dash let out a small irritated "Ow" after her head had collided with her door. Kicking the skate off to the side, Rainbow Dash yelled "Who's skate is this, and why is it on MY floor?!" 

"It's Derby's, you know that. Don't get so mad over such a little thing. YOU should be looking where you're going." Nimbus pointed out with his voice suddenly a lot more calmer and relaxed than previously. 

Rainbow Dash picked her head up slightly only to have it pulled back down. She hadn't gotten used to her mane being so long and had mistakenly stepped on it. "Who, in the goddess's name, is Derby?" Rainbow Dash asked, barking. She could here Nimbus outside whispering to somepony but he was talking to low for her to make out the words. 

"Just...come down stairs and eat, you'll feel better. Plus, Star Splash made breakfast and she REALLY wants you to know what you think." Nimbus said. After he finished speaking, he leaned in against the door and listened as Rainbow Dash picked herself up off the floor for the second time. When he heard her standing back up, he opened the door and revealed himself. "I should probably help you down-" 

"Whoa..." was the only word Rainbow Dash and Nimbus could get out when they both looked at each other and spoke at the same time. 

Rainbow Dash couldn't help but to reach out and touch Nimbus's chin. She had to make sure that the facial hair she was seeing was real. This has to be a dream, Rainbow Dash thought. The small hair of Nimbus's goatee bristled against her hoof as she dragged it down his neck.But if this IS a dream...why does it all seem so real? Just like her's, Nimbus's mane was different as well, except in Nimbus's case, his mane was shorter and he had actually brushed it back. Rainbow Dash surprised herself when she felt immediately intrigued and a unsettling large amount of arousal explode inside of her. 

The same, however, could not be said about Nimbus. He let out a hard obnoxious laugh, once he saw the tangled mess Rainbow Dash had turned her mane into. "Babe, you look crap." Nimbus joked behind his laughter as best he could. 

Rainbow Dash shut him up with a quick slap to his jaw. Her hoof was already at his chin, so her hoof didn't have to travel very far to home in and make contact with her target. She held the hoof out to Nimbus's face, shaking it like a deadly weapon to threaten him. "Ok, first off, stop calling me babe." Rainbow Dash watched as Nimbus sat down and looked at her blankly, allowing her to continue without any interruptions. "Second, where are we? Why do you and I look so different? And who are all these ponies you keep naming off? Who's Derby? Who's Star Splat?" 

"Star Splash" Nimbus corrected her immediately. "Look, just come down stairs, eat some food, and you'll feel a lot better. I promise." 

"There's nothing even wrong with me!" Rainbow Dash jabbed her hoof into Nimbus's chest. She felt more naturally muscled Nimbus's chest was. It was definately solid like a brick house and it didn't cave in around her touch like it usually did. 

Nimbus saw how facinated Rainbow Dash was with his phsyical status and said "If you like that, you're going to love this." Nimbus gripped the back of her head, ready to pull her in for a kiss. 

Rainbow Dash saw what he was about to do from a mile away and uppercut him right below his chin with the hoof she had on his chest. He hoof smacked and sent Nimbus staggering back a few inches but not exactly knocking him on his ass, like she was expecting. "But how?" Rainbow Dash asked, watching Nimbus rubbed his chin at her with his eye brow lifted, questioning where that ferocity had come from. "I punched the hell out of you!" 

"I'll say" Nimbus agreed "I'm surprised you still got that arm of yours. I didn't even think you still worked out, you know, as busy as you usually are." Nimbus stepped back towards Rainbow Dash and tried to put a foreleg around her, but she quickly swiped away and put a foreleg distance between herself and Nimbus. "But then again, i guess that proves right to ever doubt THE Rainbow Dash." Nimbus praised her name like he was addressing it to a large invisible crowd. 

"You still haven't answered any of my questions." Rainbow Dash glared at Nimbus with cross hairs in her eyes, aimed right between his eyes. 

"I'm just going to keep repeating myself each time you ask." Nimbus impled dryly. "I'm going down stairs. You can play 20 questions with Tornado if you want, she loves that game, but I'm done." 

Rainbow Dash stood glued to her spot squinting at Nimbus, provoked with the tone and new name he left her with "Tornado?! How many more ponies live in this place?" she shouted at him. When she got no reponse from the empty stair case she was facing, Rainbow Dash stomped her way down the steps, titling all the pictures that the stiars were decorated with, and yelled "I'm talking to you, you-" 

"Mommy!" a small voice squealed from Rainbow Dash's right. 

Rainbow Dash stopped and froze in place, frightened of whatever the object was that had attached itself to her right front leg. She looked down slowly. Her stomach and mind were telling her "There's no way that's possible", but her eyes gave her a completely different story when she locked eyes with a filly that shared a striking resemblance to her. Granted, the filly's coat was light green, but the three shades of pink in her mane told her this very filly belonged to her, and she didn't have to guess too hard who the father was."...Mommy?" Rainbow Dash repeated. 

"Noooo" the tiny filly giggled "You're mommy" the tiny filly poked Rainbow Dash's leg "I'm Derby" 

 Oh, the one who nearly got me killed just a little while ago, Rainbow Dash mentioned to herself. 

"That's Star Splash" Derby pointed to her sister, the white one with a solid blue mane and light blue eyes. Star Splash was in the process of setting the plates on the table for the breakfast she had prepared. 

The one with a dumb name and for some reason knows how to work a stove better than I ever could, Rainbow Dash commented mentally. 

"That one's Tornado" the filly that Derby was pointing at this time had a gun-steel colored coat and a charcoal mane. 

No doubt the trouble maker by the looks of her. Rainbow Dash could see the smug little smile Tornado was trying to hide as she began to tie Star Splash's tail to the table cloth, but Nimbus caught her in the act and scowled her.  

"annnd that's Hurricane" Derby said, pointing to the filly Rainbow Dash didn't even know existed. 

Like Commander Hurricane? Judging from Hurricane being the only one of the four who had a cutie marl, Rainbow Dash concluded Hurricane was probably the oldest. "I'm surprised I have four..." Rainbow Dash said, thinking nopony could hear her whisper, but Hurricane's ear twitched and she faced her mother. 

"Soon to be five in a few months, right, dad?" Hurricane asked Nimbus, looking up at him. 

FIVE?! Rainbow Dash shouted in her head. She looked at Nimbus and asked him mentally with a strong expression. You want to have a fifth one? Rainbow Dash hoped that this whole thing was just some crude dream and the figment Nimbus could still talk to her with his mind.  

Fortunately he could when he answered her back wit ha look at her stomach. Earlier, Rainbow Dash didn't notice the small bulge 
in her stomach, but when she followed Nimbus's gaze, she felt stupid and blind for missing something so large. 

"There's no way!" Rainbow Dash shouted, putting her hooves to her head and shaking her mane furiously, forgetting how long it was. "T-this can't be real. I-I'm not ready to be a mother." Her breathing wasn't starting to go too fast for her to breathe comfortably with. She felt like an alien force was tightening itself around her throat. She could hear her heart beating in her chest like it was right beside her ear. She didn't have to tell anypony in the room that she was scared and wanted to leave, the expression in her face and actions made that point clear. 

Nimbus stepped towards her and held out his hoof to her face "Rainbow Dash..." he cooed, trying to calm her down

Rainbow Dash swiped at his hoof and rudely pushed the poor innocent Derby off her leg. "Get away from me!" She shouted, swinging punches and kicks wildly at all of them. 

Nimbus refused to be feared by her and continued to reach for her face "Rainbow Dash..." 

***
"Rainbow Dash!" the real Nimbus screamed in Rainbow Dash's face while slapping her awake back and forth with both sides of his hoof, holding her up by the collar of her coat while he hovered the two of the in the middle of the kitchen. Nimbus had been slapping her for the past two minutes after seeing her sleep walk herself through the majority of her home. Thankfully, her parents were heavy sleepers and didn't wake up to find out that Nimbus had been living and spending the night inside of Rainbow Dash's room, underneath her bed for the past three years. Rainbow Dash's parents never went inside Rainbow Dash's room anymore now that she was older, and since the orphanage kicked Nimbus out since he was thirteen, her room was the best place for him too crash, sometimes literally. 

Nimbus gave up on slapping Rainbow Dash awake and he had already tried giving her CPR three times already, although it absolutely nothing to wake her up, Nimbus admitted to himself he only gave her CPR because it would probably be the only time he could get away with it. He stopped after third time though, when Rainbow Dash finally uppercut him underneath his chin in her sleep. 

Nimbus dragged the unconscious Rainbow Dash to the sink and turned on the faucet to full blast. Holding Rainbow Dash by her neck, he drove her face into the rushing water. Water filled up her nose and sent a burning tingle on the inside that forced tears out of her eyes. She swung her forelgs wildly and pulled away from Nimbus's grip as she gasped for air. Her mane dripped onto the tiled floor of the kitchen once she finally coughed and snorted the water out of her nose. 

"Oh thank the goddesses, you're back!" Nimbus went to hug Rainbow Dash, but she growled and donkey kicked him perfectly into one of the dinning table chairs. Nimbus fell into the chair and tilited back on the hindlegs. He was saved from falling back when Rainbow Dash grabbed him byhis mane and pulled him back forward. Nimbus smiled nervously as Rainbow Dash glared a hole through his skull. 

"Do you know who Derby is?" She asked in a low growl, her nose was still tingling a bit from the water that rushed up her nose. 

"The hell is Derby?" Nimbus asked back, not knowing of the daughter he and Rainbow Dash shared in her dream. 

"Call me 'babe'.." Rainbow Dash instructed forcefully. 

"What? No...you'll just-" 

"Oh thank the goddesses" Rainbow Dash praised, throwing Nimbus backwards in his chair and sending him to the floor. "and"  Rainbow Dash stood over the fallen Nimbus and peered in closely to his chin "You have no facial hair! Yes!" Rainbow Dash jumpoed onto one of the other dinning chairs and rode it across the kitchen and into the living room, on its two back legs. "It was all just...a really bad nightmare." Rainbow Dash shivered in place as she remembered the illusion  Nimbus trying to kiss her. Sje turned 180 degrees and faced back towards the opposite end of the kitchen where Nimbus was. "It's good to have to REAL Nimbus back, Nimbus" 

Nimbus stayed in his over turned chair n fear, not knowing a thing Rainbow Dash was talking about. "Did you take one of my prescription pills?" Nimbus asked before picking himself up off the floor, "Oh, and you're welcome! You're lucky I woke you up. You were sleep walking and saying some reeeaally weird things." 

Rainbow Dash stiffened, she was afraid Nimbus might have gotten an idea of what she was dreaming about and didn't wanting him getting any wrong ideas. Especially after the conversation she and Nimbus had about their relationship. "What all did you hear?" she asked hesitantly. 

"Just a bunch of mumbling" Nimbus answered right away, releasing a large amount of weight off of Rainbow Dash's shoulders. "But I have to ask..."

Shit Rainbow Dash swore in her head. "Shoot" Rainbow Dash allowed, readying herself for whatever embarrassing question might be asking. 

Nimbus cleared his throat thoroughly and asked "You said the number five really loud at one random point..." Rainbow Dash stopped holding her breath and was relieved that this was the only question Nimbus had. "Five what exactly? What does five mean?" 

***

"Children!" Rainbowshine shouted as she and the rest of her family from both sides tried to calm down all the young fillies and colts bouncing around on her furniture, turning her living room into their own personal playhouse. The last of the Rainbow family that couldn't make through the storm last night had finally arrived this morning, and Rainbowshine was having a difficult time trying to get everypony's attention with all the screaming and laughing going through her home. 

Storm put a hoof on Rainbowshine's shoulder and nodded to her. "I got this, hun." With his throat nearly tearing in half, Storm let out a booming loud "QUIET!" The yell manipulated every child to freeze, sit down quietly, and give Storm their full attention with open ears, ready for his next instructions. 

Pushing Rainbowshine forward with the top of his head, Storm gave his wife the floor to speak. Rainbowshine fidgeted and brushed her coat off a bit before saying "Now, I know the 'Big Dinner'  was supposed to be yesterday, but since everypony wasn't here to make, we have pushed it back to tonight, and we will continue with the Rainbow Falls Trader Exchange today." 

"And since not everypony can fly..."Storm cut in, looking at his mother, Stratus, struggling to reach out to the sink for a simple glass of water without getting out of her chair. "We're taking the train there." 

Two large groans broke the large rainbow colored crowd of ponies, both coming from Rainbow Dash and Nimbus in the very back. Nimbus was carrying Rainbow Dash on his back, so she could get a a perfect view of how large her family actually was. Rainbow Dash laughed pure-heartedly as Daisy Cloud adjusted herself over Rainbow Dash's colorful mane. Nimbus didn't mind the extra amount of Daisy Cloud added to his back. He was just relieved that the rest of Rainbow Dash's family hadn't crowded him with attention, like the first portion of her family had. "Do we all have to take the train? Some of us can actually fly faster than the train." Nimbus pointed to himself and Rainbow Dash as examples to validate his point. 

"Alright then, hotshot." Wind Fighter called Nimbus out over the crowd of family flooded between the two of them. "You think you can still beat the train if you hauled a chariot full of our stuff?"  

"Why do you want me to carry a chariot full of stuff?" Rainbow Dash's cousin, Hotshot, squeaked. Hotshot was a red-brown colored pony covered in red spots, who was one of the very few ever seen pegasus who worked on a farm. His cutie mark reflected a Jalapeno pepper on fire, which perfectly fit his type of labor. "Blimp Bus was the one who said it!" 

Wind Fighter cuffed his hooves over his muzzle and responded "No, not you, Hotshot. I was talking about Nimbus." 

"Wait, then who's Blimp Bus?" Another one of Rainbow Dash's family members screamed loudly, a member of the family who Rainbow Dash couldn't put a name on by memory. 

"There is nopony called Blimp Bus." Wind Fighter answered "Hotshot just said his name wrong." 

"Said who's name wrong?" another unidentified voice asked behind Wind fighter. 

"Rainbow Dash's coltfriend!" a voice answered humorously with a loud laugh. 

"Wait, you mean the one she's standing on? I thought he was chick!" 

"Oh, thank the goddesses, he's a guy. I was afraid I was goign to have to start supporting Rainbow Pride Festivals." 

"They're not dating!" Storm roared over the chattering ponies who were going back and forth, trying to figure who Nimbus was and his sexual gender. "He's just a friend. An OLD family friend."  

"Yeah, for now! I bet they're friends with benefits." 

"Say good bye to your daughters virginity, if you haven't already, Storm. Start making an investment in diapers." 

Nimbus looked up at Rainbow Dash's horribly embarrassed face. "You know, honestly, this is one of the times I'm proud to be an orphan..." Nimbus admitted to Rainbow Dash. 

"Nimbus" Daisy Cloud started, peering her head over Rainbow Dash's head. 

"Yes?" 

"W-what's a virginity?"  

Nimbus smirked at Rainbow Dash with a sly smile. Should I tell her? 

Rainbow Dash was too busy trying to hide herself away from her family behind her hooves, and only made the effort to shake her head with little energy. I don't care...

"A virginity" Nimbus looked around the room to make sure nopony was goign to make a leap and stop him from his cruel joke. From everypony yelling at each other like Manticores fighting over who got to eat first, Nimbus clearly saw that the whole family was still too busy fighting with one another to realize the ponies they were talking about, Rainbow Dash and himself, were actually right in the back of the room. "A virginity, my adorable Daisy Cloud." Daisy Cloud blushed red in her pink cheeks at Nimbus's comment. "Is a very special gift a mare gives to her very special colt friend, who holds a very special place in her heart." 

"Awww" Daisy let out with dreamy eyes. She imagined a virginity was what a stallion in shinning armor sought out for whenever he had just saved a princess from a dragon. "Has Rainbow Dash given you her virginity?" 

Rainbow Dash lowered her hooves slowly down from her eyes as soon as she heard the misunderstood question, curious to hear what kind of response Nimbus was going to give.  

Nimbus was fully aware crossing the line with Rainbow Dash was equivalent to that of a mine field, but he ignored every little voice in his head that told him "no" and listened to the one lonely really loud voice that was screaming "DO IT!", and hopped over the fence. 

"No, no she hasn't..." Nimbus smiled at Rainbow Dash's armor- piercing glare. 

She knew that smile. She didn't have to change her expression to tell him Don't do it, Nimbus. 

Nimbus shrugged innocently with a tilt of his smile Sorry, but it's too easy Nimbus continued and said "But that doesn't mean I'm not goign to." He let out a ear scrambling loathing burst of laughter. A burst of laughter that he didn't know had silienced th whole room in utter surprise. After wiping the tears from his eyes, Nimbus saw every gaze set on him with a varying series of disgust, shock, and dismay. He chuckled awkwardly, asking "Oh...did everypony hear that?" Every head in the room bobbed up and down simultaneously with confirmation. 

***

"Flap harder!" 

"I'm flapping!" 

"No you're not, you're just gliding!" 

"That cause my wings hurt from flapping so hard!" Nimbus snapped at Rainbow Dash. They had been arguing from one screaming at the other for the past ten miles they'd been flying. Getting ahead of the train as soon as it departed presented no challenge to Rainbow Dash and Nimbus when they first started hauling the sky wagon full of trade items, but about five miles towards Rainbow Falls they'd started to argue who was doing most of the work. "I was flapping so hard because you were too busy slacking." 

"Slacking?" Rainbow Dash took the insult personally, despite how true it was. "Are you calling me lazy?" 

"No, I'm saying you never left me hoof when it comes to hard work. I'm always pulling your weight, sometimes literally." Nimbus began to move his wings with slower and harder strides. 

"If we had fingers, I'd been lifting one in front of your face right now!" Rainbow Dash shook her hoof in Nimbus's face, mimicking the rude finger gesture she would have given him if she had the capability. "Just admit it, I'm doing more than you." 

"Your right!" Nimbus shouted shoving his shoulder into Rainbow Dash's ribcage. The thrust had shot an uncomfortable shock into Rainbow Dash's whole left side. 

"OW!" Rainbow Dash growled, returning Nimbus's shove with a slap to the back of his head. "Just because you admitted it doesn't mean you have to get all pissed off about-" 

"NO! Your right, turn to your right! We're about to hit that cliff!" Nimbus pointed to the the large cliff that Rainbow Dash could have sworn just popped out of then air. Nimbus pushed into Rainbow Dash's left side again and exerted more constant force into her surprisingly muscled body. 

Rainbow Dash yanked herself away from Nimbus's intruding shoulder and nearly jack knife herself around the sharp rocky cliff. The sky wagon she and Nimbus were dragging behind them lost a wheel when it 's left side collided and scraped against the cliff's rough edges. The combination of wood and metal scrapping against rock was more than Rainbow Dash and Nimbus could care to bare as the sound raped their ears and cringed their tails. The sky wagon itself suffered little damage, other than the lost back wheel. A small amount of paint had been ripped off, leaving behind small fleshy strips of paint waving to the wind, but there fortunately was no deep visible gashes along the side. 

Looking down below himself, Nimbus watched as the loose flying wheel fell to the ground below and crashed into a hundred pieces a fragmented wood. He cursed under his breath when took a moment to reflect on how close he and Rainbow Dash had almost encountered a head on collision with a giant piece of the earth. "Weren't you watching where you were going?" Nimbus asked Rainbow Dash rhetorically. She promptly delivered Nimbus a glowering show of her teeth and taunt bend of her eye brows. "That's rule number one in flying!" 

"Oh, so I'm a bad flyer too, is that it?" Rainbow Dash poked Nimbus in his chest "If I'm such a BAD flyer then why am I so GOOD at it?" 

"Will you two get a room?" A voice declared, flying past Rainbow Dash and Nimbus at a very casual stroll. The voice rose the last part of her sentence with great intensity and received pronunciation of her words. The alien accent was owned by a pink pegasus with a purple mane, who had a purple and blue compass for a cutie mark. "I've heard you from all the way over there." The unidentified pink pegasus pointed to a random location behind herself. " You two have sounded like" The young adult mare began to make some shockingly accurate erotic make out noises with slurps from her tongue. "The whole time I been flying." she said after finishing her vulgar impression of the two chariot hauling ponies. After that she took off to the not-so-far distance to Rainbow Falls. 

Rainbow Dash stared at particularity nothing in front of her after the strange encounter she had just experienced. Flinging her hoof out in front of her, Rainbow Dash  asked harshly "Who in the flying feather was that?" 

***

Nimbus allowed his body to collapse to the smooth dirt below as he cried "Never. Again. will I ever haul so much crap in a chariot." 
Small balls of dirt rolled away from him when he let out a breath of relaxation. The ground felt good underneath his body, if it wasn't for Rainbow Dash pulling him back to his hooves, he would've stayed there all day.  She pulled and dragged Nimbus, as her mother and father set about giving everypony the merchandise they had placed in the cart that Rainbow Dash and Nimbus had so graciously pulled.  

Like every year, the Rainbow Falls Trade exchange was decorated with ponies from all across Equestria. Some ponies were even types and different cultures Rainbow Dash had never seen before. There were no actual permanent buildings around the Rainbow Falls, or at least not yet anyways. Only booths, tents, and square rented areas were what mainly consisted the majority of the land. Up above, Rainbow Dash saw the armored pegasus guards that patrolled the area with an eagle's view to keep things in order. Of course, nothing notoriously happened at the Rainbow Falls Trade Exchange and the guards were only there as a formality in regard of the present princess. Plus, the insurance of proper security on and above the ground gave the civilian ponies a nice warm and fuzzy. 

Rainbow Dash picked up her pace and dragged Nimbus as far as she could before somepony walked around to the damaged side of the cart. She didn't feel like explaining to her grandmother, Stratus, how the cart had lost its wheel. 

"Oh, shut up. You barely even-" Rainbow Dash was absurdly interrupted when Nimbus laid a simple hoof to her lips with a soft touch. 

Shaking his head slowly left to right, and his mane swaying to the left and right lightly in the calm breeze, Nimbus drawled "No, please, don't..." Rainbow Dash's ears twitched in opposite direction, sharing the same the confusion she had on her face. "I don't want to fight no more today....I just want to spend a nice evening and enjoy the rest of the day in peace." Nimbus stared his silver eyes into Rainbow Dash's magenta colored eyes, wondering what color they'd make if the colors were mixed together. Trying to sound as sentimental as he could, he added with a weak smile "With my best friend." 

Rainbow Dash was only able to share her feelings with a dead pan expression and a grave filled look in her eyes. "Nimbus, I'm touched...really." She said with as much energy as water provided to a campfire. "Because, all I really want..." Rainbow Dash started dryly "...is to spend the rest of my evening with a drama queen like you." 

Nimbus remained silent. He wasn't going to let Rainbow Dash try to ignite the fire she wanted to start. 

"Seriously?" Rainbow Dash finally removed Nimbus's hoof away from her face and back to the ground with a rude slap. "No comment? Not even a smart remark? Or an insu-" 

"I'll carry you on my back, if you-" Nimbus flinched and nearly bit off the tip of his tongue when Rainbow Dash kamikazed her body on his back, a few pounds of pressure away from making him collapse again. Her weight sent shocking powerful waves of pain into Nimbus's knees. His breathing paused for a bit, half expecting his body to explode from the sudden blow.  Nimbus nearly snapped his neck when he spun his head back to curse at Rainbow Dash. "I didn't mean right now, you mook! " He hollered at her in a raged explosion of hate fueled words. 

"There's the Nimbus I know." Rainbow Dash cheered, smacking the tip of Nimbus's nose with something shiny he couldn't quite label yet. "Now, Nimbus, away!" Rainbow Dash jerked back on Nimbus's mane with a rough tug he didn't enjoy at all, and she leaned forward, ready to fight the rushing wind and feel the breeze dance through her mane whenever Nimbus decided to take off, but no wind came while Nimbus had decided to remain in place. 

"Never" Nimbus poked at Rainbow Dash's ribs as he glared up at her  "Do that again".

Rainbow Dash responded with a grunt and a roll of her eyes. You're no fun. She curled her forelegs over Nimbus's shoulders and rested her chin. Pulling her hind legs up under her belly, Rainbow Dash whipped Nimbus's side with a whack of her colorful tail. 

Ignoring Rainbow Dash's mental message, Nimbus wrinkled and stared at the tip of his nose where Rainbow Dash had smacked him. "What did you even smack me with anyways?" 

Rainbow Dash hung what Nimbus had at first mistaken for a dirty build up of mud around the edges of her hoof. "It's my new shiny horseshoe." Nimbus cringed as he his own blooded coated and stained on Rainbow Dash's horseshoe. She must have not noticed or ignored the blood that was trickling down onto her hoof. Struggling to balance Rainbow Dash's weight on three legs, Nimbus lightly tapped his muzzle for blood, but his hoof came up clean. He pressed his hoof harder into his muzzle to make sure he wasn't bleeding. There was no pain when he applied more pressure and, like last time, his hoof came up clean. 

"You and I have two completely different definitions of the word 'shiny'" Nimbus stated, arching his neck away from Rainbow Dash's possibly infected-looking hoof. "Why are you even wearing horseshoes?" 

"I have sensitive hooves." Rainbow Dash stated with a small whine that begged for sympathy "and I didn't want to walk around all day on them." 

"So...you put on horseshoes?" Nimbus was struggling to decipher Rainbow Dash's logic. 

"Yeah, how else did you expect me to protect my hooves?" 

"...we can fly." Nimbus stretched out his wings to demonstrate "That's what these are used for..." Nimbus didn't know if Rainbow Dash was just trying to ruffle his feathers, or if she was actually serious. 

"But now" Rainbow Dash slapped the back of Nimbus's shoulders, locking his wings back to his sides. 

"How did you do that?" Nimbus asked trying to flick his wings back out, put some sort of unknown remote force was preventing him from opening them, no matter how hard he tried. 

Rainbow Dash ignored his question "I don't have to worry about walking around, now that you're carrying me" Rainbow Dash lightly tapped the top of Nimbus's mane, sending small stings of tears to his eyes with her steel horseshoe. "Now that I think about it, I might even try to trade these off." 

Give them a few and let them rust. I'm SURE that'll add some value to them. Nimbus thought with a roll of his eyes. "Sometimes I think you only keep me around for your personal butler..." Nimbus said, after giving up trying to open his wings again for what seemed like the twentieth time. 

"Pfft" Rainbow Dash made a strange motor like sound with her lips. "You know that's not true. It's because I loooooooooo......" Rainbow Dash dragged out the beginning of the four letter word she almost let out. She wasn't sure what prompted her to say the word, but she was glad she had stopped herself before she had actually said it. 

Unfortunately, Nimbus had caught the foresight of the "big L word", as his ears perked up encouragingly. "You...what?" Nimbus's question had a strange twist of confused energy. He didn't know how to feel. Was he supposed to be excited that his best friend almost admitted she loved him, or was he supposed to be upset over the fact she stopped herself. He was felling too many mixed emotions to ask or say anything else. "W-what were you about to say?"

"I just...." Rainbow Dash searched around the Exchange, desperately looking for anything to change the topic on hoof. When she came across what looked like an armor vendor, she quickly used it as a distraction, hoping this shot in the dark would hit her target. "loooove the way that armor looks over there." Rainbow Dash exaggerated. Jumping off of Nimbus's back and running towards the vendor like a filly going to the candy store, she yelled even louder with false enthusiasm.  

Luckily for Rainbow Dash, Nimbus was a huge fan of armor and had about the attention span of a third grader to everything around him when armor was in front of him. Surprisingly enough, Nimbus didn't take long to jet forward and beat Rainbow Dash to the booth. Nimbus out running/flying Rainbow Dash to a specific destination, especially when she had the head start, didn't happen as much as Nimbus would like to admit. Rainbow Dash wouldn't have even realized Nimbus had ran past her if it hadn't been for her mane waving in front of her face. 

Rainbow Dash couldn't help but snicker a bit, both at her white lie and Nimbus's excitement. Making sure he didn't get too close to knock over the armor, she put a hoof on Nimbus's chest, pushing him back a few inches back towards her and away from the armor. While her hoof was on his chest, Rainbow Dash couldn't help but notice that was chest was pretty tight, not as tight as his chest was in her dream earlier this morning, but she had to admit it was pretty impressive. Rainbow Dash considered the fact that his chest (or whole body, now that was looking at it from a different perspective) must have developed muscle very gradually over the past few years. That or the fact she hung around Nimbus so much she didn't even notice until now. 

Nimbus caught sight of Rainbow Dash's eyes scanning him up and down seconds later. "A-are you checking me out?" Nimbus asked hesitantly. 

Snapping her head back up and her mane waving up, Rainbow Dash snapped and denied Nimbus's accusation "NO!" 

Nimbus just gave her a look, tilting his head away from her, not buying what she was trying to sell him. Come on, I saw you looking...


"I wasn't looking at you like that!" Rainbow Dash declared, her words sharp as blades that could have pierced the armor in front of her. Her gaze fell to her hoof, which she had just realized was still touching Nimbus's chest. Ignoring the newly discovered muscles she was grasping, Rainbow Dash could fell Nimbus's heart beating. It definitely sent out a strong thump with the rhythm, but what stood out like a green patch of grass in a desert was the rate that his heart was beating. There felt like there was another thump immediately after the last one. Replacing her ear where her hoof was, Rainbow Dash listened closely and counted each beat mentally. 

Before she could could count her the fifth beat, Nimbus pulled away from her. "Will you stop that?" Nimbus kept his distanced and made sure nopony was behind or above him in case he needed to spread the range between himself and Rainbow Dash. "You're freaking me out!" 

"Me?!" Rainbow Dash jerked herself towards Nimbus with another hoof back into his chest "You're freaking me out. What in the flying hoof was that? Are you excited or something? You're heart was beating really fast." 

"I'm just a little winded from pulling the cart full of crap earlier. You know I'm not as good a flyer as you." As true as Nimbus's words were, Rainbow Dash leaned in and glared at him doubtfully. His breathing was normal, there was no visible sweat anywhere on him, and he seemed pretty calm at the moment. "I'm...just don't worry about it, ok?" 

"Hearts don't beat that fast, Nimbus. Even after a flying sprint, my heart doesn't beat that fast." Rainbow Dash kept walking towards Nimbus with each step he took away from her until she backed him up into a corner. "Are you keeping something away from me, or-" 

"Heya, kids!" Hotshot yelled, carrying what belonged to him from the cart in the saddle bags off to his sides. 

Rainbow Dash huffed angrily as Nimbus tried to escape around her and make small talk with one of her many cousins. She couldn't help but think that whenever something intense was happening between her and Nimbus something else always comes in to interrupt it. Before letting Hotshot get any closer to see that she had Nimbus backed up in a corner against his will, Rainbow Dash pointed to her left and scowled a black look with daggers for eyes at her cousin. "Go. That way." 

Not wanting to fuel the fire that Rainbow Dash was breathing through her words, Hotshot turned around and said "Oh, look. Armor!"  Then he pretended to browse the small booth of displayed armor and kept his curiosity to himself. 

"It's nothing big, Rainbow Dash, just let it and ME go." Nimbus exclaimed as he tried to push Rainbow Dash's hoof off his chest, but she wouldn't budge. He was glad though that she had chosen to use the hoof without the horseshoe to hold him back with, which made him wonder: Why is she only wearing one horseshoe? Doesn't she know how they work? 

"No!" Rainbow Dash fumed, turning back to him and pushing her body behind her hoof. Nimbus was absolutely stunned by her strength and her ability to hold him back with such ease. Shameful to admit it, Nimbus envied and was kind of turned on by her dominance.  "Are you sick or something?" 

"No...I mean, not really..." Nimbus looked down at Rainbow Dash's hoof as she eased some of her weight off of him. "It's nothing serious really.It's just a...condition." Nimbus emphasized air quotes around the word "condition" with a raise of volume in his voice. "Don't worry about-" 

Rainbow Dash slammed her hoof like a hammer to Nimbus's chest "Don't tell me: 'Don't worry about it'. Goddess damn it, Nimbus, when WERE you going to tell me?" Rainbow Dash wasn't expecting a specific time period or anything, she just wanted to hear that Nimbus had planned on telling her, but she didn't. 

"Look, Rainbow Dash, if you're seriously worried about it....slamming your hoof into my chest probably isn't a good way to show it." 
Rainbow Dash immediately pulled her hoof back in a manner like she didn't want to infect Nimbus with a disease she was carrying.  

After setting her hoof back down, and allowing Nimbus the opportunity to get his personal (or as much as she would allow him to have), Rainbow Dash sat down with her tail sitting in her lap and her forelegs crossed, waiting for Nimbus to give her explanation. 

Nimbus stalled a bit by stretching his wings and cracking his neck for quite awhile until Rainbow Dash snorted and damn near shot fire through her nostrils. "OK, OK!" Nimbus breathed in a bit prepping himself up to conjure some courage. "I'm just a little nervous is all." 

"Nervous?" Rainbow Dash lifted an eyebrow and threw out her hoof like she was trying to grab the question. "About what? You don't do a whole lot except do some flying exercises with me every now and then, work on the weekends, eat, and sleep" Rainbow Dash paused for bit "In MY room might I add." 

"Yeah, on your floor, under the bed." 

"I gave you a pillow and the space underneath MY bed, you ungrateful bastard. You're lucky my dad-" 

"We're getting off subject." Nimbus interjected, not wanted to be reminded that he was still hiding secrets behind Storm's back especially after gaining his trust. "I'm nervous because..." Nimbus looked up at the sun, trying to determine what time it was. "I don't know about dinner today." 

"...Seriously?" Rainbow Dash thought about striking Nimbus hard in the chest again just see how much faster his heart would go before it would give out . "That's what's got you so worked up? Some stupid dinner?" 

"Oh, did you forget the fact that I'd be there with the rest of your family?" Nimbus had been so worried about making such a good impression at the table tonight that didn't even realize he was hungry until his stomach growled. Although, in hindsight, making that virginity jab at Rainbow Dash this morning probably wasn't the right move and explained why he skipped breakfast with such a rush out the front door. 

"So?" Rainbow Dash asked. She didn't understand the suspense Nimbus was personally going to experience at dinner. To her it was just the same as any other dinner except with more plates on the table. In Nimbus's case, it was much more than that. Tonight was going to be his very first experience sitting down and eating with a real family. A family he desperately wanted to be accepted into, and his imagination playing various future clips of him screwing it up wasn't putting him anymore at ease. 

"So, I'm a little nervous. Give me a break. I get scared, OK?" Nimbus was hoping that the evening would just come up right now so he could just get the dinner over with. 

"You're scared of my family, but not a speeding bullet?" 

"That was different." Nimbus argued. 

"oh, really?" Rainbow Dash mentally prepared a pen and notebook "Please, tell me what the difference is." 

"I don't have to talk about myself to the bullet." Nimbus admitted. The idea of talking to a bullet played out hilariously in his head. 

Rainbow Dash's disappointed reaction only made Nimbus more incompetent than he already was "You're scared of talking? You talked to me when we first met." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes back with a smile remembering the very first day she met Nimbus in class. "You were nervous then too." 

Nimbus got his feathers ruffled with the memory along with a side of his cheeks blushing red. "I was eight!" 

"and now you're sixteen and you're still nervous around me on occasion." 

"Ha, horseshit!" Nimbus debated, putting his face closer to Rainbow Dash's. He flinched back a bit with quick reflexes when Rainbow Dash blew her hot breath on his neck to see his reaction. "See how close I'm getting?" Nimbus bragged. 

"Yeah, get a room. There are children here." said a passing by earth pony mare who was hauling three cribs behind her. 

Ignoring the mother, and hearing the same comment for the second time today, Nimbus continued "Do you see me getting nervous now?" Nimbus rocked his head back and forth towards Rainbow Dash energetically, getting ready to invalidate Rainbow Dash's previous statement and rub it all in her face. 

Calling Nimbus's bluff, Rainbow Dash placed her forehead on his, their muzzles not even an inch away from each other. She smiled with a smug when she saw Nimbus's pupils dilated into two sauce pans, nearly conquering all the white in his eyes. "Alright, tough guy." Nimbus hated when she gave him little pet names like tough guy or billy bad ass. "If you never get nervous around me, why do you always turn the other way whenever I stretch right before a flight?" 

Nimbus felt his heart leap into his throat. He swallowed it back down hard. "I d-do that out of-" 

"What, out of respect?" Rainbow Dash was enjoying making the colt who was about to enter stallion-hood shiver in public. "What if I said I wanted you to look." She picked her hoof up and began to stroke the inside of Nimbus's forearm. She remembered to use the one without the horseshoe, so Nimbus could feel her soft touch up and down his developing muscles. She could feel Nimbus shivering more underneath her touch than he was physically displaying. "You know, give you a little...sneak peek." 

Rockets shot off behind Nimbus as they sent a shiver down his spine and to the tip of his tail, making his tail strongly erect. The back of his mane would have stood up on its own if he hadn't already spiked it earlier. He wanted to lean in closer, let his fantasy become a reality, but his body was locked in fear. This was all so sudden and unexpected. It was just about what he wanted if not exactly. 

Sadly, once Nimbus finally unfroze form the shock of finally getting the chance to lock lips with his dream mare, Rainbow Dash pulled back let Nimbus fall to the ground like the fragments to a popped balloon. "See?" Rainbow Dash said, placing the hoof with the horseshoe on the back of Nimbus's neck to keep him down "I knew I could still make you nervous." 

Nimbus looked up at her angrily. You're a real tease, you know that? 

Rainbow Dash shook her head, looking up and walking away with the same smug smile still on her face. Before getting too far, Rainbow Dash told Nimbus "Put your wings down, you're just embarrassing yourself and me." 

Apparently, Nimbus wings had sprung back up without his knowing. It must have been the same time his tail had stiffened, he assumed. Picking himself up and dusting himself off, Nimbus couldn't help be hear a multiple round of small giggles off to his left where a group of mares, around his age, were pointing and laughing at the stiffness of wings. Pulling his wings back down to his side, Nimbus turned around and exclaimed loudly "It's just the breeze, it's cold out here, I'm not usually like that." The mares just continued to laugh point and giggle, even when Nimbus ducked his head and chased after Rainbow Dash. 

***
After a few hours of walking around the exchange, Rainbow Dash ended up trading some of Nimbus's bits to rent a carrying cart. Nimbus first questioned why she used his bits and not her horseshoe. Rainbow Dash argued that her horseshoe had not yet developed enough value to be traded properly. 

"So...why the cart then?" Nimbus asked seconds before his question got answered. Rainbow Dash slapped a huge rough saddle on his back without warning and jumped into the back of the cart, fully spread out and stretching her limbs. The saddle was an ugly shade of shit brown with deep black dark spots covering more than half the apparel. Trying to adjust the saddle more comfortably, Nimbus pulled it farther to one side and ended up pinching a few hairs of his coat off.  Putting insult to injury, Rainbow Dash used her loose hanging hind leg to kick Nimbus's rump and moved him forward. 

Cursing hateful words underneath his breath, Nimbus unwillingly pulled the cart behind him. He struggled to get the wheels moving at first but once they finally gave in and turned the rest of the pull was easy. Rainbow Dash was absolutely enjoying herself as she looked up at the sky above and watched the clouds fly up top.  Covering the whole sky in their thick white color, the clouds covered the majority, but still allowed enough light from the sun trough for a beautiful day. "Wasn't today an awesome day?" 

Nimbus used his left wing to open up the pocket in his saddle bag he was using to hold his bits. Shaking his body a bit, Nimbus failed to hear the jingle of gold he was expecting. A small butterfly flew out the empty coin pocket after spending a a few hours of rest inside. "Yeah...awesome day." Nimbus lied. "Who takes bits as trade at the Rainbow Falls Exchange?" 

"As long as both parties are happy with what they get it's a fair trade, right? I traded some old stallion some bits-" 

"MY bits!" Nimbus snapped, finally clicking his coin pocket to his saddle bag shut with the help of his wing. Nimbus grunted while he was trying to position back in place between the saddle on his back and the his personal saddle bags. It was an incredibly hard task to accomplish while walking. He twitched his wing back and forth between the two, only ruffling up his feathers as a result 

Rainbow Dash waved a hoof at Nimbus's whining "for his wagon. He was happy, I was happy, everypony wins." Rainbow Dash continued to lay back in the wagon with her hooves comfortably placed behind her head. She had no problem using Nimbus's bits for her own benefit. In her opinion, she was actually helping him. Earlier he had complained about bringing too many bits to put in one pocket and how heavy it was getting. Another complaint Nimbus had was when he talked about getting in better shape. From renting the cart, Rainbow Dash had helped in both cases. Nimbus's bit pocket was lighter and he was going to get a slight workout hauling her all around town. 

Nimbus glowered under his breath "You're about to win a kick to the ass."  Stopping to get some rest, Nimbus adjusted his wings finally. In the past few minutes that he had struggled while walking, Nimbus was able to place his wing back in place within a quick two seconds. He grunted again angrily at himself and headbutted his forehead to the ground. 

"You don't look too good..." Nimbus assumed the statement had come from Rainbow Dash who was standing in front of him and  just trying to get under his skin for the third time today. 

"Oh I don't?" Nimbus asked rhetorically right before flicking his neck back up. His voice was flared with the ferocity and stench of a dragon's breath each time he opened his mouth. "Then how about you get off your FAT ASS and- oh....you're not...Rainbow Dash." Nimbus said to the brown mare standing in front of him with a water bottle in her mouth. 

The brown mare was a pegasus with a large dark brown spot over her left eye and another one on the back of her neck. Her body looked very well toned, almost like Rainbow Dash except this mare had a distinctive amount of muscle mass. Despite the size of large muscles, the brown mare had very soft face instead of the hardened sharp shape one would have expected her to have. The short twisted braid of her mane and the oil grease on her hooves indicated that she was a working pony, which more than likely lead to the development of her muscles. 

The brown mare remained in place and looked at Nimbus looked at Nimbus with a smile that could barely be seen with the bottle she was wielding.  She giggled and at Nimbus when he looked behind him and realized Rainbow Dash was no longer in the cart. Answering the question in Nimbus's head, the brown mare said "She left a few seconds after you stopped. She tried to get your attention, but you just kept your head to the ground." Despite the bottle in her mouth, she spoke very clearly. The brown mare looked off to the area where she had seen Rainbow Dash fly off to and squinted "She might have gone to get you something, but I guess she didn't see me coming towards you with water." Holding her hoof out for a neighborly introducing gesture, the brown mare gave Nimbus her name "I'm Sky Forge, but you can just call me Forge or Sky. Although, whatever you want to call me is fine!" Sky Forge was an incredibly friendly creature with a large heart that showed through the gentleness of her voice. 

Seeing the blacksmith anvil that resembled Sky Forge's name in a booth behind Sky Forge, Nimbus had no doubt that she was probably a vendor here at the exchange who was either a traveling blacksmith or a blacksmith trying to show her wares off at a large public event in an effort to market herself. 

Nimbus shook his head free of the small bright circles that were blinding his vision from his dehydration. Carefully taking the water bottle from Sky Forge with a grasp of his wings, Nimbus began to chug down the liquid down his throat. While desperately trying to replenish his energy and quench the thirst the he was unaware of, Sky Forge lowered the bottle lightly from Nimbus lips and tipped it at an angle that allowed the water to flow into a perfect stream. "You can't be chugging it too fast." Sky Forge tapped Nimbus's stomach "You'll give yourself a really bad stomach cramp and regret it later." She informed Nimbus in a sophisticated manner. 

After a few more seconds of drinking, Nimbus lowered the bottle "Thanks. Kinda seems like you've had to teach somepony how to drink a bottle of water before. You were really...teacher-y" Nimbus knew he probably sounded odd by making up that last word. 

Sky Forge gave Nimbus probably the hundredth smile she already had for the day "It just comes personal experience from working next to a hot forge several hours out of the day." 

Hours?!   Nimbus couldn't imagine how resilient Sky Forge was to high temperatures in order to stand over melting metal for so long, or how even more dedicated she was to do it day after day.  "Blacksmith huh? That's your booth over there?" Nimbus already knew the answer to his question, for the most part, but she felt obligated to start a small conversation with the mare who had gone out of her way to drop what she was doing in order to help him. 

Sky Forge nodded proudly. "Yes it is. Well, not exactly my own personal booth. It's owned and run by my uncle, but more than half the merchandise you see over there is made none by yours truly." It was obvious that Sky Forge took great pride in work just like she prided herself in admitting she was a blacksmith, but she didn't seem to gloat about it. "If you want, you could keep me company until your friend comes back. I do have to get back to work before-" 

"Sky Forge!" Sky Forge cringed as the elderly large and brawn pony emerged from the side flap of her booth. "How are we supposed to trade off our wares if you're over there sticking your tongue in colt's mouth." The pony who Nimbus assumed was Sky Forge's uncle glared at him like an archer aiming it's arrow at an enemy "And you, colt." Nimbus picked his head up a few inches to let Sky Forge's uncle know that he had his attention. "Just know that I'm a Gold Medalist javelin thrower at the Equestrian games as of twenty years ago and i will NOT hesitate to prove it if you distract my niece away from this booth again." 

Nimbus responded with a winged salute of respect and watched as the elder blacksmith accepted and returned the salute gracefully before turning back inside the back side of booth. Nimbus set his wing back down and smacked it against the saddle he had forgotten was still attached to his side. He flinched against the shock the pain had shot up from his wing to his shoulder. Bting on his words, Nimbus asked "Is that offer still on the table or should I just keep away?" 

Sky Forge stifled a giggle behind her hoof. "My uncle? No, he's a real kind-hearted pony once he let's you see it. He's just a bit over protective of me." Sky forge turned around to head back to her anvil and forge inside her booth. "There's no need to worry about him. You still coming?" 

When Sky Forge turned her back to Nimbus, he noticed that her flank bared the image of a small anvil with wings, the wings to her side were also tipped with a light brown almost white color, and she also had a small black smith hammer strapped and sheathed to her right hind leg. The holster was drastically tilted forward so she could grip the head of the hammer wing her wing. 

Nimbus nodded to her question and followed closely behind her. Just like the back of her mane, her tail was also short and braided so it wouldn't interfere with her work. Nimbus didn't much farther than a few inches before he got pulled back by the unlubricated heavy wheels of the cart. He choked against the strap around his neck attached to the saddle. 

The wounded sound from Nimbus made Sky Forge fairly concerned, but it quickly washed away when she was relieved the only problem was Nimbus's saddle. Sky Forge happily unattached the strap around Nimbus's neck and helped him lift it above him. "That strap was supposed to go under your belly, not your neck." She looked closely and rubbed Nimbus's neck for any damage. "Luckily, you didn't pull long enough for the strap to do anything more than leave a crease mark across your neck." Sky Forge placed a strong wing behind Nimbus and pulled him towards her booth. 

Once Nimbus and Sky Forge got to the forge and anvil behind the trading counter, Sky Forge went immediately to forge and began to heat up some metal Nimbus assumed was probably steel. Sky Forge manipulated her wings incredibly and impressively. She was capable of grabbing small items usually called for unicorns magic in order to use like metal tongs.  Nimbus was fascinated by all the assortments of armor, weapons, tools, grills, tables, and other appliances that decorated the inside of Sky Forge's tent. 

"You make all of these yourself?" Nimbus asked as he walked towards a strange green colored piece of armor that had caught his eye as soon as he'd first walked into the booth. 

Sky Forge didn't look away whatever she heating up, but answered Nimbus right away "Not all the ones you see in here, no." Sky Forge raised raised the hot red metal with the assistance of tongs her wings were carrying and laid it carefully on the anvil beside her. The red metal released a sizzling sound when the sweat from her forehead dripped onto it's nearly flat surface. "The one's on display outside are mostly mine. My uncle thought it would be a great way for me to get my hoof in the door when I finally decide to open up my own store." Sky Forge struck the metal with a few strong strikes from her hammer before cooling the blade once again. She looked up to see where Nimbus was behind her and noticed him staring hard at the green piece of armor. "That though IS mine." She could tell by Nimbus's desire to touch it, he was very interested in the armor. "Still trying to figure out what it's made of?" Sky Forge asked setting the metal she was working on to the side and making her way to Nimbus. 

"It's green, almost like it's made of-" 

It IS made of Jade." Sky Forge finished and corrected for Nimbus. She smiled was his wings flared up with even more interest. His words were too fast for her to fully comprehend, but she knew which questions he was asking all to well from others who had seen the masterpiece she had created. Looking back up at the armor and seeing the memories she had forged into it with her own designs, Sky Forge told Nimbus "I had to use an enchanted forge in order to make it." 

"An enchanted forge? Kind of like a cloud forge?" Nimbus had never heard of an enchanted forge, and use knowledge of any actual blacksmithing was very limited. 

Sky Forge gave a small nod "In a way, yes. You know how we pegasus use cloud forges to turn clouds into solid objects and use them to create our buildings and streets in cities like Cloudsdale and Las Pegasus?" 

"Ehh..." Nimbus was familiar the cloud stone that made places like Cloudsdale the beautiful and magnificent cities that they were, but wasn't quite too sure exactly how they were made. "Sure. Let's say I do." 

Sky Forge patted Nimbus on the head with her wing to reward him for his choice of words and efforts for trying to understand the subject in hoof. "Well, same principles apply here. With an enchanted forge a blacksmith with enough experience, such as myself, is granted the privilege of forging stone into more solid and durable  objects in any shape or form they can, with their imagination being their only limitation." Sky Forge's face lowered down a bit from her usual constant smile and joy. "Well, imagination, budget, and materials." Sky Forge added. 

Nimbus looked to Sky Forge once he heard the immediate change of tone in her voice. "Was there something you didn't get to work on?" Nimbus clearly saw that a dark cloud, perhaps regret, had caste itself over Sky Forge. Even with Sky Forge being a larger muscled mare than most other mares (and stallions), seeing a friendly pony like her succumb to an emotion of sadness made Nimbus wrap his wing around her and pulling her close. He felt like telling her she didn't have to explain it, but his curiosity fought a bigger argument over his chivalry. 

"I wanted to made a sword to go with this piece, but..." Sky Forges voice had softened from the sweet soft-served ice cream voice she already had to a delicate flower being damaged in a hail storm. "I didn't have enough jade to even start on the mouth guard to between the handle and the blade. Plus, the enchanted forge I was using belonged to school and they're very skeptical about other ponies using the forge. They even make the teachers pay a ridiculous fee so the students can learn about it." 

Sky Forge leaned on Nimbus a little closer than she was realizing, but it was the first time in a long time, if ever, she had somepony to talk to and allow her to blow steam. Of course, she had her uncle, but his ears were using closed when she tried to bring up these sort of subjects. Being on the road constantly with no company but her imagination, sketch pad, and hammer, staying behind the forge hours at a time, and being a traveling blacksmith with her uncle made it difficult for Sky Forge to make any legitimate friends. She held on to Nimbus a bit longer before saying "Thank you" 

"If you ever need somepony to help you deliver your merchandise, I'd be more than happy to-" Nimbus's wing got torn away from Sky Forge as she turned him forcefully to face her. 

"You'd help me and my uncle deliver?!' From the tone of Sky Forges voice Nimbus could tell that his offer had aroused her interest ecstatically. 

"I'm actually a courier. Well, part time that is." Nimbus corrected quickly, not wanting to give Sky Forge the false sense that he'd always be readily available. "I'm still a flight school student, so weekends are my only open times, but as of lately I haven't too many orders since I ONLY work weekends." 

"That's fine." Sky Forge praised. "My uncle are usually too busy making something to ever have any sort of full delivery system. I'm sure my uncle, Dread Hammer, would more than handsomely compensate you if you even helped with one delivery." 

Dread Hammer? Nimbus developed an immediate passionate fearful reverence for the name. Not a good name to have when you're trying to run a business.  "Tell you what, I'm not exactly making too much money anymore being a public courier since I only work weekends. So, I can quit my job and be your guy's own private delivery colt whenever you need me....within my schedule of course." 

"Nimbus, that's just-" Sky Forge quickly pulled Nimbus into her with a strong tug of her wing and locked in a quick kiss. The kiss was too short for Nimbus to enjoy and even realize that she had kissed him until he saw her checks blushing red. "S-sorry." Sky Forge tried to hide her blush with her wings from Nimbus, who was still trying to calculate what had happened. "I just got a little excited I guess." 

"What are you apologizing for?" Nimbus was still stationary and frozen in the spot where Sky Forge had left him. "That was amazing!" 

Sky Forge giggled and love tapped Nimbus on the side with her wing "Don't be a tease!" She flinched her wing back to herself in a crooked angle when she saw Nimbus laughing uncontrollably. 

"D-don't touch my side." Nimbus pleaded, he failed to keep a straight face without laughing. "I'm ticklish." 

An fiery spark lit ablaze an evil plot to Sky Forge's imagination. "Oh, you are?" She lifted two wings over her head like nightmarish claws coming for a filly scared of the dark. She dove her wings into Nimbus's side and began to poke, stab, and brush the tips to his ribs. 

"No, no! Please stop, I'm begging you!" Nimbus cried as his body twisted and turned. Sky Forge played and turned Nimbus over with her wings. She had the capability to make him curl up, turn over left or right, and even explode his limbs out so she could tickle the spots underneath his legs. Her wings had turned into her own pair of puppet strings for Nimbus. 

When she heard the door flap behind her being torn open, Sky Forge expected to see her uncle, but her assumptions were slaughtered when a Rainbow maned pony dove at her like a Manticore leaping for it's prey. To Sky Forge's benefit, the pony had leaped too early and gave her wide gap of time to react to the pre-emptive attack. Sky Forge's quick and familiar twitching wing strongly pinched the head of her blacksmith hammer. Her wing tip threw the hammer up so her wing could slide down the handle before grasping it firmly. Sky Forge waited and stood her ground strongly as she waited until the hostile pony got within striking distance. 

Power Up! <Rainbow Dash>

[Wing Clipping]: Are you tired of having the flying advantage over most of your enemies only to realize they have a flying opponent for you? Bring down the house, or pony in this case, with this sweet, brand spanking new ability. Wing Clip your enemies by slapping the back of their shoulders and deprive them of their wings for 30 seconds. Yikes! Sucks for the guy who was several stories up in the air. WARNING: this ability does not work on dragons. 
 

 




> It's just how I feel 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Exactly!" Sky Forge confirmed. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*** 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Nimbus!" Rainbow Shine snapped at him. 

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

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

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

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

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


POWER UP! <Nimbus> 

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


> Being somepony in this life 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nimbus was trembling with disbelief. He had given up on ever seeing or knowing who his mother was a long time ago. Rainbow Shine had filled the spot quite well if not perfectly. With that in mind, Nimbus had no intentions of conducting any sort of search for his real mother when he already had one. Though, here she was, the mare who brought him into this beautiful land called Equestria, or so she claimed to be. 

There was no hard evidence that this mare was truly Nimbus's mother. Hardly nopony seemed to question it though. Storm and Rainbow Shine were just as awestruck as Nimbus was when she walked in through the door. Few, if any, of the rest of the Rainbow family actually knew Nimbus was even an orphan. There was no striking resemblance between the jade colored mare and Nimbus that anypony could see and say that the two were even mother and child.

Rainbow Dash was the first and only one to quickly doubt the jade colored mare's title. "How are we supposed to know that, Nimbus?" Nimbus was too lost in astonishment for him to notice that his mother was hugging him tightly. Only the sound of Rainbow Dash's familiar voice brought him back to the light of reality. Her voice was the only thing he could confirm was truly real. "She just barges in here and says she's your mother, and you're just going to believe her, just like that?" 

Rainbow Shine became abashed with a glowing red face by her daughter's sudden and unexpected outburst at the newly introduced guest. "Rainbow Dash!" she retorted as she pushed herself up from her seat. "That's no way to talk to anypony in our home." 

"She's a complete stranger." Rainbow Dash accused the jade colored mare. Rainbow Dash shoved her and pushed her away from Nimbus. Seeing his so-called-mother walk back into his life and get quickly rejected by his best friend sent Nimbus into a spiraling daze that made his voice to difficult to speak and defend his mother with. "Even IF she is Nimbus's mother, what gives her the right to just walk back into his life just like that?" 

"Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow Shine retaliated for the delicate mare being walked into a corner by Rainbow Dash, but Rainbow Dash ignored her and continued to point verbal daggers at Nimbus's mother. 

"Do you even know what she did him?!" Rainbow Dash spat purposely in the jade colored mare's coat. Rainbow Dash had never shared the story of how Nimbus got abandoned by his mother, out of respect for Nimbus's privacy. Until now, Rainbow Dash promised to keep the secret between Nimbus and herself. She felt obligated now to throw this new mare under the bus for her past actions. It was the right thing to do. "She left Nimbus on a cloud all by himself before he could even open his eyes." Rainbow Dash was making sure that everypony in the room could hear her over the whimpering mother she had trapped in the corner. "He could have died if somepony hadn't heard him crying, and she expects us to forgive her just like that?" She glowered at the frightened mare "No, not me. She's disloyal and doesn't deserve to see him much less even get to know him. She had her chance and she threw it away." 

For the first time since Rainbow Dash's outburst, Nimbus fired a shout at Rainbow Dash. The only intention of the shout was too keep Rainbow Dash from screaming, but she took it from a completely ugly perspective. "Rainbow Dash, that's enough!" 

"You're taking her side?" Rainbow Dash asked in bewilderment. 

"I'm not taking her side." Nimbus replied back quickly. His voice over rode Rainbow Dash's as she tried to fight with a counter argument. "I do think she deserves a right to speak without you tearing her apart with your voice." Nimbus placed the tips of his wings on the table counter and pushed the space between the table and himself father apart. He walked past Rainbow Dash with a shake of his head. Never before, except at him, had he seen Rainbow Dash get so furious at anypony. He told Rainbow Dash how disgusted and disappointed he was at her with a slow shake of his head. He lifted his mother out of the corner and raised her up to her hooves before telling her. "Come on, mom, let's hear what you have to say." 

Before his mom could get a word out, Nimbus quivered as Rainbow Dash shrieked again. Her banshee howls sent the hairs on Nimbus's back to stand up sharp and frozen. "No! Don't give her the opportunity to tell you some lie she probably prepared right before knocking on the door." 

"Anypony ever tell you that you make some hasty accusations?" Nimbus crossed his wings behind his back and fidgeted with an itch on his back. The seated family watched involuntarily as the two ponies who were just sitting side by side each other go back and forth. Nopony dare tried to extinguish the flames that were growing too quickly to see  exactly where it was heading. Only the young and absolutely naive fillies and colts of the family had started to much down on their food. 

"Just throw her out of the house like she did with you." Rainbow Dash stepped to the direction outside the dinning area "Either she leaves, or I'm leaving. I'm not going to be in the same house as her." Nimbus peered over his shoulder at his mom, who had placed herself bacj in the croner he had gotten her out of, and then looked back to Rainbow Dash with his tail tucked between his legs. 

Sadly, he did want to throw his mother out just as much as Rainbow Dash wanted him to, but it wasn't the right thing to do. He'd just be not better than she is (or was). Rainbow Shine raised him and Rainbow Dash better than this. She taught them that everypony deserved a chance, despite what they might have done. If it wasn't for Rainbow Shine giving him a chance, Nimbus wouldn't have had the experiences and memories he cherished with Rainbow Dash. 

Impatient, aerated, and internally downhearted with Nimbus's prolonged silence, Rainbow Dash sniffled "You have to seriously think about it?" She tucked her ears to the sides of her mane and swallowed on the unmerciful tears that ripped through her eyes "I'll make easy for you then..." Rainbow Dash ran out of the dinning room to the front door of the house with her head down. She left behind a tear trail that put a knife of guilt into Nimbus at the very sight. 

"So..." Nimbus started as he looked at the result of Rainbow Dash's broken heart. "...this is what you call a family reunion, huh?" 

*** 
For the past five minute Rainbow Dash had been flying, she couldn't remember any of the scenery she had just flown by, she couldn't even remember where she was trying to fly or how close she was to reaching her destination. She only knew for certain she needed to get away. Flying was the only thing she believed in right now, everything else was just blurry or a fake. 

Rainbow Dash was fortunate that the skies weren't crowded or had anypony flying in her opposite direction, otherwise she probably would have crashed into somepony and caused an accident. she looked down and captured the images of all the small buildings and shops below. The clean and carefully maintained dirt road underneath her, and the combination of the beautifully laid out shops that paraded both sides, indicated that Rainbow Dash had made her way to Ponyville. Admittedly, she was impressed that she had flown by Canterlot without taking notice of the famously large city. Had she really flown past Canterlot so quickly and long ago. or had her eyes been closed the whole time? Perhaps, it was the fact that she had been so lost in thought she might have as well flown blind. 

Rainbow Dash descended down to the lightly busy road of Ponyville. It was close to closing hours for the shops and everypony was running around trying to get what they needed before it was tool late. There was nothing worse than waking up for a cup of coffee then remembering you forgot to buy some the night before from across the street. 

Rainbow Dash had no idea what part of Ponyville she had landed in. She slapped herself for how much of an amateur mistake she had made. Flying 101 taught every pegasus how to pay attention to what's in front of you as well as what's below you. It was intended to be second nature for every flyer, new and old. 

After beating herself up, Rainbow Dash looked around to see if one of the surrounding shops could possibly help her discover where she was. The frozen yogurt and milkshake shop off to her right instantly reminded her of the time she and Nimbus had their first meal (if you want to call ice cream a meal) together. Through the window of the very same shop, she could see two small ponies sharing time together. Despite the fact that Fluttershy had been there that same day, Rainbow Dash's imagination turned the two small pones into the memory of her and Nimbus laughing back and forth about their successful escape from goblins they had just encountered a few moments ago. 

Rainbow Dash caught herself smiling at the memory in her reflection and forced the memory to fade away once she remembered she was supposed to be mad at Nimbus. It was the reason she had flown all the way to Ponyville. She need some space, time to herself, a place to to clear her mind and think. If anything she deserved it. She had spent the majority of her day with Nimbus anyways. Well, her whole week actually , she admitted to herself....or most of her life if she wanted to be honest. 

She blamed anger for her previous actions before she had stormed out of her house, but like everypony else who was there, she knew she had only used that as a mask to hide her true face. She was hurt, hurt by the fact her best best friend had actually taken his time to think about choosing between her and some stranger he had just met. Rainbow Dash thought she meant more to Nimbus than that, especially after she had just told him she loved him. 

Rainbow Dash pulled herself away from the tiny restaurant and continued on down the dirt until she looked up and saw something familiar. Above her, she could see the obstacle course she and Nimbus had built so many years ago. She was in fact surprised that it was still in tact and nopony had taken it down, but what put a small glimmer of light in her heart was seeing a small group of pegasus using it to their hearts desire. There was three of them racing, none of them nearly as fast or agile as she and Nimbus were in order to get through the challenging path the course provided but these ponies were persistent, they weren't going to let a couple of crashes or a few scraped knees keep them form getting back up to the start and try to finish it faster than their best time. 

Obligated to show these ponies how it's done, Rainbow Dash kicked her hind legs powerfully underneath her and launched into the air with the ferocity of a rocket. She loved showing little pegasai the ropes of being a good flyer. She landed and waited for them patiently to cross the finish line. She purposely placed her hoof over where she had carved her name in the cloud stone before it several years ago when she was a filly. 

The first one of the young trio was a tiny fragile yellow pegasus, she skidded on her back hooves when she tried her best not to crash into the nearly full grown rainbow maned mare in front of her. Rainbow Dash stepped to her right slowly. The tiny yellow pegasus continued to push forward at full speed in her braking skid, sliding past Rainbow Dash and brushing her foreleg lightly across Rainbow Dash's flank. 

When the little yellow filly finally came to a full stop, a few feet behind Rainbow Dash, she turned around to introduce herself to Rainbow Dash but she became collided with her two other friends who were flying too fast to become aware of their stationary peer.

"You're supposed to wait off to the side, not in the middle...." One of the two yellow pegasus's friends said to her, referring to the finish line. He had a fruit orange coat and a permanent white spot of fur over his muzzle. "Ow! I think my head hit something." 

"Yeah, my head." The tiny yellow pegasus repied with a small cry. She rubbed the top of her mane in the same spot back and forth searching for any signs of a bump. She was happy she had no such bump and dusted off her sides with the help of her wings. "Wait, where's Peek-A- " 

"Boo!" A white pegasus emerged from underneath the cloud with his hooves raised over his head and his shoulders shielded to his ears. The white pegasus had his top jaw jutted out over his bottom lip as an impersonation of a batpony. His white coat blended with the same shade as the clouds told Rainbow Dash why he had such a strange name. Seeing the unexpected colt pop out from the bottom of the clouds sent a few hairs standing on Rainbow Dash's back as well, but she was going to let anypony know she let a small colt scare her half to death. 

"H-hi, Miss, can we help you?" The orange pegasus addressed to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash smiled as the other two ponies turned and put their full attention to her. 

Rainbow Dash's smile grew even wider when the yellow pegasus knew who she was without even having to tell her. "Hey, you're Rainbow Dash, the pony who performed the Sonic Rainboom all those years ago." 

"And she's taken home the gold in more races than than any in her class ever could." Peek-A-Boo enlightened to his friends with a jubilant burst of energy. 

Ready to completely sell her name to these kids. Rainbow Dash lifted her hoof off her name in the cloud stone beneath her hoof and revealed to the young ponies as she confirmed the title and accomplishments they had called off. "Yes, yes that's me, Rainbow Dash, the one and only." Her flashy introduction was anything but modest. She made sure to flip her colorful mane at the mentioning of her own name. 

The colts and filly looked down where Rainbow Dash had removed her hoof. They all went into a wonder struck pour of cheers and squeals of excitement once they saw that their idol had been the one who had first claimed the playful course they so happily utilized. Even a blind pony could see that Rainbow Dash was enjoying the small entourage she had stumbled upon. 

"Who's Supwin?" The orange colt asked Rainbow Dash. 

Rainbow Dash looked down and saw the name she had earlier forgotten was placed right underneath hers. 

"That's the name Nimbus upside down, stupid." the yellow filly corrected with a stare telling her friend how stupid she thought he was and is. 

"Yeah, yeah." Rainbow Dash said as she tried to scrape the name out of the cloud stone with her hoof, but the scribbled name was permanently scribed inside the stone forever. She looked down at the name and again stepped over it with her hoof. "Anyways, hope about a free tips from THE fastest pony in Equestria?" 

The ponies nodded and yelled their answer positively with a loud crowd shattering "YEAH!" , but to their misfortune a few mares called out each of their names, telling them it was getting late and time to come home. 

"Well, maybe next time? I'm sure you'll run into me again." Rainbow Dash smirked and flared her perfectly shaped wings out for all the kids to see. "That is if you can keep up with me." 

All of the kids nodded and each gave a wave and a smile to Rainbow Dash before saying their final goodbyes. 

Again, Rainbow Dash found herself alone and at the finish line, like she did at every race. Except this time she wanted somepony  to be there with her. It wasn't too long until she got her wish granted when she heard a smooth cooling voice behind her twinkle her ear. 

"A little self-centered, aren't we?" Rainbowshine asked behind Rainbow Dash. She glided to her daughter took a spot next beside her wing. Rainbowshine looked to the spot where Rainbow Dash's wing was hovering and asked "Are you saving that seat for somepony or can I take it?" 

Rainbow Dash folded her wings and looked away from Rainbowshine as she scooted closer. "Can you blame me? I'm a pretty awesome and glorified racer." Rainbow Dash said, referring to Rainbowshine's first question. 

Rainbowshine moved her eyes over to the name she knew to well underneath Rainbow Dash's hoof. "He's worried about you." 

Rainbow Dash made no response and refused to push any questions Rainbowshine's way about Nimbus. "How did you find me?" 

Rainbowshine brushed the bottom of Rainbow Dash's mane that was hanging down her back loosely in the wind "You're my daughter, I know where to find you." She pulled Rainbow Dash's head into her shoulders, granting her permission to cry if needed. "Plus, this was the only black cloud in the sky for miles. It kind of sticks out." Rainbowshine confessed when Rainbow Dash wiped a few small tears that had escaped her eyes. "As far as I know, I think you're the only one that can make the clouds cry when you're sad." 

"I'm not sad!" Rainbow Dash argued with a strained voiced. She tried to push herself off her mother's shoulder but Rainbowshine's gripping headlock was locked in too tightly. 

"Don't try to hide it, Rainbow Dash. Everypony could see how sad you were." She let Rainbow Dash's head loose from her caring neck hug and held her chin up so she could look at her tear flooded eyes. "Now, tell me why you're sad." 

Rainbow Dash didn't feel like explaining herself just yet until she had some more time to herself. She pushed Rainbowshine's hoof away from her chin and placed her wings over her face. Rainbow Dash allowed herself to cry harder underneath the privacy of her wings. She knew that Rainbowshine could more than likely hear her, but Rainbow Dash liked the idea of nopony knowing what was happening behind the safety of her wings. 

Rainbowshine frowned. "Would you like me to ask you something else then?" She watched the small nod of Rainbow Dash's wings bob up and down. "Ok, and I want an honest answer." 

"Whatever you say, mom." Rainbow Dash answered from behind her wings. 

Rainbowshine breathed in and prepped herself before asking "How long has Nimbus been living in your room?" She could hear that Rainbow Dash's sobbing had stopped with a choke of her own tears. "Daisy Cloud found his pillow and saddle bags underneath your bed this morning after you two took off with the wagon to Rainbow Falls." 

No response came from Rainbow Dash verbally, but she did remove her wings from her face so her mother could she how embarrassed she was with the discovery. In hindsight, Rainbow Dash wished she hadn't been so stubborn and just answered the first question instead. 

"You're not in trouble or anything, Rainbow Dash, and neither is Nimbus, I just want to know how long and why you two kept it a secret." Rainbowshine pushed Rainbow Dash's wings folded back down to her shoulders fully. 

With pleading eyes Rainbow Dash made a request to Rainbowshine "Please don't tell Dad, OK, Mom?" 

Rainbowshine bowed once and reassured Rainbow Dash "I promise, I won't." 

Rainbow Dash craned her neck down and breathed out a small mass of condensed water vapor, but it was suddenly sucked back down her throat by Rainbowshine's next words. 

"Your father is the one who told me." Rainbowshine informed casually. She watched with light humor as Rainbow Dash began to cough at the unexpected news. 

Rainbow Dash's tail stiffened straight up into the air. "H-he does? Then, why are Nimbus and I still alive?" 

Rainbowshine let out giggle at Rainbow Dash's fairly accurate depiction of Storms reaction "Oh, he wanted to, he really wanted to, but I told him if you two WERE to do anything in your room we'd certainty know about it."  

Rainbow Dash was too scared to understand what her mother was beating around the bush about "Were to do anything? Anything like what?" 

Rainbowshine smiled and shrugged at Rainbow Dash "Rainbow Dash, I think you know good and well what I'm talking about. In THAT case..." Rainbowshine's smile shimmered down to a small look of concern and worry "You and Nimbus haven't-" 

The hamster in Rainbow Dash's head finally woke back up and started running on the treadmill again. "Mom, No!" Rainbow Dash stood up on all four hooves getting a light blood rush to her head for sitting down for so long. "I haven't even- I'm a vi-...." Rainbow Dash was struggling to look for the right words to say before digging herself into another dark hole. "We haven't done anything like that, Mom. I'm telling you the truth." 

Rainbowshine was completely relieved to hear she wouldn't have to worry about becoming an expected grandmother soon, or at least not now. "There's no need to get all crazy about it. I just wanted an honest answer." She waited until Rainbow Dash caught her breath to keep on asking questions. "My next question is-" 

"OK, OK!" Rainbow Dash blurted. She her face on the concrete of the cloud block she was standing on and covered as much of her body as she could with her wings. She whole body shivered with fear as she confessed her guilt to her mother "There was this one time, like two weeks ago, where Nimbus and I kind of just looked. We looked for a pretty long time and we sort of did some light touching, but that's it! I'm not sure if you and Dad heard me when I squealed after Nimbus rubbed my-" 

"Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash!" Rainbowshine shouted over her daughter not wanting to hear anymore about what crazy virgin experiments the two young teenagers were doing behind closed doors. "I was going to ask if you think Nimbus would have a problem sleeping on the couch in the living room , once everypony goes home tonight after dinner." 

Rainbow Dash stayed underneath her wings as she responded back with a small."...oh" 

"It's more just so your Dad knows where Nimbus is at night." Rainbowshine explained. She couldn't imagine how embarrassed Rainbow Dash must have been right now. "If he wants we could even talk about getting him a futon to sleep on in the future." Rainbowshine added, wondering if Rainbow Dash's room was the only place she had "played"  and if she needed to flip over any of her furniture pillows to satisfy her curiosity. 

"Yeah, sure, sure. He'd probably like that. He's been tearing up my carpet anyways." 

Oh,sweet Celestia, just please stop. That is so wrong on so many levels.   Rainbowshine spread her wings and asked Rainbow Dash "Do you think you'd like to come home now?" 

Rainbow Dash smiled with a quick nod and followed her mother back down to Ponyville and towards the direction of Clouds Dale. She thought it was going to be a nice quiet relaxing flight home until her mother asked her a question she wished she hadn't. 

"Nimbus washed his hooves before he touched-" 

"Mom!" 

*** 
"So, she's not pregnant?" Moon Bolt, Nimbus's mother, asked Nimbus for the third time. 

"No, she's not." Nimbus retorted after crossing his forelegs for his mother making such quick assumptions in the little time she's been here. Things had definitely calmed down since Rainbow Dash had stormed out of the house and Moon Bolt was comfortable to speak out loud, or at least she did until Rainbow Dash walked back into the house through the front door. 

When Rainbow Dash walked in, she noticed that only small handful of ponies from her family reunion had stayed since she left. She felt slightly regretful for not saying bye to all them, but she was only allowed a moment of sadness when Nimbus pounced at her at the door and hugged her tightly. Compared to her mother's headlock of a hug from earlier, Nimbus's hug was unfeigned and wholehearted. 

"Rainbow Dash." Nimbus started, with his hug growing tighter, but Rainbow Dash didn't try to fight him off. It had been the first hug he had given her in quite sometime. "I'm so sorry. I never wanted to hurt you."  

"It's ok really. I just overreacted a little." Rainbow Dash told Nimbus but he objected. 

"No, no you had every right to act the way you did, I was being a real asshole." Nimbus admitted before he was quickly bashed against the top of his head by Stratus's weaponized cane. 

"Watch your mouth around your mother....you!" Stratus's mind had completely gone blank on her and she could not remember Nimbus's name to save her life, but Nimbus nor anypony else dared to correct her. 

"We don't even know if she's his real mother or not." Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath but she spoke a lot louder than she thought she was hiding. 

"Speaking of that" Moon Bolt reached into the single sling bag she had over her right shoulder. Rainbow Dash questioned how she hadn't noticed the small bad before but she blew it off. "I brought Nimbus's birth certificate just in case he, or his overly protective marefriend, had any doubts." Moon Bolt carefully held a finely printed piece of certified paper in her mouth, declaring that she was the rightful legal guardian of Nimbus. 

Nimbus squinted at the piece of paper in an effort to make sure he wasn't seeing things "I have a birth certificate? Where has this thing been my whole life?" 

"With your disloyal mother." Rainbow Dash answered quickly before Moon Bolt could get a word out. 

Nimbus could see the red burning laser glares in between Rainbow Dash and his mother. Rainbow Dash's disapproving stare was just as dark as Moon Bolt's and she had every intention of letting her know just what she thought of her. Nimbus didn't like the tension one bit. He decided to bring up another subject before the ring announcer introduced the two mares from their respective corners. "So, uh Mom!" 

"What?" Rainbowshine and Moon Bolt both replied simultaneously. 

This exchanged glances Rainbowshine and Moon Bolt shared, questioning as to who Nimbus was referring to  wasn't making him feel anymore comfortable. Almost as he were trying to kick Nimbus as he was down, Storm added the small comment "You're in the dog house now." 

Looking to Moon Bolt, Nimbus asked her "How did you even find me anyways?" 

Moon Bolt gave a quick smile to Rainbowshine for winning the title of "mom", and turned to Nimbus "Your name and picture was in was the paper this morning, it was about you taking a dive for a bullet." 

Moon Bolt reached back into her small bag, which seemed to have an infinite amount of space for it's small space. After replacing Nimbus's birth certificate with a newspaper, Moon Bolt pointed her hoof to the third page inside of the newspaper, where a small profile picture of Nimbus had been placed. "They said you resided in Cloudsdale. I asked a few questions around town and it didn't me very long at all to find out where to find you. You seemed to have built quite a reputation for yourself around here." 

" I have?" Nimbus asked in disbelief "I don't really do a whole lot except go to school and stuff." 

Rainbow Dash snatched the newspaper away from Moon Bolt's mouth and held spread out widely with her wings. She made sure to allow Nimbus enough space to duck his head underneath her wing and read along with her. "Well, it's not front page, and you're kind of fortunate that it wasn't." 

"Why, what does it say?" Nimbus skimmed over the bold sentence underneath his smiling picture that read: TEEN COLT CRAPS SELF AFTER GETTING SHOT. Underneath the bold letters, the name Nora Alesana claimed she had written the article. "Who's Nora Alesana, and how did she get an interview with me?" Nimbus read over the false interview the mysterious pony had submitted in her story. According to this article, Nimbus had confessed he had a passionate love for tacos and he used the passion as an excuse for his large "deposit". Nimbus grew more and more disgusted the further he read into the so called interview. "I'll have to pay this Nora Alesana a little visit." 

Rainbow Dash folded up the newspaper and rolled it up underneath her wings "We'll take care of her after this." 

"After what?" Nimbus asked. He followed Rainbow Dash's gaze as her eyes flicked back and forth to Moon Bolt. "Oh yeah...that." Nimbus brushed his mane forward and asked Moon Bolt "But why are you here? Why now?" 

"Well, to take you back of course!" Moon Bolt told Nimbus happily with her cheeks glowing widely as she smiled. 

This time Rainbow Dash and Nimbus both asked simultaneously "What?!" 

***

Moon Bolt and the rest of Rainbow Dash's family members left not too long after Moon Bolt had declared that she was taking Nimbus back with her to Baltimare. The distance between Cloudsdale and Baltimare was too great to complete in just one day on a train. It would definitely create a great deal of difficulty for Nimbus and Rainbow Dash to communicate together. 

Nimbus knew this all too good and well. He was grateful for the fact that his mother had finally came around, but her timing was more than inconvenient. He had finally worked up the courage, after eight years, to tell his best friend he loved her. With her giving him the same mutual feeling, Nimbus's decision to leave Cloudsdale, the only place he could call home, even more difficult. 

He keep to himself for the rest of the evening. He didn't talk to anypony, especially Rainbow Dash, when he went inside her room to retrieve the small pillow and blanket he had underneath her bed. He crawled down to the floor and  dragged himself to the far wall where his pillow and blanket were neatly folded and placed. 

When Nimbus came back up from underneath Rainbow Dash's bed, he met face to face with Rainbow Dash. She laid down horizontally across her bed with her hind legs barely hanging off the opposite side. She didn't say anything, but Nimbus didn't her to speak in order to understand the question on her mind. 

"I don't know" He answered, pinning his pillow and blanket tightly between his wing and rib side. "It's my mom, I never even knew she was alive. I have too many questions on my mind to not consider going back with her."

Rainbow Dash still didn't respond. She could name more than enough reasons why Nimbus should stay, but they were too selfish, even from her perspective. To be on the safe side, She decided to remain quiet and let Nimbus think he knew what she was thinking. 

"I've still got three days to think about it 'till the train comes" Nimbus reminded. The next scheduled destination to Baltimare by train was so far because the demand for a train ride from the train station located right beneath Cloudsdale to Baltimare was so low, having a train go back and forth between the two cities cost too much unnecessarily spent money and resources. "It won't be the same, but we could still write to each other." 

"Writing is for nerds. We're athletes, we barely even know how to open a book." Rainbow Dash responded, putting a bit of light humor on the tense subject at hoof. Rainbow Dash cracked a small smile after seeing Nimbus give a small chuckle at her horribly told joke. "All jokes aside, I really am going to miss you." 

"This isn't goodbye forever." Nimbus set his pillow and blanket down on the ground. He began to fidget with his wing after it had developed a small cramp from being in such unusual position for the short amount of time it had stayed in. Wings were designed for flying, most pegasus forgot that and sometimes used their wings as extended limbs to grab and hold items, usually resulting in common injuries to their wings that could disable them for a short period of time. 

"You don't know that." Rainbow Dash threw the words into Nimbus's face. "You have no idea what's going to happen. I might move. Maybe something happens on your way to-" 

Nimbus placed a wing calmly around the back of Rainbow Dash's neck, over her mane. He bowed his head and timidly told her "Just calm down...ok? You're really starting to freak me out." 

Rainbow Dash ripped Nimbus's nurturing wing away from her. "I'm not going to calm down!" Rainbow Dash stood and jumped down from her bed. Her hooves hit the ground hard from the small leap. The collision was loud enough to be heard in her parents room. She feared that her father would barge in and assume something drastic. 

She looked over to her door and saw her father's eye through the opening crack. He didn't say anything or even object to her making noise. He just peered in to make sure everything was ok. When Storm felt like everything was in good order, he turned back away and left Rainbow Dash and Nimbus to themselves.

"Close call, huh?" Nimbus asked. Looking at the cracked opening Storm had left in the door. " I thought for sure he was going to-" 

"Could you shut up for like five minutes, and just listen to why I'm angry?" Rainbow Dash requested, not really offering Nimbus the chance to decide whether he wanted to or not. 

"You're always angr-" 

Rainbow Dash slapped her hoof into Nimbus's kisser. He spoke the last few words he had left to say incoherently behind her hoof. "I said shut up." 

Nimbus raised a hoof in objection. His voice was hardly understandable with Rainbow Dash's hoof in his mouth. "Tefnially, yew ASHED meh." He smiled behind the blue appendage, pushing the owner's buttons far enough to get slapped by her. 

The same hoof that Rainbow Dash had used to shut Nimbus up was now being used to smack Nimbus across his cheeks. Secretly, she liked hitting Nimbus each chance she got, but the single going down her left eye argued otherwise in this situation. "Act serious just this one time, please!" she begged. She laid both front hooves on the ground and breathed heavily out her noise so she wouldn't have to cry as hard when she did. ""A few hours ago I told you something I had never told before. When I said those words, I meant it. I know things between us aren't the ways you want them, but damn it-" She breathed in and gasped a bit from the tears that had fallen into her mouth. "Everywhere I go, everything I do, I think of you, When I went out to our old obstacle course-" 

"That's still-" 

Rainbow Dash grabbed Nimbus by his collar and screamed at him. A few of her tears leaked onto his face as she jerked his face into his, yelling "SHUT UP!" She was shaking now and so was Nimbus. She had planned a whole speech and Nimbus's interruptions were destroying her concentration. She had to let him know everything she felt about him leaving, how angry she felt about him going back to his traitorous mother, how sad she felt about never being able talk about all the times they shared together, how she loved him more than friend and valued him more than a family member. Rainbow Dash was Nimbus's only real friend, and he never got to meet anyone from his family except today, so of course he wouldn't understand how much he truly meant to her, but she had to let him know. 

"You and I are a team, we're in this together 'till the end. We fly together, we fall together. Remember we always used to say that?" 

Too scared to respond verbally, Nimbus gave Rainbow Dash a small nod of confirmation. 

"This evening, when I went out for a bit, I went into Ponyville." Rainbow Dash saw that Nimbus wanted ot ask her why she had chosen to fly off to Ponyville. "That's not important" She informed him. "I just needed to go somewhere to get away from you, but I couldn't. Everywhere I went, everything I did, reminded me back to you, and if that's how it is for me, I have to ask, is that how it is for you?" 

Nimbus keep silent. He had his bottom lip curved over the top one. Despite the fact that she had asked him a question, he didn't feel like getting verbally or physically abused by Rainbow Dash again for speaking out loud. He waited until Rainbow Dash sighed and told him he could speak again. 

Clearing his throat, Nimbus said "Always. I'm always thinking of you. I care about you, and I'm sorry I'm putting you through this. The last thing  I want to do is hurt you, Rainbow Dash" 

"You have a funny way of showing it." Rainbow Dash claimed, finally letting Nimbus go and wiping away some of her tears. Nimbus lifted a hoof to help her clean her cheeks dry but she pushed his hoof rudely away. "I'm fine. I just...got a little emotional is all." 

The light that had shined brightly in the hall way finally died along with the small candle that had shined in Rainbow Dash's room. Only the light reflected through the moon had shone through her window and landed directly at Rainbow Dash and Nimbus in the middle of the room. 

With everything dark and quiet, Nimbus smiled at Rainbow Dash "Kind of romantic, don't you think? It's just the two of us in this dimly lit room, after we had declared our love for each other earlier tonight." 

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and picked up Nimbus's pillow and blanket, placing them between his wing and rib side once again. She pushed him out towards the hallway. "Shut up, Casanova, and go to your couch." 

Nimbus spread his wings across the outside of Rainbow Dash's door frame and prevented himself from being pushed any further, dropping his pillow and blanket underneath him. "B-but I love you..." Nimbus pouted. 

Rainbow Dash pushed her head into Nimbus's spine. She reared back and charged into his back at a half sprint, knocking him the wall in the hallway. "You already said that earlier this evening in front of my whole family. Now, good night. We'll go out in the morning." 

"Wait, wait." Nimbus requested as he put his leg in between Rainbow Dash's door and the frame. She slammed the door agisnt his leg unintentionally, but enjoyed it none the less.  

"What?" rainbow Dash asked opening the door back up and getting a huge surprise kiss from Nimbus. She spat and spew all over her floor cursing every word in the book over and over again. "Nimbus. What. The. Hell." 

"Y-you didn't like that?" Nimbus's cheeks were glowing red with dashed away courage. 

"Like it? No, Nimbus, that was like incest." She hung her tongue out and tried to brush off the saliva that didn't belong to her. "I should kill you for giving me tongue."With that Rainbow Dash slammed the door shut and left her love hungry friend in the hallway. 

She leaned back against the wood of the door and sighed deeply. Save how much Rainbow Dash wanted to kill him right now, she had a little less than three days to make him decide to stay or leave. If worse came to worse, she was going to make sure that their last three days together would be their best. She stayed leaned up against her door and heard a small scratching from behind her door. 

"Rainbow Dash?" 

"What?" 

"You had me a Hello." 

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and huffed angrily, donkey kicking her door "Go to sleep, Nimbus." She crawled up and glided herself to her bed. 

Still behind her door, Nimbus continued to smooth talk behind the door "Rainbow Dash?" he cooed. 

Rainbow Dash grunted and pulled her covers over her head. she ignored the hopeless romantic bird outside her door. She promised herself to to leave him to himself and hopefully he'd go away. She'll deal with him in the morning. 

*** 
The wind blew lightly against the kitchen window and whistled throughout the house as Rainbow Shine walked to her oven and saw two empty plates with two sticky notes and a misplaced brick neatly placed on the dinning table. With little motivation in her voice, Rainbow Shine the first sticky note out loud that wore a number 1 circled in the left corner.

Dear, Mom

Went out to see a play at the theater today. It's called:The mare who cried "Bahhh". It sounds kind of boring, so we are goign to throw popcorn at the actors until one of them breaks character.

-Sincerely, 
Nimbus and Rainbow Dash

Rainbow Dash and Nimbus

Rainbow Shine set the note down and picked up the next corresponding sticky note, reading it out loud the same as the first. 

Dear, Mom 

We're going to Ponyville to meet up with our friend, Sky Forge. She was in town and wanted to say "Hi". So, we'll probably go to the store and buy a few things. It's ok if you start lunch without us, we'll be there to eat it. 

-Sincerely, 

Rainbow Dash and Nimbus 



Rainbow Shine sighed and crumbled the note into a ball, throwing it perfectly into the trashcan in the far corner. Curious as to what purpose the brick served, Rainbow Shine held in her hoof and flipped it over to see the text that was hidden underneath. The beginning of the message had been crudely written on the brick with a black marker while the last looked like it had been scratched in with the butter knife laying on edge of the table. Each letter was either drastically smaller or larger than the last, but the message was still easy comprehend however. 

Hey, Rainbow Shine Mom. It's Nimbus. We're out of sticky notes and I broke the black marker trying to write this message. Sorry about the knife. I'll buy a new one, I promise. 

Rainbow Shine saw past the destruction Nimbus had done to her easily replaceable items and valued the fact that he had referred to her as "Mom" instead of by her real name. Now that the thought was floating around in her head,she couldn't remember the last time Nimbus had called her "ma'am", not out of disrespect she was sure. 

Once the table was cleared of the clutter, Rainbow Shine proceeded to lay on her back on the couch in her living room. She stared up at the ceiling with nothing on her mind whatsoever. She feared that this would soon be the majority of her days in the next years to come. Soon her daughter would graduate and move out, then she'd be stuck with nopony else to take care of except Storm.

It had been years since she held a job and bringing in even more money than she knew what to do with was pretty redundant. She was fortunate that Rainbow Dash was a fairly easy mare to entertain and she wasn't a girly type of mare either, even though Rainbow Shine wish she was at times, so she hardly ever had to pull a single bit from her purse to keep her happy. 

When Storm walked past the couch, unwary of his wife's presence, Rainbow Shine hung her hooves the the back rest and asked him without hesitation. "Storm, how come we never do anything together?" 

Storm got a bit startled from the small leap Rainbow Shine had taken from behind the couch. "Goddess damn it!"  Storm leaned himself against the wall and held his back there for a few seconds before recognizing his own wife. "Oh, hey. I thought.." Storm couched into his hoof and settled down the racing pace of his breath. "You scared me there, Sweety." 

Rainbow Shine made a smug expression. "I noticed. Why don't we do anything anymore? It seems we haven't done anything since Rainbow Dash became a teenager." 

Storm straightened out the tie he had worn across his neck for today. "You just answered your own question, because Rainbow Dash became a teenager." 

"What does that got to do anything? Isn't that the opportunity we take advantage of and go out more often, not the opposite?" Rainbow Shine glared at the tie around Storm's neck. She reached out and straightened it out for him while he spoke his answer. 

"Did you not hear the horny teenage colt in our hallway trying to get into her room last night? That's why! And since when did we let teenagers get away with lying to us? That kid has been living under our noses for years!" 

Rainbow Shine patted Storm's tie once perfectly straightened it out to the right length away from his neck. "You like him, admit it. I don't understand why give him such a hard time." 

"Because he's trying to give a hard time to our daughter." Storm declared. 

Rainbow Shine looked up from Storm's tie to his eyes, wishing she had a bewildering expression, but she knew all too well what Storm meant by Nimbus giving Rainbow Dash a "Hard Time". 

"WIth his penis!" Storm cleared up. He wasn't too sure if she had caught on to his masculine term of phrase and slight humor. 

"I-I got it." Rainbow Shine grabbed Storm's tie one last time and pulled knot up so Storm would struggle to breath properly. "At least somepony in this house knows how to give a mare some attention." She pushed Storm away and towards the door. "Don't be late for your meeting." Rainbow Shine turned and set her chin on the arm rest away from staring at Storm. 

Storm looked to the door and back to Rainbow Shine three times before loosening his tie to a comfortable position. He walked over to Rainbow Shine only her to turn away face the heavy back support pillows of the couch. "Babe?" Storm got no response. He leaned in over her ear and whispered "You know, this couch CAN support two, and we're the only ones in the house right now. I have ten minutes to spare." 

With Storm's hooves now rubbing her shoulders, Rainbow Shine rolled over and pulled Storm on top of her by using his tie. "We only need three." she giggled. She was just about to start getting Storm warmed up and ready, but their fun gotten taken away from a constant alien knocking at the door that had no pattern and wouldn't stop. 

Both Rainbow Shine and Storm swore simultaneously "Son of a bitch!" 

Rainbow Shine pouted and stroke Storm's cheek "Later." She pushed Storm off of her and walked to the door after brushing her coat quickly with her hooves and straightening herself up. The knocks refused to stop and grew more annoying with each one. "I'm coming!" She yelled at the stranger behind the door. 

"You were about to..." Storm commented, fixing his tie back in place. 

Rainbow Shine hushed him and told him to behave before opening the to door to reveal Moon Bolt behind it. "You?" Rainbow Shine questioned. "What are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming back until the weekend?" 

Looking past Rainbow Shine and seeing Storm adjust his tie, Moon Bolt complimented generously on the Storm's choice of attire. "I LOVE your tie! Is it custom? Surely, it has to be." Moon Bolt edged herself towards Storm but Rainbow Shine's extended wing blocked her of her path. 

Whatever intentions Moon Bolt had with Storm at this moment, Rainbow Shine wasn't going to tolerate it for one second. With the use of her opposite wing, Rainbow Shine walked Storm around Moon Bolt and helped him out the door. Moon Bolt might have been a first time guest inside of their home, and Rainbow Shine might have gotten pretty stern with Rainbow Dash for treating her so rudely, but Rainbow Shine wasn't going to let Moon Bolt walk into her home without being welcomed inside, it was one of Rainbow Shine's pet peeves. 

Storm saw the tension like neon lights in the dark. He made his good bye quick and escaped out the door with haste, scared of being a witness to crime about to unfold. 

Rainbow Shine's wing was still laid across Moon Bolt's chest, she made it perfectly clear that she didn't want Moon Bolt to venture any further than she already had. She didn't have any violent thoughts towards Moon Bolt, but she didn't need to let her know that. 

Moon Bolt frowned and contorted her face at the indigo wing that rested upon her jade coat. "Not as hospitable as you were yesterday, huh?" 

Rainbow Shine said nothing to the comment, but she removed her wing away from Moon Bolt's body and allowed her to roam around the house freely. She watched as Moon Bolt made her way to the dinning table where everypony was last night. Moon Bolt seemed to be looking for something in particular with the way she looked at each hanging picture very closely. Curiosity won over Rainbow Shine "What are you looking for?" she asked Moon Bolt. 

The picture that Moon Bolt had been staring at, when Rainbow Shine asked her question, was of the day Rainbow Dash had gotten her cutie mark. On that day, Rainbow Dash had asked her mom to take a picture so she could always remember the day she got her destiny and savior it forever. 

"You say you've taken care of Nimbus since you first met him?" Moon Bolt asked after finally taking her eyes off the photo. "Treated him like your own child." The tone she was using to address Rainbow Shine by sounded like she was a lawyer trying to get all her facts straight before she accused Rainbow Shine of a crime. 

"I never actually said that, but yes, that's true. I treated him as if he were my own-" Rainbow Shine stopped herself from calling Nimbus her son. Claiming Nimbus as her own son would more than likely ignite a fire she didn't want to start. "Where are you going with this?" 

Moon Bolt walked past Rainbow Shine and took notice of a corner that was vigorously decorated in first place trophies and awards. "Who's is this?" Moon Bolt sang with interest. 

"My daughter's, Rainbow Dash, the one who approached you yesterday." 

Moon Bolt rolled her eyes and snorted "Figures" 

"I apologize, is there something I said or have done to upset you? You've been pretty rude since I opened the door." Rainbow Shine  said as politely as she could. 

Moon Bolt admitted to Rainbow Shine "When I came back to get Nimbus last night, I thought he had gotten an award." 

"An award?" Rainbow Shine asked. She couldn't think of any competitions and achievements he'd won, or even attended to have  been presented an award. "What exactly are you talking about?" 

Moon Bolt pointed her wing towards Rainbow Dash's trophy corner "You're proud of your daughter's accomplishments, right?" 

"Of course I am" Rainbow Shine was confused as to where Moon Bolt was going with all of this. 

"Then you can't imagine how happy I was to see my son's name in the newspaper when he saved somepony." Moon Bolt looked back over the shinning trophies, appreciating the way they lit up the room brightly with their golden glow. "In the article they praised him like he was a unsung hero. It was just the bullet they talked about. Whoever the reporter was obviously did quite a bit of research. They got all sorts of information on him without even having an interview with him, all in less than twenty four hours." 

Rainbow Shine had happened to read the article herself . Unlike Moon Bolt, she didn't realize just how much information the reporter had actually written. The article had talked about the time Nimbus had jumped inside a burning building to save some foals. The news was nothing new to Rainbow Shine. She remembered that day very clearly. 

Of course, how could she have forgotten? Rainbow Dash had stayed back and came home late that afternoon. After explaining what she was doing in Ponyville during school hours, Rainbow Dash told her mom that he had been the hospital to make sure Nimbus was ok before she left him alone. Rainbow Shine allowed Rainbow Dash permission to go back for as long she wanted until she felt like Nimbus was well enough to be by himself. 

The memory brought a small tear to her eye. It was the first time Rainbow Dash had showed that she truly cared for somepony that truly cared about her. Plus, with Rainbow Dash being so young at the time, it made the whole memory that much sweeter. Now these days, Rainbow Shine was lucky enough to see them even smile at each other. 

Moon Bolt had been ranting on about the small article for so long, Rainbow Shine didn't realize she was still talking when she had gotten lost in her mind. "But when I get here, he has nothing to show, nothing, zip. He's just as much of a nopony as he was when I left him. There's not even so much as even one picture of him hanging on the wall." Moon Bolt denounced to Rainbow Shine. "Some mother you were to him." 

Armageddon was released inside of Rainbow Shine. She wanted to tell Moon Bolt just how much she had done for Nimbus, how much motherly love she gave him everyday since Rainbow Dash first introduced him, how much she thought of him as the son she never had. She wanted to throw it all in Moon Bolt's face, but she couldn't. It would go against everything she believed in being a good mother. She wasn't going to permit Moon Bolt to make her stoop down to that level. 

Instead of attacking Moon Bolt with words, Rainbow Shine curled her hoof into a fist and acquainted it to Moon Bolt's muzzle. Moon Bolt stumbled back from the unexpected partnership Rainbow Shine's hoof had made with her face. There was no visible blood, but the pain was undeniably there. "How dare-" Moon Bolt started. 

Rainbow Shine  pushed back on Moon Bolt's shoulder with a quick strike of her wing. "No, how dare you?!" she exclaimed loudly. "You only came back because you thought your son was getting an award? Now that you found out that's not the case, you want to what? Are you just going to tell him that you don't want him anymore, that you changed your mind?" 

"No" Moon Bolt answered, shaking her head in reply with her right hoof over her nose. "I want you to tell him for me." 

"You can't just do that to him! He's-" 

"I don't want to hear your explanations." Moon Bolt instructs. 

Rainbow Shine was now breathing heavy, she had an even greater desire to punch the mare standing in front of her even greater than the first time. "You're just going to dump him off, just like that?" 

Moon Bolt reached underneath  her wing with her right hoof and conjured a single roll of paper. "No, this time I'm actually giving him to you." She handed over the single scroll to Rainbow Shine. Before Rainbow Shine could retrieve it fully, Moon Bolt explained "That's his official birth certificate. He's yours, your responsibility now." 

The scroll in Rainbow Shine's hoof was heavier than it's actual physical weight. She didn't know how to react. Nimbus would now be officially her son, in a way, after the proper procedures of course. This meant more than just her taking him under her wing like she did all those years ago. 

"Now, are you going to tell him or not?" Moon Bolt asked once again. 

Clutching the roll of paper to her chest, Rainbow Shine answered "No, That's your last responsibility as his mom. You have to do that yourself." 

There was no convincing or bribing Rainbow Shine, Moon Bolt was going to have to this herself. "I'll leave him a letter, tell him that...something came up or something." Just like Nimbus, Moon Bolt was terrible with trying to tell a lie on the spot. 

A letter was hardly the most suitable way for Nimbus to find out that his mother was leaving him again, but Rainbow Shine didn't want Moon Bolt standing in her home any longer than she had to. "You do that. Once you're done, you can see yourself out." 

Without a moment of looking, Moon Bolt found a sticky note on the dinning table. The front of it had writing on it that took up the full side. She flipped it over to the opposite virgin canvas on the back and began to write with a pen she had questionably pulled from out of nowhere. It didn't take her long to write what she had to say. She folded the sticky part over so her note on the back could be seen. 

Once, all was said and done, Moon Bolt gave one last look to Rainbow Shine and nodded "I do hope we never meet again." She reached out for the door knob that turned and flew towards her, opening the door in front of her and revealing Nimbus. 

"Mom?" Nimbus was alone with nopony by his side. 

"Where's Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow Shine asked concernedly. 

"She's fine, she's waiting for me down below . I just forgot something." Nimbus finished what he had to say to Rainbow Shine before looking his mother in the eye and asking her. "What are you doing here? I thought we weren't leaving until this weekend." 

Using her hooves to help explain the last excuse she would ever tell her son, Moon Bolt began to lie "A-about that, Mommy might not be able take you home as soon as she said she would." 

"So, like a week or so, right? That's cool though. It gives me more time to say good bye." Nimbus was torn that he had less than three days to say bye to Rainbow Dash, but now that his mom was telling him he might not even go back at all, he was heart broken. 

"N-no, Mommy...has to leave country for a bit. She doesn't know when she'll be back." Moon bolt struggled to not stutter as much as she probably would have if she hadn't been choosing her words carefully. 

Moon Bolt could read Nimbus's expression like the pages of a book. He didn't want to believe what he was hearing, no matter how true it was. His mom was going to leave him behind for a second time. As far as she was concerned, Nimbus was nothing but a burden to her. 

"It was r-really good see you, Son. you've really turned out to grow into a young, strong, handsome stallion, just like mommy always imagined you to be." She was nervous now. Moon Bolt wanted to get out of the house now more than ever, but Nimbus had remained still inside the door frame. 

Nimbus looked to both sides away from his mom as she tried to touch his face "Yeah, yeah. It was...pretty cool to see you too." Moon Bolt smiled at him, but Nimbus's next words took her smile away and left an everlasting searing knife in her heart that she would never forget. "I'll see you around, Moon Bolt." After calling his mom by her name, Nimbus stepped inside the house and authorized his mom to walk out the door with no opposition to her leaving. 

Moon Bolt stood frozen in place for the next few seconds, trying to find an apology for Nimbus, but there was nothing she could say or do that could ever make up for what she had done to him and had done again for the last time. She knew to well that it was a mistake to come back. However, she had predicted that she would be the one in tears with the door closed in her face. 

The house had an eery silence to it now. Instead of being thrown out of his mother's life, Nimbus threw Moon Bolt out of his life. It was an ugly act, but he was no longer going to be the coat she hung up in her closet and forgot about until she needed it. 

"I'm sorry..." Rainbow Shine apologized to Nimbus as she wrapped her warm wings around her newly adopted son. 

Nimbus's mane flew beautifully as he shook his head "It's not your fault, besides it's better this way. I can take Rainbow Dash to that Wonder Bolt race she wanted to go to this weekend." His voice was monotone and dry. "Since she thinks I won't be here, I might get to her seat early and surprise, she'd like that." 

Pent up anger was just as dangerous as running in the dark with a knife. "If you're angry just let it out. There's no point in keeping it locked up in inside. you don't have to prove how strong you are to anypony." Rainbow Shine tried to pull Nimbus closer to her, but he pulled away faced her from the front. 

"Angry? W-who's angry? Are you saying I'm angry? I'm not angry. I'm cool." Nimbus lied. His hooves were curling and digging into the carpet he was standing on. "It's not like she was ever there anyways. It's not like I ever needed her anyways. She wasn't there in the beginning. Why should I expect her to be here for me now? I lived sixteen years without her. Why not live sixteen more years without her? Hell, I could probably live another one hundred more years without her because those first sixteen years, those FIRST sixteen YEARS, were probably the most important years in my life where I needed her." 

Nimbus pointed to the door behind him as he continued to steam out his rage to Rainbow Shine "Do you know how old I was when I stopped asking Celestia "When's my mom coming back?" every night? I was ten! For ten years, I held on to the hope that my mom would return, but she never did. It killed me, but it's ok, you know why?" 

Rainbow Shine shook her head "no" to Nimbus. She was happy that he had decided to let everything out, she didn't count on how much there was to let out though. 

Nimbus voice was now filled with the red boiling magma inside of him "I learned how to walk on my own, how to talk on my own, how to fly on my own. I went SIXTEEN FUCKING YEARS teaching myself how live, how to put a smile on my face everyday so nopony would know, and not once did she ever help me." Nimbus jerked his head back and yelled at the door he had shut in his mom's face. "THANKS FOR THE HELP, MOM! YOU'RE A REAL FUCKING HELP. TO HELL WITH YOU!" 

Nimbus wings fell down to his sides and draped to the floor sadly like dead branches on a tree. "You know what I'm going to do though? I'm going to make something out of myself. I'm going to be something bigger than I could have ever imagined. I going to be something so big when my mom sees my name she's going to say 'Damn, that used to be my son' , and I'll prove her wrong. I'll prove that I'm not just another burden. I'll prove to her and all of Equestria that I can be anything i want to be. I've done it before and I'll do it thousand more times, and I'll never ask her for help because there's nothing she could ever teach me about how to be somepony in this life." 

Nimbus huffed out the last words before hugging and laying his head on Rainbow Shine's shoulder and asking her "Why doesn't she want me? How come she doesn't love me, Mom?" 
> Books, the best things to make you look smart. 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two months passed since the arrival of Moon Bolt. Not too long after her disappearance, Rainbow Shine made the arrangements needed to rightfully claim Nimbus as her own. Since Nimbus only had two more years left till he would be considered an adult, the process would be fairly easy. Although, Nimbus's refusal to make a10 mile trip and sign his name of approval was the only thing making the process difficult. 

Eventually, after Nimbus gave her a three hour speech on how he can't be part of the Rainbow family because he only has one color in his mane, Rainbow Shine gave up and told Nimbus she didn't need a piece of paper to tell her who she could call her child. Nimbus cried for about an hour right after hearing that. 

"Congratulations, you're the first bastard child of this family." Rainbow Dash told Nimbus as soon as he told her he was like the brother she never had. 

"Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow Shine snapped at her daughter. 

"What? He is a bastard. Am I wrong, Dad?" Rainbow Dash looked to Storm for assistance on the subject. "That's what you used to call him before you learned his name." 

Curiosity hit Nimbus harder than a heavy weight boxers hay maker to the chin. "How long DID it take you to learn my name, Da-err Storm." Nimbus had gotten around to calling Storm "Dad" pretty comfortably for the past few weeks, but not in front of Rainbow Dash. He would watch himself from calling Rainbow Shine "Mom" too, when Rainbow Dash was around, but he usually called her that out of habit. 

Storm set more focus to his dinner plate and began to smack loudly, giving himself an excuse to avoid Nimbus's question as best as possible. "Well, you see, Nimbus. I always knew who you were, but...." 

"But..." Nimbus pushed the issue "What kind of "but" are we talking about here?" 

Rainbow Dash laughed "Not that one musician's butt." Rainbow Dash pointed the fork she had stabbed into her broccoli at Nimbus, bringing back up the memory of a Unicorn Nimbus was trying to forget. "That one you dated for like a week. What was her name? " 

Nimbus slammed his hooves on the dining table and leaned over in Rainbow Dash's direction. He threatened her with a butter knife in his hoof and over his shoulder. "You should you wouldn't bring that up!"  

Now that Rainbow Dash had saved him from answering the embarrassing question, Storm took the opportunity to act like he was suddenly interested in the conversation. "You were dating somepony, Nimbus? Who was the..." Storm swallowed as he tried to put on the best supportive smile he could conjure. "...the lucky mare?" As far as Storm could assume, any mare who would choose to date a colt like Nimbus probably didn't have a whole lot of options or any good ones. 

"Melody! That was her name! The pinkish unicorn who could play multiple instruments at a time." Rainbow Dash answered for Nimbus. This was one of the very many chances she had to embarrass Nimbus as best she could. "Nimbus only liked her because of the way she played the saxophone." 

"What happened with her?" Storm asked. 

Rainbow Dash guided her hoof to Nimbus, telling him he had now had the floor again. "Why don't you tell him, Nimbus?" 

Nimbus's left eye was twitching, a sign of how short Nimbus's fuse was right now before exploding at Rainbow Dash like a block of C-4. "I didn't know I was one of her seven colt friends." 

Storm didn't know how to respond except saying "Oh..." 

"But Nimbus was one of the top three." Rainbow Dash pointed out with her forelegs crossed against her chest. "Guess who was in first." 

Rainbow Shine wasn't anymore amusement in this than Nimbus was. "You don't have to tell us who-" Rainbow Shine started to say but Nimbus was already half through saying who the "winner" was. 

"It was a black mustang. I think him being black is kind of self explanatory as to why he was in first." Nimbus's tone of voice was as dark as his eyes were right now. 

Storm raised an eyebrow as to why Nimbus put the pony's ethnicity so bluntly. "What does him being "black" got to do with anything?" 

Rainbow Shine knew exactly why Nimbus was bringing up the pony's ethnicity, but was too ashamed to admit it. There was a reason why Mustangs were proud to be referred  as "Stallions" from time to time, especially the darker colored ones.

"Why don't we talk about something else?" Rainbow Shine pleaded, begging Celestia that for one night she could have a nice dinner with the family without having somepony arguing, even if it was harmless fun. 

"Sure, why don't we talk about Rainbow Dash's ex?" Nimbus suggested. He swerved his head to the right, dodging the fork he had anticipated Rainbow Dash would throw at him. The fork stabbed a half inch into the wall and shook like a flung door stopper. 

"You son of a bitch!" Rainbow Dash spat at Nimbus. "YOU PROMISED!" 

"Rainbow Dash, not at the dinner table!" Rainbow Shine snapped at her again a second time for cursing. 

"No,no" Nimbus shook his head and smiled. "She's right. My mom is a bitch." 

"Nimbus!" Rainbow Shine sneered at him. "I know your mom isn't the....most pleasant mother out there, but you still need to show her respect." 

"I showed her the door before she left." 

Rainbow Shine felt like she was backed up into a corner between two teenagers. "Storm! Help me out here?' 

Storm was still stunned and wanted more information on this "Ex" Rainbow Dash had. "In a minute. Rainbow, who's this ex of yours, and why are we just NOW hearing about him? From Nimbus?" 

Throwing another piece of her mom's silver ware at Nimbus was all Rainbow Dash could think about. He had really thrown her under the bus this time. "It was just someone stupid." She answered, looking at the candle holder in the middle of the dinner table. It was hardly used and mainly collected more dust than it burned candles. Perhaps it would be aerodynamic enough to fly through the air. 

"Yeah, Cloud Slope. The pegasus who can make art with clouds." Nimbus elaborated for Rainbow Dash so her parents could get an idea of who he was. 

Then name rang a loud bell for Storm. "You mean the kid who takes clouds from the factory I work at?! That guy's a punk. Why in Equestria-" 

Guilt washed over Nimbus when he realized he might have played with more fire than he could handle. He wanted to get Rainbow Dash back for bringing up his ex, but he didn't want her getting in trouble for it. "S-storm, that's the guy she WAS dating." Nimbus intervened. 

"Was?" Rainbow Shine asked. 

Nimbus wanted to himself for the bigger he hole he had just dug. He looked over at Rainbow Dash. By the glow of red fire burning in her eyes, he could see that she was strongly considering throwing something else at him. What she would throw this time, he didn't know. 

He shrugged and smiled at her. How was I supposed to know she would catch on?


Rainbow Dash jerked forward at Nimbus slightly with her hooves thrown in the air. How about by not saying anything? AT ALL!

The silent language Rainbow Dash Nimbus were using got easily translated by both Storm and Rainbow Shine. Just like when they were younger, Rainbow Shine and Storm used to use the same silent language when they wanted privacy in public. 

"What else are you two keeping from us?" Rainbow Shine asked. She was more surprised that Rainbow Dash had started dating behind her back rather than being mad at her about it. "I know you two are both getting older but no secrets okay?" 

"If we can't trust you to tell us that you're dating other ponies, how do you expect us to trust the ponies that you're dating?" Storm added. 

Of course, both Rainbow Dash and Nimbus knew Storm was right. It was just a matter of admitting it. 

"He's got a point, Rainbow Dash. We need to tell them." Nimbus confessed. 

"NO!" Rainbow Dash declined. She clutched at the candle holder she had been staring at for so long. "If you do, I'll never forgive you." 

"You're dating somepony else? Who is he?" Storm asked rather strongly. 

Rainbow Shine punched Storm in the shoulder to calm him down. "Do you hear yourself? It's no wonder they won't tell us." 

Waving his hoof, Nimbus made his way to Storm. "No, no. Mrs. Rainbow, it's cool." 

Being called Mrs. by Nimbus turned on more light bulbs in Rainbow Shine's head than she would have liked. 

Nimbus held his hoof out to Storm and greeted him with "Hi, I'm Nimbus, it's finally nice to finally meet you Mr. Rainbow." 

Storm looked at Nimbus's hoof, up to his face, then back down to his hoof. 

"You're supposed to shake my ho-" 

"I know who you are, Nimbus." Storm reminded him. "I've known you for eight years. The hell are you doing?" 

Nimbus smiled and laughed at Storm. He rolled his eyes back to look At Rainbow Dash who was now behind him with her wing over his shoulder. "Yeah...well...when you first met me, I was Rainbow Dash's friend." 

"Dad" Rainbow Dash started. "Nimbus is...my new colt friend." 

*** 

"That didn't go as bad as we thought it would." Nimbus told Rainbow Dash. He winced when she pulled tightly on the linen bandage  she was wrapping around his head. "Do you have to be so rough with that stuff? It's bad enough that my wing is in a sling." Nimbus wiggled his wing to show Rainbow Dash. 

"Shut up, you big baby." 

"That's another thing." Nimbus said quickly after Rainbow Dash's childish insult. 

"What, the fact you still sleep with a stuffed animal like a baby?" 

"There's no age limit for plushies!" Nimbus turned his head to yell at Rainbow Dash, but she pulled hard again on the bandages, spinning Nimbus's back around faster than he could see. 

"You see, this is why that one unicorn left you." 

Nimbus had a comeback he had been waiting for this exact moment to use. He knew he'd more than likely be smacked upside the head for it, but he'd be worried if Rainbow Dash went a day without hitting him. It was their strange alternative way of kissing. "Yeah" Nimbus started with a twisted smirk on his face. " but you're the one dating me now. So, what does that say about you?" 

Even though Nimbus had his head turned away from her, Rainbow Dash could see the stupid smile he had with her sixth sense. Just as predicted, Rainbow Dash smacked Nimbus on the back of his head with the back of her hoof. Rainbow Dash indeed hit Nimbus everyday, if not every other day, but she always did it with an open hoof, never a closed fist. 

"You do know the whole point of wrapping my head is to prevent further injury, right? ...don't think hitting the back of my head is really going to help." 

"Oh, shut up. You're not really hurt. So stop whining like you are." Rainbow Dash said, right before hitting Nimbus in the back of his head again. 

"Whining? You want some whining? I can give you some whining!" Nimbus inhaled deeply before Rainbow Dash stopped him from starting his crying rant. 

"Nimbus, don't. You're not a good actor. You never were. I don't understand why you keep trying." 

Behind Rainbow Dash's hoof, Nimbus grumbled the words "Well, screw you too." 

*** 

Rainbow Dash and Nimbus made their way home within a half hour before their given curfew. They were going to leave again not too long after, but Nimbus told Rainbow Shine and Storm he'd bring Rainbow Dash back home safely before they went off to the live play theater this evening. Of course, playing a harmless joke on them for old times sake was always a good idea before leaving late in the evening. 

Looking over himself once more, Nimbus asked Rainbow Dash, "You think this is taking it too far?" He flicked his fake injured wing in the restricted amount of space he was allowed to move it. "Your mom is kinda ....well, motherly towards me. I think she might freak out when she sees me in this condition." 

"Of course she's going to freak out. That's the whole reason we're doing this in the first place." Rainbow Dash reminded Nimbus. She held out her wing cordinated it with her words to help her explain. "We're not TRYING to scare her, we're just trying to remind her that we're still friends even thoght we're dating now." She turned back towards the front door of her house and was about to knock urgently, but Nimbus asked her a question she almost slapped him for. 

"Do you think she thinks we had sex yet?" 

Breathing in deeply to control her temper for Nimbus's safety, Rainbow Dash spun around with her eyes and slowly said "Nimbus...you and I have never had sex, not even with each other." 

"We got pretty close once." 

"No, we didn't!" Rainbow Dash snapped quickly, opening her eyes back up to show the raging fire burning in them. 

"....yeah, we did. Remember it was right after-no- it was right ON your last birthday. It was late at night, and before I started sleeping on the couch. You woke me up and told you were hot. I told you to open a window, but you kept telling me how "hot" you were. It took me a few minutes to catch on what you were saying. I got up on the bed and rubbed on your-" 

With the single hoof she infamously wore a single horse shoe on, Rainbow Dash smashed all the power she could exert onto the top of Nimbus's head. "THAT NEVER HAPPENED!" 

Ignoring the temptation to paint the memory a bit more fully, Nimbus held his hoof over the crown of his head. "Now that we're dating, that's technically domestic violence." 

"You want to really sell this joke and have me break your wing for real?" Rainbow Dash's words were cold and serious enough to send a frightening chill down Nimbus's spine. 

"You'd hit me all day if you could, but you'd never want to actually hurt me." Nimbus wanted to believe what he just stated was true, but watching Rainbow Dash cracking her hooves back and forth like she was getting ready for a heavy weight fight told him otherwise. 

"Then don't tempt me." Rainbow Dash warned Nimbus before she blindly knocked on the front door behind her with her wing. 

After seeing her knock on the door where she lived, Nimbus asked Rainbow Dash "Why would you knock on the door of your own house? Don't you have a key?" 

*** 

The knock that echoed through the quiet house startled Rainbow Shine so much she nearly hit her head on the ceiling when she jumped. She looked over in the knock's direction as it was followed by a series of other knocks with no rhythm what so ever. It sounded urgent but she figured somepony would be yelling and screaming if anything was urgently needing attention. 

Hindsight told Rainbow Shine she should have gone towards the door and listened to her gut feeling. As soon as Storm had opened the door, Rainbow Dash came into the house crying and dragging a bloody Nimbus behind her. 

Rainbow Dash just kept screaming "I don't know what to do! T-there was just so much blood! Dad, please help him!"

Storm let go of the door he was holding onto grabbed Rainbow Dash into a comforting hug. "It's okay. Just calm down and tell us what happened." 

The biggest question on Storm's mind was why Nimbus was bleeding if his wing and head were already wrapped in a cast. Shouldn't the bleeding from his nose and mouth be the first thing they stopped?

Rainbow Shine came running into the room to see the mess of blood and broken bones that had rolled into her living room. Keeping herself calm for Rainbow Dash and Nimbus's comfort, Rainbow Shine asked as comprehensible as she could. "What happened to Nimbus, Rainbow Dash?" 

Rainbow Dash still had her face dug into Storm's chest as she answered her mother "N-Nimbus was trying to show me a new trick a-and he crashed! I had to carry him and bring him home as fast as I could, b-but...oh Nimbus!" Rainbow Dash pulled her dad tighter closer to her face as she sobbed harder. 

Storm was too quick to buy Rainbow Dash's story, like Rainbow Shine just had. "You said...NIMBUS was trying to show YOU a trick, not the other way around?" Storm knew that Nimbus knew he would have to at least join the Wonder Bolts if he truly wanted to impress Rainbow Dash with a few air tricks. 

Rainbow Dash looked up and nodded to Storm. "H-he thought it would strengthen our relationship if he could try to be as good a flyer as me." 

"Strengthen...your relationship?" Storm repeated. He looked at the same expression he and his wife were both showing at that moment. If they could read each others mind physically they would see that they were both thinking the same thing as well. Storm and Rainbow Shine could see two things wrong with Rainbow Dash's statement.

Number one, Nimbus could never be as "good" a flyer as Rainbow Dash. Mainly because Nimbus wouldn't want to. Sure, Nimbus had a bit more agility and acceleration than Rainbow Dash, but Rainbow Dash would always smoke him and leave him in the dirt with her speed, stamina, and determination.  

"If you brought him here as fast as you could, why is he wrapped up in cast?" Storm asked Rainbow Dash slowly, even though he probably already knew the answer. 

Moving for the first time since he got dragged into the house, Nimbus stood up, pinching the bridge of his muzzle to stop the blood flow. "Terd yew day werdn't bye eat." Nimbus grumbled with a mouth full of blood he was tempted to spit on the carpet. He decided not to spit on the newly laid carpet or Rainbow Shine would have his head for sure. 

Rainbow Dash stopped her crying suddenly and yelled "Oh shut up, Nimbus, or this time I'll break your teeth when I punch yo-" She stopped yelling after realizing she had just broken out of character and her little game was over. Even though both parents were giving her chance to explain herself, Rainbow Dash persisted to keep the cruel joke going. 

"Oh, Nimbus!" Rainbow Dash cheered. She tried to wrap her hooves around his neck but Nimbus put up a stiff wing to keep her at a distance. 

"Yew bersted maw jaw ant slummed me enter dee werl. Screw. Yew." Nimbus said as coherently as he can. After pushing Rainbow Dash away with his wing and looking to Storm and Rainbow Shine, Nimbus asked, "Cern aye yews ern if dee bat tears to crean myserf erp?" 

"Bat tears?" Storm looked to Rainbow Shine for a translation. "What's he talking about?" 

Rainbow Shine rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Of course you can use one of our BATH TOWELS" Rainbow Shine leaned angrily towards her husband at the emphasis of the word. Once she laid the word on him, Rainbow Shine focused back on Nimbus. "You know where they are, just help yourself and put it in a separate pile of dirty laundry once you're done." 

Nimbus nodded in understanding and glared at Rainbow Dash before walking away  and telling Rainbow Shine "Tank yew." 

Nimbus came out of the bathroom a few minutes later to see Storm, Rainbow Shine, And Rainbow Dash all gathered in the living room. They were all strangely quiet. Rainbow Dash was squatting ontop of the arm rest of Nimbus's sleeping couch. The silent vibe in the room scared Nimbus uncomfortably. Even when he asked "Is something wrong?", they all remained. 

Rainbow Dash spoke up finally but her voice was almost so inaudible Nimbus had to lean in from where he was standing to hear her. "I-I don't how to say this...but...." 

Nimbus hated how Rainbow Dash and her parents always built up tension before telling anypony anything. Just like at the hospital those past few months, the feeling was like down the barrel of a loaded gun, you know the bullet's going to come out sometime and you're it's going to hit you no matter how fast you think you are. 

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat before speaking back up "Mom was doing a bit of research on you and umm well....S-she found out you and I are siblings with a different mother." 

Lost for words, Nimbus stood in place only changing his facial expression. If he and Rainbow Dash were truly siblings, how come Storm didn't recognize his own son? Was he not there, if so then why? Why wasn't he there for- 

Rainbow Dash began to snort and slapped her hooves over her mouth. Both Storm and Rainbow Shine's eyes pointed to Rainbow Dash dissapointedly for not keeping her bearing. 

"I'm sorry!" Rainbow Dash bursted out in laughter. She fell over off the arm chair she was resting on and flapped her wings furiously over her head. "I-I just can't hold it in any longer!" Rainbow Dash crunched herself up and pointed rudely at Nimbus. "D-did you see the look on his face? H-he thought we were actually related!" 

Nimbus huffed in deeply, filling his lungs to their full capacity before he breathed out through his nose. It was all just some cruel joke. A stupid prank on Rainbow Dash's part. Judging from the way Storm and Rainbow Shine were looking at Rainbow Dash laughing to herself, they probably had nothing to do with her shenanigans, they probably on promised to keep quiet so Rainbow Dash could play her joke. 

Ignoring Rainbow Dash as she continued to laugh and point, Nimbus walked past her and made his way towards the front door. He wanted nothing else to do with her today. They always went back and forth with their teasing and their jokes, but Rainbow Dash had taken it too far today. 

It wasn't until Nimbus started to close the door behind him that the wheels in Rainbow Dash's head started to spin. Nimbus was actually mad this time. She was half expecting him to yell at her or call her one the stupid insulting names they made up for each other, like he always did. He had just walked past her without saying a word or even looking at her. 

Nimbus shrugged off her shoulder and pushed her away softly to a distance. He didn't like being so rude to Rainbow Dash but he needed a way to tell her he was angry with her without having to talk to her. He wanted to be alone like the time she wanted be alone when his mother came around. 

He didn't really know where he was going to go. He wanted space to think but Rainbow Dash knew everyplace he'd run to hide....except Canterlot. Canterlot was really the only place he had never gone with Rainbow Dash, and for good reason. He had promised her almost two years ago that her first trip to Canterlot would be to go see the Wonder Bolts perform live. She wouldn't look for him there, or even if she did, she'd had nowhere to start looking since she had never been there. Nimbus made goo number of trips there back when he was doing part time courier work and got pretty familiar with the area. 

There was one place in particular Nimbus had in mind to hide, the Canterlot library. It was a pretty large area and he had always wanted to sit a top of the library's highest tip to watch the sun set. Today seemed like perfect timing. It was a quiet area, lowly populated around this time, and only a little less than an hour flight away. 

Nimbus had his scheduled destination and something to mark off his personal list of things to do. Now it was just a matter of going through with it. 

Surprisingly, Nimbus was able to shut the door behind himself without looking back. He felt terrible (and a bit like a drama queen) for making such a scene, but this was his way of getting back at Rainbow Dash. There was no doubt he probably wouldn't be able to make it back before the show tonight, but Rainbow Dash would care less whether they made it or not, just as long as Nimbus came back, or at least that's what Nimbus hoped for. 

*** 
The flight to the Canterlot Library didn't take as long as Nimbus had anticipated. He wasn't purposely trying to get there in record time or even fly fast at all for that matter. No need to complain though, Nimbus was able to catch a glimpse of a small group of students from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns coming out of the library. From one of the mare's tone, he figured out that they were sharing some rather juicy gossip amongst each other. 

Nimbus had no interest in the subject whatsoever, but all of the unicorns were strikingly cute and attractive, especially for them all being a bunch of book worms. 

After the girls left the premises, Nimbus looked around from his aerial position to see if anypony was watching him. It wasn't technically legal for any sort of flying creature, save for birds, to perch themselves on top of buildings.  Not only was it frowned upon to all the other ground bounded races, but most facilities a bunch winged air heads sitting on top of their ceilings with the possibility of somepony falling through and costing tons of bits in damages and legal issues. 

The coast was clear for Nimbus to perch himself wherever he pleased without somepony seeing him. There was a small open patio attached to one of the ends of the library on the top floor, it was also equipped with a lonely telescope placed in far right corner. Although Nimbus could properly place himself here without somepony giving him an issue, he still had the risk of getting in trouble for not being a proper member of the library. Only those with proper validation were authorized on the top floor of the library. 

The sun would soon be setting and the roof overhead the patio casted a large enough shadow for Nimbus to hide himself in. Nimbus dropped himself to the patio deck wit ha bassy "thump" when his rump hit. He looked behind himself and through the glass door that lead inside of the library. Somepony had definitely heard him and could obviously see him on the other side. Nimbus couldn't make a clear picture  of who was on the other side of the stained glass door but it was no librarian. Whoever was on their way had a fairly petite build and walked with a bit too much energy to be an old raggedy mare who stamps books. 

Twilight Sparkle used her magic to open the glass stained door separating her and Nimbus. She caught a cold chill of the breeze when she allowed the outside air to enter inside of the library. She used another spell, right after opening and closing the door behind her, to tighten the book bags she had to her sides in an effort to warm herself. 

Nimbus was a bit awe struck by Twilight's appearance. She was a really attractive mare, way more that all those mares put together from the group he saw earlier. He was lucky that Twilight was too focused on keeping herself warm to notice Nimbus's eyes running back and forth through her entire body. 

"Aren't you cold up here?" Twilight asked Nimbus with a shiver. 

Nimbus was caught off guard by the question. "What?" he asked, requesting her to repeat herself. 

"It's a lot warmer inside." Twilight tilted her head towards the door she came through. "My friend, Nora, and I just started heating some hot cho-" 

"Nora..." Nimbus repeated the name forwards and backwards through his head. He looked up at the sky , hoping something would fall and hit him in the head to remind him where he heard that name. "Nora, Nora, Nora...." He knew there was a reason why the name stuck out like a single white cloud in the clear blue sky. Nimbus looked over at Twilight to see she had backed up back towards the door with her magic around the handle, ready to sprint back inside if this stranger danger Pegasus did anything funny. 

"You.... might know her because she writes stories for major newspapers form time to time?" Twilight was starting to realize why Nimbus might have known who Nora was. Twilight had actually seen a picture of him Nora was using in the interview she had with him that never happened. If Nimbus was trying to get his way into the library to get to her friend Nora, Twilight would have to stop him. 

Nimbus made a snapping noise with his wing when he remembered Nora was the one who wrote story on him taking a bullet for Rainbow Dash those few months back, he was absolutely unaware of the interview Twilight was scared he had read. "That's Nora! I have been meaning to pay her a visit." 

The idea of zapping the Pegasus intruder with a incapacitation spell crossed Twilight's mind more time than once. It would take some time to charge the spell though, and from the way Nora had talked about Nimbus, he was supposed to be pretty fast, fast enough to charge Twilight midway through her spell if he wanted to. 

There was possibly another and more logical solution but Twilight figured she should at least let Nora decide what to do in this situation herself. This is what Nora should expect if she was going to keep lying about her interviews. 

Twilight nodded and pushed the door opened behind her with a faint glow from her horn. "She's...in here." Twilight hoped Dim Light, the librarian, wouldn't see her letting in a non-member on the top floor of the library. 

Nimbus followed in a few feet behind Twilight, avoiding to look directly behind her out of respect. He already felt a bit guilty for looking at her the way he did earlier, but he by no means regretted it. 

Off to Nimbus's left and right were strong solid white support walls that touched from the ceiling to the floor filled with books. At the end of each line of books was a small push cart filled with others books of the same category. The library had run out of space for all their books years ago and had to place some of the more ignored books onto carts before they were transferred to a more unfortunate or smaller library.  

The lighting inside was incredibly adequate and served every area of the library with proper light.  Tiny lamps with firefly size fires were decorated at each table. The lamps floated barely above the tables with a levitation enchantment that were placed on each one. 

"Whoa, that's so cool!" Nimbus bursted out, pointing at one of the floating lamps. A choir of "shhs" were followed by Nimbus's loud outburst. He ducked his head in between his shoulders, tucked his tail between his legs, and smiled embarrassingly. "Sorry." He apologized quickly in a tone he quickly realized belonged to Fluttershy. 

Twilight laughed lightly at Nimbus's tip hoofing when he tried to be more quiet. "The ponies here only care if you talk too loudly, not if you're walking, Mr....." Twilight didn't know for sure if "Nimbus" was the actual pegasus or just an alias Nora had used for him. 

"It's Nimbus." Nimbus told Twilight in a whisper. 

"Twilight" Twilight introduced herself with a smile. She was having second thoughts about Nimbus. Even though she thought he was a threat as of a few seconds ago, he seemed relatively normal. Nothing shouted out the word "Hero" like Nora described him as to Twilight and her news stories, but she didn't completely doubt it. 

"So, why WERE you outside on the balcony?" Twilight asked, hoping she didn't step over an boundaries with her question. 

Nimbus didn't mind answering. Talking and pointing with his wing at the balcony he and Twilight just came from. "Ehh, I was over there mainly because I just wanted some alone time." He didn't forget why Rainbow Dash wasn't with him right now. It had been quite some time now since Nimbus went anywhere by himself. If it wasn't for what happened about an hour ago, he and Rainbow Dash probably wouldn't have noticed if somepony attached a three foot piece of rope between them. 

Judging form the answer, Twilight knew Nimbus WAS upset about something personal, but he seemed a little awestruck and amazed by the inside of the Canterlot Library to be negative. She didn't know whether if she was in the right position to pry further or not about Nimbus's problem. Instead, she just asked another question that had an obvious answer. 

"This is your first time?....in the library I mean." Twilight corrected herself quickly. 

The innuendo Twilight thought Nimbus would have caught onto clearly went over his head. "Yeah." Nimbus nodded, looking left and right at all the neatly positioned books. "I been at the front door before, but I was just doing courier work to deliver some ordered books." 

"Oh, you're a courier?" Twilight asked with a slight interest. She thought perhaps if he delivered books to the library, he could deliver books she been meaning to get her hooves on for some time now but were too far away. 

"Not...really. Not anymore." Nimbus made a strange gesture with his face like something flew into his eye. "I only do work for my friend, Sky Forge, to deliver some of her weapons, armor, and stuff she makes, but that's like once every few weeks, if that." 

"Oh, school caught up with you? I know flight school for Pegasus gets pretty hectic around the end of your last three years." Twilight's knowledge of Flight School surprised Nimbus, but he shouldn't have expected less from a student attending Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. 

The patch on Twilight's book bags was the dead giveaway that told Nimbus who she was. Also, seeing how far both sides of her saddle bags were stretching the material, she was either the top student or at least trying to be. "No, I just miss my weekends. What about you though? That saddle looks pretty full." 

"Oh, this?" Twilight bounced the saddle on her back. "This isn't school, these are just for my own entertainment when I get done with all my assignments." 

Nimbus resisted the inclination to call Twilight a nerd behind her back. "Entertainment like what?" Nimbus was beginning to wonder how much monger it was going to take them to reach Nora. Twilight couldn't have come from very far. 

Twilight quickly clicked open one end of her bags and floated a thick black hard cover book towards Nimbus. 

"String theory?" Nimbus read out loud, squinting at the book title as he tried to make sense of what string theory was. "You're into knitting and sewing?" 

"No, no." Twilight laughed. She floated the book away from Nimbus and in front of her view. "String Theory is the theory of multiple universes existing, to put it blankly." 

"Oh, like if everypony was the opposite gender of what they were?" Nimbus asked. He only knew a slight bit about multi-verses because of a comic book issue of "Bat Mare" where Bat Mare gets thrown into another universe by the evil PWNtanium. 

"Yes, that's actually right. I wouldn't expect a Pegasus to know anything like that, no disrespect." Twilight admitted. 

"Meh." Nimbus shrugged casually. "I read a...'book' on it once." 

Sitting at a table a few feet away form Twilight and himself, Nimbus saw a light orange unicorn with short pink hair wearing a light tan head wrap just over her horn. She had a book laid out in front of her that was glowing with bright pink magic connected to her horn. Even stranger about her appearance was the half red left foreleg she had. Nimbus thought about asking Twilight about it but after looking at it a second time, he felt like the question would be a little too personal for him to ask on his first impression.

The unicorn also had the same faint pink glow over her eyes but Nimbus could still clearly see her slightly intriguing blue-green eyes. Her eyes were wide open and staring off into the empty space in front of her as she was...reading the book with her mind? 

Nimbus couldn't exactly tell what was going on. Standing in place, Nimbus stretched and leaned his neck down towards Twilight and asked "Who is that and what's she doing?" 

Just as Nimbus had guessed, Twilight told him "That's Nora, and she's reading that book you see on the table with her mind." 

"I didn't even know unicorns could do that." 

Twilight shook her head slowly at Nimbus. "No, well not like she can. Nora has the natural ability to do so, it's how she got her cutie mark." 

Nimbus cocked and turned his head in different directions and positions to try and get a look at what Nora's cutie Mark was, but she was leaned in too close to the table for him to see it properly. "Is she aware that we're here?" 

"Not really..." Twilight walked over towards Nora and waved her hoof over her eyes to demonstrate how deep into the book and her magic Nora really was. "It's kind of like when somepony is standing behind you and you have that 'sixth sense' that they're there, even though you can't physically detect them." 

Nimbus went over to Nora and stretched out his wing towards her back. "What happens if I-" 

"DON'T TOUCH HER!" Twilight warned quickly but it was too late. 

Nimbus's wing touched Nora's back before he even heard Twilight open her mouth. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as he saw quick flashes and visions of shadowy figures dressed in black jumping in between the dark corners of his tunnel vision. He couldn't make out what was happening, but he felt like he knew exactly what to do. 

It took Nimbus a few seconds to realize that he mimicking and following the shadowy figure in front of him. He felt nimble and spry, like he could run across lily pads in a pond if he wanted to. He had never felt so light and acrobatic like this ever, it was absolutely exhilarating.  

Once Nimbus finally caught up with the shadowy figure in his vision, his dream stopped and he opened his eyes back to the real world and looking up at two concerned unicorns standing over him. 

"W-what in Tartarus was that?!" Nimbus got back back to his hooves with the assistance of Twilight's base level levitation spell. "That was amazing I feel-I feel like a ninja!" Nimbus shouted excitedly to only have the whole left corner of the library shush him right away. 

"That's not entirely surprising." Nora spoke for the first time since Nimbus had arrived. "I WAS reading about the art of the ninja, until you interrupted me." 

Nimbus flashed some teeth at thw two unicorns were exchanging expressions between each other. "Sorry about that, but it didn't seem so dangerous." 

"That's just it though." Twilight started as she put her hoof over Nimbus's forehead. "You don't have a fever, no nausea, you're not even green or foaming at the mouth." 

"Wait, I'm supposed to be sick?" Nimbus asked. He looked himself over and trotted around in circle before facing Twilight and Nora again. "I feel completely fine, better even!" 

"You are supposed to be sick-" 

"Keyword: SUPPOSED TO." Nora emphasized for Twilight with an interruption. 

"-but you said, you feel fine?" Twilight looked to Nora and said to her. "This might actually work out for you." 

Nora looked at Nimbus to see him smiling with an open side expression before she looked back to Twilight and said simply "No." 

"Don't be like that, Nora, do you want to get in there or not? He could get you inside help you conserve your energy for what you really need to do." Twilight was being a bit stern with Nora. 

"Hold on, I feel like I"m being volun-told to do something. What exactly am I doing?" 

Nora glanced over Nimbus. "Well, he's not as dumb as most Pegasus you run into." 

"He did jump in front of a bullet though instead of just pulling his friend out of the way and swatting the gun out of the other pony's grasp." Twilight reminded Nora.  

"True." Nora agreed without debate. "But the 'Celestial Archives' were made before the development of guns, so we should be good." 

"What about arrows though? He might jump in front of those." 

"I think as long as his friend isn't there, he won't jump in front of anything." 

"Do you think he's smart enough to open the door for you?" 

Nimbus's smile had dropped way back in the beginning of the conversation going on between Nora and Twilight. "You two do know that I'm standing right here." He said, tapping the ground beneath his right front hoof. "I can hear everything you're saying." 

Nora spark a pink light at the tip of her horn and conjured a light pin-holed shield over herself and Twilight. Nimbus saw that she had placed a private-room spell between the two of them and him so he couldn't hear what they were saying. He wished he had been able to read lips or body movement. Their mouths were moving but the pinhole shield was preventing him from hearing anything they were saying. 

"Stupid unicorns and their damns spells." Nimbus pouted. He sat down his rump hard on the ground and crossed his wings over his chest. "Think they're all smart and stuff." Putting on his impression of unicorns, Nimbus placed his wing high over his head to represent a horn. "Look at me, I'm a unicorn, I can count by 47 and sing my ABC's backwards!" 

Making a hole wide enough to reveal her face with her own magic, Twilight stuck her head out and told Nimbus. "We can still hear YOU." 

Nimbus froze with his wing still stiffly above his head. "...I knew that." He lied. 







> Now you don'tsee me, now you...still don't see me
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay, so...I'm helping you break into a underground part of the library that might not even exist?" 

"No." Nora answered Nimbus simply. "We are NOT breaking in." Nora watched her steps as she galloped quickly down the stairs leading to the section of the library restricted only to those authorized. We're sneaking into a restricted section of the underground part of the library, looking for an aisle that might not exactly exist." 

"Sounds legit." Nimbus gagged. "And why me?" 

Nora sighed and stopped in her tracks to poke Nimbus in the chest with a blunt edge glow she made from her magic. "Because." She jabbed her magic hard into Nimbus's chest with every other word or so. "You were able to comprehend that book a lot faster than I could." She sent her magic away and descend back down the stairs again. "I had been reading that book back and forth to try and learn stealth as effectively as I could for months!" 

A single wooden door was at the end of the steps with a picture of the sun burned over it. Nora began to touch each blade of the sun before setting her hoof in the middle circle. "But you were able to pick up the knowledge in a mere amount of seconds. In theory, I think the reason you were able to is because you were always capable of those specific traits, hence now you're more agile, nimbler, and stealthier as you mentioned before." 

"Stealthier, maybe. I've never actually-" Nimbus was about to tell Nora he was never really much of a sneaky pony but he remembered all the times he use to sneak in through Rainbow Dash's window at night to talk to her and have a place to sleep before he properly moved in. 

Nora saw the obvious realization Nimbus had just discovered. "See?" Nora pushed the hoof she had set on the middle circle of the sun deeper into the door. Not longer after, the door made several heavy clicking sounds and released itself slightly off the wall. "You were always capable of learning that material in your mind. My spell just..."

Nora thought long and hard to best explain why her reading spell was able to help Nimbus. She had no logical reason why or how it worked, so she just gave him more elaboration to her theory. "My spell just helped give you the key to a door you already had." 

"Makes...sense?" Nimbus cringed at trying to understand what Nora was saying, it was like trying to read a comic book flipped side ways and upside down. "But why me, couldn't you have gotten a real ninja or somepony who has that sort of expertise?" 

Nora laughed at Nimbus's mistaken attempt for humor. "I didn't feel like spending the bits. Come on, it's right this way." 

"Wait, I'm not getting paid for this?!" Nimbus yelled to Nora as she pushed open the door with a burned sun on it and disappeared into the room it concealed. 

*** 

Nimbus kept shooting ideas for compensation at Nora who had tuned him out several moments ago. They had been walking for over five minutes since Nora had opened the burned sun door from earlier. Even when Nora lead Nimbus to their destination behind a wall, Nimbus was still talking. 

"Maybe not bits, but maybe something like a jewels, or jewelry, or blue berry pie, or something?" 

The slouch in Nora's shoulders were the lowest she had ever had them. "Are you THAT stupid? I stopped listening to you a long time ago." 

"Stupid? Pfft!" Nimbus made a motor sound with his lips before bragging about himself. "My friend Rainbow Dash, and all our class mates, used to cheat off of me for every test we had." 

Nora rolled her eyes. "Keyword: USED TO." 

Beyond the wall Nora and Nimbus were standing behind, a guard, armed with a spear tucked and grasped into his wing, was standing strong in front of a stone picture of Princess Celestia. To the guards right was a hallway where all the ponies who were allowed in the underground part of the library was supposed to venture only. 

Nora could see Nimbus looking at the guards spear with a great peak of interest. Making a claw with her magic,she plucked one of Nimbus's feathers off his wing to yank his attention away. 

With a yelp, Nimbus saw Nora twisting and spinning the blue feather she had plucked. He swiped it back from her and waved at her in his hoof. "Don't. Do. That." He placed the feather back in place where it belonged and gave her his attention. 

"Obviously, you saw the guard and the stone picture he's gaurding, right?" Nora pointed out. 

Nimbus took another look at the stone picture behind the guard and caught on to what Nora was getting at. "There's something back there, isn't there?" 

Nora nodded, impressed with how quickly Nimbus caught on. "Now do you know what I want you to do?" 

A few strands of golden hair fell out of Nimbus's mane as he shook his head with vigorous excitement. "Yep!" 

Nimbus jumped out form behind the wall and shook his tail end of his body at the stocky built armored guard. "Hey, tin can, does this look like the face you saw in the mirror this morning?" 

The face the guard had was indeed blue with a yellow golden stripe going down his face, but he fought the desire to hurl his spear at Nimbus for fear of losing his promotion. "Sir, I'm going to have to-" 

Nimbus continued to wave his two back ends of his flanks at the guard. "Look at him, he's smiling at you!" 

The flames of the guards anger were being teased and kindled. He knew his Company Commander would have this rank on a plate if he attacked Nimbus for being nothing short of annoying, but maybe he'd go easy on him if lied ot him and said Nimbus spit on his armor. 

Air whistled sharlply as the guard charged at Nimbus after setting down his spear first. Nimbus anticpated for the guard to make the first move and back flipped over the guard. The guard's relfexes were more than Nimbus had expected him to have. With a heavy donkey kick, the guard placed two firm back hooves to Nimbus's turned back. 

Nimbus flew into the stone picture of Princess Celestia with his forelegs as widely spread as her was, embracing her hug. Sliding his face down the wall like a thrown squashed tomato, Nimbus recovered back to his hooves and began bouncing left to right. "Okay, okay, you got some moves, but I'm Nimbus! I move so fast I might already be behind you." 

The guard snapped his head behind his back to see if Nimbus had really made his way behind him in a blink. When he turned his head back towards Nimbus, Nimbus had his hoof placed behind his shoulder, ready to plant into the open space of the guards helmet. 

"But I'm not." Nimbus said before punching the guards lights out with a single punch. The guard fell to floor, clanking his armor to the stone floor. 

Pain throbbed in Nimbus's hoof as he tried to shake it out. "It's safe to come out." He called after Nora. 

When Nora made herself visible from behind the wall, Nimbus started to toot his own horn. "You'd think these Canterlot guards would be a lot smarter and in better shape." 

A quick laugh escaped from Nora before she laid the truth on Nimbus. "A Canterlot Guard? This is a library security guard, maybe a rent-a-cop. He's no better some pony dressing up as guard for Nightmare Night." Nora went to the stone picture of Celestia and began to trace the art with her magic. 

"Plus, you weren't even supposed to fight him. I meant for you take tell him he was needed elsewhere." Nora's magic and attention to were too focused to see the disappointment in Nimbus's eyes. 

"B-but I thought this was a CANTERLOT GUARD! I kicked the crap out of him!" Nimbus was angry for believing he had won a one on one fight with one of Equestria's finest. 

Bluntly repeating Nimbus, Nora said "Keyword: YOU THOUGHT." 

"That's getting really annoying..." Nimbus confessed to Nora. 

Looking at the spear the guard had set down, Nimbus picked it up with his wing and grasped it firmly. The spear wasn't thick enough to be an uncomfortable grip for Nimbus and it was too long for loss of control when he thrust safely forward to see how it felt. Nimbus liked how he felt holding spear. He flipped the sharp end behind his wing to avoid jabbing it into anything when he walked forward. 

After a half hour of rotating the image of Celestia, Nora got fed up with trying to solve the puzzle of opening the door and shot a red flare at it. "This makes no sense! The picture is perfect, why won't it open?" 

Nimbus looked over at the image completely over and noticed a glimpse of something in the sun over Celestia's left shoulder. "The sun looks like it's the wrong way or something." 

"It's a circle, there is no wrong way to turn it." Nora gritted her teeth. "Just let me do this." 

Shrugging, Nimbus turned back around, careful not to hit Nora with his newly acquired spear. "Whatever, it's just a suggestion." After finding a corner he could curl up into, Nimbus told Nora one last thing before shutting his eyes. "Just wake me when you figure that out." 

Waiting until Nimbus went to sleep, Nora looked at the sun Nimbus had mentioned and noticed that one edge of the sun was darker the rest of it. She looked over at Celestia's right shoulder to see the moon with a lighter edge on one side as well. "That can't possibly..." Nora said to herself. Spinning the sun to the right position, the stone picture began to shake and vibrate violently, waking Nimbus. 

"What'd you do different?" Nimbus asked, rubbing the small time of sleep he got out of his eyes. 

"Err, I said the magic word." Nora lied. She waited until the door completely lifted overhead to walk through it.

"What was the magic word?" Nimbus asked. He grabbed his spear back up and tucked it back underneath his wing same as last time. 

"It was 'Please, open', then the door opened." Nora was going to stretch the lie for as long as she could before she would admit she took advice from Nimbus. "I thought I knew what I was doing, I just forgot that one little thing." 

Nimbus couldn't see the picture that had been tucked into the ceiling over his head to see that Nora had changed the sun the right way like he told her to. With a cocky smile and a bad impersonation of Nora's voice, Nimbus said "Key word: YOU THOUGHT." 

*** 

Unlike the main part of the library up above, the underground infamous hidden part consisted of old red wood bookshelves they fooled ponies into thinking they were newly added. The surface of the wood was fairly smooth to the touch when Nimbus dragged his wing across it. He also looked up to see old floating chandeliers that more than likely had the same enchantment as the lamps upstairs. 

"How long does a a levitation enchantment last for if these things have been here forever?" Nimbus asked curiously. He wondered if and how long a pony would stay floating if they had a levitation enchantment on them. 

"It depends on the pony who casted it." Nora floated a scroll from one of the red wooden shelves. "Take me for example, if I were to cast a levitation enchantment on this light piece of paper, I could have it float only a few hours. Levitation is exactly something I emphasis a lot of my magic on." 

With a snapping pop coming from her horn, Nora pulled down one of the chandeliers with her magic and enveloped it with a soft pink glow after placing the scroll she pulled back where she got it. "Now, if I were to place that same enchantment on this chandelier, I could only keep it up for a few minutes." 

Nimbus snorted at the "keep it up" innuendo he had just thought of. After Nora gave him a disgusted look, he cleaned up his act and asked "Is that because it's heavier?" 

The pink soft glow slowly disappeared from the chandelier when Nora allowed it to float back up to it's regular position. "Yes." She nodded. "The pony who put the enchantment on these chandeliers must be incredibly talented. From what I can read from the enchantment on this chandelier, it should stay floating until next week."

"Which means somepony comes in here every few weeks or so and recreates the same enchantment." Nimbus added. 

"You're not as dumb as I would have thought a Pegasus should be. Keep impressing me and I won't be so judgmental when a Pegasus walks into the library." Nora complimented Nimbus for the first time at her own expense. 

Brushing and changing the style of his mane, Nimbus cleaned the loose golden strands of hair on his hoof. "Then I bet you'd be absolutely amazed I go to the Cloudsdale public library every Wednesday." Nimbus's tone was a lot lower than he used normally. 

"To read newest issue of 'Gold Lightning' the comic book series? Yeah, keep trying to get brownie points, airhead." Nora said, walking and turning a corner at one of the aisles. At the end of the aisle Nora turned at was a giant blue glowing orb consistently spinning in place inside of a snugly fit bowl. 

"I don't read Gold Lightning!" Nimbus shouted after Nora."...it's Bat Mare, and she kicks ass." He admitted quietly. 

"I heard that. Now, stop horsing around and get over here." 

Nimbus did as Nora asked and turned the corner after her. Looking at the blue glowing orb inside of the bowl curiously, Nimbus asked the expected question. "What's this thing?" 

A blue glow brightend Nora's face when she leaned closer towards orb. "This, my comic book reading level friend, was a globe that any unicorn use as a first map if they wanted to get a look at a specific location in visual detail." Nora paused and  lifted her away from the orb. "Keyword: WAS." 

"You going to keep doing that every ten minutes?" Nimbus asked in a annoyed tone. "It's getting old really fast." 

A flicked hoof coming from Nora told Nimbus she was going to ignore that question and continue explaining. "I'm going to try and reactivate then permanently reinvent the map inside of my mind." 

"You can do that?" Nimbus asked. He didn't think unicorns were ever capable of accomplishing task as such as this. 

Nora's pink mane brush both sides of her face as she shook her head. "I'm not entirely too sure if I can. I know I won't be able to see a town in real time like I could with the orb or even copy the entire world in my mind, but I at least want to be able to know where I am if I ever get lost somewhere in Equestria."

"I still don't know what you want me to do." Nimbus told Nora again.

The blue orb Nora specified as a real time globe began to become surrounded in Nora's pink magic. "That won't come until we reach the back of this library that's probably still guarded by a Chimera." 

"There's a Chimera in this place?!" Nimbus shouted before quickly slapping his hooves over his mouth in case the unsuspecting Chimera was in earshot. Nimbus's question didn't reach Nora in time before she got lost in reading the globe with her reading spell. 

Nimbus reached out to tap her shoulder, but he quickly pulled it back, remembering how dangerous Twilight told him it was supposed to be when somepony interfered with her reading.  

Sighing with boredom, Nimbus flew up to one of the  chandeliers and rested on it, hoping the enchantment would be able to hold him up. Now with an aerial view of the layout, Nimbus looked out in the opposite direction of where he and Nora had entered from. He couldn't see too much farther than maybe a hundred feet in front of him. The area was entirely open and completely unblocked but it was difficult to see past the darkness of the dimly lit underground library. 

There was no sign of any Chimera that Nimbus could see but he didn't dare challenge Nora's warning. 

A few minutes under twenty minutes had passed by and Nora was still "activating and reading" the globe down below. Nimbus was growing impatient and decided to fall down back to the ground and read one the scrolls to keep himself busy. There was no obvious categorization for the scrolls like in most libraries. They just seemed like they were randomly placed on the shelves to Nimbus. 

Not being able to make heads or tails of what subject the shelf in front of him covered, Nimbus groaned and looked up to see a hanging banner with the words "Geography and Maps" etched on. 

Feeling stupid for having missed such an obvious sign, Nimbus looked back at the shelf again and noticed a small tag at each end of the scrolls. Each tag had the title or specified what the scroll in particular consisted of.    

Well, here's Cloudsdale. Nimbus thought to himself. He saw no point of reading about a city he was already home to, plus the scroll was more than likely out dated and was fairly thin. Looking to find something to quench his boredom, Nimbus began to flip and read each tag from Cloudsdale down. It wasn't until Nimbus saw a sparkling blue scroll that his interest suddenly spiked. 

The blue scroll had a quiet hymn to that synced with it's sparkling flashes. The tag Nimbus grabbed and read told him the particular scroll in mind covered the entirety of the "Crystal Empire". 

Nimbus repeated the unfamiliar name out loud and rolled the scroll open. The scroll was far more thicker than the Cloudsdale one her looked at. Reading from top to the middle of the first page of the scroll. Nimbus learned that the Crystal Empire used to exist far up north in Equestria and was known to have disappeared a long time ago when a Unicorn known as King Sombra came to power. Nopony really knows why or where the Crystal Empire disappeared off to and nothing else was known about it since then. 

The rest of the scrolled pages was about the very first history of the the Crystal Empire and how jousting was a local favored sport to it civilians. None of it which really surprised Nimbus, so he put it back to feel a shaking at the ground underneath his hooves. He nearly dropped the spear he was holding for so long he almost forgot about it. 

"What the hell is that?" Nimbus asked as he looked around the scroll shelf to see what could be causing the shaking. 

Past a few more scrolls shelves, down the main aisle, a fully armored pony casted in black steel was making his way Nimbus's direction. No part of the pony's body was exposed, every spot was covered in the rusted black steel armor. The armor didn't seem like it was very durable like it would be back in the day, but it still casted an intimidating image. To the knight's left was a sword way to long to be carried if he/she tried to carry it between the scroll shelves. At the tip of it's armored tail was a a thick shield with a half circle cutout of the right side, made for spear thrusting. 

Nimbus pulled his head back behind the shelf and swore under his breath. "Shit." He ran to Nora to check on her status. She was still deep within the globe and completely still in place. Nimbus knew better than try to wake her from her reading. 

Nimbus looked at the spear tucked under his wing. It was a completely obsolete weapon compared to the Knight's own weapon of choice and armor, but it prove useful if Nimbus wanted to attack from a narrow distance. Even with his sword sheathed, Nimbus expected the Knight would have trouble walking in between the bookshelves comfortably. 

Walking around the scroll shelf the Knight was passing by, Nimbus waited until the Knight strolled past the shelf to walk in the aisle behind him. Nimbus's steps were light and fast, almost no sound escaped from them but the Knight's clanky loud armor made it beneficial for Nimbus to run quickly without sound. 

His breathing was quick but light, Nimbus was about taking on the Knight. He had no real expert fighting skills. His speed and agility would have to be his main focus. After flipping the sharp end of the spear towards the Knight's helmet, Nimbus made a plan to remove or knock off the Knight's helm to expose a soft spot. He had no intentions of killing or seriously hurting who was underneath, but Nimbus needed a hole in the Knight's defense. 

Nimbus easily set the spear down without a sound and crept further towards the Knight. Only a few inches from reaching out and touching the Knight, Nimbus glide jumped and landed on the Knight's  back. 

Nimbus wrapped and clenched his hooves tightly around the Knight's neck and held on tightly as he began to buck. The Knight was too heavily armored to properly buck or even try to get Nimbus off his back. Instead, the Knight rolled to his left to crush Nimbus with his weight, but the scroll shelf to his side stood strong and kept him at a lean. 

Seeing how he almost came to his possible end, Nimbus made quick time to place his right hoof over the top of the Knight's helm and yank upwards. There was no seal to fasten the helmet to the rest of the armor, so Nimbus had put forth too much effort into his pull and rolled off the Knight's back. 

Nimbus recovered quickly just to see the Knight leaned back on all four hooves. When Nimbus looked to see the Knight's exposed head, there was none, no head at all, just nothing. The helmet-less Knight turned slowly around to "face" Nimbus. Nimbus chunked the empty helmet at the Knight's chest but it proved nothing more than mere failed attempt. 

The Knight picked up the helm Nimbus had removed and tried to place it back on but it only stayed in place for a few seconds before it fell and clanked to the floor. The Knight tried to same task several more times but his helmet was now forever gone from his body. He looked back where he last seen Nimbus to see that he was no longer there. 

Nimbus took the time the Knight used to place his helmet back on and snuck away behind one the scroll shelves. He took a wild guess but he thought if the Knight couldn't put his helmet back on, he wouldn't be able to place his other armor back on if Nimbus removed it. It was a gambling decision but it was the only one Nimbus could think of. 

The spear was too far away for Nimbus to grab but it still didn't have the weight Nimbus need to thrust the rest of the Knight's armor off. He couldn't risk trying to get close enough to pull the armor off now that the Knight was aware. 

Nimbus could hear the Knight going in the opposite direction of where he was. He ascended upwards quietly and placed himself on top of the chandelier over head. When he placed all four hooves on the chandelier, Nimbus quickly got an idea. If he could jump down and push enough weight to break the enchantment, he could probably use the chandelier to smash the Knight underneath it and push all the armor off. The chandelier was plenty large enough to cover the entire Knight, it could actually work. 

Heavy footsteps made their way back around in Nimbus's direction. He waited until the Knight was walking right in front of the chandelier to finally jump up and push all his weight down. As he had hoped, Nimbus put too much weight for the levitation spell to handle and broke it. He went flying down, riding the chandelier directly in the Knight's back. 

He never saw it coming, the Knight looked up too late to see Nimbus smash his armor all in different directions. Nimbus fell over with his body laid out over the carnage of separated armor. 

Nora came running around the corner just in time to see Nimbus laying down with his eyes closed. "You've been taking a nap this whole time?! What if somepony saw us here?" 

Nimbus cracked open an eye and glared at Nora with disgust at her gratitude. "You have no Celestia damn idea..." 

***  
The way down the back of the library didn't take as long as Nimbus had thought, or as boring. He had so many questions about what Nora got from the glowing globe. 

"So, what did you find out?" 

"I didn't 'find out' anything." Nora told Nimbus with a sharp tone. "I wasn't able to copy the entire map of Equestria into my mind, but I did get an accurate layout of the Everfree Forest like I wanted to originally. Getting the entire map of Equestria was just something I wanted to try." Nora put her hoof over her head and laid it flat. "Though, just getting a map of the Everfree Forest nearly tapped out my magic. I'll be useless if you can't deal with the Chimera properly, unless I can get a replenishing elixir or something." 

"and again, I have to do all the work." Nimbus said with disappointment. 

Pink magic came from Nora's horn, tapping Nimbus lightly on his head. "Buck up. We're almost done...Keyword: Almo-" 

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Enough with that 'keyword' stuff." Nimbus requested after swatting Nora's magic away. 

A foul stench filled the air, making Nimbus cringe his muzzle and make a gagging sound. "What the hell is that smell?" He said, cuffing his hoof over his muzzle. "That smell is nauseating." 

"It's Chimera drool, and you're about to step in it." Nora warned and stopped Nimbus from stepping into the large puddle with help from her magic. 

The smell of the drool was making Nimbus dizzy and his eyes watery. "Why does it smell so...like that?" He asked, stepping over the puddle. 

"That's what the Chimera uses as fuel to breath it's fire." 

"Oh, cool, it breathes fire. How exciting. If you excuse me, I'm going home." Nimbus turned sharply and got quickly dragged back by his tail from Nora's magic. 

"No, you're not. Come on, you don't even have to fight this one, just sneak past it." Nora released Nimbus's tail from her magic. "All you got to do is find a book made of pony skin." 

Nimbus's ears twitched from what Nora had just told him. "...do what?" 

"It won't be hard to find at all. Oh, and it has an actual pony spine for a book spin. You should have no trouble finding it." Nora peered a bit past one of the last shelves before there was a wide open dark space in the middle of the library. "This is where I'll stop. You go on and sneak past. I shouldn't have to tell you but stick to the walls so you don't get lost. I don't know what it's like past this." 

Nimbus's eye was twitching as he was trying to comprehend what was happening. "Let me get this straight, just so we're on the same page, and no that's no an intended pun because we're in a library." Nimbus moved his hooves left and right to explain his side of what was about to happen. "You want ME to walk out there in the dark and sneak past a Chimera, something that breathes fire, and try to find a book that's made of pony remains?" 

"Yes, it's like I didn't just get done saying that!" Nora approved. "Now stop stalling and go get my book!" 

"Why are you so casual about this?! You act like this is a normal weekend for everypony!" Nimbus was getting really animated with his dialog and pronouncing his words. 

Nora sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with a pinch of her magic. "Look, I'll make a deal with you. You help me get this book and I'll help you with your heart problem." 

"Heart problem?" Nimbus laughed. " I don't got no damn heart problem." 

Rolling her eyes at Nimbus's attitude, Nora rephrased her offer. "Heart defect, whatever you want to call it. I know you have one bad heart and one good heart, it's why you been haven't been racing as much as you used to." 

Nimbus went quiet. Nora was right, Nimbus did have a bad heart he didn't want anypony to find out about. It was something that couldn't be explained, not without him dishing out about a thousand bits, not to mention a thousand more if he wanted to fix it. He had been keeping his secret about having two hearts for so long from everypony, not even the pony he trusted the most, Rainbow Dash, knew about it. 

"H-how do you kno-" 

"I got permission from your doctor to look at your medical profile. All I had to do was ask nicely. It was a real convenience that you came along today. I was just about to give up on reading that book for the hundredth time." Nora peered back behind the bookshelf to make sure nopony or any creature was going to creep up behind her. "I don't want to black mail you, but I REALLY need this book. I can even use it to help you, you just have to give it time though, okay?" 

Nora held out her right red hoof up to Nimbus as a friendly gesture. "Deal?" 

Trusting somepony he just met, especially mares, was starting to become a trend with Nimbus. If Nora could help him with his heart, he could go racing with Rainbow Dash again like he did back then. "Deal." Nimbus took Nora's red hoof in his wing and shook it firmly. "Plus, I don't know my way back." 

*** 

Keeping to the walls like Nora had suggested, Nimbus made it to the very end of the library within a few seconds under a minute. Unlike the rest of the library underground. This section had actual books. They were all fairly great condition, except for the dust they collected over however long they had been here. 

Nothing like a pony's spine seemed to stand out of the shelves. There was no possible way Nimbus could be over looking it, it was too unique....and strangely out of place. The actual title of the book had never actually been dropped on Nimbus, so he had no idea what to look for as category went. 

Nimbus felt like he was on a wild goose chase until he turned his third aisle of book shelves and saw something jutting out way beyond the other books. No question it was a pony spine and the very book he was looking for. 

Excitedly, Nimbus began to run towards the book until a deep growl caused his coat to nearly take off in a different direction. No doubt it was the Chimera or whatever was supposed to be guarding this section of the library.  Nimbus stopped in his tracks and pressed his back against the shelf. He slid towards the book he wanted slowly and without a sound. He didn't hear another growl or any other indication of where it could be. 

Finally reaching the book and pulling it from the shelf by it's actual skeletal spine, Nimbus froze up when he got a good look at the front cover of the book. It was an actual pony's skinned face looking directly back at Nimbus. There was only the empty eye sockets Nimbus was looking at, but he felt like the original owner of the face was still staring right back at him. The even creepier part of the face was the fact that the face seemed to have a still consistent smile. 

Shuddering in his feathers, Nimbus hesitated to look any further into the book, but he needed to know what he was going to lend over to Nora. He struggled to open the book. It wasn't exactly very thick, except for the skin layered front and back covers of the book itself. Nimbus frighteningly placed his hoof over the dead face cover and tried to pry it open from the front that way. 

A voice that Nimbus had never heard before nearly made him jump higher than the Chimera's growl. The voice sounded like there was two ponies simultaneously talking at once. "Hehe don't tickle my nose, it tickles." The unknown voice laughed. 

Nimbus hugged the book to his chest asked in a whisper "Who's there?" 

Feeling a few tugs at his chest, Nimbus heard the voices again. "Down here." 

Fear told Nimbus to keep the book close to him if he wanted to keep his eyes inside of his skull, but his curiouslty was louder than his wisdom. 

Finally putting a face to the voices, the face on the book spoke. "Hey, have you seen 'Tia or Woona? I haven't spoken to them in years!" 

Nimbus's mouth hung wide open as he stared long at the talking face on the book. "Celestia's sweet shinning ass....it talks." 

"Hey, I'm Knowledge. Who are you?" The book asked. 

A growl tore between Knowledge and Nimbus's conversation. The sign to leave as fast as he could was finally given to Nimbus. He tucked Knowledge underneath his wing and began to book it back to Nora. 

"Hey, that's Tiny Tooth! Tiny Tooth we're over here!" Knowledge shouted to the Chimera's unknown location. 

Bookshelves few in different directions when the Chimera pushed his way passed them. Past the loose flying pages in the air, the Chimera saw Nimbus running away just in time to see him duck and slide the bottom shelf of one of the scroll shelves. 

"Run! Runrunrunrun!" Nimbus pushed Nora with his forehead to the main aisle between all the scroll shelves and helped slide her down back towards direction he felt like was the entrance. 

"What are you doing? We're about to miss our left." 

Hearing Nora complaining, Nimbus turned left sharply down the next aisle he could and continued to push her forcefully. "Where do I turn next?" 

"Slow down, you cloud kicker, and tell me if you found-" Nora got distracted from completing her sentence when she saw Knowledge tucked and smiling up at her from Nimbus's wing. 

"Hey, I'm Knowledge! Who are you?" 

A screech, followed by several knocked over book shelves, let Nora know exactly what Nimbus was running away from. She screamed before jumping on Nimbus's back and hugging his neck tightly. She enveloped Knowledge into her magic and screamed again at Nimbus.  "Why are you running? You can fly!" 

The hamster in Nimbus's head stopped running on the hamster wheel and started to run on the treadmill it forgot it had instead. "Oh, yeah..." Nimbus said before flung out his wings and carried Nora on his back. She was much lighter than any chariot or sky wagon he had ever had to pull. 

Getting away from the Chimera was a lot less difficult task for Nimbus now. He could see the entrance only about one hundred yards away.  The door was too narrow for Nimbus to fly through with his wings out. He arched his head back to Nora, who was still hugging his neck. "I'm going to close my wings and dive for the door. Make sure you put a levitation spell on me so I don't crash too hard." 

Nimbus aimed for the middle of the door and closed both his wings and his eyes. 

Hope and confidence left Nimbus instantly when Nora told him. "I can't do a levitation spell...." 

Both of Nimbus's eyes popped back open. He anticipated the landing and turn his chin up. It was too late for him to try opening and closing his wings quick enough to slow his downfall. 

The hard concrete floor beneath Nimbus's chest gave no mercy. The floor was rough, it pulled and tugged at each strand of fur on Nimbus's blue coat. Only tiny missing patches could be seen on Nimbus's chest but the pain inflicted was far from tiny. 

Waiting until Nora removed herself from his back and safely placed all four hooves on the ground, Nimbus rolled over and hissed as he clutched at his chest. He removed his hoof quickly to see if there was any visible blood, but to his relief, his hoof was clean. 

Nora lightly kicked Nimbus in his rump. "Get up." She ordered. 

Nimbus pushed her away wit his wing. "You get up...out of here, you and your non-levitating spell ass." Nimbus shot his insult at Nora. "Why can't you...wait, you pulled that chandelier down earlier, though." 

"HELLO!!" Nora placed and launched her hoof off of her head. "That wasn't a levitation spell, it was a magnetism spell, only works on metal." 

Trying to make sense of what kind of unicorn Nora was, Nimbus spelled out his perception. "Let me get this straight, you can use a magnetism spell, read a map and permanently imprint to your mind in under an hour, read books with your mind in a quarter of the time it takes to physically read it, but you can't levitate that same book off a bookshelf?" 

The look on Nora's face told Nimbus she was in deed quite upset the issue. "SO?!" Nora shouted at Nimbus, trying not to cry. "Maybe I can't comprehend something as basic as the levitation spell, but look at everything else I can do."

Nora pinched and picked up Knowledge by his spine, using the same claw spell she used to poke Nimbus in the chest.  "I found this, it's going to change everything for me!" 

"Oh" Nimbus started, rolling his eyes. "Is living in Canterlot as one of Celestia's gifted students not enough for you?" 

The next thing Nora said threw Nimbus's question right back in his face. "...I'm not a student of Celestia's." 

A sign with the word "ASS" should have been placed over Nimbus's shoulders for the way he felt for being so rude to Nora. "M-my bad, I thought you WERE a student because you were in the library." 

"Keywords: WERE A STUDENT" Nora said with her head down and setting Knowledge down gently before patting him softly with her claw spell. "I was a student of Celestia's class...Key-" 

"I get it." Nimbus interrupted. "Keep it moving forward." He urged her to continue telling her story. 

Nora breathed in deeply through her nose and exhaled a heavy weight of air. "I was a student for about three years, until one of the teachers was persistent that I learn the levitation before I advanced to the next year. Obviously, I didn't. I never have. I was let go from the school and to resort going to regular grade school like all the other ponies in my age group." 

"Since then, I've been motivated to prove those who told me I wasn't good enough wrong. I learned the reading spell really early in my quest so I could learn faster, but it's advanced far more than just reading a book with my mind since then. There are times when I learn spell simply by reading that pony's mind and mimicking that spell. I'm even capable of performing spells none of the teachers at the school could ever learn. I've even created my own spells!" 

Nora performed the claw spell again and demonstrated it by flexing it into a fist and back into a flat palm. "This is what I use instead of the levitation spell most times, it's own of my own." The spell, along with the small spark at Nora's horn, dissipated with a twinkle. "But...it's still not enough. I've tried, again, and again, but it's never enough to get back into Celestia's school!" 

Knowledge got lifted back up again by Nora's magical claw. She spoke softly and bowed her head on the front cover of Knowledge. "That's why I pursued this book. My last personal hope to show everypony I AM special." 

If things had gone a little differently for Nimbus, he could have been in the same situation as Nora. He never told anypony, but Rainbow Dash was really the only reason he stayed. Not because she was his best friend, but because she was his own personal coach. Back when they first met, Rainbow Dash pushed Nimbus to fly faster and to never give up, in return she would give him a one on one race. Even though their first race wasn't entirely fair, Nimbus always did as Rainbow Dash told him: fly fast, and if you feel like giving up, fly faster, and he always did. 

For some time now though, one of Nimbus's two hearts was having problems. It was no longer able to keep with the other heart and preventing Nimbus to fly as fast as he wish he could. Fortunately, Nimbus was grateful he had trained so much to still keep way ahead of his other classmates. 

Nimbus pulled Knowledge down from Nora's forehead with his wing and told her. "I'm not going to stand here and tell you 'I know how you feel' because I don't, but I do think you need to see the silver lining." 

"What silver lining?" Nora asked, almost forgetting Knowledge had a face now that he was smiling as her. 

"I mean" Nimbus pulled Knowledge away from Nora. "Look at what you've done. You got me to move around like a freaking ninja without even meaning to! You found this amazing..." Nimbus took another glance at Knowledge's disturbing face. "...this amazing-yet-very-grotesque-looking-book! You have done two things nopony has ever done." 

Nimbus laid a hugging wing around Nora's neck. "You're an amazing pony, Nora, and ever let anypony tell you otherwise." 

*** 
Nora and Nimbus made it back outside of the library after ten minutes of leaving the underground archives. The sun had set about two hours ago and Nimbus freaked out when he saw how late in the night it had gotten. 

"It's freaking nine already?! I left home at like six!" Nimbus started to pant. "Rainbow Dash is going to kick the living crap out of me. I mean she already does, but she's going to do it more brutally this time!" 

He turned to Nora and apologized. "Sorry to go so fast, but I REALLY have to go." 

"Don't you want to know what just got for me at least?" Nora asked Nimbus and grabbing his tail with her pink glowing claw. 

Nimbus turned around to face her. "Okay, but only the first few pages then I'm out." 

"Okay!" Nora cheered for finally making her first friend with a Pegasus. 

Using her right red leg, Nora tried to open up Knowledge but he just grunted and refused to open up. Letting go of Knowledge's strangely soft pony skin cover, Nora asked him. "Why won't you open for me, Knowledge?" 

"Because you don't have to read me, silly!" Knowledge told Nora with both his voices giggling. "Just tell me what you want to know about the Fellowship Wands." 

"The Fellowship Wands?" Nimbus repeated "What in Tartarus are those?" 

"The Fellowship Wands are what created the Elements of Harmony, Nimbus" Knowledge happily informed. "But they're so much more capable than just creating things." 

"The Elements of Harmony?" Nimbus repeated once again. "Am I supposed to know what those are?" 

"The Elements of Harmony, Nimbus! The very things that were used to defeat Discord and Nightmare Moon." Nora said. She couldn't believe somepony she knew wouldn't know what the Elements of Harmony were. 

Nimbus stared speechless between Nora and Knowledge with the two of them staring back at him just as hard. "....who?" Nimbus asked. 

*** 
The wind in Nimbus's eyes were lmiting his vision as he dodged and juked around every cloud in his path. "WHY ARE THE SO MANY CLOUDS ALL OF A SUDDEN?! IT'S NOT EVEN SUPPOSED TO RAIN TONIGHT!" 

Nimbus was flying faster than he was on his way to the library. He was only able to cut his time by about ten minutes of travel between the library and the edge of Cloudsdale. 

After finally finding somewhere solid to land, Nimbus set his hooves down and panted heavily. Both of his hearts were punishing him from the inside of his chest for pushing himself so hard. His breathing was heavy and barely controllable. Nimbus breathed in through his nose deeply, placing a hoof on his chest, and exhaled slowly to catch his breath. 

When Nimbus finally caught his breath, his ears twitched at the sound of loud constant blowing horns. He knew that sound clearly, it belonged to the city knights of Cloudsdale. They were only used when there was something big going down, usually along the lines of somepony being severely injured or a murder. 

Knowing better than to go anywhere where a murder could have gone, some sixth sense told Nimbus he needed to go towards the sound. Going against all safety precautions, Nimbus raced his way towards the horn sirens and made no hesitations to fly faster. 

It took Nimbus about a few minutes to reach the horns, or actually to see where they were coming from. About a hundred feet in front of him, Nimbus spotted a large crowd circling something of obviously great interest.  The group hovering above was just as crowded as the one down below. Nimbus had to push his way to the front to see what all the commotion was about. 

Getting about half way through the crowd, Nimbus heard his name be called out by a familiar voice. 

"Nimbus!" Sky Forge waved and called out to him. "We're over here!" On opposite sides of Sky Forge, Nimbus could see her uncle and Rainbow Shine, but no sign of Rainbow Dash or Storm. 

Rainbow Shine ran up to Nimbus and hugged him tightly. "I know you were angry..." She could help herself from crying or hugging Nimbus tighter. "but did you really have to be gone for so long? We started to think you weren't going to come back. I know Rainbow Dash is harsh at tie buy, you know better than anyponyelse, she means well. That's why she went out looking for you, and then she was gone for over an hour-" 

"Rainbow Dash is missing?!" Nimbus interrupted Rainbow Shine suddenly, making her jump in place. "Where did she go? I'm going to go-" 

A wing got draped over Nimbus's shoulders. "We found her, okay? There's no need to get all worked up." Sky Forge told Nimbus. 

Finally realizing that Sky Forge was there, Nimbus asked her. "What are you doing here anyways?" 

Sky Forge held up the lighter she used to send letters to Nimbus and Rainbow Dash every now and then. "Rainbow Dash used your lighter to tell me you were missing. We came as soon as we could." Sky Forge tilted her head back to emphasize who "we" were. "But then...well..." 

"...well?" Nimbus repeated, looking at all three ponies in front of him. "Did something else happen?" 

Rainbow Shine's eyes were shifting back and forth to the middle of the crowd they were all surrounded by and back to Nimbus. "Storm got worried too...He went looking for you and...and..." 

There was something different about the way Rainbow Shine's voice was, now that Nimbus finally payed a lot of attention to it. Her voice sounded broken and the red in her eyes told Nimbus she had been crying just moments ago. The way she was twitching at that very moment, it looked like she was preventing herself from crying again. 

"I-I can't stay over there anymore...Nimbus, y-you need to go to the middle and be there for Rainbow Dash. She really needs-" 

As soon as Nimbus heard that Rainbow Dash was in the middle of the crowd, he began to push his way past all the ponies more aggressively than he did before. He wanted to apologize for worrying her, but when he finally reached the middle Nimbus knew an apology wasn't going to fix what he took away from Rainbow Dash that night. 

Storm was lying there in the middle, chest slightly pierced open, but covered from the open wound and down in his own blood. Rainbow Dash was holding him, yelling and screaming at him to come back, but he wasn't going to. Storm was dead. 

Nimbus didn't have to step any closer once he broke through the crowd for Rainbow Dash to see him. She called out for Nimbus's name softly and he came to her side as quickly as possible, careful not to disrespect Storm's body. She wrapped both her forelegs around him completely and cried into his chest, asking him "W-why? Why did he have to leave without me saying good bye to him?" 

There wasn't answer Nimbus could give Rainbow Dash. The only thing he felt was all the responsibility of Storm's death falling onto him. Even though nopony had directly out the blame on him, Nimbus felt like the murderer. "What even happened?" He asked, hoping Storm went out with some dignity. 

Rainbow Dash looked up at Nimbus and rested her head back on his chest when her eyes were finally clear of tears. "Dad went looking for you." 

A shiver went down Nimbus's back that Rainbow Dash could feel as she hugged him. Even though it was the absolute truth, Nimbus didn't want to hear Storm went out looking for him and died doing so. 

"He asked everypony in town if they had seen you." Rainbow Dash continued to explain. She could the intensity of Nimbus's shivering growing as she went on. "Somepony lied and said they did. He led Dad right into a trap. There was a pony waiting for Dad where the other pony told him to go. He tried to mug Dad but he didn't think he was going to put up a fight. He stabbed him and left him for dead." 

Rainbow Dash didn't have to look up at Nimbus to see he was already blaming himself. "Nimbus, please, it's not your fault. He would do it again if it meant you came home. I don't want you-" 

"Where'd he go?" Nimbus asked quickly. 

Not knowing what his intentions exactly were, Rainbow Dash shook her head in Nimbus's chest and refused to tell him. "No, I'm not telling you. It's not your fault. What would you even do if you found-" 

"Rainbow Dash, just tell me!" Nimbus shouted at her, removing her from his chest and holding her to his face. "I want to know! I-I need to rectify this." His voice was torn and raspy. True anger could be seen in his words. 

"That's the knight's job, not yours." Rainbow Dash kept herself relatively calm for the aggressive way Nimbus was acting. She knew he never acted like this and he would never come to bring harm to her, no matter how mad she made him. 

"Please," Nimbus begged. His voice now softer and pleading. "I want to try and fix th-" 

"You're not 'fixing' anything!" Rainbow Dash finally shouted back at Nimbus. "You're not like that! I know you, and you're not invincible. What's going to happen if something happens to you? Are you just going to let my Dad die for nothing?" 

"It's not going to come down to that. I-I...I'm not even going to approach him." Nimbus lied to Rainbow Dash. "I just want to see what he looks like before the knights lock him away." Nimbus didn't know what was coming over him. He was lying to Rainbow Dash, he wanted to hurt somepony he didn't know, he wanted somepony to pay for what happened to Storm. He wanted to do this, for himself. 

Rainbow Dash wasn't as dumb as Nimbus was mistaking her for. She knew all too well that he was lying. She didn't know exactly what he had in mind, but she was going to tell him where the knights were holding up the pony who stabbed Storm, then she would follow him there to make sure he didn't do anything he would regret. 

The clouds that were building up when Nimbus was getting home had finally made there way to Cloudsdale. They sprinkled tiny rain drops onto the whole crowd and half of Cloudsdale from the start, but after a few seconds the tiny drops turned into hard rain. The rain forced both Rainbow Dash and Nimbus's the fall and hang low past their shoulders.  

"They have him hold up at those old apartments on Aerial Lane." Rainbow Dash told Nimbus firstly. She pulled and grabbed his wing when he tried to fly away. "Nimbus, I'm telling you right now, if you're trying to do something else and get yourself hurt, I'll never forgive you." 

Nimbus nodded and smiled at Rainbow Dash. "I promise, I won't." 



> Consider this an "eye for an eye"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The pouring rain gave Nimbus the perfect camouflage curtain he needed to sneak from the knights and get around to one of the windows of the apartment that wasn't being watched. He pushed up on the top seal of the window to open it and slip inside. Using his wings to float himself down, Nimbus lightly landed his hooves down on the rotted wood floor beneath him. 

The wood creaked at the first step Nimbus took forward. He shrugged his shoulders up at the sound and looked around to make sure nopony was around to hear him. When Nimbus gave himself the all clear, he sighed gratefully and took lighter steps. His pace was slow but at least nopony would be able to hear him. 

There was no sign of where the pony who stabbed Storm could be. Fortunately, the building only had five floors and Nimbus decided to take to the very top. He figured that's where he'd want to be if he was trying to hide and keep an eye on a whole squad of law enforcement. 

Keeping in a dark corner of the top floor where he could see the whole room without any interference, Nimbus waited quietly for Storm's murder to appear eventually. He didn't have a solid plan of how he was take him down. He didn't even think he could go through with it. Nimbus just wanted to get his payback for whoever killed Storm. 

It took about a good five minutes until Nimbus heard a noise coming up the stairs, no doubt the killer. Nimbus inhaled deeply, prepping himself to apprehend this asshole and show him an eye for an eye, a life for a life. 

The pony that appeared from the bottom of the stairs couldn't have but a few years older than Nimbus was, barely even an adult. He kept switching between facial expressions of sadness and anger. Storm's killer didn't seem like any more of a threat than the knights gathered around the building down below. 

Nimbus took a mental step back and looked at himself. He almost couldn't recognize himself. He was angry, hurt, and filled with a heart full of revenge. From what he could tell by looking at himself, he was a completely different pony from the one who was at home with his family just a few hours ago. 

"What the hell am I doing?" Nimbus asked himself quietly. He looked back up at the pony at the very top of the stairs entering the fifth floor. "I can't hurt anypony, not like this, not for this reason." 

Nimbus shivered away from his corner and began to sneak his way back through the window he came in. He could still get himself out of here before it was too late, before he did something stupid. Nimbus was about a few feet away from exiting the window until Rainbow Dash swooped in and landed right in front of him. 

She flared her nostrils at Nimbus and screamed at him. "Just see his face, huh?! Celestia damn it, Nimbus! I trusted you and you completely turn your back o-" 

"Who's there?" The pony who killed Storm yelled. Drawing a pistol from underneath his wing, the pony held the firearm in his mouth and aimed it wildly in the darkness. "I-I'm armed, so stay away!" He ordered with a stutter. "I s-swear, I'll shoot you. I k-kiled that old geezer and I'll k-kill you too." 

The line had been crossed with Nimbus, and all the respect he held for another pony's life was thrown out the window. "THAT OLD GEEZER?!" Nimbus screamed. He had been in the dark long enough for his eyes to adjust, unlike Rainbow Dash and Storm's killer had. "THAT OLD GEEZER HAD A NAME!." Nimbus yelled at Storm's killer and charged him with a stiff wing to his face, knocking the firearm out of the pony's mouth and sliding onto the floor. A stray bullet flew when the pistol slid against the wall and set off the sensitive firing trigger. 

Nimbus feared the stray bullet had hit Rainbow Dash. He snapped his head quickly back towards to see if she had been hit. From what he could see, she didn't seem to have any bleeding or an injury at all. After confirming that she was perfectly fine after looking at her for a few good seconds, Nimbus his attention back to the murdering pegasus who was scurrying towards the pistol. 

Gliding across the floor by almost running on the air, Nimbus bowed his head and rammed into the pony's left ribcage, pushing him farther away from the pistol. Nimbus grabbed a hold of the pony's throat by pinching his neck in between his wings. He held Storm's killer up above his head and told him. "By the way, that Old geezer's name was Storm, and he was more of a father to me than he would ever know, and you murdered him in cold blood." 

"Dude, chill, man! Just let me live. I have so much to live for." 

Nimbus took the pegasus begging into minimal consideration. "YOU have so much to live for, huh?" The strength of Nimbus's wings were able to throw Storm's murderer into a window almost ten feet away. The glass shattered and pierced into the pegasus wings mercilessly. Sympathy was lost from Nimbus, he stepped and pressed the fragments of glass deeper into the Pegasus wings. "Don't you think my dad had a lot to live for, or were just thinking about yourself?" 

Rainbow Dash pulled Nimbus off of the wounded pegasus wing and slammed his back into a wall. "Nimbus, stop it!" She begged. "Let's just go home, okay? I'll forgive you. Just please...stop, you're not acting like yourself, but I know you're angry. I am too, but we can't go around hurting other ponies whenever we feel like it. It's not right." 

From behind Rainbow Dash's back, Storm's murderer stood up strongly and held his aim clearly at Nimbus's temple with the pistol back in his mouth. "Your little marefriend is right, Nimbus. It's not right to hurt other ponies" The pegasus closed one eye to get a clear accurate aim at Nimbus. "Because this is what happens." 

Just before the pegasus could pull the trigger. Rainbow Dash pushed Nimbus down and yelled "NO!" right before the bullet flew from the barrel and hit her square in the chest. The bullet tore clean through Rainbow Dash, piercing clearly through her chest and out her back. She fell slowly backwards, narrowly hitting the dusty ground beneath her before Nimbus caught her by extending his wing out. 

Rainbow Dash was limp in his wing and didn't move at all in his grasp, showing no signs of life. Nimbus set her down easily and growled deeply before charging the gun armed pegasus one last time, with intentions to kill. The pegasus couldn't tell where to aim with Nimbus swaying side to side so quickly to dodge the bullets. He fired three loose bullets that all missed their target before Nimbus connected a strong uppercut underneath his chin. 

The uppercut sent the pegasus flat on his back and swaying all around to get back up on his hooves. Nimbus stepped and stomped on the Pegasus's face before he could stand up fully. Nimbus's heavy hoof pushed the pistol deep into the pegasus mouth, knocking a few teeth loose and blood splaying everywhere. The armed pegasus cried beneath the pistol in his mouth, trying to pry away from Nimbus's anger. 

Before the pegasus could register that he was bleeding from the mouth, Nimbus picked him up by his throat with his wings and threw him out the already shattered window. The armed pegasus flapped and flattered his wings as best he could, but the glass prevented him from using his wings properly. The clouds failed to catch him since his landed with his back facing them. He fell past the clouds and onwards down toward his death below where it would take the Cloudsdale law enforcement a minimum of twenty minutes to find his body. 

Nimbus peered out the window until he could no longer see Storm's killer beyond the clouds. He snapped his head back towards Rainbow Dash and held her head up to the small amount of light allowed in the top floor. 

"Rainbow Dash?" He called out for her but received no answer. "Rainbow Dash?!" Nimbus called out a second time with the same response as last time. Rainbow Dash gave no reaction to Nimbus or her name being called out. She continued to stay motionless with her eyes shut just as Storm's eyes were when he died. 

"Rainbow Dash, baby, you got to wake up!" For the first time he allowed himself to today, Nimbus cried and placed his face into Rainbow Dash's chest. "I should have been paying attention, I should have protected you like I said I always would." Tears from Nimbus's eyes been to choke him up in his throat as he tries to talk to Rainbow Dash as best he can. "You were right! Just like you always are...I wasn't acting like myself. I-I should have listened to you." 

Nimbus took another look at Rainbow Dash cold frozen face before begging her. "Please...don't leave me. You're my only true friend here.  I don't want be alone. Don't leave me. I love you." 

*** 

Shortly after the pegasus fell through the clouds, the Cloudsdale knights stormed in and checked all floors until they found Nimbus hugging the gravely injured Rainbow Dash in his forelegs. They asked him several questions he couldn't understand. Nimbus ignored every question about what happened and begged and told them to take Rainbow Dash to the nearest medical facility they could. 

Once the knights got Rainbow Dash to a hospital, Nimbus realized that he had been shot by that first wild bullet when the gun hit the wall. Nimbus's adrenaline was running high when he got shot by the stray bullet, explaining as to why he didn't feel it when he got shot. He wasn't in any pain or great danger. The bullet had barely only hit his right foreleg. He didn't walk with a limp until he stepped out of the old apartment. 

As soon as Nimbus got his leg wrapped up and put in a sling properly, he asked where Rainbow Dash was and got an answer right away. Making his way to the elevator from his room, Nimbus met up with Rainbow Shine, who's eyes were as red as any mother's eyes would be in this situation. Barely a word was spoken between them until they entered the elevator together up to Rainbow Dash's floor. 

"It's all my fault." Nimbus started to blame himself for what happened to Storm AND Rainbow Dash tonight. "If it wasn't for me, none of this would have happened." Nimbus began to regret meeting Rainbow Dash entirely and imagining how her life would have been if she never met him. " I should have never challenged her to that stupid race, or have even asked her to be my marefriend. She told me she didn't want to fall in love with me, but I ignored her and made her anyways."

Once Nimbus and Rainbow Shine both reached Rainbow Dash's floor, Nimbus headbutted the elevator before stepping off and saying "I'm such a idiot!" 

After staying silent for what seemed like an eternity, Rainbow Shine finally spoke and agreed with Nimbus. "You know, you're right. If it wasn't for you, Rainbow Dash and Storm would both be with me right now." 

Nimbus removed his head off the wall to recall what he was hearing. "W-what?" 

"Storm, my husband, is dead because he went looking for you. Rainbow Dash, my daughter, is down the hall with a bullet wound because of you." Rainbow Shine's voice was soft but as harsh as a knife stabbing somepony in the stomach. "When I first met you, I gave you chance to show me who you were. I even had to force Storm to give you a chance as well. For years I thought Rainbow Dash made the right choice of making you as her best friend, I was happy that my daughter always had someone she could count on..until now.

"I saw the way you treated her when she tried to calm you down earlier. I ignored it because I THOUGHT Rainbow Dash could handle it, but obviously..." Rainbow Shine took a glance at Nimbus's wrapped leg. " I made a mistake....to mistake you for her real friend. Anyponyelse would have known better than to lead her into danger." 

Nimbus spoke a little less than  three words to defend himself before Rainbow Shine waved her hoof and cut him off. "I don't want to hear it, Nimbus. I-We, my family, gave you everything we could to make you feel like one of us, and you turn right around and do this to us." 

Rainbow Shine looked to the hall towards Rainbow Dash's room before looking at Nimbus one last time. " I want you to leave. Don't EVER come anywhere near Rainbow Dash or my home again." Rainbow Shine's voice was calm but all the more serious with her threats. "And you forget about considering yourself as part of this family, or dating Rainbow Dash. She could, and always could have done better than you." 

Leaving her final words to Nimbus, Rainbow Shine pushed Nimbus softly and slowly back into the elevator and said, "Goodbye." 

*** 

Several hours passed before Rainbow Shine left Rainbow Dash's room. Within that time frame, Rainbow Dash had actually woken back up. She wasn't in too much physical pain except for the small pencil radius sized hole on her back. The bullet penetrated clear through her but amazingly didn't hit any thing vital. There was a few fragments from the bullet inside of Rainbow Dash's chest, mainly the muscle. She was told by her doctors that they were splinter sized but were going to get removed first thing tomorrow morning. 

Once Rainbow Dash finally had enough strength to talk with wheezing, the first thing she asked her mother was "Where's Nimbus?" 

The question was one of the first things Rainbow Shine had anticipated when Rainbow Dash woke up. She had already thought of a tiny white lie to tell Rainbow Dash. "He's...in better conditioned than you." 

Rainbow Dash laughed and shifted to a more comfortable position in her hospital bed. "Figures, he always wiggles his way out of everything. Is he going to be coming to see me soon?" 

There was no easier way for Rainbow Shine to tell her she didn't want her seeing Nimbus anymore. "I don't think that's going to happen." Rainbow Shine saw the instant thought of worry on Rainbow Dash's face. "He's okay! Don't worry about that. He's just...not going to be around anymore. He left." 

"LEFT?!" Rainbow Dash asked Rainbow Shine. "W-why? Where did he go?" 

"I don't know." Rainbow Shined answered honestly. "He couldn't stay. There's just too much at risk for him here." 

Rainbow Shine wasn't being completely forward as to why she didn't want Nimbus around no more. It wasn't that she wanted him to leave. No mother would ever tell her child to go away, no matter if he was her child by blood or not.  

When Rainbow Shine was on her way to meet Nimbus earlier in the hospital, the knights told her Nimbus was on his way to the brig as soon as he healed. Nimbus was being charged for the death of the fallen pegasus. There was no proof that it was in self defense other than Rainbow Dash's word, but she was unconsciousness when the event happened so they didn't consider her story valid. 

Talking to Nimbus from behind a cell for the next twenty years was the last thing Rainbow Shine wanted for Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash's loyalty to Nimbus was too strong and dangerous for Rainbow Shine to keep them together like that. 

Rainbow Shine lied and told Rainbow Dash about Nimbus being charged for the death of Storm's killer and that he ran away to avoid being thrown behind bars. 

After repeating the same thing for the seventh time, Rainbow Dash was finally convinced by her mother that Nimbus was gone and she'd never see him again. Visiting hours were finally over and it was time for Rainbow Shine to leave. She hugged Rainbow Dash for the last time that night, told her she loved her and "sorry" before she left. 

Nimbus was hiding inside of a cloud outside of the Cloudsdale hospital when Rainbow Shine was visiting his best friend. He waited until he watched Rainbow Shine fly away from the entrance to finally float himself over to Rainbow Dash's window and knock with his left foreleg. 

Rainbow Dash was more than excited to see Nimbus. She hopped down from her bed and pulled the window open for him to enter inside. Nimbus's right foreleg in a sling was the first thing she noticed when he landed inside. "Your leg!" Rainbow Dash said. 


"It's okay. I barely got hit...again. What about you, how are you doing?" Nimbus asked, amazed to see she wasn't hooked up to anything like he was when he got shot last. 

"I got surgery tomorrow morning, but it's just minor." Rainbow Dash shrugged. 

"Since when is surgery minor?" Nimbus asked as he stretched his neck out to look at the patch of white gauze tape on Rainbow Dash's back. 

Rainbow Dash used her wing to keep Nimbus at a distance. "It's fine, Nimbus. I swear you freak out about the most dumbest things." 

"The dumbest thing I love the most just got shot, so yeah, I'm going to freak out." 

Rainbow Dash's face twisted as she tried to make sense of what Nimbus was trying to say. 

"You know...that sounded more romantic in my head, but when I put it in words..." 

"You sound like an idiot?" Rainbow Dash asked Nimbus. She knew Nimbus wasn't the "mares stallion" she probably could have gotten but she did appreciate it and laughed when he tried to be. "Mom said-" 

"She told you, huh?" Nimbus cut her off. He didn't know Rainbow Shine had told Rainbow Dash a different story than he had gotten form her. 

"...yeah" Rainbow Dash turned away, trying to think of something to make Nimbus stay. The thought of hiding him at the house crossed her mind, but it was a little too predictable hiding place. 

"I really screwed up this time." Nimbus said. He rotated his neck to keep his leg sling from falling lower down his shoulder. "I-I didn't think shit was going to be like this. If I had known I would have-" 

"Nimbus!" Rainbow Dash screamed and scared Nimbus to hiccup on his words. "Calm down...It's not your fault. Things happen." 

"Things happen?" Nimbus repeated? "Storm is dead, I killed somepony-" 

"You saved me!" Rainbow Dash added. 

"Yeah, if I hadn't gone after that guy you wouldn't have needed saving!" Nimbus argued, leaving Rainbow Dash with nothing else to fight with. 

"...they're calling you a criminal." Rainbow Dash thought about having to talk to Nimbus from behind bars if he stayed but she still wanted to believe there was a way he could stay. 

"After everything I done, all the good things I've done, it all gets thrown to the side and ignored because of one mistake?" Nimbus shakes his head and tried to stomp his hooves angrily but just fell over with the loss of balance. 

Rainbow Dash helped Nimbus back up to his other three hooves and tells him. "Just prove them wrong then. Once they see-" 

"See what? See a criminal?" 

"Stop saying that!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "You're not a bad pony." 

"Oh, yeah? Then why doesn't your mom want me too see you again?" Nimbus asked Rainbow Dash. 

She was speechless, Rainbow Dash hadn't been told by Rainbow Shine she wasn't allowed to see Nimbus again, Rainbow Shine just told her she wouldn't see him again, but now it made sense as to why. 

"Yeah" Nimbus nodded. "Didn't know Mo-Rainbow Shine didn't want me to see you again? She doesn't even want me to be part of the family anymore." 

"I-I didn't know she told you that..." Rainbow Dash told Nimbus, hanging her head low. "Now I know why she told me you were going away." 

"I don't want to leave but..." Nimbus lifted Rainbow Dash's head back up by placing his wing under her chin. "I don't want to hurt you again." 

Nimbus kissed Rainbow Dash on the right side of her face before turning around putting his one good foreleg up on the window seal. He exhaled before extending his wings behind him, ready to leap and fly out the window. 

He promised himself, after tonight, he was going to do what the world expected from him. If they were going to point and call him a criminal, he was going to face them and give them the best one they had ever seen. He gave the world everything and they rewarded him with nothing back in turn. Now he was going to take it all back. 

"Wait." Rainbow Dash said, quickly grabbing a tight grip of Nimbus's wing with her own. She could feel that he was shaking just as bad as she was. "Am-Well I ever be able to see you again?" 

Nimbus refused to turn his head and look at Rainbow Dash for the last time. Seeing her before he left was just going to make it much harder than it had to be. The last thing he told Rainbow Dash and the one thing she held onto since that day was "Don't worry about looking for me, I'll find you."