A musician by day, a hero by night. Skye Swift uses his speed and skills to fight crime and protect Equestria from those who threaten it. However as time goes on, it starts to become increasingly difficult to balance his double life.
All Skye Swift needed in his life to be happy was his music, his family, and his friends. In fact, he was completely content with his perfectly normal life. However, that didn't stop him from longing for something new to shake things up a bit.
On his 20th birthday during a Wonderbolts show, Skye saves Princess Celestia from an attack on her life by a pony with electrical powers. In the process, he is struck by a massive surge of energy.
After a long recovery at the Canterlot Castle, Skye soon discovers that he now has the power of superspeed. Using a heavily modified Wonderbolts flight suit, he decides use these new found powers for the good of Equestria.
There is just one slight problem, he never expected balancing a double life to be so hard. Especially after he moves to Ponyville and meets six unique mares.
(Rated: Teen for the occasional heated moment and use/reference of alcohol in certain chapters. But besides that, it's quite a clean story.)
Clouds in the shape of rings were placed in strategic points across the sky. Soarin stared at the rings trying to muster up some courage to go up and fly through them. The rings were a test to see if a pegasus could fly in a path with accuracy. However there was just one problem, Soarin had never been able to fly fully straight before. He had always managed to loose balance or focus when trying to maintain a path. He was scared that he was going fail in front of everybody. Namely his brother Skye Swift, who was cheering him on from the sidelines next to their classmates and teacher.
"I-I can't! I just can't!" Soarin yelled with his eyes closed, trying to hide his embarrassment.
Skye walked over to him, "Yes you can! We've practiced this."
He opened his eyes to look at his brother, "But what if I mess up and end up crashing?"
Skye wrapped a hoof around Soarin, "You won't. I'll catch you if you start to fall."
"Soarin if you would please just fly through the rings already! There are only 15 minutes of class left and we can't stall any longer." The teacher demanded.
"You can do this!" Skye whispered before he walked back over to the class.
With a deep breath, Soarin started to flap his wings. He looked up into the sky at the obstacles that lay before him, and after a few more seconds of hovering, he took off towards them. The first ring was coming up and on the way there he got a good look at it. The ring was tilted slightly to the left, meaning he would have to slow down a little and start turning early by balancing most of his weight to his left side.
"You're doing good bro! Two more rings!" Skye shouted with encouragement.
A smile started to grow on Soarin's face as he saw the second ring in the distance. The ring was below him and was leaning ever so slightly forward. He remembered the lessons on how to descend at an angle.
I can do this! I just got to tilt my wings down and lean forward...
Soarin felt a strong breeze blow through his mane as he flew through the ring and made his way to the next. The third and last ring was way up high and it faced downwards. He would need to fly at a higher speed and start ascending early if he were to make it through the final ring. Soarin took another deep breath and started to accelerate and push himself as fast as he safely could.
"Come on bro! You're so close!" Skye yelled.
Suddenly, Soarin shot up high above the ring and dove into it. The class roared with applause and Skye gave a wide smile to his brother. Soarin smiled and turned around to return to his classmates. Once he touched down, his brother came running up to him in excitement.
"You did it Soar, You passed the test! I'm proud of you bro!" Skye shouted before embracing his brother.
Soarin smiled as he returned the hug, "Couldn't have done it without you bro. After all you helped me practice until I got it right!"
"That's what brothers are for!" Skye smiled, "Besides, I'll do anything to help a future Wonderbolt."
Present day at Wonderbolts HQ
Spitfire touched down the field, "Nice practice today everypony! That's it for today, but I'll need you ready by six tomorrow for our pre-show practice in Ponyville!"
The rest of the team landed and began heading to the locker rooms. Soarin, however, took off his goggles and made his way over to Spitfire.
"Hey Cap!" he greeted
Spitfire smirked, "What do you need Soar?"
Soarin chuckled, "What? Am I not allowed to see how my boss is doing today?"
"Of course you are allowed to, but you only call me 'Cap' when you want something." Spitfire replied.
Soarin laughed and rubbed the back of his head, "I'm that obvious, huh?"
"Yup! So what is it?" Spitfire asked as she started to make her way towards the locker room.
Soarin followed closely behind, "Well two things actually. It's my brother's birthday today, and I was wondering if you could give me a VIP ticket to the Wonderbolts show tomorrow for his birthday present."
Spitfire stopped in front of the locker room and took off her goggles before looking at Soarin. "Sure. You're lucky though, because we only have two left."
"Thank you so much Spitz!" Soarin shouted.
"No problem. Now what's the second thing?" She asked.
Soarin smiled, "Fleetfoot, Rapidfire, Misty, and I are all going to Cloud 9 to visit my brother tonight. I thought I'd invite you, so would you like to come along?"
"Oh, I don't know... I was gonna go to the gym before I hit the sack tonight." Spitfire said she pushed a strand of hair off her face.
"Come on! It'll be fun! Besides you need a break from all that training you do all day and have some fun with friends." Soarin replied.
Spitfire sighed, she knew he was right. She always went to the gym after practice and worked herself to the bone. It would probably do her some good to take a small break for once and enjoy some relaxation time with her friends.
"Alright, but I don't want to be out too late. I at least want to get some sleep tonight."
Soarin pumped his hoof, "Yes! The more ponies, the more fun we'll have!"
Spitfire facehoofed. Why do I have a feeling I'm going to regret this?
Riff after riff, the sound of a sweet grand piano's melody filled the cool night air in Cloudsdale. The tune soothed Soarin's thoughts as he led the Wonderbolts to the source of the sound. There in the distance was Cloud 9, one of the most popular bars in Equestria. It sat atop a large cumulus cloud with a staircase that lured customers to the entrance. Soarin climbed the staircase and entered the building with the rest following suit.
Inside there were ponies of all colors, shapes, and sizes. They were all enjoying drinks, discussing their lives, and overall just enjoying themselves in the company of others. Soarin took a minute to breathe it all in and smiled.
"I haven't been here for about a year or so, but it's exactly the same as I remember it." Soarin said as the team made their way to the bar to get some drinks.
Spitfire scanned the room, "So where is your brother? I don't see any pony that looks related to you."
Soarin laughed, "He's probably in the back stocking items or something. Here, why don't I ask?"
He motioned the bartender, who was a unicorn mare with a violet coat and a messy light pink mane, over to him.
"Hey Sparkling Tonic! Is Skye here?" He asked
Sparkling Tonic smiled, "He's in the back getting ready for his shift. I'm surprised he even came considering it's his birthday and all."
"True, but you know how my dad is about his bar. He would probably be a little irritable if Skye didn't show up for work." Soarin laughed.
"Yeah I can imagine!" She laughed, "How about I get you all drinks while you wait?"
Spitfire nodded, "I'll have a gin martini."
"A hard apple cider for me, please." Fleetfoot smiled.
Misty spoke up, "Just water for me."
Rapidfire shrugged, "And I guess I'll have a margarita."
Sparkling Tonic took a minute to write everypony's drinks down and then looked over to Soarin. "What about you, hon?"
"I'm good for now. I'll order something in a little while." Soarin replied.
"Alright, I'll get those drinks ready right away!" Sparkling Tonic said as she stepped aside to go make the drinks.
As the team waited, they started to ask Soarin about his brother.
"So what's he like?" Fleetfoot asked, "Tell us a little about him."
Soarin ran a hoof through his hair and sighed, "Where should I start?"
Spitfire was the first to respond, "Well how about we start off with the basics. What does he do?"
Sparkling Tonic walked over with the tray of drinks and placed in front of everypony. Soarin waited for them all to grab their drinks before responding. "Skye works here at our dad's bar as a bartender and the occasional performer."
"Wait a minute, performer?" Rapidfire asked.
Soarin nodded, "Skye's passion is music, and my dad thought it'd be a good idea to start making his voice heard. So whenever he get's a chance to, he goes and performs songs on the stage behind us."
Everypony glanced at the stage where a earth pony stallion with a black coat and white mane occupied the piano at the moment.
Misty looked intrigued, "That sounds quite interesting! I wonder how he sounds."
"Do you think if we asked him to, he'd sing?" Fleetfoot asked.
Suddenly, a door opened in the back and somepony walked out.
Soarin smiled and said, "I don't think you even need to ask!"
Spitfire looked confused, "He doesn't look that much like you."
"I'll explain that in a little bit." Soarin replied.
Fleetfoot smirked, "What a cutie! I could do definitely go for that!"
Soarin playfully punched her shoulder, "What about me? Am I just a boy toy to you?
"Woah! Just cause I was checking him out doesn't mean I'm throwing you out." Fleetfloot laughed, "After all, no pony can replace you!"
"Good!" Soarin kissed Fleetfloot on the cheek and then turned his attention back to his brother.
"Shhhhh!!! He's about to start!" Spitfire whispered.
Up on the stage, Skye started to play a scale on the piano. He didn't seem all that pleased with the sound of the piano, so he stopped and stood up to face the audience.
"I think tonight I'll take a break from piano. How does guitar sound?" Skye asked.
Everypony gave a quick applause before going silent again.
"Alright, guitar it is!" Skye laughed as he pulled out a guitar from behind the piano.
Skye sat down and positioned the guitar. "This song is called 'Back Then'. It's a song I heard a band sing when I took a trip to San Franciscolt and it's surrounding cities."
Skye started to pluck the guitar and lightly slam the strings after each pluck for percussion. The song gave off a really nostalgic feeling and soon Spitfire, Soarin, and Misty swayed to the rhythm of the song while Rapidfire and Fleetfoot simply just sipped their drinks as they listened. As Skye entered the chorus, his intonation and ability to hit some of the high notes, despite it barely being in his range, sent chills down Spitfire's spine. When it came to music, she was usually very picky and often stuck to rock, but the way Skye was currently singing convinced her to possibly reconsider and stay open to other genres.
Two minutes had passed and much to the Wonderbolt's disappointment, the song was approaching it's end. Skye started to wind down on the notes and played one last strum after singing the final lyric. After he was done, the crowd gave a very loud cheer and applause that didn't stop until Skye was done putting the guitar away and making his way to the bar to begin his shift..
As soon as Skye was behind the bar, he heard somepony speak up.
"That's my brother! A showstopper as always!" Soarin said proudly.
Skye's expression turned into a wide smile as he turned left and saw his brother and the rest of the Wonderbolts, "Soarin you made it! And you brought some friends!"
Soarin smiled and nodded, "Of course I did! I'd wouldn't miss your birthday for anything."
Skye continued to smile as he looked at the rest of the team, "Are you going to introduce me to everypony?"
"Oh yeah!" Soarin laughed.
Soarin got up from his seat and pointed a hoof to the mare next to him, "This is Fleetfoot. She's both my teammate and adorable marefriend."
Fleetfloot smiled, "Hey there!"
"Nice to meet you! Glad to see my bro has finally has got himself a mare." Skye returned a smile with a following wink.
Soarin moved on over to Misty, "This is Misty. She is one of the most dependable ponies you could ask for."
"Pleasure to meet ya!" Misty said waving a hoof.
"Same here! It's always pleasure to meet Soarin's friends." Skye said as he turned his attention over to Spitfire.
Soarin was about to continue with his introductions before Skye interupted.
"And I'm guessing you're Spitfire?" Skye said getting her attention.
Spitfire nodded, "Yeah that'd be me!"
Skye moved over to her, "I've heard a lot about you in the letters that Soarin sends me."
"Hopefully they're good things." Spitfire said lifting an eyebrow and eying Soarin.
"Nah. Most of the things he discussed were simply things he admires about you as the Captain. He often shared some training stories, but nothing really negative." Skye replied.
"Good. I guess I won't make him do extra wing-ups tomorrow!" Spitfire joked.
Skye laughed while Soarin moved over to Rapidfire.
"And finally we have Rapidfire! Being the brute force of the team, Rapidfire always pushes us forward during performances when we're not doing so hot." Soarin said while patting his teammate on the back.
"Yo!" was all Rapidfire felt like saying.
"Well it's nice to finally meet you all!" Skye smiled, "And I'm glad you all could make it as it's nice to have some ponies to enjoy my birthday with!"
Misty took a sip of her drink before looking over to Skye. "It's no problem, really! Soarin is like family to us, and since you're his brother you're technically also family to us as well. Not to mention, we could use a night to relax every now and then."
"Speaking of family, you two don't look very much alike." Spitfire said comparing the brothers, "Why is it that? If you don't mind me asking."
Soarin was the first to answer, "Same father."
"Different mother." Skye finished.
Fleetfoot spoke up, "So half brothers?"
Soarin nodded, "Yes we are. We don't think of it that way though, because blood related or not, we'd always be brothers."
The team nodded in understanding. Skye went and grabbed two glasses full of a fizzing red liquid. He passed one over to Soarin and kept the other for himself.
"Thought you'd want some bubbling hard cherry limeade. Considering that's what you always order" Skye said taking a sip of his.
"Thanks!" Soarin quickly took the glass and took a big swig. After swallowing, he promptly remembered something. "Oh! We have something for you."
Spitfire set two tickets on the bar and slid them over to Skye. He went wide eyed as he read them.
"Two VIP tickets to your next show!? THIS IS AWESOME!!" Skye said as he became filled to the brim with excitement.
"Yep. I thought since I won't get that much time off to spend with you, I could at least bring you to one of our shows. Considering you haven't been to one in years." Soarin explained.
Skye set the tickets down on the counter behind him, "Thank you!"
"Don't thank me. Thank Spitfire for helping me even get some tickets!" Soarin laughed.
Spitfire set down her glass to speak, "We only had two left, and normally I would only have given you one, but a second one let's you see a future show if you decide not to use it for the current show. So I decided on giving you two."
Skye grabbed the tickets again and looked over them once more. They were a reflective silver with the Wonderbolts logo etched into the material. Just like any other ticket, they said ADMIT ONE and all that usual information regarding the show and the time it was to be performed.
"Thank you so much!" Skye smiled at Spitfire.
"No problem!" Spitfire said with a wink.
"I don't know about you all, but I could crash at any minute!" Fleetfoot said with a yawn, "We should probably get going."
"Agreed." Rapidfire mumbled before chugging the rest of his drink.
Soarin glanced at the rest of the team. Their expressions were worn with the struggle of sleep slowly winning the battle and overtaking them all. He knew it would be a good idea to leave so they could have the energy for tomorrow, but he wanted to stay longer to catch-up with his brother.
Soarin sighed, I guess bro time will have to wait until next time.
"Yeah, we got to get going and catch some Z's" Spitfire joined in, "After all, we do have a long show ahead of us."
"Understandable." Skye smiled, "I can only imagine how exhausting shows are. Anyways, thank you for coming!"
Everypony stood up and started to make their making their way out the door. However, Spitfire instead walked over to Skye and slid a note to him before whispering something in his ear and walking back to the team. Skye grabbed the note, read it, and immediately became flustered. It was a number. Her number.
Fleetfoot noticed Soarin sitting there at the bar still spacing out. "You coming Soar?"
Soarin snapped out of his trance, "Wha-? Oh! I'll be right there!" He got up and made his way to his brother to gave him a hug. "Hopefully I'll see you at the show tomorrow. I still want to catch up with you."
Skye smiled as he hugged back, "No worries bro, I'll be there! Just make sure you get some sleep okay?"
Soarin nodded with a smile as he walked out with the rest of the Wonderbolts. Leaving Skye to tend to other customers. He picked up a cloth and began to empty glasses so he could wash them. Skye glanced over to the sink and was greeted by a stack of dishes.
He sighed. Just what I wanted to be doing on my birthday!
Skye walked over to the sink and began what was one very long night of dish washing.
Sunlight leaked through the thin blinds that covered Skye's bedroom window. The warmth the light provided was enough of a temperature change to stir him from his slumber. Skye slowly and very groggily pushed himself out of his bed and made his way to the bathroom. He didn't get much sleep last night after work, and it was made very apparent considering the state his mane, coat, and feathers were in. He felt like a zombie pony that had been through a tornado.
Skye sighed as he entered the bathroom and started his morning routine. He grabbed his toothbrush and coated it with some spearmint toothpaste. As Skye brushed his teeth, he thought about today's plans. It was Saturday which meant he had the day off from work and it was also the day of the Wonderbolts show in Ponyville. He was always excited to see one of Soarin's shows, because he had helped him train and become the Wonderbolt he is today. Skye spit out the toothpaste and looked in the mirror once more. His messy mane was matted down and covered his right eye. If he was to go to the the show, he would need to at least look somewhat presentable. Skye focused his eyes over to the clock that sat next to his bed on a nightstand.
8:00? Not bad. The show starts at 10:30 which gives me plenty of time to get ready and fly to Ponyville.
Skye stretched and stepped into his shower. With a turn of a knob, a blanket of warm water washed over him.
Meanwhile at the Ponyville Event Center...
With the Wonderbolts show just a few hours away, Mayor Mare was checking off her list of preparations. So far everything was going smoothly, decorations were up and looking nice, the concession stands were stocked, and the sky above the event center was clear and ready for the Wonderbolts. There was just one last thing she needed to check before she could take a break. She motioned the head of security, Iron Shield, over to her.
"What can I do for you ma'am?" he asked
Mayor Mare adjusted her glasses and spoke, "How are security preparations going?"
Iron levitated his clipboard in front of him, "Very good. I've hoof selected the best of the best for guards and assigned them to several key positions. We have three guards at each entrance and exit, five guards assigned to concessions, two guards for each section of seating, and five guards for the VIP area."
"Good. This place is going to be packed and I want it to be very secure. Considering..." Mayor Mare trailed off.
"Considering what?" Iron asked.
Mayor Mare's expression turned into one of concern, "Have you read the Ponyville Express lately? There have been a few attacks at local businesses." She cleared her throat before continuing, "And they are not just your ordinary attacks."
This news piqued Iron's interest. "How so?" he asked.
"Eye witnesses say that the attacker was an earth pony with some sort of electrical powers." she explained
"Electrical powers? How is that possible?" Iron asked stunned.
Mayor Mare shrugged, "I don't know, but the thing is despite all the effort we have put into forensics, we haven't found anything that would help us with the investigation."
"You think such a pony would target an event like this? Especially with the Princesses in attendance?" Iron questioned, "One would think their presence would be intimidating or become an obstacle for their plans."
"At this point I'm not sure whether or not this pony will target the show. However, we need to be prepared just in case it happens." Mayor Mare said as she adjusted her glasses. "Better safe than sorry."
Iron Shield nodded, "Understood. I'll tighten security up a little more and even get some guards to continuously monitor the perimeter during the performance."
"Thank you, Iron." The Mayor smiled, "I really appreciate that."
Back in Cloudsdale, at Skye's Apartment...
Skye stepped out the shower and grabbed a towel that hung from a rack nearby. Quickly drying himself self, he walked over to the mirror and started brushing his hair. Skye's signature hairstyle was having his mane brushed back with lots of volume and slightly in an unkempt manner, making it look as if his hair was the physical embodiment of wind. Once he was done doing his hair, he left his bathroom and went back into his bedroom to grab his tickets and some bits so he buy some snacks later. He set his stuff in a saddlebag and put it on. Skye had everything he needed, now it was just time to head out. He glanced at his clock one more time.
9:00 huh? Perfect, I have plenty of time to get there before the show starts.
Skye left his bedroom and made his way out of his apartment. Outside, he took a breath of fresh air and took a minute to observe his surroundings. The skies were a vast clearing of blue that stretched infinitely outwards with rays of golden light that intersected and blended beautifully. In the street in front of his apartment, many ponies were out going about their mornings. Some heading to work while some were heading to the marketplace. It was truly a peaceful start to the day.
Spreading his wings, Skye took off as fast as he could carry himself towards Ponyville. Excitement fueling every flap of his wings.
At the Castle of Friendship...
"Is everypony ready?" Twilight asked as she entered the foyer.
Applejack nodded, "Yup!"
"I guess so... " Fluttershy shrugged.
"Silly question Twi! I'm not just ready, I'M PUMPED!" Pinkie said bouncing around the room in circles.
"Of course you are." Twilight said smiling and shaking her head at her friend's enthusiasm. "What about you Rarity?"
Rarity walked in with a freshly done mane and wearing makeup and jewelry to compliment it. "All done."
"About time! You take forever." Rainbow said rolling her eyes.
"At least I do my mane" Rarity said with a smirk.
Rainbow stuck her tongue out at Rarity before turning her attention back to Twilight. "Well since everypony is ready now, I say we get going now so we can get get some good seats for the show."
"I suppose you're right." Twilight replied, "Let's just all make sure we all have our tickets though before we go."
Everypony held out their tickets and each of them had theirs.
"Good! Now let's go!" Twilight beamed as she walked out the door with the others in tow.
Unknown to Rainbow as she quickly flew out the door, her saddlebag's main pocket flew open and her ticket fell out.
At Ponyville Event Center
At last Skye had finally arrived at the show and entered the line for admissions. He looked ahead at the length of the line and saw that it was quite long despite being about forty five minutes early. Skye sighed and simply relaxed as he waited for the line to move, but as he did so he couldn't help but notice the six mares waiting in front him. They looked rather familiar for some reason, so to pass the time he decided to study them and figure out why.
There was a orange earth pony wearing a stetson, and telling by the accent she had it seemed likely she was of southern decent. The next pony was another earth pony that was pink and had a bubbly mane. She seemed rather hyperactive considering that she was the only one out of all of them that couldn't sit still. Standing to the right of her was a yellow pegasus pony with a long pink mane that somewhat hid one of her eyes. Further studying her body language he could safely assume that she was very timid. Skye moved his attention over to the cyan pegasus that flew above her. This mare stuck out the most to him for some reason he couldn't put his hoof on. She had a mane that spectacularly held all the colors of the rainbow.
'You don't see something that beautiful everyday.' Skye thought to himself.
Skye looked her over, she seemed to carry herself very confidently like the world could never bring her down. That was the one trait that he always admired in anypony. The next pony to catch Skye's eye was a white unicorn mare with a curly purple mane. She gave off a very regal or upper class feeling that could be felt from a considerable distance. Although she gave off that felling, he could tell that she didn't act like she was above others. Finally, Skye laid his on the last mare who was... wait... an ALICORN?
It took a moment for this fact to settle is his head and for him to recollect his thoughts. Skye studied her further.
'A lavender coat and mane of dark indigo, pink and purple...' Skye thought before coming to a realization, 'OH! She's Princess Twilight Sparkle! Which means that these other mares must be the elements!'
Skye took one more overall glance over them, 'Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Rarity!'
It all made sense now on why he knew them from somewhere. He had read about them and their heroic acts over the past few years in the newspapers. Skye really admired what they had done for Equestria, because without them the whole kingdom would probably be in ruins right now. After snapping out of his thoughts for the moment, Skye noticed that he and the group of mares in front of him were now at the admissions stand.
"NEXT!" yelled the bulky grey unicorn stallion attending the stand.
The girls one by one gave the unicorn their tickets, except for Rainbow Dash who scrambling to find hers.
"Rainbow, where's your ticket? I could've sworn you had it earlier." Twilight asked.
Rainbow was starting to panic, "I-I don't know! I had it in my bag but now its not there!"
The girls gasped. Except for Rarity who was inspecting her friend's saddlebag and noticed the state of it.
"Um Rainbow, didn't I tell you to replace that miserable excuse of a saddlebag a while back?" Rarity asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Not now Rarity!" Rainbow said continuing to try to figure out where her ticket could be.
"Yes now! I know what might of happened to your ticket!" Rarity shouted at Rainbow a little louder than she meant to.
Rainbow stopped searching and gave her friend her attention. "How?"
Rarity grabbed Rainbow's saddle bag and demonstrated how loose and fragile the main pouch was. "Your saddlebag must of flew open as you sped over here."
"Oh..." Rainbow said rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment.
The unicorn in charge of the tickets huffed and spoke. "No ticket. No entry."
"Wait! Can I just buy a new ticket?" Rainbow asked.
"No can do. All sold out."
At that moment, Rainbow's mood deflated and she sighed.
Twilight frowned and felt bad for her friend. "Sorry Rainbow, we'll meet you at that club you wanted to check out after the show is over ok?"
Rainbow nodded and started to walk away slowly.
Skye saw the whole situation and couldn't stand to see a pony so upset and have their day ruined. He had to do something, he couldn't just stand by. It felt wrong to do nothing. Skye took a deep breath and then shouted. "Hey miss!!"
Rainbow stopped in her tracks and turned to the pony that called her. He motioned her over to him. Cautiously and with lots of confusion, she approached him.
"I can't stand to see somepony's day ruined, especially for a beautiful mare like you." Skye said as he dug through his own saddlebag and pulled out one of the two shiny VIP tickets and held it out to her.
The girls gasped at the stallion's kindness and Rainbow's eyes went wide as she was struggling to figure out what to say. "I-I don't know what to s-say... I don't even know if I can accept this..."
Skye smiled and gave a small chuckle, "Don't worry about it. You can thank me by enjoying the show."
Rainbow took the ticket. "Thank you, mister...?"
"Skye Swift. But please just call me Skye, I'm not comfortable being called mister."
"Well thank you Skye. Nopony has done something like this for me." Rainbow replied with a smile.
"You're welcome. Hopefully you take advantage of those VIP perks so I can see you in the VIP box." Skye smiled.
Rainbow nodded and gave the admissions her ticket and joined her friends. As they walked away, Twilight looked back at Skye and mouthed thank you. Skye nodded and proceeded to give admissions his own ticket and walk in.
As he walked through the entrance, Skye noticed the tightened security and couldn't help but feel uncomfortable all sudden. After all, Ponyville was a very peaceful and quiet town and they wouldn't increase security unless they were anticipating trouble. Skye's eyes scanned the field, the audience, and the air for any signs of any trouble. However, he could not find anything out of place. Skye took a deep breath. He knew he had nothing to worry about despite his instincts telling him otherwise. Skye walked up some steps and stopped at the entrance to the VIP area.
The security guards stepped in front of Skye, "Stop. This is VIP only, show us your ticket."
Skye grabbed his ticket and showed it to the guards.
The guards studied the ticket before nodding and stepping aside, "Thank you. You may proceed."
Skye put his ticket back in his saddlebag and sat down in one of the seats. The VIP area was very nicely decorated and had a nearly perfect view of the field.
He smiled to himself, 'I'm definitely gonna have to thank Soarin and team again for this. This is awesome!'
As Skye settled in, the sounds of trumpets echoed throughout the building making it known the the princesses have arrived. From the northern side of the field on the top floor, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna walked into view and waved at everypony before Celestia walked over to a microphone and spoke.
"Fillies and gentlecolts! Welcome to the Ponyville Event Center!" she announced.
The audience started applauding before quieting down again.
Princess Celestia smiled and continued, "In celebration of the 95th anniversary of Ponyville's establishment, we have some very special guests here to perform for us."
The audience started to get very excited and Princess Celestia's smile grew. "So without further ado, it is my honor to bring you the best flight team in all of Equestria... The Wonderbolts!"
Just as Celestia finished announcing, Rainbow walked in with popcorn and sat in a seat next to Skye.
"Hey" Skye smiled, "I was beginning to wonder if you were coming or not."
Rainbow nodded and laughed, "Yeah I was gonna come and sit with you earlier, but my friends wanted me to get snacks with them."
"Well you made it just in time! They're starting now." Skye laughed before turning his attention to the show.
Each member of the Wonderbolts came flying in and landed on the field one by one. First was Spitfire, then Soarin followed by Fleetfoot, Misty, and Rapidfire. They stood there in a straight line for about a minute or so before getting into a triangle formation. Once they finished, all of them took off at a mane-raising speed into the sky. Streaks matching the color scheme of each team member filled the sky.
They flew synchronized in a loop before splitting off and each of them beginning to show off moves they planned for the show. Fleetfloot started to speed up and doing laps around the arena before shooting up into the sky and in the blink of an eye spelling "Love you Ponyville!". Rapidfire landed on the north side of the field and waited. Soarin started to fly towards him, but before he was about to collide he curled his body into a ball and Rapidfire bucked Soarin into the air. Once Soarin was about hit the ground, he adjusted himself and landed perfectly on all fours.
As the crowd cheered and the Wonderbolts continued their show, Skye noticed something moving in his peripheral vision. He turned his head to the source and saw a blanket of dark clouds approaching the event center. All the hairs on his neck rose and the feeling he felt earlier returned. The weather for Ponyville was supposed to be clear for the next few days with no storms scheduled. While Skye was trying to come up with a rational reason for the clouds being there, he failed to noticed three figures hiding in the fluff of the clouds.
Suddenly a few of the clouds decended into the arena and three black earth ponies jumped out of them. Every pony in the arena gasped and went silent as the atmosphere filled with fear, panic, and even dread. The earth ponies were unnatural. Each of them had black coats covered in scars and swelled glowing veins. Their manes were unkempt rattled messes that were a different color each. One was blue while the other two were red and yellow, but what was unsettling was the fact the glowing veins on their coats matched those colors. The last thing that caught everypony's eyes was the pupils of the earth ponies, or more specifically the lack of pupils.
The Wonderbolts immediately landed and slowly backed away from their show crashers. The earth pony with the blue mane cleared his throat and began to speak.
"Hello there, Ponyville!" He spoke out with a crooked grin, "What a mighty fine day! We have good weather, it's the towns birthday, oh and not to mention that everypony is conveniently gathered in one central location!"
Upon finishing his sentence, a group of royal guards surrounded them. The blue maned pony let out a deep chilling chuckle, "Now now! Let's not get ahead of schedule before my friends and I can properly introduce ourselves."
The blue pony stomped his two front hoofs on the ground and several blue bolts of lightning erupted from the ground shocking each and every guard until they all fell to ground unconscious. "That's better! Now where was I?" He asked before smirking and continuing, "Oh yeah our introductions! My name is Flux and the one in yellow is Amp and the red-maned manic is Impulse." Each of them gave evil grins before waving to everpony. "Now that we have names out of the way, let's begin."
Flux walked to the center of the arena while Amp walked to the right stands and Impulse to the left stands. "You see me and my buddies here are very tired and hungry. However, our idea of food is a bit different than yours." Flux said before motioning a hoof towards Impulse. On queue, Impulse jumped into the stands and dragged a unicorn stallion out back into the field towards Flux. Princess Luna gasped and started to charge out of the royal spectator box before Celestia stopped her with a hoof and mouthing 'Wait! Not yet!'
Impulse released the stallion in front of Flux before heading back to his position. Flux than grabbed the stallion by neck and started to glow a bright blue. While that happened, the stallion he held was screaming and being drained of color. Once all his color drained, Flux stopped glowing and released the stallion letting him fall to the ground. Everypony in the stands started to panic and screamed.
"We require life force to stay alive and that is what we are going to get!" Flux yelled before Amp and Impulse charged the stands and Flux began to start making his way towards the Princesses.
Rainbow shot up from her seat and ran out of the VIP area without a word. Skye looked around at the all the ponies panicking and running to the exits. Skye was unsure at what to do, he didn't want to run out like a coward but he also didn't want to wait here and do nothing. He knew he had to do something. Skye looked towards the right stands which were next to the VIP area and saw a mare holding her foal being backed into a wall by Amp. Skye felt anger and courage building up inside.
He took a deep breath in, than out. 'Here goes nothing!'
Skye ran out of the VIP area, spread his wings, and tackled Amp full speed. "LEAVE THESE TWO ALONE!!" He yelled before punching Amp in the jaw. The mare took this time to run away to safety with her foal. Amp spit out a tooth and glared at Skye before using his hind legs to kick Skye off him and into the ceiling. Skye fell back to down and recovered quickly enough to dodge and incoming punch from Amp. "You know little pony, it isn't very smart to confront one of us!" Amp said to before charging at him. Skye side-stepped and kicked Amp hard enough that he few out of the stands and into the field.
Suddenly a bellowing voice was heard throughout the building. "Do what ever you want to me, BUT STAY AWAY FROM MY CITIZENS AND MOST IMPORTANTLY MY SISTER."
Skye looked to his right and spotted an unconscious Princess Luna and an terribly angry looking Princess Celestia in the royal box surrounded by downed royal guards and security guards. Flux whistled and Impulse along with Amp ran to his sides. Skye knew that despite Princess Celestia being incredibly powerful, she was out matched and likely to lose this battle. Flux and his pals started to charge an electrical beam together to take her down. However, he was going to make sure that this was not going to happen on his watch.
Spreading his wings, Skye flew over to where the Princess was as fast as his wings could carry him and landed in front of her just in time to shield her from the attack. The electrical beam hit him in chest with incredible force and knocked him into the wall behind Celestia. Upon impact, Skye felt several bones fracture and all muscles go numb. His body was now in unbearable pain as leftover electricity was arching throughout him and slowly finishing him. Skye could only lay there and helplessly watch the trio stepping closer and closer to the Princess and getting ready to attack her. He was about to close his eyes when suddenly he saw the six mares from earlier barge through the box entrance and attack Flux, Impulse, and Amp.
Skye tried to watch the battle, but his vision started to blur and he felt all the energy he had left quickly leave. He took one last breath before darkness and pain overtook him.
Four months later at the Canterlot Castle Medical Wing...
If there was anything that drove Skye insane, it had to be silence. To make things worse, he also couldn’t see anything or feel anything for that matter. The lack of senses started to make Skye panic. Thoughts and questions started flooding his mind.
‘What’s going on?! Am I dead? What happened to me?’ Skye asked himself as he searched his mind for answers.
After a few seconds of panic-fueled memory searching, Skye remembered. He was at the Wonderbolts show when it got interrupted by those evil ponies. Most ponies got out safely, but Princess Celestia stayed back to protect her sister. She was about to be taken out, but he jumped and prevented the attack. Skye tryed to rack his brain to see if he could remember anything else to no avail.
‘Well either I’m dead or unconscious in a hospital. Hopefully the latter...’ Skye concluded.
After a few minutes of the mind’s equivalent of radio silence, he suddenly got an idea. There was only one way he could figure out the answer to all his questions. He need to regain consciousness and wake up. One problem still remained: How exactly was he supposed to do that? Skye started brainstorming options. Some of them were ridiculous options like somehow willing himself awake, while other options made more sense like startling himself enough to wake up. He sat there weighing his options before realizing that the only way to wake himself up is to increase physical activity within his body like speeding up his heart rate.
That’s when Skye came up with a plan, he needed to make himself panic somehow. Panicking would increase breathing and heart rate which would in turn increase brain activity and wake him up. In order to do that he would a think up a fear and enact a situation in his head around that fear. In order for it to work however, he would need quite the strong fear. And there was only one fear that he had in mind at the moment: falling without wings or any way of saving himself.
Skye took a deep breath (mentally, of course), closed his eyes and started putting all his energy into manifesting the scenario. A moment passed and then suddenly he started to feel air wooshing by at an alarming rate. Skye opened his eyes and saw that he was falling out of the sky. He looked behind him and saw that he had no wings, then he looked down. The sight looked and felt so real that it worked, within seconds he was absolutely terrified and panicking.
Skye was approaching the ground quickly when he started to hear things. There was some kind of beeping noise and muffled voices. It distracted Skye long enough that when he looked back in front of him, he was about to crash.
Shooting up in a hospital bed, Skye screamed until he took in his surroundings. Luckily he was still alive and in one piece from what he could tell. He calmed down and saw a startled pink unicorn nurse with a magenta mane who was catching her breathe from Skye's sudden wake-up call. She was still visibly shaking and Skye decided to apologize and break the awkward situation.
"Sorry miss, I had quite the nightmare!" He chuckled nervously.
The nurse sighed and composed herself. "It's fine, but please don't startle me like that again Mr. Swift"
"Alright. Wait! How do you know my name? And where am I exactly?" Skye asked.
"You're in the Canterlot Castle Medical Wing. During the Wonderbolt's show, you took a pretty nasty hit from those evil ponies who interrupted." She answered. "If it weren't for you, Princess Celestia might have gotten seriously injured or worse..."
Skye took a minute to absorb the weight of her words. 'Wow. I guess I was the unexpected miracle of the moment!'
"As for how we know who you are, we found a burnt tag with your name on it. I'm guessing it's from your work uniform?" She asked as she walked over and closely checked his current vitals.
Skye wore a blank face for a moment before replying. "Yeah. I never wore it often, but I always kept it on me. Anyways, what are my injuries? I'm assuming their bad considering I'm here at the castle."
The nurse's expression morphed into one of puzzlement. "Well that's a whole different story..."
"Well considering I'm stuck in this bed right now, you might as well tell me it." He said lying back and resting his head on a pillow.
"Fair enough." The nurse shrugged, "Back when we admitted you for your injuries, you were severely injured and nearly on the brink of death. You had several burned patches of skin and fur, your mane and tail were practically gone, there were large bruises along your back, and the bones inside your wings and back hoofs were basically shattered. Princess Celestia herself brought you in and we spent the next five hours struggling to keep your vitals stable."
Skye eyes widened at the gory image that was now in his head. How could he possibly be alive right now?
The nurse continued, "After getting your vitals stabilized, some truly unexplainable things started to happen. Every eight hours or so the next coming days, your heart rate would rapidly speed up and you would be suddenly arching with electricity. However, despite this strange yet alarming phenomenon, you're wounds were rapidly healing. Normally, a patient with wounds like yours would take months to heal or simply not heal at all. This was not the case though with you, because within about a week or two you were fully healed like nothing ever happened."
"How is that even possible?" Skye asked.
"We're still unsure to be quite honest. The other doctors and nurses in the medical wing have just chalked it up to an unexpected miracle from above." The nurse said as she wrote some stuff on a clipboard she was levitating. "Not to mention that the rapid healing wasn't the only unusual thing that happened."
Skye looked confused, "What do you mean?"
"Take a look for your self!" She said pointing to a decently sized mirror next to the bed.
Skye looked at the mirror and gasped at what he saw. His mane and tail were no longer a simple shade of light blue with a silver outline, now they also had an accompanying indigo streak that parted through the light blue. That wasn't the only thing that changed though, looking back at him was now a pair of vibrant violet eyes instead of sky blue eyes. Skye then promptly sat up in the bed and stretched his wings and observed his reflection closely. His wings and chest were noticeably more muscular than before.
The nurse interrupted Skye's train of thoughts as she spoke up, "We're not one hundred percent sure yet on what caused your appearance to change, but we think it's because your cells were too badly damaged and the sudden overload of magic and energy from the attack caused your body to compensate by changing your genetic make-up." She then shrugged. "But then again, it's just a guess."
After a few a minutes of examining and (somewhat) admiring his new look, he looked back at the nurse and raised an eyebrow. "Anything else I should I know?"
The nurse nodded, "In order to stop your heart from speeding up at random times, we had to sedate you. What we didn't expect is you ending up in a coma." She nervously chuckled and rubbed the back of her neck, "I guess the medication was too strong or had some sort of bad reaction with your body."
Skye sighed, "Well it could be worse, I could be dead right now. So how long have I been out?"
"Exactly four months." She replied.
"FOUR MONTHS!? Jeez... I have been asleep for quite a long time. My dad is probably gonna kill me for not showing up to work for so long." Skye laughed.
Rolling her eyes, the nurse walked over to Skye and pulled out his I.V and detached all the equipment hooked up to him. "You may have just woke up so it may be too early to come to a conclusion on whether or not you can leave." She tapped her muzzle for a second in thought before continuing, "However, you're vitals are in perfect range right now and I don't see anything wrong or out of the ordinary at the moment. So if you come with me to run a test or two and everything stays normal, I will allow you to check out."
"Sounds good." Skye slowly got up and very carefully pushed himself off the bed, "So where are we going?" he asked as followed closely behind her.
They left the medical wing before the nurse spoke up. "We're going to the Princess Celestia's personal gym to test your vitals when performing physical activity."
Skye nodded before realizing something, "I never got your name by the way."
The nurse snickered a little at the fact Skye never asked for her name. "My name is Soft Heart."
The next hour or so was full of uneventful tests that bored Skye, but he knew they were necessary to determine his current health. Tests such as running on a treadmill for a few minutes to measure his heart rate during demanding physical activity, lifting weights to observe the condition of his muscles after waking up from being comatose, and other tests to determine if he had any possible physical abnormalities. However as far as they both could tell, Skye was absolutely fine and in fact was at the highest physical peak of health. That was quite shocking for him, as he never really worked out that much besides the occasional flight or two. The only thing that puzzled them was the fact that Skye's heart rate was much faster then the average pony even while resting and not doing any strenuous activity. Despite this, Soft Heart wasn't concerned as it didn't seem be causing any problems. With all the tests completed, the two of them left Princess Celestia's gym and were now walking down a hallway.
"So doc, did I pass?" Swift smirked as he asked Soft Heart.
Soft was reading through her notes on a clipboard as she walked. "Well I don't see anything out the ordinary besides the unusually fast heart rate. Normally a pony with this fast of a heartbeat would experience light headedness, high blood pressure, and loss of balance. Sometimes a pony would even experience extreme fatigue, but thats very rare." She explained as she kept reading her notes. "When I look at you though Skye, I don't see any of those problems or any other possible problems. So that leads me to ask one very important question." Soft Heart looked up from her clipboard and stared at him directly in the eyes with a blank expression, "How are you feeling?"
Skye thought for a moment. He didn't feel that different, but the things he could tell have changed was the fact that he felt more energized and alert than ever. More often then once on daily basis, he would feel drained of energy and would end up napping a lot. Right now he wasn't feeling any of that, he felt like he could go a week before needing sleep. On top of that, Skye could feel how much more stronger and rigid he felt. Before all this mess he was of average build with very little muscles and had a hard time with any demanding physical activity, but now he was was extremely fit thanks to those ponies that attacked him and he could now do most physical tasks with ease. Last of all, Skye noticed that he felt much more healthier than usual. He didn't know why or how exactly he felt this, but he just felt lighter and his senses had a strong amount of clarity.
"To be completely honest, this is the best I've ever felt physically in a while. More energized, stronger, and healthier than I have ever felt before. I don't feel anything wrong or unusual right now, but only time will tell. Right?" Skye answered.
Soft Heart scratched her head in puzzlement, but then responded with a smile on her face. "While that wasn't the answer I was anticipating, you're right. With due time you'll discover the extent of all the changes your body has experienced if there are any more, but for now it's very good news to hear that you feel so great right now."
Skye smiled and was full to the brim with excitement, "Does that mean I'm free to leave whenever?"
Soft laughed at his excitement and nodded, "Yep. I don't see why not."
"YES!!!" Swift shouted startling nearby guards as they made their way towards the throne room. Once he noticed where they were heading, he was about to speak before she interrupted him.
"Back when you first were admitted to the medical wing, the Princess instructed me to bring you to her once you were awake and on your hoofs so she could speak to you and thank you personally." Soft explained stopping in front of the throne room door. "But seeing that you're ready to leave, I thought I might as well bring you here now."
Skye nodded in understanding, "I'm guessing you need to get back to work?"
"Yeah. I don't get paid to visit with my patients after all." She laughed, "Tell you what, once you get back into the swing of life you can come back to visit or send me letter and tell me how things are going."
"Will do." He said with a genuine smile. "See you some other time, Soft Heart!"
She smiled and waved, "See ya, Skye Swift!"
Skye watched her turn around and leave before turning around to face the door in front of him and saw that there was a royal guard on both sides of the door. He glanced at each one before sighing and pushing the giant door open and walking in. The throne room was absolutely huge and very spacious, there was a red carpet that parted the middle of the room and lead to the thrones of both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Swift awkwardly walked towards them and saw Celestia up ahead conversing with Luna.
Arriving at the foot of the two thrones, Skye patiently waited for their conversation to end or at come to a point where he could politely interrupt. While he was waiting he studied the appearances of the two princesses. Never in his life had he been up this close to them... Well except for when he saved Celestia, but he didn't count that as he wasn't entirely conscious during that moment. Looking at Celestia, he truly got to see the full extent of how tall she was. A lot of ponies claimed she was absurdly tall, but from what Skye could tell at the distance he was standing she was only about 6-7 inches taller than him. Luna on the hoof though was only about an inch or two taller than him.
The manes of both princesses were more majestic than Skye expected, especially Luna's. When looking closely at her mane as it moved, he noticed that it was semi-translucent and was a cloudly midnight blue. The color wasn't what caught Skye's eye, inside the strands of midnight blue were shiny sparkles of light that moved along with the rest of her hair. This gave the illusion that her mane contained a starry night sky of it's own. Celestia's mane on the other hoof contained several shades of color that'd you see during sunrises and sunsets.
Skye's observations were interupted as he noticed that the Princess just wrapped up their conversation. Princess Celestia suddenly realized that Skye was in the room.
"Why hello there Skye Swift! Nice to meet you properly and see you on your hooves again." Celestia greeted.
Skye bowed and spoke upon getting up, "Thank you Princess. You wanted to speak to me?"
"Yes I do" She smiled at him. "You know, what you did that day during the Wonderbolts show took a lot of courage and selflessness. Qualities that are quite honorable."
Skye light out a nervous chuckle as he bashfully rubbed the back his neck, "I was honestly just following a gut feeling I had. I couldn't stand by and do nothing if, especially if I could do something to help."
"And yet, if it weren't for you my sister and I could have been severely injured or worse. We probably wouldn't be here right now." She replied as Luna and her got up from their thrones. "And for that, we thank you."
The two princesses gave him a quick bow. Skye's jaw dropped and he was completely at a loss of words or thoughts for that matter. Here he was in the Canterlot Castle with a radically changed body after a near death experience getting bowed to by the princesses. The entire day so far felt like a dream and he was somewhat tempted to pinch or slap himself to confirm that it was, but he wasn't sure if that was appropriate to do in front of royalty so he didn't. Skye quickly composed himself as the princesses rose.
"I uh...um... You're welcome?" Skye said as he stumbled trying to find words.
Both Princess gave light-hearted laughs at Skye's astonishment before Luna spoke up. "Today's duties are complete earlier than usual today and my sister were about to head out to lunch. How would you like to join us for lunch before you leave? I'm sure you're hungry considering that you just woke up from a coma."
Right on queue, Skye's stomach rumbled and he let out a nervous chuckle. "Yeah that'd be nice."
The three ponies chatted as they walked to the dining room. Skye asked Celestia and Luna questions regarding their daily routines and various questions about their lives. Much to his surprise, they were very humble and acted just like normal ponies when not performing their duties. He learned Celestia loved to read adventure novels as she relaxed out on her personal balcony enjoying the fresh air while Luna liked to listen to music while she spends her free time drawing. Skye honestly didn't expect the princesses to be so normal in their off time, but then again what was he supposed to expect them to be?
Entering the dining room, Skye was greeted by a fully prepared meal with serval options. There was breadsticks, pasta, salad, soup, and many other foods to choose from. The table, which was very large, was covered end to end with everything. This made Skye curious about leftover food as it was obvious that there'd be quite a bit.
"Excuse me, Celestia?" Skye said getting the princess' attention.
She glanced over at him, "Yes?"
"This a lot of food and even though all three of us are probably famished, I don't we're going to be able to eat it all. So what do with the leftovers?" He asked curiously.
"Simple. Whatever we don't eat is given to the guards currently on break." Celestia answered.
The princesses walked over to the table and sat down with Skye following and doing the same. As each of them began to dish up their plates respectively, Luna looked like she wanted to ask Skye a few questions and he noticed.
"Luna, you look like your bursting with a million questions. What's up?" Skye asked as he filled his plate with angel hair pasta.
Luna set her plate down and spoke, "Well you now know a bit about us and our lives, but I'm itching to know about yours."
"I agree. Why don't you tell us a little about yourself?" Celestia said before digging in to some of her salad.
Skye took a minute to decide where to begin and then started speaking, "I'm not sure where to start, so how about you two ask any questions that you come up with and we'll go from there." He then took a minute to eat a little bit of his food as he waited for them to come up with their questions.
"Where are you from?" Luna asked first.
"I was born in Cloudsdale and lived there for a bit as a colt before I moved to Ponyville to live my mom until I was old enough to find a job. When I was 17, my dad offered me a job at his bar not only as a bartender, but also doing what I love." Skye replied after taking a sip of his water.
Celestia finally came up with a few questions of her own, "What exactly is it that you love to do? More importantly, what does your cutie mark represent?"
Skye took a moment to look at his cutie mark which was a music note with wings attached to it. He then turned his attention back to the princesses and answered, "I love to sing and make music. When I was little, my mom would spend afternoons teaching me piano, guitar, and many other instruments. Back then, she was my role model and I wanted to make music and perform song for ponies just like her." He smiled as he reminisced, "When I was 10, I sat backstage singing songs while I waited for my mom to finish one of her concerts. Little did I know, I was singing so good that I started to gain an audience from ponies who were backstage. After I finished singing one of the songs, I looked around and saw them applauding me. Next thing I know, I looked down and saw my cutie mark."
Luna finished a breadstick she was eating before speaking, "So the music note obviously represents your love for music, but what about the wings attached to it?"
That was truly a good question, and to be honest Skye didn't have a solid answer to that. However, he attempted at explaining it anyway. "I'm not completely certain, but I like to believe that they represent another thing I enjoy which is flying." Luna nodded now satisfied with his answer.
"So if your talent is music, what are you doing working in a bar?" Celestia asked.
"Well I tried to find gigs and places I could perform at, but I had little to no success." Skye explained, "That's when my dad came up with the idea of performing during my breaks or before and after shifts to get my voice recognized. So far it's sorta working, but only the locals and regular customers know of me."
Celestia and Luna looked at each other appearing to have the same idea. Celestia cleared her throat and spoke, "Skye, what if I told you that we could help you with that?"
Finsishing his pasta, Skye cleaned his lips with a napkin and looked at Celestia curiously. "How so?" He asked.
Luna spoke up, "Well the Grand Galloping Gala has been scheduled for February of next year which is two months away and we're looking to shake things up a little more this year." Luna paused to take a sip of water, "One of the things we'd like to change this year is the music selection."
Celestia then cut in, "Normally we only hire an orchestra to perform for the event, but classical music gets old after a while and is limited with what emotions it can make ponies feel. This time, however, we'd like to have a band or singer perform for the duration of the night."
"Are you offering to let me play there to make a name for myself?" Skye asked.
"Yes. But first we'd like to hear you sing a song for us. Consider it an audition." Luna said with a nod.
Skye raised an eyebrow, "Right now?"
The princesses nodded. Skye took a deep breath, stood up, and distanced himself from the table so he could perform comfortably. He decided on a song, but then realized he would need a guitar.
"I don't suppose you have a guitar I can use?" Skye asked.
Celestia thought for a moment, then proceeded to teleport a guitar from a room in the castle. She then levitated it to Skye. Closing his eyes, he started to strum mellow tune. Skye took another deep breath and began to sing.
Having just ate before singing, caused a bit of strain on Skye's voice and made it sound a bit scratchy. Despite that, he still managed to hit all the notes comfortably and with ease. As Skye sang, Luna and Celestia listened very carefully to the lyrics and contemplated their meaning. The flow of the rhythm along with each passing strum of the guitar which was also combined with Skye's voice, soothed every pony in the dining room. The waiters and cooks paused to watch the musician pour his heart and soul into the performance. Minutes flew by blissfully and the song came to a soft close a final strum of the guitar.
After finishing the song, Skye glanced around at everypony's expressions. The chefs and waiters smiled and gave a quick round of applause before returning to work, Luna was giving such a wide smile that Skye worried that her face might now be stuck like that, and Celestia was applauding and wore an expression that was the equivalent of 'not bad'. Snapping out of his temporary trance like state, Skye set the guitar down next to a wall and waited for responses.
Luna was the first to speak, "That was absolutely amazing!"
"I have to agree! You're a spectacular singer!" Celestia added.
Skye smiled from the praise he was receiving, "Thank you, but am I really good enough to perform at the Grand Galloping Gala? That's quite a high profile event and I'd have a lot of expectations to meet."
Celestia laughed a little bit, "Don't worry, as long as you be yourself and have confidence you'll fly right pass those expectations!"
"Plus, your performance you just gave was improvised and it was very well done. Just imagine how well you will do with a planned set." Luna gave a reassuring smile.
Skye's spirits lifted, "I guess your right. After all there is no harm in trying!"
"That's the spirit!" Celestia smiled and stood up from the table and signaled to the waiters that the three of them were finished.
Skye looked around for a clock and spotted one next to the door. The clock read 2:01 in the afternoon.
"Well thank you both for the lunch, but I need to be going so I can go check in with my family and let them know I'm still alive and no longer in a coma." Skye said with a smile as he made his way to the door.
Celestia nodded, "You're welcome. I look forward to seeing you again in preparation for the gala."
"I look forward to it as well. You have incredible talent with that voice of yours." Luna added.
Skye opened the doors to head out, but before he did he looked back at the princesses and waved. The princesses waved back as he left the room. Now left to his thoughts, Skye started to think about possible things that might of happened while he was away. Determined to find out, Skye increased his pace as he left the Castle.
The chilling evening air flowed through Skye's mane and parted individual strands of hair as it whizzed by. Stretching his muscles for the first time in months felt amazing especially since he had more endurance and strength to push himself more than usual. He loved the feeling that came with flying because it gave an overwhelming sense of freedom that no other activity could possibly provide. For a few seconds, he closed his eyes to relish in the moment before he felt a slight updraft of air that took away his focus.
Opening his eyes he looked ahead and saw that he was approaching Cloudsdale. Skye's eyes lit up at the sight of his home after being gone for such a long time. He stopped flapping and angled his wings to quickly glide and land in the city square. Skye did not waste one minute after his hooves touched the clouds and started looking for Cloud 9 so he could check in on his dad and the bar.
There sitting atop the largest cumulus cloud with an inviting staircase was Cloud 9 busy as usual. It never ceased to amaze him that the bar was just as buzzing with business during the day as it was at night. After admiring the his surroundings for a quick moment, Skye walked up the steps and entered the bar. There inside tending to customers was Sparkling Tonic who was too preoccupied to notice Skye's entrance. He simply decided to wait and until she was done helping ponies to get her attention.
"Just a sec hun, I'll be right with ya in a sec." Sparkling said while ducking beneath the bar to put away a tray. She was completely oblivious to the fact that it was Skye she was speaking to.
Skye simply chuckled to himself as he waited. She was always like this whenever there was an influx of customers.
"Alright what can I get ya?" She asked as she reached for a new glass behind her still not noticing him.
Rolling his eyes with a smirk, he answered. "I'll have a citrus cherry spin on the rocks!"
"A citrus cherry spin coming right-" Suddenly, she froze in place and slowly started to turn around.
As soon as she met his gaze her jaw dropped, "S-Skye!? Is it really you?"
"Hey Sparks! Long time no see!" He said laughing at her shocked expression.
The violet mare's smile widened and she ran out from behind the counter to hug him. "You're okay! We've all been worried sick!" she said after breaking the hug.
Skye glanced around before turning his attention back to mare and smiling, "I know, but from the looks of it you've all managed to hold the fort just fine while I was gone."
"Sort of..." she sighed, "We had a bit of trouble shortly after the Ponyville Center incident."
Skye raised an eyebrow, "What happened?"
"Those three ponies from the incident have inspired others to act out and commit crimes." Sparkling explained. “They have been targeting large businesses and robbbing them dry.”
”Did they target and rob Cloud 9 while I was gone?” He asked taking in the information.
She shook her head and and placed a drink in front of him, “Not yet, but who’s to say they won’t? This rise in criminal activity has everypony on edge and not just here in Cloudsdale, but everywhere in Equestria.”
Skye took a sip of his drink as he thought about the situation. ’Looks like even Equestria has criminals hiding in it’s dark recesses. All it takes is somepony, or in this case three, to pull off a crime and get away with it for the rest to follow and come out of the shadows...’ He thought to himself.
“Equestria to Skye!” Sparkling shouted at him ending his trance.
“Huh? Oh! Sorry I got lost in thought there for a second...” Skye rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.
She rolled her eyes before noticing something different about him. Sparkling started to tap her muzzle and studied Skye’s features until she noticed his new appearance and went wide eyed. “Whoa! What happened to your eyes and hair?”
Skye couldn’t help but feel a little insecure when she asked, but he brushed it aside and shrugged. “Apparently my body was so badly damaged after the attack that my cells couldn’t properly read my DNA as it was damaged too. So while I was healing, my body compensated by filling in the blanks in my DNA with new DNA.” He explained with a blank stare, “Or at least that’s what the doctors think anyway.”
Sparkling took a minute before shrugging, “Meh. It’s not that bad of look and in fact it suits you better than your old look.” She then walked back behind the bar, “Anyways, it was nice catching up with you and all, but I have get back to work.”
He nodded before asking, “Is my dad here today?”
“Yeah he’s upstairs in his office. You being here might cheer him up for once. He’s been mopey lately which is completely understandable, but it’s still not healthy to be so depressing all the time.” Sparkling said as she started walking towards the other patrons at the bar.
Skye finished his drink, opened his saddlebag, and placed a few bits on the bar. He may work here but he always felt bad when it came to not paying even though it was a free drink on the house. “Thanks Sparks!” He said getting up from his seat at the bar and trotting over to the stairs and up to his dad’s office.
Slowly opening the office door, he spotted a dark blue Pegasus with a light blue mane that contained white hairs sitting in an office chair that was facing a window. On the desk was a name tag that said ‘Cloud Drift’ along with photos and business documents. Skye frowned at the stallion’s appearance, his mane was tangled in a mess, his coat was matted in certain spots, and the smell of many shower-less nights filled the room.
Cloud Drift sighed and spoke, “Who’s in here? I thought I told everypony I didn’t want to be bothered.”
“Care to make an exception for family?” Skye asked walking up to the desk.
The stallion's ears perked at the question and he turned his chair to face the visitor. Upon noticing it was his son, Cloud Drift nearly toppled over in his chair as he scrambled to stand up and run over to Skye.
The two ponies immediately embraced in a bone-crushing hug. Despite it only feeling like he was gone for a day or two, Skye realized it was way longer for everypony else and they were all probably worried sick about him. Especially after nearly getting killed and then suddenly slipping into a coma for four months , it was hard for him to imagine what his dad and Soarin must of gone through in his absence. Skye was no stranger to grief, but to almost loose your son was something that could truly mess anypony up.
“Y-You’re here! Y-You’re here!” Cloud struggled to say in between short breaths and sniveling, “Y-You’re safe...”
Skye heartstrings were pulled as he shed a few tears with a thankful smile, “Yes dad, I’m okay. Still in one piece!”
Cloud broke the hug and smiled at his son before asking a ton of questions, “When did you wake up? Should you be on your hoofs right now? How are you feelin-“
Skye quickly interrupted the barrage of questions and chuckled. “I just woke up about 3 hours ago. As far as the doctors and nurses could tell, there is no reason I shouldn’t be on my hoofs right now and despite all that’s happened I feel better than ever.”
Cloud returned to his chair behind the desk and Skye took a seat in a nearby chair. “Good, Just making sure you’re okay.” He studied his son’s new appearance, “What’s up with the hair and the eyes?”
“Side-effect of staring death in the face apparently “ Skye summed it up. “How are things here?”
“Not bad. Despite the rise in crime, this place has mostly uneventful as usual.” Cloud replied with a shrug. “Business as usual pretty much.”
Skye nodded. “Speaking of this place, when do you want me to come back to work?” He asked, “Not to sound impatient as I’m not in a rush, but I’m sure you still need an extra set of hoofs around still. Right?”
Cloud frowned, “That’s something we need to talk about...”
“What do you mean?” Skye asked suddenly worried.
Cloud took a deep breath before speaking. “After this whole incident at the show and almost losing you made me realize and rethink everything. You’re so young Skye and you have still have a long life ahead of you. You have yet to accomplish your dreams and experience the many meaningful things life has to offer.” He sighed before continuing, “And yet here you are wasting your time at this bar and not truly living the fullest.”
Skye lowered his ears, “Dad...”
Cloud cleared his throat and fixed his posture. “If you had died, I would of never forgiven myself for keeping you here and preventing you from truly living. Which is why you won’t be working for me anymore.”
“WHAT!?!?” Skye shouted stunned.
“From now on I want you to go out and experience everything life has to offer. Go and accomplish your dream of being a singer, make friends and memories, explore Equestria and go on adventures, and maybe even find somepony to love.” Cloud said with a smile as he leaned back in his chair.
Skye was absolutely surprised with what was happening. “I want to go and do all that, but how am I going to live this new life without a job? I barely can afford my apartment.”
"This might help..." Cloud opened a desk drawer, pulled out an envelope, and placed it in front of Skye. "Shortly after your mother passed away a couple years ago I was sent this letter. Go ahead and read it."
Skye opened the letter and began to read.
Last Will and Testament
of
Golden Harmony
I, Golden Harmony, of Ponyville, Equestria declare this my Last Will and Testament.
I first direct that all my debts, estate, and expenses be paid off from my lifetime savings. The remaining balance of my lifetime savings shall be paid to my only child Skye Swift. In addition, the ownership of my estate and any property and possessions found within shall also be passed on to my child.
My shares of the company Scratched Records LLC shall be evenly distributed between Skye Swift and my previous partner Cloud Drift. The board members and staff of Scratched Records are to be notified of this as soon as possible.
The execution of this will shall be carried out by Mayor Mare of Ponyville. Should for any reason Mayor Mare be unable to carry out this will, I hereby appoint Cloud Drift of Cloudsdale.
Skye took a minute to absorb the contents of the will. It had been two years since his mother, Golden Harmony, had passed away from heart problems. He had a hard time accepting that she was gone and it took a while for him to move on. Yet here in his hoofs was her last will and testament.
Cloud interrupted the deafening silence, "When I received that will a while back, I was unsure of what to do with it. You were just barely entering adulthood at the time and had so much more on top of your mother's death to handle at the time. I had just given you a job, you moved into an apartment, and so much more." he explained, "I felt like if I gave you this will right away, it would of been too overwhelming."
"Most ponies would have been angry for withholding this from them, but I'm actually glad you did." Skye said with a half smile.
"Why not? I would have expected you to be angry." Cloud asked with a shocked expression.
"I'm not mad because in all honesty I was struggling really hard to move on after her death. Anytime some pony would mention her name back then, her memory always came flooding into my head and reminding me that she was gone." Skye replied, "And not to mention after getting a job and place to stay, it would have overwhelming to receive all that stuff mentioned in the will at that time in my life. Therefore, you were right."
Smiling, Cloud spoke. "I'm glad, but let's get back to the subject of you leaving this place. This will is going to help you by giving you Golden Harmony's home and property to live in along with what is left of her savings and her stake in that recording studio in Ponyville."
"I was about to ask about that. She owned some shares from a recording studio?" Skye asked.
"Yeah. Back when she was still recording new music, Golden bought some shares from Scratched Records LLC. A company now owned by a young prodigy named Vinyl Scratch." Cloud answered, "Since Golden has split the shares between you and me, we partially own a little chunk of the company which should allow you to use the studio to record music of your own."
A smile grew on Skye face, "Sweet! I finally have a place to record my own music!"
"Indeed!" Cloud laughed before looking out the window and noticing it was approaching sunset. "Well how about you head to Ponyville before it gets too late and get settled in?"
"But I haven't packed my stuff and moved it there yet!" Skye said scratching his head in confusion.
Cloud waved a hoof, "Don't worry about that. Soarin helped me move your stuff out of your apartment and into your new home. Oh by the way, you don't have to worry about your payments on your apartment. I paid off the last 4 months of rent, this month's rent, and canceled your lease. So now all you have to do is go to Ponyville and relax as you settle in."
Skye stood up and stretched, "I don't know how to thank you dad..."
"You can thank me by making some awesome music ok?" Cloud said with wide smile.
"You got it pops!" Skye laughed before waving, "See you later!"
"See you later!" Cloud waved.
With his mother’s will in his hoofs, Skye bursted out of the office and quickly ran the bar to start his flight to Ponyville.
The late evening air was a little too chilly for Skye’s taste and his body reflected that by shivering violently in the cold. He managed to ignore this fact by keeping his mind occupied.
Despite everything that has happened to him lately, Skye’s life was changing rapidly for the better. He had been given the opportunity to perform at the Grand Galloping Gala in front of a few thousand ponies, he was moving back into his child home, and he had given access to a studio to record music. Things couldn’t get any better.
As Skye continued to enjoy his state of mind, he was brought out of his thoughts by some shouting below. In a dark alleyway, was a scrawny blue unicorn stallion with a white mane. The unicorn was getting backed into a corner by a trio of earth pony ruffians.
‘This can’t be good...’ Skye thought as he landed nearby and began to ease drop on them.
“This is your last chance to fork over the bits pal!” The leader of group yelled at the unicorn.
The unicorn began to shiver and cower in fear. “I-I can’t!! I need this money to f-feed my f-family for the next f-few days!!”
The leader looked at his lackeys and began to laugh. “Aww isn’t that heartbreaking? Say boys, shall we cut him some slack?”
The two looked at each other and smirked before turning their attention back to their boss. “NAHHH!! Let us at him boss!”
“Alright, go get him and fetch those bits while you’re at it!” The leader commanded.
Skye’s heart began to speed up and felt like it was going to explode out of his chest. He couldn’t let these punks ruin somepony’s night. Not on his watch. The scene in front of Skye and his surroundings began to slow down like a slow motion film. Letting courage and determination fill his veins, he felt electricity arch throughout his body and suddenly he jolted forward at incredible speed.
The first lackey to the leader’s right was knocked into the wall behind them with a very audible snapping sound accompanying the impact. Startled, the leader ducked for cover and watched as a blue blur of light took out his other associate by grabbing him and flinging him out of the alleyway in the blink of an eye.
Scared the leader began to shake and despite the fear in his eyes yelled, “Show yourself whoever you are! “
In a flash of bright light and a loud crackle, Skye appeared right in front of him. Skye’s eyes were glowing a bright violet light that illuminated the area and light blue electricity arched thoughtout his body as he shook with overwhelming speed and power. The crackling of energy echoed throughout the alleyway as he stood there in front of the crook. Everything was happening so fast that Skye hardly had anytime to fully wrap his head around what was happening to him. All he knew was that he needed to intervene this attack and this newfound speed was the key to doing so.
He looked the leader in the eyes and glared. “I’m going to give you thirty seconds to leave, and if you don’t you will suffer worse injuries than your buddies here. Do you understand?”
The leader gulped and nodded. Skye smirked and yelled, “Good! NOW LEAVE!!”
The two injured ponies quickly dragged themselves out of the alley with their boss following. Skye’s heart rate began to lower, his eyes stopping glowing, and the electricity very gradually dissipated but not entirely.
'What is going on with me?' Skye questioned himself as his thoughts caught up to him.
Despite feeling somewhat calm and normal again for the time being, his nerves still felt a little buzzed from the overflow of energy he had just experienced. Skye thought back to Soft Heart at the castle's medical wing, she did mention that there was a slight chance that other changes to my body might manifest if there were any more changes to begin with. This superspeed was without a doubt caused by the injuries he suffered, but he had no idea how it gave him this power or how it worked. However as far as he could currently tell, there were no negative side-effects of using it and he was sure in due time he would figure it all out.
With a deep sigh of relief, Skye turned his head to the blue unicorn who was shaking and sobbing on ground. He approached the stallion and offered a hoof. The stallion stared at the hoof still unsure and trembling before taking it.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt at all?" Skye asked.
The stallion started to calm down. "I'm fine and in one piece!" he replied with a half smile, "Thank you sir."
Skye smiled, "No problem. After all, it would suck to be robbed before Hearth's Warming."
"Agreed." The stallion chuckled. "So what are those freaky powers you have? You were glowing and sparking like a bolt of lightning. Not to mention you were also moving crazy fast!"
"Not sure yet... Honestly, that came out of nowhere. One minute my heart is pounding and everything is moving super slow in comparison to me, next thing I know I have taken out those three punks before any of them could blink." Skye explained. "I think it has to do with something that happened to me recently, but I'm not entirely sure."
"Well again thank you for whatever you just did." The stallion said smiling.
"You're welcome. How about you get back to your family before they get worried?" Skye suggested.
The stallion nodded before trotting off. Once Skye was alone, he sighed again before moving his thoughts back to what just happened. He was moving super fast, so fast that everything around him slowed down to the point where time felt like an eternity. Skye lifted up his hoof and remembered the arching electricity that was flowing throughout his entire body. Noticing a puddle nearby, he approached it to look at his reflection. His eyes were still glowing very slightly back at him.
Looking at the sky, he noticed that the sun had finally gone down and Ponyville was still about 45 miles away. Skye realized that at this rate he would not make it in time to grab a late dinner at a restaurant or cafe. As he stretched his wings and got ready to take off, he suddenly got an idea. What about his new powers? If he could manage to control and use his power at will, he could use it to get home faster. But how exactly do you use powers that you just discovered?
Skye's mind retraced back to what he felt earlier. While he was eavesdropping on those robbers, he felt a pool of energy inside him. When he was about to interrupt the attack, he felt a spark inside the that ignited that pool of energy and flooded him with all that speed and power. If he was going to use that power again, he would need to find a way to create another "spark". Skye closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and began to focus on everything he was feeling at the moment. As he concentrated, he kept fine-tuning his senses until he began to feel that pool of energy swirling around and collecting at the core of his being.
Skye stretched his wings again and prepared for take off. Once he was in position, he breathed in and focused on his energy. Suddenly on command, he felt a spark and took off into the air so fast that he shattered a few nearby windows. Soaring through the air at such high speeds was stunning all of Skye's senses as his veins filled with adrenaline from the thrill of supersonic speeds. As he flew, he was sparking up a storm and leaving a trail of electricity as he flew. Never having flown this fast ever before, Skye was having a bit of trouble with keeping himself steady and in control of the flight. The air resistance was incredibly strong and made it difficult for him to maintain the perfect wing rhythm and angle. If he lost control for even a second he would spin out and go for a extremely rough landing. Skye kept his his breathing steady and consistent as he focused on his destination up ahead.
Flying that fast felt almost as amazing as the first time he flew.
Skye stood there at the edge of a cloud staring ahead at the immense grassy fields below. He was shaking due to his fear of heights and the possibility of crashing. The white pegasus colt had hovered and glided before, but this completely was different. This time he was to fly about fifty feet and back without the safety of clouds to cushion his fall.
"Do I really have to do this mom? Can't we just wait until I get a little bit better at flapping my wings?" Skye asked.
A sunlight-colored pegasus mare with a windswept white mane approached from behind. "Sorry Skye, we've already done that two times this month. Don't you want to fly like the other ponies at your school?" Golden Harmony smiled as her beautiful voice soothed her son's nerves a bit.
Skye nodded, "Yeah I do, but what if I fall and get hurt or something goes wrong?"
"Everything will be fine. I'm right here just in case anything goes wrong." she assured him. "Look at me Skye."
Skye turned around and smiled upon seeing her face. "What mom? What is it?"
"There is two things I want you to always remember in this world." Harmony wrapped a hoof around him as she continued, "The first thing I want you to remember is that you should never let your fear control you or your fate. No matter how scary something may be, never let that stop you from doing it."
"What about the second thing?" he asked.
"Always trust your instincts." she said as she kissed him on the forehead.
Skye took a deep breath and put on a look of determination, "Mom. I'm ready!"
Harmony gave him a proud smile, "That's the spirit!"
Taking a few steps back, Skye cleared his thoughts and doubts and with a running start leapt off the cloud. For a moment he was simply free falling, but once he was ready he opened his wings and pulled up and suddenly the air lifted him effortlessly. The freedom that greeted him in the skies of Cloudsdale comforted him and washed aways any doubts and fears he had before. As his momentum began to slow, Skye started to flap his wings in the rhythms his mother taught him to help maintain flight. He was truly flying, not hovering, not gliding anymore, no pony was holding him steady. It was just him and the sky.
"I'm doing it mom! I'm flying!" Skye shouted at the top of his lungs as he beamed brightly with excitement.
Golden Harmony stopped her hooves in applause, "Good job! Now come back in for a landing!"
Very carefully, Skye angled his wings and turned around while keeping his speed at a modest pace. As he approached the cloud his mother was on, he stopped flapping his wings to glide safely as he landed. Once his hooves touched down on the cloud he rushed over to his mom and hugged her.
"See? As long as you trust your instincts and never let fear control you, anything is possible!" she said as she held him close.
Approaching quickly was Ponyville lit up with street lights and filled with ponies who were wrapping up their nights by buying dinner, commuting home, and other countless activities. Right as the thought of dinner entered his mind space, Skye's stomach rumbled and he decided he would stop by somewhere to grab a bite before hitting the hay. Very gradually, he slowed down to just above a brisk flying speed until he was above the town square. Skye landed in front of the town hall and took a moment to even out his breathing. He began scanning his surroundings to find a place to eat at and spotted a small little diner still open this late. Before approaching the diner, he inspected himself to make sure he wasn't still sparking with electricity or glowing then began to walk over there.
Inside was relatively quiet with the exception of a piano being played nearby and ponies chatting here and there. Skye walked over to a table and sat down. The calming atmosphere of the diner and Ponyville was something that he found himself more comfortable with than that of Cloudsdale's. Skye picked up the menu and started reading over the many delicious items presented to him. Garden salads, daisy and daffodil sandwiches, parmesan bread sticks, and many more mouth-watering selections made it difficult to decide.
"Welcome to Lavender and Sweet's Diner, my name is Midnight Lavender and I'll be your waitress for the evening." said a light purple unicorn mare with a dark navy blue mane and an apron on.
Skye set the menu down and smiled. "Thank you! All this food looks amazing but I can't seem to decide on what to get. What do you recommend?"
Midnight took a minute to think before responding. "I think the crisp cherry-blossom sandwich with a nice glass of lemon lime soda would be nice fit for ya! Would you like to order that?"
"That sounds delicious! I'll take it!" he replied.
After writing down his order, Midnight grabbed his menu. "Alrighty! We'll have that out and ready in just under ten minutes for ya!"
Skye thanked her as she walked away and wandered back into his own thoughts. He couldn't keep his mind off the events that transpired and kept replaying them in his mind hoping that he could gleam any more information from them. Out of all the things that could of resulted from almost being killed, instead of getting death he got the gift of superspeed. Curiously, he used his power to speed up his heart rate again and like before his surroundings slowed down.
'Interesting... I guess I can slow down my perception of time by speeding myself up.' Skye observed.
The scene in the diner consisted of mostly couples, families, and a few lone ponies catching themselves late dinners. The atmosphere was very calming with a warm orange lighting accompanied by the sights of ponies laughing, smiling, and just enjoying each other's company provided comfort. It was approaching Hearth's Warming after all.
Hearth's Warming. The holiday that Skye usually enjoyed with his family, but the past two years have been difficult due to every pony being busy with their jobs and lives. Despite usually being free after late nights at the bar, Skye's relatives were not and his friends circle was rather non-existent. Because of this, he spent the last two Hearth's Warmings alone at home reading novels he bought to keep himself somewhat entertained.
Skye sighed, 'I really need to make myself some friends.'
Suddenly, he began to feel really exhausted and drained. Looking around, Skye noticed things were still moving super slow. Within a couple of seconds he came to an obvious realization.
'Looks like this new power of mine does have its limits.' he thought to himself.
Letting his heart rate return to resting, everything began to move at normal speed again. Right on cue, Skye closed his eyes and let out a yawn. After opening his eyes, Midnight was there setting his food and drink on the table.
Midnight giggled, "It's only been less than ten minutes, yet you look much more exhausted then when I took your order!"
"It's been a long day." Skye laughed, "I think it's finally catching up to me!"
"Well here is your cherry-blossom sandwich and a lemon lime soda." Midnight pointed to the items on the table, "After you're done eating, just ring this bell here in the center of the table and I'll come pick up the payment so you can go home faster and catch up on some sleep. Sound good?"
Nodding, Skye replied. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. Enjoy the food!" she smiled as she went to go help other customers.
Letting his hunger take over, Skye grabbed the sandwich and took a bite of it. The perfect combination of herbs along with freshly grilled cherry blossoms and other vegetables on tasty home-made bread was absolute heaven for his tastebuds. It wasn't often that he ate out due to a tight budget, but considering the quality of this diner's food, he might become a regular. As he continued to eat, he listened to the pony playing a familiar tune on the piano nearby. Skye hummed along note-by-note and if it were not for the food taking up the space in his mouth, he would have sung along. A few minutes passed and Skye finished his sandwich as the piano player finished his song. Along with the rest of the customers, he applauded the player.
As the piano player stepped away, an idea popped into Skye's mind. He quickly rang the bell to get Midnight's attention. She walked over to him and placed down a receipt on to the table.
"Finished with everything?" she asked.
Skye scratched his head thought before replying, "Yes and no." He placed the needed amount of bits near the receipt before continuing, "Would it be alright for me to go over to that piano and perform a song before I go?"
Midnight looked surprised by the request, "You want to go play a song?"
He nodded, "Yup! Would that be okay with you?"
"I never have had a customer ask me that before, usually we just hire performers for the night." she replied, "But I don't see the harm in such a request, so go for it!"
"Awesome! Thank you!" Skye said as he left the table and made his way over to the piano.
Skye sat down on the stool in front of the luxurious grand piano. Looking over the keys and the glossy black finish of the instrument, he took a moment to come up with a song to sing. The song needed to fit his current mood which was calm and reflective. Another minute passed as he brainstormed and the customers began to notice the lack of music being played. Finally Skye's eyes lit up and he came up with the perfect song.
The resonance of each piano key blissfully warmed everypony's hearts as the sound filled the room. With a deep breath, Skye began to sing. The contrast between his voice and the piano's melody was an unusual mixture of melancholy and a relaxing calm, captivating all the listeners. As he entered the chorus, a small audience began gathering outside the windows to watch after hearing Skye sing from afar. Throughout the rest of the song, each lyric and note provided a different emotion to be felt. Slowly Skye winded down on the notes and brought the song to a soft ending.
A small moment of silence passed before applause filled the room. Skye nervously rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. Honestly, he just wanted to play a song for fun not for attention really. Getting up from the piano, he stretched and walked over to Midnight.
“The food was wonderful and I’ll definitely be coming back sometime. Thank you.” Skye smiled.
Midnight gave a small chuckle, “I’m glad! And if you ever want to put on a little performance again, go right on ahead. Seems everypony loved the sound of your voice!”
Skye laughed, “I’ll keep that in mind! You have a good night.”
“A good night to you as well!” Midnight said with a smile as she walked away.
Walking out of the diner, the white pegasus was greeted by Luna’s vivid night sky. The moon’s white glow illuminated the sea of stars that filled the dark expanse. Skye stood frozen in mesmerization. He never took the time to appreciate the beauty of the night due to having always been indoors for the duration of it. However now that he was going to be living in Ponyville and would have more free time, he was going to make it a goal to enjoy the outdoors a little more.
Breathing in the cold air, Skye began the trek to his home.
Sitting on a sheet of land near the Everfree Forest was a medium-sized house surrounded by a few peach trees and a small wooden fence. It had been several years since Skye had been here. The last time, he had just turned 18 and was gathering his stuff to move to Cloudsdale. Even though it was only a few years ago, the many things that happened since made the time that passed feel like eternity.
Skye walked up onto the porch and flipped over the welcome mat to reveal a spare key.
‘I’m surprised no pony has discovered this and broken in!’ Skye thought to himself with an eye roll.
Quickly unlocking and opening the door, inside was dust covers on furniture and boxes from his apartment. Skye took off his saddlebag and walked over to the boxes. Attached to the topmost box was a stickie-note.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Hey Skye,
Here’s all your stuff bro! Sorry I can’t help you unpack due to Wonderbolts stuff, but I’m sure some of the townsfolk and neighbors down there would love to help. Anyways I hope you’re okay and everything goes well! I’ll come visit sometime when I’m not busy.
Your brother,
Soarin
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Skye smiled before yawing, ‘Unpacking can wait. I’m too exhausted to do anything now.’
Climbing up the stairs, he walked into his old bedroom that only contained a bed and a night stand. Skye got on the bed and made himself comfortable as sleep overtook him for the night.
As Skye’s consciousness slowly rose from the depths of slumber, each of his senses followed as he awoke. His vision was greeted by sunshine peircing through the blades of his window blinds, the smell of dust and wood drifted into his nose, and he felt incredible warmth provided from the silky smooth blankets wrapped around him. Skye took a deep breath to cherish the serene moment, before his hearing returned anyway. Suddenly, a loud and very sharp ringing started to assault his ears.
Clasping his ears with his hoofs due to the immense pain, Skye rolled out of his bed and on to the floor. The ringing combined with other various near and distant sounds caused an overwhelming cacophony of noises that made it hard to concentrate on anything. Grabbing ahold of the night stand, Skye pulled himself up to standing and made his way down the hall and into the bathroom. The ringing was starting die down, but it was still persistent and his hearing became so sensitive that every little sound made him wince. It was as if somepony was pounding nails into his skull. He endured the pain as he began his usual morning routine.
Skye stepped into the shower and turned the knob to warm. Too bad the water took forever to heat up.
Rainbow yawned as she sat at a table with a cup of coffee in Sugarcube Corner, “Pinkie, you better have a good reason for having me meet you here so early.”
Pinkie bounced chaoticly around the bakery doing multiple tasks at blazing speeds, “Well I had a VERY CRAZY Pinkie sense combo when I woke up this morning! Looks like today is gonna be one hectic day, so I decided to get a head start on baking today AND you offered to help me anytime I needed it.”
“So I did...” Rainbow frowned before taking a sip of her coffee. “What do you think is going to happen today anyway?
Pinkie shrugged, “If I had to make a wild guess, I’d say we’d have a newcomer in Ponyville, possible accident of some kind somewhere, and maybe some snow. It just feels like a doozy of day, but it’s kinda hard to tell sometimes.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow before sighing, “Whatever Pinkie, what do you want help with first?”
Pinkie pointed to a bowl of prepped cupcake batter on the table back in the kitchen, “Can you go start mixing?”
Rainbow got up and stretched, “Sure thing.”
Stepping out the shower, Skye pulled a towel off of a nearby rack and dried himself off. Looking in the mirror, a stranger of a reflection stared back at him. Even though it had only been barely a day since he woke from a coma, he still wasn’t used to his new appearance. While was admittedly way cooler (and a tad bit sexier) looking than the old him, it kinda felt wrong and out of place. Vibrant violet eyes stared back with a look of uncertainty.
‘Definitely gonna be a while before I’m used to all this’ Skye thought as he quickly brushed his mane back into its windswept shape.
Setting the brush down, he took one last look at himself before leaving the bathroom satisfied. Walking downstairs, the sight of a ton of boxes reminded him of the long week ahead of him. Unpacking was something that he loathed doing, but unfortunately that was unavoidable. Skye took a glimpse at the barren kitchen knowing well that it was completely devoid of food, leaving breakfast at home not an option for today. Grabbing his worn out saddlebag and the key to his house, he opened the front door and walked out into the cold winter air and began the trek into town.
An untouched blanket of snow laid over Ponyville, signifying winters presence. Empty trees sat scattered along the path to town, ice sickles and frost giving the otherwise dull trees a beautiful glittering reflection when touched by the sun’s light. The scenery before him was truly a sight to behold, despite it being summer only a day and a half ago for him. Still, he found winter to be quite charming aesthetically when he put aside his hatred of the cold weather. Although as pretty as it was, it would never be his favorite like autumn was.
Entering town square, Skye began deciding what to do first. Before deciding, a combination of a yawn and a stomach rumble spoke for him first.
“Coffee and breakfast it is.” Skye said quietly to himself as he looked around for a place to go.
A building in distance that vaguely looked like a gingerbread house caught his attention. ‘Sugarcube Corner? I haven’t been there in forever!’ Skye smiled, the last time he went he was a little colt visiting his mom. Excited at the thought of delicious sweets, he switched from walking to a quick sprint. Bursting through the sweet shop’s doors, he skid to a stop at the sight of so many mouth watering treats of all kinds. The smell of sugary goodness was incredibly overpowering to his nose, but he wasn’t complaining one bit. Skye rung the bell on the counter and waited for somepony to come to the counter.
After about thirty seconds of waiting, a bubbly pink pony raced over to serve him. “WELCOME TO SUGARCUBE CORNER! WHAT CAN I GET YA?” Pinkie greeted.
Skye nearly jumped out of his skin, his superspeed reflexes failed to alert him of her presence. “Y-yeah hi there, can I get a large mocha coffee with extra sugar and cream? Oh and also a chocolate muffin, please?” he replied after catching his breath.
“Sure thing! That’ll be 10 bits!” Pinkie said with a huge smile on her face.
Skye looked at Pinkie for second trying to find the reasoning for her enthusiasm, before shrugging and giving her 16 bits. “Keep the change.”
Pinkie gasped, “Thank you so much! We’ll have everything out lickity split!” Suddenly the pink pony sped off into the kitchen.
“That pony is the very embodiment of pure positive energy.” Skye said with a chuckle to nopony in particular.
A raspy voice in the corner of the room laughed. “That’s Pinkie Pie for you though! Truly a Ponyville treasure.”
Turning to source of the somewhat familiar voice, there sitting a table in the corner was Rainbow Dash enjoying a muffin. Skye smiled, “Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow’s expression scrunched up into one of confusion. “Sorry, wait a minute... Do I know you?”
Skye scratched his head in thought, ‘Must of not made a very big impression if she doesn’t remember me. I was the one who gave her a Wonderbolts ticket when she lost hers after all.’
“We met a while back at a Wonderbolts show.” he replied as he sat down at a table nearby.
“You’re going to have to be a little more specific than that dude. I go to a lot of the Wonderbolt shows. More than the average pony can count.” Rainbow said with a smirk.
Skye laughed, “It was the one back in August here in Ponyville. I was the pony who gave you a VIP Wonderbolts ticket when you lost yours.”
Rainbow’s eyes went wide, “That can’t be! That was the pony who also saved Celestia and is sitting in coma at her castle right now.”
Skye pointed a hoof at her, “Correction. WAS sitting in a coma at her castle. I woke up a day and a half ago.”
“How can that be though? You were near the brink of death when the girls and I intervened. The doctors said it would be a long time before you would recovered. Yet here you are with not a single scar or scratch of any kind on you!” Rainbow replied dumbfounded.
Skye relaxed in his chair and shrugged, “I’m still not sure myself and neither are Celestia’s best nurses and doctors. It really is a mysterious miracle of some kind. That being said, I didn’t come out fully unscathed.” he ran a hoof through the darker blue streak of his mane and pointed to his violet eyes, “My body couldn’t fully heal itself properly, so it compensated by giving my DNA a minor makeover here and there.”
Rainbow stood up and started walking around him, “It looks like it affected more than your hair and eyes though...” She observed his physique, he was taller than last time, he now had very defined muscles, and very big wings. Rainbow briefly blushed before shaking it off and walking back to her seat.
Skye nodded, “Yeah, that’s all that has noticeably changed so far.” he twitched slightly knowing full well that there was more that had changed, “but more could be different for all I know. It’s just too early to tell.”
“That’s incredible. Even though you hardly know us at all and the girls and I haven’t fully gotten a chance to formally introduce ourselves, I’m sure they’d like to know your okay.” Rainbow smiled.
Out of nowhere, Pinkie popped into existence and set a coffee with a chocolate muffin in front of Skye. “Oooo! And I know just the way to do that!” Pinkie said beaming with excitement.
“How?” Skye asked, not knowing what he was getting himself into.
Pinkie took a deep breath and then shouted, “A PARTAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!”
Good thing Skye’s instincts caught on and he was able to cover up his ears and save his hearing. After Rainbow assured him it was safe to uncover his ears, Skye asked “A party? Why a party?”
Pinkie giggled, “More like why not? You did save the princess and you’re technically new to Ponyville.” she sat next to him before continuing, “I feel like there’s going to be a third reason very soon too, but a party to celebrate would be a perfect place to make some friends and celebrate everything silly!”
Skye raised an eyebrow at Rainbow who just shrugged and mouthed ‘Just go with it.’. “Sure, a party does sound kinda fun.”
“Great! Then a party it is! Be at the Castle of Friendship at sunset, it’s a big shiny crystal in the middle Ponyville so it’s kind of hard to miss. See you then!” Pinkie said as she bounced away to the kitchen.
Taking a few sips of his coffee and a bite of his muffin, he turned his attention back to Rainbow “How is she gonna pull off setting up a party by sunset?” he asked suddenly confused.
“You underestimate her power dude. When it comes to parties, Pinkie’s power challenges that of Celestia’s” Rainbow joked. “Anyway, I never did get to thank you for that ticket. So thank you.”
“It’s no big deal, I was given those tickets as a birthday gift from my brother. I didn’t even know what I was going to do with the extra ticket.” Skye said as he set his coffee down, “When I saw that you lost yours, I wasn’t gonna let your day be ruined. Even if it meant giving away the ticket.”
Rainbow smiled, “I’m not one for mushy emotional stuff, but that genuinely made my day when you did.”
“Again. Don’t mention it.” Skye smiled as he took another bite of his muffin. As he enjoyed his treat, something started to feel off. The smell of smoke and sounds of screaming started to overwhelm his senses.
“Do you hear or smell that? Something’s wrong...” Skye asked with a serious look as he tried to find the source of the smoke.
Rainbow was very confused and shook her head, “No. All I smell is sugar and all I hear is ponies talking. Why?”
Without answering her, Skye got out of his chair and ran out of the bakery.
Outside he spotted a plume of smoke in the distance about a mile away. ‘No doubt something is on fire.’ he thought to himself. Rainbow stepped outside next to him.
“Rainbow, go get some weather ponies to help put out a fire and meet me there!” Skye said pointing at the smoke.
Rainbow nodded taking off. Once she was out of sight, Skye started to spark and fill with energy before taking off like a lightning bolt towards the source of the smoke. Next to a few shops was a house that had erupted into flames and was surrounded by panicking ponies. Upon further inspection, he spotted a pony made out of fire walking towards the ponies. This pony was gettting ready to attack the innocent crowd. Skye sped up and dived towards the pony. Suddenly, he crashed into him and knocked him on to the ground.
Skye rolled a bit before picking himself up. Before he could address the burning pony, he noticed his mane was on fire and quickly patted it out. “I know it’s winter and it’s cold, but a small bonfire would have been enough buddy.”
The fire pony started to chuckle with a menacing smile, “Where’s the fun in that when I could not only warm up a little, but also get revenge on the very pony who fired me and ruined my life?” he said pointing to the burning house, no doubt still occupied.
“I don’t know about your situation at all, but lighting a family’s house on fire two days before Hearth’s Warming? That’s kinda going overboard in my opinion, but who am I to judge? Anyways, I hate to break it to you but I’m going to need to you stop this immediately or else.” Skye said approaching him very slowly.
The burning pony began to laugh, “You? Stop me? Oh please! You're just an ordinary Pegasus! Your wings would only feed my flames!”
Skye smirked, “Try me!”
The fire pony burned brighter before throwing a fireball at him. Skye concentrated on the fireball’s movement dodged it with a backflip. “You’re going to have to try harder than that, matchstick.” he laughed after landing.
“Matchstick!? I’ll have you know the name’s Pyromane!” Pyromane yelled as he breathed fire out of his mouth at Skye.
Skye swiftly stepped out of the fire’s trajectory. ‘Fire breath? That pretty awesome, but the name Pyromane? Seriously? That’s the best he could come up with? Lame...’ he thought to himself. Upon reaching safety he looked over to the burning house, ‘I need to get this guy out of the way quickly. If there is anypony alive in that house, they’re not going to be for much longer if I don’t hurry up!’
Observing Pyromane, Skye began to hatch a plan. The pony was basically a living fire, leaving only a few options on how to take out said fire. He could put him out using the surrounding snow, but there was not enough snow nearby and it would take too long to get more. The family and their house were quickly running out of time after all. The next option was water, but the weather ponies were still not here. This left one last option, suffocating the fire. But how?
Suddenly, Skye had an idea. If he spun around Pyromane counterclockwise fast enough, it would suck the oxygen supply out of the fire and would put Pyromane out of commission. Sparking with tons of energy, he took off as fast as his legs could carry him right now. As Skye sped around Pyromane, the burning pony began to struggle to breath and the fire that covered him was starting to die down, but it wasn’t fast enough as he needed to put Pyromane out completely. Speeding up and adding his wings to the equation, Skye finally managed to put out Pyromane completely and watched as the pony passed out due to exhaustion and oxygen deprivation. Skye felt kinda bad, but it could of ended much worse.
Skye slowed to halt and took a minute to catch his breath. Looking into the crowd of ponies, he pointed towards two stallion. “You two! Go get some royal guards quickly and detain this guy!” he commanded. The two ponies nodded and ran off carrying an unconscious Pyromane. Turning his attention back to the home, he began concentrating at the situation at hoof. As Skye focused, began to hear what sounded like three panicked heartbeats inside the house. Two of them were on the first floor and sounded like adult heartbeats due to them sounding slightly slower than the third, and the third was one of a child’s and was located on the second floor. Without thinking any further, he dashed inside.
Once inside, the entrance collapsed behind him and the flames grew. ‘Great. That’s just what I needed.’ Skye thought to himself with an eye roll. Skye listened carefully and noticed that the heartbeats were coming from the kitchen. He quickly ran into the kitchen towards them. Inside was a green unicorn stallion and a orange earth pony mare underneath a table embracing each other. Skye approached them and knelt down.
“Are you two okay?” Skye asked and the couple nodded, “Don’t worry, everything’s gonna be alright.”
Scanning the room, he spotted a backdoor that he assumed led to the backyard. Turning back to the couple, he got an idea. “Look, I’m going to kick open that door and you two are going to get out of here to safety. Got it?”
The mare began to panic, “W-what about our little girl!?”
“I won’t leave until I get her out safely, but you need to get out of here. There is a very high chance this place could cave in any moment . Alright?” Skye explained. The couple nodded, “Good.”
Walking up to the door, he raised his hind legs and with as much strength he could, kicked the door open and knocked it off its hinges. “Go!!”
The couple wasted no time exiting the building, leaving Skye behind with one more task. He left the kitchen and spotted the stairs. At this point, it was starting to get harder to breathe, but this wasn’t going to stop him. Skye ran upstairs and shouted, “Is there anypony up here? If you can hear me, shout where you are!”
A couple seconds passed as Skye listened carefully, suddenly he heard a very weak voice cry out. “I’m in the bedroom at the end of the hall! Help me I can’t breathe very well!”
As soon as he heard the filly, Skye charged his energy up and bolted down the hall and knocked down the bedroom door. Once inside, he started searching the room for the filly. “I’m down here under the bed! Hurry!” the filly cried out.
He ducked down underneath the bed reached out for the filly who quickly grabbed his hoof. Skye pulled her out and picked her up. All that was left was to get her out safely, but he had to think fast. He couldn’t go back downstairs due to the house’s failing structural integrity, which meant the only way out was a window. Skye looked at the window to the right, it was locked shut and looked pretty sturdy but it was the only option at the moment.
Skye looked at the filly, “Okay, we’re going to do something pretty crazy. So I’m going to need you to do something for me.”
“What?” the filly asked trembling.
“When I count to three, you’re going to close your eyes and hold on tight. Alright?” Skye explained.
The filly nodded. Skye gave her an assuring smile, “Alright lets do it.”
Backing up, he got as much distance as he possibly could between him and the window. If he was going to make this work, he was going to have to go from still to full speed nearly instantly. Skye concentrated on his remaining energy, he could do this. Closing his eyes, electricity started surging throughout his body, “One... two...” Skye opened his eyes to reveal brightly glowing violet irises full of determination. “Three.”
In the time it took a pony to blink, Skye had charged at the window full speed and right as he was about crash through it he wrapped his wings around the filly as a shield and dived out the window right when the glass shattered. Time finally caught up with him and pain filled every part of his body upon hitting ground full force. Very slowly, Skye picked himself off the ground while clutching the filly in his wings. Up in the skies, Rainbow along with ten other weather ponies arrived with an oversized bucket of water and without a moment to spare they put the fire out.
Making his way over to the couple, Skye gave them the foal. Before he could walk away however, the couple embraced him. In the background, the crowd began to cheer at his heroics. The feeling was awkward and embarrassing at first, but it slightly grew on him. As the couple released him, Rainbow landed and walked over to him with a proud smile.
“It might just be a coincidence, but it looks like you have the blood of a hero” Rainbow smirked.
Skye chuckled, “I’m leaning more towards coincidence.” he said before wincing.
Rainbow noticed and became a little concerned, “You okay?”
Rubbing a few bruises and cuts that were starting to make their presence known, Skye replied. “Just sore from a really rough landing.”
“Well we can’t have you limping like a zombie or something before your party tonight.” Rainbow said patting him on the back, “I have some friends at the local spa who will fix you right up. They owe me a few favors so if you mention I sent you, you’ll get in free of charge.”
“Thank you.” Skye said before his left wing began to throb, “Not gonna lie. A massage does sound pretty good right now.”
Rainbow nodded, “Go head over there right now. Just don’t be late to the party ok?”
“Good idea. I’ll see you later tonight then.” Skye smiled as he slowly lifted himself into the air and flew away.
Rainbow watched as he flew away, “There’s something different about that colt. No doubt about it.”
Three hours later...
Stretching his wings, Skye truly felt like a million bits. Aloe and Lotus had worked their wonders soothing all his aches and pains that he received today. First he got a deep massage that got rid of knots in his back that he didn’t even know he had, then he got to sit and soak in a relaxing hot bath of water that was scented like an assortment of fruits. If it weren’t for the fact that they were closing early today, he probably would have fallen asleep in the bath. The chilly evening air and Celestia’s magestic sunset welcomed Skye as he exited the spa.
The streets were nearly devoid of ponies which felt unusual to him, but felt like it wasn’t worth questioning. He hadn’t been in Ponyville long enough to know what was the norm was around here. ‘Now where did Pinkie say to meet again?’ he looked at his surroundings, until he spotted a tall glistening tower. ‘Aha! Castle of Freindship!’ Skye smiled and started sprinting towards it. At the entrance, he stood in front of the door wondering what to do. ‘Do I knock or something?’
As he was about to knock on the door, it slowly opened on its own and revealed a room with no lights on. ‘Huh? I must of missed the part-‘ Before Skye could complete his thought, he was interupted by ponies shouting in unison.
“SURPRISE!!”
Filling the foyer of the castle, was a multicolored crowd of party-enthusiastic ponies of all kinds. Streamers, balloons, and confetti decorated the walls and floor. It was becoming very clear to him that this was all a part of certain pink pony’s plan. Right on queue as if she read his thoughts, Pinkie Pie jumped in front of him and pulled him inside.
“YOU MADE IT!!” Pinkie Pie beamed, “What do ya think?”
“I’ve never had a surprise party before, but I have to say I like it lot.” Skye smiled.
Pinkie pointed to the center of the room where a table with refreshments was located. “My friends are waiting by the snacks, they’re very eager to meet you for realsies this time.”
Skye glimpsed over to the girls and nodded before turning back to Pinkie Pie, “Let’s not keep them any longer, shall we?” Pinkie nodded and grinned as they walked over to them.
Twilight was the first to notice them and turned her attention to Skye, “Hey, glad to see you’ve recovered mister...?”
He chuckled, “Swift. Skye Swift. Just call me Skye though!”
“Well than, it’s nice to finally meet you Skye.” Twilight smiled before observing him, “I have to say your recovery is extraordinary!”
“Yeah I’m quite lucky to say the least!” Skye nervously rubbed the back of his head. He wasn’t used to mares eying him, analytically or romantically. All this attention he was getting lately was a little too much for him.
“Lucky indeed!” Twilight laughed, “ Allow me to introduce you to everypony.” She pointed to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, “You already Pinkie and Rainbow, so we’ll start off with Applejack. She works at Sweet Apple Acres and is one of the most hardworking and honest ponies you’ll meet!”
Applejack tipped her hat before before holding out a hoof which Skye gladly shook. “Pleasure meetin’ ya!” she smiled, “You should stop by mah farm sometime! I’d be happy to give you a sample of our tasty new apple cider recipe we’ve been working on.”
“That’s sounds fun, I’ll stop by the next time I fetch some groceries!” Skye replied before looking over at the next pony.
Twilight walked over to Rarity, “Here is Ponyville’s fashionista, Rarity-“
“MY WORD!!” Rarity gasped running over to Skye, “That poor saddlebag!”
“What?” Skye took off his bag and looked at it, “Oh this old thing? Yeah it has seen better days.”
Rarity snatched the bag from Skye's hoof and inspected it closer, the bag had several tears and the fabric was scorched here and there. "This is completely unacceptable! I am going to make you a new one right away!"
"You don't need to do that Rarity." Skye chuckled at her antics.
"Darling I insist! I can make one that'll perfectly suit your tastes as well!" Rarity smiled as she folded up Skye's bag and put it into her bag.
Skye was about to try to kindly turn her down again, only for Twilight to put a hoof in front of him and shake her head no. "Just let her Skye, she is the element of generosity after all." Twilight said turning to a yellow pegasus mare, "Last but not least we have Ponyville's animal caretaker, Fluttershy!"
Fluttershy stood in front of Skye, nervously pawing at the floor with her face hidden behind a carnation pink mane. The lighting the room reflected off her eyes revealing glossy cerulean irises. Skye noticed how nervous and shy she was, so he relaxed his posture a bit, loosened his eye brows and gave her a gentle smile.
“Hey there, I’m Skye!” Skye greeted, “I’m promise I’m not too scary once you get to know me. In fact we have something in common, I like animals too.”
Fluttershy slowly relaxed and smiled, “You do?”
Skye nodded, “Yeah, in fact I used to take care of a bird sanctuary in my free time back when I was in school.”
Her eyes widened, “Oh my goodness! That must of been amazing!”
“Indeed it was!” Skye grinned, “I could tell you some stories sometime if you’d like?”
“That’d be great.” Fluttershy nodded her head.
Skye smiled before standing back up and stretching. “Well it’s very nice to meet you all, but this is a party. Let’s go have some fun!”
All of the girls nodded their heads in agreement and began to disperse throughout the room. Glancing around the room, Skye spotted several activities he could participate in. There was a makeshift dance floor in the middle of the room where ponies were grooving to DJ Pon-3, a lounge area that a few ponies were casually talking to friends, and a game area where there was darts, bobbing for apples, and a few other games.
Despite the variety of activities, Skye had his sights set on the stage. As always, he had the irresistible urge to sing and perform. On the stage next to the DJ booth was a set of common instruments like the piano, guitar, drums, and other tools of a musician’s trade. He continued to eyes the instruments until he gave into his temptations.
Skye quickly made his way over to Pinkie Pie and pulled her aside, "Hey Pinkie, do you think I could perform a song?"
Pinkie's face lit up and she gave an incredibly big smile, "Of course you can! Just let the DJ know and she'll help you out."
"Thank you." Skye returned the smile.
Weaving through the crowd, he slowly made his way onto the stage and to the DJ booth. Skye waited a moment for the song to end before whispering something into the DJ's ear. She smiled and nodded before Skye walked out in to the center of the stage. Noticing that the music stopped, everypony turned their attention to him.
As the intro progressed into the main melody, ponies began to bob their heads to the beat. Skye smiled at the audience as he started to sing. Turning their attention to him, the girls look at him in surprise.
"Wow he sounds really good!" Rainbow was the first to speak.
Rarity nodded, "Agreed! What a delightful voice!"
Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Twilight hummed in agreement while Fluttershy simply sat there enjoying the music. Moving into the chorus, Skye continued to sing and follow each of the notes smoothly. Mesmorized by the backing instruments, the audience began to sway as he entered the chorus for the second time. Skye felt his throat getting dry, but that wasn't going to keep him from finishing the song nicely. After finishing the last of the lyrics, he hummed along with the melody as the song gently came to a close.
Before he even had a chance to take a breath, the audience erupted into applause. Skye smiled and let out a chuckle as he repositioned the microphone and bowed.
"Thank you everyone! I'll let the DJ take it from here though, 'cause I'm beat!" He laughed before leaving the stage.
Skye made his way back to the refreshments to grab a glass of water. His throat was still sore from breathing in smoke earlier, not to mention singing only made it worse. While he downed the drink, the girls walked over to him.
"We didn't know you sang!" Twilight said with a giant smile.
Rainbow flew over to him and nudged his shoulder, "Yeah, how come you didn't mention it?"
Skye simply shrugged, "Why spoil the surprise?"
"Well ya sure did surprise us!" Applejack laughed.
Pinkie was hopping as she spoke up, "I know right! You should perform again! ENCORE! ENCORE! ENCORE!"
Before she could continue chanting, he cut her off. "I would love to but after such a long day, I need to get some rest."
"He is right Pinkie, we all should get some beauty sleep." Rarity agreed.
Fluttershy nodded, "Yeah and I need to feed Angel before I go to bed."
"Tell you what, I'll come by later tomorrow and give you all a special performance during lunch. Okay?" Skye smiled.
Pinkie squealed with excitement. "Sweeeeeeet!!!!!"
Skye yawned as he made his way over to the entrance, before leaving he turned back and waved to everypony. "Thanks for the party! And I'll see you all later!"
The girls waved as he left and began the long flight home.
Entering his home, Skye stretched and made his way upstairs and to his bedroom. Still sore from earlier, he very gently entered his bed and made himself comfortable.
'What a day' Skye thought to himself before slowly drifting away to dreamland.
