It was the second day of break and I was alone in my room, trying to separate the information Nimbus had given me from my own thoughts and form all of the information into a cohesive statement. This wasn't an easy task as much of what Nimbus had told me had been related to my questions, but out of chronological order and tainted with her own bias.

In trying to separate the gold nuggets of truth from the muck of opinion, I had to establish which was which. Anything descriptive of Skyy Gust, which was most of what Nimbus had given me, was automatically out. Descriptions were subjective and, therefore, opinion. It didn't help that I didn't know Skyy personally.

My bedroom door slammed open and Nimbus marched in, clearly irritated. Actually, that was a bit of an understatement. More accurately, she was royally pissed.

“Something wrong?” I prompted.

“Oh, is something wrong.” She snorted, paced a bit, sat down, stood up, and resumed her pacing. “Is something wrong, she asks.”

“Would you mind telling me?”

“Your brother...” she pointed an accusatory hoof out the open door. I looked, but Tornado was nowhere in sight.

“What about him?” I knew Tornado had ponynapped Nimbus earlier to have a bit of fun and allow me time and privacy to work, but, apparently, things had gone sour.

“He tried to preen me without my permission!” she snapped.

My jaw went slack. The wings of a pegasus are among the most sensitive parts of the body. The sensation of touch, on them, is akin to sexual stimulation and to touch another pegasus' wings without their expressed permission, especially a pegasus of the opposite sex, is a grave sin. “He didn't.”

Nimbus gritted her teeth and nodded in the manic manner of a pony with barely-restrained rage.

“What did you do?” I asked. Given her reputation and what I knew she was capable of, I feared the worst.

“I gave him a kick he won't soon forget.”

“Is he still breathing?”

“Yeah, but I don't know why I bothered checking.” Nimbus replied with a roll of her eyes.

I hopped down off of my bed and had a quick stretch. “I should go make sure he's okay. Where is he?”

She turned and started out the door, “I'll take you to him.”

As she led me to him, I questioned her about what had led up to Tor molesting her wings. I knew my brother wouldn't do something that terrible without a good reason. He's a good pony and I hoped that he had merely brushed her wings, accidentally, and she had overreacted. “What happened? What were you two doing?”

“Nothing really. He and I were over by the sparring ring and just, sort of, goofing around. He asked if I wanted to get off the compound for a while and get some lunch. He knows this place that has great hay fries and soy burgers. I said that sounded like a good idea, but, when we were getting ready, I noticed I had a few feathers out of place. So I'm trying to get those feathers, right, and he just grabs my wing and starts doing them himself. Not even bothering to ask permission, first. I mean, yeah, I was struggling a bit, but that isn't permission, last time I checked.”

“No, it isn't. Still, he's never done anything like this before. He probably just thought he was helping out.”

Nimbus scoffed.

“I'm serious. Mom and Dad raised him right, taught him to be respectful of mares and that he could look, but not touch. He's young. He got carried away.”

“I can't believe you're defending him!”

“He's my brother.”

“I'm your friend!” she snapped.

I stopped her with a hoof to the chest. “Hey, calm down. You being upset isn't helping any pony. Yeah, your reasons are valid, but I'm trying to figure out what happened and I want everypony's side of the story. Right now, Tor is innocent until I found out otherwise.”

“And, if you do? You going to tell your mom?”

I gave her a steely gaze. “Mom will be the least of his worries.”

I found my brother and Ty cowering beneath the bleachers that surrounded the sparring ring. The huge bruise and crescent of dirt that clung to his alabaster coat showed where Nimbus had struck him. The moment he spotted me, Ty began to dance nervously, torn between solidarity with his friend and wanting to run as far away as possible.

I nudged Nimbus with a hoof, signaling her to stay back. This situation was already going to be hot and I didn't need her flinging fuel on the fire with accusations.

Typhoon decided what he wanted to do and trotted towards me. “I know this looks bad, Wind, but I swear it was an accident.”

“That's not what I'm hearing.” I replied.

“You know what kind of a hot-head Nimbus can be.”

“That's why I told her to stay back. I don't need her, or you, interfering.”

“Wind, seriously, this is all just a huge misunderstanding.” He pleaded.

“I really hope you're right, Typhoon.”

“I am right. I saw the whole thing. Look, we were fooling around and Tor wanted to get something to eat so he invited Nim and I over to this place around the corner. Wonderful little diner. We were gonna fly, but Nim had some feathers out of place so she sat down to preen. She was having some trouble with it and Tor asked if she wanted some help. I guess she didn't hear him or whatever because she didn't answer so he just stepped up to help her. Next thing I know, he's on the ground and she's feathering possessed.”

“Thank you, Typhoon, but I'd rather hear the whole thing from my brother.”

Tor was sitting up with all of the bravado of a pony on his way to the gallows. I trotted up to him and sat down. “Are you hurt?”

“A bit sore.”

“Got ya good, didn't she?”

He grimaced and nodded. “She's got some power in those kicks.”

“So, tell me what happened.”

He coughed. “It was really stupid and I'm really sorry, Wind. We were gonna go around to the Lunch Box to eat and she was preening, but she was having some trouble. I asked her if she wanted some help and she grunted so, I thought that meant 'yes' and I went to help her. The second I touch her wing, she kicks the horseapples out of me.”

I gave a sigh. “You know better.”

“I know, I know, and I'm really sorry.”

I sat down and rubbed a hoof along my muzzle. “Tornado, why do you have to make life so difficult?”

“Hey! I said I was sorry!” He snapped.

“I don't want your apologies. The mare you need to convince is over there.” I pointed at Nimbus and Tornado seemed to sag slightly.

“I don't think she's in a forgiving mood.” He said.

“Be that as it may,” I replied, “You need to show remorse. When she is in a forgiving mood, she will forgive you. It was a stupid mistake. A mistake that you made and you need to apologize to her for it.”

“Are you going to tell Mom?”

I shook my head. “I'll leave that up to her. If she feels the need to do that, I won't stand in her way.”

He sighed and stood. I took the lead and brought him over to her before taking up a position between them and just to the side, ready to step in if Nimbus lost her temper.

Her stare burned into him and I could see the muscles in her jaw working as she ground her teeth. Her ears were flat against her head and her entire body was tense as she seemed to pulse with displeasure. Tor, who was nothing if not observant, picked up on this and nervously ran a hoof through his mane.

“Uhm...listen. I-I'm really sorry about what happened, touching you like that. All I wanted to do was help, nothing more, and I legitimately thought that grunt you gave was an affirmative. I didn't mean anything by it and...and...and...” He hung his head, “Sorry.”

I was never more proud of my brother than then and I knew Mom, and Dad, if he were still alive, would be proud. Not of the circumstances surrounding his gross misjudgement, but of the fact that he owned up to it like a true stallion would.

Nimbus turned her gaze to me and I kept my expression a mask of careful neutrality. I gave a single nod to confirm that his words were sincere, but nothing more. She returned her attention to him and sat silent for a moment, her muzzle twitching occasionally as she mulled over his words.

“Alright, kid. I like to think that I'm a fair pony and I can see where things got lost in translation. That's not to say that I forgive you, not yet, but I do accept your apology. You're gonna have to work hard to get back into my good graces.”

“Anything,” Tornado exclaimed, happy to have the chance to correct his wrongdoing.

She turned her back to him and spread her wings. “First, you're going to preen me. Then, you're going to buy my lunch. That'll be a good start.”

As he got to work, I trotted up to Nimbus and whispered in her ear. “You're a sly mare.”

She gave a low chuckle before emitting a surprised yelp. Raising a forehoof, she whacked Tor's leg. “Take it easy.”

“Sorry,” he mumbled around a mouthful of feather.

Author's Note

Wow, it's been a while since I've updated. I was waiting on Comma-Kazie to catch up with me on the editing end, but, between technical difficulties, his schedule, and mine, that doesn't look like it's going to be any time soon.

Another thing. I know this chapter is really short and I'm sorry you've all waited so long for so little. IRL, I've taken on serious new responsibilities and don't have as much free time as I'd like. Again, sorry for that. Hopefully, this little bit will tide you over for a while.