Burning Feathery Love

You're sitting in a club with a few Wonderbolts, some fans and Derpy. She'd fallen asleep beside you, must have had a little too much to drink and nodded off. You could tell she was dreaming since she twitched against you occasionally. She's draped over you like a thick blanket, her arms wrapped around you tightly as if she's hugging a large teddy bear. You sit with an arm around her keeping her safe, you'd never forgive yourself if something happened to her.

Whenever you drank too much, you'd do stupid things for fun. (Like trying to convince a shopkeeper you're his son to get free gum.) Whenever Derpy had too much she'd like to talk about anything and everything. It was hard getting her to stop, that's why her quiet snoring was somewhat relaxing.

You hear a sudden change in the song and look over to notice a damp looking Spitfire approaching you. She takes a few sips of her drink and wipes her lips with a hoof, smiling the entire time. Her mane is disheveled and she looks a bit more than tipsy. “Ahh... Hey Lazuli, wanna hit the dance floor, the DJ's about to get this party really started. WOOO!" Her voice is really loud and filled with energy.

“Sorry Spitfire, I'm keeping an eye on this lightweight." You look down at Derpy and give her a one armed hug. Derpy was being your excuse to not dance today. Dancing isn't exactly your thing, not even a pound of salmon steaks could convince you to dance right now. Especially since you're already feeling dizzy after your sixth toffee buttered beer.

"Sure thing, If you change your mind, you know where to find me."

How'd you even get into this situation?

It all started a few days ago with Derpy bringing you a letter. It’s outstanding how something so small could leave such a big impact on someponies life.

The letter had been from Wonder Wings, the original founder of the Wonderbolts. She wanted to meet you later that day during a show at the Cloudsdale stadium.

Said show was in the evening and when you arrived somepony took you to an office suite where you ended up having a unique interview experience. This was when you were offered an amazing new job opportunity bodyguarding the Wonderbolts.

At the end of the interview you'd been told to meet the Wonderbolts at the Silver lining hotel, a fancy looking hotel in the rich district of Cloudsdale. Only four Wonderbolts were inside; Soarin, Fleetfoot, Firestreak and Orange Sundae, with another having a shower.

You had introduced yourself and explained things from your perspective. Everything was going great until screams were heard coming from the occupied bathroom.

“AAHRHHHHH!! HOLY SHIT AAEEEIIIIHH!! FUCK!!” Horrific screaming and shouting silences the laughing instantly. The voice was coming from the bathroom. Who was in there again?

SPITFIRE!!

You’re not exactly sure what instinct drives you but it has you jumping right into action. Rushing the lock on the bathroom door isn't easy. It's pretty strong but a few slightly painful shoulder bashes later it broke open.

What happens next pleasantly surprises you.

Spitfire's standing on her hind hooves in the corner of the shower pointing at the floor. You get a lovely unrestricted view of her sleek fiery body, hot water splashing down from the shower head, soaking her. Your eyes instinctively scan her form, starting at her mane then leisurely making their way down to her sex. Before you could say or do anything, something runs across one of your front claws, diverting you eyes and attention to the floor.

It was a rat.

A rat.

It takes a moment for your brain to process what's happening, frenzied laughter can be heard coming from behind you while the oblivious Wonderbolt captain stood ahead, opting to ignore them and instead awarding her decency to somepony who'd save her from the demonic death rodent. You take her offer like a feathered guardian.

The large brownish rat is sitting behind you. It seems to be just as frightened of Spitfire as she is of it. You take a moment to decide what to do. Turning around and looking down you decide to talk down the rat into releasing its hostage. “Listen here Rattus. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I think you should leave.”

The rat looks at you and squeaks. You don’t speak rat, but maybe it understands you. “Behind this hotel are some pretty big dustbins. You might find some nice nibbles if you head off now. I heard they had to scrap a load of cheese recently.” You look insane. You are insane. Talking to a rat, asking it to leave? As insane as it looks, it works. The rat squeaks at you once more before scurrying out of the window and onto the balcony before going about its way.

Spitfire is still frightened, but once the rat left her sight she decided to stand more proper. The other ponies are still laughing, either at Spitfire’s reaction, or at you talking to the rat, or both. Probably both.

You look back at the laughing ponies a moment before a very angry Spitfire storms her way towards them, not before checking the vicinity for signs of enemy movement. She begins to shout at them, seemingly ignoring you. “That’s it! We. Are. Leaving. Right now”

They all stop laughing instantly and begin judging her seriousness before coming to attention and yelling. “Yes Ma’am” At the same time. They start talking amongst themselves, deciding how they'll go about packing. Spitfire then heads towards you, still dipping wet and wearing a very angry facial expression. Her anger subsides and she embarrassingly looks down before talking.

“Thanks gryphon guy. Look... about what just happened.” You decide to be the good guy gryphon and not mock her. It's best if you could keep in the good books of each Wonderbolt. Especially if you'll be getting to know them personally. Especially the captain. Especially Spitfire!

“I’d be grateful if you could perhaps keep what you saw between us? It's not like I'm in that situation often.” If her ego took a hit you couldn't tell.

“It’s fine. I...I was surprised too..."

“Rats. I hate them. Anyways what exactly ARE you doing here gryphon? You one of Soarin’s fans? You really shouldn't be in here.”

You take the time to sit down before filling her in with details, you explain the letter, the meeting with Wonder Wings and how you ended up here. Strangely enough, Spitfire knew more about the situation than most, even more than you.

“So, you’re the new guy eh? I was wondering what you’d look like, never thought you’d be a gryphon though.” She taps her chin thoughtfully. “Wonder Wings is just as smart as she is a good flier. Follow me back to the academy, we’ll talk there. This place gives me the creeps.” She shivers at the word "creeps."

As you walked towards the door you hear a voice behind you. “New guy where're you going?”

“You’re not supposed to fly in this hotel, which means I have to climb down all those stairs and leave through the front door.”

“And this hotel was supposed to be rat free. It's a SIX star hotel! Why in Equestria do they have vermin in the bathrooms, I swear to Celestia-” She keeps talking, her words becoming mumbles. She then spreads her wings and runs onto the balcony and jumps off leaving a gust of wind and the faint noise of her ramblings behind.

You'd rather take the window than go down millions of stairs. You stretch your own wings, the satisfying sound of feathers being spread filling your ears. You walk past the sliding crystal glass doors onto the balcony and observe the outside. It's pretty cold. Spitfire is hovering outside, probably much colder than you due to still being damp from her shower. She gives a "follow me" gesture and you oblige. With a large jump and some gliding you're already flying beside Spitfire, her mane and tail blowing about in the chilling air.

The Wonderbolt academy isn't far from Cloudsdale, the others were probably already there. You liked to fly slowly though, and you did while following Spitfire. She seemed to be going slow too, either she wants to fly with you, or more likely prefers to fly at a more relaxed pace when not performing.

Once your built-in-night-vision kicks in you could see the distinctive plateau where the academy lay amongst a thick layer of heavy rain clouds. You fly right up beside Spitfire to talk. “Should we wait for it to pass?” Was your only question.

“Not afraid of a little rain are we new guy?” Spitfire was first to hit the wall of rain. She generated a light "pomf" sound when entering the heavy cloud. You follow after her, shielding your face with a claw.

It's raining much harder than it looked, you and Spitfire have both gotten soaked within seconds of being inside the cloud. Flying in rain isn't easy or fun, but thankfully there isn't any lightning to surprise you.

It's not long before you both land firmly on the academy premises. You follow a once again dripping wet Spitfire inside the main building.

The academy is massive. It's divided into two main sections, students and recruits. Recruits come to join the Wonderbolts, students come to learn. The academy isn't all about Wonderbolts and flying, it's an amazing academy for any pony. Only pegasi could naturally get to it though.

Each section has living quarters for both mares and stallions separately. There are plenty of classrooms either side and they both shared a mess hall and a large outside racetrack.

You and Spitfire aren't the only creatures taking shelter from the rain, inside are a couple late studying students, some wet, some dry. Spitfire took no time in waiting and heads down a corridor. You follow her, watching as students stop what they're doing and address her as Ma'am. She's obviously well respected.

On the other hoof was you. Almost everypony you passed was staring at you with mixed curiosity and concern. If gryphons look scary, they looked terrifying when soaked. Feathers drooped with the weight of water absorbed into them making you look wet, and angry.

Gryphons aren't exactly common outside the kingdom so most ponies haven't seen your kind before. You'd gotten used to the stares and awkward silences when the very same thing happened during your time in the military. Ignoring the many glares you quickly and quietly follow Spitfire.

A short walk later after passing Orange Sundae (Who gave you a wink) you realize Spitfire has taken you to her office. She was waiting at the door talking to a recruit about something before he runs off past you. "Alright new guy, it'll be warm inside so you can dry off, get in before you scare our recruits to death."

Inside her office was warm, almost hot. Your feathers already felt dryer. The dark red floor added extra heat into the small pale room. She has quite a few trophies and pictures littering multiple shelves. There are even a few typical Wonderbolt posters pinned to the walls. There's a sofa to one side, and a bookcase opposite. Her desk is rather small but is kept neat and tidy, she has two chairs either side for meetings. Behind her desk a large window overlooked the outside courtyard.

"Take a seat, I don't bite. Much. I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I just need to talk with you before you're allowed to wander the premises freely." You're not sure whether she meant the chair or sofa, but you wanted to lay down anyways so you take the sofa. Besides, Spitfire was being very laid back with you.

You wait for her to say something but she doesn't instead she starts drying her mane with a towel. Somepony knocks at the door before coming in, it was the recruit she was talking to earlier, he handed Spitfire a clipboard before leaving. "Hmm..." Is all she says while looking at the clipboard. Her expression turns to that of a pony trying to solve a puzzle.

"Well... unless you want to bunk with some stallions, you're gonna have to stay in the mare dormitories."

Wait.......What?

"Seems we're full of male recruits right now. Sucks to be you new guy."

"You're kidding right?" Is your short reply. They can't be full, the academy is huge!

"Like I said, the only single rooms available are in the mare dormitories. Unless you want to occupy a hostel with a few stallions, you'll have to suck it up and become a mare." She laughs. You're not exactly sure how to react. Before you get the chance to she continues talking.

"In fact, I'm just going to write your name down now." She scribbles onto the clipboard. "There, all done. You'll be staying next door to Apricot in sixteen and Lightning Dust in fourteen."

As much as you wanted to be disappointed with being stuck in the mare dormitories, you couldn't help but be grateful having your own room, in the mare dormitories. Hopefully you won't get mocked, though you doubt anypony would mock a gryphon.

You decide to speak instead of think for once. "Isn't it wrong for a male to be staying with the females? As awesome as it'd be being surrounded by all you mares, I'm pretty sure there are male and female dormitories for a reason."

Spitfire laughs again. "Hahah, yeah... that's true. If anypony asks, you're a very masculine gryphoness. Okay?"

"I'm pretty sure nopony would fall for that Spitfire." It's late, dark, raining and you're getting tired. You're simply not in the mood for jokes even if Spitfire is telling them.

"Don't worry, I'll let the mares know your cool. Just don't do anything too stupid and everything'll be fine. Your room number is fifteen if you weren't listening. We'll talk more in the morning, for now, go get some rest." Now that's exactly what you want. Sleep! Its already early morning and you've been up all day. Now is the perfect time to find a bed and hibernate a bit.

You knew your room number, but not the location, after wandering for thirty minutes or more, you finally end up in the female recruit dormitories. One, two, three, four you count each door in your head as you passed them until you finally reach fifteen. With a creak you open the door and slide inside quietly, trying to not wake anypony up. The room was spacious but void of most furnishing. You could fix that later, right now the only thing you needed was right here. A bed.

After closing the door you can't help release a soft sigh. Your room is a dark green, with a turquoise floor and curtains. Your bed is all but a mattress, but at least it's a big mattress. You don't need a blanket to stay warm, your feathers take care of that nicely. Closing your tired eyes you can feel your body relaxing and preparing itself for sleep. You yawn once before sleep finally takes you.

You don't snore.

The next day you're awoken by warm strips of sunlight escaping through a gap between the curtains. Warmth against your face prompts you to open your tired eyes and yawn softly.

"Hiya Lazuli."

You literally jump out of your feathers and bed causing you to land face first on the floor with a loud thump. "Oww..."

You hear a familiar giggle. "I brought you a muffin."

You roll over and rub your face. "Uggh... Derpy?! What are you doing here?" What was she doing here? You rub your eyes and look at her intently just to be sure you're not dreaming. Sure enough, Derpy is real, and she's really has a muffin for you. A chocolate chip one!

"My job silly. I got an order by a miss Pennyfull to deliver some stuff from your apartment, and when i saw your name on the address I had to bring my friend a morning muffin!" You sit up and take the chocolate chip muffin after saying thanks, Derpy herself still has more to say. "So you moving into the academy or something? because its awful strange moving stuff from one place to another if your not living there."

Before you can answer her, another pegasus appears. It's Raindrops, Derpy's parcel partner. Turns out moving furniture is a two pegasus job. After a small conversation between the two mares, Raindrops heads off while Derpy turns and looks at you again. "Where do you want your sofa and fridge?"

You couldn't care less right now, all you wanted to do was sleep. You gesture for Derpy to put them anywhere. "Just... Well, bring them in, I'll arrange them later." Raindrops comes back with a bunch of files that belonged to you, she drops them off at the bottom of your bed before her and Derpy leave to get your sofa and fridge.

The sofa was today's first problem, Derpy and Raindrops had an end each but still manage to get it stuck in the doorframe. You weren't in the mood to have two mares pushing a sofa uselessly through your door. Instead you dropped your files, and go to help Raindrops. With a bit of effort it's not long before you push it past the door, with a slight thump you finally had the whole thing through. Your couch had been with you awhile. Even though it was old and slightly worn, the blue colour matched your wing feathers and would fit into your new room well.

Next was your fridge, the duo of mailmares had no trouble getting that into your room, it was only a small fridge. You waste no time and move both items into appropriate places, sofa against the wall, fridge beside it. It'll serve as a drinks cooler and a table top.

Both mares leave yet again and when they come back had a box each. After laying them down on the floor Derpy dusts off her hooves. You presume those boxes contain your few pieces of clothing and other miscellaneous items.

"Well, that's that. You sure don't have much stuff Lazuli." She's right, but that never bothered you. You preferred experiences and memories over possessions.

"Yeah, I don't need much. Thanks again Derpy. I think I'm going to go back to sleep."

"Okay sleepy head, I'll leave you alone then." She smiles and pats your head before Raindrops tells her they've got more deliverys to make. They both leave you sitting on your bed in your now slightly furnished room. You take a look at your muffin and smile. Derpy was such a character, you're glad she's your friend. You laugh to yourself and place the chocolate chip muffin on top of the fridge, you'll eat that later.

You take the silence as an opportunity and lay back down on your bed. You slide the files off the bed and begin thinking about other things you could move into your new room. A filing cabinet is always useful, bookshelves with books would look good, a desk and a few chairs like Spitfire had would make your room more professional, and a rug couldn't hurt. Most importantly is to get some blankets for your bed, especially since it can get real cold during Winter.

You close your eyes again.

After what felt like a nap, another mare decides to come into your room unannounced. This time it's Spitfire, you're already somewhat awake so she couldn't surprise you as much as Derpy did. She sits down on your newly acquired sofa and puts her hooves up. "I've got lots of explaining to do, so you better be listening."

You sit up and blink a few times before nodding. "There being no room in the stallion dormitories wasn't the only reason I assigned you this room. Every weekend the recruits and us Wonderbolts have a competition. Mares against Stallions. Since you're in here with us mares, I think you're on our team. The stallions have had an advantage of competing numbers to us mares, but having you on our team would be one more body to help us snatch victory in tonight's game." She seems to be filled with determination.

It's nice to be wanted, but you can't help but state the obvious. "I'm a male gryphon. Staying here is easy enough to explain with the shortage of rooms, but I have no reason to be on your team."

Spitfire thinks for a moment before sitting up and crossing her hooves. "Okay, how about this then, I'll just announce it as the mare dorms versus the stallion dorms. Since you're here with us in the mare dormitories, you'll be on our team."

"I don't know Spitfire, seems like you're bending the rules."

"Aww...Come on new guy. I mean, Lazuli. With your background, we'd win tonight's tug-of-war no problem. Pleeeaaase! The winner gets a reward and the stallions have an unfair number advantage over us, you'd make up for that. It'll be making it fair. Come on Laz."

"It still sounds like cheating Spitfire. If I do decide to join in, what exactly do I get out of this?"

"Look, how about...I give you something in return?"

This sounds promising.

"I don't really have anything you'd want right now, so instead I'll give you an I.O.U that you can redeem anytime, not to mention tonight's winners all get tickets to an exclusive nightclub in Cloudsdale, you'd be the only guy there, cool yeah?"

That sounds like the perfect reward. Spitfire, the captain of the Wonderbolts giving you an I.O.U would easily be the best thing since sliced bread. And don't forget you'll get a ticket to a club too. If you're team wins You now have no reason to say no, and all the reasons to say yes. "Hmm...What the hell, sure. I'll help, but I can't guarantee we'll win."

Spitfire jumps up and hoof pumps the air. "We'll win, I just know it." An I.O.U will prove infinitely useful in the coming days, especially an I.O.U from Spitfire. She can almost guarantee you anything you want.

As if Spitfire could read your mind she honours her side of the deal and plucks a single fiery flight feather from her wing with only a slight "Ow." She gives the fiery feather to you. "That's my I.O.U ticket, use it wisely."

You could sell this for a small fortune. There're ponies out there that'd pay good money for a feather from Spitfire let alone an I.O.U. Instead you decide to keep the ticket for future use. "Thanks Spitfire, this'll come in handy when I need a massage"

Spitfire grins. "Don't treat it so casual new guy, I don't part with my feathers easily."

"Sure. So when's this game?"

"After dinner outside in the courtyard, until then you're free to have a look about the academy. I'll tell the other mares you're ready to kick butt tonight, until then Laz."

"Yeah? Aright then, Cya later Spitfire." She leaves you alone to slump down onto your bed. You hold the distinctive fiery feather up to the light. Spitfire sure has beautiful feathers, you feel slightly warmer just holding it. You now have all day with Spitfire's permission to explore the academy.

After another ten minutes of laying down lazily you finally wake up properly. Taking a deep breath of air helps you feel refreshed, you also stretch to help your muscles relax. You put your newly acquired orange feather under your pillow for safe keeping. You then leave your room to begin exploring.

The smell of fresh cooking draws you into the mess hall where students and recruits gathered for their meals. You're hungry and could do with a snack before the competition later. You can't smell any salmon but you can still have some hay fires. Pony food wasn't bad, salmon was just better.

The mess hall is huge. There are four rows of large tables with enough seats for ten ponies each side. At the opposite end of the room is the kitchen were busy chef ponies are cooking all sorts of delicious food. Every weekend the kitchen staff would cook a buffet for anypony staying at the academy overnight.

Today's a Saturday.

There are already a few ponies eating, you even notice a few batponies at the far end of the hall. You don't often see them during the day, maybe the peaches and other succulent fruits brought them here.

Each and seemingly every pony took their time to examine the new gryphon. You sigh and head towards the buffet, a number of ponies moving to the side allowing you past freely. You can almost smell the submissive behaviour. "Ugh." Is the only noise to escape your beak.

The buffet looked amazing, all sorts of raw and cooked food sprawled across a large table. There's so much colour, green, red, blue. So many fruits and vegetables, not much meat obviously, and no fish. Maybe you an put in a request for some fresh fish later. You take a plate and gather some of the food not caring what it is and leave to sit at a table. You'll find out what you picked soon enough, you just wanted to sit peacefully. You hunch down trying to make yourself as small as possible to avoid attention.

Without a moments notice another plate of food is placed next to you. "Hey new guy."

The pegasus now sitting beside you is a cyan mare with a two tone yellowy mane and tail. "The name's Lightning Dust, I'm in room fourteen, next door to you." You smile, you didn't really want company right now, but she seems nice enough. She at least managed to approach you without fear.

"I'm-" You try to speak, but once again you get interrupted. What was it with these ponies finishing your sentences?

"Lazuli, I know. Spitfire said there's a new gryphon at the academy, she also said you're gonna help us kick some butt tonight." You nod, before looking back the the other ponies some still staring.

"Pfft...Ignore them, they'll get used to you in no time. I had the same thing when I joined."

"Why? you look pretty normal to me."

"Nah, It was nothing to do with my good looks. Instead it was because I got kicked out before. I wasn't being a very good team member, so when I told them I'd changed and finally got accepted back, everypony was skeptical. I proved them wrong though, so here I am. Again." That's a pretty cool story you thought, motivating to say the least. "We don't get many gryphons here, actually you'll the only one I've seen. So what's your reason to be here academy?"

"Bodyguard for the Wonderbolts." You say before putting some easily recognizable lettuce in your mouth.

"What? You serious? Awesome! Come on, hoof wrestle." She responds by swapping to the other side of the table and putting her hoof in a "prime hoof wrestling position."

You blink a few times with some lettuce poking out of your beak. You swallow hard. "What? really? Right here? Right now?"

"Not afraid to be beaten by a mare are you?"

You grin and grip her hoof with your claw. "You're on." By this time a few other ponies had begun to watch, at a distance naturally. This must be an interesting scenario to watch.

"You ready for an ass whoop'n Lazi?" You eyes widen at the thought of the new nickname, but it doesn't manage to distract you for too long.

You ready yourself then give her a sly grin before counting down. "Three. Two. One. GO!"

You wanted to test her strength before trying, so you hold back. She does the exact opposite and tries to catch you off guard by instantly pushing with most if not all of her strength. Her muscles begin to strain and you could feel it, yet you have no trouble holding her back. You already knew you'd won and laugh quietly, she obviously hears you.

"Aww... come on, not fair" She keeps trying, you keep resisting. After a few moments you decide you've had enough fun and start to push her hoof down tortuously slow.

"No. No, no, no no no." You felt a burst of strength come from her and for a moment stop winning. It was until you looked at her you thought she was using one hoof, now though, she was using both, yet still unable to push your claw back.

Gryphons are stronger than the average pony, and you had plenty of training with the military to build muscles. You don't train particular often, but when you did you always spent an entire day doing so. Exercising is refreshing, add that to a morning shower and you've got the makings of a morning routine.

You yawn nonchalantly and smile. Ever so slowly you lower your claw until it finally has Lightning Dust's own hooves against the table surface. "Damn It!" She shouts after banging the table.

You go back to eating your salad, which to your surprise tastes much better now. "You're pretty strong, we'll totally win tonight's game. Glad you're with us and not against us."

"Mmmhm" Was all you could say with a mouthful of green food. By looks on the faces of nearby ponies, they too want to test their strength against a gryphon but aren't able to muster the courage to approach you. Lightning Dust gets up and only now do you notice she didn't eat any food on her plate.

"I'll you see tonight Lazuli, have a good one." She walks away and waves a hoof behind her back towards you.

You add more lettuce to the other greens in your beak and chew just as another pony shouts your name. The voice is very flamboyant and unmistakably Orange Sundae's. He's standing at the buffet besides Firestreak. He tries to come towards you before Firestreak pulls him back and says something to him. Whatever Firestreak said stopped Orange Sundae advancing and instead he waves. You wave back.

Better finish your food before he decides to sit beside you.

The few hours after your meal you spent exploring and introducing yourself to anypony who dared approach you.

Word spreads fast and already everypony seems to think your going to be some sort of security officer. You're already getting more respect. Ponies acknowledge you with nods and even a few bows whenever you passed them, but few volunteered to talk. Thankfully you're not getting nearly as many judging stares anymore.

While exploring you managed to find a gym, you take a mental note of the location so you can get some exercise later. There are a few ponies inside, one of which you recognizes and recognizes you back. He stops doing his crunches and walks over, leaving the gym room to talk to you in the hall. His green eyes bright in the artificial light.

"Hey Lazuli, it's me Soarin, from yesterday? We met at the Silver lining hotel before Spitfire had her panic attack."

"Yeah, I remember you Soarin. So what' up?" He's looking quite sweaty and disheveled.

"Nothing much, just wanted to see how you're settling in. Everything okay so far?"

"Yeah, Spitfire has put me on the mares team for tonight's competition though." You warned him.

"What? Why? I don't want to be up against you."

"Since I'm staying in the mare dormitories she says I'm on their team-"

"You're staying with the mares?!" You can't help feel a little embarrassed.

"Y-Yeah, it's not like I choose to... Spitfire checked and there's no single rooms anywhere else, so I'm stuck with them."

"You lucky bastard." Is all he says before he hangs a hoof around your neck and takes you for a walk, destination, unknown.

"What do you mean by that? It's not like they get en-suit bathrooms and butlers."

"Let me explain why you're lucky. You're with the mare recruits right?" You nod slowly, waiting to see what he had to say.

"You're basically a lone male living with a group of sexy mares. If it were Summer, you'd already know what that means."

Soarin spends the next hour walking with you in random directions while explaining why each mare was hot in his eyes. "Lightning Dust has a nice ass, Fleetfoot, have you seen her smile, it's a-m-a-zing! Apricot is-" He went through a list of mares, half of which you'd not met yet. You just nodded and pretended to listen. He really knew his mares.

"What about Spitfire?" You ask somewhat curious to why he hadn't mentioned her yet.

"I... Urmm...I'm not allowed to talk about her like that, last time she found out I got toilet cleaning duty for three months."

"Nopony will know, trust me. I just want to know what you think about her."

He looks around before leaning in closer. "Well, I hear she's dynamite in-"

"SOARIN!" An angry voice calls out from down the hall. You can feel the feathers on your neck stand on end. He immediately gulps a mouthful of air and walks over to the voice. You already know who it is but you had to be sure. You turn and watch as Soarin approaches her.

Spitfire and Soarin talk for awhile before he nods and sheepishly returns. "That was a close call, I thought she'd have my balls for sure." He let's out a loud sigh.

"So what'd she want then?"

"Oh, I was supposed to give a lecture on flight safety about an hour ago. Apparently they've been waiting for me this entire time." You both laugh at the stupidity of the moment. "Well, I've got to get my team ready for the tug-of-war, you better go chat with Spitfire. Cya on the battlefield Lazuli."

After waving Soarin off you head in the direction Spitfire was only moments ago.

Crowds have already gathered to watch the match. You manage to overhear a conversation between two young looking stallions. "Spitfire could totally kick Soarin ass"

"No way dude, Soarin is rock solid, just you watch. He's going to win the game on his own."

"Doubt it, he's against Spitfire and that new gryphon."

"Soarin could take on that gryphon with a hoof tied behind his back."

You roll your eyes before Spitfire waves you over. "Aright new guy, you know how this game works. Grab the rope and pull. Simple. All we have to do is hold out long enough to ware down the guys, then we'll take the advantage."

Spitfire begins giving orders to each mare getting them into a formation. You're last in line and have a nice cyan butt ahead, you can't help recall what Soarin said earlier. "Lightning Dust has a nice ass"

"You can stare all you want after we win this game" You detect a hint of sarcasm coming from Lightning Dust's voice. Shaking your head free from perversion you take the opportunity to check out the opposition.

You recognized a few stallions, Soarin, Firestreak, and Orange Sundae (who had noticed you looking and started waving) are all easily spotted. They all have their games faces on, you can already feel your body tensing. You're too busy examining your opponents to notice the whistle indicating the start of the game.

Before you knew what's happening your team have already been pulled a few hoof paces ahead. You salvage the moment and get a strong grip of the rope, digging your back paws into the ground halting any more movement.

You can feel the strength of each individual trying their hardest to win. It's not long before the initial rush begins to subside. You're only getting warmed up. With a few strong pulls as confirmation you can move the rope, you decide to give a shot at bragging. Tapping Lightning Dust on the back gains her attention.

"Hey Lightning Dust, watch this." In one mass of effort you put all your weight into a single pull. The opposition didn't know what hit them. You manage to drag about a meter of rope onto your team's side while simultaneously creating a bunch of rope burn for your opponents. You'd not won yet, but you and few mares already started laughing.

Using any and all remaining energy you and your team pull. Both teams are panting and starting to tire, even you could feel the strain, but the reward for your effort was showing, your team had gained the advantage. You're still laughing, the look of horror on the faces of each and every stallion was a story. They're about to be beaten by the mares. At a strength game.

You'd already won the game, it was just a matter of time before your team had the entire rope. With the amount of energy they have left compared to yourself, the stallions had no way of winning.

With one last pull your team steals the entire rope.

As soon as victory had been achieved both the mares and stallions lay down on the ground trying to catch their breath. It didn't feel like it but the game was strenuous. You too are panting, wiping any sweat from your brow you sit down beside your team. You listen into the crowd again and catch those two stallions talking. "Wooo! I told you Spitfire would win"

"You're just lucky the mares had that gryphon."

"Nah, Spitfire was the one who won the game. Now pay up, ten bits just like you promised."

"Sure sure... Next time it has to be fair though."

Their conversation continues even after you stop listening.

You're standing outside a club with Derpy beside and your winning team already going in, presenting tickets to the bouncer. Spitfire says something to him and points at you. Probably explaining why you're allowed to be apart of mares only night at the club.

"Aright Derpy, try to behave, I don't want you getting into any trouble okay?"

She nods quickly causing her eyes to move places. "Mmmhmm"

After handing your tickets over you go inside and get greeted by flashy lights and loud music. The floor was chequered red and purple, and all the flashing lights are shades of red, orange, yellow or pink. The music was some type of rave and you recognize the DJ as Vinyl Scratch, or DJ Pon3 as her stage name.

No wonder each team wanted to win the tug-of-war.

Derpy immediately runs off into the crowd, leaving you alone with your thoughts. "Tonight's gonna be a long night, I better take it easy if I want to stay alert. Do I even want to stay alert?" At either end of the dance floor are tables and chairs , some with, some without ponies. You go to the bar and order yourself a butter beer before sitting at an unoccupied table.

It's nice to sit watching your team party hard. They're really enjoying themselves tonight.

A few fans were also allowed in, they took no time in picking their favourite Wonderbolts and getting them drinks, dancing and talking with them. You keep an eye out for any misbehaving fans, so far, so good.

Hours pass while you sit at your table, ponies come over to chat and drink with you, then continued partying. It wasn't long before you finish your sixth toffee buttered beer and start feeling a little dizzy. Toffee buttered beer isn't exactly strongly alcoholic but you've had plenty of them. It's not like you ordered them all yourself, everypony that came over brought you a new one. Someone must've snitched that you love toffee beers.

Half way through the night Derpy came over to talk and talk and talk and talk until she finally dozed off. Probably because she drank too much, she's obviously had a great night. You hear a sudden change in the song and look over to notice a cheerful Spitfire approaching you. She takes a few sips of her drink and wipes her lips with a hoof, smiling the entire time. Her mane is disheveled and she looks more than tipsy.

“Ahh... Hey Lazuli, wanna hit the dance floor, the DJ's about to get this party really started. WOOO!" Her voice is loud but filled with energy.

“Sorry Spitfire, I'm keeping an eye on this lightweight." You look down at Derpy and give her a slight hug. Derpy was being your excuse to not dance today. Dancing isn't exactly your thing, not even a pound of salmon steaks could convince you to dance right now. Especially since you're already feeling dizzy after your sixth toffee buttered beer. "Actually, I was thinking of taking this silly mare home. She's been out cold for awhile now."

"Yeah, go ahead. I'll meet you back at the academy, I've still got some victory to bathe in."

You nudge Derpy to see how deep of a sleep she's in. She's not waking up anytime soon. You lift her over your shoulders. "Come Derpy, let's get you somewhere quiet." Unfortunately you don't know where she lives, so for tonight only she'll be staying in your new room at the academy.

Having a passenger forces you to take a slower route to the academy. Being tipsy doesn't impair your memory and you manage to find your room with ease. Inside you put Derpy on your bed in the most natural looking position possible. She's been snoring the whole journey.

A yawn prompts you to lay on your sofa and rest. It's not long before your eyelids feel heavy and you let sleep take you.

You're first to wake up and you can already feel something pounding in your head. Slowly trying to sit up, you want to check if Derpy is still alive. That's when you notice you've been sleeping on the floor, and Spitfire is beside you, her wings over your back. Her face smiling while drooling onto the floor.

Whoops.