The Corps

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Chapter 1

HMAS Indefatigable
Thirty Leagues SSE of Manehattan
60,000 Hooves Above Sea Level

He could hear the wind howling just outside the hull, its terrible song promising a quick death for anyone who stepped outside the safe confines of the airship. Relatively safe, anyway, the pegasus pony thought to himself as the Indefatigable shook from a particularly strong gust, her engines becoming louder for a moment to overcome the gale. Even all the way up here, it's tough going. I am not looking forward to this drop.

The thought of what awaited spurred the stallion to check his gear for the umpteenth time. Oxygen mask, check. Tank status, one half capacity. Thermal flight suit, check. Neigh West lifejacket, check. Compass, check. Radio headset, check. Emergency beacon, check. Goggles... He reached up with a foreleg at that, and soon enough pressed the eyewear down from his forehead until they protected his ocular orbs. Check. And stylish, too, though heavens forbid anypony ever hears me say that. This last thought brought a brief smirk to his muzzle, though it was covered by the opaque mask he wore.

“Feelin' confident, Big D?” A mare asked off to his left, having noticed his expression change from the way his face moved.

The stallion turned his head to give the other pegasus a smile. “As much as I can be, Val,” the male replied, noting his voice sounded odd in the thin air. “You know I hate these high-altitude drops.”

Val chuckled at that, and then gave her bright red mane a toss. “Don't worry little colt, Valorie's here to protect you,” she teased.

“I'm bigger than you,” the stallion protested, good-naturedly.

She smiled at that. Like the stallion, her muzzle was covered by a gray rubber oxygen mask. Also like him, though, her expression lit up her eyes enough to make up for it. “Then let's see if you can beat my record today, hmm?”

“None of you better be trying for any records,” a voice snapped at them, sounding harsh and commanding despite the thin air. Both pegasi startled, and then turned to their right to look towards where their squadron's commanding officer was standing at the head of the compartment. He too, was a pegasus, as were the nine other ponies sitting on the benches that ran the length of the Indefatigable's drop bay. “This mission is going to be dangerous enough without any of you hotshots trying for any sun-blasted records. If I see you two trying to carry out that rivalry of yours, I'll personally bust your flanks right out of the Corps! Am I understood?”

“Sir, yes sir!” Val and her stallion friend belted out at maximum volume. Neither were particularly eager to garner the lieutenant commander's wrath.

“Good,” the gray-green commander replied, his voice speaking of how unsatisfactory he really found it. “Since you two were jawing off instead of considering your part of the plan, let me review it again for everypony here so that you all understand your roles.

“As you all know, we are approaching the eyewall of Hurricane Orchid,” the gruff pegasus continued, his voice booming even through his mask, and he eyed every pony in the compartment with him as he spoke. “This storm has reached category four, and has its sights set on Manehattan. If it hits at anywhere near its current strength, it will flood the city and possibly topple several skyscrapers with its winds. Therefore, the Weather Corps has been charged with actively downgrading this mean momma until it's no worse than the usual nor'easters that rage through here in winter.

“That's where we come in,” the lieutenant commander said, and then paused for dramatic effect. “When the Indefatigable reaches the eye we will drop out and deploy in a crescent pattern, and then proceed to head for the southern portion of the eyewall. Once at the wall, we will begin cloud dissipation maneuvers to disrupt the convection feedback loop. If we do it fast enough and with enough force, the eyewall will collapse and thus bring down the rest of the storm with it. After that, we fly out through the rain bands, punching holes wherever we can, and then rendezvous with HMS Ark Royal due west of the storm. While we're doing that, the colts and fillies from the Inflexible and the Indomitable will be doing the same thing to the western and northern portions of the wall, so keep an eye out for them.

“I won't lie to you, this is possibly one of the most dangerous missions any member of the Weather Corps can be assigned to,” the commander added, his voice dropping ever so slightly. “We will be facing sustained winds of one hundred twenty-five knots, and gusts up to one-hundred fifty. The eyewall of a tropical cyclone is one of the strongest thunderstorms known to ponykind; it will be resistant to our effects, and it will take a lot of pounding to knock it down enough. Only the very best fliers in Equestria, neigh, the world could possibly hope to accomplish this mission and get out alive.

“Sadly, though, they sent me you lot,” the gray-green pegasus added, and then audibly sighed. “It's enough to make a grown stallion cry, seeing this pack of fairy-winged mud-hoppers they call a weather team. Still!” He added, shouting the last word as he swept his gaze over the room. “If you're what I've got, then I'm going to make damned sure I'll do the best I can to make up for it. How about it, Bravo squadron? Ready to show the world why the Corps kicks flank?”

“Sir, yes sir!” The other pegasi in the compartment shouted back.

“Good!” The commander said, and this time he actually seemed to believe it. “Two minutes to drop, everypony. Make your peace with the universe, or hum showtunes for all I care. Just get your heads clear and ready.”

With that, the commander quieted, and then started walking down the compartment, heading aft to where a single unicorn stallion stood at some controls. The weather team in the room remained silent as each mare or stallion contemplated the mission and what was at stake, and more than a few considered their own mortality. Valorie, though, just looked over at her fiend and then nudged him in the ribs with a foreleg. “Just try to keep up with me, Dauntless,” she teased him.

“So long as you don't go chasing after stallions again,” the gray stallion, Dauntless, teased back.

“Aw, where's the fun in that?”

“COMP'NEE, ATTEN-SHUN!” The commander's voice shouted out, making everypony's head snap around to the back of the drop bay. “Form up for drop!”

There was no spoken reply this time, only the sound of eleven sets of hooves standing up on the wooden decking followed by the noise of their owners lining up in two rows, facing the large door built into the rear of the compartment. Dauntless and Val stood side by side, only third in line. At the front the commander took his position with his wingmate, and then nodded to the unicorn dropmaster.

The unicorn nodded back, and then lit up his horn with the yellowish aura of his magic. A corresponding glow maneuvered some levers on the control panel the stallion stood next to, and almost instantly the shriek of the wind grew tenfold as the huge door at the back of the room started to open, lowering on hydraulic arms until nothing but clouds and sky could be seen outside.

No words were said, nor needed as the commander and his wingmate stepped forward, and then promptly hopped off. Despite his reverse psychology pep-talk, we really are the best, Dauntless thought with some pride at how no pony so much as coughed as the line moved forward. The next pair waited patiently for fifteen seconds to pass to ensure that the previous group would be clear, and then they, too, hopped out without so much as a glance backwards.

Now Dauntless and Val walked up to the door/ramp and then stood on it. The wind blasted their manes and tails about, though both ponies – like most Weather Corps pegasi – kept them short for just such occasions, and thus the thrashing was limited. Nevertheless, Dauntless felt his heart start to pound as the anticipation built, and he barely remembered to count down the requisite seconds before he, too, took the plunge.

Gravity seemed to disappear from the world, and Dauntless felt his breath catch in his throat as he took in the scene around him. The eyewall of the hurricane seemed to wrap around him, as if someone had constructed a cylinder of clouds stretching from the foaming ocean below up to the top of the atmosphere. Smaller, crescent-shaped wisps of clouds floated around just inside the eye itself, looking almost inviting as they seemed to lazily drift along. Dauntless knew better, however: the sheer scale of the cloud formations meant that any movement visible to the unaided eye could only come from high speed winds. Fortunately, he and the others were being dropped near the center of the eye, where the winds were almost non-existent.

Thinking about the nature of the storm reminded him of the ship that had brought him here, and Dauntless spread his legs a bit so he could roll in the air to face upwards. Above him the Indefatigable already looked like a small toy, and it grew visibly smaller as he watched the airship straining against the downdraft that formed the clear, calm skies at the heart of nature's most devastating storm. Of course, the Indefatigable and her two sister ships had been specially designed and built for high-altitude operations, and specifically for occasions such as this, where normal airships would have been torn to shreds because they could not climb above the storm, and so Dauntless had little worry over its fate.

The stallion reflected on this for a few moments, but a wave from Val off to his left brought him out of his ruminations. He turned himself in mid-air until he was upright again, and then checked his altitude via the simple altimeter strapped to his left foreleg. Ah, time to deploy, he thought, and then slowly started to spread his wings.

They caught air right away, and Dauntless grimaced as the initial shock strained his muscles a bit. Fortunately it was short-lived, and soon the pegasus had fully spread out his wings and angled them to follow Val's lead as she turned towards the eyewall.

“Bravo Lead to squadron,” the commander's voice sounded in Dauntless' ears, scratchy from the poor radio reception. “Synchronize maneuvers, six-zero seconds from my mark. Three, two, one, mark!”

Val bolted forward at that, and Dauntless followed immediately, making sure to keep his wingmate position to the white pegasus' left rear. Both ponies pumped their wings hard, building up speed as they began to steer right, turning to plow headfirst into the cyclone's winds. Dauntless clenched his jaw as he watched the tremendous tower of storms grow ever larger in his vision, and he felt the wind start to fight against him. It's so immense, so wild, the gray pegasus thought as he continued to pump his wings, pushing harder and harder as he followed Val in. How can mere ponies affect something so mighty, so indifferent to our meager little lives? Soon enough, though, he pushed such thoughts aside and cleared his mind of everything but the mission.

The stallion's change of attitude came at the right time, as Val abruptly slowed ahead and then rolled left and began to dive. Dauntless waited a few moments before he copied the maneuver so he could follow in her wake, and as he turned down he felt the familiar rush of adrenalin surge through his body as he folded his wings back, leaving just the tips out so he could still steer. No need for braking this time, he thought, as he followed Val down and forward.

The winds began to tear at them more viciously now, but their reduced surface area and high speed made them as bullets heading for their target. The eyewall loomed, and at the last second Val made a quick maneuver to reduce her angle of approach so she could point more into the wind. It was proven prudent a split second later as she seemed to cross some invisible wall and abruptly slowed.

Dauntless saw this and copied her moves before he grit his teeth as firmly as they would go, just before he was hammered by the same invisible wall. Stay on target, the stallion told himself, as he watched Val slam into the first bank of clouds in the wall. The fierce thunderstorms blasted lightning at her touch, as if trying to fight back against the onslaught, yet Val remained unscathed as she continued her steep dive, ripping a long, deep trough though the wall as her pegasus magic reversed the condensation heat effect that drove its impersonal rage. Suddenly forced back into a vapor state, the water molecules sucked up tremendous amounts of heat, and so even the clouds she didn't touch started to slow their furious ascent, which itself acted to arrest the condensation of water vapor.

Dauntless watched this happen within the space of a few heartbeats before he, too, slammed into the cloud bank, his forelegs stretched forward to concentrate as much as his natural magic along his line of attack. The storm seemed to scream at his insolence as lightning arced everywhere, adding its terrible booming to the cacophony of wind that shrieked around the pegasus pony. Dauntless lived up to his name, though, and he continued his dive with an almost single-minded determination. His only outside considerations were for his wingmate, whom he could still see below and ahead of him, and his altimeter, which would let him know when to terminate his dive.

He needn't have worried too much about the latter, though, as Val herself turned out of the eyewall and began to level off as she banked right. Once again Dauntless followed along like a good wingmate, and soon both ponies were flying horizontally at five thousand hooves, and going with the winds in the invisible inner boundary of the eyewall. They let the fierce wind carry them as they flapped their wings just enough to maintain steering and lift, and the red-maned pony in the lead took this opportunity to glance back and check her partner's condition by eyeball. Dauntless returned the look and then nodded to her, a gesture she returned before she brought her head back around and then began to climb.

Dauntless followed, of course, as he knew what needed to be done. Like the other thirty-five pegasi in the storm's eye, he had studied the operation plan back in Cloudsdale until he knew every part of it by heart. Despite what some ponies may think, the Weather Corps isn't a place for idiots, Dauntless mused as he followed Val through the updrafts. It takes discipline and skill to do this work, and do it well. He felt some pride at this as he looked along the inner surface of the eyewall and saw dozens of large, deep, slanted gashes ripped into the clouds, stretching into the distance. Looks like Charlie squadron's a bit late in deploying, he thought as he saw a few of the gashes along the north face of the wall still growing downward. Ah, well, no plan survives reality. Fortunately, we build in a lot of leeway for such things.

“Bravo leader to squadron,” the commander's voice again sounded through the headset pinned to Dauntless' ears. “Good run, colts and fillies, but don't get complacent yet. Climb to twenty-two thousand hooves and hold. Flight leaders call in when you get there. Bravo lead out.”

Val's gonna want to be first, Dauntless told himself, and then took in a deep breath to get a bit more oxygen into his bloodstream. Briefly he noted the taste of salt in the air, and his mind marveled at the magically-driven air valves that worked to cut off the oxygen bottle at lower altitudes, preserving its contents while other valves opened to let in the ambient air, though such thoughts disappeared as his flight leader started pumping her wings furiously to increase her rate of climb. Dauntless followed suit, and in all too short a time his altimeter showed twenty-two thousand hooves above mean sea level.

“Bravo five and six on station,” Val smugly called over the radio, the first to do so. With radio still a new and unpopular device in a world of magically delivered messages, the technology had not been developed much, and could not support more than a few channels in something small enough to fit on a pony's head, necessitating the use of a common channel.
Which is why Val's so dang smug, Dauntless thought with a grin, despite the heavy breathing he was doing as a result of the steep climb the two ponies had gone through. She knows every pony in the squadron just heard her call “first!”

The unspoken message had not gone unnoticed, if the tone of the other flight leaders was anything to judge by. Still, they remained cool and professional, and soon enough the entire squadron had reported in. “Alright, we won't have the speed from the high-altitude drop to aid us this time,” the commander began once the last flight leader had reported in. “And our dives won't rip as much of the vertical column, so we're going to mix it up a bit. When we hit the wall, each element is to do a thatch weave parallel to the inner surface so we can really turn up the shred effects.

“This is where we earn our pay, fillies and colts,” the gruff commander continued. “It's going to be easy to lose your bearings as we weave, so everypony stay cool and frosty. If you think you're in trouble, call it out and head for the eye, you can form up after the run.

“Any questions?” The stallion leading Bravo squadron asked, and then waited for a moment. No words reached his ears, and so he began to speak again. “Alright, synchronize maneuvers on my mark. Three, two, one, mark!”

Val broke left almost as soon as the last word left the commander's mouth, and Dauntless followed a split second later. Once again both turned towards the wall and pumped their wings hard, building up speed only to lose it again when they finished turning into the wind. Neither paid it no heed, however, and instead they concentrated on their maneuvers as they folded back their wings and dove.

As the commander had predicted, it was much tougher this time. Without the additional speed that falling from great height had given them the pegasi found the clouds and the winds much more resistant to their efforts. Nevertheless, both Val and Dauntless plunged headlong into the eyewall, though this time the stallion spread his feathers a bit to brake his descent in order to maintain a longer separation between himself and his flight leader. This was, of course, part of the thatch weave - a maneuver developed, appropriately enough, by a pegasus named Thatch Weave – which had both pegasi in a flight weave back and forth across each other's flight path. The purpose of this was to increase the volume of air a pony sliced through on his or her way down, thus increasing the amount of clouds one could dissipate with their innate magic.

Of course, it slows you down, too, Dauntless griped to himself, as he felt the terrible headwinds rip at him when he headed against them in one part of the weave, and then try to spill him in the next. Below him he saw Val having a rough time of it, as even for a mare she was on the small side and her lack of mass meant the winds had more play with her. Yet she persevered, and so Dauntless girded himself and followed her example and continued the weave. Soon enough, though, they had to leave the wall and level out, this time at only two thousand hooves. Once again, they turned to follow with the rotation to conserve energy, which Dauntless was really starting to appreciate as he panted in his mask.

“Bravo twelve, where are you?” A voice called over the radio just then, briefly startling Dauntless. He soon dismissed it, however, as he recognized the voice as being Bravo eleven. Probably just got separated in the clouds, the gray stallion thought. Happens often enough, even in regular storm busting missions. Hay, that's why the Corps bought these radio things in the first place.

Yet even as he thought this, Dauntless felt a nagging sensation crawl along his back. The feeling only grew worse the longer the silence on the radio continued, and it was almost a relief when Bravo eleven spoke up again. Almost. “Bravo twelve, I don't see you on my wing. Brewster, where are you?”

...Oh, no, Dauntless thought, and a ball of ice seemed to form in his belly
.
“Bravo eleven, this is Bravo leader, give me a report,” the squadron commander spoke up just then.

“Sir, I lost Bravo twelve in the clouds a few seconds before I turned out,” the pegasus stallion who'd called first immediately reported. “I... I don't see him anywhere near me, sir.”

This revelation only served to chill Dauntless further, and up ahead he saw Val shiver a bit as well, the gesture visible even amongst the normal muscle movements required to keep her aloft. Come on, be a broken radio or something, Dauntless thought, as he started to scan all around him, looking for the distinctive orange coloration of the standard issue lifejacket against the sea, or the yellow and black thermal flight suit against the sky.

“Okay, this is how we're going to do this,” the commander said, after he had taken a few moments to think. “Everypony, maintain your current altitude and try to orbit your current position as best you can. Odd numbers check the sea, even numbers watch the sky for Bravo twelve. Bravo eleven, orbit as well, but turn your radio to the emergency channel and listen for Brewster or his beacon to squawk. Report in on the main channel as soon as you hear either, or every five minutes before then. I'm going to switch to the ship channel and let the task force know we have a missing pony on our hooves, so Bravo two will answer you if I'm busy. Those are your orders, now execute them.”

No one save Bravo eleven replied, and even the suddenly lone pegasus was barely audible over the static-filled radio. For his part, Dauntless felt like screaming in frustrated rage, but he kept his feelings bottled up and instead turned his attention to scanning the airspace around him. Part of him noted that the two runs against the eyewall were already having a profound effect in destabilizing the feedback loop that fueled a tropical cyclone, which was evident as the cloud wall was becoming ragged and frayed. Yet this time he felt no pride, and instead only barely noted it in passing before he resumed searching for the squadron's lost flier.

Time seemed to lose meaning for Dauntless as he followed Val while she led them in a wide circle just inside the eyewall's slipstream. He supposed he could have kept track by counting the number of times Bravo eleven called in, but Dauntless ignored the depressingly negative reports and instead chose to concentrate on his search.

Eventually, the commander spoke up after one of eleven's no-contact reports. “Alright son, that's enough,” the normally gruff voice said, in a tone that was almost apologetic. “None of the airships have had any contact, either, nor have Alfa or Charlie squadrons seen him. As of this moment I'm declaring Bravo twelve missing in action.

“For now, we proceed on mission,” the commander continued, his voice still subdued. “This storm isn't down yet, and it's still too strong to let it hammer Manehattan unchecked. Bravo eleven, you're now overwatch. Stay in the clear zone and keep an eye out for anything, and continue to check the emergency channel at regular intervals. Everypony else, ascend to twenty-five thousand hooves and set up your next run. Flight leaders call in when ready.”

Val started to lead them back in another ascent at that, though this time it was more sedate and subdued. Dauntless was grateful for this, as he needed the time to struggle with his thoughts. Yet another name to add to the list, he thought, as he contemplated the fate of Bravo twelve. And we'll probably never know what happened. Could have been a wind gust, he could have made a mistake and spilled out or stalled, could have been a lightning strike, or heavens know what else. Tears threatened to well in his eyes, but the pegasus stallion forced them down. Not now. I didn't cry when we lost Hawker or Blackburn, and I'm not going to do that now. Dauntless took in a deep breath at that and then slowly let it out, letting the exercise calm his mind. There's work to be done, and the Corps doesn't leave any job unfinished.

Chapter 2

Featherlight Skydock Facility

Weather Corps HQ, Cloudsdale

4 Days Later

A warm breeze blew across the deck of the Indefatigable as she slowly edged forward, pushed along by several large pegasi the skydocks' air control office. Dauntless closed his eyes briefly to indulge in the sensation of the summer wind ruffling his mane and tail, and then quietly sighed. It may get a bit hot now and then, but I will always prefer summer, he thought, though the enjoyment was soon tainted as he remembered one reason against the season. Damn 'canes, he grumbled to himself before opening his eyes again to look around.

The airship he rode on was on the small side, being barely larger than a private sky yacht. Unlike a private yacht, though, the Indefatigable's flush main deck was covered with the large housings for its four high-performance magic induction drive engines, the tanks of liquid rainbow that fueled them, and the pilot house – traditionally called a “bridge” even on such a small ship – built on top of the bow. These and the rigging for the propeller pods hanging off both side of the ship combined to make the main deck crowded even when no pony was standing on it. Now is was positively packed as ponies from the crew manned the railings, ready to secure the ship to the skydock she was being nudged towards. Further adding to this was Bravo squadron, who to a pony were ready to disembark and be done with the whole mission. Of course, being pegasi they could simply have flown off and landed on the dock, but the Corps was heavy with tradition, one of which was to wait until their ship had been properly secured before walking off via the gangplank.

Must be a holdover from when only earth ponies and unicorns ran airships, Dauntless reasoned, as he turned his head around to take in the view of the sky harbor. Like the other pegasi of Bravo squadron, he was lying down on top of one of the fuel tanks, which gave him a wonderful view of the many cloud pylons and quays that had been formed and reinforced by pegasus magic to retain their shape even in the fiercest winds. Permanently enchanted wood planking topped many of them; a necessity given how airship crews consisted mainly of non-fliers, and unicorns who knew the cloudwalking spell were rare and often too valuable to be wasted on such menial duty. Indeed, such was the case that even the buildings that the Weather Corps used were made out of wood, supported by special foundations that anchored them to Cloudsdale's immense cloud deck.

Dauntless let his eyes wander over to those buildings as the Indefatigable bumped against the dock, and the crew began throwing ropes to the dockworkers. I always wondered about this place while I was growing up, the gray stallion thought, bringing up memories of when he was a colt. The Corps' buildings always stuck out like a sore wing so much you could see them from anywhere on the east side. At least they stopped painting them white to try and match the clouds, that just made them look sad. Dauntless managed a small smile at the memory, and then slowly shook his head a bit as he gazed at the cluster of structures he'd been mulling over. For all intents and purposes, they looked as if they had been lifted from the center of a small city or big town, and the wooden decking that filled the spaces between them had been covered with a light layer of soil and sod to complete the effect, though the pegasus knew that it was mainly for the benefit of the few earth ponies who became squeamish when their hooves didn't touch dirt every now and then.

Makes you wonder why they bothered joining the Corps in the first place? Dauntless pondered this as the airship's crew finished securing the lines holding the Indefatigable at bay. I mean, sure, we take anypony, and there's a lot of ground stations to run, but there's always the chance of being assigned to HQ or an airship.

His ruminations were cut off by a nudge in his side, and Dauntless glanced to the left to see Valorie giving him a look. “C'mon D, let's disembark and let the swabbies do their thing,” she said, her voice on the quiet side. Then she stood up from her resting position and then fluttered her wings a bit to land on the main deck.

Dauntless glanced around and saw the rest of the squadron doing likewise, and so he too rose to a standing position. He took a moment to stretch every one of his six limbs carefully, allowing time for the other squadron members to land and organize into a line on the deck, and then shifted the saddlebags he wore a bit to make sure they were still secured. Only then did he flit through the air in a short arc that ended up with him at the back of the line just as the gangplank was run up from the dock. As soon as it was secure, the squadron commander led the fliers forward, up to the gangplank and then down it to the dock. Once there the team arranged themselves into a row and then turned to stand side-by-side to face line-abreast towards a small group of ponies waiting for them.

One of the ponies in the small reception committee stepped forward at that. I'll never get used to how much he and Val look alike, Dauntless mused, as the diminutive pegasus cleared his throat and began to speak. “Welcome home,” the white pony said, his voice distinctive for its utter lack of accent, so much so that the absence of one often sounded like an accent to the uninformed. “Before anything else, I want you all to know that your actions against hurricane Orchid represent a point of pride and honor for the Corps. Because of your efforts, Orchid was downgraded to a bare minimum category one storm before landfall, and damage was far lighter than anypony could have hoped for.

“I know that this victory was not without cost,” the red-maned pony added, and then paused to nod to the fliers. “But I hope you can take solace in the fact that what you accomplished, what your lost friends accomplished, saved billions of bits in damage and prevented any civilian loss of life. You are all heroes of Equestria, and you've done right by our nation.

“For now, though, there is some more work to be done. Bravo squadron is to report to building two following dismissal for post-mission debriefing.”

And cocktails, Dauntless thought, the old Corps joke popping into his head before he could help himself. He surreptitiously bit his lower lip and prayed that nopony would notice the sudden change in his face as he quickly worked to clear his mind and suppress his mirth. A glance to his left showed that he wasn't the only pony who had unwittingly added the infamous line, as a couple pegasi were also working their faces in an effort to restrain laughter.

If the pony addressing them noticed this, he declined to respond to it. Instead, he turned his head and then nodded to the lieutenant commander in charge of Bravo. “Commander, your squadron is dismissed.”

“Yes sir, admiral Zero,” the gruff, green pegasus said, and saluted with a foreleg. He then turned to face his squadron and took in a deep breath. “COMP'NEE, DISMISSED!” He bellowed, making several ponies in attendance wince.

For his part, Dauntless just sighed in mild relief that the formalities were over. I never liked such ceremony, it always feels so pompous, he thought, before turning to trot towards the aforementioned building, eager to get the debriefing over with. Most of the other pegasi preferred to fly and immediately lifted off, but Dauntless liked to stretch his legs after being cooped up on an airship for so long, and so he walked along the wooden planking on top of the cloud dock. The sun was warm and its blazing rays beat down upon him like a masseuse who was all too familiar with its client, though the stallion actually managed a smile at the welcomed feeling of heat penetrating his coat and skin. And this is the other reason to walk, he mused to himself. This way I can relax a bit, forget my problems... For a while, anyway.

Dauntless sighed to himself at this, and then shook his head. I should get to the debriefing right away, then. Sooner I'm done with that, sooner I can go off duty; I feel like a drink.

* * * *

The day passed into night, and then morning again came, finding Dauntless walking slowly through the dirt-topped wood streets of the Corps' base. His head was lowered, which let him keep the sun out of his bloodshot eyes. I think I overdid it a bit, the gray pegasus darkly mused, as he moved amidst the various ponies trotting about, all of them running errands and attending to the daily business that a bureaucratic, military-like entity like the Weather Corps required to stay running. Next time, I leave before the tequila shots start getting passed around. Whiskey's good enough for me.

His ruminations were interrupted by a pegasus landing next to him who spoke with a voice that was far too cheery, and far, far too loud for his current mood. “Dauntless! How are you?” The feminine voice asked, practically dripping with perverse enjoyment.

Dauntless froze as soon as the first words left the other pony's lips, and he winced his eyes shut throughout the entire, short greeting. Now, though, he opened them and proceeded to turn his head to the side to gave the dark blue, fiery-maned pegasus who'd spoken the harshest glare he could muster. “It is more apparent to me now than ever,” he said, straining between clenched teeth, “that your parents are psychics and so named you correctly, Hellcat.”

The blue mare fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Awww, you say the sweetest things, Dauntless,” Hellcat said, and then reached over with a hoof to briefly tousle the stallion's blue and white striped mane. “You know how to make a girl feel welcome and pretty,” she added, and then tossed her head to get her long, braided mane to shift to the other side of her body.

“You are a plague upon ponykind,” Dauntless returned, his voice still low.

“And you are hung over and don't mean that,” Hellcat countered, still grinning. “After all, how could you condemn cute little me?” She asked, and then she closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side while still grinning.

“There is not enough alcohol in the world to make you look cute,” Dauntless grunted, and then turned and began to walk away.

Unfortunately for his disposition, Hellcat followed. “Now I know you're just saying that,” the mare pegasus said matter-of-factly. “So I won't immediately throw you off of Cloudsdale and do a victory dance over your grave.”

Dauntless managed to roll his eyes at the other pony. “I can fly too, you know,” he said, sardonically.

“Pfft, details,” Hellcat said, while she paused in mid-stride to dismissively wave a hoof. “Besides, a bit of free flying might help you with that hangover.”

“I'd settle for a vat of coffee and all the aspirin in Canterlot,” Dauntless replied, as he turned off the street and walked through the door of one of the large, central buildings on the base. “Or at least the coffee. With lots of sugar.”

“Did somepony say coffee?” A new voice spoke as soon as Dauntless finished speaking, and both he and Hellcat turned to the left to see Valorie walking towards them. She held two cups of steaming coffee balanced on outstretched wings, and she grinned when she saw Dauntless start to salivate. “Oh D, you never change, do you?” Val asked with a chuckle as she proffered one wing towards the stallion. “Always out of coffee at your apartment.”

“That's because the stuff the stores in Cloudsdale carry is old junk the snobs in Canterlot didn't buy,” Dauntless protested, as he sat back on his haunches so he could take the offered cup in both forehooves. He paused then to blow on the coffee, and then took a short sip and made a pleased noise. “Say what you want about the Corps, at least they get the fresh stuff shipped in.”

“Mhm,” Hellcat nonverbally agreed, as she took the other cup Val carried and sipped at it. “You're going to spoil us, Val, being so cheerful and bearing coffee in the mornings,” the blue pegasus observed, as she held the cup in one hoof.

“Just trying to help my friends, 'Cat” Val replied, her wide smile splitting her black muzzle. “Besides, I knew D was going to get himself hung over, so I came in early to make everypony a pick-me-up pot of coffee or ten.”

“So glad to be predictable,” Dauntless grumbled, somewhat sarcastically. Another sip of the coffee, though, seemed to perk him up, and he managed to stand up on three legs, while he used the fourth one to hold the beverage. “Anyway, let's get up to our floor and start the wild and wacky day of filling out paperwork,” he added, and then started to walk off, carefully managing on three legs.

The two mares shared an amused look at Dauntless' sarcasm before they moved to join him. Val walked by his right, though Hellcat elected to fly and so hovered off the stallion's left side so she could hold her coffee with less concentration. Their path took them to the elevator sitting on one side of the lobby, where a young earth pony stood by a large walking wheel off to the side. “Hi!” He said, his voice a cheerful match for his yellow coat. “Which floor?” He asked, as he turned to climb into the wheel.

“Fifth,” Dauntless replied as he walked onto the wooden platform, followed immediately by Hellcat.

Val, though, waited until her friends were past before shooting them a wink. “I'll catch up to you two later,” she said, and then turned to the elevator worker as he began to walk, pushing the wheel around and engaging the gears and pulleys that started the elevator platform on its way up. “Wow, you're pretty strong,” she said, politely smiling. “But aren't you nervous working in Cloudsdale?”

The young stallion puffed up a bit at the compliment, and just shook his head at the question. “Nah, it's no big deal,” he said, as he continued to walk. “You just gotta get used to it is all.”

Any further conversation was blocked by the elevator platform as it rose completely into the shaft, to which Dauntless let out a sigh of relief. “I swear, she's got more hormones than a bucket of teenagers.”

Hellcat chuckled at that. “It looks like it. Though it seems she's robbing the cradle there with the new kid,” she observed, in between sips of her coffee.

“Truthfully, I think she's just practicing,” Dauntless said after a long sip of his own drink. “She needs to stay in top form if she wants to be able to swoop down and nab her prey when she goes to a party.”

The blue mare gave Dauntless a sidelong look. “You must be feeling better if you've gone from idle curses to allusions of predation,” she observed.

“Coffee helps,” the gray stallion replied, and then shrugged as the elevator reached their floor and then stopped. Both ponies walked off of it then and into the hallway, with only a pause to lightly tug once on the call rope to let the operator know that it was ready to go back to the first floor. “It also helps finally having an elevator worker who can get the right floor, even when he's on the receiving end of Val's bedroom eyes.”

Hellcat chuckled at that, and then fell silent for a moment as she and Dauntless continued on through the hallway, moving slower than normal as they both kept one hoof wrapped around their respective drinks. After a short time, however, she cleared her throat. “How bad was it, anyway?” She asked.

Dauntless stopped at that, not surprised by the question but rather the abruptness of it. He looked over to Hellcat and saw a concerned look on her face, to which he could only sigh as he gathered his thoughts. “Bad enough,” he began, his voice low. “We lost Brewster. Did you know him?” Dauntless asked, with another glance to Hellcat, who shook her head. The stallion took this as his cue to continue. “Didn't know him that well myself, he was still kinda new. He seemed like a good guy, though, had a sense of humor.” He paused at this, and then sighed. “His wingmate lost 'im in the clouds. We spent a good forty minutes looking for him, but we never found a trace.

“Alfa squadron had about as bad luck as us,” Dauntless continued, recalling what he had learned from the other weather teams on board the blue-water naval vessel they had waited on while their carrier airships cleared the storm. “They lost a mare to a straight line wind gust that slapped her right out of the air. She hit the ocean and drowned before they could get to her. The Ark Royal found her body drifting a few days later, I heard.

“Charlie squadron got the least of it,” the gray pegasus added, though he paused briefly to resume walking, which prompted Hellcat to follow. “Two casualties, both lightning strikes, but thank heavens they managed to limp out with help. They're supposed to make a full recovery.”

Hellcat sighed morosely as the two reached a pair of doors set into the side of the hall and stopped moving. “I know hurricane fighting is always nasty, but that sounds terrible,” she observed, as she shook her head sadly.

“Yeah,” Dauntless replied, his voice still quiet. “Just like last time,” he said, and then turned his head to gaze down the hall with unfocused eyes. “And the time before that.”

A hoof touched his shoulder then, which brought him out of his aimless stare. Dauntless blinked his eyes clear and then turned to see a sympathetic look on Hellcat's face. “Everypony gets told the risks when they apply for the extreme conditions teams,” she said, softly. “I know that doesn't make it easy, but you've got to remember they knew what they were getting in to. We all do.”

Dauntless sighed again, and then nodded to his friend. “Yeah, I know,” he said, a sad smile on his muzzle. “But it doesn't get easier, you know?”

“And it probably shouldn't,” Hellcat replied, and then removed her hoof from the stallion's shoulder. “But it's better to remember them as heroes, rather than victims. They deserve no less.”

“Yeah,” Dauntless said, and then nodded again. “Thanks, 'Cat. You can be a downright decent pony when you put your mind to it.”

“Just don't go spreading it around,” Hellcat replied, with a chuckle. “Now, I should probably go get ready for my flight to Fillydelphia.”

“Oh?” Dauntless asked, genuinely intrigued. “More troubleshooting?”

“Yeah. Apparently somepony down there thinks “it's always sunny in Fillydelphia” should be more than just an advertising slogan,” Hellcat replied, rolling her eyes as she spoke. “The farmers around the city are screaming their heads off for rain and the local team can't get their stuff together.” She paused at this, and then grinned evilly. “So I get to go bust some flanks and show 'em how a real weatherpony gets it done.”

Dauntless had to laugh at that, brief though it was. “I pity the pegasus who has to have you riding herd over 'em,” he said.

“So do I,” Hellcat agreed. Then she turned and started walking off, though not without a glance back. “Take care, D.”

“You too, 'Cat,” Dauntless replied, and then waited for the dark blue pegasus to leave before he turned to face the doors. He squared his shoulders, ruffled his wings a bit before settling them down, and then walked up and nudged the swinging doors open with his muzzle.

Inside he had to blink a bit as one wall was made up almost entirely of glass windows that faced east, towards the rising sun, which flooded the large space with natural light. As soon as his eyes adjusted, though, Dauntless easily made out the rows of desks sitting near the entry doors, along with the cluster of couches at the far end of the room and the rows of filing cabinets along the opaque left wall. A number of pegasus ponies were already there, and several of them looked up and nodded to Dauntless as the gray stallion walked into the room and headed for the desk that he used in between missions. Once there he sat down on the floor cushion most ponies preferred as a seat, and then set his coffee on the desk and surveyed the papers lying upon the furnishing. If I could go back in time and meet the pony who invented bureaucracy, I would strangle him, Dauntless thought, and then picked up his coffee again. He sipped it and used the moment to contemplate whether the papers dealing with his medical records or the form regarding his desire to bank his vacation time was the more pressing.

Fortunately, he was saved from such a decision when a pegasus wearing a badge identifying him as a messenger stepped into the room from the same doors Dauntless had just recently come through. “There a lieutenant Dauntless here?” The brown pony called out.

Haystacks, this is never good, Dauntless thought as he raised a foreleg high. “Over here,” he called to the pony, who promptly came over. “What do ya got for me?”

“Just one thing, sir,” the messenger pony said, and then turned his neck around to the right so he could dip his head into one of the paired saddlebags he wore. He shuffled around in the bag for a moment before bringing his head up, an envelope gripped between his teeth. Quickly enough he brought his head and neck back around and then deposited it on top of the desk. “Got anything for me?” The brown pegasus asked.

Dauntless shook his head. “No. Thanks for your time,” he said, to which the messenger pony nodded, and then turned and walked off. Dauntless did not bother to watch him leave, though, but instead morosely stared at the official looking envelope. What sort of doom and gloom await me now? The gray pegasus pondered, before he finally shook his head and then reached forward with his forelegs to manipulate the missive. Hooves were not so useful for such a task, though, and it took the stallion several long moment to accomplish, during which he added the inventor of the envelope to the list of ponies he would violate causality to punish. Probably a unicorn, he mused as he finally got the letter inside to slip out. They just love over-complicating things with... His internal monologue died out then, as he opened the letter and read its simple contents:

Lieutenant Dauntless, Bravo Squadron, Extreme Conditions Division,

Report to my office today at 3 PM to discuss the results of your debriefing and your future disposition in the Corps. Please do not be late, you are not the only pony I need to speak with this day.

-Admiral Zero, Administration

Haystacks, hailbait, and horse apples, Dauntless thought, as he reread the simple message again. What the hay did I do? I mean, sure, I got drunk last night, and maaayyybe I might have bucked that jerk with the dumbbell cutie mark straight through a wall, but he was asking for it and the bartender never got my name before I flew out of there!

He continued to run through his memories desperately, trying to figure out what could have resulted in such a summons. So deep was his internal search that he didn't even notice a pony walk up until she had circled around behind him. “Hiya, D!” Valorie said, a bit louder than necessary since she stood right behind her friend.

Dauntless, already tense from the hangover and the letter, shot up with his wings like a rocket, while simultaneously letting out a yelp of shock. Unfortunately for him, while the ceilings in the room were high for pegasi to stretch their wings a bit with some light indoor flying, they were still low enough that the gray-coated pony slammed his head into the wood paneling, which cracked with an audible sound. Dauntless' yelp turned into a shout of pain, which was repeated when he fell back down to the floor as quickly as he left it, landing on his pillow seat with a muted 'thud'.

Val waited a moment to be sure Dauntless wouldn't keel over, and then chuckled. “Oh D, you're strung way too tight!” She said, cheerfully as she walked forward to come around the stallion's left side.

“Vicious, confounded female,” Dauntless grunted towards Val, as he brought up his forelegs and rubbed their hooves against the bump on his head. “Thrice-damned be your spawn of the night, you invidious she-devil!”

“Oooh,” Val said, her eyes widening a bit in joy. “I must have gotten you good if you're using the ten-bit words!”

Dauntless could only growl at the other pegasus at that. Then he sighed briefly, and then lowered his head to rest on the desk and ignored the looks he was getting from the rest of the ponies in the room. “I hate to burst your bubble, Val, but it wasn't entirely you,” he grumpily said.

“Huh?” Val asked, her expression dimming a bit. Dauntless didn't reply, but instead used a hoof to nudge the letter on his desk towards where the white and black pony stood. Val simply blinked in surprise at that, but she obediently looked down and quickly read the note. “Ah. What does Zero want with you?” She asked.

“That's what I've been trying to figure out,” Dauntless heatedly said. A little too heatedly, the gray stallion thought, as the headache from impacting the ceiling joined forces with his hangover and proceeded to march on his center of rational thought. Complete with war drums, the injured stallion grimly mused. He put the idea to the side, though, and then cast an eye up at the white pony standing near him. “He's your cousin, do you have any idea what it's about?”

“First cousin once removed,” Val sniffed, as if she had repeated it once too often. “And no, I don't. Being related doesn't mean I know what goes on in his head.”

Dauntless sighed at that. “Alright, alright. M'sorry,” he muttered, and then reached a hoof up to rub his head again. “Please tell me you have aspirin in your desk?”

“No. Sorry,” Val replied, apologetically. “But since I made you jump I'll go out to the PX at lunch and get you some.”

“Thanks, Val,” Dauntless said, his tone grateful, and then sighed. It's going to be a long day.

* * * *

Three in the afternoon came by all too quickly for Dauntless, despite how much time seemed to drag on as he tried to finish the after-action report that the wing commander demanded from every pony who had gone out on a mission. As if the debriefings weren't enough, the gray stallion griped, as he checked the timepiece hanging on the wall over the main doors. Quarter 'til, guess I should get going, he thought with some trepidation, and then stood. He caught Val giving him an encouraging wave, and Dauntless returned it with a timid one of his own before he turned and headed for the back of the room, and the second set of swinging doors adoring that wall.

He pushed through them easily, and quickly found himself in a short hallway facing another set of doors only a few paces ahead. Dauntless paused here to spread his wings and then inspect the feathers on them so as to be sure that his antics the night before and the rough morning just past hadn't disarrayed them. He saw a few that could use some straightening, but nothing that would seriously impede flight, and so the gray stallion turned and then headed for the outer set of doors. These were held shut by an actual latch, and a quick hoof press on the lever opened them up and allowed Dauntless to walk out.

The buildings of the Weather Corps Headquarters were, of course, of earth pony design, which meant that they lacked the wide, open windows that pegasi preferred in their cloud structures. Being fliers, pegasi naturally liked being able to take off straight from wherever they were and fly to where they wanted to go with a minimal amount of obstacles, which meant an enclosed wood structure irritated them. Naturally, the Corps sought to achieve a compromise, which is what Dauntless stood on as he closed the door behind him with a hind leg.

It was a simple platform, once again made out of wood, though here it was covered with a non-skid coating and painted with clear arrival and landing spots. Technically, we're supposed to follow the regs to the letter about that, Dauntless thought, as he looked through the air around him. But nopony bothers unless it's busy. With that rationalization, the pegasus unfurled his wings again and then leaped into the air. He flapped his wings steadily, gaining some altitude before he leaned forward and accelerated. Dauntless didn't bother building up too much speed, though, as the main administration building was only next door, but its closest landing pad to where he wanted to go – and was authorized to land on – was on the opposite side of the building, necessitating a wide arc to circle around.

Not that I mind, though, the gray stallion thought, as he stopped flapping and just stretched his wings to either side in order to glide through the air through the second half of his turn. He took a moment to enjoy the view, glancing briefly off to his right at the forests and grassy plains that stretched to the north, framed by low foothills. On his left Dauntless saw the Corps' central base swing by, though it was a familiar sight and so he paid it little mind, for in front of him the stallion could see the sprawl of Cloudsdale, which was always striking with its mix of fluffy, unshaped clouds and Dorian clouditecture. Dauntless didn't spare much time looking around, however, as his flight was already near its end, and he quickly returned his focus to sticking his landing, which he did with the skill of a seasoned flier.

Once down, it was an easy matter to get into the main administration building and then proceed through the corridors and stairs until he got to the admiral's office. There he showed the letter to Zero's secretary, and then waited patiently to be called in. Dauntless noted three other pegasi in the waiting area with him, all sitting in chairs, and they all shared the same look he knew was on his face. We're all wondering “what did I do?” The gray stallion thought.

He didn't have to wait long before his name was called, and Dauntless wondered just why the other ponies were waiting for so long if their appointments weren't for some time? Or was Zeke holding them back because he wants me as an example? Those thoughts left his head, though, as he walked up to the doors leading to the inner office and then pushed through them.

Dauntless had to pause almost as soon as he was in the office, though, thanks to the natural light coming from the large windows that took up the entire far wall. As his eyes adjusted, the gray pegasus glanced out through the east-facing windows and he caught a glimpse of the Halcyon Mountains in the distance, and amongst them the shining white jewel of Canterlot perched upon the side of the tallest peak. Really nice view, Dauntless thought while his vision finished adjusting, and he finally made out the austere office. It held little in the way of decoration outside of a potted palm frond in one corner, and a tiny tree perched upon the walnut wood desk that sat two thirds of the way across the room. Behind it, Dauntless realized that the red-maned white pegasus admiral was seated, waiting patiently.

Once he saw that the new arrival had finally sorted himself out, Zero raised a foreleg. “Please sit, lieutenant,” he said, and indicated a decent-sized cushion in front of the desk.

“Thank you, sir,” Dauntless replied, and then crossed over and settled down on the indicated seat with his legs tucked beneath his body. Nice to see the guy doesn't do the usual management bullspit,the gray pony mused as he noted that the admiral had forgone using a bigger seat to make himself appear taller. Though granted, that would be hard to accomplish with such a small pony like Zeke.

Zero nodded as Dauntless got comfortable, and then spoke. “I'm glad to see you were as punctual as I asked. My time is in short supply today, as it is after every major storm event, so I appreciate your tact.” Zero paused at that to give Dauntless a chance to reply, though the other pegasus simply gave the admiral a brief nod. “Of course, because of that lack of time, I will have to be brief and blunt.”

Dauntless nodded again at that. “I see. I can't say I care for too much for that frilly language, myself, sir,” he said.

“Good, then I shall not waste any more time,” Zero began. “Simply put, lieutenant, you need a vacation.”

A moment of silence followed that statement, as Dauntless blinked hard while his mind attempted to process it. “Sir? I'm not sure I follow you.”

So much for brevity, Zero thought, while he stifled a sigh. “Are you aware, lieutenant, that the Corps employs some psychologists on base?” He asked, his tone one of practiced patience.

“I... was not entirely unaware, sir,” Dauntless replied, somewhat cautiously as he thought he could see where this was going.

“Were you aware, then, that they routinely observe post-action debriefings to look for any indications of emotional problems in Corps personnel?” Zero asked, again sounding patient.

Dauntless frowned at the question, as he indeed remembered that there was always a two-way mirror in every debriefing room he'd ever been in. “Sir, if they have a problem with me-”

“They do,” Zero interrupted, his voice firm. “And frankly, so do I,” he added, and then reached a foreleg out to nudge a sheaf of collated papers on his desk and move them until they were near the center of the main work area. “Your records show that you haven't taken any vacations or other leaves since your first hurricane mission three years ago. The fact that you lost your wingmate in that mission is also noted, as is the death of another squad member you knew well during your second hurricane mission.

“And now this last one against Orchid, there was another squadron loss,” Zero continued. “These are not easy things to recover from, lieutenant. Trust me, I know,” he added, and then paused to give a steady, hard look into Dauntless' eyes. “Yet while the rest of your squadron is taking some well-deserved leave, I have a note telling me that you have refused to take time off, just as you did after the last two hurricane busting missions.” Zero shook his head at that. “I allowed it previously because I know that hard work can help a pony move past a difficult event in his or her life. But even the strongest and most resilient ponies need a break now and again, lieutenant. On this both the psyches and myself agree.

“Which brings me to the reason you're here,” Zero said, and then nudged a new piece of paper from the side to the middle of his desk. “This is a recommendation from the psychologists that you be transferred to a non-active role in the Corps, should you refuse leave this time. They believe that you could become a danger to yourself and to others through emotional exhaustion, which would lead to distraction and botched missions.” The white pegasus paused to let that sink in, and then continued once the perturbed look on Dauntless' face settled down. “I am inclined to accede.

“However, I am not unreasonable, nor do I wish to lose a talented flier with your record,” Zero added. “So I called you here to give you a choice, lieutenant: either take a two-week leave, starting tomorrow, or I will have you transferred to the weather factory as a supervisor in snowflake production.”

Dauntless tensed up at that, and then actively suppressed a shudder. No, not those losers! That place is career suicide! He thought, and then lightly gulped. “So... a two-week leave, then?” He tentatively asked.

“Minimum,” Zero replied, evenly. “And it had better be somewhere away from here; if I see or hear of you being anywhere in Cloudsdale after tomorrow, then when you get back you won't be making snowflakes, you'll be counting them at the Grainland weather station.” The diminutive pegasus lowered his head a bit to give Dauntless a hard look at that. “Am I clear, lieutenant?”

“As crystal, sir,” Dauntless replied, the mere idea of being assigned to such a frozen waste enough to quell any protest.

“Excellent,” Zero said, with a nod. “Then I shan't hold you here anymore, lieutenant,” he added, and then stood.

Dauntless took that as his dismissal, and he stood as well. “Of course, sir. Thank you, sir,” he said, automatically before he turned and walked towards the doors leading to the outer office.

Zero watched him go, and then sighed once the gray stallion was beyond the doors. I wish I did not have to do that, the white pegasus thought, as he turned to look out the windows behind his desk. It pains me to force such decisions, but I will not let good ponies destroy themselves because they feel too guilty to take time for themselves. It was a common problem for the Weather Corps, he knew. The types of ponies who would do this work, who are skilled for this work, are the same types who would work themselves to death if you let them.

His gaze drifted over the mountains, and then alighted on the distant, somewhat indistinct shape of Canterlot. Zero felt some of his concern drain away as he gazed at the bits of graceful architecture he could observe. Still, all the work we do is worth it, so long as we keep Equestria safe, he thought, and then turned back to sit at his desk. Now, if only I can keep the ponies in the Corps safe from themselves. With that, he pressed the little buzzer on his desk to let his secretary know he was ready for the next pony.

Chapter 3

Four leagues south of Cloudsdale

2 Days later

“I can't believe you talked me into this.”

Valorie glanced to her right and gave Dauntless one of her typical, bright smiles. “Oh come on, D, you know you'd follow me anywhere because you're hot for me,” she said, her tone teasing.

Dauntless snapped his head to the left and gave the white pegasus an incredulous stare as they glided through the air. They remained like this, stare facing smile, for several moments, before Dauntless finally began to laugh, and was followed into mirth by his friend and wingmate. “Good one, Val!” He said, still chuckling. “Hot for you, that's rich.”

“I know, right?” Val asked, and then chuckled again herself as she started to flap her wings again to maintain altitude. “Remember when Cloudchaser thought we were dating? I just about laughed my wings off when he asked me about it.”

Dauntless let off another round of laughter at that, as he worked his wings to match Val's pace. “I remember that day. He was so embarrassed he threw himself right off the top of the office building,” the gray stallion said, and then briefly shook his head. “Awfully melodramatic if you ask me, especially considering he's a pegasus and just glided away.”

“Oh, don't be so hard on him,” Val replied. “He's a good pony. Just a bit too shy for his own good.”

“I know, I know,” Dauntless said, and then sighed. He decided to let the conversation drop for a moment, and took the time to look down towards the ground, where emerald green forests and bright meadows rolled underneath the two pegasi as they flew south at three hundred hooves. “But getting back to my point, why are we going to Ponyville of all places, again?”

“Several reasons,” Val replied, and then paused briefly as she considered her flight for a moment before she started to trim her wings to descend. “First off, an old friend of mine from foalhood lives there, and when I wrote to her about visiting she seemed rather pleased at the idea. Secondly, Ponyville is close to Cloudsdale, so if there's an emergency and the Corps needs to recall us, we'll be there in no time at all.” The red-maned pegasus paused then as she again trimmed her wings a bit to level off, and then started flapping them again. “Thirdly, you need to relax, and according to my friend Ponyville is a nice, quiet town, just the sort of thing we both need to unwind after busting storms.

“And fourthly,” Val continued, and shot a smirk over at her friend. “You desperately needed to get out of Cloudsdale before Zero sent you off to the frozen north, and you had absolutely no idea where to go 'til I offered.”

A period of silence followed her declaration, punctuated only by the light whoosh of wind as the two pegasi flew onward. Eventually, Dauntless let out a brief sigh. “Well... okay then,” he said, his voice halfway to a mutter.

Val heard him clearly, though, and she gave the stallion another smile. “Don't worry D, this will be the most relaxing two weeks you could ever want to spend.”

Why do those sound like famous last words? Dauntless asked himself. No answer was forthcoming, though, so he put the idea aside and resigned himself to Val's plan. I shouldn't worry too much, anyway; Val's a good friend, she wouldn't say this was a good idea if she really didn't believe I could enjoy myself in this podunk town.

With that, Dauntless dropped his train of thought and simply emptied his mind so he could enjoy the sensation of flight. Like most pegasi, he loved to fly, and any chance to do so outside of his work was something to be treasured. Thus he was startled a bit when Val spoke up again. “Oh look, there it is!” She said, and then pointed forward with one of her forelegs. Spurred by this, Dauntless cast his gaze forward and looked at the town he'd be staying at for the next two weeks.

It looked, for lack of a better word, normal. Set on a series of low, rolling hills and wide valleys, and surrounded by farmland, Ponyville could easily have been mistaken for any of dozens of towns that Dauntless had seen in his years of service to the Weather Corps. Looks nice enough, the pegasus allowed, and then gave a mental shrug. Certainly looks as quiet as Val promised. And she did say there's a library in town, so maybe I can catch up on my reading while we're here.

The white pony on his left started to descend just then, and Dauntless returned his attention to flying so he could regain his position in their loose formation. Probably don't need to bother with the formations, the stallion thought, as they started to fly over the town proper. But old habits are hard to break. Besides, it never hurts to stay in practice. Still, it'll be nice to go do some free flying after I'm settled in and drop off these saddlebags.

“Oh my gosh!” Val suddenly said, as she abruptly pulled back and transited into a hover.

Dauntless was caught by surprise at the maneuver, and he had to turn around and fly back to his friend before he could join her in simply treading air. “Something wrong, Val?” He asked, concerned as he saw the white pegasus looking down towards the ground.

“It's my friend!” Val replied, her face splitting into a grin as she shot Dauntless a devious look. “I'm going to say hi!” With that, she pumped her wings once more to give herself some forward momentum and to start her body tilting forward, before she drew them in and proceeded to dive.

“Val?” Dauntless called, and then blinked in surprise. What the hay? She's going awfully fast... Uh-oh.

* * * *

“...So then I'm like “nuh-uhh,” and she's all “uh-huh!” And then we both stared at each other for like ten minutes straight and that's when cherry blossoms fell from the sky and I knew it was time to draw our katanas and fight to the bitter end like...”

Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes while Pinkie Pie rambled as they cut through Ponyville's central park. The two friends were walking together from the Carousel Boutique, Twilight having gone to collect a book Rarity had forgotten to return, and Pinkie Pie because... Well, Twilight couldn't quite fathom why Pinkie had started following her, or when the pinky party pony's monologue had drifted onto the argument she had with Ditzy Doo over whether cupcakes or muffins were the superior pastry. Yet, why am I not surprised? The purple unicorn asked herself, even as she grinned at Pinkie's rather absurdly embellished story. Still, at least it's enjoyable, which is more than I can say for that last Daring Do book. “Crystal Skull”, indeed.

“...And finally we agreed that cupcakes and muffins could share the top spot like how Celestia and Luna share ruling Equestria,” Pinkie said, seeming to finally be winding down. “And then we made muffins with cupcake frosting and called them muffincakes, though Ditzy wanted to call them fragmuffins and I'm like “they're totally not for a belt-fed mark nineteen, Ditzy” and then she kind of gave me that odd look everypony gives me eventually.” The pink pony pensively paused then, as she saw Twilight stop walking in order to turn her head over in confusion. “Just like that! Gee, Twilight, you can give a pony the sense of déjà vu sometimes I think it would have been your special talent if it wasn't for magic though I wonder what a cutie mark in déjà vu would look like?”

“I imagine it would be recursive,” Twilight replied, as her mind struggled to filter out the more nonsensical of Pinkie's words. “Maybe a picture of a picture of a picture of a picture, ad naseum?”

Pinkie Pie stood silent for a moment to think about her friend's words. Then, abruptly, she started to laugh. “Oh Twilight, that's so brilliant!” She said, after having her merriment. “But then it would make any pony who looked at it kind of dizzy.”

Twilight shrugged at that, and then turned to resume walking forward. “Well, then we should be happy that nopony has such a cutie mark, as far as we know,” she offered, speculatively.

“Oh yeah,” Pinkie added, as she resumed walking alongside her friend. “Because then anypony who had that would have to like wear clothes all the time to keep from making ponies sick and who wants to do that?” She asked, fell silent for a few moments, and then giggled. “Maybe ponies who like that could set up a “clothesist colony” and just go around wearing jeans and shirts all the time? What would that be like? A lot of ponies in Canterlot wear clothes and-”

Twilight took several steps before she realized that Pinkie had cut herself off in mid-ramble and froze in place. Once the unicorn did realize, she stopped her movement and then turned around to see a sight that put a healthy measure of fear into her chest and caused her kidneys to ache with the sudden release of adrenalin.

“Twitchy, twitchy-twitch!” Pinkie exclaimed, as her tail shook violently. She started to reach back with a foreleg to hug the fluffy pink tail to her chest, but she was interrupted when her right rear leg shot straight back to become parallel to the ground. Then, it almost casually turned in a horizontal arc until it was sticking straight to her side, and then abruptly dropped. “Ooohh, a starboard one-quarter flank turn!” The pink pony said, her tone suddenly changing to one of excitement.

“What does that one mean?” Twilight asked, even as she glanced up to the sky.

“It means you should teleport about fifty paces in any direction,” Pinkie replied easily, even as she smiled.

Twilight blinked at that, and she turned her gaze down to give her friend an incredulous look. “Wh-what?” She asked, too confused to form a more complicated inquiry.

“Now, Twilight!” Pinkie yelled. Some concern had bleed into her face then, though she still seemed mostly unperturbed.

Still, it was enough to spur the purple unicorn into action, and Twilight Sparkle quickly pulled up the teleportation spell in her mind and then utilized it. The familiar bright, purple bubble enveloped the unicorn instantly and then disappeared, and Twilight blinked her vision clear from the slight flash that always accompanied a teleport. Soon enough, though, she could see that the spell had taken her the instructed distance, and Twilight felt a brief tick of pride that she had reacted so accurately and quickly. This feeling faded immediately, though, as she turned to face where Pinkie Pie still stood in the midst of the green meadow. What's going on? The unicorn thought, and then opened her mouth to shout a question to her pink friend.

She didn't get the chance, though, as an odd, screaming noise could be heard from the sky, and a split-second later a red and white blur streaked downwards to impact the ground right where Pinkie Pie had been standing. The shockwave slammed into Twilight almost instantly, carrying with it a cloud of earthen dust that obscured the area around the purple pony until all she could see was brown.

Twilight started to cough then, as some of the dust had been blown straight into her open mouth. Fortunately, the fit petered out in a few seconds, and the unicorn quickly cantered forward towards the impact site as concern for her friend drove her on. “Pinkie, are you alright?” Twilight shouted, even as the dust cloud finally began to clear. Once it did, however, the sight that met the purple unicorn made her freeze in her tracks.

“Twilight, come here!” Pinkie said, her head and forward part of her body sticking out of a small crater. She waved a foreleg at Twilight to come closer, even as a second pony stuck her head out and grinned. “Come meet my friend!”

“Friend?” Twilight asked, more to herself as she was still a good couple of dozen paces away. Pinkie continued to beckon her forward, though, so the unicorn acquiesced and finished trotting the rest of the way until she was standing at the edge of the crater, where the two ponies who had been in it had climbed out.

“...So glad you're here!” Pinkie was saying to the white-coated pegasus who had slammed into her. “I can't wait for you to meet all of my best friends! Like Twilight, here,” the pink pony added, and then abruptly reached out a foreleg that seemed to stretch further than was physically possible to grab Twilight as the unicorn drew near. Twilight cringed slightly at the contact, as she never got used to Pinkie's odd contortions, but such concerns were easily dropped as the pink earth pony drew her into a sidelong hug. “She's like the bestest pony at magic ever and she's really really super smart!”

“Uh, thanks, Pinkie,” Twilight said, a sheepish grin crossing her face at the praise she received. Despite this, she managed to study the pegasus in front of her, and noted the unusual black muzzle that was even now split by a wide grin, as well as the other mare's short-cut bright red mane and tail. And a cutie mark of a bullseye? Sparkle thought, as she saw the nested rings of red adorning the other pony's flank. How utterly appropriate.

Her ruminations were interrupted then, as the white pony raised a foreleg up and offered it. “Hello there. My name's Valorie, but you can call me Val.”

“Oh,” Twilight said, and then blushed a bit in embarrassment at having zoned out for a moment. “It's nice to meet you, Val,” the unicorn said as she reached up to shake the proffered hoof. “I'm Twilight Sparkle, but you may call me Twilight.”

“Nice to meet you too, Twilight,” Val said, and then casually broke the hoofshake. “I'm sorry if I scared you, but when I saw Pinkie below me I knew I had to dive bomb her just like I used to when we were foals,” she added, her grin widening to her maximum capacity.

“Okay,” Twilight said, sounding unsure. “It doesn't hurt either of you, does it?”

“Oh, no,” Val replied, even as Pinkie shook her head. “See, pegasi have this trick we use, and Pinkie... Well, she's Pinkie.”

A chortle escaped Twilight's muzzle before she could even think, and the purple unicorn blushed as she let it out in a short laugh. “Yes, that describes Pinkie Pie to a T.”

“Oooooh, that sounds great!” Pinkie Pie said, garnering her friends' attention. “Let's go get some iced tea and daisy sandwiches at the café then we can talk about why Val's here and make some plans!”

“Plans?” Twilight Sparkle asked, sounding confused. “For what- Oh, why am I even asking? You're planning to throw a party, right?”

Both Pinkie and Val nodded their heads vigorously at that. “Oh, totally!” The white pegasus pony exclaimed. “Half the reason we came was because Pinkie's parties are the best in Equestria!”

Twilight smirked a bit at having guessed correctly – not that it was particularly hard – but soon enough her ears twitched as she caught the odd pronoun in Val's sentence. “Wait, we?”

“Yeah, me and my friend, Dau-” Val halted herself in mid-sentence, and then looked around, gazing up at the sky. “Huh, I forgot, I kind of left him up at two hundred hooves.”

“Yes, you did,” a new voice spoke, slightly startling the three ponies near the crater. They soon turned to the side, where a gray pegasus stallion was just folding up his wings. “And you did it to dive bomb a civilian. A civilian, Val!” He chided, his voice raised. “Are you bucking mad? Have you been hitting the oxygen tanks when I'm not looking? You could have hurt yourself and your friend!”

Val blushed at the tongue lashing, but she kept calm and sighed before she replied. “D, you worry too much. Do you really think I'd do something so silly as to dive bomb a friend if I thought either of us would get hurt?”

“I'm starting to wonder,” the gray pony said, and then shook his head, which caused his white and blue mane to ruffle back and forth. “The manual says the crash barrier isn't a foolproof tactic, you know. It's a last resort for a reason.”

“I know that, Dauntless,” Val replied, her voice taking on a harsher tone. “I'm not a foal, you know. And it wouldn't matter if I were, because I've been doing this since I was a foal, unlike some ponies I could name,” she said, with a huff. “So why don't you calm down before you blow a blood vessel?”

The two pegasi stared at one another, both with stern looks upon their faces, while Twilight and Pinkie looked on in concern. After a few moments, the stallion sighed and then shook his head. “Fine,” he grunted, and then turned to walk off. “I'll see you later, Val,” he said, and then snapped his wings open, ready to take to the sky.

Before he could take off, however, Pinkie Pie moved to stand in front of him. Or so it seemed; she appeared almost to have teleported herself, though Twilight would at least swear she saw some sort of blurred movement. “Please don't go away all mad and stuff,” Pinkie said, even as she stood on her hind legs a bit so she could put both of her forelegs on Dauntless' chest, which conveniently allowed her to hold him back with her body weight. “Val's a really good friend of mine from waaayyy back and she did this to me all the time and I really don't mind because it never hurt me and it's really fun because we make these big craters all over and my pa would always go “who put these durn holes in the ground” and we'd watch from behind the silo and laugh so please don't be mad at her because nopony got hurt okay?”

Dauntless just blinked at the strange earth pony holding him back, and he had to think for a moment before he could say anything. “How can you talk so long without breathing?” Was the first thing that entered his mind.

Pinkie Pie chuckled at that. “Lots and lots of practice,” she said, and then gave him a sad look. “Please don't fly away mad, I know you're concerned but Val and I are trained professionals.” She suddenly paused, and then looked off to the side to stare at you, the reader, her gaze piercing into your mind. “Don't try this at home, bronies.”

The three ponies standing near Pinkie all took on confused looks as they saw the pink pony look off to her left and mutter something none of them understood, nor particularly wanted to. “Uhm... Okay?” Dauntless offered, unsure of what else to say. “I'll stay here, then.” You freaky, crazy pony lady.

Pinkie turned back to Dauntless and beamed. “Okey dokey Loki!” She cheerfully said, and then dropped back to all fours and took a step back so she wasn't in Dauntless' personal space anymore. “You're going to come to the party later, right?”

“Party?” Dauntless asked, as he blinked his eyes in surprise. “What party?” He asked, his voice taking on a tone of suspicion as he cast a glance towards Val, who was grinning again.

“The “welcome to Ponyville” party I'm going to throw you and Val tonight!” Pinkie replied, as she briefly bounced back on her rear legs again in order to throw her forelegs haphazardly into the air. “I throw one for every pony who comes to Ponyville for longer than a day and Val wrote me and said she'd be staying two weeks and I figured if you're her friend and you came with her that means you're going to stay a while too so you can both be the guests of honor!”

The gray stallion looked around nervously at that, and he took a step back as he felt a bit intimidated by Pinkie's egregiously cheerful attitude. “Uh, I'm not really a partying kind of pony,” he said, nervously.

“Oh, don't worry, D,” Val said, as she walked up to stand next to Dauntless. “Pinkie throws parties so well you won't even have time to feel shy.”

“I'm not shy,” Dauntless protested, some strength returning to his voice. “I'm reserved. There's a difference.”

“Sure there is,” Val said, and then turned to give Pinkie Pie a wink; a gesture the pink pony returned. “But seriously, it'll be fun, you'll see.”

Dauntless frowned. “I don't know...”

“I promise if you come tonight and don't like it, I won't drag you any other party ever again,” Val said, as she held up her right foreleg in a swearing motion.

The stallion thought about this for a moment, and then nodded. “Deal,” he said, and then held up his right foreleg. Val took the hint and lowered her leg so they could shake hooves and seal the deal. “I'll hold you to it,” Daunltess warned.

“You won't have to,” Val replied, her expression smug. “Because nopony throws a party like Pinkie Pie.”

Something seemed to click in Dauntless' mind at that, and he blinked as he broke the hoofshake. “Wait, Pinkie Pie? As in, the bearer of the Element of Laughter, Pinkie Pie?” He asked, and then glanced over to the pink pony.

“Yuppers!” Pinkie said, grinning madly. “Wow, I'm surprised somepony remembered. It seems like every other week ponies forget who we are.”

“"We”?” Dauntless asked. Then he remembered the other pony in the group, and he turned to give the purple unicorn he hadn't yet spoken to an awe filled look. “You're one, too?”

“Er, yes,” Twilight said, sounding sheepish as she walked forward to offer her hoof. “I'm Twilight Sparkle,” she said, as Dauntless shook her hoof. “It's nice to meet you.”

“Likewise, miss,” Dauntless said, as he broke the gesture. “I'm Dauntless, lieutenant of the Weather Corps, at your service,” he added, and then gave the unicorn a little, shallow bow.

Twilight blushed at that, and both Pinkie Pie and Val shared a brief laugh. “She's not royalty, D,” the white pegasus teasingly said.

Dauntless shot Val a look that could melt glaciers as he stood back erect, though it was short lived. “Val, they saved Equestria. Twice,” he added, and then shook his head at his friend. “That deserves some respect.”

“Well, duh,” Val replied, though her mirthful tone robbed the words of any mockery. “But I think you're making her uncomfortable.”

“Oh, it's alright,” Twilight quickly said, and then gave a sheepish smile again. “It's just unusual. Like Pinkie said, most ponies tend not to put a lot of stock into it. It's... kind of nice to be remembered.”

“Frankly, miss Sparkle, the whole Corps couldn't forget you ladies even if they tried,” Dauntless evenly said. “We work our flanks off to protect Equestria, and we respect anypony who does the same.”

Twilight blushed again at that, though any reply she might have had was preempted by Pinkie Pie. “Alrighty then! Come on, Val, let's go plan for tonight!”

“Yeah, and also for tomorrow night!” Val said cheerfully as she and Pinkie fell in with each other and started walking forward.

Pinkie, though, had to pause and glance over to her old friend at that. “Why? What are we going to do tomorrow night, Val?”

Val grinned at that. “The same thing we do every night, Pinkie: Try to take over the world!”

The two party ponies looked at each other for a brief moment, and then broke out in laughter. “This is going to be the most awesome party ever!” Pinkie said as she led Val away.

Dauntless and Twilight watched them go in silence. When the brightly-colored mares had disappeared around a bend in the path, the stallion turned to give Twilight a curious look. “Are all the ponies in this town crazy?” He asked, with a raised eyebrow.

Twilight grinned again at that. “That does seem to be the case,” she said, and then chuckled. “Even myself at times.”

Dauntless sighed, and then shook his head. “And here I was hoping for a nice, quiet vacation,” he said, half to himself.

“Oh?” Twilight asked, suddenly curious. “May I ask why you picked Ponyville, as opposed to a better known spot like Los Pegasus?”

“Uh,” Dauntless said, and then brought up a foreleg to rub the back of his head with his hoof. “Well, it's a bit of a story,” he temporized. “Just suffice it to say, my boss thought I was overworking and threatened to send me to Grainland if he saw me anywhere in Cloudsdale for the next two weeks. Val was heading here anyway, so she invited me to follow, and I kinda panicked and flew here with her.”

“I see,” Twilight said, a bit sheepishly as she remembered her own issues with overworking. “A bit of a workaholic, I take it?” She asked quickly, hoping to avoid an awkward silence.

“Something like that,” Dauntless said, as his face took on a stoney expression. “Working in the Corps is rewarding, but it can be hard at times,” he added, as his eyes seemed to drift away and stare into the distance.

The purple unicorn frowned a bit, as she was mildly surprised at Dauntless' change of tone. “Well, I'd love to hear about it sometime,” she offered, a gentle smile crossing her muzzle. “That is, if you want to talk about it. I've never really studied much outside of the arcane arts, so I don't know anything about weather control other than what one of my friends has told me, but the subject sounds interesting enough.”

“It can be,” the gray stallion allowed, and nodded his head once. The stare on his face suddenly snapped off, and Dauntless blinked a few times before he returned his attention to the mare in front of him. “I think I may take you up on that talk,” he said, with a friendly smile. “But for now, I really need to find the inn and get settled.”

“Oh, well the inn is just on the other side of town hall,” Twilight explained, and then concentrated a bit. Her horn glowed and a crude diagram of the immediate area sprang into life between her and Dauntless. She brought up a hoof at that and pointed to a spot that acquired a small star shape. “Right there, and we're here,” she added, as another spot on the map appeared.

“Wow, that's pretty cool,” Dauntless said, and then grinned as Twilight blushed a little and dropped the illusion. “Well, it was nice meeting you, miss Sparkle. If you're a decent representative of the ponies here, then I know I'm going to enjoy my time in Ponyville.”

“Likewise, it was a pleasure to meet you, Dauntless,” Twilight replied. “If you want that talk, I'll be at the library; I live and work there.”

“Really?” Dauntless asked, as he raised an eyebrow. “Then you're going to be annoyed by me soon enough, since I've got some reading to catch up on,” he added, with a wink. “Until later, then,” he said, and then turned and shot into the air with a mighty flap of his wings.

Twilight watched him go, and then shook her head as she turned around and started to head back home to the aforementioned library. It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks, she thought.

Chapter 4

Ponyville

Approximately 7 hours Post Meridiem

“...And it was totally the best night ever!”

Dauntless just stood still as Pinkie Pie finished her story. Around them the party was in full swing, with more ponies present than the gray pegasus would have thought would show up to a party for complete strangers. This alone was already taxing on the normally reserved pony, but Pinkie's cornering of him and regaling of the trip she and her friends took to the Grand Galloping Gala had worn down his energy quite a bit.

Yet, Dauntless couldn't quite pull away, and he had to admit to himself that he was rather enjoying the story. “That was one heck of a tale, Pinkie,” he said, having resigned himself to calling her by her shortened name after 'miss Pie' had been thoroughly rejected in a manner he was not eager to revisit. “I mean, wow, you all accidentally wrecked the biggest party in Canterlot, and then finished the night eating doughnuts with princess Celestia?” He rhetorically asked, and then shook his head. “I admit, that puts most of my bar crawl stories to shame. And you all didn't even have a drink?”

“Nope! Totally didn't have time,” Pinkie Pie said, as she settled back on her hooves and grinned madly. “AJ went right to selling apples and Twilight was with the princess all night and Rarity was stalking Blooey and Fluttershy was hulking out and Dashie-” The pink pony paused at this, and then seemed to think. “Actually, I'm not sure if Dashie drank. She didn't talk about her part of the gala much, only that it was lame.”

“I see,” Dauntless replied, and then glanced around. “Speaking of drinks, is there anything hard, here?” He asked. I won't go nuts tonight, he promised to himself. Just one or two shots to take the edge off.

The headshake he got in reply deflated his hope, however. “Nope! Sorry, but alcohol doesn't mix well with most of my parties,” Pinkie said, and then pointed towards where a trio of young fillies were standing by a refreshment table, talking amongst themselves. “Nor with the guests I usually have.”

Dauntless blinked at that, temporarily surprised by Pinkie's use of a more cultured turn of phrase. Then his thoughts latched onto something else, and he gave the pink pony a look with a raised eyebrow. “Fillies at a welcome party?” He asked, curious. “You just used my and Val's arrival as an excuse, didn't you?” He grinned a bit at that to show he wasn't offended.

“Only a little,” Pinkie admitted, grinning a bit herself. “I really did want to welcome you both, but I figure so long as it's a party then I might as well make it really really big and invite as many ponies as possible!” She added, her grin spreading into a wide smile. At that moment, though, something seemed to tick over in her head, and Pinkie's eyes widened. “Oh! That reminds me, I spent so much time talking to you that I haven't made my rounds and I need to see if everypony else is having fun, too! See you!” She said, and then bounced off.

The stallion watched her go, and then shook his head. I'm going to get you for this, Val, the pegasus thought with a brief sigh as he turned to head for a corner of the main room in Sugarcube Corner. Not that I'm not enjoying myself, and I hate to admit that I am, but I'm still going to get you for this, just on principle. Dauntless thought, a smirk crossing his muzzle as he considered what to do to his friend. Itching powder in her feathers? Hmm...

“Excuse me,” a tiny voice asked from his side, and Dauntless blinked himself out of his thought to look down and see the three fillies he'd spotted earlier had come over. “You're mister Dauntless, right?” The unicorn of the group asked, though her two friends seemed to be paying rapt attention.

“Er, yes,” the stallion said, and then turned to face the trio fully. “And who might you be?”

“Oh, I'm Sweetie Belle,” the unicorn said.

“Ah'm Applebloom,” the straw-colored earth pony added.

“And I'm Scootaloo,” the orange pegasus said.

“Nice to meet you,” Dauntless said, politely. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Uh,” Sweetie said, and then brought up a hoof to rub the back of her head through her pink and purple mane. “We were kinda wondering, if you wouldn't mind telling us-”

“How'd you get your cutie mark?” Scootaloo interrupted, apparently having lost patience.

“If'n ya don't mind,” Applebloom added.

Dauntless blinked at the request. “What, this?” He asked, and then turned the rear half of his body a bit so he could shift a leg out to display the mark on his flank: a blue disc overlaid with a five-pointed white star.

“Yeah,” Scootaloo replied. “We haven't seen anything like it around Ponyville before!”

“What's it mean, anyway?” Sweetie Belle asked, sounding truly curious.

The gray stallion thought about this for a moment. He quickly reached a decision and moved to sit on his haunches in front of the three fillies. “Well girls, there's not much of a story there,” he said, and then shrugged with his wings. “I got this mark when I was young, only a little older than y'all. A friend of mine was being bullied by a couple of colts, and I sort of stepped in and stopped it.” With a buck that would do a farmer proud, he remembered, and decided not to tell that part of the story to impressionable children. “They stopped bothering him after that, and that's when I got the mark.

“As to what it means, well, you have to know that the star in a circle is one of the oldest runes discovered by pony magicians,” Dauntless continued, grinning a bit as he saw the little fillies hanging onto his words. “The symbol forms a part of many protection spells that unicorns cast to keep bad things from hurting them or others. So my mark is about how I like to protect other ponies from harm.”

“Wow, that's neat,” Sweetie Belle said, and grinned. Applebloom also looked interested, but Scootaloo simply frowned at that.

“I don't get it,” she said. “Your special talent is protecting ponies?” The filly pegasus asked, and then waited while Dauntless nodded his head. “But Pinkie Pie said you work with the weather. How do you protect ponies doing that?”

The elder pegasus took a long moment to think about his answer. He let his gaze travel around the room for a bit as he thought, and then nodded softly before returning his focus to the fillies in front of him. “Well girls, that would take a bit of explaining,” Dauntless said, and then shrugged his wings again. “But the quick version is that sometimes weather can get bad. Like, really, really bad.” He paused for a moment then to shake his head a bit. “Especially with all the magic in the air. It can turn a normal spring shower into a raging thunderhead that pours out a hundred-year flood in seconds, or whip up a wind so fast it knocks over buildings.”

“Huh?” Scootaloo said, somewhat perplexed. From the looks on Applebloom's and Sweetie Belle's faces, they matched her confusion. “The weather around here doesn't get that bad,” the orange pegasus stated.

“Of course not,” Dauntless said, and grinned. “That's because of ponies like me, who keep an eye on things and modify the weather whenever it's needed. The Weather Corps keeps the weather from getting out of control, and so we protect the ponies of Equestria from being hurt.”

“Huh,” Applebloom said. “Sounds kinda boring, if'n ya ask me.”

Sweetie Belle shot her friend a look, but was kept from saying anything as Dauntless chuckled. “Believe me, Applebloom, we want it to be boring,” he said. Then the smile dropped from his face, and he looked up to glance around the room. “Because when things get exciting, they also get very dangerous,” he added, and then looked down at the three fillies standing in front of him. “Does that answer all your questions, girls?”

“Sure does!” Applebloom said, and she appeared to speak for her friends as well. “Thanks, mister Dauntless.”

“No problem, squirt,” Dauntless replied, and then reached out to rub the filly's mane with a hoof. “Now y'all run along and go enjoy yourselves.”

The three fillies thanked him at that, and then turned and cantered away as they excitedly chatted amongst themselves. Dauntless chuckled as he watched them go, and then stood back up on all fours again as his stomach growled a bit. And now, where's the buffet table? He asked himself, as he set off into the crowd.

* * * *

“This is gonna be great,” Rainbow Dash observed as she hovered in the air, moving forward just fast enough to keep pace with Twilight Sparkle and Spike, though the latter was simply riding on the purple unicorn's back. “Pinkie Pie always throws an extra large welcome party whenever there's more than one new pony.”

“And she breaks out the special cupcake recipe,” Spike said, and then licked his lips. “They have chocolate and more sugar than you can shake a stick at!” He paused at that, and then seemed to think something over as he tapped his chin with a claw. “Come to think of it, why would you shake a stick at anything?”

“It's just an expression, Spike,” Twilight said, and then shook her head briefly as a smile settled on her muzzle. “But yes, the party will be fun.”

“We're running a bit late, though,” Spike observed. “You think there's going to be any of those left?”

“There'd better be!” Rainbow chimed in, and then did a quick little maneuver where she moved froward a bit for momentum, and then did a little backflip before settling back into her position next to Twilight. “I'd go crazy if we missed Pinkie's Choco-tastic white coffee cupcakes!”

“And whose fault would that be?” Twilight asked, as she turned her head to give the pegasus a cheeky look.

Dash blushed at that, and she brought a foreleg up to rub its hoof along the back of her head. “Eh-heh, I guess I did kind of get a bit engrossed in that Daring Do book,” she said, her tone a bit sheepish.

Twilight blinked at that, and then stopped in the middle of the street to look over at the pegasus. Rainbow Dash came to a hovering stop as well, and then frowned. “What?” The cyan pony asked. “Did I use that word wrong?”

“No, actually,” Twilight said, and then smiled. “That was just right, Rainbow. I'm impressed; your vocabulary has really improved since you started reading.”

Dash blushed at the praise, and she just shrugged with her shoulders as Twilight and her resumed moving towards Sugarcube Corner. “I guess so,” the pegasus said, unsure. “It helps that you have that big dictionary in the library.”

“And it doesn't hurt having a brainiac like Twilight nearby,” Spike added, with a gentle pat on the back of the purple unicorn's head. “She has half of that dictionary memorized, anyway.”

The three beings shared a short laugh at that, though any further conversation was cut off as they rounded the last street corner and saw the familiar, gauche outline of Sugarcube Corner at the next intersection. It was hard to see into the windows with the summer sun still casting its warm light as it descended towards the horizon, but the size of the party was more than evident by the way several groups of party guests had spilled out onto the street surrounding the pink bakery. “Looks like everything is in full swing,” Twilight observed.

“Then let's get going,” Dash said, and then pumped her wings a bit harder to move forward at a faster clip. Twilight herself accelerated into a trot and soon regained her position next to the cyan pegasus, and both ponies arrived at the front door of Sugarcube Corner in mere moments. There Rainbow landed, and the two friends made their way into the crowded main room. “Oh, I can't wait,” Dash said, and then licked her lips. “Five hundred calorie cupcakes, here I come.”

“Hiya, girls!” A familiar voice said, just as the pink owner of it appeared in front of Twilight, Dash, and Spike as if she had sprung from the floor. “Oh, and Spike, too! I'm so glad you could make it to the party!”

“Well, of course, Pinkie,” Twilight said. “We wouldn't miss it for the world.”

“Yeah, your parties always rock!” Rainbow Dash interjected. “And so does the food. Speaking of which, where's your special cupcakes?” She added, and then glanced around and tried not to drool in anticipation.

Pinkie Pie cheerfully grinned as she noted Rainbow's preoccupation. “They're over there,” she simply said, and then turned to point a foreleg towards one of the bigger tables set up in the room. “Right next to where Dauntless is standing.”

“Who?” Dash asked, with a frown.

“He's a friend to my friend Val who's visiting and they're why I threw this party,” Pinkie Pie explained. “He's the gray stallion with the blue and white mane why don't you go say hi? I've got to get going still behind on my rounds make sure you eat up okay thanks bye!” With that, the party pony popped off to continue her patrol.

Twilight, Spike, and Dash watched her go for a bit, and then shared a collective sigh. “I swear, she's like a thaumokinetic reactor,” Twilight said as the two friends resumed their walk and headed for the buffet.

“Yeah yeah,” Dash said, though it was clear she wasn't really paying attention. Instead her focus was on the half-demolished pile of cupcakes that the gray stallion Pinkie had pointed out was standing next to. “Yo, brick wall, could you move?” The cyan pegasus asked as she drew near.

Suddenly, the stallion turned around and gave Rainbow Dash a look that made her pause. His eyes were wide, but his pupils had contracted a bit, and even as she looked Dash saw one eye twitch halfway shut. “These are delicious cupcakes,” he said, as he held up his right hoof bottom-up, with a cupcake sitting perfectly on top of it. “You must try some.”

“Uh, okay,” Dash said, and then took a step back as Twilight came up alongside her. “I was planning to, but you kind of-”

“It is so delicious and moist,” the gray pony interrupted, speaking as if Dash hadn't talked. “I believe it contains chocolate.”

“Dauntless, are you okay?” Twilight asked, as she tilted her head in confusion. “You seem to be out of it.”

“I have seen it, miss Sparkle,” Dauntless replied, his eye twitching again. “I have seen the corrugated conundrum of continuity coursing through the cosmos. The Wall is there, and I have seen it!”

This time both Rainbow and Twilight took a step back, and Spike seemed to cower a bit behind the purple unicorn's mane. Before any of the group could do or say anything else, however, Pinkie Pie suddenly reappeared in between the stallion and the mares. Quickly, she reached up with a foreleg and slapped her hoof across Dauntless' face.

Both Twilight and Rainbow started a bit at that, though neither spoke up as Dauntless blinked rapidly, and then his eyes returned to normal. “Ugh, what just happened?” He asked, as he looked around dizzily.

“Sugar rush,” Pinkie Pie replied, her tone quite matter-of-factly. “It's your first time in Ponyville so you don't know it but my cupcakes are super awesome special so you should really only eat one at a time and not on an empty stomach,” the pink pony pontificated, and then broadly smiled. “By the way, thanks for getting me one!” Pinkie added, and then snapped her head forward and snatched the cupcake Dauntless had been holding right off of his hoof. “Mmmm, choco-tastic!” Pinkie said through a full muzzle, and then once again moved off.

The three ponies and one baby dragon watched her go, and then turned to each other to share a set of confused looks. “Okay, I know I just asked this, but... What the hay just happened?” Dauntless asked, putting a bit more emphasis in his voice this time.

“Pinkie Pie happened,” Dash said, and then moved forward again now that the pony in front of her seemed normal. “Now move, I need my fix.”

“Uh, okay,” Dauntless said, and then moved aside automatically. After he did, he turned his gaze back to the other pegasus and then gave her his full attention, which had been rather distracted until then. It was fortunate that he had held off so long, though, for as soon as his eyes met Dash's, his body and mind froze up. Sweet heavens, he thought, as the mare simply glanced over him disinterestedly, and then walked to where the cupcakes and other treats had been set out.

Twilight blinked a bit as she saw Dauntless' reaction, though she was distracted from contemplating it as Spike hopped off of her back. “I'm going to get my share,” the baby dragon explained, and then started for the table.

“Only one for now, Spike,” Twilight said, almost immediately. “Remember the ice cream incident?”

“Like I could forget,” Spike replied, and then shuddered before he quickly ran off to join Rainbow Dash as she ingloriously stuffed her face with confectionery. “Hey, save some for the rest of us, Rainbow!”

Twilight chuckled as she watched the little dragon, and then shook her head at his antics. As she moved her head, though, her vision once again came to rest on Dauntless, and she was surprised to see he was still staring at Rainbow Dash, albeit now out of the corner of his eyes rather than turning his head around fully. Curious at this, the unicorn approached the stallion and then lightly cleared her throat. “Is something the matter?” She asked, after Dauntless turned his attention to her.

“Uh,” the gray pegasus muttered, and then blushed as he glanced back towards Dash. “I heard the dragon call her “Rainbow.” Is she...?”

“Rainbow Dash, yes,” Twilight said, a friendly smile on her face. “I'm guessing you know her name like you knew mine and Pinkie's?”

“From the Elements of Harmony? Yeah,” Dauntless admitted, a sheepish look across his face. “But with her, it's more than that: she's the only pony in recent history who did a sonic rainboom,” he added, and his eyes grew misty. “Every flier in the Corps tried to recreate it for weeks after she did one last year, but we all failed. Yet she's done it twice! Once as a filly, even.

“She's like a living legend, and possibly one of the best fliers in Equestria,” Dauntless said, and then sighed as he glanced back at the cyan pegasus again. “I just didn't know she was so beautiful, as well.”

Twilight blinked in surprise at that, and she simply stood in silence for a long moment. A brief pang of jealousy spiked through her mind, but she quickly quashed it, and then gave Dauntless another friendly smile. “Well, why don't you go talk to her?” The purple unicorn suggested. “Dash can be a bit abrasive at times, but she's really a nice pony once you get to know her.”

“What?” Dauntless hastily asked, and he snapped his head back around to give Twilight a shocked expression. “N-no, that's okay,” he added hastily, and then struggled to give the purple mare a crooked smile. “I'm sure I've taken up enough of her time already.”

“Nonsense,” Twilight replied, and then started to walk forward. Her horn lit up as she moved, and Dauntless felt a weird tingling along one of his ears before a force latched onto it and started to yank him around. He yelped slightly in surprise, and soon enough was completely turned around and led up to where the cyan pegasus was still munching on one of Pinkie's special cupcakes.

“Rainbow Dash, let me properly introduce you to Dauntless,” Twilight said as she released the stallion's ear, and then waited the moment it took for Dash to turn around to face them. “He and his friend Val are whom Pinkie is throwing the party for, since they're staying in Ponyville for a couple of weeks.”

“Oh, hey,” Dash said, as she put on a polite smile and offered a hoof. “How's it going?”

“It goes,” Dauntless replied, as he had no idea what else to say. He reached up and gently took Dash's hoof and shook it. “It's an honor to meet you, miss Dash.”

Rainbow dropped the hoofshake and then smiled a bit. “Heh, well, I am awesome, after all,” she said, and then extended and flexed her wings a bit as she turned her head to the side and closed her eyes. “Only the fastest pony in Equestria,” she added, in a more boastful tone.

“Of that I would have no doubt,” Dauntless said, his eyes drawn to her feathered limbs. “I was in Cloudsdale last year when you did the sonic rainboom. It cleared out the skies below the city like nothing else I've ever seen.” He gave Dash an appreciative smile as she opened her eyes and returned her limbs back to their normal positions. “You're practically a legend in the Corps.”

Rainbow gave him an odd look at that. “You're from the Weather Corps?” She asked, her tone suspicious. “You're not here about those letters they keep sending, are you?”

“Letters?” Twilight asked, just before Dauntless could voice the same one-word question. “What letters are you talking about, Rainbow?”

The cyan pegasus shrugged her wings in reply. “Just official letters asking me to consider joining,” she said, and then shook her head. “Like I want to go and be sent off to some boring weather station on the back end of Equestria. I can bust clouds here in Ponyville just as well, and at least I'm with my friends.”

Twilight frowned a bit in consternation at her friend's words. “I'm not sure I follow. I thought you worked for the Weather Corps, since you're in charge of the weather here?”

“Naw, the job's through the mayor's office,” Dash said, and then shrugged again. “I work with the Corps when there's a big storm brewing, but I get my pay from the town.”

“That sounds about right,” Dauntless said, putting himself back into the conversation. He then turned his head to make eye contact with Twilight. “The Corps primarily deals with medium and large scale weather patterns. Most local weather is usually handled by locals like miss Dash here, though the larger cities like Manehattan and the like use the Corps for local control as well, since we have better organization and more experience with the larger teams such cities need.

“Smaller towns like Ponyville, however, generally aren't large enough to rate their own weather station,” Dauntless continued, as he returned to splitting his attention between the two mares. “And since we're so close to Cloudsdale and the Corps' headquarters, Ponyville and even Canterlot don't really need their own stations, either. It must be a nice and easy job where you only have to worry about moving or clearing clouds just over a small town.”

Dash frowned at that, and then brought up a foreleg to jab a hoof into Dauntless' chest. “Hey, I work hard at this job,” she said, heatedly, and then lowered her hoof back to the floor. “It takes effort to work the skies in Ponyville.”

“I never said it didn't,” Dauntless replied, sounding a bit surprised at Rainbow's words. “I'm just saying, you must have a lot of time on your hooves since you don't have to worry about mid-latitude cyclones and the like, since the Corps handles those for Equestria,” he said, and then tilted his head and gave the cyan pegasus a look. “Doing the regular grunt work takes effort, yes, but it couldn't take you more than a few minutes to clear the skies if you wanted to.”

“A few minutes?” Dash asked, and then shook her head to toss her mane. “Try ten seconds, flat!”

“She really did, too,” Twilight added, a slight grin on her face. “It caught me by surprise.”

Dauntless smiled at that, to Dash's mild surprise. “Well, if miss Dash can do a sonic rainboom, then I have no doubt she can quickly bust through the partly cloudy skies the area around here usually gets,” he said, and then nodded his head towards the cyan pegasus. “Again, I'm not calling into question your skills, miss Dash. I'm just saying, it must be nice having your job, since you don't have to worry about the really nasty weather. As I said before, you must have quite a bit of time on your hooves.”

Rainbow Dash looked a bit uncomfortable at that, as she was not used to ponies figuring out how simple her job really was. She frowned a bit as she saw Twilight gleefully grinning at this revelation, and the cyan pegasus just shook her head. “Whatever,” she said, dismissively. “So what if I have a bit of spare time? I still do my job.”

“Nopony is saying you don't, Dash,” Twilight said, her grin still wide, though her eyes looked a bit more compassionate now. “All Dauntless is saying is you have more time than he does. Which makes sense to me,” she added, as her smirk grew slightly. “I always did wonder how you found so much time to practice for the Wonderbolts.”

Dauntless jerked at that, and he gave the cyan pegasus a surprised look. “Really, you're trying for the Wonderbolts?” He asked, sounding incredulous.

“Hay yeah!” Dash said, and again spread her wings up to show them off. “They're the best fliers in Equestria! They do all the best tricks and cool stunts, and one day I'm going to join them,” she declared, and lightly stamped a foreleg on the floor for good measure.

“I see,” Dauntless said, his tone having changed to sounding disappointed. “I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you're a boltie. They are quite... flashy,” he added.

Both Twilight and Rainbow gave the stallion curious looks at the sound of irritation in his voice. “What's the problem with that?” Dash asked, sounding offended. “Flashy is the whole point of stunt flying! And it's more fun than being some boring cloud pusher.”

“Yes, if you're a shallow airhead,” Dauntless snapped, the words leaving his lips before he even thought about them. “The boltheads love prancing about, putting on shows and making everypony swoon to their beat, but they don't do any real work,” he added, and then snorted. “I didn't see them in that hurricane last week, but you can bet tons of ponies know their names like the back of their hooves, while real heroes like Brewster are forgotten by the ungrateful public the moment their body grows cold!”

Silence met this statement, and Dauntless blinked as he realized he had grown loud during his brief tirade. He glanced around and saw the other ponies at the party all looking towards him with various expressions of surprise and shock, and he blushed profusely at their attention. “Uh, sorry, everypony?” Dauntless said, somewhat unsure of what to do. When more silence greeted him, he slowly turned and started to walk for the door. “I guess I'll just... go get some fresh air,” he said, and then accelerated to a trot, a speed he held until he was out of Sugarcube Corner. Once in the street, he opened his wings and launched himself into the air. Aimless save for the desire to be anywhere but the party, he flew off in a random direction and just kept going.

* * * *

Stars and a waxing moon filled the night with pale light, and though it was no match for the day Valorie could see easily enough as she flew through the air, looking for her friend and flight partner. It had been over two hours since the gray pegasus had flown off, but Val knew he would not have flown far. Not when his stuff is still at the inn, she mused; she had of course checked on that the first thing.

Valorie sighed at that, and then shook her head briefly. D, you really need to chill out sometimes, she thought, and then resumed scanning the area. She knew the night and Dauntless' coloration would work against her, but the dive bombing pegasus had a good idea which direction her friend had flown off. He always goes west. I wonder if he even realizes he does it?

The white pegasus was brought out of her rumination as her peripheral vision noticed an odd splotch resting on one of the few clouds that still drifted through Ponyville's airspace. Grinning to herself, Val adjusted her flight path and then stopped flapping her wings so she could glide down in a shallow arc that soon left her in the perfect position to land on the cloud. She set down easily, almost daintily on all four hooves only a few inches from where a gray pegasus was lying belly down and with his legs splayed out. The stallion turned his head up and gave her a brief look before he returned his head back to rest on the cloud. “Hiya, Val,” Dauntless said, half-heartedly.

“Hey, D,” Val replied, as she folded her wings up and then sat on her haunches and fell silent.

They both remained quiet and in their respective positions for several long minutes. Finally, though, Dauntless sighed. “So, how big of an ass did I make out of myself this time?” He asked, fatalistically.

“About a five,” Val said, her voice containing just a hint of cheerfulness. “Not a complete jerk, but yeah, you could have done better.”

Dauntless sighed a second time at that, and then started to push himself up until he too was sitting on his haunches. “So, no angry villagers with pitchforks and torches, then?” He asked, a bit of jocularity in his otherwise sad voice.

Val chuckled a bit before she replied. “Nothing like that,” she said, and then turned her head to look directly at her friend. “I think you just kind of surprised everypony with the talk about death,” she continued. “You know the Corps doesn't publicize our losses.”

“To keep enlistment up, I know,” Dauntless said, and then shook his head. “It ain't right, though, Val. So many ponies die to keep this place safe, and all they get is a chiseled name on a plaque in Canterlot.”

A moment of silence passed between them, though it was quickly ended when Val slapped the back of Dauntless' head. “Ow, hey!” He said, and then brought up a hoof to rub the sore spot while he gave the white pegasus an angry look. “What was that for?”

“For being an idiot,” Val replied, and then shook her head. “I know I didn't sign up to be a hero, D. Did you? Because if so then I want to know why you're still around after eight years?”

Dauntless blushed at this, and he turned his head away. “You know that's not it, Val,” he said, morosely. “It's just...” He paused, and then shook his head. “The fastest flier in Equestria, one of the best, a living legend... and she wants to join those over-bred show pony Dunderbolts,” Dauntless said, using yet another derisive nickname Corps personnel had for the stunt team. “I didn't join to be famous or anything, Val, but it would be nice to be appreciated now and again.”

“Yeah, it would,” Val agreed, and then let out a sigh of her own. “But getting mad at the civvies and taking it out on them isn't going to get you that.”

Dauntless winced at that, and then dropped his head down. “Yeah, I know,” he said, and then sighed again. “It's just... she... really pushed my buttons.”

“In more ways than one, apparently,” Val said, this time with a bit of mirth in her voice. The change in tone surprised Dauntless, and he brought his head up to see a small smile on his friend's muzzle. “I saw you over there, chatting it up with those two. And don't think I haven't recognized your “oh my heavens she's so gorgeous” face, because this isn't the first time it's happened.”

The stallion blushed furiously at that, and he snapped his head around to look off to the side. “Am I that freakin' transparent?” He grumbled, his voice low and throaty.

Val chuckled again. “Only to me, and that's only because I've flown with you so much I recognize every little shift in your muscles,” she explained, and then shrugged her wings. “But yeah, despite that anypony looking at your conversation from the outside could tell you were rather interested.”

Dauntless just grunted at that, as he brought his head back forward. “Like it matters, anymore,” he said. “I made a total ass of myself in front of her and insulted her heroes. She'll probably sooner buck me in the face than give me the time of day.”

“Maybe,” Val allowed, and then brought up a foreleg and patted Dauntless' back with her hoof. “Or maybe not. Pinkie said Dash is actually pretty nice, just brash and hot-headed.” The red-maned pegasus grinned at the stallion on her right at that. “Sound familiar?”

Dauntless rolled his eyes at the question. “How about “like every pegasus born in Cloudsdale in the last century?”” He asked, sarcastically.

Val laughed at the comment. “Okay, you've got a point, there,” she admitted. “But give it a try. Just go to her sometime soon after you've both had time to cool off, apologize, and see if you can't hit it off from there.” She shrugged her wings again at that as she brought her hoof down. “I mean, it can't be any more difficult than facing rampaging tornadoes or ploughing through thunderheads, right?”

“Says the female who goes through stallions faster than dental floss,” Dauntless dryly observed.

“Well, duh,” Val replied, a smile on her muzzle. “How else would I know how it compares?”

The gray pegasus rolled his eyes again, but didn't immediately dispute her words. “Alright, I'll give it a shot,” he said.

“Thattacolt!” Val said, and then stretched a wing to slap it against Dauntless' back. “You'll knock her right out of the sky with your charm.”

“If she doesn't knock me out with a right hook,” Dauntless replied, rather sardonically.

“As if that would stop you,” Val countered, her grin now much larger. “I know you love the tomcolts,” she added, and then turned her head and closed her eyes, before giving her mane a shake. “How you can resist me, though, I'll never know.”

Dauntless laughed openly at that. “You're crazy, you know?” He asked.

“But of course,” Val said, and then stood up. “Anyway, I'm going back to the party. Are you coming with?”

“Eh, nah,” Dauntless said, while he shrugged with his wings. “I think I'd just bring the place down. I'll just stay out here a bit longer, maybe get some flying done, and then turn in early.”

“Okay then,” Val replied, and then spread her wings. “See you later, D.”

“See you later, Val,” Dauntless replied. “And... thanks.”

Val smiled at the stallion. “What else are friends for?” She asked, and then hopped off the cloud and began her flight back to Sugarcube Corner.

* * * *

Farhold Castle, Ponygsberg

Capitol of East Griffony Province

Equestria

His hooffalls sounded loudly in the stone halls as he walked through the deserted corridors. With the darkness of night upon the world at large and a dearth of artificial lighting in the old castle, the blood red pegasus pony found the effect to be largely unnerving. How many years have I been living here? He asked of himself as he turned a corner, intent on following a route long ingrained into his memory. Yet this place still has its effect on me. My ancestors would be proud of that. He snorted at the thought, and then gave his head a quick shake to ruffle his black mane. It would be the only thing they would find pride in, these days, he bitterly thought, a frown crossing his muzzle. Soon, though, there might be at least one more thing.

This thought brought him back to the present, and specifically the reason why he was walking through his family's castle in the middle of the night. He quickened his pace as he drew near his destination, and soon the powerfully-built pegasus approached a pair of large, iron doors that sat at the end of a wide hall. A pair of unicorn guards clad in plain-looking steel armor stood on either side, but neither so much as batted an eye as the pegasus trotted up to the doors, and then pushed one open with a hoof.

The room on the other side was spacious, even by modern standards, yet it still felt cramped as it was filled with an array of machinery of all kinds. Analytical, differential, magical, and electrical equipment of various manufacture gave the place a chaotic look, yet as the pegasus walked into the cleared space in the center he could tell there was some kind of order imposed on the room. Not that I understand that order, but at least I can see it, he thought. Now if only the mind who made it could impose some of that order on himself.

The pony he was thinking of stood near a bank of alchemical apparatuses, his horn glowing as he lifted up two vials and mixed them carefully into a flask sitting on the workbench. The red pegasus waited patiently until the unicorn finished his task, and then cleared his throat. “Doctor?” The large red stallion asked.

“Yes, baron?” The sickly gray-green unicorn asked, without turning from observing the mixture in the flask he still levitated. “Vhat may I help you vith, tonight?”

“I wanted to make sure you will be ready for our upcoming excursion,” the pegasus said, his voice even. Their accents were the same, though the baron's was less pronounced, and more sophisticated. “We leave in two days, and it's a four day trip aboard the Scharnhorse.”

“I am avare of that, baron,” the unicorn replied, his tone polite, but slightly strained. Carefully, he set the flask he'd been holding down and then released it from his telekinesis, and then turned to regard his patron with a faint look of disdain. “I have been ready for quite some time, as I notified you last month. All zat remains is to load your airship vith my equipment and deposit us at ze target, and I and my team shall do ze rest.”

“Indeed,” the pegasus replied, and then turned to wander over to one of the larger pieces of equipment. “I trust your so-called “stormtroopers” can accomplish the mission with subtlety?” He asked, as he casually inspected the large differential engine. “My contacts in the court would become suspicious if anything untoward would be discovered before the rest of my pieces are in place.”

“I assure you, baron, zat I have hoof picked only ze best of ze best,” the unicorn said, as he haughtily tossed his head, which caused his gray mane to whip about. “Zere are no... undesirable elements to cause discord. All vill be harmonious.”

The baron turned his head to cast a wary look at the unicorn, who had turned back to his alchemical work. More of his blather about harmony, the red pegasus thought, with a frown. “Very well, doctor,” the larger pony said, as he turned to head back to the room's entrance. Once there, he paused and then turned to look at the unicorn again. “Just one more thing,” he added, and then waited for the other pony to turn his head around. “The Everfree forest is a dangerous place. If your experiment riles the beasts that dwell within, then you are to do your best to keep them away from the nearby towns.”

The unicorn frowned at this new proviso, and then turned to fully face the red pony. “My baron, surely you jest? Vhy vould ve concern ourselves vith such lesser ponies?”

The pegasus narrowed his eyes at that, and he also turned to face the doctor straight on. “Because we are not barbarians, doctor,” he replied flatly. “We are not the crude, axe-wielding griffons that my ancestors wrenched this land from. If we can avoid unnecessary death, then we shall do so. Is that clear to you, Steel Targe?”

Targe gave the baron a steady look that spoke volumes of what he thought of the pegasus' ideas. Still, after a moment of consideration, he nodded. “Very vell. It shall be as you say, herr Red Valor,” he said, deliberately using the pegasus' name instead of his title. “But I cannot promise perfection,” he added. At least, not yet I cannot... but soon...

Valor gave the unicorn an angry look at the use of his name, and the implications it represented. He soon reigned it in, however, and an expression of mild contempt replaced it. “Do your best, doctor,” he said, and then turned to push open the doors. “For Griffony.”

“For Griffony,” Steel Targe replied, as the baron left the room and closed the doors behind him. And for the radiant future, the unicorn mentally added, as he grinned and turned back to his experiments.