Blue Skye's Story

Chapters

School Days
The Eye of the Storm
A New Brother
Blue's Crush
First Date
A Day With Firestorm
Blue's New Rival
The Prom
"What are you going to do with your life?"
The New Guard in Town
The New Guard - Part II
Proposing to Meadow
Epilogue
The Early Life
Blue's Crush - Part II

School Days

August 19, 1994

Blue was a six-year old pegasus who was reaching a milestone in life; he would be starting Cloudsdale Elementary School. He was flown over to the school by Summer Skies.

"Mom?" Blue asked.

"What is it, honey?" she asked him.

"I'm nervous." he replied. "I don't know if I'll do good or if I'll do bad or if I'll make any friends." he said.

"Blue, you'll do just great. I know you will. Me and dad are so proud of you for reaching this stage in life." Summer comforted him.

"Oh, looks like we've reached the school." she said. Blue looked down and saw the schoolhouse. It was quite a large building, with a fountain standing at it's foot. After landing, his mother kissed his head before he went.

"Bye, honey! Have a good day at school! Love you!" she shouted at the little pegasus colt.

"See ya, mom!" he replied. Summer smiled at him one last time before she flew off to the Weather Factory.

Blue made his way through the school towards his classroom. The school bell hasn't rang yet, meaning he had some time left to gt to his class. After reaching the class, he sat down on a table between a colt and a filly. The colt was a grey pegasus with a black mane and the filly was a violet pegasus with a pink mane.

"Uh, mind if I sit here?" he asked.

"No, no. It's fine." they said.

"My name is Thunder." the colt spoke up. "What's yours?" he asked.

"I'm Blue Skye." Blue replied.

"Hi, I'm Violet... Violet Petals." the filly said. Blue realized she was shy and needed a friend and was about to talk to her. Suddenly, before the three ponies managed to talk to each-other, the teacher came in. She was a middle aged pegasus mare with a grey coat and a blonde-white mane.

"Hello, my little ponies. My name is Ms. Nymbus. Today, we're all going to introduce ourselves and have fun before our actual work begins when we return after the weekend. We'll start with the first table. Flash Sentry, why don't you go first?" the teacher asked. An orange colt with a dark blue mane stood up and walked to the front of the classroom. Blue chuckled to himself as he watched the awkward colt introduce himself. Violet lightly nudged him.

"Hey, I don't think you should be laughing. Would you like it if you went up there and we all started laughing at you?" she whispered to Blue with a firm voice.

"No, sorry." Blue whispered back with a hint of regret in his voice. After the teacher was done with Flash Sentry, she called out Violet. Blue eyed her as she moved up to the front of the classroom. He usually laughed at shy and awkward fillies and colts, but in this case, he felt sorry for Violet because she was so shy.

After Violet introduced herself, the teacher called up another colt. She returned to her seat and watched the colt speak. Blue and Thunder were eyeing the colt with curiosity.

"Hey, Thunder. Who's he?" Blue asked Thunder, while pointing at the awkward colt who called himself Singer.

"I don't know, Blue. I've never seen him before in Cloudsdale. He might have moved here recently." Thunder explained. Blue simply shrugged and watched Singer introduce himself. When the colt was finished, Blue chuckled lightly at the last part of his introduction. He too was sent back and sat down beside Violet. The teacher sent him back and called for Blue Skye.

Blue stood up and went to the front of the classroom. "Hi, my name is Blue Skye. I've lived in Cloudsdale all my life with my mom and my dad, who are both weather ponies. I love to have fun and watch the Wonderbolts live when they perform in Cloudsdale." he explained with pride. The colts and fillies eyed him with delight at the last part of his comment. After telling the class about himself, Blue was also sent back and sat down beside Thunder. After introductions were done, the ponies had the opportunity to go play some games with each other. Blue Skye and Thunder stuck together.

"Ms. Nymbus?" Thunder said, getting the attention of the teacher.

"What is it, Thunder?" Ms. Nymbus asked.

"Everypony else took all the games. Me and Blue don't have anything to play with." he said.

"Thunder, you and Blue can play together." Ms. Nymbus explained.

"Yeah... I just realized that." Thunder explained. "Sorry for bothering you."

"It's fine, Thunder. You weren't bothering me." Ms. Nymbus told him in her usual soothing and motherly tone. "Have fun you two." she smiled and went back to her desk.

"Okay, what do we play?" asked Blue. Thunder wondered for a few moments.

"I know! We should play hide n' seek!" he told him. Blue liked the idea, but he realized that there aren't enough ponies for the game.

"Uh, Thunder. I don't think there's enough of us to play hide n' seek..." Blue told him.

"Blue, you do know that we can play hide n' seek, just us two?" Thunder said and nudged him playfully.

"Okay... Let's play then." Blue grinned. "Just one thing." Thunder turned to face his friend.

"What is it, Blue?" Thunder asked him.

"Who's seeking? Me or you?" Blue asked in a playful tone. Thunder thought to himself.

"I think... it should be me!" Thunder said. Blue smiled and nodded in agreement. "Okay, go hide somewhere, Blue."

"Alright." Blue said in reply. And so, he went to find a place to hide while Thunder counted to ten. Blue hid behind some curtains and hoped Thunder would never find him. He eyed him through an opening between the two curtains and giggled to himself as he watched his friend look around the classroom for him. Thunder was completely clueless as to where Blue is, until he heard a sound. Blue's giggling got the better of him and the entire class could hear some light giggling coming from behind the curtains. Thunder flew towards the source of the giggling and pulled away the curtains, giving away Blue's location.

"Found you!" he said as he looked at his friend with pride.

"Aw... I thought that the curtains were a good place to hide in." Blue replied.

"They are, but your giggling gave away that you're hiding there." Thunder replied, playfully nudging him again. "And now... you're seeking." Thunder said, grinning.

"Okay." Blue grinned. He stood in front of the curtains, covered his eyes and begun to count. Meanwhile, Thunder flew around the room in search of a hiding place. Eventually, he found an empty cupboard where he could hide in. Blue finished counting shortly after and begun to search the classroom for his hiding friend. This time, it was Thunder's turn to laugh as his friend searched the entire room for him. After their game of hide n' seek, the two colts were bored. They sat down at their desk and waited for the next part of the lesson to begin.

"You know, Blue..." Thunder begun. "I'm enjoying your company!"

"Me too!" Blue grinned. "You're cool to hang out with. Say... wanna be best buddies for life?" he asked.

"Sure, I'd love to be your best buddy for life!" Thunder replied.

"Best Buddies Forever!" the two colts said in unison and they hoofed each other's hooves.

Nearer the end of the day, the class were finding out about their special talents. The first pony to do something was Singer. He prepared to sing a song he wrote for Violet Petals, his friend. As he prepared to sing, Blue whispered to Thunder.

"He wrote a song about Violet?" Blue chuckled lightly.

"Gosh, the two of them must be in love!" Thunder replied, also laughing. As Singer started singing, the entire class went silent, including Blue and Thunder. Blue turned his attention to Violet, who was looking at Singer, grinning. He and Thunder chuckled lightly at her so they didn't disturb Singer. However, Violet turned to face them with a stern look, which quietened down Blue and Thunder. The two colts returned to their original positions and observed Singer. A moment later he stopped singing and the entire class, except Blue and Thunder begun to clap. Instead, they chuckled lightly as they watched him go back to his seat.

"Gosh, that was so cheesy!" Blue laughed.

"Yeah, that was soo rrromantic." Thunder replied and made a mock Violet face to Blue. Their laughter was cut short however when Thunder begun to face a mark on Singer's flank. His cutie mark.

"Blue... Look." Thunder said. Blue turned to face Singer's flank and both colts' jaws dropped.

"He got his cutie mark..." Blue said in disgust.

"Yep." was all Thunder could say. Blue was having none of it.

"I'm gonna get a better mark than Singer will ever have!" Blue said to Thunder.

"Good luck then." Thunder replied and they shook eachother's hooves. The next pony on Ms. Nymbus' random list was Blue.

"Blue, do you want to come up?" Ms. Nymbus asked him.

"Okay." was all Blue managed to say. He went up to the front of the class and stood in front of the board. He tried to think of something he's good at, but instead, he only grew more nervous.

"Take your time, Blue. It's alright." Ms. Nymbus comforted him.

"I--I honestly do... not know what my special talent is. I'm sorry..." he replied. The entire class, except Thunder, Singer and Violet begun to giggle. The teacher comforted him again.

"It's fine, Blue. Not everypony manages to find their special talent in the first grade. Your cutie mark is unique. It can come to you at anytime." the teacher explained in her usual motherly tone.

"I suppose you're right." Blue replied, still tearful and went to sit down beside Thunder, who comforted him.

"Hey, it's alright. Not everypony gets their marks in the first grade. My brother Streak Lightning got his in the fifth grade." Thunder explained.

"But I wanted to prove... I was better than Singer..." Blue said in a sad tone.

"You still have a lot of opportunities, Blue. I mean, we're gonna be here for the next five years!" Thunder replied. Blue's frown slowly turned into a grin.

"Thanks, Thunder! You're the bestest friend anypony could ever have!" Blue said in delight. In the distance, Ms. Nymbus watched the two friends, smiling. She then called out another pony from her randomized list to show her special talent.

After a day of playing, learning and finding out about each other, Blue and Thunder were ready to go home.

"Bye Thunder!" Blue said to his friend as both of them trotted out of the building.

"Bye Blue. I enjoyed playing with you today!" Thunder said as he walked away with his dad.

"Me as well. See you next week, friend!" Blue said, waving back to his friend as he left for his home. He smiled and ran up to his mom.

"Hey, little guy!" she said as she nuzzled her little colt. "How was your first day at school?" she asked him.

"School was great mom! I got to meet a new friend who's just left." he said to his mom, pointing at Thunder and his dad.

"That's great, sweetie! Making friends is one of the greatest things in the life of a young pony." his mother explained to him. "You seem a bit sad, sweetie. Is everything alright?" she asked Blue.

"There were some kids who got their cutie marks today, mom... I wasn't one of them." he said with a sad tone. Blue turned to face his mom and showed her his bare flank.

"Oh, sweetie. You know that not everypony gets their marks in the first grade. I certainly didn't, and your father, got his mark in the fifth grade. You'll just have to wait for it; I'm sure there'll be more opportunities for you to try for your mark." she said, nuzzling him.

"I guess..." he said, still unsure whether such an opportunity will come by.

"Come on, let's go home. I have your favorite; hay fries and salad!" she said with an excited tone. Blue's glum face was replaced by a grin.

"Yay! Let's go mommy!" he said to her as they went home. Summer was proud of her little colt for achieving one of the greatest milestones of a young pony's life; their first day of school.

The Eye of the Storm

July 30, 1998

It was a nice summer's day in Cloudsdale, however, a huge drought has hit central Equestria, meaning the Weather Factory had to produce twice as much clouds as it usually does. While Lightning Fast was working in the Weather Factory, Summer took Blue to Cloudsdale Park to play with Thunder. As he trotted towards Thunder, he noticed something on his flank. It was his cutie mark; it had a thundercloud with a fork of lightning coming out of the bottom.

"Good luck, honey! Have fun!" Summer said to Blue, who simply smiled back. She went to sit on a nearby bench and looked at her son and his friend playing.

"Hey, Blue!" said Thunder.

"Thunder! How was your summer holidays? Did you go anywhere?" Blue asked his friend.

"Yeah, I went to Vanhoover. I was visiting my family members. What about you?" Thunder asked in return.

"I stayed in Cloudsdale. We were going to go to Manehatten, but my dad's job cancelled our trip." Blue replied with a glum face. Thunder nodded understandingly.

"Yeah, weather ponies rarely get days off." Thunder explained.

"No they don't. They get a lot more days off than you think." Blue corrected him. Thunder chuckled lightly.

"So, how did you get your cutie mark?" Blue asked. Thunder thought to himself.

"I created a small thunderhead back in Vanhoover since there was not much rain there recently. However, it only rained for five minutes. Then, the weather patrol guys created a massive one." Thunder explained. Blue was in awe and was quite jealous of his best friend, but he shrugged the feeling of jealousy off.

"Cool." was all Blue could say.

"What do you wanna do, Blue?" Thunder asked him.

"Hoofball?" Blue said as he took out a ball from under his wing. Thunder grinned.

"Sure! Let's play!" Thunder replied with a smile and Blue put the ball down on the cloud. As the two colts were playing, two bullies from Cloudsdale Middle School trotted into the park and observed Blue and Thunder play. Thunder turned around and noticed one of them coming over.

"Uh, hey!" he said in a frightened but enthusiastic voice.

"Hey there, Thunder." the bully said. "How was your summer?" he asked.

"It was good, I got my cutie mAAARrk!" he screamed as the bully picked him up by the wing. Blue noticed this and came over to him.

"That's by far... the worst cutie mark I've ever seen. It's not even real!" the bully said as he held Thunder in mid-air.

"It's a real cutie mark!" Thunder shouted. The bully noticed Blue coming over and looked at his flank.

"Leave him alone..." Blue said with a frightened voice.

"You... don't have a cutie mark, so back off Blue before I beat you up!" the bully threatened.

"Just... please...leave him alone!" Blue shouted as the bully prepared to throw Thunder towards a building.

"Why should I leave him alone? He's just a blank-flank who's trying to be cool and so are you." the bully said. Suddenly, they turned around.

"Flame! We have to go back home!" a motherly voice shouted from the distance. Blue and Thunder chuckled as the bully turned red.

"Who's that?" Blue asked in a playful tone.

"Mommy?" Thunder asked, giggling. Flame simply trotted off towards where the voice is coming from and left the two colts alone. The other bully simply shrugged and went after Flame.

"Bye Lame-Flame!" Blue waved mockingly.

"Thanks for sticking up for me, Blue!" Thunder said with a grin to his best friend.

"You're welcome. Anything for my best friend!" Blue replied back, smiling, although that smile was replaced with a glum face soon after.

"Blue, is everything alright?" Thunder asked.

"It's just that... I've been waiting almost four years to get my mark. Almost everypony in the class has theirs and I don't have mines yet." Blue said sadly.

Before Thunder could comfort Blue, a droplet of rain fell on him, soon followed by more raindrops. Blue and Thunder turned and looked at the sky. A thundercloud had enveloped the sun and was slowly moving towards the fields near Cloudsdale.

"We should be getting home by now, sweetie." Summer shouted to Blue. Blue gave her a reassuring nod.

"Hey, Thunder. You wanna come?" Blue asked.

"No, sorry. I gotta go back home." Thunder replied.

"Alright. See you tomorrAAAH!" Blue screamed as a loud crash of thunder suddenly rolled through the air. Thunder simply chuckled as he watched his friend get startled out of his mind.

"Bye, Blue!" he said as he walked towards his home. Blue turned back and smiled lightly and walked up to Summer and hid under her wing. Summer turned to face him, smiling.

"Blue, it's just thunder. There's nothing to be afraid of." she spoke to him in her soft, motherly tone.

"I know, mommy, but I'm just startled." Blue replied, still shaking.

"Come on sweetie, let's go home." Summer said to Blue, nuzzling him. Blue nodded lightly and came out of under her wing.

At home...

Blue watched through his window as the rain pattered down the windowpane. He also looked at the lightning flashing over the city and jumped back into his bed every time he heard a clap of thunder. The cloud was supposed to be moving towards a field, but instead it positioned itself over the city and looked pretty stationary. Summer was downstairs preparing a vegetable salad along with some hay fries. Blue decided to trot downstairs and ask his mom an important question.

"Mom?" Blue asked.

"Yeah sweetie?" Summer replied, putting down the tray of hay fries on the kitchen counter.

"Why is it storming right now?" Blue asked.

"Well, sweetie. It's stormy because the weather ponies noticed it's too dry down below, so they realized that we need some rain. And since a thunderstorm like this one is the quickest way of getting the rain to the fields around the city, the weather ponies made one. And don't worry about the thunder, son. I know we don't get much storms in Cloudsdale, but thunder's nothing to be afraid of." Summer explained.

"What's it like being a weather pony, mom?" Blue asked.

"Well, being a weather pony is a very athletic job, so you have to be pretty fit for it, and you have to know how to make different weather patterns, so it requires a lot of effort too. But overall, it's worth it because you're helping Equestria in one of the biggest ways possible; by controlling the weather." Summer explained. "Why're you asking sweetie?" she asked.

"I'm thinking I want to be a weather pony when I grow up, mom." Blue replied.

"You are, sweetie?" Summer said with a smile on her face.

"Yep!" Blue replied.

"I think you should be a weather pony if you want to, sweetie. I mean, I remember how much you were liked it when it snowed and how you enjoyed it when it was nice and sunny. I think you could be a great weather pony." Summer explained.

"Thanks mom!" Blue said and hugged his mom, who hugged in return. Outside however, the storm however, wasn't letting off and the rain begun to steadily get worse.

After the talk with his mom and after eating his food, Blue went up to his room to observe the weather. Nothing seemed to be changing; the storm wasn't beginning to dissipate. Blue had enough; he was going to clear up the sky. He went downstairs and went to explain to his mom what he was going to do.

"Mom?" Blue asked.

"Yeah, sweetie?" Summer replied.

"I'm going to go to Thunder's house. Is that alright with you?" Blue asked her.

"Sure it is!" Summer replied. "Just be safe and be back before 7. Alright? And don't fly." she told him.

"Okay." Blue said. He opened the door and walked to a nearby cloud field, where he took off, however instead of flying to Thunder's house, which was two blocks away from Blue's house, he flew high into the air and went through the cloud cover. There were lightning bolts lighting up the air around him.

"Okay... how am I going to do this?" Blue asked himself. He suddenly got an idea. He flew through the clouds around where he is, causing them to evaporate and the lightning bolts circling them to disappear.

"Wow..." he said, looking proudly at what he'd done.

He continued to fly around the hole in the cloud cover that he'd made, flying through the clouds and narrowly missing several lightning bolts in the process. Eventually, the hole was big enough to see a very nice blue sky from the bottom. Blue continued to fly. This time, he flew through the thundercloud leading to Thunder's home. Due to the larger amounts of turbulence in this part of the cloud, he found it much harder flying through it, but he continued to fly. He continued flying through the large thundercloud, which begun to evaporate and narrowly missed a forming lightning bolt.

"WOAH!" Blue screamed as he dodged the lightning bolt. He decided to turn back, but felt something forming on his flank.

"Maybe it's just the wind..." Blue thought to himself as he stopped in mid-air. He flew back down into Cloudsdale and landed beside a fountain in Downtown. He looked into the water and saw something on his flank. His own cutie mark. Two small cumulus clouds surrounding the sun. Blue was just lost for words. He begun to tear up out of joy, but decided to hide the feeling until he got home. Blue took off for home where he'd explain to Summer what exactly he was doing. While he was flying through the thunderstorm, he found it hard to concentrate. Rain seemed to lash at him from every corner of the sky and lighting crackled ominously in the background. He reached the clearing that he's made in the storm cloud and turned to fly home. To Blue's surprise, there were two weather ponies making the clearing bigger and one of the ponies was Lightning Fast, his dad. Blue tried to hide in a nearby cloud, but the build-up of static electricity inside it kept shocking him, eventually to the point where Lightning Fast heard him.

"What was that?" Lightning asked his partner, Cyclone.

"What was what, Lightning?" Cyclone asked.

"I don't know, it sounded like a scream." Lightning said, before hearing the same sound again. Suddenly, Blue shot out of the cloud and hit Cyclone's wing.

"Auughhh..." Cyclone hissed in pain.

"Sorry!" Blue said to Cyclone. He felt a small tap on his wing. It was Lightning Fast, who was now angrier than ever.

"And so you should be, Blue." Lightning said with a less-than-pleased look on his face.

"Dad!" Blue said and tried to hug him.

"What are you doing out here? It's dangerous flying out in this weather!" Lightning shouted at Blue.

"I better go back to the factory. See ya, Lightning." Cyclone said and tried to fly into the clouds in order to avoid distracting the father and son.

"I'm sorry. I was just trying to get my cutie mark and I thought I'd get it by clearing up the sky over Cloudsdale!" Blue said with tears in his eyes. Lightning's glare softened a bit.

"You wanted to clear up the sky over Cloudsdale?" Lightning asked him. "But why?"

"Because I wanted to be a weather pony like you and mom. That and most kids in my class already got their marks. Like I said, I'm really sorry and I won't do it again, I promise!" Blue explained.

"You want to be a weather pony?" Lightning asked.

"Of course I do!" Blue replied. Lightning simply smiled at Blue and wrapped his wing around him.

"I'm proud of you, Blue." he said, wrapping his wing around Blue. "But still, you shouldn't have gone out in this weather." Lightning explained. "Mom's probably worried sick about where you are."

"I told her that I was going to Thunder's house." Blue told Lightning.

"And were you really?" Lightning asked.

"No..." Blue said with a glum-looking face.

"Don't lie to mom like that. I know you were just trying to get your mark, but you could've been seriously hurt out here." Lightning explained.

"I know. And I'm really sorry, dad." Blue explained.

"Don't be son. You got your mark and I'm very proud of you for that, just please stay at home in this weather next time. Alright?" Lightning asked, with a smile on his face.

"Okay." Blue replied, grinning. Lightning simply ruffled his mane with his wing and they flew off towards their home.

At home...

It was just after half past five by the time Blue and Lightning came back home and the sky was already cleared up by the more experienced weather patrol, leaving a blue-gold sky. Summer was preparing another batch of hay fries, this time for Lightning, who was supposed to be home by 6:30 PM. While Summer put the fries into the oven, she heard a knock on the door.

"Who could that be?" she thought to herself as she opened up the door. To her surprise, it was Blue and Lightning.

"Hey honey." Lightning said to his wife, nuzzling her.

"Hey, boys! You're both back pretty early..." Summer said with a hint of concern in her voice. "What happened?" she asked. Blue begun to get embarrassed.

"It's uh, a long story." Lightning explained with a hint of embarrassment in his voice.

"Come on in!" Summer said. With that, Blue and Lightning came into the house and as Blue trotted in, Summer begun to notice a mark on his flank.

"Blue, sweetie, can you turn around?" she asked him.

"Alright, mom." Blue said and done as his mom asked of him. "Do you like it?" he asked humbly.

"It's beautiful, son. I really like it." Summer said in her voice. "But when did you get it?" she asked.

"Today..." Blue said with a hint of regret in his voice. "Mom? I didn't go to Thunder's house today." Blue begun to explain.

"What did you do, sweetie?" Summer asked.

"I had enough of the storm... So I went to clean up the sky just like the weather ponies do." Blue explained. "I'm so sorry for lying to you mom."

"Sweetie..." Summer said as she nuzzled Blue. "You know you're not a weather pony yet. Sky-cleaning is a pretty dangerous job." she scolded him.

"I know, mom and I really am sorry." Blue explained. "I just wanted to earn my cutie mark so I can be like the other ponies in my school and have a special talent!"

"I know you are son and I hope you've learned your lesson. And I'm really proud of you for getting your cutie mark. It looks very unique and I'm sure the kids at school will like it when you come back next month." she said smiling.

"Thanks mom." Blue said, grinning. He nuzzled her one more time before she went to pull out the tray of hay fries from the oven.

"But this doesn't mean that you aren't getting grounded." Summer said from the kitchen. Blue didn't like being grounded but on several occasions, such as this, he had no choice.

"Hey son." Lightning begun.

"What is it, daddy?" Blue asked.

"How about... we go to weather factory on Saturday and I show you around? Like, show you how we make the clouds, the rain and even how we make wind." Lightning proposed.

"Okay! Thanks dad!" Blue said, grinning.

"You're welcome, son. You're very welcome." Lightning spoke and ruffled Blue's mane. Summer simply smiled as she put down the plates for her two special guys.

A New Brother

Oct. 23, 1998

It was already after school and Blue Skye and Thunder trotted down the road leading to their homes. It was a nice October day and it's already begun to get colder in Cloudsdale, so Blue and Thunder decided to enjoy one of the last days of warmth in the city and possibly one the last days of their friendship.

"So, how's your weekend been?" Blue asked Thunder.

"It's been pretty good. My dad's close to getting a job promotion and we might move house." Thunder explained.

"Where about are you guys moving? Are you going to be leaving Cloudsdale?" Blue asked. It took Thunder a while to answer that question.

"It's possible we'll move to Ponyville or Canterlot. We're still looking at house prices." Thunder replied.

"I'm gonna miss you, buddy. We've been best friends for over 4 years." Blue said with a sad face, while putting a hoof around Thunder's shoulder.

"I'm going to miss you too, Blue. I'll still probably be at school for Nightmare Night; I think we're moving in November." Thunder explained.

"Alright then. But still, you were a great friend." Blue replied. Thunder simply smiled.

"Anyways..." he begun. "I forgot to ask, how was your weekend?" Blue thought to himself.

"It was pretty good. Dad signed me up for the Weather Team's junior program. I'm starting today." Blue explained with a grin. Blue was one of the youngest recruits so far on the Weather Team's junior program, which included ponies from ages 10 to 18 and he was starting his first day as a junior recruit on that very same day, so Blue was pretty nervous.

"Oh, cool! I know I didn't tell you this before, but when I grow up, I want to either be a Royal Guard, a weather pony or a businesspony like my dad is." Thunder explained.

"If you want to be a weather pony, you should ask your dad if he can sign you up for the junior program. I haven't been yet, but it should be fun." Blue said with mock excitement in his voice.

"I don't know..." Thunder simply replied. "I still need to think."

"It's fine." Blue said. "I still don't know whether I'd be a good weather pony when I'm older. I mean, my parents are great weather ponies. I don't know if I'll ever amount to that."

"Maybe you will. Just... try your best." Thunder said, nudging Blue playfully. Eventually, the two colts reached Blue's home.

"See you tomorrow, Thunder." Blue said and waved back at his friend.

"See you, Blue." Thunder replied and continued trotting off. Blue opened the door to his house and stepped in.

"Mom, I'm home." Blue said.

"Hey, sweetie." Summer replied and nuzzled Blue. "How was your day at school today? Are you ready for your first day in the Junior Program?" she asked him.

"It was pretty good, except for the fact that Thunder might be moving away." Blue replied, with a hint of sadness in his voice. "And yeah, I am ready." he said.

"Thunder's moving away?" Summer asked.

"Yeah, they might be moving to Ponyville or Canterlot. They're still looking for a house." Blue replied.

"Oh, right..." Summer said. "Hm. Maybe I could talk to Thunder's dad if maybe I could take you to his house for a few hours every Saturday or Sunday. What do you say?"

"That'd be great. Thanks, mom!" Blue replied.

Summer simply smiled at him. "Come on, let's go to the kitchen. I have hay fries and salad for you, Blue." Blue simply grinned. A few hours later and Lightning Fast came back. Blue grinned as he watched his dad walk towards the house from his bedroom window; he knew that Lightning Fast is taking him to the Weather Factory for the Junior Program. The moment Blue heard the door click open, he immediately trotted downstairs to greet his dad.

"Hey, son!" Lightning Fast said and hugged Blue.

"Hey dad!" Blue simply replied.

"Are you ready to go to the Weather Factory?" Lightning asked.

"I sure am!" Blue said in reply.

"Alright. I better go eat. I'll see you in twenty minutes. For now, you can go back upstairs. Alright?" Lightning asked.

"Okay, daddy." Blue replied and trotted upstairs. Summer came out of the living room and stood beside Lightning Fast. He wrapped his wing around her and sighed.

"Our son is growing up, Lighty." Summer said with a smile on his face.

"He sure is..." Lightning replied with pride. "I remember him trotting around the house in diapers like it was just yesterday, and now he wants to be a weather pony, just like us." He nuzzled Summer.

"We should tell him about the foal." Summer whispered into Lightning's ear.

"Good idea, honey." Lightning replied and they both went back into the kitchen to eat. About twenty minutes later, Blue trotted down the stairs into the living room. He stopped as he noticed his parents standing in the middle of the room.

"Mom, dad?" Blue asked.

"Blue, we have something very important to tell you." Lightning replied. Blue raised an eyebrow.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"You're going to be a brother." Summer replied, with a smile on her face. Blue was lost for words.

"So, d--does that mean, that you-you're pregnant?" Blue asked.

"Yes, son." Summer replied. Blue was lost for words and simply grinned.

"That's great, mom!" Blue said. "Is it a colt or a filly?" he asked.

Lightning simply chuckled. "We don't know yet, son." He replied, smiling.

"This is great news!" Blue replied, while Summer and Lightning simply smiled at their son. It was time to go.

"Alright, son. Are you ready to go to the Weather Factory with me?" Lightning asked.

"I sure am, dad." Blue replied. Lightning smiled and both of the trotted out of the house and flew off towards the city. It was one of those clear nights when the most of the city could be seen from Blue's house, not just part of it, including the Weather Factory, which is usually not visible from Blue's house. Blue was nervous during the flight there, not just about the Junior Program and joining the weather team when he's older but also about his mom being pregnant. He decided to bring the subject up to Lightning Fast.

"Dad?" Blue asked.

"Yeah, son?" Lightning replied.

"Will mom be alright?" Blue asked.

"She will, son. Don't worry." Lightning said. "I know you're not used to this, but trust me, everything will be alright." he replied, putting his wing around Blue. "You'll get used to it, son."

At the Weather Factory...

Blue and Lightning trotted up to the rain chamber of the Weather Factory, where the lessons took place. As they walked across the factory, the feeling of nervousness overtook Blue again. This wasn't the first time Blue was at the factory, but it was his first time doing the Junior Program lessons. That and most of the ponies in the class were taller and more intimidating than Blue is. Lightning Fast left Blue in the cue and went to stand nearby with all the other parents. Blue felt pretty uncomfortable standing between two pegasi who were a lot taller than him, but after a reassuring wink from Lightning Fast, he calmed himself down. He could tell that the pony standing before him was Streak Lightning, Thunder's older brother. Streak Lightning was a 16-year old colt who was almost finished with the junior lessons and was assisting the coach.

Blue looked at the front of the cue. There were over a dozen ponies standing in front of him. He then looked over the edge of the platform. There was a cloud about fifty feet off the platform, floating over a pretty deep gap. Although the task (which was to punch through the cloud) seemed pretty easy at first, it actually was a nightmare; the technicians activated large fans which simulated wind and pushed the ponies around the gap. Blue was a good flyer, but he was still nervous about taking off and about the entire "new foal" thing. Eventually, it came for Blue's turn to punch through the cloud.

"Next!" the coach shouted. Blue reluctantly walked up to the edge of the platform.

"Alright Blue Skye, is it?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's me." Blue replied.

"I want you to fly out there, fly through that cloud and fly back, okay? It's as simple as that." the coach said.

"Okay..." Blue said and begun to flutter his wings. He pulled off the platform and flew towards the cloud. The technicians then turned on the fans, which pushed Blue around the room. Blue screamed as he flew out of control and accidentally hit a wall in the progress. He eventually bounced off the wall and regained control of himself.

Easy now... he thought to himself, but he still had that thought of the new baby stuck in his head. He was about 10 feet away from the cloud, when suddenly he turned back out of nerve.

"What are you doing?" the coach shouted. "You're meant to tear through the cloud!" Blue ignored him and flew back to the platform. The coach then came over to him, along with Streak Lightning, who was less-than-pleased.

"What was that all about?" the coach shouted. "You were just mere feet away from the cloud and you turned away! What's gotten into you?"

"I'm sorry..." Blue replied, with a tear rolling down his cheek. The coach simply sighed.

"Blue, if you want to get accepted into the team, I'd suggest you be the best you can be and not goof around." the coach said with a stern face and turned away. Streak Lightning simply shrugged.

"Nice work getting 'accepted' into the Junior Program, kid." he said before turning away and following the coach. Some of the kids in the cue smirked, while Lightning Fast, who was overlooking the entire situation, simply shook his head. Blue trotted back to Lightning Fast and waited for a reaction.

"Come on, son. Let's just go home." Lightning replied. Blue trotted by his father, who was disappointed in him. Eventually, when both of them were out of the Weather Factory and were flying over the city towards home, Lightning spoke.

"I thought you wanted to be a weather pony." he said with a disappointed tone in his voice.

"I do, dad..." Blue replied.

"Then why didn't you do what they told you to do?" Lightning asked him.

"Because... Dad look, I was nervous." Blue replied.

"About what? About the new baby? Is that what you're nervous about?" Lightning asked.

"Yeah, and not just that. I was nervous about joining this entire Junior Program too." Blue spoke. "I just don't know if I'd live up to your standards." Lightning sighed.

"Blue, look." he begun. "I know you're nervous about all that stuff, but you can't let that hold you back. And yeah, you can live up to my standards. You are a very talented and smart young pony whom I know can take my place when I retire. You'd be a great weather pony son, but you need to try harder. Alright? And you need to put distractions like the new foal aside. I know you're pretty nervous about your mom having a baby, but that's not going to help you train harder."

"I guess you're right..." Blue replied.

"Hey." Lightning said to Blue and winked at him. "We're almost home."

The next day...

Blue and Thunder were hanging out in Thunder's backyard. Thunder's dad had bought a trampoline not long ago, so both Blue and Thunder could play in the garden without getting bored. Blue was thinking about what happened yesterday, and had decided to explain everything to Thunder. Both of them were playing hide n' seek and were hiding amongst the clouds that made up the backyard. This time, it was Thunder who was seeking. Blue was peeping through a gap in the cloud bushes and chuckling to himself while looking at Thunder through it. Thunder eventually noticed Blue staring at him through the gap.

"Ah, found you!" he said with pride.

"Yeah... I'm not good at not giving away my location." Blue explained.

"It doesn't really matter, Blue." Thunder said. "I'm bored..."

"Yeah, me too. Oh, and I have something to tell you." Blue said.

"Yeah? What's wrong?" Thunder asked.

"Nothing... my mom's pregnant." Blue started.

"Woah. Really?" Thunder asked.

"Yep. It's because of that I failed my first lesson in the Junior Program. I kept thinking too much about the new baby and impressing my dad." Blue explained.

"Well then, just try not to think of it too much." Thunder explained. "I mean, you do want to be a weather pony like your mom and dad are, don't you?" he asked Blue.

"Yep. I mean, why am I so nervous about it? I mean, my mom's probably due in like, 11 months or something. I don't have to worry now." Blue explained.

"I agree. Do you want to continue playing hide-n'-seek or do you want to do something else, Blue?" Thunder asked.

"We should go to the park to play a game of hoofball. Ask your dad if he'd let us." Blue said.

11 months later...

It was a nice September afternoon in Cloudsdale and Blue was busy practicing his flying with Lightning Fast. In those eleven months that have passed since Blue's first lesson in the Junior Program, he has improved his concentration and his flying skills hugely and was now at the stage of creating his own clouds. He sometimes spent his weekends in the Weather Factory and learning about how rainbows are made or how wind is created, but now, since it was still pretty warm, he was busy perfecting his flying. Lightning was sitting on a bench, watching Blue flying around the park and reading a newspaper while doing so.

"Great work, Blue!" Lightning cheered Blue on as he flew around the jungle gym and beneath the slide in the playground. It was his third time doing so. He zoomed up to where Lightning was sitting down, out of breath but still standing.

"So, how did it go?" Blue asked.

"You did pretty well, son. Maybe we should've signed you up for the Wonderbolts Academy?" Lightning replied and gave Blue a bottle of water.

Blue drank the water voraciously and then spoke. "No, not really. I don't want to be anypony famous. Not yet anyway." Blue explained.

"I see." Lightning replied. "Your flying skills remind me of a certain pegasus filly. She's really good at flying and she goes to your school. I think her name is Rainbow Dash or something." Lightning explained.

"I know her." Blue said. "She's in my grade." he explained. Blue often looked up to Rainbow Dash, especially in Phys Ed, since she was far better at flying than Blue was, although she was always ready to give a helping hoof.

"Oh, that's cool. She's the daughter of one of my friends." Lightning said. "We better get home, alright? I'm supposed to be cooking dinner tonight."

"Okay." Blue replied and Lightning folded up his newspaper and hid it under his wing. They returned home about 15 minutes later to Summer Skies lying on the sofa. Summer was visibly weak and tired and had grown by a lot, but she had the strength to wave to them.

"Hi, boys." Summer said. "How did it go?" she asked.

"Hey mom." Blue replied.

"Hey honey." Lightning said. "It went pretty well. Blue's flying is incredible." Blue simply smiled sheepishly at the comment.

"You alright, mom?" Blue asked.

"Yeah, I'm just pretty tired, that's all." she explained.

"Okay then." Blue replied and sat down beside her. About 20 minutes later, Lightning came out from the kitchen carrying a large dish with hay pizza on it. As the family sat down to eat, Blue couldn't help but notice Summer feel more nauseous and unwell.

"Mom, you sure everything is okay?" Blue asked her, with a hint of concern in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine son. Don't worry about me. Eat your pizza, okay?" Summer said.

"Okay..." Blue said and cut into the pizza. Summer ate her piece reluctantly, and by the time she was done, Lightning was washing the dishes in the kitchen and Blue was upstairs doing his own thing. She walked over to the sofa and lay down, hoping to get a rest after a long day. A few hours later, Summer woke up to cramps in her stomach, which grew more persistent every minute.

"Ugh..." she groaned as she got up from the sofa. "Lighty, I don't feel too good." she said.

"What's wrong, honey?" Lightning asked from the kitchen.

"I don't know. I think that---AUUGHHH..." her answer was cut off by a sharp scream, caused by a sudden pain in her abdomen. "The foal's coming!" she shouted. Blue rushed down the stairs over to his mom.

"Daddy, what's going on?!" Blue asked frantically.

"Blue, I want you to go and play with Singer at his house. Mom's giving birth..." Lightning explained to Blue. When Thunder moved away to Ponyville that previous year, Blue begun to hang around and respect Singer Case a lot more, usually when Violet wasn't around. Most of the time, Blue would hang out with either Singer Case, Rainbow Dash or he'd go to the park and play with the ponies there.

"Okay..." Blue replied. Lightning wrapped his wing around Summer and flew off with her towards the Cloudsdale Hospital, while Blue trotted off towards Singer's house. It was still dusk, so Blue could still see where he was going, but Blue's mind concentrated on other things, such as whether his mom would be okay. Eventually, Blue reached Singer's house. He frantically knocked on the door, waiting for an answer. Eventually, the door opened.

"Hi, Blue." the soft, friendly voice went. It was Singer's mom. "Are you here to play with Singer?"

"Hey, Mrs. Case." Blue replied. "And yeah, I sure am!"

"Okay then, come on in." Mrs. Case (or Belle) lead him into the house. "Are you hungry, Blue?" she asked him.

"No thanks. I already ate at my own house." Blue replied.

"Alright then. Singer! There's a friend here to see you!" Belle called upstairs.

"Alright, mom." Singer replied. He went over to the stairs and realized who it is. "Hey Blue! Come on upstairs." he said.

"Okay." Blue replied and reluctantly trotted up the stairs. Belle went back into the kitchen to prepare something for her husband to eat. While Singer and Blue were playing up the stairs, Blue kept being distracted and confused by things.

"Hey, Blue. Do you want to do a roleplay session with me?" Singer asked Blue.

"Uh, okay..." Blue replied awkwardly. "What kind of roleplay? A band or something?" he asked.

"No, I was thinking something book-related." Singer explained.

"Okay..." Blue replied.

"I mean, we could be brave explorers, just like Daring Do is or we could be space ponies." Singer suggested. "Is everything alright?" he asked.

"Not really..." Blue begun. "My mom's... having another baby as we speak."

"That's cool." Singer said with enthusiasm in his voice. "Is it going to be a colt or a filly?" he asked.

"How am I supposed to know, dummy?" Blue replied with a hint of anger in his voice, but calmed down. "Look, I'm just very nervous about having a new sibling." he said.

"Brawn must have felt the way you were feeling, Blue back when my parents had me." Singer explained. "But look at us now. We're kinda friends with each other." he explained.

"Singer, don't start!" shouted a voice from the next room. Blue and Singer simply chuckled.

"Well, most of the time we are." Singer explained. "Who knows? Maybe you and your little brother or sister will be best friends?"

"Only time will tell..." Blue said.

"Yeah..." Singer replied. "So, what are we roleplaying? Daring Do or Space ponies?" he asked.

"I don't know... Space ponies sounds like a pretty cool idea." Blue said.

"Alright, we'll give it a go." Singer replied. While the two colts were playing together, at the hospital, Summer has finally calmed down and was exhausted. The doctor was holding a very light-orange pegasus with a tuft of brown hair for a mane. The foal was crying.

"Congratulations, Mr. Fast, Mrs. Skies! It's a colt!" the doctor said and handed the colt over to Summer, who stroked it lightly with his hoof, which calmed the colt down.

"He's beautiful, Lighty. He's perfect." Summer spoke to him.

"I know, honey. Just like you." Lightning replied to her and nuzzled her and the colt lightly. "I'm going to go and fly to get Blue."

"Alright, honey." Summer replied and nuzzled the colt, who seemed to calm down even more.

At the Case house, there was a knock. "I'll get it!" Briefs said and went to open the door. Lightning Fast was standing in front of the door, overjoyed.

"Hey, Briefs." Lightning said, smiling and breathing at the same time.

"Hey, Lightning. What's gotten into you?" Briefs asked.

"My wife... she's had a second foal. I'm here to get Blue. Alright?" Lightning replied and walked into the house. "Hi, Belle." he said as he walked past Belle, who was lying on a sofa in the living room.

"That's great!" Briefs spoke with an excited tone.

"We're so happy for you!" Belle said.

"I know and thanks. Hey, Blue. Can you come downstairs?" Lightning spoke from downstairs.

"I gotta go. Bye Singer!" Blue said and waved to his friend.

"Bye Blue!" Singer replied and waved back. Blue trotted down the stairs.

"Hey dad." Blue said. "Is mom alright?"

"She is, in fact, I'm taking you to meet the newest member of our family! Come on." Lightning said. Lightning and Blue then flew over to the Hospital, where Summer Skies was waiting for them.

"Hey honey." Lightning said as he walked into the room.

"Hey guys!" Summer said. "Oh, and Blue?"

Blue trotted over to Summer's bed. "Yes mom? Is the baby here?" he asked her. Summer simply smiled and nodded. Blue flew up into the air, revealing the new arrival snuggled on Summer.

"Blue, meet the newest member of our family. This is Firestorm." Summer said. Blue could only look on in happiness and pride, but also in confusion. He suddenly remembered what Singer said about his friendship with his older brother and wondered if he could be the same.

Blue's Crush

Aug. 19, 2002

It was Blue's first day as a high school student. He walked down the corridor and looked around his new surroundings. There high school was far bigger and more elaborate than Cloudsdale Elementary School, but Blue wasn't used to being alone on the first day of school. It's been almost four years since Thunder has moved to Canterlot, and while Blue had two good friends, Rainbow Dash and Singer, who often hung out with him, Blue still felt like Thunder was his most realest friend. As Blue walked down the corridor towards his first class, he noticed a new pony looking completely clueless about where she's going. As Blue looked at her, he was lost in thought. She looks so beautiful... Blue thought to himself, but then snapped out of it as he noticed the pony walking towards him. He decided to talk to her.

"You alright there?" Blue asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Do you by any chance know where..." the mare replied, before pausing for a little while as she scrolled through her school timetable. "Mr. Cyclone is?" Blue smiled.

"I have him next. If you'd like I could come with you to the class." Blue explained.

"Sure, that'll be cool." the mare said, grinning. "My name is Meadow Breeze. Yours?" she asked.

"I'm Blue Skye, but you can call me Blue if you want. I don't really mind." he replied.

"Nice name." she replied, smiling.

"I like yours too. So, you coming... Meadow?" Blue asked.

"Sure." she replied, smiling. The two ponies made it to class just before the bell rang and sat down at two vacant desks, which were sat beside each other. The teacher then came in. He was the same Cyclone who worked alongside Lightning Fast at the Weather Factory, but after reaching a midlife crisis, he retired from the Weather Team and he became a Geography teacher in Cloudsdale High School.

"Morning, everypony." Cyclone begun. "My name is Mr. Cyclone and I'm going to be your Geography teacher for the next year. Alright? Good. We'll start the school year off by learning about the physical geography of Equestria. I have a feeling this year is going to be very enjoyable." he said, before noticing Blue Skye looking at Meadow, who sat directly opposite him. He was lost in thought; he had already just met her and he seemed to be feeling differently around her. Was Blue having a crush on her? Blue's thoughts were distracted by a voice.

"Blue Skye?" Cyclone called out. The entire class turned around and looked at him.

"Uh... Yes, Mr. Cyclone?" Blue asked.

"What did I just say there?" Cyclone asked him.

"Uh... You were talking something about Geography, weren't you?" Blue replied. The teacher simply sighed.

"Care to be more specific, Blue?" he asked. Blue sighed.

"I uh, wasn't listening, Mr. Cyclone." Blue admitted.

"That's what I thought, Blue Skye. You foals these days, never paying any attention to anything..." Cyclone sighed. Some colts smirked at Blue, who simply sighed and opened his Geography book. Meadow simply smiled at him and opened up her book as well. As the day progressed, Blue found it hard to concentrate on his lessons. He often turned to face Meadow and smiled at her and wondered whether he was actually falling for her. At lunch, Blue was sitting beside Singer and Rainbow Dash.

"So, Singer. Do you want to come to the park after school so we can improve your flying skills?" Rainbow Dash asked, in her usual brash tone.

"No thanks, Dash. I already learned quite a lot in Elementary..." Singer replied.

"Believe it or not, it's much harder flying around the park than through some old clouds." Dash replied. "You think you're up for it?" she asked him.

"Uh, I don't know." Singer replied.

"Hey, Blue." Dash asked. Blue was lost in his thought; he was looking at Meadow, who was sitting with some new friends at the table in front of theirs.

"Blueeeee!" Dash called out. She then had an idea; she reached out across the table and tried to grab Blue's cookies. Dash knew how much Blue enjoyed his cookies that his mom often gave him to school, so that'd be a perfect way to distract him. Dash then grabbed the cookies from Blue's lunch tray and flashed them in front of his eyes. Blue then snapped out of his train of thought and glared at Dash.

"Hey, these are mine! Gimme them back." Blue said, glaring at Dash. He grabbed them off her and hid them in his bag, so she couldn't reach them. They both then sat back.

"Now, what do you want Dash?" Blue asked.

"Nothing. I was just going to ask if you think Singer can fly around the playground in Cloudsdale Park." Dash replied. Blue thought to himself.

"Yeah, if he trains hard enough. And believe me, it's incredibly hard flying around that playground." Blue replied. "But right now, Singer doesn't seem ready enough." he smirked.

"Maybe--HEY!" Singer replied. "I am ready! Don't you remember back when I beat Thunder Clap in that course back in middle school?" he asked.

"Yep. I do." Blue replied. Although Blue was quite an experienced flyer back then, just like Rainbow Dash, Blue still flew in that course and managed to fly past Thunder Clap twice, before running out of breath and moving down into fourth place. Blue, however, never crossed paths with Thunder Clap or any of his goons again. "I hated him so much. I'm wondering if he's here right now..." Blue said.

"He is." Dash replied. "I'm just glad Singer taught him a lesson back then, otherwise he'd have made all of our lives a misery." she said.

"Yep." Blue agreed.

"Oh, and Blue?" he said.

"Yeah?" Blue answered.

"What were you looking at back then, when Dash almost took your cookies?" Singer asked. Blue's cheeks then flushed red.

"Uh, nothing. I was just looking at what's going on outside. I think it was some kind of large bird of prey or something. You don't see them everyday in Cloudsdale." Blue replied and chuckled. Dash simply shook her head.

"Yeah, right. Blue, seriously. What were you looking at?" she asked him.

"I swear! It was like some kind of large hawk or something." Blue lied to her.

"No, Blue. It wasn't a hawk. Birds can't fly as high as Cloudsdale." Singer told him.

"Well, duh!" Blue yelled at Singer, who simply sighed.

"Well then, what were you looking at?" he asked.

"Is that really your business?" Blue replied.

"Come on, dude. Tell us!" Dash said.

"Okay fine..." Blue facehoofed and sighed. "I was looking at the new mare who joined the school." he said, while pointing to Meadow. Dash and Singer smirked. Blue couldn't resist the urge to facehoof again.

"You have a crush on her?" Dash asked, grinning.

"Uh, maybe." Blue replied, with a hint of awkwardness in his voice, but then he snapped. "Hey! I know what goes on between Soarin' and you, Dash, so don't bother saying I have a crush on the new mare." Blue shouted, but kept his voice down enough so that Soarin' or anypony else who was in the cafeteria couldn't hear. Dash was quick to react.

"Look, please don't tell anypony..." Dash replied. "I do sort of have a little crush on Soarin'."

"I won't tell anypony, Dash. I actually do have a tiny crush on the new mare. Oh, and her name is Meadow." he said.

"Meadow? Cool name." Singer said.

"I agree. Her parents must be farmers or florists or something like that. I don't know, but it still sounds pretty cool." Dash replied.

"Yep. I like it too." Blue replied. "But I don't know if she'd like me..."

Later on, at home...

Blue stepped into the family home. The only other ponies at home were Summer, his mom, and his little brother, Firestorm, who was upstairs sleeping in his crib. Summer was in the kitchen, baking a fresh batch of hay fries, when Blue trotted into the kitchen.

"Hey mom!" Blue said.

"Hey, sweetie!" Summer replied, nuzzling him. "How was school today?" she asked.

"It was good, just as always. Mom, I need to talk to you about something." Blue said. Summer raised an eyebrow as she put the hay fries into the oven.

"What is it, son?" Summer asked.

"Well, uh, I met a new pony today at school. Uh, her name is Meadow and I think I might... like her." Blue said with a hint of awkwardness in his voice, not sure how his mom would react to that statement.

"Like her? As in as a friend? Or more?" Summer asked, with a grin slowly forming on her face.

"Well, mom. To be honest, I don't really know. I mean, I've only just met her today." Blue replied. "Maybe I should start off with just being her friend." he said.

"I agree. It's not a good idea to start a relationship too soon, Blue. What if you two find out you don't really like each other or aren't fit for each other?" Summer asked him. "It'd be best if you talk to her, start hanging out with her, share your interests and goals. But above that, I'm really happy for you that you found a potential special somepony." she said, smiling at Blue.

"Thanks for the advice, mom." Blue replied and nuzzled her. "When will the hay fries be ready?" he asked her.

"I just put a new batch of them into the oven right now, sweetie. I think they'll be ready in about 15-20 minutes." Summer replied.

"Alright, mom." Blue said and went off into the next room. At about 6:30 PM, Blue left the house and went to the Weather Factory downtown Cloudsdale, since he was still in the Weather Team's Junior Program. The sun was beginning to near the horizon as Blue walked through the town, but the buildings made it seem quite dark. Blue wasn't looking where he was going when he bumped into Meadow, the same filly from school.

"Oops, sorry." Blue said and helped her up. "I didn't see where I was going."

"It's okay. I thought I was going to take a little walk around the town to get to know my surroundings a little bit better." Meadow replied. "Blue, is it?" she asked.

" Yep." Blue replied. Wait... you just moved here?" he asked.

"Yep. I just moved here on Saturday from Baltimare." Meadow replied. "My dad wanted to take his business to Cloudsdale." she explained.

"You're from Baltimare?" Blue asked.

"Yep." Meadow replied, grinning.

"My family is originally from Vanhoover." Blue said.

"That's cool. I've only been there like, once or twice." Meadow said.

"Want me to show you around the town? I have a little while left before my shift on the Weather Team begins." Blue said.

"Sure! That'd be cool." Meadow replied.

"What have you seen so far?" Blue asked her.

"I've been to the Arena, to the Weather Factory, to Cloudsdale Park, so now all that's left is just the downtown area." Meadow replied.

"Alright, let's go then." Blue said as he begun his tour of downtown Cloudsdale. About half an hour later, the two ponies finished their tour.

"Did you like what you've seen, Meadow?" Blue asked.

"Yep. I sure did!" Meadow replied. "You've been an interesting tour guide." she said. Blue simply smiled.

"I know this town like the back of my hoof, Meadow." he said, before looking at a nearby clock. "Oh, dang. Listen, I gotta go. I'm almost late for my shift at the Weather Factory." Blue said.

"Bye, Blue." Meadow said.

"Oh, and one more thing. Do you want to hang out with me sometime?" Blue asked.

"Uh, yeah. Maybe. Okay?" Meadow replied.

"Sure." Blue said and smiled at her. She returned the grin as Blue trotted off towards the Weather Factory. It was just after 8 PM when Blue reached the Weather Factory. He went up to a platform and waited for orders from his boss. Eventually, the boss arrived.

"Ah, excellent timing, Blue Skye." he said. "Listen, I want you to clean the sky up over the arena. It's gotten really cloudy over there and the big Wonderbolts show starts in just over an hour. You think you can do that for me?" he asked.

"I think I can, sir." Blue simply replied and prepared himself to take off.

"Good. With this attitude to your job, you would make a great new addition to the Weather Team." the boss spoke to Blue and put his hoof on Blue's shoulder. "Alright, Blue. Go!" he said to Blue, who fluttered his wings and flew off towards the Arena. As Blue flew over towards the Arena, he noticed it's flashing lights in the distance. The Arena was often Blue's favorite place to go, especially when there was a Wonderbolts show on. Blue had seen around five shows in his lifetime, the last one being when he went with Rainbow Dash and her mom to see them perform. Blue would have gone today, but since he had to clear the skies up over the arena, he couldn't have had went. He eventually reached the Arena and was beginning to fly through the thick cloud cover which drifted above it. About 15 minutes later, Blue returned to the weather factory.

"Well done, Blue." his boss said. "Now, I'd like you to fly over downtown and clean up the clouds there. Okay?" Blue nodded and prepared to fly towards the downtown area. As Blue flew towards the downtown area, he kept thinking about Meadow. What if he does actually fall in love with her? Will he be a good coltfriend? Or will he begin the relationship too quickly? These were all questions that Blue kept thinking of during his flight Downtown. Blue felt very unpleasant contemplating these questions in his mind.

"Ugh, darn it!" Blue yelled and stopped flying. He stopped, hovering in mid-air and looked at the clouds drifting over the downtown area. This mess will just have to wait until somepony else is sent to clean it all up... Blue thought to himself and dashed back towards the Weather Factory.

"You finished yet, Blue?" the boss asked him. "If you did, then that was record timing." Some colts in the distance snickered.

"Oh, crap..." Blue facehoofed. "Sorry, sir. I was just, distracted by something."

"Yeah, yeah." the boss replied. "Right. There's nothing out there, Blue. Only clouds."

"I wasn't distracted by---Ah, dang it. I was just thinking of something." Blue admitted.

"Thinking of anything in particular?" the boss asked. The same colts chuckled. Blue turned to face them, but turned back.

"No, sir. I was just---darn it. Fine." Blue sighed and flew off towards downtown and begun to clear up the clouds there. About five or so minutes later, Blue arrived back at the base.

"Now, you see? You cleared up the sky without any hassle." the boss said. "That's exactly what I'd expect from a good employee. A positive attitude to the job."

"Gee, thanks." Blue replied and trotted off. "See you later, sir." A while later, Blue returned home. Lightning Fast was already at home, reading the newspaper. Summer Skies was upstairs, tending to Firestorm.

"Hey, dad." Blue said and trotted off to sit beside him.

"Hey, son! How was your day?" Lightning asked.

"Uh, dad. Can I talk to you for a second?" Blue asked.

"Sure." Lightning replied.

"I uh, met this filly at school. Her name is uh, Meadow. She's new to Cloudsdale, and I think I might like her..." Blue said. Lightning's face slowly formed a grin.

"You like her?" he asked Blue, grinning.

"Uh, yeah... I mean, all I think of is her!" Blue replied.

"That's great, son!" Lightning said, smiling, although he noticed Blue's glare shortly after. "What's wrong?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Look, dad. I like her, but I honestly don't know what to do!" Blue shouted, but calmed himself down shortly after. "Tell me, what should I do to show that I like her?" he asked Lightning. Lightning thought to himself.

"Take things slowly, Blue." Lightning replied. "Don't rush into the relationship. Start with being a friend to Meadow. Alright?"

"Yeah." Blue replied and hugged Lightning. "Thanks for the advice dad... Although I'm still not too sure about whether it'll actually work out between us."

First Date

The next Monday...

It was a few hours after school and Blue was busy preparing himself for his first date with Meadow. He combed his mane up nicely and put on a Wonderbolts' t-shirt that his dad bought him a few weeks ago. He was still highly nervous about the date but tried to stay calm about it. Just then, Firestorm, his younger brother walked into his room.

"Hey, big bro. Whatcha doing?" he asked.

"Hey, Firestorm." Blue replied. "I'm just getting ready for my date."

"Can I come with you?" Firestorm asked.

"No, sorry. It's only me and my special somepony." Blue explained.

Firestorm nodded understandingly, but then trotted up to Blue and jumped on his back.

"Woah!" Blue yelled.

"I'm coming with you! I'm coming with you!" he shouted, jumping up and down on Blue's back.

"No, you're not!" Blue said. "If it wasn't me and my special somepony, I'd gladly take you." Just then, Summer Skies came into the room and noticed Firestorm jumping on Blue's shoulders.

"There there now, Firestorm." she said, taking him off Blue's shoulders and placing him down on the floor.

"Mommy, I wanna go but Blue isn't letting me come!" Firestorm said. Blue simply facehoofed as he watched his little brother explain everything to their mom. So far, the friendship between the two siblings hasn't gone as well as Blue had expected. Although Blue had tried to be a good big brother, Firestorm had proven to be quite a hoof-ful at times.

"Sweetie, Blue can't let you come because it's just him and his marefriend." Summer explained to Firestorm and nuzzled him. "Hm... Maybe I could take you to the park tomorrow?"

"Yay! The park! Thanks mommy!" Firestorm said and hugged her. Summer simply chuckled and smiled at her youngest son, who trotted downstairs, before turning back to face Blue.

"You've grown so much, Blue... I remember back when you were Firestorm's age and you were trotting around the house shouting "Mommy, daddy, play!"" Summer said and chuckled lightly. Blue's grinned. "I remember that like it was just yesterday, Blue. And now look how time flies. You're now fourteen, you're in the weather factory and you're beginning to date. You're growing up, son. I'm so proud of you." she said and nuzzled Blue. "My Blue."

"Thanks mom..." he said and hugged Summer. Firestorm turned to face Blue and stuck out his tongue at him.

"It's alright, son. Now, I believe you've got a date to go on." Summer said and smiled at him.

"I know... I just hope it goes well." Blue said.

"I'm sure it will. Just don't worry and have fun." Summer replied and gave him a reassuring wink.

"I guess... I better go now." Blue said and turned to look at a clock hanging on his wall. "The show begins in, like 25 minutes and the arena is on the other side of town."

"Alright son. Have fun and be safe." Summer said.

"Will do, mom." Blue replied and flew out of the house towards the arena.

At the arena...

Blue landed in front of the arena. Ponies from all over Cloudsdale were gathering to watch the Wonderbolts perform. Amongst the gathering crowd stood Meadow, with two older ponies beside her. The stallion was a light-green pegasus with an orange mane, while the mare was a very white-blue color. She had a purple mane. Blue trotted up to meet Meadow and her parents.

"Hey, Meadow! Glad you could make it." Blue said.

"Yeah, I'm quite happy as well." Meadow replied. Suddenly, the larger stallion spoke up.

"You must be Blue." he said.

"Uh, yes. I am. Hello there, sir." Blue awkwardly replied.

"He he he. No need to call me "sir". I'm Meadow's father, Grasslands." he said, extending his hoof, which Blue gladly shook.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Grasslands." Blue said.

"And I'm Meadow's mother, Icy Breeze." the mare said.

"Nice to meet you as well, Mrs. Breeze." he replied, extending his hoof, which she shook.

"You're such a well-mannered colt, Blue." Icy said.

"I try to be, ma'am." Blue replied.

"I have a feeling you'll be a great coltfriend to Meadow." Icy said. Blue and Meadow turned to face each other and blushed. Suddenly, the door to the arena opened and the crowd of Pegasi began to pour in.

"Have fun you two!" Icy said and waved to her daughter.

"And stay safe!" Grasslands shouted at them.

"We will, mom, dad!" Meadow replied.

"We will, don't worry!" Blue said as they walked into the arena. After paying for both their tickets and buying some snacks, Blue led Meadow to two seats near the top of the stand.

"I'm so excited, Blue. I've never seen them up close before..." Meadow said.

"It's gonna be cool..." Blue replied. "Want a hay fry?" he asked, passing her one.

"No, thanks. Let's save them for the show." Meadow replied.

"I agree..." Blue said and put the box of hay fries down between them two. After a few minutes, the entire arena was filled up with ponies waiting for the Wonderbolts' show to begin. Suddenly, the announcer's voice boomed through the speakers.

"Mares and gentlecolts!" he said. "Welcome to the Cloudsdale Arena on this fine Cloudsdale evening! And now, we proudly present, for your entertainment... the Wonderbolts!" Suddenly, about five bolts of multi-colored lightning shot out of nowhere and flew around the arena. Meadow looked especially captivated as she watched the lightning bolts fly around. The bolts then slowed down, revealing five pegasus ponies. Everypony, including Blue and Meadow begun to clap.

"Impressed yet?" Blue asked.

"Yep..." Meadow replied and continued looking at the Wonderbolts performing. Blue looked at her as she looked at the Wonderbolts flying around the Arena and could only smile at her. Suddenly Blue thought to himself.

Maybe this dating thing will work out between us after all... Blue thought to himself. Already he begun to get more confident about dating Meadow. As time passed, he gradually begun to feel more comfortable about sitting beside her. An hour later, the Wonderbolts were preparing for their final aerial stunt of the night, and despite the wind, conditions seemed favorable for the stunt. Since Cloudsdale was a city built in the clouds, wind was not an unusual occurrence, but it proved to be a challenge at times to fly through it, especially for the Wonderbolts.

"Alright, Blazin' Wings! Are you ready? On the count of ten, we all fly down there towards the roof of the Arena and then, we fly back up before we go into it. That's definitely gonna create a massive rainboom." the captain of the Wonderbolts, Blitz Fury said.

"Sure thing, boss!" Blazin' replied. "You all ready?" he shouted to the four other Wonderbolts hovering behind him.

"Yep." they all replied.

"Excellent. Three, two, one... go!" Blitz Fury shouted and before he knew it, he was pushed backwards by the Wonderbolts, who flew downwards towards the Arena.

Back in the arena...

Everypony's eyes turned to look at a large, multi-colored lightning bolt coming down towards the Arena at nearly supersonic speeds. Blue's jaws dropped as he watched it light up the sky.

"What do you think is going to happen?" asked Meadow.

"Well, uh, I don't know, to be honest. I've never seen this stunt before..." Blue explained.

"Let's just hope it goes good..." Meadow said and cuddled up against Blue, who wrapped his wing around her. Just seconds later, the Wonderbolts managed to reach the roof, before rapidly flying back up. Suddenly, a huge flash erupted in the sky and five large rainbow discs emerged from it. The ponies gathered in the Arena gasped and looked at the rainbow discs emerging. They have just witnessed a sonic rainboom, five of them actually. After a little while, the rainbooms faded out and the ponies gathered could only clap in astonishment.

"Wow..." Blue said to himself.

"I agree... that was incredible." Meadow said and chuckled. "I honestly was not expecting that..."

"Me neither." Blue replied and smiled at her. "Let's go home." Meadow simply smiled at him. After leaving the arena, the two ponies walked alongside each other.

"Thank you so much Blue." Meadow said. "I honestly didn't expect that somepony would ever take me to see the Wonderbolts..."

"My pleasure." Blue replied. "Wait, have you seriously never been to a Wonderbolts show in Baltimare?" he asked.

"I'm afraid not." Meadow replied. "The Baltimare Arena is still under construction... so, I never managed to go." she explained.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it, Meadow. So, do you ever want to go again?" Blue asked.

"Of course." Meadow replied and smiled at him. "Thank you Blue..." she said and gave him a kiss on the lips. As she kissed him, Blue felt as though time has slowed down. They were lost in their own little world and didn't notice Grasslands and Icy Breeze coming towards them.

"My my..." Icy said and smiled at the two kissing. Suddenly, they stopped and turned around to notice Meadow's parents standing there.

"Uh mom..." Meadow said awkwardly.

"You're growing up, Meadow..." Grasslands said, grinning. "My little filly is growing up."

"Yeah, dad." she said.

"Did you two enjoy yourselves?" Icy asked.

"Of course we did! This show was incredible!" Meadow explained. Grasslands and Icy Breeze smiled at their daughter.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves." Grasslands said. "And thank you Blue for looking after Meadow."

"My pleasure, Mr. Grasslands." Blue said and turned to look at Meadow who smiled at him.

"I'm sorry we can't stay longer Blue, but we have to go back home." Icy said.

"Bye Blue." Meadow said.

"Bye Meadow. When do you want to go out again?" Blue asked.

"Hm... Friday night, maybe?" she said and turned to face her mom and dad, who smiled at her.

"Alright then. Friday night it is." Blue said. "Good night, Meadow."

"Good night Blue. See you tomorrow." she replied and smiled at him. Moments later, the family of Pegasi flew off, leaving Blue standing in front of the arena. Everypony was already gone, leaving Blue all alone. Blue smiled to himself as he prepared to take off for home.

"Hey there!" said a voice. Blue turned around to face where the voice came from.

"Who's there?" he asked. Suddenly, a blue pegasus mare with a rainbow mane jumped out of the cloud bushes, with a less-than-pleased look on her face. It was Rainbow Dash.

"Hey Dash. Did you enjoy the Wonderbolts show?" Blue asked.

"Yeah, I did. And don't you "Hey Dash" me, Blue." she replied.

"What's wrong?" Blue asked.

"Do you really wanna know?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yeah, come on, I'm your friend." Blue replied.

"You, my friend? Oh, no." Dash explained. Blue felt a bit hurt at Rainbow Dash's comment.

"Hey! I thought we were friends..." Blue explained.

"If you're really my friend, you'd spend more time with me and Singer..." Rainbow Dash said.

"Uh.." Blue mumbled. He didn't really know how to react to the situation.

"I actually liked you... until the new filly came to school and you begun to spend time with her!" Dash shouted.

"Look! What was I supposed to do? Just leave her like that?" Blue shouted. "I didn't think so. And by the way, her name is Meadow."

"Look. If you really don't want to spend time with me and Singer, you don't have to. I'm not gonna force you, but I thought we were friends..." Dash replied.

"We are!" Blue yelled.

"No, Blue. We can't be." Dash replied. "Not anymore..." Blue sighed.

"Good night, Dash. It was nice talking to you..." Blue said.

"See you tomorrow at school..." Dash replied and both Pegasi were off their own ways. About 10 minutes later, Blue landed at his own home. He walked into the house, head held low.

"Hey sweetie!" Summer said as she saw her colt walk into the house. "How did the date go? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, mom. The date went well..." Blue said with an angry tone in his voice.

"Mommy, Blue is angry!" Firestorm said, who was playing in the living room with some toys.

"Blue, is everything alright?" Summer asked. "You don't look so good."

"I'm angry..." Blue replied. "At Rainbow Dash."

"At Rainbow Dash?" Summer asked. "What's going on? I thought you two were friends..."

"I thought so too, but she doesn't want to because I hang out with Meadow more..." Blue explained. "What should I do?" he asked.

"Hm... maybe you should start hanging out with Dash and Singer a bit more and maybe include Meadow in your group?" Summer suggested.

"Maybe, although I'm not too sure Dash would even bother talking to me after our little... confrontation today." Blue replied.

"You should try, son." Summer said. "You should make amends with Rainbow Dash."

"I don't know, mom... I'll see what I can do." Blue replied. After eating his supper, Blue went upstairs to his room and sat down at his desk. He took out his notepad and flipped open a page, where he begun to write down what happened during the day.

Dear diary,

Today I passed another milestone in life. I went on my first date with the mare of my dreams, Meadow Breeze, to the Wonderbolts Arena. We both enjoyed ourselves, but after Meadow left, I had a little confrontation with a friend. Rainbow Dash, who got angry at me for hanging out with Meadow more than with her and Singer. Now that I think about it, it's actually my fault for not paying enough attention to my friends... I hope I can be a better friend to Rainbow and Singer, while also being a good coltfriend to Meadow. I care about all three of them, I just don't know who to choose...

~ Blue Skye

A Day With Firestorm

July 22, 2005

Blue lay on a small, but comfortable sofa in his room. It was a fairly hot day in Cloudsdale, and while Blue enjoyed warm weather, today was a little bit too hot for him. He turned to look at a thermometer hanging on one of his walls and looked at the temperature. The thermometer read at 102 degrees, which made it very humid and unpleasant in the house. The air conditioning was turned on, but even that didn't do much against the heat.

"Blue, can you come downstairs please?" a voice called from the living room. It was Summer Skies, who was preparing to leave with Lightning Fast for a date night in Canterlot, as it was their wedding anniversary. Ugh... Blue groaned and slowly pulled himself up and reluctantly walked downstairs.

"Hey mom..." Blue mumbled as he entered the living room. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Me and your dad are going to Canterlot for the day, sweetie. Can you look after Firestorm while we're gone?" Summer asked.

"Uh, sure." Blue replied and turned to look outside, to notice Firestorm jumping up and down on the trampoline.

"Excellent! We'll be back by 9 PM, alright son?" Lightning said.

"Sure thing, dad. He'll be no trouble at all..." Blue replied, feeling a bit nervous about foalsitting Firestorm.

"I'm sure you both will be fine. See you later, sweetie!" Summer said and walked out of the door.

"Bye son. We'll be back at night!" Lightning said and followed her.

"Bye guys..." Blue replied and went outside to see Firestorm continuing to play on the trampoline.

"Okay, little bro. Mom and dad have left me in charge of the house, okay?" Blue said. "That means you listen to me, alright?"

"Okay..." Firestorm replied. "Do you wanna come on and jump?" he asked.

"No thanks." Blue replied. "Hm... I think I have a good idea for what we can do today." he said. "I'm going to teach you how to fly, little bro."

"You are?" Firestorm asked, with a grin slowly forming on his face. Firestorm begun to learn to fly at around Blue's age, but after Lightning suffered a severe wing injury during a bad lightning storm at work, Firestorm didn't manage to fully learn how to fly.

"Sure." Blue replied.

"Okay." Firestorm said. "When are we going?"

"We can go now if you want." Blue replied.

"No, thanks. We'll go later, alright?" Firestorm said.

"Sure thing. So, what do you wanna do now?" Blue asked.

"Hide-n-seek!" Firestorm enthusiastically replied. Blue chuckled to himself. Although he hasn't played hide-n'-seek in a while, Blue still remembered the game from elementary school.

"Alright then, little bro. You're seeking." Blue smirked.

"Oh, you're so on..." Firestorm replied and gave him a sly grin. Blue trotted to hide in some large cloud bushes towards the end of their backyard. He jumped into the cloud bushes and peered out through a small gap between two clouds to notice Firestorm looking around the backyard. He chuckled to himself as he watched Firestorm look all over the backyard in search for Blue. Eventually, Blue's giggling got the better of him and he rolled out of the cloud bushes into plain sight.

"Ah, found you..." Firestorm said and grinned as he looked over Blue. "Now, it's your turn to seek. I bet you'll never find me."

"We'll see about that." Blue countered. Firestorm giggled and trotted away as Blue turned to face the wall of the house. He covered his eyes and begun to count to twenty. After Blue finished counting he uncovered his eyes and turned away from the wall. Hm... where is Firestorm? Blue thought to himself. He then flew up into the air and landed on the top of the chimney. From there, he had a far better view of the garden and noticed something trotting into the cloud bushes near the neighbor's backyard. Blue simply smirked and flew back down into the backyard. Blue looked around and noticed a pair of eyes peeking out of the cloud layer. He chuckled to himself and trotted over to the clouds and pulled them away, revealing Firestorm.

"Who says I won't find you?" Blue asked, with a grin on his face.

"Uh, yeah... I'm not the best at hiding." Firestorm replied.

"Me neither, little bro. Did you enjoy our little game?" Blue asked.

"Yep!" Firestorm replied. "Wanna play again?" he asked.

"Not now, little bro." Blue replied. "It's getting a little bit too hot outside..." he said, and turned to face a thermometer hanging on the wall. It was still unbearably hot, so the best way to cool off was to go get a drink.

"Hey, Firestorm. Do you want to get something to drink and maybe go to the park later on?" Blue asked.

"Okay... but why later on?" Firestorm replied.

"Because I said so, alright? It's too hot outside, plus there'll be less ponies there later on." Blue said, with a firm voice.

"But, big bro... I want to go now..." Firestorm pleaded.

"No..." Blue replied, glaring at Firestorm.

"Come on! Let's get something to drink and go to the park. I wanna learn how to fly." Firestorm said.

"Dude! We can't go to the park until it cools down a bit, okay?!" Blue replied, now agitated. Firestorm sighed in defeat.

"Alright then, let's go home." he said and followed Blue into the house. After both of them took a glass of lemonade from the kitchen, they sat down in the living room and drank it.

"So... Firestorm. Maybe I should ask dad if he should sign you up for Wonderbolts' Academy..." Blue said.

"Nah... I don't want to be a famous Wonderbolt." Firestorm replied.

"Well then, who do you want to be?" Blue asked.

"Hm... I want to be a Royal Guard when I grow up..." Firestorm said.

"Seriously?" Blue asked. "Don't you want to have a more... athletic job, like being a weather pony, instead of standing in one place all day like a statue, doing nothing?"

"Blue... Royal guards do more than just stand around..." Firestorm lectured him. "Mom and dad say that they protect the princesses and Equestria in general. I want to do just that."

"Okay. I'm not the one to decide who you'll be when you're older." Blue said.

"What about you?" Firestorm asked. "Who do you want to be when you leave school?"

"Hm... I always wanted to be a weather pony... but I still don't know whether it's the best idea." Blue explained. "I mean, it's not the best job out there, but I always wanted to prove myself to mom and dad... I have no idea whether I'll amount to what they are."

"We'll see..." Firestorm said. "Can we go to the park now?" he asked. Blue facehoofed.

"Look... Fine." Blue groaned. "Let's go." he said. Firestorm trotted after Blue, who simply walked down the road to the park. Along the way, Blue bumped into Meadow.

"Oh, sorry... I didn't see you there, Meadow." Blue said and helped her up. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Blue. It's nothing, and thanks for helping me up." she explained and gave him a peck on the cheek. Firestorm giggled as he watched his older brother blush.

"So, how's your weekend so far, Meadow?" Blue asked.

"It's not really too bad. I'm going to leave for Baltimare soon as I'm visiting my grandma there. She's sick with the feather flu." Meadow explained.

"Oh, okay... Hope she gets well..." Blue said.

"Thanks... I better go now. See you later, Bluey..." Meadow said and trotted off towards her home. Blue smiled as he watched his marefriend trot away, but he was snapped out of it by a giggling Firestorm.

"What's so funny?" Blue asked.

"She...she kissed you!" Firestorm giggled. "That's so disgusting..."

"Yeah, you'll get a marefriend as well sometime in the future and then you'll know how it feels to be kissed." Blue explained, with a smile on his face. Firestorm cringed.

"Eww! That's disgusting. I'm not kissing anypony, nor am I ever getting a marefriend." Firestorm explained. Blue grinned.

"Only time will tell, little bro." he said.

"I said---" Firestorm tried to prove his point, but was stopped by Blue.

"Let's just go to the park. If we continue talking like this, we'll never get there." Blue said. Firestorm sighed.

"I agree... How warm is it right now?" Firestorm asked, wiping some sweat off his face with his hoof.

"102 degrees." Blue said. "I'll buy you some ice cream if you want."

"Alright! Ice cream." Firestorm said. Blue walked up to the ice cram stall and pulled out two bits.

"What ice cream do you want, Firestorm?" Blue asked his little brother, who was standing beside him, looking at the different flavors of it.

"I want a vanilla ice cream for now..." Firestorm said.

"For now?" Blue replied, bewildered.

"Yep. We might come back here again..." Firestorm said with a smirk. Blue facehoofed.

"Who says we'll come back here again, Firestorm?" Blue countered.

"Uh... are you taking the vanilla ice cream?" the mare running the stall asked.

"Uh, yes, sorry..." Blue replied. "How much?"

"1 bit, please." the mare said and passed Blue the ice cream. Blue then gave her the money and motioned for Firestorm to follow him.

"Wait!" shouted Firestorm. "I also want a waffle!" Blue facehoofed and went back to the ice cream stall.

"1 waffle please." Blue said, now irritated.

"Here you go. That'll be one bit." the mare running the stall said. Blue handed her over the bit and she gave him the waffle. Blue passed it to Firestorm.

"Here you go... Thanks for wasting the spending money I bought with me..." Blue said with a sigh.

"You're welcome." Firestorm replied.

"Uh... You're so rude." Blue complained.

"Blue, you can't tell me what to do. Only mom or dad can." Firestorm said, grinning.

"But still, I'm older than you... so, you have to listen to me as well." Blue replied with a grin of his own.

"Yeah, sure..." Firestorm said. "So... are we just going to stand here or are we going to the park?" Firestorm asked.

"Let's go to the park then..." Blue replied, with a hint of anger in his voice.

"Good idea. I'll race you there!" Firestorm said. Blue sighed. Firestorm trotted away towards the park entrance and Blue trotted after him. After racing to the park (with Blue narrowly winning, much to Firestorm's dismay) the two siblings went to an open cloud field at the far end of the park, where Blue was going to teach Firestorm how to fly.

"Okay, Firestorm... I want you to stand here..." Blue said and motioned for Firestorm to stand before a wall.

"Why here?" he asked.

"You'll have more space to take off..." Blue explained. "Now, I want you to trot down this field, and when you pick up enough speed, begin to flutter your wings. Alright?" Blue asked.

"When do I pick up enough speed?" Firestorm asked.

"When I say so, alright?" Blue said. "Alright then. Are you ready?"

"I think so..." Firestorm said and stood in position and prepared himself for taking off.

"Alright. Go!" Blue yelled. With some reluctance, Firestorm managed to trot down the cloud field and slowly begun to increase speed. After a few moments, he reached his maximum speed.

"Flutter your wings!" Blue yelled from a distance. Firestorm did as he was asked, but dropped down onto the cloud layer shortly after.

"Ugh... that was horrible." Firestorm complained.

"No it wasn't. You just need to learn to balance yourself during flight and concentrate. Why don't you try again?" Blue suggested.

"Sure thing..." Firestorm said and slowly got up. He then prepared himself for takeoff again.

"Go!" Blue shouted. Firestorm trotted down the field and fluttered his wings after reaching a high enough speed. This time, he managed to pull up several feet off the ground and remained airborne for a few seconds before dropping back down onto the cloud layer.

"That was better..." Blue said. "Much better. Do you want to go again?" he asked.

"Sure thing!" Firestorm replied and prepared himself to fly again. Again, he flew a few feet off the cloud layer, before dropping back down.

"That was pretty good so far... Now let's see if you can change direction." Blue said.

"Change direction? But how?" Firestorm asked.

"When you're flying, you turn your body in a different direction. It's as simple as that." Blue explained.

"Oh..." Firestorm said.

"Ready?" Blue asked.

"Yep. I am." Firestorm said and prepared himself to fly.

"Go!" Blue shouted. Immediately, Firestorm trotted down the cloud field and flew upwards. He then flapped his wings repeatedly and hovered several feet above the ground. As he looked around, he saw clouds developing over Cloudsdale. These clouds were dark and stormy-looking, which meant Firestorm had to land safely and go back home with Blue.

"Turn!" Blue shouted from the ground. Firestorm did as he was asked and made a 90-degree turn, before landing. Firestorm then trotted back to Blue, who was looking at the clouds.

"Woah there... Slow down." Blue said, stopping Firestorm with his wings. "We better get home soon."

"What's happening to the weather, Blue?" Firestorm asked.

"It usually happens when it gets too warm. The weather ponies have to create some form of rain or we'll have a drought on our hooves." Blue explained. "And right now... it looks as though it's going to storm." Soon, a rumble of thunder echoed through the park. Firestorm jumped in fear and hid beneath Blue's wing.

"There there now... it's just thunder. There's nothing to be afraid of." Blue explained. "I'm here, little bro. It's gonna be fine."

"Why did--why did it have to storm, Blue?" Firestorm asked, still shivering in fear.

"Well, uh, a storm is the quickest way of getting water to dry areas of Equestria, Firestorm. I mean, rain is pretty persistent, and since storms can last quite a short amount of time, it's better to have it storm." Blue explained.

"So, why doesn't it storm all the time?" Firestorm asked.

"Well, because... see, a storm requires lots of heat to form, and since it's quite warm here in the summer, it's the best time for storms to form, but that doesn't mean thunderstorms can form during any other time of year." Blue explained. "Come on, we better get home." Suddenly, it begun to rain and another crack of thunder rumbled through the park. Firestorm still wrapped himself in Blue's wing.

"Are we going to be flying?" Firestorm asked.

"No, Firestorm. It's too dangerous to fly right now. Only weather ponies fly around right now." Blue said. As the two siblings walked out of the park through the heavy rain, Firestorm stopped suddenly.

"What's going on, Firestorm?" Blue asked. Firestorm pointed towards a colt, who looked at least two or three years older than Firestorm is. This colt had a hoofball in between his hooves and eyed Blue and Firestorm closely.

"Who's he?" Blue asked.

"He's Warmwind, and he's a... a bully... who frequently bullies the younger kids, including me." Firestorm explained.

"He bullies you?" Blue asked.

"Yep." Firestorm replied.

"Have you told mom or dad?" Blue asked.

"No, not yet... it only begun a few days back." Firestorm said.

"Oh, you better tell them then." Blue replied.

"Hey, Firestorm!" Warmwind said. "Why are you here?"

"I'm here to... uh... I was learning how to fly." Firestorm explained. The bully started to chuckle.

"You still don't know how to fly?" he asked, laughing. "You sure you're not an Earth pony or an unicorn?" Embarrassed, Firestorm hid behind Blue.

"Hey kid, leave him alone!" Blue shouted to Warmwind. "What did Firestorm ever do to you?"

"Uh, who are you supposed to be?" Warmwind shouted through the pouring rain.

"I'm his brother, Warmwind. Now, I'd suggest you leave him alone before I explain everything to your mommy and daddy." Blue said, with a firm voice. Warmwind noticeably calmed down and begun to back away.

"But... he can't fly... and plus, he's a nerd!" Warmwind yelled.

"That's exactly what I was trying to help him with. Learning to fly. And so what if he's a nerd? That makes him far more intelligent than you on a lot of levels... So, I'd suggest you leave us alone and go back home. Alright?" Blue said.

"But--but--" Warmwind tried to prove his point, but was stopped by Blue.

"Go home or I'm telling your mother. Alright?" Blue asked.

"It's a deal." Warmwind said and trotted back towards his home, leaving only Blue and Firestorm.

"Is he gone now?" Firestorm said, coming out of his hiding place.

"He sure is." Blue replied. "That knocked some sense into him."

"Will he bother me again?" Firestorm asked.

"We'll see about that... for now, he's worried about his parents finding out." Blue replied.

"Thanks for sticking up for me like that... and sorry for being so rude to you and forcing you to teach me how to fly..." Firestorm replied. "I was just afraid of him..."

"You're welcome, little bro. And it's alright. I was going to teach you how to fly anyways, remember? It was just way too hot to fly back then." Blue said. "And don't be afraid of bullies like him. The best way to get rid of his type is to tell a trusted adult."

"Thanks, big bro." Firestorm said and hugged him.

"You're welcome... and come on, we better go home." Blue said.

"I agree..." Firestorm said. "Are you up for a race?"

"Oh, you're asking for it." Blue replied, with a sly grin forming on his face.

"Three, two, one, go!" Firestorm said and both siblings trotted off towards home. As they trotted through the rain, Blue flew up and wrapped his wing around Firestorm.

"Woah!" Firestorm shouted with glee as Blue flew him to the house. About a few minutes later, the two pegasi landed in front of the house and walked into it.

"So, what did you think of my flying, Blue?" Firestorm asked Blue, who was busy pouring in some water for both of them in the kitchen.

"I think you did quite good. I was impressed by your skills, little bro." Blue replied. "So, do you want dad to sign you up for Wonderbolts' Academy?"

"No, big bro. I still think being a royal guard sounds great." Firestorm replied.

"Alright..." Blue said. "Water?"

"Sure." Firestorm replied and took the glass off him. After playing a few more games, the siblings were eventually tired out and lay on each of the two sofas in the living room. At about 7PM, the sky over Cloudsdale cleared up and about two hours later, Summer and Lightning arrived back home.

"Hey guys!" Summer said. Blue shot up and went into the hallway to greet them.

"Hey mom, dad. How was your trip in Canterlot?" Blue asked.

"It was great..." Summer replied. "Canterlot is amazing..."

"I agree." Lightning said. "Oh, and we also decided on where we should go for summer this year."

"Where?" Blue asked.

"Los Pegasus... You and Firestorm always wanted to go there, son." Summer said. "So, why not?"

"Thanks mom, dad!" Blue said and hugged them both.

"You're welcome son. And how was your day with Firestorm?" Summer asked.

"It was better than I thought it'd be." Blue said.

"Really?" Lightning asked. "So, he wasn't causing you any trouble?"

"Not necessarily. In fact, it was actually quite fun." Blue explained.

"Where is he anyways?" Summer asked.

"He's in the living room, taking a nap." Blue replied.

"Sounds like you guys were having quite a fun day." Lightning said.

"Yep. I tried to teach Firestorm how to fly, and so far... he's doing good." Blue explained.

"Really? That's great, son!" Summer said.

"Yep... After that little injury I had, I never expected Firestorm to learn how to fly... but he's learning now, all thanks to you son." Lightning explained.

"Aww... Dad. It's nothing." Blue said.

"We're proud of you son... You've turned out to be quite a good big brother from what I can tell." Summer said, giving him a hug. Blue turned to face Firestorm, who was fast asleep on the sofa and smiled at him. After eating his supper and saying goodnight to Firestorm, Summer and Lightning, Blue went to his room and opened up his diary.

"Dear diary,

Today, while my mom and dad were away in Canterlot for their twentieth wedding anniversary, I stayed at home to look after my little brother, Firestorm. Since me and Firestorm don't usually get along too good, I expected that foalsitting him would be quite hard, but it was actually more fun than I thought it'd be. Also, I found out what it truly means to be a big brother, and it's not just about having fun with a younger sibling, it's about being there for him or her. I hope I can be a good big brother for Firestorm, whenever he needs me.

~ Blue Skye."

Blue's New Rival

May 10, 2006

"Hey, Blue. Are you excited for the prom? It's in a week's time." Meadow explained.

"Yeah, about that... Meadow." Blue begun, feeling a bit awkward.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"You know how almost everypony in the class picked somepony to go with them to the prom?" Blue said. "I wanted to ask if you'd want to come with me to the prom..." he explained, finally managing to overcome his nervousness.

"Of course I would, Blue..." she replied, smiling.

"You would?" Blue asked.

"Yep. I mean, it'll be fun, plus you know I won't go with anypony else." Meadow said.

"Of course it'll be fun... I'm gonna have my lovely marefriend beside me and we'll dance the whole night... just you and me." Blue said. Meadow simply chuckled and put her hoof around Blue.

"Blue?" Meadow asked.

"Yeah?" Blue replied.

"Thank you for being my coltfriend..You've helped me through so much and you care about me." Meadow said and smiled.

"No, Meadow. Thank you for being my marefriend... You made life a whole lot more pleasant for me. You're sweet, kind, caring and beautiful." Blue explained. Meadow gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you. You're so sweet, Blue..." Meadow said. "But you better be off. I mean, your shift on the weather team starts in 15 minutes."

"Yeah. See you, Meadow." Blue replied and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Meadow smiled and blushed.

"Bye Blue." she replied and trotted off. Blue then entered the Weather Factory and went up to his platform, where there was a new weather pony standing, one which Blue hadn't seen at the Factory before.

"Hey. You new here?" Blue asked.

"Yep." the new weather pony replied. "Just moved up here from Los Pegasus."

"Los Pegasus, huh?" Blue said. "I've been there once and I absolutely loved it."

"It's a nice place, although I've always wanted to live here. There's more open spaces, much cleaner air and lots of opportunities to fly." he said. "The name's Storm Blaze."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Blue Skye." Blue replied. Before the two weather ponies could converse with each other, their boss came up to the platform.

"I see you've already met our new transfer Storm Blaze, Blue." he said.

"Yes sir." Blue replied. "He seems pretty cool."

"He is." the boss explained. "Show Blue what you can do, Storm Blaze."

"Yes, sir." Storm Blaze replied and flew off outside to clean the sky. About fifteen seconds later, he returned. Blue turned to look out of the Weather Factory; no clouds could be seen on the horizon. His jaw dropped. Not even Blue, who according to the boss, was the best flyer on the weather team, could reach a speed that high.

"Hey, Blue. Any problems with Blaze and you tell me, alright?" the boss said. Blue nodded. "Alright. I want you two to start now. Your shifts end at 9:30."

"Yes sir." Blue said.

"Alright. Off you go." the boss said and walked off.

"So, how long have you been a weather pony for, Blaze?" Blue asked.

"About two years... I created all sorts of weather back in Los Pegasus, from ordinary things like rain showers in the mountains north of the city to more exciting things like a sandstorm in the San Palomino Desert. It's not something I usually brag about." Blaze explained.

"The most impressive type of weather I managed to create was... A supercell thunderstorm." Blue said.

"Seriously? That's all?" Blaze asked. "Even my younger brother can make better weather than that. He's only 10."

Jerk... Blue thought to himself.

"I've made blizzards, sandstorms and the occasional tornado." Blaze explained. "Impressed yet?" Blue was anything but impressed. He was jealous of his new colleague, but decided not to show his jealousy.

"Yeah. I kind of am..." Blue replied.

"How fast can you fly, Blue?" Blaze asked.

"Hm... I'll show you." Blue replied. He fluttered his wings and zoomed off towards the arena, which was visible from the weather factory on the horizon. About thirty seconds or so later and Blue returned.

"I have no idea exactly how fast that was... but that was the fastest I can go." Blue explained, panting.

"It was good, but now, I'll try." Blaze said and zoomed off towards the Cloudsdale Arena and returned about 20 seconds later.

"You did better than I did...." Blue remarked.

"That's what I'm known for..." Blaze replied. "Too tired to work?" He mockingly asked.

"No... In fact, I'm more awake than I was before." Blue replied.

"Why don't you prove it..." Blaze asked.

"Sure thing. What do you want me to do?" Blue asked.

"Come with me." Blaze replied and flew outside of the Weather Factory, with Blue following him not far behind. The two weather ponies eventually landed on the top of a nearby apartment building.

"So, why are we here?" Blue asked.

"See those clouds?" Blaze said and pointed to a large bank of stationary clouds.

"Yep." Blue replied.

"Identify them for me." Blaze said.

"Nimbus, am I correct?" Blue replied.

"Yep." Blaze said. "Listen, whoever cleans those clouds up first... gets a free soda." The mention of soda made Blue thirsty.

"It's a deal." Blue replied.

"Alright. On the count of three, we take off." Blaze said. Blue prepared himself to take off. "Three, two, one, go!" he shouted and both Pegasi took off the roof of the building and flew towards the bank of clouds, with Blaze being in the lead.

"Look, you're pretty fast... but would you mind slowing down?" Blue complained.

"I thought you said you're awake." Blaze replied. "Keep up, gramps."

"From what I can tell, you're older than me, so calling me 'gramps' is irrelevant." Blue explained.

"Shut up, Blue." Blaze simply replied. Blue shook his head and tried to pass Blaze, but Blaze was too far for him. Blaze finally reached the cloud bank and turned to face Blue, grinning. He then begun to fly through the clouds at a rapid speed. Just looking at Blaze ripping through the clouds made Blue dizzy. Blue then flew over to the other end of the cloud bank and begun to fly through it, but by the time Blue even managed to start, most of the cloud easy already gone.

"Ai'ght, you win..." Blue said. "I am pretty tired."

"You can't fool me, Blue Skye." Blaze said. "I'm just better than you."

"Ugh..." Blue complained.

"Looks like the soda is mine..." Blaze said with a smirk and flew back towards the Weather Factory, leaving Blue alone.

A few hours later...

Blue Skye walked into the house, looking quite tired. He walked upstairs, but not without going unnoticed by Summer Skies and Firestorm.

"Hey sweetie. How was your day?" Summer asked.

"It could have gone better." Blue replied.

"What happened?" Firestorm asked.

"There's this new guy in the Weather Factory... and he's... better than me." Blue explained.

"What do you mean he's "better than you"?" Firestorm asked.

"I mean, he flies better and faster than me, he busts clouds better than me and he makes impressive weather down south. I'm pretty much nothing compared to him." Blue said.

"Don't say that, Blue." Summer said and nuzzled him. "You're easily the best pony on the Weather Team, and don't let some idiot say that you're not."

"Thanks mom..." Blue replied.

"My pleasure, son. Remember, don't let him bring you down. You're better than him, in your own way." Summer comforted Blue.

"Yeah, I guess. Thanks mom." Blue replied. Summer smiled at him. "So, how can I be better than him?" he asked.

"Don't try and be better than him, Blue. Just be yourself." Summer replied.

"Alright... Thanks for the advice mom." Blue said.

"You're welcome son." Summer said. "Hungry? I made you some hay fries."

"Yes, please." Blue replied. Summer smiled at him and went into the kitchen.

"I'd say you kick his flank." Firestorm said. Blue simply chuckled.

"Nah, I don't want to kick his flank, Firestorm." Blue replied.

"Are you scared?" he asked.

"Me? Of course not. It's just an idiot at work. It's nothing bad." Blue explained.

The next day...

After school, Blue went to the Weather Factory. As he walked up to his platform, he noticed that Storm Blaze was standing on it.

"Hey, what are you doing at my platform?" Blue asked.

"Who says it's your platform?" Blaze replied.

"This is where I usually go to work..." Blue explained.

"Not anymore." Blaze replied, smirking.

"Says who?" Blue countered.

"Excuse me, where's Blue supposed to go?" Blaze asked. Their supervisor then walked up to Blaze's platform.

"Blue, we changed your platform. You're on the other side of the building now." the boss explained.

"You did?" Blue asked, with a bewildered gaze. "B-but when?"

"A few hours back. It's just so I can monitor Storm Blaze." the boss explained.

"Alright then." Blue replied and trotted off towards his new platform, but not before giving Blaze a glare.

"So, Blaze. Were you, bothering Blue or any of the other weather ponies?" The boss asked.

"Uh, no sir." Blaze lied.

"That's good. Because If you do, I'll not be happy. Understood?" The boss said.

"Yep." Blaze replied.

"Good, now get working." The boss said and walked off, leaving Blue, Blaze and some other weather ponies.

"So, Blue. Are you up for another soda?" Blaze asked, pointing to a large bank of clouds on the horizon.

"Don't start, you idiot." Blue replied, with a glare.

"Blue-boy has some tough remarks. See you, sucker." Blaze replied and flew off. Within seconds, all the clouds begun to disappear. Blue sighed and flew after Blaze, who was almost done with the clouds.

"Mom said I should be myself... and so I will be. My cutie mark is to do with cloud-busting, so I'm not gonna let some jerk ruin it for me." Blue said to himself and flew into a still intact cloud. He then flew through it rapidly, causing it to expand and evaporate. It was enough for Blaze to notice.

"Hey, this is my cloud, not yours." Blaze said.

"I'm up for that soda, Blaze." Blue replied and grinned.

"You sure you can handle this, gramps?" Blaze asked.

"Yep...", Blue replied, feeling a bit unsure. Blaze smirked and pointed to a large cumulonimbus cloud, several miles from Cloudsdale. This cloud was a dissipating thunderstorm and would prove a significant challenge to fly through.

"Whoever busts that sucker first, gets a free soda from the loser." Blaze explained, with a sly grin.

"Oh, no. I'm not flying through THAT." Blue replied.

"What's the matter, Blue-boy? Chicken?" Blaze asked. Blue was having none of it.

"Meet you there, Blaze." Blue replied and flew off, at the highest speed he can fly at. Blaze sighed and flew after him. As Blue flew forward at high speeds, he turned his head backwards and noticed Blaze getting closer to him. He tried to increase his speed, but eventually he begun to slow down. He estimated that there's still about a mile left until he reaches the base of the thunderhead. Already, the sky begun to darken and distant rumbles of thunder could be heard. Despite the changing conditions, Blue still continued flying, but at a much lower speed than before, which allowed Blaze to catch up with him.

"Maybe you're worse than I thought you were." Blaze said, smiling. "You have no talent here whatsoever, while I have lots of it. Your cutie mark is a fake and your skills as a weather pony? They're worse than a foals. You should quit and get a different job. You're just useless here." Blaze's harsh words saddened Blue, who slowed down noticeably. They were reaching the dissipating storm cloud, when Blue straightened up. He remembered his determination for his job and impressing his parents and promised himself he'd try and amount to them.

"You know what?" Blue asked.

"What?" Blaze replied.

"I'm not letting a punk like you put me down like that. You may be a better flyer and a faster cloud-buster, but I put my heart and soul into my job." Blue replied. "So long, idiot." he said, before speeding up his flying and overtaking Blaze. Blaze turned to face Blue, who was flying deeper and deeper into the stormy skies. He groaned and flew faster towards Blue. Blue turned back to notice Blaze and happened to fly by a harmless little cloud. He scooped up a large ball of cloud dust and threw it back at Blaze.

"Woah!" shouted Blaze and ducked, just before the cloud hall flew over him. Blue chuckled and reached the storm cloud first. He shouted with joy and begun to fly through the cloud, causing it to slowly evaporate. Blaze reached the cloud shortly after and also flew into it, in order to prevent Blue from finishing his cloud-busting.

"Where did you come from?" Blue shouted at Blaze. Blue was less than halfway through with the cloud busting process, which meant Blaze still had a chance to beat him and a chance to win that soda.

"What an idiot." Blaze said and flew through the cloud at high speeds. Blue sighed and flew at the highest speed he could fly at. He eventually managed to have the entire left half of the cloud gone, while severe turbulence in the other half of the cloud prevented Blaze from getting as far. Blue flew into what remained of the storm cloud and caused the rest to evaporate, before picking up an extremely dizzy and uncomfortable Blaze.

"Looks like the soda is on you, Blaze." He said with a grin forming on his face. Blaze sighed.

"Fine..." he said with a glare.

"Are you alright?" Blue asked.

"Does it look like I'm alright?!" Blaze shouted. "No I'm not."

"I'm sorry you lost..." Blue said, grinning.

"Shut up." Blaze replied. "Let's just go get that soda." he said and flew off towards Cloudsdale. Blue grinned and flew after him. After work, Blue trotted back home, with a large smile on his face. He entered the house, and was greeted by Lightning Fast and Summer Skies; Firestorm was playing at a friend's house.

"Hey son." Lightning said.

'Hi dad..." Blue replied.

"My, my. You're happy today." Summer said.

"I am. I finally showed that jerk what I'm made of." Blue explained.

"That's great, Blue." Summer said and nuzzled him.

"What jerk?" Lightning asked.

"His name is Storm Blaze." Blue explained.

"Wait, isn't that the new guy?" Lightning asked.

"Yep, that's him." Blue replied.

"So, he's been bullying you?" Lightning asked.

"More like "testing" me." Blue replied.

"You should have told me that he was angering you. I would have had kicked his flank." Lightning said. Over the years, Lightning was promoted up to Assistant Supervisor, which gave him some power over the Weather Factory, including sometimes firing unruly employees.

"Yeah, about that. I'm sorry for not telling you about him, dad." Blue said. Lightning gave him a reassuring smile.

"It's alright son. But you should tell me or mom next time. Alright?" Lightning said.

"Sir, yes sir." Blue replied with a grin. Lightning and Summer chuckled.

The next day...

As Blue walked up to the Weather Factory, he noticed that the previously blue sky was beginning to grow more cloudier by the minute. He also remembered it was time for the weather ponies to create a thunderstorm, as it was getting a bit too warm. He walked up to the entrance, but was approached by Blaze, who was angrier than ever.

"Uh.. hi." Blue said with an awkward voice.

"Look, today the weather team is doing a thunderstorm. Did anypony tell you?" He asked.

"Yeah, a few weeks back." Blue replied.

"Good, you better not ruin my cloud busting." Blaze replied.

"Whatever you say, Blaze." Blue simply replied.

"Shut up." he said and pulled open the glass door to the Weather Factory and walked in. Blue followed him in. After being briefed by the supervisor, the weather ponies went to their platforms and looked outside. The storm was raging outside, literally. The rain, despite being center about 20 miles away over Ponyville, was heard in the Weather Factory and the thunder was literally echoing through the ears of the weather ponies.

"Alright everypony, you all know the drill. Once that storm begins to dissipate, which will be in a few minutes' time, you all fly towards it and bust it. This isn't a race, Blue and Blaze." the supervisor said and glared at the two. "You're only going to fly through that cloud, fly back and that's it for today. Alright? Good. I want you all to prepare and I'll tell you when to take off." He then walked up to his viewing platform, which gave the weather team an opportunity to prepare. Blue turned to look at the thunderhead and cringed. Despite his many achievements on the weather team, he was terrified of thunderstorms, let alone flying through them.

"Scared?" Blaze asked. Blue turned to face him.

"Me? No." Blue replied.

"You sure?" Blaze asked.

"Not exactly..." Blue replied,.

"Why are you on the weather team if you're scared of a thunderstorm?" Blaze asked.

"Because, I'm trying to impress my parents, plus I always wanted to be a weather pony." Blue replied.

"You wanted to impress mommy and daddy? Who would be impressed by you?" Blaze asked. Blue begun to feel angry and begun to fight the urge to punch Blaze in the face. This was personal.

"That's enough, Blaze. Don't taunt Blue like that." a voice said. Blaze turned to face Lightning Fast.

"Sorry sir." Blaze replied.

"And so you should be." Lightning said. "Two more attempts to bully Blue and I'll personally see to it that you're off the weather team. Alright?"

"Yes sir." Blaze replied and went back to his platform.

"Thanks dad..." Blue said and smiled at him.

"My pleasure, son. I couldn't watch you being bullied by him." Lightning said. "Oh, looks like the storm is beginning to dissipate. You should prepare yourself."

"Yeah, thanks again dad." Blue replied and hugged him.

"You're welcome, son... but we're drawing a crowd here!" he said and looked around. There were several weather ponies looking at them.

"Oh, right." Blue replied and awkwardly smiled. "My bad."

"See you later son. I'll be watching you all with the boss." Lightning said.

"See you dad." Blue replied. Lightning then flew up to where the supervisor was standing at and winked at Blue. Blue returned the wink.

"Alright, you sissies. Go!" the boss said and blew his whistle. The weather ponies all flew off their platforms and flew outside towards the storm. Blue was one of the ponies who were in the lead and looked to see Blaze approaching him from behind. He then flew lower, in order to pass some weather ponies before him. There were about eight of them in total who were to bust through the cloud. After passing beneath the weather ponies, Blue turned back to see if Blaze was there. He grinned. Blaze was not seen anywhere behind, which meant he must have either slowed down significantly or have just been overtook by the rest of the weather ponies. Right? Blue sure did think so, and turned to face the front. The corner of his left eye caught a dark shape moving beside him, but Blue dismissed it as a cloud. He turned to face the shape and was startled out of his mind. It was Storm Blaze, who somehow managed to get to where Blue is flying.

"Woah! Where did you come from?" Blue asked and flew backwards.

"I flew around them, you idiot. And like I said before, you're not gonna ruin my cloud-busting." Blaze explained and flew into the side of Blue, knocking him off course. Blue spiraled out of control and landed on a puffy white cloud. By the time he got up off the cloud, most of the weather ponies overtook him.

"Ugh..." Blue groaned as he slowly took off the cloud. He looked at the thunderhead, which despite dissipating, still towered ominously above Blue. Blue turned back to face Cloudsdale; it looked far smaller than it really is. He was having thoughts about flying back home, but then remembered what Summer said about being himself. He was one of the best ponies on the weather team, and he was giving up? Blue groaned and took off to rejoin the other weather ponies, who were over a mile in front of him. The increased turbulence in this part of the sky was beginning to get on Blue's nerves. He hated turbulence, starting from his first flight lesson, when the wind was absolutely horrible., but this didn't stop him. After flying through the turbulence, he rejoined the others and flew to his position in the lead. Blaze turned to look at Blue flying towards him. He tried to speed up, but Blue landed several feet in front of him and before he knew it, Blue already reached the base of the cloud. A few seconds later, the other weather ponies reached the storm cloud and begun to fly through it. Blue was already halfway done, when he looked at a shape flying into his half of the cloud. It was a very angry Blaze.

"What's gotten into you?" Blue asked.

"Stop taking my cloud!" Blaze shouted.

"You idiot! Don't you freaking see that this is a team effort?" Blue yelled and pointed to the other weather ponies, who were almost done with the other half of the cloud.

"You give me my cloud or I'll beat you up when we come back." Blaze threatened.

Blaze-boy has some tough remarks. Blue thought to himself. He then flew out of the cloud and motioned for Blaze to fly into it. Blaze groaned and flew into the cloud and begun to destroy it. Despite the storm dissipating, the turbulence was still there and proved to be a challenge for Blaze to fly through.

"Ugh..." Blaze growled as the wind pushed him all over the cloud. He then flew at the cloud with all his might and begun to tear through it. The turbulence eventually managed to force him out of the cloud and down towards the ground.

"HELP!" Blaze yelled as he fell towards the ground. Blue and some of the other weather ponies noticed this. Blue didn't waste his time and flew downwards to catch up to the falling Pegasus.

He eventually managed to reach Blaze. "Hey, try and flap your wings!" Blue yelled to the stallion.

"Fine!" Blaze shouted back and done so, but it was way too hard for him to do so. Blue then flew beneath Blaze and grabbed him with his wing.

"Gotcha." Blue said.

"Thanks... for saving me." Blaze replied.

"Don't mention it..." Blue said and sighed as they flew upwards.

"About what I've been saying and doing to you lately... I'm sorry. I just want to be the best weather pony I can be, even better than you." Blaze explained.

"And you really think insulting me and saying you're better than me is gonna make you any better than me?" Blue asked.

"No." Blaze simply replied.

"Look, Blaze. I know how much you want to be better than me and everypony else, but you should just be yourself. Then, ponies will appreciate you for who you really are." Blue replied.

"Thanks, and about that... Maybe we can be friends." Blaze said.

"Maybe..." Blue replied. After finishing work, Blue returned home, as usual. He was quite happy today, due to the situation between him and his rival Blaze being sorted out.

"Hey son." Summer said and nuzzled him. "I've heard about what happened at work today. That was a very brave and noble thing to do."

"Aww... mom. I was just trying to do the right thing and even though I hated him, I still couldn't watch him fall like that." Blue explained. Summer smiled and hugged him.

"You're a great colt, Blue. I'm so proud of you." she said. Blue smiled. This day couldn't have went any better for him.

After eating his supper and explaining to Firestorm and grandma Light Ray (who was visiting from Ponyville) what he had done at work today, Blue trotted upstairs and opened his diary. He clicked his pen and begun writing his daily diary extract.

Dear diary,

Today, me and Storm Blaze, who were enemies from the start managed to make peace. I don't really know how long our friendship will last, but I hope it lasts long. It turns out Storm Blaze wanted to be better than everypony else, but I taught him an important lesson. Be yourself.

I hope he takes that lesson into consideration and becomes a better pony, but I also learned something as well. Not to self-doubt. I hope I can be a better and more confident pony as well.

~ Blue Skye

The Prom

May 30, 2006

Blue stood facing the mirror in his room and started to tie a bow tie around his shirt collar. Despite initially not wanting to go to the prom, he promised Meadow that he'd take her. Tonight was the night, and there was no backing out now, especially since Blue was almost done with school and was about to enter into the harsh world of adulthood. He looked into the mirror and grinned. As a colt, Blue hated wearing fancy clothes and looking handsome in general; they were stuffy and uncomfortable to wear. He also hated the attention he got for wearing them; during weddings and other occasions when the entire family got together, older relatives, especially his aunts and some obnoxious older cousins, frequently commented on how handsome and mature he looked. But now, he was eighteen years old and was a fairly mature and confident young stallion and had no trouble in wearing fancy clothes. Blue hoped to end his school years well, but was unsure of what he'd do after he graduated. He was a weather pony full-time for the past five months and already the work was beginning to bore him. Despite his dissatisfaction with his job, he still had his eyes set on proving himself to his parents. He groaned as he tied the two ends of the bow tie. It turned out looking quite bad. He untied the two ends of the bow tie and tried to do several knots with it, but it just ended up looking worse. Blue growled and pulled the bow tie off his shirt.

"Mom!" Blue shouted. Summer then walked upstairs and noticed him standing in the doorway, quite angry.

"My, my. You look more handsome than ever, Blue." Summer said.

"Thanks, mom..." Blue replied and his glare softened. "I hate bow ties." Summer chuckled and came into the room.

"And I hate when you're angry like that." she replied. "Here, let me help." she said and she tied the bow tie properly around his neck. Within a minute, it was properly tied. Blue looked down at it and smiled.

"Thanks mom." Blue said and grinned at her. Summer smiled and hugged him.

"You've grown up, Blue." Summer said. "All I can say is that I'm proud of you for getting this far in life, and no matter what happens in the future, me and dad still love you and will always be there for you."

"Thanks mom... I couldn't have asked for better parents than you both." Blue said and a tear rolled out of his eye. "I love you both so much." They stood there hugging each other for a minute or two, before Blue looked at the clock hanging on his wall. It read at 6:25 PM, which meant Blue had to literally skedaddle in order to pick up Meadow and get to the prom on time as the prom started at half past.

"Look at the time... And I thought it was only 5 PM or something." Blue said.

"Time sure does fly by fast, doesn't it?" Summer said and smiled. "You best be off son, if you want to make it to the prom on time."

"Yeah, mom. See you later." Blue replied and nuzzled her. "Thank you for being there for me for every step of the way."

"My pleasure, son." Summer said and smiled. "And remember, stay safe and have fun!"

"Alright mom. See you later, okay?" Blue said and put on his tuxedo jacket.

"See you, son. Have fun." Summer said.

"Yeah, bye guys!" Blue said and walked out of the house, towards Meadow's house, which was three blocks away. As Blue walked towards her house, he turned to look at the sun beginning to set on the horizon. He sighed and trotted faster, in order to make it to Meadow's house on time. Eventually, he reached her house and knocked on the door. The door opened, revealing Grasslands and Icy Breeze.

"Hello there." Blue said.

"Hi Blue. You're looking handsome today." Icy Breeze said.

"Meadow's upstairs, putting on some makeup. She should be down in a little moment." Grasslands said. "Come in if you wish." Blue did so and stood at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for Meadow to come downstairs. Meadow was a fairly timid mare and didn't like showing off, but she garnered up the courage to walk downstairs. The second Blue saw his love, his jaw dropped. She was wearing a long, cream-colored dress and had her mane tied up into a ponytail. Blue smiled at her. She looked amazing, no, incredibly beautiful, in fact, for Blue, there were no words for him to describe her beauty.

"So, how do I look?" Meadow asked nervously.

"You look... incredible..." Blue replied.

"Why thank you, Blue. I must say, you do look quite handsome as well in that tuxedo." she said and smiled at him.

"Thanks, Meads." Blue replied. "So, are you ready to go to the prom?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure... I'm just nervous." Meadow said.

"Yeah, me too... but when we get there, let's cut loose and have fun." Blue said. "But why would you be nervous? I mean, this is a time to have fun and relax."

"Yeah, about that..." Meadow said. "Let's talk outside about this, alright?"

"Sure thing." Blue said.

"Have fun you two!" Icy Breeze said.

"And remember, Blue. Look after my little girl, alright?" Grasslands said.

"Thanks mom, dad. See you both later." Meadow said and waved at them.

"Alright... Mr. Grasslands." Blue said nervously and walked out of the house.

"Daddy, you know well that Blue is a real gentlecolt." Meadow admonished him.

"Sorry, little flower. I just want you to be safe and happy." Grasslands said.

"It's alright, dad." Meadow said and nuzzled him. "See you later." After walking out of the house, the two ponies walked towards their high school, which was a few blocks down the road. The walk there gave them an opportunity to talk.

"So, Meadow. Why are you so nervous? Is it about the prom or is it something else?" Blue asked.

"It's not about the prom, Blue. It's about after we graduate school." Meadow explained.

"What about it?" Blue asked.

"I'm just in shock right now... it's all coming so fast, Blue." she explained. "I'm just nervous about how it'll all work out once we graduate."

"I know what you're feeling, Meads. I'm beginning to want to get another job; I don't think being a weather pony is exactly what it's cracked up to be."

"What do you want to be, Bluey?" Meadow asked.

"Hm... Other than a weather pony, I had numerous aspirations for when I grow up... I wanted to be a famous rock star, I wanted to be a builder, but most of all, I wanted to be a Royal Guard. The only reason why I became a weather pony is because I wanted to impress my mom and dad." Blue explained. "I never asked you this, but what do you wanna be, Meads?" he asked.

"When I was a filly, I wanted to be a vet, a princess and a famous singer when I was a bit older." Meadow explained. "After I leave school, I'm planning to get a job as a travel writer, but I don't really know yet." she explained and sighed. "I'm just nervous about what the future has in store for us."

"Hey." Blue said. "Don't be nervous, Meads. You'll be a great travel writer, I'm sure of it."

"Thanks Blue." She said and nuzzled him. "I'm just worried if things will work out or not."

"I'm sure they will, Meads and even if they don't, I'm always here for you." Blue said and kissed her on the cheek. "I've never told you this, but Meadow?"

"Yes Blue?" Meadow replied.

"I l-love you." Blue replied awkwardly. Meadow grinned.

"I love you too, Bluey. Thanks for being there for me." Meadow said. Blue smiled and wrapped his wing around her. He then looked at his watch. The time read 6:43 PM, which meant the two lovebirds were late to the prom by 13 minutes.

"Ah, crud. We're late..." Blue groaned.

"By how much?" Meadow asked.

"13 minutes. They're probably just starting right now..." Blue explained. The young lovers arrived at the school building.

"Race you inside... whoever loses this is a rotten hay fry." Meadow said and grinned.

"Oh you're so on." Blue replied and grinned back.

"Let's go then." Meadow said and trotted off towards the entrance of the school. Blue didn't waste his time and trotted after her. After the two lovebirds raced each other (with Meadow narrowly winning, much to Blue's dismay), the two ponies entered the gym and looked to see about twenty mares and stallions dancing.

"Meads, I have a confession to make..." Blue said.

"What is it Bluey?" she asked.

"I can't dance." Blue said and chuckled lightly.

"Neither can I, Bluey... but remember what you said before. Let's have fun and cut loose." Meadow said and gave him a reassuring wink.

"Let's do so then, Meads." Blue said and outstretched his hoof. "Will you dance with me?" he asked.

"Yes, Bluey." Meadow replied and held his hoof. Blue smiled at her and led her onto the dance floor, where the couples gathered were dancing to a slow ballad. He chuckled awkwardly as he walked with his true love to the dance floor. Blue didn't like dancing and wasn't very good at it, but in order not to embarrass himself and his marefriend, he just went with the flow.

He turned to look at the ponies dancing and turned to look at Meadow. He gently nudged her and smiled.

"Let's dance..." Blue said and put his hoof around Meadow's waist. She smiled and put her hooves on Blue's shoulders and before they knew it, the two ponies were dancing.

"And I thought you said you can't dance." Meadow said.

"I don't know Meads. It looks like I can... and you don't dance so bad either." Blue replied and grinned. Meadow chuckled. Suddenly, the song paused. Blue and Meadow turned to face the stage, along with the rest of the couples gathered. A teacher walked up to the microphone and cleared his throat.

"Alright, fillies and gentlecolts. Better get that groove on because it's time for a fast-paced dance." The teacher said.

"Oh no..." Blue said.

A band walked up onto the stage and picked up their instruments. They begun to play a fast-paced disco song. Blue looked around the room nervously. The other couples were hopping about with each other on the dance floor, to the beat of the music. Just then, Blue felt his wing being tapped. It was Meadow, who had her hoof outstretched.

"Meads? You know how to dance to this?" Blue asked.

"Believe it or not, yes. It's the only song I can dance to. This song was played at my cousin's wedding and we had to do the same dance." Meadow explained.

"Well that's good to know." Blue replied. "Mind showing me how?" he asked. Meadow smiled and nodded.

"Okay, Blue. You put your left hoof around my waist and I put my right hoof on your shoulder. And then, you just go with the flow. It's as simple as that." she explained and smiled.

"Alright..." Blue said and done as she told him to. They then joined the other dancers.

"See? You're doing great." Meadow complimented him.

"Thanks Meads." Blue said and spun her around. She smiled and chuckled.

"Woah!" Meadow said. "From what I can see, you're good."

"And you're even better." Blue complimented his marefriend. The two lovers continued dancing the night away, occasionally stopping to see if they were doing good or not.

The next song was another slow ballad, one which Blue found on the local jazz station while surfing through the available radio stations.

"Hey, I know this song." Blue said.

"You do?" Meadow asked.

"Yep. It came on on Cloudsdale's local jazz station one day." Blue explained.

"You listen to jazz?" Meadow asked, chuckling.

"Not really. I'm more of a rock music fan. I never was a fan of jazz, but this song actually sounded good." Blue explained.

"Same here." Meadow replied.

"Alright fillies and gentlecolts. Let's slow it down this time..." two more ponies got up on stage. One of them picked up a saxophone, while the second one went to a piano. Within seconds, the ensemble on stage begun to play the ballad.

"Bluey, you know how to dance to this?" Meadow asked.

"Kind of..." Blue replied awkwardly and put his hooves around Meadow's waist.

"Meadow, you put your hooves on my shoulders." Blue said. Meadow simply smiled and did so. The two ponies danced their way into the dance floor and leaned in close.

"Blue?" Meadow asked.

"Yes Meads?" Blue replied.

"Thank you for being my coltfriend." Meadow said. There was a sax solo in the middle of the song, and while that took place, Blue and Meadow begun to dance a tad bit faster.

"No, Meadow. Thank YOU for being there for me..." Blue said. "I never imagined I'd meet somepony like you."

"If you need me, I'm right here Bluey." Meadow said and smiled at him. Blue smiled back and spun her around. He then dipped her and pulled her in close. Both of them didn't think of anything else or anypony else for that matter, but only themselves. They were lost in their own little world. As the song begun to end, both of them leaned in close for a kiss and done so. Nothing could come between them at this moment. This was easily one of the best days of their lives.

A few hours later and the prom begun to end. Before the couples gathered left for home, the principal read out the prom king and queen. Blue and Meadow stood waiting anxiously, as with the rest of the ponies gathered, to see if they were prom king and queen. Blue was visibly nervous.

"Hey Blue... even if we don't win, it'll still be alright." Meadow reassured him.

"I hope we do, Meads." Blue replied.

Love Cloud, one of Blue and Meadow's teachers handed the principal the results, which were unexpected, very unexpected indeed.

"Violet Petals is our prom queen!" the principal said into the microphone. While the other ponies, including Meadow clapped, Blue's jaws dropped. He and Meadow were one of the more popular kids in the school, so why did Violet, who was one of the least popular kids, get the title of prom queen? How could she become so popular all of a sudden? Questions like that went through Blue's mind as he tried to process the current situation.

"And the prom king is..." the principal spoke before reading the results. "Singer Case!" he called into the microphone. Blue's surprised face turned into a glare. How could this have happened? How could two of some of the least popular kids in the school win those titles? Blue almost got a headache just thinking about it. Although he was a friend to Singer and Violet, he was incredibly jealous of them. His glare was enough for Meadow to notice.

"Bluey? What's wrong?" Meadow asked. His glare visibly softened.

"Uh, nothing Meads. I'm alright." Blue lied.

"You sure?" she asked. Blue sighed.

"No, Meadow. No I'm not. We'll talk about this outside, okay?" Blue said. Meadow simply nodded, knowing something's not right. A little moment later and the principal exited the stage, and a big red stallion spoke into the microphone. Blue knew him from gym class, but never actually talked to him before.

"So, how about it, everypony?" the stallion spoke into the microphone. "I bet you all are wondering how this happened..."

Well, of course we are... Blue said under his breath, with the same glare forming on his face.

"This year we decided to pick somepony who doesn't get a lot of attention here in Cloudsdale High. Someponies who had it rough these past few years here." the red stallion explained. "It's not out of sympathy; don't take it like that. It's out of respect, especially after the way you two were dancing tonight. Despite all the drama you had to put up with, we all decided to make it worth it."

Blue had enough.

"We all?" he called out from the crowd. "What do you mean by 'we all'? Do you mean you and your little friends? I didn't vote for them two. And neither did many other ponies." Blue explained and pointed to Singer and Violet, who were quite shocked at the sudden turn of events. Meadow sighed and motioned for him to stop. "Why did you vote for them instead of some more popular kids, like me and Meadow or Soarin' and Rainbow Dash? Huh? Just because you felt sorry for them? That's no reason to vote for them!" Blue shouted. Even Soarin' and Rainbow Dash turned to look at Blue. "Look, you could've chosen somepony else other than them... somepony who really does deserve the title of prom king and queen." Blue explained and walked out of the gym, Meadow following close behind. She turned to face the crowd and the ponies on the stage and awkwardly smiled.

"I'm sorry for Blue's behavior today. He's just a bit... stressed recently, but he'll get over it." Meadow explained. "Please, continue." She said and trotted out of the gym and joined Blue. Meadow wasn't happy with his behavior, and he could tell by the scowl on her face.

"Meadow, I---" he said, but was cut off by her.

"Blue... save it." Meadow started. "I don't know what's gotten into you today. You're not usually like that!"

"Meadow, look... I messed up." Blue said. This did nothing to stop her scowl.

"You bet you did! I was hoping that by going to this prom we could leave school on a positive note. And it went well, until YOU ruined their fun!" she yelled at him, but calmed herself down.

"For your inconvenience, they didn't deserve those titles anyway." Blue said and glared at her.

"And you think we did?" Meadow said and laughed. "Wow..."

"Yes! I think we did deserve it more than they did." Blue replied.

"And why would we deserve those titles more than they did? Tell me, Blue." Meadow asked.

"Because...---" Blue thought to himself.

"Because what?" Meadow asked. "Because Blue had a little temper tantrum?" she said. "

"Meadow, look. I was hoping to win those titles for both of us, so we can leave school on a positive note." Blue explained.

"By doing what? By screaming and taking out your anger on them?" Meadow asked. "No, Blue. You said it was supposed to be about having fun and cutting loose. And so what if Singer and Violet did win? This prom was supposed to be about having fun and enjoying ourselves, it wasn't meant to be a contest Blue." she explained. Blue's glare softened and was replaced with a sad frown.

"You're right, Meadow... and who am I kidding? I did overreact back there..." Blue confessed. "I just thought that if we did win, it'd make you happy."

"I am already happy, Blue when you're next to me." Meadow replied. An awkward smile formed on Blue's face.

"Meads? I'm sorry for all I said... I'm just like Storm Blaze; I hate losing." Blue explained. "Will you forgive me?" he asked.

"Why won't I?" Meadow replied and nodded. "Apology accepted." she said and gave him a peck on the cheek. Blue smiled. "Although... You still have Singer and Violet to apologize to." Meadow explained.

"Yeah, they were the worst affected by my temper tantrum... Singer probably hates me by now and Violet? She never really did talk to me that much so she's probably never gonna want anything to do with me..." Blue said.

"Don't say that, Blue. You can always make amends with them. I mean, just because you took out your anger on them doesn't mean that Singer hates you, and you and Violet can start again and become best of friends." Meadow said and nuzzled him.

"Maybe..." Blue said and kissed her on the cheek. She smiled. "Come on, Meads. I'll take you home." Blue said and wrapped his wing around her. A little moment later, the two lovers arrived at Meadow's house. There were no lights on, but the door wasn't locked, which meant that Meadow's parents were asleep.

"So, how did you enjoy it Meadow?" Blue asked.

"It was... A beautiful experience... especially since I got to share it with my coltfriend." Meadow explained and sighed. "Just graduation day left and we're all grown up now... I'm just wondering where life will lead us now." Meadow said.

"Where ever life will take us, we'll go together." Blue said. "My lovely, lovely Meadow. Thank you for being my marefriend for these past four years." he said.

"No, Blue. Thank you..." Meadow said and kissed him on the cheek. "For everything."

"My pleasure, Meads." Blue said. "See you later." He said and smiled at her. She returned the smile and entered the house, while Blue walked off towards his home. Blue entered the house and everypony, except Lightning Fast was asleep. Lightning Fast was finishing up a business report on his computer, when he noticed Blue walk into the house.

"Hey son." he said and went over to Blue. "How did you enjoy it?"

"It was better than I expected it to be dad." Blue replied. "We both enjoyed dancing tonight..." he explained.

"I thought you said you can't dance, Blue..." Lightning said and chuckled.

"I thought so too. Turns out I'm better than I thought I was, and so was Meadow." Blue replied. "Dad?" he asked.

"Yeah, son?" Lightning replied.

"You know how you and mom went to the prom together?" Blue asked. "Well, did you guys win prom king and queen?"

"No. Unfortunately we didn't. I remember that my best friend won it. At first I was jealous, but then I realized that the prom wasn't about winning the two titles. It was about enjoying yourself." Lightning explained. "What, did you two win prom king and queen?" he asked.

"Unfortunately, no..." Blue said. "It was one of my friends who won it... and I was pretty jealous of him and his marefriend, but then Meadow reminded me it wasn't all about winning. I still feel pretty bad for taking out my anger on them." Blue explained.

"Hey Blue. I know you feel bad... and what are you going to do to make it up to them?" Lightning asked.

"Try and apologize?" Blue said.

"Not 'try'. Just apologize to them. Alright? And remember... sometimes you don't always get what you want in life, son." Lightning explained.

"I need to learn..." Blue explained.

"You don't son. I'm sure you know already. But next time, just enjoy yourself and if you don't win anything, too bad. You can always try again." Lightning explained.

"Thanks for the advice, dad. Good night." Blue said and hugged him. Lightning hugged him back.

"You've grown up, my son. I'm so proud of you." Lightning said. "You'll be the best weather pony they've ever had. I just know it."

"Thanks dad..." Blue replied. He felt nervous, because he knew he'd have to mention his dissatisfaction with his job to Lightning Fast someday, but he had no idea what reaction to expect. Right now, Blue wasn't going to mention it and instead, he said a final good night to Lightning and went up to his room.

"What are you going to do with your life?"

July 16, 2006

Blue was happy. It was already past graduation day and he was now an adult. He felt a new found sense of freedom as an adult, but of course, that sense of freedom came with an onslaught of whole new responsibilities. Blue had mended relationships with his peers, including Rainbow Dash and his rival Storm Blaze, who was now his best friend, but most importantly, Blue had Meadow. Over the years, their relationship blossomed into something special, and quite beautiful. Still, Blue was fairly dissatisfied with his job. This was a problem. As much as he wanted to try and prove himself to his parents, he didn't like being a weather pony. In fact, he hated it. If Blue wasn't a weather pony, he'd definitely be living in Canterlot and working as a Royal Guard. Right now, however, he was stuck in Cloudsdale and was saving up for an apartment in downtown. He'd have to tell his dad someday that he dislikes being a weather pony and wants to get a different job, but Blue was unsure of the reaction he'd get from Lightning Fast. Right now, all he was concerned with is at least a promotion at work. He walked into the Weather Factory and up to his platform, in order to await orders from his boss.

"Bored, huh?" a voice said. It was Storm Blaze, who happened to be walking by Blue.

"Yep..." Blue replied. "Man, I hate this job. I thought it'd be cool to be a weather pony, but it really isn't."

"Well, if you hate this job so much, then why are you here?" Blaze asked.

"The only reason I ever became a weather pony was because I wanted to impress my mom and dad. That, and I wanted to find out what it's like being in my dad's shoes." Blue explained. "They're great weather ponies... and I wanted to find out if I could ever amount to them. Why did you become a weather pony, Blaze?" he asked.

"Well... of course, it's not the same reason you became one." Blaze begun. "My parents were never weather ponies; my dad was a lawyer and my mom was a school teacher, and I wanted to do something else, so I got a job as a weather pony in Los Pegasus, plus, that was the only job out there that seemed to interest me. Nothing else worked." Blaze explained. "What would you do if you weren't a weather pony, Blue?" he asked.

"I'd definitely be a Royal Guard..." Blue explained. "I'd actually make myself useful for once and protect the princesses..."

"And you don't think yourself as being useful as a weather pony?" Blaze asked.

"Not really..." Blue replied.

"Why not? I mean, you're possibly the best flyer on the weather team. You get constant praise from the boss and you finish all your tasks with ease. So, why do you not feel useful on the weather team?" Blaze asked.

"Because... being a weather pony is just flying through and making clouds. I want something else, something more interesting... I just don't want to be a weather pony anymore." Blue explained.

"Well then... it's your decision. Have you thought about explaining to the boss?" Blaze asked.

"Yeah... about that." Blue replied, with an uneasy grin forming on his face. "I'm afraid of his response. He he."

"Seriously?" Blaze asked, chuckling. He stopped after Blue noticed him.

"Yeah, seriously. Call me a wuss but I am literally terrified of it." Blue explained.

"Why would you be terrified of the boss? He's not all that scary." Blaze said. Suddenly, he noticed the boss walking towards the two weather ponies and gave an awkward grin, before darting off towards his own platform. Blue sighed and prepared himself for takeoff as he looked at the boss approaching him.

"Blue, your task today is to organize a rainstorm between here and Ponyville. Five other weather ponies, including Blaze will help you with your task. Can I count on you to do it?" the boss asked.

"Yes sir." Blue replied.

"That's great. Now go!" the boss said. Blue took off with no hesitation and flew out of Cloudsdale, where the storm was to be organized. He then found a large cumulus cloud and flew around it rapidly, causing it to grow bigger and darker. A few minutes later, it was the size of a towering cumulonimbus. Blue turned to face Cloudsdale and noticed a few of his fellow weather ponies flying towards him. He sighed and looked back towards the cloud. The other weather ponies were already beginning to make the cloud bigger by joining neighboring clouds into it.

"Dude, maybe some help over here?" shouted Storm Blaze, who was trying to keep a cloud under control. Blue groaned and flew over to him.

"You can make sandstorms, tornadoes and other extreme weather, but you can't keep the smallest cloud under control?" he asked as he watched his friend struggle with the cumulus cloud. He tried to contain his laughter, but it got the better of him. Blaze faced him, with a less-than-pleased look on his face.

"Somepony must have added too much wind into this one..." Blaze replied and accidentally let go off the cloud, causing it to fly towards Cloudsdale.

"Hey!" he shouted.

"NOW LOOK AT WHAT YOU DONE..." Blue yelled at Storm Blaze.

"Dude, chill. I couldn't keep it under control for long." Blaze explained. "So chill."

"Ugh... Everypony, we have a rogue cloud on the loose. Try and back off, will you?" Blue shouted to the rest of the weather ponies, who did as he asked. He then begun to fly after the cloud, which as it neared Cloudsdale, begun to grow rapidly. Blue groaned as he flew after the cloud. The cloud seemed to get faster and faster as it begun to near Cloudsdale, which irritated Blue, who was flying at the fastest speeds he could.

"UGH..." Blue groaned. Despite being the fastest weather pony on the team, other than Storm Blaze, Blue was struggling to keep up with the cloud which by now, was at most, a mile away from the Weather Factory. Well done, Blaze...Blue thought to himself as he begun to slow down. He landed on a nearby cloud, and after getting the strength to fly back to get the cloud, he took off towards it. The cloud was at least a few hundred feet from the Weather Factory, which meant Blue had a lot of catching up to do to fly through it...

Meanwhile, in the Weather Factory...

Lightning Fast was working on some paperwork for another new recruit onto the team. This time, it was Blue's friend, Rainbow Dash, who had decided that she would join the cloud-busting team. He was just finishing signing the paperwork, when he noticed a dark cloud coming towards the Weather Factory.

"What the hay?" he said to himself as he watched the cloud slowly near the Weather Factory. Lightning Fast stepped out of his office onto a vacant platform, where he could get a better look at the approaching cloud. He also noticed something flying beside the cloud, which looked like a Pegasus. Lightning then trotted back into the office and picked up a microphone lying on his desk.

"Attention, all present weather ponies. There is a large cloud heading towards us, I repeat, a large cloud is heading towards us. Please take shelter now." Lightning said and looked out the window towards the incoming cloud.

"UGH... COME ON. SLOW DOWN!" Blue yelled as he flew beside the cloud, which seemed to be getting faster as it closed in on the Weather Factory. The cloud was twice as big as it was before and had probably swallowed up some other clouds on the way. Not knowing what to do to slow it down, Blue flew into the cloud and tried to at least bust through it. It was too late for that. The cloud struck the Weather Factory without any warning and brought down it's facade. Blue was thrown out of the cloud as it collided with the wall of the weather factory and begun to spread inside. Lightning Fast and the boss flew down into the cloud, which was beginning to evaporate, to find where Blue was lying.

"Jeez..." Blue said under his breath. He opened his eyes and noticed both Lightning Fast and the supervisor looking over him, with less-than-pleased expressions on their faces.

"Blue Skye?! What is the meaning of this?!" the supervisor shouted. Blue looked around the factory and his jaw dropped. The entire facade of the factory, out of which the cloud-busting weather ponies flew out, was cracked and possibly unstable. There were shattered windows everywhere and some damaged platforms hanging off the other walls.

"Did I---uh, cause this?" Blue asked awkwardly. The constant glares on both Lightning Fast's and the supervisor's faces signified a 'yes'. Blue groaned.

"You did, Blue Skye..." the supervisor said. "You were a model employee, but now, you've become reckless and lazy."

"Lazy?" Blue asked.

"Yeah, lazy. I see you moping around the factory throughout the day, not doing anything useful with yourself." the supervisor explained. "You were the best weather pony we had around here... and now look what you've done." he said. "Get up and get yourself cleaned. You're out of here!" Blue got up and dusted himself off, before walking towards Lightning Fast, head hung low. Lightning Fast looked down upon him and glared, before turning his head towards the exit and pointing there. Blue knew where he was supposed to go now and trotted off towards the exit, but not before turning back towards them.

"I hated this job anyways..." he said and walked out of the building, leaving Lightning Fast and the supervisor alone. The supervisor turned to face Lightning Fast and sighed.

"Your son... needs to stop slacking off and do something useful with his life. Who knows what he might do next if he doesn't mature?" the boss asked Lightning Fast.

"Don't say that about him. He's just... confused. You know kids these days..." Lightning replied. "Let's get this mess cleaned up."

"Good idea..." the supervisor replied and took out his radio and called several cleaners. While the cleaners were cleaning up, the supervisor turned to face Lightning Fast.

"Your son didn't deserve this job anyways... he doesn't have the discipline and the effort that he used to when he first started out." the supervisor complained.

"Alright, Tornado. Enough with the comments about my son. Like I said, he's just a kid and kids these days... are hard to understand." Lightning replied, only to receive a nod from Tornado.

"I have two teenage sons who are just like your boy. They need discipline." Tornado explained.

Meanwhile, Blue walked down the street, head hung low. During his walk home he kept thinking about the day's events and what happened back at the Weather Factory. I'm no weather pony... he thought to himself. All I do is mess things up. A tear rolled out of his eye, but Blue wiped it out in fear of ponies passing by noticing. I need to get a better job... something that I'm good at and something that I'll enjoy. He even had thoughts of leaving for Canterlot, but how would he explain to his dad that being a weather pony isn't right for him? And how would he explain to Meadow and his mom that he has to leave Cloudsdale? All those questions ran through his head as he walked home. About five or so minutes later, Blue arrived home, and after some reluctance he walked into the house, only to be greeted by Firestorm and Summer.

"Hey big bro." said Firestorm who noticed him first.

"Hey Firestorm..." Blue replied.

"Hey son. You're home early today. What's wrong?" Summer asked.

"Hi mom. I'm fine, it's nothing..." Blue lied.

"Son, I know something's up with you. Anything happened at work today?" Summer asked.

"No, mom. Seriously, I'm fine." Blue replied and walked upstairs.

"Blue, stop. Please, tell me what's going on." Summer pleaded. Blue stopped and sighed and sat on a step.

"I got fired from work." Blue begun. "I had a little accident today involving an out-of-control cloud and the boss thought it was my fault."

"Oh... I'm sorry for what happened, son." Summer replied.

"It's nothing, mom. I hated that job anyways." Blue said. "But now, I'm worried that you both will hate me."

"What? Why would me and dad hate you, son?!" Summer shouted."We love you, son and don't ever forget it. Whenever you need us, we'll be right there for you." she said and hugged him.

"Mom, the reason why I joined the weather team in the first place... was to try and see what it was like and to see if I could ever amount to what you both are. You're both great, great weather ponies and I wanted to see if I can become like you." Blue explained. "Dad probably hates me for what I done today... and I don't know about you. If you saw what happened in that Weather Factory, you'd probably be as angry as he is." he said, with a tear forming in his eye.

"Hey, Blue. Me and dad would never, ever hate you. You were a blessing to us from the very beginning, and if dad is that angry at you, he's just ignorant." Summer explained. "We both love you son, no matter what happens, no matter what path you choose in life. Same with Firestorm."

"Thanks, mom." Blue said and continued hugging her. "I'm just worried about what dad will say when he comes back."

"Don't be, son. I'll talk some sense into him." Summer reassured him. "Just do one favor for me, alright Blue?" she asked.

"What is it, mom?" Blue asked.

"If you choose a new job... never forget this." she said and pointed to his cutie mark. "This cutie mark is to guide you through life, son. It'll show what you're good at and what you can achieve. And I know you son. You can achieve spectacular things, but you just have to try." Summer said. "I love you son, no matter what. I love all three of you." she said and hugged him. Blue hugged her as well.

"Thanks mom..." Blue replied. "I just hope I'm a good Royal Guard."

"Is that what you're planning to be, son? A Royal Guard?" Summer asked.

"Yeah, exactly." he replied.

"I know you'll be a great guard, son. Just remember, you can't change your cutie mark..." Summer explained.

"Unfortunately... We'll see how it goes, mom. Thank you so much for being there for me, every step of the way. I don't know where I'd be right now if it wasn't for you and dad." Blue said and hugged her.

"My pleasure, son... We couldn't have asked for a better son than you." Summer replied.

"I just don't know what dad will have to say about my new job choice..." Blue said, feeling quite uneasy.

Two hours later...

Blue was reading a book in his room, when he heard the front door click open. It was Lightning Fast, who wasn't very happy. Blue opened the door to his room and looked downstairs to see Lightning coming upstairs. He knew that now was the time to tell Lightning about what he really wanted to be.

"Hi dad..." Blue begun awkwardly.

"Why? Why did you have to ruin something? Why did you destroy part of the Weather Factory? Tell me." Lightning said, with a stern voice.

"It wasn't me---" Blue said, agitated, but was cut off by Lightning.

"Ha ha. Likely story, Blue Skye. Then tell me. What the hay was it then? The wind?" Lightning asked. Blue shook his head.

"Okay... it was me." he lied. "I done it because I was being reckless... plus, I hate being a weather pony."

"You hate it?" Lightning asked. "I always thought you enjoyed it."

"No, dad... I never did." Blue replied.

"Then why did you join the team then?" he asked Blue. Blue sighed.

"Because I wanted to---I wanted to see if I was as good a weather pony as you both are." Blue explained. "That's about the only reason why I joined the team..." Lightning's glare softened, but he still retained his firm voice.

"So... if you hate this job so much, then tell me, Blue. What are you going to do with your life?" Lightning asked. Blue sighed.

"I don't know what you'd think of this, but ever since I was a colt, I wanted to be either a weather pony or a member of the Royal Guard." Blue explained. "I want to be a Royal Guard, dad."

"You want to be a Royal Guard, Blue?" Lightning asked.

"You heard me." Blue replied.

"Why didn't you tell me or mom before?" he asked.

"Because... I was afraid of what you two might think... Being a weather pony runs in the family, doesn't it dad?" Blue replied.

"Yeah, but... look, Blue. Even though for over eight generations, almost all of the members of our family got a job in weather... I still won't mind if you became a Royal Guard." Lightning explained. "Why should I, anyways? You can be who you want to be, son, as long as you're mature and responsible. I would be so proud of you if you became a Royal Guard."

"Really?" Blue asked.

"Yeah, really." Lightning replied. "And about you not wanting to be a weather pony... son, me and your mother have been proud of you from day one. We knew you were destined for great things. Even if you chose a different career, a different path than we both did, we'd be even more proud of you than we are now."

"And, dad?" Blue asked.

"Yeah?" Lightning replied.

"Sorry for what I done today..." Blue said.

"It's alright, son... Just, next time, try to be more careful?" Lightning replied and hugged him.

"Deal." Blue replied and hugged him back.

Two weeks later...

It was already night. After Blue said goodbye to his family and to Meadow (promising her that he'd write to her on a regular basis), Storm Blaze, Rainbow Dash and some other friends, Blue made his way down to Ponyville Station and waited for the train to Canterlot to arrive. He turned to look at the train times board, hanging on the wall and looked at when the train to Canterlot was going to arrive. He then turned back towards the railroad tracks and sighed. He was now out in the world, alone, but most importantly, he was now an adult. He was now out to make a new life for himself. As Blue waited for the train to Canterlot to pull up at the station, he went to go get a drink from a nearby vending machine. He took out a can of soda and carried it over to his suitcase, but then turned to notice a sad-looking stallion who he recognized very well, standing on the other end of the platform. It was Singer, who was with another stallion, who looked to be a family member of his. The other stallion was a red stallion with a brown mane who was wearing a guitar case on his back.

"Singer?" Blue called out. "What are you doing around here?" he asked.

"Leaving... I can't be here anymore, Blue." Singer explained.

"What do you mean, Singer?" Blue asked.

"I'm leaving for Los Pegasus, Blue." Singer explained. "We're going there to become musicians." he said.

"That's great, you guys..." Blue replied.

"Where are you going, Blue?" Singer asked.

"I'm moving to Canterlot, Singer. I got fired from my job at the Weather Factory, so I'm going to try and get recruited into the Royal Guard." Blue explained.

"Woah. That's great." Singer said. "Really great..."

Suddenly, a train begun to approach the station. It was too early for the Canterlot train, so Blue knew it was time for Singer to depart for Los Pegasus. Before Singer left for the bright lights of Los Pegasus, Blue wanted to make sure that things between the two stallions are put right, once and for all.

"The train to Los Pegasus Central Station will arrive at the station shortly." said a voice through the loudspeaker.

"Hey, Singer?" Blue said.

"Yeah?" Singer asked.

"Remember what happened at prom? Well, before you leave I wanted to say that I'm sorry..." Blue begun. "I just realized now how ignorant and selfish I was being and that's no way to treat a friend, especially one who's been by my side ever since elementary school." he continued.

"It's alright, Blue." Singer said. "I could understand how you were feeling...I was feeling confused too, and so was Violet." he explained.

"I thought that both you and Violet hate me or something..." Blue replied.

"I know you're sorry, Blue, and so does Violet. I think, that if you'd talk to her about this anytime soon, she'd gladly forgive you." Singer explained. "I mean, why would I not forgive you? Apart from Violet and sometimes Rainbow Dash, you're my only friend." he explained.

"That's good to know, Singer. Thank you for calling me your friend. I hope everything goes well in Los Pegasus." Blue said.

"Yeah, me as well." Singer said. "We'll have to see. For now, see you Blue." he said and shook his hoof.

"Bye Singer... You've been a great friend." Blue said. Singer smiled at him and went onto the train. Blue waved at him as the train pulled off from the station. As he watched the train move away into the distance he sighed and waited for his own train to arrive. About ten minutes later, the train to Canterlot arrived at the station and Blue and some other ponies boarded it... he was off to Canterlot to begin a new life.

The New Guard in Town

August 1, 2006

Blue woke up in his hotel room, which he has booked after arriving in Canterlot. He went outside to look out of the balcony and sighed. The scenery in Canterlot was totally different from what he was used back in Cloudsdale, but Blue didn't really mind. It felt good to be out of Cloudsdale for the first time in his life, but he missed his friends and family back home dearly. But Blue wasn't here to mope around; he was here to sign up for the Royal Guard, and was shaking like a baby's rattle just thinking about it. What if they don't accept him? What if they do accept him, and he fails at it from the very beginning? All those questions went through his head as he tried to mentally prepare himself for the job interview.

"Man up, Blue. It's just a job interview... it can't be that hard, can it?" Blue asked himself. "Nah, didn't think so." he replied to nopony in particular. After eating his breakfast and washing up, Blue left the hotel room and walked through Canterlot, trying to find the nearest recruiting station. He walked through the city and found a recruitment station, several blocks away from his hotel. Blue sighed as he reluctantly begun to walk towards the building. This job interview meant everything to Blue, and he wasn't going to let his nervousness get the better of him. Blue eventually managed to get the courage to walk into the building. He walked over to a mare sitting at the reception desk and tapped the desk with his hoof. The mare stopped typing on her computer and turned to face Blue.

"Can I help you, sir?" the mare asked.

"Ugh... I'm here to sign up for the Royal Guard." Blue explained, with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Right then. Hold on, I'll be one moment." the mare said and opened a tray inside the desk and pulled out a sheet of paper. "Here, sign this. Alright?"

"Sure thing." Blue replied and took the sheet off her, and a pen that was lying on the desk. He went over to a nearby sofa and sat down on it. The nervous Pegasus scrolled through the questions on the sheet carefully. The questions were mostly about himself, so the answers to them were quite easy to come up with. After writing the answers down, Blue handed the paper over to the receptionist, who read it.

"So, you used to be a weather pony, huh?" she asked.

"Yep. Most ponies in my family were for a few generations, including me." Blue explained.

"What made you quit?" the mare asked.

"Well, I just found the job boring and unpleasant at times... I mean, all you literally do is fly around and punch through clouds, although sometimes you actually get to make the weather. Then, it begun to get on my nerves, so yeah. I quit because I was angry with being a weather pony." Blue explained.

"Ah, I see... Well, you're just like my cousin in Vanhoover." the mare said. "He quit his job as a weather pony because he couldn't stand it anymore, and well... he became a Royal Guard, here in Canterlot... although he's been transferred to Los Pegasus a year or so back." she said. "Anyways, I'll call the Captain and he'll interview you. Alright?"

"Okay..." Blue replied, feeling nervous about being interviewed by the captain. The mare then called the Captain, who made his way down to the lobby of the building and opened the door. The Captain of the Royal Guard was a large, white Pegasus stallion, with a red mane and tail and a very intimidating body build. His name was Iron Armor.

"Uh, Blue Skye. Is it?" he asked.

"Yeah? That's me..." Blue replied.

"Come with me please." Iron said and lead him to his office.

"Alright." Blue said and walked into the office. It was furnished rather nicely and looked quite similar to his dad's office at the Weather Factory. Iron Armor sat down behind his computer screen and motioned for Blue to sit down as well.

"Please, take a seat, Mr. Skye." Iron Armor said.

"Sure thing." Blue replied and sat down on a chair facing Iron Armor.

"My name is Iron Armor, but that's Captain Iron Armor to you." Iron Armor explained and outstretched his hoof. "Nice to meet you." he said.

"Nice to meet you too as well, Captain." Blue replied and shook his hoof.

"So, you really want to be a Royal Guard, Mr. Skye?" Iron asked.

"Yes, I think I do want to be one." Blue replied. "I've been wanting to be one since I was a colt." he explained.

"Oh, that's nice." Iron replied. "But it says here you were a weather pony before you came here. Is that true?" he asked, while looking at the sheet.

"Yes, Captain." Blue replied. "I've became a weather pony because I wanted to know what it's like being one, plus, the job seemed interesting at the start. It's not like that now, believe me." he explained.

"I see." the Captain replied. "Well, being a Royal Guard is a tough and physically active job... but I see already that you have an impressive physical build. If I did sign you up as a recruit now, then you would start off as a conscript. If you surpass mine or the drill sergeant's expectations, I'll promote you to a higher rank. Alright?" Iron Armor asked.

"Yes, sir." Blue replied.

"So, do you want to join the Guards?" Armor asked.

"Yes sir." came the reply. "I'm ready at whatever challenge you throw at me."

"Excellent. See? You're already off to a great start, Blue Skye." Iron Armor praised him. "Here at the Royal Guard, we like stallions who are determined and have the necessary discipline."

"Thank you, sir." Blue replied. "So, when do I start?" he asked.

"You'll start next Monday at 0700 hours and you'll meet my nephew Shining Armor beside the Guard Outpost, which is two blocks away from here. He will introduce you to the basics of being a guard." Iron said. "You'll notice him easily."

"Alright then..." Blue said. "Thank you, sir."

"My pleasure. See you next week." Iron replied. "You can leave now."

"Bye, sir." Blue said and walked out of the interview room. A grin begun to form on Blue's face as he walked towards the exit, and it was noticeable by the mare at the reception desk.

"So, how did it go?" she asked.

"It went better than I thought it did..." Blue replied.

"I can see, Mr. Skye..." she said and smiled at him. "Have a nice week."

"You too. Bye." Blue replied and walked out of the building. As Blue walked down the road towards the hotel where he stayed at for now, he couldn't help but feel not only relieved, but overjoyed. The interview with the Captain went far better than he expected it to go and he was going to start a new job as a Royal Guard in almost a week's time. He could only imagine what his family and Meadow would say when Blue wrote his letter to them. Life was going great for our hero, just the way he wanted it.

A week later...

Blue woke up early morning after almost a week of jumping between hotels in Canterlot. He looked out of the window of his hotel and smiled. The city was beautiful at night, especially at dawn and dusk, when it's bright lights could be seen from miles around, but oddly enough, this reminded him of his precious marefriend, Meadow Breeze, who he'd left in Cloudsdale. Meadow was easily the most beautiful mare he'd ever meet, and not just because she looked pretty. She was the best friend Blue could ever ask for; she helped him through tough times, she gave him advice whenever he needed it, she helped him become a better stallion. Blue was just like that to her. They both loved each other and nothing could come between their love. Blue wanted to come back to Meadow and be with her, but he was now a Royal Guard and his duty was to protect the Princess and Equestria. Blue was only concerned with that right now; being a good Royal Guard. He sighed and went to the restroom to clean himself up, before eating some cereal he bought at a local store. After he was all done, Blue left the hotel where he was staying in right now and made his way to the Outpost, where he was supposed to meet this 'Shining Armor' guy that Iron Armor talked about before.

About twenty five minutes later, Blue arrived at the Guard Outpost and looked around to see if Shining Armor was anywhere. It was still about 6 AM, meaning Blue still had an hour left until the training begins. He went into the cafeteria and bought himself a cup of coffee. As he sipped the coffee, he noticed a large white Unicorn stallion walking into the cafeteria. He had a purple mane and was wearing Guard armor of some sort. Blue could notice that this was the Shining Armor guy that Captain Iron Armor talked about.

"Uh, Blue Skye?" Shining Armor called out.

"Yes? That's me." Blue replied.

"Hi, I'm Shining Armor. Nice to see you here on your first day on the job." Shining Armor explained. "I'll show you around the Outpost and give you some info on how to be a good Royal Guard."

"Okay..." Blue replied and got up off his chair.

"Come. Let's go." Shining Armor said and walked out of the café, with Blue following him. "You're the new guy, right?" he asked.

"Yeah." Blue replied.

"My uncle told me about you. You were a weather pony before you came here, is that correct?" Armor asked.

"Wait. Iron Armor is your uncle?" Blue asked. "I mean, he's a Pegasus."

"Yeah, our family has distant Pegasi roots." Shining Armor explained.

"Cool. And yeah... I was a weather pony before." Blue replied.

"Nice. I know a couple of weather ponies myself..." Shining Armor said. "But for now, I'll show you around, so you can get to know the place a bit better, alright?"

"Alright then. Lead the way." Blue said. After giving him a tour of the outpost, including the barracks and the mess hall, Shining took Blue back to his hotel so he could bring his bags to his barrack.

"Any problems and you can tell me or any of the higher ranks, alright?" Shining Armor said.

"Alright then... Thanks for the little tour." Blue replied.

"You're welcome... now go to your barrack and put your bags away, alright?" Shining Armor said.

"Right. See you, Shining." Blue replied.

"Oh, and once you've put everything away, go to my uncle's cabin. It's the one behind the barracks on the left as you go in. He'll tell you what to do. Alright?" Shining asked.

"Sure thing." Blue replied. "See you later, Armor."

"Bye Blue." Shining Armor said and went towards the castle, where he was meant to patrol for the day. Blue sighed and walked over to his barrack, carrying his suitcase. He opened the door of it and walked inside. The barrack seemed comfortable enough inside, with two bunk beds on either side of it. Blue tossed his bags onto the vacant bunk bed and put his suitcase underneath it.

"Hey!" shouted a voice from behind. "Take that out from under my bunk bed and find yourself a different bed, whoever the hay you are."

"Uh... sorry." Blue replied and turned around, noticing who the voice came from. It was a white-furred and blond-maned Pegasus stallion, who did not look happy. "I just thought it was vacant."

"Well, it's not." the stallion replied. "Go find yourself another bed and quit wasting my time. Wait a moment, are you the new guy?" he asked.

"Yep." Blue replied. "Now, if you excuse me... I'm trying to get settled in here."

"Like I said, you're not taking my bed." the stallion replied. "Go find your own bunk to sleep on."

"Alright, jeez..." Blue said. "No need to get so peeved on me."

"Your own bunk bed, no questions. I'm a higher rank than you are." the stallion replied.

"Sure, sure... then why do you still sleep in a room full of recruits?" Blue countered.

"Shut up, you." the stallion simply replied. "You're just jealous of me..." he said and smirked.

"Who would be jealous of you?" Blue asked, grinning. Before the stallion, called Spear, could react to Blue's comment, another Pegasus stallion trotted into the bunker. He was a muscular gray stallion who had a black mane, reassembling Blue's old friend, Thunder.

"Hey, Spear." the stallion begun. "Leave the new guy alone."

"Sure thing..." Spear said and walked outside, but not before turning and glaring at Blue. Blue cringed.

"I hope he wasn't causing you any trouble." the gray Pegasus begun. "Spear is usually like that towards new ponies, but once you get to know him, he can be a great friend."

"That's good to know." Blue started. "Hey, haven't we met before?"

"It's possible." the stallion replied. "I've seen you several times around Ponyville..."

"It's that you look a lot like an old friend of mine, Thunder." Blue explained.

"You mean... Thunder Storm?" the Pegasus asked. "Well, it's not just our looks that are similar to each other's. It's also our names."

"Okay then... What's your name?" Blue asked.

"Thunderblast." the stallion replied.

"Sounds cool. I'm Blue Skye." Blue replied.

"Nice to meet you." Thunderblast replied. "We better skedaddle. The drill sergeant wants us to do fifteen laps around the track."

"Fifteen laps?!" Blue gasped. "How big is the track?" he asked.

"It's pretty darn big..." Thunderblast replied. "I'm pretty sure you can handle it. Come on, let's go." he said and trotted out of the bunker.

"Sure thing." Blue replied and trotted out of the bunker after him.

"Alright sissies! You are all going to be running fifteen laps around the track today, no exceptions. Those who mess around will do more, alright?! So don't play any games with me." the drill sergeant explained, before noticing Thunderblast and Blue Skye coming towards them.

"Sir, we've had a little---" Thunderblast begun, but was cut off by the drill sergeant.

"QUIET! Both of you!" he shouted at Thunderblast and Blue. "Both of you will do two more laps... Is that clear?"

"Yes sir!" Thunderblast replied.

"Uh, sir yes sir!" Blue replied and turned to face his fellow Royal Guard trainees, who giggled to each other. Blue glared at them.

"Go, you sissies!" The drill sergeant shouted to the guards, who trotted off towards the track, which was behind some trees.

"Is he always like that?!" Blue yelled to Thunderblast, who was already on the track and running at the highest speed he can possibly go at.

"I'm sorry, but yes!" Thunderblast replied. "He's a drill sergeant, and they usually do that!"

"Darn it!" Blue yelled and trotted onto the track, trying to catch up to Thunderblast. "I feel like I'm gonna have a hard time being a Guard..."

"It's not hard, trust me. If you surpass the Drill Sergeant's and the Captain's expectations, it'll be a lot easier for you." Thunderblast yelled. "Try and keep up!"

"Sure thing." Blue replied and trotted towards Thunderblast, who was now nearing the halfway point of the lap. As Blue trotted towards Thunderblast, he felt a light tap on his shoulder.

"Huh?" Blue asked and turned around, but somepony tripped him up. He looked forward and noticed it was Spear, who simply saluted him and laughed, before flying off towards Thunderblast.

"HEY! YOU'RE CHEAT---" Blue replied and tried to get up, but was trampled by the other Royal Guards and faceplanted into the mud. He groaned and pulled himself back up and dusted himself off.

"Sissy! YOU'RE SLACKING OFF AND I DON'T LIKE THAT!" shouted a voice from behind. Blue turned around and noticed who it was. It was the drill sergeant, who was angry. Very angry.

"Sorry si--" Blue started, but was immediately cut off by the angry drill sergeant.

"Twenty press-ups for talking back!" the drill sergeant shouted.

"Press-ups?" Blue asked.

"Make that twenty-five." the drill sergeant replied.

"But---" Blue countered, but was interrupted again.

"Thirty." the drill sergeant said and smirked. "Do them now."

"Fine." Blue said, finally giving in.

"You know what? Make that fifty. I don't like your attitude." the drill sergeant said.

"Ugh..." Blue groaned and got down onto the ground and begun to push up. Several minutes later, he was done and he tiredly got up off the ground.

"NOW GO AND JOIN THE OTHERS!" the drill sergeant shouted. Blue did as he was told and trotted at speeds he hasn't trotted before, despite being tired from all the press-ups he had done. Eventually he managed to reach the other stallions, who were on their fourth or fifth laps already.

"HEY SPEAR!" Blue shouted from behind.

"Wha--Where did you come from?!" he shouted and tripped on a stone which was lying in front of him. This allowed Blue to overtake him and return to his original place behind Thunderblast.

"Oh, no you don't." Thunderblast replied and chuckled, before trotting off even faster. Blue sighed and trotted after him, but noticed that Spear is rapidly approaching him.

"Hey Blue!" Spear shouted from the back.

"Oh, darn it. Not you again!" Blue groaned. Spear flew over to Blue and landed beside him. "What do you want, Spear?" he asked.

"This!" Spear shouted and tried to trip him up, however, Blue's left hoof grabbed his just in time and pulled it down, bringing down Spear.

"Woah." Blue replied and trotted faster.

"You're gonna be sorry!" Spear replied and tried to get up.

This was enough for the drill sergeant to notice...

"HEY! BLUE PEGASUS! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" the drill sergeant yelled.

"Oh... that?" Blue replied, and turned to face Spear, who was trying to get up. "Sorry..."

"SORRY ISN'T ENOUGH! YOU NEED DISCIPLINE!" the drill sergeant shouted to him. "YOU DO FIVE MORE LAPS."

"Wait!" a voice shouted. "It wasn't Blue's fault!" It was Thunderblast.

"ZIP IT, THUNDERBLAST OR I'LL HAVE YOU JOIN BLUE!" the drill sergeant yelled.

"No seriously. Spear is the one behind all this. He's the one that's causing Blue trouble." Thunderblast explained and turned to face Spear, glaring at him.

"I trust Spear more than I trust you and that Blue guy!" the drill sergeant said.

"Yeah, but---" Thunderblast said, but was cut off by the drill sergeant.

"No, buts. Both of you, go!" the drill sergeant said. Thunderblast and Blue Skye did as they were told to, leaving Spear and the sergeant alone.

"Thanks for... helping me." Blue said, panting.

"It's nothing. I couldn't let him bully you like that." Thunderblast replied, also quite tired. "You're doing pretty well for a newbie."

"Thanks..." Blue replied. "So, is Spear always like that?"

"No, most of the time he's actually quite calm and friendly, but he doesn't like new ponies too much. Like I said, however, he'll warm up to you eventually." Thunderblast explained.

"Eventually..." Blue said to himself.

Several hours later...

It was nearing the end of the day and Blue, Thunderblast and Spear returned to their barrack, and in order to avoid humiliation by Spear, Blue pretended to go to sleep. When everypony else in the barrack was asleep, Blue quietly went down from his bunk and sat down beside the wall of the bunker. He took out a pen and a piece of paper and begun writing on it.

Dear mom, dad, Firestorm, and Meadow

I have great news. I got accepted as a recruit into the Royal Guard. Sounds great, doesn't it? Well, yeah, sort of. It'd be far better, if only the drill sergeant wasn't so rude and I wasn't humiliated by a fellow Guard, but as a Guard, I have to get used to it. I know this is gonna sound pretty childish, but I met a new friend there as well. He's called Thunderblast, and no, he's not the Thunder I knew in Elementary School, but he looks similar to him. Talking about the Thunder from Elementary School, I'm actually in luck; he works at the same outpost that I'm at. However, since he patrols the city, I haven't yet seen him. I hope to see him someday, but only time will tell. However, even though I'm pretty happy as a Royal Guard, I still miss you all like crazy and I hope to see you sometime soon.

Love,

Blue Skye

Blue then finished writing and yawned, before folding up the sheet of paper and putting it under his pillow, so he doesn't forget to take it to the mailbox tomorrow morning. As Blue prepared to go to sleep, he noticed Spear was up and was looking up at him, smirking.

"What is it, Spear?" Blue asked, groaning.

"I was looking at that letter you were writing to your mom and dad..." Spear explained.

"You were looking at that letter?" Blue asked.

"Yeah, I mean, grow the hay up. That isn't mature in any way..." Spear said.

"Yeah, sure... I bet you do write letters to mommy and daddy as well." Blue replied, grinning.

"I don't. Do you see me writing letters to my parents?" Spear asked.

"I don't---" Blue replied, but was cut off by Spear.

"There's your answer, momma's boy." Spear replied.

"Don't you dare call me "momma's boy"." Blue replied, with a serious tone in his voice. Although Blue had the strongest relationship in his family with his mother, he hated when other ponies commented about it.

"What are you gonna do, 'momma's boy'?" Spear asked, mocking Blue's face.

"Ugh... Spear, don't push it." Blue warned him.

"Shut up, momma's boy." Spear replied.

"Ugh, just go to sleep Spear." Blue replied.

"Sure thing, momma's boy." Spear said and chuckled. Blue groaned and went to bed.

Although Spear was a major obstacle in becoming a Guard, I still didn't give up on my dreams of becoming one, no matter how much he humiliated me. However, little did I know that the next big challenge, not only in my career as a Royal Guard, but also in my life was coming up and I wasn't even the slightest bit prepared for it.

The New Guard - Part II

July 16, 2007

Blue woke up at about 3-4 AM to prepare himself for a long day at work. Ever since joining the Guard nearly a year ago, Blue had only managed to get promoted to conscript. Even though it was still dawn, it did look as though it was going to be a nice day, but Blue and the other guards had a problem on their hooves. A big problem. Tourist season was beginning for Canterlot and ponies, Griffins, Zebras, you name it were coming from far away to see Canterlot, which meant Royal Guards had the difficult task of keeping ponies safe. Although Blue wasn't a Canterlot native and didn't know much about the place, he still promised himself he'd keep everypony safe and out of any hassle.

The Pegasus stepped outside into the cool air and sighed. He turned to look east and noticed the sun rising behind Mt. Solar. He knew that this moment of tranquility would not last very long as tourists would start arriving very soon from places all over the world. Blue sometimes wondered why Cloudsdale never got the same amount of attention as Canterlot. There was just as much to see and do in Cloudsdale, maybe even more. Was it only because the Princesses lived in Canterlot? Blue sure thought so, but his thinking was interrupted by a tap on his shoulders. It was Thunderblast.

"Hey, buddy. What ya doing?" Thunderblast asked.

"Not much. I'm just thinking..." Blue replied.

"Thinking about anything in particular?" he asked.

"Not really..." Blue replied. "Today's gonna be a rough day at work..."

"I know." Thunderblast said. "And there's gonna be tons of tourists here til October."

"Yeah." Blue replied. "Let's just do the best we can."

"I guess." Thunderblast said. "Why are you up so early anyways? The trumpet hasn't played yet..."

"I don't know. I just want to be the best guard I can." Blue replied. "This is a lot harder than you said it'd be, Thunderblast..."

"Maybe you're not trying hard enough, Blue." Thunderblast reassured him. "It's trying your best that's gonna get you far here."

"Yeah... I still feel like I don't really fit here, even though I've been here only ten months." Blue explained.

"Hey." Thunderblast begun, putting his hoof on Blue's shoulder. "You do fit in here, Blue. I know it's different than what you done back home, but from what I've seen so far from you, you're one of the best guards on the team."

"Thanks, Thunder." Blue replied and smiled at him. "I'm glad you think that, but if I really were that good, then why have I only gotten promoted to conscript since joining here?"

"I don't know... Promotions don't come as fast as you'd expect them to. Just try your best to impress the captain and it'll be alright." Thunderblast said, giving him a reassuring wink.

"Yeah, I guess." Blue said, still feeling unsure about his guard duty.

"Hungry?" Thunderblast asked, pointing to the mess hall.

"Kinda." Blue replied and put his hoof on his stomach, which growled slightly, indicating a 'yes'. Thunderblast chuckled and led him into the mess hall, where there wasn't many ponies gathered. The two friends sat down at a vacant table and begun to eat some cereal. Thunderblast looked at Blue, who seemed awfully nervous.

"Dude, you alright?" Thunderblast asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just freaking stressed!" Blue responded, agitated.

"Blue, chill." Thunder replied. "Chill."

"Alright..." Blue replied. "I'm just nervous. There'll be a lot more ponies to look out for today and for the next few months..."

"Dude, relax." Thunder reassured him. "It'll be alright. Just try and look out for them as best as you possibly can, okay? Oh, and by the way, it won't be just you who's patrolling, don't worry. I'm expecting Iron Armor to send out most of us to patrol."

"Alright." Blue replied, still feeling nervous.

6 AM

It was six AM and most of the guards were ready for patrolling the city and looking out for it's inhabitants and the wide varieties of tourists coming to visit the city. Iron Armor was about to give them a quick brief before sending them off, but not before Thunderblast and Blue joined in.

"Whew... finally, we made it." Blue replied, a bit puffed out. He had just ran from the mess hall to where the briefing was held, alongside Thunderblast.

"Perfect timing too..." Thunderblast replied, also tired from all the running.

"Alright, you all..." Iron Armor said, walking down and inspecting the Royal Guards. "This will be a very busy tourist season, from what we can tell, which means you will have to be extra watchful for everypony. Alright?" The Royal Guards present (including Thunderblast, Spear and Blue) shouted 'Yes sir'. Iron Armor simply chuckled to himself.

"You better not ruin this for me..." Spear whispered to Blue, who was standing beside him.

"Dude, we're all gonna patrol the city, not just you." Blue replied. "So shut your trap."

"You try make me..." Spear replied with a threatening tone in his voice. Blue awkwardly grinned at him and turned back to face Iron Armor, while Spear turned away from Blue and Iron Armor.

"Everypony---Spear, that means you as well." Iron Armor said, looking at Spear who was still facing the back. "Spear, fifty push-ups. Your attention span is worse than I thought it was." Spear then turned his attention back to Iron Armor and sighed.

"Sorry sir." Spear replied and glared at Blue, who simply shrugged. He then begun to do his push-ups, while the remaining ponies, including Blue and Thunderblast, chuckled to themselves.

"Anyways, everypony. All of you will go out to patrol given areas of the city. Shining Armor and Thunderblast, you both will patrol the castle and the gardens." Iron Armor explained.

"Sir, yes sir!" both stallions replied.

"Spear, you're patrolling downtown..." Iron Armor said. "Along with Blue Skye, Flash Sentry and Diamond Sword."

"WHAT?! Oh, hay no. I'm not patrolling with him! I'd be happy if it was only me, Flash and Diamond Sword, but Blue Skye? Not a chance." Spear complained, before being reprimanded by Iron Armor again.

"Do you want fifty more push-ups?" Iron Armor asked. "This isn't the discipline I expect from a Royal Guard, Spear. "

"No, sir." Spear replied. "I'll patrol with him." he said, before turning to face Blue and glaring at him again.

"I sure hope that you two will not quarrel." Iron said and looked at both guards, who simply smiled and chuckled awkwardly. Blue thought to himself. How hard can working with Spear be? he asked himself.

"We won't. Don't worry." Blue replied awkwardly and looked at Spear.

"Yep. We'll be alright." Spear replied.

"I sure hope so." Iron Armor replied and walked off to inspect the other guards.

"We won't be alright..." Spear said, with a threatening tone. Blue chuckled to himself, before being hoof-slapped by Spear.

"Seriously, dude. Don't you have anything better to do than pick on me?" Blue asked, now ticked off.

"I don't like you, Blue. I never did and never will." Spear simply replied and grinned at him.

"That's no reason to bully me." Blue responded.

"You're not Guard material, Blue Skye. Go back to being a Weather Pony or whatever you were before joining the guard." Spear said, smirking.

"Right... from what I can tell, you're not Guard material, Spear." Blue replied, with a smirk of his own.

"Says the guy who's never held a sword in his life." Spear said, grinning obnoxiously at Blue.

"Like you've ever held a sword, Spear..." Blue replied.

"Right boys! Off you go. Remember where you're patrolling, alright? There's gonna be far more ponies in the city than you can imagine." Iron Armor explained.

"Yes sir!" the Guard ponies replied and each of them left the outpost to patrol a different area of Canterlot. Spear's group left towards downtown, where ponies were preparing to go to work, with several carriages already filling the street.

"Man, I hate this place... It's so overcrowded and dull." Flash complained.

"It's just the way cities are, Flash." Blue replied. "I actually like living in the city."

"Ask for a transfer, Flash to Ponyville or Appleloosa or another small town." Spear suggested. "Or are you too scared to?"

"Nah. I'm fine." Flash Sentry replied. "Let's patrol, alright?"

"Yeah, we're wasting time." Diamond Sword said. "Let's just go patrol. Spear, you and Blue are patrolling Canterlot Main Street, while me and Flash will patrol Eclipse Avenue."

"Hey! Who said you're in charge?" Spear shouted.

"Nopony, but I'm just suggesting." Diamond Sword replied.

"Hey, guys. Shut up!" Blue shouted. "If we continue talking like this we're not gonna have anything done."

"Good point." Flash Sentry replied. "Let's just patrol."

"Yeah." Diamond Sword said. "We're patrolling where I said we are, no questions Spear." he explained and glared at Spear, who cringed.

"Right guys. Let's split up." Blue said.

"See you later." Diamond Sword replied and went with Flash Sentry to patrol Eclipse Avenue, which was a block away, leaving Blue and Spear alone on Main Street. The two Pegasi stood there near each other, paying attention to the ponies passing by. Even though Blue disliked Spear very much (and vice-versa), he still wanted to start again with Spear, maybe even manage to make friends with him, so he decided to start a conversation with him.

"So, how long are we gonna patrol here?" Blue asked.

"Are you stupid? Until lunch break! Then we get to change over." Spear explained, with an agitated tone in his voice.

"Alright, jeez..." Blue replied. "Chill, man."

"How the hay can I chill when you're yammering on?!" Spear shouted.

"Dude, if you don't shut up, we're gonna 1. attract unwanted attention and 2. we're gonna waste EVEN MORE time. So shut your trap, Spear." Blue replied, with an angry tone in his voice.

"Sure thing... I'll shut my trap, right after I shut yours." Spear said and hoofed Blue in the chin.

"Ugh... If we weren't in a public place, I'd literally beat you down." Blue threatened.

So far, my conversation with Spear isn't going too well... Blue thought to himself.

"You won't do that...'cause you can't." Spear replied, grinning. "I'd take you down faster than a timberwolf and an apple tree." he said, putting on a country accent that ponies who lived in the southern parts of Equestria spoke in.

"Where did you learn that country accent?" Blue asked.

"I was born in Canterlot, but I used to live in Dodge Junction as a kid and I moved up north back here. I guess it pays off to live in Dodge Junction." Spear explained. "Ever been there?" he asked.

"Once or twice, I think. I was there to visit mah Uncle Crested Cloud." Blue explained, trying to put on a country pony accent. Spear chuckled to himself.

"That was quite good." Spear praised him.

"Your's isn't too bad either, I have to admit." Blue complimented him.

I actually thought it'd go far worse than that... Blue thought to himself.

"Are we gonna talk about accents or are we going to continue patrolling?!" Spear shouted.

"Patrolling..." replied Blue. "No need to shout."

Over the next few hours, the two Royal Guards continued patrolling the Main Street of Canterlot, looking out for any suspicious ponies and for the locals and visiting tourists, while also enjoying one another's company. After lunch break, the two stallions got moved to a different part of the city, this time, a bit closer to the Castle. The two guards stood against some brick buildings and were quite tired, but by now, they were used to waking up early in the morning. It was quite hot outside and that added to their tiredness. However, despite being tired, the two stallions kept their eyes on some suspicious-looking ponies who had sacks on their shoulders and seemed to be circling the Canterlot Bank.

"Hey, Spear. You see these four loons?" Blue asked, pointing over to them.

"What about them? Should I go get their attention or something?" Spear asked.

"Yep." Blue replied.

"Why don't you do it?" asked Spear.

"Because... I can't. I'm gonna patrol and you're gonna get their attention." Blue replied.

"No, I'm gonna---" Spear shouted.

"Nope." Blue simply replied. "You go get their attention..."

"Alright..." Spear said and went over to them. As Spear walked across the street, the ponies with sacks trotted towards a large hole in the wall of the Bank and jumped in. Just then, Blue realized that those ponies were burglars and he trotted towards them. He also noticed that one of the stallions seemed to be approaching tourists and other ponies.

"Hey, Spear. You go after that guy..." Blue said and pointed over to the burglar who was approaching civilian ponies. "...while I go inside and try and stop these guys, alright?"

"Yeah, sure... Will you be alright here, Blue?" Spear asked, with a mocking tone in his voice. "Or do I have to call momma?"

"I sure hope so, and don't you dare..." Blue replied. "I can always call for more guard units to arrive. Good luck!" he said and jumped through the hole in the wall, while Spear went after the third burglar. Blue went through the bank, carrying a flashlight in his mouth. At long last he made his way into the vault where about fifty thousand bits were kept. The vault door was open, meaning somepony must have gotten in. Blue jumped into the vault and hid behind the door, trying not to get noticed by the burglars.

"This is a lot more than I expected it to be..." the first burglar said, stuffing some bits into his bag.

"Yep, but who cares? It's ours now anyways!" the second burglar shouted with joy.

"Quiet! Somepony might hear you!" the third burglar replied, also putting bits into his bag.

You bet somepony heard you... Blue said to himself and jumped out from behind the door.

"THIS IS THE Royal Guard! FREEZE! ALL OF YOU!" Blue yelled, pulling out a sword and aiming it at them. The burglars dropped their bags of cash onto the floor out of shock, spilling money everywhere. "You're all under arrest for attempted robbery of the Canterlot Bank! Hooves in the air, weapons down. Empty your bags of cash as well, now!" Blue yelled.

"We don't have any cash!" the burglar replied. "We're just here to check on the safe, that's all!"

"That's not what I heard you say before." Blue replied, grinning and still sticking out his sword. "Drop all your weapons... and empty those bags before I give you some jail time."

"If you really were a Royal Guard, then you'd be wearing armor and have a more intimidating look than you do." the lead burglar said, smirking. "Take him down, boys!" Blue's heart literally stopped. The burglars trotted towards Blue and diamond-dogpiled him. He struggled to breathe under the sheer weight the stallions were putting on him and tried to push them all off him, while the lead burglar grabbed all the bags and trotted out of the vault. Blue managed to turn his head to see the burglar leave, and was still pinned down by the burglars.

"GET... OFF... ME!" Blue shouted, trying to push them off, but they were too much of a force to hold down. Eventually, he managed to roll over, bringing the dogpile down and getting out of the vault, knowing he won't be able to take care of the burglars alone. Blue then closed the door to the vault and looked around him to see if there's anything there that can keep the door from opening. However, Blue didn't have the time and flew up to the safe lock and tried his hardest to lock the door. AGGGHHH... Blue groaned as he tried to lock the door. It took several failed attempts to lock the door, but in the end, he managed to do it. Blue then flew back to the outpost. A minute or so later, Blue landed at the outpost, where the remaining guards, including Iron Armor, were playing a game of poker. Blue suddenly burst into the outpost, puffed out.

"Blue Skye?" Iron Armor asked. "Aren't you meant to be patrolling?"

"What's the matter?" asked a veteran guard. "Sissy?"

"Guys! The... there's a robbery taking place at the bank... and I can't handle them alone. There's about four of them."

"Only four?" the same veteran guard asked.

"Well, there is four but there was only three present at the bank robbery, and the fourth guy is roaming the city somewhere..." Blue explained. "I need your help."

"Blue Skye, are you seriously saying that you can't take down four--three stallions by yourself?" Iron Armor asked.

"No sir." Blue replied, putting his head down. "I don't know if I can."

"Bluey Skye is gonna cry!" mocked the veteran stallion. His buddy, who was sitting beside him chuckled lightly.

"Shut your trap." Blue said. "Or I'll beat you up." The two other guards laughed, while Iron Armor sighed.

"You're kidding, right?" Iron asked. "You've been here for almost a year and you're one of our top stallions already, but you're saying that you can't stop three burglars on your own?"

"No, sir. I can't." Blue replied. Iron simply chuckled.

"Well, maybe I was wrong about you after all." Iron begun.

"What do you mean, sir?" Blue asked.

"Well, when you first joined here, I expected a disciplined, an ever-ready and a brave stallion and you seemed to be like that, but I don't know what's gotten into you just now." Iron said. "Maybe you're not what I expected you to be, Blue Skye."

"I'm sorry sir..." Blue replied. "I'm just, not cut out for being a Guard."

"You are, Blue Skye. You just need to stop doubting yourself." Iron explained. "That's what's holding you back from your dreams of being a successful Royal Guard. Now, I'd suggest you stop moping around, fly over to that bank and kick those burglars' flanks, because I know you can."

"Yes sir... I'll try my best." Blue said. "I'll try..."

Meanwhile...

Spear continued following the fourth burglar through the streets of Canterlot, bumping into several pedestrians in the process. Spear already followed the burglar across seven blocks and was already beginning to get irritated with him. Just then, the stallion stopped and turned towards an alleyway. Spear followed him into the alleyway, hiding between two bins to try to not get noticed by the burglar. The burglar stopped behind several full trash bags scattered across the alleyway and a fifth one, a unicorn, came out the back door of an apartment building. Spear eyed the two burglars from behind the bin.

"Where are the other three?" the fifth stallion asked. The fifth stallion looked and acted differently from the previous burglars, but Spear had no idea whether to trust him or not. From what Spear could tell, he seemed to be a leader to the burglars.

"They were at the bank..." the burglar explained. "They should be here with 150,000 bits any minute now."

"150,000?" Spear asked himself, bewildered. "I hope Blue knows what he's doing..."

"I want the bits now... no questions asked." the leader of the burglars explained. "I want you back here in ten minutes."

"Alright then..." the burglar responded and made his way towards the main road. Spear backed into the wall and accidentally kicked a plastic box into the middle of the alleyway. Spear gulped in fear...

"What was that?" the leader stallion asked.

"What was what?" the burglar replied.

"I heard something... Go check it out, why don't you?" the leader said. "The bits can wait..."

"Sure thing, boss." the burglar replied and walked towards the source of the noice.

I'm in deep trouble now... Spear thought to himself. The burglar then arrived where Spear was hiding and bent down to pick up the box, to maybe see if there was a rat or something underneath it.

"Nothing there, boss..." the burglar explained and turned his head to notice Spear hiding between the bins. "Well well well..."

Spear was done for...

"Uh... hi." Spear replied and waved his hoof awkwardly.

"Get outta there." the burglar replied, pulling out a sword and aiming it at Spear. Spear didn't hesitate to move out from between the bins. The leader noticed the burglar leading Spear over to him and chuckled darkly.

"Hooves up into the air. Now." the burglar replied and pointed his sword closer to Spear's body. Spear gulped and trotted towards the leader of the burglars.

"Well, lookie what we have here... A Royal Guard." the leader said and hoof-slapped him in the face.

"What do you want from me?" Spear asked, terrified about what's going on around him.

"We want you to lead us to our destiny..." the burglar replied. "150,000 bits are waiting for us in the Canterlot Bank... only for us."

"I am not taking you to the Canterlot Bank so you can rob it." Spear replied. "In fact, you're both under arrest for assaulting and keeping a Royal Guard hostage." he said and stuck out his sword to intimidate them, however the sword was dragged out of Spear's hooves and snapped in half by the leader's unicorn magic, along with any other equipment he had with him. Spear was literally shaking like a baby's rattle, much to the amusement of the two burglars.

"WOAH." Spear yelled.

"Take us to the 150,000 bits..." the leader said. "Now."

Spear simply nodded and led the two burglars out of the alleyway and into the busy city streets, towards Canterlot Bank.

Back at the Canterlot Bank...

Blue landed in an alleyway beside Canterlot Bank. The vault where he locked the burglars was accessible through the hole in the wall, which looked to be quite recently created and was covered in black ash. Blue stepped through the hole in the wall and made his way through the building towards the vault. After searching the building, he found the vault and tried to pull open the lock, but it didn't budge.

"UHHHGGHHH!" Blue groaned as he pulled against the lock. Eventually, it gave way and fell out of the door, which swung open, narrowly missing Blue's face.

"Woah..." Blue replied, recovering from the sudden shock he had. He then stepped into the vault and looked around. There was nopony there, or so it seemed...

"Hello?" asked Blue. Nopony replied. "Uh, hello?" he asked again, not receiving any reply. "I'm pretty darn sure it was this vault---" he said to himself, before being pounced on by one of the burglars.

"WOAH!" Blue yelled as he was pushed to the ground and endured several punches to the face by the burglar.

"THE BITS ARE OURS!" he yelled.

"WHO SAYS THEY WERE MINE?" Blue asked. "You're all under arrest!" he said, punching the burglar off him and taking out his hoof-cuffs. The second burglar also tossed himself at Blue and begun to punch him relentlessly, causing Blue to drop his hoofcuffs. Blue punched the burglar in the face, knocking him out. The second burglar charged at him from the side and knocked him into the wall of the vault, but Blue was quick to react and grabbed the second burglar by his hoof and throwing him onto the floor. The second burglar was too tired to move up, so when he saw that the hoof-cuffs were lying directly in front of him, he stretched towards it, but Blue's hoof caught the hoof-cuffs first. He picked the hoof-cuffs up and put them around the burglar's hooves.

"You'll wait here until the authorities arrive, alright?" Blue asked. The burglar didn't reply to his question and struggled with the hoof-cuffs Blue put around his hooves.

"Forget it. You're not getting them off that easily." Blue explained and smirked. The first burglar begun to open his eyes and got up to face Blue.

"Oh, no... not you again." Blue said.

"We will get those 150,000 bits." the stallion replied. "And no puny "Royal" Guard will stop us."

Just then...

"What the hay?" shouted a voice. "What are you all doing in this vault?!" It was one of the bank tellers who worked in the Canterlot bar. Apparently, he heard the commotion that was going on in the vault and decided to investigate what was going on.

"Mr. banker! I can explain..." Blue replied.

"You better!" the bank teller shouted.

"I am a Royal Guard... and I tracked these goons here into this vault. They wanted 150,000 bits from your vault." Blue explained.

"But if we don't give the 150,000 bits to our leader... he's gonna get angry, and I mean, really angry." the burglar said.

"Sure, sure." Blue replied and put another pair of hoof-cuffs around the burglar's hooves.

"I'll call my fellow Royal Guards to escort them to the prison... there's two more of these guys left and they're loose somewhere in the city." Blue explained.

"I cannot thank you enough for catching those criminals..." the bank teller replied. "I'll explain exactly what happened here to the boss."

"It's my duty as a Royal Guard to keep other ponies safe. Now, if you excuse me, I still have two more of these guys to catch." Blue replied and flew outside.

Meanwhile...

"There's the bank, but I'm afraid it's closed today." Spear explained, while pointing to the bank building.

"That's a lie... it's Monday and that bank is always open on Monday..." the burglar said.

"Come on! Lead us in... NOW." the leader shouted.

"I JUST TOLD YOU. IT'S NOT OPEN ON MONDAYS..." Spear lied.

"DON'T SHOUT AT OUR LEADER, IDIOT." shouted the burglar, who whacked Spear on the head repeatedly.

"It's alright. He just doesn't know us..." replied the leader. "Now, lead us into the vault. NOW."

"Fine!" Spear replied. "Although, I shouldn't be doing this..."

Blue was watching from above what the two ponies were doing to Spear and although Blue had a strong dislike for Spear, he had to help him somehow. He turned around and looked to see two patrolling Royal Guards approaching the bank and then turned back to face Spear. Blue then nosedived towards the ponies holding Spear and knocked the burglar off his feet.

"WOAH!" the burglar yelled as he was sent through the air. The leader looked up in the sky and noticed Blue Skye beginning to land in front of him. Blue had his hooves folded and was hovering several feet above the ground.

"Leave Spear alone..." Blue said. Spear's ears perked up at the mention of his name and backed against the wall. He turned to look at Blue and gave him an awkward, but friendly smile, which Blue returned.

"What do you care?" asked the leader of the burglars.

"Because Spear didn't do anything to deserve you treating him like that..." Blue replied, still hovering overhead.

"I don't have time for this... I need my money and nopony's gonna stop me." the leader said.

"You mean 150,000 bits? Not a chance." Blue replied and flew towards the hole in the wall, blocking it with his body. The leader smirked and trotted towards him, before firing a beam of magic at him.

"WOAH!" yelled Blue as he looked at the rapidly approaching beam of bright light. The magic spell hit the wall of the building, blowing it into the bank, along with Blue. Blue got up out of the rubble and dusted himself off.

"So that's how you wanna play, huh?" Blue asked. He smirked and flew at his highest speed towards the leader, who didn't notice and hit him, knocking him down. The leader smirked and got up, and kicked him in the shin, while Blue punched him in the face repeatedly for several times. Blue eventually punched the leader hard enough and knocked him down. Little did the two ponies know, they were drawing a crowd at the main road, which seemed to be growing larger every time a punch was exchanged between the two.

The leader then bucked Blue into a wall and got up, and charged towards him.

"Oh, no..." Blue said and jumped out of the way, just moments before the leader hit the wall and went right through it. Blue chuckled to himself before the unicorn turned to face him and his horn lit up. Blue flew over to the unicorn and decided to settle things like a stallion.

"Listen here... You and your buddy here are under arrest..." Blue said and hoofed his horn. "For attacking a Royal Guard, keeping my friend here, and trying to steal 150,000 bits from the Canterlot Bank."

"What are you gonna do?" asked the leader.

"Hoof-cuff you... and arrest you and your friend..." Blue said and pulled out his final pair of hoof-cuffs. "If you move, I punch you."

"Sure thing..." the leader replied, with a voice mocking Blue, but was punched in the face.

"I find that rude." Blue simply said and put the hoof-cuffs around the leader's hooves, but not before he sent out a large beam of magic, blasting Blue into the wall at high speeds, effectively knocking him out. The leader chuckled to himself as he watched Blue pass out, but his laughter turned to fear as he watched two guards approaching him.

"You're coming with us..." said the first guard.

"Come on, let's go." said the second one, who dragged him down the alleyway.

"Ugh... fine. I will be back, Canterlot! Just you wait!" the leader shouted. "You haven't seen the last of Goldbar! I can assure you!"

At the hospital...

Blue woke up at the Royal Canterlot Hospital, with a bandage wrapped around his left and right hooves and temporary amnesia. What happened to him? What had he done to end up here? These questions all raced through Blue's head as he tried to process the situation. About half an hour later, his memory returned to him. Blue then remembered it was the fight which he was involved in with "Goldbar" was why he got sent here. He felt unpleasant lying in the hospital bed, but he knew that he'd be here for a little while. Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in..." Blue shouted. The door swinged open and a nurse walked into the room, along with five other ponies. They were Iron Armor, Thunderblast, Spear, Shining Armor and... the Princess. Blue's jaw dropped when he saw Celestia in his room.

"Well, I underestimated you." said Iron Armor. "You're a better guardspony than I thought you were."

"Uh, thank you sir." Blue replied.

"That was some incredible bravery I've witnessed from you, Blue Skye. You definitely do fit in the guard, and this is proof!" Thunderblast said.

"Thanks, Thunder..." Blue replied. "But I still don't know."

"Hey, Blue." asked Spear.

"Yeah?" asked Blue.

"Thank you for risking your own life for me today..." Spear begun. "And I'm sorry for being such a jerk towards you. I just didn't want you to take my place in the guard, because before you came I was the best pony there, other than Shining Armor and Thunderblast. Will you ever forgive me?"

"It's okay, Spear..." Blue replied. "And, yeah. Of course I will. Maybe we could be friends..." he suggested.

"You'd want to be my friend after what I done to you?" Spear asked.

"Yep. I mean, we can always start again, can't we?" Blue asked.

"Yep. We could." Spear replied and smiled. "How did you rest?"

"I rested pretty well, Spear." Blue replied.

"That's good, Blue." Spear replied. "I gotta go patrol now... You'll be alright?"

"Eeyup." Blue replied, in a country accent.

"Keep working on that country accent. You're getting better at it. See ya later, buddy." Spear said and went out of the ward, and Thunderblast joined him moments later.

"Bye Spear." Blue said and turned to face the remaining ponies gathered.

"I have heard of what happened in the bank and with Spear... and I have to say, I'm impressed Private Blue Skye." Iron Armor said. "You're doing a far better job at this than I thought you would. And I'm sorry for doubting you today. You proved yourself to not only us, but to all of Equestria as well. I'm proud of you, Blue."

"Thank you sir." Blue replied.

"And I believe, the Princess would like to say something to you." Iron Armor said. "I'll leave you two here." he said and went outside the ward.

"Hello, Blue Skye." the Princess begun.

"Your majesty." Blue replied curtly.

"Please, 'Princess' is fine. I just wanted to say how proud and how honored I am to call you one of my guards. Your determination to help a friend and to help the ponies of Canterlot, especially during one of the busiest times of the year, is something I have never seen before... You are now a private, Blue. You are now a Royal Guard."

"Thank you... Princess." Blue stuttered and smiled at her. "I'm just doing my duty as a Guard."

"And you're doing a great duty, Blue." Celestia said. "Thank you for helping keeping the city safe. Once you're all healed, come to the armory in the castle and you'll get your armor there. Alright?" she asked.

"Yes..." Blue replied, with a grin on his face.

"Thanks again, Blue. Now, you should get some rest. I'm not going to disturb you." Celestia said and walked out of the ward.

"Princess, you're not disturbing me or anything, no, no." Blue replied and chuckled awkwardly.

"Well, still... I want you to get some rest, alright?" Celestia asked.

"Right. Bye, Princess..." Blue replied. Celestia smiled, closed the door and went away, leaving Blue alone in the ward. Suddenly, there was another knock on the door. This time, it was Meadow Breeze, Blue's precious marefriend, who somehow managed to find out that Blue was here.

"Come in---Meadow?" Blue asked.

"It's me, Bluey." Meadow said, smiling and trotted up to him.

"How are you, Meads? I haven't seen you since last weekend..." Blue said and hugged her.

"I'm fine. What happened to you, if I may ask?" she asked him.

"Just a little accident at work. Nothing too serious." Blue explained.

"Ah, I see. I also heard you were promoted to Private as a Royal Guard. I'm so proud of you, honey." she said and nuzzled him. "I just wish we could be together more often..."

"I wish the same, but unfortunately, my job isn't like that... I forgot to ask, did the travel magazine accept you, Meads?" Blue asked.

"Yes!" Meadow replied and hugged him.

"I'm so happy for you, my Meadow..." Blue said. "But I'm nervous myself... what if I'll be a bad Royal Guard?"

"You won't, Bluey. You'll be a great guard." Meadow reassured him. "I believe in you, honey..." she said and caressed him.

"I couldn't ask for a better marefriend than you, Meads... Thank you for being with me through life's ups and downs." Blue said and kissed her on the forehead.

"And I couldn't have asked for a better coltfriend than you, Blue. Without you, I don't know where I'd be right now... You should get your rest, Bluey." Meadow said and smiled at him. "You'll feel better when you're rested."

"Alright then, Meads." Blue said. "Thanks again."

Proposing to Meadow

Dear diary,

Well, what can I say? After that incident in Canterlot with the bank robbery, Iron Armor (who's now been replaced by Shining Armor saw potential in me and promoted me to Private, and with that, I got my long-awaited armor and a whole new timetable. I now have longer patrol hours and far less time to mope around. I also became a favored Guard of Princess Celestia and frequently had the opportunity to patrol and guard the castle. Life as a Royal Guard was tough and it still is, but it's all worth it, especially since I knew I have the weekends off and I can visit my marefriend and family. Darn, did I miss them sometimes, especially since I was living in Canterlot alone at the moment, but the weekends were the only times I could get away from it all and go back home. Sometimes, I wonder to myself... am I ready to take the next big step, not in the Royal Guard, but in my life? I mean, I've been going out with Meadow for the past ten years and our relationship seems to get stronger and stronger and I wonder, should I pop the question to her or should we remain coltfriend and marefriend?

~ Blue Skye

July 20, 2012

Several years have passed since the incident in Canterlot and life for Blue and the rest of the city returned to normal. Blue was now a proud Corporal within the Royal Guard and was nearing a promotion to Sergeant. Life could not have been better for him, but one question still plagued him. Will he be alone for the rest of his life, or will somepony share it with him? Blue stepped out of the train, still wearing his guard armor, at the Ponyville Station and looked around and smiled. It was a warm and pleasant Friday evening, and Blue was coming back home to celebrate Meadow's birthday, which was the next day. He had already bought her a present, a ring, to be more exact. Blue felt that their relationship has reached it's full potential and that Meadow's birthday would be the right time to propose to her. After all, they both loved each other and Blue thought that the perfect birthday present for her would be him asking for her hoof in marriage. He was literally shaking just thinking about it. What if she says 'no'? Or what if she freaks out? Just in case if she does say "no", Blue also bought her a box of chocolates and some roses while in Canterlot. All Blue wanted is to make Meadow's birthday as special as possible because he loved her so much, but little did he know, it was gonna be far harder than he thought it'd be...

"Blue!" shouted a voice. It was Rainbow Dash, who was cloud-busting in Ponyville and noticed him. "I didn't expect you here today!"

"Hey Dashie." Blue replied and hugged her. "I'm here for Meadow's birthday. Did she invite you?"

"She sure did!" Dash replied. "She invited about seven-eight ponies all together, including her family members. What did you get her, Blue?"

"I don't want to reveal too much about it. Let's just say it's something special." Blue replied, not knowing how Rainbow Dash will react. "So, how's work been for you?" he asked.

"It's been... well, meh. Same as usual, except we get to put on more thunderstorms this year than usual." Dash replied. "What about you?"

"Well, uh, the Captain says I'm one of the best ponies on the guard and I'm close to being promoted..." Blue explained.

"To what?" Dash asked.

"Sergeant." Blue replied, with a proud grin on his face.

"Wow! That's great, Blue." Dash said and ruffled his mane playfully. Blue chuckled and flattened it with his hoof.

"Alright, Dash..." Blue said.

"Where are you gonna stay, Blue?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Hm... I'm planning to go to Cloudsdale and stay at my parents' house." Blue replied and pointed towards Cloudsdale.

"Want me to take you there?" Dash asked.

"No, no. It's fine, Dashie. You have work to do and I can fly myself. Thanks for offering, by the way." Blue replied. Dash smiled at him.

"Alright Blue. Stay safe!" she said. Blue smiled at her and flew off towards Cloudsdale. About half an hour later, he landed in the part of town where he used to live. Over the years ever since Blue left Cloudsdale and became a Royal Guard, it hasn't changed much, with only some buildings being built or repaired. He smiled to himself and walked down the road to his house. About 10 minutes or so later, he arrived at his house and knocked. A moment or so later, the door opened, revealing a tall light-orange Pegasus with a brown mane. It was Blue's younger brother, Firestorm, who was now thirteen years old.

"Big bro!" Firestorm said and hugged him. "How are you?"

"Hey, Firestorm. I'm great! What about you?" Blue asked.

"I'm great as well! Come on in!" he said, opening the door further to let Blue in.

"Son!" shouted a voice. It was Lightning Fast, who came over and hugged him.

"Hey dad." Blue replied.

"My gosh, we missed you." Lightning explained. "Once mom comes back, you'll need to tell us all about your adventures in the Royal Guard." he said.

"Where's mom anyway?" Blue asked.

"She's still at work. She should be back in half an hour or so." Lightning explained. "So, how's work been for you lately?" he asked.

"Well, it's been good so far. I'm quite close to a promotion at work too." Blue replied, taking off his guard helmet and putting it beside the window.

"A promotion?" Lightning asked. "That's great, son. Hm... you're getting promoted to Sergeant, aren't you?" he asked.

"Yup." Blue replied.

"That's great, son! I'm so happy for you." Lightning said and hugged him again. "Like I said, you're gonna have to tell mom about this."

"Thanks dad." Blue replied and went upstairs to his old room in order to change out of his guard armor. While in the room, he also got out a half-empty water bottle and put the roses in it, so that they are fresh for tomorrow. He also put the chocolates into the refrigerator, so that they don't melt by tomorrow and the ring remained hidden in his suitcase, so it's safe. Blue then cleaned himself up and walked downstairs. He then joined the rest of his family at the dinner table, including Summer Skies, who's just come back from work. During the dinner, Blue appeared visibly nervous and was fidgeting with his food. He was still thinking about whether he was ready to propose to Meadow and whether she would accept or say 'no'.

"Blue, sweetie, finish your hay fries." Summer asked.

"Alright, mom. Sorry, I'm just tired. I've had a long day at work and it took a while getting here." Blue replied.

"Alright son. You can go to bed soon but just finish eating those fries." Summer explained. Blue grumbled and begun to finish off the hay fries.

"So, Blue. How was work?" Lightning Fast asked.

"Well, it wasn't too bad today. I patrolled the castle and the castle gardens." Blue explained. "There wasn't really much going on in Canterlot today."

"So why did you say you're tired?" asked Firestorm.

"Well, I was bored today at work, plus, I sorta lied there." Blue explained.

"So, why are you so sad son?" Summer asked.

"I'm not sad. I just have a little problem on my hooves." Blue explained. "A big problem."

"What kind of problem?" Lightning Fast asked.

"Well, I'm wanting to... uh, propose to Meadow." Blue replied awkwardly. Firestorm then spat out the remaining food in his mouth and begun to giggle. Blue turned to look at him and glared.

"Okay, what's so funny about proposing to Meadow?" Blue asked. "I mean, you'll very likely pop the question someday as well when you get a marefriend, Firestorm." he explained, smirking.

"What?! I am not getting married. Not now, not ever." Firestorm replied.

Someday, little bro... Someday. Blue thought to himself and grinned at him.

"Well, that's great son! We're so proud of you." Summer replied and smiled at him.

"Yep, but are you ready?" Lightning asked.

"I don't know, to be honest." Blue replied. "I mean, I did buy a ring in Canterlot and I think that it'd be a great present for her birthday. Still, I honestly don't know whether she'd like it." he explained.

"Nonsense, son. It's a great idea!" Lightning Fast said.

"I agree with dad. It is a pretty good idea, especially since you two have been going out with each other for quite some time now." Summer said. "I think you should propose to her."

"Well, I think you shouldn't." Firestorm begun. "I mean, that is sorta cheesy if you do."

"Zip it, Firestorm." Blue replied, glaring at him. "I didn't ask for your opinion..."

"Blue, that's no way to talk to your brother like that." Summer scolded him.

"Yeah, sorry mom..." Blue said, and glared at Firestorm. "But he needs to mature."

"Well, anyways..." Lightning Fast begun. "I hope you're ready for her birthday."

"Yeah, I hope so too." Blue replied. "Alright, good night, everypony. I'm gonna go to sleep now."

"Night son." both Lightning Fast and Summer Skies said as they watched Blue look at them with an unsure look and walk up the stairs.

The next day...

Blue woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside the window. He opened his eyes and groaned as he slowly woke up. What time is it? he thought to himself as he turned to look at his alarm clock. It was around 10:30 AM, which meant that Blue had less time than he should have to prepare himself for the party. Blue got off the bed, went to get washed up and combed his mane into his usual style and then went downstairs to eat his breakfast. Blue was home alone today, along with his little brother, since Lightning Fast and Summer Skies were at work, so it was no wonder that there was nopony downstairs except Firestorm reading a comic book.

"Hey little bro." Blue said as he walked past him. "Whatcha reading?" he asked.

"The Power Ponies." Firestorm replied. "They're so cool..."

"So, anything going on for you at school?" Blue asked.

"Well, not really..." Firestorm replied awkwardly. Blue raised an eyebrow.

"What's wrong?" Blue asked the seemingly awkward Firestorm.

"Well, uh, there's this one mare at school----" he begun, but stopped when he noticed Blue chuckling at him. "Hey, don't laugh, dude!"

"I'm not laughing at you, dude. I just find it funny that you said that you don't want a marefriend and it turns out that you have a crush on a certain somepony." Blue explained, smirking. Firestorm sighed and nodded.

"Yep. I like her... a--a lot..." Firestorm begun. "I'm just worried about what she'll think of me."

"I don't know. Just try and talk to her and get to know her... start off with being friends." Blue explained. "Trust me. I've learnt that lesson myself before."

"Yeah... Maybe." Firestorm replied. "Are you gonna propose today?" he asked.

"I've decided that... yeah. I'll do it tonight." Blue explained. "I hope it'll go good..."

Several hours have passed and Blue was in the bathroom, busy preparing himself for Meadow's party. Instead of going in his formal clothes or his guard uniform, Blue decided to put on a striped shirt and combed his mane upwards. Even though today was a special day, Blue preferred to keep things simple. After all, he had no idea what to expect from the ponies present, even though he wanted to impress Meadow. Meadow wasn't like most mares or stallions, who'd invite around 20-30 ponies to their parties and have them all wear fancy suits and dresses. Instead, she preferred the company of her closest friends and family members. He was very stressed trying to make himself look as presentable and yet as simplistic as possible. Blue also took the roses out of the water bottle and carried them downstairs.

After taking a long, hot shower and spraying himself with some deodorant, Blue came downstairs, wearing the shirt and noticed Summer Skies (who was finished work early today.) standing in the living room.

"Hey, son." she said. "My, my. You're looking swell today..." she complimented him.

"Thanks, mom." Blue replied, smiling. "Today is a big day..." he said, pulling out the engagement ring from his shirt pocket.

"I'm so proud of you, son..." Summer replied and hugged him. "I always knew this day would come. My son is finally proposing to his marefriend..."

"Thanks mom..." Blue said. "I'm just nervous..." he explained.

"Don't be." Summer comforted him. "It'll all be alright. I promise you son."

"I sure hope so..." Blue replied, still feeling a bit uneasy.

"Hey, relax. If you want, I can tell you the story of how dad proposed to me." Summer begun.

"Sure." Blue replied. Summer then came over to Blue and sat down on a stair beside him. She tapped the stair so that Blue could sit down beside her as well.

"Well, it all started back in the summer of 1985. Me and your dad have been hanging out for a little while now." Summer explained. "And he felt that the next step to take was asking for my hoof in marriage."

"Cool." Blue said. "So, was he nervous?" he asked.

"Very." Summer replied. "You have no idea how nervous he really was. Sometimes, instead of being with me, he spent up to an hour locked away in his room, contemplating whether he should do it or not."

"Okay..." Blue replied. "Then what?"

"Eventually, his friends and family managed to convince him to do so and he asked me out for the 'date of a lifetime'." Summer explained. "And oh boy, what a date it was."

"What did you do?" Blue asked.

"We went to the best place in all of Equestria." Summer explained.

"Which is where?" he asked.

"It's in Los Pegasus, Blue." Summer explained. After she mentioned 'Los Pegasus', Blue immediately begun to think of his best friend, Singer Case. It's been a few years now since he left for the bright lights of Los Pegasus and Blue had only heard Singer's voice on the radio a few times before. Sometimes Blue wondered if they will ever see each other again, but then again, only time will tell. "I've never been there before that, but when your dad took me there, it was like a dream come true. And then, we went up to a hill overlooking the city, he blindfolded me, held out the ring and told me to take it off. I was shocked at first, then I almost teared up out of joy shouting "yes". It was a truly magical day, Blue..." she explained. "And then, we got married, and about two years later, we had you." she finished and smiled at Blue.

"So you really think it'll go as well as dad's proposal did, mom?" Blue asked.

"Yep, son." Summer said. "All you gotta do is not doubt yourself, and stay calm. It'll all go good."

"Thanks mom..." Blue replied. "I hope it'll go well as you said it will."

"There there now. It'll be alright." Summer reassured him.

"I guess so." Blue awkwardly said and opened the front door. He then stepped outside and turned to face his mom. "I better go, mom. Meadow's party is beginning soon and I don't want to be late."

"Alright then. Have fun." Summer said and winked at him. Blue simply smiled and walked down the pathway towards Meadow's house, not knowing he forgot something very important...

Around five-ten minutes later, Blue arrived at Meadow's house and looked into the backyard. There were several picnic tables and a barbecue standing there and several of her friends and relatives were gathered. Blue gulped and walked through the gate, almost dropping the roses from his mouth. Despite the things his mom and dad told him about proposing to Meadow, he still felt strange and quite unpleasant walking into that backyard. However, he already bought the ring, and plus, he also felt it was the right time to do so. He couldn't just back out now. After some reluctance he walked up to the front door and knocked twice.

"Hello, Blue. Glad you could make it!" said Icy Breeze who opened the door.

"I won't miss this for the world, ma'am." Blue replied. "May I come in?" he asked.

"Of course!" Icy replied and motioned for him to come in. "Meadow is upstairs, getting ready."

"That's good." Blue replied. "I have a little surprise for her."

"Ooh. I'm sure she'll enjoy it." Icy Breeze replied, closing the door behind Blue.

Yeah, she'll definitely enjoy it. Blue thought to himself, doubting if this was going to work or not. Icy led Blue into the backyard where Blue saw several of Meadow's family members. Blue could tell that they were from different parts of Equestria, and maybe even beyond. There was an actual gryphon in the crowd as well. Blue smiled nervously and walked outside. There were far more ponies than it seemed and Blue begun to have second thoughts about proposing to Meadow. Blue hated huge crowds, but since he was already here now, then he had no choice.

"Who are you, young'n?" asked an orange Pegasus with a country accent. The pony looked awfully strange, with a messy purple mane and rounded glasses. He had some hay as his cutie mark.

"I'm just here for the party..." Blue awkwardly replied. "That's all."

"Hey, Haystack! Leave him alone, why don't you?" said another voice. It came from a tall, light blue Pegasus mare, standing behind Blue. Her mane was yellow-white and her cutie mark was some fog.

"Alright, alright Misty Cumulus..." Haystack groaned. "Nice meeting ya kid." he said before walking to check on the barbecue.

"I hope he wasn't giving you any trouble... My cousin can be a bit... eccentric." the mare explained.

"I can see." Blue replied. "He wasn't, but thanks."

"Yeah, I'm glad I can help." Misty replied. "So, you must be a friend of Meadow."

"Yep. I'm actually her..." Blue explained, before being cut off by Haystack's voice.

"Misty get over here! The barbecue is ready!" he shouted. Misty groaned and flew over to him. Blue begun to walk towards the barbecue, when he bumped into the gryphon.

"Oops." Blue said. "Sorry for that."

"And so you should be!" the gryphon yelled at him. "My feathers are ruffled because of you!"

"Okay, okay!" Blue replied. "I honestly don't care whether your feathers are ruffled. Just let me get past, okay?" he asked.

"You have some strong words." the gryphon replied, smirking. "But not strong enough..."

"Okay, Gilda." said a voice. "Behave." Blue gave the gryphon one last glare before turning to face where the voice came from. It was Meadow, who was dressed in a black dress. Blue's jaws dropped at the sight of the beauty standing in front of him. Meadow seemed to be getting more beautiful every time he saw her and Blue sometimes wondered whether he actually deserved a mare as kind and beautiful as her.

"Whatever..." Gilda replied and flew off towards the barbecue.

"Hey handsome." Meadow said and smiled at him.

"Hey Meadow." Blue replied and passed the roses into her hoof. "Happy birthday, honey."

Meadow took the roses and smiled. She then gave him a kiss on the cheek and smiled at him. "Thank you, Bluey."

"I also have one more present for you, but it'll have to wait until later, alright?" Blue asked.

"Sure thing." Meadow replied. "For now, let's get some food. I'm starving. What about you?" she asked.

"Same here." Blue replied.

"Alright." Meadow said and smiled at him. The two ponies walked over to the barbecue and Blue gave them both a vegetable kebab each. They sat beside all of the other ponies, including Grasslands, Icy Breeze and even Rainbow Dash, who just arrived from Ponyville.

"Ya two are in love or somethin'?" asked Haystack, who was sitting opposite them. Blue and Meadow turned to face each other and blushed.

"Yeah. We are." Blue replied.

"Hey Haystack. Do yourself a favor and lay off them." Misty said angrily.

"Yeah. It's not our fault you never got yourself a marefriend." said Meridian, Misty's brother.

"Shut up, all of ye or I'll come down on you like timberwolves on an apple tree." Haystack replied threateningly.

"You know that that made little sense, right?" said another voice. It was Flower Blossom, Meadow's older cousin. "I mean I've never been to Appleloosa, but I never heard of a timberwolf attacking an apple tree."

"IT'S A COMMON EXPRESSION, FLOWER!" yelled Haystack. Meadow and Blue cringed.

"Shut up, Haystack." said Misty. "Just shut up."

"Sorry for them..." Meadow whispered into Blue's ear. "They're usually like that at family gatherings."

"It's alright, Meads." Blue replied. "My family can be like that too."

"Alright, everypony. Let's quit the arguing and remember that we're here to celebrate my daughter's birthday." Grasslands explained. Blue turned to face her and smiled at her. He then touched his shirt pocket to see if the ring was there. Blue's heart literally stopped. The ring wasn't there and it couldn't have fallen out. Blue just bought this shirt several days ago and it definitely didn't have any holes in it. Blue tried to remember where he left the ring, but was snapped out of it by the family singing Happy Birthday. Blue decided to join in, but his unsure expression remained. After singing Happy Birthday to Meadow, who was teary eyed, Icy came out of the kitchen carrying a large cake. Icy then placed the cake on the table where everypony was sitting and sat down with them.

"Make a wish Meads." Blue said and kissed her on the cheek.

Meadow then closed her eyes and blew out the candles on the cake after which everypony gathered clapped their hooves including Blue, who was the most happiest out of the crowd. He snapped out of it, remembering that he forgot to bring the ring.

"So, what exactly did you bring her?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Dashie, please..." Blue said. "I've left it at home." he whispered into her ear.

"Seriously, what is it?" Dash asked. Blue simply sighed and whispered into her ear.

"It's... it's an engagement ring." Blue replied and looked at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash smiled slyly and giggled.

"Don't tell her, okay?" Blue asked.

"Oh, right... Want me to go get it for you?" she asked.

"No, Dash. I need to go get it myself." Blue replied and gulped.

"Alright." Rainbow Dash said. "I'll keep Meadow busy."

"Okay. I'll be back in 10-15 minutes." Blue replied and flew away from the house. As he flew towards his family's house, he tried to remember where exactly he left the ring. He then realized that he left if in his suitcase. He couldn't have left it anywhere else. A few moments later, Blue landed near the front door of his family home and tried to open it to no avail.

"UGH..." Blue groaned. He then begun to knock frantically on the door, hoping somepony will answer. Suddenly, the door opened, revealing Firestorm.

"Hey, big bro. Is the party over?" he asked.

"It's far from being over, Firestorm. Now, if you excuse me." Blue said and flew off upstairs towards his old bedroom.

"What are you looking for exactly?" Firestorm asked.

"My engagement ring..." Blue replied tiredly. "I left it at home by mistake..."

"Okay." Firestorm said. "Do you remember where you left it exactly?" he asked.

"I think it was in my suitcase." Blue replied. "Yeah, definitely."

"You sure, dude?" Firestorm asked. "I could come up there and help you if you like."

"Nah, that's okay." Blue replied. "I got it..." he said and continued searching through his suitcase. This was stressing Blue out. He expected proposing to Meadow to be easy, but it seems that fate had other plans for him.

"Yeah, right." Firestorm replied and flew upstairs. "I'll help you."

"Okay... fine." Blue groaned, finally giving in.

Meanwhile, back at Meadow's family's house, the party was still going on. However, there was one pony who wasn't having any fun, and that pony was Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash stood beside the fence and looked around the street to see if Blue was coming. Over twenty minutes have passed since he left and Dash wondered what could have been taking him so long.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash?" asked Meadow, who noticed Blue isn't there.

"Yeah? What is it Meadow?" Rainbow Dash replied.

"Where's Blue?" Meadow asked.

"Uh... he---he-he had to go for a little while. He'll be back in a few... minutes..." Rainbow Dash explained awkwardly. Meadow nodded in understanding and went back to join the other ponies at the table. Rainbow sighed and looked around the neighborhood. The street was almost entirely empty except for one or two ponies walking by. This seemed to unnerve Rainbow Dash, who continued to look for Blue. If Blue didn't come, then Rainbow would have to tell Meadow what he had planned for her all along...

"WHERE THE HAY DID I LEAVE IT?!" Blue screamed, tossing his empty suitcase onto his bed. He looked through the suitcase, finding nothing of any particular interest in it.

"Alright, big bro. Chill..." Firestorm said trying to calm him down. "Maybe you left it in a different room."

"Yeah?" Blue asked. "Like where?"

"Try the bathroom. You could have left it there this morning when you were preparing." suggested Firestorm.

"Maybe." Blue replied and trotted off towards the bathroom. When he reached the bathroom he looked around to see if he put the engagement ring anywhere there. After looking around the toilet, he came to a small, purple box lying beside the bathtub faucet. It was the engagement ring, which Blue had left there while getting prepared for Meadow's birthday. He sighed then facehoofed himself. How could he be so foolish and forget where he left it? However, he didn't have time to answer that question. He had to get back to the party before it's finished. Blue let out a scream of joy before trotting out of the bathroom, almost bumping into Firestorm.

"Woah. Did you find it?" he asked.

"I sure did! Thanks, Firestorm." Blue replied and hugged him, before trotting downstairs, again almost bumping into somepony. This time, it was Summer Skies.

"Woah! Blue, you startled me." Summer scolded him. Blue sighed. "Aren't you meant to be at Meadow's party, son?" she asked.

"Yeah, well... I forgot to get something." Blue confessed and grinned, before opening the front door and trotting out. "I'll be back later!" he said, taking off towards Meadow's house.

"Dashie, where is Blue? He was supposed to be here ten minutes ago." complained Meadow, who was now getting agitated. The party was beginning to come to a close and the first guests (Gilda and Misty Cumulus, who worked at the Weather Factory) were beginning to leave.

"Yeah... about that." Dash begun sheepishly. "He went to get your present..."

"My present?" asked Meadow. "I thought the roses he gave me was the present."

"He had something else planned for you." Dash explained. "You'll see... eventually..."

Just then, Blue noticed Meadow's house and tried to land there. The heat and humidity (which was fairly typical for Cloudsdale in July) was beginning to get to him and making him feel unpleasant, but that didn't stop him trying to get to Meadow's house. He was nearing the backyard, when he felt the ring begin to slip out of his hooves. Blue was quick to react and caught it before it could slip any further and fall onto the ground. He grinned at nopony in particular, before hitting and bouncing off the chimney of Meadow's house and aiming towards the backyard.

"AAHH!" Blue screamed wildly as he nosedived towards the crowd below.

"Bluey?" asked Meadow, confused about what's going on. The Pegasus then looked at Meadow and the rest of her family before hitting the clouds. He was weak, but that didn't stop him from extending his hoof and holding out his present to Meadow. The engagement ring.

"Meadow?" Blue asked and looked forward, his vision distorted and blurred from the impact. "There---there's three of you for some reason."

"There there now, Blue." she said comforting him. "You're alright. It's gonna hurt for a little bit, but it'll cool off."

"Meadow?" Blue asked. "I want to ask you something." he said and flipped open the box, revealing a golden ring with a small diamond on it. Meadow's jaw dropped out of shock.

"Yes, Blue?" she asked nervously.

"We've been going out now for eight years, is it? Yeah, it was eight years." Blue begun. "And I don't know what I would do if it wasn't for you. You helped me through so much in life. You're sweet, caring, loving, beautiful... I just can't think of enough words which'll describe you. I love you so much... and nothing would make me happier than to see you become Mrs. Blue Skye..." Meadow's eyes begun to tear up and a grin begun to form on her face. "So, I ask of you... will you marry me?" Blue asked. Tears of joy begun to roll out of Meadow's eyes and she smiled at Blue.

"Yes... I will, Bluey." Meadow said and kissed him, before taking the ring and putting it on his hoof. An eruption of 'daaws' and 'aahs' came from Meadow's family and Blue wrapped his wing around Meadow and held her close to him.

"I love you Meads..." Blue said. "I love you so much."

"I love you too, Bluey." Meadow replied and kissed him on the cheek. Almost everypony gathered was happy, except for one cynical Pegasus mare...

"UGH. Please, cut out this lovey-dovey mush! This is just crazy..." Rainbow Dash complained.

"Oh, please... I heard what's going on between you and Thunderblast..." Blue teased her, knowing that she is the marefriend of one of his fellow Guards. "So, I'm guessing Soarin' isn't good enough for you?" he asked a glaring Rainbow Dash. "Oh, come on Rainbow. You know I'm messing with you."

"I don't go out with anypony!" Rainbow Dash countered. "I swear!"

"You sure?" asked Meadow, also grinning.

"Well---uh..." Rainbow Dash begun, blushing, but she was cut off by a grey stallion with a black mane trotting up to her.

"Yes, it's all true." he said. It was Thunderblast, who nuzzled Rainbow Dash. Dash sighed and grinned.

"Yeah, it kinda is." Dash replied, shrugging and kissed him on the cheek.

"You know what?" shouted a voice. It was Haystack. "I call for another party!" However, this time instead of shouting at him, the ponies gathered, including Blue and Meadow chuckled at the stallion. This day couldn't have gone better for Blue or for Meadow, but what's in store for these two lovebirds only time will tell...

Epilogue

October 16, 2012

It was a sunny day in October and Blue was in his Ponyville house getting ready to go to work, little knowing that today would be an important day for him. A very important one indeed. Blue put on his guard armor and helmet, before going to the train station, which was only two blocks away from his house. Well, not exactly his house anymore. After he proposed to Meadow back in July, she moved in with Blue and the two have been living happily together ever since. Blue and Meadow had already planned the wedding, which was scheduled to take place in early November and were waiting eagerly for it to occur.

At the train station, Blue looked at the train timetable and tried to find when the train to Canterlot would arrive. It was 10:17 AM and Blue's train was supposed to arrive five minutes ago. He didn't like long waits and was already beginning to get agitated. As Blue concentrated on the timetable, he felt his wing being tapped. He turned around to see Thunderblast standing in front of him.

"Hey Thunder." Blue simply said. "Gaah. When is that train coming?"

"I don't know, dude." replied Thunderblast. "It should be here soon. We don't want to be late for work..."

"Yep." said Blue, turning to look at the oncoming train. "It's finally here..." he said, groaning. A few moments later, the train stopped at the station and ponies begun to spill out of the carriages.

"By the way, Shining Armor has something for you when we get there." Thunderblast begun. "You weren't at home yesterday, so he asked me if I can give you the information."

"What exactly does he have planned?" asked Blue. "Am I in trouble or something?" he asked.

"I don't know. You'll find out soon enough." replied Thunderblast. "Right now, we better go. We're supposed to be in Canterlot by 11 AM." Both stallions, including some other ponies then went on board the train.

"Alright then." Blue said as they both walked onto the train. The train pulled off from Ponyville Station and arrived in Canterlot about an hour or so later. Blue and Thunderblast stepped off the train, along with dozens of other ponies, and flew towards the guard outpost in the south side of the city. After getting there, Blue went to Shining Armor's office while Thunder went to join the rest of the guards, who were doing five laps of the track.

Blue knocked on the door to the captain's office and waited for Shining Armor to let him in. Blue had no idea why he was called here, but he'd soon find out...

"Come in." said Shining Armor from behind the door. After some reluctance, Blue opened the door and walked into his office. He was only here several times before, so naturally it seemed big to him when he entered.

"Hey Shining." Blue awkwardly said. "Am I in trouble or anything?" he asked.

"You? In trouble?" Shining questioned him. "No... In fact, you're anything but in trouble, Blue Skye."

"So... why did you call me up here?" asked Blue, confused.

"Well, you know the Equestrian military?" begun Shining. "They want you to join them for six months." Blue's heart stopped. He had been a guard for several years now, and quite a good one in fact. But the one thing he wasn't expecting was to be signed into the military. So, naturally, his reply was...

"Why me?" asked Blue. "Why not somepony like Thunderblast or Spear or whatever?"

"Well, you and Thunderblast are my best guards and have surpassed my expectations by far, and even though Thunder has been in the Royal Guard longer than you have been, he's definitely going to be transferred in a year or two." Shining explained. "You both are by far my best guards behind the elites."

"Thanks, Shining..." Blue replied nervously. "Does that mean I have to fly fancy aircraft and fire guns and stuff like that?" he asked.

"I'm afraid so." Shining replied. "But luckily for you, you will receive training before you actually get to join."

"Shining... I can't accept this. I'm sorry." Blue replied. "I'm getting married next month. What will I tell my marefriend? My family?" he asked.

"I'm sorry..." Shining replied, sighing. "But you have to join the military, and it's not my decision. It's the military's decision."

"Right..." Blue replied. "But when do I leave?" he asked.

"Next Monday, take the train to Los Pegasus from Ponyville." Shining explained. "The base is around twenty-five miles north-east of Los Pegasus, and once you get to the station, you'll meet one of your fellow soldiers who'll take you there. I'm sure you'll do great, Blue."

"Alright." Blue said and sighed. "What do I tell everypony?" he asked.

That Sunday...

Blue lay on the sofa in his living room, lost in thought. He still had a day before he had to leave for Los Pegasus, but he didn't really want to leave. As much as he was interested in joining the military, he wanted to stay with Meadow, but he had to leave. After all he had no choice. He was needed in the military and sulking and pouting wasn't gonna get him out of it. Meadow was bringing him some hay pizza when she noticed him lying on the sofa, visibly distraught. Despite having the weekend off, Blue also did some training with Thunderblast, to make sure he's in top condition for the military.

"Blue, is everything alright?" she asked. "You seem a bit off."

"I'm definitely alright..." he lied. "I'm just tired."

"You sure?" she asked. Blue sighed and turned to look at her.

"No, Meadow. I know you're not gonna like when I say this, but I, uh---I joined the military." Blue confessed. Meadow's warm and friendly smile seemed to fade away and was replaced by an emotionless stare.

"You joined the Equestrian military?" she asked, bewildered.

"Yes. I did..." Blue replied. "I don't want to tell you this... but we can't get married. Not now we can't."

"Well, at least you're happy..." she replied and put her head down. Blue got up and came over to her, wrapping his wing around her, making her feel much more comfortable, although the glare didn't disappear from her face.

"No, Meads. I am anything but happy..." Blue explained. "Especially since I was just told about this and especially since I won't be seeing my love for six months..."

"Yeah, sure. I knew this was all for nothing." she replied and teared up. Blue put his hoof on her shoulder to comfort her, but she pushed it off and glared at him. "I knew that you don't care for me."

"What?! Of course I care for you!" Blue shouted. "You're the love of my life, Meadow. I would do anything for you."

"Yeah, sure..." Meadow replied, still crying. "If you really did care about me, then you would stay."

"Meadow..." Blue begun. "I told you that I can't stay. It's not my decision."

"Sure, it's not your decision." Meadow replied. "You promised that you and me would be married in November..." Indeed, Blue had promised Meadow in August that the wedding would take place in November, although it'd have to be postponed now.

"I'm sorry, Meads..." Blue replied. "I'm so sorry..."

"Just save it, Blue Skye..." she said and went upstairs, crying. Blue sighed and jumped onto the sofa, trying to process what just happened between them two. As much as he didn't want to leave his beloved marefriend and soon-to-become wife, he had no choice. Blue begun to regret even becoming a Royal Guard in the first place. As good and as experienced he was at being a Royal Guard, he didn't like to be away from his family, but Blue eventually had to stallion up and had to do what's right. He groaned and finished the hay pizza, before going to sleep. The next morning, he went to clean himself up before packing himself up for the long journey to Los Pegasus. After packing up, he kissed Meadow, who was still asleep, lightly on the cheek, before taking a piece of paper and writing a note on it.

Dear Meadow,

If you want to see me before I go, I'll be at the train station. My train arrives at 10:30 AM. I'm sorry I have to leave. I wish I could stay with you for as long as possible, but unfortunately this isn't possible. Please, don't think that I left you because I don't care about you or anything like that, because that ain't true. I love you and care for you more than you can imagine, and it hurts me to have to leave you. I love you Meadow, more than you think I do, and all I ask from you is that you can forgive me.

Love,

Blue Skye

Teary-eyed, Blue put the note beside the sleeping mare, kissed her lightly and carried his bags outside. Although struggling with the bags, Blue eventually managed to reach the train station and looked at the train timetable. It was 9:52 AM, meaning Blue still had almost forty minutes left till his train comes. Before he left, Blue hoped to repair his relationship with Meadow and say goodbye to her for six months. It hurt him having to go away for such a long period of time and leaving his precious marefriend and family, but he had no choice. No choice whatsoever...

Blue sat on his luggage and waited patiently for his train to arrive, with his head facing downwards, not noticing that a large and muscular gray Pegasus stallion with a long dark mane placed his suitcases beside him.

"Excuse me, do you know when the train to Los Pegasus is going to arrive?" asked the Pegasus stallion, towering over Blue.

"Yeah. Check the timetable." Blue simply replied. The gray Pegasus shrugged and walked over to the timetable. As Blue watched the stallion walk towards it, he begun to notice similarities to a Pegasus stallion he hoped to meet. A Pegasus stallion he knew at school. Blue turned to look at the cutie mark on his flank, and to his surprise, the cutie mark was a thunder cloud with a fork of lightning coming from the bottom, exactly the same as the cutie mark on that same Pegasus stallion...

"Thunder, is that you?" asked Blue, looking at him.

"Uh, yeah..." the stallion turned around and replied awkwardly, before noticing who was speaking to him. "Blue Skye?" he asked.

"Yes. That's me." Blue replied, with a grin forming on his face. "Remember dude? We used to be best friends in elementary school!" he said.

"Man, you haven't changed much." Thunder replied and grinned.

"And so haven't you." Blue explained and ruffled his mane playfully.

"Man, there are so many things I'd like to share with you..." said Thunder. "But first, how has life been for you? How's the family? How's your little brother or sister?" he asked.

"Well, it's been going good for me. I just wanted to say that over the past few years, I've been a guard in Canterlot..." Blue explained.

"You've been a guard in Canterlot?" asked Thunder. "That's cool. I've been one as well..." he said and smiled proudly.

"I've heard. You were at my outpost, and for some reason I never got to meet you before." Blue replied.

"Yeah, I got transferred to Appleloosa, then back to Canterlot, but to another outpost, and after Canterlot, I was transferred to Baltimare." Thunder explained. "And after that, I returned back to Canterlot and now I'm going to Los Pegasus. Apparently, they want me to join the army or something."

"That's exactly the same thing that's happened for me." Blue explained. "I'm going to join the military too."

"That's cool." Thunder Storm replied. Just then, Meadow walked into the train station, apparently after reading Blue's note. She saw him sitting beside Thunder Storm and went over them. She had a small and sad grin, which seemed to be looking at Blue. Blue turned to look at her as well, and smiled at her.

"Who's that?" asked Thunder Storm, looking at the mare in front of him.

"This is my wife-to-be, Thunder Storm." Blue explained and got up. "Don't get any ideas." he warned him.

"Right, right." Thunder Storm replied.

"Bluey, I read your letter..." Meadow begun. "I just wanted to say how ignorant and foolish I was to walk out on you like that... I just didn't want you to leave. I just wanted you to be safe and I didn't want to be alone..." she replied, crying. Blue held her in his hooves and smiled gently at her.

"Meadow, it's not your fault." Blue reassured her. "It's not both of our faults... Unfortunately, we're going to have to live with it."

"I guess so..." Meadow replied and nuzzled him. "I just don't want you to go..."

"I don't want to go either, Meads..." Blue comforted her. "But just remember, I love you more than anything in the world... and please, don't worry about me, honey. I'll be alright. I promise. It's nothing too serious."

"I hope so..." she replied and looked up at him, grinning. "Please, stay safe honey."

"I will. You stay safe as well." he replied and kissed her. Their tender moment was interrupted by the announcer's voice booming through the speakers.

The train to Los Pegasus Central Station will be arriving shortly. the announcer spoke through the speakers. Blue sighed and gave Meadow one last hug before walking towards his bags. He looked into the distance to see the train approaching and then turned to face Thunder Storm.

"It's time, Blue." he said and picked up his own bags. Blue then turned to face Meadow and smiled at her, knowing that this'll be the last time he sees her for six months.

"I love you, Meads..." he said as a tear rolled out his eye. "See you in six months."

"Bye honey..." Meadow replied. "I love you too... stay safe."

"I will..." Blue replied and winked at her, before boarding the train, along with Thunder Storm. The two stallions found two seats which weren't taken by anypony, beside the window so Blue can see Meadow for a final time before leaving. It was hard for him to leave, in fact, very hard. However, he knew that his service in the military will pay off one day and he'll get to see his marefriend again soon. As the train pulled off from the station, Blue looked out of the window and waved at Meadow, who was still at the station. She waved back at him and blew him a kiss, which Blue chuckled at, but then snapped out of it.

"So, it's a fifteen-hour trip from here to Los Pegasus..." Thunder Storm begun, but Blue was too busy looking at the station, which slowly faded away into the distance as the train moved, to reply. "Hey, Blue-boy."

"What do you want, Thunder?" asked Blue, who seemed a tad bit depressed.

"I was gonna ask you what do you want to do for the duration of the journey. I mean, it's a fifteen hour-long trip." replied Thunderstorm.

"I don't know..." Blue said. "We'll come up with things to do."

"I guess so..." Thunder Storm replied. "Why the long face?" he asked.

"You know darn well why..." Blue replied, a bit agitated. "I had to leave my marefriend and family here and I have no idea if I'l make it back home."

"Well, it is just training..." reassured Thunder Storm. "Don't worry, dude. You'll do fine."

"I hope so." Blue replied, feeling unsure about himself. Although he was one of the best guards there were, he had no idea how good of a soldier he was, but only time will tell. Only time will tell...

The Early Life

January 22, 1988

It was a normal winter's day in Equestria. The flying metropolis of Cloudsdale generated multiple cold fronts which stored snow clouds in them and sent them across Equestria. One of the ponies producing this weather was a yellow stallion with a purple mane, named Lightning Fast. Lightning Fast has a wife, Summer Skies, who worked as a weather pony as well, along with her older brother Crested Cloud. Skies was in her eleventh month of pregnancy and so was unable to create or manipulate the weather systems, so she was replaced by her brother.

That same day, Lightning got home from work.

"Honey, I'm home!" he said in a loud voice as he came into their house.

A light blue pegasus mare with a yellow-white mane managed to walk to Lightning Fast, who nuzzled her.

"Hi honey, how was your day?" Summer Skies asked.

"It was nothing special, really. Just another average day at work..." Lightning replied.

"Are you hungry? I made your favorite; hay fries and lettuce-and-tomato salad." Summer Skies asked Lightning.

"Summer, you shouldn't have done that. You're pregnant. You deserve your rest." Lightning replied, nuzzling her.

"I know. But I still wanted to at least do something for you, Lighty." she smiled. 'Lighty' was and is Lightning Fast's nickname amongst his friends and his family.

"Thank you, Summer Skies. I appreciate your help. I really do." he told her. After eating the hay fries, Summer Skies begun to feel slight cramps in her abdominal region.

"Honey, I'm not feeling too well." she told Lightning, who was typing up a business report on his home computer.

"Is everything alright, dear?" Lightning asked his wife.

"I'm fine, I'm just feeling a little bit... stuffed." she replies.

"AAAHH!" she screamed as a sharp pain filled her abdomen. "THE FOAL'S COMING" she screamed. Lightning was quick to react. He grabbed his wife and flew her over to the Cloudsdale Hospital.

It was a fairly short labor which lasted almost 5 hours. By that time, the entire ward was quiet. The foal was born. Summer Skies looked down at her foal, smiling. She snuggled the foal and allowed it to sleep. Meanwhile, in the hospital's lobby, Lightning Fast was waiting patiently for the foal to arrive. His thinking was interrupted by the hospital announcer's voice.

"Attention, may Mr. Lightning Fast go to the Maternity Ward Room 150?" the hospital announcer boomed through the loudspeakers.

Lightning Fast did as he was asked to and hopped into an elevator which took him to floor 12, where the Maternity Ward was located. After locating Room 150, Lightning was overjoyed to see Summer Skies with their new foal.

"Congratulations, Mr. Fast. It's a colt!" the head doctor spoke up.

The colt was fast asleep and was unaware of what was going on. He had his mother's light blue fur and a dark blue mane. Summer Skies spoke up to her husband.

"So, what do you think?" she asked, smiling.

"He's absolutely perfect." Lightning said as he proudly looked down on his wife and his newborn son.

"He's beautiful." Summer Skies said as she nuzzled the little colt on the head. The new family's tender moment was interrupted by a nurse.

"One more thing. What do you want your colt to be called?" she asked.

"I'd like to name him Blue Skye." Summer said.

"I agree. That name really does suit him." Lightning Fast replied.

"It kind of has a nice ring to it." the nurse said and smiled and proceeded to write down his name and birth details on the notepad.

"Welcome to the world, Blue." Summer said, smiling down at her foal.

5 years later...

It was a nice fall day in Cloudsdale, and while very little ponies knew, winter was coming rapidly. In fact, the winter of 1993 was one of the worst winters in Cloudsdale's history, with temperatures plunging to a then-record breaking low of -70 degrees. Lightning Fast, being one of the most experienced flyers on the weather team, took Blue down to a meadow near Ponyville, a small town several miles from Cloudsdale to practice his flying skills.

"What are we going to do today, daddy?" Blue asked his dad as the autumn wind blew across the meadow, making his voice a bit muffled.

"Son, I thought I'd teach you how to fly today." Lightning shouted.

"Okay, daddy." Blue replied. Lightning then positioned Blue where he wanted him standing.

"Son, when I say "go", I want you to trot down this meadow, let's say, up to that tree." he said, pointing to a tree which stood about 50 feet away from them. "Then, I want you to flap your wings. Got it?"

"Yeah!" Blue was excited. He was finally learning how to fly.

"Alright son, go!" Lightning shouted to his young son. Blue did as his father asked of him. He begun to trot down the meadow and flapped his wings as he neared the tree. Blue begun to pull up slightly.

"Look, daddy. I'm flying!" he said proudly, before he dropped down.

"Aww..." the young colt groaned after landing on the grass.

"Well done, son! That was great work!" Lightning said to his son as he ran over to him.

"No it wasn't! I never flew high, daddy." Blue sadly remarked.

"Son, you did great. It doesn't matter how high you fly." Lightning praised him.

"You really think so, daddy?" Blue asked.

"I know so, son. I know so." Lightning said as he hugged him.

"Can I do some more practice?" Blue asked.

"Sure, little guy! I'm sure mom would like to know what we did today!" Lightning told his son.

"You remember how to fly, buddy?" he asked. Blue thought for a second.

"No, not really..." he said. Lightning came over and showed him how to do it.

"Alright, little guy. I want you to trot down this meadow and then flutter your wings. Okay?" Lightning asked him.

"Sure thing, dad!" Blue replied and prepared himself for takeoff again. This time, he got an inch or so higher than before.

"Dad! I flew higher! I flew higher!" Blue shouted with glee as he ran up to his father.

"That's great, Blue! You want to do some more practice?" he asked.

"No thanks. I'm tired." Blue said.

"Alright, son. We're going home." Lightning told his son and he flew them both up to Cloudsdale. After explaining to Summer Skies about what Blue done, Summer hugged Blue and told him that she's proud. Lightning Fast also hugged Blue. A few hours later, Blue was tucked into bed by the two proud parents.

Blue's Crush - Part II

The very next day...

Blue left home for school a bit earlier today, since he wanted to cool off after what went on yesterday. Along the way to school, Blue kept thinking about Meadow, and also about what his mom and dad said about not rushing into the relationship. He eventually managed to calm himself down and looked to see Meadow walking on the opposite side of the street. Blue trotted across the street to join her.

"Hey there." Blue said as he walked alongside Meadow.

"Oh, hey Blue. How's it going?" she asked.

"It's going good. What about you?" he replied.

"Yeah, it's my second day of school...and I'm quite excited!" Meadow replied with a sarcastic tone in her voice.

"You are?" Blue asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, to be honest... not necessarily." she replied. "I'm still pretty nervous about this school."

"Meadow, I've felt the same way as you do now when I first joined Cloudsdale Elementary." Blue explained. "And believe me, with the help of some friends I got used to it."

"Really?" Meadow asked.

"Yep. Say, uh... would you like to be my friend?" Blue asked.

"Of course I would." Meadow replied.

"You'd be my friend?" Blue asked.

"Yep. You seem like a cool guy." she said, smiling.

"You seem quite cool as well." Blue replied, only to receive a friendly smile from her. Blue grinned back, before bumping into a large, black-furred pegasus. A pegasus whom he recognized very well.

"Hey, watch---Blue?" the Pegasus asked.

"Hello, Thunder Clap." Blue replied. "Long time no see. And yeah, it is Blue."

"Who gave you that name?" Thunder Clap asked, chuckling. "It suits you well!"

"My parents, you idiot." Blue replied, with a less-than-pleased face. Meadow nudged for him to come, but Blue remained standing in his place. "Who gave you the name 'Thunder Clap'?" Blue asked. Thunder Clap glared at him.

"My parents did." Thunder replied. "Are you saying that my name is stupid?"

"Potentially." Blue said.

"Blue, come on. Let's go. There's no point in fighting him." Meadow said, urging Blue to move away from Thunder Clap.

"Oh. Who's that? Your marefriend?" Thunder Clap chuckled.

"No, we're just friends." Blue said, embarrassed. "I mean, we just met yesterday."

"Yeah, sure." Thunder Clap replied. Before the conversation between Blue and Thunder Clap could continue, the school bell rung. "Catch you later, Blue. And don't bother annoying me." he said and walked off, leaving only Meadow and Blue.

"Who was that guy?" Meadow asked.

"Oh, him? We knew each other since Middle School. He was a bully towards one of my closest friends..." Blue replied. "If he threatens you in any way, he's gonna regret it." Meadow simply smiled.

"You know what?" Meadow asked.

"What is it?"

"You're, uh... kind of cute." she awkwardly replied. Blue was lost for words.

"Thanks..." Blue replied.

"Hey, listen. I uh, better get to class and so should you..." Meadow said. "I'll catch you later, Blue. See ya!" she said, trotting off. Blue was left alone.

"She thinks I'm cute..." Blue said to himself. "She really thinks I'm cute." Blue's unsure face slowly begun to turn into a grin as he walked towards the entrance of the school.

At lunch...

Blue, Singer, Rainbow Dash sat beside each other, as usual, however this time joining them was Violet Petals, a certain Pegasus filly who had a crush on Singer, although never admitted it. Whenever Blue or Dash weren't around to hang out with Singer, Violet would play with him. While Singer and Violet were talking with each other and Dash, Blue was lost in thought. He was busy thinking about Meadow and what she said to him before she trotted off to her classroom. Nopony has ever called Blue cute before; he has been called "handsome" several times at family gatherings, but cute? Never. Blue even begun to have thoughts about asking her out on a date, but tried to block out those thoughts.

"So, what I'm trying to say is that Singer should concentrate more on athletics rather than his singing. I think he has a pretty bright future in athletics." Dash explained to Violet.

"Well, Dash. I think that Singer may be good at athletics, but his quirkiness, his voice... that's what truly stands out according to me." Violet countered. While Dash continued explaining to Violet that Singer should get more involved in sports, Blue simply looked at Meadow, who was sitting at the table opposite their's. Meadow turned to face him every once in a while, giving him a small smile, which he gladly returned. While Dash was continuing her talk with Violet about what Singer should do once they leave high school, Blue continued looking at Meadow. Due to Meadow's seating position, it looked as though Blue was looking at Dash.

"Well, Dash. I think Singer should do what he wants to do, not what you think he should do." Violet said.

"I'm not saying he should do athletics when he leaves school. It's merely a suggestion!" Dash explained, facehoofing at the end of her sentence.

"Oh, right.----Dash, look!" Violet gasped. Dash turned around and found herself facing Blue.

"Blue!" Dash shouted, lightly slapping him in the cheek.

"I'm sorry, Dash! I wasn't looking at you, I swear. I was looking at Meadow..." Blue explained.

"Yeah, sure..." Dash replied and turned around to notice her sitting there. "You must really like her, huh?"

"Yeah... I guess." Blue replied.

"Well then, talk to her! Tell her how you feel." Dash said.

"It seems like the only logical thing to do, but no Dash. I like to take things slow..." Blue replied. "I don't want to be too awkward." Meanwhile, at Meadow's table, she was eating a sandwich, when Thunder Clap came over.

"Hey there. You're looking fine...The name's Thunder Clap. Yours?" Thunder Clap said. Blue turned to face him and stood up.

"Be right back!" Blue said and trotted up to her table.

"Hey, Thunder Crap! Leave her alone!" Blue shouted. Meadow stood back behind him. Everyone in the cafeteria went silent and turned to face them.

"Did you just call me 'Thunder Crap'?" Thunder Clap asked.

"Blue, don't..." Meadow said.

"Uh... yeah. I just did." Blue replied and grinned, before being pulled up by the wing by Thunder Clap. "AUGHHH!" Blue screamed as the bully pulled on his wing.

"Dude, please! I'm sorry!" Blue shouted at Thunder Clap.

"Thunder Clap! Please!" Meadow pleaded.

"Why should I?" Thunder Clap asked. The principal then came over and noticed Thunder Clap holding Blue, who was trying to keep himself from screaming in pain, by his wing.

"Because I said so." the principal replied, with a stern face. "Thunder Clap, a word please." he said. Thunder Clap replied by dropping Blue onto the floor. Singer, Rainbow Dash and Violet trotted over to him, while Meadow helped him up. Within moments, the entire cafeteria stopped looking at them and they all returned to their own things.

"You alright Blue?" she asked.

"Yeah... I think I am, but my wing..." he said, turning his head to face his bruised wing, and gently trying to move it. "GAAHH..."

"Is it broken?!" cried Dash.

"No, no. I don't think it really is." Blue explained. "I think he's just pulled a muscle. I'll be alright. I just... had to take a stand against him..." he said.

"That was very brave of you, Blue." Violet said. Meadow simply smiled.

"You did that for me?" she asked.

"Yeah, I thought he was giving you trouble..." Blue replied. Meadow replied with a reaction Blue did not expect from her; she gave him a kiss on the cheek. Blue's jaw dropped and he blushed furiously.

"Oops... sorry." she said. "I guess... you didn't... expect that, huh?" she asked. "Well, thanks for standing up for me."

"It's not... that I didn't expect it, but I've never been kissed before." Blue stammered.

"Me neither." replied Meadow. They both made eye contact and looked at each other and chuckled.

"Ugh, enough of this mushy stuff!" Dash complained. "Lunch is almost over."

"Yeah, I guess." said Singer. "See you guys. Come on, Violet." Violet waved back and followed after Singer, only to be joined by Dash, leaving Blue and Meadow standing between the two tables.

"So, Meadow?" Blue asked. "Are we still friends... or are we more?"

"Uh, I... want us to be friends, Blue. I think you're cute and all, but I still don't really know if I'm ready for the next step." she explained.

"I can understand that. Me neither, to be honest. " Blue said. "So, you uh, want to hang out after school?"

"Sure. I'll just have to talk to my mom and dad about it." Meadow explained. "Oh, and by the way, we better go. Lunch is almost over." She then trotted off to join Dash and the others. Blue again, was dumbfounded. He had no idea that this particular filly actually thought that he was cute. Blue then decided to join the rest of the group and follow them to class.

After school...

A few hours after school, Blue left home to head to the park, where he was supposed to meet up with Meadow. Despite it being only the end of summer, already it begun to feel much cooler in the afternoons than it usually is, but the weather didn't stop him from going to meet his new friend. Along the way, he kept thinking about what Meadow had said about him. Was he really what she said he was? Blue didn't really know, but he tried to keep those thoughts at bay for now. Eventually, he reached the park and noticed Meadow hanging around on the teeter-totter.

"Hey." Blue said.

"Hey, Blue." Meadow replied. "So, why are we here exactly?" she asked.

"I thought we could hang out together." Blue replied.

"Uh, okay..." Meadow said, although she was pretty unsure. "What can we do in the park but?" she asked.

"I don't know..." Blue replied. "Maybe we can just talk and stuff." he said and led her to a bench, where they sat down at. The park wasn't empty, but there weren't many ponies in that specific area, so Blue and Meadow can talk with each other in peace.

"Yeah, but what?" Meadow asked.

"Uh, I don't know. Anything you want." Blue replied. "What was life back in Baltimare like?" he asked her.

"It was, well, nice, but I didn't really enjoy city life to be honest." Meadow replied. "Neither did my parents. So, my dad moved his business to Cloudsdale and we came with him." she explained. "I'll ask you the same question, Blue. What's it like living in Cloudsdale?" she asked.

"It's quite calm and peaceful and there's lots of open spaces for ponies to fly around." Blue explained. "Trust me, a week or two and you'll get used to living here. You're pretty nervous, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, I kind of am." Meadow explained. "It's like the first day of elementary school all over again, but only in a new place."

"I know how you feel." Blue said. "When I joined Cloudsdale Elementary, I was very nervous. I had no idea whether I was going to do good in my lessons and make any friends." he explained. "But my friend helped me to calm myself. Sadly, he probably lives in some kind of large mansion in Canterlot."

"Oh." Meadow said. "He moved?"

"Yep." Blue replied. "His dad's some kind of businesspony. I get to visit him once every two weeks."

"Right." Meadow said. "So, you think I can get settled in here without any hassle?"

"Yep. All you need is a friend to help you fit in." Blue explained. "Maybe I can help." he suggested.

"If you want." Meadow replied. "You know, you're probably the realest friend I have." she said.

"Really? What about those fillies that sit beside you at lunch?" Blue asked.

"Well, them? They hang out with me only at lunch." Meadow explained. "So, I get pretty lonely after school." Blue felt sorry for Meadow and felt obliged to put his wing around her.

"I'll be your friend, Meadow. You don't have to sit beside them all the time if you don't like them. I'll be a better friend than they'll be." Blue replied and turned to give her a smile, which she returned.

The next day...

It was lunchtime again, however this time, Blue was sitting alone with Meadow, while the rest of his friends were sitting at the other table. The two were joking together and generally enjoying each other's company, while Dash was sitting at the other table, along with Singer. She turned her attention several times to look at Blue and Meadow talking to each other.

"Hey, Dash." Singer went. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah." Dash replied. "I'm fine... I'm just wondering why Blue isn't here sitting with us."

"Relax, Dash. He's just enjoying Meadow's company and she's enjoying his." Singer explained.

"But still, he should be here, talking with us, not with Meadow." Dash said. "I'm starting to think that Blue doesn't want to be our friend any more."

"Look, Dash. Just because Blue is spending time with Meadow more now doesn't mean he's going to stop being our friend." Singer explained. "I mean, we've been good friends with each other for over four years and it doesn't look like Blue wants to stop being our friend."

"Well, still..." Dash said. "I'm just nervous. Should I go talk to him?" she asked.

"Your choice." Singer replied, shrugging. Dash stood up and walked over to Blue's table.

"Hi Dash." Blue replied. "Everything the matter?" he asked.

"No, it's fine. I was just gonna ask if you can sit beside us." Dash said.

"Sorry, Dashie. Not today. I'm trying to help Meadow fit into the school." Blue explained.

"Alright then." Dash replied. "When'll you sit beside us again?" she asked.

"When I finish helping Meadow. I'm thinking... Wednesday or Thursday." Blue replied.

"Okay." Dash said and went back to her seat.

"What did he say?" asked Singer.

"He said that he'll sit beside us once Meadow gets comfortable with the school, or about Wednesday or Thursday." Dash explained and the two returned to their conversation about Singer's future aspirations. On the other hoof, Blue and Meadow continued their conversation about Blue's early life.

"So, you really learnt how to fly at age five?" Meadow asked.

"Yep. I realize it must be different in Baltimare, but here in Cloudsdale, you can learn to fly from age five." Blue replied.

"And you're training to be a weather pony?" asked. Blue simply nodded.

"Exactly. Either that or I'm becoming a Royal Guard." Blue replied. "What do you wanna be?" he asked.

"To be honest, I don't really know..." Meadow explained. "I just want to have a good job when I grow up." she replied.

"If you want, you should enlist in the Weather Team." Blue said. "I mean, my mom and dad are working there and---" Blue was cut off by a light tapping on his back. It was Thunder Clap. Blue turned around, only to notice Thunder Clap standing behind Meadow, whom he also tapped.

"Hello---Thunder Clap?" Meadow gasped.

"Hey, if you're uh, free tonight, would you like to go out with me?" Thunder Clap asked.

"No." Meadow replied. "I mean---"

"Stay away from her." Blue said to Thunder Clap.

"Or what?" he replied, staring down into Blue's face.

"Or, uh... I--I'll mince...you?" Blue replied, before being pulled by his wings and held in mid-air. Meadow gasped, while the entire cafeteria turned to face them.

"Hey, let go of me!" he cried.

"This is what foolish little colts like you get when they try to stand up to me and make fun of my name. Meadow is my mare, not yours. I'd be a far better coltfriend than you'd ever be. " Thunder Clap said and prepared to punch Blue.

"Who says I'm your mare?" Meadow countered.

"Look, dude. I don't want any trouble. Just leave us alone." Blue said.

"So you do like each other?" Thunder Clap said, with a grin slowly forming on his face. Blue and Meadow turned to look at each other and blushed.

"No, we're just...friends." Meadow said, blushing. "Now, please. Drop him."

"Yeah, you do. Don't bother hiding it!" Thunder Clap said and dropped Blue onto the floor, who got up a moment later.

"Look, Thunder Clap. You leave us alone, alright?" Blue said.

"No, I won't leave you alone Blue." Thunder Clap replied, and came over to Blue. He pulled out his hoof and prepared to punch Blue in the face, when the principal came over and noticed the two fighting.

"Thunder Clap? Blue Skye?" the principal asked. "Come with me."

"Nice going, Thunder Clap. You got us both in trouble." Blue said.

"Shut up, will you?" Thunder Clap responded. After the talk with the principal, Thunder Clap was placed in detention, while Blue was sent back to class. He made it just in time to his class before the bell rang and sat down beside Meadow.

"Hey." Blue said.

"Hey Blue. So, how did it go?" she asked.

"It went good. Thunder Clap is in detention... and yeah." Blue simply replied.

"I just wanted to thank you for sticking up for me..." she explained.

"Hey, it's fine. You don't have to thank me. I couldn't let him taunt you like that." Blue explained. "And plus, I want to ask you a... little question." he said.

"Sure. What is it?" Meadow asked.

"Would you... like to go out with me?" he asked.

"Go out with you, as in, like a date?" she asked.

"Well, sort of." Blue replied.

"Of course." Meadow replied and smiled at Blue, who calmed down and returned the smile.

"I was thinking next week. Monday evening most likely." Blue explained.

"Why Monday evening?" Meadow asked.

"I wanted to take you to the Wonderbolts' show. It's next Monday at 6:30 PM." Blue explained to Meadow, who slowly begun to grin.

"You're taking me to a Wonderbolts' show?" Meadow asked.

"Yep." Blue replied.

"Thank you! I've always wanted to see them!" Meadow replied. "Thank you so much Blue." she said, giving him a tight, but short hug, which he gladly accepted.

"You're welcome, Meadow." he replied.

That same evening, Blue returned home joyful.

"Hey, sweetie!" Summer said, who was holding Firestorm in one of her hooves. "My, my. You're happy today."

"Yeah, hey mom." Blue replied and ruffled Firestorm's mane, only to receive giggles. "Hey, little bro. And yeah, I am pretty happy today. I actually have something important to say." he explained.

"What is it, son?" Summer asked.

"I've asked... Meadow... out on a date." Blue explained.

"That's great son! I'm so happy for you." Summer replied. "When is the date?" she asked.

"I'm wanting to take her to the Wonderbolts show next week." Blue replied. "Who knows? Maybe she'll enjoy it."

"My son has a marefriend... I'm so proud of you!" Summer said and nuzzled Blue, who blushed furiously.

"Mom!" he shouted. "I'm still not sure whether it'll work between us or not."

"You have to hope for the best, Blue." she replied.

"Yeah, I guess..." Blue said.

"A date?" Firestorm asked.

"Yeah, little bro. It's like, a really special day when two special someponies get together and spend their time together." Blue explained. "And for me, that day will be next Monday evening. I just hope it impresses her somehow." After eating his dinner, Blue went upstairs to his room and opened a notepad, which served as his diary. As Blue begun to write down his diary entry, he begun to think about the day.

Dear diary,

Today, my friendship with Meadow Breeze blossomed into something else; I asked her out on a date. I hope I can somehow impress her on the date and make sure our relationship lasts. Even if it doesn't work out, I also hope we can both still stay friends.

~ Blue Skye