Losing Makes Part of Winning

Chapters

Introductions and First Impressions
Second Thoughts and New Approaches
Third Parties and Old Meetings

Introductions and First Impressions

"Well, if it isn't the great and egocentric Rainbow Dash."

"Yeah, yeah, nice to see ya too Kicker. Do me a favor and don't call me like that again. I don't need to be reminded of Trixie."

"Whatever you say boss."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as she took a seat across the table were the purple pegasus has been waiting for her to arrive. Normally the blue daredevil wouldn't choose to come to a public spot like this one to discuss work. Yet Rainbow couldn't help but decide to join Cloud Kicker at a familiar spot that both mares had shared many friendship moments.

Dash knew how awkward this could be, it's been so long since she hang out with Kicker, or any other pony that not the Mane Six for that matter, aside her job. She felt guilty for distancing herself from her old friends, they were the reason she choose to stay at Ponyville, aside Fluttershy living at the very same.

Kicker was still carrying that chilling, laid off expression of hers. Dash hadn't forgot how naughty the other pegasus tends to be when discussing anything else that not work or family.

"So....what brings you here? It's been a while since we....hang out," Kicker added with a wink. Rainbow snorted.

Same old Cloud Kicker. Dash couldn't help but be glad she didn't change that much. The blue mare served herself from a bottle of cider that Kicker had previously ordered.

"Needed a second opinion on a recruit. We need somepony to cover on the thunderstorms."

"Again? I thought we had enough pegasus to cover that," Kicker responded, surprised that Rainbow was still worried about covering that spot.

"I'm telling ya, it's not like we could arrange more of those thunderstorms without somepony that knows how to deal with the thunder clouds. Ya know how iffy things have been since we had that problem with Derpy. I found a stallion that can fit the spot just fine."

"Wouldn't I know that? I nearly got my rump roasted for that trouble. Besides it ain't like you to just hire a stallion without even knowing his antecessors. Who knows what kind of weird stuff he might be into?“

"Look who's talking. Ya ain't the most normal and innocent pony around the entire Equestria no doubt. Just cut me some slack on this one and try not to scare the guy away. Can you do that for me Kicker?“

"Sure, I can try. No promises Dash."

Rainbow Dash groaned in annoyance while serving herself of another drink.

Perhaps bringing Cloud Kicker for another interview regarding a promising new member for the Weather Control team wasn't the best idea, but nopony was better at seeing others throught than the devious purple mare.

Besides, Sun’s Flank is one of the only exclusive indoor eateries in Ponyville, so they were a lot less likely to be spotted by Pinkie Pie while having snacks with a new pony. The sugar maniac would only make things even more awkward between them.

Sure, Kicker wasn't the worst company she could have at the moment but it didn't mean that her 'kinks' wouldn't make things awkward pretty quick.

Rainbow Dash frowned as she stared at the bottle of cider laying in between her and Cloud Kicker. A huge plate filled with hayfries served moments ago along with their drinks.

It's been a long time since she came at this particular establishment with one of the first friends she made when she came at Ponyville for the first time. The purple pegasus was one of the very few ponies that stood as 'incredibly cool' in Dash's opinion. Kicker's antics(and other things) were well known across the whole town, especially among other mares.

Despite going through a lot of crazy and amazing stuff together, including these unforgettable times in Weather Control, Rainbow felt guilty about coming back here with Cloud Kicker. Ever since she formed new friendships, and became a member of the Elements of Harmony, all her other friends from before were kinda left forgotten.

Rainbow Dash never went out again with any of the other Weather Control team members for parties or any other good stuff. Pinkie Pie replaced Cloud Kicker as her best friend in Ponyville, including spending time with her and doing fun stuff.

Cloud Kicker never said anything regarding Rainbow's sudden change of routine(and friends). Sure, she could understand Rainbow having new friends, but she never said anything about the fact that the cyan mare didn't talk much with them again aside work.

"So being the old you as always ?“ Rainbow asked inadvertently. Could Kicker felt her smile waver for a second before catching herself up pretty quick.

"Well....if you really wanna get to that path first, be my guest. Just don't forget to eat some hayfries, Berry increased the prices a bit since the last time you were here. Guess her business went a lot better once our town got a cute princess to live by," Kicker said with a grin plastered across her muzzle. She was eagerly awaiting for the day she could have a chance for a more 'particular' conversation with that purple alicorn.

Rainbow nodded while clearly ignoring Kicker's weird adressing regarding Twilight Sparkle.

An air of awkward silence paired between the both of them. Cloud Kicker wasn't the kind of pony to feel uncomfortable about talking with others, but things between her and Rainbow Dash became distant. It was hard to think on anything to say related to recent events they both shared.

Unless....

"So....how's the whole 'becoming a Wonderbolt' thing coming around for you?“ Kicker asked gently as possible, she really didn't want to make Rainbow feel like a total stranger by sounding too disregarding about it.

"Oh! It's coming around just fine, I hope. I-I mean....I sent my application a few days ago. Now I gotta wait until they answer me back. Then I will know if I got accepted," Rainbow replied while trying to maintain her confident posture, though Kicker could sense some anxiety beneath her words.

Kicker was internally debating if telling Rainbow Dash that she also applied for the Wonderbolt Academy would make the cyan mare more relaxed or freak her out completely. The purple mare wasn't too concerned of passing through the trials and becoming a Wonderbolt, but rather on how many sexy and athletic ponies she could bang before the trials were over.

Heck, some instructors and a few Wonderbolts would make the trip there all worthy.

Yet the bang-driven maniac couldn't bring herself to say anything in regards of how off it felt to talk about that with Rainbow Dash after such a long time of absence. Hay, Kicker still had no idea why the rainbow mare insisted on bringing her for this interview in the first place.

"Do you know who we should be expecting anyways? I don't feel like talking with somepony without even knowing his name first," Kicker pointed out while having a hunch of her hayfries.

"I wonder if knowing names is really the first thing that crosses your mind," Rainbow retorted dryly.

Ouch, really subtle Rainbow Dash. Kicker couldn't help but smile while pondering the subject with unusual insight.

"You're right. If only you could see the things I'm thinking about."

"Whatever!“ Rainbow regretted saying anything. Kicker was already making her feel uncomfortable again, something that the purple mare raised an eyebrow at.

Did Rainbow Dash forget this is how Kicker normally behaves? Did the cyan mare spent so much time with the Mane Six that she forgot what her other friends were like?

"In case you were actually having pure innocent thoughts, which I don't believe for a second, his name is Thunderlane. I think," Rainbow muttered while checking a scoreboard she brought with her for whatever reason. "It doesn't say much on his file. He's a good worker, very sociable but a bit lazy regarding getting things done on his own. Never had any issues with drinking, he does have a young brother but that's as far I received of his family stats. Enjoys flying through storms, taking a nap on random clouds, very sarcastic when in a good or bad mood and oddly quiet when feeling nervous."

"That's some accurate appointments for a simple file gathering," Kicker mused as she took the scoreboard with her curiosity rather evident. "Wow, that's a lot of detail regarding the stuff he likes to do and the way he acts around other ponies. Did you got a good bang with somepony back at the HQ?“

Rainbow shoot an unamused glare towards the other mare before snatching the wooden board from her hooves.

"Do me a favor and don't make this weird for him, ok?" Rainbow Dash pleaded while ignoring Kicker's light frown. "I really need somepony who can take care of the thunder clouds. I won't find anypony else in time before tomorrow! I really don't want to have houses set on fire or somepony in the hospital because of the lack of experience. I might be able to work those clouds but I need somepony else to lead the rest of the team through the process. I....I can't do it alone Kicker," Rainbow admitted while averting her eyes away in embarrassment.

If there's something that could make Kicker really uneasy it was when Rainbow 'Prideful' Dash would start begging her to behave. Normally she would joke around and be herself as usual, but since this was very important for the Weather team as a whole, maybe Kicker would comply with the effort of not scaring the newbie off.

"Oh!I think that's....him?“ Rainbow Dash stared off into distance, her jaw hanging slightly open while her eyes widened in pure astonishment.

Kicker instantly turned her head around.
Whatever could make Rainbow 'Awesomeness' Dash lock on like that had to be either impressive or incredibly embarrassing.

'Oh my Celestia. Forget Rainbow. I'm so banging him tonight.'

Standing few meters off at the entrance was a pegasus with dark-grey fur, his mane a gigantic mohawk with stripes of light blue and silver, his tail followed the same color pattern but it was unusually short for a pegasus. Even at this distance it was possible to see the outline of his well proportioned muscles. His eyes shining with warmth while scanning around the establishment in pure curiosity, his golden iris similar of those from a predator but his relaxed stance and friendly expression betrayed that.

Wait....

Did Rainbow Dash just got knocked off of her hooves by an stallion?!

Kicker slowly returned her face towards the other mare. Rainbow Dash, after few seconds of unconscious staring, finally broke off from her trance with furious blinks. Her magenta eyes quickly directing themselves towards the purple pegasus sitting across her table. The rainbow mare became self aware that she probably looked incredibly stupid.

" Wow, heh....I mean....I guess we can finally start this interview and get this over w-

"Excuse me, are you Rainbow Dash?“ Asked a soothing voice that interrupted Dash's attempt at restoring some of her dignity.

"No! I mean-yes! That's me! Hehe, you must be T-Thunderlane, right?“

Cloud Kicker calmly enjoyed the cyan mare going through a nerve-wrecking moment while the stallion seemed somewhat amused at her reaction. Perhaps this happened more often with him than normally it should?

"Yes, that's me. You're the one who required me for a job here, right? I gotta say that I'm looking forward to work in Ponyville, things back at Cloudsdale were getting old quick," Thunderlane replied while sitting in between Rainbow and Kicker. He eyed the plate of hayfries with longing. "Do you mind if I have some? I haven't eat anything since I left home an-

Before he could finish Rainbow Dash pushed the plate on his way with a quick and subtle motion of her hoff. She did it so fast that even Kicker had to wonder how she didn't notice her hoof moving at that sudden push.

"Suit yourself, we can order some hayburguers if you want," Rainbow offered with much more enthusiasm than it would be required. For a brief moment she seemed scarily similar with Pinkie Pie.

Thunderlane blinked at the way she nearly throw the plate at him. He smiled sheepishly while serving himself.

"Huh, thanks....I guess some hayburgers would be nice."

Rainbow smiled, but it was that smile that shifted between embarrassment and anxiety. Kicker rarely saw the cyan mare so off herself for no good reason, at least definitely not because of a stallion.

"Hey Berry! Gotta make a new order," Kicker waved a hoof so the earth pony that was currently trotting between tables could notice her. Berry Punch wasted no time and made a bee line towards the small group. Her eyes widened at their new company, she rarely saw stallions around both Kicker and Rainbow Dash.

Thunderlane seemed to catch up with the fact that every single pony in the establishment aside him was a mare. He felt his stomach sink as the earth pony eyed him with clear astonishment. Maybe stallions weren't a common sight here at all.

"What will you be ordering?“ Berry asked while keeping her eyes trained on the stallion. He smiled apologetically in return, apparently guilty that he was somewhere he should not be, Berry smiled in return to make him at ease. Stallions were a rare sight at her establishment. They only came here for two reasons: To get wasted or bang.

"Three hayburguers and another plate of hayfries, anything to drink?“ Kicker turned around towards the stallion expectantly.

"Oh, huh....do you have orange juice?“ Thunderlane asked unsuredly.

All the mares eyed the stallion in genuine surprise. Carrots, Apples, Berries, Strawberries, the holy Cider! Yet this stallion ordered for the very few of the fruits they did not provide. Berry Punch felt a ting of frustation for not being able to provide what he wanted, she never saw this stallion around before(gosh, he's hot) and she was already going to let him down.

"Sorry hun, we got pretty much everything else instead," Berry replied softly. Thunderlane nodded in acceptance, he was ready for a negative answer.

"Yeah, like...who needs orange juice? That stuff is for foals, you could use something more spicy," Rainbow commented with a satisfied smirk. Thunderlane eyed her warily before replying.

"Well, I'm not really thirsty and the juice was meant for my brother," He said calmly, yet the way his posture became more stiff betrayed that apparent calmness.

Cloud Kicker mentally facehoofed at Rainbow's little mess up. It really seemed strange at first that the stallion would ask for orange juice, until when she reminded that the stallion's file mentioned him having a brother.

"Oh....right. Your brother..." Rainbow's ears were flaming red once she realized that small detail she should know already. "...hum....where is he?“

"I had to find somepony that would do foalsitting before coming here. This place didn't seem the kind that you should bring foals inside. No offense," Thunderlane quickly added as he looked at Berry Punch. The mare merely chuckled in approval.

"You're not wrong. Lots of stuff around here for a young foal to trash his youth away. The farther from here the better. Did you find a foalsitter?“

"I did, two actually. One was Flitter and the other was Cloud Chaser, I think." The stallion said while focusing on remembering their names. "Chaser had a really neat mane."

If Kicker didn't know any better she would've sworn she saw Rainbow Dash pout for a second, but in the blink of an eye Dash was back to that self-assured expression of hers.

"Well, yours is pretty awesome too," Rainbow Dash said without hesitation.

Thunderlane was surprised at the compliment, but not as much as Kicker. Who was this cyan mare and what did she do with the real Rainbow Dash? It would take saving the entire town and beating her on a race for Rainbow Dash to consider anything but herself awesome. Also she was giving compliments towards the stallion's appearence, when she ever did that to anypony else?

"Uh, thanks?“ Thunderlane ran a hoof across his mane sheepishly. It seems such compliments towards his mohawk were a weak spot of his. Something that Cloud Kicker was eager to use to her advantage.

"I'll be right back with your order," Berry announced with some amusement before trotting away to the nearest costumer. Kicker watched the earth pony as she left, her eyes locked on the mare's swinging rump, she licked her lips in wishful thinking.

Both Rainbow and Thunderlane took notice of it but refrained from saying anything. The stallion was far from being the judgemental type of pony, yet he couldn't deny that Cloud Kicker made him a bit edgy. Rainbow Dash on the other hoof was clearly embarrassed by Kicker's behavior, she really was dead set on making a good impression for the stallion and Kicker was making her look bad.

"So....huh....Thunderlane! Ehhh.....do you have anywhere to stay? I assume you're just staying for few days since we will run you through a week's trial before we can decide if we're keeping you or not. But I'm sure you'll do it just fine. Do you have a place in mind to move in?“ Rainbow asked, her voice sounded stranded as if she was trying hard to sound casual and relaxed about the whole ordeal. Also she was sending a weird message by saying the stallion would run through a test but without worrying about not reaching expectations.

Thunderlane picked on her strange talk but remained impassive about the whole ordeal, but he did reply to her questions regarding where he would be staying.

"I rented a small house at the edge of town. The folks back at HQ are covering for me until I settle in. It's no biggie, just me and my brother after all," Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Why did brought him by the way? Shouldn't you have let him with your parents?" She asked genuinely confused.

The stallion glanced towards the wooden table with sudden interest, his expression became awfully blank, his eyes lost that intense brightness from seconds ago.

"They.....are not around anymore."

Several alarms rang inside Kicker's head as this information sunk deep into her with incredible strenght. She threw a quick glance towards Dash, the rainbow mare was clearly flabbergasted by what she just heard. Much to her credit she still managed to say something after few seconds of awkward silence.

"I....I'm sorry....I didn't know...." Rainbow's voice sounded meek but the intention was genuine. Cloud Kicker shared her feelings about the matter, she could never wish such unfortunate events for even the most undesirable pony.

"It's okay," Thunderlane replied with a dismissive shrugh. It was clear that he was still pained by it, those events probably were somewhat recent.

Cloud Kicker was about to say something but the sound of hooves slamming over the table shut her off. Rainbow Dash stood fiercely while glaring down at the stallion as if he was insane.

"OKAY? NO! ITS NOT OKAY! ITS NEVER OKAY!“

The whole establishment went silent as every pony present stared in concern towards the cyan mare. Berry Punch came out from behind the balcony seemingly ready to snap at somepony. Her eyes widened considerably as she saw Rainbow Dash glaring down at the handsome stallion in between her and Kicker. It was hard to tell what caused Rainbow to yell at him but she seemed more frightened than angry.

Thunderlane was taken aback for a second, he expected a reaction but nothing like this, his eyes wandered around in a futile attempt to avoid facing Dash and having to endure a conversation through this delicate subject.

"She's right. You can't bottle that up. It's gonna catch up with ya. Eventually," Kicker said in an attempt to ease the stallion's anxiety. There was a time to be playful and a time to be serious. Right now this stallion really could use some friendly hooves and not flirty ones.

For now.

Thunderlane nodded but avoided eye contact as much as possible. Rainbow slowly sat back on her haunches, she was staring really hard at the stallion, it was almost like she was trying to make her mind about something.

"Hey, is this stallion being a bummer?“ A mare with an annoyed voice asked as she approached their table. Kicker heard that voice many times to know it well that it belonged to no other than Bon Bon. It was unusual to see the cream coated mare without Lyra being somewhere around.

"At ease Bons. Dashie here just overreacted a bit, our gentlecolt was just telling about family....complications," Kicker didn't feel like spoiling something so personal to other ponies. Yet Thunderlane didn't appreciate how she managed the explanation.

"Complications? I have no problem dealing with the fact that my parents are dead. You are the ones making a big deal out of this," He said with some irritation. Bon Bon raised both her eyebrows in pure astonishment.

"Seriously? This is why you snapped at him?“ Bon Bon asked while directing herself towards the cyan mare. "Rainbow Dash, you're not one to go bashing at others and judging them for how they cope with loss. I still remember how you acted when you lost that sparring match to Applejack."

Rainbow visibly winced at that memory, definitely not one of her proudest moments. Yet she refused to be treated as the villain in this situation.

"But...this is family! It's....it shouldn't...is not okay to...just be okay with it..." Rainbow muttered more to herself than anything but the others heard her clearly enough. The mare felt the touch of a comforting hoof on her shoulder, she raised her head only to find that it belonged to the stallion near her.

Thunderlane remained in silence, his eyes locked on hers, a huge ammount of respect and sympathy flowing through that brief connection. He admired her reaction to it, to see how much she cared for somepony else and how they felt, even if her way of caring was a bit eccentric.

"No it's not," Thunderlane said, his voice sounded distant. "But given time it will be. I will get over it, I....I have to. My brother needs me, just as I..." He paused in reflection to his words before he could finish. "....just as I need friends that will be there for me. This is why I came here and I know I made the right choice. It's not like I was forced to anyways. HQ offered me the spot since you were desperate and I saw an opportunity. I didn't have many friends at Cloudsdale..."

Thunderlane felt a lump on his throat, his voice was bound to crack if he kept on it for much longer. His hoof slowly left Rainbow's shoulder as he returned to his previous stance.

Much to the stallion's surprise he felt a wing enveloping around his back, his eyes quickly darted towards the purple mare that came out from her spot to provide some comfort to him, for once her intentions were clearly and genuinely friendly.

"Hey, you can count on us to be there for ya. You really should stay around, Ponyville is a great place to live and you will find amazing ponies all over the town. I'm pretty sure you will settle in just fine and make tons of friends. Just give it a fair chance, okay?“ Cloud Kicker said with a huge amount of sincerity and softness that surprised even Bon Bon. It was a real rare sight to see this side of Kicker, she reserved that kind of treatment mostly towards her family and best friends.

Thunderlane was at a loss of words, he couldn't think of anything to say in return. It felt surreal to him that ponies he just met would be so caring for a newcomer, an stallion nonetheless. His expression revealed a bit of concern regarding his new co-workers. Would those mares expect him to be extremely interactive? He wasn't much of a social type of pony, he liked having conversations once in a while but going around with gossips, parties and stuff wasn't his thing.

"Hey, cheer up! Kicks got a point, you gonna have a great time here, normally new ponies always have since P-

Rainbow paused as a sudden realization sunk in. Her eyes widening at the possibility of a familiar pink mare popping out of nowhere. Kicker and Bon Bon shared her sentiment as they looked around apprehensively. Though Kicker took advantage of the distraction to get a better look at the stallion's appearance. While she felt bad for his predicament it made her mind at ease that the stallion was through it without further complications. She would not dare to mess with him if he was going through some sort of trauma or conflict.

"Is there something wrong? “ Thunderlane asked as he easily took notice of their discomfort but failing to see Kicker's eyes staring towards him longer than usual.

"Well, considering you're new in town we should warn you about our welcome service that comes throught a rather overly happy pink pony," Kicker said while studying Thunderlane carefully, her eyes filled with strong desire, a predatory grin hiding at the sides of her mouth.

"Huh?“ Thunderlane replied confused, all that the purple mare said made little sense for him, also the way she stared was making the stallion feel very exposed.

"Yeah, about that, our friend Pinks likes to receive newcomers by throwing huge p...huh, celebrations," Rainbow corrected herself at the last second. The mention of the word 'party' worked as a trigger button that would summon the happy earth pony in the blink of an eye.

"Ok?...and that's a bad thing because?..." Thunderlane asked in bewilderment. Rainbow Dash resisted the urge to smack the stallion upside his head. He was a newcomer after all, it's not like he would understand what, or who, Pinkie Pie tends to be.

"Just trust me, you won't be ready for her just yet. Now how about we finish this interview so everypony can go mind their own business?" Rainbow said with certain irritation. Thunderlane wasn't sure of why the cyan mare got upset all of sudden, he merely nodded in agreement.

Cloud Kicker stared at Rainbow Dash with some intrigue. It was unexplainable for her to see Dash get worked up for no real reason, at least a reason that Kicker herself couldn't pinpoint exactly the possible cause of it. That aside, this probably was the weirdest lunch she shared with her boss. Except for that other time she got wasted and Lyra and Applejack were making out right next to her.

"You look like you're around Dash's age," BonBon commented while looking in between the stallion and the cyan mare. "You gonna try for the Academy too?"

"You mean the Wonderbolt Academy? Yeah....I applied not long ago. My brother insisted for me to try it out," Thunderlane said, his face reddening at the memories regarding his brother's insistence. "Not that I'm worried about being top flyer or anything. I guess just making part of the experience would be enough."

Rainbow's frown was still present on her face, but she seemed more thoughtful than just plain angry.

"What? You don't think you can make into the Wonderbolts? Come on dude, you didn't even seem like you know what's gonna happen. I'm pretty sure you have enough wing power there to put up a good show."

Cloud Kicker was trying, and failing miserably, to understand Rainbow's sudden change of attitude. First she was angry, then supportive, then angry again and now she was being supportive without even bragging about herself once!

"Of course that nopony can ever hope to be better than me. It will be nice to see they try anyway."

Nope, bragging was still on point.

Thunderlane chuckled at his boss egocentric remark. He saw way too many ponies like her to feel bothered by it.

"If you say so. I guess we're settled then? When do I start?" The stallion asked eagerly, he really wanted to get away from Kicker. The purple mare was scratching his hind legs with the tip of her wing for the last two minutes and it was making him nervous.

"Oh, we gotta introduce you to the rest of the team! Think ya can show up at the HQ at the end of afternoon?" Rainbow asked, she took notice of the stallion's squirming, yet she could only wonder what the struggle was.

"S-Sure thing. I'll be there. Nice to you meet you two, same for Bon Bon," Thunderlane added in regards to the cream coated earth pony still nearby.

"Don't be a stranger Thunderlane. You seem a fairly decent guy. Don't worry about visiting the Sun's more often. The place isn't strictly for mares." Bon Bon replied with a fond smile. " Gota see what Lyra is up to. Celestia forbid me of leaving her alone for too long. Later folks."

"See ya Bons," Kicker said as the earth mare trotted away from the group. "Lyra must be wasted somewhere in the corner."

"Alright. See you two later then. I gotta pick my brother." Thunderlane saud as he stood up. "Thanks for the snacks and for the kind reception. I will do my best."

"Sure do. See ya later Thunder," Rainbow waved at him as the stallion turned around and trotted towards the exit. Once he finally reached outside Rainbow Dash's friendly expression turned into an scowl. "You had to ignore me and make him nervous, isn't that right Kicker?"

"Yeah, I really gave up on trying. You gotta admit he's a hottie though. Even you got high up on your hooves about him," Kicker replied smugly.

"Pffff! Me?! As if! He's cool and all but not my type," Rainbow replied, she refused to allow Kicker to tease her about a potential love interest.

"Ah come on Dashie. You two will become Wonderbolts together, soon there will be a squadron of little Wonderbolts of your own."

"Shut up Kicker!"

**************************************************************************

"So..... where is he? "

"I don't know. He's late. "

"You're not gonna yell at him on the first day, are you? "

"What? No! Of course not. I aint such a douchy boss. "

Cloud Kicker raised an eyebrow as a way to express her disbelief. It's been a day since Thunderlane's introduction to the rest of the team. At first everything went rather well, despite Rainbow growing aggravated by seeing how affectionate Cloud Chaser has been towards the stallion during the whole encounter. Rainbow offered to show him the rest of Ponyville, much to the bewilderment of the whole team.

Thunderlane seemed quite happy with the ponies he met and eager to start his job. Rainbow and Kicker explained to him most of the basics and the schedule he would follow for the next two weeks.

There was still the matter of deciding on the team that the stallion would be performing along. Cloud Chaser, much to Rainbow's irritation, wasted no time asking Thunderlane to join her squad. At first it seemed the stallion would accept if not for Rainbow Dash, with a certain edge to her voice, reminding Chaser that such matters were up to the Weather Captain to decide.

They also met Thunderlane's young brother. A little gray colt by the name of Rumble. At first he seemed like any other colt until he started talking. Literally every single mare awed at the little dude and demanded to hug him. Even Rainbow had to admit he was really sweet.

Thought one thing Rumble said made Thunderlane really uncomfortable yesterday.

"My brother is really a great flier. I really hope he tries for the Academy! It would help him to forget about mom and dad a bit. "

Rainbow Dash frowned as she remembered how Thunderlane flinched at the comment and became rather evasive through the rest of the day. It was apparent he still was grieving on the inside but didn't want to talk about it.

"Do you think Rumble grew old enough to recognize his mom and dad? I think Thunderlane raised him since foalhood. " Rainbow Dash wondered aloud towards her co-captain.

Cloud Kicker's eyes went wide as the size of dinner plates. Her mouth hang open for a second before she could process her own thoughts.

"What are you talking about? " Kicker asked while glaring at Rainbow Dash as if she was some kind of stranger. Rainbow huffed in frustration.

"I'm talking about how Thunderlane probably has been raising his brother all by himself. No wonder he seems so anxious about getting this job. "

"Huh. Never thought I would see the day in which you would be considerate of somepony you just meet. Especially a stallion. " Kicker said with a mischevious grin, the teasing in her voice clear as water.

Rainbow acknowledged the purple pegasus by flicking her tongue at the blonde mare.

The sounds of wings flapping caught the attention of both mares. As they turned their heads around they saw a familiar black coated stallion landing softly few meters away from the office.

Most of the other Weather members were already dispatched to their designated functions. Cloud Kicker decided to stay behind for the sole reason of seeing how Rainbow Dash would chew the new worker.

Both figuratively and literally speaking of course.

"Hey, Rainbow! Listen, I'm sorry for being late! I was dropping my little bro at school and I got stuck with his teacher. I think her name was Cherokee or something like that and... "

Rainbow Dash listened patiently while Kicker laughed at the way Thunderlane adressed Cheerilee's name. Dash was tempted on scowling the stallion for slipping up at first day but she reminded herself that the stallion has a kid to watch over, she couldn't hold that over his head.

"Don't worry Lane. I know it takes time to settle in and stuff and everypony will drag conversations to know you better. I will let this one slip, but ya better don't mess it up again, ok? " Rainbow replied while shaking her hoof dismissively.

Thunderlane seemed extremely relieved and thankful that she spared him from an earful. Kicker, on the other hoof, was clearly shocked by the outcome.

"What? Not even an angry pout or a curse word? I am truly disappointed boss. " Kicker remarked, her face being unmistakably faked sadness.

Thunderlane raised an eyebrow towards the blonde but said nothing in regards to her reaction. Rainbow groaned in annoyance before adressing the stallion once again.

"Don't mind her. She's upset she got no tail last night. To deal with that problem she goes around annoying the hay out of me." Rainbow said while feigning ignorance at Kicker's angry huff. "Ya be working the south part of the town today. Sunshower will give ya the lead on things when ready. "

"Alright. " Thunderlane replied with a bit more of enthusiasm than usual.

He was about to bolt outside but Rainbow stopped him by placing a hoof over his back. The stallion craned his neck around in confusion at the sudden gest.

"Before ya go, there's.... some stuff ya gotta answer. It's.... protocol, ya know? So... yeah. "

It should be normally fine if wasn't for the clear hesitation in which the rainbow mare dragged the words along. Thunderlane had mixed feelings about what he was going to be asked. It couldn't be anything of bad, could it? He was pretty sure his record was clean.

"Uhhh, sure. What is it? " He asked before sitting on his haunches.

Rainbow fidgeted with her papers before looking at the stallion in the eyes. She couldn't help but feel the apprehension taking over with a suffocating hold, blocking the words she dreaded to say outloud.

"Hum.... I need you provide current adress, age, the name of your relatives and few other stuff. " Rainbow replied, thankfully without stuttering.

Thunderlane narrowed his eyes. A sense of uneasiness paired over him while he thought on how answering those requests. He saw Cloud Kicker nearby, her eyes studying him carefully. There was no trace of playfulness or naughty on her face, but pure genuine concern instead.

The stallion wasn't really keen on giving all the answers but it was clear that they cared about his feelings enough to feel worried about asking such. With a resignated sigh he decided to give it away.

"Adress would be Cloudsdale. I'm yet to find a house in Ponyville that I will be settle in. Age? I'm around a year older than you Rainbow, I thought ya knew that since.... "

Rainbow nodded despite Thunderlane's sudden silence. She knew at what the stallion was implying despite Kicker's puzzled expression. It's been years since she saw the colt back at Flight Camp. They never talked which each other despite sharing many camp activities.

"Yeah. I remember Flight Camp. " Rainbow said without much joy as Thunderlane would expect. It was only because of Kicker's barely perceptive eye twitch that the stallion remembered of the incident back at Camp.

"Oh, right. I'm sorry. Didn't mean to bring that back up. " Thunderlane apologized in advance once he took note of the discomfort between both mares.

"Don't worry. Ain't ya fault. The quicker we get through this, the better." Rainbow quickly replied before shifting her hooves over the desk she was currently standing nearby. "Your....huh....relatives names?"

Thunderlane paused. It took him few seconds to muster enough resolve to answer her.

"My brother's name is Rumble as you all know. My....mother was Swifty Tornado and my father was....Storm Volt."

Rainbow Dash did a double take once she heard Thunderlane's father name. She stared at the stallion with wide eyes, her face one of pure amazement and disbelief.

"Storm Volt? As in....THE Storm Volt?!" She asked in bewilderment and expectation. Thunderlane nodded unenthusiastically.

"No way." Kicker said seemingly impressed and surprised too. "Never thought somepony like Storm Volt would have time to raise a family. All things considerate."

Rainbow Dash stood a bit perplexed while staring at the stallion in front of her. The son of a Wonderbolt legend. There was so much she heard about Storm Volt when he was at the peak of his career but the fact he raised a family was never brought into public.

"He always said that being the son of a Wonderbolt like him would be difficult if it ever reached the press. He didn't want to raise us with the pressure status of a celebrity. I always told him I wanted to be a great flier someday, but that changed as time went by." Thunderlane said. His eyes seemed to be staring into distance, his mind overflowing with past memories of happier times.

He could feel the mares sympathy as they stared at him even if they didn't say anything. It was never easy to bring memories, there wasn't much to look in the past that would make him feel better.

"There was an accident and....well. I had to take care of Rumble ever since." He finished with an air of extreme awkwardness around him.

"See?! Told ya!" Rainbow said grinning while gesturing her hoof at the purple mare. Kicker merely rolled her eyes before looking back at the stallion.

"Don't mind Dash. She's been thinking stuff more than usual. It's a miracle there's no vapor coming out of her ears." Cloud Kicker said as she noticed that Thunderlane was confused about Rainbow's sudden gesture.

The rainbow mare narrowed her eyes at the blonde before checking some paperwork. She could handle many things while doing her job, but an antagonizing Cloud Kicker wasn't one of them.

"Make sure ya check on Raindrops as soon you get to your sector. I gotta do this paper stuff. All that managing bucking routine I have to do cause I'm the 'responsible' one." Rainbow said looking none too happy about dealing with the office part of her work.

"I bet this would be a lot funnier if there was some epic Daring Do adventure to read along the way. Isn't that right Dash?" Kicker commented with a knowingly smile. A mischevious glee in her eyes a clear sign of danger.

Rainbow froze. Her hoof still, laying over a few papers at the balcony. She seemed very distressed as she glanced towards the stallion nearby.

Thunderlane wasn't sure at what Cloud Kicker was trying to get at, but he definitely knew about Daring Do adventure books. Rumble loved those.

"Yeah, my little bro never gets tired of having me reading her books. They are really fun to be honest."

Thunderlane's response seemed to have an instantaneous impact on both mares. Rainbow seemed extremely relieved and happy to know such while Kicker visibly deflated as her mocking attempt suffered a clear dismantle.

"Ain't ya a big grow up to be liking that stuff?" Kicker asked. Sure, she could understand Rainbow 'Dislikes Reading' Dash to find some joy in adventure books, but a grow up stallion? No wonder he was still single.

Thunderlane seemed unfazed by her comment though.

"Nopony is ever too old to enjoy things we wished we could do instead. I mean....it's not like any of us will ever be out exploring through forests, fighting monsters or discovering mythical artifacts and.....what?"

The stallion stopped as he saw both Rainbow and Kicker sharing a strange look.

"Can I tell him?" Kicker said with clear eagerness.

"No! None of that stuff! I remember last time ya happened to share too much stuff!" Rainbow retorted with clear panic. Her face was reddening considerably.

"Did I miss something?" Thunderlane asked, glancing at both mares with a confused expression.

"Nah." Kicker said with a shrugh. "But if you really wanna know I think I wouldn't be surprised if I happened to see Rainbow in a Wonderbolt uniform someday while using a Daring Do hat."

Thunderlane chuckled at the bizarre mental image. Though his amusement died quickly when Rainbow slammed a hoof full of papers over the balcony. Her face redder than a tomato.

The blonde mare chuckled. She still has lots of cards to play under her hooves, she wouldn't mind pushing Rainbow's nerves but she knew better than trying her luck too many times.

After what seemed an incessant ammount of Daring Do gibberish, exclusively exchanged between Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane, all pegasus finally departed to their respective occupations.

For the most part of the day Rainbow Dash patrolled in between the zones to make sure all the delivered tasks were tight on schedule. She was happy to see that Blossomforth and Kicker were doing just fine together considering that Blossom was recruited just few weeks ago.

Cloud Chaser, Helia and Star Hunter were performing as expected. At least they were managing to keep the wild clouds coming from the Everfree away from the farmlands. Rainbow wouldn't be looking forward to get an earful from Applejack again after the thunderstorms incident.

Clear Skies, Open Skies and Sunshower Raindrops managed to concentrate rain clouds on the targeted areas without much of a hassle. Except for the fact that Open and Clear skies still were having communication issues every time they talked about weather with each other.

So far so good.

But where was Thunderlane?

Rainbow just realized she yet had to find the charcoal pegasus. Despite flying throught all the designated zones she failed to see him anywhere.

"Where did he go?" Rainbow asked herself after flying in circles around Ponyville a couple of times. "Great. How does a dark coated pegasus dissappears into the bright sky?"

As if on cue for an answer a feather floated aimlessly in front of the mare towards the vast ground below. Rainbow blinked while staring at it before raising her head upwards.

Several meters above her a thin layout of clouds hovered peacefully. A quick glance at it wouldn't suggest anything out of the ordinary. But a further look revealed a dark spot among the sea of white.

Rainbow frowned in confusion before flying upwards at the suspiciously familiar dark mass. Just what the hay Thunderlane was doing all the way up there? He was supposed to be getting rid of the thunderclouds!!

She reached at the cloud level in only few seconds before contemplating the scene in front of her.

Thunderlane was literally laying on his back. His head being supported by both his front hooves while his hind legs were shamelessly spread apart, giving Rainbow Dash a front row seat to all his lower regions.

The cyan mare found herself stuck on a glare at the region between his hind legs, her face heating up tremendously before she managed to break free from this unpleasant view. She somehow managed to turn that embarrassment into righteous anger. She made a slow, but steady, intake of air.

"THUNDERLANE!!!!"

The stallion woke up in a startle. His limbs scratching all over the cloud in mildly panic. His eyes fully erected in alarm as he glanced around without much focus.

Rainbow calmly watched as the stallion fought down his senses to get a better understanding of what was happening around him. The cyan mare smirked as he stared right at her with wide eyes.

"Oh....hey Dash. Do you need anything?"

The way he spoke was so casual that Rainbow Dash almost lost her cool again. She prayed that Celestia could give her enough strenght to endure whatever was coming next.

"Yes! Or better yet! What are you doing up here when you should be clearing up the thunderclouds?! Since that's your bucking job! Or ya forgot that already?!"

Thunderlane shrugged. Rainbow's fierce attitude didn't faze him as much as it would most other ponies.

"I already did that."

Rainbow Dash stood petrified. The absurdity of what the stallion just said made her wings stop flapping for a second. She quickly caught herself before she started falling and glared at the other pegasus as if he was insane.

"What?! You think I believe that for a second?!"

"If you don't believe me you can ask Chaser, or Sunshower, or the Skies."

"B-But....that's impossible! Thunderclouds take few minutes to clear up! I know that cause I'm the fastest thing ever!" Rainbow said while stuffing her chest, a self assured smile on her face. Thunderlane merely rolled his eyes at her egocentric display.

"The fastest maybe, not the brightest for sure."

Thunderlane instantly regretted those words as soon they left his mouth. Rainbow pounced on him like a hungry beast, pinning him against the cloud with both hooves, her face stood inches away from his, an angry snarl coming out of her, her magenta eyes reflecting on Thunder's golden irises.

"Maybe I don't need a showoff of a stallion to work for me. Ya better tell me exactly how you got rid of the clouds or I will kick your sorry flank out of this team today."

Thunderlane knew she wasn't joking around. An infuriated Rainbow Dash was one thing, but a completely mad one definitely wasn't worth the risk. He seriously doubted playing the sympathy card would work in this situation.

"Fine, I will tell you. Would you mind getting your hooves off my chest? It's kinda hard to breathe with all that weight a-

Rainbow gasped. She slammed a hoof down into his belly in pure irritation. Thunderlane winced a bit but managed to restrain a painful yelp from escaping his mouth.

"Did you just call me fat?!"

"W-What?! No! That's not what I meant! Gez Rainbow, calm down a bit. If you want me to cooperate at least lay off a bit."

With a great ammount of hesitation the cyan mare slowly went off to the side. Thunderlane turned back on his hooves, at least he could talk without feeling awkwardly exposed. He inspected his wings and saw that few feathers were missing, probably from the moment when Dash assaulted him.

He could tell she was extremely upset. Also her temper was one of a kind he never saw before, the stallion couldn't grasp on any reason of why this mare would be so violent towards things.

"Now about the thunderclouds. I imagine your methods of busting thunderclouds required more time due you spreding them into thinner layers. This way you would avoid undesirable eletric discharges." Thunderlane calmly inquired. Rainbow merely huffed. He was right but she didn't feel like telling him that. "Well, you can actually get rid of them without busting any clouds."

"What?!"

Rainbow Dash forgot momentarily about being angry at him for the sake of curiosity. She never heard of any other techniques for thundercloud busting.

"Yes. It's actually something you learn in Flight Camp. I believe it was the Air Density class. You don't remember that?"

"Well, huh....I didn't....I don't remember all of it." Rainbow said while scratching the back of her neck with one hoof. She tried to play it cool but her nervous actions were betraying her.

"Ok. Let's have a reminder then. What do you think?" Thunderlane offered with a smile. Rainbow shrugged.

"Yeah, whatever, go ahead."

"Most thunderclouds die after about twenty minutes, when the air precipitation causes more downdraft than updraft, causing the energy to dissipate. If there is enough solar energy in the atmosphere, however, on a hot summer's day, for example, the moisture from one storm cell can evaporate rapidly, resulting in a new thundercloud forming just at distance from the former one. This can cause thunderstorms to last for several hours."

"Which is why we gotta get rid of them really fast before more settle in. Ya still didn't explain to me how you did it though." Rainbow remarked impatiently.

"Well. I'm not sure if you noticed but we are currently standing on a former thundercloud."

Rainbow blinked. Her eyes went around, quickly studying the puffy white cloud they were standing on.

"But.....how?!" She asked in bewilderment.

"Magic." Thunderlane replied with a smug face. "OK!Ok! I will tell you!" He quickly added as soon Rainbow raised a hoof in order to hit him again.

"Ya better. It's your first day and I'm already getting sick of ya." Rainbow said sounding distressed.

Thunderlane's ears fell flat, his eyes casted downwards, clearly embarrassed and disappointed at the same time.

"Sorry. I just wanted to show you something different. I didn't know you would be this upset because of it."

Now it was Rainbow's turn to feel guilty. Perhaps she did overreact to an extent, still she wasn't letting him getting out of this one so easily.

"Just tell me how ya do it. It would help us a lot knowing how to deal with the thunderclouds. Perhaps I didn't have to fire a friend of mine because of it."

Thunderlane swore inwardly. Hay, he didn't know Rainbow Dash had a tough call because of this whole issue. He could understand a bit how she felt now. Seeing a stallion perform so easily a task that one of her friends used to struggle with must truly suck.

"So...huh...like I was saying...in general, thunderclouds require moisture, an unstable air mass, and a lifting force, which is heat, in order to form."

"Yeah. Spreading them thin is a way to keep them out of enough accumulated energy to form up." Rainbow said in a matter of fact tone.

"Which works just fine but takes more effort to cover from cloud to cloud. What I do is elevate the clouds through an air current all the way up before they can gather enough heat and moisture to grow. The higher they go the colder and thinner is the air around them. They might turn into simple rain clouds but they lose their dangerous elements and turn into regular clouds. The higher air currents will spread them thin without me having to do it by myself."

Rainbow stood in silence for few seconds while trying to understand everything Thunderlane said. After a whole minute she finally understood the process.

"So....you push them all the way up and let the higher currents to do the spread apart thing?" She said half-assuredly. Thunderlane nodded. "That's...kinda really helpful to be honest."

"You're still mad at me?" Thunderlane asked jokingly.

"Well, I wanted to but....fine! Sorry for snapping at ya, ok?! I thought you were slacking already. It shouldn't be that hard to push some clouds up a bit after all." Rainbow said in an attempt to justify herself.

"Actually it takes some effort. I said this method was faster, not less demanding." Thunderlane replied while streching his wings. "It's been a long time since I had to give out so much to do my job. This place sure has it's challenges."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good job and all of that. Get back to work." Rainbow said while feigning annoyance. Truth to be told the cyan mare was impressed but she would rather eat manure than complimenting somepony for being better than her at weather related stuff.

"Right away Dash. Say....you don't mind if I teach some stuff to others, right? I don't feel like stealing your thunder after all." The stallion asked with a devious smirk.

"You're not my-

Rainbow's eyes widened once she realized her slip up. Thunderlane laughed at her face before jumping off of the cloud.

"GET BACK HERE THUNDERLANE!!! I'M SO GONNA MAKE YOU PAY FOR THAT!"

It was the start of a very promising friendship for both these pegasus.

Second Thoughts and New Approaches

Rainbow frowned, lost in her thoughts about today's events. She would be lying to herself if she said she didn't want to break that sweet record. Yet, despite all her predictions, they were cut short of wing power and almost didn't make it for a fairly decent tornado if wasn't for Fluttershy.

Seven pegasus were missing for the event and, for Rainbow's utter disappointment, Thunderlane was one of them. She was already breathing down on his neck ever since day one, not that she would admit of course.

His lazy, uncaring, self-assured behavior was driving her nuts, not only because it was something that she does a lot too, but because despite how little effort Thunderlane applies on his job he still is more successful than any of the others.

Rainbow Dash was tired of chewing him out for not trying to push himself a bit harder. It was clear he didn't care about anything she says unless it's related to their work. Otherwise the stallion would just make some witty remark and go on his merry way.

Nopony else in the team seemed to care much. Sure it bothered them that the stallion could do his work so much better without trying that hard, but it wasn't really his fault if he knew it better how to do it.

Cloud Kicker, in the other hoof, was constantly bothering Rainbow for the sake of Rainbow to stop picking on Thunderlane. The purple mare, surprisingly, gave up on trying anything with the stallion, especially after she realized he wasn't over past incidents.

"You know my rules Dash. I don't mess up with anypony if they're not well. Thunderlane hasn't been for a long time. You're getting angry at him for the wrong reasons."

It frustrated Rainbow Dash beyond belief that Kicker would take his side. The purple mare has always worked so hard in the team, there was a reason for Rainbow to pick her as her co-captain and 'awesomest friend ever' aside the rest of the Mane Six.

"Maybe you two need a really good talk. If you two keep this up you will only end hurting each other and I don't wanna loose any of you because of a job issue. I thought he meant something to you aside of just a coworker, Dash. Aren't friends worth the trouble?"

Kicker was right and Rainbow Dash hated to admit. Especially when the purple mare literally forced Rainbow to admit such outloud just to poke at her pride.

Now here she was, at the Hospital's waiting room, nearly bored to death and wondering when she would be cleared to check in on the lazy bum she's been tormenting for weeks.

"Miss Rainbow Dash? You're clear to go in, but I strongly advise you to not cross the bubble unless you want to spend your next weeks under Feather Flu symptoms." An mare earth pony with white coat, her mane and tail of a light pink, said somewhat threatening.

"Huh...thanks, Nurse Redheart. I won't for sure." Rainbow replied while feeling extreme relieved for being free from such torturous experience. She definitely didn't like waiting.

The cyan mare made her way inside the room. She was still uneasy when it came about being in an Hospital. Normally she only would only be at such place due serious crash injuries. The dull ambience of the Hospital never sit well with a 'pure in adrenaline ' mare like herself.

The sound of hoofsteps over the tiled floor immediately caught the attention of the pony currently laying still over the single bed in the room. The bubble designed to prevent outsiders from spreading the disease was hardly noticeable if not for the proper illumination the room possessed.

"Huh.....never thought you would be considerate enough to bother visiting me of all ponies." Thunderlane said, his voice dripping with every single ammount of sarcasm he could muster.

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth, biting back a very nasty retort, knowing full well that there was a thin line present here. A line that was hanging the last remnants of their friendship. She couldn't buck this up. Not again.

Rainbow didn't say anything at first. Her resolve focused on getting as close as possible without crossing the isolated perimeter. Her eyes quickly registered the stallion's wings limping at his sides, they were nearly devoid of all the feathers that Thunderlane always took a good care of. Rainbow was pretty sure he preened them every day.

"Rumble was here few hours ago. He told me some stuff that I would be concerned about if I didn't know any better." The stallion said casually, his eyes studying the cyan mare carefully.

Rainbow internally grimaced at this reveal. She had a very poor choice of words when adressing Thunderlane's brother back at the lake where they performed the tornado. Once the little gray colt informed of Thunderlane's excuse to be absent Rainbow may have been bit too cynical towards Rumble. She surely didn't spare colorful words on her loud opinions about his older brother.

'The little brat probably told Thunderlane everything I said. That's just bucking great.'

Rainbow Dash was always fond of Rumble, he was a very kind and sweet little colt at first impression. That until Rainbow learned the hard way how looks could be deceiving. Just because the gray colt seemed innocent it did not mean he was any of it.

Most of the time.

Rainbow was well known for being a mouthful about several things she liked and didn't like. The problem with that is when it was something about Thunderlane, she couldn't find an even ground on how to adress the stallion when he wasn't around. 'Usually' she would (rarely) praise him, or just trash talk until everypony was annoyed enough to ignore her constant complains about Thunderlane's mannerisms.

And when her constant bickering reached Cloud Chaser's ears a tragedy was bound to happen very soon. Rainbow Dash should've know better than to talk about Thunderlane when Rumble's fillysitter was around.

Cloud Chaser was a mare with avid admiration towards Thunderlane, it was pretty obvious for the whole team how bad Chaser had the hots for the charcoal stallion. Thunderlane was well aware of Chaser's more than normal affinity towards him.

"I-I know....Thunderlane...I....do you....do you hate me?"

Such question surprised the stallion. He expected a more aggressive approach coming from the mare, perhaps even lots of sarcasm and off-hoofed insults. Yet the clear despair in her voice made him think twice about how to tread the conversation.

"Gee, what gave you that impression?I'm sure that the constant harassment you put me through has definitely not turned on any of my bad feelings about you." The stallion's sarcastic reply made Rainbow wince. She already was feeling guilty enough, he didn't have to throw it on her face like that.

"I wanted to impress Spitfire, okay?! I wanted to break that record so she could see how awesome I am and that I'm totally Wonderbolt stuff!" Rainbow retorted nervously. Thunderlane snorted.

"So? I also want to try to be a Wonderbolt someday, but do you ever see me trying to impress everypony? I don't see why you think showboating is so important. If we ever get accepted into the Academy you will have plenty of opportunities to show off as much as you want. I only feel bad that I couldn't help with the tornado. Getting the water to Cloudsdale should be what matters in this case, not impressing the Wonderbolts. The day you start caring about what is really important I will start taking you more seriously. "

Rainbow Dash stood mouth agape for a second before she could come up with a response. She was peeved that the stallion dared to say she didn't care. Yet she couldn't deny the partial truth on what he said. She did want to impress, she did want to break records, she did want for to Fluttershy to make part of it, yet she couldn't help Fluttershy, the yellow mare helped herself. She was so caught on looking good for Spitfire that she lost the grip of the situation and they barely managed to gather enough wing power to get the water up.

"Well, I got the water to Cloudsdale. I may no-

Rainbow paused as Thunderlane's eyes narrowed at her.

"WE may not have broken the record but Spitfire said I did great!!" Dash corrected herself with a bit more of excitement.

"Hurrayyyy." The stallion replied with the most clearly faked enthusiasm possible. He was getting really upset but Rainbow was hardly paying any attention to the signs of danger.

"What's the matter with ya?! Why can't ya be happy for me for once?!" Rainbow complained, fed up already with Thunderlane's sarcasm and bad mood.

"Happy for you? Happy for you?! Are you actually kidding me?!"

Thunderlane's voice raised to a level Rainbow never heard from him before. She took few hoofsteps back, her eyes widening in surprise at his increasing outburst.

But before he could say amything else a familiar white coated earth pony entered the room with a very unamused expression.

"Ms. Dash. I will kindly warn you to not aggravate my patience while he's recovering from a serious illness. Keep your problems to yourself if they're only good to agitate your friend further." Nurse Redheart warned with a quick side glance towards the stallion. "No yelling. I won't say again. Also.....you got another visit Mr. Thunderlane, should I let her in?"

"Huh, s-sure?" Thunderlane sputtered, clearly surprised by Redheart's imposing presence. "I mean, yes, of course."

"Hey, what's keeping your sexy back busy there hearty? I got things to do." Said a voice coming from outside the room.

Both Rainbow and Thunderlane groaned in unison. This definitely wasn't the best time to have a conversation with Cloud Kicker.

"I will send her in immediately." Redheart announced while trying to suppress a giggle from escaping her lips. She quickly made her way outside only for her presence to be replaced by a very well known blonde mare.

Cloud Kicker stopped in her tracks, evident surprise at seeing Rainbow Dash also present in the room, though she recovered in the blink of an eye.

"Oh, seems we are having a nice reunion going on in here? Mind if I stick around?" She asked with a wink.

"Buck off, both of you." Thunderlane said before resting his head on the pillow, his eyes staring with sudden fascination towards the wall.

Kicker's eyebrows raised to stratospheric levels at the stallion's incredibly rude response, but she quickly recovered from the shock only to glare at the cyan mare nearby.

"Ok, what did you do? I known Thunderlane well enough to know he wouldn't be acting like such a prick if you haven't done something extremely inconsiderate to him."

Kicker's insult fell on deaf ears for Thunderlane but they seemed to work too well for the rainbow mare.

"WH-" Rainbow paused her outburst, quickly remembering about Redheart's threat and what she could possibly do if they started yelling again. "I didn't do a thing. It's not my fault if he doesn't care about my career."

"Rainbow," Kicker started, her voice wavering with a certain edge of pure irritation."Thunderlane's sick, he's not only part of the team but also our friend. You better stop picking on him just because he was better than you at thunderstorm management. You are not the best pony in the entire world, and everypony else will like you way more if you stopped acting as if you were."

"That's not true!" Rainbow exclaimed, angry and undignified. "So what if he does a better job at thunderclouds than me!? He's lazy, stubborn and doesn't care about trying harder! I AM the fastest pegasus there is in the entire world! I never said anything about being the best pony! I am not even....."

Rainbow Dash paused, her eyes widening in realization at the truth she so hardly ignored for so long, her wings falling limp at her sides, her magenta eyes casting downwards in resentful acceptance.

"...I am not even the best friend for anypony, much less a good friend. Yeah....I know that....I just....it's so much different with the other girls. They accept me for who I am and we get along just fine."

"Yeah, but your friends have different goals and lifestyles." Kicker said while approaching the sulking mare, wrapping a wing around her for comfort. "Me, Thunderlane, Cloud Chaser, we have similar goals and lifestyles just like yours. You're always boasting about how you're the greatest pegasus around. Honestly we don't mind that. Well, not much as we should but still. I wouldn't get mad at you if wasn't for the solemnly fact you ARE hurting somepony else because they can actually put up a challenge against you. You're finally experiencing the fear of losing to somepony else and you've show clearly how much of a poor sports you are. The thing is that you don't know how to deal with losing."

Rainbow Dash's ears flattened against her head. Kicker's sincere words hurt as much as a buck to the face. The worst thing is that Kicker wasn't wrong on any of what she just said, Rainbow never had anypony calling into her fears other than the purple pegasus, the same one who stood at her side despite all the wrong doings Rainbow committed against her in the past.

Rainbow's magenta eyes directed themselves towards the stallion she's been dreading about for weeks. A very uneasy feeling shook her gut as she realized how much of a pain she has been towards a pony that hasn't wronged her in any way.

Except for....

"Thunderlane. " Rainbow called, her voice a bit raspy. "Why didn't you want to go out with me at the Summer celebration?"

Cloud Kicker flinched back in complete astonishment. Her eyes wide while glancing from Rainbow to Thunderlane forth and back. Her mouth hanging loosely for a second before the edges slowly started to arise, a naughty stare quickly forming on her face.

Thunderlane's sour behavior was replaced by sudden nervousness. The stallion was pulling a lot of effort to keep a straight face, yet he could feel Kicker's eyes laying down on him like a bird of prey watching her next meal.

"Huhhh." It became so difficult to form words that the stallion tried to make hoof gestures instead, though that wouldn't really help a bit. "I wasn't really...you know?"

"What?" Rainbow asked. Her saddened expression drowning the stallion in utter guilt. He was upset at Rainbow for being such a pain but he would be dammed if he ever hurt a mare's feelings. His mother taught him better.

He just wished she could be around to help him. Dealing with mares was always a touchy subject, especially when they wanted to pour his feelings at him or, in Kicker's case, lots of cider.

"I wasn't ready, okay?! I know I....I'm likeable in a way and stuff, but I don't have time to spend with anypony else that not my little bro. I need to make sure he-

Thunderlane chocked. It hurt. It still hurt too much to think about. He promised himself he would be stronger than that, strongest for him and his brother. He couldn't let Rumble down. He wouldn't.

Kicker and Rainbow shared a worried glance. They could feel the distress in his voice, see how much it pained him to get close to any mention of his family.

"H-he needs me, okay? I-I didn't h-

"Stop. Please."

The stallion paused. His eyes glistening as he stared towards the cyan mare standing few meters away outside the isolation bubble.

"This is not a good time. I understand it now and....I'm sorry, for....ya know....being such a pain." Dash said awkwardly enough. "I don't wanna lose ya as a friend. I already lost a friend because I didn't bother to ask what was wrong. I don't wanna lose another because I ignored the things ya have been through. Kicker's right. I was upset at you for, perhaps, being -

Cloud Kicker shoved her right hoof at Rainbow's shoulder blade, her action clearly warning the cyan mare about dropping the attitude. Dash gritted her teeth in pure agony.

For being a better thunderstorms manager than me, aaannd....for turning me down."

Rainbow Dash was thankful that Kicker took her apology seriously, though she didn't need to hoof her so hard! Thunderlane stared intently at Dash for a moment before replying.

"Rainbow Dash. I dunno why me being good at something bothers you so much, but I can understand that being turned down is hard. I just....I'm still getting acquainted with everypony in town. It will take a certain amount of time before I can get comfortable enough to spend my time with somepony else. I turned you down solemnly because I'm not interested on it at the moment. Do ot think it had anything to do with your looks or something you said before. I'm more than willing to give you another chance in the whole friendship stuff, but you gotta do some effort on it."

Rainbow sighed in resignation. Thunderlane wasn't wrong. She really has to make some sacrificies in order to earn some trust, otherwise they might stop being friends and coworkers all the same.

"Fine, ya right, but ya gotta promise to put some extra effort on cloud control. I don't wanna see ya getting more chubby than ya are." Dash replied with a grin to her face.

"I'm not fat!" Thunderlane replied immediately, his cheeks burning as both mares started giving him evaluating stares.

"You kinda look more rounded than you used to." Kicker commented slowly. "I was pretty sure you had more toned muscles."

The stallion stood speechless. His face burning a bright red that was hardly noticeable under his dark fur. He couldn't find any arguments that would justify his apparently increased corporal mass. The mere thought of going into a training routine was scary enough and he couldn't bear thinking of himself getting fat.

"If it will make you complain less then I will start doing more straining tasks for the sake of us both." Thunderlane agreed with a visible frown. He didn't like training at all.

Rainbow seemed pretty satisfied with that answer. Kicker merely shook her head in amusement. At least they were finally getting somewhere after so much unnecessary drama.

"Great! Oh! I bet this will probably count as a friendship lesson! Twilight wants me to keep tab of those for whatever reason." Rainbow said with sudden excitement. Cloud Kicker groaned.

"Of all the kinds of princesses we could get, having one as the Princess of Friendship has to be the silliest thing I've ever seen." The purple mare said while rolling her eyes.

"Hey! Twilight worked hard to get that title! Don't you dare to diss her out!" Rainbow snapped angrily towards the other mare.

"Yeah. She kicked Moony's flank with the magical power of Elements of Whatever and saved us from Discord and yada-yada-yada. Still, all she gets is Princess of Friendship? That is kinda lame. Perhaps Princess of Magic or Princess of Harmony would sound much cooler." Cloud Kicker suggested with an unusual thoughtful expression.

"Now that you mention it, it does sound kinda lame in comparison." Rainbow replied with a frown. "Whatever, I don't care. What were we talking about again?"

"About how long I'll be stuck in this Celestia's forsaken bed until I have my feathers back and I can start a regimen." Thunderlane replied unenthused.

"Well. I think Twilight may have a spell to help your feathers to grow back really quick. I can try talk to her about it once you're cleared out of the Hospital. " Rainbow offered sympathetically. She knew how much it sucked to be grounded because Feather Flu.

"Speaking of meeting other ponies I think there was somepony looking for ya Dash. She was at the entrance. I told her I would be checking out to see if you were here." Kicker revealed, an odd smile spreading across her face. Rainbow instantly knew the purple mare was up to something.

"Huh, is that so? Kay....I will make my way out th-

"Rainbow, wait!" Thunderlane called, he sounded a bit anxious as he spoke. It became evident once he continued talking while avoiding looking straight at his coworker. "I was thinking we could maybe go out in the weekend? You, Me Rumble and....what was her name again? Scootaloo, right?" He guessed unsuredly. "It would be nice if we could hangout without feeling weird about. I do want for us to get along better after all. I'm pretty sure the doctor will clear me up before the weekend. What do you think?"

Rainbow Dash stood hesitantly at the door. Her eyes going from the stallion, who stared expectantly at her reply, to Cloud Kicker, who was giving her a very judgemental glare that made Rainbow feel very uncomfortable.

"Huh, sure! That sounds great! I will be there with the squirt. You can count on it." Rainbow replied, her smile wavering a bit. Thunderlane didn't seem so assured. His eyes narrowed in concern before asking.

"Do you promise?"

Rainbow Dash wasn't sure what was the real reason that made her commit towards the stallion after all the conflicts that happened in the last weeks. For one she believed that Kicker's piercing and judgemental glare was the real reason she went on with it. On the other hoof, when she stare at those bright golden orbs, when she saw the hope and expectation reflected in them, she couldn't bring herself to let Thunderlane down. Not this time.

"Alright. I promise. I will bring the skirt so we can all hang out in the weekend. How's that sound?"

Thunderlane, despite missing several feathers and looking beaten to death, couldn't help but smile in appreciation for Rainbow's effort to repair their delicate friendship as it currently stood. It wasn't going to be easy for her to spend time with him instead of her other friends, the cyan mare was always a guaranteed sight near either Pinkie Pie, Applejack or Twilight Sparkle. Even Cloud Kicker would've been a more likely friend to hang out with than Thunderlane.

"Thanks Dash. I guess I should plan something ahead for the weekend then. If you have any suggestions feel free to drop them. My head is kinda fuzzy after the medication." The stallion said, resting his head over the comfy white pillow, his eyes laying their sights at the Hospital's dull wooden roof.

Rainbow nodded in response despite Thunderlane being unable to see it. She didn't bother to correct her mistake as she trotted towards the door.

"Take care Lane. I gotta check on the others. Hopefully everypony will be off by the weekend. I gotta report back at HQ or they will probably send somepony to fuss around and annoying me with dumb questions." Rainbow said while frowning at the perspective.

Visits fom the HQ were never a pleasant experience ever since Rainbow Dash promoted to Captain of Ponyville's Weather Control Team. It seems that, while Ponyville's Mayor had more faith in Rainbow's weather expertise, the big higher ups in the command of Equestria Weather Management Teams weren't so thrilled to see such uneducated mare taking a leadership position that requires more than 'stretching her wings out' per say.

Of course that Rainbow proved somewhat to be capable of hoofling through the management field just fine, much to the dismay of several pegasus interested on taking over Ponyville's leadership position.

Cloud Kicker, Cloud Chaser, Blossomforth, Star Hunter, Sunshower Raindrops, Helia, Rainbowshine, Sunny Skies, Open Skies, Sassaflash, Pizzelle and Derpy all signed an official document claiming Rainbow Dash as their rightful captain, mentioning very clearly how she was more than adequate for the spot and had earn it fairly after serving for Ponyville for so long and meeting all the expectations.

It was times like these that Rainbow Dash felt grateful for the friendships she managed to built with her co-workers despite their clashes of personalities.

But that was never the case with Thunderlane.

Rainbow admittedly didn't try her best to form any strings of friendship with the stallion other than the occasional work talk here or there. Things with Thunder had always go south ever since he displayed his experience at doing a more efficient work than Rainbow could. Instead of a compliment or a praise of any sorts she just soured at his skills, refusing to accept he was good, or maybe even better, in any sort of possibility that involved weather management.

Only now she realized she failed at being a good boss, a team leader, and especially a good friend. It wasn't fair to be mad at him for being good at something. If he wasn't good at anything there wouldn't even be a point for him to be appointed to work in Ponyville.

She really wanted to patch things up. She really liked him. Though she would never said it outloud, especially near Cloud Kicker. She rather be caught playing fru-fru dressing and going into a spa with Rarity than ever admitting she cared about the mohawk show off.

"Yeah. I know what you mean. Ponies back at HQ can be lousy twats sometimes." Thunderlane replied, surprising both Kicker and Dash with his clear distaste for the Head Department.

"Huh. Glad we have something we all can agree with." Kicker said while crossing her hooves together, an approving smile plastered across her face. "Old gags back at HQ will be stuck by the codes no matter if Discord makes it rain chocolate and snow sugar."

Rainbow chuckled. It really was a likely thing to happen. Though she was glad they wouldn't need to worry about Discord ever in their lifes. The stories that were passed through generations regarding the strange creature were always so weird and hardly believable if not for Princess Celestia, and also Princess Luna, confirming those abhorrent tales.

"How about we talk more about this back at the office? I could use some lunch right now. Wanna join me Dash?" Kicker asked as she made her way to the doorway. " I'm sure Redy won't mind. See ya tomorrow Thundy?" The purple mare added with a wink.

Thunderlane chuckled before waving a hoof in their direction. He was internally relieved that the conversation was over.

"Sure thing. I'll be waiting here with my usual sarcastic self." Thunderlane replied with a frown, but the smile on his face betrayed his feelings. The stallion was more than happy about having somepony visiting him regularly other than his young brother.

Rainbow Dash and Kicker left the Hospital's premises after checking on few other pegasus that also had caught the Feather Flu. Rainbow felt uneasy at seeing few of her co-workers in isolation bubbles, it was a wonder only few had gotten sick. Despite all the issues they would recover in a couple of weeks. It was surprising that Thunderlane would be up at this weekend, his recovery rate was certainly unusual.

Rainbow came across other team members when they left the Hospital. The cyan mare was surprised to see so many ponies visiting at once, they probably had gathered up for the occasion. Kicker exchanged few words with Blossomforth before saying her goodbyes to Rainbow Dash, something about catching up with her special somepony or whatever. Rainbow made her way to the Flea's Bite to wind up a drink or two. This whole tornado incident took a lot out of her, both mental and physically.

The rainbow mare entered the establishment way quieter than usual, there weren't many ponies present at this hour of the day, shemade her way to the balcony, while avoiding the few other ponies that were enjoying themselves at the tables, Rainbow wasn't in the mood for talking with anypony else. Once she reached the balcony she meet up with no other than Berry Punch.

"Rainbow Dash?" Berry asked, visibly bewildered by her presence. Dash was thankful that Berry was still hanging on her hooves, it was better than ordering a drink to a bartender that seemed to have consumed half the drinks that were ordered before they could reach their client. "What brings you so early around here?"

"Just want a drink, Berry. Don't wanna talk about it." Rainbow replied while crossing her hooves over the balcony, her eyes burning a hole through the wooden surface. Berry raised an eyebrow at Rainbow's grumpy attitude before filling a drink and tossing it near her.

Rainbow chugged it down in a single go, much to Berry's astonishment. A low whistle was heard nearby as another pony approached that balcony. Rainbow ignored it but Berry was already ready to mouth some fitting words, that until she saw who was the pony that came at her balcony.

"Ya gotta way more than just a nice set of colours and speed on ya filly." Said the awfully familiar voice that Rainbow could not mistake for anypony else. Though she mistook it as an early drunk effect.

"Buck. What did ya just gave me Punch? I already hearing nonsense around me." Rainbow asked with a groan, she failed to notice the mare right at her side giving her an odd glare.

"Rainbow, you're not drunk. You had just one drink and that does not get you drunk at all." Berry chastised while staring nervously at the newcomer. "Sorry about that. She's not having a good day."

"How so?" Asked the newcomer, her gruffy voice filled with surprise and humorous disbelief. "This mare here pulled a tornado and did a nice job leading a huge ammount of pegasi through all of that. If anything she should be proud of herself. Well, I ain't sure if that wouldn't make her explode." The mare added with a chuckle. Berry rolled her eyes at the jab.

Rainbow was about to ignore the whole thing until this mare poked fun at her pride. She swirled around on her seat, ready to retort some nice words she learned from Cloud Kicker, but she froze in her seat once she realized who was standing at her side with a very amused expression on her face.

"S...Spitfire?"

"Well, took ya long enough Dash. I was already thinking on dumping water on you just to make sure ya didn't pass out on me." Spitfire replied while grinning at the younger pegasus.

The Wonderbolt Captain was out of her uniform at the moment, her golden fur reflecting the light around the establishment with a surprising amount of intensity. Her eyes danced around as she studied her surrounds carefully. She seemed rather impressed as she finally returned her attention back to the cyan mare.

Rainbow was thankful that she recovered from the shock by the time Spitfire returned her staring. Dash spent a few seconds mouth agape while absorbing the presence of her idol standing so close to her. The temptation of squealing like a little filly was enormous but she held her ground just in time.

'OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH, WHAT DO I SAY? THINK RAINBOW, THINK!'

Spitfire calmly asked Berry for a drink while she waited for Rainbow's brain fart to dissipate. The Wonderbolt was enjoying herself quite a bit.

Rainbow blinked hard, a deep breath being all she needed to get to her senses, though the drink she had made her feel a bit fuzzy.

"Hum...I though you were back at Cloudsdale by now." Rainbow said hesitantly, unsure if being casual with Spitfire was a good approach.

"I would but I have enough time to spend. Never been in Ponyville before so I wanted to stick around and see why this town has been so mentioned in the last months. I can tell it's way bigger than I anticipated. We could host few shows here from time to time, it has a neat location regarding all the other towns and villages." Spitfire replied with that casual behavior that Rainbow Dash did not expect. The daredevil also seemed quite relieved that Rainbow put herself togheter so quick. "What about you? I expected to find yourself celebrating instead of drowning hard feelings." She added, throwing at the cyan mare a questioning glance.

Rainbow's initial excitement disappeared at the reminder of her recent problems. Spitfire frowned as she saw Rainbow 's moid drop so drastically.

"Nothing, just some issues I had with few teammates. I was at the Hospital checking on them."

"The ones that caught the Flu? You're lucky you lost just a very few. That could've gone way worse than it did." Spitfire replied before taking a sip. She couldn't pin on Dash a potential tornado failure due few pegasus getting sick. It was a good thing Rainbow Dash aimed so high for a record, otherwise the loss of few pegasus would've meant the impossibility of being able to generate enough wing power for a decent tornado.

"Yeah, but I was being too picky with one of them. I felt like blaming on him for everything that went wrong, but that was just me being a bad friend and leader. I guess I still got a long way to go before being decent enough at being a team leader." Rainbow's voice was carried with a clear undertone of defeat. She knew she wasn't the best pony around when it comes about social skills, but still...

"Huh, don't be too hard on yourself. We all make mistakes from time to time. It's a matter of recognizing those mistakes and learn from them. Only then you will become a better pony for those who look up at you. I had my fair share of mistakes. I still do once in a while. Ain't easy being the youngest captain around after all." Spitfire added with a chuckle. She was thankful for having Soarin and Fleetfoot around to help her make better decisions, she had no idea where she would be without her friends. " It's always worthy to make amends if it means keeping a friend at your side. You never know when you will need them."

Rainbow Dash was quite amazed with the honesty from that statement. It was the kind of thing Kicker would lecture her about when Rainbow Dash got mad at somepony for whatever reason. Cloud Kicker had her own struggles but always managed to get through them without losing anypony. Well, aside from what happened many years back at Flight Camp, but even then she reattached her friendship with Rainbow Dash, after lots of insisting from Rainbow herself.

Rainbow Dash wasn't a bad pony, she had her heart in the right place even if her head wasn't, and for that reason Rainbow Dash had many friendship issues due letting her feelings take the better of her. She failed to listen to reason and prefered action instead at the worst of the ocassions. She would come to regret her choices later on and anguish at how poorly she reacted to them.

This entire issue with Thunderlane was a painful reminder of how she wished she could've been a better friend when Gilda needed her. Rainbow was still sour about her griffon friend and Gilda wasn't returning any of her letters. Cloud Kicker, being very familiar with this kind of situation, advised Rainbow to go seek the griffon personally. Kicker had many doubts that Gilda would've a parent that would make her listen to reason.

Rainbow Dash wanted to go after Gilda, yet she was afraid of going to Griffinstone all by herself. She knew better than to try her luck in a town full of griffins, especially a hot-headed pony like herself. Kicker volunteered to go with her as long they had, at least, half dozen pegasus to make them company.

Needless to say that there weren't enough pegasus interested in joining a group, fly all the way across the eastern sea towards a town full of dangerous griffins, only for the sake of making amends.

Rainbow Dash would've to live with the fact that she lost her best friend and she would never see her again.

"Thanks. Hopefully we can get things through. I don't wanna lose a friend again." Rainbow couldn't help but feel depressed at the possibility, especially when she had no other to blame but herself.

Spitfire felt the sorrow in Rainbow's voice and felt sympathetic for the other mare. Rainbow Dash had impressed her a fair number of times before, including saving her squad at one ocassion. Perhaps she could use some help in return, Spitfire owned her a few at least.

"Say, we have a show in Canterlot at this weekend. Why don't ya bring a friend around? I gotta a few tickets for VIP right here that I was supposed to deliver to some ponies of my choice anyways. I would like to see ya after the show so we could talk more on a better ocassion." Spitfire offered with a knowingly grin on her face.

Rainbow stared in disbelief at her offer. Was Spitfire actually giving her VIP tickets for the next Wonderbolt show at Canterlot?!

"Wha-...A-are you for real?! I mean...that's awesome and all, but...." Rainbow seemed awfully hesitant at taking her offer. "I promised a friend of mine I would spent some time with him. I don't think that would work out too well."

Spitfire rolled her eyes.

"Dash, just bring him along. What kind of pony doesn't wanna go to our shows?" Inquired the Wonderbolt confidently.

Rainbow was biting her lip at this point. The idea was beyond tempting. Hay, she would bet her house that Thunderlane would be more than happy to go to a Wonderbolt Event, maybe she could even get Rumble and Squirts to join them. It would be a great weekend for everypony. She just had to make sure to keep her head out of the clouds this time.

"Alright. Sounds like a deal. How many tickets are we talking about?" Rainbow Dash asked after finally coming to a decision. Spitfire stood thoughfully, wondering how many tickets would be fitting for the ocassion.

"How about five? That's far as I can give in a go without somepony at HQ pestering me with questions." Spitfire responded, her thoughts drifting towards Fleetfoot and her lousy mouth.

Five? Rainbow wasn't sure who would be the extra pony to bring for the ocassion. Perhaps Thunderlane would've somepony in mind? Sounded like a good deal to let him make the choice.

"Five's great! I'll take it." Rainbow sounded more cheerfully this time. "Hum...thanks, ya know? It means a lot." Spitfire shrugged.

"I kinda owned you after all you did these past months. I look forward to see ya at the Academy. You did sent an application, right?" Spitfire asked somewhat hopefully. She would be really disappointed if Rainbow didn't.

"Yeah, I did! Lots of my team did actually. Heh, can't wait for that day." Rainbow Dash was almost back at her usual self at this point. Nothing like a good talk about flying and Wonderbolts to cheer up her mood. Spitfire was throughly amused at her cheerfulness, it reminded of herself back at her academic days.

"Alrighty. Just keep your head leveled up and I'm sure ya will do great. We want more amazing flyers, not egocentric balloons hovering around." Spitfire advised with smirk before tossing a couple bits over the balcony. She placed the five tickets near Rainbow before flapping her wings. "Thanks for the drink and the talk, gotta go now Dash. Take care."

Rainbow, who was still fuming at being referred as a balloon, waved a hoof in Spitfire's general direction.

"Don't ya worry. I will, see ya at the weekend."

Spitfire gave her a quick salute before vanishing through the entrance at an incredibly dangerous speed. Rainbow stood in awe while Berry, who was standing quiet during the whole conversation, was glad that Spitfire didn't damage her entrance like Rainbow does sometimes.

Rainbow Dash carefully picked the tickets. Her mind full of expectation at meeting the majority of the Wonderbolts after the show. She failed to notice at certain purple earth pony staring expectantly at her.

"Soooo....are gonna stay there daydreaming or you gonna pay your drink?" Berry asked with an emotionless expression.

"Gez, fine. Can't let me enjoy myself a bit, sheesh."

"Well, you don't really have to pay. I'm always available f-

"I'm not inviting you Berry!"

"Awww."

Third Parties and Old Meetings

Cloud Kicker always cherished her friendship with Rainbow Dash. A friendship she cared enough to not ruin it by submitting the mare into a plaything. Dash was special for her in many ways, even more when considering the hardships of their fillyhood, it was a wonder they remained friends for so long. It wouldn't be farfetched to consider their relationship akin to sisterhood.

Being weather ponies in the same town strengthened that relationship, they became best friends quite easily, and Rainbow Dash never judged her for being a 'funtime' pony, one well known across the entirety of Ponyville above all.

Even in the weather team they faced new challenges and turbulent waves that shook their friendship, but their resolve to never be mad at eachother was something that kept them going togheter, no matter what.

Until now.

Now Cloud Kicker would love to do nothing more than shove her hoof all the way down Rainbow's throat.

She was livid. What was Rainbow Dash, in Celestia's dammed plot, thinking?! How could she honestly expect that inviting Thunderlane to the dammed Wonderbolt Airshow was a bucking good idea?!

The worst thing is that there was nothing she could've done to prevent this from happening. It was done. Rainbow went after the stallion at the local school, at that time Thunderlane was picking Rumble to go back home, and Scootaloo happened to be nearby for Rainbow's luck.

She had the audacity of inviting Thunderlane and his brother to the show with no hesitation whatsoever, Scootaloo was also invited to the ride. Since Rainbow had an extra ticket she suggested that Thunderlane should pick the extra pony for the trip. He picked Cloud Kicker.

To say Cloud Kicker was surprised was an understatement. To say Rainbow Dash was rather condescending regarding Thunderlane's choice was no exaggeration. The stallion merely thanked Kicker for being a good friend and being around during his stay at the Hospital.

It was a rare thing for Kicker to feel appreciated by somepony else due reasons outside of family, banging or, well, banging advice. Blossomforth had her moments but she was a very close 'friend'. Thunderlane has been around for only a few weeks to develop a strong sentiment for their relationship.

It was nothing romantic but, the way he stared at her with such tenderness, only for Rainbow to watch incredulously while burning on the insides with bitter jealousy, was worthy of the invitation. Kicker would've added insult to injury only to piss Rainbow further, but when she realized what Rainbow had done, she felt an indescribable amount of righteous anger burn deep at her consciousness.

Kicker waited for Thunderlane to fly back to his house alongside Rumble. Thankfully the brothers had finally found a suitable place they could call home. Considering Thunderlane was receiving a decent payment from the local town, he no longer required the HQ to rent him a place to stay.

"Can't believe he invited you. I expected Chaser or even Sunshower. I guess they ar-

But Rainbow never finished that thought as Kicker came right in front of her looking extremely upset. The cyan mare blinked in both amazement and confusion at her sudden movement.

"You have ten seconds to give me a good reason of why I shouldn't kick your sorry flank all the way to Canterlot."

"What?! What's the big idea?! What did I do?!" Protested Rainbow, perplexed at the sudden threat. Dhe had no idea what the purple pegasus was mad about.

"You should know damn well what you did just now Dash! Are you actually serious?! What were you thinking when you decided to invite Thunderlane to the Wonderbolt Airshow this weekend?!" Kicker was nearly snarling at this point, Rainbow was wary of her aggressiveness, if things kept escalating like this it would end terribly for both of them.

"Can you...huh....what's the word? Lighting? Light me up? Huh...."

"Enlighten." Kicker said dryly.

"Yeah! That word!" Rainbow replied in full agreement. Kicker groaned.

"Rainbow, what part of Thunderlane being the son of Storm Volt went over your gigantic inflated head?!" Rainbow flinched at Kicker's aggressive name calling. The purple mare wasn't one of insulting without a good reason. "Do you really think that, with Thunderlane being well known as his son among the Wonderbolts, it would be a great idea for him to show up at the airshow and, with VIP tickets no less, talk with the other Wonderbolts?! It really never crossed your mind they might bring up his father and that's something he doesn't wanna talk about?!"

Rainbow felt her face heating up in both embarrassment and indignation.

"Well, yeah, I didn't! So what?! He can't keep hiding from it forever, especially if he wants to be a Wonderbolt someday!"

"He never said he wanted to be a Wonderbolt, where did you get this idea from?! He made clear his head wasn't into it the day we interviewed him! It's clear that he wants to avoid the Wonderbolts because the memories are still hurting him. You had no right to force him into doing this stuff!" Kicker's voice was raising noticeably. A few bystanders were starting to stare at the direction of the shouting duo.

"I didn't hear him complaining! Also you saw how excited Rumble was about it?! Heck, how can you not go to a Wonderbolt Airshow?! That's like the greatest thing ever!" Kicker stared at Rainbow Dash with a huge amount of incredulity.

"Of course, it's not like Thunderlane would refuse and make his brother unhappy. Since you decided to invite both at the same time. What choice Thunderlane would have? His brother's happiness means the world to him, it's the only family he has left. How could you not realize that?!" Kicker's retort caught Rainbow by surprise.

"Why do you care so much?!He's a friend, not your special somepony. His feelings about it shouldn't be such an hassle!" Rainbow stared suspiciously at the purple mare. "Don't tell me you're actually feeling stuff for him."

Kicker sighed in disappointment. Rainbow still had a long way to go about friendship, her relationship with the Mane Six was still very fresh and the cyan mare wasn't even near to learning halfway through important lessons.

"How can you still be like this?" Kicker asked ,and something in the way her voice wavered caught Rainbow's attention easily. "After all these months I thought you would've learned something about being considerate towards your friends. Does everything WE went through mattered so little that you're no longer worried that we might end up hurting eachother again? Did it ever crossed your mind we might end up fighting again because we didn't bother to think better of it? Do you want US to fight again Dash?" Kicker was finding difficult to keep her emotions in check. She was so frustrated at this point that it was surprising she didn't scream as much as she wanted.

Rainbow's ears flattened against her head, her eyes darted towards the ground in utter guilt. The memories of an event she regretted flooding into her mind like water. It hurt to admit but Kicker was right, she made her point very clear and Rainbow was struggling to find something to say in return.

There was a fair number of bystanders watching quietly the unfold of their conversation, few of them were familiar faces like Twilight Sparkle, Blossomforth and, surprisingly, Crescent Moon.

Crescent Moon was the pony responsible for scheduling Wonderbolt Airshows and flying around all over Equestria looking for sponsors and new locations for future events. His visits through Ponyville were quite often due his family living at the area. Crescent was an ex-Wonderbolt himself but that was rarely brought up when he was visiting. One would think Rainbow Dash would've been all over him every time he visited, but Crescent has been incredibly lucky on avoiding being spotted by the Wonderbolt fanatic.

He stood quietly as he watched both mares in front of him having a very strong argument about a certain stallion whose name he instantly recognized. It was quite a shock to learn that Storm's sons were currently living in Ponyville, he assumed both brothers would still be around Stratusburg. From what he could listen so far, it seemed there was a huge amount of concern regarding Thunderlane's interaction with ponies that knew his father. Perhaps he could provide some assistance on the matter.

Storm Volt was an old friend after all.

He trotted towards both mares, it felt unnecessary to fly such a short distance. All the ponies around him took notice of his presence and started whispering frenetically. The sudden commotion caught the attention of the two mares Crescent was about to speak with.

"May I help you Mr...?" Cloud Kicker made a pause in hopes of getting some introduction out of the newcomer. Though Rainbow's sudden gasp would make such presentations unnecessary.

"Y-You're Crescent Moon!" She said in pure awe as she took in the presence of a important Wonderbolt near her. "The Wonderbolt Team Manager! W-Wha? Are you passing by or something?"

The stallion chuckled at Rainbow's reaction. It wasn't bad as he always feared it would be, though he decided to omit the reason behind his current presence in Ponyville.

"Actually I am. I couldn't help but hear you two ladies having quite a healthy conversation about a stallion." Crescent wiggled his eyebrows provocatively, both mares frowned at him. "Well, I also happened to hear about a certain Thunderlane. I assume it's the same pony I met many years ago."

Kicker's frown was replaced by genuine surprise mixed with a feeling of anxiousness.

"You...knew his father?" Kicker asked hesitantly. Rainbow, who's anger was currently replaced with curiosity, stood surprisingly quiet during the rest of the conversation.

Crescent's smile faded as he recalled his old friend from the Academy days. Storm Volt was always a troublemaker when he could be, yet his kind heart and genuine concern for, not only the safety of his colleagues, but their daily social struggles, always made up for his crazy antics. Always the charming one towards mares, a pain in the flank for most instructors, and a very admired pony among recruits.

That was the thing about Storm Volt. He was admired for the pony he was, not for amazing flying skills.

"Yes, I did. There isn't a day that I don't think about how much I would've loved to have him around the Academy training recruits. That smart dog would make it up for the current lack of socially adept ponies we have in the Wonderbolt ranks."

"Socially adept??" Kicker asked, the term seemed fairly strange to describe the Wonderbolts. Crescent snorted.

"In other words....ponies who actually care about other ponies aside work. Don't get me wrong, Wonderbolts do enforce safety measures regarding their members and civilians. What worries me is that the current generation of Wonderbolts we have today is way more focused on being the best than being togheter."

Rainbow and Kicker shared a glance, neither quite understood what Crescent Moon was implying but they wouldn't question it further.

"Now about Thunderlane," Crescent paused. His eyes scanned the crowd around them, way too many curious bystanders for this conversation to proceed. "Perhaps we should have this talk somewhere else. Any suggestions?" He asked politely.

Rainbow Dash wasn't sure about a place to go. Kicker, in the other hoof, grinned as she turned around on her hooves before calling them both.

"I know just the place. Follow me."

"Why I'm not surprised..."

"What? I was hungry. Besides how could you go to other place that not the one that makes these amazing hay fries?" Kicker replied at Rainbow's exasperated expression.

"Those are good." Crescent Moon said in agreement. " Also this is a very...huh...*lively* establishment, if what my wife says is correct." He added with a smirk.

Rainbow only rolled her eyes while Kicker gave him a wink of approval. How could somepony not appreciate the Flea's Bite after all?

The small group settled themselves at the nearest table. Berry Punch took only few seconds to come at their table, her sour expression once seeing Rainbow Dash puzzled Crescent and Kicker. Berry left in a hurry with their orders before they could ask her anything in regards about it.

"What was that?" Kicker asked towards Rainbow once the purple earth pony was out of hearing range. Dash only shrugged.

"Probably something I said but can't remember." Rainbow lied without feeling bothered about it. Kicker didn't seem too curious about it since Rainbow's reply had some past occurrences to be valid.

"Now, what was that you wanted to discuss about Thunderlane?" Kicker asked turning back to the brown pegasus that was currently distracted, his eyes studying curiously the establishment and the other occupants.

"Oh? Yes, yes, about that." He paused for a second to gather his thoughts. " I became aware that Spitfire recently gave away some VIP tickets for the show this weekend. I assume correctly she gave them to Rainbow Dash?" He inquired almost certainly. Kicker nodded. "Now I do understand Thunderlane might find it a bit overwhelming to talk with ponies that knew his father and I can help you with that matter if you want."

"You can?" Kicker asked, sounding unsure of how Crescent would be able to come around this problem. Perhaps his connection with the Wonderbolt staff could've something to do with it?

"Yes, that's something I can work with the others." He nodded enthusiastically. "I'm sure they will be interested to see him, it's been discussed few times when Storm's son would join the Academy an-

"He won't." Kicker interrupted. "He said he's not interested in becoming a Wonderbolt."

Crescent Moon froze with his jaw hanging open, the shock on his face at this revelation was more than justifiable.

"B-But...what?! The son of Storm Volt doesn't want to become a Wonderbolt or, at least, try the Academy?!" Crescent's voice was filled with worry and frustration. Both Rainbow and Kicker stood unsure of what to say, they were a bit surprised at his reaction. Crescent shook his head after pondering with himself for few seconds. "I will talk with the team, make sure they don't bring stuff they shouldn't. I understand your concern for your friend, don't worry about it."

Kicker wasn't feeling very assured, but Rainbow seemed to share the same feelings Crescent was having about the whole ordeal.

"I know he can do just fine if he tries the Academy." Rainbow said, surprising both Crescent and Kicker. Kicker for knowing that Rainbow wasn't the kind of having such faith in other ponies without a good reason. Crescent thought their friends didn't want Thunderlane to get involved with the Wonderbolts. "If he stops feeling sorry for himself he will do just fine. He will only get that if we also stop feeling sorry for him all the time."

Cloud Kicker facehoofed at Rainbow's insensitive attitude, but before she could chastise the other mare Crescent started speaking his mind.

"You know Rainbow Dash," He said with a thoughtful expression on his face." Spitfire has been talking a lot about you ever since that incident with Miss Rarity. She said you reminded of her in few ways. I honestly believe that, especially now that I known you in person. Though, the difference between you and Spitfire is that you have more faith in your friends than she does. I hope we can keep this between us, but....had this situation been about Spitfire having to give Thunderlane a chance..." Crescent chuckled humorlessly. "She would've given up on him without a second thought."

This kind of revelation shook the cyan mare, her eyes went wide as she felt something sink deep into her stomach. Even Kicker was somewhat aghast at hearing such thing.

"She ain't the forgiving type, much less the one that deals with ponies and their feelings. Spitfire doesn't believe in making great flyers without scaring them into becoming one. She's harsh, I admit, but also young. Hay, the youngest captain the Wonderbolts ever had since Firefly. There's a reason Soarin is the commander, we hoped he could balance things out a bit, but that's not really working that well." Crescent was grimacing at this point. Spitfire and Fleetfoot had become closer than usual and Soarin was hardly given any attention of the day unless needed.

Rainbow was looking crestfallen at this point which Crescent Moon noticed. It wasn't every day that an iconic Wonderbolt came at you to say that the ponies you idolized for so long weren't the heroes you always believed them to be.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be rambling this much. I felt it would be fair for you to be aware of certain things before jumping into it. The Wonderbolts are prideful ponies, but most of them aren't the most social kind, they may look like that because the media demands them to be. They love their fans, but the ego boosting is way more appreciated than your desire to become a Wonderbolt, unless you are beyond impressive. Wonderbolts have a limited number of members and they do not intend to make those numbers grow unless somepony drops out. You may be the best flyer around, but if they decide they don't like you, well....you will never join them."

"Why this reminds me so much of Canterlot?" Kicker asked with a huff of irritation. "Be rich, be pretty, be important or get lost." Crescent had a saddened look on his face, he was in agreement with that comparison.

"It wasn't always like this. At least not a decade ago. I've discussed few times with the Admiral and Generals that these shows are getting into their heads and they're forgetting what it really means to be a Wonderbolt. They said we should wait a bit before making any decisions. I just hope we don't lose great flyers because of poor leadership judgement."

Before anypony could said anything Berry came back with their orders. She served Crescent and Kicker with a smile while sharing few laughs. That good mood instantly disappeared once she went to serve Rainbow, dropping her plate unceremoniously in front of the cyan mare. Rainbow, who wasn't in a very good mood, decided to more verbal this time.

"What's the big idea? Can't you take 'no' for an answer?!"

Berry glared briefly at the pegasus before trotting away towards the nearest customers. Both Crescent and Kicker watched the exchange with apprehension.

"Was Berry hitting on you again?" Kicker asked after few seconds of awkwardness. "You know, she has a very soft rum-

"CAN'T IT KICKER."

**********************************************************************

The weekend arrived faster than anypony could expect, especially for those lucky five pegasi that would be heading towards Canterlot for the main event of the day.

Thunderlane finally made a check-out from Ponyville Hospital, though the stallion was a bit moody due how awful looking his featherless wings lay limp at his sides. It was a bit odd at first, but Rainbow reassured him that Twilight could work something out before they left.

Cloud Chaser, after finding out about Thunderlane inviting Kicker to the Airshow instead of her, was being a complete downer every where she went, much to the annoyance of the whole Weather Team. Rainbow Dash was making her mind about giving Chaser a warning, if not for Kicker advising her to give Chaser some 'space to think'.

"She's really disappointed. We all know how much she likes Thunderlane, it was quite surprising he invited me instead. Besides, Chaser is a huge fan of the Wonderbolts just like you Dash, that girl has been working hard to get into the Academy in the next season. Just....let her be, ok? You two used to be such good friends, I dunno why you're so distant from each other now."

Rainbow Dash was wondering how many friends she grew distant with since the whole Nightmare Moon incident. It seems that gaining new friends costs you some old friendships, for whatever reason these old friendships were increasing in the numbers and making Rainbow Dash extremely worried.

They were at the train station, currently waiting for the next train to arrive, not many ponies were heading for Canterlot today. Except for one particular unicorn.

"Rainbow Dash! What brings you the pleasure of being here in this fine time of the day?"

The cyan pegasus was caught off guard by the presence of Rarity. It's been a while since Rainbow had any conversations with the fashioning unicorn, not that Rarity would have anything of much interest for Rainbow to talk about anyways. Except, perhaps the times that Rainbow was tempted to tell Rarity that she was Kicker's most desirable consuming dream.

Rarity's presence caught the attention of the rest of Rainbow's group. Kicker eyed the white mare like a hawk, while the purple pegasus would love nothing more than a funtime session with the fashionable pony, it was well known that Cloud Kicker wasn't very fond of Rarity's dramatics, which happened way more often than it would be normal for most ponies.

Thunderlane didn't seem very interested by the newcomer, though he did know her from the gossip of the town. The stallion never went near her shop or the Ponyville spa, which would attend to Rarity's needs more than any other client they have. Thunderlane's concerns in regards to fashion were equivalent to Rainbow's concerns on math books.

"Oh, hey Rarity." Rainbow greeted her nonchalantly. " Going to Canterlot to visit some friend of yours?"

"Oh, well. I do have some appointments with some of my most supportive partners in the fashion industry. It would be uncouth of me to not grace them with my presence." Rarity replied, her attention shifting from Rainbow to the stallion nearby. Her eyes locking on his unnatural mane cut for a little longer. "And who would be this, hum...extravagant pony accompanying you?"

"Oh, this is Thunderlane. He and his brother are joining me and Scootaloo to watch an Airshow today, so is Cloud Kicker. I guess you two meet before?" Rainbow asked, a wide grin spread on her face as she reminded herself of the several times Kicker approached the white unicorn.

Rarity made an unpleasant face as she regarded the purple pegasus standing few steps away. Kicker smiled deviously in return, her look one that clearly expressed how much she wanted Rarity for herself. The white unicorn shuddered.

"Not that I would recall. I'm sure I would've remembered such errr....unique individual as him." Rarity replied with a hint of annoyance.

She wasn't pleased to see Cloud Kicker, neither that they both would be in the same train for a fairly amount of time. The mere thought of it made Rarity want to turn around and later send an apologetic letter to her associates, explaining her absence from today's events. That and Thunderlane's eccentric mohawk was driving her nuts.

The stallion's expression was flat, his eyes narrowing towards Rainbow's friend with clear dislike. He knew very well when ponies would give him pointed looks, mostly suggestive about his appearance.

Thankfully no more words were shared as the train finally arrived at the station. Rarity, without saying anything to anypony, embarked in the first wagon without looking back. Rainbow's group went for the third wagon, though the rainbow mare had to 'persuade' Cloud Kicker to not go after Rarity.

To say the voyage to Canterlot was a quiet one was a bit of a stretch. Scootaloo wouldn't stop jumping all over the seats in sheer delight, her excitement at going to a Wonderbolt Airshow with her favorite pony in the entire world was so much that she was on the verge of exploding. Rainbow Dash was highly amused by her behavior, even Cloud Kicker was being way more optimistic than the last few days, but Rainbow couldn't help noticing that Rumble was oddly quiet for a colt of his age. His behavior was much more controlled in comparison to any other colt or filly Dash has seen in her personal fan club before.

Thunderlane, after going through some growing spell tests by Twilight before embarking the train, was thrilled during the entire trip. Perhaps the fact that he wasn't going to be grounded for two months, due the extreme loss of feathers caused by the Feather Flu, was a huge motivator for his current mood. Yet, Rainbow couldn't help the inwardly sparks of annoyance each time Cloud Kicker and Thunderlane shared a conversation of their own, the cyan mare was still fuming over Thunderlane's questionable choice for this quest. Well, at least it was better having Kicker around than Chaser.

Only a few times Scootaloo tried to rub off some of her excitement towards Rumble, but the colt neglected, very politely, her attempts of cheering him up beyond necessary. Rainbow Dash was feeling a bit off by seeing somepony so young being so oddly mature, she glanced towards his older brother, her inquisitive stare failed to obtain any explanations from the stallion though. Thunderlane was definitely avoiding talking with Rainbow Dash ever since they left Ponyville and that was driving Rainbow extremely upset.

Once they arrived in Canterlot's station, in which Rarity disappeared without a trace, Rainbow took the opportunity to corner him. Kicker was talking with some relatives of her that worked with the Royal Guard of Canterlot. Both her mother and father came to see her before attending for a clan meeting, their stances were extremely formal and carried an air of respect and intimidation. Thankfully Rumble and Scootaloo were more interested in the Royal Guards at the time so they were far out of earshot.

"Mind telling me why you're avoiding me?" Rainbow Dash asked, perhaps more aggressively than she originally intended. Thunderlane's initial expression of enjoyment was quickly replaced by one of anxiety.

"I'm sorry. It's....we're having a good time, especially Rumble and Scootaloo, I didn't want to risk that by getting into an argument." He justified, though avoiding eye contact as long as he could. Rainbow was miffed at his reply.

"What?! Are you saying I'm just a troublemaker and that I'm gonna ruin the experience?!" She flared up at him without bothering to keep the volume of her voice down, thankfully nopony near them paid the duo any attention.

Thunderlane seemed genuinely surprised, and somewhat guilty, at her abrasive reaction.

"I don't mean any of that Dash, please. I'm sorry if I offended you somehow. We just....we didn't really have any real conversations that didn't involve shouting. Like this one." Thunderlane pointed out with a embarrassed smile on his face, his eyes glancing at times towards Kicker and her family nearby, the stallion wasn't going to miss his young brother from view at any time of the day.

Rainbow's eyes widened at the truth of that statement. She really couldn't recall any time in which, for her utter shame, didn't shout at the stallion for some random reason.

"Yeah, I get that." Rainbow replied, her feelings mixed up between comprehensiveness and worry. "Say, why don't we try to do something about that?" She suggested, hopeful that the stallion wouldn't keep avoiding her for the rest of the day, his negligence was hurting her a bit. "We won’t be better friends if we don't try."

Thunderlane chuckled at the way Rainbow Dash twisted this issue in her favor, it was an admirable feat for a mare of such wild complexity like she was.

"Sounds like a plan. Maybe we can work something out when we don’t have to worry about the little ones getting lost." The stallion replied with a touch of humour. Rainbow merely shrugged in response, she wasn't that worried about the young ponies since Cloud Kicker was somewhat fillysitting them around.

They trotted towards Kicker and her family. It's been weeks since the last time Rainbow Dash saw them, an occasion in which she didn't like to recall. Kicker's parents were visiting Ponyville at the time that Gilda was also around for the first time. Needless to say the ocassion couldn't have been worse. Rainbow Dash was pretty sure she would've died of embarrassment once Kicker's mother found her daughter and the griffon sharing the same house after some 'quality time' spent.

Rainbow refused to let that particular event ever be brought into a conversation, especially after the bond of friendship that Rainbow and Gilda always had was ruptured due her aggressive behavior towards Rainbow's friends. Kicker was respectful enough to never bring that up, she wasn't aware at the time of what had transpired between the griffon and other ponies before meeting her.

Kicker's parents, as expected, weren't very expressive when adressing other ponies, much less their own daughter. It was noticeable that their expressions softened a bit every time they talked with her, something that Kicker was really appreciative of.

Kicker's dad, Tornado Kicker, turned his head as he saw both Rainbow and Thunderlane approaching at their side. He chuckled at seeing the little daredevil that his daughter shared so many life lessons and adventures togheter, but what really brought a nagging feeling at the pit of his stomach was the stallion trotting at Rainbow's side.

"Nimbus." Tornado said as he adressed his wife. Kicker's mother, Nimbus Gust, stopped her current conversation with their daughter to acknowledge his call. "That stallion besides Rainbow Dash.....does he looks familiar to you?"

The pegasus mare seemed puzzled for a second, her eyes locking on an unsettling glare towards Thunderlane. The stallion took notice and stopped few steps away, unsure if Kicker's parents were being judgemental of him for being around the mares or because of his physical appearance.

Cloud Kicker was curious, and rather confused, once her father inquired about Thunderlane. She couldn't imagine any plausible scenario in which they could possibly have seen the dark gray pegasus before. She was pretty sure that none of Thunderlane's family members had any ties with the clans.

"Wait, those eyes..." Nimbus said as she got closer to the fidgeting stallion. "That eletric silver mane of yours is not a common thing in ponies. In fact, I remember exactly who was the pony that had such similarities." Nimbus said rather fondly, her smile growing as she revisited old memories from her youth.

Tornado didn't seem so enthusiastic as his wife, he also realized why the mohawk stallion seemed so familiar, but his memories of past events weren't so thrilling to remember.

Cloud Kicker was baffled. She rarely ever saw her mother daydreaming like this, other than when she was singing to herself as she thought to be alone at the house, a day Kicker never would forget. She realized the disdain her father was displaying, which was also intriguing since he hardly ever displayed his dissatisfaction towards something, strict military discipline left no room for being expressive with your feelings.

"Ah, yes. Storm Volt. What a mouthful he was." Tornado said, his voice betraying his negative feelings about the stallion. Nimbus chuckled at his attitude.

"Even after all these years you still hold a grudge? You should know better to let go of past mistakes." Kicker's mother chided but without seriousness.

"He was an irresponsible little twat!" Tornado flared up, his composure faltering for a brief second. "That stallion knew nothing of discipline and respect towards his superiors! Always showing off around the camp as if he was the most amazing pony to ever exist!"

"You're just jealous because he had every mare in the camp swooning on him. Including me." Nimbus replied with great amusement.

"Mom?" Kicker asked worriedly, she stared at her mother as if she couldn't tell who she was. Nimbus waved a hoof in response.

Both Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane were perplexed at their conversation. Rainbow was having a hard time believing anypony could possibly have been cooler than her, while Thunderlane was confused as to how they could've known his father.

"He was nothing but a troublemaker!" Tornado replied hastily. "Thank Celestia he left the guard after few months. I couldn't stand his insufferable overconfidence for any longer. So....how's your father doing son? I assume he got to achieve that obsession of his to be a Wonderbolt?" Tornado asked as he abruptly changed the conversation towards Thunderlane.

"Huh..." Thunderlane was conflicted if he should tell the truth straight away or not. This is not something he liked to talk about but Kicker's parents were none the wiser about what transpired few years ago. He saw the extremely worried expressions of both Kicker and Rainbow Dash. At least Rumble, being completely aware of the situation, took the initiative to distract Scootaloo away from this conversation. "He's....he's dead."

Nimbus's smile was replaced by dulled shock, her eyes widening slightly as her mouth opened just few inches apart. Tornado had a similar reaction, but he managed to hold himself togheter more properly, still he wasn't ready to hear such news.

"D-dead? But....how? He didn't...was in one of the Airshows? I've heard of a fatality few years back, but I never came to know who was the one who perished." Nimbus asked with a wavering voice. The news of Volt's death fell like a bomb on her. While Tornado always held a bit of resentment towards the daredevil she always kept him in memory with extreme care. Storm Volt was one of the very few ponies she ever came to trust and value as a good friend.

Thunderlane's ears flattened, his eyes looking away from the due, his stance becoming reserved. It was clear he had no wish to discuss it any further.

Tornado was perceptive enough to recognize a pony who was still grieving, he shared a glance with his wife so she would drop the questioning.

"I'm very sorry to hear such unfortunate news. Your father was a good pony, despite all the wrong doings he committed during our recruitment stage." Tornado's annoyance towards Storm Volt seemingly evaporated now that he knew the fate of his old acquaintance. "We will talk about his passing once you feel ready to do so. Will you be alright son?" He asked, a hint of concern in his voice that surprised Cloud Kicker. Her father displaying such was something he only reserved for his family and closest friends.

"Yeah, I will be fine. I gotta a brother to take care of after all." Thunderlane indicated Rumble with a shake of his head. " Little fella needs a strong pony to watch for him."

"That's your brother?" Nimbus asked, her eyes studying the little gray colt next to Scootaloo, she was surprised at the clear disparity of their ages. It filled her with dread to realize that there was another clear absence in this group. "What about his mother?"

Thunderlane didn't respond. He only shook his head, looking extremely downcast. The sight of the depressed stallion made Nimbus extremely sorry for his predicament. Nopony deserved to lose both their parents in such a rapid succession like he probably did.

"Mom, Dad, please, don't ask him this stuff right now. I should've told you two this beforehoof, but I didn't know you had share a past with his father." Kicker said, her apologetic expression was directed more at Thunderlane than her parents.

"It's understandable. " Tornado replied, his eyes glancing between Rumble and Thunderlane with a hint of sympathy. "We wouldn't pry such from you even if we knew of something. There are things that are better left unanswered. We better get moving or we will be late for the meeting. " He announced before coming towards his daughter, his muzzle rubbing the side of her own.

Cloud Kicker was caught off guard by the rare display of affection from her father, and since her mother repeated the gesture it confused her even more. They weren't the kind of ponies to display their affection to others in public, it was quite a unexpected thing for them to do but Kicker wasn't complaining, it made her quite happy to feel how far they would go out of their usual formal manners to display their love for her daughter. Perhaps the incident with Thunderlane's parents was a bit of a reality check for both of them. Cloud Kicker hoped her little sister, Alula, would receive more tenderness from them from now on.

"Make sure to let us know how the show went before you two leave. We would love to have all of you at our house for dinner. I'm sure we all have some stories to share." Nimbus kindly offered, she has been curious to know more about Rainbow Dash ever since Kicker retained her friendship with the boastful daredevil, but the sons of Storm Volt were the ponies she looked forward the most to learn about.

"Sure thing mom. If everypony is okay with it." Kicker replied as she gave her group a pointed stare, as if daring them to refuse. Several heads nodded in quick agreement, they weren't going to risk upsetting Cloud Kicker now of all times, especially Rainbow Dash.

"Wait..." Rainbow Dash said as she suddenly realized something. "Thunderlane, your dad was a funtimer like Kicker?"

Kicker groaned while Thunderlane laughed at the implication. Both Tornado and Nimbus were confused at what was Rainbow Dash referring about.

"This is gonna be a long day. " Kicker whispered to herself while praying to Celestia she wouldn't have to explain herself to her parents at dinner.