Not All Secrets are Worth Keeping

Chapters

Beginnings
Of Libraries and Parties
Sleepover Story Time
One Secret Down
Intermission: The Conversation
Bring Your Child to Work Day

Beginnings

The Secrets We Keep

Coyote Mustang

“Sweetie Belle, could you get the door of me,” Rarity called, after hearing the bell to the door of her boutique.

“Ok,” the small white unicorn answered as she got up from the song lyrics she was writing and moved to the front of the store. “Hello and welcome to Carousel…” She began to say as she saw the pony that had just entered the store.

The unicorn that stood in front of her was someone she had recognized from her class at school, but she only knew his name.

“You’re Stovebolt, the new pony from our class right,” Sweetie Belle asked as Rarity walked down the stairs, covered in the fruits of her labor.

The dress she wore was a stunning piece, a flowing black dress covered in strands of gold, accentuating the lines on the figure of the model. Any pony would have shown interest in the design and complimented on the way it looked but as soon as Rarity noticed the young colt and her sister, she quickly disrobed and placed the dress on the nearest mannequin and proceeded to her new costumer.

“Hello, and welcome to Carousel Boutique, I’m Rarity, how may I help you today,” she asked as she looked the colt over.

His black with gold striped mane was slightly unkempt and his dark red coat seemed to be the same way, but she put this down to sleeping wrong during the night. But this wasn’t the most striking feature of her customer; it was the cutie mark the young colt had. Emblazoned on his flank was a wrench crossed over what looked like a large gear, denoting to her some sort of mechanical prowess.

The Colt looked at the tall white unicorn, and after noticed her eyes and the placement of them, rather shyly spoke, “My brother sent me to see if you could fix this.” The colt pulled out a jumbled ball of red leather, and placed the ball on the counter of the store. Rarity’s eyes quickly moved from the colt’s cutie mark and onto the ball of leather and then began to straighten it out, revealing what looked like the sleeve of a jacket. She also saw the damage, particularly the large tear in the side, slightly higher than the middle of the sleeve.

“Wow, it’s been a long time since I have seen this color of leather, where did he get this,” Rarity asked the shy colt as her eyes lit up.

“I don’t know, my brother just gave it to me, and told me to come here,” the young colt answered back, rather shyly.

Rarity scanned the piece of leather from top to bottom, noticing that the leather’s edges had but a small amount of sewing holes in it, denoting that the leather wasn’t from a jacket and that it was missing a piece.

“Oh dear,” Rarity’s voice lowered as a frown formed on her face, "my dear, is there another piece to this outfit?”

The colt looked at the mare for a second, and with a look of shock, he quickly looked through the satchel he wore on his flank, and sighed in relief as he found the other part of the outfit.

“Here you go,” Stovebolt answered as he handed the strap he had found in his bag, a similar color to the large sleeve of leather he had handed her earlier.

“Oh, thank you dear,” Rarity asked as she moved over to her thread trying to find the correct color for the fix, “ now what is it that your brother wanted done to it?”

After a short conversation, Rarity set off to work. A few sewing passes here, a couple of snips there, and the leather strap was reattached to the sleeve as if it were never broken in the first place.

“There you go dear, good as new,” the fashionista claimed as she gave the young colt back the sleeve of leather.

“Thank you,” Stovebolt said as he placed it back into the satchel on his flank and retrieved a small bag of bits from it, “how much for the repair?”

Rarity smiled as she looked at him then at her sister, who was sitting on the floor, seemingly captivated by the colt in the shop. “It’s no charge for somepony as nice as you,” Rarity beamed. “it’s a pleasure to work on such fine material, but I simply must know, this isn’t a part of a jacket, so what does your brother use this for?”

Stovebolt looked quickly around the shop and upon noticing the door quickly wheeled around and began running to it. “Thank you very much for the repair, but I have to go,” He yelled as he left the shop in a hurry.

“What do you suppose that was about,” Rarity asked as she turned to her sister. She looked at the look on her sister’s face and noticed she still held the same facial expression as she did minutes before. Rarity wave her hoof in front of her sister, in an attempt to awake her from her stupor, but it was to no avail, Sweetie Belle Was lost in thought and her mind was unwilling to let her escape. Rarity sighed, shrugged off the strange incident and went back to her designing room to finish the other orders she had.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The young colt sprinted out of town, weaving in and out of the legs of the ponies he passed, his speed never slowing, even for the corners in the road. The speed the colt was going was inviting trouble. unfortunately for him, he found it quite literally head on. Stars erupted into Stovebolt’s vision, eliciting a yelp of pain from both him and the pony he crashed into. Looking up from the ground, Stovebolt’s face went white, as Miss Cheerilee rubbed her leg in pain.

“I’m sorry Miss Cheerilee, I wasn’t looking where I was going, Are you ok,” He asked as the earth pony finished rubbing her leg.

“Yes, I’m fine” His teacher answered back, “But you really must watch where you are…” as Miss Cheerilee looked down to address the colt, but all she saw was the thick cloud of dust he made as he began running again, “Going?”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Stovebolt continued to follow the path home, weaving in-between ponies, careful as not to hit anyone else.

“Boy, Miss Cheerilee Is going to kill me tomorrow,” He spoke to himself as he neared his home. The Colt stopped in front of his house, a large mansion sitting on its own plot of land near the edge of town. It was traditionally styled like the other homes in the area but around three times as big. Turning the door knob, he stepped into the large sitting room and placed his bags down.

“Brother, I’m home,” he yelled. The echo from his voice rang through the house, and after about a minute with no answer he began to walk the halls in search of his brother. “Cob, where are you,” he called as he moved to the second floor, mostly made of bedrooms, still in search of his brother.

“Young Master, I believe your brother is downstairs in the lab,” An older voice came from behind the colt, startling him as he whipped around to face the voice.

The pony that stood in front of him, dressed in a black butler’s jacket, stared at the young colt, a kind smile upon his face.

“Celestia, Gold Comet, you scared me,” He said as he turned for the stairs to head down to the basement. “Are you sure he’s down there,” Stovebolt asked the butler as he began to move down the steps.

“Indeed,” Gold Comet replied. “Also there was a call for you a little while ago, from a miss Rarity, asking that you return to her shop.”

“Really,” he replied uninterested, “did she say what?”

“Apparently, in your collision with madam Cheerilee, you dropped your red leather…” Comet began, before hearing the rushed sound of hooves on the hardwood floor.

Frantically, Stovebolt began to dig through his satchel hoping that the information he had received was false. “Glue, paint, wrench, Flux capacitor, Oh man where is it,” Stove yelled as he continued to dig.

“Young master, if I could make a suggestion,” Gold said as he cleaned up the mess being thrown from the satchel, “perhaps you should tell your brother, I’m sure he would accompany you to the store.”

Stovebolt spun around on his hooves to stare at the butler, “Gold, I can’t tell my brother about this, he trusted me with this one thing and I can’t tell him I lost it,” He cried as he quickly placed the satchel upon his back and began to open the door.

“Gold Comet, what’s going on up here,” A gruff voice came from the kitchen located behind the two ponies.

“The young master appears…” Gold Comet had begun saying before the noise of the large wooden door slammed and Stovebolt was nowhere to be seen.

“What’s going on, why the door slamming and what are my brother’s things doing on the floor, Comet” The tall red Pegasus walked into the room, a frown across his muzzle.

“It appears the young master dropped the item you sent him out for and in his embarrassment, He ran off so you couldn’t yell at him,” Gold Comet replied as he knelt down to pick up the rest of the items that were scattered about.

“Run off, why would he do that,” The red stallion asked. Gold Comet relayed the story of what had happened so far to the stallion and upon hearing the last of it turned to his butler.

“Comet what’s the name of the shop he went to earlier,” The red stallion questioned.

The butler looked at him and smiled, “Carousel Boutique, Miss Rarity’s shop I believe.”

The red stallion walked to the closet near the door, placed on a robe, and preceded to the large wooden doors of the mansion. “Comet, I’m going to find my brother, but I request something from you,” He paused before continuing with his request “Please have my brother’s favorite dinner prepared before we get back.”

The butler looked at the stallion and smiled, “Your wish is my command,” Comet spoke before bowing to the pony.

“Thanks,” The stallion answered before he walked out the door and towards the shop in question.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“I tell you, that colt’s head is always in the clouds. He never pays attention in class, and on top of that he never stays the whole day. His father keeps taking him home early. I swear that colt is not going to learn anything if he continues to do that,” Miss Cheerilee complained as Rarity sized up the dress she was wearing and began to make the appropriate changes for her form.

“I don’t know dear, he seemed like a likable pony to me,” Rarity spoke as her sewing machine began to move.

“I never said he wasn’t dear, but it would do that colt so good if he looked around him and didn’t skip out on class,” the pink pony answered back as her dress was being sewn to fit. Miss Cheerilee looked around the shop and upon noticing Sweetie Belle sitting in the corner, She grew curious of her unwillingness to blink or move for that matter and asked, ” Sweetie Belle, why are you sitting off in the corner, I would have figure you’d be doing the homework I assigned you earlier today?” After receiving no response, she turns to her sister looking for an answer.

Rarity spoke before the teacher could ask, “I don’t know what happened to her, and she’s been like that ever since Stovebolt walked into the shop.”

Miss Cheerilee looked at Sweetie Belle again and smiled, “I think someone’s got a crush.”

This snapped Sweetie Belle out of her reverie and she quickly answered back, “NO!” She blurted out, “I was just looking at his cutie mark.”

The two older mares looked at each other and smiled. “It’s ok Dear, I was only teasing,” Miss Cheerilee spoke as she looked back at the panicking filly and smiled, “I didn’t mean any harm.”

Sweetie Belle’s cheeks began to blaze red as she ran up the stairs, trying to avoid the situation. Rarity let out a small laugh as she continued sewing.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Ring!

The bell to the shop spoke, letting Rarity know that there was a new costumer. “Please excuse me,” Rarity asked as she began to walk out to the front, “Welcome to Carousel Boutique how I may help you?”

The Pegasus that stood before her was cloaked in a large robe, but from what she could see, he wasn’t that bad looking. His black mane was brushed straight, with a partial part to the left, and his eyes were as grey as a thunderstorm cloud. The red of his coat accentuated the colors around him and he was wearing a smile.

“Yes, you wouldn’t happen to be Miss Rarity would you,” the stallion asked as he kissed her hoof.

A blush rose to Rarity’s cheeks as she looked over the stallion. “Why yes I am, and might I say, it’s been a while since I’ve met someone as classy as you appear,” she spoke as she looked him over again, “Is there something I can help you with?”

The stallion smiled and looked around the shop admiring the fashions she had on display. “Yes, My brother came in here a few hours ago with a piece of leather I needed stitched back together,” He spoke, and upon returning his gaze to the unicorn started again, “I was told that he dropped it along his way home and that it was returned here, would you be so kind as to retrieve it for me?”

Rarity walked to the back of her shop and when she returned Miss Cheerilee walked in with her. Rarity’s face was lit up with a smile as she walked towards him, Miss Cheerilee was not.

“Excuse me, but who are you to Stovebolt,” She asked as she stared at the Stallion in front of her, “you’re not his father.”

The stallion looked at the new pony that had walked in and without dropping his smile began to speak, “You must be Miss Cheerilee, I’ve heard so much about you from my brother.” The stallion walked over to her and kissed her hoof in a similar fashion as Rarity’s.

Miss Cheerilee’s cheeks grew red with embarrassment and she moved her hoof away in a rather hurried fashion. “Th-Th-That’s nice,” she stuttered out, “But who are you exactly?” The stallion looked up at the two mares with an embarrassed smile, “Oh dear, where are my manners, I’m…”

“Oh my god, you really are Cobrajet” a voice came from the open door of the shop as a rainbow maned pony stuck her head in.

Rainbow Dash had been following the pony as he walked to the shop, trying to remember where she had seen him before. It was only after the second hoof kiss that the robe he was wearing slid up high enough for her to see his cutie mark. And with the distinctive “Metal Wing Feather” mark he had she knew with certainty that it was him.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh,” Rainbow repeated as she looked at him. He looked at her with apprehension, not wanting her to jump him or anything.

“Yes” Cobrajet answered as he began to slowly back away from the Pegasus and towards Rarity.

Upon seeing the apprehension in the stallion’s eyes and the backing up he was doing, Rarity looked at her friend and yelled, “Rainbow Dash that is no way to treat a guest in my shop!”

Rainbow Dash looked at the situation and after noticing her fan girl getting the better of her, she calmed down and spoke, “I’m sorry Rarity; my fan girling got the better of me. It’s just not everyday a Wonderbolt shows up in your town.”

Rarity looked at her then at the stallion that was still inching towards her. True, the Pegasus looked rather muscular, but she had never seen him at any of the shows she had go to. “Rainbow darling, are you sure? I’ve never seen him before,” She asked as her eyes shifted back to the rainbow maned pony.

CobraJet looked at the two of them and sensing that he wouldn’t be pounced upon collected himself and spoke, “My, I didn’t think I still had fans.”

The Pegasus walked forwards towards Rainbow and shook the mare’s hoof. “It is quite a pleasure, Miss Dash.”

Rainbow looked at her hoof being moved and fainted.

___________________________________________________________________________

“Don’t worry, she does that all the time,” Rarity apathetically replied as she move her friend to the couch in the front room. After setting her down, Rarity moved into her backroom and retrieved his sleeve.

Cobrajet stared at his hoof, and was only knocked out of his reverie by Rarity’s voice telling him she had his item.

“Thank you for holding onto it and for fixing it as well, Now I must pay you back for your generosity” he said as he looked around him and upon noticing Rainbow dash stirring, “As well as the pain I caused your friend.”

Rarity looked over at the woozy Pegasus and smiled, “Really it’s no trouble, but since you asked I have a favor I’d like you to do for me.”

“Anything” The Red Pegasus asked as he turned to look at her.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Stovebolt ran faster and faster, trying to get to the boutique so he could return home and have his brother being none the wiser.

“Wow Stove, you really screwed up this time, and Cobrajet is going to be furious with you if he finds out you lost his leather sleeve,” he yelled internally at himself.

But there was no time to argue about it, he could see the Carousel boutique and his only attempt at redemption. He stopped in front of the door but as he began to turn the doorknob he stopped as he heard voices. He could make out Rarity’s, Miss Cheerilee’s, and a male voice he knew all too well.

“Come in, Stovebolt, I need to talk to you” the voice called.

Stovebolt lowered his head, opened the door, accepted his fate and walked in.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“And I said to him, “That’s not a zucchini and you can keep the hot tub.”” Cobrajet joked as Stovebolt entered into the shop. The three mares in the store laughed hard as the joke finished and then began to look at the colt.

“Well, if it isn’t the fastest pony in the town,” Miss Cheerilee chided as her smile disappeared. Stovebolt’s cheeks lit up red and he began to sink back into the corner.

“Yes, the colt that seems to drop anything he’s given,” Rarity mocked as she stared him farther into the corner.

“Brother, I need to discuss some matters with you,” Cobrajet spoke with authority, causing the colt to fully embed himself into the corner. He never spoke like that to him, man had he really screwed up.

The piercing glares continued until they all began to smile and laugh.

“See I told you he’d do that,” Cobra laughed as he reached his hoof out to his brother, “It’s OK, we were only joking with you.”

The young colt didn’t move from his spot, he was too afraid to do anything. “Really little brother, it’s OK, we all forgive you” his brother gently spoke to him extending his hoof in front of the colts face.

The unicorn slowly reached out and grabbed his brother’s hoof and began to cry. Cobrajet spent the next few minutes holding the crying colt and comforting him as the ponies around him stared.

Their eyes weren’t watching the scene in front of them; they were staring at the mechanical hoof the Pegasus used to hold on to his brother. The cybernetic limb was creaking and moving like that of a normal leg and hoof, but the effect of seeing the movement caused a large gasp to permeate the room. Cobrajet heard the gasp and turned to the mares in the store, and after noticing their eyes he began to blush and his wings began to extend on him in embarrassment.

No, Not that!

His wings began to press insistently against the fabric of the robe he was wearing, and he knew that the wings would win that fight. Sure enough, the fabric ripped as his wings burst forward from his sides. The fabric fell to his sides and exposed the secret he hid underneath. The extent of the mechanics in his body was startling to say the least. It wasn’t just the leg and hoof; it was the front two, completely mechanical in all respects. The left wing of his body was also heavily modified with steel and cloth feathers, too heavy to actually let him fly but enough to hide the missing lump if he were asked. He stood up and let go of his brother as he turned to face the mares. He had expected them to faint like that rainbow one earlier, but to his surprise they looked at him with amazement. No pony spoke, the only sound to be made was the sniffing of Stovebolt and even that was calming down. He reached to pick up his robe with his teeth, but a sudden release of pressure caused him to fall to his knees. It turned out not to be the pressure in the room; but the pressure in the shocks of his artificial limbs that gave.

Cobrajet let out a slight sigh as he tried to move the broken limbs and after finding it no use he turned the others in the room. “Excuse me ladies but could I have your assistance for a second, I need to sit down for a while but I’m finding it hard to move,” He shyly asked as he looked up at them. Rarity was the first to act, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry here let me help,” she said as she leaned down to get hold of the Fallen Pegasus and help him to another chair in her shop. Rarity looked around the room, her mind screaming in utter panic for the poor stallion in her shop.

“Is there anything I can do,” she asked.

“Yes please get the robe I was wearing and sew it back together for me,” Cobrajet said as he smiled weakly to the unicorn, “I’ll gladly pay you double what you normally would if you never told a soul what you have seen here.”

Rarity thoughtfully looked at the stallion and smiled, “Of course, I keep all of my client’s information in full confidentiality,” she said as she picked up the fabric and eyed it over. She looked at the purple robe, and couldn’t shake the feeling she had seen it somewhere before. But this wasn’t the most pressing issue she had with it. Rarity’s smile disappeared as she saw the state of the robe. It has torn in a jagged pattern, a pattern she could fix but she would not be happy with the results. “Excuse me Mister CobraJet, but I think we have a problem,” She spoke as she turned back to him, “This fabric is to far damaged for me to do anything with.”

The red Pegasus looked at her and sigh, “Well, there goes another one, I guess I’ll have to send a message to Hoity Toity to order another one.”

Rarity’s eyes lit up at the name he mentions and whirls around to look at her guest. “You know Hoity Toity,” she asks, rather delightedly.

The stallion looked at her and spoke, “Yes, I know him, he sell me all of my clothing, why?” It clicked in Rarity’s mind; she had seen it before, she designed it.

She smiled at her sudden realization and spoke, “It appears you’re in luck, I happen to know the designer of this robe and she happens to have a spare.”

The unicorn quickly made her way to the backroom of her store and found the robe she was looking for. It was last year’s winter line, one she was particularly proud of and she kept extras to sell in her own shop as well as in Canterlot. She returned with a triumphant smile and placed the new robe on the shoulders of the Red Stallion.

She smiled at him and spoke, “There, that’s better. But I do have to say, that color doesn’t do you coat any justice, perhaps a black would suit you better?”

CobraJet looked at the white unicorn with a shy smile, “Really it’s not a problem, I don’t really care for fashion, and I just wanted something comfortable,” he said as he slowly tried to place his legs through the holes in the robe.

The artificial limbs wouldn’t obey his will and he gave up after a while.

“Ladies, I wish to apologize for what you have seen, it was not my intention to lie about my appearance, only to keep those around me to stop staring. Now if I could only get these limbs of mine to work again, I could be on my way” he said as he looked around the room.

Rarity and Miss Cheerilee looked at the red pony and smiled, “its OK, we here aren’t a very judging bunch. But we have to ask, what happened to you?”

Cobrajet looked up at the two and frowned, “somepony did something they shouldn’t have done, and it cost not just me but those around me a lot to fix” He answered, clearly not comfortable with the question.

Rarity caught the Pegasus’s discomfort and began to change the subject, “So what happened to your legs?”

“Truthfully, I don’t know,” he answered back a smile returning to his face.

“I do,” a voice from behind them called, causing them to turn and look.

Stovebolt, having taken a small amount of time to collect himself stood up and walked over to his brother. He looked at the damage Cobrajet did to them and sighed. “Seriously, that’s the second time this month you did that. I told you not to lean down until the new pumps come in,” He scolded as he looked around the room. “Miss Rarity, do you by any chance have a hot glue gun around here” he asked as he looked at her with concern.

“Hold on a second, I have it in the back room,” She answered and proceeded to the back to get it.

Stove looked around the room and as his eyes came to Miss Cheerilee’s ears, he began again. “Miss Cheerilee, could I borrow one of your earrings for a second, I promise it will be returned to you with no harm coming to it."

The dark pink pony looked at the colt with bewilderment, but slowly took of one of her earrings and handed it to him. “Thank you” he said as he placed the earrings point into a small hole in the pumps membrane. Removing the point, he looked at the level of fluid in the pump and frowned. “Low, as usual” He spoke then looked up to see Rarity returning from the back. “I know this is going to sound weird, but I need two cups of oil, any type will do but I need oil” He spoke as he took the glue gun from Rarity’s hoof. Rarity was slightly perplexed by this request but went into her kitchen and retrieved a container of canola oil. Setting it down by the colt, she looked at him beginning to work.

After several minutes of silence, Rarity spoke. “What happened” Rarity asked as she eyed the small unicorn, “Did the pumps break?”

Stovebolt looked up at her then back to the pumps in his brother’s legs.

After a while he spoke again, “No, He pulled the lines that circulate the fluid to them.” After looking for any other faults, and finding none, he set to work. After reconnecting the lines and sealing them with the hot glue, he set out to refill the reservoirs with fluid. After a few more minutes he looked over his work one more time and after seeing no leaks, he helped his brother to his feet.

Cobra jet was a little unsteady to start but after a while he was soon walking again. Stovebolt returned Miss Cheerilee’s earring to her and smiled.

“Now as your doctor, I would advise you take it easy until we get home, the repairs I did won’t hold in the long run but they will hold for now,” The small unicorn spoke as he smiled weakly at his brother.

Cobrajet walked up to his brother, leaned down and nuzzled his cheek, “OK doc,” He laughed as he returned to the matter at hand. “Thank you Miss Rarity, I envy the Gentlecolt that chooses you in his life. And you as well Miss Cheerilee, I hope this one,” He pulls his brother into a tight hug, “sees what type of pony you are and allow himself to be taught by you.”

The two mares blushed at the compliments they received and smiled back.

“Speaking of which,” Cobrajet said as he looked down at his brother, “You are no longer allowed to leave class early anymore, no matter how smart you think you are.”

After paying for both the new robe he wore, and the items Stovebolt had used to fix him, Cobrajet looked at his brother and spoke, “Well, I think it’s time to go home don’t you?” The young unicorn looked at his brother then at the two mares and nodded. They both turned to leave, but as they walked out, Stovebolt turned around and walked up to his teacher. “I’m sorry for earlier, it wasn’t right of me to run away after I ran into you,” He apologized as he looked up at her with an uneasy smile. Cheerilee looked at the colt and smiled, “Apology accepted, just don’t do it again, Ok?” He swiftly nodded and ran back to his brother’s side.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The walk home for the both of them was light hearted and rather quick, for soon they stood in the doorway of the mansion.

With a quick glance up, Stovebolt began to speak, “I’m sorry brother.”

CobraJet looked down at the young unicorn and smiled, “What do you have to be sorry about from me, you really saved my tail today, with the repairs you did and all” He said as he ruffled the hair on his head.

The unicorn frowned at his brother’s playing off of the mistake he had made, “But if it weren’t for me losing your sleeve, you wouldn’t have had to go out to find me, and we wouldn’t have been in the situation we had” he spoke, only to have his brother wave his hoof at him.

“If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have made the acquaintance of a rather calm and collected unicorn today. That and I wouldn’t have met a fan of mine from years ago” His brother answered back as he opened the heavy wooden door and began to walk in.

“But…” Stovebolt began before being silenced by his brother. “No buts” he called back, “Now go wash up, dinner is ready. Then after that is done, I want you to go upstairs and finish your homework, and if you get it done to my satisfaction, we will go out and get you a book from the library tomorrow.”

Stovebolt made his way upstairs, careful not to drop his satchel and proceeded to wash up. Down on the landing, Cobrajet stood holding the door open, staring out into the evening sky and reminiscing about the day he had.

“Wow,” he thought to himself, “We have only been here a week and already we know so many different ponies, hopefully this town is different than the last.” The stallion was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn’t notice the butler walking up behind him, a knife in his hoof. Slowly the knife was raised and was brought down onto the cake he was holding, cutting it into pieces for later.

“Excuse me sir, But a pink pony brought this over while you were away, along with this note,” Gold Comet spoke, as he handed the piece of cake to Cobrajet along with the note that accompanied it. Cobrajet opened the flap of it and read the note allowed.

Dear New Town Member,

I don’t know who you are and since I don’t know that, I would like to invite you to a party with the whole town to meet and welcome you to Ponyville. The party is to be held tomorrow night and you and your family are all invited to join. We hope to see you there.

Pinkie Pie

“And you say she just walked up to you and gave you this,” Cobrajet interrogated the butler, finding this hard to believe, no one could possibly be that forward in this town.

“It is exactly like I say sir, now I believe you and the young master need to eat, so I would like to say that dinner is served,” Gold Comet commented before turning around and walking to the kitchen. The three of them spoke of the party over Stovebolt’s favorite meal, Roasted brussel sprouts in a brown sauce, with corn and mashed potatoes. They mutually decided that since they were the honored guests, they would attend, and hopefully, Stovebolt added, his brother’s legs could take the strain. They finished eating and moved on to the nights adventure, Stovebolt finishing the homework Miss Cheerilee had given him as well as an apology card, an extra assignment given by his brother, and Cobrajet working downstairs in the basement on his “projects”. Finally the moon rose to its apex, and the clock in Stovebolt’s room rang telling him it was time to sleep. His brother reached his room and tucked the unicorn into bed.

“Hey Cob,” the sleepy unicorn spoke; his eye’s growing weaker as the time past.

“Yes, Stove,” The Pegasus answered back, wondering what he need to as so late in the evening.

“Are mom and dad happy in the green pasture?” He asked, slowly closing his eyes.

CobraJet looked at the nearly asleep form and smiled. “They sure are,” He answered and after receiving a contented sigh, began to stand and leave the room.

“Goodnight brother,” The unicorn said as he smiled.

“Goodnight as well, my your dreams be as sweet as the cake we had tonight,” He answered back as he kissed his head and got up to turn off his light. The Pegasus walked over to the wall flicked a switch, watched the lights descend, then a small Wonderbolt light lit up his room, and he shut the door.

As soon as the door closed, CobraJet placed his back to it and began to sigh.

“You know hun, he’s going to find out eventually,” Gold spoke as he prepared himself for bed.

Cobrajet looked up at his face, tears beginning to form. “I know, and I appreciate your input love, but it’s something he doesn’t need to know now,” he spoke, his voice beginning to break.

“Very well, will you be working tonight,” Gold asked as he walked towards the master bedroom.

“No, I am not,” CobraJet said as he stood up from the door. Cobrajet and Gold Comet walked into the master bedroom, climbed into the bed, and after a few minutes of tossing and turning, Cobrajet placed his head upon Comet’s neck, and he softly kissed behind his ear.

“Goodnight love,” Cobrajet said as he cuddled up to the older stallion.

“Goodnight Hun, may your sleep be restful,” Comet said as he closed his eyes for sleep.

For Cobrajet, the sound of breathing from the stallion next to him did little to calm his head. The events from earlier today played over in his mind and nothing seemed to silence the thoughts.

“Oh Luna, why hast thou taken my ability to sleep, can no other pony take this curse from me,” Cobrajet whispered, He knew the night would drag on, so with one final kiss, he turned over onto his pillow and closed his eyes.

Of Libraries and Parties

The night plays tricks on those that seek their answers. Cobrajet wasn’t looking for answers, he was looking for sleep. But tonight the thoughts he had brought about a dream he hadn’t had in a long time. He stood in his parent’s room watching the rise and fall of his mother’s chest. He was no more than a few years old at this time, and much to his comfort, his mother turned to him and began to speak.

“Hunny, its way too early in the morning for this,” she spoke wiping the sleep from her eyes.

“Mom, its ten o’clock in the morning,” He answered back a little confused at his mother’s reaction, but before his mother could reply he continued on, “You promised we could visit dad today.”

His mother blinked a few times and she yawned, “Yes dear I know, but they won’t open til noon, so can you let your mother sleep a few more minutes, she worked late last night.”

CobraJet looked at her and sighed, “Ok, I guess.”

“Thank you dear,” she answered back as she laid her head on the pillow and swiftly fell asleep.

Later that day

The two pegasi flew high over the land, surveying the plains below, both heading for the coliseum that stood in the center of town. Crowds lined the grounds, all in anticipation of the upcoming Wonderbolts air show happening today. As the two landed a voice came thundering from across the crowd.

“CobraJet, Mrs. Block, over here,” The white Pegasus yelled as he waved his hoof to get their attention. The two walked over to him and followed him through the VIP access gate.

In front of the Lounge area stood a tall stallion, as blue as the sky, and smiling from ear to ear.

“You both made it,” He spoke as the two of them entered the area.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Mrs. Block spoke as she hugged her husband. After a short hug, the stallion knelt down and took the young CobraJet into his hooves and hugged him.

“It’s good to see you, my boy,” he spoke as he looked him over.

“It’s good to see you too dad, how has work been going,” he asked as he looked around. His father’s words were heard, but none of them stuck in his mind, because his looking around the room had landed him on a couch in the lounge. Cobrajet rubbed his eyes, not believing what they were seeing. On the couch was the most beautiful Colt he had ever seen.

The Colt sat next to another member of the squad, a Gold Pegasus pony, and looked as bored as can be. He scanned the room and after a look around, his eye’s stopped on the Colt that was staring at him.

“Dear Celestia, he saw me, oh no he’s walking toward me, oh pony feathers,” Cobrajet thought as the small colt made her way to him.

He stopped in front of him and extended a hoof, “Hello, I’m ...”

The sun broke through the curtains the mansion, beams hitting all over the outstretched body of the Pegasus, and finally one found his face, forcing him to awaken. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around, he didn’t see him, or his parents anymore and he only say the empty bed chamber and the sun coming into it.

“Been a long time since I had that dream,” He spoke to himself, turning to the door in his room and opening it. The smell of the pancakes was lovely and the laughter that came out of the kitchen told him that StoveBolt and Gold Comet were both up.

“Hey that’s not fair, why do you get the big one and I get the small one,” Stovebolt cried as he fought the older stallion for it. A Snicker from the doorway brought them both to look and smile.

“Good morning Sir, Sleep well,” The Butler spoke as he relinquished control of the pancake.

“Yes quite well,” he replied before walking over to his brother and kissed him on the forehead, “and what about you Stovebolt, did you sleep well?” His brother looked up at him and smiled.

“Perfect,” Cobrajet thought as he slipped his hoof beneath the gaze of his brother and stole the plate that held the biggest pancake of the batch. Before StoveBolt could react, his brother had stolen his plate and was already eating the pancake he had fought for. A frown appeared on his face, and tears began to fall.

CobraJet looked and felt sorry for him, “Hey, it’s just a pancake; there is no need to cry.”

StoveBolt mumbled something incomprehensible causing Cobrajet to move in closer to hear him, “what,” he asked as his brother continued to cry.

“Got Ya” Stovebolt said as a smile graced his face.

Wham!!!

The plate was pushed up and onto Cobrajet’s face, smeared around and then let go from behind. When he could see again, he saw his brother laughing so hard he was already on the floor.

He smiled a wicked smile and spoke, “Oh, it is so ON!”

He jumped forwards, grabbed hold of his brother and began to tickle the young colt, causing him to squirm and call for a truce, but to no avail, CobraJet was really on him today.

The tickle fight lasted a few minutes, and after both parties were tired out, they stood up and returned to eat their breakfasts.

Soon, the clock on the wall struck 10 o’clock, noting that Stovebolt needed to go so he wouldn’t be late to school. Stovebolt ran down the stairs, his satchel strung over his back, and he stopped in front of the door. Cobrajet stood in front of the door waiting for him, his robe placed over his shoulders.

“Come on, or you’re going to be late,” the Pegasus spoke as he opened the door.

“Why isn’t Comet walking me today,” The unicorn asked back as he walked outside.

“I need to run some errands, so I figured I’d walk you to school today, that and I’d like to see that teacher of your again,” Cobra said as he began the trek to school.

The walk there lasted only a short while and as the school house came into view, so did the other ponies he went to school with, including Rarity and her sister, Sweetie Belle. The two adults waved to each other, and after saying hello to Miss Cheerilee, Cobra and Rarity set off, and began to talk as they walked back to Rarity’s shop.

The inside of the school house was decorated in artwork by the other colts and fillies in his class. Crayon in all different colors, markers and paint decorated pictures of the students and their families, all of which made Stovebolt very sad. He knew he couldn’t draw a picture of that, as he no longer had one. The lessons started with a small talk on saying sorry and helping ponies in need.

“Convenient,” he thought as he began to stare out the window. Soon the lunch bell tolled and he set off for his normal spot to eat.

The swing he sat on moved back and forth slowly as Stovebolt kicked the ground. The sandwiches Comet made, peanut butter and apples was today’s flavor, were always the best and the little puddings he left in were the icing on the cake for him. He looked at the way it was made and began to dissect the art of making the perfect sandwich. He was so wrapped up in his eating and thoughts on its construction that he didn’t notice a white unicorn sit in the swing next to him.

“Hello,” she said as she sat down.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Cobrajet and Rarity laughed as they approached the shop.

“Ok, I have another one. So there are these two ponies in Appleloosa, driving a stagecoach into town. They go over a bump in the road, causing one of the ponies to lift his head up, turn, and tell the other that he’ll never guess what he was dreaming about. The pony sitting next to him gives him a look of shock and says “You know you’re driving, right?”” Cobrajet said as his laughter gets the better of him.

“Oh Mr. Cobrajet, you know the best jokes I’ve ever heard,” Rarity laughed as she pushed the door of the boutique open and walked inside.

Cobrajet accompanied her in and after the laughter settled down, he spoke to her again. “Miss Rarity, I simply must thank you for the help you gave me and my brother yesterday, I don’t know what I would have done if this had happened anywhere else. I hate to impose on you, but your abilities as a seamstress are well earned, and I was hoping you could help me with something?”

Rarity turned to the Pegasus and smiled, “I would be happy to help.”

A couple of minutes later, a knock came from the boutique’s front door, and after a minute of waiting, a purple unicorn stuck her head into the shop.

“Rarity, are you here,” Twilight Sparkle spoke as she scanned the empty shop for her friend. The front of the shop was deserted, causing Twilight to investigate deeper. She walked into the shop, using her magic to close the door softly. “Maybe she isn’t awake” she thought, but as she cantered deeper into the shop, from behind the door to her design studio, she began to hear voices.

“Oh, Miss Rarity, I don’t bend that way,” a male voice spoke first, piquing Twilight’s interest.

“Nonsense dear, those legs of yours can do all sorts of things,” Rarity’s voice came next, surprising the unicorn in the hall. What was she doing in there, and more importantly, when did she meet a stallion? Twilight placed her ear to the door and continued to listen.

“I never worked with something like this before, am I doing it right,” Rarity spoke as something began to start up.

“You’re doing well so far, now let’s move to the next step,” the male voice answered as the machine fully came to life.

“I need you to move and bring it up again, so I can get it just right,” Rarity said as sounds of movement came from behind the door.

“Ow, my wings definitely don’t bend that way,” the male voice spoke as gears ground and electricity crackled, causing the already curious pony to press her ear harder to hear the reaction.

“Oh come on, it’s not like you haven’t done this before, how did you do it last time,” Rarity questioned, as the noises in the background ceased.

This statement caused Twilight to gasp and bring her head away from the door. She’s not doing what I think she’s doing, and in the middle of the day, as Rarity herself would have put it if she were the one listening, how scandalous. Twilight’s curiosity was fully piqued and she pressed her ear against the door again, but this time she heard a different sound, the sound of the door opening.

Rarity and CobraJet both jumped as the door to the studio swung open and a purple unicorn fell into the room. After regaining her composure, Rarity looked at the fallen unicorn and quickly ran to her.

“Oh my darling, are you alright,” she asked as she helped her friend back to her feet.

“I’m fine Rarity, just a little accident; I hope I wasn’t interrupting something important,” Twilight spoke as she began to blush. Busted she thought as she quickly scanned the room around her. Cobrajet stood on a platform, a striped suit on his body, and a look of pain on his face.

“I was just helping a new customer with a suit request, when you stumbled into the door giving us quite a scare. And unfortunately that also caused me to poke him in his hind quarters,” Rarity spoke as he went back to the stallion’s side. “I’m terribly sorry,” She said looking at him. CobraJet smiled as tears flowed from his eyes.

“It’s OK,” he said as he began to wipe the tears away, “But can we take a break for a bit.” Rarity frowned, wanting to get this done quickly, but she knew that he was hurt and relented.

“OK, let’s take a lunch break, Twilight will you be joining us,” Rarity asked as she walked him over to a sofa and helped him sit down.

“Yes, I think I will,” Twilight answered, still quite embarrassed, as she walked over to the pair and smiled.

Lunch lasted an hour, and the conversations they were having helped pass the time. CobraJet learned that the unicorn that entered the room so dramatically was Twilight Sparkle, the town’s Librarian and according to Rarity, the leading authority on the magic of friendship. He also learned that Twilight was quite the prevy pony.

“So wait, you thought her and I were…” he spoke, laughter clearly in his voice. Twilights cheeks lit up red and she quickly began to look for a place to hide.

Upon finding no place she could she looked back at him and weakly smiled, “Shows what happens when you jump to conclusions,” she said as her blush deepened.

Rarity and Cobrajet laughed at the circumstances and after a little while, they were all talking over the tea Rarity had poured. The day progressed as normal, the suit fitting continued after lunch was eaten, and after several more apologies from Twilight, the affair was quickly forgotten and a new one took its place. The suit Rarity had designed was stunning to say the least, Black cloth sewn with an inside seam, with small white stripes running through, breaking up the lines that were the contours of the mechanics he hid underneath. Twilight had seen the mechanics and the damage to the rest of him during the fitting, and strangely to him, she didn’t so much as bat an eye.

“Well, I must say miss Rarity, this suit is by far the best one I’ve ever had made," CobraJet complimented as he looked himself over in the mirror, “I simply must have you do a few more for me, that is if you can fit me into your schedule?” Rarity looked at her happy customer and smiled deviously. She knew that the spring line was already shipped, and she had a few more weeks until she had to start on the summer line, but he didn’t.

“I don’t know, I mean I do have a lot of orders to fill,” she said as she looked into her appointment book. Cobrajet looked at her and frowned,

“Well is there any way I could get these done in the next few days, I am willing to pay more if that would help,” He said as he looked her over. Rarity smiled as he fell into her trap.

“Well I suppose I could move some of the other projects I have around for you,” she said as she looked again at her empty appointment book, “Will you be able to come in tomorrow?”

“If this party I’m invited to doesn’t knock me out, I should be able to do it tomorrow,” he answered, a smile came across his face, “I’ll walk Stove to school tomorrow and we can talk about it then.”

The Pegasus thanked the unicorn for the help she rendered today, paid for the suit, and began to walk out of the shop, with Twilight walking out just behind him. Not wanting to miss an opportunity, he asked her to follow him to the school so she could meet his brother, saying that he would definitely want to make the acquaintance of the librarian of the town. She gladly accepted the invitation, noting that it was nice for someone else to take reading into his heart. And so they continued on to the school house at the end of town. As they approached, they could see the other families there to pick up the students. Stovebolt stood by the corner of the playground, his mind currently occupied by something else. “Hey bro, how was school today,” Cobra asked Stove as he and Twilight got closer.

Stovebolt was knocked out of his thought process as his brother and another pony walked towards him. “My day was ok, I made some new friends today,” he said as he met his brother halfway.

“Really, and who are they,” he asked, but before Stovebolt could answer, the ponies in question did it for him.

“Hey StoveBolt, are we going over,” A white unicorn filly called as she made her way to him.

“Actually, my brother is here so we don’t have to go find him,” he said as noticed the white unicorn was flanked by two others.

“Ah, shoot, ah was hopin’ we could see this house of yer’s,” a pale yellow earth filly spoke as they drew near.

“Yeah, you made it sound so awesome,” said the orange Pegasus on the unicorn’s right. All three fillies came to a stop and smiled as they noticed the purple unicorn next to Stove’s brother, “Hi Twilight,” they all said in unison.

“Good afternoon girls, how was your day,” Twilight answered back, a smile on her face.

The conversation continued as other ponies came and went; they discussed their days, from the picking on of Stove by Diamond Tiara and Silverspoon, the cutie mark crusaders saving the day and all that. They laughed as they walked, stopping at each of their houses, meeting all of the family that they came across. They meet Applejack and Big Macintosh at Sweet Apple Acres as they dropped off Applebloom, talked to Rarity about getting a suit made for Stovebolt, when dropping off Sweetie Belle, and meet Scootaloo’s parents, much to her chagrin. They continued until they arrived at the library’s entrance. Twilight turned to the two ponies that had accompanied her and smiled, “well, this is the library,” she spoke as she turned the doorknob and entered.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The shelves that lined the walls were covered in books. There were lots of books, with such a variety of topics that StoveBolt couldn’t contain himself. He began to run around the library, marveling at the sheer volume of knowledge he could obtain. He continued to look while the two older ponies walked to the table at the center of the room and sat down.

“Wow, he seems pleased,” Twilight said as she stared at the colt running around. “That he is,” he said back as he looked the same way. They talked for an hour, about life here and instructions to finding the house for the party going on later, but slowly the conversation began to die as it began to grow late.

Cobrajet looked up at the clock, turned to the young colt and said, “Stovebolt its time to go and get ready.”

“OK” he answered as he picked up a book and walked it over to Twilight. “I’d like to check this book out if I can,” he asked as he laid the book down on the counter.

Twilight looked at the title of the book and grinned. Zen and the Art of Chariot Repair was emblazoned in gold on the cover, a favorite of Twilight to read, even if she did nothing in the book.

“Certainly, just have it back by the end of the month,” she said, stamping the book and handing it back to him. And with a smile and thanks, the two made their way back home to get ready for the party.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

They walked the short path to the front of the Sugercube Corner, and after knocking on the door a pink pony greeted them with a smile.

“Hello, you must be the ponies I haven’t met yet,” Pinkie Pie yelled over the music that was coming from inside the store.

“Yes, Thank you for inviting us,” CobraJet said loudly, trying to fight the music for precedence. “This is Stovebolt, my brother,” he spoke as he waved his hoof at the young colt. “That is Gold Comet, my butler,” He waved behind him to the butler that stood quietly. “And my name is CobraJet,” he finished as he pointed to himself. Pinkie Pie waved to the lot of them and invited them in for what turned out to be the biggest party they had ever been to.

Several hours later

The door to the shop swung open as several ponies stepped out into the cool night. CobraJet had StoveBolt by his side, the both of them looking rather tired. None the less, CobraJet turned back to his host and smiled.

“Clearly you know how to party out here," He said as he laughed at the amount of fun he had just had. From pin the tail on the pony, to the apple bob, and even the treats that had been made for their welcoming, and StoveBolt had enjoyed the party with his friends he had made. Pinkie smiled at a successful party pulled off, and turned back to talk to the departing guests.

“Yep-yep-yep, we sure do,” she answered “And might I say that was the best one I have ever thrown.” Pinkie’s smile told him that she had said that before, but smiled back to be nice.

While the guests of honor were leaving, a voice from earlier asked a question to the host.

“Pinkie Pie, is it OK if Rarity stays here tonight, she had a bit too much to drink,” Sweetie Belle asked as they turned to her and saw the situation. Rarity was passed out on the floor covered in a tablecloth, her hair splayed haphazardly across the floor.

“Oh ponyfeathers, that’s the second time in as many parties she has over done it,” Pinkie said as she walked up to her friend. Applebloom and Scootaloo stood next to Sweetie’s passed out sister and laughed. The hand gestures being made showed her grabbing the table to stabilize her, missing on the tablecloth and falling over before she passed out. Sweetie wasn’t so carefree, she had no pony to take her home, and her friends were going to have another sleepover tonight.

Pinkie Pie picked up Rarity and heaved her onto an unoccupied couch, tossed a blanket on her and walked back to her leaving guests.

Pinkie Pie made her way back to Sweetie Belle with a smile. "Sweetie Belle, your welcome to stay here tonight, since your sister is in no shape to take you home," Pinkie Pie offered, but the frown of Sweetie Belle's face told Pinkie there was more to it then her sister passing out.

“But Rarity was supposed to take me to her house tonight, we had a sleep over to do,” Sweetie Belle said as she frowned.

“I’m sorry Sweetie, but only you can stay here tonight, I only have room for you,” Pinkie said, much to the dismay of the other ponies.

"Can't you make some room for us Pinkie, We promise to be good," AppleBloom and Scootaloo said in unison, puppy dog eyes in full effect.

“I'm truly sorry girls, but I just don’t have the room to do that tonight,” Pinkie said as a frown started across her face. She looked like she truly was sorry, but it was true she didn’t have the room of the lot of them. Boy she wishes she had a solution to this problem.

“They could stay with us tonight,” StoveBolt yawned, causing the focus of the conversation to shift to him. Pinkie Pie’s smile grow back on her face, "That sounds like a great idea," she yelled, her festive self back in full form. Cobrajet didn't quite share her enthusiasm.

“Stovebolt, We can’t do that, the house is a mess, and with school and everything it's not a good night to do this,” CobraJet said as he turned to his brother.

Stove looked his brother in the eyes and spoke firmly, “Brother I talked about having them over someday for such a thing, it just so happens that that day is tonight. Besides, we don’t have school tomorrow, so why is it a problem?”

Cobrajet looked at his brother and sighed, knowing the logic he used was sound. Still didn’t mean he had to like it.

“OK,” he said, causing the young ponies to shout. “But” his voice spoke over all of them, “You all need your parents’ permission and when we do reach the house, we will be setting up ground rules.”

A few minutes later, Cobra, Stove, Gold, and the whole of the so called Cutie Mark Crusaders were walking towards the mansion, in silence.

The white unicorn was the first to speak, “thank you for letting us stay the night Mr. Cobrajet,” Sweetie Belle said as they approached the door.

“It’s not a problem, earlier warning would have been better, but C'est la vie,” Cobrajet said as they all filed into the house, and he closed the door behind them.

The insides of the mansion stunned the CMC, and they all began to spread out to search the halls.

A voice stopped them quickly, and as they all turned Cobrajet was eyeing them all.

“OK Kids, ground rules. You are to follow Stovebolt up to his room, we will be bringing beds up. You are to start settling down, but you can sleep when you want to. In 15 minutes there will be hot chocolate, I want you all there and after words you may do as you please. All I ask in return is a promise, a promise that you will not go down to the basement for the night, I need to clean it up before you can come down.”

He stopped to see the reactions then began to speak again, “Now do we have a deal?”

The CMC looked up at the Pegasus and smiled, “We pinkie promise,” they answered as they went through the strangest motions for a promise he had ever seen.

“Ok…” he said a bit confused, but quickly he smiled and spoke again, “then, I wish to welcome you to our home, please have fun tonight.”

Sleepover Story Time

The young ponies raced around the house, going from one room to another in search of something to do. They eventually settled down in the living room, their sleeping bags littering the ground, as there wasn’t enough space in Stovebolt’s room to fit them all. The four of them spend the next couple hours talking about the others in the town, the things they have done, and even asked Stovebolt to talk about his cutie mark.

“Well, when we still lived in Neighbraska, I woke up super early one day and my Brother wasn’t awake yet. It was his birthday, and he had the day off so I decided to make him breakfast. However I was still very young and the toaster wasn’t having anything to do with cooking that day,” Stovebolt said as he began to reminisce about that day.

Stovebolt awoke at a time not suitable for a colt of his age to be up. He looked around his room, and after a while noticed the clock on the wall.

“5:32, I wonder if Cobra is up” Stovebolt said as he pushed the covers back on his bed and climbed out. He moved over to his bedroom door, and slowly pushed it open. The creak from the hinges of his door, to him, sounded like the crypt door from a monster movie opening, but in actuality the creak wasn’t that loud.

Stovebolt looked around the hall, and upon seeing no one out in it, he fully pushed the door open. He made his way down the hall, to the kitchen. As he rounded the corner, the smell of last night’s dishes hit his nose. The smell of poorly cooked spaghetti hung in the air, and the fridge offered no better smells as he opened it. Milk, weeks past its expiration date sat opened, causing the colt’s nose to wrinkle.

”Boy, we really need to clean this out,” Stovebolt said as he looked around the fridge, and upon seeing nothing worth eating closed the door and sighed. “We need groceries,” he said as he rounded the corner to another hall, this one leading to the front door.

In the hall, he found the bag of bits his brother always carried sitting on the hutch. He smiled to himself and thought, “I’ll go buy groceries, and then I’ll cook breakfast for us both.” This he thought would be the best birthday present a brother could ask for, breakfast in bed with his brother making it. Smiling, Stovebolt grabbed his satchel and his winter coat, and after securing them both tightly, grabbed the bag of bits and exited the house headed towards town.

The wind blow, causing the already cold and snow covered grounds and air to become just that bit colder. It was still early in the day, so many of the shops were still closed. But a couple of vendors were setting up for their days of business so he had some selection. After a short walk, he came upon the vendors and picked up the food items on his list; milk, eggs, fresh bread, cheese, brussel sprouts, and a laundry list of more items, to numerable to count. Stovebolt looked back at his list and noticed he had one thing left, and the amount of times it was circle noted that it was the most important item he had to get that day. He walked up to the bakery, looked at the selection of cakes, and then entered the store. The air in the bakery was warm and smelled of pies and cake, causing the colt’s stomach to growl. Nevertheless, he rang the bell on the counter and waited. After a while, a large blue pony walked out to the ring of the bell, and was immediately confused.

“Must have been my mind playing tricks on me,” he spoke out loud, as he turned around and walked back into his kitchen. Stovebolt, rang the bell again, and when the baker walked out again, he placed his hooves up on the counter, so as to not be over looked again.

“Excuse me sir but I would like to get a cake made for my brother. Today is his birthday,” he spoke as the baker noticed his tiny customer.

“Well, aren’t we an early riser,” The Baker said as he looked over the counter. “What kind of cake do you want, little guy?”

Stovebolt dictated to the baker the flavor of the cake, the frosting type, and what he wanted written on it. He waited for the baker to return with the cake, paid for it and after getting a string to hold the cake in its box; he grabbed it in his teeth and set off for home.

He arrived home just in time for the clock in the hall to ring, telling him it was 7 in the morning. Stove walked into the kitchen and placed all of the groceries he had bought onto the counter.

Stovebolt looked over the bags of groceries he had brought in then at the bag of bits he had used, “I think I spent too much today, Cobra isn’t going to be happy with all the money that has gone missing” he said thinking of his brother’s reaction. It wasn’t pretty, and would most likely involve a dictionary, but Stovebolt quickly threw that to the back of his mind as he set off to make his brother breakfast. He thought that if he made a great breakfast his brother wouldn’t be so harsh with him, only having to do a single letter of definitions. It took him a while to find the utensils in the mess of a kitchen, but after a few minutes he had a pan out and was cooking the eggs.

The eggs scrambled nicely, and after feeling that he did a good job on them, he set off to make the toast. The Bread went into the toaster, and after setting the dial to make it toasted but not black, he went to go grab a tray from the pantry. He wandered around the kitchen setting everything on the tray, from the plate of eggs, to a glass of milk and orange juice, and finally he went to go get the toast. As he approached the kitchen, the toaster that had been working previously had popped up, revealing uncooked bread.

“I guess I didn’t set it right” Stove thought as he looked at the dial. The dial was set to the correct temperature to toast the bread and after seeing this he pressed the toaster’s plunger down again, reseating the bread in between the coils.

Satisfied he’d fixed the problem he turned around, and began to place the food he had cookedonto a plate and that plate onto a tray. “Oh, I’m missing the apple juice” Stovebolt said as he walked across the kitchen to the fridge. He retrieved the bottle and was walking back then something caught his attention, the smell of smoke. StoveBolt looked up at the smoke trail, following it back and saw the toaster begin to spark and shoot flames from its openings.

“Oh Celestia” he said as he ran up to the toaster. He quickly grabbed it and unplugged it from the wall. The sparks stopped but the fire that had resulted continued to burn. StoveBolt had to act fast, “what was it you are supposed to do when this happens” he thought as the flames continued to grow.

He looked around the house and upon seeing the snow on the porch he had an idea. Stovebolt quickly ran to the door and after it was open, tossed the toaster into the snow bank.

The fire was put out, but the sound from the smoke alarm had already begun to blare. The loud siren screamed at him, and he knew that this would wake up him brother. Sure enough, CobraJet ran down the hall, fire Extinguisher in hoof. But as he entered the kitchen, he stopped shouting and looked at the situation in front of him. Stovebolt had his hooves under the water flowing from the sink faucet, having burned his hooves in the rescue attempt.

CobraJet walked up behind him and spoke, “StoveBolt, why are you up?” The colt looked back at his brother, tears beginning to form, and he soon was talking faster than his brother could keep up with. He explained the happenings of the morning, from the groceries, to the breakfast prep and ended with the toaster catching on fire.

“And then you woke up, because I did something stupid” he cried as he continued to sob.

CobraJet quickly grabbed his brother and pulled him into a big hug. StoveBolt was clearly thrown off guard, but before he could pull away, CobraJet spoke.

“I’m so surprised you would do all of that for me. That is by far the best present I have ever received. Thank you” He said as he slowly released his grip on his brother.

StoveBolt looked up at him through tear soaked eyes, and weakly smiled. ”You mean, you’re not mad?”

“Why would I ever be mad at you” his brother said as he turned to the toaster lying out in the snow.

“Now, I need to take this and we need to go downstairs into the basement so we can look at this.”

The two ponies walked through the kitchen stopped in front of the door to the basement. StoveBolt had never been down there, he was never allowed to. But his brother smiled at him and opened the door. They headed down the stairs, and came upon a large table with tools upon it. CobraJet placed the toaster on the table and grabbed a screwdriver.

“Cobra, why are you taking it apart? It’s broken, why don’t we buy a new one” StoveBolt asked as his brother began to unscrew the cover to the toaster.

After taking it off, he turned his attention to the insides, and spoke “that takes all the fun out of discovering the faults in its design.” And with that he diverted all of his attention to the broken appliance. Fourty five minutes passed, and Cobrajet grew evermore frustrated. “Confound this machine, where is the broken part” he said as he looked it over again.

StoveBolt sat at on the stool next to his brother spinning on its axis and after a while he saw his brother’s frustration. “Brother, why don’t you take a break, go get showered and dressed and comeback to it in an hour” he said as he looked at the contraption.

CobraJet looked at his brother and smiled, “You’re right, I’ll be back in a few.” Cobrajet ascended the stairs, leaving StoveBolt alone with the toaster.

“Stupid Toaster” he said as he eyed the internals, “nearly got me in trouble.” But slowly curiosity got the better of him, and he began to look at the parts in front of it.

He scanned the toasters parts, until he noticed something out of place. A small metal shaving was fused on the left side of the toaster’s heating coils and it was almost touching where the metal cover of the toaster used to be. He looked at it over and over again, and after seeing no other faults in the design, focused on this little piece of metal.

“Whatcha looking at” a voice said from in back of the young colt. StoveBolt swiveled in his chair to see his brother standing there, his mane still damp.

StoveBolt showed his brother the piece of metal, and after congratulating him on his help, he got up and began to climb the stairs again.

He stopped halfway and turned to his brother and spoke, “Well, aren’t you coming?”

The young colt was up the stairs faster than normal, but that was more out of needing to move than anything else. They walked up to the front door of the house and placed their coats on, and after they were both clothed, walked outside to talk to the pony that had sold them the bread.

It had turned out that the pony’s mixer was broken and some metal shavings had made their way into the bread he baked. “Oh Celestia, I am so sorry” the baker said as he scrambled to turn all of his machines off. He had asked to help pay for the toaster, but CobraJet had a better idea. “Actually, we both know that the toaster was just fine after we had taken the metal part off of the coil, but you need a new mixer to stay in business. I have a proposition for you, but only if you’re willing to do it” CobraJet said as he looked over the shop.

After they arrived home from their little foray into the world; they both sat down to eat a cold breakfast, happily this time without sparks flying from the toast. The two ponies laughed at the whole experience, but especially at the face of the bread maker when they asked to help him in purchasing a new industrial mixer as well as renovate the shop so it ran better. They continued to eat, until StoveBolt remembered the second part of his gift. He ran into the kitchen and retrieved the cake he had bought earlier and asked Cobra to close his eyes. Placing the cake in front of him with his magic and applying a liberal amount of lit candles to it, he told his brother to open his eyes and yelled happy birthday. CobraJet looked at the gift and smiled, and after another hug, they both sat down and spent the time they both had off talking and eating cake.

The CMC looked at the young pony, completely mesmerized by the story, so much in fact that they had neglected the hot chocolate that had been placed in front of them.

“That’s a cool story and all, but what does that have to do with your cutie mark?” Scootaloo finally said as she sipped her coco, and upon realizing it was cold, swallowed but never drank from the glass again.

“Pretty much nothing, but it’s a cool story to tell” StoveBolt said as he laughed. StoveBolt, AppleBloom, and Sweetie Belle all laughed, but Scootaloo wasn’t, she was rather confused.

“But I wanted to know about your cutie mark” she said as she looked at her new friend indignantly.

As if on cue, CobraJet walked into the room and smiled. “You told them the toaster story didn’t you” he asked as he picked up the cold mugs of hot chocolate. StoveBolt smiled and nodded his head.

“I always loved that story. You didn’t happen to tell them what happened next, did you?” Cobra said as he looked the 4 of them over and smiled deviously.

StoveBolt’s cheeks turned red, and wanting to change the subject, began to talk about the time, and how they needed to sleep.

Cobra wouldn’t let him off that easily. “You see, despite what StoveBolt says, it did help him get his cutie mark, but that didn’t happen until a little bit after this incident” he said as he sat down next to the 4 of them and began to finish the story.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

The Two brothers looked over the mess in the kitchen that had been left behind from the morning’s celebration, not to mention the fire damage that had also been done. CobraJet got up and began to place the dishes into the sink, but as he moved some of them to make room, he nearly doubled over from the smell. Days of dishes still sat in the sink, and some of them had started to mold.

“We really need to clean these” Cobrajet said as he looked over at Stovebolt and frowned.

The Two ponies washed the dishes off in the sink, or at least attempted to, as the hay spaghetti from last night was more like cement then actual food stuffs. By the time they had finished, the clock on the wall told them that it was 3 PM, and they had missed lunch.

“It’s too late for lunch, but it’s also too early for dinner” Cobrajet spoke, thinking out loud for the most part, but also was thinking of the items he wanted for dinner as well.

“Well, we could go out and see if we can find dinner tonight” Stove said as he moved closer to the front hallway. Cobrajet thought for a second, and after seeing no other option, walked out to the coat closet, placed on his winter duster and after Stovebolt followed suit, they walked out to the market in search for dinner.

They walked around the town for several hours, unable to find a place they could both agree on. Finally they settled on a small pizzeria, Golden Crusts, and walked inside for a table. They were seated, and after the waiter took their orders, they began to talk as they waited for their food. The conversation ranged from birthday wishes, the local weather and its erratic sense of timing, to a topic Cobrajet wanted to stop coming up.

“Cobra, why did Mom and Dad leave us” Stovebolt asked as he took a drink from his cup. Cobrajet looked at his brother and frowned.

“They didn’t leave us” he said as he looked his glass of soda over, “they just went away for a while.”

“When will they be getting back” Stovebolt asked as he looked his brother.

“Soon, I hope” Cobra answered back as he saw the pizza arrive.

Night had crept in as the two sat and talked for a while. The staff of the restaurant sang happy birthday to Cobrajet, and after being thoroughly embarrassed, they finished their meal, paid their check and began the long trek home.

“It was nice of them to sing for you” Stovebolt said as he walked alongside his brother, smiling.

“Yes, but they didn’t have to announce my name to the entire restaurant” he said as he walked with his head hung. Stovebolt was about to say something in response but was suddenly ran headlong into an older pony.

“Hey” Stovebolt said as he interrupted the story, “I didn’t run into him, he ran into me.”

Cobrajet looked at his brother and stared long into his eyes, the anger beginning to show.

“Sorry” Stove said as he realized that he had cut his brother off during his story.

Cobra continued to stare and began his story again, “Anyways, So he ran into this older pony…”

Stovebolt fell to the ground, clutching his nose as it began to bleed.

“Oh dear, are you ok” Cobrajet said as he walked up to the two of them.

“My nose is bleeding…” Stove began to say when he looked up and noticed that his brother wasn’t talking to him.

The older pony composed himself, and swiftly began to apologize.

“Oh dear, it’s completely my fault, I wasn’t looking where I was going” The older stallion said as he went to look at Stovebolt.

The two ponies looked over the young colt, and upon seeing that his nose was the only problem he had, the older stallion took out a handkerchief, and wiped Stovebolt’s nose.

“There” he said as he finished, “That’s not so bad.” Stovebolt looked at the stallion then at the ground, unable to reply to the stallion’s comments.

As his eyes shifted on the ground, Stovebolt’s eyes came to rest on a rather odd contraption that lay on the older pony’s pocket.

“Excuse me mister, but what is that” Stovebolt asked as he looked up to meet his eyes.

A warm smile came over the stallions face, and he retrieved the item in question from his pocket. The device had a small screen on it, and it displayed a range of graphs on its face. The thing Stove noticed quickly was that the graphs were moving, and some of them seemed to be dropping as the time went on. “This is a…” He began to say but was interrupted by Cobrajet.

“A Pedometer, with heart monitor and temperature gauge” Cobrajet said as he walked forwards towards the older stallion. The older pony’s eyes looked up in a state of shock as it was relatively new technology he held onto.

“Why yes, it is” he said rather shocked at the knowledge Cobrajet had, “But how did you know that?”

The two ponies discussed the device in detail and after 15 minutes, they were all walking towards the older stallion’s destination. They came to a stop in front of the doors of the building, and after the end to their conversation came, the older stallion turned to the others.

“Well, this is my stop” He spoke as they both looked up at the building. Midlands Hospital was written across the top of it in large lights. They looked back at the stallion and smiled,

“Well, it was nice to meet you, …” Cobrajet spoke as he looked at him.

“Doctor Achey Breaky.” A earth pony yelled as he ran up to the group. ”A large group of ponies is on their way, apparently it was a mass food poisoning incident” he said as he looked at the group, his eyes stopping on CobraJet.

“Thank you, I’ll be there in a second” the stallion said as he extended a hoof to Cobrajet, and as they shook hooves Cobra turned to Stovebolt.

“Well, we need to get going” Cobrajet said as he turned his brother around, “it was great meeting you, maybe we will see you later?”

“Hopefully, but never under the circumstances that my job entails” the good doctor laughed as he waved goodbye.

The intern stood as he watched them leave, and after a few seconds, he turned to the Doctor, “Hey doc, I think I know that pony” he said, his mind deep in thought, he knew he had seen them before somewhere.

“Intern, that’s not important right now, we need to get ready for the rush that’s on its way” The doctor said as he rushed into the hospital. The earth pony gave one last look and walked back in as well.

Arriving home, Stovebolt was still fascinated by the device he had seen, and remembering his brother’s workshop, he asked his brother how a device like that was built. Cobrajet explained that the device he had seen was complicated, and couldn’t be fully understood by him at this point in his life. “Besides, you don’t need to worry about that right now, you need to sleep, it is well past your bed time” Cobrajet finished as he looked at the clock in the hall.

Stovebolt was about to argue, but a yawn stifled his attempts and he soon conceded, and walked to his room. A few minutes later, Cobrajet walked into Stove’s room and tried to stifle a laugh when he looked at the sight in front of him.

Stovebolt hadn’t even gotten to his bed when he fell asleep. His head was lying of a toy that had been left on the floor and his legs were splayed in such a way that it couldn’t be comfortable for him to be in. but something else caught his attention as well, StoveBolt’s flank now had markings on it.

The wrench and gear stood out and he must have been so excited that he passed out. “Finally, he gets his cutie mark, and here I was thinking, he would have the same experience in gaining it as mel” CobraJet said as he walked up to the sleeping form. Cobrajet picked up his brother, brought him over to his bed, tucked him in and kissed him goodnight.

“And that’s how he got his cutie mark, his mind for the mechanical lead him to question the workings of everything. It led him down the path of being the Mr. Fix-it of the house. It had probably been there for a little while at that time, and we simply weren’t paying it any attention. I mean who looks at their hindquarters anyways.” Cobrajet said as he ruffled his brother’s hair. StoveBolt smiled softly and the CMC laughed awkwardly at his final comment, none of them capable of looking each other in the eyes.

They sat there for a few seconds, the silence overtaking them all, but as always Scootaloo had a question. “So you got it because you lit a toaster on fire, and then you ran over a doctor” Scootaloo asked, eliciting laughs from everyone but StoveBolt.

“No” he quickly replied in an attempt to defend himself.

“He totally did” Cobrajet said teasingly.

StoveBolt was about to respond, when Gold Comet made his way in. “Sir, there is a call for you” he spoke to Cobrajet, and with a small goodbye he left the group. “Well I better get that, no need to keep some pony waiting” Cobra said as he got up and walked out the door Cobrajet, leaving the kids to their own devices.

As Cobra approached the phone, he noticed that it was on its hook. “Comet, I thought you said I had a call?”

A smile crept onto Comet’s face and he replied. “I’m sorry to lie to you, but you were embarrassing the young master too much so I decided to intervene.”

Cobrajet frowned at the older pony, “I’ve told you before, if StoveBolt isn’t around you don’t have to be so formal” he said as he walked over to Comet.

“I know, but sometimes I wonder if it’s for the best that you treat him like that, you can be quite harsh to him” Gold Comet answered back, placing his hoof on Cobra’s shoulder.

CobraJet smiled and with a small kiss on the cheek of Gold, he spoke, “Maybe I am, but you needn’t lie to me.”

“Forgive me hun, it was improper of me. By the way, you never finished the story” he said as Cobra made his way to their bedroom.

“They don’t need to, it doesn’t hold relevance to their talk” Cobra replied.

“It does to me” Gold said as he followed him up the stairs.

“I know it does, would you like me to finish it when we settle in” Cobrajet questioned.

“Yes, it’s always good to hear it again” Gold answered as the entered the bedroom and the door closed.

“I’ll be there in a second, I just need to wish them all a good night” Cobra said as he walked back to Stove’s room. As he entered, a pillow flew past him and quickly the laughter that had been happening ceased. The ponies looked up at Cobra with looks of sadness but, with a smile, Cobra returned the pillow and spoke, “Now I’m ok with this but I want you all to know, if anything breaks it’s all StoveBolt’s fault.”

“It is not” Stove yelled as he threw a pillow at his brother, impacting him straight in the face.

Cobra was about to return fire, but he thought better of it and let it go. “You get one Stove, only one. Now I’m going to bed, you all may stay up as long as you like I only as that you don’t walk into my room and don’t go near the basement. You all have a good night” Cobra said as he smiled at them.

They all gave him a nod as well as a good night, and with that Cobra turned and walked to his room.

Comet lay on the bed, the covers to which were pulled back on Cobra’s side inviting him to lay there. Cobra happily obliged and as the two of the got comfortable, Comet whispered into Cobra’s ear “Tell me the rest of the story.”

“As you wish” Cobra said back, and with a kiss on the head, finished the story.

CobraJet was walking down the stairs to the basement when a sudden knock came from the door. Looking at the clock Cobrajet wondered who it could be at this hour. He walked to the door cautiously, not knowing what to expect. As he opened the door, and looked out at his visitor, a familiar voice spoke to him. “It’s good to see you again, hun” The voice said.

One Secret Down

It was another restless night for Cobrajet. And as he awoke, he had expected the sounds of Stove and his friends running and screaming around the house. The fact that it was silent in the house began to worry him deeply. He tossed the sheet he was under off and as he placed his hooves on the floor, a whisper came from beside him.

“It’s too early Cobrajet, come back to bed” Gold Comet said as he rolled over and placed his sleepy eyes and bright smile on Cobrajet.

“I’d love to but I’m worried about the kids, I’m just going to check on them” Cobra answered.

“Come on hun, its Saturday, what could possibly go wrong” Comet said as he pulled Cobrajet onto the bed. After a few minutes in each other’s arms, Cobra’s mind still wanted to check on the children.

Cobra leaned in and kissed Comets head. “You stay in bed and get some sleep; I’m going to check on the kids. We’ve been through a lot in the past week; I think I’ll take over your job for the morning and cook breakfast for us all.”

After another kiss, Cobra placed his robe on and walked downstairs to the living room. Cobrajet stood and looked around the floor of the room. StoveBolt’s sleeping bag as well as the others were spread out unzipped and without ponies in them. A noise entered CobraJet’s ear, causing him to turn his head and look at the door to the kitchen. Cobra swiftly walked through the dining room, but was stopped along the way by something surprising to him.

The table had been set in a relatively normal fashion, only the forks were out of place. “That’s funny” CobraJet said as he looked at it, “We didn’t have dinner here last night.” “Why is the …” he began before the sound again brought him to the issue of the kitchen. He took a moment to reposition the silverware and moved on towards the kitchen door. As he approached the door, CobraJet heard the sounds of something frying in the kitchen coming from the other side. He cracked the door to the kitchen and was immediately bombarded by the smells coming from it. Cobra’s attention pulled him to guess the food’s to be served, first was the smell of eggs, next was the toast, and finally he smelled the sweet smell of gasoline.

“Wait, Gasoline” He thought as he ran into the kitchen proper. As he turned the corner, he was surprised to see the wood burning stove in the house was going, and it was well under control.

“Good morning, Brother” StoveBolt said as he tended to the eggs on the stove. Sweetie Belle stood next to him, looking on and taking notes. A few seconds later the door to the back of the house swung open and both Scootaloo and Applebloom walked in carrying something.

“I told ya’, it was ah’ right at Rarity’s, not ah’ left” Applebloom said to Scootaloo as she started to unpack the groceries in her bags.

“Well, it’s not my fault my parents never take me grocery shopping anymore” Scootaloo said in an attempt to defend herself.

“That’s because last time, you knocked over 6 aisles of shelves in it” AppleBloom snapped back, in an attempt to finish it.

The bickering between the two of them went on for a minute before a signaling cough turned their attention to CobraJet, who still stood in the doorway.

“Good Morning, Mr. Cobrajet” the two fillies said, smile’s extra wide. Their argument over, both of them began to unpack the extra groceries for the breakfast they were assembling.

“Yes, good morning to you as well” Cobra said as he took in the scene around him, “What exactly are you all doing and why are you bringing groceries into the house, I thought I had all we needed for the week?”

“Brother, the note on the fridge” StoveBolt replied as he pointed at the note in question.

Dear Cobrajet,
We need groceries.
Signed, Gold Comet

Cobrajet looked at the note, flipping it over and over again, seemingly to see if any other words were on it. After a few seconds, he let out a small chuckle and turned to the children.

“Well, I guess we did need groceries” he laughed and began to help them unpack.

The five of them spent the better part of an hour placing everything away and finished cooking breakfast. Gold Comet arrived just in time for breakfast, dressing the part and laughing as they all sat down and listened to Scootaloo recount stories of her adventures as one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“And then we tried ziplining, only for the rope to snap and we plummeted to the ground” Scootaloo recalled, eliciting a highly visual shudder from the other two fillies.

“How did you girls not hurt yourselves” Cobrajet replied, rather astonished at the story.

“Luckily the tree we fell in broke most of our fall” She replied, “Then there was that time we tried….”

“Scootaloo, I think we’ve said enough” Sweetie Belle interjected, not wanting to bring up any more painful memories.

After the plates were cleaned, the room swept, and the ashes for the fire thrown out, the children continued their running and exploring of the house, stopping every so often to look in rooms and look at the decorations. They eventually ended their exploration at the door to the basement, an electric lock holding them back.

“Hey Stovebolt, what’s behind this door” Scootaloo asked as she moved her hoof up to the lock on the door. Within an instant, her hoof was pulled back, and Stovebolt stood next to her holding it.

“That’s my brother’s workshop, we must never go down there” Stovebolt said as he brought Scootaloo’s hoof down to the ground. “I’m not even allowed down there, He says it’s dangerous for little colts and fillies to be in there without him.”

“Well I’m not afraid” Scootaloo said as she put her hoof to the lock and waited.

A small needle popped out of the lock itself and poked Scootaloo in the hoof, drawing a small amount of blood from her.

“Ouch” she yelled as her hoof recoiled from the poke.

“Access Denied” the computer said loudly.

“Stovebolt, what do you think you’re doing” A loud voice came from behind them, causing all of the children to turn around and look at Cobrajet. “I told you, you’re not allowed down there, ever”

“But I didn’t do anything, it was Scootaloo” He replied back.

“It doesn’t matter who did anything, you should have known better” Cobrajet snapped back, “Now I think it’s time your friends return home.”

The dejected looks on the children’s faces didn’t change Cobrajet’s mind, as he knew it was past lunch time and he didn’t want them to stay two days in a row. The 5 of them walked around the town, starting at Sweet Apple Acres for AppleBloom, Next was Scootaloo, and as they approached Sugar Cube Corner on their way to Carousel Boutique, Rarity and Pinkie Pie walked out to greet them.

The conversation was light and calm as they walked back with Rarity, and as she opened the door to the Boutique, the conversation had reached its conclusion.

“I wish to apologize again for what happened last night, it was very uncouth of me” Rarity said as she walked into the store.

“Nonsense, it was a pleasure to have Sweetie Belle over for the night. She even helped make breakfast this morning” Cobra replied back as he followed her in.

“Oh dear, what were the damages” she replied back quickly, a look for horror in her eyes.

“Come on Rarity, I only helped make the toast” Sweetie Belle yelled, a hurt expression on her face.

“I’m sorry Sweetie, it’s just that you haven’t had the best of runs with cooking” Rarity replied, looking around her shop.

“What do you mean by that; Mom and Dad eat my breakfasts without complaint” Sweetie Belle retorted.

“Sweetie Belle, You nearly burned down my boutique with that breakfast. You even scorched the walls and set the smoke alarm off” Rarity yelled back, escalating the already volatile situation.

The two sisters began bickering back and forth on the topic, causing both Cobrajet and Stovebolt no end of uncomfortable feelings.

“Miss Rarity, if you need a minute, I have to drop Stovebolt off back at the house, as well as some errands to run. If you’d like I could return in an hour for our appointment” Cobrajet said, trying to make his way to the door.

This did stop the argument dead in its tracks, as Rarity remembered she and him had business to attend to. Rarity broke eye contact from the glaring contest she was having with her sister and spoke, “Oh no Darling, we have to get you ready, and I’m sure Sweetie Belle and StoveBolt could find something to do.” She turned to her sister and spoke through gritted teeth, “Right Sweetie Belle?”

Sweetie Belle huffed at her sister’s false smile, but knowing that neither side would ever concide, she gave in. “I guess, Stovebolt did you finish your homework from yesterday” Sweetie Belle asked as she spun around on her hooves with a click and began to walk up to her room. Stovebolt looked to his brother for advice, and after receiving a slight smile, he followed her up to the room.

“Now, what was it you wanted in a suit” Rarity asked as Stovebolt left her line of sight.

“A simple black suit with an over coat to match” he replied back as they set off to work.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

“I can’t believe her, my cooking isn’t that bad” Sweetie Belle Said as she swung her door open.

StoveBolt took a step into her room and was immediately puzzled by the posters that hung up on her wall. Sure, they were music posters, but the bands on them weren’t what a pony would call normal for the little filly. Posters of Queen, Pendulum, and Linkin Park littered her walls. Several others adorned her walls, but the one that grabbed his attention was the Depeche Mode poster that hung above her bed.

“These are some great bands you’ve got here Sweetie Belle, I didn’t expect to see these in a filly’s room” StoveBolt said, still scanning the walls.

“I get that a lot from Scootaloo and AppleBloom, but what makes it worse is Rarity buys me some” She answered back, reaching into her satchel and pulled out her homework.

“What’s wrong with your sister buying you posters” StoveBolt asked as he looked at her quizzically.

“She buys all the wrong kinds, I don’t even know who Death Buggy of Cutie or Hooten Beiber, if that is his real name at all, are” She answered, flipping open a math book she had grabbed as well.

“Crap, that’s what they are” He answered back, eliciting a small laugh from Sweetie Belle.

The two ponies sat down on the floor, and sharing the same book, began to do their homework. Sweetie Belle and StoveBolt talked idly as they moved from math to science, and after an hour or so, Sweetie Belle shifted to find a better sitting position, and in the process learned how close she was sitting to StoveBolt. Sweetie Belle’s slight adjustments in the seating arrangement lead to an accidental bump on the side.

“I’m sorry” they both said in unison, causing them both to laugh. Stovebolt’s eyes quickly looked back to the next problem in the book, but Sweetie Belle’s lagged slightly behind the rest of the time they were there, as if deep in thought. They slowly finished up their science homework, making corrections to the each other’s papers when they saw it. Sweetie Belle slowly got up from her spot, and with a crack made her way to the top of the stairs.

“Come on Stove; let’s go get a snack from downstairs. All of this schoolwork is making me hungry” Sweetie Belle said as she stood by the stairs.

“Coming” he yelled as he swiftly stood up and followed suit.

StoveBolt’s attention was on making sure he didn’t fall as he made his way down. Unfortunately for him, Sweetie Belle had other idea. She streaked down the stairs faster than a Pegasus on rainbow juice, but she suddenly stopped as she turned the corner. StoveBolt made his way down and stood next to her.

“Sweetie Belle what’s wrong” He asked as he traced her eye line towards the object in question. His eyes lay upon what had stopped her and it stopped him as well. Rarity and CobraJet stood in an embrace, tears flowing from both of their eyes.

“Cobra is everything alright” he asked out loud, startling the two ponies in the process. They quickly released each other, scarlet cheeks on the both of them.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

“I still don’t understand” Stovebolt said as they continued walking down the road towards the house, “Why were you hugging Miss Rarity?”

“I told you already, I’ll tell you when you’re older” Cobra answered back, the blush still visible on his face.

They continued like this all the way up the road, across the bridge, and all the way up the steps. CobraJet stopped at the door and turned to his brother and spoke, “Now, you are to go upstairs, finish your homework and when dinner is ready I will call you down is that understood?”

StoveBolt lowered his head and with a yes, CobraJet opened the door and greeted Gold as they walked in.

Over the next hour and a half, dinner was prepared by both Comet and Cobra, Stove finished his homework and they all sat down for a good meal. The remainder of the evening was taken up by television and small talk between CobraJet and Gold Comet about the day’s happenings. Soon the clock tolled 10, warning StoveBolt that it was time for bed.

StoveBolt climbed into bed, pulled his covers up and waited for Cobra to close the door. As the door closed but failed to latch, Stove started at it again.

“Why do I have to be older, I know about love and all that stuff” he said, catching Cobra off guard.

“Why are you so fixated on that incident” Cobra asked as he sat down on the floor.

“Because I care for you big brother and I want to see you happy. If you love her you don’t have to keep going and getting clothes, just tell her how you feel” Stove said as he watched his brother.

“What I do with miss Rarity is none of your concern, and when you wake up tomorrow I want you to forget that and move on” Cobra snapped back.

Stovebolt recoiled back under his covers at his brother’s anger, and shortly after he had said it Cobra’s face fell.

“Look StoveBolt, I need you to keep this quiet” he said to the lump of covers, “I need this to be a surprise.”

It took a few seconds, but the lump spoke a simple ok as Stove showed his face.

“Thank you, now it’s time for bed. Get some sleep for tomorrow” Cobra said as he kissed his head.

“Good night brother” StoveBolt said as he rolled over in his bed and closed his eyes, and sleep took him with little effort.

CobraJet walked out of the room and slumped down in front of the door with a sigh. Boy had he dodged a bullet there. But to his alarm a larger one was on its way. Gold Comet stood by the bedroom door, a blank look on his face, like he normally did when the two of them were at odds about something.

“Is something the matter, Gold” Cobra asked as he set his eyes on the butler.

“I think we need to talk” Gold answered, his eye’s shifting around the room.

CobraJet stood up and walked over to him. He attempted to plant a kiss on him but Comet dodged it, forcing it to land on his cheek. This made him worry.

“Gold, what is wrong” he asked, a frown forming on his face.

“What’s this I hear about Miss Rarity” he asked his tone accusatory.

“Oh, that” Cobra said as his ears folded down.

“Cobrajet, what you do on your own time is your own business, but I won’t allow you to hurt me” he said as he got into Cobra’s face. He backed off when Cobra sank to the floor under the gaze and spoke as if he realized something, “No wonder why you have been over there the last few days, you’ve been cheating on me” Gold yelled as he turned to walk away.

CobraJet stood with a face only reserved for one thing, one that held a secret. He grimaced at the words that had been said, but he knew he could make this right. He just had to say it. He took a deep breath then let lose all his emotions.

“Gold Comet, I have been over at Rarity’s Boutique for the last week working on a present for you, but in order for it to work you need to trust me” he yelled at Gold, his voice breaking with every word. “I’m sorry I lied to you, it was wrong of me and I hope you can forgive me when this is all done” Cobrajet finished as he went in for another kiss.

This time Comet didn’t move and they shared a quick kiss. As the kiss ended Cobra asked a question that threw Comet off-guard, “Comet, do you still love me?”

Comet looked down at his lover with a look of shock, “Of course I love you, and nothing will ever change that. Sure I might get mad at you for doing stupid things, but would I have moved myself here if I wasn’t sure of this?”

Cobra gave a weak smile, “Thank you, it’s nice to know that in this world some pony has my back” he said as he hugged his lover. The embrace lasted a few minutes, and as it ended CobraJet began to move to the bedroom door.

“Come here Gold, I want to show you something” he said as he slipped into the bedroom.

Gold Comet stood for a few seconds, and then slowly approached the room. As he looked into the doorway, he saw CobraJet fumbling for something in his dresser.

“What is that” he asked, causing CobraJet to spin in place, his face showing tears forming.

He placed the item behind his back, not willing to show him yet. He looked at Gold with a smile and choking back tears, he began to speak.

“Gold Comet, I have known you for 4 years. You have been my friend, my butler, my lover, my rock, and although I may not be the most capable pony, you have stuck by me and I appreciate that. But the relationship we have needs to end. I don’t want you to be with me like this anymore” he said as tears flowed out of him.

Gold Comet’s expression faltered as he heard these words. What was going on, was this really the end, had he pushed too hard, been too demanding, not loved passionately enough. The thoughts sprang up faster than they would settle, but the sounds of a deep breath being taken his attention shifted back to CobraJet.

“I want you to know something about me; I’m not supposed to be here today. The doctor’s told me the damage I had suffered should have killed me, but here I am. I survived that terrible time in my life, and it was not just for me or for my brother, but for you as well. Even if I didn’t know it was you at the time. I fought to survive for a smile. When I awoke, I came face to face with the most delicate and beautiful smile I had ever seen, and all I could think of was the need to see it again. So every day I pushed myself to wake in hopes of seeing it, and every day I was awarded with that smile.” He finished with a smile, but quickly a frown took its place as he continued.

“I saw that smile and loved it from the start, but it wasn’t to last. I awoke one day to see nothing, and with that I nearly crashed again, but luckily for me a new smile took its place, the smile of a younger brother hovering over me.” Cobra said as the smile returned to his face.

“And so I continued to live, waiting for that smile to return, but as time passed I began to worry it may never appear again. Then low and behold, I answer a single door knock in the night and I see the smile again. Our love blossomed from that point on, and all I wanted to do was have that smile to me forever, and for a while I did.” he continued, his face showing the emotions of the times.

“But I soon realized that I couldn’t do that. I want the world to see you as I do, not as the butler, but as the pony I have fallen in love, to share this smile with them all without the mask we wear to the outside world. But the relationship we have will never allowed this to happen, and after these 4 wonderful years, I think it’s time for me to move on and enter into a different type of relationship, one without restriction and secrets. And I should have done this a while ago, but you know me, always waiting until the last minute” CobraJet tearfully laughed as he revealed the object he grabbed, a small box covered in velvet and gold clasp.

“Gold Comet, will you marry me? Will you allow me the pleasure of sharing your smile and love with the world in a way we have always wanted?” he said as he opened the box.

The box he opened contained a pair of platinum earrings, both inlayed with gold and rubies motifs.

Comet stood still, was this really happening? His eyes moved from the earring box to Cobra’s face then back to the box again. “Where did you get these” he asked as he looked back at Cobra.

“They were my mother, given to her by my father as an engagement gift, but you still haven’t answered my question” Cobra answered as he looked at Gold with a tentative smile,

He couldn’t think of the words to say so he didn’t use any. Gold Comet leapt forward onto CobraJet and locked him into the deepest kiss he could manage. He poured all of his emotions into this kiss and after what seemed like an hour, but was more like thirty seconds, he pulled away to catch his breath.

CobraJet sat dumbfounded as the kiss ended for his mind was in a state of temporary shutdown. CobraJet suddenly felt his body go light, and after a slow turn of his head he had figured out why. Gold Comet had lifted him onto the bed they shared and had placed himself next to him. What followed after was the most passionate thing the two of them had ever done. As they lay in the afterglow, CobraJet turned to his partner and asked with a laugh, “So I’m guessing that was a yes?”

Gold Comet turned to look at him and with an eye roll he spoke, “Of course I’ll marry you, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The smile on CobraJet’s face grew and he kissed his fiancee on the cheek. He turned to look at the ceiling, trying to organize his thoughts, when he heard Gold’s voice again.

“What was that” he asked as he turned to him.

“You know this means you’re going to have to tell your brother about us now” Gold questioned, his face a very sly smile.

“Yeah I guess I have to now” he answered with a frown.

“What’s the matter, love” Gold said as he placed a hoof on his shoulder.

“I’m scared” Cobra replied as he rotated to face Comet, “What if he doesn’t take it well; I don’t want to lose him as well.”

“All we can do is try” Comet replied back as he moved forwards on the bed and wrapped his hooves around Cobra.

The two of them smiled at each other and with a quick movement from CobraJet, they both cuddled into each other’s hooves and quickly fell asleep.

Intermission: The Conversation

Both Rarity and Cobrajet heard a door slam, but knowing Sweetie Belle was still mad, they put it off as Rarity began with the suit she was preparing for him. Cobrajet wore a white silk shirt and blue tie, and draped over that was the beginnings of the suit jacket.

“I must say miss Rarity, the work you do is simply the best” Cobrajet said as he looked himself over in the mirror, “But I must ask, why is it that I’m only hearing of you right now?”

Rarity stopped working for a second, and she walked around to the front to face him.

“I really like having my designs created and worn by ponies, but after the incident with Prince Blueblood, I realized that life is not for me” she said with a smile. “Sure my fashions are all the rage in Canterlot, but the reason why I have them shipped to Hoity Toity’s is that I can’t uproot from here. Ponyville is my home, and Sweetie Belle has so many friends here. So I’d rather lose profits and live with the limited fame, then uproot my sister and change her life in an instant” she finished as she moved back around to Cobra’s side to finish stitching his jacket to fit.

“I wish my family had been more supportive, maybe then I wouldn’t have had to cover up these limbs of mine” Cobrajet mumbled to the mirror in front of him.

“I’m sorry dear, did you say something” Rarity asked as she finished up the last of the jacket sleeve stitching.

“Nothing” he quickly answered, a nervous twitch going through is body. Attempting to move the subject back to her Cobrajet quickly asked,” So Miss Rarity, how long have you and Sweetie Belle been in Ponyville?”

Rarity had at this point moved on to the other sleeve of the jacket, and in the middle of a stitch she spoke, “please just Rarity, and I have lived here for most of my life and Sweetie Belle has for all of her life. Our parents have a home here, but with all the traveling they do, it’s hard for them to be here for us both. What about you, a stallion of your status and wealth could have lived anywhere, why here?”

Cobrajet looked sternly into the mirror and began, “I moved us here for a few reasons. One is the location, I wanted to be close to my main place of work, but far enough away that some ponies won’t know who I am. I also move us here because of the school system in Canterlot drove me nuts when I attended, and here it doesn’t seem so bad.”

“Oh yes, Miss Cheerilee is the best when it comes to education” Rarity interjected.

“That she is” He answered back with a smile.

The conversation melted into the background of the fitting, and before long the two of them had stopped talking and had fallen into a groove of designing and standing still. In the course of a few hours, she had finished the jacket and was about to start on the suit itself, but something caught her eye in the process. Rarity placed her hoof over the scars that lay across Cobra’s back and gently traced the lines that lay bare. Cobrajet felt her hoof go over them; it wasn’t hard for him to feel the slight magic that came off it.

“There was a chariot accident 8 years ago, that took the life of a mother and severely maimed the son. The doctors gave him a 10 percent chance of survival, and if he did he would never fly again. That son was the Wonderbolt captain before Spitfire, youngest in Wonderbolt’s history, and there he was confined to the life of an earth pony, forever to stay on the ground. No offence” He said as he turned to her with tears forming in his eyes.

Rarity took her hoof off of the scars, and slowly brought it over to his cheek, “It must have been very hard for you to endure the pain of it all. How did you manage to survive” she questioned him, while slowly wiping his tears away.

“I met the two ponies that make my life as joyous as it is now” he said as he looked at the mirror and through tear soaked eyes gave a small smile at the memories.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

The hospital chatter continued over the intercom system as the doctors walked the wards. A tall Stallion walked past the ICU and after talking with the nurses took a step inside. Only two sounds could be heard as he entered, the rhythmic sounds of the machines hooked up to the patients here and the sounds of a pony crying. The doctor walked to the curtain that held the sounds of crying, and as he pulled it back he saw a crib with a foal in it, sitting by a patient.

“Nurse, why is there a foal in a crib right next to this patient” the Doctor asked.

“This is his mother, she gave birth to him a few days ago, and he was brought in by a neighbor when they heard what had happened. We decide to keep mother and son together for probably her last night. The surgeon’s don’t think she’s is going to make it to tomorrow” the nurse said as she made her rounds.

“Doesn’t he have any family to take him home” the Doctor asked, “This isn’t the sort of thing a young colt like him should have to go through.”

The nurse walked to a different curtain and pulled it back. The pony that lay in this one looked far worse than the one he had seen previously. The bandages at the shoulders showed the extent of the amputation this one had suffered, and the wings on his back lay flat, the bandages on them as bloody as the rest.

“The surgeon doesn’t think this one will fly ever again, if he even makes it at all” the nurse said as she let the curtain go, itself flapping as it fell.

“Dear Celestia, what happened to them” the doctor asked, dumbfounded as to what could cause all this damage.

"The family was returning from a night out in their chariot, apparently the pony pulling it was intoxicated. He swerved to keep from hitting another chariot and their chariot rolled over. It’s amazing the little one survived with as little injury as he has. The others weren’t so fortunate. The mother suffered severe head injuries, the swelling hasn’t stopped and if it doesn’t soon she won’t survive. But by far this one had the worst of it. He was thrown from the chariot as it rolled, but he wasn’t thrown far enough” the nurse answered, looking over the rest of the charts in the room.

The doctor looked at the pony and wonder as to the nurse’s last comment, why it was bad that he wasn’t thrown far enough…

“Oh” he said as he looked at the bandages.

The doctor’s stare continued as he played out what he thought happened in this, shuddering in the process of it. He turned to walk out of the room when a question struck him out of the blue.

“Nurse, isn’t he a little too young to be in a relationship with that women” he asked as he quickly grabbed his chart. The age written down was 22, and a quick look affirmed this age.

“That is correct, that pony is the other son” the nurse answered as she proceeded to the door.

“Then where is the father?” he asked quizzically.

“County lock up, they just took him there a little while ago” she answered as she opened the door.

“Why was he taken there” he questioned again.

The nurse swiveled around ad with a single sentence answered all the questions that would come, “He was the pony pulling the chariot.”

The doctor was about to respond when an alarm went out from one of the machines. The doctor and nurse quickly ran to the patient’s side and began CPR.

“Oh Celestia, She’s crashing” the doctor yelled at the nurse, who immediately called the team and moved the crib in the same motion.

“We have a code blue in the ICU I need all hands on deck” the loud speaker in the hospital sounded with the nurse’s voice.

“Come on, breathe, Come on” the doctor yelled as he continued compressions. “Nurse, get me the paddles” he yelled as he thrust his hooves at her. The charging sound resonated through the ICU and as the word clear was yelled, a babies crying took over as the dominant sound and light began to show in earnest on one pony’s face.

CobraJet’s eyes slowly eased open as sunlight flooded his vision. The blur of the world stood for a few seconds before his eyes adjusted and he looked around the room. They roved around until they landed on the face of the nurse leaning over him to look at his monitor. His hair tickled his nose as the nurses work progressed, causing CobraJet to giggle at the sensation.

“Your finally awake” the nurse said as he looked at Cobra with a smile. “How are you today mister Block?”

“Well enough to wake up, I guess” he answered with a soft smile back. His eyes tracked the nurse as he finished her rounds, moved on to a foal and it’s mother as they shared a soft embrace and at last fell upon the doctor that had entered the room.

The stallion that had entered the room held an air of confidence around himself, but the tired expression he wore told him it had come with a lot of work. The nurse walked over to the doctor and with an exchange of eye lifts the doctor made his way over to CobraJet.

“Good Morning Mister Block, how are we feeling today” he asked with a slight smile.

That smile threw CobraJet off, it was a sincere smile but it still hid something, something he wanted to say, but was afraid of his reaction.

“I’m fine; I just want to know what happened to me. The last thing I remember was flying in the air show yesterday and now I’m here” he answered as he looked up at the Doc. His smile had vanished and so did the air of confidence he had.

“Mister Block, you have been in a coma for over a month. There was a terrible accident, you were badly injured” the doctor said as he walked over to a mirror. He positioned the mirror at the foot of Cobra’s Bed and displayed the extent of the damage he had suffered.

CobraJet’s eyes scanned the mirror, but he couldn’t, no he wouldn’t believe that the stallion in the mirror was the person he was now. Both of his front legs were amputated at the shoulder, and his left wing was gone as well. The other wing lay limp against his side and his two hind legs lay in large plaster boots, disguising the true damage he had suffered. His mind began to race, bringing back memories of that night and the argument he had with his father years earlier. His eyes began to tear, and his crying grew louder and louder as time went on. CobraJet flew into a fit of hysterics, thrashing around loudly, yelling for this nightmare to end and shortly afterwards it was. The poke of the needle caused a feeling of euphoria to rush through him and shortly after he fell into a deep sleep.

CobraJet awoke again, this time to a different room and a different nurse looking him over. He looked up at the stallion and thought he was still dreaming. The golden mane that hung down glowed in the light of the room and his smile made the world he had fallen asleep after disappear in an instant.

“Good morning Mister Block, How are we today” an angelic voice asked him and the sounds of a pen clicking followed after.

CobraJet’s smile wasn’t going to be contained after hearing an angel speak, and with as much grace as he could manage, he answered back.

“Mmm Doning Fuin” a voice said, causing the Nurse to giggle slightly.

“Perhaps we should turn down the pain meds, it seems to be affecting your speech center a bit too much” the nurse answered as he turned a dial on a machine near him.

Cobra gave him a dopey smile and upon receiving one back he let his eyes fall his legs. The casts had been removed, and what stood in its place was a skeletal lattice of pins and rigging. The beeping of the heart monitor alerted the nurse, and upon seeing his eye locked on it he spoke quickly.

“Mister Block, this is only temporary. The Doctors thought that this could heal the fractures in your legs faster, and still allow you the ability to walk relatively normal after they heal” he explained as he through a cover over the offending object, hiding it from view.

Cobra’s heart beat began to descend; his eye’s no longer seeing the full skeleton of the machine, but just a bump in the white cover of the bed. He leaned back with some help from the nurse and settled his eyes on the nurse’s face and on his smile.

“You have such a beautiful smile” he said out loud, the drugs betraying his thoughts in full revolt.

A smear of red ran across the nurse’s face, and with little much else ran out the room and head first into the doctor that was entering.

“Gold Comet, why are you in such a hurry, your shift isn’t over yet” the doctor yelled as he looked at the nurse.

“I’m sorry doctor, I just…” he said, and with a slight break to think finished, “Had to run to the bathroom.”

The doctor was about to scold him, but what stood where Comet was nothing but the nurses cap he wore and a puff of smoke.

A swear was about to escape his lips, but upon seeing CobraJet sitting and looking confused, his mind focused on the task at hand.

“Mister Block, I’m glad you’re awake” he said as he took a seat next to him.

“Good morning Doc, I hope I didn’t harm you with my out bursts” Cobra said as he looked the doctor over.

“Oh no, I didn’t suffer so much as a scratch, but the nurse that was there, he’s a different story” the doctor answered with a slight chuckle, “It’s amazing what strength a ponies body has in those situations.”

“I didn’t break anything, did I” Cobra answered back rather worried.

“Oh no, but you knock few of that nurse’s teeth out” he answered as he looked at the chart on his bed, “I wouldn’t worry though,he seemed rather happy for them to be knocked out by you.”

Cobra’s head hung low, He had harmed someone that was trying to help him again. His mind wandered as the nurse from before arrived back. The doctor was about to leave when a question came from Cobra, one the doctor had wished would have come later then now.

“What happened to me” he asked as he looked his body over in a nearby mirror.

The doctor gave a large sigh and as he turned, Cobra noticed the smile he wore was gone and in its place was a look of sadness for him.

He was told of the accident, his father’s arrest and lastly of his mother’s death. That one he took the hardest. His cries could be heard all around the hospital, but he kept his hysterics quelled as he processed the information.

“We did all we could for her, but in the end the pressures were just too great” the doctor said as he place a hoof on Cobra’s shoulder.

“It’s a shame your brother will never be able to know his mother, this breaks my heart as well” the doctor said as he placed his hoof on the ground.

“I have a brother” Cobra exclaimed, completely shocked.

“Yes, were you not told” the doctor questioned.

“I was never told, I and my family were estranged to say the least” Cobra answered as he looked at the doc.

The Doctor stood with another hollow smile and quickly looked at his clip board, in search of something to check on him, but a note on his clipboard brought him to the thing he wanted to talk about when he entered the room.

“Mister Block, I want to talk to you about something” the doc said as he pulled a brochure out of his jacket.

CobraJet listened as the doctor read the material it covered. It was a brochure about prosthetics. The images he was showed detailed many transformations of patient and the prosthetics available in the world. CobraJet’s eyes looked from page to page and at last the doctor came to a page on Pegasus prosthetics. He cringed at the lattice works of metal that made up the shape of wings on the pony in the picture.

“I don’t know Doc, I just don’t see the use of a wing like that” Cobra said as he settled back on the bed.

“All those do is give the appearance of the wing being there, they are lightweight, but they will just be a place holder, they couldn’t take the strain of actual flight” the doc said as he turned to another page. The page he turned to contained leg and hoof prosthetics as well as covers to make them look real.

“These limbs, on the other hoof, are designed to look real and work just like real legs. Kowalski Prosthetics is very well known and their work is seen all across Equestria” the doc said as he looked Cobra in the eyes.

Their conversation went on for a few hours, as Cobra made the decisions on what he wanted in terms of mobility and a fulfilling life on the prosthetics. By the time they had finished, the fitting appointments were set as well as the PT appointments to get him walking again. The doctor gave his goodbyes and Cobra was left to ponder his new life. His pondering was short lived as the door to his room swung open and a large group of Pegasi walked into the room. CobraJet smiled as his soon to be replacement on the team smiled back at him.

“Good evening Spitfire, it’s nice of you to visit” he said as he looked the group over, “You as well Soarin, ThunderChaser, and FleetFoot”

“We heard you were finally awake, Boss” Spitfire said as she looked him over. Her eyes wandered for a while, her eye’s showing the disbelief of it all.

“It’s not as bad as it looks” Cobra said with a slight chuckle, attempting to lighten the mood. Unfortunately it really didn’t work as he wanted. Some of them smiled, but he still saw the shock on their faces at the state he was in.

“We came as soon as we heard, hoping you would be ok” Spitfire said as she placed a hoof on his shoulder.

“Thank you all, it’s nice to know you still have my back” Cobra answered as he nuzzled her hoof.
Their conversation continued until the nurse arrived to tell them visiting hours were over, so they said their goodbyes and parted ways for the night.

The nurse walked over to take his vitals and gave a small smile to Cobra as he exited and turned off the lights.

The next month was a blur to Cobra as the prosthetics were fitted, the PT was done and a friendship was formed between Cobra and the nurse.He had learned his name was Gold Comet and he was an interning nurse at the hospital.

Time seem to flow past him as the doctors came and went, the nurses rotated and eventually Cobrajet began to notice that Gold Comet wasn’t around him anymore. He continued for the rest of his stay looking for his smile but after a while of his return never coming, he finally asked another nurse about him.

“Oh, Gold Comet finished his rotation a week ago, he was sent to a different hospital for additional training” the nurse he had asked told him as she looked over the skin grafts around his wings.

Cobrajet’s frown held its place for a few days, despite the doctor’s reassurances that he would be released soon. And as that day approached, a representative of the Kowalski Prosthetics approached him with an offer. They asked if he would model their products as the face of the brand. He agreed half-heartedly not really wanting his face all over Equestria in the state he was in but he knew he had to pay the bills somehow.

The day had finally come, the doctor’s all congratulating him on his recovery and all the well wishes in the world awaited him as he walked out of the hospital to a large amount of fanfare and light bulb flashes. The interviews were had, the products were plugged, and finally he made his way to his home. As he approached it, all he could think of was getting home and getting good night’s sleep. He smiled at this prospect up until the point when he saw his house.

The mansion hung in the air, taunting him and his inability to fly. “Looks like ill need a new house” he said as he lowered his head in defeat. He would have sat staring at his house for what seemed like forever, but a voice brought him back to the real world.

“Excuse me, are you CobraJet Block” a timid female voice said as she walked closer to him.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t give you an autograph” he said as he continued to stare at his home.

A small laugh came from the mare as she searched for something in her bags. ”oh no, I’m here representing FrostFire Adoption agency, my name is Silver Lining” she said as she gave him her card. Cobra took the card, but with a frown looked at her.

“I’m sorry, Miss Lining, but I can’t adopt a colt or filly right now” he said as he looked at her.

“Oh no, I’m here to talk to you about your brother” she said, and was about to go into her bag again, when a face was shoved into hers.

“What about my brother” Cobra said, a small smile on his face.

Silver took a step back, her space clearly being invaded, and spoke with slight hitch in her voice. “Mister Block, I’m here to assess whether or not we can release him into your custody” she said as she retrieved a clip board, covered with questions.

This, Cobra recalled, was the toughest interview he had ever had, not even the one for the WonderBolts was these hard. They stood below his home for a few hours; questions being answered, promises made and a shake of a hoof sealed the deal. Cobra would have to sell his home, and find one that was suitable for him and his brothers needs and he would take custody of him. The smile Cobra held was the largest it had ever been and he left for the local hotel for a nights rest and some good food. He knew as he laid his head down that the next few days would be the biggest stress and the greatest reward he would ever have in his life.

“And that’s how I gained a brother and now I have the colt friend I had wanted from that day I woke up” Cobra said as he looked at Rarity with a smile. Rarity stood with her mouth agape and her eyes far from tear free, but slowly a smile crept across her face.

“So this isn’t to cover things up it is” Rarity said as she pointed to the jacket. Cobra blushed slightly, but with a smile he spoke again, “No, this is for a later date, when I get the courage to ask him to marry me.”

Rarity gave a small squeak as she learned of this information, but composed herself and continued on, “When you do, you will come to me to make it wonderful, right?”

Cobra smiled and with a laugh spoke, “Of course, where else would I go in this town for that?”

Rarity smiled and with a small movement pulled Cobra into a hug, leaving his started. Cobra looked at this and with a small motion he returned the gesture.

Bring Your Child to Work Day

Cobrajet awoke to the sounds of water from the bathroom. He rolled over on the bed, only to find an empty space where Gold Comet should have been and an alarm clock telling him it was 5 in the morning.

“Always the early riser” Cobra thought as he rolled out of bed and on to the cold hardwood floor that graced the master bedroom. Cobra walked to the master bathroom door and with a small push, opened it and joined Gold in the shower.

A nuzzle on his side broke Gold out of his thoughts, and with a turn and a smile greeted his new partner.

“Good morning hun” he said as he kissed Cobra softly.

“Good Morning to you as well” Cobra replied back after the kiss was done. They both stood in the shower, soaking in the warmth as well as the contact they had, and they continued what they had started the night before, this time in place that could be cleaned up quicker than the bed they shared.

After they had finished, they both walked out, dressed and Comet moved downstairs to the kitchen to cook breakfast for them all. Cobra followed about a half hour later and was greeted with the smell of eggs and hay bacon. StoveBolt arrived down an hour later and they talked of the day’s plans. Stove had asked for his new friends to come over that day and with some convincing CobraJet allowed them over under the condition they leave at a good time that night, as it was a school night.

With a triumphant grin, StoveBolt rushed up the stairs to his room, saying before he left that he was going to picking it up. Cobra gave a small chuckle to that statement but soon returned to the conversation he was having with Comet.

Comet continued his talk on to their future, where the wedding would be, did they need a princess to officiate it and who would they invite. They continued on for a little while, until the topic of telling StoveBolt began.

“He’s going to have to know sometime, we can’t stay engaged for the rest of our lives” Comet said as he placed two cups of coffee down on the table, “Might as well tell him now, before you lose your nerve again”

“Thanks for the concern, and wouldn’t it be easier if we were engaged forever, we’d save money on the wedding and all” Cobra answered with a shaky laugh, one he knew wouldn’t impress his partner. And much to his chagrin, he turned his head to see the frown on Comet’s face.

“Why is this so hard for you, why don’t you want to do this” Comet asked as he frowned at the coffee in front of him.

“I do want to tell him, I really do” Cobra spoke as he looked at his coffee, “I just don’t want to lose another family member to this.”

“You fear he will reject you because you’re a gay” Comet asked, expecting a nod in return.

“No” Cobra answered as he looked up, “I’m afraid that he would be mad I kept this from him, and that you may have forced this on me.”

“You know I would never do something like that” Comet replied, extending a hoof and covering Cobra’s, “Maybe we should tell him together, explain what has been happening, and what the future holds for us and him.”

“I think I can do that” Cobra answered, leaning over and giving Comet a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Cobra, can we go get them now” Stovebolt yelled from the stairs, his hoofsteps drawing closer.

“Yeah, and we’ll stop after for some lunch at that cafe we visited on Friday” he answered as he turned to Comet.

“We’ll talk to him later on tonight” he said as he got up and walked to the front hall.

“Cobra” Comet said as he watched him began to turn the corner.

CobraJet turned his head towards him, “Yes dear” he answered.

“Get me a salad at the café” Comet said with a smile.

“Of course” Cobra answered back before turning his head and walking to the door.

StoveBolt and Cobra set off from the house in high spirits, StoveBolt apparently forgetting of the previous day’s events, and making their way around the town to pick up his friends. They started at Sweet Apple Acres for AppleBloom, meeting AppleJack and Big Mac as well, and ending their walk at Rarity’s for Sweetie Belle. An apology to Rarity, and a quick laugh to share, and they all set off for the Café near the shop.

The kids shared in their experiences at the table, talking about a newspaper and some filly named Diamond Tiara as well as the names of the fellow ponies around the town. They ate their food quickly, the young ones apparently wanting to get back to the house so they could explore it some more. The walk back took little time, especially with the Scootaloo and her wagon as the large clouds of dust were anything to judge enthusiasm on. They arrived and with a soft push on the door the chaos that was the Cutie Mark Crusaders began.

StoveBolt only took a few steps into the house before Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and AppleBloom were on him with questions. They talked of houses with secret passages, hidden treasures and spirits of the long dead guarding them. And while StoveBolt told them he knew the house hadn’t had any of those installed to his knowledge, it didn’t deter the young Fillies in their quest.

Excited at the prospects of discovery, the Cutie Mark Crusaders formed a circle and with a hoof extended yelled loudly, “Cutie Mark Crusader Detectives!”

CobraJet gave a small laugh at their antics and with a sigh, made his way to the kitchen for something to drink. As he entered he came face to face with Gold Comet, literally.

A loud crash came from the kitchen, alerting the kids and StoveBolt as they were searching the house. Rushing in they discovered Comet and Cobra rubbing their heads and a large glass pitcher of lemonade was smashed, its contents spilled across the floor of the kitchen.

“Cobra, Comet are you both ok” Stovebolt questioned as he ran to them.

“Stove, stop, there’s broken glass all over the floor” Cobra said as he turned towards them.

Stovebolt looked at the floor, and noticing his right hoof, he saw that the warning had come too late. A small pool of crimson lay under his hoof and it seemed to only be growing as he stood. Tears began to form in his eyes and before long; he began to cry over the pain in his hoof.

Comet reacted in a second, rushing to his side and lifting him up on his back.

“Hun, get me the first aid kit and the number for Nurse RedHeart” Comet said as he placed Stove on a nearby chair and began to see the extent of the damage. CobraJet quickly, but carefully, ran to the bedroom and grabbed the supplies. As he returned to the kitchen he noticed Comet was holding a dish cloth over the cut, quietly singing to StoveBolt.

“Comet, I found the first aid kit, where is the nurse’s number?” Cobra asked as his eyes were unable to look away from the situation.

“I don’t think we’ll need it, it’s just a small cut” he said as he took the dish cloth off to look. The cut was small, the blood mostly stopped but what was worrying Comet the most was if the glass was still in the wound.

“StoveBolt, I need you to hold still for me” Comet said as he inspected the wound, prodding it with a hoof. Stove let out a small whimper, his eyes welling still with tears. “I know it hurts but it will be over soon” Comet said as he cleaned the wound. And as Comet looked and found no glass shards, he wrapped Stove’s hoof in gauze and binding tape.

“There you go, now run along and play but do take it easy on the running part of that for a while” Comet said with a smile as he placed Stove on the ground.

Stovebolt looked back and forth between his hoof and Comet before giving him a tight hug. He quickly turned around and with little communication the four of them ran off to explore the house more.

“Wow that was…” Cobra began before Comet put a hoof over his muzzle.

“I know I’m awesome” Comet said, eliciting a small grin from Cobra.

“That you are” Cobra answered as he walked to the closet and returned with a mop and a broom, “now be even more awesome and help me clean this up.”

The day progressed with small talk between Cobra and Comet continuing as well as the occasional kiss to be shared. StoveBolt’s day consisted of following his new guests around showing them the sights of the house they just moved in. Laughter filtered through the house as the young ones reveled in the size and upkeep on the house.

Time flew by as they played to their hearts content. There even was a game of hide and seek to be played between the young ones and Cobra, and involved Cobra getting lost in his own home. They continued until a chime came from the front of the house.

“Just a moment” Comet yelled as he made his way to the door. The door opened to reveal a tall red stallion standing awkwardly on the stoop.

“Can I help you” Comet questioned as he looked him over.

“Eyup, Ah’ was hopin’ mah sister Applebloom was here, this is the Block house, correct” Big Mac questioned as he looked behind him at the street.

“That she is, come on in and I’ll help you find her” Comet said as he opened the door fully and allowed him into the foyer.

“Cobrajet” Comet yelled up the stairs, in an attempt to find him.

“What is it” He yelled back as he made his way to the stairs.

“Applebloom’s brother is here, can you go get her” Comet yelled back with a smile.

“What is mah’ brother doin’ here” Appleblooms voice came from the room at the end of the hall and was shortly followed by hoofsteps.

Applebloom and the rest of the young ones made their way to the stairs as well as Cobra too. They made their way down the steps and came to a stop in front of the red stallion.

“What’s up, Big Mac” Scootaloo said as she looked at him.

“Ah’m here to tell y’all that school is canceled for tomorrow, seems like Miss Cheerilee came down with Hay Fever and she don’t feel like spreading it” Big mac said as he looked them all over.

The children let out a large yelp of happiness as they quickly ran back upstairs to continue their adventures.

“Well that’s unfortunate, I hope she feels better” Cobra said softly and with a nod from the two others they showed Big Mac out and with a wave closed the door and returned to their follies of the day.

As the end of the day approached, the phone in the hall began to ring loudly. CobraJet made his way to it and without hesitation picked it up.

“Hello, Block residence, Cobrajet speaking” he said as he listened to the other voice in the receiver. A brief message was relayed to Cobra as he sat and listened.

“No, it’s no trouble at all; in fact I would be more than willing to help you out. I just need a name and the next available night they can come in” he said as he grabbed a pad of paper and a quill.

“Tonight will work for me, It will have to be late in the night thou” he answered the voice on the line.

“I’m sure that will be no problem, I’ll just need to do a few things before you arrive.” He relayed to the voice.

“Yes sir, I’ll meet you and your escort at the train station at 10 PM.” He answered to the question posed by the voice.

“No it’s really no trouble I always like to help those in our armed forces.” He said, a smile pulling across his face.

”Ok, thanks for the call before hoof. I’ll be ready when you arrive.” He said as the conversation drew to a close.

“Ok, goodbye general” Cobra said into the receiver as he wrote down what it was for him to do, before he hung up.

Cobra made his way to the large dining room where the rest of the family and their guests has sat down for dinner. They were all talking; the eating of the soup Comet had made was almost an afterthought to the conversations themselves. All was calm in the household until Stovebolt looked up from the table and asked a simple question.

“Brother is it ok for my friends to sleep over tonight, we wouldn’t have school and we promise we will go to bed at a decent time anyways?” Stovebolt asked as he swirled the soup in front of him.

Cobra took a slight pause to this question, the soup in his mouth being savored, but remembering what he had to do tonight he frowned.

“I’m sorry Stove, but I have work to do tonight as well as I’m sure their parents had expected them home tonight for whatever they have to do tomorrow.” he answered as he swallowed his soup.

“But Cobra, we promise to be good and not do anything that could harm ourselves or any pony else,” Stove replied.

“Really Stove, it’s not a good day for this. My work needs me to stay late and arrange somethings. Perhaps next week?” Cobra answered back, not wanting to crush Stovebolt’s hope fully.

“What if we promise to stay in my room all night and never leave that room, could we then?” Stovebolt answered back.

Cobra was about to give his last denial, when Gold Comet spoke first.

“Cobrajet, I’m sure it will be fine for them to have this one night. They’re only kids, what harm could become of them if they are restricted to a single room?”

Cobrajet’s gaze cast itself on Comet and with mild chagrin agreed under the condition they stay in his room all night.

Stovebolt jumped up and hugged his brother and Comet in one go. He swiftly ran off to tell his friends and left the two older stallions to share a slightly romantic dinner before work had to be done.

_____________________________________________________________________________

The night air hit Cobrajet’s fur with biting cold. He had arrived at the station a few minutes early, his jitteriness evident. It wasn’t a rare occurrence for him to be called by the general, but it wasn’t something he did very often. His eyes glanced down the tracks, waiting to see the tell-tale lights of an approaching train.

The train arrived 3 minutes late, and seeing the looks on the faces of those on it, not a moment too soon. The general was the first of the army ponies to appear the 4 bright gold stars gleamed softly in the moonlight. He was followed by 4 enlisted stallions as well as the pony of the hour. Cobrajet greeted the colonel with a salute, and as he received one in return they quickly got down to business.

“What’s the situation Colonel,” Cobra asked as he cast his gaze at the group.

“Accident in training,” the Colonel replied, his voice stone cold.

“What sort of accident?”

“An Accident.”

Cobrajet looked up at the impressive pony and slowly shook his head. He knew the military jargon and the word accidents meaning in this matter. He turned his back to the escorts and quickly rushed them back to the house.

Stovebolt and the rest of his friend sat in his room, playing their third game of life. The bored expressions told them all that this was as boring as it seemed. They spun the wheel to the game and Scootaloo couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Why do we have to stay here, it’s so boring?”

“Cobra said I could have you all stay over if we stayed up here, he said he had work tonight. That means he has somepony coming over for something from the lab downstairs. I promised him we’d stay up here and that’s what we’ll do.”

Scootaloo took her seat, her features clearly agitated. She swung her tail furiously and again she burst in anger.

“What’s he doing down there that we can’t see it? We should go down there and prove we can be there to see it.”

“No we aren’t I promised we would stay here. And besides we can’t go down there, Cobra already told me not to,” Stovebolt answered, his mind breaking under the pressure of Scootaloo’s insistence.

Scootaloo stood up fully and made her way to the door of Stovebolt’s room.

“Where are you going,” Stovebolt quickly questioned the orange filly.

“To the bathroom,” she answered.

The rest of the cutie mark crusaders followed quickly behind, knowing what was going to happen. Stovebolt gave a small whimper, and soon followed his new friends down the stairs to the lab door.

They stood again in front of the iron door, the lock suspended in between. Scootaloo placed her hoof on the lock again and it rejected the sample again.

“Ok, we tried, let’s go back upstairs,” Stovebolt hastily said as he turned back towards the stairs.

Scootaloo studied the lock and seeing the needle’s tip, thought of an idea.

“Hey Stovebolt, I’ll make you a deal. If we try your hoof and it opens we go down, if it doesn’t we go back upstairs. What do you say?”

Stovebolt gave her a scared expression, but he knew how careful Cobrajet was and he was fairly certain it wouldn’t open. He took a step forward and placed his hoof to the lock.

The Computerized lock on the door chimed, and with a sharp snapping noice, the lock released and the door swung open. StoveBolt and the Cutie Mark Crusaders leaned over the edge of the steps and looked at what laid at the bottom. The concrete floor was stained a reddish hue, and sounds of electricity could be heard.

“Guys, I don’t think this is such a good idea” Sweetie Belle said as she backed up into the hallway.

“Yeah guys, Cobra told me never to go down there, he’ll get angry at me” StoveBolt said, following Sweetie lead.

“Come on, you bunch of fraidy ponies,” Scootaloo said as she took a step towards the basements floor.

The group of ponies followed apprehensively behind, not wanting to be down there in the first place but Scootaloo had a point. They slowly inched their way down the steps and as soon as they hit the concrete floor, the room suddenly went dark. The Ponies stifled their screams as what light was left from the equipment glowed and pulsed.

Drills of all shapes and sizes lined the walls. Knives and scalpels sat in trays covered in plastic. Toolboxes lay open displaying the hammers and screwdrivers needed for whatever it was that Cobrajet did for a living. Finally, they noticed other types of medical equipment lay sprawled out in all directions. But that wasn’t what frightened them the most…it was what hung from the ceiling.

Hooves and wings hung from hooks in the ceiling, dripping with what appeared in the darkness to be blood. As a drop hit Sweetie Belle, her need to scream couldn’t be controlled anymore.

“GET ME OUT OF HERE!” Sweetie Belle screamed as she ran up the stairs as fast as her hooves could carry her. Sweetie Belle reached the top of the steps, and after running through the doorway, she saw, to her relief, a bathroom. She ran towards the bathroom, hoping she wouldn’t puke before she reached it, and reached for the door knob. Suddenly, the door to the room swung open and she found herself face to face with a pony.

“Watch where you’re going.” the pony said to her as he looked down.

Sweetie Belle let out a blood curdling scream as she saw the stallion’s eyes, or eye in his case and collapsed in front of him.

“Who’s screaming?” a male voice called out from the front of the house, and with the sound of rapid hoof steps CobraJet appeared next to the stallion.

“I didn’t touch her; she just looked at me and collapsed.” The stallion said as he walked over to the basement door. Cobrajet followed closely behind after placing Sweetie Belle on his back.

As he turned the corner, Cobrajet noticed the door to his lab was open and after placing two and two together, yelled down the steps, “What are you kids doing down there? Stovebolt, I specifically said no one is allowed.”

StoveBolt, Scootaloo, and AppleBloom stood still, as the sounds of hoof steps made their way down the steps. As soon as Cobrajet appeared at the bottom of the steps, StoveBolt sped up to him and began to hug his legs.

“Please Brother, I’m sorry. Please don’t kill us for our body parts, we will be good and never tell a soul” He screamed as he hugged his brother’s legs tighter.

Cobrajet’s expression turned to one of confusion, why had he been asked… Oh. Cobrajet gave a small smile as he hugged his brother back.

“Kill you” CobraJet answered calmly, “Oh dear brother, I’m not going to kill you.”

An audible sigh came from the room, But Cobra wasn’t finished.

“No brother, what I have planned is much worse” He said with a slight chuckle, and with a single raise of his hoof, StoveBolt learned what his brother did all those days he was down in the basement.