Spark of a Flame

by Riojoriginal

Rating: everyone
Tags: Drama, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe
Length: 42834

Follow the tale of two best friends as they wreck havoc around the capital city of Equestria.

What would occur if a baby dragon met a certain pegasus before they're supposed to? Nothing good, that's for sure.

Follow the tale of a dragon and pegasus as they make friends, enemies and wreck havoc around the capital city of Equestria.

Published 2023-02-15 03:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2023-12-07 14:57:45 UTC

1 - Butterfly Effect

Celestia was not somepony who gets angry easily, nor is she known to have ever showed been capable of such emotion other than her calm and collected demeanor.

So it was compreensive when everypony in the royal castle of Canterlot were so startled when they heard their beloved Princess, who controls the sun and moon, yell such profanities moments after such strange yet beautiful display of colors that exploded through the sky over Equestria.

Guards were on edge, servants doubling their efforts as to keep themselves as busy as they could while the remaining visitors - the few who stayed even after Celestia’s outburst - were thinking thrice if they should ask for an audition with her.

Meanwhile, at Celestia’s personal quarters

*Crying*

“Shhh... I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you, little one.”

Celestia stood on her bed, holding firmly against her chest with her forelegs and wings a small scaly creature, while she very gently rocked from one side to another, trying to calm down the crying creature.

How could I be so irresponsable with such a precious little soul. Celestia mentally berated herself as she brought up yet again the previous accident to her mind.

A few minutes earlier...

Why!? Why she wasn’t able to hatch this damn thing! Celestia growled as she entered her bedroom, slammed shut the door and locked it using her magic before heading to her balcony.

What do I do now? ...Ugh, if only- “What in the world...?” Celestia let a murmur escape her lips as she witnessed the sudden explosion of colors in the sky.

“What’s going on-AHHH!” Celestia felt her grasp on her own magic slip out of control. Something she couldn’t even remember how long has been since she experienced one.

*Crack* *Thud* Celestia’s blood ran cold as she heard those sounds. Her magic outburst seemed to had got under control again without she doing anything, but that was the least of her concerns.

Turning around, her vision confirmed what she dreaded. The draconic egg she had been carrying from her school now was in pieces on a small pond of a strange substance.

Something inside Celestia snapped as a scrowl starting forming on her face. Her teeth griding against each other as a growl started picking up volume from her throat. You. Gotta. Be.Kidding. Me.

“Got a six?” A brown unicorn wearing armor sitting by a table, asked as he held a handful of cards in his magic.

“Nope. Go fish one.” On the opposite side of the table, a green pegasus in armor answered.

*The castle suddenly shook a little while some voice shouted profanities*

“...You heard that?” The pegasus asked.

“Yeah. It kinda of sounded like Celestia’s voice.” The unicorn replied as he dropped the cards on the table.

A second unicorn in armor burst into the room seconds after the shouting stopped. Both ponies by the table immediately got up and saluted him. “Lieutenant, sir! What’s happening?”

“That’s what we’re gonna find out. Let’s go!” Without waiting for a reply, the lieutenant rushed of the barracks, with both guards struggling to keep up with their superior.

*Crying* Celestia froze as she heard crying coming from within her room. Her anger vanished completely as she hushed inside and saw something that made her pause.

A baby dragon - though, to Celestia, it didn’t look like it just hatched moments ago, but rather, a couple years older if she had to guess - was cowering on the corner of the room, crying. Once seeing that Celestia had her attention towards it, it tried hiding away but the only thing it did was covering it’s eyes as the crying worsened.

Instincts kicking in, Celestia slowly approached it and scooped it into a hug. It tried to crawl off the moment she touched him but Celestia was faster and held him firmly against her chest.

She could feel the dragon holding it’s breath, before it finally wrapped it’s small but pointy claws around her - as far as he could at least - and resumed his now muffled crying.

What am I supposed to do now?

Current time...

I can only hope that somehow nopony heard my immature outburst-

*Knock Knock Knock* “Your highness? Is everything okay? We heard shouting coming from your room.” A voice echoed from outside her room.

I guess that was asking for too much... Slowly, she made her way towards the door. Holding the young dragon firmly in her forelegs, she opened the door slighty and only let her head visible to the trio of guards waiting outside her door. “Yes?”

“Um. Is Everything alright, your highness?” The leader of the trio asked.

“Of course! Why wouldn’t it be?” Suddenly, the dragon let a whimper escape.

You gotta be kidding me. “What was that?!” The guards all stood in alert, frantically looking around for the source of the sound.

Play dumb, they wouldn’t dare argue with you. “What was what? I don’t hear anything.”

“I’m pretty sure I heard something, your highness.” The lieutenant replied.

Lieutenant Shining Armor... Of all my guards, why it had to be you the one patrolling this wing of the castle? “Look, boys. I’m in no mood for games right now. So let me be.” She noticed the guards behind the lieutenant flinch to move away but when they saw that their lieutenant wasn’t gonna move, they stayed in place.

Frowning, she growl just enough for them to hear. “That was an order.” That seemed to do the trick - at least for the two guards accompanying the lieutenant - as they moved away and left before they could anger the princess.

Once the two guards left, the lieutenant straighted his stance. “Your highness. You’re not fooling me,” He said, staring right at the glare Celestia held with an determined face. “Must I remind you of my duty to the crown? You seen in need of assistance in whatever issue you have.”

Sigh... So be it. I don’t have the energy left in me to continue this redundant charade. “Very Well. But I must warn you, whatever you see next is to be held in confidence until I say so, understood?” Celestia asked, with absolute authority.

“Yes, ma’am!” Came the immediately reply from the lieutenant.

She uncerimoniously opened the door after his reply and revealed purple ball of scales firmly held in her grasp.

“What in the world...?” Once noticing the harsh glare from Celestia, he cleared his throat. “I mean... Er, how can I help?”

By leaving me alone, for starters. “I’m doing fine, Shining Armor. You can leave now.”

“You sure you don’t want me to bring anything for you or the- uh...what it’s called? I can’t really tell what this thing is from here.” Shining Armor asked.

You call him a thing again and I- Wait, where did that came from? She looked down at the little one in her forelegs, it still had it’s face buried in her chest but at least it has stopped crying. Though, she could still feel the sting from his claws piercing her skin a little, like if there were needles or small spikes poking her sides. Little... Spike. Yes, Spike is perfect for him.

“Spike.” Celestia suddenly broke the short silence they were in.

“Beg your pardon?” Shining asked, caught off guard.

“His name is Spike, lieutenant. And I expect you to refer to him as such.”

“Er... My apologies. What should I bring for you and... Spike?” Shining cautiously asked, not wanting to further anger Celestia.

“Just some... Hm...” What do dragons eat again? I hope they can digest pony food. “Bring... Some sandwiches. Maybe a couple drinks too...” Her stomach growled. “...And a few slices of cake.”

“Of course. Right away.” Lieutenant Armor then left Celestia to her devices.

Thought he wouldn’t leave for a second there. Not that I blame him, I must had alienated them with how I was acting, and my yelling earlier didn’t help either. Engrossed in her line of thought, she failed to notice little Spike unburying his head from her chest and looking at her.

*Growl*

That managed to caught her attention as she looked down noticing the little dragon holding his stomach as he looked up, though, not at her but something above her head. Didn’t think long for Celestia to realize where he was staring at: Her crown.

She levitated her crown off her head and held it in front of him, curious as to what he would do. He grabbed it with his claws as he tried and failed to pull off the very small gem on the crown.

*Giggles* “I don’t think you’re gonna get that thing off my crown, Spike,” Celestia said softly, watching him stop, look up at her, moving his mouth as if mumbling something to himself before he started poking the gem’s base with the tip of his claw.

Three tries later and the gem popped off the crown, a surprised Celestia watched as a satisfied little dragon munched on said gem. Her instincts kicked in and she immediately pulled a now half eaten gem off his mouth, further shocking her.

He can eat gems?! That is... Both disconcerting and fascinating. After hearing a small whiny sound coming from him, she gave the remains of the gem back to him, who immediately devoured it in a single bite. Quite a expensive diet you have... I might have to warn my servants to watch out for any jewelry left unchecked in the future.

A couple months later...

Mama! Spike ran through the big hallways of the castle, trying desperately to find Celestia.

“Stop that thing!” A guard shouted from behind as he pursued the small dragon.

Spike rapidly approached a bifurcation up ahead. Reaching it, he immediately took off to the right as three guards were coming from the left way. Eventually Spike’s running came to a halt as he found himself trapped on a hallway with both ways blocked by guards.

*Heavy panting* “Alright, little guy... Come with us... We’ll bring you... Back to Celestia’s room,” The closest guard in front of Spike said, trying to control his breathing.

“Didn’t know Celestia had a pet.”

“What even is that thing?”

“How’s that thing so fast?!”

Very scared now, Spike looked around for any excape route he could take and noticed a small opening in the wall. He didn’t hesitate to squeeze through it.

“It’s trying to get inside the throne room, stop it!”

Spike heard hoofsteps and the sound of two ponies crashing into each other as he crawled inside the room. Looking at the end of the long room, he finally found Celestia.

“I understand your concerns, Fancy Pants. I’ll make sure to advice the-” Celestia was interrupted by a purple blur crashing onto her and wrapping itself around her chest. She instinctively wrapped her forelegs around it as she looked down. “Spike? What are you doing-”

“Your highness! We are deeply sorry to interrupt but it has escaped your room and we’re trying to retrieve it,” One of the guards said.

Celestia saw a few of the breathing heavily while the other guards and the couple royals with Fancy Pants with amused or bewildered expressions. Did Spike just outrun my entire guard?

“Mama...” Spike blurted out as he accidently clawed Celestia’s side as he tried to move around her embrace a little.

Everyone froze when they heard that, everyone except Celestia though in union. Did Celestia’s pet just talk?

Celestia had very different thoughts. Did he just call me...? “Leave us be, please.” The guards started moving, but Fancy Pants and his company didn’t. “I meant everyone.” She clarified when she saw Fancy’s conflicted expression.

Slowly, both guards and royals with Fancy left the throne room. But not before whispering between themselves as they exited.

“Its okay now, Spike. It’s just you and me here.” Celestia gently rocked Spike in her forelegs as she hummed a little song, calming him down.

“...Mama.”

He did it again… “Spike, what’s wrong? Why did you leave my room?”

Spike seemed to think a little before he pointed at her. “Mama… A-alone…” He hugged a little tighter.

Oh. That’s why… Sigh, how could I have overlooked such glaring issue. I can’t just leave him alone. But I also can’t just ignore my duties… As much as I would’ve liked to. “I’m so sorry, Spike. I did not mean to make you feel lonely…” …But maybe there’s a solution?

She starting thinking for some moments as she glanced to the stained glass windows, one in particular of a pink alicorn. Yes! My niece! Of course! I doubt she would refuse a chance to visit. Though, I’m not sure if she would accept such task… Well, I won’t know if I don’t ask.

Nodding in acceptance of her plan, she turned her attention back towards Spike. “Why don’t we go get something to eat? You must be hungry from all the running you seem to have done.” As if to answer her question, his stomach growled loudly.

Giggling a little, she scooped him up with her magic and carried him out of the throne room towards the kitchen.

Four months later…

“So, what’s the plan Spike?” Princess Cadance asked as she stopped in front of the kitchen while carrying Spike in her back.

“Do you remember that time, mom gave me a gem with supposedly sugar powder on it?” Spike asked.

“Hm… Oh, yes! But it turned out to be pink powder pigment?” *giggles* “I remember seeing half the castle’s woodworks scorched in pink that day.”

“Yeah. I’m taking one back at her for that.” Spike said as they watched a few chef’s preparing something. “I heard mom’s holding a banquet to welcome various royals from around Equestria, even a couple of griffin senators are coming too.”

“Wait, really? But I thought the Griffon Nation wanted nothing with us,” Cadance said.

“Oh, the Griffon Nation still doesn’t. But there’s a griffin colony independent of the Nation in Equestrian territory. It has both griffins and Ponies living together. Since mom gave them the land and respected their independency, they decided to abide with Equestria’s laws and recognize Celestia’s rule.” Spike explained, before noticing Cadance astonished look towards him. “…What?”

“I never knew that… How do you know about that?”

“Oh, I read some books on mom’s room. She also told me a few things I asked her.” Spike replied.

“Huh... I thought you were a little young to already be reading. How old are you Spike?”

“Well, I look like I’m five years old but mom says I’m actually just seven months old.” Spike answered, looking back inside the kitchen.

“Wait, wait, wait. How’s that supposed to work?” Cadance asked, puzzled.

“Uh, mom said something about how I was hatched, but she didn’t explain it.”

Hm. I guess I’ll ask her later. “So what’s your plan for this prank?” Cadance asked.

“Oh, right.” Spike reached into a small pouch he brought and pulled out a red pepper.

“A pepper?” Cadance whispered, a little underwhelmed as he usually did more elaborated pranks.

“Oh, not just any pepper. A ghost pepper.” Spike whispered back, making sure none of the chefs saw it.

Now this is getting interesting. “Oooh. So your plan is to make aunt’s cake a lot more spicy? I like it!” Cadance said as she giggled evilly.

“Yeah, but I’m gonna need your help, though.” Spike whispered as he pointed to one of the chefs. “I need you to distract the chefs long enough for me to grind the pepper and sprinkle it on the dough without it sticking out.”

Cadance nodded once she went the plan through her head. “Got it. Hide somewhere while I go to the door. I’ll make quite an entrance if you know what I mean.” She winked and put Spike down as she starting head out of the kitchen.

Nodding, Spike snuck inside one of the lower cupboards and waited until his opportunity.

*SLAM* “Excuse me!? Where is the salad I specifically requested ten minutes ago?!” Cadance shouted as she burst into the kitchen.

Both chefs jumped, startled by Cadance sudden loud entrance. One of them almost dropped the bowl with the cake’s dough while the other accidentally stuck the knife he was using on the ceiling.

“Ah! Princess?! I-I’m deeply sorry but neither of us were informed of such request.” The chef put the bowl on the counter as he approached Cadance.

“Well, I’ll be requesting it again, then! What are you two waiting? Chop! Chop!”

“Y-yes, right away!” Both chefs immediately went to the other side of the kitchen to prepare Cadance’s dish while Spike crawled out of the cupboard.

“You know. I thought you were Blueblood for a second there,” Spike whispered, laughing a little.

“Oh, shush you. I’ll keep them busy but don’t take took long. Who knows who else might come in the kitchen,” She whispered back as she followed the chefs, making sure they wouldn’t look at Spike’s direction.

Alright. First grind it then pour it on the dough, easy! Climbing onto the counter, didn’t took him long before he found the grinder. Making sure the powder was very thin and small, he starting mixing into the bowl, evenly spreading it to make sure nothing sticked out.

Then he put the bowl back to where it was, jumped off the counter and went to the door. Signaling to Cadance as he left the kitchen. A few moments later, Cadance walked out with a plate of salad floating next to her.

“So, I take it went smoothly?” She asked, taking a bite of her salad.

“Yup! Now we just have to wait for the banquet this evening.”

“Good… Hm~! Would you like some of this? It’s really good!” Cadance asked as she lowered the plate towards Spike.

“Bleh! No, I prefer gems, thank you.”

Cadance snorted a little as she took another bite. “Of course, you would.” She swallowed the food before continuing. “Well, I gotta check on… something, before the banquet. See you later, Spikey!”

“Till tonight, Cadance!” Spike waved as he headed to his room.

Later that evening…

At the dining hall, a enormous table filled with some food accommodated pony royals of all around Equestria and even a few non-ponies within Equestria – namely two griffins – enjoying the banquet as Princess Celestia, Princess Cadance and Spike were sitting at the table’s one end.

Spike usually never liked this type of events when they occurred and usually just stayed in his room, but this night’s events he couldn’t miss! It was one of his boldest pranks he pulled – not to mention how hard was to get that ghost pepper without pulling attention to himself – and wouldn’t miss it for anything!

Though, he was still nervous. What if Celestia took the prank wrong? Or one of the guests? He didn’t want to cause conflict, and only now he realized, maybe he should’ve just take any other moment to do this… No! What’s done it’s done. No turning back now.

Eventually, when everyone finished eating, a big cake was brought in the dining hall by two chefs. Who proceeded to cut it and give each of the guests a plate with a piece of cake, eventually everyone – including Spike and Cadance – had their own piece.

“I just want to thank you all again, for attending this banquet. I know we all have been a bit busy as of late, but I assure you all that everything is going to normalize soon enough. With that said, enjoy the dessert. Courtesy of our chefs here.” Celestia finished her quick speech and all the guests starting eating the cake.

Cadance at first was a little worried when the cake had been handed out to everyone, but now she was just very confused as everyone seemed to be enjoying it. Did they knew of our plan and baked another cake? If so, how did-

“Something wrong, my niece?” Celestia asked.

“Oh! Er… No. Everything’s fine! Why’d you ask?” Cadance asked, mustering her best innocent tone.

“Well, for one. You haven’t touched your cake yet. And secondly, you looking around quite a lot, like you’re searching for something...”

“Er… Not really, aunt.” Cadance levitated her fork and took a bite of the cake. “See? Everything’s fi–“ She suddenly put both hoofs onto her mouth as her eyes started watering. HOT! HOT! HOT!

Smirking a little, she turned to Spike. Who didn’t notice Cadance’s distress as he also was looking the guests, puzzled. “Spike. Are you gonna eat your dessert?”

Snapping his attention to Celestia, he took a bite of the cake without thinking much. “Of course. I was ju–“ Bright green flames suddenly came from his mouth as he fell from his chair, catching everyone’s attention. Both hands to his mouth, he ran off the room with watery eyes.

Oh my- I didn’t thought that would happen! Turning back to Cadance, she saw three empty glasses by her as she just finished downing her fourth glass. She panting a little as she waved her hoof towards her exposed tongue. “I-I will… go check on him.” She quickly left the room without another word.

Have I gone too far? I hope I didn’t. I really enjoy his little pranks. She thought as she took a bite of her own cake. Hmm~. Pepper cake isn’t as bad as you’d think.

Later that evening...

*knock knock knock*

“Wh- *cough* who is it?” Spike asked, his voice a little strained.

“It’s me. Can I enter?” Celestia asked, waiting Spike’s answer.

“Su- *clears throat* Sure, door’s open.” He replied.

Entering the room, she saw Spike sitting in a chair, holding a almost empty glass of milk while staring at the scorch mark on the wall.

“How you are feeling?” Celestia asked, putting a hoof on his shoulder.

He drank the remaining milk before replying. “Throat still hurts a little, but I’m fine.”

“That’s a relief... Here, I brought a few snacks for you.” Celestia said, handing him a emerald and ruby.

He immediately munched on the emerald. “Thanks, mom!”

“You’re welcome, Spike.” Celestia then gave him a nuzzle, a kiss on the forehead and wished him good night before leaving his room.

Now to check on my niece.

Author's Note

Thank you for giving this story a read. :twilightsmile:
Spotted a misspelling or mistake, feel free to point it out on the comments. I'll - eventually - fix it!

2 - An Awesome Friend to Have

Spike was officially one year old right now, but his size and maturity would imply he was twelve years old. Celestia noticed this a while back now, but didn’t have a clue as to why this was happening. Her best hunch was something involving how Spike hatched, but that was it.

Though, she didn’t need to know why this was happening, to want to stop it from happen. She already had an idea on how to stop this, but would need some things they couldn't get in Canterlot.

Hence why Celestia and Spike were in a carriage heading towards Cloudsdale right now.

Glancing to her side, she could see Spike looking down from his side of the carriage, enjoying the view.

“Where are we going, mom?” Spike asked, leaning away from the side.

“Cloudsdale, Spike. A city made out of clouds.” Celestia said, Noticing his confused stare, she continued. “Pegasi have a certain type of magic that let them manipulate clouds. Since most pegasi - at the time at least - really liked to live in the sky, they built and engineered this city.”

“Woah, that’s so cool! But how do other ponies get inside the city if it’s on the sky? And doesn’t it get blown away if there’s a strong enough wind?” Spike asked.

“Well, unicorns and earth ponies have visited the city, through rarely and in hot-air ballons or just having pegasi helping them get up there but usually they are under the effects of a cloud-walking spell during their stay, and it’s usually a short one. But - that I know of - only pegasi live on Cloudsdale. Now on the matter of being blown away, the city is not stationary but a number of pegasi are in charge of making sure the city stays in course for the trajetory planned for the seasons... Does that asnwer your questions?”

Spike nodded as he looked ahead, seeing said cloud city approaching in the distance. “Pegasi are awesome!”

*chuckles lighty* “Well, in the past pegasi won’t never let you forget that.”

Spike looked back at her, curious. “What do you mean?”

“Mostly pride. But that is a story for another time, on history class," Celestia said, patting his head. "Now get ready, we’re almost there.”

“Can I walk on the clouds?” Spike asked as he was currently being held in Celestia’s magic, who just tried walking ahead without the cloud-walking spell.

“If you could wait for me to cast the spell.” Celestia said as her horn glowed more, before lowering Spike to the clouds level. “Done, try it now.”

“Oh, it feels... Surprisingly not soft?”

*Giggles* “Well, tecnically, the cloud-walking spell doesn’t let you walk on clouds, it just creates an invisible barrier under your hoofs - or feet in your case - so you don’t fall through it.” She glanced around before continuing. “Only flying creatures can really walk on clouds, and only pegasi can ‘feel’ how the clouds really are. That’s also the reason you’ll see pegasi napping in clouds, they say it’s leagues beyond what the most soft bed we have provides regarding confort.”

“Oh... Have you slept on a cloud before?” Spike asked.

“Hm... No, never had the chance. But my niece did - before she was an alicorn - she used to sleep the days away on clouds when she didn’t have anything important to do.” Celestia answered as she gave instructions to the guards from the carriage, who took flight again towards another part of the city.

“So, what are we doing here?” Spike asked, following Celestia.

“We came here for a specific item I’m looking for you.” She replied.

“Oh, like a gift?” He asked, getting excited.

“Eh, sort of. You noticed how you been growing up?” She asked.

“Yeah. You said something about fast growth?” Spike replied, not really getting what Celestia meant.

“Well... You’ve been growing a little too fast. I’ll getting worried, so I’ll be making an enchanted bracelet to minimize that. Make sure you grow at a more normal rate.” She explained as they arrived at a rustic looking store.

“What are we getting from here?” Spike asked.

“A bracelet.” Celestia answered as they stopped by the door.

Spike frowned. “Just that? Why we came all the way up here for a bracelet? Isn’t there a lot of places in Canterlot that sell bracelets?”

“It isn’t just a normal bracelet. It was made with a special material that can only be manipulated by pegasi - hence why we are here - and that material is essential for the enchantment.”

“Huh.”

“So, let’s go in,” Celestia said as she stepped inside, but Spike didn’t. “What’s wrong Spike?”

“Um.” He pointed to the huge number of wood shelves and paper decorations surrounds the inside.

“Ah, I see... Well, wait here then. I promise I won’t take too long,” Celestia said, heading inside.

Spike took the chance to watch his surrounds, and now that he paid attention he finally noticed the peculiar way almost every building were built in. It was a certain style he recognized but couldn’t remember what was called.

“Hey!”

Spike jumped around but couldn’t find the source of the voice. Looking around he heard a different one.

“Well, well, well, look if it isn’t Rainbow Crash. Sprout out of the trashcan, huh?” The voice seemed to had come from the alley near him. Spike was really curious but he didn’t want to leave his spot in case Celestia returned.

“Leave me alone. You forgot the last time you tried this?” The first voice from before said, but then Spike heard a flapping noise, most likely wings.

“Well, I’m not alone this time. You’re getting what you deserve after what you pulled yesterday.”

“You are a coward, and you had it coming Hoops!”

“Shut her up, Dumb-Bell!” Spike then heard a grunt before he saw a young grey pegasus fly in the alley, he noticed the pegasus carrying something but couldn’t make out what was it.

“Took you long enough, Score! Where’s the rope?”

“Right here. What are we doing with her again?”

“We are gonna tie her up and hang her upside down by the school’s pole.”

*Gasp* I can’t let that happen!

...But what if mom gets back and you are not here? She’s gonna be worried.

But somepony’s getting harmed if I do nothing...

“I’m sure mom will understand.” Spike whispered as he sneaked to the alley and looking in, he saw a dark yellow pegasus, and a brown one tying up a struggling cyan pegasus with rainbow mane while a grey one was watching the street. He didn’t seem to have noticed Spike yet, though.

What do I do? There’s three of them while there’s only me... As Spike weighted his options, he noticed the blue pegasus managed to kick the dark yellow one right in the face.

“Ow! My nose! Dumb-Bell hold her!”

“You okay, Hoops?” The grey pegasus asked, looking away from the street, giving Spike the perfect opportunity snuck past him behind a trashcan. On his way, he took the trashcan’s lid in one claw and an trash bag filled with some rotten vegetables on the other.

“Do I look like I’m okay to you, Score?! Ugh. My nose is bleeding now!” Hoops growled as he kicked the tied pegasus.

“Agh!” The pegasus grunted before she struggled around the rope, to no avail. “You’re not getting away with this!”

“Shut up!” Hoops kicked her again. While other bullies were distracted, Spike managed to sneak behind who he assumed was Score and in one swoop, wrapped the garbage bag on his head and let him run into a wall, trying to get it off him. The second bully turned around only to see a trashcan lid fly into his face, then a purple blur strike him right between the eyes.

All the commotion behind him finally got Hoops attention, as he turned around confused, then surprise and shocked to see his friends either knocked out or throwing up in a trashcan. “What the heck?! How did guys lose to this... Whatever thi-” He didn’t get to finish as the tied pegasus kicked his leg and throwing his balance off, giving Spike a window big enough for him to swing the metal lid onto the final bully’s head. Not enough to knock him out but enough to keep him from getting up for now.

The moment he was certain the bully wasn’t getting up, he snapped the rope with his claws, untying the cyan pegasus. “You alright?”

“Yeah, let’s get outta here!” Not wasting time, Spike led her out of the alley back to the shop’s entrance. “Dude that was awesome! You came out of nowhere and BAM!” She made a swinging motion with one of her forelegs. “Right on his head!”

Spike blushed a little, not used to such praise. “Heh. I actually don’t know how I did that. I kinda just, uh... Did it.”

“Well, that was still awesome if you ask me.” She then looked around. “You’re alone?” She asked.

“No, my mom is inside right now.” Spike replied.

“And why aren’t you there too?” She asked curious.

“I, uh... Didn’t feel comfortable inside.” Spike answered, rubbing his neck.

“Why?” She asked, puzzled.

“Too many flammable stuff.” Came the response from Spike, a little too quick.

“Huh. Okay... What’s your name, almost forgot to ask.”

“Spike. Yours?” Offering his claw to her.

“Rainbow Dash-" They shook hoofs - in Spike's case, claw - "So, where you’re from? I’m pretty sure I never saw you around before-”

“There they are!” Both turned around to see the three bullies emerging from the alley and quickly surrounded them. “I’ll make you two regret what you-”

*Ahem* “What's going on here?” Everyone froze when they saw Celestia walking out of the store with a small box floating in her magic next to her.

“P-p-princess Celestia!?” The bullies and Rainbow Dash were very shocked to see her while Spike was very relieved.

“Spike, care to tell me what’s happening here?” All the kids were staring at him, with wide open eyes.

“They were hurting Rainbow Dash!” Spike immediately told her, which in turn made Celestia a very harsh glare to the bullies.

One of them tried run away but got immediately snatched by Celestia’s magic, the other two bullies immediately after while Celestia levitated both Spike and Rainbow to her back. “I presume you are Rainbow Dash?” She asked, receiving a quick nod from Rainbow.

“Would you happen to know where they live?” Rainbow nodded again after thinking for some moments. “Good, give me the directions.”

“So that’s why they kept bullying you?” Spike asked, both him and Rainbow still riding on Celestia’s back.

“Yeah. And I kinda feel bad since I used to be like them... But I totally changed after I meet Fluttershy!” Rainbow answered, quickly adding the last part when Celestia looked back.

“I’m glad to hear you changed your ways, Rainbow.” Celestia said as she stopped by a modest looking cloud house. “Is this your home?”

“Yup!” Rainbow jumped off Celestia’s back. “Mom! Dad! Come here!”

A few moments passed before a cyan pegasus mare with light orange mane, opened the door. At first she looked worried when she saw the few bruises on Rainbow but then shock after she saw Celestia in front of her door. “Oh my goodness! Princess Celestia!” She immediately bowed. “W-w-what are you doing here? ...Bow! Quick, the princess is here!” In seconds a pale, light greyish blue pegasus stallion came in by Rainbow’s mom side.

“Woah!” He bowed as well before he continued. “Princess, i-is there a reason you’re here?”

“Yes, we were escorting little Rainbow here back safely to her home. It seemed she was jumped by a pack of bullies.” Celestia calmly answered.

“What?!” In a second, both parents were by Rainbow’s side. Checking the bruises and asking if anything hurt.

“I-I’m fine! A little space, please?” Rainbow shoved their hoofs away, embarrassed they were acting like that in front of the princess.

Celestia smiled. “Well, everything seems okay now, so I wish you all a good day.”

“You are leaving already?” Rainbow asked, upset that her new friend was already leaving.

“Can’t we stay a little more?” Spike asked, upset too.

“I’m sorry, Spike. But royal duties wait for no one.”

“Aw.” Spike’s mood immediately dumped as he sat dejectly on her back.

Spike’s reaction didn’t escape Celestia, neither did Rainbow’s sad look she gave before turning away. She felt bad, but she also didn't want to have Raven chew her out if she doesn't return soon.

“Perhaps we can visit again, some time soon. But right now, we have to go.” Celestia said, already turning around but stopped when Spike jumped off her back. “Spike?”

He hugged Rainbow, whispered something to her, before going back to Celestia’s side. Who watched him curiously as they left.

“Oh my gosh! I can’t believe we got to meet the princess!” Rainbow’s mother said, not bothering to tone down her excitement one bit.

Rainbow rolled her eyes as she watched with some embarrassment as both her parents walked inside, still talking about the princess visit. Once they were out of sight, Rainbow start going over her little scheme. “Alright, let’s see what I’m gonna need...” She mumbled over her imaginary checklist of stuff as she headed to her room.

Later, with the moon high in the sky...

On his room, Spike was looking the bracelet now on his arm. It looked like stainless iron but was very lightweight. He also could somewhat feel the magic of the enchantment in the bracelet. He still remembered Celestia’s words about it. ”Never take it off. It will make sure you age correctly so long as you keep wearing it.”

“I wonder for how long I have to wear it...” Spike thoughts eventually moved to earlier that day, involving the bullies and Rainbow. “Heh. I bet they will think twice before messing with her again...” Before he could continue, a knocking sound snapping him out of him thinking bubble.

“Door’s open!” Spike said as he got up from the chair, and frowned when he heard the knocking again. This time he realized it wasn’t coming from his door.

“Rainbow Dash?!” Turning to the window, he was shocked to see her flying in place, waving at him. Opening the window, he stayed out of the way as Rainbow flied through the window and crashed on the floor, exausted. “Did you fly all the way from Cloudsdale?!”

She took a big gulp of air before replying. “Yeah. Didn’t want to risk somepony snitching if they saw me, so I just flied above the clouds until I saw the castle... *pants* Though, I gotta say it’s pretty tiring flying all the way up there before coming down.”

“You want me to get you some water or...?”

“Nah, I came prepared.” Rainbow said as she pulled a small wrapping, one that Spike didn’t notice she was carrying until now. She took out a couple sandwiches and a can of energy drink.

“What’s that?” Spike asked as he pointed to the can.

“An energy drink. Keeps you up when you’re tired. I had to drink one on the way, or I would’ve probably crashed somewhere on the way,” Rainbow said.

“Does it taste good?” Spike asked.

“Eh. It’s not horrible, but does it’s job, so no complains from me.” Rainbow replied, giving him a sandwich. “Hope you don’t mind hay and daisy flowers on your sandwich. I couldn’t find anything else to put on it.”

“Er... Thanks?” Spike said as he eyed the sandwich cautiously. He eventually tried one bite, only to regret it as he couldn’t stop spitting the hay and petals off his mouth.

Rainbow couldn’t help but laugh a little before she handing him the energy drink. After a big gulp of it, he immediately gagged as he hated the taste, which just made Rainbow laugh more. “How to you eat stuff like this? It’s horrible!”

Rainbow shrugged as she drank it. “Eh, after a while, you just stop minding the taste.”

“So... Why did you fly all the way here from Cloudsdale?” Spike asked.

“Er... Well, I never got the chance to thank you for saving my flank from those jerks. So, I thought about it and decide to give you this.” Rainbow said as she handed him a blue ribbon with a big, yellow number one on it. “It’s from a race I took a year ago. Where I did my awesome sonic rainboom!”

“Woah. It sounds very cool,” Spike said.

“You bet! I was so fast! Showed everypony that doubt me to not mess with the Rainbow Dash! It was awesome!”

“Wait, but you giving this to me? Why wouldn’t you like to keep it to remember this moment of yours? It sounds pretty important.”

“I don’t need a ribbon to remember something that awesome. Buuuut I want to give you something that shows just how awesome as you were earlier. So, yeah. You can have it.” Rainbow said as she looking anywhere but Spike, not being used to being this sappy.

Spike looked the ribbon for a few moments, before he turned to her and smiled. “Thanks, I promise to take good of it.”

“You better! Cuz’ I don’t usually give my stuff to anyone else.” Rainbow said, half joking as she finished her energy drink.

The door suddenly opened and Celestia walked in. “Huh. I though I heard talking here. How did you manage to get here, Rainbow Dash?” She asked.

“Ah! P-princess! I- Please, don’t arrest me for trespassing!” Rainbow pleaded as she laid by Celestia’s hoofs, looking up with pleading eyes as well.

Celestia couldn’t help but giggle at how silly Rainbow was being right now. “Don’t worry, Rainbow Dash. You’ll not be arrested.”

“Really? Awesome!” Rainbow jumped in excitement.

“But that doesn’t mean you’re not in trouble.”

Rainbow’s enthusiasm immediately ended as her ears fell flat. “Oh.”

“Do you know how dangerous is for a filly your age to fly such long distances and by night no less.”

“Please, don’t ban me from Canterlot! I-I just wanted to thank Spike for saving me!”

Celestia thought for a moment before replying. “Very well. I shall let it slide this time. But if this were to repeat itself.” Celestia smirked a little. “I will ban you from Canterlot’s air space. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Rainbow replied immediately.

“Good. Now, let’s get you home. No room in the castle is in conditions to host a guest right now, so I shall return you to your home myself.”

“Um, she could sleep here.” Spike suggested, jumping up his bed and sitting at one side.

“Hm?” Celestia looked at him, a little surprised.

“I mean, there’s plenty of space for us and you did said that it is dangerous to fly this late in the night,” Spike said.

“Huh. I did, yes... Is it okay with you, Rainbow?” Celestia asked.

“Yup! No problem at all.” Rainbow answered, jumping on the opposite side of the bed where Spike currently was.

“Alright. But keep it in mind, Rainbow. I’ll be back in the morning to return you. Won’t want to keep your parents worried. Good night, you two. Don’t stay up too late.” Celestia then closed the door.

“So, uh. Not a smart idea to have drunk a whole can of energy drink if you have to wake up early.” Spike said, chuckling as Rainbow groaned in defeat, letting herself fall back on the bed.

Author's Note

Thank you so much for reading! It makes me happy to know that there people find my story interesting enough to read. I can only thank you for not scrolling past this one! :yay:

Also, the next chapter might take a lil' while to appear, basically studies and job chopping my free time but I'll try at least not taking an entire month to post. (No promises, though!):twilightsheepish:

3 - Troublemakers

One year later...

Hurriedly running through the hallways, Spike looked behind him only to see a covered in trash, soaked in flour and glitter, angry looking Blueblood running after him.

Although, he wasn’t anywhere near enough to worry Spike as he took a turn and after some stairs, he found Rainbow Dash setting up a small and hard to see trap on the floor right on top of the staircase.

“How’s it going? You got probably a minute or two before he gets here,” Spike calmly said as he leaning on the wall.

“It’s been finished for a while, I was just making sure it was working.” Rainbow Dash replied, jumping off the floor and flied above Spike. “Ready?”

“Yup.” After his reply, Rainbow lifted him up to the ceeling and they waited there until their victim arrived.

True to Spike’s prediction, Blueblood arrived a minute later. Immediately upon setting a hoof off the staircase, an explosion of green smoke occurred and Blueblood’s coughs immediality followed it, signaling for Rainbow and Spike their cue to run off.

“Ha! Smell you later, Snobblood!” Rainbow shouted as she flied away with Spike, both laughing as they heard Blueblood cursing their names, still stuck in the stink cloud.

Rainbow flied through one of the castle windows, deciding to land near the guards new training grounds. “Ha! That will teach him not to mess with us!”

Spike snickered as he glanced around. “He’s probably gonna tell mom about it.”

Rainbow laughed. “Yeah, I bet he will.”

Suddenly, they hear someone grunt in pain before something hit the ground hard. “What was that?” Rainbow asked, looking around frantically.

“Come on, Snowflame! You’re not even trying!” A voice came from around the corner.

“Wait, I know that voice.” Spike said, heading around the corner with Rainbow right behind him. They saw lieutenant Shining Armor helping an orange unicorn get up from the dirt floor.

“Ow... Don’t you think you going a little too hard?” Snowflame asked, dusting himself off as he went back to his spot.

“No, not really.” Shining start smirking. “I actually was holding back a lot. I just did a basic level spell.”

“Wow. First you blast my face off, now you attack my ego. What’s next? You gonna go after my lil’ sister?” Snowflame asked, annoyed at Shining’s antics.

What he didn’t notice was Shining’s quick cringing expression at the mention of lil’ sister. “Heads up!” He shouted as he shot a small but fast magic bolt.

“Crap!” Snowflame threw himself to the side as the bolt flew past him and struck the stone wall behind him. “What the hay, Armor! You almost took my head off!”

“My bad! I got distra-” He finally noticed Spike and Rainbow watching them from the side. “Spike! Rainbow! What are you two doing here?” Shining asked, letting a nervous chuckle out.

“We heard noise coming from here and decided to check it out.” Spike answered.

“I see... Well, Snowflame. Go get some rest, tomorrow we’ll train more.”

Snowflame huffed in annoyance but otherwise said nothing as he headed towards the castle.

“Alright, how you guys doing?” Shining asked.

“Doing good.” Spike replied.

“Pranking Snobblood as usual,” Rainbow said, chuckling.

“Ugh. Do you guys realize I am the next pony he goes to annoy when he tells Celestia and she does nothing?” Shining exhaled in frustration, already feeling a migrane from just the thought of dealing with him.

“Ah, well. Not our problem..?” Rainbow said, only to earn a jab from Spike. “Ow! What was that for?”

“Sorry, Shining. We’ll try loosen up on the pranks a little.” Spike said.

“No promises!” Rainbow quickly added, earning an eye roll from Shining.

“Eh, nevermind. I knew it was too much to ask that. Worth a try I guess.”

“Shining, can I ask you something?” Spike asked, looking somewhat worried.

“Sure, what is it?” Shining replied.

“I noticed the look you had when that guard mentioned their sister. Why you did that?” Spike asked.

“You noticed that? Oh, um...” Shining looked away, conflicted on what to say.

“If you don’t want to tell, it’s okay! I don’t want to invade your personal life,” Spike said.

“It’s fine... I guess if more know, more can look for her...” Shining murmured as he thought for some moments.

Spike and Rainbow looked at each other, worried as they heard him.

“Um, the reason I did that was... Well, was because my little sister ran away,” Shining said, sighing.

Spike gasped in horror. “What!? Why?” Rainbow asked.

“It had something to do with the entrance exam. The exam was not supposed to be hard - for Twilight, at least - but that day, Celestia came with a dragon egg and said whoever hatches it, would be Celestia’s personal student.”

Spike frowned at that. Wait, dragon egg? But that would mean...

“She... Failed the test, from what I heard. When I finally got home to check on them, she was already gone. My parents looked for her for so long. I looked for her for so long but we just couldn’t find her. Eventually Celestia called me back to service, have already spent all my free days I had.” Shining explained, reliving the memory of that day again.

“So, she’s been gone for... Two years?” Spike asked.

Shining frowned as he shoved those memories away in his mind. “How did you...?”

Spike hesitated at first, but decided to answer truthfully. “That egg was me...”

“What?! But-” He was confused at first but soon realized the whole picture. “Oh...”

“I-I’m sorry-”

“Don’t apologize. That wasn’t your fault, and I don’t blame you.” Shining said, interrupting Spike.

“Yeah. Like, how the hay would you even control when you hatch? I’m pretty sure you wasn’t even alive until you hatched!” Rainbow said, adding in her piece.

“Actually, I was alive on the egg before I hatched, Rainbow. Just not, um, concious. But I see your point.” Spike said, still blaming himself a little.

“What was her name? And how she looked?” Rainbow asked.

“Why?” Shining asked, puzzled by Rainbow’s sudden interest in that.

“In case I might have saw her?” Rainbow suggested.

“Well... SighAlright. Her name’s Twilight Sparkle. She is a purple unicorn, has purple mane with a pink strip, violet eyes, loved books...”

Rainbow flipped her head up and down, searching for anypony in her memories that even barely matched the description, eventually reaching zero results. “Sorry, never saw a pony even close to that.” Rainbow said, upset she couldn’t help.

“It’s fine. Wasn’t expecting anypony to see her, otherwise me or my parents would’ve already found her by now... I appreciate the thought, though.” Shining said, smiling a little before he turned to where Snowflame went. “I’m gonna find Flames and apologize, I did almost blast his head off. Take care, you two.”

Spike waved goodbye before he and Rainbow went for a stroll around Canterlot.

“Poor, Shining. I can’t begin to imagine how hard this must be for him,” Spike said, still upset about the whole thing.

“Yeah. I don’t know what I would do if anyone of my family just disappears like that. Heck, if you or Fluttershy did that, I don’t know what I would do.” Rainbow replied.

“Same here. But who’s Fluttershy? I remember you mentioning her the day we met.”

“Oh, she’s a friend I have back in Cloudsdale. One day those idiots were bullying her, I decided to stand up for her and we been friends ever since.” She answered, but she was avoiding eye contact.

Much to Rainbow’s dismay, Spike noticed it and immediately questioned her. “That’s not the whole story, is it?”

She sighed, nodding. “Do I really have to tell that?”

“I would appreciate if you did.” Spike replied.

Rainbow groaned. “...Fine.”

“Come on, Dash! You’ve been in our group for two months now, but hasn’t done anything yet.” Hoops said as he lead her through the cloud streets. “I’m starting to think you don’t like it.”

Like it? I hate you and your gang. Rainbow replied in her head, but decided to change the focus of the conversation away from her. “Remind me, why aren’t Dumb-Bell and Score here?”

Hoops groaned in annoyance. “They got detention. Apparently, somepony snitched on them stealing an answer sheet for that pop quiz.”

“...And you didn’t?” Rainbow asked, curious to why Hoops wasn’t punished with them.

Hoops growled, offended by it. “I’m not dumb, I didn’t need it to pass.”

“Now that’s surprising.” Rainbow replied, smirking a little.

Tired of her remarks, Hoops stopped in front of her, glaring at her. “I was joking before, but now I’m really doubting if you should really be in our gang.”

Rainbow snorted, annoyed. “May I ask why?”

“You don’t have the guts.” Hoops said, smirking.

Rainbow frowned, the only thing she found more annoying and infuriating than the naming callings and stupid hurtful nicknames, was being implied she was in any possible way a coward.

So when she heard that, Rainbow replied without thinking. “I have more guts than you, Dumb-Bell and Score combined!”

“Is that so? Care to prove it?”

“What?” Rainbow asked, caught off guard.

“If you have the guts, then you wouldn’t have a problem proving me wrong.” He glanced at something behind Rainbow for a moment before looking back at her with a smirk. “And look at the timing. The perfect target for that just went inside the alley behind you.”

Oh, great. Freaking amazing. Rainbow looked back and noticed said alley, and also the timid, frail looking yellow pegasus heading there, carrying a small bird on her back. Wait, she’s from my class. I’m pretty sure her name was Fluttershy.[/]

“What are you waiting for? Come on!” Hoops said, pushing Rainbow towards the alley.

Inside the alley, the timid pegasus sat on the floor and took the bird in her hoofs. “Alright, your wing’s mostly healed so you should be able to reach your nest now.” The little bird looked at it’s nest, then looked back at her and gave her a little nuzzle before opening his wings to fly off.

“Ugh. You’re just as pathetic as I remember.” Fluttershy jumped in fear, instinctively hiding the bird between her forelegs and her chest. “Your turn, Dash.”

Rainbow reluctantly approached Fluttershy, causing her to back away. Eventually, her back hit the wall, meaning she was cornered now. “Not again... Please...” Already tears were forming in her eyes.

That stopped Rainbow dead in her tracks. What the hay am I doing? She felt disgusted with herself for even considering harming her in any way. “Leave.” Rainbow said, turning around.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. I’m not letting you bully her.” Rainbow replied, glaring daggers at him.

“Oh, I see what’s happening. The fillyfooler liked th-” He didn’t get to finish as a cyan hoof struck his nose, sending him tumbling backwards on the ground. “You call me that again, and I will kick you so hard you will reach mountain Canterlot without using your wings!”

“You just signed your funeral!” Hoops exclaimed, holding his bleeding nose as he flied out of the alley.

“Hey, sorry about that.” Rainbow said, turning back to Fluttershy.

“T-thank you, Rainbow Dash.”

“You know my name?” Rainbow asked, surprised.

“Everypony in flight school knows you... U-usually for bad stuff, but still...” Fluttershy replied, letting the bird fly off her hoofs towards it’s nest.

“Hm, figures... Well, see ya around.” Rainbow said, heading out of the alley.

“W-wait!” Fluttershy said as she hurried after her.

“Something wrong?”

“Why did you help me? J-just curious!” Fluttershy asked, adding the last part when she saw Rainbow lifting an eyebrow.

“Well, I couldn’t just let that happen... I know how it feels to be everypony’s laughing stock and having no pony to stand up for you. Heck, the reason I joined their gang was so I wasn’t made fun of anymore...”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be! I’m actually grateful you made me stand up to what I despised. I hated being in their gang... So, thank you Fluttershy.”

“...After that, we started hanging out. Been friends ever since.” Rainbow finished.

“Hm... You know, Rainbow? The next friend you make, you gotta stop getting bullies hurt.” Spike said, making both laugh.

Though, their laugh was cut short as a blue blur flied pass between them, knocking Spike off his feet. “Ahh!”

“What the- Woah!” Rainbow saw a pegasus wearing an blue uniform with a huge yellow bolt spread across it, making fast tricks in the air before landing several meters away from them.

“Great! Just great! The flying egos have arrived.” Spike exhaled in annoyance as he got up and dusted himself.

“Who are they?” Rainbow asked, completely ignoring Spike’s remark.

He rolled his eyes but noneless answered her question. “They are the Junior Team from the Wonderbolts. They arrived a week ago, and they have been a nuisance to me ever since.”

“I didn’t know the Wonderbolts had a Junior Team..." She gasped. "I could join them!” Rainbow exclaimed, getting really excited.

Please, don't. “Er, I don’t know, Rainbow. You would be surrounded by obnoxious, spotlight seekers and jerks.”

“Come on, Spike. It’s the Wonderbolts! They can’t be that bad.” Rainbow argued.

“Yes, they are!” Spike replied, not backing out.

Rainbow rolled her eyes, then noticed the junior team were moving away. “At least talk with them once, before you start calling them jerks.”

“No, thanks.” Spike said, noticing they were heading towards the stadium. Hm... Time for some payback. “Hey, Rainbow. You up for- Rainbow?” He saw Rainbow walking alongside them towards the stadium. Sigh “Guess I’m going solo for this one.”

“It’s that easy?” Rainbow asked, dumbfounded.

“Yup. Thought, you gotta have something to impress them with. If you do that, basically guaranteed to get in.” The leader of the group, introduced as Spitfire, replied.

“Woah... You think I could get in?” Rainbow asked, hearing a few chuckles coming from the others.

“Hm, I don’t know. Haven’t seen you fly yet.” Spitfire said.

“I’m telling ya! When you see, it will knock your horseshoes off!” Rainbow confidently exclaimed.

“Yeah, I really doubt it kid.” A brown, bulky pegasus said, pushing Rainbow aside.

“Come on, Boulder. Let the kid show off her flight skills. Who knows, she might even surprise us.” A pink, slinky pegasus said, putting a hoof on Boulder’s shoulder.

“Don’t even bother with him, Blade. He just likes picking on little kids.” A white pegasus, with a long blond mane stepped in. Didn’t took long before the other two member joined in and everyone started arguing with themselves, except for Rainbow and Spitfire.

They are probably four or five years older than me, but they are acting like eight year olds would... And Spike calls me the troublemaker.

“Alright, enough guys! You all forgot we can’t have another fight or we are done for?!” Spitfire asked, flying above all of them.

They eventually calmed down, though they still did gather enough attention to have an pegasus wearing uniform enter the common room they were. “What’s going on here?!”

All the Junior Bolts were dead silent while Rainbow just stared at the Wonderbolt, amazed she was in the same room with them.

“Er, sir. We were just-”

“I warned you about this. One more incident and you all were done for!” The Wonderbolt exclaimed, glaring Spitfire down.

“Please, sir! I-It won’t happen again, I promise!” Spitfire pleaded.

The Wonderbolt glared at Spitfire before looking at the others, making them look at the floor in shame or fear. Then he finally noticed Rainbow standing there. “What are you doing here? This a restricted area.”

Spitfire grimaced at that, reading herself for the worse.

“I-I snuck here. I just wanted to see the Wonderbolts!” Rainbow lied.

“Is that so?” He turned to Spitfire for a moment before looking at Rainbow. “You passed the two guards on the entrance and the staff and the Junior team, unnoticed?” He asked, suspicious of her.

“What can I say? I’m just that good.” Rainbow said, chuckling nervously.

“I would escort you out, but our show’s about to start. So consider yourself lucky, rainbow kid.” He then turned to walk away. Stopping at the entrance, he glanced at Spitfire. “I won’t report this to the boss, Spitfire. But you better believe if anything - and I mean, ANYTHING - at all happens, I’ll rip those badges from your uniforms myself before kicking you out. Understood?”

All the Junior Bolts immediately nodded.

“Good, now get ready. After our opening act, it will be your turn. Don’t mess this up.” He then left the room, slamming the door shut.

The room was in silence for a decent amount of time before Spitfire finally broke the silence. “You heard him. Go get suited up!” As all the others rushed out of the room, Spitfire approached Rainbow. “Sorry for this, but you have to leave.”

“Suddenly, the Junior team doesn’t seem that great anymore.” Rainbow murmured, a little disappointed.

Spitfire heard that but decide not to bother with it. “Look, I have to go and make sure they don’t screw anything up. Just follow the hallway to the right until you reach a staircase, climb it and heading right you’ll be at the crowd seats. Just take one and pretend you didn’t came from here, otherwise we’ll be in trouble.” With that, Spitfire left the room leaving Rainbow by herself.

“Well, that was something... I wonder what Spike is up to.” Rainbow then left the room, following Spitfire’s instructions.

“Where did he go?” A staff member asked, walking past a food cart.

“Continue the search! I’ll warn the others about the intruder,” One of the two guards said, heading the opposite direction of the other two.

“Roger!” The second guard replied, heading downstairs while the staff member continued on the hallway to the left.

Waiting for his chance to escape, he saw coming back from the stairs was the guard, but he was carrying a struggling Rainbow in his magic. Seizing his opportunity, Spike burst out of the cart and rammed his body agaisnt the guard. Caught off guard, he lost his concentration on his grip on Rainbow, dropping her as he lost his balance and stumbled down the stairs, unconcious by the time he hit the bottom of it.

“You alright, Rainbow?” Spike asked, helping her up.

“I’m fine.” She replied, looking down the stairs, filling somewhat sorry for the guard.

“What happened? I thought you were taking with your new friends.”

“Why does it matter that I talked with them?” Noticing his frown, she smirked pressing further. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous.”

“Ha! You wished I was!” Spike returned her smirk with one of his own. “Hm, now that I think of. If someone here is jealous, that would be you with that shenanigan you pulled on those girls last that you visited, Dashie.”

Rainbow immediately blushed at the nickname - one that Spike overheard Rainbow’s mom use - then even more at the recollection of events from last month. “S-shut up.”

“Aaaaaand he wins again! That makes it five to one this week, Rainbow. Maybe you should stepped your game up?” Spike suggested, barelly holding his laughter.

“Ugh. You’re never letting that go, aren’t ya?” Rainbow asked, not expecting an answer as they made to the crowd area.

“Nope.” Spike replied as he looked around with a bored expression. “Are we really gonna watch pegasi in uniforms do fancy tricks?”

“Yeah, we are! How can you not be excited for it?” Rainbow asked as she lead him towards some seats in the middle row, not too far from the center but also not so visible from the entrances, in case the staff came searching for them here.

“Honestly, I find it boring. What’s so special about just flying around, doing loops and fly-bys, ultimately achieving absolutely nothing?” Spike questioned, noticing the Wonderbolts walking into the arena.

“...” Rainbow said nothing as she started thinking on how to explain it to him, which ended up on making her not pay attention to the opening air show the Wonderbolts gave.

”And now, we present you... The Junior Bolts!” The announcer exclaimed as the Wonderbolts landed where they originally came and a team of six pegasi fillies and colts appeared in their place, quickly taking flight.

That managed to bring her back to reality. “Huh? Oh, come on! I missed the Wonderbolts!” Rainbow whined.

Chuckling, Spike ruffed Rainbow’s mane. “If you paid more attention to stuff. You wouldn’t miss as much as you do.”

She swatted his hand away, fixing her mane before turning to watch the flight show. “I’ll get back at you.”

“Can’t wait... Oh, now’s the good part!” Spike suddenly got excited, confusing Rainbow immensely.

Why does he look excited out of a sudden..? Oh, you didn’t...! She immediately knocked him off the seat and held in the floor. “What did you do?!”

“Woah! Rainbow, calm down! You’re pulling too much attention!” Spike whispered, trying to get her off him only to earn an angry glare from her.

“What. Did. You. Do?”

“...A little payback?” He said, immediately regretting it as Rainbow growled.

“You gotta be kidding me! Spike, if something goes wrong, the Junior team gets disbanded!”

“Oh... I... I didn’t know that...” Spike said, then he audible winced when he remembered what he did. “I’m sorry, Rainbow. But I can’t really stop it from happening now.”

Rainbow watched in horror as two of the fillies uniforms suddenly pulled towards each other, trapping them together as they landed hard on the cloud floor of the arena.

The third stopped mid-air and let a scream out before flying through the entrance they came, insects dropping nonstop in their wake.

The fourth just dropped from their flight, looking like they were having spasms at first, but looking closely Rainbow noticing they were vigorously scratching themselves, even tearing apart their uniform.

The fifth finally noticed the thin line of smoke coming from their tail. Quickly landing, they started stomping on it.

Spitfire stopped mid-air, watching in dread as the scene unfold under her. Though, it didn’t seem she would have a break as a green cloud burst from the uniform, completely enveloping her in a horrible stench.

“There you are!”

“Ahh!” Spike and Rainbow both were lifted off their seats with magic and were carried away by the same guard Spike knocked earlier.

“Release us, right now!” Spike demanded, struggling to break free.

To their surprise, the guard obliged by dropping them on the floor. “Here are the intruders, ma’am.”

Looking up, they saw a pristine looking white pegasus with silver mane, wearing the Wonderbolts uniform staring them down for a while before speaking up. “So, you two are the intruders...?” She turned back to the guard. “Took you this long to catch them?” She asked, shaking her head.

The guard was taken aback by the sudden question. “Wha- They-”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses! Your job was to make sure this kinda of stuff won’t happen... You’re fired.”

“You can’t-” She swatted him with her wing, before getting to his face.

“Yes, I can. Now get out of here before I make you go.” After a second, the guard relented and walked away. Muttering profanities as he left. “Do you two know who I am?” She asked, suddenly.

Spike and Rainbow looked at each other, neither having a clue. “Uh...”

“I’ll take that as a no. Does the name Frosty Winds ring any bells?”

Spike frowned, puzzled but as he looked to Rainbow noticing her shocked expression.

“At least one seems to know, good... The fun is over so I’m only asking this once: Was that little stunt your doing? And for your own good, don’t lie to me.” Frosty asked.

Rainbow didn’t know what to do. Never in her life she thought she would felt fear from a Wonderbolt. Especially from one of the legends. “I- Uh...”

“...Your silence speaks volumes. Do you two have any idea on the damage you caused?” She asked, her raising subtly.

That got a reaction from Spike. “What damage? Nothing was broken or-” He stopped when Frosty sent a glare his way.

“You don’t count ruining the dreams of six kids as damage? The humiliation they endured as damage? The stain on the Wonderbolt’s name as damage?” Frosty took a step towards him with each question, voice increasing in volume substantially. Though, she didn’t get to Spike’s face as Rainbow put herself between them.

She might be a legend, and I might be mad at him right now. But Celestia be dammed if I am letting her talk to Spike like that. “Alright, we got the point. You don’t need to breath down our necks for that.” Rainbow defiantly glared back at Frosty.

The unspoken staring contest lasted for only a minute, with Frosty letting a chuckle out. “You’re a bold, I’ll give you that. But you two must face the consequences of your actions. Where are your parents?” She asked Rainbow.

“At the castle?” Rainbow replied, feeling nervous.

“The castle? You kidding me? Ugh. I hate dealing with those stuck ups.” Frosty face hoofed in annoyance. “Where did you come from?”

“Uh. The castle as well?” Spike replied, chuckling nervously.

“...You expect me to believe that?”

“If I appear at the gates, they’ll let us in,” Spike said.

“We’ll see about that.”

I can’t believe it. Two guards escorted Rainbow, Spike and Frosty to the throne room. Where they were greeted at the doors by Lieutenant Armor.

“Hey, Spike, Rainbow.” Shining then frowned, surprised. “Frosty Winds? What you doing here?”

“Wait, you two know each other?” Rainbow asked, shocked.

“Yeah, something like that.” Frosty replied, before she gave Armor a look of pity. “Still no luck?”

He sighed heavily. “No... But enough about that. What’s the occasion for the legend herself to show up here? Also, didn’t you have a flight show right now?”

“I called in a few of the reserves to take my place for now. And the reason I’m here is these two.” Frosty replied, pushing both Spike and Rainbow forward with her wings. “Would you happen to know where I can find their parents?”

“Right behind this door. Can I ask what they’ve done?” Shining asked, casting his magic on the door.

“Let’s just say my brother got what he wanted earlier because of them.”

“Knowing him, that sounds pretty bad. You’re clear to enter.” Shining replied as he opened the door, letting them pass before closing it.

“...Of course, Windy. That sounds perfect.” Celestia then noticed the trio enter the room. “Miss Winds, something wrong?”

“Sorry to bother, your highness. I was informed the parents of these two were here in this room?” Frosty asked, pointing to Rainbow and Spike.

“Yes, why? What did they do?” Celestia asked, a little worried.

Frosty glanced around the room, but aside from Celestia, the pegasus she was talking to, and Raven signing some scrolls near the throne, she saw no one else. “I don’t see his parents.”

“Heh. Well, I guarantee you that his mother is indeed in this very room.” Celestia said, getting up from her throne, picking Spike up with her magic before enveloping him with her wings.

“OH, I didn’t know... My apologies, your highness!”

“It’s okay. But what was the reason you wanted to find us?” Celestia asked, putting Spike down.

Frosty hesitated for a moment. “...There’s two charges against them.”

“WHAT?!” Both Celestia and Windy, causing Raven to drop the scrolls in surprise.

“Wait, what?” Rainbow asked, confused.

“What are the charges?” Celestia asked.

“Trespassing and sabotaging.”

“Spike!”

“Rainbow Dash!”

“Wait! Rainbow didn’t have anything to do with that.” Spike admited.

“I find that hard to believe.” Frosty said, looking at Spike in the eyes. “I saw both of you there. How is she not trespassing?”

“Because the junior team let her in!” Spike answered.

Frosty eye twitched in annoyance as she let out a heavy sigh. “Alright. Makes sense with what my brother said... And I assume you’re claiming she didn’t have anything to do with the sabotaging?”

“Yeah, I did it alone. Even though it wasn’t with the intention of sabotaging, it was just a prank...”

“Spike. You know these types of things have time and place.” Celestia said, looking disappointedly at him.

“Yeah, and you chose the worst possible time and place for it.” Frosty said, before undoing her frown. “But I can clearly see that you regret it. So I’m going to let this slide this time, but it better not happen again, understood?”

“Y-yes, ma’am!”

Frosty nodded to him, bowed to Celestia then left the room, greeting Shining on the way out.

Spike walked up to Rainbow, but before he could say anything, she adressed Windy. “Let’s go, mom.”

“Already? But it’s still-” Windy stopped when she noticed Rainbow’s expression. ”Alright, Dashie... So sorry to leave like this, your highness.”

“I understand. Don’t worry about it, Windy. Also, you can just call me Celestia when there’s no royals or officials around.” Celestia said, with a warm smile.

Windy smiled back. “Thank you, your- Er, I mean. Thank you, Celestia.” With that, she lead Rainbow out of the room.

Spike rubbed his left arm, feeling bad. “Spike.” He turned around, dread started plaguing his mind. “You want to talk about it?” He saw the look of worry in her face, though, he still remembers the look of disappointment she gave him.

“...What’s there to say?” Spike sat on the floor, dejectedly. “I upsetted Rainbow... I disappointed you...”

Celestia sat by his side, wing comfortably enveloping him. “Spike...” Not sure what to say, she pulled him into a tight hug. They stayed like that for a few minutes. “Feel better?”

”A little...” Spike answered, sniffing.

“What’s plaguing your mind, my son?” Celestia asked, giving him a nuzzle for encouragement.

Sigh. “Rainbow was so upset, she wouldn’t even look at me...”

Hm. He’s so upset with that... I might have to talk with Cadance later, just to be sure. “Spike, I might have an idea on how you can make it up for Rainbow.” Celestia asked, noticing her fur where she held Spike, was getting wet. He’s even crying now.

“How?” Spike asked, immediately.

“Well, next month it’s Rainbow’s birthday. And Windy and I agreed to host the party here in Canterlot this year. Maybe you can use the opportunity to give her a special gift as an apologie?” Celestia suggested, waiting his reply.

“I-I guess that could work... But what do I give her?” He asked.

“Hm. I’m not sure. What does she like?”

Spike spent the next ten minutes thinking hard, with Celestia patiently waiting for him. Eventually, a smile started forming on his face as an idea came to his head, though, he frowned immediately after.

No doubt she’s gonna love it... But will it be enough for her to forgive me..?

Author's Note

Eeeyy. Thanks for reading until here! Very apreciated. :twilightsmile:
As always, spot any mispelling or errors. Hit me up in the comments and I'll fix it! Also hesitate not to ask me anything you have doubts on about the story and I'll definitely answer. (Except spoilers, of course!)

4 - Righting Wrongs

A week later...

Knock, Knock, Knock

“Who is it?” Spike asked as he looked away from his desk.

“Spike, it’s me. Can you open the door?” Shining Armor’s voice came through the door, prompting Spike to go open the door.

“Hey, Shining. What’s up?”

“Just checking on you. How’s the present going? You got it already?” Shining asked.

“Er, more or less. I still need to tweek a few things, paint and get it autographed by one of the wonderbolts.” Spike explained, showing a pair of flight goggles.

“Hm... How you gonna get an autograph? If I’m not mistaken, you weren’t on their best side since that little stunt.” Shining asked.

“I’ll think of something... Eventually. But right now I’m worried about finishing this.”

“Right. Well, I’ll leave you to it then, have fun!” Shining then left.

Closing the door, he immediately made his way back to his desk. “Okay, now hopefully there’s no more interruptions.” He mumble to himself as he continued working on the goggles.

At Cloudsdale...

“Rainbow? Rainbow! Get up, sweetie. You gonna be late for flight school!” Windy said, knocking on the door multiple times before she gave up on it and just entered the room.

She could immeaditely see Rainbow’s form laying on the bed completely wrong, she wondered how her daughter never has neck pains with the way she sleeps. Approaching the bed, she pulled the covers from Rainbow while calling her name again, with little sucess. How late was it when she went to sleep? Windy asked herself, astonished by it.

Seeing how late it was getting on the alarm next to the bed, she decided to call in the big guns. With one powerful flap of her wings, she flied to the cloud ceiling and let lose a mighty kick on it, immediately causing the whole ceiling above the bed to drop a considerable amount of cold water on top of Rainbow.

“Eeeeekkkk!” Rainbow jumped from the bed, soaked in water but now completely awake. “MOM! What the hay?!”

“Rainbow, language! Now go clean yourself, you’re late for school!” Windy exclaimed, hurrying to the kitchen to prepare some toasts for her to eat on the way.

“Ah, crap.” Rainbow ran inside the bathroom, took a quick shower before she made her way to the kitchen where her mom gave her a couple pieces of toast.

“Here, eat these on the way or you’re not gonna make it.” Windy said as she pushed Rainbow towards the door.

“Alright, I’m going, geez!” Shaking her wings dry, she quickly took flight with the toast on her mouth towards the school, doing a few tricks along the way for practice and to finish drying her mane. “Big deal, missing out one day of school. It’s not like anything happens there anyway.” Rainbow murmured, still annoyed about being woken up.

Walking through the school corridor, was Fluttershy carrying a book under her wing with a red bird on her mane. She was humming with the bird when she stumbled into somepony, knocking the bird off her head. “Oof! I-I sorry! I wasn’t looking were I was going!”

Finally focusing on the pony in front of her, she saw a lavander pegasus with jasmine mane and tail. She dusted herself off before replying. “It’s okay. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going either... Say, are you Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy frowned, now curious on how she knows her name. “Uh, yes. Y-you know me?”

“Not exactly. I heard that you were being harassed by Hoops gang?” She asked.

“Uh, yeah. But they usually harass everypony in the same or lower grades than them,” Fluttershy said.

“Yeah, I got bullied as well. That’s why I’m trying to convince the school to start a anti-bullying program,” She said.

“Really? That’s wonderful.” Fluttershy replied.

“Unfortunately, their administration doesn’t share the same concerns. They said only if more students ask for the same thing they would implement it. Which I think it’s stupid.” She said, huffing in annoyance.

“Well, that’s concerning. Have you managed to gather students to ask?” Fluttershy asked.

She shook her head no. “Apparently, Hoops and his gang got word of what I was doing and they started intimidating everypony to not help me and they keep targeting me every chance they get now.”

“That’s horrible! How are you doing?” Fluttershy asked, now worried.

“Eh, I’m fine. The problem is when they fight me, then I get grounded by my parents because his gang usually manages to bruise me enough to be visible. My parents are the kind that thinks if they ground me enough times I would stop fighting, which isn’t even something I can stop.”

“We can’t keep letting that happen. You can count me in, uh, what’s your name I forgot to ask?” Fluttershy asked.

“It’s Cloudkicker. And thanks. Though, I think we might need at least one more pony to ask,” Cloudkicker said.

“Oh, I can ask my friend to help. She also had an awful time with them,” Fluttershy said.

“Cool, what’s her name?” Cloudkicker asked.

“It’s Rainbow Dash. Sh-”

“Rainbow Dash!? You kidding me? She is just as bad as them! She even broke my wings a few years ago!” Cloudkicker said, almost shouting in anger.

“W-what?!” Fluttershy was taken aback by that. But Rainbow told me she never hurt anypony when she was on Hoops gang...

“Hey! Fluttershy!” Rainbow called as she flied in, just now finishing the toast she had.

Before Fluttershy could say anything, Cloudkicker started walking away towards her classroom, shoving Rainbow out of her way. “The hay?! What was that for?”

“Rainbow... Did you ever hurt anypony before?” Fluttershy suddenly asked as she went to her side.

“Wha- No. Other than the bullies I mean.” Rainbow answered.

“You sure? Because she told me you broke her wings.” Fluttershy said, frowning.

“What? That’s a-” Rainbow stopped as she glanced towards where Cloudkicker went, seeing her just turning around the corner. “Wait a minute... Crap! I completely forgot!”

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked.

“I...” Rainbow sighed. “I hit her wing with a rock when she was flying. She was flying so fast that she fell through the clouds and crashed on the ground.”

Fluttershy gasped. “Why?!” Fluttershy asked, indignant with her.

“It was by accident! Hoops was annoying me and I tried scarrying him with it but I ended up nailing her. I planned on checking on her after shaking the gang off but I took too long and when I went to search for her, I couldn’t find her.” Rainbow explained, looking away in shame.

“You should apologize to her.” Fluttershy said.

“She clearly doesn’t want to talk with me...” Rainbow said, thinking a bit. “Which is weird that she knows it was me, since I never met her after it... Eh, Hoops or the other two probably snitched to her.”

“You still should apologize, though. What if she holds a grudge?” Fluttershy said.

She sighed. “After class, okay?” Rainbow relented, though not by much.

Fluttershy shook her head. “During lunch.”

“Ugh, fine. Can we go now? I’m probably getting detention again for being late.” Rainbow said as she and Fluttershy hurried to their classes.

A couple hours later...

“You sure you’re okay? They literally threw you inside a trashcan.” Cloudkicker said, dusting off the grey pegasus with blond mane.

“I-I’m fine, Clouds. I’m used to it by now.” She replied, stopping just in time before she hit a wall. “Oops, almost... Did you saw where they put my muffins bag?”

“Yeah, I found it, but Derpy! You shouldn’t be used to this treatment because this isn’t supposed to be happening.” Cloudkicker said, leading her towards the cafeteria.

“I’ll be eating my muffins, you want some?” Derpy asked.

Clouds gave one look at the canteen’s food before turning back to her. “Yes, I would. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. So where should we sit?” Derpy asked as she pulled a muffin and gave it to Clouds.

“Not sure. An empty table, preferably.” Cloudkicker said, munching on the muffin.

“Hm. There’s only one table left with space for us, do you mind if we eat by those two ponies?” Derpy asked, pointing to the secluded table at the corner of the place.

“Yeah, yeah, sure.” Clouds replied, not paying much attention as she kept invested on the muffin. “Derpy, you gotta tell me how you make these things, they are so good!”

*Chuckle* “Sorry, it’s a family secret.” Derpy replied, leading them to the table. Once they got there, she pulled their attention. “Hey, would it be a problem if we sat here?”

Fluttershy glanced at them for a moment to answer her. “Of course not! Feel free to take the seats.” She then turned back to Rainbow, helping her with the assignment she got.

“Come on, Clouds. They don’t mind us here.” Derpy said, sitting down.

”Not like we needed their approval.” Clouds murmured as she took the seat, only to finally notice who was on the other end of the table. “Derpy! Why are we sitting here?!” She whispered her.

“Hm? What’s wrong?” Derpy whispered back, puzzled.

“She is what’s wrong here.” Clouds replied, pointing towards Rainbow furtively.

“Wh- Why? She helped me a few times against those bullies.” Derpy asked, confused.

“Because she- Wait, she helped you? When?” Clouds asked, surprised.

“It was by the time you were away because of your wing.” Derpy said, glancing at Rainbow and Fluttershy. Not sure what her friend had against her.

“Hm. Well, she was the one who broke my wing. You sure it was her who helped you?” Clouds asked.

“Is there another pony with that many colors on their mane on the school?” Derpy sarcastically asked, before she turned towards them. “I’m gonna ask her something.”

“What are you doing?! Wait!” Clouds whispered, but it fell in deaf ears as Derpy approached their end of the table.

“Hey, if you don’t mind me asking.” Fluttershy looked at her curiously, while Rainbow only glanced at her puzzled. “Are you still bad or you good now?”

“What?” Both Rainbow and Fluttershy asked, caught off guard by that. Cloudkicker couldn’t help but facehoof.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rainbow asked, then she finally noticed Cloudkicker at the end of the table. “Oh, I understand now. *Sigh* “Look, I’m sorry...” She glanced at Fluttershy, who motioned her to continued. “...I know I screwed up your life for a bit but I genuinely never meant to hit you...” She thought on what else to say. “If there’s anything I can do to make it up to you, just say it.” Rainbow said, waiting for Clouds to answer.

“You know, they might be great friends to have if you give her a chance.” Derpy whispered.

“...Grr. Fine, Derpy.” Cloudkicker whispered. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she finally looked at Rainbow in the eyes. “You wanna make it up? Fine, get Hoops gang to leave me alone.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?” Rainbow asked.

“You were on their gang before, convince them to leave me alone. Or just kick their flanks, I don’t care as long as they stop attacking me.” Cloudkicker answered as she took one more muffin.

Great, now she wants me to buy a fight with them... “Alright, I’ll think of something,” Rainbow said.

“Cool, then I’m done eating. I see you later Derpy.” She left before anyone could give a reply.

“But you barely ate- Clouds!” Derpy tried calling her, to no avail.

“Sorry for upsetting your friend.” Fluttershy said.

“It’s okay. You didn’t do anything.” Derpy replied, putting her bag of muffins on the table. “Would you like some muffins?”

“Oh, if it’s okay with you.” Fluttershy said as she took one and bit it. “Hmm~ so good! Rainbow, you gotta eat one of her muffins. They are delicious...”

Grumbling in annoyance, Cloudkicker made her way through the hallways alone. Unfortunately, her lonesome didn’t last long as she realized way too late that she was been followed by Dumb-Bell.

”That’s not good. Where’s one, the other two are nearby.”

She thought of running back to the cafeteria, but that plan was quickly shut down when her only way around Dumb-Bell was blocked by Score. “I swear if they get me grounded again...”

She tried going for the longest route, exiting the school and using one of the cafeteria windows, but that plan too crumbled to pieces as Hoops flied in, effectively cornering her.

“Look what we have here. The snitch all by herself, how convenient.” Hoops started, only to be interrupted by Clouds.

“You try anything and I’ll send to the infirmary!”

“Ooo, so scaried!” Hoops mocked her. “We’ll see how that goes for you. Get her!” Hoops ordered as he charged at her.

Meanwhile...

“Here, this should let you walk arould freely without worrying about falling.” Shining Armor said as he gave Spike a necklace that emitted a faint cyan glow.

“Thanks.” Spike wore it and took a step off the carriage to the cloud streets of Cloudsdale. “It’s been a while since I last visited.”

“I actually never visited Cloudsdale before, it’s a good thing we brought a map.” Shining said as he turned back to the carriage. “SnowFlame. Pass me the map!”

“One sec, sir.” Came the reply from the carriage before a dark blue pegasus with dark gray mane came out, handing Shining Armor the map.

“Thanks, Thunder. You two take care of things here while me and Spike go after what he needs.”

“Sure thing, boss.” Thunder replied as he went to talk with SnowFlame.

“So, where we heading?” Shining asked.

“It’s actually pretty close from here. Just after the flight school around the corner and we arrive there.” Spike replied as he showed on the map for Shining.

“Cool, we’ll be done in no time then. Lead the way, Spike.” Shining said as he followed Spike.

And true to his words, they were in front of the Wonderbolts academy in less than ten minutes. “Here we are.”

“Okay. So whats your plan on convincing Frosty?” Shining asked as they approached the main building.

“I- Er.” Spike got a little nervous. “I actually planned on going to ask alone...”

“Wha- Why?” Shining asked, caught off guard.

“I promise to tell you later, okay? I just need to do this alone.” Spike explained, showing he was not backing down.

Shining look at him suspiciously for a few seconds, thinking about it before he decided to let him do it. “Alright, I’ll wait here. But you will tell me why on the way back, understood?” Spike nodded, thanked him before he made his way inside the building.

“Why would he want to go alone? Especially here of all places...” Caught in his inner thoughts, he almost didn’t hear the sound of glass shatering not far from him. “What the-” Not wasting time, he rushed the direction the sound came.

It only took him a couple minutes to find the broken window, and the reason why it was broken as well. He saw four young pegasi near the window, fighting. Scratch that, three of them were fighting while one was curling on the cloudy ground.

They didn’t even see Shining approaching when they all were lifted up in the air.

“Ahh! What’s going on?!” Hoops asked, surprised.

“I should be the one asking that. Why are you all fighting?” Shining asked, pinning them on the ground with his magic.

Grunting, Cloud Kicker was the first to answer. “They are bullies! That’s all what they do!”

“Oh, is that right?” He eyed the other two only to see them either avoiding eye contact or trying to free themselves from his magical grip, what amused him the most was the fact the supposed bullies had way more bruises than her. “And who broke the window?” All the bullies immediately pointed to her.

Clouds looked away sheepishly, before she snapped back. “I was trying to get away from them!”

“Okay, I heard enough. Let’s find a teacher or school staff to take you all.” Shining said as he made his way towards the school entrance with all four of them still in his magic grip.

“Remind me again on why are we here and not eating?” Rainbow asked, annoyed that Fluttershy dragged her into her’s and Derpy’s search.

“To find Cloudkicker. We don’t want her to get into trouble with the bullies.” Fluttershy answered, completely missing Rainbow’s mood.

“Let me ask again. Why did you drag ME into this?” Rainbow asked.

“Because- Wait, who’s that?” Fluttershy asked as she pointed to the entrance.

“...Shining? What is he doing here?” Rainbow asked as they saw him walk towards them while carrying four pegasi behind him.

“Wait! He has Cloudkicker with him!” Derpy warned them.

Curious to what happened, Rainbow flied in from of him, blocking his path. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, Rainbow! Surprised to see you.” Shining replied.

“Really? I study here. What are you doing on Cloudsdale?”

“Er, well. I supposed that information is confidential to you. Sorry.” Shining said, before he remembered what he was carrying. “Oh, by the way. Where’s the principal’s office? I caught these troublemakers here fighting.”

“C-could you not bring Cloudkicker to the principal? I-if that’s okay with you.” Fluttershy asked, as she flied to them.

“Why? From the look of things, she did more than just defend herself.” Shining said, pointing to the other three.

“Sir, please. My friend already has so much trouble as it is.” Derpy joined in.

“She did break a window, you know. I can’t just let that slide.” Shining replied.

“I can pay for the window!” Cloudkicker interjected.

“Hm. Okay, I’ll bite. Who’s taking the fall for her then?” Shining asked as he put Clouds down.

Rainbow sighed as she stepped forward. “I’ll do it.”

“You’re sure? Your mother is not gonna be happy about this.” Shining asked, not wanting to cause trouble for Rainbow.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get it over with.” Rainbow said as she lead Shining towards the principal’s office.

“You okay, Clouds? You’re covered in bruises.” Derpy asked.

“I’m fine... These bruises are gonna be a problem, though.” Cloudkicker said as she dusted herself off.

“Um, I could help with that. If that’s okay with you.” Fluttershy offered.

“How exactly you gonna help?” Clouds asked.

“Uh, I have a make up kit at home. We could use it to hide those bruises.” Fluttershy suggested.

“Hm, I’m not a huge fan of make up, but if you think that will work.” Clouds replied, not too much happy about it.

“I believe it will. Meet me after school and we’ll go to my house... Oh, Derpy, could you tell Rainbow later where we went? She usually waits for me when school ends.”

“Sure. I can do that.” Derpy replied.

“Also, tell her I said thanks. I’m not forgetting that.” Then they all heard the bell ring signalling the end of recess. “Well, we better get a move on. See you later, Fluttershy.”

Spike hurriedly left the main building, looking around for Shining. “Shining? Shining!.. Where the heck is he?”

Not wanting to stay there, he pulled a empty scroll from his satchel, quickly wrote a note for Shining before he burned the scroll with his fire. “Well, now to see if they brought anything to eat.” He murmured as he hastily made his way back to the carriage.

“Snowflame? You got anything to eat there?” Spike asked, but the only answer he received was of loud snoring coming from it.

Growing annoyed as he saw the orange unicorn sleeping soundly on the seats. “Where is... What was that other guy’s name?”

“That would be Thunder.” A voice replied from behind him.

“Ahh!” Spike jumped as he turned around. “Dude! Don’t sneak up on me like that! You gonna give me a heart attack.”

“Apologies, didn’t mean to. Though, may I ask where’s our boss?” Thunder asked.

“Uh, I actually don’t know. He was supposed to wait for me to be done, but he disappeared.” Spike answered, shrugging. “I did sent him a letter, though. So he should know we are waiting for him.”

Thunder nodded in acknowledgement before he approached the snoring SnowFlame, and in one swift move he pulled him off the seats onto the floor.

“Ow! What the hell was that for?!” SnowFlame asked, almost shouting.

“You really gonna keep cursing in front of the princess’s son?” Thunder asked, pointing to Spike.

“Huh? Oh! Er... I’m sorry?” SnowFlame apologized, still a little groggy from his nap.

“Didn’t I ask you to keep guard while I went to a bathroom?” Thunder asked, annoyed.

SnowFlame rolled his eyes as he got up. “Really? Who’s gonna try and steal from guards, Thunder? We haven’t had single incident this last two years, why would it be now?”

“This again? I told you, evil could strike from any moment and we have to be prepared!” Thunder replied.

Spike couldn’t help but chuckle a little as he watched they bicker again. He just wished he had something to snack on while watching them.

“What evil?! Last time I remember we were at peace for a MILLENNIA!” SnowFlame replied, frustrated already.

“If you think we are at peace, you’re more dense than I thought.”

“WHAT are you even talking about?! You lunatic!”

But thinking better, without Shining here, it fell onto Spike to stop them from escalating their arguments further and attracting a crowd to them. “Hey! Guys, stop! You attracting a lot of attention to us!”

They finally stopped and saw the few pegasi nearby watching them in curiosity. Thunder immediately jumped off the carriage to disperse the curious bystanders while SnowFlame lazily sat on the opposite seat to Spike. He could faintly hear SnowFlame whisper something about ungrateful but he wasn’t sure exactly what he meant.

“You sure took your time, boss.” They could hear Thunder from outside.

“Yeah, sorry ‘bout the wait. A few kids were causing trouble, had to intervene.” Shining replied as he entered the carriage, followed by Thunder.

“Mighty trouble to keep you for this long,” Thunder said.

“Eh, just some small property damage. Nothing too serious. Anyway, is there anywhere else we need to go next, Spike?” Shining asked.

“Well... There’s at least two more we absolutely need to go after. But they are on the same place!” Spike added the last part when he saw both SnowFlame and Thunder sigh.

“Well, where we going then?” Shining asked.

“Manehattan.” Spike answered.

“Manehattan? Hm, okay. We’re gonna have to take a train then, the boys pulling the carriage can’t fly us that far.” Shining then walked out to give them the new destination.

Mid-afternoon...

“-I still can’t believe you did this, Rainbow. I know you’ve had trouble with bullies before, but never this badly...” Windy said, worried as she and Rainbow walked out of the school.

“Yeah, I know. Not gonna happen again, yadda, yadda.” Rainbow replied, not really that worried. Her parents never were the type to ground her.

Windy sighed in frustration. “Rainbow, this is serious. You can’t just fight your way out of everything. You shouldn’t rely on violence.”

“Yeah, I get it!” Rainbow replied, rolling her eyes. “Where’s Fluttershy?”

Before Windy replied, Derpy appeared from the entrance and approached Rainbow. “Hey, Rainbow. Fluttershy asked me to tell you that she and Clouds went to her house, so you don’t have to worry about her.”

“Ah, right. Guess that answers it.”

“Oh! And by the way, Clouds is really grateful for the help.” Derpy added it in.

“She better be, I hate that guy from detention. And they are going to be there too... Sigh See you girls tomorrow,” Rainbow said, following her mother as Derpy waved goodbye.

“...So is that why you fought? To help your friend?” Windy asked.

“Eh, something like that.” Rainbow answered.

“As noble as that is, try not resorting to violence next time... And try not to break any windows too.” Windy told her as they flied towards their home. ”Well, at least she won the fight. They will think twice now before messing with my girl. She couldn’t help but let a small chuckle out, earning a puzzled look from Rainbow.

Author's Note

Hey, sorry 'bout the delay on posting. Got a few problems to solve, some related to the story, and some related to lack of free time.
Hope your enjoyment didn't get spoiled by it! :derpytongue2:

5 - Passing on a gift

Three and a half weeks later...

Patrolling through the many hallways of the castle, Shining peacefully whistle a tune until he was interrupted by another guard. “Sir? The captain wants to speak with you.”

“Hm? Oh, the captain returned from his trip? I’ll be on my way.” Shining replied as he made his way to the Captain’s office.

*Knock Knock Knock*

“The door’s open.” Came the reply from inside.

Entering the office, he was greeted by an old pegasus in uniform. “Ah, Lieutenant! Just the officer I was hoping to see.”

Shining first saluted before he asked the Captain. “Captain Tornado. I was informed you wanted to speak with me?”

“Ah, yes. It’s quite an important matter, take a seat.”

Taking a sit, Shining glance around the office and noticed quite a few of the Captain’s possessions were currently missing. “What’s the matter?”

“Well, as you know. I’m getting old, perhaps too old to keep my ti-.” Captain coughed a couple times.

“Are you okay, sir?” Shining asked, worried.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me.” He cleaned his throat before continuing. “I’ll get to the point. I’m retiring.”

“What?! But who’s gon-” Tornado stopped him from continuing as he got up from his seat and walked up to the almost empty bookshelf.

“I’m not gonna sugar coat this. The guard is not on good shape right now, and her highness is not even slighty worried about it.” Tornado said, ripping a page off a notebook and handed to Shining.

“What is... This... Another budget reduction? Why?” Shining immediately asked.

“She doesn’t see the value on the guard anymo-” *Cough, Cough* ”Ugh, I swear this cough is gonna be the death of me yet. Ahem. As I was saying. Someone needs to make her highness realize how foolish this decision is, and that someone is gonna be you, Lieutenant.” Tornado said, taking some pills from his drawer.

“Me? Bu- Wait, you don’t mean...”

“Congratulations, you’ve just been promoted. I would’ve liked to say more but-” Tornado suddenly started coughing nonstop, before he fell on the floor.

“Captain!” Shining rushed to the Captain’s aid.

“Remind me why I need to be here? I still have my night shift later, Flames.” Thunder asked as he rubbed the sleep off his eyes.

“I found out were you can find that stuff you like to eat.” SnowFlame whispered as he looked around for anyone listening.

Thunder perked his ears as he shook the sleep off. “Where?”

“You won’t believe this but there’s a griffin caravan passing through Canterlot right now. They seem to be selling mostly jewelry but I saw most of their personal supplies is basically that stuff. They are at the entrance of the city.” SnowFlame whispered.

“It’s gonna be really weird to have a pony ask them for that stuff, you know.” Thunder replied.

“Well, I don’t know. Are they really gonna question you, though? Offer a griffon enough bits and they might sell they own mother.” SnowFlame retorted.

“That’s not really nic-” Thunder’s ears suddenly perked up again. “Wait, you hear that?”

SnowFlame stopped and listened closely for a moment. “Hear what?”

“Shh!” Thunder shushed him as they listened again.

”Help!”

“That is the boss’s voice!” Thunder said as he ran back inside the castle, SnowFlame right behind him.

“Thunder, can you pinpoint where it's coming from?” SnowFlame asked.

Thunder didn’t answer immediately as he focused on his hearing. His ears shifting quite a bit until he heard another call for help. “It’s coming from the Captain’s office!”

“Crap! That’s not good. You go there and see what’s going on, I’ll pass by the infirmary and grab a few medical supplies just in case.” SnowFlame said as they arrived at a staircase.

“Good idea, but be quick!” Thunder replied as he flied up the stairs and zoomed through the hallways. He was going so fast, he didn’t have time to evade an opening door and ended up slamming his shoulder against it.

Luckily for him, the impact didn’t throw his flight off by much, but he did hear the muffled sound of the unfortunate soul behind that door hitting the floor hard. He would have to find whatever servant or guard he hit later and apologize, but right now his priority was reaching that office.

OW! That hurts so much! Spike laid on the floor holding his nose, with watering eyes trying really hard not to cry.

Fighting against the pain, he slowly rose from the floor and searched around. He widened his eyes in horror as he found the present turned over on the floor, a huge dent on the side.

“No, no, no!” Pain momentarily forgotten, Spike looked inside and sighed in relief as the goggles were still intact. “Thank goodness, it’s in one piece.”

Putting it back on the box, he took his satchel and walked out of the room. “Unfortunately, the box is ruined now...” Spike murmured to himself as he went all the way down to the castle’s gate. “I hope she’s still open.”

Checking his satchel for his snacks/money and walked through quite a few streets of Canterlot until he fianlly arrived at an old shop. Passing through the door, he noticed an bored, dark orange mare in an yellow dress with brown dots by the shelves at the other end of the shop. “Cool, she’s still working... Sunny!”

“Huh?” Once she saw Spike, her mood significally improved. “Spike! How is my favorite customer doing today?”

“I’m doing fine. Uh, do you remember that box I asked for you to pack in gift wrapping earlier this week?” Spike asked.

“Of course. How can I forget when that was the only I sold this week?” Sunny replied, chuckling a little as she looked away.

“Wait, really? Why? The stuff you sell is really useful and you’re the best gift wrapper around Canterlot.” Spike said, confused to why no one was shopping here.

Sunny briefly smiled at Spike’s compliment before she frowned. “Well... There’s this new place that opened a month ago near the center of the city. They basically offer the same I do but with a wider stock, cheaper, closer and faster than me. How am I supposed to compete against that?” Sunny asked, sighing. “I’m probably closing up the old shop after today. I need the savings I got left for the train ticket.”

“But... Where you gonna go?” Spike asked, upset.

“I don’t know. I barely have enough for the train ticket and a couple days worth of food. Gotta find a cheap place to settle in...” Sunny then realized how much of the mood had changed with her venting her problems. “Er... But that is something you shouldn't worry about it, Spike. What was that you needed?”

Spike stayed silent for a moment before he sighed. “Look.” He put the dented box on the counter nearby.

“Oh my... What happened to it?” Sunny asked as she picked the box to examine the damage.

“Uh, a door.” He smiled sheepishly as Sunny gave him a curious look.

“Heh. Okay, I’ll be right back.” She replied as she went to the back, she carefully picked the goggles from the dented box and put inside a smaller brown box before she threw the other way. Then she grab a new role of gift wrapping and in a single smooth motion wraped the box, before tapping a little bow on top.

Returning to the counter, she noticed Spike holding a scroll and a small bag in his hands. “Here you go, Spike.”

“Thank you, Sunny.” As he took the gift, he put both scroll and the bag on the counter. “I’m really sorry you’re closing the shop. I wished I could helped more.”

“It’s okay, Spike. You leave the adult stuff for me to worry about, you have a birthday party to attend to.” Sunny said as she ruffled the spines on his head.

“Heh, yeah... I guess I see you around?” Spike asked, hopeful.

Sunny smiled as she let a giggle escape. “Yes, it would be nice if that happens. Goodbye, Spike.”

“Bye, Sunny! And good luck!” Spike waved to her as he left the shop for the last time.

“I’m gonna miss that little drake...” Sunny sighed, before she noticed that he left the scroll and bag on the counter. “Oh no, he forgot his stuff!” As she picked up the scroll, she noticed it was addressed to her.

Curiosity winning over, she opened the scroll and slowly read through it. Her eyes started watering up as she finished reading. “Oh Spike, you didn’t have to...” Opening the bag, a lot of diamonds and rubies fell out. “And you left without even giving me a chance to thank you...” She chuckled a little, cleaned her tears off as she went to the front door and flipped the sign from open to closed.

“I hope that’s enough for her...” Spike murmured as he passed by the castle gates, finally noticing the lack of guards on the gate. “Weird. There’s usually a guard here... Eh, it is still noon, so they might be eating at the mess hall.”

Carefully making his way through the castle hallways, making sure that his gift wouldn’t get smashed this time. He eventually arrive at the dinner room, where they would be hosting the party. He walked up to the big pile of presents and put his gift by the foot of the pile.

“You aren’t trying to take a peak on Rainbow’s presents, are you Spike?” A voice came from behind him, causing him to jump in surprise.

“Gah! MOM! You trying to give me a heart attack?” Spike asked, annoyed.

*Giggles* “I’m sorry, Spike. I couldn’t resist. So, you think you’re ready for the party?” Celestia asked.

Spike thought about it for a moment. “I... I still feel nervous about it, what if she doesn’t like the gift?”

“You need not to worry, Spike. From all the time she spent here, I am certain she’s going to love the gift. Especially with the few extras you put into it.” Celestia replied, not even trying to hide her smirk.

Spike blushed a little as he unconsciously started biting his claws. “I don’t know... Maybe I could-” He tried getting his gift back but Celestia levitated him away from the pile.

“Son, trust me. Rainbow is gonna love your gift. Now, how about we see if the chefs have finished the cake yet?” Celestia offered, trying to keep his mind preoccupied until the birthday girl arrived.

Spike immediately glared at her suspiciously. “You’re just gonna try steal a slice of cake, aren’t you?”

Celestia’s smirk never left her face. “I’ll not confirm nor deny that.” She said, giggling as Spike shook his head disapprovingly.

Two hours later...

“Just take a breath, Spike. You got this, just keep yourself calm.” Cadance said, breathing in herself to show him how.

Spike imitated her as he slowly calmed down. “O-okay. I’m calm...”

“It’s just gonna be Rainbow Dash and her parents, and you’ve already met them. So no need to worry, Spike.” Cadance said as the train finally arrived at the station.

And just like that, his anxiety spiked as he saw Rainbow exit the train with three more pegasi beside her.

“S-she replaced me!” Spike blurted out as he took a step back, biting his claw again.

Candace couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Spike, she didn’t replace you.” She saw Rainbow’s parents finally leaving the train and started leading the girls to them. “Rainbow made a few more friends, so what? That doesn’t mean you aren’t her friend anymore. If anything, you should be happy for her.”

“I...” Spike went to say something but stopped, deciding to just stay silent as they wait for them to catch up.

”Just remember to breath, Spike... Hi, everyone. Glad that you all could make it. And I see little Rainbow here made some new friends?” Cadance greeted then, giving Spike a few moments to calm his nerves again.

“Hey, Cadance. Fluttershy's actually an old friend by this point but you’re right about these two.” Rainbow said, pointing to them. “She’s Cloudkicker, and that is Derpy. And this here is Fluttershy.”

“Sup?” Cloudkicker said.

“Nice to meet you!” Derpy said.

”Hi...” Fluttershy timidly waved.

“It’s nice to meet you three. So, you all ready for the party?” Cadance asked.

Everyone answered yes, except Rainbow who was looking around puzzled. “Where’s Spike?” She asked.

“Oh!” Cadance slightly hit her forehead, had completely forgotten about that for a moment. Glancing back, she noticed Spike deep in thought. “He’s... In his own world right now.”

“OH! So that’s what you meant by ‘special’.” Cloudkicker said as she saw Spike, causing Derpy and Fluttershy to giggle while Rainbow blushed.

*giggles* "Well, why don’t you go and 'wake' him up while I talk a little with your parents?” Cadance asked.

“Yeah, sure.” Rainbow replied as they all walked up to Spike who hasn’t noticed them yet. “Hello? Equestria to Spike, anyonе in there?” Rainbow asked, waving a hoof in front of his eyes.

“Huh? Rainbow! W-when did you get here?!” Spike asked, trying to regain his composure.

“We’ve just been waiting for three hours.” Cloudkicker interjected.

“What?!”

“She’s joking Spike.” Rainbow smirked. “We just waited for two hours.”

Spike covered his face with his hands as he groaned. “I’m sorry!”

“They are, uh, just messing with you.” Fluttershy clarified.

Spike uncovered his face, revealing his frown. “Oh. How did I not see that...” He murmured as he saw Rainbow and Cloudkicker hoof-bump.

“So, what you’ve been up to Spike?” Rainbow asked.

“Erm... Nothing, really.” Other than worrying about your present that is.

“Really? You always had something to share... Not even pranking Snobblood?” Rainbow asked.

“Nope. I just, uh, chilled.” Spike said, chuckling nervously.

Rainbow looked at him suspiciously but before she could ask anything, Cadance approached them. “Okay, we’re done talking. How about we head inside?”

“Uh, you guys go ahead. I want to talk with Spike for a moment.” Rainbow said.

“Talk, huh?” Cloudkicker asked, a smirk very visible on her face earning a mean glare from Rainbow.

“Sure. Spike knows where we hosting the party, he can bring you there after. Just don’t take too long!” Cadance said as she lead the others away.

“Alright, out with it.” Rainbow demanded.

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Spike asked.

“You’re hiding something. Now spill the beans.” Rainbow said.

“I... I’m... Worried.” Spike started, not able to look at her.

Rainbow frowned, confused. “Worried about what? Did something happen?”

“No, but I... Fear something might.” Spike answered.

“What do you mean?” She asked, worried as Spike never acted like this before.

*Sigh* “Promise to not laugh?” Spike asked, still avoiding eye contact.

“Why would I laugh?” After receiving a glare from him, she relented. “Fine, I promise to not laugh. Happy?”

He nodded. “Alright... I... *Sigh* I feared that... you would replace me.” As he said that, he immediately looked away again.

“Wha- Spike! I would never do that! Where did you even get that idea from?” She asked, astonished that he would ever think that.

“I-I... You looked so angry when you left, I...” Spike grabbed his arm tightly.

”Oh. So I was the one to make him think that... Sigh. I need to be more careful... But since when did Spike get this sensitive? He wasn’t like this before... Hm...”

“Spike... Look, I’m not mad at you. I might have been that day but trust me, I’m not anymore. And don’t ever think that I’m gonna replace you, That’s never happening, okay? I’ll never abandon you, that’s a promise.” Rainbow said, holding her hoof to her heart. “I swear on my honor as a pegasus, you’ll always be my best friend.”

“You mean it?” Spike asked, still a little hesitant.

“You want me to swear again? I’ll do it.” Rainbow said, smiling.

Rather than answer, Spike pulled her into a hug to which she gladly returned. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, scalebutt.” Rainbow replied, laughing.

Breaking the hug apart, Spike held his hand towards the stations exit. “Well, shall we go then, featherbrains?” He asked, chuckling.

“Sure. Last to get there is a spoiled egg!” Rainbow exclaimed as she broke into a sprint to the castle.

“HEY! Not fair, you ran first!” Spike shouted as he ran after him, both laughing all the way.

At the Castle’s infirmary...

“How is the Captain?” Shining asked.

Snowflame shook his head, “The nurse said his situation is only gonna get worse. She also said if we want to talk with him, the time is now.”

*Sigh* “Alright. Thank you, Flames.” Shining said as he made his way to the Captain’s room. Knocking on the door, he entered the room. “Captain?”

*Cough, Cough* “Shining. I’m afraid I don’t have much time left... What I said before... Still stands. You’ll be the new Captain... Just hand the scroll... On my desk to her... Highness. She will know my decision... I just have one more thing to ask of you... Don’t let the Solar Guard... Die...” Tornado managed to say between pained breaths.

“I... I won’t let you down, Captain!” Shining said, saluting Tornado.

Tornado smiled weakly. “I know you won’t... Good luck, Armor...” Tornado said, resting his head back on the bed.

As he walked out of the room, he saw both Snowflames and Thunder waiting for him. “Sir? What did he say?” Thunder asked.

“He... Named me as the new captain.” Shining answered as he glanced back at the room. “Snowflame, you stay here and keep me informed on Captain’s condition. Thunder, you go inform Frosty and her brother about it.”

“What are you gonna do, sir?” Thunder asked.

“I’ll go find Celestia.” Shining said as he left the infirmary.

As he walked through hallways, mid-way to the throne room he remember about Rainbow’s birthday party and immediately turned around, realizing that Celestia would be there as well.

“So, who’s present you gonna open first?” Windy asked as she showed Rainbow the pile of gifts waiting for her.

“Woah... I never this many presents in one place... Especially with my name on all of them.” Rainbow said, still in awe to the amount of gifts she received.

“Those are gifts from all of us here and also some who couldn’t make it to the party... And some of us might have brought more than just one present too.” Celestia said as she looked at Cadance, who acted innocently and avoided eye contact with her.

“Well, how about this one?” Rainbow said as she picked up a high but thin box, which made Fluttershy immediately run up to her.

“Oh, that’s my gift! Hope you like it, Dash.”

Very intrigued now, she quickly torn off the wrapping and gasped once she saw what was it. “An limited edition poster from the worderbolts?! I searched this for months! How did you get it?”

“Well, me and my father met this pegasus who was selling a lot of his stuff and he had this. I knew you would like it so I got my dad to buy it.” Fluttershy explained, earning a tight hug from Rainbow.

“Thank you, You’re the best, Shy!” Rainbow said as Fluttershy blushed a little from the attection and hurried back to her seat. “Which one should I open next?”

“Oh, mine mine!” Derpy shouted, running to the pile and handing Rainbow her gift.

“Woah, calm down Derpy.” Rainbow chuckled as she made quick work of the wraping on this one, revealing a box full of chocolate muffins with a piece of paper on the top. “Wait, are these-”

“It’s not my family secret recipe but it is still a family recipe of ours. And it’s really easy to make too, so you can just make some whenever you feel like.” Derpy explained.

“Oh, I can’t wait to eat these... But I will blame if I get too fat to fly.” Rainbow replied, both laughing as some chuckles filled the room as well. “Thank you, Derpy.”

“You’re welcome!” Derpy than made her way back to her seat and poked Cloudkicker to move.

“Fine, my turn.” Cloudkicker said as she took one box from the back of the pile and handed to Rainbow. “Mine isn’t that flash like Shy’s, so don’t get your hopes up.”

“Gee, thanks for the heads up.” Rainbow rolled her eyes as she opened the gift and pulled out a wonderbolt hoodie, though as she put it on, she realized the hoodie was way too big for her size, in fact the hoodie felt it was meant for adults not fillies. “Uhm, a little too big..?”

“Yeah, this was the only one left and uh... I might have been informed a little late ‘bout your birthday, soo-” Cloudkicker tried explained but Rainbow interrupted her by slapping her with the oversized sleeve, catching her off guard.

“It’s fine, Clouds. The hoodie looks cool enough, so I’ll just use it as a pijama or something ‘till I get old enough to fit in.” Rainbow said as she took it off and hoof bump her. “Still apreciate the try.” Rainbow chuckled while Clouds rolled her eyes and made her way back to the seats.

One hour later...

As Rainbow pushed the last gift, she sighed in relief. ”Who would’ve thought that opening too many presents was a thing?” She thought as she looked around the room, most of the attendees had already stopped watching her open presents and were either talking with others or eating by the huge dinner table.

Although, Rainbow now realized, she hasn’t open a certain one’s gift. But before she could call him, Spike beat her to it as he poked her arm to get her attention. “Hey, Rainbow. Having fun?”

“You know, after the 40th one, it started to get old, you know?” Rainbow said, chuckling.

“Heheh, yeah I can see that. I just hope you have patience for one more?” Spike said as he pulled from behind him a small box, perhaps the smallest of the entire pile, and gave it to her.

“Oh? Pretty small, huh? I wonder what it could be.” Rainbow asked as she undid the wrapping instead of ripping it off before opening the box. “Ooh, flight googles!”

She was about to put them on when Spike stopped her. “Look at the sides.” Doing what he said, she widened her eyes as she saw written on the side ‘Frosty Winds’, astounded she looked the other and was dumbfounded to see written ‘Lighting Catcher & Silver Glance’ with a heart and star on their names respectively.

Rainbow stared at the signatures for a decent time before she looked back at Spike. “H-how? I thought they...”

“You’d be surprise what a bag of gems and a promise can do.” Spike said.

Usually Rainbow would’ve been a little suspicious with Spike’s vague answer, but she was too much preoccupied gushing all over it. “It’s so cool...”

“And that’s not all.” Spike couldn’t help but smirk a little as he saw her freeze for a moment.

Rainbow looked at him, shocked. “There’s more?!”

“Yup! I got mom to add a few enchantments to the goggles as well.”

“Like what?” Rainbow asked, very excited now.

“Well, first one is sturdiness: I know you sometimes when trying new tricks, you tend to crash a lot. So this enchatment will make sure that no type of crash will even leave a scratch on it. The second one, courtesy of Shining, is a mental fortitude enchantment: Basically you can’t get dizzy or nauseous or anything that could compromise your flight-”

“Does that include mind control?” Rainbow suddenly asked, confusing Spike.

“Wh- Huh? Where did that come from?” He asked, amused by her question.

“From those comics you showed me a few months back. One of the villains uses mind control to trap the hero. You think that enchantment would stop that?” Rainbow asked.

Spike shrugged, still puzzled to why she asked that. “I guess? Anyway, the last enchantment is of eagle eyes: Which let you ‘zoom’ your vision, like a binoculars. You just have to focus on whatever you want and the magic happens.”

“Wow, I don’t even know what to say Spike... I-” Rainbow stumble through her words, trying her best to come up with something. “...How much time you spent on this?”

“Eh, a few weeks..?” Spike answered, looking away sheepishly.

Rainbow pulled Spike into a very tight hug. “Thank you. This was by far the best gift I ever got.”

“Come on now, you making me blush.” Spike said as they pulled away.

“I’m serious! This is definitely gonna up my flight game by - Oh, I don’t know - a thousand percent?” Rainbow exclaimed as she put the goggles on. “Time to test drive this beauty!”

“Just be careful, Dash!” Spike warned as he watched her fly in circles very fast for a good amount of seconds before she landed near him.

“Wooo! Not even a slight motion of dizziness, this thing is awesome!” Rainbow exclaimed, really excited now.

In fact, she got Cloud’s attention with all her gushing over Spike’s present. “Hey, what got you so jumpy?”

“She’s just enjoying the new goggles she got.” Spike answered as Rainbow lifted the goggles to her forehead. “I’m gonna grab something to eat, enjoy the gift Rainbow!” He said as he went to the food’s table.

“So, finally done with opening gifts?” Clouds asked, handing her a plate with cake on it.

“Yup. Got some sweet stuff from that pile.” Rainbow replied, taking a bite. “Hmm~. The Princess knows how to choose a cake, this is really good.”

“Yeah... Never in my life would I thought I’d be on the same room as the Princess.” Clouds contemplated as she took another bite of the cake.

“Heh, hang around someone as awesome as me and stuff like that tends to happen, you know?” Rainbow gloated a little, finishing her cake.

“Getting pretty smug, aren’t we?” Clouds asked, a little hit of annoyance in her voice.

“Pfft! I’m as humble as one can be!” Rainbow replied.

“Sure, and that’s a phrase any humble pony says about themselves.” Clouds replied sarcastically, before she looked at one of the windows. “Say, Rainbow. You up for a race?”

“Do you even know me? I’m always up for one!” Rainbow replied, putting the goggles back on. “On three. One...TwoThreeGo!”

Cloudkicker already expecting Rainbow’s dirty little trick, managed to take off pretty much at the same time as her.

“Annnd there they go. I swear, they do that everytime they meet.” Derpy said as she pushed her plate away, stomach full of sweets.

“At least they aren’t fighting anymore, right?” Fluttershy replied, nibbling on a piece of sandwich.

“Are they always like that?” Spike asked as he joined them.

“Oh, hey. It’s Spike, right?” Derpy asked.

“Yup. I know you’re Fluttershy, Rainbow mentioned you a few times.” Spike said, pointing to her before he turned back to Derpy. “You and that pegasus on the other hand, Dash never mentioned you two before.”

“Oh, we’ve just been friends for a couple of weeks now. Though, she does talk a lot about you.” Derpy replied.

“Good things, I hope.” Spike joked as he served himself some cake.

At the other end of the room...

"And there's also so many gifts for Rainbow, I can't thank you two enough." Windy said as she picked a sandwich from the table.

"No need to, we're just glad to help make this day more special for Rainbow." Cadance replied.

"Well, I sti-" Before she could finish, Shining teleported into the room.

"Shining, there you are! I seached for you all morning." Cadance exclaimed, approaching him.

"Sorry, Cadance. But I have something important to tell Celestia." Shining said as montioned towards the door.

"Very well, I'll right back everyone." Celestia said as she followed Shining out. "So, what's so important to get you like this?"

"It's the Captain, your highness. He's-" A scroll suddenly materialized itself in front of them, Shining immediately taking and reading it. "...Damn. The captain's gone."

"What?! But how? I just talked with him this morning." Celestia asked, shocked. Sigh...This is very inconvenient. "Have you notified the family yet?"

"Yes, I sent a trusted one to handle it." Shining answered.

"Okay... That just leaves one matter unsolved. I already have a pony in mind for the job, but has the Captain appointed someone before he..."

"Yes, he did." Shining replied as he produced a scroll from his chest piece and gave it to her.

"Hm..." As Celestia read through the scroll, she first nodded in satisfaction but as she finished reading it, couldn't help but roll her eyes. "Well, I'm glad he could also see your leadership skills. I'll be more than happy to authorize this promotion."

"Thank you, your highness. I just wish this would have come without such tragedy." Shining said, still upset about it.

"That's fate for you. It doesn't care, it will take a pony off of you and the only thing you can do is... learn to move on." Celestia replied as she stared at nothing momentarily.

"Personal experience?" Shining asked.

Celestia snapped back, glancing at him while discreetly cleaning away a tear she let escape. "Yes... I guess you could say that."

"I never seen her like this before... Did I accidentally bring up a painful memory?" "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I shouldn't have brought it up." Celestia said as she recomposed herself. "Lieut- erm, Captain. Would you call Raven and send her to me? I'll have her prepare for both your ceremony and Tornado's funeral."

"Yes, ma'am!" Shining saluted, leaving without another word in a flash of light.

"...I hope he's not abusing too much of that spell, or he might have a terrible headache later on..." Celestia murmured to herself as she went back to the party.

6 - A Magical Flame pt.1

Two months later...

“Why are you doing this? I don’t understand.” Celestia asked, flying over their castle while a dark figure flew very fast at her, just barely missing the attack.

The figured snapped at her, growling. “Are you seriously this blind?! Oh, who am I kidding? Miss Perfect shoes with her perfect life wouldn’t know what a problem is if it slapped her in the face!” As she said that, five dark inkish lances rose from the ground lightning fast at Celestia.

“Stop this madness!” Celestia pleaded as she casted a shield around herself. It immediately gave away as the lances crashed violently against it. “Sister, please!”

“No! You had your chance, now you shall pay for it!” As the dark figured shouted that Celestia was suddenly blasted away, crashing violently through the castle’s ceiling, landing near a stone pedestal.

“Nrgh...” Celestia tried to get up but her legs gave away, causing her to collapse on the floor.

A heavy crushing sound came near her, followed by a sudden pressure around her neck that forced her up in the air. “Sis-!”

“Quiet! We are done hearing your voice! You shall know the pain we went through your so called peaceful reign.” As the figure said that, Celestia immediately felt an immense pain behind her neck making it difficult to breath.

The last thing she remembered was the figured smashing the pedestal behind her before she felt scrutiating pain on her chest and as she barely had time to register the massive spear piercing her chest, she was slammed on the floor quickly followed by the ceiling giving in and falling towards her.

“AHH!” Celestia jumped awake, looking around in shock as she put a hoof on her chest breathing heavily. “J-just a nightmare... Again...” She sighed as she left her bed, stumbling a little on her way to the door.

Through the dark, empty hallways of the castle, Celestia aimlessly wondered pass old furniture and stained windows. Not really paying attention to her surroundings as she was more than used to, having done this countless times before, all because of a mistake. One that keeps staring back at her anytime she looks through a window at night, always watching her each night, of every week, month, year and so on. One that would most likely never stop watching her, make it rain, cloudy or clear skies, she would always be there, judging her for the mistake she made.

Leaning on the window, she looked up to the moon. “...How are you doing, sister?.. I... Sigh I tried... I really did... But my plan failed... I-” Celestia sniffed, cleaning away the tears forming in her eyes. “-I’m sorry, I can’t bring you back...”

Looking back at the moon, the one she always would stare at most nights, the mare on the moon, staining it’s otherwise white surface high up in the sky, illuminating the sky with it’s glowing presence. A mare who’s tale was forgotten by some, unknown to many more.

After several minutes, she finally recomposed herself and continued on her walk through the castle. She eventually passed by the castle’s archives locked doors, where they keep secured most of Star Swirl’s library of spells. Weirdly enough, though, the massive chain lock on those doors were missing and she could see a faint light coming from under them.

Fearing a possible intruder, she snuck - as quietly as an alicorn of her size could - her way inside the archives. She immediately saw at the desk near the door, a few tomes and books stacked with one of them opened, a couple scrolls laid by the side and a lit candle illuminating them. Whoever was here seemed to have been studying them, though, she had no idea for how long.

Noticing moviment on the other side of the shelves, she hide behind one of the many columns and watched in surprise as Spike emerged from the shadows, an open book in hand as he murmured to himself. ”What is he doing here..?”

”...So that would mean... Erm, I’m not sure... Argh! Come on, Spike! Think!” He put the book next to the others as he took a seat and started reading them, cross referencing between them.

She stepped out from behind her hiding spot and quietly approached Spike. “Spike?”

In an instant, Spike jumped off his seat and turned around, spooked. “M-mom?! What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question...” Celestia pointed towards the doors. “There was a big set of chains holding those doors shut, you know.”

“Uhmm... I might have... Borrowed the key for it?.. Heheh.” Spike replied, chuckling nervously.

“You borrowed... From the drawer inside my room?” Celestia said, before she gave a quick glanced at the books again. “And these..?”

Spike got even more nervous at the mention of them. “I-I... Erm...” He hesitated to answer, eyeing the door.

“Just tell me why are you here. I promise that I’m not angry at you.” Celestia reassured him, briefly ruffling the spines on his head with her huge wing.

“Erm... Okay... I was... Reading...?”

“Yes, I noticed from all the books and tomes you took. My questions is: Why read these in particular?” Celestia clarified as she watched Spike shift in place, looking just as uncomfortable as he was when he worried about Rainbow’s present a couple months ago.

Might as well tell her... “I wanted to learn magic, and maybe... Do magic too..?” Spike answered, looking hopefully at her.

“...But you already can do magic? Or you think that any dragon can send letters by burning them?” Celestia said.

“You mean the spell you casted on me? The one you didn’t even ask if I wanted?” Spike asked, crossing his arms.

“Erm... Well...” Celestia had trouble replying, not sure what to say. Maybe I shouldn’t have assumed he would’ve been okay with it.

“...*Sigh* Nevermind... Sorry for taking that key. I’ll just go to my room.” Spike said, dejectedly walking towards the door.

“...Spike, wait.” Celestia stopped him mid-way with her wing. “I’m not sure if you can do magic the way you want, but I can help you understand it... Just remember I can’t promise you that you’ll be able to cast spells after it, okay?”

“I am very aware of that possibility, but if there’s a chance that I can do that, I’m taking it.” Spike replied.

“Well, then we start your studies this afternoon.” Celestia said, heading out of the room.

“...You mean tomorrow afternoon?” Spike asked, following her after snuffing out the candle.

“Maybe you should check the time, Spike.” Celestia said, pointing to the clock nearby as she continued walking down the hallway, letting a giggle out on her way.

“What does she me-? It’s 2AM already?! Shoot!” Spike exclaimed, quickly making his way back to his room.

A month later...

“...And that in adding to those, form the necessary runes for this type of spell.” Celestia said, showing Spike a few drawings of said runes.

Spike wrote on his notepad, which already had half of it used up. “Okay... Wait. That rune’s not supposed to be there.” He pointed to the fourth drawing. “That one would cause the spell to backfire.”

“Hm...” Celestia was a little taken aback. “You actually noticed my catch before I even said there was one. I’m impressed, you’re learning quite fast Spike.”

“Well, I do have a pretty good teacher.” Spike said, giving her a smile before he turned back to the book. “...But what’s the ‘homework’ you mentioned before? Isn’t this technically homework too, since the castle is my home?”

“Ah, yes. That is something for you to do while I’m busy with my duties, so you can continue your studies without worrying too much about my schedule.” Celestia explained.

“Hm...” Before he could ask another question, a knock on the door pulled both of the attentions.

“It’s open.” Celestia said.

Opening the door, Raven entered the room carrying two tomes and handed them to Celestia. “Here are the tomes on Old Ponish you requested your majesty.”

“Thank you, Raven.” Celestia then showed Spike the tomes. “You’re to study this two tomes once we finish this lesson, when you are done with these we can start on some spells from my- Erm, of an old famous sorcerer... Just remember there’s no rush, read this at your own time, okay?”

Taking the tomes, he looked at her and nodded. “Got it... When do you think you will be back?”

“That’s difficult to say. The griffonian colony is, by any means, quite far and I have an schedule meeting with the major cities mayors. So I don’t kn-”

“Ahem! Sorry to interrupt, your majesty. But we are in a hurry.” Raven interrupted.

Celestia sighed. “Right. I’ll be out in a second.”

Raven nodded and left the room, waiting outside.

“Sorry to leave like this, Spike. If you have any doubt or difficulties with the tomes, just find Cadance. I teached her some Old Ponish a while ago, she probably still remembers some of it.”

“Okay, I’ll keep that in mind.” Spike replied as Celestia gave him a tight hug.

“Take care Spike, love you.” Celestia said, giving him an affectionated nuzzle.

“Come on, mom! I’m not a kid anymore!” Spike said, feeling embarrassed as he tried breaking away from the hug.

“I’m not hearing you saying it, son~” Celestia said, refusing to let him go as she barely kept from giggling.

“Fine. Love you too...” Spike murmured, huffing in annoyance as Celestia finally released him.

“I’ll be back in a couple of weeks, probably. Don’t overtax yourself!” Sneaking in a last nuzzle before she left giggling, leaving in the room a flustered Spike.

“Ugh... And she’s the one with a thousand years...”

A week later...

With a book under his arm, Spike walked through the hallways of the castle, searching for Candace.

“Where the heck you went, Cadance? This is taking more than a few minutes for just a ‘snack break’...” Spike grumbled as he arrived at the balcony of the ballroom, leaning over it he saw Cadance on the floor below talking with none other than Rainbow and her dad. ”What are they doing here? I’m pretty sure there’s still a few weeks before visit day...”

“...I’m impressed! First place, huh?” Cadance asked.

“Yup! Showed those pegasi who’s boss!” Rainbow bolstered, full ego mode on display.

“Heheh, that you did.” Bow chuckled slighty as he noticed Spike approaching. “Oh, Dashie! Spike’s coming!”

“DAD! You know to not call me that!” Rainbow said through her teeth as she turned her attention towards Spike. “...So, finally decided to take your nose out of those books?”

Spike snorted indignantly. “Better than having my head up on the clouds, Dashie... But what you two doing here? I thought your next visit was in three weeks.”

Rainbow’s first response was sending a mean glare to him, though Spike could tell he managed to get under her skin again by the faint blush on her face. “You’re never going to let that go, are you?”

Smirking, he replied. “Nope. And that makes it eighty-nine versus eleven for me. You gonna have to step up your game, Dash. This is just getting sad now.” Spike chuckled but he couldn’t help but feel slighty bad for knocking her ego down a bit, even though he catches himself doing it more and more as time passes on as her ego just keeps inflating.

“Grr... Why you-!”

“Now now, don’t forget why we are here.” Bow interrupted, reminding her of that.

“Right... Uh, Spike. I know you’re not a fan of them, but I earned three tickets for the Wonderbolts performance and was wondering if... You wanted to join us?” Rainbow asked, pulling one from under her wing and showing it to Spike.

Hesitantly taking the ticket, Spike made a face as he looked at it. “Erm, why ask me and not one of the girls. Wasn’t Cloudkicker a fan of the Wonderbolts too?” He asked, skeptical.

Strangely enough, Rainbow frowned at the mention of her name. “She... Can’t go. Neither her, Derpy and Shy can...” She answered, looking to the side, a bit upset.

Spike didn’t really noticed it as he was already impatient with Cadance’s shenanigans. “Well, sorry Rainbow. But I’m pretty busy right now with my studies.” He gave it back to her. “...Which reminds me.” He turned to Cadance, annoyed. “Are you done with your ’quick lunch break’? You know I’m trying to finish this thing before mom’s back!” Spike said, showing the book to her.

Cadance sighed, looking somewhat exhausted from the whole ordeal. “Spike, you’ve been solely focusing on those books, you barely leave your room nowadays! That’s not health and you know Celestia told you to specifically not do that.”

“What? Oh, come on Cadance! This is important!” Spike insisted.

“No. I’m done helping you for now, Spike. You should take some air, staying all day on that room is bad for you.” Cadance said as she put her hoof down, signaling to Spike that she wasn’t gonna change her mind.

Spike huffed, very upset. “Argh! Fine! If you’re not gonna help, then don’t! See if I care! I’ll just going to do it by myself.” He stormed off.

“Spike!” Cadance call his name but he ignored as he disappeared upstairs.

“What got into the little guy?” Bow asked, puzzled.

Cadance sighed. “He’s been obsessed with those books ever since Tia gave them to him.” Turning her attention to Rainbow, she noticed the downcast look on her face. “I’m sorry, Rainbow. Ignore him, he’s just being a grumpy pants right now.”

“It’s fine...” She replied as she looked at the ticket with disappointment. “I guess I’ll just throw this away, since no one wants to go with us...”

Feeling a bad for her, Cadance levitated the ticket from Rainbow’s wings and flashed her a smile. “Well, would you mind having me tag along then?”

“Wait, you? But- Since when you are a fan of Wonderbolts?” Rainbow asked, surprised.

“I wouldn’t call myself a fan per say but I wouldn’t mind watching a performance from them. I heard the Wonderbolt’s performances are quite breathtaking.” Cadance answer.

Finally smiling, Rainbow nodded. “Then hop along, we’re almost late!” She said as she started pushing both her dad and Cadance out of the castle, earning some laughs from them.

Seven months later...

“...This is getting boring.” Spike grumbled as he closed the book and put it back on the pile on his desk. “For how much longer is she going to be busy..? I literally finished reading all the books we have here. Twice.”

As he was about to reorganize his books again to pass time, a knock on his door stopped him. Going to open it, he was surprised to see Celestia. “Mom? Are you finally free?”

“Hello to you too, Spike. I’m here to give you this.” Celestia replied as she gave him a cupcake with a lit candle on top. “Happy birthday.”

He stared at it for a few seconds before he gave it back. “N-no. I don’t... I don’t want to remember last time.” Spike shivered at the thought.

Celestia sighed. “I know you don’t have good memories from last time, but it’s still something for you to celebrate, or at least recognized it as you’re getting older.”

“I don’t need a birthday party or birthday cupcakes or whatever else to know I turned fifteen.” Spike replied, sitting back down in front of his desk. “...Are you still busy?”

“Afraid so, Spike.” Celestia replied, using her magic to make the candle disappear.

Spike groaned loudly as he face planted on the desk. Causing a few books to fall from the pile and hit his head. “Ow.”

“Spike! This is getting ridiculous. This obsession is getting out of control. It’s not healthy.” Celestia said, pulling Spike away from the desk.

“I would not be doing this if somepony would regularly give lessons, so I wouldn’t have to scrape by to get a smidge of knowledge I’m looking for. And those ‘homeworks’ you promise don’t even teach me anything anymore.” Spike replied, breaking away from her grasp.

“Spike, you know this. I have duties, and I can’t just drop everything to-”

“And I’m not telling you to do that.” Spike interrupted.

“Oh? Then pray tell what are you suggesting?” Celestia asked, having a feeling on where this conversation was heading.

“Oh, I don’t know. What is a place where they give knowledge to those seeking it? A place where they would improve my magical understanding? A place with your name on it? Ring any bells?” Spike asked, annoyance clear as day in his voice.

Celestia rubbed her temple with a hoof as she breathed in and out. “Spike. We talked about this. You know why.”

“Yeah, and now I’m - physically - fifteen. I’d say the circumstances changed already. I’m not that weak, if that’s what you think of me.” Spike replied, glaring daggers at her.

“I never said that.” Celestia replied, a little offended by that.

“You didn’t need to, your actions speak for themselves. How you expect me to achieve what I want, if you can’t give me consistent lessons nor let me attend your school. Do you not want me to be able to do it? Don’t you believe in me? Were you just lying to me all this time?” Spike asked, with each question closing the distance.

“I never lied about that. I still do believe in you, it’s just-”

“Then why aren’t you letting me attend there!?” Spike asked, frustrated.

“Because you’ll be an outcast! There’s only unicorns there. Do you really think they are not gonna bat an eye at you for not being an unicorn at a prestiged magic school!? Do you?” Celestia snapped, raising her voice as a result.

Spike took a few steps back in surprised, but he continued pressing on. “I couldn’t give a crap about a bunch of snobby unicorns giving me the stinky eye. I would be there to learn, not to care about their opinions.”

“You are still missing the point.”

“Am I? Or is it you that’s missing my point?”

“I just don’t want you to fail!” Celestia exclaimed. “I don’t want you to spend so much time focusing on something that you might not succeed. I just can’t-”

“Mom, stop. Are you even hearing yourself right now? How do you think I’m supposed to learn if I never fail? What’s the saying? ‘Learn from your mistakes’?” Spike replied.

“That’s not what I meant.” Celestia said.

“I know. And to that I say: Let me fail.” Spike said, taking a deep breath to calm himself. “This whole thing was so I could find out if I can indeed perform magic on my own or not. If I could, I would focus on it. If not... At least I would know why.”

“I...” Celestia was having difficulty in finding a reply, instead she decided to just pull Spike into a hug. “...You know I just want what’s best for you, right?”

“I know, and I’m certain this is the best for me.” Spike replied, returning the hug.

“...Very well. Next week I’ll arrange a few meetings and have you matriculated, is that okay with you?” Celestia asked, breaking the hug.

“Yeah, I think I can wait a week.” Spike replied.

“Okay... Here, at least eat the cupcake, since you missed breakfast.” Celestia said as she put the cupcake on his desk and made her way out of the room. “Oh, and Spike? You should go outside, take in some sunlight, you can bring a book if you want just don’t keep yourself locked in your own room all day, alright?”

Spike couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the suggestion. “Fine. Just let me organize this mess first.”

A week later...

“So, how are you feeling? Excited? Happy?” Raven asked as she escorted Spike through the Canterlot streets.

“Nervous, I think.” He replied.

“I thought you wanted this. Should we head back?” Raven asked, showing him an unimpressed look.

“Wha- No! I- uh, I’m not going back. I’m doing this.” Spike said, taking a deep breath.

Raven nodded approvingly. “Good, because we have arrived.”

“Oh.” Spike looked ahead and saw the building in question.

“Ready?” Raven asked, already at the door waiting.

“Uh, yeah! Ready.” Spike answered, catching up to her.

Following her through the corridors, they eventually stopped by a door. Spike could see through the small window it was a classroom full of unicorns currently in class right now.

“This will be your class. Keep in mind you’ll be joining in in the middle of the year, so you will have some catching up to do. You can handle that, right?” Raven asked.

“Yeah, I can... Should, uh, I enter or...?” Spike asked, only to see Raven knock on the door, open it and call the teacher’s attention.

Spike saw a red unicorn with brown mane and tail stay in her doorway, looking at Raven. “Hello, can I help you?”

“Yes, I believe you were informed you were receiving a new student. He’s here.” Raven said, motioning to Spike.

“Oh. I was informed you’d be a bit different from the rest but I wasn’t expecting this...” He recomposed himself. “Erm, apologies where’s my manners. I’m Crimson Specter, the professor for the first semester here.” Crimson offered him a hoof.

“I’m Spike, nice to meet you.” Spike introduced himself, shooking Crimson’s hoof.

“Likewise. Now an important matter about my classes. You are joining in quite late and have missed quite a few important lectures. You’ll have to gather the material from some of your classmates.” Crimson warned him.

“Yes, I’m aware of it. It will not be a problem, I assure you.” Spike replied.

Crimson nodded. “Very well. Ready to introduce yourself for the class?” He asked.

“Yeah, I- Uh, I’m.” Spike answered as he turned to her. “Thanks for coming along, Raven.”

“No problem, Spike. Enjoy your class.” Raven said as she made her way out.

As Crimson went back inside, Spike noticed he gather their attention. “Class I would like to introduce you to a new student.”

Taking a deep breath, Spike walked in and stopped by the professor, looking over the class who were all staring at him.

He could hear a lot of whispering from the back while in the front row the students looked mostly shocked. Hope that’s not a bad sign.

“Why don’t you tell us your name and where you come from?” Crimson suggested, as he went back to his desk.

“Uh, Hi. My name is Spike and I actually live here in Canterlot.” As Spike said that, quite a few students lifted their hoofs.

Wasn’t expecting this much curiosity... Spike pointed to a mint colored mare with cyan mane and tail with a white stripe, on the front row. “What’s your question?”

“If you live in Canterlot, how come I never saw you around before?” She asked.

“Well, I-” Wait, telling them I’m from the castle might be a bad idea. “-I just stay inside most of the time.” As he answered that, a lot of the lifted hoofs were lowered. Huh, figures.

Noticing a light yellowish unicorn with red mane and tail with purple stripes holding her hoof up, Spike pointed to her. “You have a question too?”

“Yes. Why you chose to study here?” She asked.

I don’t think I’m telling that either. “...I find magic to be cool, and I wanted to learn more about it.” Spike answered, technically not lying.

“Well, if there’s no more questions. Let’s continue with the lecture. Moondancer, you won’t mind sharing your notes with Spike would you?” Crimson asked.

“Uh, no. Not at all.” She replied, pulling a couple of pages from her notebook.

As Crimson started writing on the chalkboard, Spike took the seat next to Moondancer who handed him a few notes. “These are the notes I took from today’s lecture. You can keep those if you want.”

Spike thanked her as he read through the notes while also paying attention to the lecture.

Later that day...

“Interesting...” Spike mumbled to himself, going through his notes on a notepad as he walked pass a guard standing by the castle’s entrance.

“Spike! Long time since we last met.” SnowFlame greeted him as he opened the doors for Spike.

“Hm? Oh, hey SnowFlame.” Spike greeted him back before looking back to his notes.

“What you’ve been up to lately?” He asked.

It took a few seconds before Spike realized SnowFlame asked another question. “Huh? Oh! Uh, I started studying at mom’s school.” Spike answered, before he once again went back to his notes.

“Wasn’t that school exclusive for unicorns..?” SnowFlame asked, but when Spike didn’t answer he decided to leave it at that. “Nevermind... Good talking to you, Spike. Have a nice afternoon.” He said as Spike walked away in silence, flipping through notes as he left.

Shaking his head, SnowFlame left a chuckle out as he saw Spike almost hit one of the columns. “Geez, that drake needs to get his head out of that notepad before he walks out of a window.”

A week later...

“Thanks again for the help, Spike. I would’ve probably bombed that practice if it weren’t for you.” Moondancer said as they separated themselves from the crowd of ponies leaving the school.

“Nah, you’re being too harsh on yourself. I just reminded you of what you already knew.” Spike replied as they stopped by the plaza.

“Still, you helped me.” Moondancer said.

“That’s what friends are for, right?”

Moondancer smiled. “Speaking of friends... I’m supposed to meet a few of mine at a cafe nearby. Want to join us?” She offered.

“Uh, I don’t know. Don’t want to intrude on the group. What if I freak them out?” Spike answered, reluctant on the idea.

“Lyra didn’t freak out when you first entered our classroom. I think you will be just fine.” Moondancer said, leading Spike towards said cafe.

Once there Moondancer lead him to a table where a trio of unicorns were sitting, arguing quite a bit. “Here we are. Hope I didn’t keep you girls waiting too much.”

The first to reply was the blue unicorn with lavender-blue mane and tail with a dark blue stripe. “Moondancer, of course not! We just arrived here ourselves.”

The ivory unicorn in the middle interjected. “Ooh, who’s that with you Moon?”

“That’s Spike, he’s on our class.” The mint colored unicorn from before, answered for Moondancer.

“Yes, that’s true. Spike, these are Lyra, Twinkleshine and Minuette.” Moondancer introduced them, pointing to each of them as she called their names.

Spike waved shyly. “Uh, hey. Nice meeting you all.”

“Likewise.” Lyra replied.

“You too!” Twinkleshine said.

“A friend of Moondancer is a friend of mine as well.” Minuette said as she waved back.

“Have you ordered anything yet?” Moondancer asked, taking a seat and lifting up the menu.

They suddenly looked away sheepishly. “That’s what we were arguing about.” Lyra admitted.

“What are the options we talking here?” Spike asked as he took a seat beside Moondancer.

“There’s this kind of new spicy tea flavor that I wanted to try out.” Minuette said, earning a look of disgust from both Lyra and Twinkleshine. “What?”

If I had to guess, mom probably has something to do with that.

“Ew, no. We should just get a simple chamomile tea. It’s always my go to!” Twinkle replied.

“Boring! We should get some coffee, like a cappuccino or an espresso! I’m always up for more caffeine.” Lyra interjected.

“Hm. I think I’ll go with Twinkle here and get a chamomile tea.” Moondancer said, putting down the menu.

“And I swore off anything spicy, so I think I’ll just go for a black coffee.” Spike replied as he reached down his satchel to take his bits bag.

“Hey, let me pay for yours. I did invite you here.” Moondancer offered.

“Uh, thanks but that’s not really necessary. I have more bits than I know what to do with them.” Spike politely declined as he put the bag on the table.

“I accept it if he doesn’t want it!” Lyra interjected, earning an eye roll from Moondancer.

“I’m only offering Spike, not you Lyra. I already paid yours last month!” She replied.

“I can pay for yours if you want.” Spike offered.

“Why, thank you!” Lyra said as she smugly looked back at Moondancer. “See? He knows etiquette, different of someone here.”

“Unfortunately, I do know etiquette... It was quite annoying to learn it.” Spike said, groaning with annoyance to the memory. “I can still hear Blueblood’s annoying voice in my mind.”

“Wait, Blueblood teached you etiquette?!” Lyra, Twinkle and Minuette all asked at the same time, shocked.

Ah, crap. Said too much... “Erm... Did I say that?” Spike asked, thinking - and failing - to find his way out of that one.

“Yes, you did. We all heard clear as day.” Minuette said.

“Where you said you lived again?” Lyra asked, curious.

“Erm... I would rather not answer that, if that’s okay with you all.”

“But-”

“Girls, leave him alone. If he doesn’t want to talk about it, drop it.” Moondancer interrupted them.

“Hello again. Are you three finally- oh there’s more of you.” A dark grey pegasus mare with blond mane commented as she approached their table. “Please tell me you are ready to order by now.”

“Uh, I’ll have just a black coffee, please.” Spike ordered.

“I’ll have a chamomile tea.” Moondancer ordered as well.

“Me too!” Twinkle butted in.

“I want a cappuccino, with extra creme!” Lyra ordered.

“Extra creme... Got it. What are you having?” The waiter asked Minuette.

“I want to try the, uh, that spicy flavored tea.” She answered.

The waiter grimaced. “Alright. Would you like the complementary glass of milk with it, or you think you can handle it?”

“Pfft! It’s just tea. I can definitely handle a little bit of spicy!” Minuette replied, brushing off the waiter’s concerns.

“Okay. You drinks will be arriving in a few minutes.” As the waiter started walking away, Spike stopped her.

“Actually, I’ll take the complementary milk.” He said to her.

The waiter nodded, failing to hide her smirk as she made her way to the back with their orders.

“I thought you ordered a black coffee?” Lyra asked, puzzled.

“And I did.” Spike replied.

“Then why you’re taking the milk?” Minuette asked, also puzzled.

“You’ll see.” Spike replied vaguely.

As they continued talking about different topics, with Spike’s slip up completely forgotten at this point. It didn't took long before their orders arrived.

“Two chamomile teas, one black coffee, one cappuccino with extra creme and one spiced tea and the complementary glass of milk... Have anything else to order right now?” The waiter asked.

“That’s everything for now, thank you.” Moondancer said, dismissing the waiter as she took a sit from her tea.

Spike was about to take his coffee, until both he and Moondancer were suddenly covered in tea as Minuette spitted hers the moment it touched her tongue. “Ahh! HOT HOT HOT!”

“MINUETTE! WHAT THE HECK! You got my sweater soaked now!” Moondancer exclaimed as Spike wipped the tea off his face with one claw and slowly pushed the milk towards Minuette with the other, who took it and chugged the entire thing in one sip.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to!” She apologized as she breathed loudly, trying to subdue the burning in her tongue.

Spike got up from his seat, a little peeved about being soaked in tea. “Uh, I’m gonna clean myself. Be right back.”

“Me too. Before my sweater gets stained.” Moondancer made her way to the bathroom.

“Nice going, Minuette. Honestly, what did you expect?” Twinkle asked, shaking her head.

“Girls, question. What you think of him?” Lyra suddenly asked.

“What you mean? He’s fine, I think.” Twinkle replied.

“Yeah, but like, Moondancer never really offers to pay stuff for you. I have to practically beg her to pay that one time.” Lyra said.

“Maybe if you weren’t such a gold digger, you’d get more free stuff.” Minuette replied as her burning tongue finally subsided.

“Excuse me?! You take that back!” Lyra demanded, indignant while Twinkle laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Moondancer asked as she returned, drooping the wet sweater on the corner of the table.

“Minuette called me a gold digger!” Lyra exclaimed.

Moondancer snickered. “I mean, she’s not wrong.”

“MOONDANCER!”

They all laughed, except for Lyra who crossed her forelegs and turned away, upset.

“As much fun as it is, let’s drop Lyra from the spotlight for a bit.” Twinkle started. “I have to say I wasn’t expecting to end up befriending a dragon in... Ever!”

“Yeah. All stories about dragons pictured them as this bad scary monsters that hoard treasures and live in dark caves.” Minuette added.

“Honestly, Spike feels the total opposite of that.” Moondancer replied.

“I agree, he’s definitely not scary.” Twinkle said.

“And he’s willing to offer to pay for your stuff.” Lyra added in.

“...And he’s kinda cute?” Minuette said, earning herself an unamused look from Moondancer. “What? You don’t think so?”

“I’m not answering that. But you literally met him fifteen minutes ago, Minuette. Do you really have to say that about almost all males you meet?” Moondancer asked.

“I don’t do that!” Minuette defended.

“Right, and you’re not proving me right by saying ‘Spike’s cute’-?”

“Sorry I took so long. Turns out it’s quite difficult to dry yourself with paper towels.” Spike said as he took his seat, hiding a letter inside his satchel.

Ah, crap. Did he hear that?

He dropped on the table a bunch of coins from his bag, quickly finished his coffee and got up. “Sorry for leaving like this but I just got some important stuff to do. See you all tomorrow.” He hurriedly left the cafe without saying anything else.

“...I think he might’ve heard you.” Minuette said.

Moondancer groaned “You think?” before faceplating on the table.

Three months later...

“Hm... This is getting tricky.” Spike mumbled as he read his and Moondancer’s notes. “I don’t know if this would work... Ugh, how much I wished I could do magic so I could test this!”

*Knock, Knock, Knock*

Spike sighed as he slowly got up. “Who is it now...?” He grumbled as he opened the door.

“Hello, Spike. You’re studying I presume?” Shining asked.

“Yeah, having trouble with- Wait, your timing couldn’t have been better!.. Can you do this spell for me?” Spike asked as he took a scroll from his desk and handed to him.

“Erm, okay...? Wait, I recognize this spell. What are you doing with a flashing spell?” Shining asked.

“Flashing? That one was supposed to light up a room, not flash.” Spike replied. “Did I really make a flashing spell?”

“Yes, an inefficient version of the spell but you still did one.” Shining replied. “This word here conflicts with those two and the result is a weak flash.”

“Oh, interesting.” Spike said as he took the scroll and went back to his desk to rewrite the spell. “You need something or are you just checking on me again?”

“Yes, I came here to get you to say goodbye to Cadance.” Shining answered, walking inside the room.

Spike frowned. “Why? Is she going anywhere?”

“Yes, she will be going on a diplomatic trip outside of Equestria in Celestia’s place. She won’t be back for a couple months.” Shining explained.

“Oh? Well, tell her I said goodbye... Or don’t, she probably still mad at me.” Spike replied as he started focusing on the scroll.

“...You really think that is the case?” Shining asked.

“Why wouldn’t it be? She... I got mad and told her some mean stuff. Why would she want to see me?”

“To see you apologize? To know for certain you didn’t mean what you said? And that you two are still friends?”

“I don’t know...” Spike replied as he started ignoring him.

Shining sighed as he went to door. “She’s leaving in ten minutes... Do what you think is right, okay?”

“Ugh... This is so annoying.”

Ten minutes later...

“...And if you have any trouble, you can send me a letter too.” Celestia said.

“Tia, you don’t need to worry. This isn’t my first trip outside of Equestria, remember?” Cadance asked.

“Yes, and that’s exactly why I’m worried.” Celestia replied.

“Well, if it makes you feel better. I’ll not be alone.” Cadance said as she pulled Shining closer. “Mister Captain here is coming along!”

“Hm. I suppose that minimizes my worries a little...” Celestia said, before they all turned to see Spike slowly approaching them. “Spike, finally decided to leave that dusty room? How are you doing?” She asked, pulling him closer and hugging him with her massive wing.

Spike rolled his eyes. “You don’t need to keep worrying about me. I can take care of myself, mom.” He replied, though, didn’t immediately break away from her embrace.

“I wouldn’t worry if you stopped missing breakfast. Which reminds me, have you eaten something yet?” Celestia asked.

“Yeah, yeah. I got a few gems on my way here.” Spike replied.

“Hm... We’ll talk more about it later. Right now I should head back to the throne room before Raven starts pulling my feathers.” Celestia joked as she released Spike and started walking back to the castle. “Have a pleasant trip, you two!”

“Thank you, Tia!” Cadance replied back before addressing Shining. “Shining, could you be a dear and make sure all our baggage are in place?”

Understanding what she was trying to do, Shining agreed. “Sure thing, Candy.”

“...So.” Spike started.

“So... You wanted to say something?” Cadance asked.

“I... *sigh* I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said those things to you.”

“It’s fine, Spike. Although I would like to know what exactly caused you to say those things.” Cadance replied.

“I just got frustrated with you always trying to get me to stop study for the day. I know it doesn’t justify what I did and I apologize for that.” Spike answered.

“You know I just want what’s best for you, right?” Cadance asked.

Just like everyone else. “I know, but I genuinely think you’re doing me a disservice by stopping my studies.” Spike said.

“Well... Then I’ll stop doing that, if it makes you feel better.” Cadance replied, ruffling the spines on his head. “Won’t want you getting grumpy again, would we?”

“Hey! Knock it off.” Spike pushed her hoof off, huffing in annoyance.

Cadance giggled as Shining approached them. “Everything’s ready to go, just waiting for you.”

“Right. Thank you, Shiny.”

“Well, I wish you two a pleasant travel.” Spike said, about to walk back to the castle.

“And where you think you’re going? Are you not gonna give aunt Candy a hug?” Cadance jokely asked.

“Since when you promoted yourself from cousin to aunt?” Spike asked, crossing his arms.

“Well, I always found it cute when you were little that you used to call me aunt Candy and- Wait, where you going?” Cadance asked as Spike as walking towards the castle. “Are you not even gonna say goodbye?”

”You lost your chance when you brought up the baby thing!” Spike answered as he disappeared inside the castle.

Cadance huffed, indignantly. “Can you believe him?”

Shining chuckled as he got inside the carriage with Cadance before finally settling for their destination.

Author's Note

And that marks the end for yet another chapter! Oh boy, did this break my head writing it.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have enjoyed, have a good one! :rainbowkiss:

7 - A Feathering Wing pt. 2

A week later...

*Beep, Beep, Beep*

"Nrgh... Shut... Up..." Trying to slam the alarm clock off, she accidentally hit her hoof onto the nightstand's edge. "OW!"

Up and awake, rid of any sleep she previously had, slammed the alarm with her good hoof, finally silencing the small menace to her slumber. "Stupid alarm."

Letting a loud yawn escape, she stretched her forelegs before jumping off the bed and stretched her back until she heard a satisfying pop. "That's... Ahh, better..."

Looking around the room, her eyes eventually stopped by the pile of boxes that arrive last night, in the corner of the room. "That's gonna take my whole weekend to sort that out..." Rainbow mumbled, making her way out of her room to the bathroom.

Once she finished her morning routine, she made her way to the kitchen where her mother was just starting to eat her breakfast. "Morning, mom."

"Good morning, Dashie. How was your sleep?" Windy asked as she served Rainbow a bowl of cereal and milk.

"Eh, good I guess." Rainbow shrugged as she started eating. Though, she frowned upon realizing something was missing. "Where's dad?"

"Well, he started working today for the weather factory. Their shifts start really early." Windy answered, glancing at the front door, a hint of dissatisfaction in her expression.

"Wait. I thought he was working for that building company. Why is he on the weather factory?" Rainbow asked, cereal momentarily forgotten.

"They... Done some budget cuts last month, and one of these cuts was laying off a few dozen workers. Your father had been searching for a new job since then."

"Oh... Is that why we couldn't afford to go to that Wonderbolt show in Fillydelphia?" Rainbow asked.

Windy nodded as she finished her toasts and put her plate into the sink. "I've been thinking about taking that job offer at the library, but..."

"But... What?"

"Well, you'd arrive from school and neither me nor your father would be home." Windy said, cleaning the dishes.

"I can take care of myself, and I can just hangout with my friends too." Rainbow replied, taking a spoonful of the cereal.

"You sure? Alright. I'll just going to make sure everything is in order before I go then." Windy replied.

Putting her spoon to the side, Rainbow tilted her bowl and chugged all the cereal and milk. "Okay, I'm done. See ya later, mom!" She exclaimed as she ran back to her room, returning moments after with her goggles on her head.

"Bye, Rainbow. Have fun in school!"

"Pfft. As if that was possible." Rainbow murmured as she put the goggles on and flew up.

Rainbow made sure she took her sweet time to reach the school, doing loops, sharp turns as high in the sky as she was allowed to.

"Rainbow!"

Looking down from one of her loops, she noticed Fluttershy at the school's entrance waving to get her attention. "Oh, I'm here already."

Right at the end of her loop, she quickly dived until almost cloud level, to which she broke her fall by opening her wings and giving a single strong flap, perfectly landing by Fluttershy's side. "Sup, Shy!"

"Hi, Rainbow... Have you seen Cloudkicker and Derpy on your way here? They haven't showed up yet." Fluttershy asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

"Nope, didn't see them... Why you looking at me like that?" Rainbow asked.

"The last time Cloudkicker was late, she was fighting with the bullies. And I haven't seen them show up either." Fluttershy replied.

"Really? After all that stuff, she's still-"

"Hey, girls! How's is it going?" Cloudkicker suddenly flew in, greeting them.

"There you are! We're about to go looking for ya. Where's Derpy?" Rainbow asked, earning a puzzled expression from Cloudkicker.

"What'cha mean 'where is she'? Derpy isn't here?" Cloudkicker asked, frowning.

"No. Maybe she got sick..?" Fluttershy suggested.

"No, that can't be. I passed by her house earlier and her parents told me she already left for school." Cloudkicker replied.

"Well, that can't be go-"

"You sure you're okay? You still look ready to puke." They suddenly heard Score nearby.

"Just-" Hoops started but blocked his mouth with a hoof, gulping. "-Bleh. Just fine..."

"It's so crazy, though. His bone was just... Out. Never saw that before." Score said, somewhat stunned.

"Don't remind me of that!" Hoops scrutinized him, almost throwing up again.

"What you think those morons are talking about?" Rainbow whispered as they watched from around the corner.

"Seems like one of them got hurt." Fluttershy replied.

"Serves them right!" Cloudkicker exclaimed, before they saw both bullies turn towards them. "Guess they heard me." She said, earning a groan from Rainbow.

"What do you want? Is it not enough to get Dumb-Bell in the hospital already?!" Score shouted.

"What?" Rainbow blurted out in surprise.

"You friend broke Dumb-Bell's wing so bad that-!" Hoops couldn't finish his sentence as he ran inside the school looking for either a trashcan or the restroom.

Before Score could go after Hoops, Cloudkicker blocked his path. "What the heck was he talking about?"

Score started sweating as he noticed Rainbow also closing. "Uh, look. I'm not looking for a fight, okay?"

"And I'm not looking to stay in detention again, so start talking. What Derpy has to do with Dumb-Dumb's broken wing?" Cloudkicker asked.

Score scoffed. "She crashed onto Dumb-Bell while we were flying and both of them fell through the roof of a house. Next thing we saw was they getting rushed to the hospital. We followed until Hoops saw Dumb-Bell's..." He shook a little. "Saw his exposed wing and he started vomiting, then I just dragged him here."

Without warning, Cloudkicker pinned him against the wall. "Ow! What you-"

"I swear if I find out that any of you hurt Derpy... You will wish to never have been born!" Cloudkicker threatened, before throwing him onto the floor and taking flight.

"Clouds! The heck you going?!" Rainbow asked.

"To the hospital. Where else?" Cloudkicker replied as she dashed towards the hospital.

The school bell finally rang, signaling the start of the first period.

"S-should we go after Clouds or-?"

"I'm going after her. You go to class, just in case they were lying." Rainbow said as she pulled down her goggles and flew after Cloudkicker.

"Gosh, I hope Derpy's alright..." Fluttershy whispered, before noticing Hoops by a trashcan at the end of the hallway.

"For your information, I wasn't lying." Score said, walking by her towards Hoops. "And it was your friend's fault."

"T-that can't be true..." Fluttershy replied.

Score glared at her for a moment before shaking his head and walk away. "You believing me or not doesn't change the fact that it's the truth."

Fluttershy watched him escorted Hoops towards the nurse's office, conflicted. Derpy couldn't possibly be responsible for that... Right?

*Yawnn* "I really need some coffee..." A pegasus from behind a reception desk mumbled, about to call her colleague when a filly bursted through the entrance's doors, closely following by a second one. "What the-"

"Our friend! Which room's is she?!" Cloudkicker frantically asked.

"Wha- Aren't you kids supposed to be on school?"

"We just want to see our friend for a moment, we'll be out of your hair after that. Promise!" Rainbow replied.

"Hmm... Alright. What is your friend's name?"

"Derpy." Both Clouds and Rainbow answered at the same time.

"...There's no 'Derpys' in this hospital. Either you give me a real name or you leave before I call security." The receptionist said, hoof already hovering near the interfone.

"Wait. Derpy isn't, uh, Derpy's name?" Rainbow whispered, really confused.

"Crap! I got so used to call her by that nickname I forgot her real name." Cloudkicker whispered back.

"Are you kidding me? How you-!?" Rainbow asked, dumbfounded.

"Ahem!"

"Uh, come on. You have to seen a kid being brought here, right? We just want to know if she's okay." Cloudkicker asked, hoping the receptionist's patience won't ran out.

"We had in fact two kids rushed in today. You gotta be more specific."

"Grey fur, blonde mane? Bubbles for a cutie mark." Rainbow specified, stopping Cloudkicker before she could say anything that would piss off the receptionist.

"Grr... You're lucky I still remember the name of that kid." The receptionist replied as she begrudgingly looked down her desk and started searching files. "Oh, that girl. Right. I'm sorry but I cannot answer your question nor can I let you visit her right now. You'll have to leave."

"What? But what abou-"

"I legally cannot answer you, only a family member can know, which they have been informed already. Now either you leave or you wait for security to escort you out."

Before Cloudkicker could try anything crazy, Rainbow grabbed her and dragged her outside, put out of sight for the receptionist. "What was that for?!"

"I have an idea. If they aren't gonna tell us how is she or what room she's in, we are gonna have to find out ourselves." Rainbow pointed to the roof of a building across the street.

"Okay... I don't get it, though." Cloudkicker replied, following Rainbow up there.

Rainbow stood at the edge, lowering her goggles and focusing onto the hospital windows. "Good freaking luck seeing anything from here, Dash."

"These goggles aren't just for show." Rainbow replied, slowly going through the windows one by one. "Spike got it enchanted with zoom and stuff."

"You mean your dragon friend? Damn, I gotta find one for me too if they can get you cool stuff like that!"

*chuckles* "Good luck with that. He's one of a kind... Wait, I think I saw her!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"What! Where? How's she? Can you tell?" Cloudkicker asked, worried.

"I just saw her passing by a door for a second. She was on a hospital stretcher I think, with a lot of nurses and a doctor..." Rainbow pulled her goggles up and looked at Cloudkicker, worried. "She had a bloodied bandage covering her face, Clouds."

Cloudkicker gasped at first, before she started growling. "Those... ARGH!" She shouted in anger, punching a small nearby cloud away.

"Hey, turn it down! Will ya?!" Rainbow looked down from the roof, relieved that she hasn't brought attention to them, yet.

"They will pay for that..." Cloudkicker growled, just out of earshot for Rainbow to hear.

"Okay... I think is better if we go back to school now before someone see us." Rainbow said, taking off from the roof.

"Screw school! What about Derpy?" Cloudkicker asked, frowning at Rainbow.

"She wasn't being rushed to any room that has windows, so we can't really see what's happening. The best we can do right now is wait 'till tomorrow to check if she's transferred to one of those rooms." Rainbow replied.

"Grr... You go, I'll stay here." Cloudkicker said, sitting down.

"Really? Come on, I doubt your parents are gonna like this if they find out you're missing school." Rainbow flew in front of her.

"What they don't know, won't hurt them. Or are you gonna snitch on me?" Cloudkicker asked, glaring at her.

"No, but someone might if they recognize you."

"I don't care. If I see any of those idiots right now, I'll definitely get in detention... Or worse." Cloudkicker replied.

Rainbow sighed heavily, annoyed at her friend's stubbornness. "Alright, fine! Here." She took her goggles off and carefully handed them to Clouds. "You leave even a scratch on them and I swear I'll make you eat dirt from down below, got it?"

"Pfft. You wished you could do that." Cloudkicker put the goggles on, and stared at the hospital for a solid minute before groaning. "How do you 'zoom' with these?"

"Just focus down on what you want to see." Rainbow replied, taking off again when she heard Clouds surprised 'Oh.' "Just try to not go cross eyed, okay? See ya tomorrow?"

"Unless you coming here, you're not gonna see me tomorrow." Clouds replied, holding the goggles as if they were binoculars.

Rainbow rolled her eyes as she flew back towards the school as fast as she could, hoping the teacher won't mind if she missed only the first period.

The next day

"Anything new?" Rainbow asked, landing by Cloudkicker's side.

"Derpy's room is at that window." Cloudkicker answered, pointing to one of the top floor windows while handing Rainbow back her goggles.

"Hmm... I don't- Oh, there she is! I can see her parents too." Rainbow said.

"Yeah. They've just arrived. Seems like they are finally allowing visits." Cloudkicker replied.

"You think they gonna let us see her this time?" Rainbow asked.

"Already tried. Only family members allowed for now." Cloudkicker answered, kicking dust away in frustration.

"You tried sneaking in?" Rainbow asked as she saw the doctor escort both parents out before he closed the door.

"No, there's always somepony in the room with Derpy. The only time there's no one is at night, but Derpy definitely asleep during that." Cloudkicker replied, earning a concerned look from Rainbow. "What?"

"How... You know there's no one at night...? You didn't stay here 'till night, right?"

"No, I didn't... All night at least." Clouds replied.

"What th- You parents didn't ground you or anything?!"

"Pfft. They did. But it's not like I care at this point." Clouds replied.

"You gotta stop this, Clouds. That's gonna come back to bite you if you're not careful." Rainbow said, pulling up her goggles.

"I don't need nor did I ask for your advice, Dash. So what's going on in the room?" Clouds asked.

"They just left the room. You wanna go check if Derpy is awake or- Aaand you already left." Rainbow groaned as she saw Cloudkicker quickly flying towards Derpy's window. "Goddammit, Clouds!"

*sigh* "This bandages are so itchy..." Derpy complained as she resisted the urge to scratch the bandages over her eyes, which were completely blocking her view.

Her ears pinned up when she heard the window being open. "Mom, you back already?"

"Derpy! It's me." Cloudkicker whispered as hurried to her side.

"Clouds? What you doing here?!" Derpy whispered back.

"I snuck in, but nevermind that. How are you? What the heck happened yesterday?"

"I... Was practicing my flight." Derpy answered.

"Why? You were never really into flight like Rainbow or me..." Cloudkicker asked, puzzled.

"I... Wanted to prove them wrong... That I could fly fast, just like them, I even signed up for that race in a couple months, but... I got distracted and crashed into one of the bullies..." Derpy answered, looking down. "Hurt my eyes really bad..."

"Oh, Derpy. You don't need to prove those idiots anything!" Cloudkicker replied, staring at the bandages for a moment. "How bad is it?"

"They itchy pretty bad." Derpy replied. "And I can't even scratch it!"

"I'm sorry to hear that. But I meant your eyes. How badly... hurt are they...?" Clouds asked, reluctantly.

Derpy sighed. "The doctor said I won't be able to see like before anymore..."

*gasp* "You mean...?"

"He said something about permanent damage on my left eye, something ripped apart, can't remember what exactly... And that my eye was gonna look weird from now on..." Derpy sniffed.

She could feel Cloudkicker hugging her. "I'm so sorry, Derpy."

"And that's not even the worst."

"W-what you mean...?" Clouds asked, pulling away as she looked at Derpy.

"M-my parents are... *sniff* Are going to move away with me."

"What?!" Cloudkicker exclaimed. "N-no. They can't-! You can't... No..."

"I-I'm sorry, Clouds. I tried talking with them but they won't listen to me." Derpy said as she heard Clouds softly crying. "Clouds... I-"

"No! I-I... ARGH!" Derpy jumped at Clouds sudden burst before feeling a strong gust of wind hit her.

"Clouds! Wait!" Derpy shouted, which immediately got her room's door to suddenly open and the doctor walk in. "Ekk!"

"What's going on? Why are you shouting 'clouds'?" He asked.

"Erm... Did I? I just, uh, really miss seeing clouds...?" Derpy replied, laughing nervously.

"Hm." The doctor looked around the room before he left, mumbling 'kids these days' as he closed the door on his way out.

"Phew. That was close..." Derpy sighed in relief momentarily before she remembered Cloudkicker's sudden exit.

"Sup, Derpy. You good?"

"Ekk!" Derpy almost jumped from Rainbow's sudden appearance. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry! I thought you heard me getting in." Rainbow apologized.

"Did... Did you hear what we..."

"Yeah. Sorry 'bout that too. Wish I could do something about that..." Rainbow lamented.

"Rainbow... Can you make sure Clouds is okay? I don't think she is..." Derpy asked.

"Course I can. But what about you? Do you know where you're moving? Or when?" Rainbow asked.

She shook her head. "They're just waiting the doctor to allow me for the transfer to another hospital. I don't know where, and it could happen anytime." Derpy answered, rubbing her left foreleg.

Rainbow sighed. "Well, that sucks. But even when you move away, know that you still have friends here, okay? ...I'll go get Cloudkicker here to say goodbye before somepony comes in. Be right back!"

Just as Rainbow Dash left, she heard the door open again. "Sweety, we have good news!" Her mother said.

"The doctor finally authorized your transfer, this afternoon we'll be leave this city for good."

"What! W-why so soon?" Derpy asked.

"This city has never been kind to you, why you look so reluctant, sweety?"

"I just don't want to leave my friends behind." Derpy answered.

"Well, look at the bright side. You'll have the chance of making more friends where we going. We heard that it's a very friendly town." Her father replied.

"Can't I at least say goodbye to them..?" Derpy asked.

"Hm. But I thought you already did?" Her father asked.

"Huh?"

"Your friend left some feathers behind."

"Oh. Well we didn't exactly say goodbye... And Fluttershy didn't even get the chance to talk with me!"

"Well, we'll be only moving in the afternoon. Plenty of time for your friends to sneak in and say their goodbyes. Just keep it quiet, we can't stop the doctor from kicking them out if he sees them."

"O-okay..."

Rainbow landed back on the same roof they were spying from, finding Clouds above kicking all the clouds nearby into nothingness. "Cloudkicker! What you doing?"

"Leave me alone, Dash!" Clouds replied, flying higher.

Rainbow groaned as she gave chase. "Come on, Clouds! Stop this! We don't know whe-!"

Suddenly Rainbow crashed through a cloud, getting stuck halfway throught it, trapping her wings to her sides. Cloudkicker slowly decended to her eye level, glaring at her. "I told you to leave me alone! Don't follow me, for your own good." She threated Rainbow before kicking the cloud back to the roof, where it immediately dissipated releasing her.

"Woah!" Rainbow immediately jumped back to her hoofs as she hit the floor. "Clouds, you're so annoying!" Rainbow shouted in frustation as she looked around, not able to see where she flew to. "Great, now what..." Thinking for some moments she decide to return back to the hospital room.

"Rainbow, did you get Clouds?" She asked.

"Sorry, but she won't listen to me. I have no idea where she went." Rainbow answered.

Derpy sighed. "It's okay. I..."

"Look I'll try searching for her again, maybe I can knock some sense on her this time. Hopefully this won't take 'till night."

"No, just forget about. I... Just make sure she doesn't do something bad. I've known her long enough to know she does really bad decisions when she's angry." Derpy said.

Why am I not surprised? Rainbow thought as she walked to the window. "Well, here's to hoping I find her until afternoon."

"Rainbow, wait!" Derpy called her back.

"What?" Rainbow looked back, confused.

"I really wish I'm wrong about this but... I have a feeling she went back to school..."

"Why would she-" Rainbow widened her eyes in realization. "You have to be kidding me."

A crowd of students and a couple of teachers watched in stun as the authorities escorted one of their own out.

"Get off me!" An slighty bruised Cloudkicker shouted as she struggled against the pegasi officers who were dragging her out of school.

"Quiet! You are already in serious trouble kid, so I suggest you shut it!" The first officer replied as he turned to his partner. "Get the wing cuffs, I'm tired of getting swatted by those."

"Sure, just make sure to hold her tight. The brat still looks ready to kill." The partner replied as she passed by two paramedics who were carrying in a medical stretcher the unconscious beaten body of Hoops while a third one was talking and treating a shaking Score, who currently had a bandage wrapped around his now half left ear, right eye swallowed up and a bloody nose.

"Who would've thought she was capable of that." One student with brilliant gamboge coat and blue mane and tail said.

"Pfft. I'm not surprised, Flash. Those bullies got what they deserved." A second one with light gold coat and light cyan mane and tail jumped in.

"Nah, that was too much in my opinion. Rain, you think they're sending her to juvie?" A third with light pink coat and blue violet mane and tail joined in aswell.

"Obviously!" Raindrops replied.

"I find hard to believe they wouldn't send her there, Clear Skies." Flash Sentry replied as they moved away from Fluttershy's path as she ran past them. "Woah, careful!"

"Sorry!" Fluttershy apologized as she ran towards the two officers who just finished locking Cloudkicker inside the cell wagon. "Cloudkick-! Eek!"

Fluttershy jumped as Clouds hit the cell bars several times in anger. "LET ME OUT!"

"Hey, kid! Don't get near the cell, you might get hurt!" One of the officers pulled Fluttershy away.

"W-wait! She's my friend."

"I'm sorry, but your friend is out of her mind right now." The officer said as he put Fluttershy down.

"B-but what's going to happen with her?" Fluttershy asked, worried.

"I'm sorry but she's going straight to juvenile, unless a miracle occurs and those kids parents don't press charges against her but I doubt it." He answered, causing Fluttershy to gasp in horror.

"Hey, Descent. We can go now, I already dispersed to crowd for us too."

"Thanks, Dusty. You should return to class now, kid." Descent told her as they start pulling the wagon away, eventually disappearing around a corner.

"Cloudkicker..." Fluttershy murmured, too stunned to begin comprehending what had happened.

Which didn't help her not jumped yet again when Rainbow suddenly turned her around. "Eek!"

"Sorry I scared you, Shy. But did Cloudkicker come-! Ah, crap..." Rainbow stomped on the cloudy ground as she saw the paramedics ponies treating Score. "W-where is Clouds?"

"T-they... Are taking her to juvenile."

Buck! "Derpy is not gonna be happy about that."

"H-how is she?" Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow sighed. "She's... Not great. But not in danger!" She included the last part when Fluttershy started looking distressed. "But I think we should go talk with her, right now."

"But what about school?" Fluttershy asked.

"Screw it. Derpy deserves to know what happened. And say our goodbyes too, before other crap happens."

A month later, early afternoon...

Rainbow flew towards Fluttershy's house, knocking on the door impatiently. Come on, Shy. Answer the door!

After what felt like an eternity for her, the door opening but instead of revealing Fluttershy, it was her brother who answered instead.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash? What brings you here~!" Zephyr asked, leaning against the door frame.

Ugh. Not him again. Rainbow stopped herself from saying that out loud, Shy's reaction still fresh in her mind from the last time she did. "Zephyr, you know why. Can you get Fluttershy here?"

"You know you can just call me Zeph."

"Uh, no thanks. Can you get Shy here or not, dude?" Rainbow asked, already annoyed.

Zephyr huffed to the side as he went to the kitchen. "She's not home."

"What? Where is she then?" Rainbow asked, flying in after him.

"Why should I tell you? You're always so mean to me." Zephyr replied as he opened the fridge, blocking Rainbow's view of him.

You. Are. So. Annoying. Rainbow sighed internally. "Alright. I'm sorry. Can you please tell me where Fluttershy is... Ugh. Zeph?"

Instead of replying, Zephyr close the fridge with a jar of jam in his wing. Walking past her towards the cupboards, she noticed the smirk on his face.

I am gonna strangle him.

"Mom went with Fluttershy towards an animal sanctuary." Zephyr started, picking a loaf of bread. "Something about Fluttershy getting experience or something like that."

"Why wouldn't she tell me that?" Rainbow asked, more to herself than him.

"She said something about trying to be independent or something, I don't know. I didn't ask her what she meant." Zephyr replied as he started making himself some sandwiches.

Independent? What's that supposed to mean? Hm... "Do you know when they are gonna be back?"

"Nope." Zephyr replied, eating the sandwiches.

"Argh!"So useful, aren't you. "I'm going then." Rainbow said as she left the house.

"Nothing to do at home... Can't hang out with Shy now..." Rainbow sighed. "So much for a lazy day." She complained as she took flight, searching for a good spot to practice.

A month later...

"-And at the last lap we have competitors Flash Sentry in first place, Fleetfoot in second and Rainbow Dash in third! So close to each other that this might actually come down to the wire!" The commentor announced as everypony in the stand all saw three pegasi fly down the cloudy course full speed.

"Come down, Dash! You got this in the bag!" Bow shouted, helping Windy hold a big inspirational sign.

"Show them what you're made of!" Windy shouted.

"You can do it." Fluttershy cheered in her way.

Can't pass on the left, Flash will cut me off. Right is off the table too since Fleetfoot can just slow me if I try. Neither of them will let me pass above so that leaves only one way left...

"Less than a hundred meters left to the finish li- What the-? Rainbow Dash just plummeted through the clouds! What happened there?" The commentor exclaimed, confused.

"Oh, no!" Fluttershy immediately got worried.

"What happened?" Windy asked.

"Hm? Oh, that's clever." Bow chuckled, confusing both Windy and Fluttershy.

"A shame what happened but here they come! Thirty meters... Twenty meters.... Ten meters...-!"

Just before they reached five meters, Rainbow Dash burst through the clouds and crossed the finish line.

"OH MY-! In an unbelievable turn of events, competitor Rainbow Dash bursts through the course swooping in first placeeeeee! ...Quick in Flash Sentry arrives in second place and Fleetfoot in third place!"

The entire stand goes wild, with Bow and Windy's cheering being the loudest.

"WOOO! That's what I'm talking about! First place!" Rainbow celebrated.

"I'll give it to you, wasn't expecting that." Flash Sentry said as he and Fleetfoot approached her.

"Would've never thought of that." Fleetfoot joined in.

Rainbow smirked as she lifted her goggles. "What can I say, I'm just that cool." They rolled their eyes at her as the other competitors were arriving the finish line.

"Rainbow!"

She looked to her right to see her parents and Fluttershy trotting to her. "Did you see me?! That was cool, right?"

"That was incredible!" Windy answered as Bow pulled Rainbow in a hug.

"That was quite the sight. I'm so proud of you!"

"Dad! Come on, not here!" Rainbow whined as he let go of her.

"That was pretty awesome." Fluttershy timidly added in.

Rainbow smile grew bigger as she bathed in all the attetion she was getting.

"Competitors to the position stands. Time to get your hard earned prizes and congratulations!"

"Oh! Can't wait!" Rainbow exclaimed as she ran to where all the other competitors were heading to.

A month later...

"What do you mean you can't come with us?" Rainbow asked.

"I'm sorry, Rainbow. But I have important stuff to do today." Fluttershy replied from her seat.

"What stuff? Can't you do it later? It's just for a couple hours..." Rainbow insisted.

Fluttershy shook her head. "I'm sorry... Can't you get someone else to accompany you two?"

"Who else am I going to get? Mom's at work, our two other friends are gone and I'm not just gonna call a random pony to go with us." Rainbow answered.

"Hm... Wait, what about Spike?" Fluttershy asked.

I haven't seen him in a while now... "He... He hates the Wonderbolts as much as I love them." Rainbow answered as their train came to a stop.

"Current stop: Ponyville. Make sure you're taking all your belongings with you, we do NOT take responsability for anything forgotten. Next stop is Canterlot!" The train staff warned as they passed through the cart.

Fluttershy sighed. "I still can't go with you two, Rainbow. I'm sorry." Fluttershy replied as she and her mother left the train.

"I think we should at least try Fluttershy's suggestion." Bow said.

"But what if he refuses?" Rainbow asked.

"Well, we won't know if we don't try, would we?"

“-Uh, Spike. I know you’re not a fan of them, but I earned three tickets for the Wonderbolts performance and was wondering if... You wanted to join us?” Rainbow asked, pulling one from under her wing and showing it to Spike.

Rainbow immediately noticed he hesitanting on taking the ticket. “Erm, why ask me and not one of the girls. Wasn’t Cloudkicker a fan of the Wonderbolts too?” He asked, skeptical.

Sigh. “She... Can’t go. Neither her, Derpy and Shy can...” Rainbow answered, looking to the side, a bit upset.

“Well, I'm sorry Rainbow. But I’m pretty busy right now with my studies.” He gave the ticket back to Rainbow. “...Which reminds me.” He turned to Cadance, annoyed. “Are you done with your ’quick lunch break’? You know I’m trying to finish this thing before mom’s back!” Spike said, showing a book to her.

Did they have a fight before I got here?

Cadance sighed, looking somewhat exhausted from the whole ordeal. “Spike, you’ve been solely focusing on those books, you barely leave your room nowadays! That’s not health and you know Celestia told you to specifically not do that.”

“What? Oh, come on Cadance! This is important!” Spike insisted.

“No. I’m done helping you for now, Spike. You should take some air, staying all day on that room is bad for you.” Cadance said as she put her hoof down, signaling to Spike that she wasn’t gonna change her mind.

Spike huffed, very upset. “Argh! Fine! If you’re not gonna help, then don’t! See if I care! I’ll just going to do it by myself.” He stormed off.

“Spike!” Cadance call his name but he ignored as he disappeared upstairs.

“What got into the little guy?” Bow asked, puzzled.

Cadance sighed. “He’s been obsessed with those books ever since Tia gave them to him-" Cadance sighed before she looked at Rainbow. "-I’m sorry, Rainbow. Ignore him, he’s just being a grumpy pants right now.”

“It’s fine...” Rainbow replied as she looked at the ticket with disappointment. “I guess I’ll just throw this away, since no one wants to go with us...”

Suddenly the ticket flew from Rainbow's wing towards Cadance, who grabbed it and flashed her a smile. “Well, would you mind having me tag along then?”

“Wait, you? But- Since when you are a fan of Wonderbolts?” Rainbow asked, surprised.

“I wouldn’t call myself a fan per say but I wouldn’t mind watching a performance from them. I heard the Wonderbolt’s performances are quite breathtaking.” Cadance answered.

“Then hop along, we’re almost late!” Rainbow said as she started pushing both her dad and Cadance out of the castle, earning some laughs from them.

She only stop pushing then when they all got to the stadium where the events was happening, where she trotted ahead. It seemed as the event had already started as the was no line to the entrance, only a security guard by the gate.

"I'll have to stop you right there. Entry to the stadium has been closed ten minutes ago." The guard told Rainbow.

"Wha- But we have the tickets!"

"Sorry, but rules are rules." The guard said as Bow and Cadance finally reached Rainbow.

"What is the problem here?" Bow asked, puzzled to why hes stopped Rainbow.

"Entry's been closed for ten minutes now. We're not accept anymore tickets."

"Let me handle this." Cadance stepped in and walked to the guards face. "Do you know who I am?"

The guard widened his eyes when he finally saw her. "P-Princess?! I-I am terribly sorry, I didn't realize they were with you." He immediately pulled the chain blocking the way towards him. "P-Please, enjoy the show." He said, sweating bricks as they passed the gate.

"That was so cool, Cadance! You should've seen his face." Rainbow said, chuckling.

"Heh. Don't worry, Rainbow. I'm not letting anything ruin this for you." Cadance replied, flashing a smile to Rainbow.

Four months later...

"This sucks..." Rainbow complained as she laid her head on the table.

"Hm? You didn't like the ice cream?" Fluttershy asked, lowering her ice cream.

"No, the ice-cream is fine. It's just that..." Rainbow sighed.

"Is this still about me graduating?" Fluttershy asked. "You only have two more years, Rainbow-"

"Three. I failed a few grades..." Rainbow groaned, covering her eyes.

"Right." Fluttershy sighed, before looking at the clock of the cafe. "Oh, it's almost time for my internship."

"Ergh..." Rainbow watched as Fluttershy dropped a few bits - enough for both their ice creams - on the table.

"I have to go now. See you later, Rainbow?"

"Eh." Rainbow replied as Fluttershy took flight and left. "Back to being bored out of my mind... At least I still got my ice cream...?"

Rainbow looked over the table when she failed to grab the ice cream with her wing, finally noticing that both her ice cream and the bits Fluttershy left were gone. "Wha-? Where did it go?" Looking around, she barely got the glance of a brow tail disappearing around a corner of the street.

Frowning, she immediately went to investigate, only to be surprised to see a griffin casually flying down the street. Worse, she had Rainbow's ice-cream in one talon while she held the bits in the other. "HEY! THAT"S MINE!" Rainbow shouted.

The griffin jumped slightly and turned around just enough to see Rainbow, before she flashed a smirk and bolted down the street. "Oh, no. You don't!" Rainbow downed her goggles and flew after the griffin.

To say that Rainbow was struggling to catch up was an understatement. Everytime Rainbow managed to shorten the distance between them, the griffin would suddenly make multiple sharp turns or they would simply go through the thick cloudy walls of buildings and gain big distance as Rainbow's wings would struggle to go through them each time.

The griffin sudddenly turned around to face Rainbow while flying backwards. "Why won't you just give up already!" She shouted in frustration.

"Give my stuff back, thief!" Rainbow shouted back.

"Fine, choke on it!" The griffin replied, throwing the ice cream at Rainbow's face.

Thanks to her goggles, she quickly wiped it away just in time to see a massive cloud building approaching from behind the griffin. "Hey, watch out!"

"Pfft, please. As if I'm falling for tha-" She didn't get to finish as she flew right through the cloud wall.

Rainbow immediately stopped just before hitting the wall, but after hearing a muffled clank sound she climbed through the hole the griffin made and landed on a catwalk. "Can't say I didn't warn you."

"Ngrh... My head..." Holding her head, she slowly sit up and looked at Rainbow. "The heck I even hit...?"

"That pipe." Rainbow replied, pointing to the dented pipe that was currently dumping strange dirty multicolored liquid down.

"Uh... What is that?" The griffin asked.

"Don't know but I don't think it was supposed to be like that... Help me fix your mess before someone gets here." Rainbow flew up above the pipe, pulling it into place while the griffin pushed it from below.

After a lot of effort to move the heavy pipe, they managed to somewhat fix the pipe, but failed to notice the droplet coming off the junction of the pipe they just reconnected.

Although, before could check on the griffin, she noticed her sneaking through the hole. Oh no, you don't!

Just as she jumped off the hole, she flew away - or tried to - before something hit her and held her wings closed, causing her to faceplant on the cloudy floor. She didn't need to look up to know what happened. "Alright, alright. I give up! Take your stupid bits back."

"Finally." Rainbow replied, taking the bits back. "Where the heck did you come from, anyway?"

"What is this? You humiliate me and just expect us to be buddies now?" The griffin asked with a hint of venom in her tone, getting up and dusting herself.

"Well, you did steal my ice cream and bits, and I'm just asking a question. Never tried to befriend you - and never would - for that matter." Rainbow replied in the same tone.

"Pfft, right." She said as she started walking away.

Rainbow frowned as she flew ahead and block the griffin's path. "Can you answer the question? You own me that much."

"I gave your bits back. I own you nothing."

"You threw MY ice cream on my face, remember?"

"Ugh, fine. Came from Griffinstone, happy?"

"That place is pretty far, why you're in Cloudsdale?"

"Stupid interchange program..." The griffin replied, glaring at her. "Can I go now?"

"Interchange? You mean you gonna study on our flight school?" Rainbow asked.

"I guess? Why do you care?" The griffin asked, annoyed.

"You're not gonna be stealing stuff from there too, are you?" Rainbow asked, looking suspiciously at her.

The griffin rolled her eyes. "Not worth the trouble if those pegasi are half as annoying as you are."

Rainbow growled. "You try anything funny, you done for. Got it?"

"Pfft. Sure, rainbow girl." She replied as she flew away.

"What a prick... Not gonna bother helping next time." Rainbow murmured as she made her way back to the cafe to pay for her and Shy's ice cream.

Two months later...

"Who you think is going down first, Misty?" A dark grey pegasus asks his nearby friend as their class watched Gilda and Rainbow wrestle with their coach close by, whistle in wing, waiting for either one of them to give in.

"I'd wager Rainbow is going down. But seriously, Thunderlane. Did you see the size of that griffin's wings?" Misty Fly asked.

"Nah, Gilda is 100% gonna lose this. She barely listens to the coachs explanations." A third pegasus joins in.

"Hey, Soarin. Thought you weren't coming today, what took you so long?" Thunderlane asked.

"Sorry, I missed my alarm. Oh, look!" Soarin exclaimed as he pointed back to Rainbow and Gilda, just in time to see Rainbow managing to knock Gilda over, finally ending the match. "Ha! I was right."

"Damn, didn't see that coming." Misty replied as they noticed the coach having to separate the two as they started arguing. "Are they fighting again?"

"Why are you surprised? Gilda likes to get on everyone's nerves. I'm just curious why the bullies haven't gotten to her." Thunderlane said.

"Honestly, that's for the best. Either she would end up joining them or getting them injured." Soarin replied.

"-I've had enough of you fighting! You two are going to the principal's office." The coach said, pushing both of them in opposite directions.

"Oh, great. See what you did?" Gilda said.

"ME? You're the one hurting because you lost." Rainbow replied.

"YOU CHEATED!" Gilda shouted.

"I DIDN'T!" Rainbow shouted back.

"ENOUGH!" The coach shouted, shuting up both of them and dragging them back into the school's building.

The principal sighed as he watched Rainbow and Gilda being dragged into his office, rubbing his temple in annoyance. "What happened this time?"

"Fighting. Again." The coach answered.

"Of course." The principal replied, watching the coach leave the room. "Normally I would just be giving detention to you two and be done with it. But it's been clear for a while that's not gonna cut it. So I called in a specialist to assist."

Right as he said that, a beige unicorn entered the room. "Principal Ink Gust?"

"Ah, right on time mrs. Polish."

"I take these two are the troublemakers you talked over the letter?"

"Yes. Their incessant fights are getting out of hoof quite fast. We don't want another incident to happen."

"Very well." As the unicorn said that, she casted a spell that enveloped both Rainbow and Gilda. "Done."

"Uh... What's supposed to be happening?" Rainbow asked, puzzled.

"Was that supposed to stop me from wanting to punch her face? 'Cuz it didn't work." Gilda said.

"The spell is not supposed change your emotions or opinions of each other, but rather monitor you two through out magic tracked by this little thing here." Mrs. Polish said, pulling from her sweater's pocket a small crystal. "You two need to learn to work together harmonisly - or just tolerate each other enough to not want to strangle the other, your choice on which one - otherwise it's expelling for you-" She said, pointing to Rainbow. "-And your interchange's end. Understood?" Earning a nod from both of them, she continued.

"So, this is how it works. At any given moment inside the school grounds, if either of you gets three meters or more in distance, the crystal lights up yellow. If you harm the other, the crystal flashes red." Mrs. Polish explained, putting the crystal on the principal's desk. "This punishment shall last until Mr. Gust decides you two have finallly learned to cooperate. I shall handle the situation back to you now Mr. Gust." She said as she left the office.

"You two can go now. Just keep in mind, if this thing flashes even if for one second, you done for." The principal said as they left the office.

Rainbow stood quiet, taking in the situation. Just what I freaking needed. I hate this school.

"Great job. Now we stuck together because of you." Gilda said, immediately knocking Rainbow off her thoughts.

"How's this MY fault? You're the sore loser that keeps pissing me off!"

"I won't lost if you didn't cheat!"

Their bickering immediately stopped when the office's door opened, the principal looking at them unimpressed. "I guess you two just don't want to finish school."

"A-actually, we're just heading out. Isn't that right, Gilda?" Rainbow said, elbowing her. They all noticed a red flash come from inside the office that the principal decided to ignore.

Not wanting to piss off the principal anymore, they headed back to their class. But not without bickering through out the entire trip back.

Author's Note

Hey, sorry about the wait. This chapter took a while to get going and I didn't even manage to 'finish it'. Probably would've taken another 3k words easily with the rest but thought it would take too long and it might actually fit better in the next chapter.

Anyway, hope you've had a good day and happy reading! :raritywink:

8 - For The Better or For The Worse...

Author's Note

Hey! I'm sorry about the wait. Had so many interruptions and blocks during the making of this chapter, can't believe it's already December when I'm posting this... :twilightoops:

Anyways, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter nonetheless... Also, really sorry for what's coming next! :fluttershyouch:

8 - For The Better or For The Worse...

A week later...

"Knock it off, birdbrain!"

"Make me, rainbow girl."

"Why are they still around each other?" Flash asked as they watched Rainbow and Gilda bicker since they met at the entrance.

"I'm shocked neither of them tried anything yet, like they were tied to each other or something." Raindrops replied as they saw Rainbow enter the bathroom while Gilda waited outside. "Okay, we sure there isn't a string or something? Why's she waiting there?"

"You think we should ask?" Flash asked.

"Good luck with that. That griffin isn't exactly friendly, you know." Raindrops replied, closing her locker. "Well, I've had enough of those weirdos. Let's find the others."

Second week later...

"-You two must love this room, since it's been the third time this week you were sent to detention." The detention teacher joked as he pulled from the bottom drawer a bottle in a paper bag.

Rainbow murmured to herself, staring at the assigment paper in her desk with contempt.

"Is he really-?"

"Yes, now keep your beak shut or he's gonna give us more work." Rainbow whispered before going back to her paper.

Gilda growled, annoyed as she look down her paper. "What are this questions? How the hell am I supposed to know the aceleration of-"

"It's 10 meters per second, dumbass." Rainbow interrupted her rant as she looked at her with an amused look. "Even I know that."

"And why should I trust that?" Gilda asked, looking at her suspiciously.

"Pfft. Fine. Find out on your own then." Rainbow replied annoyed.

Third week later...

"How can you all keep eating that? It tastes like grass." Gilda complained as she bite down on the apple.

"Maybe if you had better taste in food you'd agree this stuff is better than whatever the heck you eat." Rainbow replied, eating a daisy sandwich.

"Pfft. Meat tastes waaayyyyyy better than the garbage you're eating right now." Gilda retorted, causing Rainbow to choke on her sandwich.

*Cough* *Cough* "W-what did you just say?"

"What? You never heard of meat before?" Gilda asked, astonished.

"Of course I did. But you do realize where meat comes from right?" Rainbow asked.

"Yeah, so what?" Gilda replied.

"You literally eating what was once alive!" Rainbow said.

"And your point? By the way, isn't plants also alive? They just don't get to say anything about being devoured by grass eaters, do they?" Gilda retorted, smirking.

"Uh..." Rainbow failed to find a reply as she slowly put down her sandwich back on her food tray.

Fourth week later...

"Alright, maggots. Time to end the day with a match of dodgeball!" The coach shouted as he went to get the equipment.

"Oh, boy. This gonna be interesting." Rainbow said as she saw Gilda's confused look. "What is it, now?"

"What's dodgeball?" Gilda asked.

"You don't know- How? You never played it in your school at Griffinstone?" Rainbow asked.

"Griffinstone hasn't had a working school in a while, that's why they sent me in this stupid interchange's to begin with." Gilda answered.

"Oh. Well, it's pretty easy. Just dodge the balls anyone on the other team throw at you or catch them if you can to eliminate them. If you manage to get a ball, throw at the other team, if they don't catch it they get eliminated. First team to get everyone eliminated loses." Rainbow explained.

"Hmm, how hard can I throw the ball?" Gilda asked.

Rainbow smirked. "As hard as you can."

"Okay, I think I might like this game."

"Alright, here's the catch. Everyone will be tied in pairs so choose your patner as this will be a free for all in the air." The coach said as he dropped a bag with ropes before he took the ball bag and spilled it through out the cloudy field of the school.

Rainbow groaned. "Ropes, really?"

"You got a problem, Rainbow Dash?" The coach asked.

"Yeah, how can you make sure whoever I get tied to doesn't slow me down?" Rainbow asked, annoyed.

The coach glared at her for a moment before he cleared his throat, getting the whole class attention. "Change of plans. Since Rainbow here apparently has a problem choosing, I'll go ahead and assign everyone's partners myself." The entire class groaned, moaned and whined in displeasure. "Rainbow, you're tied to the griffin." He said, throwing a piece of rope towards, which end up hitting her face.

"Nice going, Rainbow. Now we're pretty much everyone's target." Gilda said as she held her right talon up for Rainbow to tie.

"Oh, shut up. It's not like you didn't piss them off the other day too." Rainbow retorted, tying her left hoof to Gilda's talon.

"-Flash, Soarin. Here's your rope-" The coach continued handing out ropes.

"Ah, crap. Soarin and Flash? That sucks." Rainbow said, looking troubled.

"Why? Should I be concerned 'bout them?" Gilda asked.

"Well, yeah. Flash's a pretty good flier all around and Soarin's almost as fast as me." Rainbow answered.

"Eh, I got this in the bag. As long as you don't slow me down." Gilda replied.

"Pfft. More like the opposite." Rainbow retorted.

"Alright, get flying you all. And remember: If your partner gets hit, the pair is out. And if anyone crashes into someone else, both pairs are out too." The coach explained as everyone flew up above field. "Everyone's on place? Good, START!" He shouted before blowing the whistle, catching half the class off guard.

The few who weren't surprised, were already grabbing balls to throw. In the first minute of the match, a third of the class was already out. A ball would only have enough time to drop a meter or two down before someone would swoop in, take it and immediately throw it at someone else.

"Woah! You weren't kidding, they're fast!" Gilda said as she ducked to avoid yet another ball.

"I warned ya! On your left!" Rainbow exclaimed as she pulled on the rope, getting Gilda out of the way as a ball zipped past her and hit Raindrops on the face, sending her down crashing into Thunderlane while pulling the other two unlucky pegasi tied to them down the cloudy floor below.

"...Thanks." Gilda murmured as she saw them plummeting down.

"You're welcome... Eyes up, Soarin and Flash are aiming at us." Rainbow warned as she flew up, dodging a ball coming from their right.

"Come on, boys! You gotta do better than that!" Gilda called them out as she flew after Rainbow.

"Really? Right now?" Rainbow asked, annoyed with Gilda's antics as she catches a ball mid-air, hearing a nearby 'Dammit' to confirm, she immediately threw it back at Flash who blocked with another ball.

"What's the point of playing a game if I'm not having my fun?" Gilda asked, taunting them by making faces.

Rainbow rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smirk. "Fine, just try to keep up."

Not much after, there were only three pairs left in the air: Rainbow and Gilda, Flash and Soarin, Fleetfoot and Clear Skies. They all stopped for a moment, glaring at each other as only Soarin, Fleetfoot and Clear Skies currently had a ball.

"Well, this is awkward." Rainbow said as she faced Soarin and Flash.

"Sorry, Dash. But only one duo is winning this." Flash said as Soarin prepared his throw.

"Those girls are aiming at our back." Gilda whispered.

"You think you can catch their throws?" Rainbow asked.

"Pfft, easy. Watch this."

Both Soarin and the girls behind threw at the same time, Gilda immediately turned around, managing to catch both balls and tossed one to Rainbow who took it, blocked Soarin's throw and sent one back at them. He ducked to avoid it, but doing so pulled Flash out of place leaving him unable to dodge Gilda's throw, which nailed him on the face.

*Whistle* "Match's over!" The coach shouted as he started to retrieve the balls.

"Ha! Take that, boys!" Gilda shouted.

"Wooo!" Rainbow celebrated, holding her hoof up for Gilda.

She gave Rainbow a look but eventually just accepted it and high-fived her.

A month later...

"-am glad you made a new friend, Rainbow!" Fluttershy said.

"She's not exactly my friend, Shy. We just... Tolerate each other." Rainbow clarified.

Fluttershy gave her a look. "But you two keep hanging out in school?"

Rainbow exasperated. "We literally have to. The principal hasn't ended the spell yet."

Fluttershy chuckled briefly. "Spell huh?"

"It's true!" Rainbow insisted.

"Mmhm..." Fluttershy saw Rainbow sent her a glare as she drank her lemonade, though once she glanced at Rainbow's goggles, a question popped in her head. "So... Did Spike sent you anything?"

Rainbow looked away. "...No."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Rainbow-"

"Was something I did or...?" Rainbow murmured as she laid her head on the table.

"Oh, Rainbow. I'm sure he's just... Busy. May-"

"So busy he can't bother to use five minutes of his time to write a letter? And he can just make those appear outta nowhere with his fire." Rainbow said, upset.

Ah, I shouldn't said that... "Well... Maybe he, uh... Forgot...?" Fluttershy suggested, only managing to upset Rainbow more.

"That... Would mean he doesn't really care then if he just forgot about it." Rainbow replied, covering her face.

Oh, no. What I've done. Need to change subjects quickly. "Uhm, Rainbow. How about we go for a flight? You always enjoy those." Fluttershy tried, flashing a nervous smile as she left her seat. I can't keeping stalling like this, but... Not right now.

Rainbow sighed, getting up from her seat. "Sure." She replied, following Fluttershy.

Two months later...

Rainbow and Gilda walked through the school hallways, joking and goofing around when they crossed paths with the principal. "There you two are."

"Come on, we didn't do anything this time." Rainbow complained as they watched him pulled out the crystal.

"That's not why I was after you two." He said as he cracked the crystal. "This ends the spell, as you might imagine."

"Oh, cool. So we free now?" Gilda asked.

"Yes-" Both Dash and Gilda celebrated, even high five each other. "-but I'm not done."

"What do you mean? We didn't do anything wrong." Rainbow replied.

"No, you didn't. But I'm afraid Gilda's interchange is over." The principal said.

"Why?!"

The principal just shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe you should ask your guardian why." He replied as he started walking away. "She's already on her way too."

"Grr! Scarlet!" Gilda growled as he swung the air in frustration.

"Who's Scarlet?" Rainbow asked.

"She's my aunt." Gilda answered as they both headed towards the school's entrance.

"Why's your aunt doing this?"

"Who freaking knows? For all I know she's just doing this to mess with me." Gilda answered, upset.

"Maybe we can convince her not to?" Rainbow asked.

"Pfft. Yeah, good luck with that. She's more stubborn than Gruff." Gilda replied.

"Who's Gruff?"

"Eh, just an old historian or something. Everygriff respects him enough to kinda follow what he says." Gilda answered.

"Well... T-there has to be a way to change her mind!" Rainbow insisted.

"I'm telling you, she's not changing her mind."

"Argh!" Rainbow kicked a hole in the cloud floor in frustration.

"Woah, calm down there..." Gilda gave her a look. "What got your feathers riled up so much?"

"This just keeps happening to me!" Rainbow exasperated. "Every single friend I make just abandon me. Everytime."

"...Heh. Didn't think you actually thought of me as a friend." Gilda replied. "But it's not like I want to abandon you, Rainbow."

"I know but..." Rainbow stared at the floor. "It still sucks."

"...How about this. When I get rid of Scarlet, I'm gonna try move in Cloudsdale?" Gilda suggested.

"That... Would be cool." Rainbow said.

"Then it's settled. Now, just gotta think of a way to-"

"There you are! Didn't that grass eater tell you I was coming?" A dark brow griffin came to Gilda's face.

"He did. I just didn't care, aunt." Gilda replied.

Scarlet growled. "I don't know how I let Gruff convince me this was a good idea... Who's the multicolored loser next to you? Don't tell me you became friends with a pony, that's low even for you."

Ouch.

"What if I did, huh? Got a problem with that?!" Gilda confronted her.

"Many. But how about we got over them on our way back? 'Cuz there's a lot of reasons." Scarlet replied as she flew up, waiting for Gilda.

She sighed as she turned to Rainbow. "Sorry you had to see that. I... See you around, Rainbow." She replied, reluctantly following Scarlet.

"...Bye." Rainbow said, watching them fly east.

Three weeks later, at Canterlot...

Pacing around his room, Spike talked aloud. "-And so, that would mean... What exactly?"

"That it would not work the way you intent it to." Moondancer replied, holding a scroll up for Spike to see.

"Ah, I see..." Spike stopped in the middle of the room, sighed as he kicked the dust off the floor in annoyance. "Just when I thought I was getting close."

"Come on, Spike. I'm sure we can find a way eventually..." Moondancer said, offering him a friendly smile.

"Thanks, Moon. But I need to find a way before the school's finals." Spike replied, resuming his pacing.

"Well... How about mediums?" Moondancer suggested.

"What about- Wait, you mean wands and that stuff?" Spike asked, making a look.

"I know how that sounds but have you even considered that?" Moondancer asked.

"Yeah. I already tried that."

Moondancer frowned. "You sure? You know that wands aren't the only-"

"Yeah, I know. I tried wands, runes, scrolls-" Spike's face got more red as he went to finish the sentence. "-Brooms."

Moondancer frowned, confused. "Brooms?"

"Yeah, I read in a story once- But nevermind that! We need to find a way somehow." Spike interrupted her.

"I'm sorry, Spike. I'm drawing blanks right now-" They heard the clock from the hallway chime in. "Oh, it's that late already? Well, I'll meet you tomorrow and we can continue."

Spike sighed. "I think you should just focus on you own project, Moondancer."

"What? Why?"

"It's pretty clear that was just not meant to be." Spike replied, picking up a book from his desk.

"...Are you absolutely sure, Spike?" Moondancer asked, worried.

"Yeah. I'll continue searching on my own, and I don't want to screw with your chances at succeeding, so you don't need to come here tomorrow. -I mean, you can! If you want to hang out or use the library feel free to!" Spike quickly mentioned the last part as he went to a small bookcase and unceremoniously dropped the book on top of it, unintentionally kicking up a lot of dust.

Spike recoiled from the dust but still ended up sneezing at the bookcase, luckily only one book caught on fire. "Ah, crap!" He picked it up and started waving it around in an attempt to extinguish the fire.

Moondancer was about to get up from the chair she was in and help, when she suddenly fell on her flank. "Ow." She looked behind her and noticed her chair had somehow been thrown into the far corner of the room.

But she didn't spent much time contemplating what happened as she got reminded of the fire by the smoke and swiftly casted a bubble around the book, cutting the oxygen to the flames and succesfully snuffing the fire out. "Phew... Thanks, Moon."

"You're welcome, Spike." Moondancer giggled. "You might want someone to dust off your room, if that's how you deal with fires."

"Oh, ha ha. Very funny." Spike replied as he looked over the damage on the book. "At least it only ruined half the cover, otherwise it's still intact."

"Glad to hear your book's okay, but I kinda have to go now. See you later?"

"Um, yeah. Sure." Spike replied as Moondancer left.

Spike sighed as he eyed the calendar on the wall. "Some months left before that... I hope I didn't waste much of Moon's time."

Thinking while he glanced around his room, his eyes eventually stopped by Moondancer's work. "What did she even write down?" He wondered as he picked notes up and read it. "...Runes...Spells... Huh, she has some ideas here but-!" Spike frowned. "Hearts? Why's there hearts on her note-"

"Ah, Spike!" He almost jumped when Moondancer barged into the room. All the notes were pulled away from Spike's claws as she levitated them to her bag on her back. "Sorry, I complete forgot this here."

"Uh, Moon. I read a bit of the notes, noticed some good idea for spells, but what were the hearts about? I don't think I've seen any simbol look close to that." Spike asked, puzzled.

"OH!" Moondancer's face turned red as she started stuttering "That's...Erm... Gotta go, sorry!" She replied, leaving the room in a hurry.

"Moondancer!" Spike called her as he walked out of the room, but not finding her in the hallway. "What the heck was that all about?" He thought of going after her before changing his mind and went to search for one of the servants.

A week later...

"Good morning, Spike. Great to see you're not missing breakfast this time." Celestia replied, levitating a plate full waffles towards him.

"Morning, mom." Spike then noticed how the food was placed on his plate. "A... Waffle face?" He looked over at her, puzzled.

"I thought it look adorable doing this way. Don't you think?" Celestia replied.

"Doing... Wait, you made these?"

"Yes, is that a problem?" Celestia asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Erm. No. I just didn't know you could cook..." Spike mumbled as he took a bite. "Oh."

Celestia glared suspiciously at him. "What you mean with 'Oh?'. You didn't think I could make good waffles?"

"What? No! I was just... Surprised."

"Right... Anyway, how's your project going?" Celestia asked.

"It's... Going." Spike vaguely replied, taking a big bite from the waffles.

Celestia frowned. "And what about your friend that was helping? I haven't seen her in a few days now. Did something happen?"

"Er... Not really." Spike replied, staring at the window on the right.

"...You sure? Because you're acting like it has." Celestia replied, getting Spike to sigh.

"No, I just told her to prioritize her own project first." Spike answered, taking another bite.

"Why?" Celestia asked, curious.

"Because we spent three months searching for anything and we found nothing. I couldn't waste more of her time, she was already cutting some of her sleep just to help." Spike replied, shaking his head as he stared at his almost empty plate.

"Ah, I see." Celestia said as she took a slice of cake. "I just hope your project isn't cutting into your own sleep."

Spike got up from his seat as he finished eating. "Nope. My sleep schedule remains intact." He replied, taking a small piece of the cake with a fork.

Celestia widen her eyes in realization. "Spike, don't!"

As Spike bit down on the piece, he immediately felt his tongue burn as his eyes started watering. He coughed multiple times, smoke and fire coming out.

"Here, drink it." Celestia said as she brought him a glass of milk, which he downed it in one swing.

"WHY YOU PUT PEPPER ON THE CAKE?!" Spike exclaimed as he took a second glass of milk.

"Because I liked it! I didn't think you would take a bite from it." She said as she noticed one of Spike's claws were lit with his fire. "Spike! Your claws!"

Once Spike noticed the fire, he immediately shook his claw vigorously until the flames got extinguished. "Sigh. Good thing I'm fire proof..."

"Unfortunaly, we can't say the same for the table cloth." Celestia replied as she flapped her wings once, putting out the fire that caught on the table cloth. Unfortunaly it also knocked over a few glasses and a jar filled with orange juice, spilling it over the table. "Oh no, look at mess we made."

Spike cleared his throat as the burning sensation finally ended. "Oh, I have nothing to do with that... Bye!"

"Spike!" Celestia playfully called his name as he snuck out of the room. "...Huh?" She did a double take once she noticed the curtains near the windows tangled up with each other. "Were they like that the entire time..?"

Three weeks later...

"...And done." Spike mumbled as he finished writing on the letter, wraping it up and holding it up. "Hope this helps." He then breathed on it, burning it away as the smoke magically headed through the window before disappearing.

Before he could continue his search, he noticed a small green flame still wrapping his finger, staring at it in confusion. "...How does it keep itself lit when it's burning nothing? Thinking of it now, it doesn't make sense."

He started waving his hand to put it out, when one of the scrolls in his desk were throw up. "Huh?" He picked it up with his free claw and looked over it before dropping it back on his desk. "Weird." He glanced around his room, but both door and windows were closed. "No one other than me is here, and it couldn't been the wind..."

There's no way... Right? Spike thought as he looked at the green flame engulfing his claw. Tentatively, he pointed to the scrolls with the flaming claw and waved to the left.

All the scrolls, a few of the books and a inkwell were all thrown off the desk onto the floor. Spike got up from his seat so fast he knocked it over as he looked over the mess he caused. "Oh, there's no way! Hahaha! YES!" Spike shouted as he pumped his fist, only to realize he accidently rip the curtains off their railing and dropping the metal pipe on the floor, causing a loud noise to echo through his room. "Oops!"

As he was about to test out what else he could do, a knock on the door stopped him. "Ergh. Who is it, now?"

Opening the door, he was greeted by Snowflame. "Hey, Spike. Uh, do you know where that loud noise came from?"

"Uh, yeah. About that..." Spike started, opening completely the door.

"Spike! Your claw's on fire!" Snowflame exclaimed as he immediately covered Spike's claw with his magic.

"Wait! Let me show you what I just discovered!" Spike said, pulling his claw from Snowflame's magic.

"Okay..?" Snowflame watched as Spike walked up to the pile of paper covered in ink on the floor next to the desk. "Do I even want to know why there's a pile of-?" He stopped, eyes widen in shock as he saw the pile been lifted off the floor as Spike had his flaming claw pointed to it. "H-how?!"

"I'm still not sure. I don't even know if I can do spells." Spike replied as he dropped the pile on the bin next to the desk.

"Well... We could use the training grounds to test it. Although we might want Shining's permission first." Snowflame suggested.

"What are we waiting for, then? Let's go!" Spike replied, excitedly leaving the room.

One hour later...

"Dang! He completely blew away the training dummy." Snowflame said, impressed.

"And that was our last one too." Shining replied as he walked to Spike.

"So, how was that?" Spike asked, extinguishing the flames on his claws for Shining to approach.

"That was pretty cool, Spike. Although you did just destroy our last dummy."

"Oh." Spike replied, disappointment on his tone. "You sure there isn't anything else here we could use? Please?"

Shining chuckled briefly as Spike's demeanor reminded him of a certain pony. "Alright, Spike. How about this..."

Spike watched in antecipation as Shining kicked the pile of ashes away as he turned to him and casted a big magenta wall between him and Spike. "Throw your best shot at it."

Spike hesitated. "Uh... You sure? I don't want to hurt you."

"Pfft. Who do you think has to take the hits when we ran out of dummys during training? I'll be fine, since no one ever managed to break through my barriers before." Shining confidently replied.

"Hey! I did managed to crack it once." Snowflame interjected, annoyed.

"You mean when I was not only holding back but also distracted?" Shining asked, visibly smirking.

"Erm..." Flames failed to come up with a reply.

"Still, I'm not sure..."

"Spike, if it makes you feel better. I'll be putting more magic on this barrier than normal, alright?" As Shining said that, the wall got significantly brighter and Spike could barely see through it anymore. "Here, try it."

"Do you really have to stay behind it, thought?" Spike asked.

"It's easier to tell the impact if I'm behind the barrier. Trust me, Spike. I'll be fine."

Spike sighed. "Alright..." He mumbled for a moment, thinking of some spells to use until he settled with just a concussive blast. "Here goes nothing."

As it hit the barrier, a bang could be heard as well as kicking up a lot of dust, blocking everyone's vision.

"What the heck is going on here?" They heard Thunder's voice as he managed to create enough winds with his wings to blow away the dust.

"Hey, Thunder. We testing Spike's capabilities here. You wanna watch?" Flames asked.

"Watch..." Thunder gave one look at Spike's posture before replying. "Oh, he managed to find a way to do magic? Cool."

Snowflame frowned. "You don't sound surprised."

"Eh, not really. I had a feeling Spike would manage to do that eventually." Thunder replied.

"Really?" Snowflame asked doubtfully.

"Yup."

"Spike, how about you try something heavier?" Shining said.

"Okay..." Spike thought for a moment before he settled for a normal magic missile.

After a loud bang, Shining's barrier got pushed just enough for it to go unnoticed. "Is that all you got?" He asked, just now noticing the smallest of cracks right were Spike hit.

"Alright, you're gonna be like that." Spike said, lighting his right claw up and started to spin his arm. "How about... THIS!" Spike exclaimed as he fired off a fireball.

Flames and Thunder watched as the fireball flew quickly towards Shining's barrier. A loud explosion followed as it made contact with it, knocking him down on his flank as his barrier cracked a lot but managed to barely stay up.

"Captain!" Both Flames and Thunder rushed to check on him, prompting Spike to worriedly run to him as well.

"Shining! You okay?!" Spike asked.

"Oof..." Shining shook the dizziness before replying. "Yeah... I'm good. Just got caught off guard."

"Well, I think I've had enough of practice for today." Spike replied, helping Shining up. "Can we... Keep this from Celestia?"

"Why? I'd think you would love to show her how you managed this." Shining asked, puzzled.

"I want to keep it a surprise, you know. She's going to be a judge for the finals, and what's better surprise than to show off what I managed to do in the final exam?" Spike replied as he noticed the sun's position. "Oh, I gotta go. See you later, guys!"

"So... Should we keep an eye on him? Just in case?" Thunder asked.

"What?" Flames asked, surprised by his suggestion.

"Why you asking that? Do you really think Spike would do something to warrant that?" Shining asked, not happy with the suggestion.

"We know Spike tends to have... Incidents with his fire. Is it too far of a stretch to think he might be susceptible of something similar with his magic?" Thunder asked, pointing to Shining's barrier full of cracks.

"Do you always have to be so paranoid?" Snowflame asked, annoyed.

Shining frowned. "No... he has a point. But I don't think we need to keep an eye on him, per say. I'll just tell him to minimize his magic use, at least until he has complete control of it."

A week later...

"Come on..." Rainbow grunted as she kept flying straight up. "I can do it... Argh... Just a little... More..." She tried her best but she eventually gave up when she felt her wings were about the give in, turning around for a dive to rest her wings for a moment. Dammit! I was so close.

Noticing the sunset in the horizon, she turned to fly towards her home. Thought, in the middle of her flight she got surprised by her mother joining her. "Hey, Dashie. How's your day been so far?" Windy asked.

"Eh, fine. *Pant* I guess." Rainbow answered, her tone betraying her words.

Windy noticed her mood. "Is everything okay, Rainbow?"

"Everything's fine, mom." Rainbow replied, not that interested in talking.

"You sure? Because it sure doesn't sound like it." Windy insisted.

"I'm just tired, okay?" Rainbow replied as they arrived home. "I'm just gonna head to my room."

Windy watched as Rainbow disappeared into her room. She's still upset, isn't she... Maybe I can lift her spirits with her favorite food! "Hm... Where did I put that bowl..."

"...Sixteen..Seventeen...Eighteen..." Rainbow grunted, doing wing-ups by her bed. "Nineteen...Twenty...Ugh..." Suddenly, both her wings gave in, causing her to faceplate on the floor. Ow.

*Knock Knock* "Dashie, guess what I- Why are you laying down on the floor?" Windy asked.

Rainbow panted, slowly getting up. "No reason..."

"Hm... Well, dinner's ready. I've made your favorite too." Windy replied, waiting by the door.

"Cool, I'll be there in a minute." Rainbow replied, walking to the side of her bed and marking an X on the calendar. One less day, and I'm nowhere close to it.

"What are you waiting for?" Windy asked, causing Rainbow to jump a little.

"Ah! I thought you left!"

Windy giggled. "No, just waiting for you. So, what are you marking that calendar for?"

"Uhm... For the Wonderbolt's cadet submission." Rainbow answered, earning a frown from her mother.

"Rainbow, you're only sixteen."

"I know that. I'm just... Keeping track, I guess." Rainbow replied.

Curiously, Windy looked over the calendar and realized it were three whole calendars glued together. Passing through the pages, she noticed two months after her eighteenth birthday was marked 'Wonderbolt recruitment' in big red letters. "Rainbow... Don't you think you're a little obsessed over this?"

"Obsessed?! You're kidding me? What's wrong to plan for my career?" Rainbow asked, irritated.

"I'm not saying it's wrong. It's just you're neglecting some stuff because of it." Windy explained.

"Pfft. Like what?"

"Like your social life? And your grades? Don't think I just forgot you failed those." Windy replied, sending her a momentarily glare.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I know, I screwed up there. -But social life, I did not neglect them, they abandoned me." Rainbow replied, glaring back.

Windy was taken aback. "What you mean? I know some of your friends had to move away, but you still have Fluttershy, Spike and what about that griffon you talked about a month or so ago?"

Rainbow's mood immediately got worse. "Fluttershy's so occupied that I barely see her nowadays. That griff is Gilda and she also moved away... Spike-"

Windy noticed tears coming from Rainbow's eyes. "...He forgot me."

She immediately pulled Rainbow into a hug. "I'm so sorry, Rainbow. I didn't know."

"Can we- *sniff* -just go eat now. I don't wanna talk anymore." Rainbow asked, wiping her tears while pulling away from the hug.

"Of course, Rainbow." Windy replied, leading her out of the room. How did I not see this happening in front of my face?

Four months later...

"-You keep pacing like that and you're gonna dig a hole on the floor, Spike." Minuette joked.

"Yeah, you gotta chill out." Lyra said.

Spike stopped momentarily, took a deep breath before replying. "Sorry. I just can't help it."

"Well, think about it. At least you didn't gave up unlike somepony here." Twinkleshine replied, sending shade to Lyra.

"Oh, bite me Twinkle." Lyra retorted.

"Actually, I'm curious. Why did you drop out, Lyra?" Spike asked.

"Eh. Honestly, it just wasn't for me." She replied.

"Fair enough."

"You think it's gonna take too long?" Minuette asked.

Spike looked at the double doors by their side. "It shouldn't take much longer. Moondancer's probably done by now and just waiting for her results."

As he said that, the doors opened followed by Moondancer and Celestia. "Thank you, your highness."

"Of course." Celestia replied as she turned to Spike.

"Can we please go eat something, I'm starving!" Minuette winned.

"We still gotta wait for Spike." Moondancer said.

"It's fine, girls. I'll meet you after it. Same place, right?"

"Yup." Lyra replied as she and Minuette immediately headed out.

Twinkleshine shook her head. "I swear, all they do is eat." She murmured, following them.

"Hey, you got this, alright? Go show them what you're made off." Moondancer said, encouraging him.

Spike smiled. "Thanks... Although, if I do that, they might get weirded out if they see what's under the scales, you know."

Moondancer laughed. "You know what I mean, you duffus. See you later, then. And good luck!"

"See ya!" Spike waved before turning to Celestia. "So..."

"So... The other judges are prepared to test your knowledge on everything your learned." Celestia paused, biting her lip. "After it, you'll be evaluated and told if you've passed or not... And then if you have anything... unique you'd like to show, that would be the time for it." She explained, putting a hoof on the door. "Ready?"

Spike took a deep breath before answering. "Yeah."

Celestia nodded and opened the door, leading him to the front of the auditorium where three judges stood waiting. "-And you'd think there would be more. It's ridiculous how we only had a few graduations this-"

"Ahem." Celestia cleared her throat, immediately gathering their attention.

"Oh. Apologies, your highness." One of the judges apologized as they took their places. "Your name is Spike, correct?"

"Yes." Spike answered, holding his claws behind his back.

"Are you aware of how we'll be evaluating your performance?" Spike nodded. "Good, you ready?"

"Yes."

The judges patiently waited for Celestia's queue to begin.

Remember: You promised to evaluate him like you would to everypony else... She took a deep breath. "You shall begin."

"What? Are you serious?!" Rainbow asked - more shouting than asking - rather upset with her father.

"I-I'm sorry, Rainbow. I didn't realize they put my name for this week's overtime." Bow replied.

"You promised me!"

Bow's ears pinned agains't his head. "I know, Rainbow. But-"

"No! I'm done talking with you." Rainbow huffed as she went back to her room, slamming the door shut.

"Rainbow!" Before he could knock on her door, he saw the time on the clock. "Oh, shoot! I'm gonna be late!"

He quickly grabbed his ID card and left the house in a hurry. Just missing Windy returning, carrying groceries with Fluttershy.

"Thank you again, Fluttershy. You can put these on the counter, I'll put them away in a bit." Windy said.

"Just glad to help Ms. Whistles." Fluttershy replied as she looked around. "Uh, is Rainbow Dash home?"

"She's probably in her room." Windy answered, pulling everything out of the bags.

Fluttershy nodded as she made her way to Rainbow's door.

"Oh, for the love of- Bow! I swear, you don't forget your head home because it's glued to your neck." Windy murmured as she realized Bow forgot his lunch on the counter. She quickly put the rest of the groceries away before heading out.

*Knock knock*

"Go away!" Rainbow shouted from the inside.

Fluttershy took a step back, caught off guard by that. "R-Rainbow? It's me."

The door quickly opened as Rainbow stared at her for a moment. "Finally decided to show up?"

"Sorry. It's been surprisingly tiresome to take care of critters the past weeks." Fluttershy replied.

"Uh huh. Can we just go somewhere else? I'm really not in the mood to stay here right now." Rainbow said, leaving her room.

Fluttershy wanted to ask what happened, but upon noticing her mood decided agaisnt it - especially since she herself had bad news too - as she just followed her outside. "Uh, where we heading to?"

"Don't know." Rainbow replied, flying through out the city with Fluttershy behind struggling to keep up.

"Rainbow, wait! I can't keep up with yo-" Fluttershy got interrupted as she crash on one of the clouds that Rainbow accidentally changed it's course with the wind of her flight. Not that she realized it as she focused her attention on the approaching factory.

What she's doing there? Rainbow wondered as she saw her mother enter the factory.

Although, she didn't get much time to think as a sudden flash of light blinded her, followed moments later by a shockwave that sent her flying back, going through a window into a building then crashing onto several shelves within the room.

Luckily, she didn't feel any pain as she was already unconscious before she even passed through the window.

"Ngrhh..." Opening her eyes, she saw the white ceiling of the room. Tilting her head to the left, she immediately noticed Spike sitting by her bed reading a book, a tired look on his face. Why's Spike here? I thought- wait. Why am I here?! "S-Spike?"

"Rainbow!" Looking up, surprised, he dropped the book, jumped off his chair and came to her side. "How you feeling?"

"Like I got hit by a truck. What happened?" She asked.

"You don't remember?" He asked, earning a no from Rainbow. "Well. From what Fluttershy told me, you were flying near the weather factory when a explosion happened and knocked you into another building."

"Explosion?"

Spike sighed. "Yeah, there was an incident in the factory. They are still investigating the cause of it."

Rainbow frowned. "Did... Anyone get hurt?"

"Besides you? Yeah, a lot of ponies got hurt... And worse." Spike replied, looking away.

"...Why do I feel like you're hiding something from me?" Rainbow asked.

"Erm..." Spike hesitated. "Do you want the bad news first? Or... The horrible one first?"

"The-" Rainbow recoiled, taken aback. "Uh, bad...?" She asked, worried.

"Fluttershy... She asked me to tell you that... Um, she had to move out of Cloudsdale..."

"What?... No... She..." But she promised... Rainbow struggled to keep her composure.

Spike put a claw on her shoulder. *Sigh* The first time we see each other in who knows how long, and it's like this...

"What can be worse than this...?" Rainbow asked.

"Y-your-... Your dad, Rainbow. He-" Spike couldn't finish the phrase.

Putting two and two together, she stared at him, horrified. "What...?" She suddenly grabbed Spike by his shoulders, catching him of guard. "T-This has to be a joke! A-a lie o-or a dream! Something! Please!" She pleaded, her vision already blurring with the tears forming in her eyes.

Spike shook his head. "I-I'm really sorry, Rainbow." He pulled her into a hug as she wept.

The door slowly opened as Cadance entered the room. "Spike? You- Oh." She came to his side. "I take it you told her the news?"

Spike nodded. "Any info on-" He significantly lowered his voice. "-On Windy?"

Cadance shook her head. "No, but Shining had a few witnesses say they saw a pegasus matching her description entering the factory right before it happened."

"Oh, no..." Spike replied.

*sniff* "Wh- C-Cadance?"

"Shh. It's okay... Quick question, do you trust me?" Cadance asked.

Spike frowned in confusion while Rainbow looked at her, puzzled. "Y-yeah? *sniff* Why-y ask-"

Spike just saw Cadance's horn glow slight before he had to readjust his grip on reflex alone as Rainbow suddenly went limb on his arms. "Wh- Cadance, why?"

"I'm sorry, Spike. It just breaks my heart seeing her like this." Cadance replied as the door opened.

"Hey, everyone. Is dash ready to go?" Shining asked.

"Go where?" Spike asked, noticing Cadance picking up his book.

"The castle." Shining replied. "You fine carrying her down?"

"Uhm... I guess. But isn't it a little suspicious of us to just be sneaking her out like this?"

"We already spoke with the responsible doctor and SnowFlame is currently distracting the receptionist." Cadance answered as she put the book on his satchel by the bed.

"Okay..." Spike didn't really get why they were doing this, but decided not to question it for the moment.

A week later...

Carrying a tray with a plate covered by a lid, Spike made his way through the castle hallways, finally stopping by a door. *sigh* "Here goes nothing, again..."

*Knock, knock, knock*

After a minute, he sighed again and tried the knob, only to find it locked. He rolled his eyes. "Really?"

Balancing the tray in one claw, he ignited his other one and in seconds, the door clicked before opening slighty. He didn't waste time as he entered the room and closed the door.

"Hey, brought you some food." Spike tried getting the attention of the ball of covers in the bed. "Come on, it's been three days since you eat something..."

Still receiving no reply, he put the tray on the desk before he pulled the covers away, revealing a slumped Rainbow facing away from him.

He noticed a couple feathers got thrown in the air. Catching one, he also put it in the desk. "Rainbow, you're literally losing feathers now. If you continue like this, you won't be able to fly anymore."

He tried to roll her over but she shrugged his claw off, still not saying anything.

Spike groaned in frustration, glancing at the food tray. An idea formed on his head as he couldn't but smirk a little. "Rainbow~ You are leaving me no choice then..."

He picked the plate, took the lid off and walked next to her. "You sure you not eating?" He asked as he looked over her, seeing her face slighty, barely noticing her shook her head 'no'. "Fine, then I guess I'll have to resort to this..." He said, taking a fork with food and putting it in front of her face, making sure she was looking at it. "Here comes the train closing in onto it's station~ Choo, choo!"

That got an reaction from her. She swatted his claw away as she groaned in annoyance and sit up. "Knock it off." She said, glaring at him.

"You need to eat."

"I don't want to."

"Do you really want me to go back to mom and tell her you didn't want the food she made just for you? Again?" Spike asked.

"Ye- Wait a second..." Rainbow looked at him, suspiciously. "She cooked this? Just for me?"

"Yeah."

"So you're telling me the cooks are just for show then?" Rainbow asked, still not believing him.

"They cook for the guard, and the occasional feast Celestia hosts." Spike answered.

"Hmm..." She kept staring at him suspiciously.

"Will you just eat already?"

"Fine, one bite and you leave." Rainbow replied, stuffing the fork before Spike's answer, only to widen her eyes in surprise. "Fhis preddy goof!"

"Don't talk while mouthful, Rainbow! Don't you have manners?"

*gulp* "See? I toke the bite, you can go now."

"I never said I was leaving after the first bite." Spike replied.

She groaned in annoyance. "Why me..."

"Yeah, why you have a friend that's worried about your wellbeing. I wonder that myself too." Spike replied, sarcastically.

"Pfft. Right." Rainbow said as she took another bite, finally giving in to her hunger.

He looked astonished at her.
"Rainbow?What's that about?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe the fact that you abandoned me!"

"What? When did-"

"YOU FORGOT ME FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR!" Rainbow shouted, jumping off the bed and knocking the almost empty plate on the floor.

Spike stepped back from her outburst, almost knocking stuff off the desk behind him. "I-I-"

"What? Can't think of an excuse?"

"I don't have one..." Spike replied, sitting on the floor. Not able to meet her gaze anymore. "I've been obsessed with an idea for so long, I just started neglecting everyone... I even got in arguments with mom and Cadance..." He felt his blurring as his eyes started watering. "I just- *sigh* I'm sorry for being the worst friend to have..."

Rainbow slowly calmed down as she listened to him.

"I..." He hesitated for a moment, thinking... "I know this is asking for a lot but... Could you give me a second chance?"

"I..." Rainbow thought about it.

"I'll not let anything stay in the way of our friendship this time, alright? A-and I'm never abandoning you again." Spike said.

Rainbow took a shakey breath. "You promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

Once she heard his confirmation, she hugged him. "Please, don't break that promise...

"I won't... I won't..." Spike replied, hugging her back.