Chapters I gave a yawn and stretched out in bed, idly reading Sunset’s message with a wide smile. You probably have no idea who that is so. Sunset is my marefriend but she lives across a magic mirror.
Yeah I know. That took a lot for me to take in too. We make it work though. She and I often stay up late talking about things and life, us missing each other shit like that.
Anyway, I guess I’m just gonna give my side of how we got together because believe me, it wasn’t just me walking up and going, “Hey I’m single and so are you, you’re hot as hell date me.” I was terrified of even asking her out. Flitter got really pissed with me a few times about my lack of action. Anyway! So here we go I guess.
I stepped through the door of the house I shared with Flitter and dumped my bag containing my Wonderbolt uniform on the chair nearby as I kicked the door shut. I had been gone for about three weeks at the Academy again.
“Sis! I’m home!” I shouted and continued trotting inside the house. It wasn’t much but we had enough space to comfortably live without feeling we were living on top of each other like we did as fillies. “Flitter!”
“Heyo,” Flitter waved a foreleg lazily from the couch with a book in her wing as I plopped down on the couch. “How was the Academy?”
“Long. Spitfire was riding us hard as usual. I got assigned to my team though so there’s that. I work under Misty Fly, thank Celestia. She’s easy going like Soarin is. Got Surprise, High Winds, Raindrops and Dizzy Twister. How’s life been here?” I asked as Flitter shrugged and turned a page of the book.
“Normal Ponyville life. Working my flank off after my promotion to weather manager. Clear Skies has been helping me out a lot with the switch to being a boss. Thank Celestia for her,” Flitter sighed and shoved a bookmark in her book before she closed it and set it down. “Oh! There’s a party down town tonight Pinkie is throwing. Something about a visiting mare? Not sure. I didn’t hear much from Junebug and Noteworthy.”
“That’s nice,” I commented and groaned slightly as I popped my back. “You can go. I’m staying here because I’m exhausted. Bring me back some cupcakes please.”
“No, Pinkie said you had to come but she didn’t say why. She was a bit weird about it in all honesty,” Flitter admitted and rubbed her chin with a hoof as I raised an eyebrow.
“It’s Pinkie Pie. When isn’t she weird?”
“True but she was scarily adamant about it. I don’t know why but she said something about her Pinkie Sense going off about you coming will change your life,” Flitter explained and I rolled my head to look at her. “You know how she gets about her Pinkie sense. And besides, it’s always right.”
“Flitter, I love you but I’m not going. Academy was hard and then I fly home on sore wings. I’ll make it up to Pinkie tomorrow or sometime soon, okay?” I answered and yawned. “Just bring me back a cupcake, deal?”
“No deal. If I massage your wings, will you come? It’s in an hour or so,” Flitter offered and I sighed before rolling onto my stomach.
“Better hurry up,” I looked back at her as she already started to rub my wings with her hooves. “Oh sweet Celestia it’s been a long. You should be a spa pony.”
She was lucky she was family. For pegasi, wings are damn near sacred and allowing strangers to touch them is the equivalent of being a prostitute in a way. Only close family, friends or your partner is allowed to touch or preen your wings. And I can safely confirm I trust Flitter with my life. Hell, Raindrops and Parasol have been allowed to preen me a few times and I’ve done it to them occasionally.
Flitter nuzzled my wing before she spat out a broken one and I gave her a grateful nod. I had done a hasty job at the Academy before I flew home but it was roughly a two hour flight back and I was exhausted. Especially at the base of my wings as Flitter started rubbing that spot of my body.
“Better?” Flitter asked and I nodded. “Now come along, hold up your end of our little deal sis.”
I blew out some air and growled a curse word into the pillow on the couch.
“Fine.”
I sat at a table with Flitter as she bobbed her head slightly to the music and I looked around curiously. I didn’t see any pony new yet. Everypony I saw was ponies we already knew. Some I didn’t really like, some I viewed as family and others were exes so things were slightly awkward. Only one or two were exes. Never mind, three were. Reminder to avoid Roseluck, Shoeshine and Cold Stone.
“Having fun?” Flitter asked once she set down her punch.
“Yeah kinda. You?”
“Yeah,” Flitter answered and pushed a cupcake my way. “Learn anything fun at the Academy?”
I was a bit glad this whole Wonderbolt thing wasn’t an issue between us anymore. We had fought bitterly over it for hours and we both had refused to speak to each other for a few days till Derpy forced us to sit down and talk to each other. Flitter was mainly just annoyed I was up and leaving and I was angry that it didn’t seem she was supporting me following my dreams. Communication is key we both learned that day.
“Learned some new maneuvers. Misty is a pretty fair team leader. She doesn’t tolerate bullshit but she’s always there to listen if needed. Normal shit. It’s nice to serve under somepony like that,” I commented and tossed her a grin. “Kinda like I’ve been hearing about you being all stern at work, Miss Manager. I’m proud of you. Mom and dad would be too.”
“Thanks Cloudy,” Flitter blushed and traced a circle in the puddle of water her punch had created.
I started taking the cupcake out of the paper and paused as I felt eyes staring at me, glancing around curiously till my eyes fell on my old boss Rainbow Dash, the other elements of harmony and a fiery maned unicorn with bright teal eyes staring at me.
“That’s the new pony I think. Never seen her before,” Flitter commented and I took a bite of my cupcake with a raised eyebrow before I smiled at the unicorn and she gave a nervous yet warm smile my way.
“She’s cute,” I muttered before I could stop my stupid mouth. “Fuck.”
“Ooh,” Flitter teased and wiggled her eyebrows. “Falling for the new mare I see. You do know how to pick em. She’s the perfect mix of slim and heavy. Go talk to her.”
“You do realize I just broke up with Cold Stone last month, right? I’m definitely sure that the unicorn over there doesn’t deserve my mopey ass,” I scoffed and my eyes lingered on her for a few more seconds as I eyed her frame up and down. She was pretty decently built in all honesty. “Now come on, I wanna another cupcake and I’m pretty sure you’ll want to dance once before we leave.”
I stretched and stepped out of the bakery after having quickly left to go use the bathroom at Berry’s house down the street. Stupid bathroom at Sugarcube Corner being closed for repairs.
I tilted my head curiously at the unicorn from before trotting next to a very drunk looking Rainbow as she leaned against the mare before Rainbow started pushing her to me.
The unicorn said something and apparently was fairly intimidating if Rainbow looked nervously and I inhaled.
“Hey Rainbow,” I stood in front of them with a warm smile and my eyes flicked to the unicorn. “Hey stranger.”
“H-hi,” She stammered and I pushed down my curiosity. Probably was fairly shy like Fluttershy or tired. I know I got stammery after a long day. “Hey there.”
“Hey Cloudy,” Rainbow grinned and hovered behind the unicorn as she wrapped a hoof around her neck. “This is my friend, Sunset Shimmer. She’s visiting from out of town for the next few weeks.”
Sunset Shimmer. Huh. Fits her cutie mark and her colors well. I should have figured it would have been Sun something.
“Pleasure to meet you,” I said smoothly as I shook her hoof.
“Likewise,” Sunset said as she took a deep breath before letting my hoof go. She was pretty soft unsurprisingly.
“I’ll see you around Rainbow. Gotta escort my baby sister home,” I rolled my eyes and smiled again at Sunset. “Thank Celestia Flitter is inside still otherwise she’d give me the twin lecture again.”
Rainbow gave a low chuckle as Sunset yawned behind a hoof. I waved to the two and felt Sunset’s eyes burning a hole into my back as I approached an eager Flitter.
Sweet Celestia help me, she’s gonna badger me with questions, isn’t she?
I set down my coffee and looked out the window, idly listening to the birds as one flew by. Absentmindedly, I identified it as a cardinal. I blame Fluttershy for me knowing that. She’s actually pretty cool once she gets out of her shell and she taught me a few things about birds. I’ve always liked birds. We can both fly and uh, that’s about it I guess. I don’t eat worms because gross.
I always did like watching the sun rise. I’m always up early like this. I will admit, the Wonderbolt Academy is to blame for that. Soarin is quite fond of making everypony wake up at the crack of dawn and do exercises. Stretches first which I excel at. I’m the most flexible of the Bolts and most ponies. And then comes the flying exercises till eight am for breakfast. Everypony who says Spitfire runs a tight ship hasn’t seen Soarin in a bad mood like he’s been recently.
Anyway, back to the flexibility. Blossomforth is the only pony I know who can rival me in flexibility and she can get into some pretty crazy positions. I still remember tornado duty. That mare is practically part pretzel.
“Morning,” I said and turned to look at Rumble who had fallen asleep on our couch. I had faintly heard him moving around. “Thunderlane does know you’re here, correct?”
“Morning. How are you Cloudy?” Rumble asked and rubbed his eyes as he sat up with a messier mane than usual. I should let Flitter go crazy on his mane again. That was entertaining watching the colt try to flee by running in circles around the room with Flitter flying after him with a scowl as I laughed on the floor. “Yes he does.”
“Good except waking up to a snoring colt on my couch when I wanted to watch TV. You do know the spare room is always available to you, right?” I faced him as he nodded briefly and yawned. “Where is Thunderlane anyway?”
“He had to pull the night shift on the weather team for Rainbow. He talked to Flitter about it yesterday afternoon and asked if he could drop me off.”
Oh. I could see that. Rainbow didn’t really have much of set schedule when it came to work. I had pretty much passed out pretty fast after I came back from Pinkie’s party.
“There’s donuts and we got orange juice along with chocolate milk in the fridge. You can have whatever you want,” I gestured with a hoof as I set my coffee cup down.
I almost called for Flitter to get up before remembering she had long since left for work before I even got up. I had glanced in her room as I trotted to the shower, idly noting her room was empty with her sheets all tangled up. For a pony who cared about her appearance and her bow collection, she surprisingly didn’t give a damn about her room or sheets.
I pushed the bathroom door open and stepped inside, shutting it behind and locked it as the sounds of Power Ponies worked it’s way upstairs and I snorted.
That kid was obsessed with that show. He pretends I don’t notice, but he is definitely in love with the angry pony. I forgot her name, Saddle something. I turned the water on with a wing and closed my eyes contently as the warm water poured out over me and I fumbled for my shampoo and mane conditioner.
“Thank fuck for warm water,” I sighed happily and slid down in the tub, closing my eyes.
I stood on the edge of my cloud, watching my sister directing her weather teams with a proud grin.
“Those go over there near Sparkle Shower,” Flitter pointed at the tan pegasus stallion. “And be careful, those are full of rain. We don’t want to kick off the storm too early.”
“Yes ma’am,” Cloudcover gave a lazy salute and the mare fell backwards off a cloud before spinning around and spreading her wings to reach the clouds below her.
“Show off,” Flitter muttered with an eye roll.
“Having fun yet?” I asked with a smirk and her head snapped up with narrowed eyes. “Or not?”
“More like not. This job is way harder than I thought. Half my team called in sick,” Flitter moaned and flopped into my cloud on her back, sinking a few inches into the fluffy surface. “The other half quit to be Wonderbolts. Thank fuck I have Derpy. She’s smarter than most ponies give her credit for.”
I nodded along. I remembered going to flight school with Derpy. She mainly helped me and Flitter out with our school work. Us, Dash, Fluttershy and Cloudkicker were her only real friends.
Derpy honestly didn’t deserve all the mean comments said behind her back. At least Berry Punch aggressively defended my mail mare friend. Berry Punch honestly scared the piss outta me.
Berry Punch is from a rough area of Manehatten and she isn’t afraid of getting physical apparently. I’ve more than once heard stories from Derpy about Berry’s teenage years in Manehatten and my Celestia, she got into some shit growing up. Being in a gang like she was would do that, I imagined.
“Some days I think you’d have been a better weather manager than me,” my twin broke me out of my musing. “I don’t have the charisma Rainbow Dash does or your leadership abilities.”
“You’re actually better than me,”I rested a hoof on her shoulder.
“No, I’m not. Ponies always noticed you more than me growing up. You just have a presence that I don’t have, Cloudy,” Flitter rolled onto her stomach and her ears flattened against her skull. “At least Sunshower is a good assistant manager. I need a drink.”
“Nah, what you need is to come home,” i lifted her head with a hoof. “Me and you are gonna talk. You are a damn good pony, a damn good weathermare. Even better than myself, honestly. You have a fine attention to detail, are gorgeous as all hell and kind hearted. Do you know how many heads you turn when you go into town?”
Flitter was pretty damn athletic looking. I knew for a fact a certain dragon was head over hooves for her. How Flitter didn’t know was beyond me. Spike was always with her now. I naturally interrogated him, of course. Gotta make sure my sister gets the best partner, after all.
Anypony interested in hooks up only with her gets an immediate right hoof to the face. And I hit hard, believe me. Just ask Rapidfire after he tried hitting on me at the Academy.
Granted, that did get me in Captain Spitfire’s office, but worth it. I suppose I was lucky Blaze and Soarin were there to break it up.
“Now boss lady,” I smirked at my sister. “What do you need done? You order it, I’ll do it.”
“Wow. I uh don’t know? Maybe push clouds? Morning Glory could use some help. It’s his third day,” Flitter and I glanced at the gold stallion near us. He could definitely use some pointers on cloud pushing.
“Yeah, I’ll help him out and make sure he’s okay,” I agreed readily and fluttered my wings. He kinda reminded me of that Sunset Shimmer mare I met the other night.
Oddly enough, I kinda hope I see her again. I should talk to Dash about her later.
You would think finding one bright amber unicorn with a bright ass red and gold mane in town like Ponyville would be easy. I mean, there’s not a lot of ponies with manes like that here.
The only ponies I know with brightly colored ass manes are Rainbow, Pinkie, Cheerilee and Rarity.
“Wanna get some ice cream?” Flitter asked suddenly as she flapped her wings again as my eyes scanned the ground again.
“Absolutely not. Remember, Cold Stone owns the ice cream shop and I really don’t wanna run into my ex again like I did at the party. I had to run outside for air.”
“Sis, there’s more than one ice cream shop in town,” Flitter rolled her eyes and I groaned.
“No offense to the Cakes, but they make poor ice cream. Their baked goods are best,” I did a lazy barrel roll over top of her and kicked a cloud as I did so. “Cold Stone might not be there, anyway. Let’s go. I could use some banana cream.”
Hopefully she isn’t at least. Shit would get real awkward, real fast if she was. And I’d probably get something thrown at my head again if she was.
“Why do you care so much about meeting Sunset again anyway? You just got out of a relationship awhile ago. Why rush back into one?” Flitter questioned and I snorted.
“I never said anything about dating her. Just because she’s cute doesn’t mean I can’t be friendly with her,” I shot back. “And besides, maybe I like the view. No harm in appreciating beauty.”
Flitter stayed silent as we landed outside the small ice cream shop with a purple ice cream cone on the roof, glowing a light purple color.
And speak of the devil, Sunset was sitting Rarity and Fluttershy inside at a table. Small town does it make it easy for running into ponies.
“And upside, your ex isn’t here. I always didn’t like her,” Flitter muttered and we trotted up to the counter. “Two bowls of vanilla ice cream, extra chocolate syrup and extra chopped peanuts please.”
“Coming up. Fifteen bits,” Button Mash pushed up his pink and white striped hat. “Hi, Cloudy. Hey, Flitter.”
“Hey kiddo. How’s the week end job with your aunt going?” Flitter rubbed his mane quickly with a hoof.
“Good! She’s strict and doesn’t let me play video games when I’m helping her. Says it helps teach me about jobs when I’m adult. I don’t think I want to be an adult now.”
We both chuckled as I watched him work.
“Being an adult does suck occasionally,” I conceded and fluttered my wings. “But there’s a lot of stuff I can do now that I couldn’t before. I can drink, decide my own bedtime, have a better paying job. I’m a Wonderbolt and I’m only twenty three.”
Which wasn’t all that big. I’m certainly not the youngest member, that goes to Merry May at twenty, an even bigger achievement honestly.
“I miss my propeller hat. I’m not allowed to wear it at work apparently or at least my aunt says. Isn’t child labor illegal?” Button Mash complained and pushed out two glass bowls our way.
“Yes, but family members can be used to help run the shop until more ponies get hired. And beside, you get bits for your video games,” I smirked and picked up the cold glass with a bowl before slapping down a few extra bits. “Keep the tip.”
“Oooh, thanks!”
I trotted away with my sister to a table outside, passing Sunset and Rarity as I glanced at the ice cream on Sunset’s muzzle and I snickered.
“Hey Sunset,” I snickered again as myself and Flitter trotted past. “You uh, got some ice cream on your muzzle still.”
We sat down and I watched Sunset groan, dropping her face into the table as I stifled a laugh.
“We should totally invite her and Rainbow out for dinner. Maybe Amethyst and Noteworthy too?” Flitter suggested and I gave her a suspicious look.
“Maybe Spike too?” I tossed out with a grin. It was common knowledge to everypony except Rarity and Flitter that the dragon had his eyes on Flitter.
I had personally never got why he was into Rarity. Sure, she’s nice and all, but let’s be real she uses his affection to her so she can have him do favors for her.
That never really sat right with me or Flitter. I knew a few others weren’t too approving of that friendship either.
And Flitter is a catch. Me being her sister means there is a bias there, admittedly.
“Why Spike?” Flitter set down her spoon and gave me a confused look as I rolled my eyes.
“Nothing. I’ll tell you later. Eat the ice cream,” I told her before giving an exasperated sigh, shaking my head. And she was always telling me I needed to pay more attention to ponies social cues, sheesh. Sounds like she needs to take her own damn advice once in awhile. “I’m down for dinner with our friends, I suppose.”
“Okay. I’ll go find them after this and offer for maybe tonight?” Flitter suggested and I shook my head.
“I got plans to hang out with Rumble tonight. Tomorrow night or the night after works for me. And I think Noteworthy has a date with Amethyst tonight.”
“Oh,” Flitter rubbed her chin with a hoof. “That checks out. Wednesdays are their date nights. I forgot about that.”
“Yeah.”
“Surprised Derpy is allowing the two to date. You know how protect she gets over her daughters.”
Me too, honestly. Derpy was scarily protective of her kids. I will never forget the day we all watched Derpy punch a tourist in the face for pushing Dinky aside. Now that had been a sight to see.
Nopony else ever said anything to Derpy’s face ever again after that day. I do believe the stallion she hit had a dislocated jaw and had to be dragged to the hospital by Thunderlane and Caramel.
“I want to buy some beets,” I muttered and licked my spoon. “Is Roma out today?”
“Mhm. Oh hey, your girlfriend is leaving with her friends,” Flitter pointed her own spoon at the three walking out the door.
“Mhm,” I agreed as I watched them for a long moment. “Hey! She’s not my girlfriend right now.”
“Right now,” Flitter sang out and gave a giggle as I rolled my eyes.
I swear, this sister of mine will be the death of me.
