What In Equestria Is The Best Young Flyers Competition?

by TheKing2001

Rating: teen
Tags: Other, Profanity, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Sunset Shimmer, Drama, Raindrops, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, White Lightning
Length: 30221

When Princess Celestia and Princess Sunset are asked to be judges for the Best Young Flyers Competition alongside three Wonderbolts, Sunset brings Silver Spanner along for the trip.

When Princess Celestia and Princess Sunset are asked to be judges for the Best Young Flyers Competition alongside three Wonderbolts, Sunset brings Silver Spanner along for the trip and the three run into two pegasi, one of them being the most unique mare they've ever met.

Cover art done by https://braccher.carrd.co/

Published 2025-01-07 16:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2025-01-26 21:59:04 UTC

What the hell is that supposed to be?

Silver Spanner tucked a book into her brown saddlebags she had bought at a stand near the museum Sunset had dragged her into. Why, she had no idea. Art wasn’t necessarily something the two really was into. Art always seemed boring and a waste of time to Silver Spanner.

Which is why the two were staring past a sculpture of a pegasus legionnare with a shield and sword. It would be more interesting if there wasn’t a weird sculpture of random colored blocks stacked on top of each other next to it.

“What the hell is that supposed to be?” Silver Spanner asked finally and glanced briefly at an equally confused looking Sunset.

“Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. It reminds me of a Rubiks Cube, except taken apart and stacked on top of each other.”

Silver Spanner burst out laughing and Sunset gave a smile as she nodded. A few other patrons looked annoyed but the two brushed it off.

“At least the legionnare looks cool. I still prefer the Royal Guard personally. The gold armor looks cool,” Silver Spanner mused and Sunset looked around before leaning in close.

“Same here,” Sunset whispered and they both laughed again. “Hey, I wanna show you something. Come with me.”

Sunset and Silver Spanner wandered around a group of school ponies being led by a teacher and Sunset flashed the group a warm smile.

“Tada!” Sunset waved a hoof proudly at a spray painted concrete slab of wall. The slab was decorated in brightly colored waves of blue and white with a dolphin jumping out of the water. “Well, whaddya think?”

Silver Spanner didn’t necessarily know what the hell to think as she examined the slab closer.

“Who is Flanksy?” Silver Spanner asked and Sunset shrugged.

“No clue, but he or she does some pretty cool work, right?” Sunset pressed and Silver Spanner tilted her head at her in confusion. “Right?”

“I guess, yeah. Art isn’t really my thing if I’m being one hundred percent honest.”

“Oh.” Sunset gave her a disappointed look and folded her ears with a sigh. “Let’s move on and leave this ugly painting behind then, shall we?” Sunset muttered and her tail sagged on the ground as Silver Spanner stared after her.

“Uh, okay?” Silver Spanner trotted after her past some more statues. “Aren’t you even gonna look at the ones you ran past? You wanted to come here, remember?”

“No, because I don’t care about them. I want to go to our hotel room and take a nap. I’m tired,” Sunset answered and continued to the exit with a frown.

Silver Spanner followed in confusion and Sunset tossed the two tickets they had each paid for into a nearby trash can. Silver Spanner paused and levitated them out, internally thankful nothing gross got on them.

“What the hell was that about?” Silver Spanner wondered aloud and looked around. “Sunset? Where the hell are you? Oh great. Freaking lost in a random city, joy to the bucking world.”

Silver Spanner turned in a circle in a failed attempt to find Sunset. You think it would be easy, given how bright her mane is. It’s red and orange. How hard could it be to miss something like that?

Apparently very hard, Silver Spanner realized and she sat down hard on the stone steps of the museum she had been in. How the hell stone was able to be on clouds and not fall through was beyond her.

“Ughhh.”

“Something wrong?”

A yellow pegasus stood in front of her with three drops of rain for a cutie mark, idly fluttering her wings.

“Kinda yeah. Why?” Silver Spanner asked warily and the mare rolled her eyes.

“Relax. I’m really not interested in kidnapping you, so calm the attitude. Not often you see a unicorn randomly here. I’m Raindrops and you are?”

“Silver Spanner.”

Raindrops glanced at her cutie mark. She did vaguely remember White Lightning describing her cutie mark as a tool of some kind. She didn’t really know many ponies with wrenches for cutie marks and contrary to what she told her, a few unicorns did live in Cloudsdale alongside some earth ponies.

“I got lost from my friend and I’m not from here, obviously. I’m scared,” Silver Spanner admitted and scuffed her hoof on the stone. “She said she was going back to our hotel were staying at.”

“Come on,” Raindrops held out a hoof. “Tell me the hotel and I’ll take you there.”

Silver Spanner hesitated for a moment before accepting the hoof. Her parents always did say to never accept a strangers help in foreign cities for safety reasons, but Silver Spanner had her magic after all. And she did know a few defensive spells.

“I think my coltfriend will be back soon. He went to buy a bottled water,” Raindrops looked around and Silver Spanner stepped back warily.

“Oh hell no. I know all about couples taking lost teenage mares. I’m staying right here sitting on my plot till a police pony comes along,” Silver Spanner proclaimed and sat down on her plot, crossing her forelegs.

“Okay, listen. I know all about that shit too and I guarantee you I’m not into that. That shit is gross,” Raindrops sat down and licked her lips. “My friend saved you after you fell off that cloud. Her name is White Lightning.”

Silver Spanner paused and shot her a look.

“Okay,” Silver Spanner allowed her to rest a wing around her and she nuzzled into the wing. “Soft and warm.”

“Yeah, they are. I take good care of my wings. Attractive wings are how pegasi attract mates,” Raindrops explained and spread her left wing open.

“Huh.”

“Yeah. Anyway, here he comes,” Raindrops jerked her head to a white stallion with wavey black hair and a telescope cutie mark. “Milky Way, my coltfriend. Milky Way, meet Silver Spanner. She’s the one Whitey saved yesterday.”

“Oh well hi,” Milky Way waved a wing at her and hoofed Raindrops and bottled water. “What I miss?”

“She apparently got separated from one of the Princesses. Which one was it, by the way? Princess Celestia or Princess Cadence?” Raindrops asked as she glanced at her. She probably should have asked that at the start. Probably would have gotten a lot further in conversation than Silver Spanner thinking Raindrops was gonna sell her to some sex trade or whatever it was she thought.

“Well, if we’re using titles then it was Princess Sunset. But I just call her Sunset or Sunny,” Silver Spanner answered and the older ponies exchanged a look. “She really isn’t fond of her friends calling her by her full title.”

The two pegasi had read a newspaper article saying something similar but they didn’t really trust the newspapers. Most of the time Raindrops and Milky Way never took the papers seriously. It was another thing to have a pony close to Sunset to confirm it.

“Where’s your hotel at, by the way?” Raindrops turned to Silver Spanner. Silver Spanner told the two and they both nodded along. “Oh, that’s easy to find. Follow us. It’s near that one coliseum.”

Raindrops and Milky Way started trotting away and Silver Spanner hastily galloped to catch up. She really didn’t want to get left behind again.

“I really hope we don’t get arrested for going to this hotel. You know the police have it locked down tighter than the weather factory after closing,” Milky Way muttered and rested a wing on Raindrops back.

“Same. But she looked so scared, it made sense to offer help. Or at least look for a police officer pony. And we might get to meet the Princesses too.”

“Maybe. So did you like the art museum?” Milky Way glanced back at Silver Spanner and the brown unicorn shrugged.

“Art isn’t really my thing. It’s more of Sunset’s speed. She really likes painting and such. She spends a lot of time outside back in Canterlot painting the sunset’s. Or anything that catches her eye.”

“Gotcha. Kinda nice to know one of the Princesses is just like us,” Milky Way mused and Raindrops found herself inclined to agree. “You aren’t from Canterlot. Not with an accent like that.”

“Ponyville.”

“Really? Do you know somepony named Derpy? Gray pegasus with a blonde mane, gold eyes? She just had a foal. A little filly,” Raindrops eyed her and Silver Spanner nodded enthusiastically. “Small world.”

“Tell me about it. I’ve met her foal. Dinky is freaking adorable. Here, I got a picture,” Silver Spanner rummaged through her saddlebags and held up of a tired looking Derpy in a hospital bed holding a sleeping unicorn filly.

“That’s freaking adorable,” Raindrops smiled and Milky Way nodded. “We gotta visit now.”

“I’ll make a copy and give you one. She’s a nice pony. I like her a lot.”

“Most ponies do,” Milky Way commented and nuzzled Raindrops as the two led Silver Spanner through the market. “And here we are. It was nice to meet you. And remember, next time stay close to the Princess. Getting lost is scary, believe me.”

“Thank you,” Silver Spanner hugged Raindrops and the pegasus froze before ruffling her mane with a hoof. Silver Spanner quickly switched to hugging Milky Way and he awkwardly returned the gesture.

“No problem. We’ll wait till you go inside before leaving. It’s your turn to make dinner today, by the way,” Raindrops told Milky Way and flicked his side with her tail. “Have a good day, Silver Spanner.”

“You as well. I’ll make sure you get that picture,” Silver Spanner tossed her a salute and trotted inside the hotel lobby.

“She seemed nice,” Milky Way noted and Raindrops silently agreed. “Wait till White Lightning and the others hear about this.”

“I didn’t even think of that.”

Silver Spanner flung herself down on her bed, flicking the lamp next to her on and she levitated a book out of her saddlebags she had dropped at the side of her bed. A blue towel was wrapped around mane to soak up the remaining drops of water from her shower she had just taken.

Sunset’s cloud bed was mysteriously empty and Silver Spanner assumed she was either eating dinner with Celestia, in her room or doing whatever it was Sunset enjoyed doing in Cloudsdale. Sunset had been in the bed when she returned and the two didn’t really conversate. When Silver Spanner had came back from the shower, Sunset was gone yet both hotel key cards were on the coffee table.

Silver Spanner stretched out on her bed and rolled onto her stomach with a bored expression, glancing out their window that was open with the curtains blowing in the wind.

She was fairly curtain the window had been closed when they left this morning. Based on the sun setting, it was around nine in the evening so Sunset should have been either asleep in bed or taking a shower. And since Silver Spanner had been taking a shower, obviously Sunset wasn’t there.

Silver Spanner glanced at the window as she faintly listened to the sound of what sounded like either an animal crawling up the wall or a pony.

A pair of orange hooves grabbed onto the window sill and Silver Spanner charged her horn, blasting a defensive spell at Sunset as the unicorn swung her hind legs over the window sill and rolled onto the cloud.

“Woah!” Sunset yelped and covered her head before peering out the window as Silver Spanners blast slammed into a building next door. “What the heck was that about?”

“I didn’t know it was you! Why in Equestria wouldn’t you use the door like a normal pony?” Silver Spanner shot back and her eyes fell on the spray paint can that rolled out of Sunset’s saddlebags before she looked at Sunset.

Sunset’s hooves had specks of blue on them and she was folding up a black cloak that had specks of red, blue, orange and silver on it.

“What the hell?” Silver Spanner gestured at her. “Why are you covered in paint?”

“Shh!” Sunset hissed and her horn glowed as she cast a sound proof spell on the room. Silver Spanner could faintly make out the room glowing a light blue if she looked around out of the corner of her eyes. “What I’m about to tell you nopony else can know, capiche? Not even the priest you confess your sins at occasionally, okay?”

“Uh okay?” Silver Spanner raised an eyebrow as Sunset trotted towards her and Sunset sat down, careful to make sure paint didn’t get on the blankets. “Why do we have to have a sound proofing spell?”

“Because I have a hobby that’s not really legal,” Sunset admitted and looked around before shutting the window with her magic. “I like to do graffiti. I sneak out at night to go paint.”

“What?”

“I thought I was pretty clear in what I said. I have a few pieces in museums we went to today. I’m Flanksy. But you can’t tell anypony because Flanksy is currently wanted for questioning by the Royal Guard and a few police departments. It’s like an escape for me so to speak. My mom doesn’t know obviously. Mom would kill me so fast,” Sunset paused the spray cans under her bed.

Silver Spanner laughed. She didn’t know what else to say as she held her sides and laughed harder than she ever had in her entire life.

“Y-you’re joking,” Silver Spanner wiped a tear out of her eyes. “You have never broken a single law once. There’s no way in hell you’re this Flanksy.”

Sunset sat silently and Silver Spanners laughter faded slowly as her eyes widened.

“Oh my Celestia, you’re serious. Wait, so that painting at the museum-” Silver Spanner started and Sunset nodded. “Oh my god.”

“Yeah. It was awful looking, I know. You don’t have to remind me. It was early work that mysteriously got donated to the Cloudsdale Museum of Art.”

“It wasn’t bad,” Silver Spanner frowned and Sunset rolled her eyes. “What?”

“Don’t lie. You agreed when I said it was bad. I was so excited to show it to somepony but I guess I shouldn’t have been,” Sunset shoved herself off the bed. “I need a shower.”

“Sit back down now. I never agreed, I just don’t know anything about art. I’m sorry, okay?” Silver Spanner sighed and Sunset raised an eyebrow. “It was very pretty. I liked the dolphin a lot. How often do you do this?”

“Every night. Canterlot, Cloudsdale if I’m here. Any city I’m in, I hide spray paint with me. Mom never checks my bags so,” Sunset shrugged and glanced at her. “Did you really like it or are you just saying that because I’m upset you didn’t react at all?”

“I like it. Have I ever lied to you?” Silver Spanner scoffed and Sunset shook her head after a moment. “Exactly.”

“Sorry. Promise me you won’t tell anypony about this at all. Not even if they ask you if you know something, okay?” Sunset levitated a towel off the shelf in the bathroom.

“You’re asking me to lie? That goes against everything I am as a pony,” Silver Spanner rested a hoof against her chest. “You know I don’t like lying. Honesty is important and all, remember?”

“I’m asking you as a friend to help me. I’m not expecting you to say yes nor will I force you but I’d appreciate it. I’m gonna get a shower. Whatever decision you decide I’ll support,” Sunset stepped inside the bathroom.

“And we’ll still be friends?” Silver Spanner called out and Sunset paused.

“Obviously. I’ll respect whatever you decide. On my grandma’s grave.”

Sunset shut the bathroom door and Silver Spanner chewed anxiously on her bottom lip as she heard the shower turn on and she listened to Sunset start singing.

Silver Spanner glanced at a picture in her saddlebags of Sunset and her smiling in front of CSGU.

Silver Spanner quickly made her decision.

Author's Note

Name: Sunset Shimmer

Age: 16(currently)

Coat color: Orange.

Mane color: Red and Orange.

Eye color: Teal.

Element:?

Motto: The only way to survive a duel with me is not to show up.

Bio: Sunset Shimmer is the biological daughter of Celestia and Discord. Currently unaware of who her true father is as of right now. She is the sister of Screwball. Sunset is widely respected by Equestrian citizens or feared by classmates due to her being related to Celestia. Most classmates either fear her or worship her, often making her feel uncomfortable. She considers Silver Spanner and Twinkleshine to be her closest friends at CSGU. She is the cousin of Princess Cadence and is very close to the alicorn. She has a cutie mark of a gold and red flaming sun.

Sunset is often referred to as a WMD by her peers and affectionately by her friends as Sunset has a fondness for blowing things up. Sunset is occasionally left in charge of Equestria when Celestia is gone. Sunset is a kind hearted pony and she likes to meet ponies.

Sunset rarely gets angry, but when she does, she occasionally blacks out and doesn't remember what happened. Her magic tends to switch from a teal to a red when she gets angry.

She later becomes an Element of Harmony and the appointed leader of the Elements, but which element is currently unknown. She later helps defend Canterlot against the changelings and witnesses the Queens defeat. Sunset was one of the first to voice concerns about the wedding.

Sunset can make military decisions when necessary and is cold and ruthless in them. Sunset often prefers to take part in conflict alongside the royal guards and firmly shares the same sentiment as Celestia that good leaders lead from the front, not from the sidelines.

Sunset later assists with search and rescue after Baltimare is hit by a series of tornadoes alongside Redheart, White Lightning, Silver Spanner and Berry Punch.

While Sunset is mostly modest, she does have an arrogant side that can occasionally come out. She often serves as a judge for the BYFC and once served as a judge when Twilight and another unicorn had a duel in the streets of Canterlot. She is the owner of a lizard named Ray and a phoenix named Philomena. Sunset is fond of art and video games. She has a secret identity as a graffiti artist that is currently wanted by the royal guard. Many ponies secretly believe Sunset is strong enough to rival Celestia and a select few are waiting to see if Sunset makes an attempt for the throne.
Sunset is fiercely loyal to Princess Celestia and Equestria to the point of willing to die for the two.

Weakness: Heights.

Abilities: Sunset is very intelligent in spells and military decisions from sitting in on meetings Celestia has with the military advisors. Sunset is physically strong and is very strong with her magic.

https://www.deviantart.com/andoanimalia/art/Sunset-Shimmer-being-flirty-towards-somepony-902143845

https://www.deviantart.com/famousmari5/art/Sunset-Shimmer-3-792859453

What the hell is that?

Sunset flicked her tail aside as she and Silver Spanner shared a bench, the two holding an ice cream in their magic auras, Sunset’s a light blue and Silver Spanners a grayish pink color.

“It’s a beautiful day,” Silver Spanner commented and she looked around the pond at some swans swimming and she gave her ice cream a lick. A colt went running past laughing and she smiled at him for a moment. “Where’s your guard buddies at, anyway Sunset?”

“All three of them have mandatory retraining at Fort Dodge. It’s something the entire royal guard is doing at the moment except the castle guards. Apparently they’re doing drills if Equestria ever gets invaded,” Sunset answered and licked her strawberry ice cream. “And yeah, it’s pretty out.”

Silver Spanner started eating her ice cream cone and started wiping her face off with a stack of wet napkins, tossing them into a trash can next to the bench.

Silver Spanner rested a foreleg on the foreleg rest, looking up at some geese flying over head. The two were out of school for a week due to some apparent renovations the school was getting.

The two would have invited Twinkleshine out with them, but apparently she was out town with her parents and Lemon Hearts visiting Las Pegasus. Twilight and Moondancer were holed up in the library, Minuette had work and Lyra was on some music trip with the school band.

“What do you and your parents got planned? Anything?” Sunset asked curiously and Silver Spanner shook her head.

“Nah. They both got work and stuff, but at least I got my best friend,” Silver Spanner shrugged with a grin and winked at Sunset. “What about you?”

“Well, Mom and I are headed to Cloudsdale in a few days. We got asked to be judges for the Best Young Flyers Competition along with three of the Wonderbolts,” Sunset answered and Silver Spanners face fell.

“Oh. Well, I guess I’ll be by myself then this week,” Silver Spanner used her magic to skip a rock across the pond.

“Actually, I was gonna ask if you wanted to join us. It could be fun and Cloudsdale is always cool. It’s a bit terrifying at first being that high up, but you get used to it after a few hours,” Sunset waved a hoof dismissively in the air and Silver Spanners expression brightened considerably.

“Really?” Silver Spanners tail wagged for a few seconds and Sunset nodded. “I’ve never been to Cloudsdale before.”

“Oh, it’s awesome. Lots of good stuff up there. The weather factory is cool. I might be able to pull some strings and get us a tour of the facility. It’s usually closed to the general public but well, I am a Princess, after all. I can be quite persuasive when I need to be,” Sunset smirked and the two shared a laugh.

Sunset tossed her trash away and the two started trotting down the path, walking around two foals playing on the sidewalk. Sunset had to admit, it was a breath of fresh air to not have royal guards following her every move. Obviously, she loved Comet, Thunder and Cobalt like family. They had been there ever since she was born, after all. But it was still nice to be able to walk around Canterlot like a normal pony with her friend.

“Just one question,” Silver Spanner twirled a flower in the air with her magic. “What the hell is the Best Young Flyers Competition?”

“Every year, Cloudsdale hosts a competition to find the best and fastest pegasus Equestria has to offer. They have to do something crazy impressive to win. Like, a good trick or something daring. Whoever wins gets to spend a day with three Wonderbolt judges, myself and mom. I think this year it’s Misty Fly, Spitfire and Soarin. Ah, Soarin,” Sunset sighed and Silver Spanner slowed to a stop, staring at Sunset.

“Oh my god.”

“What?”

“You like Soarin the Wonderbolt,” Silver Spanner covered her mouth with a hoof. “Oh my stars. I never thought I’d see the day Sunset admits she likes somepony.”

“I like lots of ponies. I like you, mom, Raven, my guards, Twinkleshine, Lyra. I go on and on,” Sunset waved a hoof dismissively and Silver Spanner snorted.

“Oh totally what I meant. If you don’t like him, then why are you blushing?” Silver Spanner pointed out with a smirk and Sunset growled softly.

“Stupid cheeks,” Sunset grumbled and shrugged. “Fine, Soarin is cute. There, I said it. So what?”

“Oh nothing. Isn’t he like, twenty six?”

“Yeah, I know. Nothing will ever happen because age difference. But a mare can dream,” Sunset sighed and kicked some loose pebbles down the sidewalk. “Besides, nopony would take a risk dating Princess Celestia’s daughter. High Winds isn’t so bad herself.”

“I guess,” Silver Spanner shrugged. “I’m straight, I guess so I don’t really have an opinion on her. Hell, I’ve never even met a Wonderbolt once in my life. Always wanted to, though.”

“Meh, fair enough. You’ll get your chance this week. I just gotta talk to your parents. Once they hear Mom is coming with us, surely they’ll say yes,” Sunset chuckled and stretched out her forelegs. “I’ve never even dated at all, except for apparently two days in kindergarten when I swore I was gonna marry that colt in class.”

Silver Spanner had a feeling there was probably a very long and funny story related to that. She was definitely going to pry it out of Sunset later after they finished their run around the park.

“Are we just doing a jog around the park today or we racing?” Sunset asked and Silver Spanner bounced on her hooves.

“Meh, just a jog. Nothing too crazy today. My back aches like a mother after being on my back under that carriage all day yesterday trying to fix the axle system. We can go get lunch after on me. I really need a job.”

“Donut Joe’s is hiring.”

That was a tempting offer. Silver Spanner and Sunset did spend a fair amount of time there, so she already knew the owner and his wife fairly well. Only downside was Lemon Hearts, who Silver Spanner had little interaction with.

“I should lay off the donuts,” Silver Spanner stretched her hindlegs. “Gotta look after my weight.”

“You realize you’re only ten pounds lighter than I am and I’m one sixty five, right? That’s not a bad weight and speaking platonically, you look really good,” Sunset examined her briefly.

“Damn right I do,” Silver Spanner agreed with a smirk and Sunset rolled her eyes, flicking her with her tail.

“And ponies say I have an ego,” Sunset scoffed as the two started trotting.

Sunset flopped onto her bed, panting as she levitated a bottle of water to her mouth. Silver Spanner always had a crazy amount of stamina when it came to pretty much anything the pair did, from random exercising to carrying heavy items Sunset wouldn’t even dream of attempting. Sunset idly wondered how in shape she really was if she was left out of breath and exhausted after every run. The only pony to be more exhausted is Twinkleshine the few times she’s went out with them. Sunset had to carry the mare home after that day.

Silver Spanner always seemed up for more compared to Sunset and Twinkleshine. Sunset assumed it was from her earth pony parents.

“What’s up with you?” Celestia asked as she trotted passed, peering into the open door.

“Silver Spanner running me ragged, that’s what,” Sunset answered with a pant in between each word before taking another long sip of her water. “What’s up with you?”

“Finishing up planning the trip to Cloudsdale. Spent all day waiting for my temporary replacement to fill the spot on the throne until we return,” Celestia answered and trotted inside Sunset’s room, sniffing the air and grimacing.

Sunset’s room reeked of sweat and exhaustion as Sunset wiped some sweat off her forehead with a hoof.

“Oh yeah? Who did you get?” Sunset asked curiously and rolled over onto her side. Most likely Raven. Raven was always the one left in charge when Celestia and Sunset weren’t in Canterlot. Benefits of being one of the most trusted ponies Celestia had.

A pink unicorn trotted in, folding her wings against her side and Sunset sat up with a raised eyebrow.

“Hey Cadance,” Sunset waved and rolled off her bed, hugging the mare. “Been a long time. How’s the Crystal Empire treating you?”

“Tiring. I have a whole new respect for Aunt Celestia running Equestria. It’s not easy and quite a lot of work,” Cadence answered and rubbed a hoof against Sunset’s mane. “Geez, you are insanely sweaty.”

“Exercising with Silver Spanner.”

Cadence didn’t entirely know what that meant nor how to respond to that. Sunset yawned and cracked her neck as she flopped back on her bed.

“I’m gonna take a nap. I’ll catch up with you two later. Feels like one of the Wonderbolts just tossed me through a freaking Royal Guard training session. My entire body feels like jelly,” Sunset leaned against Celestia as she pressed her face in Celestia’s chest and the two alicorns made out a snore coming from the unicorn.

“One of her friends,” Celestia answered as she carried Sunset to her bed and set down on it, levitating a blanket over the mare. “I told you about her in a letter last month.”

“Oh.”

“We can talk in my room. Let’s let her sleep,” Celestia suggested as the two watched Sunset sleep for a few seconds as Cadence flicked the light off, Celestia kissing Sunset’s forehead before retreating out of the room and shutting the door.

“She’s gotten bigger from when I last saw her,” Cadence mused as the two trotted down the hall. “Last time I saw her, she was up to my chest and now she’s almost taller than I am.”

“She is growing up fast,” Celestia agreed as the taller alicorn used her magic to adjust a sideways painting on the wall. How that one painting always got turned sideways, she’ll never know. “She’s almost sixteen, can you believe that?”

“Not really,” Cadence admitted and the pink mare flicked her mane aside. “Foal sitting her and Twilight was a long time ago.”

The two had been Cadence’s favorite fillies to foal sit. Though, Sunset had been a bit wilder than Twilight even had been. Twilight had been fond to sit and just read books or play or be on the swings. Sunset on the other hoof wanted Cadence to explore Equestria with her.

Or plan out ways to invade foreign countries with her toys. Sunset was scarily effective at overcoming enemy resistance in simulated war scenarios.

“Hey Cadence. Look,” Sunset waved a hoof as she laid on her stomach with her toys in front of her in her bedroom. Twilight was hiding under Sunset’s bed with various books, her hind legs sticking out.

“What’s up Sunset?” Cadence sat down next to the filly and wrapped her wing around the tiny pony.

“See, I built Griffonstone out of Legos. Griffonstone threatened Equestria, Equestria responded with force. See here, I cut off their supply line with the Royal Guards, effectively crippling their soldiers and with my Royal Guards surrounding the city till the food and water runs out to make the enemy soldiers surrender, making Griffonstone effectively Equestrian territory. Cool, right? Are you proud of me cousin?” Sunset grinned up at Cadence and nuzzled the shocked mare. “Cadence?”

“That’s uh very impressive, Sunset. You’re a very smart and talented filly, Sunny.”

“What about me?” Twilight’s head popped out from under the bed and Cadence rubbed a hoof against her head.

“Yes, you too Twily. You’re both very impressive, smart and talented. You’re both going places.”

Twilight yawned and climbed onto Cadance’s lap next to Sunset and the two both yawned and fell asleep on her chest as Cadence yawned.

“Nap time you two.”

Sunset was Cadence’s only cousin that Cadence actually liked. The two usually spent most of their time out playing video games or watching movies.

Most ponies were surprised to find out the Love Princess was an avid gamer. And she admittedly occasionally got very angry and cursed up a storm. Sunset could confirm that happening a lot of times. Probably more times than Cadence could keep track.

Sunset was mindblown that the Princess of Love cursed so much at the time. She was just glad the media and newsponies had been there to hear it. Sunset had laughed for almost an hour straight at Cadence’s angry expression.

“So, I take it I can sit on your throne?” Cadence grinned at Celestia. “If I’m temporarily running Equestria and the Crystal Empire.”

“Hmm,” Celestia tapped a hoof against her chin and grinned down at Cadence. “No.”

“Aw, damn. What you don’t know doesn’t hurt you,” Cadence winked at Celestia and Cadence waved her forelegs in the air. “I gotta say, it’s nice to be back home. I miss seeing you two and Raven on a daily basis. Is my room still as I left it?”

“Weird pop posters and all, yes,” Celestia snorted and used her magic to open her door. “I don’t need to go over everything to do. You know how to run an nation successfully. We leave tomorrow morning at seven am. I know you will do good work, Cadence.”

“I know,” Cadence flopped onto Celestia’s bed and propped her head up with a hoof, grinning at her. “Gotta say, I’m really looking forward to sleeping in the royal bed. I remember vividly how comfy this bed is. I will be sure to take full advantage of this, paid spa trips and all, believe me. I’ve had a pain in my back I’m quite eager to see gone. All jokes aside, I’ll keep an eye on things around here. Things will be just fine.”

“I know. You were the first pony I thought of. Normally it would be Raven, but she’s sick and I forced her to stay home till she’s good again.”

Raven had fought her hoof and nail on the matter. That was probably the maddest Celestia had ever seen Raven. And Raven almost never got mad as a rule. A rule apparently Raven had given herself. Celestia could relate. She didn’t get mad, she wasn’t capable of anger. Anger was beneath her as a princess. Not even Sunset’s antics as a filly had gotten her angry.

“Come get me when Sunny wakes up. I want to have dinner with you two. Breakfast too, if I’m lucky. And meet this Silver Spanner properly,” Cadence slid off of Celestia’s bed. “I’ll go relax in my room. Say, is Sergeant Shining Armor around?”

“I believe so. I believe he’s on patrol in Canterlot somewhere. Why?” Celestia gave her a confused look and Cadence gave a nervous laugh as she rubbed the back of her head with a hoof.

“Oh uh, just curiosity. I’ll uh go to my room now!”

Cadence shot out of the room, doing a loop down the hall over some guards and castle staff heads.

That was weird, Celestia mused to herself.

How exactly will cloud walking work?

Silver Spanner stumbled into the kitchen with a blanket still wrapped around her waist and she blinked a few times in an attempt to get the sleep out of her eyes. Multiple attempts and she levitated a mug off the wall and poured coffee into it as her mom sat at the table, reading a newspaper.

“You’re up early,” Sweetie Charm noted as Silver Spanner went about making her breakfast of cereal and toast with blueberry cream cheese on it. “What’s up?”

“Sunset asked me to go with her and Princess Celestia to Cloudsdale for a week. We leave today in about an hour,” Silver Spanner spun around butter knife around in the air with her magic.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that,” Sweetie Charm muttered and she turned the page of her paper. “Well, have fun. Stay safe. Don’t fall off a cloud or get in any trouble.”

“I’ll be fine, Mom. Is Dad already at work?” Silver Spanner bit into her toast as she sat down with her breakfast. Sweetie Charm nodded and Silver Spanner resisted the urge to slam her face into the bowl of cereal she had in front of her. “Dang. I must have slept through my alarm to say goodbye.”

“You said goodbye a hundred times to him last night dear,” Sweetie Charm sighed and rolled her eyes. “Do you want the comics?”

“First, I wanted to say goodbye today too. It’s more personal when you actually say goodbye on the day you’re actually leaving. And secondly, yes, yes I would like the comics Mom.”

It would hopefully make the seven hour trip to Cloudsdale much more bearable. Silver Spanner swore Cloudsdale just had to be far from Canterlot this time of year to specifically spite her and everypony else going. Cloudsdale couldn’t just be thirty minutes away because that would be too convenient. Damn universe. Or damn whoever decided to have it near Whinnyappolis.

Silver Spanner stirred her spoon around her cereal to find some more marshmallows swimming around in the milk. Her favorite cereal was anything with marshmallows in it. Marshmallows are life. Silver Spanner debated whether she should sneak the bag full she hid with her to Cloudsdale.

“So how are you going to just ride on Celestia’s back the entire time or what?” Sweetie Charm commented casually as she slid across the newspaper to her daughter.

Silver Spanners hoof and spoon paused halfway to her mouth as her jaw dropped open slightly, gaping at her smirking mom.

“I don’t know. We never talked about it. Oh god, Sunset and I can’t walk on clouds, we’re simple unicorns!”

Sweetie Charm propped her head up with her hoof and she watched Silver Spanner panic for a few moments before she decided to intervene.

“Okay, calm down. They’ll probably just use a cloud walking spell on you two, simple as that,” Sweetie Charm answered and Silver Spanner tilted her head in confusion. “I’ve been on clouds many times as a teen and Cloudsdale once. You’ll have a good time there, trust me. Your dad and I met in Cloudsdale, actually.”

“Really?” Sweetie Charm nodded. “Huh, cool.”

“It was during the time he started out being an artist. We met randomly after I ran across him sitting on the curb offering to draw ponies and I said sure. It’s the painting in the living room over the couch and he asked me out for coffee as I walked away,” Sweetie examined her hoof for a moment. “Obviously, I said yes. Nine months later, we got married and two years later you came along. Anyway, I gotta get to work. I love you, listen to the Princess. And I packed you some snacks for the trip to Cloudsdale. Have fun.”

Sweetie Charm kissed her forehead and Silver Spanner stifled a groan, grateful none of her friends had been around to see that.

Silver Spanner watched her leave and she levitated up her saddlebags to the table, rummaging through them curiously.

“Yes!” Silver Spanner pumped a hoof enthusiastically in the air as she pulled out a bag of white pillow looking snacks. “Marshmallows! Thank Celestia for mom.”

Silver Spanner rested them on top of her books inside her saddlebags reverently, kinda like the way a doctor would take care of a newborn or how Twilight takes care of her books. Or how Sunset takes care of Philomena or Twinkleshine takes care of her pet cat.

Silver Spanner could go on longer, but she felt she made her point to herself as she resumed eating after looking at the clock on the kitchen counter next to the stove.

Being late was always a bad look in her eyes. Unless it was somepony she didn’t like, then she was always five minutes exactly. It showed them that she was a busy pony and they were wasting her valuable time. Or that’s how she hoped it came across.

She glanced at the clock before she started to drink her milk from the bowl. She could afford to be at least five minutes late to finish up the dishes. She always hated leaving dishes behind for her parents considering how hard they worked as is. Silver Spanner didn’t want to make them come home and then do more work.

And odds are Sunset wasn’t even up yet. The fact that they were technically supposed to leave in a bit was a minor detail. Sunset loved her sleep, Silver Spanner had quickly come to realize.

The amount of times Celestia or Raven had dragged Sunset kicking and screaming out of bed in front of her was too many times to count. Sometimes Silver Spanner herself had to do so if it was past twelve in the afternoon.

In her defense, Sunset did tell her to do so. The fact that Sunset occasionally muttered threats about teleporting her to the coldest peak is a minor detail that she didn’t deem important enough to think about.

Silver Spanner, Twilight, Minuette and Lyra were honestly the only ponies brave enough to wake Sunset up. The last two had only recently been added to their group of friends, grudgingly on Sunset’s part. Silver Spanner didn’t really know where she got the notion that since she had five friends that was all she needed. Silver Spanner herself had dozens, but Sunset was number one in the best friend spot for obvious reasons.

Silver Spanner finished her dishes and put them in the dish rack, grabbing her saddlebags and home key before running galloping out the front door, only pausing to lock it behind her.

Some rule her parents started enforcing recently was always locking the door and each of the three had received their own house key.

She supposed they had a point. Just because Canterlot had a strong royal guard presence didn’t remove break ins or crime from existing in the city.

Silver Spanner jumped over the fence instead of opening the gate. Even she was a bit impressed she managed that one.

Sunset sat inside the basket of the hot air balloon with a scowl, her forelegs crossed against her chest. A Styrofoam cup of coffee sat next to her as she levitated it to her lips, taking another sip.

She was admittedly not in the greatest of moods, given how she was woke up. She may love Cadence and all, but being woken up with an air horn was not how she enjoyed starting her day.

Especially since she almost accidentally decapitated a pony with her magic after waking up in surprise. Her magic tended to go off like that when surprised bad enough.

She sat listening to Mom continue talking to Cadence as Silver Spanner peered over the edge of the basket with a curious look.

“You look really pissed off. What I miss?” Silver Spanner questioned as she swung her forelegs over the basket and kicked her hind legs out for a few moments before falling muzzle first inside next to Sunset. “Ow.”

“You missed my lovely cousin being annoying. Have you met my dear cousin Cadence yet?” Sunset grumbled and Silver Spanner tapped a hoof against her chin.

“Pink mare, wings, horn? Couple inches taller than me? Very friendly and kind? Gorgeous wings?” Silver Spanners grin grew wider with each compliment she gave Cadence and Sunset nodded.

“Yes, that’s her. Beautiful mare, I am well aware trust me. She freaking woke me up with an air horn!” Sunset flung her forelegs up into the air. “At least it wasn’t right up against my ear, otherwise she would be dead.”

“I heard that!” Cadence called out cheerfully and Sunset growled softly as Silver Spanner snickered. “I love you too. Really like your friend, she seems nice.”

“We’re gonna have so much fun,” Silver Spanner nuzzled Sunset and the other unicorn finally smiled as she returned the gesture happily.

“Yeah we are,” Sunset agreed as the pair hugged. “Just wait till you get to see the view from our hotel. It’s beautiful, according to mom. And the two of us can go around donating bits to some homeless ponies if we find any.”

“I’m not entirely sure if I should be happy or not by the fact there’s homeless ponies in the first place.”

“Oh no, it’s awful but at least we can help a bit. If we get lucky, we can shove them in them in some hotel rooms for a bit,” Sunset mused and tightened her hug around Silver Spanners waist.

“I suppose you got a point. On to more pressing matters, how exactly will cloud walking work? I know it’s a spell and all, but we’re there for a week. How do we know the spell won’t wear off in the night and we both plummet to our death? Do you know how terrifying falling to your death sounds? Because I have nightmares about that a lot. Probably way more than is healthy. I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

“Kinda, but it’s cool. I’m used to you rambling when you’re nervous,” Sunset nuzzled her and Silver Spanner yawned. “Anyway, it won’t wear off. You’re literally friends with one of the most powerful ponies in all of Equestria who has Princess Celestia as her mom. The spell will last as long as we want.”

Silver Spanner smirked and curled up into a ball next to Sunset. Sunset may be a good pony and modest most of the time, but she did have a small ego and could be arrogant at times. Compared to other ponies in Canterlot who had way worse and annoying personalities than Sunset’s.

“While I would not quite put it how my daughter has, she is correct in the fact you will be fine. As for the falling to your death, I believe another pony here is afraid of heights as well,” Celestia shot Sunset a look as Cadence stifled a laugh.

“Ah yes, Sunset hates height too,” Silver Spanner poked Sunset in the side with her hoof. “I remember that very vividly.”

Sunset rubbed the back of her head with a blush. Sunset’s fear of heights was something she didn’t broadcast often, if at all. Silver Spanner was the only pony other than her guards, family, Fleur and Fancy Pants and Raven she trusted to know.

“And if I remember correctly, you’re afraid of snakes,” Sunset shrugged with a grin and Silver Spanner shuddered. “I should get you a nice corn snake for your birthday. They’re the best starter snake or so I’ve heard.”

“So I’ve heard,” Silver Spanner muttered and rolled her eyes, curling back up into a ball with her tail wrapped around her. Sunset glanced down at the other mares head resting on her lap and Sunset yawned.

“How exactly do you know how to work a hot air balloon, again?” Sunset asked as Silver Spanner gave a whinny and Sunset stroked her mane idly.

“I read a book,” Celestia answered as she levitated open a book. “I really wish Silver Spanner was awake for this. I feel she would be useful.”

Sunset agreed with that as Celestia continued to read the book laid out in front of her. Sunset began to think they should have just used a blimp to get there. The fact that they were widely unused because of safety concerns was a minor detail. Anything would be better than this, Sunset thought.

Not that Sunset would have voiced that particular concern. Her mom was stubborn on certain things, like Sunset herself was. She had to get her stubbornness from somewhere, after all.

“I’m going to sleep with her now. Goodnight,” Sunset yawned and stretched out next to Silver Spanners sleeping form. Sunset was a bit impressed there was even enough room for her to do so. “And if we die, I’ll see you in heaven. Love you.”

“We will not die,” Celestia shot back and turned the page. “Goodnight even though it’s seven thirty in the morning. And yes, I love you too, thee of little faith.”

Sunset chose to stay silent as she closed her eyes and rested her head on her folded forelegs.

White Lightning laid lazily on her cloud, floating around the sky as she dug through her lunch box before pulling out a mint chocolate energy bar.

“Mint is love, mint is life, right?” White Lightning mused and opened the packaging, shoving it inside her metal lunch box. The green pegasus next to her snored quietly, her green mane covering her face as she laid splayed out on the cloud. “Sprinkle? Okay then. Who sleeps on a fifteen minute break? That’s the worst idea ever, you get no sleep.”

The white pegasus tossed her light blue mane out of her eyes and she stretched out her wings and forelegs, idly watching a hot air balloon break through the clouds.

Oh boy more tourists, White Lightning thought with a shrug as she bit into her food again.

“Interesting mane,” White Lightning commented and she ate the remaining half of her energy bar as she and Princess Celestia made brief eye contact as she floated past. White Lightnings eyes widened and she choked on her food, slamming a hoof into her chest repeatedly.

A brown unicorn and a orange one were hugging each other with probably the most terrified expressions on their faces that White Lightning had ever seen.

Her chest glowed a light gold color for a second and she spit out what remained over the edge of the cloud as Celestia’s horn stopped glowing and she waved.

“I really hope that doesn’t end up on somepony,” White Lightning muttered as she stared over the edge of the cloud before offering Celestia and the two unicorns a confused wave back.

“What are you talking about, Whitey?” Sprinkle Medley rolled onto her stomach and glanced at her marefriend with a bored expression. “I’m trying to rest.”

“Princess Celestia just went floating past in a freaking hot air balloon and I almost died eating a energy bar. Can’t she just fly? She has wings for a reason,” White Lightning commented and Sprinkle Medley groaned. “I think she did some weird magic Heimlich maneuver on me too.”

“You’re starting to sound like my father. And ponies say unicorn supremacists are the worst ponies in Equestria. They haven’t met pegasi supremacists yet,” Sprinkle Medley gagged and rolled her eyes.

“Agreed. Also, our break ended ten minutes ago. You looked adorable so I let you sleep,” White Lightning shrugged and Sprinkle Medley glared at her.

“Are you nuts? We could get fired over this, damn it!” Sprinkle Medley trotted in a circle as White Lightning watched. “Well? Say something!”

“We actually got five minutes left till we have to get back to cloud pushing. Relax and enjoy the view,” White Lightning stretched out on the cloud and yawned.

“Do you mean the sky or you?” Sprinkle Medley raised an eyebrow as she settled back down into her spot, wrapping her tail around White Lightning.

“Yes.” White Lightning stretched out on her side and propped her head up with a hoof.

“So you’re absolutely certain it was the Princess? Doesn’t she have like royal guards to fly her around and stuff?” Sprinkle Medley waved a hoof around. “Why in Equestria would she use a hot air balloon?”

“How the heck should I know? But she had two ponies with her and they both looked equally terrified of being that high up.”

“Hmph,” Sprinkle Medley hummed and stuck her muzzle in her lunch box. “Want my fish sandwich?”

“Not really, no.”

White Lightning was pretty much the only pegasus Sprinkle Medley knew that hated the taste of fish. Sprinkle Medley was only interested in it herself if it was made a very specific way. And no tartar sauce. Ever.

“You gonna go see the competition again this year? Raindrops mentioned she was going with Milky Way this year,” Sprinkle Medley commented as she bit into her fish.

“Probably not. I don’t feel like going. It’s always the same thing every year. Don’t you get tired of it? I mean, it’s just pegasi showing off they can fly. Like that’s impressive, all of us with wings can do it.”

“You’re a good flyer. Why haven’t you signed up? You’re always excited to show me some new trick you learned. We got see the Wonderbolts every time they come to Cloudsdale, remember?” Sprinkle Medley reminded her. “I even signed up one year, remember? Got second place. You’d do great.”

“Absolutely not. I’d mess up and be the laughingstock of Cloudsdale. We all remember what happened to Dumb Bell two years ago after he crashed into the stands and landed face first right at Fleetfoots hooves.”

Sprinkle Medley gave an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes.

“Whitey, Dumb Bell is always the laughingstock of Cloudsdale. How he has kept a job at the Weather Factory after being fired from every other job here is beyond me.”

“Because his daddy is on the town council,” White Lightning muttered bitterly and ripped some of the cloud apart, toying with it.

“Exactly.” White Lightning glanced at the sun and sighed as she stood up.

“Wanna hear a joke before we go to work?” White Lightning smirked and Sprinkle Medley nodded. White Lightning was well known around Cloudsdale for telling random jokes to anypony she met. Everypony she met usually went about the rest of their day with a smile or at least a better mood because of it.

“Hit me with it.”

“Why did the Genie get mad?”

“Oh lord help me. Why?”

“Because he was rubbed the wrong way.”

Sprinkle Medley snorted and spread her wings open.

“Was that good? I thought it was pretty damn good.”

“Catch me and find out,” Sprinkle Medley booped her on the nose and fell off the cloud.

“Ugh. Not this again.”

White Lightning rolled her eyes and jumped off the cloud after her.

Not as scary as she had thought

Sunset jumped out of the balloon, landing on the cloud with a soft fwomp sound and she trotted over next to Celestia, glancing back at Silver Spanner staring at them. A few pegasi stopped to watch curiously.

“Absolutely not,” Silver Spanner shook her head and Sunset bit back a groan. “We’re way too high up for me to jump out. I’m staying in the basket where it’s safe.”

“You do realize that it will run out of fuel in about an hour, right?” Sunset reminded her flatly and Silver Spanners eyes widened as she started to scramble out of the basket. “Don’t panic. Just climb out slowly.”

“How do you expect me to anything but panic?” Silver Spanner snapped and stumbled backwards and the basket flipped out. “Sunset!”

Silver Spanner screamed and flailed her legs in the air as a few pegasi and Celestia jumped after her as Sunset stared over the edge of the cloud with wide eyes.

“Oh fu-fudge,” Sunset quickly corrected herself. “Please don’t let her turn into a stain.”

A white pegasus caught her and Sunset gave a relieved sigh. Sunset didn’t necessarily want to have to tell Silver Spanners parents what had happened to her. Sunset obviously never had to deliver news like that before and she didn’t necessarily want her first one to be about her best friend.

“I am never letting go,” Silver Spanner grumbled and she wrapped her forelegs around the mares neck. “For as long as I live. You are my home now.”

“I don’t know about that one,” Celestia snorted as she landed on the cloud next to Sunset with the other pegasi. “I do believe Sunset would like a hug as well. She seems pretty worried about you.”

“Okay. But right after, I am getting back on and I am not getting off till we get to the hotel. Falling is terrifying,” Silver Spanner grumbled and nervously stepped onto the cloud. “Okay, not so bad. Kinda soft. Like a marshmallow.”

“Next time, I’m just gonna use magic to get you onto the cloud. I’ve never seen Mom move that quick,” Sunset nuzzled Silver Spanner. “Thank God you’re alive.”

“Felt that. This actually isn’t so bad, now that I think about it,” Silver Spanner stepped out of the hug and took a step. “Whoa.”

“It takes a bit to get used to it,” Sunset commented and Silver Spanner leaned against her. “Let’s stay away from the edge of clouds. That looked like nightmare fuel.”

“You have no idea. I’m just glad I wasn’t facing the ground as I plummeted. I’m still a bit shaken up, sweet Celestia. Uhm, no offense,” Silver Spanner glanced at Celestia and she waved it off.

“None taken. I do believe our hotel is near,” Celestia mused as she levitated a pamphlet she had received in the mail. “And you two were worried I couldn’t fly a hot air balloon.”

Sunset rolled her eyes. She had a point there, but Sunset wasn’t going to admit it. She was more focused on ensuring she or Silver Spanner didn’t fall off again. She wasn’t that surprised that Celestia had beaten all the pegasi who tried to help. Celestia was surprisingly a fast flyer when she wanted to be.

“Thanks by the way,” Silver Spanner turned to the white pegasus. White Lightning hovered a few inches above the three and she waved it off with a hoof. “Do you want some bits or something?”

White Lightning shook her head and high hoofed her before flying away to resume cloud pushing with a green pegasus mare above the two. The three stared at them for a brief moment before deciding to go about their day. Not like they’d run into her again.

“Hey, there’s a museum we can go to tomorrow,” Sunset nudged Silver Spanner and pointed at a square shaped building. “History of Cloudsdale. And then there’s the Wonderbolt museum nearby, too.”

“Interesting. You know, it’s kinda pretty up here. That being said, I will be kissing the ground for an hour straight once we go back to Canterlot. This was a hellavu start and we’ve only been here twenty minutes. Twenty minutes and I’m already trying to kill myself.”

Sunset gave a tired laugh and flicked her fiery mane out of her eyes as Silver Spanner levitated a brown suitcase behind her in the air.

“Why do you have a suitcase? We never wear clothes in the first place,” Sunset commented and Silver Spanner levitated out a sweater. “Oh.”

“It’s cold up here,” Silver Spanner explained and she levitated out two more sweaters, tossing them onto Sunset’s and Celestia’s back. “I do not like the cold. Therefore, sweaters. It took forever to find one large enough for Princess Celestia and her wings.”

Forever might have been an exaggeration.

“It was only actually five hours, but regardless, took a while.”

Silver Spanner zipped up her sweater that matched her grayish blue eyes, pulling the hoodie over her head with her ears poking out of some holes that had been cut in the hood.

Sunset shrugged and stepped inside the holes for her hooves of the leather jacket Silver Spanner had tossed her. It was surprisingly comfortable, which she wasn’t really prepared for.

“You look pretty cool,” Silver Spanner held up a mirror she brought with and Sunset admired her reflection for a few moments. “I had a friend come up with the idea.”

“I actually love it. Thank you,” Sunset hugged Silver Spanner and glanced at Celestia’s sweater that matched her bright mulfi colored mane. “Wow. Same friend as before, I take it?”

“Uh huh.”

“She does good work,” Celestia noted and Sunset was inclined to agree as Silver Spanner gave a smug grin.

“Maybe you two will meet her one day. She lives in Ponyville. Adorable little baby sister. She is a bit dramatic occasionally. I’m just glad she was able to ship it as fast as she did. Benefits of knowing your local mailmare.”

A little dramatic was an overstatement, but minor detail. Rarity was the only filly Silver Spanner knew to have a fainting couch.

“Heh, yeah, I can imagine.”

“I wanna find that pegasi. I should do more than just say thanks,” Silver Spanner scuffed a hoof against the cloud, internally grateful she didn’t accidentally destroy it. “Thank you also, Princess Celestia.”

“Think nothing of it, Silver Spanner. And I wish you luck finding her. Cloudsdale is full of pegasi. White mare, blue mane and gray cloud and a gold lightning bolt. Might be easy if you look for the cutie mark,” Celestia mused and Silver Spanner nodded along slowly.

“Let’s drop off our stuff and we can get some food. I’m starving. And knowing our luck, the mayor of Cloudsdale will want to kiss our hooves,” Sunset rolled her eyes with a scowl as some pegasi pointed at the three excitedly. Sunset was not a big fan of the Cloudsdale mayor. Most ponies she knew weren’t. But Sunset had made a bet with Moondancer that she would stay miles away from politics and Sunset was admittedly all too happy to avoid it. Politics sucked and pissed her off more than anything she had ever experienced in all her sixteen years of life.

Sprinkle Medley sat next to White Lightning in a brightly colored cafe. Raindrops and her coltfriend Milky Way sat across from the two, Merry May, Stormy Night and Rainbowshine sitting next to them with coffees in front of them.

“And then Whitey here dove down after the mare without hesitation before I could even realize what was happening, fly right past Princess Celestia and all the other pegasi’ heads, catch the unicorn midair and bring her back up to Cloudsdale. It was amazing!” Sprinkle Medley repeated the story for the third time today.

The other ponies excluding Stormy Night at the table clapped their hooves together and White Lightning blushed a bright red. Accepting praise in public like this wasn’t something she particularly enjoyed, same with being out in the spot in front of dozen of pegasi.

“And I for one am very proud of her,” Sprinkle Medley nuzzled White Lightnings cheek slowly and she turned an ever bright shade of red, something she didn’t think was physically possible.

“I heard about that from some ponies on your weather team. Wish I wasn’t stuck at the damn weather factory,” Rainbowshine grumbled and the purple mare cracked her neck. “I gotta work with idiots, I tell you. If I was in charge, Dumb Bell, Hoops and Score wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the factory or any form of weather work ever again. Trouble follows those three idiots like you wouldn’t believe.”

The group gave a brief laugh and White Lightning rested her head on the table followed by a yawn. Her wings and body ached from pushing annoying clouds out of the sky. Plus, having that unicorn had been a bit on the heavy side didn’t necessarily help her out any.

“So what was she like?” Milky Way asked and White Lightning rolled her head to look at him questioningly. “Princess Celestia and her daughter.”

“Nice I guess. I ran away pretty quick because I didn’t know what to say. The brown unicorn tried offering me money for saving her, but I turned her down pretty quick. Should have accepted it now that I think of it.”

“In my opinion, the unicorn should have stayed down where she belongs,” Stormy Night mused and the table fell silent as White Lightning and Sprinkle Medley barely held back their groans as Raindrops and Merry May gave each other uncomfortable looks. “She wouldn’t have nearly died if she stayed on the ground. Ground is for unicorns and earth ponies, sky is for us pegasi.”

“I don’t think that’s entirely accurate,” Milky Way commented and frowned slightly. “Cloudsdale gets dozens of earth ponies and unicorns every year. Hell, an earth pony lives down the street. So does a unicorn. And hundreds, if not thousands of pegasi live groundside.”

“They’re not real pegasi. Real proud pegasi live on the clouds,” Stormy Night proclaimed and the black pegasus waved a hoof around as Raindrops ducked to avoid being hit in the head by him. “This is our birth right and they willingly give that up? Please.”

“Eugh,” Merry May gagged into a hoof quietly. While he was her cousin, she was not a fan of him for the obvious reasons. She only tolerated him because well, she didn’t even remember why anymore. “Aren’t you supposed to check up on Grandma today and tomorrow is my turn?”

“Oh buck. See ya!” Stormy kissed her cheek and Merry May leaned into it with a sigh.

The group watched him fly off in silence after he paid for his part of lunch, Rainbowshine being the first to break the silence.

“Did we really have to hang out with your racist, tribalist cousin today?” Rainbowshine asked and Merry May shrugged helplessly.

“I don’t like him any either, but I don’t know. He happened to be with me today cleaning up my aunts place. I’m really sorry about him.”

“It’s okay,” White Lightning kissed Sprinkle Medleys cheek before the side of her muzzle.

“Down girl,” Sprinkle Medley giggled and pressed a hoof against White Lightnings chest. “You know how serious our parents about mares not dating and we’re two mares. I love you too.”

“Yeah, yeah secret relationship and all I know,” White Lightning sighed and stretched out on the table. “I love ya too. I’m so ready for us turn eighteen so we can get the hell out of here.”

“That does sound nice,” Sprinkle Medley mused and Raindrops sipped her water as the two hugged. “Only six more months till we’re eighteen and we can get the buck out of here. I’ve always been partial to Neigh Orleans or Ponyville that one year we went.”

“All I remember is making out by the river after we both snuck out the hotel the second night,” White Lightning muttered and Milky Way coughed out his bagel. “I forgot you all were here. You never heard that.”

“Obviously,” Milky Way shrugged and the stallion shoved his bagel into a bag. “You guys going to the BYFC this year? Rainy and I planned on going.”

“Mhm.”

“Maybe.”

White Lightning shrugged and Sprinkle Medley nodded, her partner changing her answer to a nod. Might be entertaining after all. And it got her away from her home for a few hours.

“Think Rainbow will sign up this year?”

“I don’t even think she’ll come. She and Fluttershy moved to Ponyville two years ago so we will see. I do miss Fluttershy,” Rainbowshine sighed sadly and her tail flicked.

“Yeah, I miss Fluttershy. Shame she was so shy,” Merry May mused and absentmindedly started to preen her wings. “Rainbow annoyed me. Too arrogant. Cloudkicker was always cooler to me. Shame she ran off to Celestia knows where.”

Raindrops shifted silently on her chair. She had been sworn to silence on where Cloudkicker had really went. She didn’t know what the heck she appeal of Ponyville was, but half her classmates. Fluttershy, Cloudkicker, Derpy, Rainbow Dash. Probably a few others. Granted, those four were older than her by fout years but minor detail. Apparently Derpy even had a kid that Raindrops was making plans to go see.

“My break is up,” Milky Way announced and stood up, pausing to kiss Raindrops and the jasmine coated pegasus returned the gesture as Rainbowshine gagged and Merry May snickered. “Love you.”

“Thank the lord they didn’t use tongue this time,” Rainbowshine whispered and rolled her eyes as White Lightning flicked her with her wing tip. “Watch it.”

“Shush you. We need to get you a boyfriend or a marefriend. That’s our goal for the week,” White Lightning decided and the other three nodded in agreement as Rainbowshine groaned, slamming a hoof into her face.

“I’m not getting out of this, am I?”

“Nope!” The four chorused eagerly and Rainbowshine rolled her eyes as the other three started bouncing around names of ponies, some she knew, some she didn’t.

God help me, Rainbowshine thought to herself.

Author's Note

Should I bring back the character bios?

Cloudsdale's mayor is annoying

Sunset stretched out her bed, looking out the hotel window at the pegasi flying to their respective jobs. She had always found it difficult to fall asleep in a bed that wasn’t her own. Or in this case, a bunch of clouds molded into a bed.

She had been given the option to have a bed made of an actual mattress like she did at the castle, but she chose to let Silver Spanner have it instead. The mare had been green the entire time she walked up the stairs to their room at the very top floor.

The sun wasn’t even up yet and Sunset quietly climbed out of bed onto the cloud, her hooves sinking a few inches into the soft surface. Silver Spanner was breathing evenly as she slept with a peaceful smile on her muzzle and Sunset tiphooved around her bed.

Celestia had taken the room next to theirs so she could apparently work late into the night on something. Whatever it was she didn’t tell Sunset and Sunset didn’t ask.

Sunset levitated a hotel key card with her magic and softly opened the door of her room, stepping out into the hallway and shutting it behind her.

Sunset looked around at the six police ponies in the hall outside each of their doors as she examined the dark blue uniforms and ties on them.

“I’m going to get breakfast from the Cafe. I take it you’ll be following me?” Sunset raised an eyebrow and the closest police pony nodded. “Why am I not surprised?”

The police stallion stayed silent as Sunset and him trotted to the elevator, the officer pressing the down button with a hoof.

“Don’t tell Silver Spanner I’m cheating and using the elevator, deal?”

“Yes Princess.”

Sunset rolled her eyes and stepped into the elevator with him, pushing a button with her magic before he could react. A small victory in her eyes, getting to do something herself.

Their eyes locked onto the numbers on the screen, ticking down to one and the door opened. Sunset stepped out after the police officer looked around and the pair trotted down to the cafeteria and Sunset glanced at the stallion.

“What would you like?” Sunset levitated a second paper plate in the air. “No arguing, you’re eating with me.”

“A waffle is fine with syrup and black coffee, Princess.”

“We can make that happen. Sit,” Sunset ordered and she levitated out a chair as she sat down on the opposite one. “What’s your name, officer?”

“Officer Fast Pace,” he answered and watched Sunset’s magic go about making breakfast for the two. The pegasus stallion folded his wings up.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Sunset Shimmer,” Sunset shrugged and smirked slightly. “But everypony knows that. Call me Sunset.”

They both knew that technically was against some form of protocol, but Fast Pace wasn’t entirely fond of refusing to follow an order that came from one of the Princesses. Or at least, it sounded like an order to him.

“Sure thing Sunset.” The word sounded foreign to him.

“We’re just two friends hanging out. Now tell me about yourself. I can see the ring on a necklace around your neck. Married?”

“Yeah.”

“Kids?” Sunset questioned and he nodded.

“One.”

“Kids are nice. Always did have a soft spot for kids,” Sunset mused as she leaned back in her chair. “Where’s the nearest orphanage at from here?”

“Two blocks south,” he answered immediately and Sunset nodded, placing two plates of waffles in front of them along with two coffees, one black and one with vanilla coffee creamer in it. “Why?”

“I like to visit as does my mom. The kids get excited to see Princess Celestia drop by. The looks on their faces when they see her are always memorable,” Sunset mused and pointed a fork. “Eat with me.”

He gave a brief nod and Sunset levitated napkins onto the center of the small table.

“Do you always insist on your security detail eating with you and you ask them random questions?” Fast Pace asked and Sunset nodded.

“Makes me feel like a normal pony instead of a princess. And besides, I enjoy the conversation with breakfast. I like knowing about the ponies assigned to protect me and my mom. As does she.”

Celestia had been the one Sunset had learned this from. She didn’t necessarily know if her mom had intended for her too, but knowing Celestia she probably did.

“What about you, Sunset? What’s life like for you?” Fast Pace asked and Sunset shrugged.

“Busy. Busy with schoolwork, Princess business. Stuff like being a judge for the BYFC is something I genuinely like doing. Unless the ponies who win are creepy. At least the Cloudsdale Police Department and the Wonderbolts known when to escort them away. God bless Wave Chill, am I right?” Sunset chuckled and she swirled her cut up waffle inside some syrup. “Thank you for being here, by the way. I appreciate you and your colleagues.”

“Thanks. You as well. I see why almost all of Equestria adores you now. You’re a very kind mare,” Fast Pace stretched out his wings and wiped off a syrup drop from his tie. “My daughter loves you. As far as having a picture of you in her room.”

“I’d love to meet her,” Sunset wiped her mouth with a hoof. “Name the time and place, I’ll make the time.”

Sunset popped a quill into existence, writing onto a napkin pushing it to him.

“The address for the castle for me and her to remain in contact.”

That was unexpected, Fast Pace thought as the two resumed talking.

Spitfire gave a tired sigh as she trotted around the small room in a circle, Soarin and Misty Fly idly watching from where they sat. The three had been flying for the last three hours to get to Cloudsdale. Normally they wouldn't be fazed, but they spent the previous day practicing for their next show.

“I swear, he can’t be on time for one day of his life?” Spitfire complained loudly and her wings fluttered in agitation. “I mean, come on. We scheduled this days in advance to go over safety procedures for this years Competition and the mayor can’t even show up?”

Soarin silently shrugged and nudged his goggles around his neck with a bored expression on his face, Misty Fly wearing a simple one. The pair both shared her sentiment, but neither were willing to voice them unlike their new captain.

“I suppose it is rather rude,” Soarin conceded after a moment. Soarin was pretty used to having to calm the fiery maned pegasus. He had grown up with her and seen her more angry outbursts.

At least Fleetfoot wasn’t here. God only knows what she would have said if she wasn’t back at the Wonderbolts HQ. Why Spitfire left her in charge and not Blaze was beyond Soarin. Rumor was that she was looking for a third in command after she made Soarin to her second in command.

The door opened and the three looked to the door, Spitfire pausing her pacing. Sunset stepped inside the room with a brown unicorn and the three hastily saluted her, Misty Fly and Soarin swaying slightly from standing up too fast.

“Princess,” Misty Fly legs hurt a bit from standing at attention too fast. “How are you?”

“Fine, yourself?”

“Fine,” Misty Fly answered and the three pegasi’ forelegs started to hurt.

“Oh. At ease?” Sunset mused and they lowered their hooves. “Mom sent me in her place. Where is Skyward Twirl?”

“Dunno,” Misty Fly answered and Sunset groaned, flinging herself onto a couch. “That was Spitfire’s reaction a minute ago.”

Silver Spanner looked around the room at the three, stepping closer to examine Soarin long enough for him to get uncomfortable.

“You’re right Sunset, he is cute. Now I see why you like him,” Silver Spanner commented and Sunset glared at her. Soarin made a choking sound as Misty Fly bit back a laugh and Spitfire’s eyes widened.

“Silver Spanner!” Sunset snapped and Silver Spanner snickered as she lifted one of Soarin’s wings.

“It’s gonna be pretty hard to get the weight of these wings down right,” Silver Spanner mused as she ran a hoof over his wing and Soarin gave her a confused look as she moved to Spitfire and gave her a similar treatment.

“What the hell are you doing?” Spitfire pulled her wing back and Silver Spanner scowled before moving to Misty Fly.

“I’m trying to make something that replicates wings for pegasi who’ve lost theirs or theirs don’t work. So naturally, I have to feel the wing of a pegasus,” Silver Spanner explained as the brown unicorn focused more on Misty Fly. “This is gonna be tough. Each pegasus has wings that weigh differently. Sunset, are you taking notes?”

A notebook whapped Silver Spanner upside the head before Sunset returned to writing with a bored expression.

“Ow.”

“Are we not gonna talk about what she said about me being cute?” Soarin asked and Misty hit him with a wing. “I don’t feel comfortable with literal kids saying that about me.”

“No,” Sunset muttered and glanced at Silver Spanner. “She’s never seen one of you Wonderbolts before. She gets a bit hoovsy when she gets an idea in her head. Silver Spanner, Soarin. Soarin, Silver Spanner. Silver Spanner, Misty Fly. Misty Fly, Silver Spanner. Silver Spanner, Spitfire. Spitfire, Silver Spanner. There, now we are all acquainted.”

Silver Spanner opened her mouth to argue before shrugging and rolled her eyes. She wouldn’t have necessarily introduced herself like that, but it worked as she shook each of their hooves.

“Okay, I’m done,” Silver Spanner sat down next to Sunset and took the notebook from Sunset, pausing briefly to admire her cursive. “Why is there a drawing of you on the top corner?”

“Got bored.”

The three pegasi gave each other looks as Silver started drawing something, glancing at the three occasionally before making a correction, tossing each ripped out paper into a trash can near Spitfire.

“Does this look good so far?” Silver Spanner levitated up the notebook to the three. “You’re experts with wings, you tell me.”

The three leaned forward slightly to stare at the surprisingly detailed drawing of a pegasus with a wing that looked to be made of metal.

“What about lifting the pegasus?” Spitfire asked and Silver Spanner cursed as the three stared at her in surprise. The only pony the three knew that could curse as colorfully as she just did was Blaze. “Wow.”

“Sorry, habit. I’ll need a metal that’s strong enough to withstand the wind and any maneuvers the pony does. But also something light enough to be comfortable,” Silver Spanner mused as she tapped a hoof against her chin.

Sunset watched her pacing briefly before turning her attention towards the opened door as a black stallion trotted in wearing a deep purple cape and she visibly rolled her eyes, Soarin laughing softly behind a hoof.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Skyward Twirl hung up his hat and Spitfire internally scoffed. “Had a meeting. Surely you all can relate?”

“Hm.”

Sunset stood up and trotted to his desk, examining a piece of paper on it and she moved some others out of the way with her hoof casually.

“Says here you had a clear schedule for the last thirty minutes. So you either left us to sweat as a way to establish dominance, which is a very poor decision if so. Or you were out and about doing God knows what to hold us up further in hopes we’d eventually leave,” Sunset mused and she sat down at the couch again, crossing her hind legs and she folded her forelegs behind her head with a smug grin. “So which was it?”

“I was having lunch with a colleague in an impromptu meeting down the street,” Skyward Twirl answered after a moment of awkward silence and Silver Spanner examined him with a raised eyebrow.

His hooves and torso pointed at the door as their conversation faded to the background. He shook his head a few times and he shifted awkwardly on his hooves.

Silver Spanner titled her head as Skyward Twirl glanced at the clock and gave a small smile. She frowned and bit her lower lip a few times hard enough to taste the coppery taste of blood.

“I assure you, we have police officers all over the event and a heavy security checkpoint at the entrance. Unicorns will be getting magic disabled, no metal items will be allowed in excluding travel mugs or horse shoes. Obviously, you and your party will be excluded.”

Silver Spanner wasn’t entirely fond of ponies getting their magic disabled. While she did use her hooves a little bit more than her magic, magic was still a part of her. She was a unicorn for crying out. Magic was her whole thing. She would have turned away if she wasn’t excluded because she was with Sunset and Celestia.

“Well, it looks like everything is covered,” Sunset mused and Spitfire nodded after the unicorn looked to her. The three Wonderbolts had tried hard to hide their smug grins as they watched Sunset lay into the other pegasus. “I guess we will be out of your mane now.”

Silver Spanner opened the door with her hoof, shooting the stallion a flat look before following Sunset out with the Wonderbolts and she closed the door behind them.

“He’s lying,” Silver Spanner announced as they trotted down the hall.

“About?” Misty Fly asked softly as the yellow pegasus flicked her tail back and forth.

“Everything except the security part.”

“How do you know?”

“Ponies have certain tells when lying. Bis torso was pointed at the door, his eyes were moving around a lot and he stared often at the clock. He moved a lot too. And besides, it’s a gut feeling I got. Something feels off with him,” Silver Spanner frowned back at the door behind them. “Not here.”

“She can just sense when ponies are lying?” Soarin asked nervously and Sunset gave a nod. “That’s scary.”

“Oh, you have no idea. Nothing gets by her.”

Author's Note

Name: Silver Spanner.

Age: 15(currently as of right now.)

Motto: One mares trash is another mares treasure!

Coat color: Brown.

Eye color: Gray

Mane color: White.

Element: ?

Bio: Silver Spanner is a unicorn from Ponyville and is easily recognized by her wrench cutie mark and her country accent that's often hard to find in Canterlot. Silver Spanner is a student at CSGU and considers Sunset Shimmer and Twinkleshine her closest friends at the school. She later graduated alongside the pair and is offered a job at the castle as a head engineer by Princess Celestia. She's quick to give her opinion and values being honest over anything else.

Silver Spanner can often be found dumpster diving at night for discarded metal she can repurpose for her experiments, often to her parents annoyance. She often partners up with Twilight and Moondancer when "tinkering" as she fondly calls it.

She is close friends with Rarity, Big Mac and Berry Punch, the three attending the funeral of Big Macs parents years before Silver Spanner left for Canterlot.

She later becomes one of the Elements of Harmony, but which one is currently unknown at this time. She temporarily acts as one of Cadence's bridesmaids and serves as bridesmaids on two more occasions for White Lightnings wedding and Berry Punchs later on.

Silver Spanner later takes part in helping with search and rescue after Baltimare is hit by a series of tornadoes alongside Sunset, Redheart, Berry Punch and White Lightning. She assists later on helping defend Canterlot against the changelings and witnesses the Changeling Queens defeat.

Abilities: Silver Spanner is physically very strong due to having two earth pony parents and prefers to use her hooves over her magic. She is very intelligent. She's very athletic and flexible.

Weaknesses: Silver Spanner can have a temper when one of her creations doesn't go as planned or when her tools go missing. She is known for cursing loudly and creatively during both instances.

https://www.equestriadaily.com/2021/05/say-something-nice-about-silver-spanner.html

Credit for one of the pictures.

Sunset goes to church (kinda)

Sunset licked her lips nervously as she stood in front a large cloud shaped church. She’d be lying if she said the building was ugly. Church wasn’t really a thing Sunset went to.

Sunset trotted up the stairs and her hoof rested on the thick wooden door. With an inhale, she put all her strength into opening it and trotted inside, looking around curiously at the rows of pews and a box in the corner.

Sunset trotted to it, opened the door and sat down on a chair, shutting the door behind her as a slot in the wood between the room she sat in opened.

“Forgive me Father for I have sinned,” Sunset muttered as she moved her hoof to forehead before to her chest, left shoulder back to her right shoulder and she sighed. “I asked a friend last night to do something that goes against everything she is as a pony. I feel horrible.”

Sunset felt a bit uncomfortable and the the priest tugged on his collar. She only really knew the whole confessional thing from Twinkleshine.

“This friend means a lot to you?” The priest asked and Sunset nodded.

“She’s my best friend. I love her a lot. Platonically, of course. I asked her to lie for me and I know how much she despises liars. I should have kept my big fat muzzle shut,” Sunset slumped over and the priest raised an eyebrow.

“If she is close to you like you are to her, I’m certain she will forgive you Princess. A true friend will understand. Say three Hail Marys and five Our Fathers. May the Lord be with you,” the priest said and Sunset bowed her head slightly and crossed herself again.

“Thank you Father.”

Sunset stepped out of the room and admired the paintings around the church as she slowly turned in a circle. Being an artist herself gave her an eye for talent and she stepped closer to one.

“Beautiful,” Sunset muttered quietly and she stretched out her body. A clock dinged and she whipped her head to look at the large grandfather clock in the corner. “Oh crap. I was supposed to meet Mom and Silver Spanner at the weather factory for a tour.”

Sunset shot out of the church, galloping down the cloudy street towards the towering factory in the distance that was pumping out a few clouds and a rainbow was pouring out over the edge of Cloudsdale.

“Sorry!” Sunset shouted as she slide under a pegasus stallion. “Excuse me, coming through!”

Sunset continued galloping fast enough that would make an earth pony proud. Even a few pegasi gave her an impressed look as she jumped and soared through the sky.

“Waaaaaugh!” Sunset screamed and she barely landed on her hooves. “Sweet lord.”

Sunset was glad she decided to take Silver Spanner up on her offer to go on morning runs with her. There’s no way she would have been able to keep running like this prior to becoming friends with the unicorn.

Silver Spanner sat on a bench outside the factory with a bored expression. Celestia trotted behind her as Sunset skidded around the corner panting.

“Sorry I’m late. I was busy,” Sunset panted as she rested her forelegs on the bench. “I was uh doing something personal.”

“Okay then,” Celestia commented and her horn flashed a bright gold as a fiery red crown appeared and rested ontop of Sunset’s head. “We’re on a royal visit. You will wear your crown.”

“Yes mom,” Sunset leaned up to nuzzle Celestia and the tall alicorn returned the gesture. “Wanna try a rainbow?”

Silver Spanner gave her a confused look and Sunset grinned, gesturing to the pool of rainbow liquid next go them.

“Is it good?” Silver Spanner inquired and dipped the tip of her hoof in the rainbow liquid, examining her stained hoof. “Woah.”

“It’s an experience,” Sunset chuckled and dipped her own hoof in the liquid. “Go ahead, we do it the same time.”

Sunset waited for Silver Spanner to lick her hoof first and watched her eyes widen as her face turned red and she swore steam shot out of her ears.

“What the fu-?!” Silver Spanner hung out her tongue. “It burns! Oh wait.”

Silver Spanner scrunched up her muzzle in disgust as she tasted the most sour taste ever imaginable on her tongue. It quickly changed to something cold and she tasted vanilla ice cream.

“Hah huh,” Silver Spanner panted and rested against the pool. “That was horrible.”

Sunset laid on her back laughing as Silver Spanner glanced at her slowly, her eyes falling on her rainbow hoof.

“You knew that was gonna happen?” Silver Spanner asked suspiciously and she narrowed her eyes as Sunset nodded with a red face. “Well, I think it’s only fair you try it.”

Sunset’s hoof levitated a light gray and was shoved in her mouth and she gagged as Celestia watched out, picking up her crown with a smirk.

“It hurts!” Sunset cried and Silver Spanner grinned. “Okay, I deserved that one.”

“Damn right.”

Silver Spanner laughed and her eyes focused on a wall with spray paint and she slowly stopped laughing. Silver Spanner was depicted with Sunset on the wall with a smile on their faces.

“Wow,” Silver Spanner whispered in awe and she stepped to it. She knew Sunset was talented based on the last painting she saw, but she didn’t expect to look around and see herself. “This is incredible.”

“Yeah, it is,” Sunset agreed with a smug smile. “Flanksy spent a lot of time on this one. And I bet she’s sorry about an incident that happened the other night.”

“I bet Flanksy’s friend forgives them as well,” Silver Spanner mused and rested a foreleg on Sunset’s side. Silver Spanner tossed in a nuzzle and cracked her neck. That stupid pain in neck that had been bothering her was gone now. Probably because sleeping with your head at an awkward angle wasn’t always the best idea.

“I imagine Flanksy would be happy to know that if they were here,” Sunset conceded after a moment and Celestia looked between the two.

“I presume you have run into this Flanksy before?” Celestia questioned and the two unicorns shared a look.

“No,” Silver Spanner answered finally and scuffed her hoof against the soft surface. “Never met him or her.”

She felt terrible for lying to the Princess of all ponies, but if it meant keeping Sunset safe she’d grudgingly do it it again.

White Lightning stretched out lazily on the couch with a book held in her lap as she kept one eye on the small white blue racing around her.

“Is Sprinkle Medley going to be joining us?” Cotton Cloudy jumped in front of White Lightning and she gave a startled yelp. “Ooh, what about Rainbowshine and Merry May? And Milky Way. I like Milky Way, he and Raindrops give me candy when they see me but I wasn’t supposed to tell you that so don’t get mad.”

“Yes sis they will be joining us,” White Lightning rolled her eyes. “They always do at the competition, you know this.”

“They didn’t last year,” Cotton Cloudy retorted and glanced at her older sister. “Merry May never showed.”

“That’s because she was going through a break up with her boyfriend and was busy shoving ice cream and chocolates down her muzzle,” White Lightning answered and picked up her book again. “And then she complains about gaining weight and it all going to her flanks. Ridiculous.”

“Colts are gross,” Cotton Cloudy stuck out a tongue and White Lightning chuckled. “Well, except for Cloud Cover. He seems nice.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Can we go flying? You promised you would take me out,” Cotton Cloudy fluttered her wings and White Lightning glanced at the clock. “Pleaseeee?”

“Fine. Let’s go,” White Lightning stuck a piece of paper in her book and closed it. “Dad! Mom! Cotton and I are going out!”

“Okay. For the love of Celestia, fly safe!” Her mom called back from the upstairs. White Lightning bit back a snarky comment. “And look both ways when crossing the street!”

White Lightning tossed the filly on her back and trotted out the door with a frown as Cotton Cloudy wrapped her hooves around her neck.

“Can you teach me all those fancy tricks you do?” Cotton Cloudy asked and White Lightning glanced back at her sister.

“A barrel roll isn’t all that fancy sis,” White Lightning chuckled and Cotton Cloudy shrugged.

“Anything you do is fancy to me.”

Cotton Cloudy nuzzled her sisters neck and White Lightning gave a content sigh as Cotton Cloudy gave her sister an admiring look that made White Lightning melt like an ice cube left out in the sun. Or ice cream.

“All right,” White Lightning knelt on the cloud and nudged Cotton Cloudy off her back. “You try first and I’ll judge you. Remember, you want enough altitude to properly conduct the barrel roll. If you do well, I’ll show you how to do a loop.”

“Okay. So I go now?” Cotton Cloudy asked and White Lightning nodded.

“Yes, now. You’re not gonna be a Wonderbolt if you question orders like that,” White Lightning nudged her with a wing tip. “Take off.”

Cotton Cloudy fluttered her wings and flew away as White Lightning sat down and watched with a raised eyebrow. Cotton Cloudy reached what she hoped was a decent altitude and looped back towards White Lightning as the older pony started rolling her hoof and Cotton Cloudy nodded.

Cotton Cloudy did a slow roll and White Lightning clapped her hooves together with a smile as Cotton Cloudy tried to land in front of her and went skidding across the cloud face first into a bakery.

“Ow.”

White Lightning bit the middle section of her sisters tail and dragged her out, spitting out her tail and Cotton Cloudy turned around to stare up at White Lightnings impassive expression.

“Landing needs work and you wobbled coming out the roll, but it was decent work. All in all, good job and keep working on it.”

“Okay. Do I get to watch you now?” Cotton asked eagerly and she wagged her tail excitedly as White Lightning smirked before nodding. “Yay!”

White Lightning took an inhale and shoved herself off the cloud fast enough to make Cotton Cloudy shake for a few seconds.

White Lightning felt the wind blowing her mane aside and she closed her eyes for a brief second. Flying high and fast was all she lived for. There’s no point in getting somewhere slow in her eyes.

She opened them and stared down at the blob of ponies before focusing on her sister sitting on her marefriends lap pointing a hoof up at her with Merry May trotting in a circle behind them.

She flew back overhead of the three before nose diving hard at them, pulling out to do an backwards loop over their heads close enough to see the wind blowing their manes aside and Cotton Cloudys cheers.

She landed, shaking off the droplets of water she got from flying close enough to some clouds as she went about fixing her mane with a grin.

“That was awesome!” Cotton Cloudy flung her forelegs around White Lightnings neck. “Can I ride on your back next time?”

“We’ll see kiddo,” White Lightning rubbed her mane and smiled. “Sprinkle, Merry. What’s up?”

“Not much. Just stopping by to make sure you,” Sprinkle Medley poked a hoof into her chest. “Remembered your promise to buy your ticket for the Best Young Flyers Competition. I have my bits here and so does Merry. We’d do it, but we’re still on weather duty right now.”

“Yeah sure. I’ll go now,” White Lightning gestured with a hoof. “Looks like our flying lessons are over for now sis. Merry, can you take her home?”

“You got it,” Merry nodded and leaned down to nuzzle Cotton Cloudy. “If you keep it a secret and be good, I’ll get you ice cream.”

White Lightning pretended not to hear her as she whistled innocently. Spoiling her little sister was something all of her friends had taken a fondness to doing and she wasn’t gonna stop them. She was guilty of the same thing multiple times.

She kissed her sister on the forehead and watched the filly trot off talking to Merry May as the green mare nodded along.

“And remember, no joke books,” Sprinkle reminded her sternly and kissed her on the muzzle. “You taste like clouds.”

“Comes with flying. No joke books, got it. See you around,” White Lightning turned around and Sprinkle Medley flicked her tail against her flank. “Heyo. Save that for when we’re alone, not in public.”

“Fine by me,” Sprinkle Medley winked and flew off to get back to work as White Lightning trotted off towards the coliseum in the distance.

White Lightning dodged a pony as she stared with wide eyes, looking around her at the crowd. It seemed like everypony and their mom was out today.

“Hey uh is there where I can get seats?” White Lightning asked a stallion or tried at least as he ignored her. “Rude much?”

White Lightning hated huge crowds. Most pegasi hated being crowded and shoved in tightly packed spaces of tiny rooms. She flicked her tail and fluttered her wings in agitation as she forced herself to breath.

“Hey,” White Lightning muttered to herself as she watched a stallion trotting past to another booth with a stallion behind it. “Finally, another freaking booth opened to get my seat.”

She left the spot in line and trotted over with a smile.

“Hi there. One ticket please. Decided to get mine early,” White Lightning rested a hoof on the desk and the stallion nodded.

“Here you go. Just fill all this out,” the stallion pushed a clipboard over to her. “And you’re ready to go.”

“Okay?” White Lightning started to fill out the paper. “Is this a new thing for getting tickets?”

“Oh no, this isn’t for tickets. This is for registering to compete. Our sign is broken so we don’t have it up this year,” Lucky Charms waved a hoof and White Lightning froze. “Something wrong?”

“Eh what the hell? What could go wrong? Sign me up.”

You did what?

”You did what?”

White Lightning flinched back as she shifted on the couch, her dad pacing back and forth in front of her.

“Are you out of your mind?” Her father shouted again. “There’s no chance you’ll compete at the byfc. But we will come back to that later. First, you let some mare we don’t even know run off with your sister.”

“I’ve known Merry May my entire life. She’s reliable,” White Lightning offered weakly. “And I could have a chance. You never know. Not like either of you have ever believed in me.”

“What? We have totally believed in your,” her mom added and White Lightning rolled her eyes. “Don’t roll your eyes at me.”

This is gonna be one of those days, isn’t it? White Lightning thought bitterly with a barely withheld groan as she stood up.

“Like hell you ever have. When I tried out for the buck ball team in middle school, you said I was too fat to make the cut. Who says that to a ten year old?!” White Lightning shouted and her wings spread open wide as she jabbed a hoof into her mom’s chest. “You know, you two as parents are awful. I’m seventeen. You have no right to stop me. You should be encouraging me. How does this look to Cotton Cloudy?”

“This is not about her. This is about you doing something dangerous!”

“I do dangerous stuff every day! I work at the weather factory, I fly! Do you know how many pegasi die while flying every year? I do. It’s a lot. Going outside for a walk is dangerous! I could get ran over or mugged, but I don’t see you stopping me then. I don’t see you two complaining about me going to work, knowing I could accidentally killed by a stray lightning bolt, now do I?” White Lightning scowled and stepped back. “The only thing I see are two cowards who are afraid. Afraid that you won’t be able to control me any longer like you did when I was a filly.”

White Lightning took a deep breath and forced her wings closed as she glared at the other two pegasi, Cotton Cloudy watching from the stairs.

“You think you got everything figured out in life, don’t you?” Her dad shook his head and opened the door. “Then get out of my house.”

“What?” White Lightnings mom stared at him. “This was a conversation, not us kicking her out!”

“She wants to act all tough and a know all it and raise her tone to us like that then she can go live on her own and be an adult for all I care. You can pick up stuff later tonight. Now go.”

“You know, I remember everything as a filly. All the things you said about how I’m worthless. And all the times you randomly sent me to bed days without dinner. If I can, I will get Cotton Cloudy taken away from you. If it happened to one, there’s always a chance it happens again,” White Lightning stepped out the door. “And that’s a promise.”

“White Lightning, come back!” Her mom called out as White Lightning flew off and White Lightning raised a middle feather towards her.

“Oh shit. Where am I even gonna go?” White Lightning slowed to a stop midair and hovered. “Can’t go to Sprinkles home, her parents hate me. Raindrops house is cluttered as is. Merry May is an option and so is Rainbowshine I suppose.”

White Lightning settled onto her cloud and wrapped her tail around herself as she closed her eyes and tried to sleep. It was fairly late and the sun was setting rapidly in front of her very eyes.

“Hey!” White Lightning glanced over the edge of her cloud at a unicorn. “Come down now.”

“Oh shit,” White Lightning rolled her eyes and jumped off to flutter down. “What do you want? I save you once and you’re obsessed with me or something?”

“No,” Silver Spanner shrugged and she held a bag out with her magic. “Just wanted to say thanks again. I got you a pastry.”

White Lightning sniffed the bag and inhaled the scent of blueberries as she licked her lips. She accepted the bag and started tearing into the pastry.

“Thanks,” White Lightning wiped the stains off her muzzle with a hoof. “White Lightning.”

“Like the alcohol?” Silver Spanner asked as she shook her hoof. “Silver Spanner.”

“Everypony always assume I’m named after the alcohol and yes, yes I am. My mom is a fan of it,” White Lightning traced a hoof on the cloud under her. “Me, not so much.”

“I’ve heard it’s gross but I’m only fourteen so I don’t know. My parents don’t drink or if they do, they never do it around me,” Silver Spanner trotted over to a bench and sat down. “You look sad, what’s wrong?”

“It’s complicated.”

White Lightning plopped down next to her and sighed.

“It’s just a lot of shit, you know? Life just piles it all on ya,” White Lightning swung her legs idly. “Went off on my parents, got kicked out. Probably gonna hit up the shelter if it ain’t full.”

“Feel that.”

White Lightning told her the rest of the story and Silver Spanner sat quietly listening, glancing at some birds next to her.

“Damn, that’s heavy. I don’t really know what to say except I’m sorry,” Silver Spanner rested a hoof on her side and White Lightning leaned back on the bench.

“It is what it is. My parents never wanted a filly, they wanted a colt. And well, I’m obviously not a colt. They pretty much always told me how I wasn’t supposed to be a filly. It was annoying. And when they tried again to have a colt, they had another filly. They were more accepting of it that go around. Cotton Cloudy gets treated way better than I ever did when I was her age.”

“Damn man. That’s shitty right there,” Silver Spanner commented and stretched out on her stomach. “I’m sorry. Don’t you got a friend to stay with?”

“One or two. I can’t even stay with my own marefriend because her parents don’t like me. They don’t even really know we’re dating,” White Lightning rubbed the back of her head. “My parents don’t either. Both our folks aren’t really on board with the whole two mares dating thing, if you get me.”

“I get you loud and clear,” Silver Spanner answered after a moment of thinking. That whole area wasn’t something she really cared about. She preferred to keep her muzzle down and mind her own business.

“Though it’s clear you Canterlotians don’t care about that. Not that you’re from Canterlot with an accent like that,” White Lightning glanced at the brown unicorn.

“I swear, that’s what everypony first notices about me is my accent.”

White Lightning gave a dry laugh and shrugged.

“Well, looks we got something in common. I’m known for my alcohol name and you’re known for your accent. Two peas in a pod,” White Lightning nudged her with a wing tip. “The whole fight at home started because I told them I registered to perform in the Best Young Flyers Competition.”

“Ooh, congrats!” Silver Spanners ears perked up and she grinned. “I’ll be there tomorrow, so I’ll be rooting for you.”

“At least somepony will be. Wait, tomorrow?” White Lightning sat up straight and cursed. “Shit! I gotta go!”

“Uhm where? You can’t go home,” Silver Spanner reminded her and White Lightning stopped midair. “I can sneak you into our hotel, but tell nopony. Especially not the armed police outside the door.”

“This sounds vaguely illegal and very dangerous for my safety.”

“Nah, it’ll be fine. Just fly up to the window and I’ll let you in. But Sunset might be asleep so be quiet away, kay?”

“Kay.”

Silver Spanner laid sleeping on her bed as Sunset idly sat across from her in a chair, watching the white pegasus next to Silver Spanner drap a wing over her fellow unicorn with a raised eyebrow before taking another slow sip of her coffee.

“Wakey wakey,” Sunset jostled the pair with her magic a few times. “Silver.”

“Waffles?” Silver Spanner mumbled and Sunset bit back a laugh.

“Sure.”

Sunset continued watching them with a curious expression as they both sat up.

“Good morning sleeping beauties,” Sunset teased with a smirk. “Do you care to enlighten me on how the pony who saved your life ended up in our hotel room?”

“It’s not like that,” White Lightning smoothed down her messy mane and Sunset’s smirk faded.

“What do you mean?” Sunset gave her a confused look. “That’s exactly what happened. Here you are.”

“I- never mind, you’re too young understand what I thought you implied. Anyway uh hi, I’m White Lightning.”

“Sunset Shimmer,” Sunset commented casually as she levitated her crown to her lap and started toying with it. “So how did you come to be in our room? Amuse me.”

Silver Spanner stretched out her forelegs above her head and listened to White Lightning repeat the same story she told her last night. Sunset looked fairly angry by the end, which surprised her. Sunset rarely got angry. Annoyed? Yes. But not angry.

“I don’t really know how to respond to that except wow. You’re free to stay here as long as you like then I suppose,” Sunset mused as she started to polish her crown with a rag. “Or I can get you a room of your own. Up to you.”

“I don’t know. I think I’ve gotten enough kindness for one day, I won’t ask for more. Besides, I got bits to get my own room. I should have thought about that before thinking a shelter first.”

“Meh maybe. Shelters tend to be a bit rough groundside. I’m not sure about how they are up here,” Sunset gestured around the room. “Anyway, if you signed up for the Competition, you should probably get a move on. Competitors are supposed to be there in thirty minutes.”

“Oh shit!” White Lightning cursed and shot up out of the bed, slamming her head into the cloud ceiling. “I haven’t had breakfast or taken a shower or used the restroom or stretched or-”

The two unicorns watched her have a panic attack for a few seconds before they both intervened.

“Use our shower. I’ll get a big breakfast from downstairs. I hope you aren’t allergic to anything,” Sunset and Silver Spanner started shoving her physically into the restroom. “Be quick.”

“Why are you helping me? I’m a complete stranger to you two?” White Lightning asked as she had a towel flung at her. The two unicorns looked at each other and seemingly had a silent conversation based on looks.

“We don’t know,” Sunset admitted and circled her hoof on the wall. “Me personally, something is telling me to.”

“Same. Probably because we’re good ponies,” Silver Spanner answered and she levitated White Lightning into the shower. “Shower. You’re running outta time.”

White Lightning faintly made out the sound of a unicorn teleporting with a loud pop as she turned the shower on, pausing to examine the shampoos lining the wall. She herself had a fair collection of shampoo bottles back at her house or well, her parents house she supposed. She didn’t really have a house anymore.

While she did take pride in her appearance, she wasn’t as crazy about it as her marefriend was. Sprinkle Medley spent a god awful amount of time cleaning herself up in the morning. The most White Lightning did was clean her mane, tail and coat and brush her mane followed by tail.

“Can I use any shampoo?” White Lightning called out as she pushed the curtain closed again. She waited a few more seconds and shrugged when nopony said anything back. “Well, I guess I can. At least it’s on the hotels bit.”

She picked a bottle at random and sniffed it a few times before squirting the strawberry blueberry smelling liquid on her body and started rubbing it into her coat.

Sunset stumbled as she and Silver Spanner popped into existence in the hotel cafeteria as Celestia gave them both a surprised look.

“Silver Spanner, did you just teleport?” Sunset asked with a stunned expression and Silver Spanner looked at her body. Sparks were still flying off her tail and horn as she forced her jaw closed.

“I-I guess so,” Silver Spanner stammered as she grinned. “I’ve never been able to do that before. This is incredible!”

She pranced around the room happily as Sunset and Celestia both chuckled.

Teleporting was a pretty huge step for a unicorn, especially one that doesn’t use her magic as much like Silver Spanner.

“We can celebrate later. First, we gotta get White Lightning something to eat. I don’t know if there’s anything substantial for a pegasus in here,” Sunset looked around. “A few pancakes and waffles should do. We’ll need berries too.”

“How many is a few?” Silver Spanner asked and Sunset tapped a hoof against her chin.

“Six each. You get the berries, I’ll get the waffles and pancakes.”

Good Lord Silver Spanner thought as she and Sunset split to their respective tasks as she made out Celestia and Sunset talking. Not even she ate that much in the morning and she was almost always hungry.

“This is gonna take forever,” Silver Spanner muttered as White Lightning flew down the hall. “White!”

“Oh hey. I have five minutes till I have to be there and- oh my heavens, Princess Celestia!” White Lightning dropped to the ground and bowed, idly realizing she never did the same to Sunset.

“Hello there,” Celestia glanced at her. “You can stand.”

“Hi. Running into you was not on my bingo card for today.”

White Lightning shifted nervously. It was one thing to meet her daughter again. It was another thing entirely to meet Celestia.

I am so gonna make Sprinkle jealous about this when I see her.

Author's Note

Story cover art is almost complete thanks to person i commissioned :)

This should be entertaining

Sprinkle Medley paced back and forth inside the cloudiseum with a scowl as Raindrops and the rest of her friends stood waiting next to her.

“Where in Celestia’s name is that marefriend of mine?” Sprinkle Medley grumbled and she glanced at the sun. “It’s almost time for this to start and she’s still not here. I swear, Whitey is the worst at handling being on time.”

“Meh, you get used to it,” Merry May mused and she crossed her forelegs, looking up. “Oh there’s the fly boys. Joy.”

The group briefly glanced up to watch the three Wonderbolts flying over head before they each branched off in opposite directions with trails of smoke behind them.

“Merry May!” Cotton Cloudy landed on the green pegasus and nuzzled her neck with a grin. “Have you seen my sister? I haven’t seen her all day or night since yesterday when you took me home. Well, I saw her when I was supposed to be asleep but don’t tell anypony I said that.”

“No, we haven’t,” Rainbowshine groaned and fluttered her wings. “We hoped you came with her.”

“Nah, not after the fight she, mom and dad had last night. She got kicked out yesterday night. I haven’t seen Whitey all day,” Cotton Cloudy answered and the older ponies shared a worried look.

“Where the heck did she sleep at last night then?” Raindrops wondered as she nuzzled Milky Way.

“She said something about a shelter and then I lost her. She’s really fast at flying,” Cotton Cloudy scuffed a hoof. “But she’s gotta be here, I know it.”

Sprinkle Medley bit back a curse and she continued pacing anxiously in a circle as the others briefly watched her.

“What makes you so sure about her being that?” Milky Way mused and Cotton Cloudy jumped onto his back. “Oof. Warning next time please.”

“Because she signed up to compete this year!” Cotton Cloudy chirped and nuzzled his mane. “That’s what started the whole fight. And then she insulted mom and dad for controlling her her entire filly hood. Why are you all looking surprised?”

“Because you said she signed up to compete, but she’s never once done that because she doesn’t care for showing off like that,” Sprinkle Medley explained and paused her trotting. “Well, now I’m actually kinda excited to watch. A bit angry she slept at a shelter though. She has a dozen of us she could have came to. We’re gonna have words later.”

Rainbowshine licked her lips nervously as she and the others shared a wary look.

“Or she could have snuck in to sleep with me. It would have been nice to sleep next to a warm body and not an empty spot in my bed every night,” Sprinkle Medley sighed and eyed Raindrops. “Lucky mare.”

Sprinkle Medley picked up Cotton Cloudy with a wing and dropped her on her back. She was too proud to admit she was jealous of the jasmine pegasus. Sprinkle Medley was all too accustomed to either sneaking White Lightning though her window or sneaking into Whites room.

“So was this a spur of the moment thing or something she thought out?” Sprinkle Medley glanced briefly at the filly on her back as she started trotting up some stairs. She already had a faint idea of which one it was, but the conversation was nice.

“She didn’t say but probably random. Whitey doesn’t really think about stuff, she just acts and does stuff. Like me. It’s fun.”

Fun is not how Sprinkle Medley would describe making decisions randomly, but she opted to keep that to herself. Or between her and White Lightning, at the very least. Certainly wasn’t the fillys business.

“Next year, we should just steal a freaking cloud from the factory. My hind quarters are tired,” Rainbowshine complained and the purple pegasus stretched out her left hindleg and a few ponies watched. “This walking up stairs is so annoying.”

Merry May rolled her eyes as she dropped down onto a bleacher and wrapped her wing around herself.

“I agree with the cloud idea. This bleacher makes my flanks freeze. It’s cold,” Parasol grumbles and the pale yellow pegasus took a sip from a thermos she had brought with her. “Oh hey, there’s Princess Celestia and her daughter.”

Sprinkle Medley glanced up at a cloud surrounded by police ponies where the two sat with three Wonderbolts and a brown unicorn that she didn’t recognize personally, but from hearing how White had described. It was a fairly accurate description and the unicorn brushed her white mane aside with a hoof, her wide gray eyes scanning the crowd.

Silver Spanner paced back and forth behind Sunset and Celestia, wary of the edge of the cloud as she watched curiously.

“How long does this usually take?” Silver Spanner asked and she levitated a water bottle to her mouth.

“About nine hours,” Soarin answered casually and Sunset sat next to him and Misty flicked him with her tail. “Ow!”

“Nine hours! What the fu-?” Silver Spanner bit back a curse as she leaned forward and she glowed a light gold as Celestia pulled her back.

“Careful not to fall,” Celestia tapped a hoof on the cloud. “I don’t believe White Lightning is out to save you this time. Suppose I will have to fill her role if so.”

Sunset smirked slightly and she tossed some popcorn into her mouth before offering the bag to Soarin.

“Want some?” Sunset offered and she shook the bag with her magic. “It’s got extra butter.”

“Spitfire says I have to watch my weight so unfortunately, no.”

“Oh no Soarin,” Spitfire grinned and nudged him with a wing. “Go right ahead, Soarin.”

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” Soarin deadpanned and Spitfire laughed with Misty.

“Immensely.”

Misty and Spitfire both grinned as they each held back laughter as Celestia gave them a quick glance. They both promptly closed their muzzles and Celestia smirked.

“So you’re telling me the pony who does the most dangerous thing wins?” Silver Spanner asked and Misty shook her head. “This seems kinda bad.”

“Not dangerous, impressive. There’s rules in place about what tricks you can and can’t do legally. Like last year, some hundred civilians got injured because of a stunt some stallion pulled. Hence, the hundreds of security guards and police ponies,” Misty Fly explained as a police mare walked through the crowds of ponies under them. “And there will probably more when the royal guard gets involved next year since there’s the retraining going on right now.”

Silver Spanner turned her focus away from the yellow pegasus with a subtle nod as she watched a tan stallion flying over head and she now realized why Celestia advised they not wear hats. Her mane blew all over and Silver Spanner really didn’t want to imagine what her mane looked like.

She licked her hoof and started smoothing down her mane as she watched the pony with a one sticker over his flank land and Silver Spanner stomped her hooves.

“I’ve never come anywhere close to this,” Silver Spanner told the Wonderbolts sheepishly. “I barely left Ponyville till I moved to Canterlot. Other than the time my parents took me to Manehatten when I was four and Trottingham when I was eight. This is cool.”

“It gets better, trust me,” Spitfire smirked and brushed her fiery mane. A mane that randomly reminded Silver Spanner of Sunset’s and she glanced between the two.

“Are you and Spitfire related, by any chance? You two look really similar,” Silver Spanner commented and Celestia snorted.

“I can assure you Captain Spitfire and Private Blaze are not related to me and Sunset in any way,” Celestia wrapped a wing around Sunset and Silver Spanner. “Or Screwball.”

“I still need to learn about Screwball,” Sunset muttered and Celestia nodded.

“After this,” Celestia promised. “I’ll tell you about how she was made.”

This should be entertaining, Celestia thought and she shifted her weight slightly.

White Lightning leaned against a wall, idly watching ponies go back and forth with each other. Some were friendly, others were not so friendly based on the facial expressions she saw.

“Here you go,” Lucky hoofed White Lightning a sticker. “Number ninety five. Cover your left cutie mark with it. When your number is called, you go out.”

“Thanks, Lucky.” White Lightning slapped the number over her gray thunder cloud and lightning bolt cutie mark. She admittedly was a bit nervous. The only ponies she ever did any form of fancy flying in front of was her sister, marefriend or friends. And naturally, her parents.

White Lightning idly wondered if her parents still came even knowing she was here. She highly doubted they would, which probably meant Cotton Cloudy wasn’t either. She was probably still stuck at home doing Celestia knows what.

“Next!” Lucky called out and White Lightning watched a mare with a orange mane pushing the next pony out. “Thanks Lucy.”

Lucy brushed him off as White Lightning raised an eyebrow slightly before she started prancing anxiously in place.

“I really gotta use the bathroom,” White Lightning muttered and ran to the room with a mare on the door across from her. “God bless, it’s empty. Breath Whitey. It’s just flying. You’re a pegasus, flying is what you do. You can do this. Just ignore everypony. And if you do notice them, think of them in their underwear or something. That’s what Raindrops would tell me.”

White Lightning stared at her reflection and closed her eyes as she inhaled, letting out her breath slowly as the mirror steamed from her breath.

“Okay, maybe not picturing them in their underwear. It’d be pretty awkward imagining Princess Celestia in her underwear. It’s probably a gold color. Or a rainbow color. Wait, why am I putting this much thought into it?” White Lightning wondered aloud and a stall door opened as she jumped.

“I don’t know, but you should probably get it together. Breath lady,” the other mare started washing her hooves. “It really can’t be that bad.”

White Lightning glanced at the number forty three on her flank and sighed. This was going to take admittedly way longer than she expected. She saw easily hundreds of ponies in line. At least fifty by her estimate had gone already. Or so she hoped. It was more like fifteen had gone.

Maybe this was a bad idea, White Lightning wondered as she washed her hooves and trotted out the bathroom, finding her spot in line. I might be able to sneak out still and find Sprinkle in the crowd. Of course, she’s gonna be furious that I was late.

Angry Sprinkle Medley, while rare, was a terrifying sight to see. She got really red faced and was loud. And up in your muzzle. Even the brave Rainbowshine was afraid of her when she got angry enough. White Lightning was willing to be all the bits she had to her name that even the Wonderbolts wouldn’t want to face her down.

White Lightning at least was able to talk Sprinkle Medley down. Occasionally. Unless it was her she was mad at.

“What would Sprinkle Medley do if she was in my hooves?” White Lightning muttered to herself as she took a step forward. “Gotta think outside the box. Everypony will be doing barrel rolls or loops. I gotta do something big. Something huge. Something nopony has seen before.”

White Lightning eyes briefly caught a rainbow poster and her eyes widened slightly as they lit up.

“Oh, this is gonna be the death of me,” White Lightning muttered and she bolted out the room, ignoring the startled protests of the other pegasi.

Sunset rested her head against Celestia’s
side as White Lightning landed in front of her panting.

“What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in line,” a startled Sunset reminded her. “This is a huge opportunity for you.”

“I know. And I need a favor. A big one, okay?” White Lightning rested a hoof on her shoulder. “Bigger than big. This is huge. And I’m not talking cheating. Come with me real quick.”

The two trotted off to an empty part of the cloud as the three Wonderbolts, Silver Spanner and Celestia watched in confusion as Sunset cast a soundproofing spell around them.

Sunset’s eyes widened in surprise as White Lightning waved her forelegs around, fluttering a few feet above the unicorn as White Lightning made a downward jabbing movement with her hoof.

“Why does Princess Sunset suddenly look terrified?” Spitfire asked and Celestia stared at her daughter going pale.

“I have no idea.”

Whatever it was clearly made Sunset nervous. And that made everypony near them nervous as a result.

Sunset and White Lightning shook hooves as White Lightning hugged her suddenly with a wide grin and Sunset hesitated before returning the hug with a smile.

Celestia visibly relaxed a little at the smile. Sunset dropped the spell and White took off with a burst of speed that surprised even Spitfire as Sunset joined them again.

“What was that about?” Celestia whispered and Sunset grinned at her widely.

“Oh, just watch and see,” Sunset winked at her. That did little to ease Celestia’s nerves, but Sunset seemed fairly confident in whatever was about to happen. “This is gonna be awesome.”

White Lightning paced anxiously back and forth as she waited for them to call her number.

“Ninety Five!” Lucy shouted and pointed and White. “You’re up.”

“Oh, Celestia be with me,” White Lightning prayed softly as she flew out and stared at the large crowds an all sides, her eyes briefly falling on Sunset and the two shared a brief nod. She hadn’t necessarily been looking out at the crowd when she was talking to Sunset. “Well, might as give them a show at least.”

Sprinkle Medley and Cotton Cloudy both leaned forward as their other friends watched curiously as White Lightning started flying rapidly in a circle along the length of the cloudiseum with enough speed to start blowing manes and hats aside.

“I really hope this ain’t all she has planned,” Milky Way muttered and Raindrops whapped him softly with a wing. “Ow.”

Silver Spanners started getting dizzy as she tried her hardest to watch the white and blue blur flying.

“Well, that’s my signal,” Sunset announced as White raised a hoof and Sunset teleported with a pop. She reappeared in front of some started ponies below Celestia as everypony else watched Sunset. “I really hope she can catch me.”

Sunset inhaled and she jumped off the cloud, her mane billowing under her as everypony screamed and Celestia’s eyes widened in shock as she jumped off the cloud with her wings spread. White Lightning shot upwards into the sky as a stunned Silver Spanner used her magic to teleport to where Sunset had been standing.

“Oh shit,” Misty Fly cursed as the three Wonderbolts jumped off after Celestia when a white and blue blur shot past them. “What in Equestria was that?”

Tears welled up in White Lightnings eyes as the wind started making everything hard to see as Sunset’s screaming started getting louder and White caught her mid air on her back and Sunset hastily wrapped her hooves around her neck as White Lightning shot back up and Sunset squeezed her eyes shut.

“She’s gonna do it,” Cotton Cloudy pranced in between Sprinkle Medley and Merry May, the two watching with dropped jaws as White Lightning soared past followed by a loud explosion that sent the the Wonderbolts and Celestia spinning head over hooves. “Never mind.”

White Lightning dropped onto the cloud with a grin, dropping Sunset softly onto the cloud before hugging her.

“While I may not have done what I wanted, that was still epic. And look, they’re cheering my name,” White Lightning waved a hoof excitedly out to the crowd. “I owe you big time, Sunset.”

“Sweet ground,” Sunset kissed the cloud. “Sweet, sweet cloud.”

“I may not win but I did have fun,” White Lightning continued as Celestia and the Wonderbolts landed behind her. “It was pretty hard finding a pony willing to jump off a cloud for me. Thanks.”

“Care to tell me what the heck was going through your mind, Sunset?” Celestia demanded as she stood over Sunset. “You could have died. You’re a princess, not invincible. You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“She needed a pony to help encourage her. And so I volunteered. She was supposed to do a what’s it called?” Sunset looked at White Lightning.

“Sonic Rainboom. It’s been done only once by somepony in flight school. It’s very rare and very hard to do. I was close,” White Lightning explained and she scuffed a hoof. “I could feel it in the wind and an shift in the air. Maybe one day.”

“Well,” Soarin nudged her with a grin. “Wanna spend the day with us?”

“Really? But I didn’t really do anything impressive. And I failed a Sonic Rainboom. Surely there’s better contestants than me.” White Lightning rested a hoof against her chest.

“Need I remind you that you beat three Wonderbolts and Princess Celestia to a screaming pony in need of help,” Soarin wrapped a wing around White Lightning. “That’s something impressive and something to be proud of.”

“I got an idea, but I need your help with it,” White Lightning glanced at the Wonderbolts.

“Name it,” Spitfire bumped her flank against White’s. “Well, within reason, of course.”

Of course, White Lightning thought with a grin as she told them.

“Now that is something I think we can manage,” Spitfire mused as her goggles hung around her neck and White Lightning grinned at her.

Fucking awesome, White Lightning thought as she shifted her wings.

First, she had to find Sprinkle Medley.

Author's Note

Fully completed. Artist is linked in story description, highly recommend him or her.

You're in so much trouble

White Lightning stood next to Princess Celestia and Sunset as she scanned the crowds of ponies. Who knew Cloudsdale had so many green pegasi? There was easily a dozen she had seen so far.

“White Lightning. You’re in so much trouble.”

White Lightning froze at the voice behind her, turning slowly to stare at her marefriend staring at her impassively and White gulped. That was probably the most mad looking she had ever seen Sprinkle Medley look.

“Hey there. Quite a show, huh?” White Lightning fluttered her wings and Sprinkle Medley rolled her eyes before hugging the white mare.

“That was incredible, you big giant beautiful dummy,” Sprinkle Medley kissed her forehead. “I’m still mad, though. You could have at least told us.”

“Surprise?” White Lightning offered weakly as Sprinkle Medley continued trying to squeeze the life out of her. “Wait, us?”

“Mhm,” Sprinkle Medley shifted to reveal the white filly on her back. “She was pretty worried about you, as was the rest of our friends and me.”

Cotton Cloudy forced her way into the hug to grab White’s foreleg and she nuzzled it.

“I’m happy for you. That was awesome!” Cotton Cloudy gazed up at White Lightning with wide eyes and White Lightning rubbed a hoof on her head. “It was so loud and woosh! My mane was all over the place. My ears are ringing still.”

White Lightning and Sprinkle Medley both chuckled as Sunset and Celestia both shifted on their hooves as Silver Spanner watched.

“That happens. But it gets better, believe it or not,” White Lightning turned the pair around. “The Wonderbolts are gonna spend an entire day with us. Soarin is interested in meeting you specifically, Cotton.”

“Really?” Cotton pressed a hoof against her chest and White Lightning gave a smug nod. That had been her first request was to bring her sister and marefriend along. The two were long time Wonderbolt fans, even bigger ones than White Lightning was.

“Mhm. And so is Misty Fly. And even Spitfire. I told her all about you two,” White Lightning nuzzled the pair of stunned ponies. “Oh, and Princess Celestia. And Princess Sunset. And my new friend, Silver Spanner.”

Sprinkle Medleys eyes followed Celestia’s forelegs up her body and her jaw dropped. If there was two ponies she adored more than the Wonderbolts, it was the two Princesses in front of her.

She practically worshipped Celestia walked on. Sprinkle Medley was the most outspoken supporter of the Princesses, especially Celestia. Cadence was okay, she supposed. She didn’t know much about the Love Princess if she was being honest.

“Princesses,” Sprinkle Medley knelt down to bow alongside Cotton Cloudy. “It’s an honor to be in your presence.”

“The honor is all ours,” Celestia answered her and flicked her ears. “You have quite the marefriend there.”

“Yeah, yeah I do,” Sprinkle Medley agreed and shot White Lightning a look as white mare brushed her blue mane aside sheepishly. “Can I borrow her for a little bit?”

“Of course. I’m quite interested in getting to know this adorable filly,” Celestia rested a wing around Cotton Cloudy.

White Lightning found herself being dragged by the collar into a closet and Sprinkle Medley shut the door.

“I have so many questions. First off, where the hell did you stay last night?” Sprinkle Medley nuzzled the other pony.

“With Sunset and Silver Spanner. Silver Spanner snuck me into their hotel room and I passed out on her bed. They then rushed me to the cloudiseum this morning before everypony got there,” White Lightning explained and closed her bright blue eyes as she hugged her. “Next question.”

“Why didn’t you go to my place or any of our friends?” Sprinkle Medley complained and rested her head on White’s chest fluff. “Like seriously. What the hell is wrong with your mom and dad?”

“Good question. There’s something with those two that make me feel connected to them. Like I’m supposed to be friends with them. A gut feeling as you call it,” White Lightning explained and stretched her wings. “As for the third question, I have no fucking clue. I’m homeless, dude. I can’t ask my friends, they don’t deserve to have to put up with me. Your folks don’t like me for telling too many jokes and laughing too much. I’m fucked, Sprinkle.”

“We will figure it out. Even if I have to run from home to make a cloud house for the two of us, we will get this sorted,” Sprinkle held Whites face with her hooves. “Or maybe the Princess can help. You’re seventeen. You’re still legally a child. Your parents can’t legally kick you out till you turn eighteen, remember?”

“I don’t want to go back their to them. They’re assholes and you know this,” White Lightning flicked her tail and fluttered her wings. “And maybe Princess Celestia could help us. Might be able to pull a few strings and get me emancipated. Get me recognized as an adult. I already work part time at the weather factory with you so there’s that.”

Sprinkle shifted her weight as the pair of pegasi hugged and she ran a hoof along the base of White’s wings where her body connected to them.

“Maybe. Princess Celestia is a miracle worker after. There’s nothing she can’t do. I mean, she banished Nightmare Moon for us and defeated Discord. Princess Celestia is powerful and cares for her ponies. She will help us both,” Sprinkle Medley kissed the side of her muzzle. “I freaking love you, by the way. You’re a damn good pony. Cotton Cloudy freaking adores you, as do I.”

“You’re making me blush, stop it. Damn white face makes it hard to hide my blushes,” White Lightning mumbled and her face burned a bright red. She really did get the short end of the stick when Celestia or whoever was assigning out coat colors. Sprinkle Medley often took advantage of her very visible noticeable blushes.

“Good, because then my compliments are getting to you and the likelihood of me getting laid just increased tenfold and everypony is happy,” Sprinkle Medley trailed her tail under White’s nose with a grin and White Lightning turned even redder. “Or well, the two of us are happy. It’s not anypony else’s business.”

White Lightning shrugged and Sprinkle Medley gave a content sigh.

“You know how weird it would be if somepony just came in here right now to get a mop?” White Lightning commented as she curled up in a ball. “At least it isn’t like that one time Merry May found us in the closet at that school Hearts and Hooves day party in middle school.”

Sprinkle Medley stifled a laugh as she shifted her weight. That had been probably the most embarrassing day of her life. But she’d rather take Merry May finding them instead of her parents catching them. That would have easily gotten her kicked out of her house and she’d be in the same position as her marefriend.

“Are you two still in here?” Sunset stuck her head in and turned a red color. “Actually, I’ll uh come back. Silver Spanner and mom kinda wanna get dinner. And the filly is getting impatient and I’m not good with children that young.”

The two pegasi watched as Sunset slowly shut the closet door with a blush and the two mares giggled at her expression.

“We should probably go save them. Cotton Cloudy gets feisty when hungry,” Sprinkle Medley rested her head on White’s. “And you and I,” Sprinkle Medley tapped a hoof against White’s chest. “Are gonna find you a real place to sleep tonight. You can’t stay at a hotel forever, Whitey.”

“Yeah, I know. I actually may have a better idea, but I’ll tell you later today. The Princesses leave tonight, so it’ll be perfect timing,” White nuzzled her. “And thanks for convincing me to sign up. This was fun as hell. Thank God Sunset trusted me enough to catch her.”

White Lightning had half expected her to not agree. It had taken a lot of convincing and begging to get her to go along with White’s idea.

White Lightning was just grateful Princess Celestia wasn’t banishing her for it.

White Lightning yawned as she watched Cotton Cloudy flying above her next to Soarin flying upside down next to her, occasionally talking to her as Sprinkle Medley sat with her.

“She’s impressive,” Misty commented as she and Spitfire watched. “She looks a lot like you do.”

“I get that a lot,” White Lightning answered without looking at the yellow mare. “Hey, Sprinkle? Where did Princess Celestia go?”

The alicorn had mysteriously disappeared after Sunset and White Lightning had told her about her home situation as Cotton Cloudy went with Soarin to fly.

“Not sure. Sunset isn’t here either,” Sprinkle Medley looked around the amber unicorn. “Silver Spanner is still here though.”

The brown unicorn was bent over a notebook, scribbling furiously with a quill as she occasionally looked at Cotton Cloudy and Soarin doing a barrel roll.

“She’s actually pretty nice. A bit eccentric for my taste, but nice,” Sprinkle Medley continued as she stared at Silver Spanner. “She’s very out there. Princess Sunset has interesting friends.”

White Lightning had a feeling she was right. Silver Spanner was fairly nice and kind to them from the beginning, enthusiastically shaking hooves with Sprinkle Medley and Cotton Cloudy. Usually only White Lightning had that level of energy.

“How did you get Princess Sunset to even jump off a cloud, by the way?” Spitfire asked as she took a sip from her water bottle. “I don’t think Princess Celestia was too happy with Princess Sunset.”

“I asked as a friend. It took some convincing, but she was on board. Mainly a lot of promises that I’d catch her,” White Lightning answered as she listened to Cotton Cloudy laughing.

Celestia had looked pretty annoyed after White had dropped Sunset off at her hooves. Annoyed Celestia was a concerning sight. It was difficult to make her upset or so the rumor was. White Lightning had no idea if that was true or not. She didn’t live with her, so she couldn’t necessarily comment on it.

“I miss when I had that much energy,” Soarin flew past panting after Cotton Cloudy and Spitfire raised an eyebrow.

“You’re only twenty three. Get it together,” Spitfire scoffed and Soarin glared at her.

“Yeah, and she’s a freaking seven year old fur ball of energy! You try and keep up with her, then we will talk!” Soarin snapped as he took off after her again. “Come back here!”

White Lightning chuckled as she watched Soarin doing loops around Cotton Cloudy above them. Cotton Cloudy did have a seemingly endless supply of energy. Even White had trouble keeping up with her.

“That was some impressive flying. Not enough to get offered a spot on the Wonderbolts, though,” Spitfire and the others turned to look at a tall purple pegasus with a scar, Silver Spanner glancing over to watch.

“Rolling Thunder,” White Lightning scowled as she stood up. “Shame you didn’t get lost on the way to there. That would have been a pity.”

“And we actually don’t offer spots on the Wonderbolts just because somepony won,” Soarin called out as he and Cotton Cloudy landed. “Never have, never will.”

“Hmph.”

“My sister is so much cooler than you ever will be,” Cotton Cloudy jabbed a hoof forward with a furious scowl and Misty Fly nudged her aside gently. “In fact, I bet she could beat you in a race any time, anywhere.”

“I could easily join the Wonderbolts if I truly wanted to. I just don’t,” White Lightning shrugged and she stood up. “Because I enjoy making ponies happy and laugh. And spending time with the ponies I love helps me accomplish that better. The next time the Wonderbolts are accepting applicants, I will apply. And I’ll get in. One day, I’ll be a Wonderbolt just to prove you wrong yet again, RT.”

Spitfire’s eyes flicked between the two as they each shifted their weight. She idly wondered if things would come to a fight and she quietly placed bets on White Lightning. She looked mad.

“And even if I did agree to a race, you’ll always still be second place,” White Lightning grinned at the purple mare. “Know why, Thunder?”

Rolling Thunder raised an eyebrow, gesturing her to continue as White’s grin grew wider, if that was possible. Spitfire hadn’t honestly thought it was. Only Surprise seemed capable of something like that.

“Because thunder always comes after lightning!” White Lightning exclaimed and started laughing with Cotton and Sprinkle Medley as the white mare proudly displayed her cloud and lightning bolt cutie mark. “Get it? My name is White Lightning, yours is Rolling Thunder.”

The purple pegasus scowled and rolled her eyes as White Lightning continued laughing as Spitfire, Misty and Soarin hesitated before joining in.

“This is not over,” Rolling Thunder promised before flying off. White Lightning had faintly remembered seeing her way in the back of the line. Rolling Thunder always had been her biggest rival. She didn’t necessarily remember when it started, but she did know it had something to do with their parents not liking each other. White Lightning only really cared after Rolling Thunder was rude to her a few times.

“Fine by me!” White Lightning shouted after her as Sprinkle Medley rested a hoof on her shoulder. “That was stressful. Our families hate each other for some reason. I was cool with her till she started stuff with me for no reason. This is war.”

“Yes dear, I’m well aware,” Sprinkle Medley kissed her cheek and hugged her. “We can discuss your hate of her later. You should probably take your sister home, you’re parents are probably worried sick about her.”

“It was an honor,” White Lightning shook hooves with Spitfire, Soarin and Misty as Silver Spanner watched silently. “I hope to see you again one day. Say bye, Cotton.”

“Bye! Thanks for flying with me,” Cotton Cloudy hugged Soarins foreleg before switching to the other two and Spitfire visibly tensed up as she got hugged. Spitfire wasn’t necessarily fond of being touched and she sighed as she forced herself to relax before trying to separate herself from Cotton Cloudy.

“Alright, let’s give her some space,” White Lightning trotted up and Cotton Cloudy scowled at her.

“Never! Spitfire is soft,” Cotton Cloudy glared before nuzzling Spitfires leg. “Warm, too.”

“Okay kid,” Spitfire chuckled and rolled her eyes. “I think your sister wants you and I gotta get back to my Wonderbolts. Captain business. How about you send me a letter directly to the HQ and I’ll mail ya one back? We’ll be what’s it called?”

“Pen pals?” Cotton suggested and Spitfire nodded.

“Yes, pen pals.”

Cotton Cloudy stared at her before releasing her foreleg. Spitfire was half certain she was close to loosing circulation. Kid could freaking hug and she shook it for a few seconds.

“Got a strong grip there kid, I’m impressed. Sheesh,” Spitfire patted her head. “Maybe we can plan something ahead and I’ll you for a real flight worthy of a Wonderbolt.”

Spitfire grinned at Soarin as the stallion stuck his tongue at her. Spitfire thoroughly enjoyed teasing him. Benefits of growing up with him gave her that right. Most of the time, he threw a witty insult right back at her.

“Worthy of a Wonderbolt? Sureeee. You wouldn’t even be here if I didn’t drag you into this, Captain.” Spitfire rolled her eyes and Misty covered a grin.

“I’m not even gonna justify that with a response,” Spitfire turned away and flicked him with her tail and he yelped. “Giddyup.”

Silver Spanner snorted and closed her notebook. That was probably the stupidest thing she ever heard come out of someponys mouth and she heard a lot of stupid things come from ponies. Admittedly, sometimes she was one of those ponies.

“Where do you think the Princesses are?” Cotton asked and White Lightning herself wondered that.

“Celestia is laying down the law. She and Sunset should be back soon,” Silver Spanner answered as the Wonderbolts flew away. “Don’t lose the paper Spitfire gave you, Cotton.”

Celestia sat in front of a trembling stallion and mare as she glared angrily at them and Sunset watched quietly from the door way.

“And then, you kicked out your daughter. Which, mind you, is illegal because she is a minor in your care. I highly suggest you pray to whatever God you chose to believe in that I don’t manipulate the courts into making a decision on her behalf. And considering that you have no witnesses here, nopony would believe you,” Celestia scowled and she leaned forward. “This will go two ways. My way or the hard way. Get me White Lightnings birth certificate and any othe legal documents pertaining to her and Cotton Cloudy. Now.”

“Y-yes Princess,” the stallion stammered and trotted to a filing cabinet.

“Faster,” Celestia tapped a hoof impatiently. “I’m in a very poor mood tonight, so don’t test me.”

Sunset gulped nervously. She was really not looking forward to a flight back to Canterlot if Celestia was gonna be like this all night. Angry Celestia was a very rare and a very scary sight. Sunset herself resisted the urge to tuck her tail between her hind legs and run away in favor of watching.

“I’m sure whatever she’s doing is important,” Silver Spanner continued to pick her stuff up. “Neither told me and I didn’t ask. If I was supposed to know, they’d have told me so.”

Cotton Cloudy yawned and the unicorn watched Sprinkle Medley catch the filly midair as Cotton Cloudy started snoring on her back.

“Meet me right here in an hour with as much stuff as you can pack,” White Lightning told Sprinkle Medley before picking up Cotton Cloudy with her hooves. “Just trust me.”

White Lightning took off in a white blur with a streak of blue following behind her, leaving two confused mares behind.

Author's Note

Name: White Lightning

Age: 17(currently)

Motto: If you feel my lightning, you'll never hear the thunder.

Coat color: White.

Mane color: Light blue.

Eye color: Blue.

Bio: White Lightning is a proud pegasus mare who enjoys flying and telling jokes to her friends and anypony who will listen, really. Her jokes and carefree attitude often help lighten stressful situations. She is the main rival of Rolling Thunder and the two shared a strong hatred of each other. White Lightning later becomes an Element of Harmony, though which one is currently unknown.

White Lightning is a talented flyer and placed in first place during the Best Young Flyers Competition one year. She quickly became close friends with Sunset Shimmer and Silver Spanner. She met the two when she saved Silver Spanners life after she fell off a cloud. Sunset reluctantly agreed to jump off cloud for White Lightning to help her win the BYFC.

White Lightning is currently dating Sprinkle Medley and the two both apply for the Wonderbolt Academy together when the applications open and are currently waiting to hear if they were accepted. White Lightning later attends the Canterlot Wedding and takes part in an effort to defend the city, later witnessing the Queens defeat. She is the older sister of Cotton Cloudy and later becomes the primary caretaker. She currently lives in Canterlot with Sprinkle Medley and her sister. She is a close ally of Soarin and often looks to him for advice.

White Lightning has a wing speed of fifteen point five and easily breaks the sound barrier. She is capable of doing a patented Sonic Thunderboom and is a kind mare unless she gets angry.

White Lightning spends most of her time at home with her marefriend and sister unless she's at work or hanging out with her friends. She later assists in search and rescue after Baltimare is hit by tornadoes and spends most of her time in a bar after.

White Lightning is well known for her witty humor and quick comebacks in her friend group and around Canterlot. She works as a weather pony with Sprinkle Medley. She enjoys singing.

Abilities: strong wing power and highly intelligent. She can catch lightning bolts and direct lightning through her hooves at certain targets. Capable of doing a Sonic Thunderboom when she wants to.

Weakness: Sometimes tell jokes at bad times and can be arrogant occasionally. She can often offend ponies with her humor.

What about now?

White Lightning flew straight through the bottom of her house or well, her parents house now she supposed. Clouds were nice like that. Most pegasi used their magic to detect certain ponies that allowed them to just fly in through the floor. Most chose not to because it tended to mess up the clouds in that room.

White was just glad her parents hadn’t gotten around to removing her from the clouds magic or whatever it was called. She didn’t really care enough to learn what it was called. Sunset would probably know, honestly. She seemed to be fairly smart when it came to magic.

She poked her head out the doorway of the bathroom cautiously, grateful nopony had been using it. That would have been pretty awkward she would imagine. That already happened once with her and Cotton Cloudy, except White had been using it. She didn’t know which was worse honestly.

White trotted to her room quietly and dropped Cotton in her bed, biting the blanket and dragging it over the filly.

“Goodnight,” White Lightning muttered and trotted to her old room and she started to shove stuff into a suit case she had stored under her cloud bed for storage. “Dresses, check. Random books, check. Bits, check. Flight goggles, check. Pillow and plush, check. Blankets, check. Looks I got the essential stuff.”

White opened her door softly and started trotting down the hall carefully to avoid waking anypony up.

“You’re leaving.”

White Lightning stiffened and turned slowly to face her mom standing behind her. It wasn’t a question.

“Yes, I am.”

White Lightning shifted her saddlebags on her back and tightened down her suitcase she had on her back. Way easier than carrying the damn thing with her mouth.

“I don’t belong here. You and that stallion downstairs made that perfectly clear. I’m moving to Canterlot. To be with my friends,” White Lightning narrowed her eyes. “And you know what, I’m happy you kicked me out. I get to finally find out who I’m meant to be without these freaking metaphorical hoof cuffs you’ve placed on me.”

White Lightning continued to stare at her with a scowl and sighed as she started to walk past her.

“I’m sorry.”

“Little bit late for that now, isn’t it?” White Lightning retorted bitterly with an eyeroll without turning to face her. “I’m almost eighteen, this will be the last time you ever see me. If either of you are ever sick or dying, I will not visit you.”

“Don’t say that. You don’t want to live with that,” her mom rested a hoof on her back and White shook her off.

“Do not touch me,” White Lightning warned and glared at her. “You know, I got first place in the BYFC today. Or well, yesterday now since it’s one am. I spent the entire day with the Wonderbolts and the Princesses. So did Sprinkle and Cotton Cloudy. I even got a trophy that Sprinkle is holding onto for me. As my mom, you should be proud of me. Not whatever the hell you said to me the other day.”

“Aren’t you forgetting somepony?” Her mom jerked her head to Cottons room. “The Princess has your birth certificate and all other documentation. We have negotiated that Cotton Cloudy will live with you during the school year and the first week of summer. We get her the rest of the summer. She was adamant this be done.”

White Lightning shifted slightly. The rational side of her brain told her to not trust a single word she said, but on the other hoof her mom had been the more caring parent and trustworthy.

“Okay,” White nodded after a long moment of thinking. “I’ll go get her and some things of hers. She fell asleep pretty fast.”

“She is good at that. So were you her age.”

White Lightning resisted the urge to make a rude remark as her mom hugged her and she tensed. It was fairly rare for her to be hugged by anypony other her marefriend and sister. White Lightning hesitated before she hugged her back.

“I love you,” White Lightning admitted and nuzzled her. “I don’t know why, but I do.”

“I love you too. Why exactly Canterlot? You don’t even know these ponies. What makes you think they won’t drop you when the moment presents itself?” Her mom asked and White growled at her.

“What, like you and dad did?” White shot back bitterly and her mom flinched.

“Yes.”

“Enough with the simple, one worded answers,” White grumbled and stepped away. “You know I hate that. I’ll send a letter once we’re settled in Canterlot and such. Do I seriously get to see my sister?”

“Yes, you do. Princess Celestia has ordered it and she was uhm very persuasive,” her mom shifted nervously. More along the lines of Princess Celestia had threatened them with numerous court dates and expensive fines and potential jail time unless they complied with her demands.

Not that she would ever admit that. It was already embarrassing having the Princess know all of your business like that.

“Can I have another hug before we go get Cotton Cloudy at least? We have her registered at a school in a town called Ponyville. It’s about a two hour train ride from Canterlot, probably faster if you fly but I’m unsure. You will be responsible for getting her to and from school, housing her, feeding her, making sure she has a proper room, getting her to the doctor, dentist and more. It’s not easy being a parent. You’re gonna have to get a job, pay for her school supplies and pay for an apartment or house. It’s not easy or fun being grown up.”

White Lightning felt like her head was about to start spinning. She knew raising a kid had a lot of work, but she wasn’t entirely ready for that.

“I got a partner. I’ll be fine. Cotton and my loving marefriend will be fine. And yes, marefriend,” White Lightning gave her a smug grin and she fluttered her wings. “Once you decide you’re done with dad’s shit, you and I can maybe work on our relationship again.”

White Lightning and her mom both turned to Cottons room where the filly was standing with a blanket wrapped her and her teddy bear held in a wing.

“I gotta use the bathroom,” Cotton Cloudy mumbled and stumbled around them.

Freaking adorable, White and her mom thought at the same time.

Sprinkle Medley paced back and forth on her cloud, occasionally glancing at the moon to help her tell the time. She always found using the moon was a bit more easier than using the sun to tell time. But she wouldn’t even admit that out loud.

A few suitcases sat in front of her as she continued pacing, flicking her tail back and forth before pausing to preen her wings. Keeping her wings in perfect condition was always a thing she liked doing. Certainly helped make flying easier.

“I’m surprised you actually came. I half expected to find a note saying you couldn’t come.”

Sprinkle Medley glanced back at the white mare standing behind her with a few boxes on her back and White Lightning stumbled before regaining control of her hooves.

“That is such a cliché thing to do,” Sprinkle Medley scoffed and took a few boxes from her. “What is with so much boxes? Where we headed?”

“I was thinking Canterlot,” White Lightning deposited the sleeping foal on her back onto the cloud. “Managed to negotiate with my mom and dad to keep Cotton for the school year and first week of summer and then we will trade her back and forth.”

That would explain the random boxes with the words CC on a few and Sprinkle Medley shifted her weight.

“Canterlot is a bit far away for us to carry all these, Whitey. There’s a dozen other towns. Hell, Trottingham is under us right now. And Cloudsdale will float away so our parents won’t look. I told mine I was going out to get ice cream and snuck out the window so we don’t have long.”

White Lightning rolled her eyes and started shoving boxes off her onto the cloud as Sprinkle raised an eyebrow.

“You’re about to start singing, aren’t you?” Sprinkle sighed and White nodded enthusiastically as she hovered in place.

“Yes, yes I am,” White Lightning cleared her throat and coughed into her hoof. “And that sky rolls out like a welcome mat. don’t know where it goes but it beats where we’re at. We always said someday, somehow we were gonna get away, gonna blow this town. And what about now, how ‘bout tonight? Baby, for once let’s don’t think twice. Let’s take that flight that never ends that we’ve been talkin’ about.
What about now, why should we wait?
We can chase these dreams down the interstate. And be long gone before Equestria moves on and makes another round. What about now?”

“Please stop, you’re making a scene,” Sprinkle muttered and rolled her eyes as she tapped her hoof against the cloud. “The fact it’s just us three is a minor detail.”

“We’ve been puttin’ this off, baby, long enough. Just give me the word, and we’ll be kicking up clouds. We both know it’s just a matter of time before our hearts start racin’ for that city line,” White Lightning ignored her protest and flew around her in a circle. “And we could hang around this town forever making plans.
But there won’t ever be a better time to take this chance. And what about now, how ‘bout tonight? Baby, for once let’s don’t think twice. Let’s take that flight that never ends that we’ve been talkin’ about.
What about now, why should we wait?
We can chase these dreams down the interstate. And be long gone before Equestria moves on and makes another round. What about now?”

“You’re lucky I love your singing,” Sprinkle Medley grumbled and nodded. “Fine. Let’s go.” White hummed the last few remaining lines and picked up a box. “But we’re having that delivered for us. We’re not flying carrying like, fifteen boxes White.”

White Lightning grudgingly had to admit she had a point. She could barely fly here with a majority of Cottons stuff alongside her own on her back. And the filly was surprisingly heavy herself. White blamed herself for that one. She did often give her snacks randomly or left her go wild. Just another thing she assumed she’d have to keep an eye on in Canterlot.

“Okay, fine by me. And we can sing the entire way. I’ve got dozens and dozens memorized in my head. We could do this for hours,” White Lightning clapped her hooves together excitedly and Sprinkle Medley smirked slightly.

“Oh boy. This is gonna be another one of those trips where you sing so much you lose your voice, isn’t it?”

“Shush. But maybe so, yes,” White Lightning conceded after a moment and she turned around. “So where exactly do you know of a spinning company open this later? Everywhere is closed.”

“Not everywhere,” Sprinkle Medley grinned and started hovering above her. “Grab a box.”

White Lightning didn’t necessarily like the grin she was on the receiving end of and idly wondered if that’s what she looked like when she was about to say a really awful joke.

While most places were closed, Raindrops and a few other pegasi were known for working for a moving company that worked whenever a pony needed. And Sprinkle Medley did happen to be friends with Raindrops. And Raindrops did like money, as did practically all of Equestria.

Money did make the world go around, after all.

“Did you bring bits? We should be able to get a discount because we’re awesome enough and Raindrops is our friends. If only Derpy still lived in Cloudsdale. But alas she does not so we can’t ask her. But damn it we can ask Raindrops,” Sprinkle Medley took off and White Lightning stared after her.

“And here I thought being impulsive was my job in this relationship.”

Sunset yawned and rested her hooves on the basket of their balloon as they floated through the sky, Cloudsdale long since becoming a small dot in the sky behind them.

Silver Spanner was laying in a ball snoring next to Celestia, the brown unicorn tucked under her wing and Sunset pushed down her jealously. Sunset did live with the alicorn, she would be fine until she got home. Or that’s what she kept telling herself, at least.

Sunset had volunteered to stay awake while the other two slept. She did have to promise to wake them up if anything bad did happen, like running out of gas for the balloon or whatever Celestia had stated. Sunset didn’t really like being given orders like that, she was more than capable of using a balloon. Somewhat.

“You look bored.” Sunset’s head whipped aside to look at White Lightning and Sprinkle hovering behind her with their hooves resting on the basket. “Heyo.”

“Hi.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow at the filly sleeping on Sprinkle Medleys back for a brief moment. She was a bit impressed that the kid didn’t roll off her in her sleep. Knowing Sunset’s poor luck, she would have if the roles were swapped.

“What are you three doing here? It’s late as heck,” Sunset commented and watched as White Lightning nuzzled her sister.

“We’re uh moving. To Canterlot. Tonight,” Sprinkle Medley flicked her tail a few times to swat at a fly. “White Lightnings idea. I’m just here because I wanna be with my marefriend.”

Sunset shifted awkwardly as the pair kissed and Sunset reisted the urge to gag. She was not a big fan of the whole romance thing. Seemed kinda like a waste of time to her. That’s pretty much the main reason Sunset refuses to date in general.

“Out of curiosity, why?” Sunset wanted to know and leaned forward curiously as the two looked at each other.

“Something is telling me to go with you,” White Lightning admitted after a moment and licked her lips. “I can’t explain it. But I firmly believe living in Canterlot, near you and Silver Spanner is the right move. I already got kicked out, might as well move as far as physically possible from my mom and dad.”

“Weird gut feeling?” Sunset asked and the white mare nodded slowly as Sunset glanced at her sleeping unicorn friend. “Silver Spanner and I briefly talked about something last night. We both felt the same you are. It’s a very weird thing, now give me the filly. If you’re gonna be living near us and be our friend, I should probably get better with children.”

Sunset wagged a hoof impatiently and Sprinkle Medley nodded after a moment of silence and Cotton Cloudy glowed a faint teal color as Sunset levitated her next to her.

“Well, hi. I’m really not good at kids but I’ll try. You’re freaking adorable,” Sunset muttered and allowed Cotton to grab her hoof. “Careful with that.”

“She’s always been touchy in her sleep like that. She sucked my mane once,” White Lightning stretched her hind legs out. “That was super uncomfortable for me. My poor mane was soaked.”

Sunset grimaced a bit at the mental image of that.

“So which way is Canterlot again?” Sprinkle Medley looked around and Sunset pointed south after looking at her compass she had bought with her allowance from some gift shop. “You should probably hold onto something.”

“Why?” Sunset asked and the two pegasi started to flap their wings harder as the balloon shot forward. Sunset and the other ponies are rolled backwards, slamming hard into each other. “Oh sweet stars!”

“What in Equestria?” Silver Spanner growled as she blinked. “Why are we flying so fast?”

“Hi,” White Lightning waved a hoof at her. “Welcome to the express way around Equestria. Please keep all hooves, tails and manes inside the balloon at all times unless you have to vomit. Thank you for flying Air Lightning.”

“Hey! I’m here too!” Sprinkle Medley snapped at her and White chuckled before flicking her tail against Sprinkles flank. “Ay, save that for the bedroom.”

“Yes ma’am,” White Lightning rolled her eyes and smirked at her.

“I’m going back to sleep. Goodnight,” Silver Spanner muttered and she stretched out her forelegs and curled up in between Celestia and Sunset as she rested her tail on Sunset’s cutie mark. “Have fun.”

“She loves her sleep,” Sunset explained and managed somehow to untangle Cotton Cloudy from under Celestia. “How I’m not dead by mare, I will never know.”

“Death by mares. Great way to go,” Sprinkle Medley sighed and White Lightning whapped her with a wing upside the head. “Ow!”

“I hope you meant mare as in singular. As in me,” White shot her a look and spit out some cloud they had flown through. “Eugh, tasted like salt.”

“None of the clouds I eat taste like salt,” Sunset muttered and she nuzzled Celestia. “Taste like cotton candy and chocolate milk.”

The two pegasi didn’t really know what to make of that. As far as they knew, clouds never tasted like what she described just now. They almost always reminded the two of salt water for some odd reason. It varied for each pegasus.

“I’m going to get some sleep if you two can handle the balloon,” Sunset yawned hard enough that her jaw hurt a little bit. Cotton Cloudy rested on her stomach and Sunset wrapped a foreleg around her. It was surprisingly comfortable, not as annoying or uncomfortable as Sunset had expected the extra weight would be.

“Night,” the two pegasi said at the same time and both glanced at each other before laughing softly.

“That was nice. Can’t wait till I can go sleep,” Sprinkle Medley glanced backwards briefly at her wings. “These are gonna be sore by the time we get to Canterlot.”

The two resumed talking and missed the mare on a cloud behind them, watching them as White Lightnings mom blinked back a few tears, staying till the balloon disappeared before she flew back to Cloudsdale.

Author's Note

Name: Sprinkle Medley.

Age: 17(currently)

Mane color: Green

Coat color: Persian

Eye color: Blue

Motto: Be brief in speech and long in action.

Bio: Sprinkle Medley is a soft spoken green pegasus who prefers to let her actions speak where her words tend to fail her. She is widely liked by most unless you go after ponies she trusts or likes. She is the marefriend of White Lightning.

Sprinkle Medley is fiercely loyal to Princess Celestia, Sunset and Cadence and admires the trio greatly. Sprinkle Medley is the Princesses most outspoken supporter and often defends every little decision they make, even the ones she doesn't understand.

She is a talented flyer and once placed second place at the BYFC before she encouraged her marefriend to compete the next year. She is the main rival of Short Fuse and often enjoys annoying him with her soft spoken personality. Later runs away to live in Canterlot with White Lightning.

Sprinkle Medley is a close ally of Redheart and the two both share an interest in helping the public.

She spent most of the changeling invasion unconscious in the castle and woke up in time to assist with cleaning up Canterlot.

Sprinkle Medley later helped Sunset by being a judge alongside the unicorn as Twilight had a impromptu magic duel with another unicorn in the streets of Canterlot.

Sprinkle Medley is a decent flyer and often helps White Lightning teach Cotton Cloudy various flight maneuvers. Sprinkle Medley later applies for the Wonderbolt Academy together with White Lightning and is currently waiting to hear from them. She serves a decent contrast to White Lightnings snarky personality and often reins her in from telling too offensive jokes. It occasionally works. Occasionally.

She currently lives in Canterlot and is a weather manager. Currently attends night classes for college.

Abilities: She is highly intelligent and has slightly above average strength. She can control stray lightning bolts, though not to the same degree as her marefriend.

Weaknesses: her blind allegiance to the rules can sometimes hinder her to think outside the box.

Making a group that will have all my stories in specific folders to make it easier to find them by universe, genre etc. Huge work in progress, but here's the link. People who have been with me since day on the site get admin. There'll also be a link to my discord server in it.

https://www.fimfiction.net/group/218591/theking2001

A week later....

Sunset and Silver Spanner sat on respective chairs outside the castle with Celestia, Comet and Thunder standing at the entrance of the garden with spears as the two stood silently at attention.

“It is pretty nice out,” Silver Spanner commented and she flicked her mane aside as she shifted on her chair. It had been about a week since they had returned from Cloudsdale. She never thought she’d say this, but she had missed Canterlot. Mainly her parents and Twinkleshine, naturally.

Both her parents had unsurprisingly both accepted the gifts she had gotten them, her father receiving a book on Cloudsdale architecture and her mom getting some dress Celestia had helped her pick out. Something about it being a traditional pegasi dress or something along those lines.

Twinkleshine had gotten a pair of hats from both Sunset and Silver Spanner each. She was the hardest to buy for. At least the other few friends the two had were easy to shop for.

Cadence had quietly returned back to the Crystal Empire to run her own kingdom. Coincidentally enough, a certain sergeant in the royal guard apparently requested a week off at the same time and was allegedly seen on a train with Cadence, but Celestia didn’t care enough to investigate that further. Not her business what her guards did in their free time as long as it wasn’t illegal and painted Equestria in a negative light.

“I hear White Lightning, Sprinkle Medley and Cotton Cloudy are moving out of the castle soon into a cloud house a few blocks away from here,” Silver Spanner continued and glanced at Sunset. “That true?”

Sunset gave a brief nod before stirring her tea. Celestia and Sunset had both offered the the trio two spare rooms in the castle before they managed to get permits to build a cloud house above Canterlot. Celestia may or may not have thrown some of her royal weight around to expedite the process.

Being Princess did have it’s benefits, after all.

“I believe Sprinkle is at work, Cotton is at school so we should only see Whitey,” Sunset answered and bit into a bagel. Sunset and Silver Spanner had spent practically every waking moment with the three unless they were at work or school respectively. Sunset was admittedly surprised at how they were already pretty decent friends and White Lightning knew her way around plenty of jokes.

“Ah excellent,” Celestia’s ears perked up slightly at a pale blue royal guard pegasus with a bright blue mane and brown eyes trotted into the garden with a desert tan with a matching tan mane. “Right on time.”

Sunset and Silver Spanner both shared a quick confused glance as the two new guards saluted Celestia.

“Meet Cobalt Blue, Arctic Breeze and Mythic Hazel, specialists in the Guard,” Celestia introduced the three guards. “I’m personally assigning the first two to Silver Spanner as her guards. Mythic Hazel will be assigned to White Lightning temporarily.”

“Why in Equestria do I need guards? I’m like the least likely to get ponies coming after me,” Silver Spanner protested and shifted to look at the two guards Celestia had pointed out. “Can I ask them to do anything for me?”

“Within reason, yes,” Celestia frowned slightly. “It’s an honor to get assigned guards. Most don’t get any. You can’t order them to commit treason or anything obviously. I have a vested interest in yours and White Lightnings friendship with my daughter.”

Silver Spanner was about to ask why before remembering that Celestia wasn’t always forthcoming with explanations most of the time.

“If I wanted to order them to go home and be with their families, could I?” Silver Spanner wanted to know and Celestia hesitated.

“You can if that is your wish,” Cobalt answered and nudged her helmet straight. “Only one of us may go though. We will meet you at the CSGU every morning, escort you to classes and anywhere else in the day before we escort you home. Your wish is our command, ma’am.”

“Huh. Not entirely sure how to handle this,” Silver Spanner glanced at Sunset who shrugged. “I forgot you’ve been born with guards following your every step. Me, not so much. Thank you, Princess Celestia.”

“You are welcome. I understand this is a bit of a surprising change, but I firmly believe Sunset can help you get acquainted, and myself as well if you ask me. My doors are always open for you as the same for White Lightning, Sprinkle Medley and Cotton Cloudy. These three will answer to Sergeant Comet Chaser as she is the highest ranking in the room,” Celestia explained before pausing. “Outside of myself and Sunset, of course.”

“So there’s a gaming convention in Manehatten in five months,” Sunset started casually after White Lightning landed behind her, the guards lowering their weapons after a moment. “I was thinking me, you, White, Sprinkle and Cotton came come with. Paid by me, of course. I know you three are still settling in and Silver Spanner is uh stingy with bits.”

Sunset decided saying stingy was a lot better than saying Silver Spanners family had money problems occasionally and the unicorn gave her a grateful nod.

“I’ve been looking at hotels already since this morning. And rooms for our unexpected growing group of royal guards,” Sunset mused and tapped on the table. “Hey, Whitey.”

“Sup Sunny, ayo Silver, how’s it going?” White bumped hooves with the pair and stretched out her wings. “Woah, lots of Guards. Did I stumble in on some sorta top secret stuff? I live for that shit, huge conspiracy theorist.”

Celestia chuckled and shook her head.

“Anyway, I’m so game for a gaming convention. See what I did there?” White stole a donut hole from Sunset. “Mine now, thanks.”

“Have at it. Silver Spanner has been complaining she’s been gaining too much weight,” Sunset rolled her eyes and poked Silver Spanners stomach. “Even though we say she’s being ridiculous and looks fine.”

“Hooves off the tummy,” Silver Spanner grumbled and blushed a faint red before swatting Sunset’s hoof away. “Yes, I said tummy White. Don’t even speak.”

White Lightning snickered and licked her lips. Teasing can come later she supposed. And it would come later, she can guarantee that.

White Lightning almost never gave up a chance to mess with her friends. Ever. It was her thing pretty much. The only pony she deemed was off limits was Celestia. Being tossed into Tartarus was not Whites idea of a good time.

It was really hot and fiery all over, a bunch of evil criminals that White didn’t really want to be around. Or at least she assumed it was hot down there.

For all she knew, it was nice and sunny with beaches and palm trees. But it probably wasn’t.

“Anyway,” Celestia coughed into her hoof. “I will let you three make your plans. Come with me, Sergeant and we will discuss you new guards and quarters in my room over tea.”

Sunset idly waited for her to leave before turning to face the other two.

“Now that she’s gone.....”

White Lightning had a feeling she was going to be here for a long time.

Author's Note

Name: Cotton Cloudy.

Age: 7(currently)

Mane Color: Light Blue.

Coat Color: White.

Eye Color: Purple.

Motto: The sky is the limit.

Bio: Cotton Cloudy is the baby sister of White Lightning and is very similar in coloration to the older pegasus, leading many to spread rumors she's secretly White Lightnings daughter. Cotton Cloudy is a quiet pegasus by nature but once she knows you, she is very friendly and affectionate.

Cotton Cloudy secretly knew about her older sisters relationship with Sprinkle Medley, opting to keep quiet about it to protect her sister. She often can be found flying around Canterlot with the two or playing in various spots of Canterlot.

She currently attends school in Ponyville and is a close friend of Dinky's, Button Mash, Alula, Diamond Tiara, Sweetie Belle and Noi. She is a decent student and generally liked by her classmates. She often likes to eat her lunch inside the classroom with Miss Cheerilee instead of on the playground like most of her classmates.

Cotton Cloudy is currently without a cutie mark and an honorary member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders alongside Dinky and Noi.

She looks up to her sister and Sprinkle Medley greatly, often going to the two for advice on personal issues. She currently lives in Canterlot during the school year and first week of summer before returning to her parents for the rest of summer.

She enjoys reading and playing soccer. She was hidden alongside Dinky and a few other foals with Sprinkle Medley during Nightmare Moons return in a basement of a house. She was away in Cloudsdale during the changeling invasion, reading about it a week later in a newspaper.

Cotton Cloudy was allowed to fly with Soarin after her older sister got to spend the day with Soarin, Misty Fly and Spitfire. She is widely liked by the other Wonderbolts and is Wave Chills protege, often attempting to mimick his flying style.

She later is in the crowd watching Twilight's duel with another unicorn and is later seen cheering for the other unicorn. Cotton Cloudy enjoys magic shows and is a close follower of Trixie. She later helps Flitter and Berry Punch set their differences aside to help clean up Canterlot after a storm.

Abilities: Cotton Cloudy is highly intelligent for her age and kind.

Weaknesses: She is understandably naive and has only average strength for her age. Hates needles and doctors.

https://manebooru.art/images/1308191