Chapter 17 'Lending a hoof'

Chapter 17

Lending a hoof

"This is so fucking unbelievable..."

"True, so true..."

"... So, what now..."

The dark blue pegasus shrugged to his maroon friend and instead began to walk away from the site.

"Alto, where do you think you're going?"

"Away from this place!" he shouted from over his shoulder, disappearing around the narrow street corner and past the crowds of onlooking ponies.

The other two remained silent as they continued to look at the sight.

Then, the larger maroon one leered at his companion.

"...So, what now..."

His companion adjusted his glasses.

"Look, just give me a moment, will you?"

Throughout their whisper, they saw that the masses began to grow larger and larger. Many new ones gasped audibly and covered their mouths with their hoof. Above, somepony even took camera shots of the street above and furiously wrote into a small notepad afterwards.

The unicorn sighed and kneeled by the wooden beam that laid on the pile in front of him.

But then the larger pony grunted and calmly walked off. As he passed by the crowds, they gave him, and his humongous body, a way, though the unicorn saw that many gave somewhat doubtful looks after him, tracing parts that went beyond the comfort zone. Luckily the Earth pony didn't seem to note this, at least not when he was in sight and soon his hat vanished from out of view.

Now the only one left was the silver grey unicorn, but ultimately even he had to admit defeat.

Inaudibly he got back up and began his own walk, not looking behind.

But he still could smell it...

The ashes of defeat.

* * * * *

"How could I've let this happen?"

Applejack, whose hat now rested on her hoof, could only lean herself on to her lavender friend's shoulder as her eyes began to swell.

"Sugahcub' it's not your fault..."

"Yes it it! Who do you think told the Princess about them?" Twilight said to her orange friend, followed by a sneeze, as her glassy eyes kept staring at forward, at...

A loud hudd rang out.

"I must disagree with you dear." Rarity cut in "It wasn't you who did this..."

Yet not even the marshmallow unicorn laid an eye to the sight ahead and instead lightly nudged the cyan pegasus next to her.

"Yeah Twi', cheer up! It totally wasn't you who lit this place up and offered the basement to LunAAUGH!"

Twilight sneezed once more, while Rarity and Rainbow exchanged furious glares at one another.

"HEY, I KNOW WHAT TO DO!"

Four pairs of eyes simultaneously rolled.

"Pinkie, I highly doubt this calls for 'Sorry-for-losing-home' party."

But now it was the pink pony's turn to roll her eyes, this time a full circle inside its socket.

"Well duh, and silly Rainbow, I'd call it 'We-are-sorry-for-not-stopping-the-Princess-from-burning-down-your-house' party, W.A.S.F.N.S.T.P.F.B.D.Y.H in short, but even I have my standards and anyways, that's not what I meant and honestly, that eye rolling thing is getting really, really old, how about instead..."

"Pinkie!"

* * * * *

"Here you go; one blueberry and one vanilla. That'll be five bits."

In a blink of an eye, the pale purple unicorn filly took snapped the white ice-cream from the sales pony and enthusiastically began to lick it, being careful not to spill any of it.

"Now now Dinky;" spoke the grey pegasus while she placed five bits over to the jar on the counter "What do you say to the nice ice-cream stand seller?"

Dinky's smile gleamed with joy as she looked at the stallion behind the stand, "Thanks for the ice-cream, mister! It's really sweet!"

The stallion lifted his paper hat to her and turned to serve a new customer, a chestnut stallion, while Ditzy and Dinky walked off. Both enjoyed each others company along with the their treats and how calm it was in the park; a couple of ponies had set up a picnic, an old mare threw old bread to the ducks, at the bench sat a dark blue peg-

"Look Mom, isn't that mister Stratus over there?" Dinky exclaimed and pointed her ice-cream towards the bench.

As Ditzy herself turned to look, she found that it indeed was Alto, however he had his hooves crossed and his head turned skywards. His whole outer appearance just radiated misery clear as a rainy day, or rather a storm cloud.

Before Ditzy got to do anything other than to wonder, Dinky galloped past her and so the gray pegasus flew after, landing ahead of the bench just as the lavender filly caught up to her.

"Hello mister Stratus!"

Alto slightly lowered his head to look at her, yet soon he moved it back to gazing at the sky and mumbled something under his breath. However, maybe due to being a child and a bit naive, Dinky sat down next to him and licked her ice-cream a couple of times.

"Want some?" Dinky offered, but Alto didn't even turn to look at her.

By now, anypony else would have given up, but Dinky persevered and she poked him in between the ribs before waving the cone front of him.

"Come on; it’s really good."

But then Alto's hoof flung over and the ice-cream went flying away, landing somewhere further along the road. As the hoof fell down, so did Dinky's mood as her eyes began to swell up.

A sigh echoed from Ditzy as she walked up to the bench and reached back to her saddlepack.

"Dinky, how about you go and get yourself a new one? I'm sure the nice ice-cream seller is still there."

After sniffing and having wiped her eyes, Dinky rose up and took the five bits from her mother. She didn't say anything as she walked away from where they had came from.

While Dinky disappeared from view behind them, Ditzy took her place on the bench and leant backwards.

A minute passed in silence as there was nopony else around beside them and the only voice that came was the occasional burst of wind, sending leaves flowing across the fields.

In the end, it was Alto who broke it by coughing.

"I'm sorry..."

Ditzy laid her gaze on him and sighed, as she saw that even now he hadn't lowered his eyes from the sky above.

"Alto, what is it? You aren't being your normal self."

"Really, what gave it away?"

"Alto..."

*SLAM*

Alto's left hoof hit the side of the wooden bench, causing a small fracture to form onto it.

"WHY DOES EVERYONE HAVE TO STICK THEIR FUCKING NOSES WHERE THEY AREN'T NEEDED!"

But then, much to his shock, he felt something wrap around him. As he looked down, Alto saw Ditzy firmly hugging him, her hooves around his body on the wing level while her head leant onto his shoulder.

"Because I'm your friend and I'm worried over you. That's what friends do; stick their noses into each other’s business."

As she backed off, a smile formed on her face.

"Not to cause trouble, only to help."

Shame overwhelmed Alto from tip to toe as a blush tainted his face and he couldn't face his 'friend's' wall-eyes.

"I'm sorry..."

"Heh, don't apologize to me but I think a certain unicorn needs one and her mother wouldn't want it to ruin a good friendship over it."

Alto nodded and smiled first time in a while his eyes locked over to the horizon, specifically at a certain humongous cloud formation that he had noticed when he had sat down.

"Hey Ditzy. Do you know what's that over there?"

"Huh? That's Cloudsdale, home to us Pegasi and it's also where the Weather Bureau is located. Geez, don't tell me you haven't been there?"

"Well-"

"There you are!" a sudden voice cried out loud, followed by a cyan pegasus landing in front of them

------

Oh no...

It's her!

I could only watch as the rainbow-maned pegasus deviously grinned and leaned up at me, her nostrils now only a couple of inches away from me.

"Uh, hi." I mumbled to the crazy pony and her grin grew wider.

"Say Alto, do you have a place to stay yet?"

.... She cannot possibly-

She suddenly crammed next to me on the bench, leaving me literally in a tight spot between her and Ditzy; both of their bodies pushing up against me, which felt... awkward, to say the least and not counting that the cyan one practically pushed her onto me.

"I mean, I got a place, you don't have a one... You know."

I had to wipe the rainbow lock away from my face before I could answer her.

"Look..."

"Rainbow." she sultrily added.

"Rainbow," I muttered, and her smirk somehow grew even wider, "give me one good reason to come and stay with you? Last time I recall you chased me around the whole freaking town after trying to... you know what with your wings."

Somehow, even after my outburst, she narrowed down her eyes and gave me a simple tuck just below my wings.

"Heh, at least you didn't seem to mind the touch of a mare's wing on you."

I felt how the weight on Ditzy's side fell away a bit.

"W-WHAT!? R-RAINBOW!"

However the cyan pegasus didn't care about Ditzy's shout and instead went on.

"And I can give you two reasons."

She then fully leant herself onto me, and oddly I could see in the corner how Ditzy's face engulfed in pink.

Hey! I'm the one getting sexually harassed here.

"One, I'm supposed to teach you how to use those long wings and staying with me would help to do that."

"Bu-GAH!"

A shiver went down my spine, as I felt the cyan hoof take me by my the base of my wings. As Rainbow continued to slyly smirk, her hoof began to gently rub me from there, sending jolts through out the rest of my body. Instantly my breathing became labored, as the feeling...

Oh the feeling...

"Second," Rainbow whispered into my ear as her hoof began to trace along my wing lines, "I think you'd love to stay at a single mare's place, wouldn't you?"

*WHUMP*

By the time drops of drool began to drop down from my mouth, suddenly my wings also popped open for the first time in the whole time I'd been a pony. However I didn't get a proper look at them as my mind had frozen due to the amount of pleasure it received from the work on the wings.

I saw Rainbow, and to my surprise even Ditzy, gape.

"Heh, a real stud, aren't you?" she slyly commented as her hoof returned back to the base of my wings.

Jolts of brain surges continued to bombard my whole body, both sending it to shake furiously from the immense amounts of pleasure, which my body began to crave for more like some sort of drug. Although her hoof had slowed down, she had instead began to pull long strokes from the bottom to the top of the open wing, somehow working even better, and I could even feel her warm breath against myself.

A excitable moan escaped from within me.

"Uhh, Rainbow?"

I could feel how the hoof stopped only an inch away from my erect wing tip and also hear how the rainbow pony let out a growl to the other side of the bench.

"Ugh, what Derpy? Can't you see I'm busy?" she said in a rather intimidating tone and just then I noticed that her two wings also stuck out from the sides in full glor-

Hey wowowowowowowo!

Why.. in... the... Hell I think of her-

All of that pleasure that had build up to that point quickly vanished away in the dawn of realization. And first thing in me to react to it was my gut. By now, both the two ponies next noticed my sudden change and especially the cyan one, who leant over to me to get a look of my pale face.

"Huh, what's wr-"

Her words cut out, as her face got covered in puke...

And it didn't end there, I tried my best to push her out of the way, but in the end too late as no her blue lap turned into the brown mush and as I watched in the corner, even her odd mane had gotten its share of the mess.

Her immediate reaction was... well...

"AUGH! WHAT THE HAY WAS THAT?! IT'S ALL OVER ME AND I... WAS THAT A SANDWI-"

But I didn't really hear the rest, something that I don't really regret losing, as I kept emptying my stomach down onto the grass and it felt actually far more better than any amounts of.... you-know-what that pony could ever do at that moment. Like that it really mattered, as I both heard and felt as something lifted into the air with a strong gust of wind hitting against my kneeling frame.

Heh, serves that bitch right!

But after I had wiped my mouth, I found soon found out that standing up was out of question as my hooves gave up upon me when I laid a weight upon them. At first I blamed my inbalance, something that had bugged me ever since this new body came to action, but after the third attempt...

"*gasp* Oh no, are you hurt?!"

I finally succeeded with help from Ditzy, who ducked under my hoof and raised me up beside her with ease. At first it felt degrading, getting help to stood up, yet this soon vanished as I saw her worried face.

"Do you need a doctor?" Ditzy worriedly asked and I shook my head.

"No... You can let go of me now."

She giggled with a smile upon her face and instead of applying to my words, I instead felt her hoof wrap tighter around my neck.

"Oh no mister; you aren't going anywhere in that condition. Now come on, we've got to get you to a bed and fast." Ditzy said and looked upon at the sky. "And besides, Rainbow ain't gonna be happy when she gets cleaned."

Even I took a quick look up and nervously gulped, knowing what that mare was capable of.

"..... Good point. Should we-"

"I'm back!"

I looked back down where Dinky now stood with a new green ice-cream in her hoof and eyes staring up to both me and Ditzy, tilting her gaze between the two of us.

"Why are you holding Mister Stratus like that Mom?"

"Well Dinky," Ditzy started while winking at me, "Mister Stratus here is going to be staying with us at least for a while, isn't he?"

Dinky gasped at the same time when my face twitched a bit from hearing out the siling pegasus.

"Wow, really mister? Will you be staying at us?"

"Uhh.. Well... I guess-"

But sudden stomach pain cut in and my hooves began to give up on me, however Ditzy didn't allow this to happen and ducked a bit closer to me to get a better hold.

"Dinky, I think Alto here needs to rest."

Without any more saying, Dinky kept quiet and instead walked off, presumably towards the exit of the park, while Ditzy looked at me and faintly smiled.

"Come on; lets go home."

But then one fateful thought crossed to me, enough to drive me halt.

"Ditzy?"

"Yeah?"

I gulped and cautiously looked at her.

"What about your.... you know, fiancee? Don't you think he might mind that some stranger moves in?"

A second passed by in the silence as yet another gust of wind blew between us, sending both of our manes waving around.

Ditzy sighed and took another step forward.

"Oh boy, isn't this awkward..."

* * * * *

Screeching squeals poured out of the old, near to its breaking point, hauling cart and more specifically from its axle. Many ponies had to cover their ears as the cart travelled down the down the road and nearly everypony shot angry glares at the two mares who pulled it.

But neither of them noted this as they were already too busy bickering with themselves.

"Ugh, why in the hay are we bothering to get this slab of rotten wood fixed? It's only going to last for a week or two, if we're lucky." Carrot Top pointed out to her older sister besides her.

She snorted, "Cause this 'slab of rotten wood' happens to also be our only wagon and I doubt you can carry all six bags by yourself." Golden Harvest replied. At the same moment, they slowed down in order to turn over to the next street, generating a loud pitch from the cracked axle.

"Maero could."

Golden Harvest instantly groaned as she heard her younger sister's 'love' affection mentioned for the tenth time, not to mention the countless times when their regular conversations, that mostly consisted out of prickly comments, had slipped to Maero and in most cases they consisted of about how perfect a stallion he is.

"He's so... strong; I'm sure he could even beat beat Big Macintosh in hoof wrestling. Not to mention how sincere he..."

During all that constant blabber bombardment, Golden Harvest could only wonder if Maero was fully aware of how her sister saw them as a couple and talked like they were only couple of months away from engagement?

She concluded with a sure no.

"Shut it, we’re here." Golden Harvest ruled out, provoking a loud huff from the yellow mare.

The cart stopped in front of the only workshop Ponyville had to offer. On its yard laid out couple other carts alongside with piles filled with replacement parts and one wagon even stood at the roof of the building. Faint banging sounds echoed around the whole place, coming from the inside.

Without saying anything, Carrot wiggled out of the straps alongside her sister and headed directly inside.

And now as she was away, Golden Harvest could finally let out a distressed breath as she landed over to the back of the cart and tried her best to relax her overheated nerves.

In short, Golden Harvest very much disliked the narrow and long roads of Ponyville. Nor did she like to be so close to so many strange ponies, no matter how friendly everypony acted to her like seeing an old friend, which in many cases was true. With one or two ponies Golden Harvest could chat with ease, larger crowds would only cause her to hyperventilate and search for an escape route, preferably out to the open fields.

So she knew it was in luck that she had her younger sister.

"*sigh* Too bad she's the laziest mare in whole Equestria." Golden Harvest dozily muttered to herself as she rolled over to face the street.

At the exact moment her ruby eyes noticed something rather surprising.

A familiar maroon stallion had just appeared at the end of the street only a few feet away.

------

Front right, back left, front left, back right...

That strange pattern continued to repeat itself in an endless loop, regardless to what happened around me or inside myself.

Real mess... That's what this day has been all about.

Although my gaze was firmly locked slightly downwards, I still could see how a couple of ponies ahead made a way for me, mainly due to not wanting to get trampled over and perhaps out of simple fear to this body of mine. At least that was my initial thought, until I saw the leer on everypony's eyes, and then I noticed that every single one of them happened to also be a mare, evoking a rather awkward memory from last day.

I tried my best to ignore the lusty gazes, mainly by hiding under the shadow of my hat, and furthermore, I slightly paced myself but made very sure not to outright gallop past them. Rather thankfully, every one of them was too busy staring at me not to notice the growing distance between me and them.

In the end, I was able to cut into a new street just to make sure I'd lose any possible pursuers. I couldn't help but to smirk at the absurdity of the situation at hand; here I was being overly cautious in the form of a pony due to being really well endowed, at least in the perspective of the opposite gender.

Then I turned around.

My smirk fell as I saw ahead of me an old cargo wagon that I immediately recognized. That, and the fact Golden Harvest was resting on top of it, now staring up directly at me.

And she didn't look happy at all when she landed in front of me.

"Well look what the cat dragged in?" the olive mare started out and planted her hoof up to my chest "You better have a darn fine explanation for your absence in the morning or you're ou-"

She however stopped as I sighed and gently moved her hoof away from me.

"Look, this day has been bad enough for me." I said to her while giving a quick look past her but Golden Harvest noted this with a snort.

"Atta boy, you aren't getting away that easy! Now what in the-"

"Our house burned down. There, happy?"

It took less than two seconds for her to drop that 'boss' act and to muster enough apologetic expression in order to look back at my bland one, still hidden under the shadows. At first she tried to say something but the meant words went unheard as I sighed.

"Honestly, you don't need to say anything in between an apology or regret. I've heard enough of that for one day." I explained as I lifted my face to her and let my own expression talk for itself out. It seemed to work out, as Golden Harvest herself also sighed before sitting down onto the back of the cart and leaning onto the back. From there, she reached out towards a bag that hung out from a crook and took out of it a pouch.

"Here," Golden Harvest said before throwing the bag out to me and as I caught it, I felt the tiny metal bits through the thin fabric. "There's your pay for today, but don't expect anything tomorrow. I am after all in charge of a farm and every saved bit is needed."

Heheh...

Now this is definitely Carrot's sister without doubt. Thinking of which...

"Where is Carrot anyways, or are you here all by yourself?" I asked while putting the bag under the safety of my hat. Golden Harvest only tilted her head to the building next to us and now I noticed it was a cart workshop.

"She's negotiating out with the owner to get this cart fixed out. It shouldn't take too long for her to come if-"

"Well ah’ll be! Ah finally caugh’ up to you!" exclaimed a sudden voice from behind me and as I turned over for a look, I was met with a surprise.

Even Golden Harvest shared my eye-opener. "Applejack? By Seasons what are you doing in here?!"

The orange cowboy hat wearing pony approached the two of us with firm and long steps. As she stopped, she at first eyed the sitting olive mare and shot her with a friendly look.

"Howdy Harvest! Cart's giving you hard times?" the cowmare said while viewing the cart itself and specifically over at the bottom of it. Golden Harvest nodded to her, but her surprised expression stayed the same as Applejack now turned to look upon at my direction.

I have bad feeling this isn't going to end well...

"And you're coming with me, pardner."

... Damn hindsight!

I cocked my eye brow at her and leaned a bit to match her height to get a proper look at her face. It wasn't that big of a surprise to me not to see any trace of fear in her and moreover, not a single bit of that look.

"And I suppose you expect me to go with you just like that?" I asked, trying to muster extra deepness into my already strong voice, to which the orange pony replied with tipping the end of her snout.

"Ah suppose you're right. Then again, do tell where do you plan staying at for the time? Since last year, there hasn't been any active inn in Ponyville and there ain't currently no free houses left."

As she finished out, the realization struck out to me.

"Basically I don't have much choice, do I?"

"Nope. Now come on; there's a healthy apple dinner waiting for us at the farm."

Briefly I glanced over to the cart and at Golden Harvest. She didn't say anything and instead proceeded to tilt her head towards the workshop before tilting back at Applejack who had already headed away. Taking it as a cue, I breath in deep and galloped after the cowmare.

... Still, I've got a hunch this won't end well.

------

Less than a minute later, the yellow mare re-emerged back outside.

"Hmpf! Some mares just have the nerve... Anyways, did I miss anything important?"

* * * * *

The long quill dipped deep into the depths of the dark blue inkwell and soon emerged out, spilling a couple of drops onto the messy pile of papers put on the side of the wooden desk, near the stack of school books. Then the cherry red hoof began to scribble out the current scores from today's math test to the large notebook and occasionally stopping to ponder whenever giving a little plus for at least trying out.

But only in matter of seconds, or a rather more minutes, the quill gently swooped down inside the open desk alongside with the notebook. That done, the pony stood up from her place, the office chair beneath her ominously screeching out, and reached out towards the light green saddlepack.

A sudden sigh then echoed out as Cheerilee turned her look out throughout the window and she could see the emptiness of the school yard, something rather surprising in fact as many fillies liked to spend time out there even after school.

Then again, it's Friday and everypony is only thinking about the upcoming weekend...

Yet she couldn't help but to wonder about one thing...

Where is Nucleus?

Cheerilee pondered this while clenching her teeth as she pulled the straps of her saddle and placing the last of the books inside it. This question had rose up early at the start of the lesson, both from the ranks of students that wanted to hear more about him and from Cheerilee herself, who was worried over him.

But in the end, she had a school to run and so the day had went on... until now that is as the cherry red mare whipped the pack close and gave a brief overall look of the classroom before heading towards the door.

She, however, stopped just as her hoof rested on top of the doorknob and let out a breath.

I so wanted to see him...

Then, the door opened...

The distance between Cheerilee and the floor grew in a second to zero as she hit her muzzle straight onto the wooden plank with the sudden loss of balance.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" the voice cried and the confused mare could feel a pair of hooves grab her. "Here, let me give you a hoof."

The mare shook her head pounding up from pain "Nono it's fine; I can help myse-"

Just then, she realized the silver grey hoof that rested on her shoulder. From there, she traced along it to meet with the worried face of the unicorn stallion, whose teal eyes gleamed out from behind the pair of glasses tucked a bit too far down his muzzle.

His mouth formed a weak grin and with a single swift pull, Cheerilee found herself back on four hooves, although her look was locked onto the unicorn stallion, now rubbing the back of his copper mane

"Look, before you say anything, I have the perfect explanation for skipping out on the work."

Even Cheerilee rubbed her hooves together out of nervousness, though from totally different reasons...

"It's... really okay. I trust you had your reasons, it's just that you could have informed in advance." Cheerilee said and continued to stare back at Nucleus, now closing his eyes as his head shook weakly.

"I wish I could have... Anyways, I came here for two reasons." the silver grey unicorn muttered quite audibly "First one was, of course, that apology for missing the work alongside with a promise for it not happening ever again."

To that Cheerilee replied with a nod "And the second?"

"I..." Nucleus started out, but then suddenly averting the mare's gaze

"I need another set of those teaching materials"

An eyebrow cocked up as Cheerilee's mind kicked in.

"Yes, I think there's some older books at the storage and the rest you can whip out from the general store." the cherry red mare recounted to the seemingly relaxed stallion.

"That's great; I was really worried over it." Nucleus replied and turned around to face the storage room at the end of the corridor. However as he took his first step, he found himself stopped by the sudden red hoof.

"It's fine; I'll have those ready out for you by Monday."

"Are you sure? You don't really need to do anything for me." the unicorn assured the mare, but she shook her head and stepped forward. As the classroom door behind clicked close, Nucleus smiled and turned back at Cheerilee, both now facing the main door to the building.

"Well, I guess that settles it." Nucleus said to Cheerilee and tilted his head to her before beginning to make his way outside, leaving the cherry red mare behind in a dazzled state of mind. It didn't last for long, however, as Cheerilee's mind soon kicked in and she slammed her hoof down.

"Wait!"

The silver grey unicorn stopped and gazed over his shoulder.

"Yes?"

Cheerilee, yet again thanks to being a teacher, was somewhat able to keep her cool and to form an eye contact with the stallion, although her hooves had a bit hard time keeping still.

"D-do you happen to have any plans for the r-rest of the day?" she stammered.

The stallion shook his head, "No, not really? How come?"

The mare gulped her throat clear from the sudden gag before continuing on.

"I-it was just that... T-there's this cafe and-"

*Crack*

Out of the corner and without any warning whatsoever, the front door slammed open against the wall so loud that both of the ponies had their ears ringing. As the two also turned to glare at the door, both immediately gawked at the sight of the lavender unicorn.

"Twilight, what are you-"

But Nucleus was rather harshly cut off as Twilight quickly stepped in and up to him. Then, before the stallion got to say anything else back, in a blink of an eye he found himself fully engulfed in the raspberry glow from horn tip to hoof followed by him lifting up a feet or two.

At this point, Twilight's humming mixed with coherent statements began.

"Oh here you are; listen, we need to start to plan out your timetable in order to fully maximize your training- Oh, and we also definitely need to fix you some basic training tomes. I guess there's some in the library, but if not I think that-"

And with that, both her and Nucleus had vanished outside.

Back in, one certain cherry red mare had her head hung low

Oh I'm such a fool...

------

"-we can book-order some from Canterlot and I don't think that Princess Celestia would mind if I'd ask to have one of her training books!"

After finishing that one big blabber, she gazed over behind her and at my direction, meaning couple of feet up in the air-

"Isn't this just great? I get to teach you the depths of magic and you get to finally use magic!"

"I guess..." I muttered quietly and avoided her gaze, though she smiled and turned back to look forward, seemingly unaware of my current mood and otherwise acting very thrilled over the fact she got to teach somepony like Celestia had taught her.

I wonder if she'll even use the same methods.

.....Then again, this is Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic and the only pony who has a book on Slumber parties.

Twilight giggled somewhere up ahead while I continued to float and spin in the air inconsistently.

"Don't you worry; it'll take you only a week to master the basics if you work hard enough, I promise."

I sighed, accepting my fate, and tried to look back at the school house in the distance.

* * * * *

Although the weather pegasi of Cloudsdale, Ponyville and Canterlot kept the skies clean from any stray clouds and other bad weather phenomenon, it was the opposite as one got more than a thousand feet up in the air and past the normal zone where most of the air travel was conducted. Long, puffy clouds formed massive units that consumed the skies, somehow allowing the sun to pass through them with ease. This was the place from where the pegasi of all Equestria, and occasionally outer ones, got their basic building material of Hard Cloud from which all of their buildings were made out of.

But one thing that it also had, was the calm and quiet nature that so many places lacked.

And that way, it was perfect for the two flying alicorns flying side to side one another.

"Sister, thou art to explain thyself."

Celestia lowered her gaze at her younger sister and sighed.

"What there's to explain, my dear sister?" the regal white Alicorn said as her long wings pushed past the clouds. At the same time, Luna flew a bit ahead and halted in front of the older Alicorn.

"How come thou allowed that mockery happen back there? That unicorn clearly lied to thou!"

However Celestia didn't stop and instead flew past the frustrated dark alicorn, who with a muffled out groan gave her a chase. As Luna caught up to her, she was rather remarked to see that her older sister hadn't flinched out from her 'social' look.

"Answer to us!"

Finally, Celestia sighed and looked at her sister.

Her smile had dropped...

"Because he didn't lie. Throughout that whole conversation I had cast a spell to detect any lie and it didn't go off at any point. And don't give me that look, dear sister." Celestia commented as she saw the shocked look of Luna.

"B-b-but t-then how come he acted out so nervous?"

"I don't know..." Celestia replied just as they got past one certain humongous cloud formation, opening up a perfect view to the sparkling city of Canterlot below them.

"But;" the white Princess started as her gaze locked onto the buildings "there's something very odd in them, especially in the unicorn... Something that isn't supposed to be right and... somehow, it also felt comforting deep inside of me. Don't claim you didn't feel the same as he spoke, Luna."

Luna nervously coughed, "What does this then mean to Us, our sister?"

Now Celestia allowed her smile to rise back as her wings prepared themselves.

"It means that we have a lot of work to do, my dear sister."

They both dropped downwards.

* * * * *

It was already late evening and, partially because of the past day, the timid yellow pegasus was frantically galloping inside her treehouse. In her mouth was an open box filled with food for her little animal friends that had been left unnourished in the morning with her sudden disappearance. But thankfully, now the only ones left were the small critters that lived alongside her inside the house.

"Now, time for supper everypony." Fluttershy sing-songed as she poured the food in the bowls across the living room. It didn't take long for the animals to dig into them as the room filled with sounds of ravenous eating. The pegasus giggled a bit as she watched some of the animal families share a same bowl together as the parents divided the food amongst the younger ones.

Then, something caught her eye.

Fluttershy instantly gasped out loud and flew across the room to the corner.

"Oh aren't you the cutest little huffy, puffy, softy squirrel!" she gawked to the little critter as she hugged it, simply because of how adorable it looked, and felt,  in her grasp. The big round eyes of the animal looked up to her and it then pointed out to the little acorn in its claws.

"Oh my, you lost your nest, didn't you?"

The little critter nodded.

"Well don't you worry, there's a plenty of room in here." Fluttershy said before pushing up towards the edge of the ceiling where the many hoofmade nests laid hung up from. She gently dropped the little thing down onto the fake branch that stuck out from the wall,which acted out as a way to get up and down to the floor.

"Are you hungry? I've got some food th-"

But the squirrel didn't listen to her and instead went straight on inside one of the free ones. Fluttershy didn't mind this, thinking that the poor thing had a hard day behind it, and instead continued on with her schedule.

Inside the nest, the little squirrel laid down onto the hay bed laid out on the crammed up floor. Even though the space was very limited, with only the bed and a small hole for food, the critter was able to stretch out its claws out to get a look of the acorn about its size.

It glew in faint azure color, illuminating the room and making the shadows on the walls dance.

The squirrel wickedly smiled and chuckled.

"mISTRESS..."

The Bond

End of Arc I