A tan earthpony mare trotted around Sugarcube corner, her deep blue ponytail mane bobbing with her casual movements. The single quill on her flank held true her special talent, a writer. Candlelight, with her shining amber eyes in the summer sun, was headed back to her cheap, cramped apartment to read the latest Daring Doo she obtained through a bid, recently mailed to the Ponyville library for pick up. Candlelight stopped in front of her apartment complex, once a Ponyville-house-turned-apartment so the landlord could make money. Candlelight, a filly from a rich family in Canterlot, came to Ponyville to escape her parents' high-class standards, but she couldn't escape their letters.

"Miss Candlelight?"

A mailpony approached just in the nick of time as Candlelight began searching her saddle bags for her apartment key. "That's me." Candlelight answered, groaning, expecting more pleas from her mother to return to Canterlot and become their show-off daughter.

"Letter and a package for you, ma'am."

The mailpony dropped the package at Candlelight's feet and reached in his bag for the letter. The package caught Candlelight's attention; it had a note taped to the top of the box that read.

To: Candlelight, From: Your Dearest Grandfather

It was odd to her that he would send something out of the blue like this.

Whoa, Granddad hasn't written to me in years, what's he up to nowadays?

Candlelight remembered the last time she had spoken to her Grandfather, back when she was ten and he came for one visit. He favored her over her many relatives, He was the only family she ever connected with; even if he only visited once . They kept a constant penpal relationship afterwards, He introduced her to many of her favorite adventure novels, including The Adventures of Daring Doo. He traveled across the world from the plains of Camelu to the Forgotten Sea, every stop he would send her a postcard telling her how exciting his adventures were.

The Mailpony retrieved the letter from his saddle bag and tossed it on top of the package covering the note's writing as Pen re-read it over again. Interrupted by another letter from her parents Candlelight groaned again at the unmistakable calligraphic handwriting of her Mother.

"Thats it, got to run"

The Mailpony announced to the earthpony with a wave of his hoof and was soon another bystander to Candlelight as she tore open her mothers letter and began reading the contents.

To my dearest daughter

You are my life, ever since your father-

The letter was crumpled, and thrown into the nearest overflowing trash bin as Candlelight retrieved the check from the envelope and stashed it in her saddle bag. With next months rent taken care of she could sit and melt into her new book. Candlelight opened her apartment door, package from her grandfather held from her mouth, then closed her door after trotting in.

A cool breeze ran along the street picking up Candlelight's crumpled letter and rolling it off down the road.

~~<¤>~~

"Cloud I said no!" Rainbow Dash gave her final answer to the cyan buck pleading in front of her. "Your wings are too big for my flyers to maneuver and I know you can't turn that sharp," Dash continued in a more settled voice. Rainbow Dash had taken Flying Cloud around a tree to speak with him, He had shown up at the aquifer ready to fly but was turned down by Rainbow Dash herself.

"How do you know? You've never seen me fly!" Flying Cloud protested without hesitation or thought but Rainbow Dash had first hoof experience with Flying Cloud's airborn skills.

Dash facehoofed, "I was in flight school with you? You had the second lowest scores on the wall? Remember?"

The cyan buck sat on his haunches prodding the grass with his hoof, his sleek black mohawk shining in the sun with its crooked red stripe hanging over his face.

Rainbow Dash sighed and set her hoof on his shoulder, "I hate saying this, but you're a liability on the field, and I can't have you endangering the other fliers." Cloud's large wings fidgeted revealing his cutie mark, a single white fluffy cloud with pegasi wings, it caught Rainbow Dash's attention.

"Now that," Dash pointed to Cloud's cutie mark, "That day was impressive, when you moved that enormous storm-cell cumulonimbus, that none of us could burst, and flew it away from Ponyville." Flying Cloud's ears perked at the memory, and his head lifted to meet Rainbow Dash's eyes. "All while standing on top of it and flapping your wings," Rainbow Dash said, poking Flying Clouds' shoulder. "Now that was true endurance," Rainbow Dash finished with a smile.

"And that's why I like to go by--" Cloud started.

"Flying Cloud now, I know. You've told us this a thousand times. But this isn't your kind of thing, Cloud." Rainbow Dash said softly.

Flying Cloud's ears drooped back down and he unfurled his wingspan, two times the length of an average pegasi, and gave them a large WUMF.

"Look at it this way!" Dash yelled up at the hastily ascending pegasus, "All The fillies in Ponyville dig pegasi, and all but one of them are busy, why don't you go find a date or somepony to hangout with!"

Flying Cloud didn't hear Rainbow Dash's suggestion as he cast a large gust down at her and glided towards the fields bordering Everfree. Each of his flaps winded the cyan buck as he glided over Ponyville, observing the citizens canter about. Flying Cloud was born with unnaturally long wings. His adopted parents took it as a blessing, but they came at a price. He could not make as sharp turns as other fliers and also endangered other weather team pegasi. A sigh escaped the pegasi's mouth as he landed on the grass.

Flying Cloud turned around, and glared towards the sky. The wind ruffled Flying Cloud's feathers, and he closed his eyes, extended his wings and let the breeze lift him off his front legs. He took the longest breath of the fresh miday air and bounced off his rear legs floating backwards balancing in the air with is large wings and softly landing a short distance away.

Flying cloud was kicked out of the weather team a week ago, He had clothes lined Thunderlane and three other pegasi with his wingspan. His wings had brought him a lot of grief his entire life, he could barely fly when he was younger so flightschool didn't work out for him, the only reason Rainbow Dash had kept him on the weather team was because she felt sorry for him. His adopted parents gave him the name "Strato Cirros", but he unofficially changed it to Flying Cloud when his cutiemark became a cloud with wings, and one of the weather team mentioned he had "flown a cloud."

Flying Cloud layed down and rolled over onto his back with his wings unfurled across the grass. He opened his brown eyes and stared at a high flying cloud. It seems so happy in the air, he thought, where do you think it traveled from? Flying Cloud bit down and yanked a cyan feather from its roots and blew it into the air. The cyan feather twirled around the summer breeze while he hummed himself into a nap.

A warm breeze danced along the grass and carried the blue feather away into the wind towards Everfree.

~~<¤>~~

A levitating teapot settled on a hot wood burner stove as a black unicorn buck trotted by, carrying a notebook, quill, and ink in his magical grasp. He was muttering to himself as he settled his rump on a pillow in front of his desk and flipped through pages of his notes. His long tail wrapped around his cutiemark; a hatchet crossed with a broken arrow. The unicorn's long dark blue and red striped mane slipped into his face, but was brushed back over his ear as he brought his frames to rest on his nose. Dream Caster paused to read a small paragraph he had written not a few hours ago as he examined a cross bred Laughing Joke flower he had cut. The young hermit yearned to discover any beneficial effects the dangerous blue flower could hold.

Dream Caster's desk was cluttered with notes and botany books on herbalism. Bottles and vials of different salves and pollen samples lined up in wooden racks, once labeled in alphabetical order and now mixed and matched, with some missing. The room smelled of the chai tea Dream caster had been drinking the night before reading a book on cross pollinating. He left at least a dozen empty tea cups on the lower table next to his desk. The shack Dream Caster had built a month ago still held its integrity; choosing to build his house in Everfree shielded it from winds that would topple it. Caster himself set a spell to ward off insects and retain in heat.

"Ah!" exclaiming to himself, Dream Caster frantically wrote down his revelation and rushed out his front door to the garden outside. The smell of fresh air and the sound of rustling trees met Dream caster's senses with harmony. With an inhale and exhale through his nostrils, he surveyed his garden of hybrid flowers and plants. All of the different shades of blue and indigo met his green eyes, and filled him with pride. Trotting down the wide dirt path with potted flowers on each side. Each row of five pots were labeled with small wooden signs either a hybrid name or a control group. Each had date markings and parent plants written on the wooden signs. After searching for a few empty planters Dream Caster trotted along the covered side of his small shack looking for bags of potting soil he bought from the local orchard last week.

Unfortunately, to Dream Caster's disappointment, his reserves seemed to be empty. He levitated down the empty planter and floated the empty bag of soil into closer inspection. Annoyed with the discovery, Dream Caster hastily trotted around to the front of his shack to retrieve some bits for his newly scheduled trip into Ponyville. As Dream Caster opened his door a cloud of steam rushed out his front door accompanied by a loud whistle from the tea pot he left on the burner. Dream Caster backed up and started fanning his front door to let the all the steam out of his house.

Even more agitated, he entered his abode and immediately swiped the teapot off the wood stove, the whistling slowly subsided in volume; Dream Caster was clearly not pleased with himself. After opening his two windows on opposite sides of his house Dream Caster retrieved his saddlebag with some bits and a water flask. As he was about to leave, he stopped and pondered if he was forgetting something. After a few seconds of scanning around, he remembered and dug a short bow, a quiver of arrows, and a sheathed hatchet out of a storage cabinet. Just to be safe; he lives in the middle of the Everfree forest after all.

The ready-for-anything unicorn trotted nonchalantly down his rows of planters towards the trail to Ponyville, mentally bidding each row of his beautiful flowers a farewell.

As he left, a rogue wind drifted through an open window, enticing a small flame from the wood stove.

Author's Note

Cool, I got an editor and this story is a go. To any who like this tap favorite, I promise you won't be dissapointed!

*Wink*