For the Love of Derpy Book 1: Smitten

Chapters

First Sight
Impression
Cutie Marks
Her Element
What is Love?
Gathering Storm
Special Someponies
Sound of Thunder
Hollow Inside

First Sight

Perhaps I should introduce myself before I get too far. My name is Sky Bolt. I am a Pegasus with a sky-blue coat, golden mane, and—as of yet—no cutie mark. I was born and raised in Cloudsdale, where my father worked as a Cloud Crafter. He was quite the architect. My mother usually stayed at home, selling little trinkets she made on occasion from things she found on her excursions.

I was an average colt growing up. I wasn’t the smartest, the fastest, or the strongest. In fact, I didn’t even particularly enjoy school. It was just a place I stayed when my parents were at work. I met some other colts, particularly Thunderstorm. He was sometimes mean, but he seemed nice to me. We grew close, even after he got his cutie mark. It was a lightning bolt, golden contrast to his dark gray coat and deep blue mane. He began teasing me about not having mine, but I constantly reminded him that a cutie mark only appears when one realizes their true destiny. I simply hadn’t discovered mine yet.

I grew self conscious about missing my cutie mark. Certainly, there was something to be said that every other pony in my class had theirs, but my parents told me not to worry, that there was no such thing as a pony without a cutie mark. I worried anyway, though.

The last school year was over, and I was anxious awaiting the arrival of the one thing I had wanted to do since I first heard about it: Flight Camp. My father said that only when I completed elementary school could I go, and that was this summer. When it came to flying, my father was a great teacher, I knew how to fly, how to kick clouds, and I had varying amounts of luck in getting clouds to rain. I just wanted to go to the Flight Camp, meet new people outside of my block. Sure, there was an interesting group of colts, but Thunderstorm couldn’t possibly be the only colt there was. Sure, he was my best friend—well, to be specific, he was my only friend—but he tended to be a little… rude, especially when around his other friends.

The trip to Flight Camp took maybe all of five minutes, but it felt like so much longer with all the anticipation and the excitement I had. I could barely keep my wings in check. I bounced around in the carriage so much that my mother threatened me about stopping the cart and returning home. I just couldn't help my excitement, though. After all, it was Flight Camp.

When we rounded the last bank of clouds, I saw it. It was magnificent! It was built around the top of an old mountain. There were cabins, a large hall with the words ‘Mess Hall’ written on it. I figured it would be so messy and unkempt that they just slapped the sign on it instead of trying to clean it up. Then there were all sorts of fillies and colts roaming around. My excitement was about to froth over. I had been standing still for the past half a minute when I couldn’t take it anymore.

I began bouncing around in the carriage again, and my father gave me a small chuckle. “Calm down so I can land.”

We pulled up to the front of the camp, before us was a large wooden sign that read ‘Cloudsdale Flight Camp.’ I had a smile so wide my cheek muscles were beginning to hurt, but I was simply that happy about where I was.

“Welcome to Cloudsdale Flight Camp,” said a mare in an unmistakable blue uniform. This could be none other than the current captain of the Wonderbolts. She had a fiery red-and-orange mane and a sun-yellow coat, and beside her sat almost a miniature version of her. The filly, who was dressed in a Wonderbolt Nightmare Night costume, had a smile as wide as mine.

“My name’s Spitfire!” she spoke enthusiastically. “I’m gonna be captain of the Wonderbolts like my mother!” Her wings were fluttering too. A colt of a dark blue coat and an even darker blue mane, who I just noticed sitting next to her, gave her a smirk.

“You’re gonna have to beat me to it!”

“Oh, please, Soarin’! I’m going to be the captain of the Wonderbolts and you know it!”

“Oh stop, you two,” the current Captain said.

“Yes, mommy,” Spitfire responded and acquiesced, but not before blowing Soarin’ a raspberry.

“The nice mares over at that table will check you in, and you’re free to explore until dinner,” the Captain pointed us to the row of tables with all sorts of Pegasi behind them, filing paperwork.

My parents took care of the mundane stuff while I let my eyes wander across the camp that I would be staying at for the summer. In the middle of the mountain was a lake, there were all kinds of things built into the clouds that surrounded the mountain. Green grass coated the surface, and the walls of the buildings were made out of some kind of metal. My parents beckoned me to follow them past the wooden sign. I could hardly wait to explore. My dad put down my saddle bags and held out his forelegs for a hug, which I gladly accepted.

“We’re going to miss you, sweetie,” mom said as she wrapped her hooves around me. “Have fun and stay out of trouble!” The pair of them walked back to the gate, and I saw the tear in my mom’s eye. This would be the longest I would ever be away from home.

“Love you, Mom!” I shouted.

They waved back, and I turned before I could hear them respond. I started investigating my surroundings when I ran smack into a colt. It was none other than Thunderstorm.

“Well, well, Sky Bolt. I didn’t think they let Blank Flanks into Flight Camp.”

“It’s just because I don’t know what I’m going to do with my life yet, Thunderstorm. Do you really think that just because you already know what you’re doing the rest of your life means that you’re better than me?”

“Strictly speaking, yes.” He held such an egotistical demeanor, and I was beginning to resent being his friend. It wasn’t that I really had any choice, though. Back home, the colts would ignore me—they would give me a hard time for being a blank flank, or for not excelling in school, or even once, when I forgot money for lunch. That was a horrible day.

I tried to shake those memories from my head. It wasn’t a pleasant thing for me to be thinking about, and I had all of these fellow campers here to erase those thoughts. Perhaps I would find a couple of other blank flanks and become instant best friends. Perhaps we could go on a bunch of adventures and come up with some cool name for ourselves…

That was an idea.

Things could really only go up from here. That much I was sure of. As for now, I needed to get Thunderstorm off my tail so I could meet some of these new ponies. “I really appreciate your concern, Thunderstorm, I really do, but I’d like to move on now.”

“Fine with me, blank flank.” Thunderstorm trotted off. How could he be my only friend? Was I seriously that desperate for friends that I chose perhaps the worst of them all to actually be one? Perhaps I was better off alone, with no friends. It certainly wasn’t an improvement to my life to have Thunderstorm poking fun at my blank flank every time he could.

And what was the basis of a good friendship anyway? What constituted friendship? As I pondered, I walked about the camp. There were some of the ponies I recognized from Cloudsdale, but most of them I had never seen before. And this was a good thing. It meant there was no one that would know all the troubles I faced in school; it meant there was no one that would know just who I was. I could define myself as I saw fit here.

I tried talking to a couple of colts I saw hanging out by the ‘Mess Hall.’ They seemed creeped out by me, so I backed off and set out to meet someone else. I flapped my wings and went up to one of the cloud structures. It had a tall perch with along staircase leading up to it, and a long stretch of cloud, presumably it was to practice jumping, diving, and swooping while having a soft place to land if you failed. Not that Pegasi were easily hurt.

I remembered one time watching a Wonderbolt performance at the Cloudesium. It was amazing, and reaffirmed my belief that Wonderbolts were the greatest fliers in Equestria. They flew with grace, but when one went flying, head first, into a bleacher after some pony thought it funny to throw popcorn at her; all she managed to hurt was her wing.

I watched as some of the foals before me jumped off the board and dove with such great speed that when they didn’t pull up, they ended up half buried in the clouds. Some of the instructors came to their aid, and I fought back the urge to snicker; particularly, because I knew that I would do the same thing when I tried.

I backed up from the line and went to explore some more of the camp. There were these rings positioned all over camp made out of cloud. I could only assume they were made for flying through as part of an obstacle course. I was affirmed when I saw a couple of fillies make a lap through them.

I continued trotting on, admiring all the many different constructions and beginning to wonder if my father had anything to do with their design. There was a device to practice agility in the form of an awkwardly shaped set of clouds to fly through, and across the way there was practice crafting with clouds. I figured that was where I would spend a lot of time. Straight above me there was a place to cloud bust. There was another area built specifically to make rainclouds give up their water, and another area with the more dangerous thunderclouds. I noticed one brave foal try to shake the water out of it only to get a lightning strike that scared her so much that she went flying into the next cloud.

The sun was about three quarters of the way through the sky, and I knew that dinner was coming soon. I wondered where they would serve it; I hadn’t seen anything marked ‘Dining.’ I watched as all the other colts and fillies filed over toward the ‘Mess Hall.’ I began to wonder why until I caught the scent of the food drifting over from that building. I wondered why there was food being cooked in the ‘Mess Hall.’ Mother always got mad at me if I made a mess in the kitchen—something about cleanliness was needed for proper food service.

When I finally got into line, I realized that ‘Mess Hall’ wasn’t what I originally thought it was. Instead, it was a well organized cafeteria. I went up to the line, got some hay fries, a daisy sandwich, and a muffin. This seemed like it would be a typical meal here, and I wasn’t complaining. It was comfort food for me. I was used to having daisy sandwiches every day when I was back home. I wasn’t sure how they would compare to the ones my mother made. She had this special kind of daisy that she said came from the fields in central Equestria… near a place she called Ponyville.

Either way, the dinner, which I took much pleasure from, was interrupted by an announcement by the Captain of the Wonderbolts I had seen earlier in front of the camp. She stood regal and proud. Her filly, who seemed a little young for the camp anyway, shadowed her close. Soarin’ was right beside her.

“Welcome campers! Flight Camp is Cloudsdale’s annual tradition since its founding in the old days. I will be looking forward to meeting each of you during your stay, but I must attend to my other duties as Wonderbolt Captain. If you would all find the first letter of your last name, there will be your counselor while you’re here. They will guide you through everything and if you’re ever having any difficulties, you should talk to them.

“Tomorrow, you will be given your first activities to learn how to fly.” She waved her hoof out over the crowd, and there appeared four mares holding signs with various groups of letters on them. The first group was A to H, which was obviously my group. Then there was I to M, N to S, and finally T to Z. I wandered over to the first mare, who had a storm gray coat and a periwinkle mane and tail. This mare I recognized as none other than Mrs. Storm, Thunderstorm’s mother.

“Well, hello there, Sky Bolt,” she said with a caring tone. “How are you?”

“I’m good,” I reply.

“That’s good to hear, dear.” She greeted other foals that came up to her. I looked anxiously for any other foal that didn’t have a cutie mark, but I didn’t see any. There was quite the assortment of fillies and colts. I tried to talk to some of them, but once that caught a glimpse of my blank flank, they turned on me. I was called blank flank so many times in a matter of five minutes that I began losing grasp on what the words really meant. It was a weird sensation in my head; I knew it was a word, and I could explain what it meant, but it didn’t feel like a word. I suppose that was my brain trying to keep me from losing my cool while listening to the teasing.

It wasn’t for a while before Mrs. Storm realized what was going on. She stepped in and pushed the offending foals to one side. “Are you okay?” she asked me.

“I’m perfectly fine. It’s nothing I haven’t gone through for the last year or so.”

“Whatever do you mean, dear?”

“Well, ever since Thunderstorm got his cutie mark, the other foals in my class have been poking fun at me since I’m still a blank flank.”

“Don’t let it get to you, dear. There was a pony in Canterlot once that told me that blank flanks were something special. They were full of so much potential; they’re not limited to one thing for the rest of their life.” That was certainly a nice sentiment, but I didn’t really see how it would stop the torment that came from every pony I ever seemed to meet. “I think his name was Mr. Sparkle…”

“Thank you, Mrs. Storm. I’ll have to remember that.”

“Sure thing, dear,” she said, tending to another group of bullies that were picking on another foal. When she shepherded the other bullies away from the filly, I felt something in my chest. Out of the seven of us that were standing around Mrs. Storm, she was the only one that caught my eye.

What stood before me was a filly with a blond mane and gray coat. Her eyes were closed, and she stood a little taller than I did. On her flank was a cutie mark, but I didn’t understand it. It was a cluster of several bubbles. She finally opened her eyes, revealing eyes the color of her hair and one significant trait about them: they didn’t point the same way. To any other pony, that seemed strange, but it added character to her for me. It was a something that made her different, and that is what something the other foals were poking fun at. I held out a hoof.

“Hi there, my name is Sky Bolt.”

She looked at my hoof, then looked at me. When she refocused on another object, her eyes, even for just a second, focused together. But it was when she stayed looking at something that the right one drifted off toward whatever other thing it seemed to want to. She seemed to contemplate me, trying to figure out if I was a bully like all the rest, or if I was genuinely trying to be her friend.

“My name is Ditzy Doo, but I prefer to be called Derpy Hooves,” she said, meeting my hoof with hers and giving it a vigorous shake.

“Do you… do you want to be friends?” I asked, nervously. I generally had little confidence talking to ponies, and less when talking to fillies. It was this one in particular that caught my tongue. It wasn’t a bad feeling—the sense I got in my chest, which I still didn’t understand, was a good one.

She contemplated me again, glancing over her shoulder at the other foals behind her that seemed to still be snickering at her. It was evident in the way she looked at them that it upset her. This had the same effect on me, somehow. A tear welled up in her eye.

“Do you really want to be… friends?”

“Of course!”

“But… everypony here is so mean!”

Without another word, I turn my flank toward her. She gasped when she saw my flank. She looked between it and in my eyes. It was clear that she was connecting the dots in her head. It took her a bit, as I suppose it would anypony who was in a bit of distress. There was almost a flash in her eyes when she realized that we had something in common: we were both teased vehemently by the other foals.

“I think we’re going to be great friends, Sky Bolt,” she said, wrapping me in a large hug. This was a great improvement on the way my life was before Flight Camp, and though it was at the cost of all these new people trying to chip away at me, I had actually made a new friend.

It was a significant event for me, though most ponies would probably say that it was a matter of everyday life. I had really only one friend before, and I was seriously beginning to doubt the true motives behind him being my ‘friend.’ At least Derpy and I were on the same side of the fight.

Mrs. Storm called the foals around her to order, and read off a long list of names, most of which I don’t remember. She assigned us all to cabins before leading us to them. The fillies were housed in the first five and the colts in the other three. I was happy that Derpy was assigned to the one next to mine. We each looked out our windows at each other and waved. This was going to be a good night, harbored from the usual dismay I had trying to sleep.

I turned from the window only when Derpy had disappeared from hers. I slip into the bed, a nice pillow and warm blankets. I reach out to turn off the light only to see Thunderstorm in the bed next to mine.

“Well, well, Sky Bolt. I see we’re neighbors once again.” He had a horrible smirk on his face. “This is certainly going to be fun.”

“I’m not going to pay attention to you from here on out, Thunderstorm. I have a real friend now.”

“And what’s its name. Can I see it—oh wait, that’s right. I’m your only friend, Sky Bolt. That’s how it’s always going to be.”

“That’s not true,” I say, more to myself than to anyone else, “it just can’t be true.” I continue to mutter this to myself until I fall asleep.

Impression

I awoke to the sound of Mrs. Storm calling everypony to breakfast. I was excited to see my new friend. She was standing out in front of her cabin, waiting for me to come out. We were friends, that much was clear to me now.

We both went to breakfast and stood in the long line. The lunch mare gave us matching trays of toast, eggs, and fried potatoes. There was, sitting on the side for each of us, a muffin. Derpy and I sat down at the first table and I noticed right away that she dug into her muffin.

“I take it you like muffins,” I say.

“I luff muffins!” she said, a bit falling out of her mouth. I couldn’t help but laugh, and she laughed right along with me. I started on my eggs and potatoes. I never really cared for toast. To me, it was perfectly good bread burnt to a crisp. Derpy finished her muffin and looked longingly at mine. I traced her gaze several times to make sure she was actually looking at my muffin and not anything else on my tray that I would be more willing to give away. Like that toast. I hate toast.

With a sigh, I resigned trying to figure out anything else she was looking at, for it was certainly my muffin. “Do you want my muffin?”

“Can I?”

“Sure.” She grabbed it so quick I had hoped she took my toast with it. She munched on the muffin as I finished my potatoes and what I wanted of my eggs. Disappointingly, there was still toast on my plate.

Derpy didn’t touch anything else on her plate, not the eggs, not the potatoes, and not the toast. I didn’t really blame her for not touching her toast; it was pure black. We both took our trays up to the line where everyone else was standing and put them on a conveyor belt that took them out of sight. We wandered outside into the bright sunlight. Mrs. Storm was beckoning her charges over to her. Derpy and I went over.

“Oh look, it’s Blank Flank and Cross-Eyed,” said one of the fillies.

“I knew the mismatches would find each other,” said another.

“Hey there,” I said, trying to give an air of authority, “I don’t appreciate what you’re saying about me and Derpy.”

“She’s Derpy alright, have you seen those eyes?”

“I bet she’s got an intelligence to match her expression!”

“Would you all stop?” I commanded.

“What are you going to do about it, Sky Bolt?” Thunderstorm asked, appearing behind us. “I don’t think you have the guts to make me stop it.”

“Don’t try me—“

“Please,” Derpy said softly, putting a hoof to my mouth, “you don’t need to do this.”

“I just can’t let them treat my only friend that way!” I assert.

“I don’t want them doing it to my only friend either. I just know that this won’t solve anything.”

“So what’s it going to be, Sky Bolt? Are you going to make me stop?”

The look I was getting from Derpy told me that nothing was really going to please her save for me actually stopping and walking the other way. It was aggravating me. Thunderstorm, as I was fully realizing now, was a complete bully. There was no excusing him now. Back when we were in school, I figured he picked on me because that’s what friends did. They had laughs together. This, though, was going too far.

“I don’t want to talk to you anymore, Thunderstorm. I’ve had enough of you.” I spun the other way and walked toward Mrs. Storm. Derpy gave me a soft smile as she realized I had listened to her. It was hard, and I knew there would come a time where I couldn’t just turn the other cheek. There was only so much patience a pony could have, and most of mine was worn away when I was in the schoolhouse back in Cloudsdale with Thunderstorm and the other foals.

“Those ponies will always be mean to us; it’s just how they are.” I gave Derpy a forced smile which she saw right through. “I can tell you’re not too happy about what I asked you to do.”

“Of course not! They’re being mean bullies! We can’t just let them rule us like that, Derpy!”

She plopped her plot on the ground and gave me a stern look. “Please, for me?”

She was my only friend in the world, how could I let her down? She was genuinely asking me to do something for her. I could tell she wanted nothing more than a friend, and I knew that feeling. I knew that feeling so well.

My first day at school was so alienating. All the other foals knew somepony else in the schoolhouse. I was, on the other hand, alone. It wasn’t from my parents secluding me—quite the opposite. I was tired of all the company they tried to bring over to play with me. They never seemed to have any interests in common, and they never seemed to really care for me. I figured that there was some filly in all of Cloudsdale that needed a friend, but as I found out on the first day, there was already so many bonds. I had cried myself to sleep that night.

My parents always worried about me, and how I never seemed to make any friends. They tried introducing me to other foals; I just never seemed to get along with any of them. They just didn’t understand me. My peers were never very interesting to me.

They tried later to get me in extracurricular activities to give me something to have in common with other fillies. I tried orchestra in Canterlot one summer. There was a filly there—she played cello—who I tried to befriend before she dismissed me as a Pegasus Ruffian. There was hoofball. That was a joke. I ended up disqualified because I used my wings.

Then there was band camp. I’m not reliving that story.

I was called so many things by the many doctors and other ponies. ‘Antisocial,’ ‘shy,’ ‘selfish.’ I just had never found somepony that would make me happy, somepony that had caring in their hearts. It seemed that all the ponies I met in Cloudsdale had their own interests in mind But that wasn’t the case with Derpy. She had asked me to stop because it would benefit both of us, not just her. She was my friend.

I watched her blonde hair flow in the soft zephyr that blew across the mountaintop as Mrs. Storm gathered her charges. She watched out over the lake in the middle of the mountaintop. Mrs. Storm was rushing past, gathering foals. Derpy turned her gaze to the grass.

“What are you thinking about, Derpy?”

“I was thinking…” she gave out a sigh, “you’re the first friend I have ever had. I just hope that I never lose you.”

“You’re really the first friend that I ever had, too.”

We shared a hug that lasted until Mrs. Storm called out to us to come join the group. We headed to the diving platform in the clouds that I saw on my first day. I began to get nervous at the prospect of diving off the tall platform. Certainly I was going to make a fool of myself.

First was a filly named Alto Cirrus. She had a white coat and a pink mane and tail. Her cutie mark was a music symbol of some kind that reminded me of the letter B. She climbed the staircase so as to not tire out her wings getting up to the top. She got up there, then froze. Despite having volunteered to do this the previous day, she was nervous with all the foals watching her now.

“I… I don’t think I can do it!” she called out.

“Come on, Alto!” Mrs. Storm encouraged, “There’s nothing stopping you! Some of her friends called out to her too. With all this sudden support, she inched slowly up to the edge of the platform. Looking down, she was visibly shaken. Her wings were stuck to her side, and she was trying to back up and down the staircase.

“You can do it!” I called out. I figured if I could, I would help. Derpy smiled at my actions, then called out her encouragement to the nervous filly as well. The foal was visible lightened, but still not quite enough to warrant an attempt at jumping off the board.

“I… don’t want to…” she said. “I think I want to go back home!”

Some of the bullies snickered. “A Pegasus afraid of heights!”

I gave a glare toward them before Derpy gave me a look that stopped me.

“Alright, Alto, I’m coming up to get you.” Mrs. Storm flew up and retrieved Alto before sending up another volunteer. One of the bullies who had snickered at Alto took his moment. He was named North Breeze. His coat was green and his mane a deep scarlet. On his flank was a cutie mark consisting of three clouds in the wind. He trotted confidently—bordering on arrogantly—up the stairs. He walked up to the front of the diving board and looked down.

With a leap, he was plummeting toward the clouds. He quickly maneuvered into a dive before opening his wings when he reached terminal velocity. He came down fast and a little too much so. He tried to open his wings to pull up, but ended up hip deep, buried in the clouds. Most of the class took this chance to laugh at him. Derpy and I, both knowing how it felt to be the one laughed at, tried our hardest to contain ourselves, though we both agreed it was rather funny.

Mrs. Storm pulled the disgruntled North Breeze out of the clouds and patched them up for the next pony. No one wanted to be the next foal up to try to embarrass themselves. I gave Derpy one look and raised my hoof.

“Are you sure you want to, Sky Bolt?”

“Yes, I am.” I begin the long trek up the stairs. They seemed to stretch on forever. I figured the activity would be over before I got to the top with how far it was up. Derpy let out a loud cheer for me, and I hardened my resolved. Succeed or fail, I would make a lasting impression on Derpy.

I finally made it up to the top of the diving board and I let the view overwhelm me. I could understand why Alto was afraid of the height. It was a long, long plummet down into clouds, which may be soft and fluffy, but they don’t exactly inspire confidence as a stop to your fall. With a shout of encouragement from Derpy Hooves, I proceeded to the edge of the diving board.

I could see the whole camp from here. It seemed like everypony was tiny from my perch atop the diving board. It wasn’t the fear of falling I had now, I was a Pegasus. It was the fear of being embarrassed. I’m sure that, ultimately, was what froze Alto up here.

“You can do it, Sky Bolt!” Derpy called, her voice carried up here, but only barely. I flapped my wings a couple of times to warm them up. This was going to be my judgment in Derpy’s eyes. What I did here would probably affect how she saw me for the rest of our friendship. I breathed in one last time, and I dove. With a flap of wings, I was falling fast. I rocketed toward the clouds with almost breakneck speed and I could hear the gasps from the ponies beneath as I approached the floor. I opened up my wings and tried to pull up, but I was falling too fast and I didn’t bury myself, headfirst, into the cloud, I landed flat on my stomach.

“Ow!” cried most of the crowd, “that had to hurt!” It certainly did. While I was sure there was no permanent damage from my collision with the clouds, I was sure that it hurt a lot more than just about anything I had ever felt before. I roll on my back and rub my belly gently. It was sore to the touch. Derpy rushed over to my side, as did Mrs. Cloud.

“Are you okay, Sky Bolt?” Mrs. Storm asked. I looked at the face of my one true friend, whose face confirmed my earlier presumptions: she did, in fact, care for me.

“I am now.”

Mrs. Storm insisted that I go to the infirmary, which she explained to me was the place where the doctors would look at me. Derpy volunteered to walk with me over there.

“That was amazing!” she said. “You were so brave!”

“And stupid,” I say, rubbing my belly again.

“I thought it was amazing.”She gave me a wide smile. “Hey,” she said, looking deep into my eyes.

“Yeah?” I didn’t know what she could possibly want as she stopped shy of the door of the infirmary.

“I want to try something,” she said, “I’ve seen my mom and dad do it.”

“What is that?”

“I don’t know what it’s called,” she said, “they never told me. They only seem to do it when they don’t think I’m looking.”

“Well,” I say. “I guess we can try.”

She gave me a smile before pressing her lips to mine. I didn’t know what was going on, but I supposed it was a sign of friendship, and it seemed she thought the same thing. There was a good feeling inside me as we awkwardly held our lips together. I couldn’t help it, but my wings suddenly unfolded and stood straight up. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get them to fold back down. She pulled back and our eyes met. I noticed that her wings also were sticking straight up.

“That…”

“I’m so sorry,” she said, looking down and poking her hoof at the ground. “I just thought… you know, it was a sign of friendship.”

“I liked it, Derpy. I really did.” The smile returned to her face as she held her head up. The nurse Pegasus came out of the infirmary and walked me inside. Derpy smiled and waved until I could no longer see her.

The nurses were okay. They rubbed an ointment into my skin and that made it feel better. They were saying that it was amazing that I had managed to do such a thing, that in all their years of working in the infirmary of the Flight Camp, that was certainly a first. I didn’t know whether to be proud of it, or embarrassed, but Derpy liked it. I figured if my only friend liked it, then it had to be a good thing.

The nurses walked me out at lunch time, and Derpy was waiting excitedly for me at the front of the Mess Hall. She ran up and gave me a big hug before leading me inside for lunch. It was a lily sandwich today. Like always, I offered my muffin to Derpy, who ate it without a second thought. It’s not that I didn’t like muffins; it’s just that she seemed to like them more.

I wondered most of the time I was lying in the bed in the infirmary about what had happened between Derpy and I before I had gone in there. I had never really witnessed anything like this. She said her parents did it when they thought she wasn’t looking. Perhaps my parents did too. I would have to write home and ask them about it tonight.

Mrs. Storm gathered us by the cloud crafting area. This was something I had wanted to do since I saw it. Cloud crafting was my father’s profession—he could build just about anything out of clouds. Once, he built an entire house for somepony. He told me that if I studied real hard, I could do it too.

It turned out that I was no good at the math. Or the science. But I was good with the art. That was about it, though some of the other foals in my class thought it was stupid. And worthless. I figured out later, after my father had it put on the mantle for at least two weeks (long enough for me to make something else) that it was perfect as I could ever get.

The other ponies in my class called me this weird word. Naïve. I don’t even know what it means, but since most of the other ponies called me it, it must have been something bad. Though, the teachers never stopped them, so it couldn’t have been too bad. I once asked my dad about the word, but he said it wasn’t true. I wasn’t naïve, I was just… different.

I took a tuft of cloud from the start and began molding it. It was a great feeling to be doing something that I was so familiar with. The cloud was fluffy and soft, almost as soft as my fur. I loved the feel of clouds in my hoofs. I shaped and pressed, then it hit me. I knew exactly what I was going to make. I wrapped around the bottom to make it round with a smaller bottom and larger top. Then I fluffed up the very top and gave it a nice texture. When I was done, I was looking at a white, cloud version of my best friend’s favorite snack.

“That’s so cute!” Derpy said. She loved it! That was perfect! The smile on her face was infectious. I found myself with a smile just as wide, and just as bright. The bully ponies looked at me with glaring eyes.

“Look, it’s a muffin. How unoriginal.”

“Wow, I bet the next thing he’ll make is an impression of a cloud.”

“It must have taken him years to learn how to make something like that. Too bad that was the first thing I ever cloud-crafted.”

“Stop!” Derpy said. “It is a great muffin.” She tried to keep her eyes in synch, but the right one kept drifting off. “I love it very much.” She picked up the cloud muffin and held it close to her chest. “How dare you make fun of such a great idea.”

This was finally the time when Mrs. Storm stepped into the fight. “Now fillies and colts, what Sky Bolt did here was actually very impressive. I’d like to see all of you create something so precious.” Another staff Pegasus came in and beckoned Mrs. Storm out of the area, just far enough that she couldn’t hear the whispers that all the bully ponies were giving us.

“He’s so thick he couldn’t even swoop.”

“She’s got to be kidding us, girls, she thinks that’s precious?”

“How’s the belly? You’re so embarrassed you can’t blush anymore on your face?”

I felt the blood rush to my cheeks. I knew what was going to come next. It always did. Water began collecting in my eyes and I ran off, straight past Mrs. Storm and through the camp.

Cutie Marks

Derpy came running after me.

“Don’t let them get to you,” she said, holding the cloud muffin with her wing and wrapping the other around me. “I’ve been teased my entire life for my eyes, and…” she looked around to make sure that nopony else was around, “my cutie mark.”

I sniffle. “What does it even mean?” I couldn’t even resist asking.

“When I was a young filly, I was always bumping around and breaking things.” She sighed. “I never did well in school, and, well, I kinda flunked out.”

“What? But you seem so smart!”

“I do?” She genuinely seemed surprised. “I’m not,” she admitted, shaking her head, “I’m just good with ponies, that’s all.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I don’t know a lot when it comes to math, or science. Hay, I don’t know anything about math or science. I have a hard time reading,” she said as she blinked rapidly to try and reset her eyes, only to have her right eye drift apart again. “My parents didn’t know what I was good at.”

“Then how does that make bubbles?”

“My parents took me to the forest one day. It was a great day: there was nothing I could break, there was nothing I had to study or read… My mom brought some soap with us and this magic wand thing. It was amazing. It had this hole in the end that she dipped in the soap, then she waved it in the air and made these really cool things she called bubbles.

“She handed me the wand and I started copying her. I dipped the wand into the soap, then I waved it in the air… It wasn’t until the following day I noticed my cutie mark.”

“Well, at least you have a cutie mark.”

“Don’t worry, Bolt,” she said with a smile. “You don’t mind if I call you that, do you?”

“Of course not,” I say. It was a nickname from a friend. My parents usually called me sweetie and big colt. Thunderstorm and all the foals back at school called me Blank Flank. I appreciated the gesture Derpy made. She was certainly my friend. I gave her a wet smile and opened my arms for a hug. She gladly accepted.

“Sky Bolt!” Mrs. Storm called. “Where have you gone?”

“I’m right here, Mrs. Storm!” I say. She came over and put a hoof to my chin.

“What happened? All I saw was you running off.”

“It’s fine now,” I say. Derpy had already cheered me up, and there was nothing to be accomplished if I told Mrs. Storm about the bullies. She didn’t do anything about it when she did notice it herself.

We returned to cloud crafting, with all of the bullies giving looks. I knew that my actions would have repercussions, but for now, I was happy. This was my favorite activity growing up—dad always brought home clouds to play with. He would always smile and help me make whatever I wanted.

I remembered the one time when I was trying to make a model of a bird for my mom. It was the week before her birthday. I got so frustrated with it that I nearly threw it out the window, giving up all hope, but my father intervened. He came in, showed me how to use my hooves to make fine detail. That bird was still sitting on the mantle when we left for Flight Camp.

Derpy and I played around, making all sorts of things, but she didn’t cherish anything as much as that cloud muffin I first made. In fact, it was still held beneath her wing. We made a little hummingbird, a dragon, and I hid a little bit of cloud in my mane for a special project I wanted to do later.

Soon, it started getting dark as Celestia’s sun started setting. Derpy and I went to dinner: hay fries, apples, and, of course, Muffins. The apples were the best tasting apples I had ever had. They must have come from the same fields that my mom kept talking about near Ponyville.

I would always wonder where mom got these delicious fruits, vegetables, and flowers. She kept telling me that, though she had traveled all around Equestria when she was younger, she never found a better looking and tasting crop of anything than the Earth Ponies who lived in Ponyville. They seemed to really know what they were doing down there.

She even talked once about Zap Apples. I had never heard of them before or since that one time. She brought home this jar of rainbow-colored jam. I never tasted anything like it in my life, and I had been craving it ever since. She told me that the Zap Apples had a mind of their own, and only were good for so long. She tried explaining all this stuff about Timberwoves and some story she was told. I was too busy eating Zap Apple Jam to really remember it.

Derpy had just finished her muffin, and I my apple, when I decided I should get to know my friend better. We knew each other all of two days, but I didn’t really know anything more about her than she was a lot like me in school, and she liked muffins. That was about the extent of how I knew her.

“So, Derpy, what was it like for you growing up? I mean, it was quite an adventure for me.” I try to put a positive spin on it, but she sees right through my faux smile.

“An adventure?”

“Yeah,” I say before recounting about how Thunderstorm was the only pony I could even count as a friend; I recall about how all the teachers, doctors, and everyone considered me anti-social. I tried to tell her about what it was like in orchestra in Canterlot, but she only gave me a smile and put a hoof to my mouth.

“That’s great, Bolt, but I don’t want you reliving the bad parts of your life.” She lowered her hoof. “I know I spent a lot of time wondering what I did wrong. I still do sometimes,” she said, more to herself than to me, “but my point is that we can’t change the past. We can only look forward to the future.”

This sentiment puts a smile on my face and gives me the chance to catch my breath. “I just wish I knew what my special talent was.”

“That’s easy, silly! It’s cloud crafting!” She smiled. “What more could you ask for from a destiny than something you really, really like to do all the time!” She was still holding the cloud muffin under her wing.

“I like it, I really do,” I say, nostalgically, “but my dad does it. I know all about the harder parts of it. I can’t possible build a house or something more complex than a little thing.” The smile on Derpy’s face tells a different story.

“You can do anything, Bolt, anything you ever set your mind to.”

“I can’t do the mathy stuff, or the sciencey stuff. It’s all too hard and gives me a headache.”

“Well, stick to the small stuff, then,” she grinned, “I bet there are ponies all over Equestria who would love something as special as my Muffin!” She held it out and gave it a hug before tucking it back under her wing and wrapping that hug around me.

“You’re my best friend, Derpy,” I say.

“And you’re my best friend, Muff—,” she says, before interrupting herself, “I mean Bolt.”

We went our separate ways so we could go to bed. Like every night, I waved at her from my window, and she waved at me from hers. I saw her put the cloud muffin on the windowsill, and she disappeared into the darkness.

“I see someone’s got a special somepony,” Thunderstorm said in a mocking tone.

“We’re just friends,” I defend. “I’m not old enough to have a special somepony. That’s adult stuff.”

“Whatever you say, Blank Flank.” I could hear him roll over and pull the covers tightly over his head.

It crossed my mind that she tried calling me ‘Muffin’ earlier. Was that a mistake? Or had she seriously meant to call me Muffin? And what did that really mean? Then my thoughts turned to that awkward moment we had before I had gone into the infirmary. What was that? I wrote a letter before I turned out the light. In it, I was going to ask my parents what that was, and what it was supposed to mean.

Immediately after breakfast, the group of us went up to try cloud busting. This was something I loved to do. My mom would sometimes take me up to the upper clouds and let me bust a few when she had some time. She almost always seemed busy with something or another. I don’t remember what she said she did on Family Appreciation Day. It was something complex that she almost always came home tired about.

There was once she never even came home for a night. She told dad that she was going to Canterlot. It was a long way away; that was all I knew. Dad seemed a bit annoyed, but he didn’t say anything. Mom was always on trips. I would have to write her tonight to ask what she did. It was on my mind the whole day.

Cloud busting was something I could actually do. I flew from cloud to cloud as fast as I could and broke them up with a single buck each. The other foals could only watch in amazement as I performed something I had done since I could fly. Which, now that I think about it, wasn’t that long ago.

I wasn’t particularly fast, though. I could clear clouds with accuracy; that was my advantage. Months and months of practice gave me my skill. Derpy followed behind and busted some clouds I missed with a little less proficiency.

When it was time for us all to break, the foals were all staring in amazement at me. Well, all except North Breeze, and some of the other bullies. I knew there was something coming, but I wasn’t prepared for what they would do. Mrs. Storm was preoccupied trying to get a particularly stubborn filly up to the clouds to stop. That was all the opportunity the bullies needed.

“Well, well, it looks like Belly Flop found something he was good at,” he snickered. “I mean, something other than running off crying like a little filly.” The look I got from Derpy told me not to respond at all, but it vexed me. How could I stand to take this?

“That, and landing so hard he hurts himself!”

“So what’s this? The wall-eyed dunce who couldn’t make it through elementary is coming to defend Belly Flop?” Derpy kept her silence. She knew how to take the brunt of a verbal assault through years of torment. I could see it on her face. But I, on the other hoof, had only really been teased for my Blank Flank, and I pawned it off on not knowing my special talent.

A pink-coated, white-maned filly I hadn’t seen before came fluttering up to the front of the pack and pranced around us. She seemed to smirk that kind of smirk that you get when you know something you’re just dying to tell someone, and you know that they’ll just hate you forever for it.

“You know, I saw them kissing yesterday.”

“Belly Flop and Derpy sitting in a tree,” they all began in chorus, “k-i-s-s-i-n-g.”

“What are they talking about,” I asked Derpy in a whisper.

“I don’t know,” she said, reeling her brains. “I think that’s what they call what we did.”

“I don’t even know what ‘kissing’ is!”

“I don’t either!”

“Oh, the two don’t know what’s going on!” shouted some foal behind us. “Should we let them in on the secret?”

“Oh, we should,” North Breeze said.

The filly came up to us and pressed our bodies together. I felt uncomfortable like this, but also it seemed like I wanted it. “It means you two are in love.”

“Love!?” both Derpy and I shout in exclamation. Both of our cheeks begin to grow bright red.

“That’s… that’s just silly, isn’t it… Derpy?” I say, looking at her.

“Uh… um…” she poked the cloud she was standing on with her hoof. She was blushing so red that it was hard to tell if her cheeks were the same color gray as the rest of her body.

“Derpy?” I knew little about love. To me, it was something that grown ponies did. It was something reserved for stallions and mares… not for colts and fillies. This, this, was ridiculous. I didn’t know anything about love. It was a word that mom and dad used with each other; it was a word they said to me to mention how much they care for me. But they never said it to their friends. They didn’t say it to our company. It was a personal thing. I—I—I was just dumbfounded.

And what made matters even more complicated was that Derpy wasn’t saying anything at all. She was staring at the ground and poking the cloud over and over with her hoof. There was nothing coming out of her mouth.

If there was ever a time when I wanted to hear something come out of anypony’s mouth, it was that moment. If she could just possibly explain what was going on, what they were talking about. What in the hay was kissing? Why was it such a thing to be poking fun at. What did love really mean? How could they think that Derpy and I loved each other? I was so confused my head started to hurt. This was what happened every time I tried to figure out something that my brain just simply didn’t want to. I look back and forth from Derpy to the crowd, but still no response.

“Derpy? What… what’s going on?”

She was older than me, I knew that much. I could tell from the fact that she was taller and a bit more well-built than my spidery figure. She had to know more about what was going on here than I did. Instead of explaining to me, her one friend, she kept silent. The other foals began laughing and poking fun at us. She turned and flew off. I went after her, hearing only “I knew they were in love!” She flew behind the Mess Hall, and she was crying. I was worried about her. She was my only friend, and I wondered: if she couldn’t trust me, how could she trust anyone.

“What’s wrong?” I try to portray concern through my confusion and some irritation.

“I don’t know! I’m having all these feelings inside when I’m around you. It’s just so… I don’t even really know what love means. I just… I just…” She broke down crying. I try to move over to her to give her a hug but she bats me away with a hoof.

“What?” I’m beginning to tear up too. The thought that she didn’t want to be around me just frightened me. Had I done something wrong? Had I just lost the only friend I ever had in the world? She simply sat behind the Mess, crying. There was nothing I could say or do to help her. I just collapsed on the ground and started crying too.

We were both there, crying. The tears dripped across my fur, soaking into it all the way down my snout and onto the dirt beneath my hooves. I wanted so badly to get a hug. I figured she needed a hug too, but when I went to retry giving her a hug, she batted away at me again.

It was a while before Mrs. Storm found us. The other foals were already at lunch. She came over and put her hooves on ours and caressed them in only a way a mother could. Perhaps she had enough experience from when Thunderstorm was in school. I didn’t understand why, he was always the one picking on me.

“Come on, dears, let’s go to lunch and you can tell me all about what happened.”

Derpy had stopped heaving from the heavy sobs, and was sitting there, motionless, silently. She didn’t respond to Mrs. Storm’s prompting to get up and go to lunch.

“Come on, you two. I can’t help if I don’t know what’s going on.”

“That’s part of the problem,” I say, tears soaking my snout. “You never know what’s going on.” I let a little of the growing frustration show. “You’re always too busy to notice that all the other foals are picking on the two of us.” I stand to continue my rant. “You’re always too busy to realize when it’s happening right under your nose. I can’t believe you.”

“Well, dear,” she tried to say. I didn’t notice at the time, but Derpy had stopped crying and looked up at me.

“Don’t ‘Well, Dear,’ with me. You are trying to tell us that we’re supposed to be happy here? Well, I have news for you, not a single one of those foals in our group want us to be happy.” I was trying to speak for both Derpy and I. This was something I needed to get off my chest, and I didn’t care what Derpy was going to tell me afterword. I was tired of all this pain and torment the two of us were going through. “I will not stand to have anypony bullied in front of me again.” I felt a strange sensation in my body, like I was achieving something that I had been built for my entire life. I couldn’t explain why I felt this way, but I knew that I would stand by my resolve.

Bullying wasn’t going to stop me anymore. I wasn’t going to let ponies like North Breeze or Thunderstorm rule my life. And I certainly wasn’t going to let them rule Derpy’s life. She was my friend, and I was going to stand up for my friends. There was nothing that was going to stop me. Not fear, not anxiety. I was going to do this for all the fillies, colts, mares, and stallions who had to put up with all this incessant bother from ponies who always thought themselves superior.

“Calm down, Sky Bolt. I will see what I can do to help. Now, let’s just go to lunch.”

I turn and reach out a hoof to the gray Pegasus filly who I just now noticed was staring at my flank. I follow her gaze to find a cutie mark the shape of a shield with two blue-gray wings unfolding off of it. The smile that graces both of our mouths, even though it was tear-soaked and amidst such sadness, meant the world to me. She was still my friend. That was all that really mattered to me at this point. We walked into lunch, friendship renewed. She had my muffin, and all was right with the world again.

Her Element

We speculated at dinner what my cutie mark could mean.

“Perhaps it means I’m going to be a Royal Guard!” I said, excitedly.

“That would be cool!” Derpy replied, with equal excitement. She gobbled down her muffins and smiled brightly.

“Don’t you ever eat anything besides muffins?”

“Well, when I was living at home, there were some things I ate other than muffins.” She contemplated the sandwich before her.

“Why do you like muffins so much?”

“Oh, that’s an easy question! I love muffins because they’re what my mom made me all the time when I was back home. She would make them for me all the time. Especially when daddy was working late. I don’t understand why he worked late so often.

“Mom always said something about how I was quite a hooffull. I spent a lot of time seeing various people about my eyes and about my performance in school.” She stopped and thought for a minute. “I suppose that all added up to a lot of bits, because I hardly ever saw my daddy. I once asked him to come in for Family Appreciation Day, but he said he was too busy, so my mom had to come in.”

“Anyway, it was our way to bond. She even taught me how to make muffins. It’s just some flour, some water…” she trailed off as she tried to remember all the ingredients in the recipe.

“That’s quite alright, Derpy,” I said, hoping to keep her from spending all the free time we had on the muffin recipe. “So, I noticed that you have two different names. Why is that?”

“Well, one is the name I was given when I was born—Ditzy Doo. That’s my father’s last name, Doo. There were some rough times. My mom argued with my dad a lot about how he was never there to help raise me. Something about how he was never there when I needed to go to the doctor, and how he didn’t understand anything about my condition.

“That was the last time I saw my daddy before I came here. My mom said that I should use her last name, Hooves. Derpy is just my nickname.” She gave me a smile before returning to contemplate the sandwich again. “I was given that by my daddy.” She seemed to have a fondness for her father.

“So what did your parents do for a living?”

“My dad was a Mail Stallion. I kind of always wanted to follow in his hoof steps. I just need to learn to focus my eyes a little better.” She blinked a few times and her eyes, for a moment, synchronized. The next moment, though, the right eye drifted inward.

“I think that’s a great dream,” I say. “I think you should go be a Mail Mare.” I beam at her and she gives me a grin back.

“What about you? What do you want to be?”

“I used to want to be a Cloud Crafter like my dad, but I don’t think that’s going to happen with this cutie mark.”

“Yeah, you’re going to be part of the Royal Guard!” She stood up and put her hoof in front of her mouth like she was hold a trumpet. “Here comes the grand Princess Celestia and her most noble Guard, Sky Bolt!” I chuckle as I stand up and march in front of her. She was so much fun to be around! She always knew how to make light of just about any situation. I really liked that about her.

She also knew how to laugh. That was so great about her. She had a laugh that just made me want to smile and laugh too. When I heard Derpy’s laugh, I knew that everything was going to be okay. There was just some unknown thing in me that told me that nothing could stop us if all we had was our laughter.

The activity after lunch was raincloud kicking. Derpy seemed quite the natural at it. She was able to clear out her entire row of rainclouds before anyone else, including me, had completed one. She seemed to really enjoy herself, bouncing on the clouds. That was when she absent-mindedly ventured over into the thunderstorm section. Mrs. Storm started to fly after her, but it was too late, with a single jump, lightning discharged from the cloud, striking Mrs. Storm, who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

With a shake, Mrs. Storm was okay, but all the fillies and colts—except me and Derpy—were laughing. When we saw that Mrs. Storm was okay, we busted out laughing ourselves. It was quite humorous, but Mrs. Storm was less than amused. She understood that it was an accident, but she didn’t find it funny.

Once everypony was calmed down from the jest, Derpy was sat on the side since she had already cleared her set of clouds. She was kind of sad that she had no more clouds to drain, so I sat down beside her and let her take my row. I never particularly enjoyed Raincloud kicking, and she seemed to love it. I was so happy that she was happy.

We all finished early, since Derpy was on the case. There was one cloud she made rain a little too much that it thinned out so far that she fell right through it. She just kept on bouncing, though. When she opened her eyes, she realized where she was and let out a laugh that was echoed by all those close to her. Some tried to push a joke onto her, but she was already laughing, and it was lost in the ruckus of the roars of laughs.

Alto came to us later. “I feel so bad for the other day,” she said. She seemed sincere, and Derpy took her hoof in a hoof shake.

“What do you mean?” Derpy asked.

“I, I should have stopped my sister,” Alto said, with a frown on her face, “I just let her do it because I didn’t want to be caught up in the middle. Strata Cirrus can be quite mean.” There was a tear in her eye.

“It’s easy to get swept up in the moment,” she said. “You’re forgiven.”

There was a smile on Alto’s face that shined as bright as the clouds she was walking on. “Does this mean we can be friends?”

“Of course!” Derpy was so happy. North Breeze was just upset. I supposed he really liked Alto.

“I don’t need you! I’ve got plenty of friends!” North Breeze said with a lot of anger.

“I know you didn’t!” Alto said, walking back to the Mess Hall with me and Derpy.

Alto was a nice filly. She was happy to have friends like us who liked her for who she was. So many foals made fun of her because she just wanted to be a musician. Most Pegasi thought that was a job only for Earth Ponies and Unicorns.

“I mean, my father is a weather pony,” she started explaining at dinner. Derpy was eyeing the third muffin at the table with desire in her eyes. “He specializes in the use of the decorative clouds. My mother is a snowflake manufacturer. But for me, nothing is more soothing than the sound of a viola on a warm evening.

“Play a what now?” Derpy asked in confusion.

“A viola! It’s kind of like a violin, but it’s larger and has a deeper tone,” Alto explained. “It’s the alto instrument of the violin family.” She gave a large grin. “I never was really interested in flying anyway. I like my hooves on the ground.”

“I don’t see why anyone would be upset with you following your dreams,” Derpy said.

“They say ‘It’s not becoming of a Pegasus to lower herself to the levels of Unicorns and Earth Ponies and playing such back-water instruments.’” She mocked her parents in such a degrading tone.

Derpy still hadn’t taken her eyes off the muffin sitting in front of Alto, untouched. Alto watched her gaze, perhaps wondering if she was staring at the carrots that she left also untouched. Perhaps, like me and the toast on the first day, she didn’t really like the carrots and was hoping that Derpy would ask for them instead of the more desirable muffin. She still hoofed over the muffin anyway to a Derpy who let out such a squeal that the whole Mess had to have heard it.

Our new friend Alto bid farewell before the required bedtime. Derpy and I took the time to watch the Moonrise. The Mare in the Moon stared down at us as we watched the stars appear. Derpy and I were happy together. We were best friends, and there was nothing that was going to get between us.

As per usual, Derpy and I waved at each other from the windows above our beds. She snuggled the cloud muffin I had given her, then disappeared. I laid down and snuggled under the blankets. I felt something soft in my mane—significantly softer than the coarse hair I had—and reached in to investigate. It was the cloud I had stored from the other day.

I suddenly remembered why I had stashed it. I wanted to make something special. I began molding it and playing with it, trying to get all the details right, but there simply wasn’t enough cloud here for me to complete my project.

“Well, well, if it isn’t a lovebird,” a familiar, hated voice said from the next bed over. I had almost forgot that I slept next to him. Almost.

“A lovebird? I’m a Pony, same as you, Thunderstorm.” I was confused with this new nickname. It made no sense to me. Lovebirds were colorful birds, like the ones I saw flying into Cloudsdale every Spring. I was never very gifted with animals, so I never really saw one up close. Even when we tried to do a bird-watching field trip, I scared off the birds that were trying to come closer.

“You are pretty dense, aren’t you.”

Then it hit me. Lovebird. He was making fun of my friendship with Derpy, just like every other foal the other day.

“I’m just friends with her! That’s all!”

Just keep telling yourself that, Sky Bolt. Maybe it will be true one day.” I could hear him rolling over and pulling the covers over his head. “Only a mare as dumb as she is would ever love you.”

What did this verb mean? ‘Love.’ I pulled out my pencil and paper and began writing my parents again. I asked them what it really meant to ‘love’ someone, and why was everypony making fun of me for it? I nearly forgot to tell them that I had gotten my cutie mark, so I added that at the bottom, under my signature. I rolled over myself and tried to go to sleep. Perhaps tomorrow would clear everything up.

It was the middle of the week. Wednesday. Normally, I hated Wednesdays, but then again, I never really had a friend before to make the week bearable, let alone two. Alto and Derpy were standing on the porch of their cabin. It seemed they were in the same cabin.

We divided our breakfast in what we decided was the normal fashion: Derpy took all the muffins and gave us the rest of her tray of food, and we ate what we wanted from the rest of the meal.

“Hey, Alto,” I said, “What do you think of my Cutie Mark? I got it yesterday!”

She contemplated the mark for a minute from where she sat, then put a hoof to her chin. “I think that it’s cool. What’s it mean?”

“I dunno yet. Derpy and I think it has to do with being a member of the Royal Guard!”

“Wouldn’t that be so cool!” Derpy asked.

“You bet it would!” Alto ceded. We continued talking about what it would be like to be a Royal Guard. They were always so still and brave. And they all seemed to look alike, though. I hoped that me joining the Royal Guard didn’t mean that I would have to dye my coat. I loved my sky blue coat and golden mane. Derpy said that would be silly if I had to change what I looked like. She said she would be my friend anyway, because it’s what’s on the inside that counts. Even if she couldn’t tell who I was from a crowd of Guards. We all laughed then.

North Breeze came in about this time. The Green and Scarlet colt sauntered past Alto, in an effort to draw her back to him. It was met with a fiery scowl.

“So I see you chose to join… them. The Blank Flank and the Dunce.”

“My flank’s not blank anymore, North Breeze.”

“Oh? Is that so?” I show off my cutie mark, and he seems genuinely surprised that I could follow through on my comment. “What does that even mean, Belly Flop? That you’re a pony shield?”

“I think it means that I’m going to be a Royal Guard in Canterlot.”

“You are thick. That’s not the cutie mark of a Royal Guard!”

“Oh, and you’ve seen one?” Derpy said.

“I come from Canterlot. I see Royal Guards every day.” He huffed at me. “And you would never make it in their ranks, Sky Bolt. You’re too…” He paused in mid-sentence as Mrs. Storm walked by, greeting the four of us with a smile. When she was out of range, he finished, “Stupid.”

Derpy watched me closely to make sure I didn’t do anything I’d regret, and though I was fuming to the point that I swore the next thing I looked at would catch on fire, I said and did nothing. North Breeze gave me a smirk and promenaded off.

“I’m proud of you, Bolt,” she said with a wide smile. “You’re learning to control yourself.” She came around the table and wrapped a wing around me in a hug. Alto was only glaring at North Breeze as he sat with the other fillies he had met. He tried looking over when she wouldn’t notice, but his cheeks grew red as he noticed her glower meet him in the eyes.

“I don’t believe that colt,” she said. She shook her head and returned to her breakfast.

“Why?”

“I’ll tell you later. I’m not really ready to talk about it yet.”

“Okay,” Derpy said, “whenever you’re ready, we’re here to talk. We’re your friends.” She blinked a couple times so that her eyes both focused on Alto, but that time, like all the others, was short lived. Alto gave a small snicker.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t laugh about that,” she hung her head.

“It’s alright, Alto. I’ve learned that there are things that we have to like about ourselves in order to live a happy life. And I love to see other ponies smile.” She offered a smile to Alto. “Don’t worry,” she said, “I think it’s kinda funny too!”

Mrs. Storm gathered us up to go to the center of the camp, next to the lake. There was a little place where a pony could stand and be above the rest of us.

“Today, we will be honored with a special guest!” Mrs. Storm announced. “It is Mr. Dash, all the way from Cloudsdale!” A cyan-coated, rainbow-maned stallion, who actually couldn’t be too much older than us, came flying in so fast there was a rainbow trail behind him. He slowed down only to land softly on the platform. “Now listen closely to him, he’s the best weather pony to come out of Cloudsdale yet!”

“Woohoo!” cheered some of the crowd, but I had known Mr. Dash for a while. He lived in a house not far from my parents. While he spent a lot of time working on the weather for the regions around Cloudsdale, he was always there at the local hangout after school, the Thunderhead.

“Wouldn’t it be cool to know somepony like Mr. Dash?” Alto asked. She seemed a bit awestruck to see Mr. Dash. “With a mane like that…”

“I do know him,” I said. “I live a block away from him. I mean, he just graduated high school this year.”

The look in Alto’s eyes was something to behold. She seemed to have glimmers and stars shining from behind the black pupils, framed by her rose irises. “Could you introduce me?”

“I suppose…” I didn’t see the harm; it was just that I didn’t know how busy he was going to be.

Derpy looked at me and smiled with a nod of approval. The smile on Alto’s face was so wide, I wondered if there was room on her face for her eyes or her nose. It seemed to make Derpy happy that I made Alto so happy. Though, I wasn’t quite so sure why it made Alto so happy.

“Welcome fillies and colts!” Mr. Dash said. He was quite stunning. I had never seen a pony with so many variations in his hair. Back home, my mom had only two colors in her mane, and my dad only one. It was a marvel that there could be so many colors in one mane. And it certainly didn’t look dyed. It was one hundred percent natural. “Being a weather pony isn’t for everypony. In fact, it takes a skill set that you have to be born with.

“My father was a weather pony, and my mother worked in the Rainbow Factory. He would always clear the skies after it rained so that my mom could produce a beautiful Rainbow. She even said that when she had me, I was a rainbow because she loved them so much.

“You have to start young to be a great weather pony,” he said, “you need to practice your agility, your speed, and, of course, your accuracy.” He lifted himself off the ground a little with his wings. “I mean, if Trottingham is supposed to get rain, then you send them rainclouds. If Manehatten needs some wind, you get your flank over there and you make some wind.” He punctuated each point by drifting toward the city or town her was talking about.

“But that’s not all there is to a Weather Pony’s job. You have to learn from the lay of the land, you have to know what it needs. If you miss a storm or two, you have to make it up. Especially when you’re dealing with farms.

“Making it rain and that is not all a Pegasus on Weather Patrol does, either. We are needed to clear the clouds for sunny days, and make sure that clouds don’t thicken up so much they try to make fog…”

At this point, I began tuning out Mr. Dash’s presentation. It was all about weather and stuff. Things that my dad had taught me about since he was young. He told me that before he completed his study of the finer art of cloud crafting, he earned his bits as a Weather Pony. He said that was a great place to start for any Pegasus—learning to control the clouds and make weather. The next step was the weather cloud making, then finally Cloud Crafting the way my father did it. Mom helped me practice weather stuff most. I kinda missed them all, even though it was only a few days since I had last saw them.

Mr. Dash continued until about mid-morning talking about how Weather Ponies were significant to the history of Equestria. It reminded me too much of history classes in school for me to pay attention. Derpy, though, was rapt. Alto, I could tell, was more interested in the pony making the speech than the speech itself. When Mr. Dash opened it up to questions, most of the crowd lifted hooves in the air.

“You, right there, the filly with the white coat and pink mane.” I looked to Alto, who was the only filly I knew fit that description here. She squeaked as Mr. Dash called on her.

“I—I was just wondering…” she blushed so red that it nearly matched her mane. “Are you… single?” She blushed so much that her face almost turned the color of her mane. “Never mind! Ohmygoshthatwassostupid. Ishouldhaveneverdecidedtodothat!”

“What’s wrong, Alto?” I ask, as another filly asked what Mr. Dash’s favorite part of his job was.

“I don’t know what I was thinking!”

“About what? Why did you ask him that?”

“Never mind!” She sunk back into the crowd.

“What was that about?” I asked a puzzled Derpy.

“I think I know,” she said, but there was still a look that she was confused.

We watched the last of Mr. Dash’s presentation, then we went to the Mess for lunch. Alto was nowhere to be seen. There was certainly something strange going on here.

What is Love?

Wednesday afternoon was rather uneventful. All we did was practice agility. None of us were particularly good at it, constantly colliding and burying ourselves into the clouds. Derpy and I kept neck and neck until we both plowed face-first into the fourth obstacle. We both ended up laughing almost uncontrollably.

When the staff members pulled us out of the obstacle, we were still laughing heartily. The staff members gave us amused smiles, and Derpy found that worth smiling about. We both knew we weren’t going to be the best fliers in Equestria, but we sure decided that we would have a good time trying to see how good we were.

We were having fun and being carefree for most of the afternoon, but It was always the fourth obstacle that got us. It was a small little cornering trial, where you had to weave between walls and make sharp turns to make it through. Derpy and I were always running into it.

Just before dinner, though, there was a large gathering of foals near the center of camp. I didn’t know what was going on, and neither did Derpy. We both wandered into the crowd and realized what was going on. There was a gray stallion descending from the sky with a large saddlebag stuffed full of something. Derpy’s eyes lit up when she saw the stallion.

“Bolt! That’s—“ she said excitedly, “That’s my father!” I remembered that she told me she hadn’t seen him for quite a while, and when she talked about him, she seemed very fond of him. She darted up toward the front of the pack, and when she landed, she started bouncing animatedly.

Her father landed on the podium and a pony with a megaphone called out over the crowd: “Mail Call! Proceed to the center of camp to collect your mail!”

Derpy was the first in line. When she trotted up to see her father, he gave her a long look. “Could it be?”

“Daddy?”

“Ditzy Doo!” he said, wrapping his forelegs around her. They were both smiling wide and holding each other close. “Sorry, Ditzy, but I don’t have much time to talk. I have to deliver all the mail here to the campers.”

“I want to introduce you to my first friend!” she declared, pointing to me. “He’s so nice and awesome!” She smiled bright as she described the events that had led up to today. She smiled wider and wider as she got farther and farther through the story. Mr. Doo handed out letters to each of the colts and fillies that came up to meet him. As I watched him hand out the letters, I noticed that Derpy got her looks from her father. She was a blond-maned, gray-coated Pegasus. The only true difference between them was the fact that Mr. Doo was a grown stallion and she was a filly.

As the crowd began to thin out, and Mr. Doo’s bags began to empty, he turned back to Derpy. “Well, Ditzy,” he said with a slightly sad tone, “I’m just about finished here.” He smiled. “I’m glad you finally found a coltfriend to make you happy.”

The look on Derpy’s face spoke volumes even if her voice carried no words. What did ‘coltfriend’ even mean? Her cheeks grew bright red and her smile turned from genuine happy to very nervous. It was more of a smile one gave when someone revealed something they didn’t want revealed. This concerned me. What was it about the word ‘coltfriend’ that Derpy didn’t want associated between us? Was it a bad thing? Was it something that the others would poke fun at?

“Daddy!” she finally said.

“Oh, was I not supposed to say that?”

There she was again, poking her hoof in the ground. The last few fillies and colts came up and got their mail. There were two letters left in there, one addressed to me, from my parents, and one for Derpy, from her mother.

“Here you go, kiddo. Love you lots, my little princess.” He took off and flew off into the distance. Derpy held a sad expression on her face. She held her letter under her left wing. I put my wing around her as we walk into the Mess Hall for dinner.

I knew something was wrong when she didn’t even touch her muffin. Alto tried to give her the muffin on her tray, but she wouldn’t have it. She began to let loose some tears. I felt so bad that she was like this. I wanted to see her smile again. What even made her so sad?

“Derpy?” I asked.

“I’m fine,” she said. She never let her gaze leave the floor.

“This doesn’t look like ‘fine,’” Alto said. “Are you sad because of your dad leaving?”

This seemed to be the problem. Derpy hung her head even lower, and her whole body heaved with a loud sob.

“Oh look,” North Breeze said.

“Oh, great,” I say to Alto, “this pony.”

“Hey look, the Dunce is crying!”

“Hey, do something for your fillyfriend, Sky Bolt,” Thunderstorm said, coming over from his table.

“Fillyfriend? What does that even mean?” All these eyes on me from all different directions made me more nervous than I had ever been in my entire life. It seemed like all the eyes in the place were watching me and what I would do next. I panicked. I ran out of the Mess and straight to the cabin. From the sounds behind me, Derpy and Alto followed close behind.

My nose was so covered in tears when I got back to the cabin that I could hardly read the letter that my parents had sent me. I looked out the window, hoping to see Derpy, but she wasn’t present in the window. Instead, there was Alto, who was giving me a big shrug and sinking out of my view.

I worried about Derpy. I had never seen her this sad. I hoped that she would be alright. She was my best friend, and if I lost her as a friend… I couldn’t think about what would happen to me. She was my first friend. She was my friend when nopony else ever wanted to be my friend. There was this pit in my chest as I thought about what would happen if Derpy left my life. It would feel like there was a piece of me missing, something that I didn’t ever want gone from my life.

This had to be the truest expression of friendship.

I had finally cleared my eyes up enough to read the letter. My mother had written it, I could recognize the writing.

Hey there, sweetie! Your father and I were so happy to hear that you found yourself a fillyfriend! I hope she’s cute! As for what you were asking about, that was a kiss. It’s something two ponies share when they’re in love.

And yes, your father and I do it too. (There was a little smiley pony drawn in here)

Have fun the rest of your stay at camp! We can’t wait to hear from you about this filly!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Love? What did that even mean? How could I be in love if I didn’t even know what in the hay it meant! I know I sent that in the last letter! They must have not got it yet. I was so hopelessly confused by all that was going on. First, there was Derpy, and how sad she inexplicably was. Then there was this letter from my parents. I was so confused.

My confusion stayed with me as I closed my eyes, drifting off to sleep before any other pony came into the cabin.

The next morning, Derpy was eating again, but she still seemed sad. Alto reported that she had tried consoling her through the night. It wasn’t any use, but I took some comfort in the fact that she was eating again.

With Derpy still in her melancholy, we headed out to a part of the camp I hadn’t seen on my little round-about the first day. Here was a nasty looking set of obstacles. I watched as all these moving clouds darted about, controlled by instructors.

“Today’s activity is to train your reactions,” Mrs. Storm said, “and Cloud Wing will be your instructor.”

“Welcome to Reaction Training,” said Cloud Wing, whose uniform I recognized immediately. It was another Wonderbolt. “Do I have any volunteers to try this course?”

North Breeze was the first to volunteer. He stood up, stretched out his green wings, and took off. He was around the first cloud in a matter of seconds, and through the rings toward the second turn. When he went to go around the second turn, though, one of the instructors bucked a cloud in front of him, trapping him so that only his face poked out the other side.

“Rushing headlong into things is a Pegasus’s enemy,” said Cloud Wing. “In order to be a successful flyer, you need to be able to adapt to the changing conditions of your flight.” He stretched out indigo wings and his messy blue hair rustled with the wind. “You need to be especially aware of these changes when you hope to be as good as a Wonderbolt, which I have no doubt that any one of you could do, if you practiced enough.” He smiled. “Now, I want each of you to give it a try, come on, don’t be shy.”

Alto’s sister, Strata, went up to the front of the line. “Watch this, fillies and colts, I’ll show you how a real flyer does things.” She took off, just slightly slower than North Breeze, around the first bend. She made it around and through the rings to the second bend. When she went around the second bend, the instructor again bucked out the cloud, but she didn’t slam into it, instead, she managed to hover behind it as it scooted across her path. She then took off again. She weaved through the rings of the third leg, giving out a triumphant cry as she flew fast enough to outpace the next instructor deploying a cloud. She turned her head to look at all of us when it finally caught up to her. She slammed into another cloud, positioned carefully by another instructor.

“Arrogance is another downfall of Pegasi,” the Wonderbolt said.

“What does arrogance mean?” asked one of the fillies.

“Arrogance is when a pony is so sure of him or herself that they don’t care at all for others, often going so far as to make them feel bad.”

A collective ‘oh!’ moved through the crowd.

“Next foal!” Cloud Wing said, pointing to the nervous white-and-pink filly standing next to me. She gave a little squeak as all the eyes turned to her.

“Good luck, Alto,” I said.

“I’m going to need it.”

She flapped her white wings and rose above the group of foals. She wasn’t a fast flyer. It took her a while to get around the first two bends, and when the first instructor kicked out the cloud, she was able to fly around it. The agility was easy at her leisurely pace, and she squealed as the second cloud zipped in front of her. She continued on, flying around the third cloud, and around the third bend. Now on the home stretch, she smiled. That was when the sound of thunder echoed behind her. Everypony, except the Wonderbolt before us and Mrs. Storm jumped nearly high enough to be considered flying. Alto flew faster than before, making it almost to the end of the course when she collided with one last cloud inches before reaching the finish line.

Her face was poking out the other end, and I could see that it was turning as pink as her mane again. The instructor pulled her free and let her fly down to the rest of us before resetting in his almost imperceptible trap.

“Fear cannot rule you if you’re going to be a great flyer. Often times when you’re out in the weather, there will be lightning and thunder. You cannot let it get to you. Especially when you’re a Wonderbolt.” He walked around the cloud. “My older son, Soarin’, is not too much younger than you. He understands the importance of reactions. Perhaps, to the fault of all else,” he mumbled something about how this filly Soarin’ knew was always distracting him from learning all the rest of what he had to teach him with this silly competition to be the future captain of the Wonderbolts. “My point is that if you put your mind to it, anypony can learn to react properly to any stimulus.”

“What’s a stim… stimu… whatever you said?”

“A stimulus is anything that gets you to react.”

Another collective ‘oh’ came across the crowd.

“Okay, you,” he said, pointing at Derpy. Derpy looked back at him with her sad eyes. “You should go next.”

“I guess,” she said, taking wing.

“Come on, Derpy!” I shout out to her.

“Let’s go, Derpy!” Alto called.

With a teary eye, she looked back at us. It seemed like something clicked in her. Her look of melancholy turned to a look of determination. “You can do it, Derpy!” Alto and I called in Unison.

Derpy took off as fast as she could fly, which was somewhere between Strata and Alto’s speeds. She rounded the first bend, cleared all the rings of the second bend, and when she got to the first trap, she flew up and over it. There was something to be said about the grace she had in the air despite her disagreeing eyes. She darted back and forth through the agility section, and beat the second trap. The third cloud whizzed inches from the tip of her nose. With a glide, she was around the third bend into the home stretch. When the lightning sounded, most of the ponies on the cloud jumped. Derpy, who was visibly startled, only faltered a small before speeding up again, pulling back to a hover just before she would have crashed into the last cloud. Triumphantly, she crossed the finish line.

North Breeze and Strata Cirrus were slack-jawed from watching that. It was clear that they had severely underestimated the pony before them. I figured that would solve the problems we were having with them bullying us.

She landed, with a smile across her face, next to Alto and I.

“What changed with you, Derpy,” Alto asked, “you were so sad before, and now…”

“I realized something,” she said, “I don’t need my father anymore.” She gave a little trot around the two of us. “I realized that I have friends.” She had a tear in her eyes, and a smile on her face. This was confusing. Weren’t tears a sign of sadness?

“Why are you sad still?”

“They aren’t tears of sadness,” Alto said softly, “they’re tears of joy.”

“What?”

“I figured something out, Bolt,” Derpy said, “I…” she hesitated. In the meantime, one of the other fillies had taken to the course and buried herself in the first trap. “I think I might, maybe, I don’t really know…”

“What?”

“Really, really like you.”

“You mean, love, don’t you, Derpy?” Alto said.

“What does that even mean?” I ask.

“Love is really hard to describe,” Alto pondered for a minute, “I suppose it’s when two ponies are such good friends that they want to spend their lives together. I mean, my parents are always saying ‘I’m so glad I get to spend the rest of my life with you,’ or ‘you will always be my love.’” She gave a kind of shrug.

“Yeah, I love you, Sky Bolt,” Derpy said, offering a hug, which I would always gladly accept.

We watched as all the other foals tried to get through the obstacle course. I was guiltily enjoying watching all the others get stuck in the clouds until the Wonderbolt pointed at me. I gasped and backed up instinctively as all eyes were on me. I turned to my friends, who both gave me words of encouragement, before taking off down the course.

I rounded the first corner, and through the rings to the second, where I remembered the first trap. I stopped just short of hitting it with my face. The agility portion wasn’t too hard, and I was just shy of hitting the second cloud, too. The third cloud wasn’t a trick at all, since it was in front of me the whole time. The third turn was easy. When the lightning struck behind me, I panicked like Alto had, and zoomed down the course, only to fall into the same trap that she had. When they plucked me out of the cloud, I hung my head and sunk back into my place by Alto and Derpy.

“There’s nothing wrong with a little spirit. Sure, you didn’t make it, young colt, but you have to understand that everypony makes mistakes. That’s how we grow and learn. By making mistakes, and soon after learning from them, we become better ponies in every aspect.” Cloud Wing tried cheering me up, but he couldn’t do it. Sure, it was exciting to be talking to a Wonderbolt, but I only wanted the attention of the ponies I knew and trusted.

We ate our regular dinner, headed to the cabins and had our usual good night, waving at each other from our respective windows. I saw that Derpy cuddled with her Muffin, and Alto seemed a little sad. I knew what I was going to do the next time I got some cloud crafting time.

With a smile on my face, I rolled over in bed. I was certainly surprised when Thunderstorm trotted into the room and went to bed without a word. The words Derpy had said to me earlier stuck in my mind: “I love you, Sky Bolt.”

“I love you too, Derpy Hooves,” I said under my breath before I fell to sleep.

Gathering Storm

Finally it was here… Friday. It was sure to be a great day. That was the rule, right? Every Friday is a good day. I don’t think I ever remember a bad Friday, even back in school. At least, it wasn’t completely bad.

The worst Friday I ever remember was back when Thunderstorm got his cutie mark. It was actually the day afterward, because he had gotten it the night before. He said it was because he cleared a thundercloud for the first time. No matter how he got it, it left me the only one in my class without a cutie mark.

Thunderstorm was showing it off when I came into the classroom, and he looked at me with an expression that I only later determined was up to no good. “Now if only someone could help Sky Bolt here get his cutie mark.” All the foals in the class laughed, but stopped when the teacher walked in.

Later, at recess, I was playing on the merry-go-round when Thunderbolt stopped it. He was giving me the same look he had when he made his comment that morning. I should have known then that something was going to go wrong.

“What good is a pony without a cutie mark?” Thunderstorm said. “And what possible good could it mean that they’re the last in their class to get it?” He then used his brute strength to spin the merry-go-round so fast that I ended up flying off of it and landing roughly in the clouds a ways off, hind legs flailing about in the air. It took the teacher coming out and getting me for me to be freed from that cloud.

But this had to be better. I had two friends that genuinely cared for my feelings, and Derpy said she loved me. I still didn’t know what that meant, but it had to be good, since my parents said it all the time, both to each other and to me. It couldn’t be such a bad thing.

I got out of bed and looked out my window. There was Derpy’s Cloud Muffin sitting in the windowsill. I smiled as both Derpy and Alto appeared. They smiled wide and waved. We met up outside the cabins.

“I wonder what’s on the schedule today!” Derpy said, excitedly.

“I don’t know, I think we did everything already,” Alto said.

We all shrugged and went to breakfast. “I don’t know what there is left to do,” I say, sitting down at our usual table. Derpy sat next to me and Alto on her other side.

“You two look so good together,” Alto said with a smile on her face.

“Thanks, Alto,” Derpy said. She put a wing around me and pulled me close. The last time we were this close was when Strata pushed us together, the only difference was that I didn’t feel so awkward now, it actually felt nice. I wanted to stay here, under her wing for a while, but alas, it wouldn’t stay that way.

“Hey, there, Alto,” North Breeze said, walking toward the food line.

“Hello, North Breeze,” Alto said, with a grudge.

“Why do you say it like that?” North Breeze said, cluelessly.

“You insult my friends then you expect me to like you?” she asked incredulously. “Do you really think that, North Breeze?”

“Well,” he said, as Strata came over and put a hoof on his shoulder. He was speechless. He was genuinely, unequivocally speechless.

“Forget her,” Strata said. “She’s too into those losers.”

The next thing that happened shocked all of us sitting at that table. North Breeze swatted Strata’s hoof off of him and spun to face her.

“I just realized something, Strata,” he gave her a heavy scowl. “I realized that hanging around you has made me into a mean pony.” Strata gasped. “I was never like this in school!”

“What are you saying, North Breeze?” she said, incredulously.

“I don’t think I want to be friends with you anymore.”

Strata scoffed. “You’re not my friend anymore because you think it made you a mean pony? I have news for you, North Breeze, you were always a mean pony. I just showed you what you truly were, and I was your friend anyway.” She turned her nose up and, with one last look over her shoulder, said, “I really thought I liked you, North Breeze. I really did.” She walked away.

“That took a lot of courage,” Alto said. “I thought you liked her too.”

“Well, that’s the thing,” he said, hanging his head, “I really like you more, Alto.” There was a gasp of surprise from all present.

“I—I didn’t know you felt that way, North Breeze,” Alto responded.

“I didn’t either until you left to be friends with Derpy and Sky Bolt. I felt this… emptiness, like somepony had taken a part of me and hid it away. I didn’t realize that it was you that I didn’t have until the other day. When I look at you, I feel whole again, Alto. I don’t ever want to feel empty. I just don’t know that you can forgive me for all the torment I put you and your friends through.”

Alto gave Derpy and I a long, questioning look. She seemed to be thinking about the request North Breeze had made, and there was a lot she had to go through. Could she overlook the way North Breeze had treated her, Derpy, and I? I gave a smile, since I believed that it was completely up to Alto. I would be her friend no matter what, and I watched as Derpy did the same.

Alto gave it a little longer, making sure the smiles Derpy and I gave her were genuine, then responded to a worried North Breeze, “I can forgive you if they can.” I nodded quickly and Derpy followed suit. The smile that spread across North Breeze’s face spread contagiously to the rest of the table as he sat down. I could see Strata, and her disapproving stare as she watched all of this transpire. It was clear that she was upset that this had just happened.

Out of the seven of us in the group, there was really only one bully now, Strata. She led the other two against us. I figured they were simply afraid that they were going to be ‘uncool’ or something if they didn’t follow her lead, but as I watched them, they gave sideways glances at Strata.

As we walked out of breakfast to meet up with Mrs. Storm, Strata was left alone as the other two came over to Derpy, Alto, North Breeze, and I.

“I just wanted to apologize,” said the first filly. She had an orange coat and yellow mane. “I just don’t know where things went so bad. I guess I wanted to have friends here so badly that I didn’t care who I hurt.” She held out a hoof. “My name is Sunny Skies,” she introduced, “and I just want to say I’m sorry.”

The filly behind her, who had an azure coat and a white mane simply hung her head.

“We forgive you,” Derpy said, smiling. “We can all be friends if you like!”

Strata was furious. I could tell that from here. She was giving me a stare like she wanted to light me on fire, and if she was a unicorn, I bet she would have succeeded.

There was only one unicorn I ever met. She had come to the Cloudesium to see the Wonderbolts performance. She was walking on clouds, and if a unicorn had the magic to do that, then unicorns had to have the magic to set ponies on fire by staring.

Our new friends accompanied us as we set out across the camp behind Mrs. Storm. We ventured past anything that I had seen earlier to a larger area full of dark grey, ominous clouds that I really, really didn’t like the looks of.

“Today we will test your teamwork capabilities. You will be combined with Mrs. Wing’s group on today’s activity.” All six of us friends were excited to see who we would be working with, but when I caught a glimpse of who was at the front of that pack, my heart sank.

It was none other than the dark-gray-and-deep-blue colt I had grown up to resent befriending. Thunderstorm smirked as he led his little band of six students toward us. I could see Strata giving him a look. It was very peculiar, her eyes seemed half-closed, but not in a tired looking way, it seemed more like she was beckoning him over to her.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Sky Bolt, Derpy, and Alto. The misfits of Flight Camp.”

“We aren’t so misfit anymore, Thunderstorm,” I said, as my three new friends take their places on either side of me.

“Well, I see the misfits got more misfitted,” Thunderstorm said, a smirk crossing his face. That look was the one he had given me back on that first Friday after he got his cutie mark. I was beginning to hate that look.

“We aren’t misfitted! If anything, you are since you have to take all your joy from making fun of us! I know I’m happy just having my friends!”

“You mean your fillyfriend?” Strata said, leaning on Thunderstorm. “Or are you still too embarrassed about that?”

“I heard you last night, Sky Bolt, I heard you say ‘I love you too, Derpy Hooves.’” Thunderstorm had this look on his face that could only mean he was up to no good. There was probably no stopping him as he set into trying to tear me and my friends down.

“Aw, that’s precious,” Derpy whispered to me, putting a wing around me. “But I think you need to watch yourself, Muffin.”

There it was again, Derpy was calling me Muffin, only this time she didn’t stop herself. There was this warm feeling in my chest, and I had a smile that would put all the other smiles to shame. I didn’t think there would be a pony in all of Equestria from here until the end of time that could smile as bright, wide, or genuine as I did that day. I was certain that not even Thunderbolt and Strata could take it away.

“If you’re not such misfits, then I challenge you. Your team versus my team. You’ve got six, I’ll sit somepony out to give me six.” Thunderstorm looked at Strata.

“What do you mean I have to sit out?”

“I don’t know you that well,” Thunderstorm said. “I don’t think you’d be any good at Storm Wrangling anyway.”

“Why? Is it because I’m not as quote unquote, ‘Rough and Tumble’ as you?”

“In short, yes.” Strata scoffed at Thunderstorm. “I resent that statement, Thunderstorm.” She gave him a scowl, then went over and sat on the sidelines. Thunderstorm was in his ‘I’m better than everypony else’ mood. I knew this one all too well. The only way to get that smirk off his face was to beat him at this game.

And I trusted my new friends enough to be able to do that.

“The goal of this exercise is to clear out the thunderclouds,” said Cloud Wing, floating down from the upper cloud layer. “Even a Wonderbolt knows that teamwork is necessary to complete a difficult task. I could not ask any of you to do this task on your own.

“To help, you will have the guidance of your counselor.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Wing,” Thunderstorm said in a voice so polite I didn’t think it could ever come from him.

“Yes, Thundercloud?”

“It’s Thunderstorm,” he said, annoyed.

“Yes, yes, Thundercloud. What was it you wanted to say?”

“I was going to ask if we could make this a competition, you know, between Mrs. Storm’s class and Mrs. Wing’s.”

Cloud Wing looked to the two counselors, who then looked at each other. It was clear to them that this was news to them. Baffled by the turn of events, they nodded their heads in agreement.

“Then it is settled,” he said. “We shall make it a competition between Mrs. Storm’s class and Mrs. Wing’s class.

“Uh, sweetie,” Mrs. Wing said. “If I could have a word with you.” The two huddled together, then beckoned Mrs. Storm over.

“You and your little band of misfits are going down, Sky Bolt.”

“We’ll show you, Thunderstorm! We can do anything that you can! We may not be the fastest, or the strongest, or even the smartest,” I said, looking at his friends, “but we’re friends. And friendship will overcome any obstacle set before us!”

All my friends cheered as the counselors and the Wonderbolt returned to us. “After much discussion, we agreed that this competition shall go on, but under very strict rules,” Cloud Wing said. “Rule one: There will be no foul play. Anypony caught trying to sabotage the other team will immediately be pulled from the contest, and their team will be disqualified.

“Rule Two: This contest is only for recreational purposes. If I find out that any of you use this against the other foals, I will boot you all out of Flight Camp under Sky Fire’s direct orders.”

“Who’s Sky Fire?” one of the fillies asked.

“She’s the current captain of the Wonderbolts.”

A resounding ‘Oh’ swept across the thirteen of us.

“Rule Three: You are to clear out your half the thunderclouds as quickly as possible, under the direct guidance of your counselor. If you do not listen to your counselor, you will be disqualified.”

“What in the hay does disqualified mean?”

“Watch your language, filly. Disqualified means that you are no long allowed to compete.”

Another chorus of ‘oh’ spread across us.

“Since Mrs. Storm’s class has an extra member, I will ask that you sit out,” Cloud Wing said, pointing at Strata. It seemed he only picked her because she wasn’t standing with the rest of us. “Now remember, Thunder Clouds are very finicky, and if you don’t listen to your teammates and counselor, you are going to get hurt.

“Don’t worry, though, Pegasi were build to withstand lightning strikes. It hurts a bit, and you’ll singe a few feathers, but you’ll be fine in a minute or two. Us Pegasi were built to handle the weather.” He gave a smile and looked out across the two teams of six. “You will each need to assign yourselves a team captain.”

“I’ll be my team’s captain,” Thunderstorm said immediately, much to the audible dismay of his classmates. “What? I’ve always been a natural leader!” He spoke with a voice that made all this ‘friends’ shudder in fear.

None of them replied.

“That’s what I thought.”

I turned to my teammates. “Who should be our captain. I know that North Breeze is a great flyer, and Alto is very nimble. Derpy, you are great at Raincloud Duty, and I’m good at Cloud Busting. I think either Sunny Skies or her friend should be our captain.”

“I… I don’t know,” said the azure filly. She shied back.

“I think that was a fair assessment of our abilities, Sky Bolt,” North Breeze said. “I think you’re a great leader.”

“Really? I… I don’t think I’d make a good captain. Not against Thunderstorm.”

“Humility is a trait that only the best leaders have, Sky Bolt,” Alto said. “That, and courage. You have both!”

“I… really don’t know.”

“I second the vote to make Sky Bolt our captain,” North Breeze said.

“Me too,” Sunny added. Her friend held up a nervous hoof in agreement.

“I can’t think of a better leader,” Derpy said.

With all this support from my friends, I could hardly resist. “I’ll be the captain for our team.”

“Very Well,” Cloud Wing said. It was clear that he was already forming the outcome of this contest in his mind. He showed us where to line up, and the counselors took places up on a little balcony of clouds.

“We can do this!” I say to my team. I can’t hear what Thunderstorm is saying to his team, but it seems a lot more terrifying. They were cowering from him when he turned to face him.

“Step one: I want North Breeze and Sunny Skies to collect the clouds. We need them all together. Next, I want you,” I say, pointing to the azure filly who still had yet to tell me her name—there wasn’t quite time for such formalities right now—and Derpy to clear the rain out of them.” Derpy gave me a smile as she scooted closer to the azure filly.

“It’ll be alright,” she said, giving a smile that was soon reflected from behind the white mane.

“Finally, Alto, you and I will Cloud Bust. We need your agility to make sure that they don’t escape. I’ll make sure they’re done.”

“I think we should all put our hooves in the middle,” Alto said. Upon seeing all the quizzical looks on the rest of our faces, “it’s something sports ponies do to feel more like a team before going out on the field.”

Reluctantly, all six of us put our hooves in. It seemed like an awkward idea at the time, but now that we did it, I could understand why the sports ponies did it. It felt good inside that I had so many friends, and that they all were here to help me.

We took our places, and Cloud Wing flapped up into the sky holding a flag he got from who knows where. “On your mark.” Our wings all started a precursory flap or two. “Get set.” We all looked like we were about to pounce on those clouds. “Go!”

In a flash, North Breeze was out in the middle of the field, Sunny Skies right behind. They gathered up the thunderclouds from all the corners of our region and pulled them in close to the center, where Derpy and the azure filly were waiting.

I watched as Thunderstorm’s team rounded up their clouds as well, pulling them close. They seemed to have the faster fliers. I watched as their Raincloud Duties were started before ours. I had no doubt that Derpy could bring us into the lead. Our Rainclouders swooped down and landed on the gray clouds, bouncing happily as the rainwater fell from them. On occasion, a lightning strike would echo from either team’s clouds. I placed my wing around Alto, who was frightened. This only seemed like the logical thing to do, comforting a friend. She smiled at me and cuddled up close.

Once the dark gray storm clouds were drained of rain, they became an almost translucent white. That was Alto and my cue. I give her one last look, and I see that she’s no longer cowering, but instead giving me a look of determination. She flies up, circling the group of our clouds, ready to weave through them to collect the strays.

I take this moment to notice that Thunderstorm and one of his teammates were at the same step. This, however, this was what I loved to do. I kicked the clouds like there was nothing else to do in the entire world, and Alto made sure that none of them got away. It wasn’t until the last cloud, which was being a little testy, flew straight past her. I glanced over at Thunderstorm, who seemed to be having the same problem. Both of our clouds were dropping very quickly, and there was only one thing to do: we both immediately dived for our clouds. This was the one thing none of us succeeded at. Both of our entire teams went diving after their clouds, only to have other clouds—ones that weren’t part of the clearing activity, get in their way. Buried and embarrassed, they could only watch as Thunderstorm and I were the last two Pegasi flying.

Here came the hard part: the pull up. Neither one of us had done it, and it was clear that whoever did it correctly would be the victor. I drew close to my cloud, spread my wings and turned my back legs to it in hopes that I would buck it before Thunderstorm could buck his. I closed my eyes and awaited the moment of truth.

Special Someponies

When I opened my eyes, I found myself floating in the air. I looked around, and I saw Thunderstorm lodged deep in the cloud he was trying to bust. I wanted to keep from laughing, and it was supremely hard. My eyes began to water as I suppressed the urges I had to even chortle at my rival.

“I do believe this means that Mrs. Storm’s class wins, by an impressive show of the swoop,” Cloud Wing said. “I think you’ve got Cloud Busting down, my young colt.” My smile only got bigger as I realized that our team had completed our task victoriously.

“Congratulations, Sky Bolt!” said Derpy, as she gave me a galloping hug. The rest of the team gave similar cheers before joining the group hug. I finally felt like I belonged to a group, not like Orchestra camp, or hoofball, or summer camp. I winced a little when I thought about summer camp.

But above all, I wanted to be in Derpy’s arms. That felt like the best place to me. It was warm, both on my body, and in my chest. There was this feeling, I still didn’t quite understand, that arose in me when Derpy was near. I never wanted to leave her embrace, but I knew I would have to. How else was I going to eat?

Thunderstorm was furious when they took him out of the cloud. He was also giving me that look as though he would set me on fire if he had the magic ability to. I chose to smile back and walk off, wing in wing with my best friends.

We met up at the Mess Hall and crowded around the round table. With trays of food, this was beginning to not fit. We consolidated the trays and merrily ate what we wanted—Derpy got the muffins, while the rest of us divided the rest of the victuals.

“That was awesome, Sky Bolt!” North Breeze said. “I can’t believe I ever thought you weren’t cool! That was the coolest thing I have seen ever!”

“You’re pretty cool, Sky Bolt. And a great leader. I hope that you won’t forget us when you’re up in Canterlot!” Sunny Skies said.

“Me? In Canterlot?” I reply.

“That may not be the Royal Guard cutie mark,” North said, “but I can assure you, you’re going to be guarding something that’s going to be very important one day.”

“That certainly is an interesting cutie mark,” Alto said. She contemplated it some more. “I think I know a story that relates to it.”

“Oh? What are you talking about, Alto?” Derpy asked.

“There’s this story my mom used to tell me before bedtime. It begins with this little filly.

“She was alone in the world, having set out from her parents’ house. She wandered her way through Equestria, often finding herself in danger.”

“I think I’ve heard this story too,” North Breeze said, “but when I heard it, it was about a colt who set out to find his calling.”

“There are many different versions of the story,” Sunny said. “I’ve heard a few myself. But a few things remain the same in all of them. First, there is a foal who has wandered away from home. It doesn’t matter why, but they have. The second thing is that this foal was always getting into trouble. He, or she, was constantly getting bullied, or picked on, or put in situations that she could only hope to get out of with a little help. But she had run away.”

The azure filly next to Sunny spoke up, “One day, she got into a confrontation with the big mean school bully. He was about to push her, when all of a sudden, a gust of wind knocked him backward. Nopony knew who it was, or where it came from. No pony except that little mare. She had seen a pony of glowing light and a cutie mark just like that one. She called him the Guardian Pegasus.

“No pony else ever saw him, but when she was in trouble, he was always there to help her. And one day, she sought to help repay the Guardian Pegasus by doing all she could to help other ponies.”

“That’s the most I’ve ever heard you talk in one sitting, Morning Dew.”

“I think I’ve seen the Guardian Pegasus before, when I was a really young filly.” She looked up and out the high windows in the mess hall. “I was being teased by the bullies from school, and they were about to knock me off the clouds. They didn’t mean to, but I felt this hoof, almost, pulling me back. When I turned around, all I saw was this glow.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t a unicorn’s magic?”

“Up in Pegastopolis? I don’t think that Unicorns ever go up there.”

“Maybe it was an alicorn?”

“Maybe, but again, I doubt it. It really felt like there was a hoof reaching out and grabbing for me.” She continued to look out across the sky.

“That’s a great story, Morning Dew,” Derpy said, finally knowing what her newest friend’s name was. “But what does it mean for Sky Bolt here?”

“It means he’s going to guard ponies,” North Breeze said, coming to the only logical conclusion. “I don’t know how he’ll do it yet, but I bet you it will save all of Equestria.”

It was only now that Thunderstorm walked in, alone. The others that he had on his team from Storm Wrangling were scowling at him from outside the door, trying to put distance between them and him. He gave me a glare after he got his food and sat at an empty table. He kept glowering at me as I tried to enjoy lunch, but it was no use. That upset expression from Thunderstorm kept me from even smiling. When Derpy noticed, she had to say something.

“What’s wrong, Muffin?” She gave me a questioning look.

“It’s Thunderstorm. He keeps giving me this look.”

“Well, there are just some ponies who can’t admit defeat. We just have to make sure he doesn’t come between all of us, and hope that we can make it through the rest of flight camp without further problems.”

The posse of Thunderstorm’s former followers came walking in the door. They all stopped at the table, all except Strata, who proceeded straight to Thunderstorm. Each one of them introduced themselves, gave their apologies for being so mean, then complimented us for our excellent teamwork and my awesome swoop. They then sat at the table next to ours, but all the while, giving longing glances over our way. This was especially of the older fillies, who had to have been at least Derpy’s age, which I would guess would have made them about a year older than me.

They gave me the same kinds of looks that I saw Strata give Thunderstorm earlier, the ‘come here, there’s something I want with you,’ kind of looks. I really didn’t want to find out what that something was, though.

The afternoon was free time. I suppose that was on the account that we had gone through all the various types of training that they had for us, and we were getting some time off. I went straight to cloud crafting and decided that my best friends needed some stuff. Derpy went with me over there. She was very interested in learning to cloud craft, but I was only a beginner at it myself.

“I don’t know if I can actually teach you anything, Derpy. It’s more knowing what you’re doing without really thinking about it.”

“That’s fine. I guess I can just watch you make something.” She sat down in front of me, and watched as I made a small little cloud violin. I figured Alto would love this kind of thing. It was convenient that Alto walked up when she did.

“I figured I would find you here,” Alto said as I hid the project behind my back. I wanted the reveal to be a complete surprise. She smiled. “What are you hiding behind your back?” She craned her neck either way around me. “Is it something for me?”

I couldn’t bear the suspense, and I was the one creating it. I held out the miniature violin for her. She squeed and gave me a tight hug. “I love it, Sky Bolt! You’re the best friend I’ve ever had!” Derpy smiled bright. It was clear to me that she was just as happy about making Alto happy as I was.

Together, the three of us went down to the lake, where we found North Breeze, Sunny Skies, and Morning Dew. They were all happily splashing and swimming, and beckoned us to come down and join them. As we splashed and played together, I noticed a familiar figure over by the cabin. It was Thunderstorm.

He only shot me one sharp look before entering the cabin. I really didn’t like what that look meant. He was planning something, and it wasn’t going to be pretty for me, or any of my friends. For now, though, there was nothing I could do. I was certain that Thunderstorm would avoid me if I tried to talk to him, so I would wait until the one time when he couldn’t avoid me.

I got out of the water and let the shining sun dry my coat. When I turned, I saw Derpy climbing out of the water, her mane soaked and hanging low across her face. I had never seen anything that I’d attribute with the word ‘beautiful’ quite like that moment with that mare. There was just some aspect about her that gave me this warmth inside.

And that was when it happened. My wings grew stiff and I couldn’t fold them down. I began to wonder what was wrong with them, and I could only imagine what the other foals might think if they saw them. I chose to lie back on the grass, so that my outstretched wings would appear to be just lying there, trying to soak up the sun’s rays to dry themselves.

“That looks like fun,” Derpy said. I noticed that her wings were flared up too, but she didn’t seem to notice. She gave me a cute look and lay on her back next to me. I looked over to her and I could feel something inside me as the water glistened in her golden mane. There was something in my chest that I couldn’t explain. Some feeling, some unknown sensation. With Derpy was the first time I had ever felt it, this growing feeling. Alto climbed out of the lake and lay on my other side. Her pink mane drenched and radiant as well, but it didn’t elicit the same reaction inside of me.

North Breeze was staying put in the water. I could notice his face was growing read as something stirred the water behind him. He was slightly older than me, so he must have known what this sensation was. What did it exactly mean when you can’t fold down your wings? I hoped that it wasn’t anything wrong with my wings.

“Aren’t you coming out, North Breeze?” Alto asked, looking toward the colt still in the water. There was a vehement shaking of North Breeze’s head before he sunk a little lower in the water. He seemed a little embarrassed at whatever was going on.

“What’s wrong?” Derpy asked. She raised her head, topped with shining blonde hair, to look at the green-and-scarlet foal in the lake still. She took a moment and rubbed her left wing, then returned her gaze to North.

“No, nothing’s wrong,” he said before giggling nervously. “Nothing at all.”

“Then why aren’t you coming out of the water?” Alto asked. Sunny Skies swam up behind him and bumped into something, which I supposed was his right wing. He blushed a scarlet to match his mane. Sunny Skies only blushed as she realized what was going on. I just wish somepony would explain to me why I couldn’t fold down my wings. For that matter, why was North so embarrassed about it that he wouldn’t risk exposing it to Alto, Derpy, or I, even though we all knew what was happening.

“Perhaps I… I should… yeah,” Sunny Skies said, paddling backward. She was as red as North, and she made a hasty retreat.

I never had this problem before. My wings always obeyed me when I wanted them to fold or to flap or to do something more complex. I mean, I remember seeing some of the other foals with their wings in the air back in elementary, but I never understood why they turned beet red when it did, or why they always tried to excuse themselves from class when it did happen.

My parents had told me that it was just a natural part of a Pegasus’s life. It was something that happened to all of us. They never told me what it meant or why it was so embarrassing, and I supposed I never really needed to know before, especially since it never happened to me before.

The only other time something like this even remotely happened, come to think about it, was in Derpy’s company. It was when she gave me that ‘kiss.’ My wings had risen, but they never felt this stiff, and certainly they had never disobeyed me this bad. I began to get worried. Were my wings malfunctioning? And if so, was North’s too? How could this possibly be normal for anypony?

I was broken from my anxiety when a familiar call came from the center of camp.

“Mail call! Come to the center of camp to fetch your mail!”

Oh horsefeathers! This meant that everypony in this camp would come past him with his wings like this. If it was so embarrassing for somepony like North Breeze, then it had to be something worth being embarrassed about. I tried frivolously to fold them, but they wouldn’t follow my orders. It almost hurt as I tried to put them back in place with my hooves. This was when I noticed Derpy, Alto, and North all staring at me.

“You got a problem there?” Derpy asked. I knew she hadn’t meant it in a mean or unkind way, but I grew even more embarrassed that it had happened.

“I… I don’t know.”

“It’s natural,” Alto said, reassuring me. “It’s something that happens to us all,” she said, giving a look to North Breeze. “Why, it happens to me when I look at him, and look at Derpy.” I was trying not to, as far as I could tell, it was me looking at Derpy that made them so insubordinate. I needed them to just fold down, and I could hear the impending doom of the campers trotting over to meet the Mail Pony.

“Just relax,” Derpy said. I look at her and her wings were unfolded as well. She was looking at me as her right eye wandered over to the left. “It’ll be fine, I promise.” With that I resolved to be brave about facing whatever situation that would befall me due to my wings being so… stuck.

North Breeze had stayed in the water. “You really mean what you said, Alto?” he asked nervously, “about it happening to you when you look at me?”

“Of course,” she said with a grand smile. She stood up and walked over to the lakeshore, wings rigid. “I… I kinda felt the same about you when I was with you. I just didn’t really know how to express it.” She gave a sideways glance to Derpy and I. “I mean, I thought I always wanted someone a little older, and cooler… and that one stallion with the rainbow mane… I just couldn’t help myself, I wanted to at least say hello to him.

“I just never realized until I saw Derpy and Sky Bolt together,” she said, smiling at us, “how much I really cared for you, North.” She held out a hoof to reach for him.

“I—I didn’t know… I thought I was the only one, especially after how I treated everypony.” He gave a big sigh. “It’s such a relief,” he said, coming out of the water and taking her hoof, “I figured I was loving somepony that didn’t love me back.”

“You know what this means?” Alto asked.

I was baffled. It just meant that we were all really good friends. Isn’t that what ‘love’ meant? As the parade of foals came by, I could only ponder about what Alto was trying to get at. They all assumed positions in line as down from the sky came the familiar Mail Stallion, bags laden with possibly more mail than Wednesday. He landed on the podium and began to hand out mail to the foals before him.

Derpy, unlike the last time she had seen her father, didn’t dart up to the front of the line. Instead, she wrapped a wing around me, pulled me close, and we walked to the back of the line, followed by Alto and North Breeze.

“What did you mean, Alto?” I ask as we get in line.

“It means that North is my Special Somepony, and Derpy is yours,” she said with a smile on her face. It was only now that I connected all the dots. I had never heard the terms ‘Fillyfriend’ or ‘Coltfriend’ before, and the term ‘love’ was ambiguous at best for me, but the term ‘Special Somepony’ was something I had heard since the first Hearts and Hooves day I ever remembered.

I wasn’t certain about it yet, but I was pretty secure in thinking that ‘love’ meant something to do with that holiday. It had to mean something, since I always associated somehow the word ‘love’ with a heart.

It never occurred to me why we did that, either. When my mom wrote “I love you” on notes and stuff, she would generally make the ‘o’ in love a heart. But what did the shape have to do with the word? And how did it really make any difference at all? Why would the shape mean anything special when it came to Hearts and Hooves day? While I was on that tangent, why was it Hearts and Hooves day? What did either of them have to do with love?

I would have to write mom and dad to see if they understood it at all.

Regardless, ‘Special Somepony’ was a mention of something deeper than friendship. I didn’t know everything about it, but I did know that it meant Derpy and I were more than friends. And that coupled with the fondness, and the use of the word ‘love’ was enough to draw my suspicion.

Then my thoughts turned to the day that Strata pushed us together. I had only ever seen ponies that close when… I made an audible gasp.

“What is it?” Derpy asked. She was a bit taken aback by my sudden inhalation. “Is there something wrong, Muffin?”

“I think… I think I just realized something…” I said.

“Is it a bad thing?” her countenance fell a little as I finished my sentence, and a little more as I took some time to complete my thoughts.

I had only ever seen adults use the word ‘love’ to anypony that they weren’t related to. That was only because I remembered seeing somepony’s dad say ‘I love you’ to a mare that I didn’t remember seeing before then, despite seeing him at all the parent-teacher conferences. Love was reserved for something I couldn’t quite put my hoof on, but it was something big. That much I knew.

My parents certainly didn’t say it all wild and care-free. They had only a set number of ponies they ever said it to. Those were the ponies that I had spent my entire life around: mom, dad, me, and my uncle. They never said it to any other pony I had ever met.

I just wish I knew what it meant.

Derpy and I had made it to the front of the line and Mr. Doo gave her a grand smile. “How’s my little princess?” he asked.

“Very good,” she said, not bothering to hide her wings flared out wide. Her father took quick notice to all four of us, all with wings stiffly in the air. He gave us a look that mimicked a bit of embarrassment and a bit of modesty.

“Ditzy, what did I tell you about your wings doing that?” he said in a hushed tone. Derpy only gave a puzzled look as she tried to remember. She ended up giving her father a clueless look and a shrug. “It’s not something you let show to the entire world, Ditzy. It’s a bit embarrassing.”

“Why? You walked around the house all the time when I was young with your wings like this. You always told me to be proud of your wings, and they will take care of you.”

The cheeks on Mr. Doo’s face turned bright red. His eyes nervously darted back and forth as he tried to come up with something to say.

“I… I don’t… well… that is to… Ditzy! You don’t need to show that off to the whole camp!” He fished out the mail for the four of us, handing Derpy a letter, and handing me one from my parents. North got a box of stuff and Alto retrieved a letter as well. None of us had the comfort of putting it under our wings due to their elevated state.

Not that any of us cared as we went back to the Mess Hall for dinner.

Sound of Thunder

Dinner was a typical one, four of us comfortably sat at the table when Sunny Skies and Morning Dew decided to come over and join us. The table was its usual crowded, but we didn’t care. We were all friends here. I still had my letter; it was sitting there on the table. It looked like all the others at the table had either put their away, or read them.

I looked curiously at it, and I was very anxious to know what was inside. Not being able to withstand the suspense, I put my rose petal sandwich down and pick up the letter. I open the seal and sit back and read it.

Hello, Little Colt,

I heard that you were wondering what ‘Love’ meant. And it’s a complicated word to talk about.

There are many kinds of love, and many ways to express it. There’s the love your mother and I feel for you—a kind of bond that will keep us together no matter what happens. There’s the kind of love like we feel for your Uncle Thunder Bolt. Then, there’s the kind of love I think you’re really asking about. That, son, is what I call Romantic Love.

While I think you may be a little young yet to understand it, there comes a time in every pony’s life when they meet a special somepony. This pony will make them feel complete, they will make them happy in times of sadness, support them in all that they do, but most importantly of all, they will be there for you the rest of your life.

I’ll explain more when you come home, son. That’s not something somepony writes in a letter. But I’ll leave it to say that if you’re experiencing what I think you’re experiencing with your fillyfriend, I can certainly say that I think you’re in love.

Good job with the cutie mark, son! I told you that you’d get it one day! (There was a smiley pony drawn here) Have a great time at camp, and we’ll send you a package next week!

Love,

Mom and Dad

“What did your parents say, Sky Bolt?” Alto asked, giving me a look. I’m still trying to make sense of what was going on. What was this ‘Romantic Love’ dad was talking about? In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever heard the word Romantic before in my life! I turn to Alto, who was perhaps both the one I could trust the most and the one who would know the answer.

“What does ‘Romantic’ mean?” I ask, quietly.

“Well, uh…” she thought for a minute. Then she put a hoof to her chin. “You know, I don’t really know.” Alto shrugged and gave me a frown before looking at Derpy. She smiled at me, but I was so confused. What did ‘romantic’ mean?

North Breeze looked at me, he seemed to be contemplating the word. “Well, I know that it has a couple of meanings,” he said, “but I don’t know if I can explain any of them.”

“Romance,” Morning Dew said, “is a form of love between two ponies who are attracted to each other in something deeper than just friendship.” She returned to her sandwich.

“I don’t really know what that’s supposed to mean,” I say.

“I don’t care, Muffin,” Derpy said, scooting closer to me, “but I do know that I will love you forever.” She smiled wide at me and any doubt that I had was instantly erased. Her smile was contagious, I just couldn’t help myself.

“Hey, Muffin, you want to, I don’t know, maybe go out and watch the sun set?” Derpy asked. The others at the table all gave me looks that said, ‘Go get it!’ I knew that by Derpy’s side was the place I wanted to be, and there was this feeling deep inside me that told me I wanted to be there.

“Sure,” I say. We walk close, our extended wings bumping into each other, but we didn’t care. We were enjoying each other’s company. That was all we really needed. I closed my eyes to let the perfection of the moment in: I was standing on the top of a mountain with the friend I cared for most, and I had four more friends in the Mess Hall too. This was a great first week of Flight Camp.

The sky was a rosy red and golden yellow as the sun began to crawl down the sky, the few clouds in that region of the sky were stained pink. All I could think of though, was that there was nopony I knew that was a beautiful as the one sitting next to me. I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to see for the rest of my life more than the smile of my best friend. I could miss the rest of the sunsets in my life, but if I had Derpy, I would be perfectly fine with that.

Just when I thought the night couldn’t have gotten any more perfect, there was a distant thunderstorm. The distance-softened sounds of thunder and the light show of the lightning were a perfect show to entertain us. We were watching it as the sun sank below the cloud layer.

As the stars came out and the Mare on the Moon watched over us, we found ourselves lost in each others eyes. Derpy’s right eye had drifted off, but I was looking into the other as she was looking into mine.

“You have the prettiest eyes,” Derpy said. “I love how they’re so green!”

“I love your eyes too, Derpy,” I say. Before I realize what I’m doing, my head leans forward into hers, and our lips meet again. This time, I am at least vaguely aware of what I’m doing. The feelings I find coursing through my body while our breaths were shared were so strange and unfamiliar, but so happy and warm. I wanted to spend every waking moment feeling this, that much I was certain.

I closed my eyes, and that served to amplify the emotions surging through me, and I only find myself deeper and deeper into my conviction. Derpy was the only pony I wanted to be with.

Then Lightning struck nearby, startling us out of our moment. When I look toward the source, I meet eyes with none other than the two ponies I didn’t want to see at all: Thunderstorm and Strata. At least the mean ponies stuck together.

“Hate to ruin your moment, but I just wanted to let you know,” Thunderstorm said, “that this is war now, Sky Bolt. You humiliated me and took away all my friends. Now I’m going to show you just what that’s like.”

“Why are you being so mean, Thunderstorm? Just because somepony can do something better than you? I mean, there are a lot of ponies who can do things better than me, and you don’t see me being mean to them,” Derpy said, coming to my defense.

“Stay out of this, Dunce. This is between Sky Bolt and me.”

“That’s enough,” I say with a bit more force than I intended to. I suddenly realized how close to Thunderstorm I was standing—my face was practically touching his. “I will not let you do anything to my friends.”

“When I’m done, they won’t want to be your friends anymore.”

“What do you mean?” Derpy asked, with just as much confusion about the topic as I had.

“You’ll see, Dunce.”

“Her name is Derpy Hooves! And she is not a dunce!” I found my right hoof poking into Thunderstorm’s chest as I said this. “I love her!”

“Let me tell you a thing or two about love,” Strata said, with a prance in her step. “You see, it’s a special connection between two ponies that doesn’t develop fully until you do.” She smiled condescendingly at us. “You see, there’s a change that fillies and colts go through that makes them much different. One that I’ve already gone through.”

“But what about Alto?” I don’t remember anything about this from Alto.

“Well, I got all the growth in the family,” she said. I noticed that she seemed taller than her sister, if by a few inches, and she seemed more… I didn’t really know what it was about her yet, but she seemed more adult than we were.

“I still love my Muffin!” Derpy proclaimed, cuddling me close with her foreleg. Our wings were beginning to settle because of the ruckus caused by these two interlopers. “And there is nothing you can say that will stop that!”

“Love is for mature ponies, not little fillies like you, Derpy,” Strata said. I could see the effect that Strata was having on her victim. Tears began welling up in the corners of Derpy’s eyes, and I grew angry that they had done this.

“Stop it! The both of you!” I nearly yell. “I’ve had enough of all you telling me what I don’t know! And yes, maybe I don’t know what love is, but I can tell you that I love Derpy!” I became acutely aware that my voice had reached a volume and projection such that everyone in the camp was staring at me. I didn’t care now. I was set into my notion that if love was what I thought it was, I was going to love Derpy every day for the rest of my life.

Thunderstorm looked around at the large crowd of eyes that was staring at this scene unfolding and produced a smile that I knew only too well. This was his mischievous face. This wasn’t going to end well for me. I knew that now.

“Well, then, Sky Bolt. If you love her so, then why don’t you prove it?” Thunderstorm gave a small chuckle.

“How do you expect me to prove it?” My wings were flared up in an aggressive stance, countering the passive stance, almost arrogant, that Thunderstorm held. “What exactly does one do to prove they love somepony?” My breath was ragged with the rage I was feeling. Thunderstorm had once been the one I had called my friend, but now he was my worst enemy. Worse than anypony I had ever met in my years of schooling. Worse than the ignorance of Mrs. Storm. He was the absolute worst pony I could think of. Perhaps even worse than Nightmare Moon from the bedtime stories that my parents told me when I was young.

The silence while Thunderstorm considered his criteria for proof was driving me insane. I wanted to know what was going through the mind of that pony. I wanted to know what could possibly have driven him to this sort of torture. With everyone’s eyes on me, I had to be careful what I did.

I never really knew pressure like this at home. It was the only real part that came with Flight Camp that I didn’t like. All these eyes, I couldn’t think straight. All I could wonder was what were they all thinking about me? Sure, Derpy was at my side, holding me close, her wings flared with her own frustrations and anger with the ponies before them.

The moments seemed to drag on forever while Thunderstorm thought. I could see my friends appear in the crowd: North Breeze next to Alto and Sunny Skies next to Morning Dew. They were all looking on with worried expressions. I supposed things were looking bad, but I didn’t see a single counselor. This place was ridiculous.

“I don’t know if you can prove you love a dunce,” Thunderstorm said to Strata. “What do you think?”

She gave a disapproving hmph at Derpy before turing her gaze to Thunderstorm. Her eyes held an expression that I normally only saw between my parents when they thought I wasn’t looking. I had got out of bed once to get a drink of water, and when I passed by their room, I saw them staring at each other with that look. I didn’t stay to find out what it meant—I was thirsty. Whatever it meant, I had figured it was only for adult ponies, and not for foals like us. It seemed almost out of place on her face.

“I don’t think they can be loved,” Strata said, as she put her nose in the air. “If they don’t know the meaning of the word, how can they even do it?”

“Good point, Strata. How can they be loved?”

My breathing was deep and jagged. If they kept this up, I didn’t know what was going to happen. I felt that if I were a unicorn, I could set both of them on fire and that would be that. In my anger I couldn’t see what Thunderstorm needed most, but Derpy could.

She walked up to him, amidst all the stares and glares. She stood before both of them and simply gave them an innocent smile. When she held out a hoof, I thought she was crazy. “I think all you need is a good friend. Somepony who values you for exactly who you are.”

Again, time seemed to stretch on. And I watched Derpy stand there, I could only wonder what was going on in her head. I could only wonder what plan she had doing this to the one torment that had followed me all my life. The onlookers all held their breath in anticipation for what might happen next. I suppose some expected the best, that Thunderstorm and Strata would take her hand and become our friends. I secretly wished that too. I grew up with Thunderstorm. I knew more about him than most ponies here. Though he was a bit cruel to me, he was the only one I could even consider my friend back in elementary school. That, somehow despite all the torment, was what kept me going. I knew there were others in that crowd that expected the worst, that Thunderstorm would continue their assault.

Slowly, though, the rest of our friends came walking up, until they surrounded the two. Putting aside all the anger that welled up from the years of teasing and the incessant bullying, I joined the ranks of my five friends. In another ring behind us, there were all of the others that were in Thunderstorm’s storm busting group.

“You just need a good friend to show you the way,” Derpy said, giving Thunderstorm and Strata a sympathetic look. My heart began beating harder in hopes that this would be the moment that everything changed. This would be the moment that we had cleansed the camp of the malice and maliciousness. The eyes of all the onlookers were all wondering what was going to happen.

With breaths held to the point of all of us risking passing out, Thunderstorm took in a large breath as though he was cleaning his lungs of all the negativity that had collected in all the years beforehand. With one more look at Derpy, he slapped away her hoof.

The whole camp was taken aback with one large gasp, as Thunderstorm spoke with a voice that echoed like the sound of thunder.

“You are something special. You are the worst of the failures in this circle. It took you forever to find your cutie mark, and you don’t even know what it means! This is priceless!”

He turned on Sunny Skies. “You. I can’t even begin to describe you. You’re a disgrace to weather ponies! You were the first of us to turn over cloud busting and raincloud kicking to these idiots! Your name is SUNNY SKIES! You should excel at cloud busting!”

He spun around to face Morning Dew, who was already cowering a bit from his gaze. “You’re a useless pony if I ever saw one! You almost never talk and you don’t even acknowledge your own name sometimes!”

“You,” he said, turning to North Breeze, “are a traitor. You betrayed your friends to go hang out with someone you think you’re in love with! How pathetic!

“And you,” he turned to Alto. “You’re a scaredy-pony that will never be respected among the Pegasus ranks! Musician? What kind of profession is that for a Pegasus?”

“I will never be friends with a dunce like you!” Thunderstorm said, rather violently to Derpy. “You and all your stupid friends! You will never amount to anything! Each of you are as useless as the last! You can’t see straight! No pony will ever truly love you because you can’t do anything! What in the hay is seven bubbles for a cutie mark?”

My anger returned even stronger than before. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing from this colt. He could insult me all he wanted. But when he insulted my friends, that was too much for me. I finally understood what ponies meant when they said ‘boiling over.’ I felt that if you put a tea kettle on my back, I would cause it to boil at once with all the blood and heat that was rushing to my skin. I couldn’t bear to hear anymore out of the storm-gray pony before me.

“Please, Muffin,” Derpy said. Her voice was quivering, as though she was ready to cry. “I don’t know if I can do this without you… don’t get yourself thrown out!”

The expression worn by each of my other friends carried the similar message. The thing was, I wasn’t going to let Thunderstorm do that to my friends anymore. I felt an energy resonate in me, and it felt so familiar. It took me a minute to understand what was going on inside me, then I remembered. This was how I felt when I was standing up to Mrs. Storm about how she was ignoring all the things that the other foals were doing to me and Derpy.

This. This right here was what my Cutie Mark was all about. I was a Guardian Pegasus. I was here to protect all of the ponies of Equestria from danger, both physical and emotional. I knew that this was what I was meant to do all my life, even if I didn’t realize it before when I first got my cutie mark.

I took and heavily landed a hoof across his snout.

Hollow Inside

Huffing, I watched as Thunderstorm collapsed on the ground. For a few seconds, he did nothing and I feared that I had hit him hard enough to seriously hurt him. That fear was immediately vanquished as he roughly put a hoof on the dirt and staggered to stand. The stare he gave me was frightening as I wondered what he was going to do next.

Strata had to be concerned what Thunderstorm was going to do next too, because she backed up from between the two of us. I supposed it could have been handled better, but I had already landed the hoof across his snout. Thunderstorm ran off, and I knew my fate was sealed.

“Muffin?” Derpy said. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Because you’re crying.” I only then noticed that tears were falling from my eyes, soaking into my snout and the excess sinking into the clouds. She, and all my friends, came over and tried to console me. All five of them crowded around me, each trying to console me in a different way.

“We all appreciate what you did,” North Breeze said, “standing up for us like that…”

“But,” Alto said, “I think you could have handled that better.” There were tears forming in all of my friends’ eyes, to match my tear-soaked face.

“I think you’re going to get kicked out…” Sunny Skies said before falling out of her composure. She couldn’t hold herself together.

“You’re the best friend I ever had, Sky Bolt,” Morning Dew said, falling apart herself. In fact, the only one who wasn’t completely bawling right now was Derpy. I could tell that she was almost there, though.

“I…” she said. “I can’t do this alone.” She turned her gaze to the ground. “And there’s nopony I would want to do this with me more than you, Muffin.” Tears dropped off her face and fell to the ground beneath her. “I can’t do this without you,” she said, looking back at me. The tears were about ready to completely control her. “I…” her voice trailed off as she fell to the ground. She was strong enough to make it on her own once, but now that she had been with me, I could tell that she never wanted to go back to being alone.

I knew what was going to happen. The other campers were going to ostracize me. I had made the only friends I would ever make in my life, and the chances were that I was never going to see most of them again. My own eyes were beginning to drown in tears when I heard something that surprised me.

All of them were cheering. The ones who stood beside Thunderstorm during the Storm Wrangling contest, those who were in our cabin at night, and those who I didn’t even know knew Thunderstorm. They were all cheering at the top of their lungs, celebrating that I had proven victorious over the one bully who ruled them all at the camp.

Strata, who was still standing in the middle of the larger circle, scoffed loudly and chased after Thunderstorm. The crowd only cheered louder, somehow coaxing more volume out of themselves. I didn’t do anything I was proud of. I had resorted to something that my father was always telling me not to do. I was being no better than Thunderstorm, in fact, I was being worse. And these ponies were cheering me on.

I walked away from them, head hung low. When I got back to the cabin, I found Thunderstorm covered up over his head.

“Thunderstorm?” I say, between sobs.

There was no response.

“I just… I just wanted to say I’m sorry, you know, before I get kicked out.”

I watched the bed, and saw that it wasn’t moving in any kind of rhythm, like a normal pony would when they breathe. It was ragged and irregular, like if he was…

I pulled back the cover to find him with his head buried in the cloud, and he was crying so softly that I hadn’t heard it. When I thought about the fact that I had done this to him, I only felt worse. Thunderstorm helped me get through the years leading up to this, and, granted, he wasn’t the best of friends, he was the only one who ever said anything besides “Blank Flank.”

I racked my memory for the days when he didn’t have his cutie mark. They were so faded in my mind that thinking about them was watching them being drawn on a page, refreshed by my inquiry. In those days, we were the only two without our cutie marks in a class of about nine. The other fillies and colts around our age were either home-schooled, which seemed fairly common, or a class ahead of us or behind us. We had stuck together no matter what.

Those were the days that he was actually my friend, but he was always trying to fit in more with the ones who had their cutie marks, often leaving me alone. He never treated me badly then, that all started the Friday when he revealed he had his cutie mark.

He was sweet back in the beginning, even if I didn’t know him. I could only guess as to why there was such a difference in him when he did get his cutie mark. I didn’t know why.

I tried to delve deeper into my memories to think about my early relationship with Thunderstorm, but I didn’t remember anything more than a week or so before he got his cutie mark.

“Thunderstorm, could I ask you a question?” I use my softest voice. My tears had stopped for now, but I knew that they would come back again before the night was over.

“Haven’t you done enough, Sky Bolt?”

“I just… I just want to know you… like in the old days.”

“You never actually knew me, Sky Bolt. That’s the problem. You never saw how it was at home for me. You never saw what it was like growing up, never being perfect enough for my father, my mother always being too preoccupied in her own things to pay attention to me. She volunteered at this camp because she ‘felt bad’ for never being there for me growing up.”

“I… I didn’t know…”

“My father didn’t love me. He may have said it, but his hoof said otherwise.”

“Oh, I…” I had no response for this. How could I say something about this when he clearly had a more troubled life than I ever knew.

“I grew jaded and calloused, but it never really helped. I wasn’t the son my father wanted. He wanted a Weather Factory Worker, like he was, but I found my talent in Cloud Busting. I knew then that I was going to be a weather pony.

“He—he said it was because I didn’t study hard enough. He said that it was because I was young and confused. I didn’t really know what I liked, he said. But when I showed him my cutie mark…”

I had to brace myself, the story would only get worse from here, but I needed to know it. He was, after all, the first pony I ever gave the title friend to, even if he didn’t really seem to live up to it.

“I learned that you can’t remove a cutie mark. There’s no magic cure that will undo and make it all right again. My father only got worse after that. Mother, she was never around to protect me from his hoof.” His head sunk even farther in the pillow. “I made the wrong choices in life, I guess. I wanted to be a weather pony, and I can’t even do it better than you.”

“Thunderstorm,” I said, reaching my hoof over to console him, but he swatted it away when it came within contact of him. I turned away from him, crawled onto my bed, and started to pack my stuff into my saddlebags.

I didn’t know anything about Thunderstorm, and I chose to unleash the retribution on him. How had I acted any better than he did? I had become my own worst nightmare. I was now the worst pony I knew. I’m sure not even Nightmare Moon would have done something so terrible. I knew what was coming. I put the cloud project I was working on in my bag, complete with a little more cloud I had stored from this afternoon.

I looked at the pitiful excuse of a cloud crafting project. It wasn’t something I was exceptionally proud of, but I knew that I didn’t have the skills to complete the project on my own.

I looked back at the dark-gray Pegasus in the bed beside me when all of my stuff was in the saddlebag. “I’m sorry, Thunderstorm.” I supposed he fell asleep because he didn’t respond.

I poked my head out of my window to see Derpy and Alto, tears in their eyes, waving from their cabin, and Morning Dew and Sunny Skies were in there too. All four of them were waving with various amounts of composure. I could see in Derpy’s eyes that she was about to lose it when she ducked beneath the window. Alto, Morning Dew, and Sunny all immediately looked at where Derpy must have been, then dropped out of the window.

I noticed that the cloud muffin I had made from her was missing from the window sill. I could only figure that she was holding it close to her. I laid down, now having no one to wave at, and cried myself almost silently to sleep.

The morning came too soon. My head was still rummaging around, trying to piece together what was going to happen to me. There was no doubt that they were going to send me home. I knew that much. But how would I ever be happy? All the foals in Cloudsdale were my bullies, and even if I could sway them to join me, they would never make me as happy as Derpy did every day.

I sulked out of the cabin, where Derpy, Alto, Morning Dew, Sunny, and North all formed what seemed like a Royal Guard, leading me to the Mess Hall. Whenever other foals in the camp would see me, they would applaud me and cheer me on for standing up to the one biggest bully. The only two I didn’t see all morning were Strata and Thunderstorm.

We shared our breakfast as normal, but I didn’t feel like touching it at all. I wasn’t hungry in the slightest after what I did to Thunderstorm. I just hoped that one day he would forgive me. I doubted it would happen, but the hope that he could give me one more chance was all that was keeping me going. My friends could read my expressions on my face.

“Muffin?” Derpy asked in her softest tone, nearly interrupted by a sniffle. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I don’t know,” I say, pushing my plate toward the other five sitting at my table.

“We’ll write you,” Alto said, “every week!”

“I’ll do the writing for all of us,” Morning Dew said. “I have great writing.”

“Just give us your address,” Sunny tried to say with a smile, but her sadness over losing the friend she had come to care for so was tormenting her.

“I’ll keep them safe,” North Breeze said, with a hoof to my chin. “You don’t have to worry about them. I don’t think anypony is going to mess with them now. And if they do, I’ll be sure to protect them just like you have defended all of us.” It was some comfort, I had to admit that, but it wasn’t enough to replace all the pain and emptiness I felt inside, knowing that I wasn’t going to see Derpy.

“Thanks, North Breeze,” I ceded, the tears drenching my coat as I wipe them from my eyes with my foreleg.

Derpy couldn’t say anything, she was too down and blue.

With Breakfast over, my guard escorted me out of the Mess, and there was none other than Sky Fire, the captain of the Wonderbolts, the one I had seen on the first day of flight camp. I knew this was my reckoning. She was the one in charge of the camp. It was her word that would determine my fate here at flight camp.

With a nod from me, the ensemble that had been following me backed up. I could tell that they were all hoping that Sky Fire would let me stay, but my heart told me that wasn’t even close to be a real possibility. My life had never really gone that well, so why would this?

I mean, I was a Pegasus let into Hoofball, but kicked out because I had used my wings; I was in Orchestra camp, where all the others would make fun of me because I was a Pegasus. The places I went always made fun of my lack of a cutie mark. And now, the only friends I had ever made… I couldn’t think about it. My eyes and nose were already soaked through, and I could feel the snot starting to flow inside my nose. We walked to a large building where all sorts of mares and stallions were constantly bustling about. She led me through the halls to one room where I took a seat on the opposite side of a desk. My gaze fell upon a pattern in the floor.

“Sky Bolt, I have heard that you punched a fellow camper last night,” she said, matter-of-factly. “The camp will not tolerate such violence. It is a disgrace and will not be allowed to continue. We will be sending you home.”

“That’s fine with me,” I said. It was like a band-aid, you had to take it off quickly or it hurt so much more. I just wanted to get on with my remnants of life without Derpy. It was something I never wanted to think about, but I had to. There was no way that I could stay.

“Listen, Sky Bolt, I can’t stop this if you don’t talk to me. Now, I read your file,” she said, sliding a folder across the desk. “This is not something you’ve ever done. I just want to know why. Why have you done this?”

I kept silent. I couldn’t do that to Thunderstorm. Not after what he told me. He had enough bad luck through his life. I didn’t want to give him any more. He changed so much, but those days I first met him, those were enough for me to consider some fragment inside him my friend, even if all the following years had hidden it from me.

“Sky Bolt, listen, the only thing that I can do is send you home. Your parents are on their way, and I really can’t help put an end to whatever made you break if you don’t let me.” Sky Fire tried to weasel the truth out of me, but I am firm my decision to keep from telling on Thunderstorm.

The tears fall onto the part of the floor that I’m staring at. I was sure Sky Fire was just trying to help, but there was nothing that I really wanted help with. I had done what I had done, and I made mistakes that I couldn’t take back.

I suppose I would want to take them back, after knowing that Thunderstorm was so poorly treated back home. I should known that. If I had been a good friend, I would have known that. But as it stood, I was the bad guy. I had resorted to violence. My parents had always told me to not resort to it.

Sky Fire got up from her desk, came around, and put a hoof around me. I didn’t have the energy left to move her comfort away. All I could think was how I was losing Derpy. I was losing every friend I had in the world. I figured there would be no way I would ever see them again. Sure, I could write them while they were at Flight Camp, but what about after that? When they all went on to their own lives? How would I keep in contact, and when will they find the time to keep in contact with me?

There was the sound of the door opening. Sky Fire removed her hoof from my back, walked out for a minute. I could tell there was something being said, I just couldn’t hear what. When hoofsteps came back into the room, I looked around. The office had all sorts of pictures of her and her filly, in various places, but she was generally in her Wonderbolt Uniform. The pictures told a story that I couldn’t quite piece together, but in every one of them, they all seemed happy.

The desk was the same kind of wood that made up the floor I was staring at, and behind her was a big window that looked out over the camp. I could see the faces of several foals wondering what would go on with me.

My parents had walked in with Sky Fire. I couldn’t read their faces, but I knew they were hiding something. I returned my gaze to the spot on the floor before I could take in the glare, or stare, or whatever they would throw at me.

“I cannot tolerate this kind of behavior on my campus,” Sky Fire told my parents.

“Sky Bolt wouldn’t just do this kind of thing,” my mom said.

“And that’s just what I gathered from his record. The thing is, nopony is telling me what happened.” I had a guess that they were all looking at me when that was said. “I can only gather that he was provoked into doing it,” Sky Fire concluded, “but I just don’t know who provoked him or how he was provoked.”

There was a brief moment of silence.

“I have no choice, Mr. and Mrs. Bolt. I have to send him home.”

“That’s perfectly understandable,” my father said. I wished I could read what emotion that was in his voice. There was still another month and a half of Flight Camp, and I was being sent home. I figured he was completely disappointed that I would never be an accomplished flier.

“Thank you for your understanding, Mr. Bolt. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a matter to attend to.” The sounds of the pony outside the office came in and led my parents out, who beckoned me along. I followed, never looking up from the ground. When I made it back to the cabin, I grabbed my saddlebags without a word, and turned to see my parents. They were giving me a look that I didn’t think I’d ever seen before. As such, I didn’t know what it meant.

As we walked to the camp entrance, my friends all gathered around me. North, Alto, Morning Dew, and Sunny were all walking with me. The other foals that I had affected had gathered to give me a farewell worthy of a bedtime story hero. The one filly I wanted to see most, though, I didn’t see anywhere.

I began to grow more and more aware that she was absent from the scene as we grew closer and closer to the gate, and it became clear that she didn’t want to say goodbye. I climbed into dad’s cart, waving to the four of my friends who I saw, but there was an empty pit that only Derpy could fill. As we pulled away, I could only wonder why she hadn’t shown up. Was I really that bad of a friend? Did I do something wrong?

I just didn’t know what I did wrong.

Author's Note

The Thrilling conclusion to Act I: Flight Camp.