Ascension

Chapters

First Light
The Long and Winding Path
The Tumbledown Philosophies
The Art of Breathing

First Light

Cloudchaser bit lightly down on her lower lip as she looked yet again at the clock. With a sigh she noted that around ten more minutes had slipped by. The professionally penned letter she had received at the end of last week had informed her to be on site for orientation bright and early at seven. That had passed silently almost half an hour ago. Stifling a yawn, she glanced about the small office space.

The light of a beautiful spring morning was peeking almost blindingly through the rather bedraggled blinds and just beginning to drown out the sole lamp sitting on what Cloudchaser thought to be a rather conspicuously abandoned reception desk. That morning’s Ponyville Express sitting on a table by the door was, at least, not the only hint that anypony was actually in the building besides her. Somewhere nearby she could smell the tantalizing aroma of strong, fresh coffee but nopony had offered her any and she quickly tossed aside the idea of helping herself. She did not want her new coworkers to get their first impression by finding her rifling through their office. Though, she thought, actually being noticed at all would be an improvement.

The sudden sound of a door opening on the floor above shattered her lethargic reverie.

“Come on up! Sorry for the wait and all that,” shouted a voice that, to Cloudchaser, did not really sound all that apologetic.

Peering about again, she nudged her way through a door labeled Stairs and trotted up the narrow stairwell. Cloudchaser pushed open the second floor door and stepped into a mostly darkened hallway. Near to the right a door with a frosted glass window bled filmy yellow light around the silhouette of the painted on name, “Ore Room”. Sounds of life emanated from the room beyond; her ears picked up the shuffling of hooves, a slurping sound, and – snoring. Her building frown immediately turned to shock as the voice from before called out.

“We know you’re out there!” he sang, eliciting a hearty chuckle from somepony else within.

Cloudchaser blinked twice, gulped once, put on her best interview smile, opened the door and stepped inside. As her eyes quickly adjusted to the light they swept the room. Standing at the opposite side of the room, hooves resting on a scuffed up podium and wearing a grin that vacillated between nervous and cocky, stood the stallion she assumed the disembodied voice had belonged to. The other three pegasai in the room were caricatures of various stages of exhaustion seated around a worn table. The first, a massive white pegasus, appeared bored and tired. Another, with a pale lilac coat a few shades lighter than her own, seemed engrossed in shakily rotating a coffee mug in her hooves. The last one, a tawny mare with a dark brown mane, was face down on the table and snoring gently. Bringing her eyes forward again Cloudchaser saw the stallion at the podium beckoning her with a dark blue foreleg. She squared her shoulders and walked to stand at the head of the room.

The stallion tapped his hoof on the podium a couple of times before starting into his speech. “Alright everypony, nopony wants to be here right now so let’s keep this brief. Erm, Flits, wake Wild up, please.”

The middle mare glanced up with a wild eyed, glassy stare before elbowing her neighbor, earning a loud snort and a bloodshot glare.

The pony at the podium picked up a clipboard and continued with his speech. “Okay, now that we have everypony’s attention – this is our newest teammate, Cloudchaser. She passed physicals with, ahem, flying colors – “ he paused to glance at the pained and incredulous reactions on the others “– and her psych eval shows the important stuff: keeps a level head in stressful situations, unlikely to murder anypony in their sleep, and,” he paused, “well, that’s about it. Okay, newbie, I’m team lead, forepony, chief, or whatever you choose to call me – within reason, of course. Star Hunter’s my name so you could just call me Star and that’d be just fine. Next,” he motioned towards the other stallion, “the boulder with wings over there is Snowflake. Logistics.”

Snowflake grinned sheepishly and waved a surprisingly delicate foreleg. “Morning, ma’am. I prefer Snow, actually,” he rumbled.

“Right,” Star continued, “he’s built like a wagon and hauls twice as well. Next,” he indicated the middle mare, “we have Flitter. Scientolographer or something along those lines.”

“Aeronomist,” Flitter hissed. “Why is that so hard to remember?”

“Eh... it’s hard enough to pronounce?” Star offered. “Anyway, she’s the one who schedules our ascents as well as monitors for hazards while we’re up. In the dark blue her word is law,” he stressed. “Everypony’s lives are in her hooves up there. The quickest way to lose life or limb is to ignore her warnings, or” – he grinned – “to get in her way when she needs a caffeine fix. Moving on –“ he pointed a hoof towards the sandy pegasus “– lastly we have Wild Fire. She’s your fellow miner and the pony you’ll work closest with when we’re up. Anything you wish to add, Wild?”

Wild Fire blinked blearily towards Cloudchaser before yawning.

“Hey!” Star grinned, “She’s conscious enough to acknowledge you! That’s gotta count for something. To be fair, though, none of us are what you would call morning ponies. Generally our day doesn't start till around noon but the home office doesn't particularly give us a say in the matter. So, again, sorry for the early start. Sorry to everypony, that is.”

Wild grunted.

“Succinctly put,” Star nodded, “Anyway, just a couple more things and we can all be about our business. This –“ he nudged a large binder towards Cloudchaser “– is your orientation guide. Written by our parent company’s pony relations team, it starts off talking about the illustrious history of sky mining and how the metal was used to clad mighty pegasai warriors in the time before unification and all that,” he said, waving a hoof about in a circle. “Nowadays it’s more about making toasters that don’t plummet through the kitchens of Cloudsdale and other such modern marvels but it glosses over that for some reason. Flits, when’s our next ascent?”

Flitter perked up and blinked wildly, “That’d be two days after tomorrow. It’s not a big starfall but now that the team’s back to a working compliment we need to take what we can get to make quota.”

Star Hunter nodded again, “Right, then. That should be plenty of time for the home office to deliver your gear. You have been fitted already, haven’t you?”

“Yep,” Cloudchaser replied, “I had my measurements taken at Carousel Boutique Friday afternoon and sent off that same day.”

“Great! That should be just fine. That’s also where we go for alterations and repairs, so long as the damage isn’t too severe. You’re allotted two outfits per year but any beyond you have to pay for yourself. It’s all described in the packet there. As long as we exceed quota we make pretty decent bits here but treating your gear poorly will eat that up in no time. These materials aren’t cheap. Now that all the generalities are settled, why don’t you tell us a little about yourself?” Star stepped around the podium to take a seat beside Snow. “Regale us, Cici!”

Cloudchaser moved to stand in the place Star had vacated and managed to refrain from glaring at him over her sudden new nickname. “Good morning, everypony. I’m excited to be a member of your team and look forward to enjoying my time here. Please, feel free to call me Cloudy” – she stared pointedly at Star Hunter who only grinned broadly in response – “my friends always have. You’ll find that I’m –“ she stopped suddenly as her stomach proceeded to loudly protest it’s emptiness in the otherwise quiet room.

The moment of stunned silence broke as Wild Fire fell backwards cackling, “T-that, hrnk, was just too per-perfect! Hah!” Her flailing hooves knocked hard against the table sending Flitter’s mug airborne. With a strangled cry Flitter spread her wings and jumped forward, just barely catching the steaming cup of consciousness in one hoof.

Clapping erupted from the other end of the table. “Bravo! Encore!” Star called. “Seriously, though, the newbie’s gastric system brings up a good point. How about we have some breakfast to go with our entertainment? We can write it off as a business expense!”

Snow snorted and glanced askance at the chief. “Yeah, Crunch’ll love to hear your justification on pastries as a business expense, I’m sure.”

Star’s ears perked forward. “Right! There’s another member of the office you haven’t met yet. He’s only here every other week or so to go over the books and report back to the home office. He’s an earth pony rather aptly named Number Cruncher. Don’t get him started on his family’s history of accounting unless you’re looking for a good nap. He’s somewhat the epitome of the companypony: strict rules and a peculiar penchant for ties. Still, he’s just corrupt enough to be tolerable. We ply him with the occasional stray bauble we find up there from time to time and he mostly lets us run things comfortably. Now, let's hie on over to Sugarcube Corner and see if the Cakes still have any of those cinnamon buns I could smell as I flew over this morning.” He stood and trotted over to pull open the door. “Coming, everypony?”

Flitter chugged down the rest of her coffee before gripping the mug’s handle in her mouth and walking out the door. Wild righted herself with a wing flip and followed quickly after. After a moment Star shrugged and exited after the other two. Snow walked over to Cloudy as the door clicked shut. “Here,” he said, “I’ll lug that binder downstairs for ya. Did ya leave your bags down there?”

“Oh! Um, thanks. No, I didn’t really expect –“ she gestured at the binder “– homework.” She sighed.

“Don’t worry too much about it.” Snowflake placed the packet on his back. “I’ll leave it downstairs and while we’re out ya can grab your bags and get this when ya got time. Probably couldn't hurt t’at least go over the safety parts before Thursday’s ascent, though. Most of it’s common sense but it touches on some things that’re better handled by practice rather’n trial’n error. Star should give ya a key to the building once we’re downstairs so ya can get in when ya need.” He propped the door back open with his shoulder and motioned her forward. “And don’t let Star’s antics get to ya. He likes to think he’s a lot funnier'n he actually is but he means well. He’d give his last two bits to help out the team if the need ever arose.”

Cloudy smiled and nodded. “I’m just surprised at how – energetic he is compared to, well, pretty much everypony.”

“Yeah, that’s him alright. A bit of a night owl, truth be told.”

Cloudchaser started, “Isn’t that dangerous? Does he get tired up there?”

“Nah, that’s never been a problem. Hay, he’s more at home in the dark blue than anypony I've ever known. I half wonder if his coat isn't part of the mez itself.”

“Mez?”

“Mesosphere, the dark blue, the other office space, so t’speak. If ya want the specifics of it all your best resource is Flits; she’s studied it for years n’all. The short of it is that it’s dark, cold, windy, and higher’n any sane pony’s oughtta fly. But – “ he grinned “ – that’s why we pull in the bits.”

“Hey!” called Star from downstairs, “you know we don’t allow any funny business in the office!”

“Stuff it, Star!” Snow roared. “I’m just warning the lady about your nonsense and ya just gave me a fine example right there!”

Cloudchaser’s chuckling was echoed by one of the other mares downstairs. “I think I got it. Thanks, Snow.”

“No worries, miss. Now we should get a move on before he starts to pout like a foal. Welcome to the team.”

The Long and Winding Path

Cloudchaser shoved the binder away and rested her head on her forelegs. The dense reading was starting to give her a splitting headache. Today had certainly been interesting to say the least she thought. Letting her mind wander away from the orientation packet she thought back over the morning’s events.

After the group had begun to separate after breakfast she had been surprised when Flitter had pulled her aside. The mare had been little more than monosyllabic since the team had left the office and Mrs. Cake’s efficient refilling technique had kept Flitter’s mug constantly ready to get in the way of any attempted chatting.

“Um, Cloudchaser? I just wanted to say – wow, this feels a little more awkward than what I had thought.” Flitter shifted her SCC To-Go cup from one fetlock to the other. “Well, I just wanted to say that I’m not one to hold a grudge or anything –“

“Wait, wait, wait.“ Cloudchaser interrupted, rubbing the top of her muzzle “Oh horseapples, I thought I knew you from somewhere. Was it high school?”

“No, elementary school, actually. I sat beside you in Miss Write’s class –“

“And I was a total jerk. Yeah, look, I’m really sorry about that. I know I can’t really change the past or anything but let me assure you that, even though it took a couple of harsh lessons, that little filly eventually grew up.” Cloudy looked downward and batted lightly at a tuft of grass. “I, uh, never hurt you or anything, did I?”

Flitter coughed mid-sip, “Oh, goodness, no! I never saw you hurt anypony! I mean, you teased me incessantly whenever I’d slip up in class and there were days I went home cr—Look, it doesn't matter anymore. What I’m saying is that we’re both adults now and, besides, I think I have you to thank for where I am today.” Flitter chuckled at Cloudchaser’s gaping stare. “I really pushed myself into my schooling and through it found my love of science. Who knows? I like to think that if you hadn't moved away that we’d have eventually become the closest of foalhood friends.”

Cloudy frowned slightly and looked away. “Yeah. I’d like to think that’d be the way things would've worked out, too. Maybe –“ she stopped as she turned back to see a foreleg held out to her.

“Like I said,” beamed Flitter, “I’d like to think of us as good friends. The past belongs where it is and we’re here to make the best of the road going forward.”

Cloudchaser smiled warmly in response and clasped the other mare’s hoof. “Then friends we are! A new job with interesting ponies and a new friend all in one morning, I never expected things to go so well so quickly after moving back here from Baltimare.”

Flitter reached to pick back up the cup she had set on the ground. “Baltimare? I thought your family had moved to Van Hoo—“ she trailed off as Cloudy’s smile faded.

“Yeah… that’s maybe a story for another time,” Cloudchaser mumbled. “A-anyway, I still need to go grab my bags so I can tote that—that thing home to read.”

Flitter’s arched eyebrow receded back to its resting position. “Oh! Sure, gotcha. You know, there’s some pretty interesting stuff in there. Like the sections on sprites and jets. Those are dangerous but they’re pretty fascinating, too! Oh, and the parts that describe the minerals relative to the season. On our next ascent I’m expecting to find the noctmatite predominantly comprised of pink metisium, you know, with spring’s increasing solar rad—“ she cut off, suddenly aware of the bug-eyed stare she was receiving.

She couldn’t help but snicker a bit at Cloudy’s reaction. It’s not like she hadn’t gotten the same glazed over look on multiple occasions from various ponies. “Yes, well, sorry about that. If I ever get to rambling too much feel free to change the subject, I won’t mind. Speaking of changing subjects, did you have any plans this evening?”

“Wha—huh? No, not really. Nothing other than my assigned reading and maybe, I dunno, a stroll about town or something, that is. I haven’t done much other than unpack since my move and it’d be nice to see how things have changed.”

“Or haven’t, as the case may be,” Flitter shrugged. “Ponyville’s more rural than the cities you remember more clearly, though, I guess. Not a whole lot really goes on here. Although, we are hosting the millennial Summer Sun Celebration this year, so that’s something. I haven’t the slightest idea how the mayor pulled that off. Tourism will probably rise for a few months or so before we fade gracefully into a sleepy little backwoods village. It’ll be good for the local economy; fix up some of the roads, maybe get—“ she peered down at the hoof steadily poking her shoulder. “Rambling?”

Cloudchaser smiled toothily and withdrew her hoof. “Rambling. It’s all good, though. I really should get to reading over that stuff, I guess. What were you saying about tonight?”

“Well, tonight Wild and I were going to be meeting up at Three Barrels for some drinks and to plan some sort of surprise for Snow’s birthday on Saturday. I was wondering if you’d maybe like to join us?”

Cloudchaser quirked an eyebrow. “ Isn't he – a little old for a surprise party?”

“Aww, nopony’s ever too old for a surprise party. Besides, behind all those muscles and such he’s just a big pile of down. He gets absolutely giddy over things like that. There’s a mare who works back at the Corner there who actually specializes in throwing parties so all we really have to do is decide on some particulars and it should be a done deal.”

“Well, sure, I guess I wouldn't mind tipping a few back. One question, though – where’s this Three Barrels? Is that some sort of new place in town?”

“Oh, right. Well, no, I mean – it’s not new but as it’s a bar I doubt you would have spent much time there as a filly,” Flitter chuckled. “How about this, then: I’ll drop by your place around, say, eight-ish and we can glide over there together? It’ll be like a mini-tour and at some point we can take time to do the full town experience. How’s that sound?”

“That sounds fine to me! Come on, let’s get going and I’ll show you where I’m staying.”

Flitter peered forlornly into the sipping hole at the top of her paper cup. With a small sigh she deposited it in a nearby bin. “Well let’s get a move on then! I can even fill you in on some local going-ons and such on the way,” she said, stepping in place beside Cloudy.

The two mares flew off languidly, chatting into the midmorning light.

Cloudchaser came to a stop beside the balcony of a small flower shop. “Here we are! It’s cozy but it’s cheap,” she said grinning widely.

“So you’re Rose’s new boarder! She was talking about renting out her storage space when I dropped by her bazaar stall last week. You’re a lucky mare; she grows some of the tastiest flowers! Sometimes Lucky, that’s Wild’s husband, does Rose’s deliveries and gets some extra as a tip. Wild usually brings those in to share and – what’s that look for?”

“Wild’s married? But she’s so young!”

Flitter laughed, “Please, feel free to tell her that! It’ll make her day!” She cleared her throat. “Seriously, though, Wild Fire’s got at least a decade on us, she just keeps herself in amazing shape.”

“No kidding, I hope I’m still that svelte when I’m in my mid-thirties. Anyway, I’ll see you around eight you said?”

“Yep! See you then! Have fun with the orientation guide!” With a wave and a wink Flitter spun about and flapped back towards the middle of town.

Cloudchaser waved and sighed contentedly from the balcony. All in all things were going well – her impatience from the morning all but forgotten. Her thoughts soon returned to the massive binder awaiting her at the office so, with a tiny frown, she retrieved her saddlebags and flew back to her new workplace.

Cloudchaser’s thoughts returned back from their wandering and she turned to check the time. She saw she had about an hour till Flitter should arrive. More than enough time to get cleaned up, she figured.

The sounds of Roseluck bustling about downstairs filtered faintly through the floorboards. Rose’s inexperience at being a landmare had been painfully obvious during an awkward moment the day before concerning the unlocked door to the shared upstairs bathroom. Rose had later assured her, repeatedly, that it was no big deal but Cloudy’s face still flushed at the memory.

Just for safety’s sake, though, she knocked softly on the bathroom door before going in to take a quick shower.

Flitter drifted slowly down out of the evening sky to land softly on Roseluck’s balcony. Hearing a door close below her she turned and leaned out over the railing. “Evening, Rose!”

Roseluck gasped and sat down heavily. “Gah! Flitter, you startled me!” She took a deep breath before continuing, “Sorry, I’m still getting used to having somepony else in the house. You’re here to see Cloudchaser, I assume? Being on the balcony and all that.”

Beaming down at the earth mare, Flitter nodded, “I sure am!”

“That’s fine. I’m just stepping out to grab a few things before calling it a night. I have an early day tomorrow so, please, if you two come back late try and be quiet.”

“Not a problem, Rose. With the tonight’s humidity and the dropping air temperature we should be in for some fog which should settle in for most of the night since we’re not scheduled to get any high winds and fog has a tendency to muffle th—“

Roseluck desperately gestured with both her forelegs, “I get it, I get it. You girls have fun!”

Flitter waved at the pink and cream retreating form, “We will! Bye , Rose!” She spun about on a hoof and nearly fell into the other pegasus standing in the open door. “Oh, hi! Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah, I grabbed my small bags while you were giving your weather forecast. Fog, huh? Let me get some towels from the linen closet to lay out for later.”

“That’s probably not a bad idea, I mean, flu season has pretty much passed, fairly mildly this year I might add, but it never hurts to be cautious; it would be bad if you got sick before our first ascent, after all! I hate being sick, but then again, I don’t think anypony likes being sick. Being sick makes me all groggy to where I can’t think straight and I can’t afford to be groggy! First, there’s the obvious safety issues regarding my duties an—“ Cloudchaser’s hoof pressed against her muzzle as Cloudy smiled pleadingly.

“Yeah, being sick is sure awful. We’ll be careful. So, which way do we go to reach this Barrels place?”

“It’s right –“ Flitter’s wings flared as she shot upwards with a twist “ – thataway! It’s on the other side of town, near where Wild lives. It’s her favorite spot since she doesn’t like to walk too far after being out, usually. Anyway, it’s about a half hour’s flight from here, I estimate. You can see it once we pass the library.”

The soft click of a door closing and a flutter of wings brought a smiling Cloudchaser up beside her.

“Well,” Cloudy motioned, “lead the way!”

“So Cheerilee teaches at the school now? What happened to Miss Write? Did she ever find a Mister Write?” Cloudy winked.

Flitter pursed her lips and snorted. “That was almost as bad as one of Star’s jokes. But, no, she never did marry. She’s running the library these days though the rumor about town is that she’s planning to retire in May. I haven’t heard anything about a replacement, though. I hope they don’t close down the old library, it’s been a town fixture since I—“

From below a cackling erupted from the building they were descending towards.

“Barkeep! Bring me your nuts!”

“—and that’d be Wild Fire, already a mug or four in by the sound of it. She can be a bit, um, rambunctious so I hope you’re not easily frazzled or offended.”

“What? Oh! No, I’m fine. It’s nothing I haven’t se—heard before, that is.”

“Uh. Huh.” Flitter stared pointedly at her companion’s flushing complexion. “Well, regardless, her table should be pretty easy to spot. I’ve just got to make a quick trip to the filly’s room.”

Cloudchaser shrugged as Flitter trotted down a short hall just inside the door.

Wild stood out like a sore hoof; there was a veritable wasteland of empty tables in a ring around hers while the rest of the room was packed. Wild Fire herself was studiously pushing peanuts about the tabletop in some sort of pattern.

After a quick stop by the bar to purchase a bottle of a winter red, Cloudchaser trotted over to sit across from her inebriated coworker. Looking down she studied the picture that was starting to take shape, “Uh – I’m not much of an artist myself or anything but I think the proportions you’re working with there are a bit off. I don’t think anypony could even survive that.”

Wild Fire glanced up. “Hey! It’s the newbie! Where’s Flits? I was expecting her. Not that you’re not welcome, I mean. Welcome! Uh, where’s Flitter?”

Cloudy giggled, “You asked that twice, you know. She had to visit the bathroom; she’ll be over in a minute.”

“I swear that girl’s always looking for a buzz. Probably what those bugs on her rump are all about,” Wild mumbled while reaching for her mug.

Cloudchaser’s jaw fell open as she leaned forward to whisper, “You mean she’s on something?”

Wild guffawed through a foamy muzzle as she lowered her drink and leaned forward as well, “Hey, stay like that a moment, I wanna see if I can get some of – these nuts snkt – in your mo—“

With all the grace of a landslide Wild toppled backwards for the second time that day. Her mug slapped down on the table and sloshed cider over the edge, washing away some of the scene she had been working on moments before. After a few seconds of hearty laughter she sat back up, wiped at her eyes, and looked up into Cloudy’s baleful stare. “What?”

“The buzz thing, what did you mean by that?”

“Pfft, it’s like how she’s about to doze off any time she’s away from her precious coffee for more than a few minutes. I noticed her popping pills on a few ascents and asked her about it. It’s just some sorta medical condition or some such is what she said. So it’s nothing to worry your poofy little mane over. Anyway, did she tell you about Snow’s party this weekend?”

Cloudchaser sat back with a quizzical frown and tapped at her chin. “Er, well, sure. She said that’s why you two were meeting up and invited me along. She said there’s a party planner in town so that all we need to do is decide on some things although she wasn’t too specific on what that might be. So, what, like cake flavors? Music? I really don’t know how I can be of much input.”

“She probably thought you’d be more of a drinking buddy for me.” Wild waved a hoof dismissively. “All she ever gets is juice – the non-fermented kind! To be fair, though, the kid doesn’t handle it all that well. When she does drink she goes overboard and then the afterparty – well, it ain’t pretty.”

“What are you two chatting so animatedly about? And what’s with all the pea—Wild Fire! What is wrong with you?” Flitter chortled as she slid in to sit closest to the wall with a large mug of apple juice gripped in her fetlock. “Seriously, I don’t even think that’s anatomically possible!”

“Heya, Flits! I was just telling the new gal here all about how poorly you handle your liquor. Or, more like, how well it handles you,” Wild grinned wickedly.

Flitter looked slightly disgusted. “It certainly didn't do my carpets any favors the last time,” she muttered. “Anyway,” she huffed, “how did we want to handle Snow’s party? He’s found out about it early the past three years now. Obviously his place and the office are both out and Sugarcube Corner isn't just obvious, it’s overt.”

“How about Cici’s place?” Wild offered, willfully oblivious to Cloudchaser’s glare.

“No, no, that wouldn’t work,” Flitter interceded. “It’s a studio apartment and, besides, Roseluck would completely lose it. You know high strung she can be at times.”

“Pot, meet kettle.” Wild grinned around her mug.

“Huh?”

“Nothing.” Wild looked over at Cloudy. “So you’re the one who’s shacking with Rose these past few nights? I didn’t get that vibe from you.”

Cloudchaser gracelessly sputtered around the neck of the wine bottle.

“Wild!” Flitter admonished. “There’s no call to go spreading rumors about things that aren’t anypony’s business. Besides, Cloudy’s a border. She’s renting that old storage room above the shop.”

“Ohh,” Wild replied after scooting around to pound the coughing mare on the back. “You’ve got a room with a view quite a few ponies would – don’t give me that look, Flits, I’m being serious this time. Rose set up shop there for a reason, you know. That storefront gets the best morning light coming straight down the lane. Good for letting the air in in the evenings, too. See, I can be all mature when I want too,” she punctuated by sticking her tongue out.

“Right. Cloudy, are you alright? You’re looking a little – purple.”

Cloudchaser cleared her throat a couple of times, “No-nothing to worry about. Just remembering that wine is meant to be drank, not inhaled.”

Wild Fire lifted her mug, “I’ll drink to that! Drink to drinking!”

Obligingly Cloudchaser tapped her bottle against the proffered mug.

“While waiting in line for the mare’s room I got to thinking – ” Flitter paused to make sure the other two were paying attention, “ – what if we spring the party right in the middle of going across town?”

Cloudy arched an eyebrow, “And how, pray tell, does one spring a party in the middle of town? Were you thinking of leading the group through some shady back alley or something?”

“I was thinking the park near the market stalls, actually.”

Wild flashed a bright smile at Cloudchaser’s confused expression. “You haven’t met Pinkie yet, have you?”

“Who?”

“Right. Well, picture, if you will, the mating of a thunderhead with a balloon animal. The plucky local party planner is renowned for being able to pull off the impossible. I honestly believe she could pull a party out of her posterior on command if she put her mind to it. And I’m speaking literally.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Cloudchaser looked pleadingly towards Flitter. “This town has some sort of mad unicorn who uses her insanity to throw parties?”

Flitter flashed a bright smile, “Earth pony, actually.”

“Wha-huh-how?”

“She has something she calls a party cannon. Think about that. A cannon. That fires parties. It’s a weapon of mass entertainment.”

Cloudchaser found trouble getting her mouth to cooperate. Wild Fire, being ever helpful, lifted the wine bottle back up and into it like a mother to a foal.

“Nopony really knows how she pulls off the tricks she does. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out she’s some master prestidigitator or illusionist but to Pinkie it just seems like perfect sense when fully inflated balloons seemingly drop out of thin air. But enough about all that. What do you both think of the idea?”

“Well,” Wild scratched at her chin, “it’s certainly not something we’ve tried before so I say we give it a go. Cici?”

Cloudy was too busy still coughing on red wine to respond.

The Tumbledown Philosophies

A shrill whistle battered Star Hunter’s consciousness awake. His left foreleg tingled in protest at having been a pillow all night but with only a slight stumble he brought himself about on the cirrocumulus. With each sleep clearing blink he watched as an approaching, blonde buzz cut wearing cloud coalesced into Snowflake’s scowling visage.

“Morning, sunshine! Did you fly all the way up here to bring me breakfast? So far I’m seeing a distinct lack of anything even resembling a doughnut.”

“I shoulda known to look up here first when ya weren't home. I thought ya were done already with your sulking n’all.”

“Naaahnsense,” Star yawned. “Nothing like a good sulk to enliven the spirits. Any chance Flits took the new wings out for some libations?”

“I wasn’t so sure she’d go for it after the way she seemed afraid to even look at her yesterday – but on my way to your place earlier I flew over Lucky out doing his rounds. An’ from the way he was stomping about I’d guess Wild was out all night again. Ya still planning t’give the new gal her first lesson today?”

Star smacked his hooves together with a dull clack. “I wouldn’t want the newbie to miss out on an enlightening experience, now would I?”

Cloudchaser’s head slapped against the cushion as her headrest was yanked out from under her.

“Ugh, you really shouldn't drool on company property, you know.”

With a shriek she rocketed off the couch to hover near the ceiling. Her dark blue intruder just sat beside her couch with a silly grin. “Star Hunter? What in Tartarus are you doing in my room!”

“Page eighty five, eh? I don’t think Wild’s even read this far yet. Though, to be fair, she may have been with the company before this thing was even penned.” Calmly ignoring the fuming pegasus he walked over to the door leading to the balcony before throwing open the curtains to the bright morning light. “Locking your doors at night is a good habit, you know.”

Pivoting to gape at the balcony door Cloudy noticed the turned deadbolt right before the cheerful light of a beautiful morning clawed itself into her brain. With a hissing cry she snapped her wings shut and fell in a lumpy heap to the floor. A muffled “Hey!” sounded out from the floor below.

“I did lock up last night!”

“I know, I was just commending you about exactly that. Rose let me in through the hallway.”

“Urgh – I think I might be sick.”

“Splendid! There’s no better way to be for the lesson I have in mind today. Now, feel free to go and wash up before we get started; you smell rather like a raisin past its prime.”

Cloudy’s complexion turned slightly eggplant, “Do you mind?”

“Not at all! I’ll just entertain myself by sitting here and –“ Star took a moment to pan his gaze around the tiny, spartan living space “ – look at your, um, clock. Or maybe imagine what sort of books you might someday put in that shelf. Unless, of course, empty shelves are part of your design motif. Who am I to judge?”

“Ugh, fine!” she grumped, rubbing her hooves on her temples. “Whatever, just think up a good reason I shouldn’t buck a permanent dent into your hindquarters while I get cleaned up.”

Star snapped a sharp salute, “Understood!”

Star watched with clinical detachment as yet another rosy stream of bile plummeted to the ground far below. “Hopefully your dinner isn’t spoiling anypony’s picnic down there. So red’s your poison, eh? I prefer a sweet white myself – not that you’ve asked. But, seeing as your muzzle seems otherwise busy at the moment, I’ll understand your current reticence.”

Cloudchaser coughed and spat. “I’m really not sure I can do this right n—urk!”

“And that’s four! At this rate you’ll beat Flitter’s record!”

“I thought this – lesson,” she hissed, “was to get used to flying with these things on?” She shook the weights fastened to her hooves.

“Well, that’s more like lesson two. Or maybe two point five. One or the other. The first, and, as you’re demonstrating colorfully, most important lesson is how the rapid ascent descent pressure change does not play well with an inebriated pegasus’s anatomy.”

“I did actually read the safety section. You know, like you suggested?”

“And thank you for listening so well! Still, I’ve seen too many ponies that ignore that nice, bold, very visible part of the manual and think that they’ve got some sort of magic gastric system and that they’d be spared such indignities. I’ve found the best and most sure way to dissuade such thinking is to experience it firsthoof.”

“Great, fantastic, you’ve proven your point. Are we done then? Can I go home and let my stomach crawl off to die somewhere?”

“Not quite yet,” Star stated, gesturing at the watch on his foreleg. “It’s still early enough in the day that we should be able to get some more laps in. With your first ascent now only two days away we need to try and wedge as much practice in today as we can. Your original flight scores show high overall speed and endurance but you’ll still need to continue to improve while taking the weight of your gear into account. Your scrapers will be about two kilos each and the last thing I want is for you to go flipping mane over tail when you underestimate the strain your forelegs are going to feel. That, and if you wallop Wild she’s likely to retaliate, accident or no. So, again, hooves up and go to the second Pause and return.”

Star hunter blew a couple quick blasts on his whistle and spun about, ignoring the groan of protest behind him as he drifted down to sit on the cloud he had brought up earlier. Cloudchaser’s speed had been steadily declining through the first two laps and he expected this time that he’d be waiting about an hour and a half for her to return from the stratopause. He really disliked having to push her so hard so early but the team had been way behind on their haul since their – loss last fall. He frowned as he shook the memories out of his mind. The team had already been docked their bonus and he’d be damned if he was going to let their deficit spill over into eating away at their salaries.

Snowflake had already blown through his bits during the holiday season and had resorted to what he jokingly referred to as field rations: namely harvesting the young wild onions and grains that had started to sprout near the edge of the Everfree since Wrap-Up earlier in the month. Flitter always seemed to have plans a few steps ahead and Wild had Lucky to fall back on so it could be worse, Star thought. He was secretly proud of his own forethought; having bought heavily from the late October apple harvest and drying the fruit. Unfortunately all this had amounted to was that his remaining savings were free to pay up the quarterly lease on his house – something he had been counting on using his bonus for.

Sighing, he looked up to squint towards the receding lilac dot above. He figured he’d have her do one more lap after this one and then he let her call it a day. Her gear should be couriered in this afternoon or in the morning and then everything would be set to get the team back in the sky. A few small starfalls or a couple decent ones and they’d be gliding easier. Besides, he was getting tired of dried apples.

Star flopped over on his side causing little tufts of cloud to detach from his roost and hover in his vision. Absentmindedly he huffed a breath at one and sent it spiraling away, watching as it unraveled into decaying wisps of vapor. The worst part of this sort of training, for him, at least, he thought with a smirk, was the waiting. Between the cold air of the lower strat tousling his mane and the warm early afternoon sunlight warming his coat he could feel his eyelids slowly creeping closed.

Napping, he decided, was functionally much the same as patience, after all.

Rising to stretch his forelegs and wings, Star Hunter turned to look at the retching mare, wobbly flying a few meters away, which had roused him from his slumber. “Nnnh, two hours, huh?” he noted, blinking at his watch. “You must be more torn up than I had –“ his words halted as an ironclad hoof caught him viciously in the shoulder; the sudden impact sprawling him on his side.

A rictus glare occluded the declining sun as Cloudchaser loomed above him, panting between rancid coughs.

“—you,” she croaked. “How,” she started again, “dare you—” Cloudchaser suddenly curled inward, forelegs wrapping tightly around her midsection as she choked on her rasping voice.

Star Hunter took the moment to scuttle backwards and right himself again. He turned his head to pull his canteen from his bags as Cloudchaser began to cough hoarsely. Bringing it forward to offer to her he felt the stun at her fury fade as he noticed the tears tracing a path down below her tooth-grit glare. To his relief she gently grasped the canteen with her fetlock and, biting down to pull open the stopper, began to drink.

“Look—“ he began, only to be immediately cut off by a weighted hoof waving in his face.

“No, you look,” she said, using her free hoof to close the canteen. “I can put up with a lot of nonsense, and, from what I’ve seen so far you’ve got plenty of that to offer. I know this job is hard, grueling work and I can accept that this farce you call training is actually of some sort of merit, but” – she thrust the bottle back – “you showing that my effort isn’t even worth your time? That torturing somepony as an object lesson bores you? That,” she bit out, “is unacceptable.” She scrubbed a foreleg across her eyes and shakily whispered, “Just – are we done, then? C-can I at least stay on until you get a replacement? I really need the bits and –“

“Woah, woah – what are you talking about? Replacement?”

Cloudy gestured weakly towards the widening black stain on Star’s shoulder; the center of the bruise oozing a bit where the metal cuff had split his skin. “I—“

“Gave me exactly what I deserved. Look,” he stared straight into her questioning eyes, “there’s no reason at all to get corporate involved. We were horsing around and you forgot about the weights. That’s. All. It. Was,” he stated, punctuating each word by tapping against the wound. “I know it’s no excuse for my behavior but I was up way too late last night and I’m being more of an idiot than normal. I really didn't mean to tweak your nerves this much. I’m sorry.”

Cloudchaser searched Star’s gaze, seeing no hint of his normal jocularity. Sniffling, she nodded in response. “I’m sorry, too, I guess. I try to not let things get to me this much anymore.”

Star smiled and clapped his hooves. “It’s all well and good. I see you've got a little fire in you and I need to respect that –“ he grinned sheepishly as he rubbed at his bruise “– or else I may get burned again. Now, come on then, let’s call it a day, shall we? How about I fix you a little treat as reward for your hard work today? How do you feel about dried apples?”

The mare’s rage fueled flush had begun to fade but at his words her complexion muddied with a hint of a greenish hue. Turning about on her back legs she leaned over the cloud edge and noisily vomited up the water she had swallowed.
“I knew you had one more in you, Cici! Though, to be honest, I’m starting to feel the same way about dried apples.”

Cloudy spat a last bit of wine tinted fluid into the sky below before turning an ember tinted glare over her shoulder. “That’s another thing: don’t call me Cici.”

The Art of Breathing

A steady ticking of a grandfather clock denoted the seconds pacing by. From the adjoining kitchen emitted a low whirring and clacking as the refrigerator emptied and refilled its ice dispenser. A faint hissing of the thin curtains showed that the front windows were open just a crack each to let in the breeze of a fragrant spring morning.

Wild Fire absorbed, piece by piece, each of the quiet sounds, scents, and sensations that filtered through her house; solemn, serene, and thick with emptiness.

She couldn’t remember when, exactly, she had stumbled home late Monday night or early Tuesday morning but it had been after Lucky had already turned in for the night. And he had been gone, too, the following afternoon when she had regained consciousness, cramped and knotted up on the floor of the dusty room beside their bedroom. She couldn’t even remember going in there.

She had spent the rest of that afternoon recuperating between painkillers, hot herbal tea, and a long soak in bath. Hours later she awoke for the second time that day. The bath had gone cold and she could hear Lucky Clover’s hooves stomping up the stairs.

Their day apart had done little more than give him more time to simmer and when the arguing broke out again his finely crafted vitriol had rocketed about in her still tender mind, reigniting all the aches that had begun to subside. She gave as good as she got, though, and eventually they had separated to different floors of the house, him to their bedroom and her to the couch.

Early this morning she was briefly awakened by a kiss on her forehead. Lucky had ran his hoof through her mane as he told her that he would be away on a run for a few days, taking lumber up to Canterlot before returning with a load of supplies for Rich’s shop. He had smiled at her and asked her to promise to be careful on Thursday’s ascent.

All she could do at the time was groggily nod. Above his sleepy smile she could see how puffy and red his eyes were.

Wild yawned and stretched with feline-like grace before dropping her forelegs over the edge of the couch. The rest of her grudgingly followed along as she began a slow walk towards the kitchen only to halt mid-stride at the sound of a note sliding underneath her front door. Trotting over to the window she caught sight of a dark blue, constellation marked flank turning to leave.

“Hey, Star, wait up!”

Star Hunter froze and limpingly turned around.

Wild gasped. Hurriedly she undid the bolt and pulled her front door open. Just beyond her doormat stood her team leader, grinning like a foal that had just been caught halfway in a cookie jar, with his left foreleg pulled up in a sling. “What in the hay happened? What about our ascent?” she admonished.

“It’s nothing, really. Just a tiny fracture; Nurse Redheart cleared me to fly but advised against doing any heavy work for a few days. Good thing I let you guys do all that.” He grinned bashfully.

“So Cici clocked you one, did she? What did you do,” she said, more as a statement than a question.

“Well for one thing, she apparently doesn’t like being called Cici,” he muttered. “A-anyway,” he quickly added, “it really is nothing. I was just trying to push her a bit and she decided to push back. Problem was that she was the one with the weights to back it up,” he ended with a smirk.

“Riiiight,” she intoned. She could always try to get the true story from Cloudchaser later. “Anyway, what’s this about?” she asked, poking at the note on the floor with her hoof.

“Just a few things about getting the newbie ready for tomorrow. Nothing, big really.”

“Care to give me the short version? It’s too early to read.”

“Wild, it’s nearly ten.”

She stared hard at him, her half lidded eyes capping a darkening frown.

“Okay, well. Basically her gear arrived last night. I ran into the courier on my way back from the clinic and opened the door to the office so she could bring everything in. I was just hoping I could have you meet up with Cloudy and get her to try them on and go over the preflight things. You know everything from the miner’s perspective and all.”

“I suppose that’s easy enough. Also I doubt you’re looking for a matching pair,” she pointed at the sling.

“Now that you mention it I bet it would be pretty difficult to do the ascent in a wheelchair. I mean, Snow could probably pull me along like a chariot or something—“

Wild Fire plopped a hoof over Star’s mouth. “As hilarious as that thought is I don’t think he’d go for it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I should start getting ready if I’m going to walk across town before lunchtime.”

It was just a few minutes past noon when Wild Fire knocked on the door to Roseluck’s shop. She had noted the mare’s absence as she had trotted through the market stalls on her way. So, despite the Closed sign sitting in the window, she was not surprised when moments later the door popped open to reveal the red maned proprietor in a dirt smudged apron holding a watering can in her mouth.

“Mrrh.” Rose bent to set the watering can down. “That is, sorry. I was in the back doing some maintenance and inventory. Are you here to see Cloudchaser? Or are you looking for something to nibble on?” she asked winking slyly.

Wild snorted. “Still single, huh?”

Rose rolled her eyes and sighed. “That obvious, is it? Though I’m at a loss as to why considering somepony was out the other night telling everypony all about it.”

Wincing at the sudden change in tone, Wild Fire found a sudden interest in the ground at her hooves. “So, uh, I guess she told you about that, huh. Look, Rose, I’m truly sorry about that. I know it’s no excuse, but, I figured she already knew since she’s living here and all.”

“Why would she?” Rose protested hotly. “I mean, I’m not hiding anything and, by Celestia, you know I’m not the shy sort, but it’s not like I put out a sign or anything!”

At this Wild’s gaze shot back up. She backed up a couple steps from the doorway and looked pointedly above it at the “Rose’s Perfect Petals” sign before casting an arched eye in Rose’s direction.

“That’s not what that means!” Rose shouted. “Besides, that was your idea, remember?”

“I just came up with the name; you’re the one who put your name on it.”

Rose chuckled, “it seemed like a good idea at the time. I was pretty drunk.”

Wild Fire barked out a laugh in return and stepped back over to pat her friend on the shoulder. “We both were. You should come out with me and the gals more often; you don’t get out enough these days.”

“Now that I have the store as well as the market stall I’m usually on my hooves most of the day. I just get so exhausted anymore.”

“Have you considered maybe hiring on some help? You’re doing well enough, these days, right?”

“I’ve kicked the idea around some but haven’t made up my mind yet. Anyway, I should probably get back to my work,” Rose said, turning to look back into her shop.

“Hey, any chance you have any of those violets left? I was thinking of a picnic lunch today.”

“Sorry, fresh out as of yesterday. I have some petunias that I just started to cut if you’ll give me a few moments.”

“Sounds good to me! Oh,” she turned to fish out her bit pouch, letting it drop to the ground with a little jingle, “and throw in some of your rose oil, too, if you’re not out of that, too.”

“Oohh, trying to do something nice for Lucky?” Rose asked with a knowing grin.

Wild Fire was turned fumbling to close her saddlebag as she responded, “No, well, maybe later, sure, but this is for Cloudy.”

Roseluck’s other eyebrow shot up to meet its neighbor as she gaped at the pegasus.

Wild turned back around and jumped back a step at the shocked expression. “No, nothing like that; it’s her back,” she bit out. “She’s probably all torn up from training yesterday and we need her ready to go for tomorrow.”

Nodding, Rose replied, “You’re right about her condition, I’m afraid. She came home yesterday looking like she had tried to drink Froggy Bottom Bogg and failed. She spent most of the evening groaning in her room and when she finally got up today she went straight into the bathroom and hasn’t come out since. It’s a good thing I have the shop one to turn to.”

“Well, if you could just bag up those couple of things and take whatever it costs” – she kicked the bit pouch over towards Rose – “I’ll go on up and see about retrieving our feathery prune.”

Cloudchaser felt horrible.

The first reason was that she felt worn out by a rough night studded with nightmares. There was nothing she could recall clearly but she still felt a feeling of dread in her stomach. Not that her stomach needed much help feeling dreadful. That was a part of the second reason.

Between the strenuous laps of flying while carrying weights and the recurring heaving brought about by her condition the morning before her entire midsection, front to back, had become one giant cramp. With consistent effort and a considerable amount of cursing she doubled over to empty the tub before once again filling it with soothing, nearly scalding waters.

Her muscles were starting to unbind a bit again in the steaming water. As she reclined back in the tub she considered the final reason she felt terrible: she needed to apologize to Star Hunter.

True, he had been an inconsiderate featherbrain yesterday, but she was the one who came out swinging. She had been able to reign herself in but she had still gone too far. Her nightmares were the all too deserving proof of that, she thought glumly.

Cloudy’s head sprung to attention as the doorknob started to rattle. “I’m still in here, Rose!” she called.

Her jaw plummeted open as she noticed the lock beginning to fidgetingly turn. “What the hay do you think you’re doing?” she shouted. Hurriedly she spun about to lie on her stomach facing the door causing a thick swell of water to slop wetly over the rim of the tub.

A moment later the door cracked open and her dark maned coworker’s head popped in, grinning wickedly while holding the emergency key in her teeth.

“Wild Fire? What the HAY do you think you’re doing?” Cloudchaser fumed.

Wild dropped the key into an upturned hoof while continuing to beam toothily. “Don’t get your mane in a twist, new wings. Though, right now it does look a little more – melted popsicle-y than normal,” she chided. “Besides, it’s not like you’ve got anything that I don’t. Or do you?” she paused, raising an eyebrow.

Cloudy continued to glare at the intruder.

Wild Fire rolled her eyes. “You’re just determined to not lighten up, huh? No matter. I’ve got some things to go over regarding our ascent tomorrow and I was thinking a nice picnic would be a great start. I’ll go ahead and wait downstairs and visit more with Rose. Come on down when you’re done being all pissy.” She smiled brightly and waved before closing the door.

Cloudy released the pent up breath she had been holding and hoofed open the drain valve.

After drying off and attending to her deflated mane Cloudchaser trudged down the stairs. As she reached the bottom she saw Wild leaning over the store counter and chatting amicably with the open door that led to Rose’s workroom.

“ – and Lucky never did find his last shoe; it’s probably lodged in one of those cement statues to this day.”

Roseluck trotted through the door with a clay pot held in her teeth. She set it atop a stack of similar flowerpots before turning to her friend. “I think you add a couple more guards every time you tell that, you know. Oh, hey Cloudy!” she said, waving a dirt-smudged foreleg.

“Hey, Rose. Sorry about the water upstairs; somepony startled me and I splashed a bit. I’ll clean it up when I get back.”

“I heard. Don’t fret over it, though. Wild may have all the tact of a rock but she’s at least good enough to offer to clean up the messes she creates. Right, dear?”

Wild Fire’s shrunken pupils flicked between Cloudchaser’s questioning stare and Rose’s more pointed one before she drooped her shoulders in defeat. “Fine. Is the mop still in the same place as before?”

Rose smiled warmly. “Same place as always. But that can wait till you get back, I guess. You were going to be walking back to the middle of town for lunch? You probably want to get going.”

“That’s true I guess. Come on, newbie, let’s hoof it.”

Cloudy leaned into a long stretch and flexed her wings. “Sure, I could use to get moving a bit. I’m all stiff after yesterday.”

“We’ll work on that later; for now you can holster the flappers and trot with me some.”

“Huh? But it’ll take twice as long on the ground,” Cloudchaser declared.

“I guess that’s the first thing, then. Look, kid, it’s not really a regulation or anything – more of a house rule that Star instituted when he took charge a few years back. No flying the day before an ascent. You’ll get plenty of a workout tomorrow; today’s a day to take it easy.”

Wild shouldered open the door and held it open for the other mare. “On my way over I saw a lyrist setting up to busk in the park. Maybe she’ll still be there and we can have some music with our lunch, how does that sound?”

Cloudy stepped past and out into the midday sun. She squinted and inhaled deeply the scents of greenery and sun warmed thatch. “That sounds perfect to me, Wild. Lead the way!”

Cloudchaser sat, contentedly chewing away on her second petunia sandwich as a chilled bottle plopped softly down beside her on the red and white checked sheet. Glancing up she watched as Wild Fire stepped around her holding a second bottle in her jaw.

Wild turned as she moved to the other side of the blanket. She flopped back on her haunches and dropped the second bottle. “Look what I found! One of the ponies in the bazaar today’s a lemon importer, so – ta da! Lemonade!” she grinned proudly.

Cloudy smiled softly. “You didn’t need to do that, Wild, thank you. You’ve got to let me cover next time, though.”

Strands of delicate, melancholy music breathed by in the gentle breeze from the minty unicorn reclining under a nearby tree.
Wild nodded over to the musician. “How about you tip our entertainment and we call it even? Sounds fair enough to me.”

Nodding rapidly with a glowing smile, Cloudchaser pulled her bit purse out of her saddle bag and trotted over to the busker.

The lyrist did not open her eyes at the mare’s approach but a smile brightened her muzzle. The sound of bits clinking into the nearby jar was acknowledged with a deep nod. As the musician’s head inclined Cloudy’s wide eyes were met by the faint green light pulsing from the musician’s horn in time with the plucking melody. With a whisper of appreciation she bowed slightly in return and strolled back across the soft grass to sit with Wild again.

“I never expected to see a street musician in a rural town like this. Is she somepony you know?”

Wild Fire shook her head and lowered the bottle she had been drinking from. “No, and I don’t know anypony who does, for that matter. The rumor I hear is that she just showed up in town a few months back near the beginning of winter. She comes out and plays every now and then when the weather is nice; it gives the town center a little more class, don’t you think?”

Cloudy opened her bottle and raised it in salute. “I can agree with that, I suppose. Buskers aren’t too uncommon in Baltimare or Manehattan but they’re usually more – um, unkempt.”

“Hah, I can see it now.” Wild gestured with grandeur, “The mayor’s new town slogan: ‘Ponyville: Even our homeless are pleasant!’”

Cloudchaser just rolled her eyes. “Maybe she’s just visiting family and loves to perform? A tip jar alone is not really enough to classify her as homeless. Besides,” she leaned in to whisper, “I think she can probably hear you from there.”

A dismissive hoof waved her way in response. “Sure, kid, whatever. Anyway, after this how about we drop by the office? Star told me that your gear came in last night and thought it might be a good idea to see if everything fits okay. If anything’s out of whack we still have time to haul it over to Rarity’s for altering.

“Oh, before I forget, nice work on Star’s shoulder, there. If somepony doesn't set him straight from time to time he gets a bit loony. What, did he try hitting on you or something so you responded a little more literal-like?”

Cloudy ran a hoof through her mane, “No, nothing like that. It was just a misunderstanding is all. He didn't mean anything by it.”

“Well for one I hear he got the notion that nopony calls you Cici and lives, am I right, slugger?” Wild Fire winked.

A momentary pall of terror washed over Cloudchaser’s face. Quickly she replaced it with a plastic grin and tittered slightly, “Heh, uh, yeah.”

Wild made a thoughtful sound in the back of her throat and stared into Cloudy’s rosy eyes for a moment before speaking, “Well, let’s go on and clean this up and get going then. I’d like to get everything finished up by nightfall so we can all get some good sleep tonight.”

After a final swig on her lemonade Cloudy stiffly rose to her hooves. Suddenly she dropped the bottle and clutched at her side, hissing sharply through her teeth.

Wild scooted over to sit beside Cloudchaser and gently pushed her hooves away from the cramp. Using the tip of her own hoof she pressed into the knotted muscle and rubbed small circles into it until it unbound. “Yeah, initial training is awful for everypony. It’ll be easier tomorrow, I promise; and every ascent after that. After we’re done checking your gear I’ve got something that should make your night a bit easier, too.”

Cloudchaser nodded gratefully and together the two gathered up the blanket and discarded their trash before trotting down the wide lane away from the bazaar.

A pair of golden eyes watched the two curiously as their forms receded in the distance. Putting her lyre aside the unicorn extracted a quill and some parchment from her bags and began to write.

Cloudchaser poked a hoof tentatively at the greyish heap of cloth before her; it looked rubbery but felt smooth rather than tacky. “Hey, Wild Fire? What’s this stuff made of?” she asked over her shoulder.

“No clue, honestly,” came the muffled reply. “Some sort of plant fiber hokum cooked up by earth pony horticulturalists. Whatever it is it’s light and warm; that’s what matters.”

Shoved up against the reception desk – a holdover from the previous lease holder Cloudy had been told – sat a massive box, nearly as tall as the sandy pegasus who’s back half was currently protruding upward from it.

“Do you, uh, need a hoof with that, Wild?” Cloudchaser smirked with a giggle. “Besides, shouldn't I be the pony responsible for hauling this stuff around?”

“No way, newbie,” replied the box. “I don’t need you wearing yourself out more than you already are.”

“But I—“

“No buts, missy,” interrupted the dark tailed backside. “Anyway, nrrgh” – Wild’s back legs pedaled futilely as the box began to rock – “I almost – got – it –“

A loud whump echoed through the building as the box toppled over sprawling half of Wild Fire out on the scuffed hardwood floor.

“See?” the box huffed, “I’ve got everything under control.”

The lamp, jostled precariously to the edge of the desk, toppled to the floor. With a soft popping sound the room dimmed; now only lit by the mid-afternoon light filtering through the blinds.

“Mostly under control, that is,” Wild concluded.

Cloudchaser began to whoop with laughter for a moment until her sides reminded her that it wasn't in their best interest. Reduced to groaning and chuckling she wiped a hoof at the moisture picking at the sides of her eyes. She composed herself as she watched Wild Fire back out of the box with a larger, brown pile of material in her jaws.

Wild dropped the suit beside the first one she had set down earlier and pointed a hoof at the first pile. “The grey one is your inner suit; that’s the one you’ll have on most of the day tomorrow. It covers you from throat to dock and has Velcro along the underside to hold everything together. Officially it’s recommended to try and not get the hooks caught up in your coat – realistically just expect it’ll happen off and on.” She turned slightly to indicate the second pile, “This is your outer layer. Your goggles are also wrapped up in there somewhere and I’ll fish that out in a moment. Since this one’s a lot heav—“

Cloudy stopped prodding at the brown suit and looked up at Wild Fire in confusion. “This – this doesn't look woven –“

Wild Fire pursed her lips and just leveled a half-lidded stare at her coworker.

“ – and, this lining, is this – fur?” Cloudchaser whispered, her pupils nearly filling her eyes.

Wild sat back and crossed her forelegs. “There’s nothing to sugarcoat here. The outer coat hasn't changed much since pre-unification days. The corp has trade agreements with the griffon aeries for their – cast offs. Nopony has ever liked this part but unfortunately nothing else has been found yet that can withstand the mez as well.”

A creeping shiver oozed along Cloudchaser’s spine, “That’s just – I mean, eww.”

“You don’t have to like it but there’s no reason to disrespect the poor creatures that went into its making. Everypony knows that there are meat eaters out there and this is just a case of nothing being left to waste.”

Cloudy grimaced but nodded. “It’s okay, I can deal with that, I guess,” she gulped.

“Good,” Wild Fire nodded slowly. “Someday the plant labs will make something better for the outer suit but for now we just gotta deal with what we’ve got. That’s the other reason we don’t put these on till we’re in the strat: no reason to go upsetting the townsfolk. And Celestia help us if the town’s vet ever saw you wearing it; she’d go catatonic.

Anyway, like I was saying – Snow will carry these things up in his haulers when we ascend. Star and Flits meet with the weather team before each ascent to schedule for some high level clouds for us to use as a way station about a third of the way up. That gives us a place to gear up for the rest of the climb. Any questions so far?”

Cloudchaser shook her head.

“Okay then, kid, let’s go ahead and get you suited up to make sure everything’s in the right place.”

Wild Fire pushed open the door to the stairs and stepped back into the dim ground floor lobby. Peering about she saw Cloudy kicking her back left hoof in an attempt to dislodge it from the stretchy legging of the inner suit. She chuckled at the scene and shook her head. “I hung the outer coat upstairs. I’ll show you were we keep them in a moment – you know, if you manage to free yourself.”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Or, I dunno, you could give me a hoof real quick?”

Wild grinned and trotted over to plant her forehooves on the crumpled grey fabric. “Just try to not buck my teeth out.”

Cloudchaser grunted and hobbled away on her three unbound legs until the stubborn cloth finally sprung back to join the rest of the suit. “Nnn, there! A little tight around the ends, isn't it?”

Wild bit back the vulgar joke that came to mind and simply nodded. “That’s to help keep your warmth in. Even still, it’ll break in with time. Now come on, we’ll hang this up and get on our way.”

The evening sky was stained with waves of plum and peach as the ebbing rays of the sun melted behind the rustic houses. Pools of light bloomed out of a few windows along the road as the two mares made their way towards a darkened two story cottage. Wild Fire’s saddlebags were bulging slightly which, in the fading light, made her look a bit hippy as Cloudchaser jokingly pointed out.

“Hardy har, fluffy flanks. I’m carrying the groceries, what’s your excuse?”

Cloudy snickered, “Touché. You’ll have to let me in on how you keep yourself in such good shape some time.”

Wild nosed aside a bundle of celery aside to drop her key back in her bag. “You’ll be there in no time, newbie; scraping the mesosphere has its benefits.”

“I’ll say.” Cloudchaser whistled softly as she walked in behind her coworker. “Your house is gorgeous!”

“I’ve gotta give Lucky at least some credit, there,” Wild replied as she waddled into the kitchen to unload her bags. “He hauls freight and last summer was busy for the both of us so we did a bit of sprucing up. Some fresh paint and updated furniture really help a place feel cozy. Now why don’t you have a seat and make yourself feel at home. Food’ll be ready here in a few.”

She was relieved to not hear Cloudy pipe up to offer help again. It’s all well and good to be a helpful pony but it almost seemed a bit much. Still, she was impressed at how much spunk the kid showed; in her nearly ten years of scraping she’d seen more than a few new wings begging to be carried around after first training.

After storing her empty saddle bags on a peg in the pantry Wild Fire returned to start cleaning up the vegetables on the counter. There was more than she had intended to buy but Cloudchaser had insisted that she pay her back for today. It nagged at Wild’s conscience to think on the over a week’s worth of food she had just finished putting away but with how threadbare the saving’s account had gotten – she couldn’t help but accept. Lucky’s work had been steady enough since the roads were cleared at the end of winter but the home improvements that Cloudy had been remarking on earlier hadn’t been cheap – they had put a good bit on credit with the expectation that the larger autumnal starfalls would more than make up for it.

With a yelp she withdrew her foreleg from the artichoke it had been holding down to slice. Damnable thistle – if only they weren’t so tasty. Goldie had just brought her first harvest to her stall that afternoon and Cloudchaser had nearly pounced on them. It turned out that they’re one of her favorites, too.

“Is everything alright in there? Do you need a hoof with anything?”

Wild Fire sighed. That hadn’t lasted long. “No, thanks, I just poked myself on dinner. It’ll be just a few more minutes.”

With vengeful determination she turned her attention back to the prickly produce.

Cloudchaser dabbed at her plate with a chunk of bread before popping the lemon butter soaked morsel into her mouth, swallowing and sighing blissfully. “That was amazing, Wild.”

Wild Fire grinned as she gathered up the dishes. “Just like mom used to make, eh?”

“Thankfully, no; my mother could burn water,” Cloudy responded with a crinkled muzzle.

Wild chuckled as she strode into the kitchen balancing the tray of dishes on her back. After depositing the plates and cups in the sink she moved over to where she placed the rose oil. “Go ahead and stretch out on the couch there. It’s time we take care of that tension,” she called towards the other room.

“Erm, no, seriously, that’s not really necessary,” Cloudy said apprehensively. “And it’s getting late – I've got a hike to get back home as is.”

Wild opened her jaw to let the bottle plop down beside Cloudchaser on the sofa. “Look, kid,” she frowned down at the scrunched up mare, “the last thing any of us need is for your flight muscles to cramp up at seventy clicks into the blue. You would literally,” she stressed, “be pulling your team down. Now are you going to relax already?”

Cloudy gnawed on her bottom lip but scooted around on the couch until she was lying demurely on her stomach with her legs stretched out before and behind her. “I guess it’s just weird, you know? I've never had anypony give me a massage before.”

“It’s nice from time to time. There’s a spa out past Carousel that I go to from time to time. The pair that run the place do a pretty good hooficure but you can tell they were trained on ground ponies. They just don’t know their way around wings the way I do.”

Wild held the bottle between her forehooves and grasped the rubber stopper with her teeth, pulling it free. After some juggling with the bottle she managed to get her hooves oiled up and set the reclosed bottle on an end table.

She rose on her hind legs to loom above the other pegasus. “Trust me.”

“Sweet Celestia’s pearly pinions,” purred Cloudchaser, “can I keep you?”

Wild Fire chortled merrily, “Sorry, girl, these hooves are already spoken for. And see, you were all concerned over it being weird.”

A hoof waved from where it dangled near the floor, “I concede to your wisdom. You weren’t kidding about knowing your way around wings.”

Grinning, Wild continued to knead at the pale lilac puddle of pegasus. Over the past half hour Cloudchaser had morphed from a rigid pole of a pony to a much more malleable sprawl of limbs. “I oughtta, I used to do this every other day or so. So did Rose, for that matter.”

A questioning hum came from the mare beneath her hooves.

“Well, since you asked – I think – college speed fliers team. It’s just something teammates would do for one another to keep everypony limber. In the beginning I hadn’t the slightest idea what I was doing, to tell the truth. So I attended a weekend seminar that some health club was having and met an earth pony track runner from school who was in the same boat as me and –“

She trailed off as she noticed yet another scar running underneath the oil matted hairs she had been massaging. When she had noticed the first earlier she had mentioned it out of surprise. Cloudy just brushed the issue aside, though, and Wild had let it drop. With a tiny frown she traced this fourth scar with her eyes to where it disappeared beneath the oil free hairs on Cloudchaser’s abdomen.

Wild Fire’s ears perked forward and she glanced up as a soft snoring dug her out of her thoughts. Sitting back and wiping her hooves with a towel she just chuckled quietly and shook her head. “I’ll take that as a compliment,” she whispered. She grabbed the blanket she had used that morning in her teeth and pulled it from the back of the couch to drape over the snoozing mare.

She ghosted across the floor to the stairs, stopping to nose the light switch off. Stretching a bit to bypass a particularly squeaky step she made her way up to the second floor. She stood in the doorway to the master suite for a few moments, staring at the door to the adjoining room still standing ajar – Lucky must have left it open when he left.

She trudged over to the door and slowly pushed it closed.

Wild turned and walked over to crawl into bed, wrapping her legs around Lucky’s pillow and pulling it tightly to her chest before burying her face in it.