Chapter 2:

Cloud Skipper

I stared through an open door into a pure white room, rays of sunlight poured in from a window opposite of where I was standing, against the middle of the wall was a small bed, white sheets and chrome bars holding it all together. A steady beep let me know that the unmoving mare hadn’t lost her life during the crash.

I thought hard about the whole thing, everything was going swimmingly throughout the whole race. Was it momentum that caused her to not stop? Was she getting distracted?

I shook my head and stepped into the room, a dark blue alicorn stood over the mare, looking down at her blindfolded face. A look of sorrow stuck on her face.

Princess Luna.

The alicorn leaned down towards the small pegasus, her horn glowed with a dark blue aura, she pressed the tip of her horn against the blindfold, enveloping it with the aura, at first I didn’t move, she was trying to heal her, which was perfectly possible, but to restore her vision was not.

“I am sorry Ma’am.” The nurse said.

I rotated my head, seeing the nurse, and a mare I hadn’t seen before, her face had a look of disappointment and anger.

“You have nothing to be sorry about, she should know better than to use those damn wings in such a way.” The mare said, she blew a hot pink hair from her face.

I frowned, “A mother should not be so angry with her child, she was only trying to have a little fun.” I said.

“You shouldn’t be telling me how I should mother my child.” The mare said, her pink fur seemed to waver with anger.

“Watch your tongue.” I said, “I was only trying to help.”

The mare stormed out of the room, I tried not to stare, I saw a pink magic envelope the door and slam it shut.

I did a double-take. Firefly’s mother was a unicorn?

I must have thought out loud.

“My dad named me.” A raspy, broken voice said.

I turned around, Firefly shuffled under the covers.

“He was a unicorn too, but he was happy to have a pegasus, my mom didn’t share his feelings.” She said, trying to sit up.

“Firefly, I do not think you should be moving so early...” Luna warned as the mare got out of the bed.

Firefly took her hooves and untied the blindfold.

“Wait!” Luna said.

Firefly seemed to freeze, she turned and looked at me, her eyes were clouded, and whiter than before. She blinked. I noticed a glow in her eyes, like there was a fire behind them.

“Why can’t I...” She blinked again, then waved a hoof in front of her face.

Luna cleared her throat, “I’m sorry, Firefly.”

“Am I...” Firefly choked on her own words, “Blind?”

Even if Firefly was in the hospital, Ricco and I still showed up for training, the griffon hadn’t even seen the mare yet, which I thought was rather cold of him.

“How exactly are we supposed to save the Elements of Harmony with a blind mare slowing us down?” He would ask, I would not answer, I didn’t know if she even considered going anymore.

As Spitfire yelled at us for not paying attention, the doors to the gymnasium opened, Celestia walked in, Firefly by her side, I noticed quickly that her eyes were covered by a black leather blindfold that wrapped around her head and tucked tightly behind her mane so it was hidden from behind.

Spitfire turned to Firefly and Celestia with a respect that Ricco and I had not got from her yet.

“Spitfire, I want you to fight this mare.” Celestia said.

Spitfire choked on Celestia’s words, “What?!” She asked, “You can’t be serious!”

Celestia did not move, her eyes remained fixed on Spitfire.

Spitfire straightened herself and removed her jacket, “Very well then.”

I raised an eyebrow and walked up to Firefly,  leaning close to her.

“What in Tartarus are you doing?” I hissed.

She looked at me through the leather blindfold, a frown on her face.

“Training.” She said with a smirk.

I backed up, I didn’t know what Celestia was doing, she was blind!

Spitfire moved back a few steps and Celestia moved away from Firefly.

Spitfire charged first, swinging a wild hoof towards the mare’s head, which was dodged almost expertly. Spitfire swung again, her hoof was caught by Firefly’s, she tried to escape by hitting the other mare with her free hoof, which was also caught and pinned to the ground. Firefly attacked quickly with a jarring headbutt, she pulled the Wonderbolt’s front hooves toward her and slid beneath her, sweeping the orange mare’s legs out from under her, When Spitfire tried to get up, a menacing uppercut lifted her off the ground and made her land with a violent thud.

Spitfire was out cold.

I let out a breath that I didn’t know I was holding.

“Damn...” Ricco cooed.

Celestia moved towards Firefly, putting a hoof around her neck and taking her over to where Ricco and I were standing.

“I assume you two want to know how she did such a thing.” Celestia said.

“Of course.” Ricco said, looking over at Firefly, who looked a bit more frightening with the blindfold on.

“Luna used an old Night Vision spell on her eyes, giving her a bit of her sight back, she says Firefly will be able to see the aura of all things, managing to see the outline clearly through the blindfold, but can’t see anything with it off, Luna is trying to find a solution for this, but hasn’t come up with anything yet.” Celestia explained. “As for her enhanced awareness, the aura of what she is in contact with reacts with her brain in a way Luna nor I can explain.”

Firefly nodded by her side, she lifted a hoof to me. “I never noticed you were so cute.” She said, running a hoof through my mane, a grin on her face.

Being called cute wasn’t exactly something I would think I would be described as, but I took the compliment anyways.

Ricco chuckled, “You kids are so cute.” He joked.

Firefly turned around and walked towards the door, whipping her tail side to side, giving me a clear view of her flank, I knew she was meaning to do this, and had nothing against it.

“I’d tap that.” Ricco whispered loudly to me.

Celestia didn’t seem to hear, “You two are dismissed.” She said.

I followed Firefly’s trail to the door, thinking about her sudden mood towards me, she was just a mare, right?  I thought about her calling me cute, she was pretty cute as well.

I shook my head, I was thinking too much about her, I had a job to do.

I stared at the bottom of the top bunk, trying to think today back over, I rolled, facing the wall.  I couldn’t get my mind off of the mare above me, the mare I had met only two days ago, I didn’t have a reason to be thinking about her so much, she had called me cute.  Big deal, it’s not like she kissed me, she hadn’t done anything affectionate, and I hadn’t done anything back.

A whimper echoed through the small room.

I froze, Ricco was asleep, and that couldn’t have been him.

There was movement on the bunk above me.

I gulped, I sat up to help, but felt my chest pull me back, I noticed my pounding heart, I was nervous as hell.

I shook off the sudden feelings and fluttered up to the top bunk, peeking over it, Firefly was facing the wall, shivering and whispering.

Dis... Discord...

I noticed the name. “Firefly, are you alright?” I whispered so she could hear.

She stopped shivering, I watched her chest rise and fall for a few seconds before she rolled over, I looked into two glowing white eyes, tears streamed down the mare’s face.

“Yeah, I-I’m fine.” She said.

“Are you sure?” I asked, feeling a sense of sadness at her eyes.

She blinked and sniffled. “Yeah, just... go back to bed...” She said.

I did what she asked. After about five minutes, I heard her shift from above me again, I closed my eyes, trying to find sleep.

I felt something poke me on the shoulder, I opened my eyes, seeing a mare with a pillow in her mouth, looking down at me.

I could almost feel the heat from her blush.

“Um... Sorry to bother you, but, um...” She hesitated. “Do you think I could sleep with you tonight? It’s, um, cold up there.”

I blinked, then moved over to the wall, I could hear the fear in her voice, but I couldn’t find out why it was there. “Of course.” I said.

The mare set the pillow down and laid down beside me, I pulled the covers over the both of us and turned towards the wall, closing my eyes again, I could feel the heat from the mare’s body, she had a scent of the morning dew, or a field of flowers in the spring. I did a double-take when the mare’s arms wrapped around me, her body pressed against my own, she didn’t seem to mind me being so close, feeling her heartbeat against my back was almost soothing, it felt nice to have somepony next to me.

I felt it again, that push against my chest, I didn’t know what it was, but it had harshened since I had lest felt it minutes ago.

I fell asleep minutes later, wondering what could be causing this. Next Chapter: Chapter 3 Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 7 Minutes