Authors Note: AND THE PONY HIATUS IS OVER AT LAST! So let's commence with the first review of Season 5 part 2 after the replies.

Captain Alaska: Trailers are awesome, and they're so freaking fun to write! I like teasing my readers with little bits of what's to come, and I totally see what you mean with the Let's Be Cops thing. Oh God I'm imagining a hilarious thingy where Soarin and Brae really do pretend to be cops and get caught up in a real case. HA! Comedy gold there for ya! And as my dad likes to put it "Alcohol is the liquid gateway to relief. It's an illusion of the mind that makes you believe that things can get better… hangover is just reality crashing back down on you." And somehow I'm the dramatic one? And I plan to make Rapidfire's desire to be co-captain a recurring joke; no idea when it'll pop up again, though.

RosaSilvermist- And the horseshoe mystery is finally going to be solved. I've held it off long enough due to other things but the pieces will finally come together soon. As for Cinder's confession… I'm not sure that any of you saw it coming- a few of you guys might have but this is something that would probably have escaped 98% of people's list of possibilities.

Amellia Rose- Well she's not exactly in a good condition right now. And it's hard to pull yourself together when some of you has gone missing… snap, now I need a hug!

CrystalHeart190- Writing a softy Rainbow Dash is kina like solving a crossword puzzle with vague clues- it's possible but it makes your brain hurt if you try too hard. To be honest I was just winging it (pun not intended) and didn't even realise that it was acceptable until I'd completed the chapter. Lucky if you ask me. I don't find the horseshoe mystery very fun to write to be honest, but it must be solved so let's get it over with. And Spitz does need to get over this… but honestly, in her position I think a lot of people would do exactly the same thing as her.

Thebeastinsideusall- First off, awesome username! Second, Soarin gave me the impression of being a huge doofus back when I first saw him on the show and that's never left me- he's a dork! He just needs to get into this a little more and then I bet he'll be more confident. And in all honestly the lack of SpitBurn is killing me- I need them so I can survive! And Spitz isn't much of a physical contact kinda pony, but there's always room to change. ^^

Luna'snight65- You're SOARINDASH1 aren't ya! I saw that story and checked it out when it first popped up on the site. Nice work, by the way. I'll just finish it on here and see how things go. There are a lot of aspects of this story that people on FIM wouldn't approve of, though.

Dshk- Thank you for making me get the song 'Hero' stuck in my head. Now if you're unsure as to why Soarin doesn't have a good history with the police I suggest going back to chapter 25 where he reveals a little about his past. What is it with me and backstories? I'll just finish this story and see how I feel- I've literally never been so distraught as when I got those flame reviews… I've also never drank as much, but I don't like talking about that. Heh… ^^"

MidnightBlaze16- You totally should- you will not regret it! Anecdote for you: SU was getting on my nerves with it popping up on Tumblr, DA, you name it. Even MLP was getting swarmed by ancient polymorphic sentient rocks from space! So I watched the first episode to see what the fuss was about, then the second, the third… and within a few days I'd watched the whole series and I LOVE IT! Watching that was one of the best decisions I've made, I think. And it only seems right that Surprise should get a Joy line since I can't stop reading her lines in Joy's voice.

Uniformed Squid- Thanks for reading! And I'm glad you like my rather unique pairing- it deserves more fans and I'm glad that you're among them now. Favorite fanfic ever?! Wowzers, that's just made my day... seriously I feel really warm and fuzzy now. And who says I don't have a plot twist... I don't... or DO I? And I think this story has enough OC's... characters made by the author tend to ward readers off according to statistics. And Braeburn really does just need to, excuse me, grow a pair and fix this mess! I think what he needs is a little nudge in the right direction.

Marevelous- OMG THANKS FOR READING! :D

Snow Hurricane Blue- Clever way to avoid actually reviewing. Heh. But in answer to your question there are two answers, one from me and one from Spitz. Spitty would say something like "I don't love him, I just hate him slightly less than every other stallion! Now get the buck outta here!" and I would say that she doesn't exactly love him. After all, this is all new to her and she doesn't want to love him. That's the thing- you can't love someone unless you actually let yourself, otherwise it isn't love at all. But things can change, so you never know. We just need a miracle here.

MY REVIEW FOR CANTERLOT BOUTIQUE

(SPOILERS AHEAD- YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!)

So this episode... it wasn't exactly... I kinda have mixed feeling about it. If you ask me it was a disappointing way to open up the second half of the season, especially since I spent the whole Summer yearning for new episodes that I couldn't have. Grr, this episode was even worse than Princess Spike!

Okay, maybe that's just because I have biased issues, and unless you haven't watched the episode (in which case why are you reading this? Did you not see the massive bold spoiler warning a few lines up?) you probably understand why already. So let's kick off with my favorite part- at the very beginning there was a scene with Pinkie being her hyperactive lovable, goofy self. That was the best part for me- just Pinkie being herself. Right that was quick, now let's carry on with the actual critique.

The episode begins with the same thing that happens at the beginning of nearly every Rarity episode (most of which I'm not that fond of anyway, except Suited for Success, Rarity Takes Manehattan and Sisterhooves Social), Rarity designing stuff. She's waiting for some mail, which we will later learn contains the acceptance of her own boutique in Canterlot (title reference) And then Pinkie Pie comes to liven things up, along with (gross) cupcakes and a whole mass of alliteration. Pinkie then reveals that she has the mail due to giving the mailpony food poisoning- it wasn't Derpy but that poor stallion mailhorse need a break! Poor guy. Rarity then reads the letter and finds out that she got the boutique- then the bad parts begin... and barely stop from then on in.

The mane six all go visit Rarity and admire the boutique (which does look a little cool I admit. Then again, most pony houses are cool). Twilight and the others then meet Rarity's new manager. Her name is Sassy Saddles.

...

If you're wondering why that ellipsis is above this line then that was just signalling the point where I got up from my chair and screamed into a pillow. I mean what the hell did I do to deserve this?! Sassy is a stuck-up stereotypical Canterlot (British) pony who looks like a bad OC recolor of Fleur Dis Lee and is portrayed as a complete *insert whatever bad word you want here*. But WAIT! Who else do you people know who is named Sassy? Who else named Sassy is British? Who do you know who is absolutely furious right now at going around and finding sentences like 'Sassy sucks'. If you haven't figured it out, you've been reading her story and- oh screw it, it's me! Oh, you already knew? Whoops. I mean I know the hate isn't directed at me, but it just hurts that I finally share my name with a pony and she's an awful character! The only thing this Sassy has that I want is the extra height! And I despise that freaking accent (WHY HASBRO? WHY MUST YOU MAKE ME FEEL THIS FURY?! ARE YOU HAPPY YET?!)

So for this review, to help me get through seeing everything as a negative I'm going to change Sassy's name to... BluePony. Yeah, that'll help me heighten my expectation, so deal with it. Back to the review!

"then move on to the unveiling of the 'Princess Dress' (must have put a lot of thought into that name, right? #sarcasm). In the bit leading up to that Rarity mentions that in every poll Sassy made Twilight was voted the most popular Princess... I think the fandom can disagree with that personally, since Luna probably takes the cake for that position. But I've gotta admit that the Princess Dress does actually look kind of cool, and that's coming from someone who hates girly stuff, and I think that it would have sold perfectly fine even without Twilight wearing it first... actually while we're on the subject, Twilight was really the only character that needed to be there. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Applejack had no use whatsoever in this episode.

Then we get some returns from old faces like Jet Set, Uppercrust, and Fleur. We also get some new characters... some of which are completely annoying. Fashion Plate was one of them (by his face he could be related to Party Favor) his voice was irritating, he smiled too much, and he used alliteration in a way that Pinkie Pie would be ashamed of! The puns were cool as usual, like waterfilly and Cosmare Magazine. BluePony then takes over and shows everyone the Princess Dress, and they wind up with 100 orders for it (too specific, Hasbro!) followed by Rarity calling out BluePony on what she did, to which BluePony says that Rarity's name for the dress was confusing and unappealing (THAT IS BULLSHIT!). Rarity then agrees to make 100 dresses and starts to become a sad-sack 50% of the way through the episode.

Then we get a song from Rarity... it didn't appeal to me, and I could easily confuse it for Art of the Dress. It's basically used for the exact same reason as it was in Suited for Success, only it isn't stress that's making Rarity all discombobulated this time. It gets slower and more miserable as the song proceeds, and then it stops. We then have a rather hurtful scene where somepony criticizes Rarity for making subtle changes to the Princess Dress, and orders that she get a dress like all the others. Personally I liked Rarity's changes better, but this episode just wants me to roll my eyes til I'm dizzy. The song then starts again for only one verse and finishes on a gloomy note... and cue next scene.

BluePony shows up with 100 more orders (AGAIN, SPECIFIC) and the issue of Cosmare Magazine... which is just as hard to read as the real life ones. Rarity then laments over how she's finally achieved her dream (something that I've been waiting for her to do right from the start) but she's not happy with it. I want to interrupt this to point out that Rarity says her store is the most popular one in Canterlot... more important than grocery stores? Are the dresses more popular than food? Is everyone wasting their money on this expensive stuff other than half-price muffins? Are these Canterlot ponies simply too posh to eat?! Back- Rarity laments, blah blah blah, she's sad. BluePony then tells her that she has no reason to be sad, along with a bunch of other stuff I can't quite figure out and then finishes her speech by calling the place her boutique. WAS THAT REALLY NECESSARY!?

Rarity then sets up a closing sale, and BluePony says hat she can't be part of another failed boutique, which says a lot about her character... either than or she at some point worked for Suri Polomare- oh crap, now I have a new story idea. Damn you, brain! The sale introduces a lot of new ponies, like Moonlight Raven and Sunshine Smiles (who I bet people are already shipping despite Amy Keating Rogers tweeting that they were meant to be sisters representing Luna and Celestia). Moonlight Raven sounds like Raven from Teen Titans while we're at it. Rarity sings for the third time after that... man you can count on me not listening to that song. Marshmallow Pony (Rarity) then realizes that showing off all her designs to ponies and helping them find what's right for them is what she had dreamed about the whole time and announces that her boutique won't close after all.

BluePony then apologizes for what she's done and tells Rarity that she has learnt her lesson before telling her that she will apply what she has learnt at her next job. But our Rarity tells Sassy (using the name now... feels weird) that she will let her manage the boutique while she is in Ponyville. They hug and that's where I expected the episode to end.

NO!

I laughed my head off for the first time in an agonizing twenty minutes when an obese pony entered the boutique! Oh my gosh that was the most surprising appearance of a pony since Bulk Biceps first came on screen (if you re-watch Tanks for the Memories you'll see that the same pony had her picture on a locker at the Weather Factory), and the episode finally ends with Rarity and Sassy humorously telling this pony that they do not have any Princess Dresses before she shrugs and walks off to browse.

Okay now that I've written it out I find that it's not exactly a bad episode- the moral was cool (similar to Wonderbolts Academy if you ask me), there were some new characters for us to enjoy... you guys can finish this list for me. I think this episode has been added to the list of ones that I watch once and don't watch again (this list includes Inspiration Manifestation, Friend in Deed, Spike at Your Service, and The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well, with more I can't remember) but it wasn't terrible... it did give me an idea for a new story, one that I might actually consider making if I build on it enough, and it let us see one of the main character finally reach their goal in life. I do like Rarity, but her episodes seem to be the ones I don't particularly enjoy as much as others. I feel like there could have been a different lesson in all of this, but there's no changing the script once it's done, so we're stuck with this now. All in all I think that this was one of the few 'mehpisodes' of the season thus far, and I hope that next weeks is a little better... it's a Rarity episode though, so I won't get my hopes up.

And who agrees with me here? Could Sassy Saddles be one of the 'Life-Changer Ponies' as I like to call them, like Moondancer and Gilda? I hope I've got this theory right otherwise I'll just look like a jackass. But anyway, what did you guys think of the episode? I'm curious to find out your thoughts.

And no, I won't be changing my username because of this. Instead I'll wait til Thursday for the next episode of Steven Universe, which focuses on another character with my real name who happens to be adorable. PEACE!

(SPOILERS END HERE!)

Now let's get going with this because I spent two days writing a review and neglecting this!

---

"Hey Brae!" Soarin sang as he flapped over the counter and landed on his back legs and did jazz-hooves. Braeburn sighed and looked up from the book her was reading at the table.

"Soar, we've talked about this; use the door so your feathers don't fall off in the food!" he repeated the same thing he'd told Soarin time and time again. Soarin tutted and headed over to his friend, sitting on the other side of the table.

"Stop being such a spoil-sport, buddy," he booped Braeburn on the nose, making his friend grunt with irritation. "ya know what your problem is Brae?"

"Nnnope," Braeburn groaned. "but Ah'm sure yer gonna tell me."

"Correct!" Soarin proclaimed, raising a hoof to the air. "You rely too much on the rules to have any fun- you ignore your instincts!"

"Ah happen t' like rules," Braeburn looked up from his book. "and fer your information ignorin' muh instincts is the only reason Ah'm still friends with you."

"Harsh," Soarin pouted and put his chin down on the table. From here if he looked straight ahead he could see the title of whatever it was Braeburn was reading. "you're kidding me, right?" He asked, sitting up and taking the book from his friend.

"What now?" Braeburn asked, exasperated. Soarin put the book down on the table so that the cover was facing up.

"You're reading this again?" it was the same book that he'd been reading a couple of months ago, and the same one that had hit Soarin in the stomach- 100 things to know about crushes that you were afraid to ask.

"Why not?" Braeburn took it back, facing sideways in his seat this time so Soarin couldn't snatch it back. Soarin shook his head and propped his head up on his arms.

"Brae, what more d'ya need to know about this?" he peered over his friends shoulder at the section he was reading. "You're doing everything wrong?" he read the title of the chapter out loud. Braeburn humphed and slammed a hoof on the tale surface.

"Soarin don't ya have anythin' better t' do than annoy me?" He asked. Soarin thought for a few seconds before shrugging.

"Not really," he replied honestly. "And you don't need a bunch of paper to know about mares; what does that book know about Spit that we don't? And please for the love of Celestia, don't tell her I called her Spit." He added, looking around as if somepony were watching him. Braeburn sighed again and stood up.

"Ah won't," he trotted over to a drawer and shoved the book inside. "Believe me, Ah won't." He repeated, rummaging through the contents of the drawer for seemingly no apparent reason. Soarin looked away from his friend and craned his neck around so he could look out the window to the training grounds. It was Wave Chill's turn to train the cadets so Silver could catch a break and from this spot Soarin could see Rainbow Dash chasing Tempest around, the orange stallion laughing while Rainbow had a challenging smirk on her face. He must have ticked her off or something.

He felt the blush return to his face as he imagined Rainbow Dash kissing him again- he often imagined that when he needed to calm down. There was something soothing about thinking about it that he couldn't quite put his hoof on; maybe it was just the satisfaction of having someone feel that way about you? Well there was a lot of stuff he didn't know about this sort of thing, but he was sure he'd find out eventually.

"Soarin, check out what Ah found!" Braeburn exclaimed, suddenly sitting back at the table and putting two sheets of paper down on the table. Soarin spun round, a joke coming on.

"Your brain?" He guessed, putting on a big smile as his friend frowned. "It's been so long!"

Braeburn folded his arms. "Ha ha ha. Listen to muh genuine laughter." He was quiet for a minute before gesturing around with a hoof, making sure that he had got his point across with the silence. He then pushed one of the sheets forward so Soarin could see it. "Just look at these- our bucket lists!" He struck a memory within Soarin.

"Oh yeah, didn't we write these a couple months back when we were bored?" He asked. Braeburn had been the one to suggest the idea, and he had taken the opportunity to get creative. But he decided that for once he'd forget about himself and find out what Braeburn had put on his list. "Well then, what does yours say?" he asked, sitting up in his chair and staring at his friend with interest. Braeburn gazed down at his list and cleared his throat.

"Okay... number one: Marry Spitfire..." he trailed off and turned a faint red. Soarin chuckled at his friends flustered state. "Um... Ah'm sure Ah put somethin' much more manageable on the list," he started reading again.

"Number two: Have... foals with Spitfire," he kneaded his temples with his hooves as Soarin snickered again. Wow, Braeburn sure liked to aim high. The earth pony just sighed and moved on.

"Number three... Oh, travel t' the Crystal Empire..." his voice faded once again. "...with Spitfire." He finished the sentence with a grumble. Soarin felt a little sorry for his friend at that point.

"Okay, number four! Help Soarin in an airshow!"

"Done!" The two stallions hoof-bumped over the table. Braeburn grinned as he read the next one.

"Number five: If somepony calls me 'miss' kick them in the face."

"You didn't!" Soarin sounded mortified at that, his eyes popping wide and his jaw dropping.

"No..." Braeburn denied, though Soarin could have sworn that he heard his golden furred friend mutter 'done' under his breath. "Okay, there's only one left," he revealed. "Stay up past midnight stargazin'..."

Soarin let out an 'aww' at that. WHAT?! Even he had a soft side. Soarin was baffled when Braeburn frowned down at his list.

"...with Spitfire." He was silent for a little while before looking over at Soarin. "Well let's not dally, what does yours say?" He asked in a hurry. Soarin smirked at his lists contents and read what the paper said out loud.

"Soarin Skies' Bucket List"

"1. Ice

2. Fire

3. Sick

4. -and spade

5. Mop and-"

Braeburn gave him a befuddled look for a bit and blinked at his friend, wondering if this was meant to make any sense. "That's... that's not a bucket list. That's just a list o' buckets." Braeburn said the obvious. Soarin chuckled at his list again.

"Well it's my bucket list," he told Braeburn. "ya see, I wanna make sure that I have one of each before I kick the bucket!" He let out a loud bark of laughter. "I just came up with that now!" He revealed, hysterical at this point. Braeburn shook his head and sighed with agony at his friends joke.

"Ah just don't know what t' think of ya anymore," he leaned back in his chair and glanced up at the clock to check the time. "yer just such a child."

"Pardon me?" Soarin whipped his head round, looking appalled. He folded his arms and made a pouty face. "I am not childish. Give me some examples of how I could possibly be childish."

"Okay..." Braeburn tapped his hoof on the tabletop for every reason he thought of. "Ya sleep with a stuff animal every night."

"HEY! You leave Oliver alone!" Soarin sniffled, thinking about the fuzzy stuffed frog he kept on his pillow. What was wrong with sleeping with a plushie- it helped him sleep and that was what mattered, right? Braeburn could go and shove his beliefs about stuffed toys up his exit hole!

"What else..." Braeburn clicked his tongue as he wondered before thinking of something. "...yer a really immature joker."

"Am not!" Soarin said. He then remembered something. "Hey Brae, I was watching SpewTube videos the other day and this guy arm-farted to the tune of More Than a Feeling by Horseton. Check it out!" Soarin put his hoof in his armpit, but suddenly realized that what he was doing was precisely what Braeburn was criticizing him for. He sat up straighter and flicked a hoof. "And by that I mean that you should just totally check out that video for yourself. It's hilarious." He said in his most mature voice.

"Ah have one more reason... out of many," Braeburn waited for Soarin to stop sticking his tongue out at him before telling him. "yer a huge crybaby."

"That is deplorable!" Soarin declared. "I'm too tough to cry!"

Braeburn sighed and stared at his friend bluntly. "Just yesterday you were cryin' about snakes."

"They don't have any arms!" Soarin whimpered, sticking out his bottom lip. He then sighed and decided to admit defeat. "Maybe you're right. I guess I am a little bit of a child at times," he suddenly felt the urge to use the little colts room- no, the stallion's room! Get it right, Soar! "I could change," he told himself. "yeah, I'll show you Brae, I will be a new me!" He stood up on the table.

"Soarin, I just cleaned this!" Braeburn explained, though his words fell on deaf ears. Soarin began a rather uncharacteristically strong monologue.

"I will get fit, lose weight. A new me shall reign!" He began, raising himself to his full height, pretending that the light glimmering off the pots and pans were spotlights aimed directly at him and he was speaking out from the top of the world down below to the whole of Equestria, and maybe even the lands outside of it.

"I'm going to be the kind of stallion who leaps out of bed and just does this-" he flipped his mane "-and his hair looks like perfection! He then grabs a home made cookie out of his self-crafted tin and heads to work, the sleeves of his uniform rolled up with a pair of awesome blue shades on just to show how much power he has. He will have a potted plant that doesn't die on him, and his fruit bowl won't be full of two month old rotting peaches because he actually eats the fruit! He'd have a designer wallet with his name in diamonds on it, he will grab a wheatgerm smoothie every time he has a break at work because that's enough to keep him going, even though at lunch he had an intense weight lifting session, and enjoyed it, because he doesn't have flesh that moves independently to his main frame. And finally, he has easy access to pens to finish a crossword at a bar where the mare he decides to take as a lover says to him, 'Hey, yesterdays date was awesome!'.

"I'll be that kind of stallion!" Soarin finished and looked down at Braeburn. "Were you playing Flappy Bird the entire time I was speaking?!" He asked angrily, his wings dropping to his side as he caught sight of Braeburn blankly tapping away at an iPhone that he got from Celestia knows where. Braeburn's ears perked up and he angled his head so he could look at Soarin.

"Sorry, did ya say somethin'?" He asked. Soarin face-hoofed and hopped down from the table.

"You're an ass." He found himself telling the earth pony for what felt like the billionth time in his life. "I'll show you and everypony else that I can be mature. I'll be like a phoenix emerging from the ashes of my old life and soaring away to begin anew. Behold! I am stallion... and phoenix. Both! But not in a mutant-like way..." he trailed off, his mind suddenly clear of literally anything that made sense. "...and yes, I have indeed lost my train of thought."

"Well good luck with that," Braeburn said dismissively.

Soarin groaned and left the kitchen in a huff, figuring that while he was cooling down from his moment in the light he should get some of the paperwork he'd been given over with. He hadn't even known that so much paper existed in the world until a stack had been piled on his desk that morning. What in the world had he done to deserve such a punishment!

---

"Nice job cadets," Wave Chill congratulated the training pegasi at the end of a particularly grueling paired flight examination. His grin made all of the cadets feel as if they had accomplished something since the most thanks they got from their previous instructors were the occasional 'nice work' or 'not bad'. Secretly Rainbow was sad that it was over, because for some reason she couldn't explain that days events had not been problematic at all, something that she wasn't used to around here, what with something always seeming to go on, no matter how stupid.

"Dismissed!" Was all Wave said, and he waved them off. Rainbow waited until Lullaby was beside her before beginning to head to the Mess Hall.

"WHOO! That was a blast!" Dash cheered, tossing her mane with her head held high. Since Lullaby didn't reply, Rainbow voiced the thing that had been on her mind most of the day. "Ya know, Lullaby, I can't put my hoof on it but things seem so peaceful and relaxing today."

Lullaby cleared her throat to get Dash to look at her. "Let me put your hoof on it," she offered, and Dash nodded for her to speak. "Spitfire, Silver Lining and Blaze aren't making us sweat our lives out, and Spring Song and Paradise are nowhere to be found."

Rainbow was silent, just staring and not making any movement aside from her ear making a single twitch. Lullaby let out an 'ugh' sound. "You didn't notice, did you?" she asked, and Rainbow slowly shook her head. Lullaby let out a longer groan and began ranting.

"Shouldn't we tell somepony that two cadets haven't been seen since last night? Better yet, why didn't we have a roll call this morning? What is going on in this Celestia forsaken Academy- oh."

Rainbow looked over her shoulder at her friend, who had suddenly become quiet and stopped in her tracks. Following her gaze, Dash saw that she was staring at Cinder, traipsing along behind the other cadets, her head dipped down so that her purple and black pigtails are close to scraping the clouds below. Lullaby, being the kind pony she was, headed over to her right away.

"Cinder?" Lullaby asked, and although she was quiet, Cinder still jumped. Her golden eyes were wide and watering a little, and she hid her face immediately so that the others wouldn't notice- it was too late for that of course. "What's the matter?" Lullaby sat next to Cinder, who had plonked herself down on her hindquarters, and wrapped a wing around her like a blanket. The small uniformed cadet leaned into the purple pegasus pony's embrace and sniveled into her fur.

"It's nothing... just stupid stuff," Cinder tried to show that she wasn't upset, but anypony with half a brain could figure out that that wasn't the case. Rainbow stood in front of the two hugging pegasi.

"C'mon Cinder, spill the beans," she prompted the tiny mare. "it can't be that stupid." She hoped that she was right. Cinder sighed and pushed Lullaby away, getting up and starting to walk away towards the Mess Hall.

"Really, I just need time to think," she insisted. Rainbow and Lullaby mirrored each others facial expressions, catching up with Cinder easily, the little blue pony letting out an irritated sigh at their return.

"Cinder, you can tell us anything," Lullaby smiled down at her warmly. Cinder shook her head.

"You'll be mad at me!" She said in a voice higher than she had probably intended for it to be. Rainbow raised a brow and rubbed her forehead, not really one for a serious conversation. Lullaby rubbed Cinder's back, something that she probably did with her younger siblings when they were distressed.

"Please tell us..." Lullaby said in a voice so kind that even Fluttershy would be impressed. Cinder stared back at Lullaby for a few moments more before looking straight down, sniffling and letting her wings wall to her sides. The tiny pegasus clapped her hooves together nervously, clearly contemplating whether she should say this or not.

"Promise you won't tell anypony?" She asked in that sweet little voice of hers, and Lullaby nodded instantly, never losing that soft smile of hers. She gave Rainbow Dash a glance that was clearly instructing her to nod too, so she did. Cinder sighed one last time and looked around to make sure that nopony else was in earshot.

"Go ahead..." Dash prompted, trying to ignore the smells wafting outside from the Mess Hall and the gnawing hunger in her tummy. Cinder gulped and twirled one of her pigtails around one hoof.

"Okay, I have to say this before I burst..." she let one single tear roll down her cheek before saying a sentence that Rainbow Dash would usually associate with a nightmare.

"I don't wanna be a Wonderbolt."

If Dash had been drinking she would have done a spit-take, and it took all of her willpower not to yell 'WHAT!?' at the top of her lungs. Why the heck would Cinder not want to be a Wonderbolt? Who wouldn't wanna be a Wonderbolt? What the hay was going ON?!

"E-excuse me?" Lullaby blinked a couple of times, her mouth making an O shape. Cinder sniffled and wiped her eyes and nose with a hoof.

"You heard me... I don't wanna be in the Wonderbolts." She confessed, her scrunched up face suggesting that this was painful for her.

"Then... why did you sign up for this?" Rainbow Dash's hunger was now completely forgotten and replaced with curiosity. Intense curiosity! "Why would you spend four months training to become a Wonderbolt if you never wanted to be one in the first place?"

"I had to!" Cinder raised her voice and looked up at the sky. "I needed to do this to prove to everypony that someone like me could amount to something."

Lullaby gave Dash a baffled look, looking a little frustrated to say the least that Rainbow wasn't showing any concern. Well she was concerned, but she was too busy staring blankly at Cinder to show it.

"Do you... wanna talk about it?" Rainbow didn't mind that Lullaby was doing all the talking here. She was practically speechless anyway, so she was pretty much useless in this situation. Cinder nodded solemnly and shifted a little making herself comfortable as if preparing to tell a long story.

"Don't you wanna go inside?" she stopped herself before she started explaining, probably attempting to get out of this; but Lullaby was persistent.

"We've got time, right Dash?" She smiled gratefully at the rainbow maned mare as she nodded. Cinder ran a hoof down her face and sighed, folding her wings tightly to her sides and staring up into Lullaby's warm gaze.

"I..." she recoiled and stood up, all her previous confidence gone. "I can't take the pressure!" She started breathing heavily. "I'm so scared, guys... it's hurting me!"

Lullaby gasped and stood up, wings out in case she had to get help. Cinder was hyperventilating and shivering despite the warm weather, and she had a manic look in her eyes similar to that of a crazed animal. "Cinder, calm down," Lullaby soothed in a voice like honey. "just tell us what's wrong."

"I can't... it's stupid. It's personal!" She was desperate and frantically grabbed Lullaby by her shoulders, looking at her with pleading eyes. Lullaby looked like she wanted to argue- she wanted to help, that Dash knew. Lullaby was dedicated to helping out ponies in need, and Cinder was no different. She was a pegasus in need, therefore Lullaby would be in action. However Lullaby just sighed and stroked one of Cinder's pigtails to calm her down. She did seem to grow less tense at Lullaby's touch.

"Okay..." the purple mare said with a small smile. "have it your way. But if you ever want to talk, I'm here for you, and so is Rainbow Dash."

Cinder looked over her shoulder at Rainbow Dash, who had been standing awkwardly for a little while as the scene played out. She wasn't into this sentimental 'problem' stuff. That was Lullaby's thing if anypony's, but she would lend a hoof if she had to.

"She's right Cinder," the cyan mare grinned. "I've got your back."

Cinder managed a weak smile before stand up and wiping her eyes. "I'm better now," she sounded relieved. "come on, let's go and eat."

"Now that sounds like a plan." Rainbow smacked her lips and lead her friends inside, just pleased that Cinder was smiling. Lullaby however was not smiling... and if Dash knew Lullaby then she was gonna make this whole issue with Cinder some new project of hers. Why did she have a feeling that this could only end badly?

---

"MMMM! MMM MMMMMMMMMM!"

"Gooooooooood morning!" Surprise sang as she opened up the supply closet, Misty Fly close behind her and Feather Duster a few feet back, swinging a ring of keys around one hoof. Spring Song and Paradise were tied and gagged in the closet.

"Let us go!" Paradise had managed to shake her gag off overnight. "I can't feel anything below my shoulders anymore!"

"Surprise... we really should untie them. This was a stupid idea to begin with." Misty Fly agreed, stepping up to stand beside her white furred colleague. Surprise scoffed at that.

"Stupid? I don't know about you but chasing them down was the most fun I'd had in years!" Surprise giggled manically. Misty sighed and rolled her eyes, giving Surprise a disapproving look.

"You were completely out of breath and resorted to letting them escape to let your 'fun' continue," she made quotation marks with her hooves at 'fun'.

"Firstly, when ponies do this-" Surprise did the quotation marks. "-I don't know what it means. And secondly, we caught them in the end!"

Misty grumbled and gestured at the small janitor who was staring intently at the keys behind them in a slightly crazed manner. "That's only because Feather Duster loaded a tranquilizer gun and shot them from the roof!" She raised her voice. Feather Duster chuckled and leaned against the opposite wall.

"And the captain said that there was no use for one of those things." She then raised herself to her full height and smirked. "Feather Duster- Master of Weapons!"

"Ugggggh," Misty roughly rubbed the sides of her head. "I'm surrounded by morons..."

"Right back at ya," Surprise said in a cheerful voice, grabbing Spring Song and dragging her out by her tail, making the pink pegasus whack her head on a bucket on the way out of the closet. However instead of untying her, Surprise yanked her upright and slammed her against the wall, getting a muffled squeal out of the pink gagged pegasus.

"Surprise, what are you doing?! Misty gasped, dropping the tied up Paradise, whom she had been dragging out of the closet, on her face. Surprise didn't answer and pulled a walkie talkie out of her mane, pushing a button and speaking into it.

"This is Curly Fry to Rubber Duck, do you copy?"

"Don't call me that- we agreed to drop the names!" Came the reply on the other end. "What are you doing?"

"That's what I just asked!" Misty interrupted, only to be ignored again.

"We've got the Buttered Popcorn cornered in the Western Station, preparing to initiate my SlapChat101 training." Surprise said back in a serious voice. Spitfire could be heard groaning on the other side of the line.

"Will you stop with the dumb codes?" She snapped. "Where the heck are you?!"

Surprise sighed and rolled her eyes. "At the cleaning closet," she said. Feather Duster fluttered to Surprise's level and spoke into the walkie.

"And you're taking all the fun out of pulling off an investigation." She accused.

"This isn't meant to be fun! This is serious!" Spitfire emphasized the word 'serious'.

"And I seriously wanna get as much fun out of this as possible," Feather Duster replied.

"Feather Duster, I swear if you don't leave right now I will knock you out, dress you as a lettuce and feed you to some snails. It'll be a very slow death." Came the captain's threat.

"Great, so I can have the rest of the day off? Thanks Cap, see ya!" Feather Duster saluted before strolling away, tossing the keys over her shoulder with such accuracy that the ring landed on Misty Fly's nose, giving her a bit of a surprise.

"No, wait Feather Duster, don't you dare leave! I swear to Celestia I will- she's gone isn't she?" The sound of flesh making contact with flesh suggested that Spitfire had face-hoofed.

"Yep-a-rooni." Surprise confirmed and for a moment it sounded like Spitfire had face-planted her desk.

"Okay, just bring Spring Song here." Her voice was muffled, confirming that it was indeed pressed against her desk. Surprise shook her head.

"No need, I was just about to question her now." Surprise looked at the still gagged Spring Song. "Okay, answer me honestly and I'll let you and your friend go. WHY DID YOU PUT THE HORSESHOE IN THE CLOUD?!"

Spring Song stayed frozen with fear, though a few strained noises came from her taped-closed mouth. Surprise made a humming noise and brought the walkie back up.

"Subject refuses to speak, Cap." She reported. Misty Fly spoke from behind her.

"That's because you've taped her mouth closed!"

"Wait, WHAT?! Surprise what's going on?!"

"That was a little unnecessary, Mist," Surprise seethed over her shoulder. Misty huffed and folded her front hooves.

"You're one to speak, tying up a couple of cadets. That's not just unnecessary, it's downright cruel!"

"You're a real piece of work, ya know that?!" Surprise turned round and stepped towards Misty.

"And I suppose you could handle being the voice of reason better than I could?"

"Darn right I could!"

"Well you've got the 'voice' part of 'voice of reason' covered. Half your life is talking!"

"And the other half is dealing with your ignorance!"

The two pegasi nattered on at each other for a little while Spring Song and Paradise observed, Spring Song leaned up against the wall and Paradise on her side on the floor. The two Wonderbolt mares were arguing at the top of their voices and the two cadets watching them could barely hear what they were saying. They caught a few things like 'disappointing'. 'can't stand you', 'drank my coffee', 'no wonder you're single', 'this was a stupid plan', 'they're listening, Surprise!', 'you said this', 'you said that', 'I'll tell Spitfire!', 'don't bring her into this', and it carried on until Surprise yelled 'HOT TUB!' as loud as she could. They could finally hear a weird noise coming from the walkie.

"WHISTLE! WHISTLE! WHISTLE!" Spitfire yelled over and over. It was quiet for a little while before Misty leaned down and spoke into it.

"What are you doing?" She asked. Spitfire sighed with a hint of relief.

"I was trying to get your attention but I neither have my whistle or know how to whistle," she explained. "Ugh, never mind that, just get the cadet down here!"

Surprise did as she was told without protest, flinging Spring Song across her back while Misty Fly dragged Paradise along by her bonds. It took them a while to get to the office, getting a few weird looks from some of the other Wonderbolts as they went past the staff room. Finally, Surprise performed the secret knock and Spitfire unlocked the door, and as soon as the captain caught sight of the whole circus this had become she gasped and her jaw dropped.

---

"Holy Luna's mooncheeks, Surprise!" She clamped a hoof over her own muzzle, muffling her voice. "How long have they been tied up?"

"Oh... not that long," Surprise bit her lip and put on her best poker face.

"We were in the closet all night, ma'am," Paradise piped up, and Surprise made some incoherent grunts of agony. Spitfire didn't hesitate to untie Paradise.

"Misty Fly, get Spring Song," she commanded, and Misty nodded, grabbing the end of the tape over Spring Song's mouth. Spring Song made some panicked whimpering noises and Misty Fly shushed her.

"Calm down, I'm just gonna rip it off quickly okay. On the count of three..." Spring Song tensed. "One, two-" and then she ripped the tape off, getting a loud shriek of pain from the pink pegasus. Misty Fly pressed her mouth into a think line and looked off to the side. "...three." She finished. Surprise then moved to untie the ropes around her at the same time, and upon realizing this they both backed away from each other, leaving an angry Spitfire to do the work for them.

"I swear it's like I work with toddlers." She muttered under her breath and she loosened the ropes around Spring Song. Paradise, who was now free, started rolling on the floor.

"Ahhhhh... I can feel my legs again!" She breathed with content. "Oh that feels so goooood!"

Spitfire looked over at Misty Fly. "Did you find anything out prior to this?"

Misty shook her head, making her mane toss. "No, ma'am, I didn't get much of a say in any of this as you can plainly see," the custard mare looked behind her at Surprise who was leaning against a wall. Paradise lay on her back on the floor, and Spring Song had both hooves over her mouth, looking like she was in quite a fair amount of pain by this point.

"Surprise, I thought you and Misty were in this together? I specifically told you that." The captain accused her friend, who shrugged.

"You never said that," she argued. "you just said that the two of us should find out what we could... no together's were mentioned until about ten seconds ago." Spitfire felt her blood beginning to boil.

"Well I thought you'd understand without me having to spell it out for you!" She clenched her jaw hard, feeling her heart rate increase with the frustration she was feeling. "And you had the nerve to actually chase down these two cadets, tie them up, and throw them in a closet overnight. This is a new level of stupidity, even for you!"

"There's just no pleasing you!" Surprise raised her voice, and Spitfire just looked away.

"Shut up! Just shut up!" She needed silence now. Misty Fly moved to stand next to her, and Spitfire felt grateful that she was there. Misty Fly was a good pony, and while Spitfire didn't trust her as well as her friends from when Typhoon was still alive, she was definitely one of the closer ponies to her among those who weren't quite aware of her trauma.

"I'm so sorry about this, Captain; I really didn't mean to let you down," she said in a small voice. One of the few things Spitfire did not like about Misty was how she always managed to get her pity with that voice of hers and those big blue eyes- Misty could make a freaking bugbear go soft.

"It's fine..." Spitfire sighed, although that was clearly not true. If anypony found out that two Wonderbolts (and the janitor) had shoved a pair of innocent mares in a tight space overnight then a real shit-storm could go down. Misty Fly had a frantic look on her face, and it only took a moment to figure out that she was clearly thinking the same thing about them getting in trouble if anypony discovered what had happened to Spring Song and Paradise. Hopefully they could be persuaded to keep quiet about the whole ordeal... somehow.

"Well... what do we do now?" Misty asked with a gulp. Surprise smoke up from the other side of the room.

"Maybe you should freak out some more; that'll definitely help us out." she said with a chuckle. Misty growled and Spitfire resisted the urge to facehoof. Surprise did not like Misty Fly for some reason, and in all honestly seeing Surprise act like this towards another living thing made her wonder if she'd walked into an alternate dimension when she left the house.

"I can't believe your attitude, Surprise," Misty stormed over to Surprise. "and now you're just slouching over here doing nothing!"

"Hey it's not my fault that this whole investigation is going on!" Surprise straightened herself up so she towered over Misty Fly a little. "Why do you have to make things even more painful by squawking at me?!"

"I am not squawking!"

"Yes you are! You're squawking at me and making fun of my posture!"

"THIS is squawking. SQUAWK, SQUAWK!"

Spitfire sunk into her spinning chair and exhaled, Paradise and Spring Song standing side by side in front of the desk, looking around awkwardly and probably wondering if they could leave. Spitfire angled her left ear to the side, listening in on Misty and Surprise's argument and wishing that she had a shotgun.

"ENOUGH!" Spitfire slammed her hooves on the desk, getting everyone's attention and sending an admittedly scary echo around the room. Misty and Surprise looked over at her with round, frightened eyes, signalling that she had done a good job of getting them to focus on her.

"This is getting ridiculous!" The captain used her lecture-voice. "I picked you two for this because I trust you and the least could do to help out is get along, but somehow you're arguing, yelling, and tying up ponies, and this is not what I signed you up to do, and if you cared even the slightest about anything that is happening you would drop the act, get a grip and just deal with one another for a few days. How hard is that?"

"Well..." Misty Fly didn't get a chance to reply as Spitfire started speaking again.

"Surprise, how could you let this happen?"

Surprise scoffed. "I think a better question to ask would be why Misty won't stop bugging me."

Misty reached into the pouch she wore around her neck and pulled out a cigarette, though she didn't light it, speaking in slow, pronounced words. "Be-cause I am try-ing to act nor-mal and get this job done. O-KAY?!" She raised her voice on the last word. Surprise did the same thing.

"But she is be-ing a to-tal tail-hole, Cap-tain. O-KAY?! She pushed her nose against Misty's. Misty dropped her cigarette and grabbed Surprise's shoulder, staring so hard into her eyes that it looked like she was about to murder the white mare.

"I swear, you are-"

"STOP!" Spitfire yelled again, noticing that by this point Paradise and Spring Song had backed towards the door a little, though they came back forward with a single glance their way.

"This is so typical of you two! Why don't the pair of you go and do some angry... stuff together!" She meant it as a joke but the absence of any humor in her voice made it sound like she was being serious, resulting in a furious Surprise and a flustered looking Misty Fly.

"I have standards!" Surprise announced and Spitfire buried her face in her arms on the desk, being treated to an audio version of Surprise and Misty's ridiculous argument.

"Oh please," Misty snorted. "Ya know after spending time with you I can see why you live alone!"

"Well I can see why you live alone!"

"I do not live alone! I live with Chantalle!"

"She's a cat!"

"I know she's a cat, but she's far better company than you!"

"Well I understand why you enjoy her company so much- she doesn't answer back so you can just drone on and on and on-"

Misty spoke over her. "Oh, listen to you going on and on and on and on!"

Surprise then addressed Spitfire, who looked up from her position with her ears drooping, slowly losing the will to live. "You have no idea what it's like Spitz, she's such a goody-four-hooves!"

"And you are ridiculously selfish!" Misty raised her chest and spread her wings.

"SHUT UP!" Spitfire shouted for the third time. "You're both as bad as each other. This kind of barbarism is utterly objectionable!"

Surprise looked confused at all the big words Spitfire was using, and Misty raised a brow, signalling that she too had no idea what the captain had just said.

"Seriously, buy a dictionary, dirtbags,' Spitfire thought before coming up with a plan.

"Okay, let me put this in terms that 'the kids' would understand," she then spoke in a stereotypical teen voice. "Are you starin' a ting?" She looked at Surprise. "Are you startin' a ting?" She looked at Misty, and then spoke to both of them. "Coz if you startin' a ting I'mma bust ya up. Dis ain't no joke. I'm a cold-ass bi-atch. A thugged up, gang-bangin' hustla. One mo' battle, yo' headin' for the dirt-nap. Right back up yo' ass. Ya get me?"

Misty and Surprise slowly nodded, giving each other a look of confusion (once again by Spitfire's choice of wording, but of course for a completely different reason this time).

"Now get outta mi room... seriously Misty Fly, go wait outside the office; Surprise you stay in here. Paradise, you're free to go."

Misty Fly gave Surprise one more hurt look before striding out of the room, holding the door open for Paradise as she hurried on her way (and not forgetting to pick up her cigarette on the way out). Spring Song sat still, staring straight at the floor. (Whoa, a lot of alliteration there. Pinkie might be proud. ^^)

"Okay, is everypony calm now?" Spitfire said, though she was basically asking herself this most of all. She hated it when her fellow Wonderbolts didn't get along because harmony was important within a team, so this kinda felt like she was failing at her job... well there was no time to think about that. They had some questioning to do.

"We're cool now, Cap," Surprise was smiling now, thank Celestia, and she stood at Spitfire's side, her chest raised like a noble guard dog or something. Spitfire folded her hooves across her chest and stared through her sunglasses at the pink mare sitting on her rear before her. Her head was tilted down so that her bob-cut blonde mane tumbled down her cheeks, but somehow completely avoiding her bright green eyes.

"Alright Spring Song, what I'm asking of you is simple." She used a stern voice to make the younger mare meet her gaze... then again nopony could really make eye contact with spitfire if they couldn't see her eyes. But then again, that was why she wore her shades in the first place; ponies' eyes held too much emotion. For example she could see the worry in Spring Song's own eyes, there was also concern, anxiety, and desperation. She wanted to leave... but that might have just been from Misty Fly and Surprise's argument a little while back rather than the possibility that she was the culprit. After all, she had been the one in the clouds with Rainbow Dash when the lightning struck her so it was highly unlikely that she was the one responsible for putting it there. But every single piece of information she gave could bring them one step closer to finally figuring out what caused all this and allow them to finally shut this whole mystery down.

"Why did you put the horseshoe in the cloud?" Surprise repeated her question from earlier and Spitfire grabbed a sticky note, posting it against her white furred friend's mouth to shut her up.

"That's not the question. I just want to hear what you were doing before, during, and after the storm cloud incident. Got it?" The captain asked. Spring Song sighed and nodded.

"Yes ma'am." She confirmed.

"Then go ahead, but I want the truth and nothing but the truth, and I'll have you know that my colleague here is a living lie detector," Spitfire slugged Surprise on the shoulder a little harder that she had anticipated, but Surprise seemed okay with it anyway. The white mare sunk down below the desk and the popped up again next to Spring Song, frightening the heck out of her.

"Yep-a-rooni. One wrong word and we could end your life!" Surprise warned, her eyes mad.

"We're not gonna hurt you," Spitfire said through another sigh. "though I can make exceptions for other ponies." she looked at Surprise but she was secretly thinking of numerous ponies. The list was not important and she just didn't want to think about it, so she focused instead on the thing keeping her distracted from all the crap going on in her life at that point: The mystery.

"So go ahead, cadet," Spitfire reached under her desk for another glass of wine. She had grown quite used to the bittersweet taste at this point, and was drinking more glasses than she had been the previous day. Every time she took a sip her brain would be flooded with the strange but genuinely syrupy aroma of the stuff, and when the taste faded she needed more.

"Well..." Spring Song clicked her tongue, thinking for a second. "The morning of the... thing, I was just doing what I do every morning. I wake up, have a shower, put on my make-up, kick Paradise out of bed... though back then i had to kick her out of her own bed every night," she grumbled. Spitfire and Surprise looked at each other with a baffled expression on their faces, and Spring Song caught on right away.

"Did I say that out loud?" She asked, and Surprise nodded sympathetically. Spring Song flushed a bit at that, but it only lasted a millisecond before she continued her story.

"Yeah, shower, eye shadow, Paradise, ah! Okay, I went outside with the others and lined up. Then you explained the rules of the game, then we were put in teams... and then we split up into gold and silver."

"Get to the stuff I don't know, please," Spitfire snapped. Sure it was a little unnecessary, but as we all knew, Spitfire wasn't a patient pony at all. Spring Song's voice strained now, as if she were scared of tripping over her words for fear of being beheaded or something.

"Um... well I..." she gulped and rubbed one front leg with the other. Surprise grabbed her by the shoulder and looked into her eyes with a look akin to that of a maniac.

"What? What is it; what did you do?!" She asked. Spring Song started stuttering (Another alliteration bomb!) and looked down at the ground again.

"I tried to trick Paradise into helping our team- please don't hurt me!" She said hurriedly. Spitfire sighed, knowing that this was not important at all.

"Cadet, this is all in the past. You cheating doesn't matter anymore, just tell the story so we can move on with our lives," she heard Spring Song sigh with relief before resuming her tale.

"Okay, after that I took charge and sent our team off in pairs, me on my own because I'm too tough for that teamwork shtick." She grinned. Spitfire sat up straighter; this is why she had issues with Spring Song- she failed to see that sometimes teamwork is important in a group and has clearly let her inability to maintain friendships with ponies ruin things more than once. Heck, Spitfire remembered when Spring Song and Rainbow Dash were friends in the first few days of the boot camp; that seemed like such a long time ago...

"I remember Butternut was talking about all these stupid strategies, and she wouldn't shut up- not even when I threw some clouds at her face," she spoke of Butternut as if she were the one being the bad one in the situation. Spitfire felt her hooves clench as the cadet in front of her spoke of her acts as if they were acceptable- there was obnoxious and then there was just plain being a bitch.

"Anything else?" Spitfire prompted Spring Song to continue when she didn't speak for a little while. The pink cadet groaned again and slumped lower in her spot.

"That little mare, um... Thinder-"

"Cinder," Surprise corrected her.

"Yes, her, whatever. She wouldn't shut up either and then she got all defensive when I told her to stop, the jerk. And if that's not enough I caught her yapping to... PurpleButt or whatever her name is that nopony ever pays attention to her." She then snorted with laughter. "Lullaby didn't hear her." She giggled.

'It's not illegal to strangle cadets, right?'

'Unfortunately yes.'

"After that we all left for the hunt," she was making dramatic gestures to match her story now. "I found a couple horseshoes and hid them- naturally the others were blown away by the fact that I'd found two at once, and then I spoke to Paradise about something... probably something dumb, then I went to check on Lullaby and Winder's progress."

"Just leave it," Spitfire stopped Surprise from correcting Spring Song again, and the curly maned Wonderbolt made a pouty face. Heck, she could barely remember Cinder's name, so there was really no point in being mad at Spring Song for it, too.

"Anyway, the two of them were talking to Rainbow Tr-Dash!" She corrected herself, remembering that she was standing before the pony that held her future in her hooves. "Thankfully they stopped talking to her by the time I got down there and they'd actually found a horseshoe! Well Lullaby did anyway. Then I told Dinder to try harder and then she just few off crying. Wuss." She tutted angrily. Spitfire was fairly certain that Cinder's perspective of that would be different if they asked her.

"Anything else?" Spitfire finished her glass of wine and tried to savor the sweet after-taste in her mouth. Soon it would disappear and it would be onto the next glass- she knew it was bad for her but she would do about anything to distract herself from her own unstable mind right then.

"Um... I got into an argument with Dash about something or other and then I went back to the stash. When I got there I was just in time to see Sugar Swoop making off with our stash, so I sent Bumble, Lullaby and Butternut to get him. And... Tempest and Ray were talking about the cloud cluster... I don't know why, but now that I think about it, it's weird that they were talking about it at the same time Dash flew in there and got zapped."

"And it's strange how Paradise heard three other cadets talking about the same thing," Surprise added, stroking her chin.

"Whatever's going on here," said Spitfire. "the silver team seem to be the ones who knew about it the most. We'll have to keep questioning those ponies," she told Surprise, who nodded with a stern, business-look on her face as if she had not been more serious about anything before... and that could be a possibility, knowing Surprise. Spring Song kept telling her story.

"That's what gave me the idea to go in the cloud cluster in the first place. I didn't know Rainbow Dash would be there, and stuff went down and... I think you know the rest. Then I went back to mine and Paradise's room... I thought Rainbow Dash might... forget it, I'm done now." She ended on a melancholy note that made Surprise sniffle. For a long while after that the three mares were quiet, and Spitfire figured that there really wasn't anything more to say other than:

"You're free to go now." Spitfire dismissed Spring Song, who left without another word, looking pretty miserable and ashamed. Well that sure was a surprise- Spring Song actually felt guilty about what she did, and she had a right to do so as well.

"Welp, what should we do now, Cap?" Surprise asked as Spitfire got a cup of coffee. It probably wasn't a wise choice, mixing wine with coffee in her stomach, but at that point she didn't care if it made her get some kind of weird tummy disease or not; she just needed energy and alcohol.

"We keep on questioning ponies. Maybe we should ask Lullaby next- she seems to know Rainbow Dash the most so if anypony was out to get her she may have some idea." Spitfire plotted. Surprise saluted, crossing her eyes and sticking her tongue out. Spitfire remembered that whenever Surprise used to do that in the past she would totally crack up... when had that stopped being funny?

"Oki-doki-artichoki," Surprise turned to leave. "I'll go and get started-"

"Hold it!" Spitfire grabbed Surprise's tail with one hoof. "I want to talk to you, too."

"Aw, Spitz, are you giving me a promotion?" She asked. Spitfire blinked a couple of times.

"A promo- how can I give you a promotion without any available spaces for you to have?" She waited for whatever Surprise was going to answer that question with.

"Well you could just make something up," she suggested. "I like this one in particular: Executive Best Friend."

Spitfire sighed. "If that's what you want then it's all yours." She decided to say, relieved that Surprise would get the idea of a promotion out of her head if she did. Surprise cheered and turned to go again.

"You're the best, boss!" She cheered.

"Wait," Spitfire grabbed her by the tail again. "There's something else. I want to talk to you about Misty Fly."

Surprise stood still for a few seconds and then tried to launch herself away. "Let me go, Spitz! I have some powerful back legs and I'm not afraid to use 'em."

"Yes you are."

"Yes I am."

"Surprise, listen to me. I want to know what you've got against Misty Fly so I can help. Just say it," Spitfire wanted her two friends to get along- watching the two of them argue gave her a migraine... speaking of which, where were her pills?

"Why?" Surprise pouted like a misbehaved filly.

"Because I'm tempted to smash your heads together to knock some sense into you." That got Surprise to start talking.

"Alright, alright, I'll explain," she sighed. "When I first met Misty Fly it was before the airshow in Neighbraska."

"I know that," Spitfire wanted Surprise to skip the obvious stuff. The white mare carried on.

"As I was saying, that show was incredibly important to me," she spoke in a solemn voice, the light in her eyes fading. "you know how I have family in Neighbraska, right?"

"Where's this going?" Spitfire asked, suddenly wondering if this topic was okay to bring up.

"Well... my grandpa..." she sniveled. "...he really wanted to see me perform at least once."

'Oh no...'

'Nice going Spit, now look what you've done.'

"I was gonna show him and the others everything I trained for... and then Misty Fly ruined it. And..." She cut herself off and Spitfire could practically hear Surprise's throat close up on her.

"And that's why you act like that towards Misty..." Spitfire finished her sentence, feeling real sorrow for her friend. Suddenly she didn't blame Surprise for behaving the way she did. But at the same time, Misty Fly needed some defense, too. "Surprise, Misty Fly doesn't know what she did wrong- she's just as confused about your actions as I was a minute ago. Maybe if you two talked this over things would get better." She suggested. Surprise shook her head.

"No! Every time I see Misty I... I can't stop blaming her for what happened. Don't you think I've tried?!" She raised her voice. Spitfire nodded.

"I get it, Surprise. Letting go is hard to do." She placed her chin on the desk... she knew what Surprise was going through; losing loved ones hurt more than physical pain, so what right did she have to tell Surprise to move on when she couldn't.

"Okay, I can't change how you see Misty, and I'm sorry." She apologized, turning away. There was no movement for a while before Spitfire suddenly felt a pair of hooves wrap around her.

"Hey, don't go blaming yourself for this. You're right, ya know? This isn't Misty's fault, and I... I might have hurt her a little bit. ya wanna know a secret?" She asked in a lower voice.

"Not really, but you'll tell me anyway so why not?" The golden captain shrugged. Surprise rubbed her cheek against her friend's.

"I feel sad sometimes, but whenever I do I think of two very special mares." She revealed.

"Oh really?" Spitfire rolled her eyes, feeling something sappy coming in for landing.

"Yep. I think about Pinkie Pie and how she can put a smile on anyone's face. She's the happiest pony in the whole world and I admire her for grinning her troubles away and looking on the bright side no matter what. I didn't know anypony could be so optimistic before I met her." She gushed, her eyes glowing and her smile returning as she spoke of her 'Twinzie'.

"Sweet." Spitfire said simply, rolling her eyes at how her friend talked about the pink mare, despite having gotten over her previous jealousy.

"And the second pony is you, Spit."

"Don't call me- wait, what?" She asked, her ears sticking up. Why in Equestria would she keep Surprise happy? She was the most pessimistic pony she knew!

"I remember how strong you are and that inspires me." Surprise explained. Spitfire shook her head.

"Then you've got something wrong with you, Surprise. I'm not strong at all. I keep screwing up, my mind is so unstable that I feel like I could lose it at any moment... I couldn't even protect Her." Spitfire screwed her eyes shut and drank some more coffee. Distractions, distractions, distractions...

"No Spitfire, you've got it all wrong. You've been through a lot but you never let that keep you down; no matter what happens you maintain a strong demeanor and you always know what to do; that's what makes you the best captain and friend ever. It's just like Captain Nighthawk always used to tell us, strength isn't found in your wings, hooves, or horn- strength is keeping a model mind and never giving up. You are one of the most incredible ponies I've ever met, and of all the fillies I could have walked up to on the street at random, I thank the Princesses all the time that I chose you. You're strong, Spitfire; strong in the real way."

Spitfire's stomach was knotting up, which may have been because of the drinks curdling in there, but also because she was pretty choked up at that point. Almost against her will, she twisted round and hugged Surprise back, placing her head on her shoulder so she couldn't see her emotion-stricken face.

"Spitz-"

"Just shut up and hug me, Surprise," Spitfire kept her voice stern, and tried not to hug Surprise too tightly. Ugh, why did her friend have to be such a sap?

"Okay... there's always time for hugs." Surprise was sniffling now. "You're hugging me!" She squeezed Spitfire in that usual tight fashion of hers, but for once the captain didn't complain. Spitfire decided that the investigation and anything concerning Misty Fly could wait- all she wanted at that point was to just hug her best friend and release just a few of those hidden emotions of hers. She tightened her grip on the white mare just a little bit and buried her face in her fur.

Because- and this was typical of the captain- she didn't want to let go.

---

Endnote: I'm not gonna lie, Surprise's monologue at the end kinda made me get that same knot in my stomach. I'm just relieved I got this done before the next episode aired. So yes, this is another two-parter, but with the time it took for this you probably just want me to post something, anything, to show that I'm still alive. But yeah, the next part focuses more on Soarin's 'becoming a new pony' plotline, and this first part was just to introduce that, get Cinder's confession out of the way and continue the Surprise/Misty Fly arc, because I just love writing those two together- they are my favorite non-main Wonderbolts, after all. Now the next chapter has more comedy in it, which after the emotional ending of this one, I really need. :'(

I don't think I have any references in this chapter except one from Skylanders and two from Steven Universe, one of those being the 'strong in the real way' line at the end. I can't stop watching it. GRRR!

See ya next time! :D