As I'm walking off Storm follows me, flying so we're at eye level.

"What's got you all worked up?" Storm asks as he stares at me in confusion.

"I'll tell you about it later. Right now, I need to blow off some steam. Is there anywhere that is somewhat secluded?" I ask as I walk at a brisk pace.

"Um, the park would be best but why-"

"Great, that'll do. Where is it?"

"It's that way," he says as he points ahead, "but why do you..." Before he can finish I begin to run towards the general direction he pointed to. He quickly flies next to me and keeps pace with me, only having to flap his wings gently.

"Why are you running!?"

"..."

"Miles!?"

"..."

"Gaaah, why are you so stubborn!"

"Because I'm trying not to do something stupid. If I tire myself out, I won't have the energy to do anything."

"...oookay. Well can it wait until we actually get to the park? You’re kind of scaring some of the locals." I look around the houses to see many faces watching me run by. They look scared and I can hear them locking their doors as I run by.

"Too late to be discrete about this. I'll just have to explain myself another time."

As I run, the houses around me suddenly stop. The area becomes an open field of rolling green hills with several trees standing randomly. The path continues for several kilometers before ending at the massive red buildings from the other day. I stop abruptly, making Storm overshoot me by a few meters, and look around.

"Is this a park?" I ask as I look around the mostly open field.

"Yeah... what are you going to do?" I look around and try to figure out what I could do. Several meters to my right is a tree that has low hanging... columns? To my left is a fairly level open field. There are benches set periodically throughout the path, ahead in the path is a large water fountain that sits in the middle of a cross way for two paths.

"Miles?"

"Can you do me a favor?" I ask as I begin to unbutton my shirt.

"Uh, sure, what do you need me to do?"

"Hold this," I say as I throw him my shirt. With it off, I begin to sprint off the path to the left. I can see a small boulder in the distance and decide to make it my marker. When I make it to the boulder, I slide n' pivot and continue to run back to the path. I can see Storm just sitting there, looking pissed, with my shirt on the ground. When I make it to the path, I slide again and begin to run back to the boulder. I figure the distance between the two to be about... a little over half a kilometer. With every pass, I can feel my body begin to tire, sweat forming all over. The entire time I'm running, I keep my mind blank. I like to let the simplicity of a good workout clear my head. I haven't been keeping track, but as I turn away from the boulder I see Storm laying on the ground, on the verge of sleep. I decide to change things up in this last pass. When I make it to the path, instead of turning around, I run across and head straight for the tree.

"Huh? Wha?" says Storm in a sleepy daze as I pass him.

"Sorry sleeping beauty," I say as I run past him.

I make it to the tree and stop underneath it. With a jump, I grab the closest column and begin to do pull ups. After what feels like a few minutes, Storm walks in front of me and sits down. I can see that he put my shirt inside his armor, a bit too late but whatever.

"Are you done yet? We've been here for hours." I look around and notice that the sky is becoming darker. Damn, how long have we been here? I drop down to my feet and stretch a little before looking around, panting deeply.

"How long...*pant*...have we been out here?" I ask as I check my pulse.

"Three hours." Hot damn! That can't be right.

"Are you sure? It does not feel as if it's been three hours...*pant*...maybe half that."

"Do you see the sun?" I look around the sky but can't see it. "The sun sets at six. We left Carousel Boutique at three. You've been running like crazy for almost three straight hours."

"Oh, sweet...*pant*...Okay, let’s head back."

"Finally!" Storm cheers as we begin to walk back. With every step, I take I can feel a numb ping race up my legs. At certain points, it feels as if I'm going to drop from under myself. After a while my breathing is back under control, but is still constant. The cold night air stings against my throat with every inhale, and after what feels like forever I stop and collapse on a nearby bench.

"I'm sorry, just let me catch my breath." He nods and takes a seat next to me. I need to talk to him about what happened earlier anyway, what better time than now. "So, Storm, mind telling me what happened between you and Twilight?" He jumps a little at this, but quickly recovers and lets out a soft sigh.

"Well... we were eating lunch... and at first it was quiet... but, then, I started to ask about you and her, and she denied any feelings. I then asked her if she had feelings for anypony. She told me she only once ever had feelings for a colt she knew from a while ago. She started looking really sad, so... I kind of... kissed her."

"Why would you kiss her?"

"I don't know! My ex-marefriend would do the same thing and it seemed to work out-"

"Is Twilight your marefriend?"

"Well no, but-"

"So how could that have possibly worked out?"

"*sigh* I don't know. It just felt right," he says as he drops his head low. Well, it's obvious that he likes her, he's just stupid.

"It's not like I kissed her on the lips, it was just a peck on the cheek."

"HA! I had a friend who beat the shit out of some guy who looked at her in a suggestive manner. Trust me, women will blow everything out of proportion." This gets a small chuckle from Storm - good, at least Eximius’s pain is helping someone.

"You ever have a marefriend?" he asks as he looks up to me.

"Hey, this is about you, not me," I say as I try to change the subject back to him.

"Come on, one guy’s pain to another." Aw fucking ass, play the bro card on me.

"*sigh* No. I've never had a girlfriend before."

"Any girls that interested you?"

"Not really. For me, the only things that ever concerned me were doing good in school and protecting Topaz Falls."

"Hmm... sorry," he says as his ears droop down.

"For what?"

"Well, everypony keeps bringing up your past. And I know how that could hurt."

"Hmm... the weird part is, it doesn't really hurt. I'm saddened deeply, but... I don't know how to explain it; I feel as if I'm still there." I lean back against the bench and stare up at the night sky, letting myself get lost in the countless stars.

"We should head back, it's getting late," Storm says as he gets off the bench. We walk for a bit until a question bursts out from me.

"Hey Storm, do you trust me?" My question catches him off guard, making him rub the back of his neck as he thinks about his answer.

"Well... I really want to. You seem like an honest guy and I can tell you don't want to harm anypony, but my job tells me not to. It demands I expect that you will turn any second and try to hurt those around me. I don't want to believe that, but I have no choice to... sorry." I think about it and look back down at him.

"Don't worry about it. The mission comes first, never your emotions. Well, that's what they tell you in basic at least." He gives me a quick nod before walking down the path back to Twilight's.

"Hey, can I have my shirt back?" I ask as I walk beside him. He pulls it out of his armor with his wing and tosses it back to me. Didn't know they could do that... strange. I slide it on and begin to button it up before something comes to mind. Time to tease.

"So, you like Twilight."

"What!? No I don't!"

"In which case I guess I should apologize for making her feel me up like that. It's not cool to do that kind of stuff with your bro's girl."

"She's not my girl! But... that still wasn't cool."

"Hey, it was life or death, kind of, not really, pain sucks. Anyway, how do you plan on fixing this?"

"*sigh* Fixing what?"

"Well, she kind of hates you. Plus, have you even apologized yet?"

"She won't let me."

"Hmm... I'll talk to her. She may not want to hear it from you, but she may listen to me."

"I... would appreciate that...bro." I stick my fist out instinctively for a fist bump. It was something me and everyone else did and it just seemed right. I quickly realize that he doesn't have a fist to do this, so I begin to pull my hand away when all of the sudden-

Clock

He jumps up a little and jams his hoof into my fist, making a light clonking sound. Well, didn't see that coming. As we continue to walk into the town I begin to hum a melody. Once I can tell Storm is trying to listen I begin to whisper the words, getting louder and louder as we get closer to the library...

"Storm and Twilight walking in Emerald City... K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes..."

"Are you sure you aren't six? You keep acting like a six-year-old. Plus, you sang it wrong. It's sitting in a tree, not walking in Emerald City."

"Sorry, but where I come from, there are no trees, so why would we be sitting in them?"

"True, true... is Emerald City another human city?"

"No, it's a pony city," I say as I give him a ‘no shit’ look.

He rolls his eyes and says, "You know what I mean."

"Heh, yeah. It's our capital. It's supposed to be the epitome of political activity, social reform, and academic prosperity." Storm nods to this as we continue to walk. As we go, I begin to hum again.

"Storm and Twilight alone in Pony-ville... H-U-M-P-I—"

"REALLY!?" he yells as his wings flare straight back. "That didn't even rhyme!"

"It didn't need to. What's up with your wings?" He looks back and immediately tries to get them down, blushing like crazy.

"Wow dude... is this how pegasi get boners?"

"Can you just shut up for a minute!" he says as he tries to pull his wings down.

"Damn dude, you got it bad for her, don't you?" He grumbles to himself as he tries to work his wings down. After a minute of chanting what sounds like a drill chant he finally gets his wings down. He turns back to me with a blush and scratches the floor with a hoof.

"Please don't tell anypony," he asks as he looks up to me, blushing slightly.

"Hey, you can trust me with a secret, now let's get going before it gets too late." He nods and we continue to walk down to the library.

"Just out of curiosity, what was that?"

"It's called a wing boner. When a pegasi gets excited our wings flare back like that."

"Pegasi? As in it happens to females as well?"

"Yeah." Hmm... women with boners... why am I thinking about this? As we approach the library I can hear some yells coming from inside. With a quick glance Storm and I run to the library and burst through the door. Inside are all of the girls, plus Spike. All of them are facing Twilight, who looks like she's on the verge of exploding from anger.

"What's going on here?" I ask.

"Miles, just the person I wanted to see," says Spike as he looks to me and crosses his arms. "Can you come in here, we'd all like to ask you some questions."

Next Chapter: Chapter 17 True Intentions Estimated time remaining: 84 Hours, 55 Minutes