Beep...beep...beep...beep...

"Alright, alright. Time to get up, I get it," I say as I turn off my alarm. Aw fuck, what happened last night? I remember the party, moshing like an idiot, walking home and then... nothing. I seriously can't think of how I got in bed, or anything from before that. I open my eyes to see a note over my left eye. I pull it off and see something written in pony. Not knowing of its importance, I crumple it up and stick it in my pocket. I sit up and... AH! My fucking head.

The second I sat up, a mind-splitting headache erupted in my skull. Fuck, usually my magic helps me filter the alcohol better than this. I don't remember drinking enough to make me have this bad of a hangover. I stand up and look over to Storm's empty cot. Hmm, wonder where he went... oh sweet Barbra. I stumble my way up to Twilight's room and look up to her bed. It looks empty. I walk up to it and verify that it's empty; it doesn't even look like it was slept in. OK, in the clear so far, I should just head to the kitchen and talk to them during breakfast. As I make my way down to the front room I slip on something and fall down the main stairway. Luckily, a large pile of books catches me at the end of the stairs.

"Ow... what did I... what the fuck happened here?" Literally every book is on the floor, making several large piles around the room. In the center of the room is a small fire that Spike is trying to stomp out. I hear some grumbling and see Twilight's head pop out of one of the piles. Her hair is a complete disaster and she looks like she didn't get any sleep.

"Aww, my hea—AH! What happened to the library?!" Twilight yells as she jumps out of the pile, only to drop and hold onto her head from her own yelling.

"Oow... watch the volume," I say.

"Sorry. Where's Storm?"

"I haven't seen him, Spike?" Spike finally puts out the fire and turns to us, looking pretty worried.

"I haven't seen him at all. I woke up, smelled the fire and ran down here to put the fires out. I didn't even know Twilight was here until you showed up."

"Alright, Miles and I will check the rest of the library; Spike, can you get started on cleaning this mess up?" He nods and begins to pick up some books around him. Twilight and I walk up the stairs to her room and begin to look everywhere for Storm, but to no avail. As we begin to walk to the downstairs room I look over to Twilight. "What?"

"How do you feel right now?"

"Like I'm having the worst hangover of my life."

"Yeah, I figured, I meant... do you feel... as if... ya know?"

"Please Miles, I'm not in the mood to play games right now, can you just say it?"

"Do you feel as if you... and Storm... had sex?" Twilight stops dead in her tracks and gives me a horrified look.

"What!? No, I mean... I don't think so. IF WE DID I'LL RIP HIS WINGS OFF AND SEND HIM TO THE BOTTOM OF A VOLCANO AND-"

"Whoa! Lower the volume!" Twilight is fuming, she looks like she’s about to explode. "Damn, why do you hate him so much?"

"Because he's a bucking pervert!"

"I don't buy it, something more than him popping a wing boner made you hate his guts." Twilight turns away from me and enters the room. I follow her in and we search the room. After a while, we finish searching the room and begin to walk back to the front room. "Twilight?"

"Miles please, I don't want to talk about it."

"Alright, I won't force you to tell me. But, just know that if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here. I've been told I'm a good listener." Twilight stops in the middle of the room and sits down, dropping her head.

"*sigh* I don't want to talk about it because I don't want to remember it."

"Pushing it away won't fix it."

"Yeah... I know." I walk in front of her and sit down. She lets another sigh go before looking back to me. "Well, basically, I had a coltfriend a few years before I moved to Ponyville. He was a good stallion, until he showed his true colors. He tried... to take advantage of me. I fought him off and got away, but it didn't end there. He refused to leave me alone. He followed me, sent letters and would randomly show up from time to time, saying it was his duty to be with me."

"How did you get him to leave you alone?"

"He was transferred to a different guard division for disorderly conduct."

"So that's why you don't like Storm? Because of that guard?"

"No. Because Storm was that guard." My jaw drops as I hear this. Storm... tried to... no. I can't believe this. I saw the way he acted, there's no way he could do something like that. But, I wasn't there, so how can I say what he did or didn't do?

"We need to find him," I say as I stand back up.

"Miles, please don't do anything brash," Twilight says as she jumps to her hooves.

"I'm not going to do anything brash. I'm just going to have a word with him when we find him," I say as I start to walk to the front room. Most of the books are in neat piles and Spike is finishing picking them up. When I make it to the front room I stop and look back to Twilight. That's right, she can read pony text. I pull the note out and show it to Twilight.

"Go to the fridge?" Before she can ask I make a beeline for the fridge and open it. Storm immediately falls out and crashes on the floor. He's in his armor and looks as if he has a slight layer of frost all over him. He's holding onto himself, trying to warm himself up as he shivers violently. I shut the door and pick him up, bringing him to the front room. I set him where one of the fires was and turn to Spike.

"Get him a blanket." He nods and runs upstairs. As he runs off I remove Storm’s armor, returning him to his true form. "Twilight, are you one hundred percent certain it was him?"

"Do you think I would forget something like that?" I look down to Storm and shake my head. How could I have misjudged someone so badly? But at the same time, I still have this weird feeling. I need to speak to Storm. Spike runs down with a blanket and throws it on top of Storm.

"T-th-ank-ks," Storm stutters. I pat him on the back as I look to Twilight. She won't take her eyes off of Storm - screw it, I'll ask now, but in a more tactful manner.

"Hey Storm."

"Y-yeah?"

"What was the name of that girlfriend you had?" Spike looks at me as if I'm crazy while Twilight just closes her eyes, preparing for the answer.

"Wh-why w-would-d you n-need t-to know th-that?"

"I'll tell you later, just answer." He looks back and forth between me and Twilight before he drops his head.

"*sigh* H-her n-name w-w-was Rain-n-n-n D-d-drop."

"What!?" Twilight yells. "So after everything you put me through you're not even going to own up to any of it!"

"Wh-what are y-you talking about?"

"You know darn well what I'm talking about Storm Cloud! About how you followed me around, how you spent every spare second trying to control my life, about how you tried to rape me!" Storm stops shivering and sits straight up.

"What are you talking about? I grew up in Las Pegasus. I've only been in the guard for a year. The first time I ever saw you was the night Princess Luna stationed me here with Miles." The two of them stare each other down, neither backing down.

"Hey Spike," I call out, making him come out of his hiding spot from behind a pile of books. "Do you remember Storm?"

"A little, I was pretty young when it happened." Damn, that doesn't help. Before I could think of anything Storm gets up and goes to his armor. After some fumbling around, he pulls out a few photos.

"Look, here are some pictures I have of me and Rain Drop," he says as he throws down the pictures. I look down at the first photo and see Storm with some dark blue pegasus, with light blue hair and green eyes. The second picture is of the two of the standing in front of a house made of clouds. The last photo is of both of them sharing a kiss. Twilight looks down at both of them for a bit before she looks away.

"I don't want to look at some pictures of you and some tramp." Storm takes a serious expression when she says this. He picks up his armor and his pictures before he walks out the library.

"Twilight..." Before I could finish she runs upstairs, tears running down her face."*sigh* Spike, you talk to Twilight while I go talk to Storm. Something isn't right here and we're going to get to the bottom of this." He nods and walks upstairs as I walk out the door to follow Storm.

I step out and see Storm flying towards Applejack's farm, so I begin to run after him. Once again, as I run through the town, every person that sees me either runs indoors or watches in fear. This time however, I stop and walk through the town, I don't want to start a panic so I figure walking would be better; plus, I already lost sight of him so may as well let him cool off a bit before I find him.

"Ahem." I look over and see an elderly pony walking beside me, with a younger pony walking beside her. The elder one has a light tan body with grey wavy hair. Her mark is a scroll with a blue ribbon tied around it. The second pony is light beige with black hair that is tied up in a bun. She wears thick black glasses and has a typewriter as her mark.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes, actually. My name is Ivory Scrolls and this is my assistant, Sarah Neighlin. I'm the mayor of Ponyville and I've been meaning to speak with you-"

"Miles Eremita."

"Right, Mr. Eremita, it seems that you haven't been... properly introduced to the town. Usually this would happen during one of Pinkie Pie’s parties, but that didn't seem to go over very well. When you can, could you make it to my office sometime this week? I would like to show you around Ponyville and get you acquainted with its residents."

"Yeah, sure, but not right now, I'm kind of in the middle of something," I say as I quicken my pace to Applejack's.

"Of course, of course. How about Wednesday the twenty-ninth?"

"Alright, see you then." They both stop and let me go off on my own. A few minutes later I arrive at Applejack's farm and coincidentally run into Applejack.

"Well howdy there Miles!"

"Hey Applejack, did-"

"Are ya here ta work on the farm?"

"Well, no I was-"

"Cause iffin I'm rememberin’ correctly, Luna did say ya had ta work ta pay off yur debt fer breakin' muh window an' makin' a crater in my front yard." Fuck, I completely forgot about that. Whatever, a few hours of work and then I'll find Storm.

"Alright, I'll work for a while, but I can't stay too long. I need to find Storm and have a word with him."

"What happened with Storm?"

"I'm not entirely sure. That's why I need to speak with him."

"Well, let me show ya how ta buck apples and then I'll let you work in the north field, I saw Storm out there earlier sittin’ on a cloud." I nod and follow her to a nearby tree. "Alright, so here’s the basics," she says as she kicks the tree, making all the apples fall onto the ground. "Ya just give 'em a good buck an' then collect the apples in a bucket. Ya take a bucket ta the barn an' put 'em in storage. Simple enough, why don't ya give it a try."

I walk over to the next tree and look back to Applejack, who just leans against a tree and watches. I look back to the tree and then my feet. Dammit, I forgot to put my shoes on. Oh well, hopefully I can hold back enough, I take my stance and give the tree a solid kick. As I hit the tree I feel some energy escape me, making my kick strong enough to topple the tree. I stand there for a second, not wanting to look back to Applejack, but do after an awkward silence. Applejack is sitting down, wide eyed and with her jaw open as far as it will go.

"Umm... so now I just collect the apples and... bring them to storage... right?" Applejack has to shake herself before she can answer.

"How did you do that? There's no way ya coulda done that with yer scrawny legs. Big Mac can only barely do it an' he's been buckin' apples his whole life."

"Well, I just..." I begin to say but stop when I see Storm up above, lying on his stomach in a cloud. "Uh... I'll tell you later, I see Storm," I say before I run off into the rows of trees.

"I expect a hundred bushels of apples by the end of the day!" she yells as I run off. "Plus twenty more for the tree ya jus' destroyed!" One twenty, got it. I stop directly beneath Storm and look up.

"Storm!" I yell, making him face away from me.

"Go away Miles."

"No can do. Why don't you come down here, and let’s talk about this?”

"I don't want to talk about it!" Well, that didn't work... time for plan B. I walk over to a nearby tree and jump up to grab a couple apples. Once I have a few, I toss one straight through the cloud, hitting Storm in the face. "Ow! What the buck was that for Miles?" I toss another one at him, but he jumps into the air and dodges it. "Seriously! Come on Miles, give it a break." I throw the last apple at him but he just begins to fly away.

"Oh no you don't," I say as I charge the magic in my heels, sending the black lines up my calves. I squat down and jump into the air, sending me high up thanks to the magic. I hit my peak and begin to fall back down, heading straight for Storm. "Look out below!" I yell as I near him. He looks around before we collide and begin to fall together.

"Miles?! How did you get up here?" I wrap my arms around his midsection and grab onto my own arms, pinning him against myself. I slam, feet first, into the ground, sending dust all around us. I lose my balance and have to roll forward to compensate for the added weight. Once the momentum ends and I'm able to stand, I set Storm down and step back.

"Ready to talk?" I say as I put my fists on my hips.

"Your feet are on fire!" he yells as he stares at my feet.

"Yeah they do that sometimes, now quit changing the subject and spill your guts."

"Why are your feet on fire!? How did you get into the air like that!? Why are you not concerned about any of this!?!"

"Why would I be?" Storm facehooves and begins to pace around.

"This is bad. This is really, really bad. You need to tell me what's going on, right now."

"Only if you tell me what's up with you first." Storm stops and looks at me with wild eyes.

"Are you insane!? This is way more important than some stupid sob story. This could mean my job, you’re staying here... the Princesses could lock you up, or banish you. Or lock you up in the place they banish you to!" I shrug as I shut off the magic to my heels. I sit on the ground and wait for him to start talking. "Really!?"

"Yup."

"BBBUUCKKK!" he screams as he collapses on the ground. "Fine, but you better tell me what's going on with you. And I mean everything."

"I promise." He sighs as he sits up and pulls out the pictures again, bringing the one of him and the girl out front.

"This is Rain Drop. We were together for... almost five years. I really loved her. We did everything together, you couldn't separate us, we even bought a house together," he says as he moves to the picture of the house, "I really wanted to spend the rest of my life with her... but, then things started to go downhill. We would argue over the dumbest things and we started getting distant. I still loved her, but I started to question whether she loved me, well... until I caught her with another stallion. After that, she kicked me out and took everything of mine. Her new coltfriend was in the guard and kicked my flank whenever I tried to get my stuff back. The only things I have are these pictures and my name... well, so I thought. With nowhere else to go I joined the guard and tried to forget them."

"Why don't you go back and get some closure? I'm sure-"

"I can't go back! There's nothing to go back to!" Storm snaps, silencing me immediately. "*sigh* Rain Drop died during childbirth several months ago." A single tear rolls down the side of his face as he looks away, trying not to look at me.

"So... if all of this has happened recently... what's up with you and Twilight?"

"I don't know," he says as he lays down and covers his head with his forelegs, "I can't explain it, but when she's around... I don't know, the pain goes away. Like... if I can just be around her... I won't get those thoughts."

"What thoughts?" I ask carefully.

"You know... the ones where I end it. The ones where I stop the pain." I sigh as I position myself next to him and pat him on the back.

"Yeah... those ones, I've been down that road before."

"...Really? When?"

"A few days ago." Storm looks up to me, tears rolling down his face. "Losing everyone I ever knew or loved in the blink of an eye; knowing that there could have been something I could have done to make things happen differently, I didn't want to deal with it. So, I figured I would get my weapons, do a salute in remembrance, and take the shot."

"What made you decide not to?"

"Well, I figured if they were around, Dolum would never forgive me, Auxilium and Tenera would cry their hearts out, Dare would do some over the top ceremony, Fidus would go on a beating frenzy, Inficiunt would get even more mad at me for breaking another promise, Sine and Eximius would take another vow of silence, and Captain Bellum... Captain Bellum would find a way to kick my ass for being an idiot." I feel a tear roll down the side of my face, so I quickly wipe it away. "Thinking of that made me think, 'It doesn't matter if they are alive or if we ended on good terms, I want to honor our good memories and move forward in life because of them'... so I decided that I'm going to live. If not for me, then for them." As I finish, I have to wipe away some more tears, as does Storm. I quickly stand up and begin to walk towards a tree.

"What are you doing?"

"Way too much depressing shit going on over here. I've got to clear my head, and there's only one good way to do that." I kick the tree in front of me and luckily don't snap it in half. All of the apples fall on the ground with soft thuds. "Well," I say as I look back to him, "you going to join me or not?" He does a final wipe of the eyes as he stands and walks over to a tree. He turns and gives it a hard kick, making most of the apples fall to the ground.

"Sure," he says with a smile, "some manual labor sounds good right now."

Next Chapter: Chapter 23 Old Wounds, New Problems Estimated time remaining: 83 Hours, 18 Minutes