High Moon Ch. 50:

For the Truth, Part One

Midday came to the residents of High Moon as they all started to finish the tasks or jobs that they had been assigned by Wolf. Cyclone took a lesson on controlling her water-magic from Lily, learning to reshape it into a cutting edge. Blaze began fixing up a new batch of soap with Veil’s help. Spike and Wolf went to White Tail to check on the winter coats that were still in the process of being made. Since everyone else was busy, that left Frost and Isis to assist Quill in her flight training, so she could be ready for the competition in Stormfront.

Thanks to them, however, Quill had an optimal practice course for her to test her flying skills on. It took half the day get each twist and turn down right, along with the aerial obstacles such as circles of clouds that Quill wasn’t allowed to touch, but it was worth it.

And since all three of them had spent most of the day making the track, Quill wasn’t going to let it go to waste. “Alright, let’s do this!” she shouted as she began stretching out her wings, itching to test the course. “I’ve only got a few minutes before the clouds start moving out of place, right Isis?” Quill asked the sphinx standing behind her with Frost. The three of them were on the cloud that was serving as the start of the track.

“That would be correct, Quill,” Isis said in her trademark low tone, still wondering why Quill would waste her time with a simple flight competition when she and Frost were dreaming of defeating the mare’s mother. Though, Quill had already assured everyone in the pack that winning the competition would benefit them greatly, so Isis was willing to help her in any way possible. “Everfree weather tends to have an unpredictable factor that even I can’t predict, so this will not be easy for you.”

Quill breathed out a laugh as a smirk grew on her face, looking down the straight drop that was the beginning of the course. “If it was easy, it wouldn’t be worth doing,” Quill proclaimed before she allowed herself to fall forward into the ring-encased drop, quickly accelerating as she fell dead center inside the rings before opening her wings up to take off towards the rest of the track.

As she began rocketing up into the sky, Quill performed a series of flips over, and under, the various hurdles, kicking off of them as though they were tree-limbs, using the extra speed boost to shoot her way through the rest of the track.

Feeling confident in her skills, Quill started to rotate her body around to fly upside down, flapping her tail up and down to keep her balanced in the sky. However, in this cocky move, Quill failed to see a cloud-wall that was right ahead of her, plowing right through it.

After slamming through the wall, Quill was thrown off her intended course, and began falling out of the sky. “W-whoa, whoa! Nrah, come on Quill!” she shouted at herself as she struggled to regain her sense of direction before she hit something much harder than a cloud. Thankfully, and much to Frost’s relief, Quill was able to begin flying upright again. And this time, she watched where she was going. “I’m okay!”

Frost let out a sigh of relief while Quill again started to focus on the training course more, rather than on how ‘cool’ she looked. Frost loved every bit of Quill, but sometimes she wished her mate would think before she allowed her pride to take control of her actions. It might cost them dearly one day.

As Quill charged through the course, Frost sat down on top of the soft cloud, watching with slight worry for her reckless lover. Isis soon joined the mare, eye intent on Quill, not with worry, but with curiosity. Over the time Isis had spent with the dragoness, Quill continued to be a wonder, going against virtually everything a more traditional dragoness would.

“I must say,” Isis suddenly spoke as she continued to watch Quill climb higher into the sky, weaving her way through a series of rings that were place a roughly equal distance apart from each other. “She is quite the exceptional dragoness, isn’t she Frost?”

“Yes, she is,” Frost said with a giggle as Quill reached the top of the climb, flipping backwards to enter a dive through the same rings she just flown through. “Quill always finds a way to amaze me, Isis. She says she wants to set everything right. Show all of Equestria the truth about everything,” Frost said while Quill strained her wings to level out from her dive in order to pull up into a quick roll before she circled around the track again. “Quill has such high goals, and she’s taking every opportunity she can get.”

Isis nodded her head as she rested her hands in her lap while Quill ran through the hurdles again, snaking over and under them in tighter and cleaner movements. “I can tell, and it is understandable. She and her brother were dealt a hand of lies and trickery that was left unanswered. It seems Quill wants the answers, and it’s this will of hers that’s giving her the ability to achieve any goal she sets for herself.”

Frost smiled towards the sphinx, happy to hear that Isis had faith in her and Quill. However as she opened her mouth to thank Isis for her kind words, the sound of Quill shouting again caught their attention. “Rah, stupid fucking turbulence!” Quill roared as she struggled to keep herself on track, and from slamming through another cloud. ‘Which is oddly harder when flying at blazing speeds’, Quill thought to herself sarcastically.

Back at the starting cloud, Frost and Isis began laughing at the struggling dragoness, knowing that Quill would get it at some point. “Thank you Isis, it means a great deal to hear that from you,” Frost said after the fit of laughter had ended, laying her legs out further on the cloud to get more comfortable. “Sometimes I worry about the path Quill and I are on right now, along with the future that it holds, but I’m happy to hear that from you.”

“Frost,” Isis started, draping a large black wing around Frost’s body unexpectedly. “I can not guarantee that you two will make it through your intended path completely safe, however, I believe you two will make it through.”

Frost sat still in Isis’ incredibly warm wing as she soaked in both Isis’ warmth and words, finding comfort in the surety in Isis’ calm voice. “Th-thank you Isis,” Frost finally breathed out after resting her head against Isis’ arm, leaning further into the embrace. “I know it will be very difficult, and I know that other things come first,” she continued as she looked up at Quill, who was again dashing skyward through the center of the rings before reaching the top.

This time however, as Quill performed the same backflip, she let out a flare of purple and green flames that shot out from her in two interlocking rings of the two colors. The sight caught both Isis and Frost by surprise when they saw the two rings burst out from Quill, and then left them in awe by the trail of fire she left as she dove down through the cloud rings.

Quill’s velocity rapidly began accelerating as she approached the ground at breakneck speed. The strain of holding her eyes open soon became difficult to do, but she somehow managed it. Colors of the sky and her own flames began to blur her vision as the ground began warping to a single focal-point; where she would land face-first.

‘Oh shit, oh shit, oh fucking shit!’ Quill shouted in her head, trying to force her wings to open up. However, at the speed she was diving in, the wind current was far too great for the muscles in her wings to overcome. Thankfully, though, Quill caught a lucky break when a sudden gust of wind gave her a small chance to save herself. ‘Come on, come on, come on. Pull up, Pull up!’

As Quill began to force herself to level out, her luck ran short when she caught the tip of a tall oak tree, throwing her off from her recovery and into the canopy. “No, no, Quill!” Frost shouted as she and Isis immediately opened their wings to dart after the fallen dragoness as fast as they could.

Though, half of their worries were proven wrong when they saw Quill flying up from the tree line to a low-hanging cloud. Using her changeling magic, Frost expanded the size of her wings to catch up with Isis as the made it to the cloud, landing right beside Quill as she rolled onto her stomach... giggling?

“Quill, are you alright?” Frost questioned her lover, worried that Quill might have injured herself while she was trying to recover. Yet, all Frost got from the dragoness was more giggling as she stretched out her wings. “Speak to me Quill, please.”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” Quill said with a small giggle from the rush of adrenaline still going down her spine. She knew right now she wasn’t going to feel any pain. However, from the many flying mishaps Quill gone through, she knew once the adrenaline was gone she was going to feel every tree branch. “My wings feel like they’re on fire right now, but I’m fine...I never went that fast before, Frost.”

While the changeling looked over Quill, Isis quickly used her magic to examine Quill’s body closer, indeed finding nothing wrong. “Frost, Quill is telling the truth, she isn’t hurt. However, I think a wing-massage would help lessen the pain,” Isis advised, knowing that Quill was going to start feeling the strain of opening her wings while reaching speeds her wings couldn’t fully handle. “I will direct this cloud closer to the temple in the meantime.”

“Okay, thank you Isis,” Frost said as she carefully straddled Quill’s back to began gently kneading the muscles on Quill’s back, getting a groan out of Quill. Frost could already feel the muscles in Quill’s back and wings tightening from overexertion. From the tightness of them, Quill wouldn’t be doing much flying tomorrow. “By the threads and moon Quill, what were you thinking?”

Quill bit down on her lower lip to fight off both a moan and whine from her lover’s hands massaging the muscles around the base of her sore wings, rubbing away the burning feeling that was growing in them. As painful as it was, there was a hint of pleasure that rippled through Quill’s body. She felt the pleasure move all the way down to the tip of her tail, causing her to wrap her tail with Frost’s.

“I’ve never flown that fast before, Frost,” Quill said with a moan when Frost pressed her fingers against Quill’s wing-base, the scorpio mare channelling a small bit of magic into it. “Th-the world looked so different. I know it was reckless, and you can yell at me about it later. But that doesn’t change anything.”

Frost continued to keep any knots in Quill’s back at bay for as long as she possibly could, now no longer worried for Quill but now just as curious as she was sensing Isis to be. “And just what isn’t changed, Quill?” Frost asked as she worked her fingers underneath Quill’s wings to further alleviate any pain she might start feeling. “Would that have something to do with becoming one with the ground?”

“Ha ha Frost, you’re so fu...funny,” Quill said, getting her words caught in a moan when Frost moved her hands underneath her wings. Quill had never had someone to massage her back like this before. She could start getting used to it. “No, I mean, that was the closest I’ve ever been to doing a Sonic Rainboom.”

Both Frost and Isis furled their eyebrows at the smiling dragoness, never have heard of such a term before. “Quill, what is a Sonic Rainboom? Is that some flying technique?”

“Some flying technique?” Quill started, turning her head back slightly to Frost, sounding as if Frost had somehow offended her. “No Frost, it isn’t just ‘some flying technique,’ it is the flying techniques to end all techniques. It’s the barrier between the great flyers and the legendary ones,” Quill said with a happy smile on her face at the memory she had of Rainbow performing the Sonic Rainboom in front of her when she was showing her how to use her new wings. “It’s something that’s only been done by one mare in all of Equestrian recorded history.”

Frost became worried for Quill again at the sudden drop in both voice and emotions, figuring that it had to be something from her old life. “Quill, is everything alright? This Sonic Rainboom, does it have something to do with your old life with those ponies?”

“Ah, my loving mind reader, yeah it does,” Quill groaned in bitterment, now wishing that she could take back what she had said about the Sonic Rainboom. “Remember what I said about that mare named Rainbow Dash?” Quill asked Frost after she let out a small sigh. When Frost nodded her head, Quill laid her head down on the cloud as they got closer to the temple. “She is the only pegasus to ever break the sound-barrier.”

“Well then,” Isis began, as she had only paid minor attention to the bearers of the original star fragments, finding each of them to be…‘interesting’ in their own natural way. “For a pegasus to do such a thing is quite impressive. I haven’t heard tales like that since the time of Nightmare’s elite soldiers.”

Quill glanced up at the sphinx for a moment, then remembered that Isis could’ve been around since the formation of Equestria, just like Celestia and Luna. “Yeah, and Rainbow hasn’t been able to do it a lot of times, either,” Quill said, figuring that it would be better just letting everything out, instead of repressing it like she tried to do the other day with the ruby. “She’s gotten better, but Rainbow says that her wings feel like they are gonna fall off if she does it too many times.”

“Hm, I see,” Isis mused for a moment as she willed the cloud to rest on the ground outside of the temple doors. Satisfied that the cloud wasn’t going to get caught in any winds, Isis turned around to sit in front of Quill on her knees, as she still wanted to talk to the dragoness. “And I would be correct in saying that you would want to one day achieve this yourself?”

“Well...yeah, I do actually,” Quill said as she sat up a bit on her elbows to look the sphinx in her eyes. Once Quill had made full eye-contact, she was thrown off by the motherly smile on Isis’ face, making her think that she was talking to Blaze instead. “Flying is incredible Isis, if I could, I would probably waste every day just flying around. Rainbow was the one who taught me how to fly, and I want to know that same feeling.”

“And what feeling might that be?” Isis asked with a smile on her face and a friendly tone in her voice.

Quill again stared at the sphinx, trying to understand why she was suddenly being caring like this, but grateful for it anyway. “The feeling of leaving my mark on the world. The feeling of having all your work shown out on full display,” Quill finally spoke after a few moments of thought, remembering the first time she saw Rainbow pull off the Sonic Rainboom and all the colors that shot throughout the sky from it. “The feeling of creating something...beautiful.”

“Quill, that’s wonderful,” Frost said as she bent down to place a kiss on the back of Quill’s neck, blown away by the strength of feelings and thoughts Quill had placed into her desires. “I’m sure you’ll be able to do it to. You just need to work the muscles in your wings a bit more,” Frost continued to say as she gently lifted one of Quill’s now limp and sore wings. “I’m sure if you help Spike with some fishing that-”

“N-no swimming,” Quill shuddered with a bright blush on her face, as her wings almost instinctively closed tightly against her back. As Quill tried to hide in the cloud, she knew Frost was able to feel the fear she had of swimming, and that Isis would be able to tell just by looking at her. “I-I’m not a very good swimmer.”

While the dragoness continued to hide in the cloud, both Spike and Wolf had spotted the group of females sitting on the it, and heard most of what they were talking about. “Try not a swimmer at all,” Spike said with a laugh as he and Wolf approached the three females, having just gotten back from White Tail. “Quill doesn’t swim so much as she just tries to avoid drowning.”

Quill quickly snapped her head up at the sound of her brother’s voice, glaring at him with fire blazing in her eyes. “Shut it Spike, you remember the last time I tried to swim, I am not going through that again,” Quill growled at her twin, knowing that he was going to poke fun at her for not being able to swim.

“Hey I’m just helping my ‘loving’ sister out,” Spike said in a defensive manner as he raised up his hands, still laughing at the memories of Quill trying to swim, only to end up failing miserably. A lot. “I mean, Twilight, Dusk, and Rainbow have all told you that you needed to learn how to swim. It would help with your flying, right?”

“You would be correct Spike,” Isis said with a nod towards Spike while Frost nodded her head in agreement as well. “It has been quite some time since I last had a nice swim, but it does help build the necessary muscles in the back and shoulders to improve one’s flying.”

Quill opened her mouth to say something against what everyone was saying, but nothing came to mind. Nothing that would get them to stop, at least. “But I can’t swim,” Quill sighed as she dropped her head into the cloud to hide away from her shame.

“You should’ve told that to the swimming couch before you knocked his teeth out,” Spike deadpanned at the memory of Quill freaking out and knocking the Canterlot swimming coach clean out. “Anyway Quill, I’m sure everyone here will help you learn how to swim. And I’m pretty sure that it would be easier for you to learn here than Canterlot.”

“Quill, Spike has a point,” Frost said, gently rubbing Quill’s shoulders to coax her out of the cloud and to listen to what everyone was saying. “Learning to swim would be a great benefit to you and your flying. And since you’re already an amazing flyer now, learning how to swim will only add to that. You’ll be raising your chances of victory in the flight competition.”

“I don’t know...I mean-”

“Oh right Quill, I almost forgot,” Spike suddenly spoke as he reached into the back pocket of his cargo shorts, pulling out a piece of paper to show to Quill. “I think you should take another look at that poster for the flight competition.”

Quill raised an eyebrow towards Spike before she took the paper away from him to read it herself. Quill’s eyes scanned over the poster, hands tightening on it as if what was on the poster brought out anger. “Spike,” she said, looking straight at Spike with an unreadable expression on her face. “This better be legit and not one of your tricks, dude.”

‘That caught her attention.’

“Oh this is one-hundred percent legit, sis,” Spike said with a sober look on his face, despite inwardly smiling to himself at the turn of events. “So, what were you saying about not wanting to do swimming lessons?”

“Yeah, I changed my mind. If that is what really is happening, and it had better be,” Quill paused to glare at Spike in a threatening manner, still testing him to see if he was somehow pranking her. “Then learning how to swim would help, I guess.”

Still not letting anyone see the poster, Quill folded it back up before handing it to Spike so she could lay back down on the cloud. “Spike, you do know what will happen if this is a trick right?” Quill questioned in a blank tone, so as to not tip off what was printed on the new poster for the flight competition. “We need this Spike, so don’t lie to me about it.”

“I’m telling the truth Quill,” Spike said as he placed the poster into his back pocket for safe keeping. “I want answers as much as you do, and this may be our best shot. So at least try to learn how to swim, okay Quill?”

Quill glanced upwards towards Spike, seeing that he was just as desperate for answers as she was. Knowing that only made this competition that more important for Quill. She wasn’t doing it just for herself, but also her brother. “Yeah Spike, I’ll start in the morning,” Quill said with a small groan, knowing that it was definitely going to be hard for her to get used to being in the water. “For now, my wings are killing me.”

“Alright, but it still sounds to me that you’re just trying to get out of it today,” Spike joked with a small laugh that abruptly ended when Quill cut one of her purple eyes towards him in a strong leer. “Er, right. I'm gonna go see if Blaze or Cyclone needs anything.”

As Spike and Wolf left towards the temple, Quill thought about the drake’s feelings towards the whole situation with their lives, and realized she needed to know something from him. “Hey Spike, wait,” Quill suddenly started, forcing Spike to stop.

He looked back at Quill to see what she wanted. “Yeah, what Quill? You’re not having second thoughts are you? Cause I can-”

“Is this really what you want?”

Spike slowly closed his mouth at his sister’s question, turning his head back around as he thought about the answer. The truth was, yes. Spike wanted answers for everything just as much as Quill did. And there was only one creature that could give them the answers.

“Quill,” Spike breathed out in a small sigh of his green flames, taking a moment to keep his voice steady. “You and I both know we’ve been waiting for this chance for eighteen years. What do you think the answer is?” Spike questioned as he turned his head back to Quill to return the glares she had been giving him. “This is serious Quill, you’re not flying for just yourself any more.”

“I’m flying for the both of us,” Quill said, finishing it for Spike as she laid her head back down on the cloud. “Yeah, I got it Spike. There’s no way I’m losing now, but you do know that means you’ll be sparring with Wolf from now on.”

Spike’s body visibly tensed up at the thought of having to train with Wolf for the foreseeable future, but he shook it off, as it was for the better either way. “Yeah I know, but that means you’ll have to be learning how to swim for the next two weeks,” Spike said in an attempt to tease Quill back as he walked off to the temple. Wolf had paused as well when Quill had called to Spike, trying to figure out what the twins were going on about.

He already knew what was written on the poster, and after a moment of connecting the dots, Wolf had figured why the twins were acting serious in their own way. “Frost, Isis, I trust that you can tell this is very important to the twins, right?”

Isis turned toward the changeling mare, who turned back to her, and nodded. “Yes master,” Isis started after she turned her head back to Wolf. “We can clearly see that this competition of aerial skills is indeed important for the twins, and we’ll do everything in our power to ensure that Quill is ready in two weeks time.”

“Yes, if this is important to Quill and Spike, then it’s important to all of us,” Frost said with a firm tone, a smile on her face as she again started rubbing underneath Quill’s wings, getting a large dose of gratitude from her dragoness. “We’re with you Quill.”

“Heh, thanks you guys, it really does mean a lot,” Quill said with a smile and blush on her face as she enjoyed Frost’s fingers on her back. Not only that, it was comforting to know that she had the support of the pack on her side. “I promise I won’t let you guys down.”

“We know you won’t Quill,” Wolf said as he rubbed his hand through his dull-blue hair, thinking about how he could encourage the pack to help Quill get over her fear of swimming. “Just be sure to do your best. Also, we’re all taking baths today, so you two can just say out here and I’ll just have someone to grab a change of clothes for the two of you.”

“I’ll do that master,” Isis said as she slid off the cloud to follow her master into the temple so she could gather the young couple a change of clothing. “If that’s alright with you two?” she asked as she turned towards said couple.

“Yeah sure Isis, everything still in that purple duffle bag in our room,” Quill said to the sphinx, getting a nod from her as she and Wolf left into the temple. Once the two were behind the closed door, Quill let out a long sigh, knowing that the next week and a half was going to be trying for her.

However, she had to do it, not for just her, but for her brother. For the answers they’d been denied all their lives. For ending the lies they had been told all their lives. For retribution.

In the walls of the Canterlot castle, Celestia had called for another department meeting to discuss any and all findings of the occult after the unicorn filly. However, this part of the meeting was mostly one sided, as only Obsidian’s team and the department head of the research had any real information. However, both were able to only merely confirm everyone’s thoughts about the enemy.

Obsidian then moved to the proposal that Dusk brought up the previous night about how to approach the enemy. He had to admit himself, the thought of being forced on the defensive left a bad taste in his mouth. However, the little amount of information they had on their enemy left them with no other rational option. And he further proved his point by saying they were already taking measures in defense by increasing the number of the guard.

In spite of many of the other department heads wanting to say otherwise regarding Obsidian’s proposal, they couldn’t fight his logic. And with no other proposals to suggest, they were forced to agree to the plan for now.

The meeting soon moved on with the head of the research department saying there might be a pattern to the enemy’s reported movement. Thus far in each detailed report, small and fairly unremarkable towns had been the targets of the occult. From what the mare was able to tell, it seemed like the enemy was sweeping through the smaller towns and villages before moving up to higher-tier and more populous cities.

This led all of the department heads to believe that the enemy’s final destination of attack would be Canterlot. When the question of how to track the enemy before their sights would be set on Canterlot came up, no answer was able to be given for the simple fact that they were not dealing with just one threat.

Every report that was filed had a different description of the perpetrator; gender, height, and magic abilities. However, the two things that always fell in line were the robes they wore and the fact that each of them was a unicorn.

The information was quite unsettling for the department heads to take in, as they didn’t want to say anything out of line regarding the unicorn - or any - race. However, with the information saying every attacker was a unicorn, all the department heads couldn’t help but wonder why a group of unicorns would want the still-missing filly.

With the heavy part of the meeting over with, Celestia moved onward with a lighter tone regarding her attending an upcoming flight competition to give a small cloud city some more recognition.

“Princess,” Major Endive started, standing up from her seat to be recognized by Celestia. “With the threat that we are facing now, I don’t think that it would be wise for you to be exposing yourself in such a manner.”

“Actually Major, I think otherwise,” Celestia said with a small, yet visible, smile on her face, knowing that the major was only opposed due to concern for the sun monarch. “After speaking with Commander Tempest, I’m quite sure that any attacks on a cloud city would not be a cause for worry.”

Major Endive looked down the table towards the pegasus commander, who only gave the major a sly smile, forcing Endive to sit down in a small huff. “Yes, that’s true,” Tempest started, standing up from his seat to be recognized by the room. “What with all that’s been happening over the last few months, I figured that it would do Equestria some good if they were reminded that they were still safe underneath Princess Celestia’s rule. What better way than taking audience in a flight competition?”

“A nationwide fight festival?” Obsidian joked with a small laugh that was only shared with the commander as he sat back down in his seat. “Ah, but in all seriousness, I agree with Commander Tempest. It’s our job to worry about the enemy, let the citizens live their lives. They deserve it.”

Celestia knew that Obsidian was actually speaking of the Elements of Harmony, but she didn’t say anything on it as she knew that he was mostly right. “Yes, both Sergeant Obsidian and Commander Tempest are correct. We can not allow the enemy to drive us into a constant fear of attack. We will show them that we are planning for them, that we are ready for them, and that we will not fail.”

Suddenly, each department head stood from their seats, and gave the celestial mare a strong group salute, showing their complete allegiance to Celestia. “I know this matter is something none of us could have foreseen, which is why I’m asking for everyone’s cooperation with anything we can think of. Until we have further information, all of you are to stay at your assigned posts and continue your duties. Meeting adjourned.”

With the meeting over, the department heads left out of the room to return to their duties. Each of the soldiers planned to continue to try and piece together the enemy’s plan, but all of them weren’t sure due to the lack of information they had.

“So Sergeant, how are the two Republic soldiers coping with their new jobs?” Commander Tempest asked as he, and the castle in whole, had heard about the arrival of the two half-breeds and their ‘introduction’ to the new recruits yesterday. “I heard whispers that they are going hard on the recruits, and yet not a single one of them has left yet.”

Obsidian began laughing at the commander, still surprised himself that none of the new recruits have left yet despite it being two days into the Week into the Tartarus for them. “Yeah those two are tough, but they are doing it on purpose,” Obsidian said as he and the commander continued their walk through the halls. “What they are doing is awakening a sense of nationalism in them, I am guessing. After that, I’m assuming they’ll try breaking them down.”

“Haha, yes, just like I tried with you, no?” Tempest laughed with a nudge of his elbow into Obsidian’s arm, getting the dog to laugh with him. “Yes, these last four years seemed to have passed so fast with so much happening. And here we are.”

“Indeed, it seems something comes up every other week,” Obsidian said as he continued to walk with the commander, thinking back to when he first joined the guard. “Though, the one thing I thought I would never see is one of the Elements joining the guard.”

Commander Tempest raised an eyebrow towards the dog, trying to understand how he knew such information while the commander did not. “Which of the Elements, Sergeant?” Tempest questioned the dog, sounding as though he wasn’t too fond of knowing that one of the Elements of Harmony had joined the guard.

“Loyalty, Rainbow Dash,” Obsidian answered, turning his head back to the commander as the officer stopped walking, wondering what was the matter with him. As Obsidian continued to look to the pegasus commander, he saw a flurry of emotions ranging from confusion to anger in the stallion’s eyes. ‘Why would the news Rainbow Dash joining the guard bother Commander Tempest?’ “Sir, is everything alright?”

Tempest’s head shook as though he was snapping himself out of some thought he was having, looking back up to Obsidian. “Y-yes everything is all right, just surprised by the news is all,” Tempest lied as he began backing away from the diamond dog. “If you’ll excuse me Sergeant, I have to take my leave.”

“Oh, of course, Commander,” Obsidian said, saluting the pegasus off as he turned around and began rushing through the hall. This new action only further confused Obsidian, but he was easily able to see that there had to have been some sort of connection between the commander’s action and Rainbow joining the guard. “Hm, time for me to learn more about the new recruits.”

As Obsidian ventured through the halls, he continued to wonder about what connection the commander had with Rainbow, and why would it force the pegasus to act in such a manner. Soon the question of why Sky hasn’t ever really spoke about Rainbow being her cousin came to mind, but he waved that off as Sky just being Sky.

However, there was something the in the back of his head telling him that it was something a lot larger than he was waving it off to be. Obsidian remembered that there were a large number of pony families having old traditions from way back before Celestia and Luna took power. So that was a possibility, but before he made any further assumptions, he needed answers. And Rainbow Dash was his best bet to get them.

Coming to a stop in front of the recruits’ barracks, Obsidian opened the door, walked into the lounge area for all of the new recruits, getting salutes from each of them. “At ease, all of you,” he started, please to see that Verdite and Wave have been able to beat respect into them. “I came here to see Recruit Dash, where can I find her?”

“Uh, I think she said something about working out?” one of the recruits, a pink unicorn mare, answered as she sat in front of the television with another recruit next to her. “I think that’s what she said, sir. That mare really is high-strung though, like there’s something scaring her more than having Sergeant Wave kick her ass.”

“Yeah I know what you mean,” the silver pegasus mare sitting next to the pink mare started as she kicked her feet on the coffee table. “She’s been mumbling stuff to herself ever since we got here.”

Obsidian’s curiosity only got worse from the recruits’ words, knowing that none of them were to leave the barracks for the day without his or Verdite’s permission. “So I take it that she’s in the workout hall then?” Obsidian asked as he looked at the two mares with a strong frown on his face. “Because if that’s the case, I have a bit more to speak about to her than I thought.”

“Uh, actually, sir,” a male voice sounded from behind Obsidian, turning to find that it belonged to a black-feathered griffin who was sitting on a stool near a pool-table. “Last I heard, she was doing some wing-ups in her room just a few minutes ago. And from the sounds of things, it seemed pretty intense.”

“Dude, you listened into her room?” a pale white earth-stallion asked the griffon while Obsidian left the lounge area, not paying attention to the recruits’ talk any more since he knew where Rainbow was.

Now things were starting to get even more curious with the mare’s behavior. Obsidian would’ve sworn she would’ve tried to befriend the other recruits, or act as their bull-hearted leader. But that didn’t seem to be the case. The closer Obsidian got to Rainbow’s room, the more his ears could pick up on the sound of the mare grunting and counting out her reps.

“Recruit Dash, open this door, I would like to have a word with you,” Obsidian called outside of the door, only hearing Rainbow’s grunts and counting. Not inclined to wait, Obsidian pushed open the door to find that the rainbow-maned mare was on the ground with her arms crossed behind her back as she used her wings to push herself up. “Recruit, I know you heard me. Why are you straining your body like this?”

Rainbow still didn’t hear the dog, as all of her focus was on her workout. “S-sixty-e...sixty-eight!” Rainbow grunted as she pushed herself all the way up, throwing her head back, sweat pouring down her face.

Unwilling to let the mare continue this foolishness, Obsidian stepped into the slightly messy room, reaching for the mare’s elbows to pull her off the ground and sit her on the bed. “Hey what’s the big i-”

Rainbow was cut off by the anger that flared in Obsidian’s silver eyes, flinching from the thought of what he could punish her with in his position. “When I speak to you, you answer. Understood, recruit?” Obsidian growled at the mare, glaring down into her eyes as his hands curled at his sides.

“Y-yes sir...” Rainbow said as she failed to escape the powerful look in Obsidian’s eyes, reminding herself that she could no longer act freely like she did as an Element of Harmony now that she had joined the guard. “It won’t happen again, I promise.”

“It better not recruit. This isn’t some misadventure with your friends, so remember where you are,” Obsidian said before he turned to close the door, making sure that no other recruit was nearby that could listen in on their conversation. “Look, I know you’ve only been here for less than a week, but that doesn’t excuse this kind of behavior. Despite all of your past deeds, you’re in the Solar Guard now. Act like it.”

“I understand sir,” Rainbow said with a small huff, knowing that what she had done as an Element wasn’t going to count for anything here in the Guard. That fact had been proven the moment Rogue had decided to take her Element away from her until Rainbow graduated from the guard academy. “So, why did you come to my room specifically, Sergeant Obsidian, sir?”

Obsidian took a seat next to Rainbow, using that time to think to himself about his reason for showing up in the mare’s room. “Rainbow Dash, I’m going to ask you one question, and I want the truth from you,” Obsidian started, staring straight into Rainbow’s rose colored eyes. “Are you related to anypony else in the Guard, somepony that’s in a high position specifically?”

Rainbow’s body tensed up when she realized what Obsidian was asking, biting down on her lip as if she didn’t want to answer the dog, but knowing she had to. “Y-yes...I am, and you probably already know him.”

“Commander Tempest, I’m assuming?” Obsidian asked, quickly making the connection without Rainbow having to say much else. When the mare nodded her head, Obsidian’s curiosity only heightened. “Then let me ask you this. Just a few moments ago, I mentioned to him that you joined the guard.”

“Wait lemme guess, he wasn’t too ‘happy’ with it either?” Rainbow interrupted, remembering what Sky Bloom had warned her would come true if her guess was right. Looking into the dog’s eyes, Rainbow could almost feel the answer coming from him, forcing her to sigh. “Figures, Dad always said that he was the up-tight kind of stallion.”

“So you are related to him, but how?” Obsidian asked, mostly to see how he could be possibly related to Sky Bloom. That would be an awkward family reunion. “Is he like your cousin of some sort? Uncle, maybe? He is up there in years.”

Rainbow began laughing a bit at Obsidian’s joking, even though he was sounding quite serious. “Yeah, I think he’s in his late forties,” she joked as she nudged Obsidian with her arm, breaking him out of his thoughts. “But, yeah...he’s like, I dunno, my first cousin once removed or some crap like that. I just know that he’s my dad’s cousin.”

“Oh, okay, but why would he have reason to be worried about you joining the guard?” Obsidian asked he was still missing the final missing piece he needed to solve the puzzle. “Surely, after everything you and your friends have been through as Elements, he wouldn’t worry. Or even seem upset, but yet…”

“Because his family is sworn to protect mine,” Rainbow suddenly blurted out with her hands tightening in her lap, waiting for some kind of response from the dog. When none came, Rainbow let out a sigh to calm herself down. “Look, like a long time ago Tempest’s and Sky’s families swore to protect my family’s legacy. Which was our flying skills, okay?”

“But that’s not the reason you enjoy flying, is it?” Obsidian asked, knowing there had to be more to this than some blood-pact that was made in ancient times. “I mean, let’s be honest, you turned down the Wonderbolts. Twice. All because you didn’t like the way they were running things. If you were following tradition you would’ve stayed.”

“If I was following tradition I would’ve already been a Wonderbolt,” Rainbow sighed at her past choices, still not sure if she should be grateful for them, or to hide somewhere in a corner from shame. “Obsidian, most of my family looks at me like some sort of failure, and I gotta be honest with you. I’m only joining the guard to get into the military side of the Wonderbolts, but even then they’ll still hate me.”

Obsidian opened his mouth to question the mare when he saw the sadness dampening her fiery-red eyes, and began to think about the mare’s situation. “Then let me ask you this,” Obsidian said, looking up to the ceiling of the small space and thinking back to the day he made the fateful decision to leave his den back in the Republics. “That choice you made, do you regret it? Do you wish you could go back and change any single event?”

“Well…” Rainbow paused, thinking back to everything that’d happened in her life. Sure she could’ve been a famous flyer by now, but she would have never met her friends or became an Element of Harmony. She wouldn’t have been true to herself. “No, not really. My life has been pretty awesome so far, and I wouldn’t change a single bit of it. If Commander Tempest doesn’t like that I’m here, that’s his deal. This is my life, and I’m gonna live it the way I want too, damnit.”

Obsidian nodded his head as Rainbow said the exact answer he wanted to hear from her, chuckling a little from it. “So here’s my final question,” Obsidian started, getting a small huff and eye roll from Rainbow. “Why are you doing wing-ups, alone in your room when instead, you could be bonding with the other recruits?”

“Uh, why would that matter?”

Sighing, Obsidian shook his head as he patted Rainbow on the back, nearly knocking her off the bed. “A lot, recruit,” he stated in a firm voice as he went back to staring straight into Rainbow’s eyes. “Those soldiers out there are now the closest thing you have to friends. Because let me tell you this, the rest of the guard isn’t gonna give two shits about you new guys. So if you want to go anywhere you do it with their help.”

Rainbow flinched back from what Obsidian had just told her. If the rest of the Guard was as cold as he was making them sound, then her only hope was indeed with the other recruits. “Eesh, is that really how it is?” Rainbow asked, only to get the dog in front of her to nod his head. “Maybe I should go and hang out with them. I’ve been nothing but a jerk to most of them.”

“It’s never too late to make a change you know,” Obsidian said as he got up from the bed, only to turn around to reach a hand out to Rainbow. “All it takes is for you to make the first move and take control of your life.”

Rainbow looked down at Obsidian’s hand, and thought about everything he said to her. “Yeah, you’re right Sergeant,” she said, taking Obsidian’s hand with a firm grip before he pulled her off the bottom bunk bed and onto her feet. “I can only imagine that it’ll take a while before I can get in the Aerial Force for the Wonderbolts, so I’ll do my best here first.”

“Now you get it,” Obsidian said with a laugh, getting a surprise when Rainbow suddenly gave him a strong salute, showing him that she might actually have what it takes. “Alright you, at ease. Go join the others in the lounge, and don’t worry about Commander Tempest. I’ll deal with him.”

“Thank you sir, means a whole lot,” Rainbow said as she followed Obsidian out of her room and into the lounge area where the other recruits were still sitting on standby. Rainbow quickly moved to sit with her roommate, probably to apologize for whatever mess she cost the black griffon.

Obsidian didn’t say anything as he left out of the room, mind clouded with the thoughts of Rainbow’s family ‘tradition.’ He already knew that it wasn’t too much of an uncommon thing, but he would need to keep a close eye on the Commander. Something told him that the next few weeks, or possibly months, would be the most eventful periods of time during his job as a guard.