Author's Notes:

Alright, here we go. The second part of chapter 50 up and with it possibly the twins only chance of learning more about their family. Be on the look out for 51, we'll be trying to get it out to ya'll as quickly as we can. After that, it might be a while for a chapter coming out since chapter 52 is broken up into three very large chapters. Now with that out of the way, happy New Years everyone! I can't thank you all for the support you've given me throughout this story.

-Cheers, till next time.

High Moon Ch. 50:

For the Truth part two

Time pushed on as the days passed for the High Moon pack, each member doing their part to make life as easier for the group as a whole. Curiously, Lily took a few days of leave, saying there was business that she had to attend to alone, and that she would be back by the end of the week to help. Wolf questioned the flutterpony about what she was doing, but all he could get from her was that she was doing something that could benefit High Moon, if things went the way she hoped they would.

Wolf pushed for more answers, but still only got the same response from the mare: “I’m sorry, but this is really important. To me and the pack. This will work out in the end, I just need a week and I’ll be able to tell you more, Wolf.” Eventually he gave up and said that it was fine, he just wanted to know what she meant.

With the mare gone, the pack focused on Quill’s training for the flight competition. Which meant that she had to face her biggest fear. Swimming. Frost, Spike, and Cyclone all said that they would gladly help Quill get over her fears. Wolf handed the matter off to them, trusting the four to make sure that Cyclone still got some practice with her magic.

Spike said that after Quill had gotten used to swimming, he would take all of the females to someone that helped him with his swimming. When questioned about who was this someone, Spike merely said that it was someone that was an expert at teaching folk how to swim. So first, Spike took all of them to the Rainbow Stream, or more accurately, a smaller river that broke off from it, where Quill could begin her swimming lesson.

During which, Spike filled in for Frost with teaching Cyclone her water-magic, continually getting distracted by the cute dragoness. The same could be said for Quill regarding her own girlfriend, as Frost’s swimming attire consisted of a dark cloth wrapped around her chest, while she used the bottom part of Quill’s black bathing-suit, which had luckily been able to be adjusted for Frost’s smaller waistline.

Quill had opted to use her bikini top and a pair of black short-tights to swim and fly in. And just like Spike had oh-so-humorously pointed out multiple times before, Quill had a tough time getting used to moving in the water. Thankfully, she didn’t act how she had when she was younger.

Frost, having taught herself how to swim for the fun of it, began giving Quill tips on how to use her wings and tail to move in the water, even giving demonstrations in the water with the aid aid of her magic. One handy tip she gave Quill was that dragons had a thin film of secondary eyelids that could let her see underwater.

Quill questioned Spike if he knew about it, shocked when she learned that Spike had known about it since they first learned how to swim. He had never bothered to tell Quill because he thought that she already knew about it.

Ignoring the fact that Spike hadn’t told her about it, Quill worked on getting used to using the secondary eyelids. Unsurprisingly, Quill was able to get used to opening and closing the second set of eyelids fairly quickly.

With his sister finally getting used to at least seeing underwater, Spike turned his attention towards Cyclone, showing his new girlfriend some of the motions that came with using water-magic. Spike was surprised at how fast Cyclone was picking up the different motions, giving them leeway to mess around and tease one another.

Spike’s teasing wasn’t as sensual as Cyclone’s, given his nervousness about their relationship. It was funny, Spike no longer had to worry about the limiters on his wrists, but now he had to worry about keeping Cyclone interested in him. ‘Out with one problem, in with another.’ Spike thought to himself as he got Cyclone to laugh at an admittedly corny joke.

However, Cyclone picked up on Spike’s nervousness. She was able put most of her drake’s worries to rest when she said it was okay for him to get adventurous. All she wanted from him was for Spike to just be himself over anything else. That was what she liked about Spike the most, him; smart, funny, loyal, and always thinking about others before himself. As long as he stayed true to himself, Cyclone would continue to love him.

Spike reeled back a bit in shock, surprised that Cyclone had said she loved him. “Cy, I… really? You love me?” They hadn’t known each other that long, and had only just recently gotten together.

Cyclone blushed brightly, looking at a point between Spike’s face and his shoulder. She couldn’t believe she’d let that slip. “I… well, yes.” She nodded her head and met his eyes. “I do. I think I’ve found the perfect drake.” She wrapped her arms around Spike’s neck, leaning forward to place a small kiss on his lips.

Spike leaned back in her arms, mirroring her blush, while his mind worked. “Well Cy, I…” His jaw kept moving for a moment, in spite of nothing coming out. ‘She’s so amazing and beautiful, but the last time I was so sure I was in love…’ Spike inwardly grimaced, trying to keep the thought from reaching his face.

Apparently, he’d failed. Cyclone’s smile was replaced by a worried frown, and she asked, “Spike, are you ok? I-If I’m going too fast-”

“No! No, it’s not that, I promise. It’s just that, Cyclone…” Spike took a deep breath. “You heard from Quill how I… felt about Rarity. I’m just scared of making that same mistake again, and I don’t want to hurt you…” Spike’s voice trailed off, sure that he’d screwed up now.

Surprisingly, Cyclone giggled. “Spike, if you’re not ready to say it, don’t. I don’t want to push you if you’re not ok with things.” She trailed a claw down his chest slowly, adding, “Of course, I wouldn’t mind if you got a little more… frisky.” She winked at him, another blush shining on her scales.

Spike naturally blushed at this, but said that he’d try if that was what Cyclone wanted. The close contact between the two became a bit more affectionate than before as Spike tried to act like the drake he thought he should be. The two exchanged more kisses when they thought Frost and Quill weren’t looking, enjoying the closeness.

Soon that day ended, with everyone taking turns catching fish. Spike caught the largest number, with Frost and Cyclone right behind him, and Quill dead last. However, the dragoness only took that as incentive to continue trying harder to learn how to swim. She was still having troubles, but was making some progress.

The next two days were mostly a repeat of the same, the only variation being who showed up. Blaze, escorted by Isis, as Wolf was busy training Veil, cheered on Quill’s swimming and flying as they were starting to improve. She even was able to show Cyclone a few more things about her magic. Blaze challenged the dragoness to combine her water and fire magics, saying that she would get a special reward for completing the task.

Cyclone took on the challenge, starting herself off simply by gathering a small thread of water from the river and a heated ball of fire. Her first few attempts were a struggle, but she was making small progress in the form of a barely visible azure shard forming in the center of her white and blue flame. In spite of the difficulty, and the fear that her magic would get out of control, Cyclone continued to try until she could finally succeeded in mixing her two types of magic together.

“Come here Cyclone,” Blaze said, gesturing for Cyclone to move a bit closer. She walked away from the waterside and over to Blaze where she took a seat next to the Clan-Mother. Cyclone’s head was promptly pulled down into Blaze’s pillowy breasts, forcing Cyclone to softly sigh. She allowed herself to be enveloped in the natural warmth Blaze gave off. Cyclone could feel her aches simply melt away as Blazed hummed gently. “I’m proud of you, you know that? You are so talented Cyclone, and you continue to get stronger each day. That’s why I gave you this challenge. Think of it as a right of passage.”

Cyclone didn’t question Blaze. She had too much faith in the mare to do so at this point. “Since you succeeded, I have a special gift for you.” Blaze sparked her horn, conjuring up several solid gold rings. Each of them came fitted with adjustable leather straps and an empty slot where a fair-sized gem could be placed. Cyclone stared at them in wonder, quickly realizing that they were made for dragons. “Beautiful, aren't they? Fill the slots with your magic, and they are yours, dear.”

“I’ll do my best, Clan… mother.”

Meanwhile, Veil had started opening up to everyone in High Moon aside from Spike, who, to her annoyance, she couldn’t find a single moment to get to know. More annoying was the fact that she was beginning to feel more and more alone after every night she went to bed without Cyclone.

She missed sleeping with the dragoness, but it wasn’t her say whether or not Cyclone could sleep in the same bed as Spike. Honestly, she was happy that Cyclone had someone that could make her dreams come true. And from what everyone kept telling her, Spike was a good guy, just not the same way she was raised to think guys were supposed to be. Some things just stuck with her from her childhood in a den full of diamond dogs.

Males were suppose to be decisive, strong, and reliable. For as long as Veil had been in High Moon, all she had seen from Spike was him getting beaten and battered around by Wolf, or him just following others. So far as she was concerned, he was just reliable. Every dog could be trained, so could dragons, apparently. Though, she still had a hard time understanding how she felt about Spike. It was even more confusing with Cyclone only having good things to say about him. Admittedly, there wasn’t a single thing Veil could see wrong with him. Which only added to her frustration and confusion. He didn’t fit with what she thought males were supposed to be, and yet for some reason it didn’t bother her as much as it should have, especially with Cyclone having picked him.

Quill was proud of her brother for finding someone to cherish, and promptly gave him a few tips on how to make things spicy between him and Cyclone. The drake, naturally, became flustered at the sound of his sister giving him tips to use on Cyclone, but like the teenage male he was, let Quill continued her advice. On the other side of that, Blaze did what she saw as her duty as Den Mother of the pack by giving Cyclone a few pointers of her own to use on the drake.

When the time came for Spike to learn how to think in the moment, Wolf began sparring with the drake. Wolf didn’t spare him any punches, knocking Spike around the same way Wolf had with Quill.

After a few more days of training, Spike took Quill and the others to the secret someone that was supposedly able help Quill with her swimming.

“Alright, spill it Spike,” Quill said as she followed her brother through Everfree along with Cyclone and Frost, wearing her swimming attire. “You’ve been keeping this under wraps for the last few days, who’s this mystery teacher guy you keep taking about?”

“I’ll give you a hint,” Spike started with a smug smile on his face, having enjoyed messing with Quill these last few days with the secret. “He has fabulous moustache. And he-”

“Oh, him,” Quill said with a sigh as her shoulders dropped from the memory of meeting Steven Magnet a few times with Twilight and the other Elements. His flamboyant personality was like a male version of Rarity. Except he was a serpent. “Makes sense though, what with him being an actual sea-serpent.”

“And yet you don’t sound too happy with the idea,” Frost said as she could easily tell by Quill’s emotions that she was less than thrilled to be taking lessons from the serpent. “By how well Spike can swim, I would think that you would be jumping at the idea.”

Quill let out a small groan as she kept forgetting that Frost could almost read her mind since she tended to let her emotions control her actions. “It’s not that I don't ‘like’ the idea, it’s just that I’m not sure what to make of him. That’s all.”

“Yeah he’s the… flamboyant type, and it gets weird sometimes,” Spike said with a small laugh as he rubbed the back of his head, thinking of all the times he had been asked an odd question from the serpent. “But he’s a really nice guy. So I’m sure he can help.”

“Yeah, I hope so,” Quill mumbled to herself as they approached the river that was home to the sea-serpent. As they got closer, Spike gestured for the females to stay behind while he went call Steven out from the water, whistling loudly in a high-pitched tone.

Quickly, the calm river began erupting as a long, purple body came crashing through the water, frightening Cyclone as a creature let out a massive roar when it breached the water’s surface. However, that quickly ended when a yawn followed the roar as Steven began scratching his back with a sleepy look on his face. “Boy, that nap was just divine!” Steven said as he gave a small stretch before he looked to see who had called him from his nap. “Oh well isn’t it Spike Dragule, what brings you here? Oh and you have friends!”

“Heh, hey Steven,” Spike said with a quick smile as he waved over the females to introduce them. “I would like you to meet Frost,” he paused to wave over to the scorpio who gave the serpent a curious wave, then over to his sister. “I’m sure you remember my twin sis, Quill Dragul. And lastly, my girlfriend, Cyclone.”

“Oh my! Spike, you’re finally over Rarity I see? And may I say that you picked a far better beauty,” Steven praised, causing Cyclone to feel flustered as she brightly blushed, pulling at the hem of Spike’s gray shirt she borrowed. “Aw, she’s such a cutie too. So, what brings all of you out to my little river? Do you need to get to that old dusty castle?”

“No actually,” Spike said as he shook his head at Steven, slightly blushing from the serpent’s words. “My sister needs some swimming lessons, and since you helped me out, I was hoping that you could do the same for her?”

Steven raised an eyebrow at Spike before moving over towards Quill to look her in the eyes. Paying no mind to the dragoness flinching back, Steven, in spite of only having a small influence on the natural magic in the world, sensed the roaring inferno in Quill’s purple eyes.

“Hm, yes, yes, a dragon of fire. I do see the problem. Ah, and she’s a Queen Dragoness,” Steven noted as he rubbed his golden-orange goatee before moving back into his river to look down at Spike. “My boy, you have quite the sister on your hands, but I think I can work with her.”

“Great Steven, thank you so much. Quill is training for a flight competition that’s happening in less than two weeks,” Spike informed the serpent, figuring that he would be able to think of some swimming exercise that would boost Quill’s training. “It would be a big help if she could swim using her wings and tail.”

Steven looked over towards Quill, examining her physique for a bit as he thought. “Hm...yes she has such wonderful wings, and that tail looks like it could pierce through stone. However those head-spines of yours aren’t very, oh how would you say, streamlined, I am afraid. But it could work, if she focused on her wings and tail.”

“Alright, so how are we going to do that?” Quill asked as she stepped closer to Steven, wanting to get better at controlling her wings and tail underwater, so flying in the air would be a breeze. “I’ve been doing practically everything in calm water with them. So what else can we do?”

Steven laughed at the dragoness for a moment before moving his tail-fin out of the water and over to Quill, waving it a bit to get her attention. “Grab onto my tail, and don’t let go no matter what, that’s what,” Steven said in a joking manner that got Spike laughing, since he was the only one that knew what was going to happen.

Looking over at her brother, Quill raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what was going to happen. However, with the clock ticking down to the competition, Quill didn’t have much time to be stubborn. So with no other option left, Quill raised her hand to grab on to Steven’s purple and orange tail-fin.

The moment she had a good hold, Steven pulled Quill up into the air before dunking her underneath the river water in a quick motion. Quill reemerged from the water a second after she was pulled underneath, glaring at her laughing brother.

“You knew that would happen, didn’t you coal-head?!” Quill shouted at the laughing drake on the riverside, having serious thoughts about setting his tail on fire when she got out of the water. “This had better work Spike, or you can kiss your tail good-fucking-bye!”

“Oh take a chill-pill, Quill,” Spike said as he waved a dismissive hand towards Quill, rolling his eyes at how childish she was acting. “It’s going to work, just don’t let go of Steven’s tail and remember to take a breath of air when you’re pulled out of the water.”

“Fine! Let’s do this then,” Quill said, making sure she had a solid grip on Steven’s tail, and taking in a deep breath of air before nodding her head to the serpent.

Steven, still laughing at the twins’ short banter, nodded his head back at Quill before he began moving his lower body up and down to cause a ripple that reached all the way to the tip of his tail, forcing Quill to be again dunked underwater as she held on for dear life.

She quickly remembered what Frost had told her about keeping her wings fully outward to cut through the water while her legs and tail kept her straight, flapping it in time with the motions of Steven’s tail. It was hard, but she had to do it if she was going to have any hope of outdoing the competition in Stormfront.

While Quill underwent water training, Frost thought she could do both Cyclone and Spike some good by teaching them a few things she knew. Which began with getting Cyclone used to walking on top of the water. The day continued on with Spike and Frost showing Cyclone the gentle steps to walk on water, while Quill continued to push her wings to their limits.

Taking some of his sister’s advice, Spike kept his hands around Cyclone’s waist to show his interest, and his self-control by not going any lower until she gave a hint that she wanted him to. Cyclone rewarded Spike by returning the interest as she would periodically, and ‘accidentally,’ rub her rear-end or breasts into Spike.

This display of affection didn’t go unnoticed by Frost, and she decided to give the new couple a few tips of her own that she had learned over the past week with Quill. This got the new couple to blush when the scorpio didn’t realize that there were certain things that shouldn’t be said out in the open. However, they thanked her anyways and continued through their day.

After a few hours, Quill was getting another wing-massage from Frost on top of a low hanging cloud, while Spike and Cyclone sat on the ground close to one another, eating a quick lunch of apples and a few freshly prepared fish.

After having a small conversation with Steven, Spike and the others waved him goodbye since he said he had to return to his underwater grotto. Once the serpent was gone, Quill let out a long groan of pain as she slumped further into the cloud.

“Come now Quill, you did wonderful today,” Frost said as she reached underneath Quill’s wings, since that seemed to be the spot she liked to be rubbed the most. “And it is showing in your flying. You’ve gotten faster, been flying higher, and your endurance has nearly doubled in only a few days. In fact, why don’t we test that endurance after we get back home?”

“Frost please…” Quill giggled as Frost bent down to place kisses on the back of her neck, feeling her mare’s fangs brush it. A small blush formed on Quill’s cheeks as she felt her mate drag her tongue along the back of her neck, still thinking that Frost was joking around. That thought did a complete one-eighty when she heard the lustful giggle that Frost had. “Uh, you were joking right...Frost?”

“So powerful, just a nibble, one nibble.” Quill felt Frost drag her fangs along the side of her neck, remembering how they felt plunging into her--and more importantly, what the toxin could do to her.

“Shit.”

Back on the ground, Spike continued to sit close to Cyclone, one arm around her waist as she rested her head on his chest. These last few days with her had been...a learning experience to say the least, but a very fun one. As the hours and days passed, Spike quickly learned that he didn’t have to do anything special. There was no secret trick, no special way he had to act around Cyclone.

“Hey Spike,” Cyclone started, breaking Spike out of his thoughts as he looked down into Cyclone’s soft pink eyes. “All this work Quill is doing, is it really for the clan?” she asked after having heard Quill mumble something about getting answers a few times today, and many other times before that. “I know she has good intentions, and that the money would help the clan, but...it doesn’t feel like she’s doing it just for that reason.”

Spike sighed as he knew it wouldn’t be fair to lie to Cyclone, and there was no real reason to hide what the twins were after, anyways. “Yeah Cy, you’re right,” Spike said as he started to look at the ground, remembering what Quill’s real goal was. “Cyclone, there’s some stuff we’ve got to know about. Stuff only one mare can tell us. And the only way we’re going to get close to her is if Quill wins.”

Looking at the sadness in Spike’s eyes, Cyclone quickly moved to get rid of it by saddling Spike’s hips and placing her hands on his bare chest. “Spike, is everything alright? You can tell me anything, okay? Please Spikey, I want to help, but I need to know if everything is alright.”

“Cyclone,” Spike said as he moved his hands to Cyclone’s cheeks, pulling her closer for a soft kiss. He doubted he’d ever get tired of her sapphire-like taste. “Yeah, everything is fine. It’s just that there's a lot riding on Quill, and she doesn’t want to fail.” He moved his hands down to her waist, squeezing gently.

Cyclone smiled and rested her head in the crook of Spike’s neck. “Okay Spike, I just wanted to be sure, that’s all,” Cyclone said as she began rubbing one hand on his chest. She liked it there, wrapped in Spike’s arms. “You’re warm,” she said, nuzzling into his neck more.

Spike smiled, his cheeks tinting red just slightly. “So’re you,” he replied, one hand trailing up and down her side.

Her smile turned impish, and she kissed the side of his neck before giving it a slow lick. “Mmm, you taste like gems. I want more,” she purred, sitting up and meeting his eyes.

Spike swallowed, certain his face was on fire now. He tried to ignore it, smiling as he replied, “Y-yeah? Well, I’m not going anywhere.” He moved one hand up to cup her cheek.

She trailed her hands up his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck as she leaned forward, pressing her sizable chest up against him. She got close to his ear-frill, giving it a lick before whispering, “Good, because I’m still hungry.” She emphasized the last word with a slow grind of her hips against Spike’s.

Spike’s smile grew, and he leaned forward a little to give Cyclone a quick lick on her neck, causing the white dragoness to shudder and hum for a moment. “I live to serve, my lady,” Spike managed to get out before Cyclone sealed her lips on his.

“Really? Is that what she said?” Wolf asked Spike as they were making their way to the diamond quarry again to try their luck finding a gem that Wolf believed would be worthy enough for Blaze and his cub. To add to this, they also had to find enough gems to pay for the entrance fee for the flight competition that Quill was entering for.

Wolf wasn’t sure about the whole thing, so he just left that up to Spike to deal with since Quill was his sister. Right now, the two males of High Moon were following a tip that Frost had given them about fire rubies, saying that they were usually gathered in roughly the same area. So if you could find one, there were likely more around. The idea was for Spike to remember where he’d found his own fire ruby.

“That’s what I’m saying, Wolf,” Spike answered the dog as he hopped down the rocky cliff with Wolf before entering the quarry. “I kinda want to believe Frost too, she seems to know what she’s talking about. I mean, could you imagine us stumbling onto a large stash of those things?”

Wolf chuckled at the drake’s positive attitude, assuming that he was still happy to have the limiters off of his wrists, along with the joy he must be feeling with having Cyclone as his girlfriend. “Yeah, that would definitely be a lucky break,” Wolf said as he and Spike ventured into the quarry, hopefully to where Spike remembered he got his ruby originally. “Ever since Blaze saw that necklace of yours, she has been going on and on about how it would be so helpful to have more around.”

“Helpful like how?” Spike asked, looking over to his left to see the dog thinking about something presumably important. A moment of silence overcame the two as Spike continued to wait for Wolf to answer him, with the dog seemingly too preoccupied to notice. “Uh, Wolf?”

“Hm? Oh right, well, she likes to go on about how she could infuse the rubies with her magic, like with the firestones,” Wolf said after moving out of his thoughts, still trying to understand it himself. “Something about fire rubies being more conductive of magic or whatever.”

Spike raised an eyebrow at the dog, trying to understand it as well, but coming up with nothing. So all he knew was what Wolf was able to tell him, and what he already knew about magic in general. “Hm, well I think she’s saying that she might be able to put full spells in them without the ruby breaking from the magic, I guess,” Spike said, not so sure or knowledgeable in crystal magic. “Has she tried to put spells in the fire-stones before?”

“Yes, she has,” Wolf said, laughing a bit at the memory of a much younger and more hyperactive mare that he still loved to this day. “About five years ago I think, she tried to use the fire-stones for different things other than door openers, but heh, that kind of blew up in her face,” Wolf laughed at the memory, since Blaze hadn’t gotten hurt from her explosive revelation. “Anyway, the stone just fell apart after she put too much magic into it. After that she tried more stones, which sort of worked, but cost way too much to be worth the effort.”

“I had a feeling that might have been it,” Spike said in thought, trying to think if there was something he could do to help out with the pack and Blaze’s need to experiment with her magic and other materials. That’s when he thought about how much the mare was enjoying the books about modern day unicorn magic. “What if I got Blaze a book about crystal magic? I’m sure it would have some stuff in it that would help her, and some crystals if I can manage it.”

Wolf raised an eyebrow at Spike, surprised that Spike would even know where to get something like that, but he soon remembered about his and Quill’s past lives. “Only if you think you can Spike, but it would be a great help and I’m sure Blaze would love it if you do,” Wolf said with a nod towards the drake, feeling somewhat proud of Spike that he was willing to go out of his way for the pack, and more specifically Blaze.

“Sure, Wolf,” Spike said, taking a mental note to ask a favor from Twilight the next chance he got. However, right now he had to focus on what was happening, and that meant gem hunting. “Let’s go gem hunting shall we?”

Wolf chuckled again at the drake, waving his hand over the empty quarry ahead of them before saying, “Lead the way.” Shortly after, the two began digging in the quarry, going over a few spots where Spike knew some gems might be at, and taking their time to search for any fire rubies. However, as the hours passed, their luck hadn’t changed, especially when Spike admitted that he didn’t really remember how or where he found his fire ruby in the first place.

All the drake could remember was finding it one day, and not much after that. Defeated, Wolf waved it off as Spike’s mind having been clouded with some dragon-greed that made it hard for him to remember where it was. On the plus side of things, the two had been able to unearth a large haul, hopefully enough for the tournament fee.

Or at least, it would be, if Spike could stop eating them.

“Spike, quite eating the gems already,” Wolf scolded the drake, snatching the sack that had the small hoard of medium-sized gems and diamonds in them, all of which were fairly common. “If you want a snack, you’ll have to come out here tomorrow and try your luck. Because I’m going to see if I can find some more deer to store.”

As they made their way into the temple, Spike thought about what Wolf had said, and soon his mouth began watering at the idea of being able to dig up gems to eat again. So what if he had to put in all the work, he had already done that with Rarity, but now he would be doing it on his own terms.

“Alright, if you say so Wolf,” Spike began as they walked through the final door to Blaze’s work area, only to find that everyone aside from Lily - who had yet to return - was lounging inside as the day came to an end. “Maybe I could score some for Cy and the others.”

“Score what, Spikey?” Cyclone asked, walking away from Blaze’s work table to greet her drakefriend with a tight hug and a slow kiss, and catching a whiff of Spike’s scent from working out in the diamond quarry with Wolf all day. “Heh, you smell like gems again.”

“H-heh, hey Cy,” Spike stumbled, returning his dragoness’ embrace while Wolf walked over to Blaze and Isis. “I was just asking Wolf if I could go get some gems to snack on tomorrow, that’s all,” he answered Cyclone’s question as she nuzzled into his chest a bit.

Blaze happily watched Cyclone display her affection for Spike in front of them, having a feeling that it was a dragoness’ way of showing the rest of the clan, or pack in their case, who her chosen mate was.

Wolf on the other hand, paid little mind to it, though he was still glad that Spike would learn what it meant to take care of another. “Hey Quill,” he rumbled, looking over towards the dinner table where Quill sat in Frost’s lap while the mare gave her a back rub, Veil sitting across from them. “Catch.”

Quill snapped her attention to Wolf when she saw him tossing something at her, catching it before it could hit her face. She quickly recognized the object as a sack filled with something that felt like rocks. “Okay...what is it?” Quill asked, knowing Wolf wouldn’t hand her something if it didn’t hold some worth.

“It’s the entrance fee for the competition,” Spike said as he and Cyclone made their way over to the other younger members of High Moon, pulling out a chair for Cyclone to sit down next to Veil before he grabbed a chair to sit next to Cyclone. “It should be enough. Those are some pretty common gems though, so there’s no telling what they’re really worth.”

“Eh, it should be enough,” Quill said, not really worried about how much the gems were worth, since there was a large amount of them. “So what, you’re just gonna be getting gems to eat tomorrow? Don’t you think you could be doing something better with your time? Something important,” Quill said, hinting towards Cyclone with her head.

Spike rolled his eyes at his sister’s failed attempt at subtlety, shaking his head a little at her. “Don’t worry sis, I got this,” Spike said as he patted his own chest with a sly smile, wrapping his tail around Cyclone’s next to him. “I already know where to look, and I’m not gonna spend the whole day out there. I know what I’m doing.”

“Sure you do,” Quill said in an exaggerated tone of voice as she tossed the sack of gems up and down in boredom. “Well if you really know what you’re doing, we’ll be at the falls tomorrow.”

“Huh, why the falls?” Spike asked, knowing that Quill had already gotten used to swimming in calm water, especially since she had been practicing for the last five days. So it was hard for him to see why Quill, and he was assuming Frost and Cyclone would be at the falls tomorrow. Unless… “I’m guessing it’s more for Cyclone than you, right?”

Cyclone began blushing a little when Spike was able to guess that it was her idea. “Yeah, I actually liked walking on water, so I wanted to practice on it some more. Frost thought that the falls would be the best place to do it, since the water is generally calm and the pools are fairly large.”

“That’s great Cyclone,” Spike said with a happy smile, glad to hear that Cyclone was enjoying her training rather than looking at it as something that was a chore for her to do. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and went on, “You were really great at it the other day, so I’m sure you’ve already got it down pat.”

The blush on Cyclone’s face got brighter from her drake’s praising words, causing her to sheepishly smile at him and lean against his shoulder. “Aw thank you Spike, but I would never have gotten it if it wasn’t for you and Frost.”

“It wasn't any trouble Cyclone,” Frost said, laughing a bit at how much love the two were giving off. It would have been hard for her to keep control of herself if it hadn’t been for Quill. “It’s like I said when I first started helping you, you’re a natural Cyclone.”

“See Cy, I-”

“Okay, I just hate to break this love-fest up,” Quill started with an eye roll at her brother for being in what she called the ‘Cupcake phase’ of a relationship. “But there is a bit of news I wanted to tell you, Spike.”

Spike raised an eyebrow at Quill as she leaned back into Frost’s arms with a small sigh. “Well what is it? It wouldn’t have anything to do with the Elements, would it Quill?” Spike asked, knowing that everything might still be on shaky grounds. “You didn’t run into Rarity, did you?”

“Would you calm down? I said it was some news, not the end of the world,” Quill joked to get Spike to stop his worrying. She still wasn’t sure about telling Spike what she’d heard from Dusk, but Spike deserved to be kept in-the-know. “Anyway, remember when me and Frost paid a visit to Dusk yesterday?”

“Yeah, and how did that date of his turn out? He seemed a bit worried about it,” Spike said, remembering back to the day he came to see the half-breed, only to have to rush through it.

“From what I could tell great, but Spike,” Quill continued with another sigh, not in sadness, but in discontent of how things had turned out. “Dude, Rainbow joined the Solar Guard, and from what Dusk told me, she going all the way into it,” Quill said, still trying to figure out which emotion would be proper to describe how she felt about the whole thing.

Honestly, Quill had hoped that Rainbow would’ve gone back to Ponyville for a little while longer before making a move like this. It was the mare’s life to live, though, and Quill was going to leave it as such. “I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about it, but I thought you should at least know,” Quill said as she turned her head towards Spike, who had a thoughtful on his face. “Other than that, Dusk said everything was generally fine with the Elements. Even Rarity.”

“Huh, I see,” Spike said as he continued to think about what Quill told him, and just how he felt about it. Really, it wasn’t their problem any more, but there was a sense of...wanting an end, for a lack of better terms, of the whole thing. “Well that was kinda unexpected of her. I wouldn’t think Rainbow would’ve join the Guard after everything that’s happened. At least, not so suddenly.”

“To be honest,” Quill started as she rubbed the top of her head while Frost kept her hands busy by rubbing them on Quill’s lower back. “I saw it coming, but not so suddenly. Something must have pushed her to do it. My question is what.”

Spike sat in silence as he and Quill thought. Spike thought of Rainbow as an impulsive mare, always acting on the first thought that ran through her head. Quill, however, knew the mare always thought things out. Especially when it was a big decision like joining the Guard.

Money wasn’t the issue, that much Quill knew. No, Rainbow had to have had a bigger reason to join the Guard. Something that she could only get from the Guard. Something that she’d do to achieve her dreams.

“Just figured it out,” Quill said with a snap of her fingers after making the connection, breaking Spike out of his thoughts.

“Well, come on, don’t leave me in the dark sis,” Spike said as he couldn’t think of a reason for Rainbow to have suddenly joined the Guard. He still felt a little bad that he had never actually spent any real time with Rainbow like Quill had, but there was no way of changing that.

Quill shook her head as if she still didn’t like the answer that she’d just came up with, making Spike think there was more to it than he originally thought. “She joined the Guard to become a part of the Wonderbolts’ Aerial Force. I guess that could work, but it wouldn’t be the same for her though.”

“How’s that, Quill? Rainbow is still joining the Wonderbolts, so she would still be living her dream, right?” Spike was now even more puzzled about the situation. For as long as he had known Rainbow, she had done everything in her power to become a Wonderbolt. Even though she had turned them down after that Lighting Dust incident. “Wouldn’t it be better for her to join the Aerial Force anyway?”

“Yes and no,” Quill sighed as she moved out of her lover’s arms to grab her sketchbook that sat at their feet. After she placed it on the table, Quill opened the book up to an empty page, gesturing for Spike to come around to her side of the table.

By the time Spike had walked over towards the other side of the table, Quill had already sketched out the symbol of the Wonderbolts, consisting of a bolt of lighting with a pair of wings outstretched on either side. This was the more well-known logo for the team of daredevil flyers, something both twins had seen before. However it was what Quill was drawing on the other side of the lighting bolt that had Spike wondering.

Just like the other logo, this one was a lighting bolt with a pair of wings, stretched out exactly the same. What set this one apart was the crosshairs Quill drew around it, along with a whirlwind going around the lighting bolt.

Spike took another moment to look at the drawings before shaking his head, asking, “Okay...yes and no as in?”

“Yes, as in Rainbow will be getting the chance to live out her dreams. No, as in it isn’t exactly the way she wanted it to be,” Quill explained further as she had drew a line down between the the two logos. “The Aerial Force is the military side of the Wonderbolts, which means higher pay for higher risk jobs.”

“So, that’s a bad thing how?” Veil asked, having trouble keeping up with the conversation since she knew next to nothing about the twins’ old lives before High Moon. “I know it’s none of my business, but if I was this Rainbow chick, I would have been trying to get in the Aerial Force from the start.”

“And that’s what separates Rainbow from most,” Quill shook her head with a small, almost sad laugh following after. “She doesn’t really care about money at all.” Quill began tapping the top of the Aerial Force’s logo with her pencil, a habit she had when thinking, and her sketchbook was at hand. “All Rainbow cares about is being there for everyone. And flying, of course, but that’s just in her blood.”

“So, is it a bad thing that your friend joined the Guard to be in the Aerial Force?” Cyclone asked, having just as much trouble as Veil with keeping up with the conversation, but still feeling a need to help in any way she could.

Again, Quill shook her head with a sigh as she kept tapping on the military logo. “It’s not a bad thing that she did, especially since it’s her life to live. It’s just that I didn’t see it coming this soon is all.” Quill moved the eraser part of her pencil to scratch the top of her forehead, still searching her mind to find an answer to Rainbow’s sudden decision. “Something had to happen for her to do this. Just what though?”

While Quill continued to think about Rainbow’s choice, Spike’s mind wandered back to what he had thought was going to happen when he, Quill, and Frost had delivered the note that Rainbow had left for the Elements. “Well, this sucks,” he suddenly spoke, breaking Quill out of her thoughts. “I would have at least figured that Rainbow would’ve gone back to Ponyville for a while before anything else happened.”

“Yeah, I thought the same thing, but I’m kinda happy this is happening,” Quill said, going back to drawing on the page since there wasn’t a reason to let it go to waste. “It’s a sign that they’re moving on, Spike. The Elements are finally getting on with their lives, and we shouldn’t intervene in any way. Got it?”

“Yeah, loud and clear Quill,” Spike said, knowing there was a second meaning behind Quill’s words, as he too been waiting for the Elements to start moving on. “Guess we should start on dinner, right Frost?”

“Alright Spike, only if you’re up to it, though. This whole thing sounds very important to you two,” Frost said as she got up from her seat, still trying to sort through the wide variety of emotions that had come from the twins during their conversation about Rainbow Dash.

“Heh, nah I can handle it. Been through worse before, ya know?” Spike laughed as he began to walk over towards the corner of the room where all the cooking supplies were being stored, Frost following close after.

“Oh, I wanna help too,” Cyclone said as she got up from her chair to help Spike and Frost cook dinner for the pack, leaving Quill and Veil at the dinner table.

So with nothing else to do, Quill continued to draw on the page with the two logos on them. Veil was left with nothing to do until Quill, for no apparent reason, pulled out a gaming device she had in her back pocket and slid it over to the hound.

Veil raised an eyebrow at Quill for her sudden move, but took the device anyway. “Uh, thanks Quill,” she said, turning the device on to play a game or two, but wondering why Quill would hand it over in the first place.

“Eh,” Quill shrugged her shoulders, honestly having almost forgotten about the device in her back pocket. “You sat through me and Spike talking about our old lives, and even tried to help out. Also, you looked pretty bored over there and I wasn’t using so you can have it for awhile.”

“Gee, thanks Quill, but uh,” Veil looked over towards the three chefs as they all took turns making dinner for everyone in High Moon, seeing the smile on Cyclone’s face as she stood close to Spike. “What about Cyclone and Frost? Aren’t you gonna give them something too?”

Quill glanced over to where Veil was looking, seeing the smile that Spike was able to bring out on Cyclone’s face. “I got Frost covered, don’t you worry about that. As for Cyclone, though,” Quill trailed, taking a seat across from Veil as she resumed her drawing. “She gets my brother.”

“Yeah… I guess she does,” Veil said, looking at the three preparing the pack’s food. She saw the bright smile on Cyclone’s face, and ran a claw over her necklace, a thoughtful look on her face. With a final glance at Spike, she turned her head away from the three to begin playing the game, making a decision of her own.

Later that night, after dinner was served and cleaned up, all of the residents of the valley left to their respective sleeping areas for the night to get an early start on another day of work and training.

Down in the mansion, both Veil and Cyclone got ready for bed in their room with the clothes that Quill and Spike were letting them use for night wear. “Oh this week has been amazing, Veil,” Cyclone said, wearing one of Spike’s larger white t-shirts and a pair of short purple shorts from Quill as she sat on her knees on the bed. “Everyone is helping with my magic so much, I haven’t had any problems since we got here.”

“Heh, yeah I guess this week has been great,” Veil said, wearing her white tank-top with one of Quill’s black shorts as she sat on the foot of the bed. “Alpha has been showing me a bunch of stuff, and Quill and Frost are pretty cool to hang out with.”

“Mm, yeah they are pretty cool.” Cyclone thought back to the last week of hanging out with the twins and Frost, learning from them, and growing closer to them as well. Not only that, but Wolf, Blaze, and Isis had all been very nice to both her and Veil since they got to High Moon. “Well anyway, goodnight Veil,” Cyclone said as she got up from the bed and gave Veil a tight hug. She left to go into Spike’s room to sleep with him again.

“Yeah, sleep easy Cy.” Veil didn’t bother to question where the dragoness was going. Right as Cyclone closed the door behind her, Veil fell back on the bed with a huff. Her best friend had been going out with the same drake for a full week now, and Veil still didn’t know a single thing about him.

If everything went as planned tomorrow, though, then that might change. Hopefully.

As the sunlight of the morning shone through the small cracks in the wall, Spike let out a small groan when he felt a weight laying on top of him. Slowly opening his eyes, Spike’s vision was filled with the peaceful look of Cyclone sleeping on his chest. A red hue began shining against the drake’s cheeks, still not quite used to waking up to such a cute face.

Normally, Spike wouldn’t waste time with laying in bed, but with Cyclone still sleeping on top of him, he figured he could make an exception to the rule. For her. As Cyclone continued to peacefully sleep on top of him, Spike noticed something soft and round in his hands, causing him to squeeze out of curiosity.

“Oh Spikey~ Wait a little longer,” Cyclone suddenly moaned after Spike had squeezed the flesh of her ass cheeks. The blush on Spike’s face grew brighter when he realized what he was holding onto, forcing himself to keep calm as he moved his hands up to Cyclone’s lower back.

Still, the movement finally got Cyclone to wake up as she nuzzled into Spike’s chest before she sat up in his lap, their blankets pooling behind her. She rubbed her eyes to get the sleep out of them. As she rested in his lap, Cyclone felt something rather hard, and large, prodding at her.

“Good morning, big guy,” Cyclone giggled, moving her hands down Spike’s chest as she began moving her hips into Spike’s to tease his morning girth. When Spike’s cheeks got even redder, Cyclone again giggled as she moved down to his face. She began planting soft kisses around his neck. “I hope you slept well Spike,” Cyclone breathed before she placed another kiss underneath Spike’s jaw.

“G-good morning to you too Cy,” Spike stammered as he rubbed his hands over the base of Cyclone’s tail, as per a tip from his sister. The move worked just like Quill said it would, as Cyclone shivered and moaned softly against his neck. “I slept fine, you?”

Cyclone kissed her way up Spike’s jaw line before eventually placing a kiss on his lips. For a moment, the two remained lip locked, Cyclone slipping her tongue into Spike’s mouth while the drake attempted to keep up with her. It was hard though, since his mind was trying to find some way to describe the feeling he had right now. Cyclone’s soft and sweet lips had something that was powerful enough to spark a fire inside of Spike’s heart. It was a wonderful feeling that didn’t even end after they had finally parted.

“Waking up to this made it better,” Cyclone sighed as she placed her head on Spike’s shoulder, nuzzling into his neck and sighing in comfort. “Too bad we have to go do things though. I could stay like this all day.”

Spike smiled at the thought of simply relaxing with his mate, but she did make a good point about them having things to do today. “Y-yeah me too Cy, but if we’re lucky I could meet up with you and the other at the falls early. That’d be great, right?”

“It’d be awesome, Spike. Come on big boy,” Cyclone teased as she moved her hips against Spike’s again while her hands trailed down his body. “Best not keep everyone waiting.” Cyclone finished with a kiss on Spike’s lips before she got off the bed with him following after, both leaving the room to go wake Veil up.

After getting the hound, the three of them began making their way towards the temple with Spike and Cyclone walking close together as Veil slugged behind them, still sleepy. As they made their way into the temple, they were greeted by the sight of Blaze brewing some sort of potion, with Wolf and Isis acting as her assistants for the day.

A quick breakfast of fruits and vegetables was served, before the younger members gave Wolf and his two lovers some space for the day, all telling them where they’d be.

It was to Spike’s surprise that Veil wanted to tag along with him to the diamond quarry for a quick gem hunt, but he didn’t question it since the more help he had meant a larger number of gems he could haul back.

As they made their way towards the quarry, for some reason that neither could understand, they were quiet. Not because they had a lot on their minds, but because of the awkwardness between them.

Spike was going out with Veil’s childhood friend, even after he had failed to save their home in White Tail. It wasn’t fully his fault though, at the rate the fire had been eating through the house, and how large it was, there was no saving it. But that wasn’t what made this walk awkward, regardless of the leftover guilt Spike still felt.

What made this walk awkward was the fact that neither one knew each other very well, yet they’d had plenty of time to do so, but hadn’t made any use of the time.

‘Guess now’s as good a time as any.’

“So…” Both Spike and Veil started at the same time, Spike’s hand on the back of his head and Veil’s hand her around her arm. When they realized that they had spoken at the same time, the two began to nervously laugh, which seemed to serve to break the ice.

“You go first Veil,” Spike said with another chuckle, continuing to lead Veil to the diamond quarry, and calming down just a bit.

“Heh, thanks. So, anyway, how are things going with Cyclone’s training? She’s been talking all about how everyone has been showing her all kinds of things. You, especially,” Veil said as she raked her hand through her messy black and white hair, mumbling about needing to do something with it. “I haven’t seen her this happy in a long time. So I’m guessing that she’s doing great?”

“Yeah, Cyclone’s doing a lot better than any of us were expecting her to.” It still surprised Spike how fast and well Cyclone was able to get through things with her water-magic. The same could be spoken about her fire-magic, from what he’d seen from Blaze teaching her. “You should see her sometime Veil, Cyclone is a natural. All she needed was someone showing her the ropes. I think Frost was saying something about teaching Cyclone more advanced healing spells soon.”

“Oh really? That sounds great,” Veil said as they continued down the dirt path, silently marvelling at her friend. She never would’ve thought that Cyclone would be a natural like Spike was saying she is, but Veil was happy to hear that anyway. “I’m glad to hear that, Spike. So what did you want to say?”

“Oh right, I was just gonna ask you if you knew any gems that Cyclone liked to eat?” Spike asked with a sheepish grin on his face, rubbing the side of his neck. “I wanted to see if I could get her something that she’d like, and since you two have been friends for years now, I figured that you would know.”

Veil thought about it for a moment. She may hate digging, but there were still times where she and Cyclone had came across a gem or two. And one memory stuck out to her more than the others. “Uh, yeah, I think she said she likes blue sapphires, for some reason. Something about them being sweet.”

“Blue sapphires, huh?” ‘Maybe that’s why she always tastes so good…’ Spike began rubbing his chin in thought, trying to remember if he and Quill had stashed any gems from Rarity while out gem hunting with the mare. He wasn’t sure about Quill, but he remembered his spot wasn’t too far from where he and Veil would be going. “Mm, sounds like me and Cy have that in common, I guess. I love me some blue sapphires.”

Veil looked over to her right to see the drake licking his lips with his serpent tongue, drooling as he thought about the gem’s taste. “Man, you dragons and eating gems,” Veil said, shaking her head as she never got why dragons would eat gems when they could be forged into something more useful than a treat. “Don’t you think we could use those gems for something more useful?”

“Whaddya mean, Veil?” Spike asked, not knowing what diamond dogs typically used gems for, since Wolf had Blaze just repurposed them into tools and other items that they could use around the temple and city ruins. “Dragons need to eat gems, keeps our scales healthy and our internal flames at controllable levels. And they’re really good too.”

“They…they do?” Spike nodded his head towards Veil to answer her question, not too surprised she didn’t know about that, since he hadn’t known either until he and Quill arrived at High Moon. And to think, all this time she thought it was just some sugary treat for dragons, when really it was more like a vitamin pill.

“Huh, guess you learn something new everyday,” Veil said as she crossed her arms over her chest in thought. “Us diamond dogs usually take them and reshape them into tools, weapons, armor, and stuff.”

Now it was Spike’s turned to be confused, always having been curious about diamond dog culture. “I get the tools thing, but armor and weapons? Why would a den of diamond dogs need that when their claws can cut through stone?”

“Because to use our claws, we have to be up close and personal. Sometimes it’s not a smart idea to be that close,” Veil said, having some small experience working as a guard hound for her den, but little experience in actual fighting. “It’s the bigger beta dogs that wear the heavy armor while the smaller ones like me,” she paused, gesturing over her toned physique with her hand, “Get the light armor metal with a weapon.”

Spike took a moment to think about the time he, Quill, and the Elements had their first encounter with diamond dogs. From what he could remember, that pack had been all males, with not a single female throughout the entire den.

“Hey uh, Veil? What’s it mean when a den only has guys in it?” Veil slowly started turning her head towards Spike with a blank, and very unreadable, expression on her face. “Cause me, Quill, and some friends of ours came across a den, and from what I remember it was mostly, if not entirely, males.”

For a moment, Veil just stared into Spike’s green eyes with a look of disbelief on her face. Spike started to worry that he said something he shouldn’t have, but ceased worrying when Veil started laughing, even though it sounded bitter.

“Wait lemme guess, this ‘den’, how many alphas did it have?” she asked with a fake-looking smile on her face, telling Spike there was something he wasn’t getting.

However, to see where this was going, Spike thought back to that day before answering. “Uh, three I think. A tall one, a medium one, and a really short one. If I remember right.” Veil’s laughter only got louder and more sarcastic for her part. “Is that a bad thing?”

“Is it a bad thing, he asks,” Veil mumbled to herself as she dropped her head so that her eyes were covered by her hair, still hollowly laughing before suddenly locking her eyes onto Spike’s. “It’s a really bad thing. That den was dying Spike, and those alphas were probably to blame. Bet they were failures, weren’t they, Spike? Tripping up on their own two feet.”

“Well…” Spike again thought back to the moment he and the others had made their way through the den and to where the alphas were holding Rarity ‘hostage,’ and how tight of a leash Rarity had them on. “Yeah, those guys were basically idiots. I mean...we beat them without having to do a single thing. And I was all ready to fight.”

“Well you would’ve been wasting your time with that Spike,” Veil spat with a slight eye roll, not surprised at all that that was the case. Regardless of what had happened. “They may look tough, but alphas like that are nothing but weak half-lives. Wolf is the best example what an alpha is supposed to be.”

As Veil crossed her arms over her chest again, Spike thought about what she said and the memories he had about it. There was no doubt that those alphas were weak mentally, but physically they looked pretty tough. However, Veil thought otherwise, and it was starting to make Spike think otherwise as well.

“Okay but what about the betas? You know, the guys doing all of the grunt work?” From the way Veil made it sound, Spike had a feeling that those alphas wouldn’t last very long without a den to back them up. So his concern turned towards the betas that were forced to work underneath those idiotic three.

Veil looked over at him with a questioning look, as she wouldn’t think Spike would care about those he hadn’t even met before. But she thought about his question for a moment to give him an answer. “I dunno, anything could’ve happened to them by now. They could’ve left that den in search of a new one, or even overthrown those alphas. Once an alpha has shown that they are unable to take care of the den with their own power, the den starts to turn on them.”

“Ah, I hope they found a new home then, if that’s the case,” Spike said, now feeling bad for those betas that had most likely been tricked into working with those three alphas. “Is that what happened with you Veil? Did you leave your den too?”

Veil started to nod her head slowly as they finally reached the diamond quarry and the edge of the forest. “Yeah, I knew that my den was going downhill. Fast. So I left them behind, and so far, I haven’t looked back with regret yet.”

Spike looked over towards the hound as she continued to stare blankly out at the quarry with a slightly bothered look on her face. He began to say something when Veil cut him off with, “Hey Spike,” as she turned her head to look towards him, flashing an honest smile. “Do me a big favor, keep taking care of Cyclone for me, will ya? She never smiled this much when it was just her and me, so keep doing whatever you’re doing. Alright, Drake?”

“Uh, sure Veil, I hadn’t thought of changing much anyway,” Spike answered back, not sure where the hound’s sudden change in attitude came from.

“Good, now let’s get Cyclone those blue sapphires.” Without letting the drake say anything, Veil hopped down the rocky face of the cliff, with Spike following shortly after he gave up with trying to figure the hound out.

Veil’s decision to essentially give up Cyclone had been a hard one, but one that it seemed she wouldn’t have to regret. Spike seemed to be one of the good drakes, and she planned on using this trip to get to know him more. At least after this, she wouldn’t feel as guilty about giving Cyclone up to someone she didn’t know.

Now she just needed a way to get rid of the empty feeling in her heart.

Time flew by for the High Moon pack as the flight competition got closer. Quill, Frost, and somewhat surprisingly Isis, all got ready to leave to get Quill registered for the competition. The reason Isis gave for wanting to go with Quill and Frost was so she could see how much the outside world had grown while she was in self-isolation. Another reason was that she could use a teleportation spell of hers so she would be able to bring the group back home quickly.

When Wolf questioned the sphinx as to why she couldn’t use the spell now, and Isis explained that she had to actually have seen the place she was teleporting to with her eyes. A third reason was she was far too curious of Quill’s skills to allow the opportunity of seeing her give it her all go to waste. And lastly that she would be able to allow the entire pack to see the competition through her eyes, but she would have to be in attendance.

Wolf waved the sphinx off after she listed everything he needed to know for everything to be set up, saying that they would get everything ready for her. Spike quickly volunteered to do whatever he could along with Cyclone and the others. It seemed that everyone had high hopes for Quill’s performance after seeing the dragoness push herself for the last week and a half.

Once she had her master’s permission, and all the necessary provisions, Isis turned to leave with Quill and Frost to this cloud city, something she hadn’t stepped foot on since before the three pony tribes were united. However, the trip to the cloud city began on a shaky start when Quill admitted that she didn’t know where Stormfront was at. Thankfully, Frost, having had scouts travel to several parts of Equestria during her time as a changeling princess, knew of the small city’s location, and took the lead to fly there.

As Isis followed the scorpio mare, she gazed at the open world outside of the valley. So much of it had changed, so much of it was different, and so much land had been transformed for the living. Isis still could remember the battles that were part of the equine's past, along with the rulers that were ready to throw their tribes aside to the cold just for their insignificant pride.

However, such a rule no longer existed. Mostly, that is.

“Okay you two, we should be approaching the city soon,” Frost said as she sparked her horn, creating a bright blue flame that rippled down her body, revealing her dragoness disguise, which thankfully fit in Quill’s gray t-shirt and black jeans. “Better safe than sorry though.”

Quill quickly got up from the cloud floor to wrap her lover in her arms, placing a loving kiss on the back of Frost’s neck. “Don’t worry Frost, it won’t be like this for much longer. I promise,” she whispered into Frost’s ear as Quill held her tight.

Isis took a moment to herself as she watched the two young lovers embrace, thinking about their goals for the future. “So that is what you wish to achieve,” Isis said slowly as she got off the cloud herself, breaking the two lovers out of their own thoughts. “Equality for all species... Well if that’s the case, then,” Isis paused as she sparked her own magic, casting a veil of red light over her body that soon faded away.

Isis was slowly revealed to be a little shorter than she was before, along with her wings having crimson tips on the edges of the feathers and a single dash of red going down her black hair. Along with her reduction in height, the shirt she borrowed from Spike was now trailing down to mid thigh, and with the shorts she got from Quill fit better. Once the light fully faded, Isis opened up her now piercing red eyes to look towards the couple.

And she was a pegasus.

“You two have my full support,” she said in a higher sounding voice, almost sounding like she was Quill’s age. “No kingdom such as this will last much longer if it continues on the path it is on now. And I am more than sure that you two will see to that, so you have my support in any way I can assist you.”

Both Frost and Quill were speechless at the sight of the newly transformed sphinx in front of them, questioning just how much she really knew in the realm of magic. However, Frost was able to break out of her daze before Quill. “Uh, thank you Isis. That means a lot to hear from someone such as yourself, but I do have one question.”

Isis titled her head at Frost for a moment, trying to think about what question she could have for her. Then the obvious realization hit her. “Oh you mean this?” Isis inquired as she gestured to her new form, stretching her wings outward. When the two lovers wordlessly nodded their heads, Isis actually allowed an honest blush to come across her cheeks. “Yes, well, it is just a simple illusion spell. Just like you said Frost, better safe than sorry.”

“Right then, shall we?” Frost asked, gesturing to the cloud city off in the distance. Both Isis and Quill nodded their heads before they took off toward Stormfront to get everything ready for Quill to compete in the flight competition.

As they got closer, excitement and anticipation began to rise inside of Quill, causing her to fly slightly ahead of the group, swooping over the city as she headed straight for the stadium off to the eastern side of it.

Trailing behind the two, Isis took in the sights for two important reasons. One, to make sure she had enough information to properly use her long-distance teleportation spell. And two, just to see how far Equestria really had come underneath Celestia’s lone rule. From the looks of things, the style of architecture had definitely came a long way from the archaic times she once remembered, yet it still had the same subtle style from the past.

‘Hm, interesting,’ Isis thought to herself before she followed Frost down with Quill, landing right in front of the stadium’s entrance. Quill didn’t waste a single breath before she started to lead the other two inside the arena while Isis continued to marvel at the way the stadium almost looked like a colosseum.

Colosseums where sky-warriors had once came to showcase their skills for the generals of the pegasi. Where two flyers entered, only for one to leave in exile. Now it was being used for more recreational purposes, such as this flight competition.

“Very interesting indeed,” Isis mused as she looked around the inside of the stadium, still following Quill to the commissioner’s booth so she could be registered for the competition in two days.

“What’s interesting, Isis?” Frost asked, looking back to the sphinx as she continued to look around the stadium interior with a curious look in her eyes. In fact, that wasn’t the only thing that was curious. For once Frost was able to get a more clear and profound sense of Isis’ emotions, something she wasn’t able to do before her transformation. “Do you mean the stadium, or is it something from the past that you are remembering?”

For a moment, Isis didn’t think about Frost’s question as she continued to think about the past and the customs that seemed to have been passed down from it. It was only when her gaze moved over to Frost did she process her question.

“All of it, really,” Isis started, waving her hand over the inside of the stadium as she and Frost walked over to Quill. “This all reminds me of when warriors would come to battle one another for glory and honor. It’s...somewhat pleasing to see that some of that has not changed much.”

“Hm, I su-”

“What do you mean you can’t take them!?” Quill cut in, shouting at the attendee inside of the booth as she slammed her hand on the cloud booth. “They’re gems! If anything, they’re worth more than any gold bit you can find, so what’s the deal?”

“Quill, what is the matter?” Frost asked as she placed a hand on Quill’s shoulder to get her attention. “Is there something the matter with the payment fee?” All Quill did was point straight at the tan pegasus stallion behind the booth, who was trembling a little from the enraged dragoness shouting at him. “Excuse me, but is there a reason you can’t take our payment fee?”

“W-well a-ah don’t mean any harm, missy,” the stallion said, straightening himself to speak with the more level-headed dragoness, rather the other purple one that seemed to be a ticking timebomb. “But the the fee specifically says twenty bits per entry, and well, ah don’t know how much ya’ll got right here. It could be more, could be less, and there ain’t no way of telling unless ya take it to a bank.”

“A bank? What in the threads is that?” Frost asked with a confused tone, not knowing what a bank was, or what the real trouble was with the payment that they’ve brought. “Please sir, don’t you think that a few gems would be worth the same amount? If not more?”

“Th-that’s the problem missy,” the stallion said, becoming nervous with the group of dragons and the severe-looking pegasus standing before him. “Ah’m sure that ya’ll have more than enough, but my mama taught me not to short change nopony, er dragon. Ah’m sorry.”

Quill slammed her forehead against the wall of the booth while Frost and Isis tried to think of a way to resolve the matter. They could see the problem at hand, it was obvious that this stallion was taught far too well by his mother to just take money from them without knowing how much they were over the required amount, even though they could easily get more.

“Well this is quite the predicament,” Isis mused as she looked into the stallion’s eyes to only see the conviction he had regarding his teachings. “I suppose that we have no other options but to visit this ‘bank’. Where might we find one of these, kind sir?”

“Uh, there’s one on the other side of town, but they aren’t-”

“Excuse me, I believe I’ll be able to help with this,” a feminine voice called out from behind the group, surprising both Isis and Frost as they hadn’t heard, nor sensed someone coming towards them.

As they looked back, they saw that the voice belonged to a dark, midnight-blue canine with long snow-white hair that obviously had dragon blood in her, visible because of the dragon wings on her back. “I don’t mean to pry into business that is not mine, but I do know a bit that could help you.”

“Really? Thank you so much!” Quill said with a cheer now that she didn’t have to worry about everything going to waste, thanks to this unknown half-breed luckily and randomly showing up. “You don’t know how much this means to me,” Quill said with a calmer voice as the half-breed walked up to the counter where Quill had sat the gems down and began shifting the gems around. “So, how much do we really have here?”

The half-breed was quiet for a moment as she continued to count the amount Quill had placed on the table in her head. “A lot,” she giggled, “Like nearly nine times the payment fee.” Quill’s jaw nearly fell to the ground from what the half-breed said. If that was the case, they had to have been carrying what could be over one hundred-eighty bits.

Smiling, the hound began separating the gems to the required payment, and reached into her purple jeans to pull out twenty gold bits. “Here, this should cover for her,” she said as she handed the bits to the stallion behind the booth.

“U-uh, thank you?”

Once the stallion took the bits from the hound, she scooped up the gems that were worth the same amount. “And this should cover me for lunch. That’s fair, right?” she asked in a polite voice, looking over towards Quill, her left eye covered by her hair. “You still have over a hundred bits worth of gems on you. So don’t spend it all in one place.”

“Heh, yeah thanks,” Quill said as she rubbed the back of her neck, already listing a few things in her head that she wanted to grab for High Moon.

The hound began walking off, saying, “Anytime, Ferox.”

And she disappeared.

Quill quickly turned around when she heard the nickname that Dusk had given her, but by the time she did, the hound was gone without a single trace, leaving her confused as to who the half-breed was.

“Quill, is everything alright?” Frost asked, sensing the distress coming from her lover about the mysterious half-breed that came and left with the wind. “Do you know her or something? She did call you by the nickname that Dusk gave you.”

“H-huh? Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, she just threw me off a bit,” Quill said before she turned back to the stallion behind the booth. “Well? That does cover everything right?” she asked, pushing the strange happening with the half-breed aside for later.

“Yup, sure does missy,” the stallion said as he reached into a drawer to place the golden bits in and to get a registration sheet out for Quill. “And may Ah say, that was some mighty fine luck right there. Wonder where tha’ hound ran off ta in such a hurry, though?” he mused as he slid the paper and pen over to Quill for her to fill out the form.

‘Yeah me too,’ Quill thought to herself as she began filling out the paperwork for the competition. It was odd that the hound, who Quill had never seen before, would know about a nickname that Dusk gave her over two weeks ago. However, she couldn’t allow that to be her main focus as she had more important things on her mind.

“And….done,” Quill said after she finish filling out the sheet, handing it back to the stallion. Years of working with Twilight had given her and Spike the ability to fill anything out at a mere glance, which finally seemed to be useful. “So, is that everything?”

“Sure is missy,” the boothkeep said after examining the sheet of paper for a moment and before he placed it away. “See ya in two days at three forty-five, sharp. Competition starts on the dot. So for your sake, I wouldn’t be late.”

Quill nodded to the stallion, making sure to imprint that time in her head before she walked out of the stadium with Frost and Isis close behind. Since they were in a town, and they had gems that were worth over one hundred bits, Quill thought that they could spend them on stuff for High Moon, while she was burning with the drive to win the competition.