“Hello Scootaloo.” Robert said. "Sweetie Bell, Applebloom.”

“Hi, Robert.” the girls chorused.

“What did you do to Diamond Tiara?” Applebloom asked.

“Nothing, why?” Robert queried.

“She's been avoiding us.” Sweetie mentioned.

“I suspect her father had some words with her. He certainly had a few with me.” the three gasped. "Nothing too bad, mostly about scaring his little girl. When he heard, he said he was going to do something. I don't know what, and honestly, I'm not sure I want to know.”

“I don't know either, but it worked.” Scootaloo grinned. "She hasn't bothered us in a week.”

“Fantastic. So, what are you three up to, crusading?” he asked.

“No.” Applebloom said, sighing. "I've gotta get home and help with the apple bucking.”

“And I've got to head back to my parent's for the weekend. They're coming back from a long trip.” Sweetie said.

“I'm free though.” Scootaloo said.

“Actually, you're the one I wanted to talk to. I was with Twilight and Rainbow and we were practicing flying. We got around to discussing you. When I asked about your parent's, they said I had to ask you.” Scootaloo took a deep breath. "If it's too painful...”

“NO.” the word was sharp, and quickly, like a band-aid being ripped off. "Sorry, no, don't pity me.” Scootaloo said. "I have enough of that.”

“I wasn't going to. I just wondered how your parent's felt about you having trouble flying and they said I had to ask you.”

“They don't feel anything.” Scootaloo said. "They died. As heroes.” she took a breath, steadied by the other two crusaders. "We used to live near Cloudsdale, on the ground. They were fog specialist weather ponies. So my inability to fly wasn't a problem. One day, there was a freak storm, low to the ground. It stirred up the air, endangering the city above. A dozen pegasi came down, more of them fighting it from above. My parents lead from the ground. A bolt of lightning caught them as they were pushing the storm. They grabbed it and deflected it away. It hit another one, and they arced up and hit the city. Dozens of pegasi fell out of the sky, as the clouds started to dissolve.” she paused, bracing herself for the next part. "There was an orphanage. Foundlings in the city went there. They were sleeping when the bolt hit. My parents were the closest pegasi. They took hold of the clouds, forced them together. It wouldn't have been anything special, but the storm on the ground had... a channel. An easy place, to go. The ground had been so supercharged that Cloudsdale was the only place for the lightning to go. My parents were in the way. I don't know how many times it hit them. But they held the cloud together until the orphanage was evacuated. Then...” she shuddered. The crusaders held her tight. "They fell. A bunch of pegasi caught them. I didn't even get to say good-bye.” Another shudder, this time holding back tears. "I was lucky though.”

“How?” Robert asked.

“I had someone to take care of me.” Scootaloo said. "I didn't end up in an orphanage. I'd have had to go to one for earth ponies.” she smiled at the two fillies beside her. "I'd never have met my best friends, or my hero.” she looked past Robert as Rainbow flew literal circles around several weather ponies, slicing clouds into pleasant shapes and then smashing through them. Several other pegasi simply threw up their hooves and turned away. Rainbow laughed loud enough to be heard on the ground and corkscrewed through another bank of clouds.

“So, who do you live with?” Robert asked. Scootaloo smiled.

“My grandpa.” she looked at the two other crusaders, and hugged them with her wings. "You two had better get going. Don't want to be late.”

“Ah'm sure they'll understand.” Applebloom said, but she started off. "See you Monday. “

“You're right, I don't want to miss my train.” Sweetie said. "See you Monday Scootaloo.”

“So, would you like to meet my grandpa?” Scootaloo asked.

“Definitely.” Robert said.

---

The house was no mansion, but it was a two story affair, with a big upper balcony. Large enough to land several pegasi, or one tiger on. Robert landed on the front lawn as Scootaloo rolled up on her scooter.

“One day, I will beat you.” she said, giving him a very determined look.

“I have no doubt of that.” he replied, just as determined to see her succeed.

“Come on, let's go see Grandpa.” Scootaloo led the way inside, wings fluttering in anticipation. She burst through the door. "Grandpa, company!”

“In the kitchen. Mind the floor...” the voice was old, but strong, the voice of one who had heard and seen much. And still he cut off with a raucous laugh at the sound of a too fast Pegasus hitting a freshly waxed floor, and something else immediately afterwards. The noise might have sounded awful to some, but Robert found it comical since he knew she'd not removed her helmet before going in. He found her dazed but unharmed on the floor, trying very hard to stand up on the waxed flooring.

“Need some assistance?” Robert asked.

“No.” Thud. "I've.” Thud. "Got.” thump. "It.” She stood up. For two full seconds and then slammed down again. "Yes.” Robert padded slowly across the floor. And let her use his paw as leverage to pull herself up. Off to one side, smiling at her antics, was a Pegasus stallion. His first comment was defining.

“Well, well, a Tiger with wings. I was pretty sure I'd seen everything, and I guess now I have.” he chuckled. He was tall, not quite on a stature with Big Mac, but still massive for a pegasus. His coat was a deep royal blue, almost a match for Luna's. His mane and tail, now gray with age, still showed locks of a deep royal purple. It was however, his wings that drew Robert's attention instantly. Long and strong, the feathers there were a brilliant gold color. Not the false yellow of some feathers, but a pure undiluted gold. Scootaloo's next words confirmed his suspicion.

“Grandpa Gold Wing, this is my friend Robert. The one I was telling you about?”

“War Master Gold Wing?” Robert asked, jaw hanging open slightly.

“Now there's a title I haven't heard in quite some time. Yes, I was given that title by the Tigers, during my service with the Long Patrol. Do I know you?”

“You've heard of my grandpa?” Scootaloo asked.

“You probably do not, but I know of you. Yes. Your grandfather is the reason I'm alive today.” Robert said.

“I doubt that my boy,” the old Pegasus said. "but why don't we sit in the living room and you can explain that?”

“Certainly sir.”

“Call me Gold Wing.”

“Yes, si... Gold Wing.”

---

Robert sat down on the couch with Scootaloo, while Gold Wing sat in a cloud chair. “It's a pain to keep up down here, but I spent too much time in camp cots and those hard backed monstrosities in Canterlot to deny myself the comfort now.” was his response when Robert asked.

“Now, I believe you were explaining why I'm responsible for you being here?”

“The Long Patrol visited my tribe a long time ago, before I was born. So this story was told to me by my father. He said that the patrol came to my grandfather and said that he should make ready his tribe, because a pack of Dobhar-chu were coming. My father was already a warrior when it happened, so he offered to lead the defense of the encampment”. My grandfather agreed, and set him to the task. Gold Wing rubbed his chin.

“I remember that. Something big moved into the lake that pack called home, and drove them out. We didn't stick around to find out, since we had to come warn your tribe.”

“None that I know ever went near the place.” Robert said. "So I know nothing about the place, or it's inhabitants.” he shrugged. “Anyway, the patrol left, heading back towards the pack. They came back a day later, and told my father the pack would be on them in a couple of hours.”

“I remember that. We actually tried to turn the pack, either away, or around the encampment. They wouldn't have any of it. Nothing we hit them with seemed to do more than make them a little angry and we couldn't even use that. They wouldn't chase us.” Gold Wing shook his head. "They were pretty driven.”

“They did the only thing they could do, which was stand the wall, and wait. The beasts came out of the grass like they were, Dad said possessed. Something was harrying them, like you'd drive a herd of cattle or something. They crashed up against the walls and didn't so much breach as they tore them open. The biggest ones were the leaders, and he found himself face to face with one. He tells it better than me, but he said it took a couple minutes and several tigers to bring them down. And he ended up fighting one alone. He's still got a scar from the fighting. A long jagged thing down his left side. It's mostly faded by now, but it's still there. Way he tells it, he had it down, and it just rolled over and hit him, knocked him down and pinned him. It tried to open him up, but as it did, you just dropped out of the sky and hit it with all four hooves. Made it only lay down that scar, and then you two beat it until it dropped.” Robert shook his head. "That about the sum of it?”

“Sounds right. I remember the big beastie. Got your poppa pinned down. Didn't see how they got like that, but I did drop on it. I always preferred the Hammer Hooves. Good thing too, those were the only way to hurt the beasties. I must given it a real good knock, because it left your poppa alone, and tried to eat me instead. I was never much for being an easy meal though. And your poppa didn't know when to stay down. He come right up and chomped onto the tenderest bits he could find.” Scootaloo gave him a confused look. "Don't worry, I'll give you that talk a little later on.”

“Oookay.” Scootaloo rolled her eyes.

“Anyway, with it distracted I landed on it's head and did me a little tap dance. Between us we brought it down and the rest of the critters just sort of lost heart. They scattered out of the encampment and headed south. I never heard of them again.” he looked at Robert, hoping for any news.

“My father said that they'd run into another tribe to the south, but they'd been forewarned and the beasts just went around them. They disappeared south, and you know what's south.” They bowed heads and spoke words in a language Scootaloo didn't understand.

“What was that about?” she asked. Robert raised an eyebrow.

“That's for a conversation early in the morning my dear. Lest you be plagued by nightmares.” Gold Wing said. Scootaloo looked for a moment as if she was going to dispute that, but decided not to.

“Wow.” Robert looked out the window. "I never expected to get all wrapped into this. I came to talk about Scootaloo.”

“Yeah, he wants to help me fly.” Scootaloo said. Gold Wing leaned forward.

“Have you talked to Princess Twilight?” the elder Pegasus asked.

“I have. In truth, that's why I'm here. The princess has a line on a why, and since I helped her come to the conclusion, she thought I should be the one to ask a few questions about it.”

“Go ahead, anything for my granddaughter.” Gold Wing said and leaned back.

---

Robert crossed the lawn and started into the twilight. Some ponies didn't get up until after it was gone, some went to bed when it came upon them. Robert found that the twilight was his favorite time of day. The sun was falling, but the moon hadn't quite risen yet. Night and day, combined into one state. Most were unaware of the implications, but Robert knew a few things about magic that many did not. Twilight was a perfect time to perform a lot of magics. Unfortunately, he was completely lacking in magic at the moment. Instead, he took a deep breath and lunged into the air. Wings spread, flapping... and he plowed into the ground face first.

Note to self, spread wings, then flap.

Robert picked himself up and tried again with the new information. This time he remained airborne, flapping towards the tree with all the grace of a sheet of paper. Still, he managed to reach a suitable height, then locked his wings and began to glide. The air was just beginning to cool down from the heat of the day, the air slowly taking on the thickness of the night. He ghosted on silent wings over the town. Twilight Sparkle was just returning for the day as he swooped down and landed.

“Hello Robert.” she sounded wholly exhausted.

“Hello Twilight. Long day?” he asked.

“Longer than you can imagine. she replied. After a day with Cadance and Discord, all I want is my bed. Do you mind if we talk in the morning?”

“Not at all. Good night Princess.” Robert bowed, wings spread to the sides. Twilight giggled. "Pleasant Dreams.” he turned and trotted towards the Everfree.