Four days later in Canterlot, in front of the Arcanium’s Main Gate,

Boy, does it feel weird to enter here through the front door, Cloud thought with a mental chuckle as she, Blossomforth and Gale followed the Lieutenant Constance inside the high walls that separated the Arcanium from Celestia’s School for the Gifted. Looks like security has been reinforced.

As soon as the four had crossed the threshold, a group of heavily armored guards stood before them. With their black and golden shields, they formed an impenetrable wall in front of the four Ponyvillians. Constance sighed briefly at the sight before raising her hand to stop the leading guard from speaking, her other hand reaching for beneath her breastplate.

“Lieutenant Constance Vigilance of Ponyville,” Constance declared, pulling a scroll out of her armor and handing it to the guard. “I’m here to pledge my allegiance to the New Council of Harmony in company of the sergeant Cloud Kicker, Private Blossomforth Shields and Private Gale Swiftwing.”

The lead guard promptly opened the scroll and gave it a quick read.

“All is in order, Lieutenant,” the chief guard stated slowly. “Initiate Sentry, lead them to the guests' tower.”

“Yes, sir!” the youngest of the armored soldiers assured with a nod.

The wall of guards broke formation to let the four Ponyvillians pass. As the Initiate Sentry lead them through the maze of gardens, courts and spirally towers, Gale picked the folded Ponyville Banner up again while Blossomforth walked to their guide’s level.

“So, how is it going, Flash?” Blossomforth asked politely. “It’s been a while.”

“It’s going, Blossomforth,” Flash replied matter-of-factly.

“We met during the annual maneuvers in Las Pegasus,” Cloud answered Constance’s silent question when she looked at her.

“It sure must be hard-work for the whole Golden Shield to move around with all the students there,” Blossomforth commented slowly as she noticed a few group of students casting curious looks in their direction.

“We make due,” Flash replied with a shrug. “The students are quite respectful and do their best to not disturb our work.”

As they came closer to the Guest tower, Blossomforth kept chatting with Flash, occasionally joined by Constance or Gale. In the mean time, Cloud gazed around before her eyes caught of sight of a familiar tower. Her purple orbs travelled up the white stones, skipping the first floors’ balconies, until they reached the one on the eighth floor. Cloud watched parts the familiar burgundy curtains slowly moved to the breeze blowing through the open glass door.

I wonder if Velvet Sparkle reinforced the wards she put on the tower… Cloud thought as images of the burgundy curtains falling on top of the Master Arcanist flashed through her mind. Considering what happened the last time I was in there, I wouldn’t put it past her.

After Flash showed them to their rooms in the Guest tower, Constance allowed the trio to be off duty until three pm. With the rest of the morning and the beginning of the afternoon to spend at their leisure, Gale and Blossomforth decided to first hit the cafeteria before going sightseeing, while Cloud decided to go for a stroll immediately. At first, the blonde wandered off close to the open-sky amphitheater, in which a lecture was given. Her eyes found the hatch door that lead under the stage, on top of which the professor was demonstrating a spell to his class.

“What are you doing?! Master Sparkle’s giving a lecture just above us!”

“Shhhhhhh. she’ll hear us if you scream like that…. You’ll have to be quieter… A lot quieter.”

“—Oh, Gods!— How do you –AH!—want me to —HUMMM!— remain quiet if you do thaAAAAAT!”

“It’s a matter of self-control. You are a Canterlot Arcanist, you should have plenty.”

“Hunnngggh!”

“Do you want me to stop?”

“HAAaaaa!”

“…Is that a yes or a no?”

“…P…Ple…please…”

“Hmm?”

“...Don’t stop… please.”

“Atta girl!”

“Hehehe! Good times!” Cloud whispered with a small grin before she looked away from the amphitheater. I wonder what she’s doing at the moment… Maybe she’s in the library…

A couple of minutes later, the blonde Jupitarian landed before Celestia’s School for the Gifted’s Library and went inside, ignoring the curious looks cast in her direction. After consulting the map of the library, Cloud walked to the stairs to get to the Genealogy shelf on the third floor. Once she reached the correct floor, Cloud was welcomed by a rather peculiar event : A young boy with spiky green hair, clad in a purple and green hoodie and matching sweat pants, ran into her with his arms loaded with books.

“OW!” the young boy let out on impact before falling down on his behind, sprawling all the books he was carrying on the floor.

“You okay?” Cloud asked worriedly, extending a helping hand to the boy who was rubbing his nose.

“I’ll live,” he said slowly before he looked at the mess of pages around him. “Or not if she finds me like that,” he nearly shouted in fright.

“....Ooookay,” Cloud let out in confusion as the boy frantically gathered all the books on the floors, all while checking that no pages had been folded during their fall. “I understand that it’s a famous library but, come on, it was an accident!”

“You don’t understand, she’ll get pissed at me if the….”

“SPIKE!” A feminine, angry voice rang through the entire third floor. “What did you do?!”

“...Dang it!” Spike muttered under his breath.

Before Cloud could even blink, the many scattered books were levitated in a deep purple aura while a small girl with dark skin and purple, pink and violet hair tied up in a messy bun walked out of a nearby alley. As the fallen volumes gathered in piles behind her, she started lecturing the youth on the importance of well treating the reservoirs of knowledge that were books. Cloud silently observed the young girl, noticing the dark circles under her eyes, the stray locks of her hair bursting out of her bun, and how messy her school uniform was: one side of her shirt wasn’t tucked in her skirt, her pullover was on backwards, and she had missed the first button of her shirt.

“I’m sorry, Twilight,” Spike sheepishly replied to her lecture. “It’s just that I didn’t see the miss over there and I kinda bumped into her,” he explained softly.

“So, it’s because of you that those books nearly got ruined?!” Twilight asked angrily, putting her hands on her hips in front of an unfazed Cloud Kicker: more than two years of training with Pagétonas made her resistant to sudden outbursts.

“Huh,” Cloud let out before tilting her head to look at Spike who standing behind Twilight. “I understand why you were a bit scared, kiddo. She looks to be an handful.”

“I’m talking to you!” Twilight growled as Spike let out a faint “You’ve got no idea…” behind the purple-haired girl’s back.

“No, you’re shouting at me, and we’re in a library,” Cloud reminded playfully, prompting Twilight into instantly covering her mouth with both hands as she realized where they were.

“...Still, you could have paid attention to where you were going,” Twilight whispered in a reproachful tone. “Some of those books are decades-old originals!”

“Well, If they’re so important why loading such large amount of them up in the hands of a child?” Cloud asked as she noticed the large stack of books in Twilight’s magic. “I don’t think he can see right before him when he’s carrying them…”

“Uh?” Twilight blinked in confusion before glancing between the stack of floating books and Spike. “Oh…” She gulped sheepishly when the stack was indeed as high as the youth’s upper body.

“That being said, why didn’t you use one of the carts I saw by the reception?” Cloud asked Spike.

“Well, we’re on the third floor,” Spike replied slowly.

“So?”

“So, how do you expect him to pull a cart up three flights of stairs?” Twilight asked in a defensive whisper.

Cloud simply raised her right eyebrow high up her forehead before dully pointing behind Twilight’s back. The young boy and the purple-haired Titanian looked at where she was pointing, seeing the stack of floating books behind them. Spike blinked in total shock before his palm met his forehead in a loud slapping noise while Twilight looked blankly at her levitating reservoirs of knowledge.

“....Huuuuh,”

“I really hope for your sake that you’ve got more wits than that in general,” Cloud commented mockingly.

“I’ll have you know that I have a 4.0 GPA!” Twilight instantly snapped back at the blonde.

“That you probably won’t keep if you’re letting yourself go like that… I don’t mean to sound rude, but you look like hell!” Cloud commented with wince. “I understand that life in this school can be harsh, but you must still take care of yourself!

“I tried to tell her that, but she didn’t listen!” Spike chimed in sternly. “She’s been obsessed with works for the last six days!”

“Excuse me?!” Twilight shouted angrily.

“She doesn’t even let me eat cookies when I do a good job anymore!”

“Why don’t you just call me tyrannical while you’re at it?!” Twilight snapped at the youth.

“I would, but I don’t know what that means!” Spike snapped right back at her.

“You would know if you hadn’t been reading comics instead of the books I recommended you!”

This just like Alula and me, Cloud thought with a smile as the two continued arguing like siblings, inadvertently attracting the attentions of a few other students. I should pay her a visit soon, hopefully, Mom or Dad won’t cause a scene… Cloud thought before she spotted Spike slamming one of the floating books on the ground, causing Twilight to look at him with shocked, but vengeful eyes.

“Okay, I feel that I should probably separate you now!” Cloud quickly let out as she placed her hands on the messy-dressed student and the spiky-haired child’s shoulder. “Let’s not do things we would reg…”

“ENOUGH!!!”

At the sound of the booming voice, all the other students scattered away before Cloud was caught in a deep purple telekinetic field and violently cast away from the pair. The blonde winced when she was slammed and then pinned against the wall. Growling in pain, Cloud managed to turn her head to see a tall, dark skinned woman with piercing, light blue eyes, purple and white striped hair, extending her forefinger right back at her.

“M..Mom?” Twilight asked in a shocked whisper, gulping nervously at the angry scowl on the Master Arcanist of Canterlot’s face.

That’s why that girl looked familiar! Cloud thought in realization. ...How did I not see that immediately?

“Are you okay, dear?” Velvet asked her daughter, her face instantly becoming gentle as she faced the younger girl. “She didn’t do anything to you?”

“....Huuuh, no?” Twilight replied uneasily. “I mean, Spike kinda bumped into her while he was carrying books around to re-shelve them, and when I went to see what was going on… And she mocked me a little bit, but I think I kinda deserved it now that I think about it...”

“Did she touch you?”

“Well, no. I mean, aside from when she tried to calm me and Spike dow…”

“Seriously?!” Cloud snapped loudly, interrupting the sheepish reply of Velvet’s daughter and thus prompting the mother to glare back at her. “That’s seriously what you ask?!”

“Considering your track record, Miss Kicker, and the state of my daughter’s outfit,” Velvet explained coldly, leaving Twilight’s side to step closer to the pinned Jupitarian. “I thought it necessary to ask…”

“What does you not taking the time to dress correctly have anything to do with her?” Spike asked Twilight in a confused whisper.

“I’ve got no idea at all, Spike,” Twilight replied with as much honesty as confusion. “Hang on, what do you mean by that?”

“Have you looked yourself in the mirror today?”

“No. I should have?”

“Yes,” Spike said in a deadpan tone at the confused teenager.

“Besides, I wouldn’t put it past you to get closer to my daughter just to spite me,” Velvet let out in disgust.

“If I wanted to get closer to your daughter, believe me, you’d be the last thing in my mind,” Cloud argued vehemently. “She’s got that nerdy, adorable charm of a girl who wants to learn ALL sorts of things!” she added in a low, defying purr, causing Velvet’s eyes to cast lightning at her.

“Really?!” an excited shout resonated in the third floor before Twilight appeared in front of Cloud in a purple flash. “I’m totally that sort of girl! I just love learning about new stuff!” she asked with a wide, curious smile as her mother’s jaw dropped to reach the ground.

“Twilight! Do not talk to her!”

“What can you teach me?!” Twilight asked excitedly, ignoring her mother’s command.

“Well, I’m sort of an expert in human anatomy, if you know what I’m saying,” Cloud suavely whispered to Twilight, whose excitement deflated instantly.

“Oh, I already know all the books of this library on the matter by heart, now,” Twilight explained sadly.

“It’s not the kind of knowledge you can find in a book from a library like this one, Miss,” Cloud explained, instantly re-igniting Twilight’s interest. “While I personally prefer the practical approach, there are books on the matter in very specialized stores.”

“Really?! Is there one in Canterlot?”

“Sweet Night Shop, Stellar street number thirty-five,” Cloud instantly replied in a whisper as Velvet’s eyes widened even more than before at her daughter’s question. “Open from eleven AM to twelve PM.”

“Thank you!” Twilight beamed at the pinned Jupitarian before the magical aura restraining her simply vanished. “Spike! Keep on reshelving while I’m gone!” she added before running to the staircases as the books from before fell loudly on the ground.

“Tell the shopkeeper that Cloud Kicker sent you!” Cloud recommended warmly. “Also, try taking things easy, Twilight. You’re too cute to look that stressed out already!”

The young, messy-dressed scholar, stopped in her tracks with a wide blush spreading on her cheeks at the compliment.

“I have a lot more to do lately, but I’ll try to do that,” Twilight replied sheepishly before running down the stairs. “Goodbye, Miss Kicker,”

Cloud looked at her disappear in the staircase before looking back at the still frozen Velvet Sparkle and an angry Spike, who was frowning at the large stack of books Twilight had left in his care. Cloud playfully chuckled as her hand got covered in a whitish fog. Spike let out a brief startled yelp as patches of fog appeared before him and around Velvet Sparkle. He witnessed the fogs getting denser and denser as one encased the Master Arcanist in a silvery white cocoon and the other formed a floating, open case with a long handle.

“At least, you wont have trouble pulling this cart up the stairs,” Cloud explained to the confused youth before taking one of the books and dropping in it the wheel-less cloudmade cart.

“Wow!” Spike let out as he witnessed the book lying perfectly still in the shaped cart. “What did you do to Twilight’s mom?” he asked with worry at the sight of the white, oval cocoon.

“Well, she pinned me against the wall for no reasons, so I trapped her in a cloud,” Cloud reasoned before pulling a small pouch of bits from one of her jacket’s pockets. “Since Twilight left you on your own, I think you can take a break for a while and buy yourself a little snack,” she added with a wink as she gave him the pouch.

Spike eyed the cocoon, then the cart, then the stack of books and then at the pouch of bits.

“I suppose I could take a break,” Spike said with a devious smile.

“Good!” Cloud said as she ruffled the hair of the boy. “I’ll see you around.” I better skedaddle before she recovers from her precious daughter going to a sex-shop… And I suppose that if all the commotion didn’t bring ‘her’ here,I should look for her elsewhere… At worst, I’ll see her at the rehearsal this afternoon.

Author's Notes:

Here goes part 2/5 of the story, hoping you like the characterization of the new comers.
(I know that in real life, nobody freeze like Velvet did in this chapter. but just go with it and blame it on my Manga-inspiration. )

I'd like to give a huge thanks to Royal Rainbow for Pre-reading this little bit of writing of mine.

And also a huge thank you to My patrons for their Support:
Joseph Marques, Adam Tomkinson, Brad Snow, ScaredTuna, DerRotSpassvogel, Robert Redd, Michael Abell, James Zhang, Anthurak.

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Feedback is always appreciated.

Love, Mariacheat-Brony

PS: Angel Wings still needs voice actors for fan fiction reading project of the first Apple Scratch Story: More infos here!