The afternoon rays of the late summer sun shone warmly against my exposed fur. Droplets of water from my after practice shower glistened in the light, drawing attention towards my natural glow wherever I go. Aching muscles from a harsh exercise told me that my body was happy and healthy from my weekly routine.

Every other day before flight practice, I worked on my swordsmanship. On these days, I flew deep into the Everfree to the Castle of the Two Sisters. The reason I flew there to hone my skills with my blades; Wings, Dual Swords, and Tail Sabre, was due to the Law and the population of Ponyville.

The Law states that any and all Weapons are for the Guard and the Militia only. Any Pony found with weapons Class B and above will be arrested and fined depending on the type of weapon that they were found with. The Ponies of Ponyville, however. Well, let's just say that they aren't comfortable with me being more deadly than I already am. As for the Weapons that I own? They were a few gifts that I've received over the years. The other gifts were five, black, earrings, a guitar, and two, black gauntlets.

I knew who they were from, even though Mom wouldn't tell me. She gave me a look of worry when they arrived one by one over the years. I remember when my Star Metal Swords arrived in their scabbards. It was raining, and I was forced to stay in the house. Not because I was grounded or anything, but because Mom hates it when I fly in the rain.

I don't know why she doesn't like it but to me. Flying in the rain just feels amazing. It's like the sky was caressing my curves lovingly. Sometimes it's rough and fast, other times it's gentle and slow with each droplet feeling like a little kiss upon my body. Standing in the rain is simply, soothing. The only other thing that I love to stand in is the snow, but I hate the cold. Then again, I think Spitfire hates the amount of water I bring in from my waterlogged wings. Or maybe it's because my main and tail smooth out like a Pornstar? I can't tell.

On that day, I was playing Last Fantasy 7 on my Gemstation 2 in my room. Spitfire gave my door a light knock before walking into my room with the look of dread and fear plastered on her face. Frightened, I paused my game, thinking that someone we knew died, but when she placed the Swords on my bed. My eyes went wide in shock.

Two, three-foot long, straight edge katana's in their simple, yet, eloquent black sheaths with a silver Rune marking on each one representing their names, sat on my bed. The Runes were the symbols commonly associated with Lightning and The Wind. Their names were Tempest Luna and Lightning Rosa, in honor of my teacher, Luna, and former lover, Summer.

I didn't need to look at the metal used for the Swords to know what they were made of. If my memory serves me right, they were constructed from Star Metal; a type of metal found in meteorites that, when forged, looked like the Night Sky in solid form. Though, I should have told Mom that when she decided to see for herself.

Mom's surprise was an understatement. When I unsheathed the starry metal blade from its scabbard, she fainted. The "thunk" of her limp body colliding with the floor confirmed it. She later told me that Star Metal was worth a fortune. So much so in fact, that one ounce of refined Star Metal ingots was worth thousands of Bits. After she told me that, holding a few pounds of Star Metal mixed in with the scales from the dragon Jormungand, wasn't a good idea to have around the house. With the help of my mother, we stored them in an enchanted chest at the Castle of the Everfree until the day I would need them.

The only time I use them was during practice along with my gauntlets, earrings, Tail Sabre—A curved, two-sided blade that wraps around the tail—And my wing blades. They never needed to be sharpened, even after cutting through hundreds of my wooden dummies. They have helped me explore the old Castle by acting as a Skeleton Key. A sharp, Skeleton Key that can cut through stone.

'I should never tell anyone that I used a ten-thousand-plus Bit sword to hack my way through iron-reinforced wooden doors.'

There were a few instances where the beasts of the Everfree tried to make me a snack. Manticores, Timberwolves, Cockatrices, Basilisks, a few Dire Wolves, Sphinxes, Satyrs, Parasprites and a Dragon. After each kill, I would take what I could to either sell, eat, or add to my collection of Trophies.

If anyone were to visit the old Guard Barracks that I've turned into my clubhouse over the years, they would find fur rugs, mounted skulls, weapons, bones, vials, and more things a professional hunter would have. The skull of the largest Basilisk that I've killed became my bed after I've cleaned it with fur from a few Dire Wolves making the mattress. I even have light armor made from the fangs of the second largest Basilisk I've killed as well as the fur from a white, Alpha Dire Wolf, forged by Rarity, herself.

'Though, if Mom were to see my collection, I'll be permanently grounded from ever entering the Everfree again.'

I don't like the look Mom gives me on the days that I practice my swordsmanship. She gives me the same look that she gave me when my gifts arrived. She's afraid that they were for something far more dangerous than a simple bandit raid in the Great Divide.

To be honest. I was also afraid. I didn't think I would ever see my old gear again, but if the Mother of Creation herself wanted me to have them, then so be it. I may not be as strong as I was back then, I can still do a lot of damage, and if necessary. I can invoke a Blood Rage. I just hope that my deal with her doesn't force such a sacrifice. I've lost my father to sacrifice. I don't want to follow down that path again, but if I have to, I will. Even though it will utterly destroy Mom, I will do what I must to keep her safe.

After all, that's what a Guard is, isn't it? A Loyal, Generous, Honest, Kind, Virtuous, Noble, and Magical individual that will sacrifice their life to protect the ones they do and don't love.

I let out a sigh as I came up to the school. The memories of Dad threatened to shatter my cheerful mood. His smile that told me how proud he was of me hurt like a white-hot thorn stabbing my heart. It was his sacrifice, his stupid fucking sacrifice that earned me my cutie mark on that day! He shouldn't have run in like that. He should have just stayed in our cage with Mom while I saved us without bloodshed. It was his smile that threw me over the edge. The smile that made Mom happy. It was the smile that told me how much he loved us.

How much he loved me.

I miss him....

Wiping away a stray tear, I recomposed myself before anyone could see me weak and vulnerable. After which I arrived at a one-story red building with a flat, white, gravel roof. The building had plenty of windows where anyone through to see a class in session. Each window had a picture or drawing of some kind made from someone in the class. A concrete pathway leads from the double doors to the main road and parallel to the building, acting as a marker for the school grounds. There was a single sign, painted red with stylized gold trimmings weaving up and down the borders that said in the center, "Ponyville Community School," in big bold letters.

'Alright, Winny, don't let Cloud see you all mopey during practice,' I told myself as I walked around the building that I've spent most life in learning and goofing around. 'Think about the time we filled every room and hall with plastic balls. Hehe, good times.'

As I walked around the building, positive memories replaced my more negative ones. During my eight years of school, I can admit that they were the best years of my life. Most wouldn't agree with that statement, probably because I skipped a few grades and ended high school early alongside Fluttershy, Rarity, Vinyl, and two others. Normally, you had to do a minimum of twelve years of schooling, but here in Equestria, you had the option of dropping out once you got your cutie mark. Those that stayed gained the ability to pursue multiple careers whereas those that dropped out were stuck with only one unless they went back.

Sure we were picked on for being nerds and such, but we got the last laugh. One such laugh was Fluttershy when she moved into town. She was the most bullied pony in school. Of course, when I started hanging around with her, the bullying stopped almost immediately. Though, I did beat up few that dared try and hurt yellow-fluff when I wasn't around because they were assholes picking on the weak and helpless. I made sure that Fluttershy was safe and welcome in Ponyville. It was a shame that Pinkie was one of her bullies, thinking that her suffering was a good way to make others happy. A very naive way of looking at things that made Fluttershy very hesitant of being around her despite being friends. If only we were in the same class that year and I wasn't flying in the Sky Cup, then things could have changed for the better, but it's all in the past.

'Poor Fluttershy,' I thought as I walked passed a line of grab apple trees meant for the students. The old trees planted by the Apple Family years ago were one of the few places students could eat real food. The lunch lady tried her hardest to make decent food, but like my cooking, it all turned out black.

Even the water. I have the same problem.

Past the Apple Trees was a small hill that had the school's bleachers looking over the sports field and track. Beside the bleachers was the school's sports shed where we had all of our equipment stored for when we needed it. And speaking of bleachers, I totally didn't plow Trixie under them. Nope. I didn't. Not with a Baseball bat nor with heavy usage of tongues. We didn't take turns shoving Baseballs into each other's pussies either.

Oh, who am I kidding? It was fucking hot.

As I came up to the place where I lost my virginity, I saw a few sets of hooves through the cracks of the seats. Two out of the three pairs that I saw were light purple with the third being cyan. The cyan set could only belong to the newest pony in town, Rainbow Dash while the purple hooves belonged to the twins, Cloudchaser and Flitter.

'Why is Rainbow Dash here?' I wondered as slowed my steps. 'Shouldn't she be organizing her office at Town Hall?'

Thinking that if I walked in on whatever they were talking about, that they would stop and change the subject of my curiosity, I decided to hide underneath the bleachers and eavesdropped on them. Slowing my pace a little more, I began to hear their voices talk about something involving a race of some kind. Now much more curious, I crawled underneath the bleachers and got into a good position where I could hear them clearly, and run away if I was caught snooping. Laying down on a soft patch of grass, I began my eavesdropping.

"So what's the point of tensing your muscles like that before a race?" Rainbow asked, clearly perplexed of what I assumed was Cloudchasers flight practice. "Won't it cause some nasty cramps if you flap your wings the wrong way?"

"The point of tensing your muscles is to have stronger acceleration during your initial burst," Cloudchaser replied matter-of-factly. "It's like a slingshot or bow; You pull back on the string which in this case, your muscles in your wings and hooves, and shoot down the field like an arrow."

"Oh, well, I knew that," Rainbow nervously chuckled before changing the subject to save her ass. "So who do you think has the fastest, initial burst thingy in Equestria?"

'Fleetfoot.'

"Fleetfoot obviously," Flitter replied.

'Called it.'

"She has an initial burst of 0-60 in 4.6 seconds, making her the holder of the world record in that category," Cloud added. "Then again, the pony holding second place is Hawkfire at 4.7 seconds while I'm at 5.3, but where I lack initial burst, I make up for in base acceleration," she finished with a proud smile.

'Huh, 5.3? You're getting faster Cloud. If you spent more time training and less time partying, you could get to 4.8 in a year. You do have the wings for it,' I noted with a smile.

"Hawkfire," Rainbow practically hissed, earning a raised brown from myself. Quickly, I adjusted my position to be able to see better through the cracks and saw the disdain for my being in Rainbows features while Cloud had her professional "I'm putting up with your shit because I don't want to look bad," face. Flitter, on the other hoof, wasn't paying attention all that much. She was laying down on the lowest bench with a pencil in her wingtips and an open binder in front of her. A large math textbook laid open on the higher level bench beside her with a calculator resting on the open page.

'Really, Flitter? Did you seriously end up in Summer School again?' I groaned quietly. 'The Captains at the Academy won't want to see that when you apply for Officer Training.'

"Don't like her?" Cloud inquired indifferently, but her body said otherwise. If Rainbow said the wrong thing about me, she was going to get a black eye. Since being Cloud's best friend, with Fluttershy as my second best friend, she was very protective of me and has been for years now. We raced together in the Divisions, always taking the two spots for the Cups. We always gamed out in E-Sports tournaments or at home. We party, dance, and kick ass together, and whenever we needed a shoulder to lean on, we were always there for each other. She's an amazing friend. I'm glad I stuffed her bullies in the lockers all those years ago, even though they were only picking on her for her braces. Detention was worth it in the end....The spanking from Mom as well.

I have problems.

"From what I've heard about her, 'ya, I don't like her," Rainbow practically growled. Cloud's eyes narrowed in response.

"And who told you what now?"

"Well, first off, she is a liar, thief, cruel, and overall nasty," Rainbow said, counting her feathers like fingers. "She is a horrible influence on ponies like Fluttershy, and the fillies that she shouldn't teach."

'You talked to Applejack, didn't you?' I sighed internally. Knowing that mare, she probably told Rainbow a crap-ton of other things about me that aren't true. Like seriously, she talks shit about everyone that eats meat, plus, I think her bar has fed her lies about everyone around town. I know she is the Element of Honest and all, but she is horrible at separating fact from fiction.

"And she is dangerous!"

"You talked to Applejack, didn't you?" Cloud face-hoofed. Realizing that Rainbow was just spouting the same air that the apple farmer says on a daily basis, Cloud relaxed her stance to something less intimidating.

'That's what I said!'

"Yeah? What has that got to do with anything?" Rainbow asked slightly confused with a question.

"For starters, Applejack runs a bar and all she hears when she works there when not at her farm is rumors and gossip. It also doesn't help that Applejack hates Rose with a vengeance, and all because of an incident two years ago with Captain Silver Crest," Cloud explained with a groan. "She is almost as bad as Rarity when it comes to gossip. That Gold Digger, both literally and figuratively, can convince anyone that someone is up to no good."

"You mean the incident where Silver was beaten so badly by Rose that she might never fly again?" Rainbow seethed.

"Did Applejack forget to mention that Captain Silver tried to have the entire town's Griffon population arrested because they all ate meat and tried to kill a few of them because they were "murderers" waiting for the chance to eat ponies?" Cloud hissed back. "Frankly, Silver shouldn't be alive after her shit, but she got lucky when Applejack managed to hold down Rose long enough for the town guard to save her ass."

"She didn't say that," Rainbow gulped with a fearful twitch of her wings. "B-But wouldn't anypony have helped the Captain besides Applejack?"

"Doubt it. Most of the town wanted her dead anyways. Some ponies even planned on faking a foal-napping to get the Everfree to kill her," Flitter added on a sour note. "But you haven't heard that from me."

'Thank you, Cloud, for not mentioning my father to Rainbow and what Silver said about him that set me off,' I thanked silently while looking at the more annoyed Cloudchaser from my hiding place.

Turning my attention back to Rainbow as she argued about how what I did was wrong, and that I should be rotting in a cell, I could see that she was becoming noticeably uncomfortable around the twins. Her wings twitched every now and again. Her ears struggled to stay straight and non-submissive. She pawed at the ground, and her eyes looked everywhere but the two ponies in front of her. As they continued to argue about the fight for Silver for a few more minutes, I noticed a few more things about Rainbow that was different from both the Show and the Rainbow that I knew from my second life.

The first thing was that this world's Rainbow was extremely overprotective of her friends. So much so that she began to sound like a bigoted, racist, cunt-waffle, and not the good kind either. She would rant and rave nonsensically about how she was "better" about everything and that she "knew" more about certain things than others. Honestly, all I heard during her rambling about how she was better than me in every aspect of the word, was a major insecurity in herself.

It was sad really, the Element of Loyalty needs validation in everything that she does. No wonder she clings to Fluttershy so much. Fluttershy's helpless nature and low-self esteem became her crutch and now that Fluttershy is somewhat confident in herself. Rainbow lost that crutch and can't stand the thought that there was someone better than her.

'Hmm, I bet Rainbow is the type of pony that absolutely loves Slave Play,' I thought as the yelling calmed down and they began to talk about normal things again. 'Maybe if I cheer her up and boost her self-esteem a notch, maybe we could be fuck buddies? Hmm.'

"I'm telling you I can totally beat Rose in a race!" Rainbow declared, freeing me from my dirty thoughts of dragging her around town on a leash in a cute pair of socks.

"Girl, she beat Flash Sentry in the Lightning Cup twice. Twice! What makes you think you can beat the Azure Comet herself in a race?" Cloud challenged, signaling me that it was time to come out of hiding and enact my master plan of getting off of Rainbow's shit-list. Carefully and quietly, I crawled out from underneath the bleachers and waited for my cue to join in.

"Oh, please," Rainbow scoffed. "That Stallion was nothing but a Mare-Magnet with wings. I can totally beat him and her blindfolded!" Taking that as my cue, I walked around from the left side of the bleachers right behind Rainbow with a knowing smile.

"Beat who blindfolded?" I pretended to ask like I didn't know what she was talking about.

"Uh," Rainbow blustered out, her body frozen like a deer in headlights. Slowly, she turned around, a nervous smile masking her fear on her face. Tilting my head in fake curiosity, I turned my attention to the now surprised Cloud who looked thankful for my sudden appearance. Flitter on the other hoof, just waved and said "Yo." Taking this as her chance to get rid of Rainbow so that she could go back to practice, Cloud answered for her.

"Rainbow here said that she can beat you in a race blindfolded. Isn't that right?"

"Um, yeah, that's right," Rainbow choked out with an epic voice crack.

"Is that so?" I purred seductively with a predatory grin as I circled the fidgety mare with hunger in my eyes. "Then how about we race around the track? Loser has to buy the Winner lunch." Rainbow, who was growing more and more uncomfortable with the looks I was giving her, straightened her posture as much as she could without looking like she was trying to compensate for something. Cloud, who was watching the spectacle with an odd look, joined in on the fun.

"Well, Rainbow, you wanted to race Rose so now's your chance," Cloud encouraged. "I'll be the ref. You two get to the line."

"You heard her, Rainbow," I smirked before taking off my jacket and ribbon and placed them beside Flitter's stuff. While Rainbow was watching in stunned silence, I flexed my entire wingspan outwards, showing her how large my wings were. Twice the size in fact compared to Rainbows, but I'm an Imperial and she is a Pegasus, so that's a given. "Don't chicken out," I winked, and with a hard flap, I was at the far end of the track in mere moments.

"Hey!" Rainbow shouted from afar. I rolled my eyes as she and Cloud joined me on the soft, orange asphalt track, freshly painted for school when it starts back up in a month. "I didn't know we were starting now!"

"Well we are, Skittles," I teased, earning a light blush from the cyan mare. "Now, shall I explain how to do a tri-circuit or do you need help?"

"I know what a tri-circuit is!" Rainbow huffed as she got into position behind the runner's line. I chuckled again as I did so as well.

"What's so funny?!" she barked as Cloud got a stopwatch ready. I rolled my eyes, remembering the many races I've had on the one-thousand-meter track back when I was still in school. Most of them started out the same way Rainbow and I were about to go at it. A hot-shot who learned that I was the daughter of Spitfire and thought that they were the better flier. All of them I won without challenge, and all of them boring, but this time things should be interesting.

"Nothing, Skittles," I replied with a wink. "Now, are we ready, Cloud?"

"Yeah, everything is ready. Just make sure to destroy this chick quickly. I'm hungry," Cloud said with a grumbling stomach. I gave her a nod and crouched low to the ground, digging my hooves into the soft asphalt. Tensing my wings for my initial burst, I saw that Rainbow was doing the same thing I was, albeit extremely amateurish.

"Can do."

"Alright, three laps, no dirty tricks, no leaving the asphalt and stay in your lane. Now!" she began.

"Ready!" I arched my wings at the optimum angle for the maximum lift at takeoff.

"Set!" Rainbow gulped with beads of sweat dripping down her brow.

"Go!"

"I don't understand," Cloud frowned, clearly perplexed of the events that happened a few hours ago. She was sitting in front of me with a box of fries and a large soda. "Why did you throw the race? I thought you were going to stomp her down a few pegs?"

We were at Burger Queen, eating the greatest food in the world. Ponies and Griffons from out of town gave us a strange look, wondering why two athletes were eating pure grease and Cola. The ponies also had the look of shock at the sight of my hamburger, which to be honest, looked like cardboard in between culinary excellence, and had the aftertaste of cardboard as well, but it was still good.

"Look at it from my perspective," I began with a sip of Nuka-Cola and a few fries that I stole from her box. She glared at me and moved her fries further away with a cute hiss. "A new mare in town, who only knows one pony which was her only friend for most of her life, wanted to make a name for herself. When she finds her only friend and learns how much she has changed due to another mare, the new pony then tries to figure out what happened."

"Okay? I still don't get it," Cloud said slapping my hoof away from her fries.

"After snooping around for awhile, she becomes more and more insecure about her standing with her only friend and, somehow, finds a pony that fed her insecurity and lowered her self-esteem."

"I'm starting to get it and—Get your own food!" she cried as I took more of her fries.

"Nao! My fries!" I giggled before washing down my food with more Cola. She wasn't laughing.

"Anyway," I continued. "The mare in question is Rainbow, and her only friend is Fluttershy while I'm the new mare. Since it's obvious that Rainbow is the competitive type, she tries to find me and beat me to prove her worth to Fluttershy, but there is one thing that I learned about her that changed the outcome of that race."

"Her insecurity?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "I'm guessing that Rainbow was bullied a lot growing up and you know how meek and shy Fluttershy is as well as easily impressed."

"So that braggart used Fluttershy as an echo chamber while Fluttershy used Rainbow as a confidence boost, and together they fed into each others problems, preventing them from healing their festering wounds?"

"Yep," I nodded again.

"So you threw the race to lift her spirits up and make sure she doesn't become a problem to everyone around her, but won't it be all for naught when you do beat her? Or when she learns that you threw the race?"

"I have a plan," I smile in victory for my success of stealing more fries. Cloud wept at the sight of her now empty fry-box. With a sigh, she tossed the box in the garbage beside our table.

"And that plan is?" she asked.

"Get her into the Lightning Cup, make friends, and if necessary, become her marefriend."

"That's..." she looked at me with a saddened look in her eyes.

"What?"

"Nothing..." she sighed once more.

Author's Notes:

Everyone as a cover art, but i is no goods at it. I has a sad