Cloud needed to be alone, and he needed to be alone for a long time. It was because of this that he had run deep into the Everfree Forest. After a lot of violent outbursts on the local fauna and rocks, he had calmed down enough to simply walk in circles and work through his angry thoughts.

By the time he had finally burnt through all of his anger, it had become nighttime. Cloud sighed and sat on the ground, rubbing his face with his hooves.

“Dammit…” He muttered to himself. “I’m such a fucking idiot…” He took a deep breath and dropped his hooves to his sides. “Okay, me, let’s do a quick analysis of the situation: I couldn’t live and let live, I tried to do something dickish, the dickish thing backfired, Twilight stopped me from attacking someone, I treated Twilight horribly and I stormed out like a child!”

He lay on his back and looked up at the stars through a small clearing in the trees. I started this whole thing like an idiot, I fueled the bad situation like an idiot and I ran away from the situation like an idiot. He lay there for a while longer, feeling too ashamed of himself to notice his hunger.

“Well,” he continued talking to himself, “the only thing I can do now is apologize, hope Twilight can forgive me and try to learn something from this whole ordeal. And…” He sighed again, figuratively swallowing his pride. “I should apologize to Trixie, too. Just because she was being unbearable is no excuse for me to act the same.” He rolled onto his front and stood up before walking back towards Ponyville.

It’s worrying how childish I act when I lose control. It’s definitely an issue I need to get sorted out. Maybe Twilight can ask the Princess to get me a therapist. Ugh… Twilight… I really screwed things up… Worst case scenario; she kicks me out and refuses to teach me anymore. This isn’t making me feel better.

Cloud kicked a rock as he walked.

“I’m a terrible friend,” he muttered.

Twilight paced back and forth in her room, chewing her lip.

“Twilight, you need to calm down,” said Spike, “I’m sure he’ll come back soon.”

“But what if he doesn’t?” Twilight asked, worried. “I hurt him Spike. What kind of person attacks their friends?” Spike frowned.

“The kind being aggravated by a terrible person! He said some horrible things to you!”

“Yes, and I said some equally horrible things back, but he didn’t attack me!”

“No, he was going to attack Trixie!” Spike shouted. “If you hadn’t have stopped him-!”

“I know! I know! But-!”

“Oh, forget it!” Spike walked towards the door. “You need to stop putting others before yourself, Twi!” Spike left before Twilight could reply. Twilight groaned and went back to pacing.

As Spike walked down the street, he saw Snips and Snails, the two young Unicorns he had been speaking to earlier, running in his direction and screaming.

“Guys?” He asked as they ran past him.

“Can’t talk now!” Cried Snips. Spike didn’t have to ask why; an ursa minor was charging after them, smashing anything in its way.

“HOLY SHIT!” Spike ran after Snips and Snails, but took a detour to get back to the library.

“Twilight!” He called as soon as he got through the doorway. “Ursa major! Ursa major!”

Twilight wasted no time teleporting outside. She quickly spotted the ursa minor rampaging deeper into town and teleported much closer to it. It easily towered over every building in Ponyville, a fact that didn’t fill Twilight with confidence.

“Uh…” She whimpered. “Shit…” How in Equestria am I supposed to deal with this nonsense?!

Before she could continue worrying, Twilight suddenly felt a very strange feeling coming from beneath her. She looked down to see the Support Circle channeling magical energy into her.

“Twilight!” Cloud called from behind her. Twilight her head and spotted him. “Tear this bear a new one!” Twilight’s expression turned to one of determination. She nodded, turned back to the ursa minor and blasted every bit of magic she had into her horn until it looked like lit thermite.

Twilight focused, then lifted the ursa minor into the air with an incredibly powerful telekinesis spell. She ignored its thrashing and roaring and used another incredibly powerful telekinesis spell to pull away the air around the ursa minor’s mouth and nose. With the extra energy from the Circle, Twilight focused her first telekinesis spell even further, keeping the ursa minor completely still until it fell unconscious from lack of oxygen. Finally, Twilight let it breath again and carried it deep into the Everfree with even more telekinesis. She dropped it when she guessed it was deep enough, leaving it unconscious and away from Ponyville.

As the Support Circle was dismissed, Twilight collapsed, exhausted. She was breathing very heavily and her horn was smoking slightly. As Ponies around her cheered, Cloud walked over to her and helped her up. Twilight smiled and gladly accepted.

“Twilight,” Cloud began, “I-”

“I know,” she interrupted, still gasping for air. “It’s okay.” Cloud shook his head.

“No. No it isn’t. I acted like an immature brat and said some horrible things to you. There’s no excuse for my actions and all I can do is apologize. I’m sorry, Twilight. I understand if you don’t want to teach me anymore.”

“Cloud,” said Twilight, “of course I’ll keep teaching you. Yes, you were mean, but we both already know that you have a hard time controlling your emotions.”

“That’s no excuse, I still need to make it up to you in some way. I-”

“Cloud, don’t be such a pussy. Let’s go back home so I can keep showing you how terrible you are at magic.” Twilight smirked and Cloud smirked right back.

“Alright.”

The two of them headed back to the library, leaving the town to deal with its own property damage.

Twilight and Cloud walked into the kitchen.

“So,” said Cloud, “what are you gonna teach me next?” Twilight thought to herself for a moment.

“We’ve definitely increased your magical abilities,” she noted, “so I think we should spend some more time researching the Support Circle. After I sent Princess Celestia the progress report, she sent back some experiments we should try.”

“Such as?” Cloud asked.

“She theorised that, with time and study, you may be able to learn how to summon other kinds of condensed magical energy.”

“Interesting… That could lead us to-” Cloud suddenly stopped, his expression going blank. “Wait… Oh, fuck!”

“What is it?” Twilight asked, bewildered. “What’s wrong?”

“I forgot the goddamn milk!”

...And so, Cloud’s HorseBalls™ remained dry and his stomach remained empty.