Rejection hurts.

There is something about being told by another pony that you aren’t desirable to them that tears a hole in you. It was a new experience to me. I now wondered if part of the reason why I had never attempted what I had with Fluttershy was because I didn't want to go through the pain of rejection. It would also at least partially explain why I had never sought friends in the past. Part of me knew deep down that I would never be popular at school or with the other kids. I didn't understand the vast number of complicated and largely unwritten social rules that covered such interactions.

It was so much easier to concentrate on my studies. The halls of academia had well-defined rules on behavior and what was expected of their students. For the most part, I knew what I needed to do to get a perfect score in my classes. Social interactions, on the other hoof, were fraught with perils and unknowns. Often I saw completely different ponies with nothing in common be the best of friends. That didn't even get into those that were romantically involved. That is a wild and crazy world I still have no clue about.

Still, I eventually learned to make friends. Sure, it took the world nearly coming to an end to push me to do it, but I like to think it's the final results that matter. While it was true that not everypony wanted to be my friend, I had made more than enough wonderful friends to make up for the occasional disappointment.

The next step seemed to be trying out dating. That wasn't something I really wanted to jump into. At least without some significant preparation. Especially when I was more than happy as it was. But after what I had learned about my parents, I came to question the exact direction I thought my life was going to go. After what had been a long day, I acted on my feelings for Fluttershy and took the plunge.

And just as I had feared, rejection hurt.

The morning after what had been a positively miserable day, Spike and I had a somber breakfast of pancakes. Neither of us had much to say.

"I think I'm gonna head into town for a bit," Spike said, breaking a long period of quiet between us. "If that's okay, anyways."

"What were you going to do?" I asked, putting my fork down. I had been picking at my half-eaten pancakes for a while now. It seemed that my appetite hadn't improved when I sat down to eat like I hoped. I stared regretfully at the large stack of mostly untouched pancake.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "Maybe just walk around for a while."

His lack of his usual cheer and energy was concerning. "Are you alright? I know everything was pretty rough for you."

"Yeah, I'm fine." He sighed. "I just—I don't know—want some space right now, I guess. Maybe I'll head to the donut shop or Sugarcube Corner for a while."

"I can understand that." Everyone needed some time to themselves now and again. The donut shop was a pretty regular stop for him whenever he wasn't in the best mood. Still, I wanted to make sure he was alright before he went wandering off. "Sure there isn't anything you want to talk about before you go?"

"Nah, not really." He got up from the table and moved to pick up his plate when he stopped himself. "Um, there is kinda something."

Feeling his reluctance, I waved for him to continue. "Go on, Spike. You know you can talk to me about anything."

He shuffled in place before saying, "Are you okay? I mean, you were crying last night when Fluttershy was leaving. You also seemed a bit upset when we took that break when we were taking Peewee back to his parents. I wasn't really sure at the time though, but then you were crying back at the manor and then we came straight back to Ponyville without even saying goodbye to anypony."

It was a struggle to keep my emotions from showing on my face. I hadn’t exactly been at my best as of late, and a lot of that had splashed onto Spike. I didn’t want to burden him with more baggage than he was already dealing with, but my behavior was clearly getting to him. The question was, how was I going to respond?

“It’s not my fault, is it?” Spike asked cautiously. “I mean, I was kinda grumpy yesterday, but ... I didn’t want to give up Peewee. Even if it was what I was supposed to do.”

I silently cursed myself. I must have taken too long to answer Spike’s question, and he assumed the worst. “No-no, Spike!” I blurted. “You’ve been fine, really.” I embraced him with a hug. “You’ve been a real trooper in all of this, and I really appreciate that. It’s all on me, really.”

He squeezed me back. “Then what’s going on?”

I sighed. I needed to tell him something. I didn’t want Spike being too worried about me. That meant I had to be careful what I told him. “Well ... If you really want to know, I asked Fluttershy if she wanted to go out with me, and ... she said no.”

“What?” Spike frowned. “Why? I mean you’re great and everything. Who wouldn’t want to date you?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at my personal relationship cheerleader. “Thanks, but she had the right to turn me down. Even if it hurt.” I let out a weary breath. “You can’t make somepony like you, after all. No matter how much you might like them.”

“Well, I still think she’s being dumb,” Spike announced. “So forget her. It’s her loss.”

“I’ll try.” I didn’t agree with him calling Fluttershy “dumb,” but I figured that was just him cheerleading, and not really meaning it. As long as it didn’t become a consistent problem it should be fine. “But she’s still my friend. It’s ... just going to be a bit awkward for a while.”

Spike crossed his arms and frowned. "You can say that again." His expression softened as he looked up at me. "You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, I think so." I nuzzled him. I was still feeling the sting from Fluttershy's rejection the previous night, but I wanted to be strong for Spike's sake. "Ponies deal with this type of thing all the time. I'm sure I'll get through it too."

"Okay then," he said, sounding less than happy. "Do you want me to stay? It’s a nice day outside, but if you want me to stick around..."

"No, go ahead," I said. "I could probably use some thinking time myself at the moment."

"Only if you're really sure." I could see the conflict on what to do going on in Spike's head.

"I'll live," I said, throwing in some amusement into my tone. "Just go on ahead and have some fun in town already. I'll clean up after breakfast. Here." I pulled out some bits to give to him. "There's some money. That should give you everything you need to unwind."

His eyes lit up as he took the bits. "Thanks, Twilight!" He embraced me with another quick hug. "You're the best."

I smiled and embraced him back. "You're pretty great too."

With Spike gone, it was time to get back to work. True, asking Fluttershy out hadn't worked out for me, but it wasn't the end of the world. It was a better use of my time and energy to concentrate on what I could control rather than what I couldn't. After thinking it over, I decided to start with some of the easier things I needed to take care of and move up from there. Tornado Day was coming up here soon, so that seemed like the best thing to concentrate on next.

Focusing on everything revolving around Tornado Day would also give me the opportunity to deal with a few other issues. After everything else that had been dumped on me, I didn't feel nearly as apprehensive about talking to Cloud Kicker. In any case, I wanted to get Cloud's word on what exactly happened in Cloudsdale with Luna, and I did need to inform her about the status of the research project.

I might even try and find a moment to talk to Ditzy Doo about Dinky's parentage. Fluttershy had been right that I needed to bring up the issue with her at some point. On that question, I was still unsure exactly how to approach it. At this point I didn't want to procrastinate about it forever given how much stress the issue was giving me, but I did want to be sure I was approaching the problem from the best angle.

Finishing the anemometer hadn't been too difficult. The plans I had been given by Rainbow Dash had been accurate, and all my parts had fitted together correctly. The only thing that made it tricky was some of the customizations I had made to the original design, but in the end I felt like I had hammered out all the significant issues.

Wanting to show Rainbow Dash my work, I headed to her office at what were supposed to be her normal office hours. There was, of course, no guarantee she would be there. Even the average weather manager could easily be drawn from her office by random issues, and Rainbow had made it more than clear to everypony that she had zero love for paperwork.

Though most ponies didn't like paperwork for whatever reason. I always thought filling out forms was fun.

Anyways, I got lucky and found Rainbow Dash sitting at her desk when I opened the door to the Weather Service.

Her ears perked up when she saw me. "Hey, Twilight!" It took her no time at all to hop up from her desk and come over to me. I stifled a wince as she blew some of the papers on her desk to the growing collection on the floor. "What's up? You gonna be ready for the meeting tonight?"

I nodded. “Everything should be set for that. I just finished cleaning up the library. But I came here because I wanted to show you that I completed the anemometer." I held it up for her to see.

"Great!" Rainbow Dash craned her head this way and that to look at from different angles. An anemometer wasn't much to look at, but it still probably ranked higher than whatever paperwork she had been filling out. "It works and everything, right?"

"I think so," I said. "Part of the reason I wanted to talk to you was that I was hoping I could get a pegasus or two to help give it a few test runs. I figured it would be best to make sure it's working right before we really need it. It might need some calibration to get the accuracy we’re looking for."

“Sounds good to me.” She rubbed her chin. “How about you go by the track, and I’ll send Blossomforth over to help you? She’d probably like doing something different anyways, and she’d be good for something like this.”

“I can do that.” I hoisted the anemometer onto my back. “Though I figured you would want to test it yourself.”

“I’d like to, trust me,” she groaned. She glanced back at her desk with loathing. “But I gotta put in a request for some flyers I need today or I’m not gonna have them in time to tell everypegasus that they need to show up for Tornado Day training.”

“You going to have everything ready in time?” I asked. “I can help if you need it.”

Rainbow Dash waved my worries off. “Nah, I got it. You doing the anemometer stuff is a big help already. If you got that covered, I got the rest. Don’t worry about it.”

“If you say so.” I made a move towards the door. “How about I go ahead and go to the track, then?”

“Go on ahead.” She stretched out her wings. “I’ll find Blossomforth in no time, and she’ll meet you there. See ya later tonight, Twilight.”

“Bye,” I said as she zipped past me.

At least one thing seemed to be on track.

I was finishing setting up the anemometer by the track when Blossomforth came in for a gentle landing next to me.

I smiled at her. “Hey there, Blossomforth. Did Rainbow Dash tell you what we’re doing?”

She nodded. “Yeah, she said that you wanted me to help you calibrate your anemometer to measure wingpower.” It may just have been me, but Blossomforth seemed to be lacking a bit of the usual cheer I was used to seeing in her. Her smile seemed a bit more strained, there was a tenseness in her voice, and her wings were drooping. Maybe she was having a bad day? I certainly knew all about that. Not to mention cloud pushing could be tiring. At least from what I had heard.

“Thanks for the help,” I said with a smile. “You may have noticed, but I don’t exactly have wings, so I can’t do the final calibrations myself.”

A slight grin creeped onto her mouth. “I may have noticed, now that you mentioned it. And really, I’m happy to help. It’s nice to do something different from the usual grind.”

“Great.” It was good to know I was going to have a willing assistant to help with this project. While I hadn’t interacted much with Blossomforth, especially after the whole lab explosion incident, I liked to think we could still get along. “I was thinking it would be best to make sure the anemometer is ready before we get into the full swing of Tornado Day preparations.” I gestured towards the anemometer. “I’ve made a few modifications to help us. Considering Rainbow Dash wants us to break the Tornado Day record, I thought we could use a more accurate measuring device.”

Blossomforth’s ears perked as she looked over the anemometer. “Huh, you already changed the dial from measuring wind speed to wingpower. How're you doing that anyway?”

“It wasn't too hard,” I said, feeling excitement growing in me. It felt good being able to talk about an engineering issue with somepony who was at least familiar with the basics. “I just had to build a capacity matrix gem capable of reading pegasi wingpower as a pegasus flies past the device.”

“But wouldn't that mean your results would change depending on how close the pegasus flies?” She asked. “Even if we keep them in specific flight lanes, being a couple inches closer or further away would alter how much wingpower reaches the anemometer.”

I shook my head. “That would be an issue if this was a purely mechanical measuring system, but a capacity gem doesn't take in distance into account. It measures a pony's inherent magical aptitude. A capacity gem that can measure how much magic a unicorn is putting into it doesn't even register the distance you're holding it away from you. Granted, we will have to use lanes, considering I'll have to lock the anemometer down to measuring a specific area. We’ll need to keep using the track’s lanes as a result.”

Blossomforth rubbed at her chin as she considered that. “So it's basically measuring our pegasus magic, not our wings or the wind speed we’re creating?”

“Effectively,” I said with a nod. “Specifically, how much magic you're outputting when you cross the measuring zone. Going off of that, it can judge how much overall wingpower you’re producing and thus how much you’ll contribute to the water tornado.”

“Huh, I guess that would work,” she hedged. “I mean, it's not our wingpower in the most literal sense of the word, but...”

“It's a bit of a roundabout method of doing it, but it won't require us to make sure everypony isn't varying more than an inch on their approaches.” I made some final checks of the anemometer to make sure it was ready for its first batch of tests. “Normally we wouldn't need to be anywhere near this precise for something like this, but if Rainbow is going to reach her goal of breaking Fillydelphia's record we're going to need to know exactly how well everypony is doing.”

Blossomforth watched intently as I went about my work. “We're not going to get a whole bunch of drafted pegasi flying with perfect precision anyway. Your way of handling it was pretty smart.”

“Thank you.” I couldn’t help but smile at the compliment. It felt good to have one’s work acknowledged. “It was the best solution I could think of, anyways. Granted, it does require some time being spent making sure it works right and doing any calibrating that might need done.”

She grinned. “But that's what I'm here for, right?”

“Yep, Rainbow Dash said that you were a good pick for this,” I said. I stroked my chin as I thought something over. “Her wingpower probably isn't a good measuring stick to do this anyways. She has a lot more than the average pegasus. Though it would be better to test the anemometer with a bunch of pegasi, scientifically speaking, that probably isn’t going to be practical at the moment, sadly.”

“As long as we get it to work well enough, it should be fine,” Blossomforth said, taking the practical engineer’s stance to the issue. “And yeah, I'd be very surprised if the boss doesn't have the highest wingpower in Ponyville. I'm right in the nine to ten range, so that should be perfect for you. That’s what we were looking for everypony to be at for the big day.”

“Right.” I pulled out a notebook and a pencil. “We're going to need everypony to be at an average wingpower of ten in order to have a chance of breaking the record.”

“That's ambitious, but doable if we really work at it.” She started stretching out in preparation for her run of the track. “And we have a little bit of wiggle room on those numbers thanks to ponies with really high numbers like Rainbow.” She frowned and there was a long pause before she finally added, “And Cloud.”

“Cloud Kicker has a lot of wingpower?” I asked.

Blossomforth nodded with reservation and shuffled uncomfortably. “I don't know her numbers. It's usually kinda rude to just ask somepony outright, but I know she's pretty good. Probably all that Guard training she got.”

“Training makes a big difference for wingpower,” I said. “It’s why Rainbow is putting everypony through a training regimen to get their numbers up.”

“Yeah...” Her wings dropped again and she let out a sad sigh.

"Is something wrong?" I asked. Something was clearly getting to her and I wanted to help her if I could.

"Hmm?" It took her a few seconds before she pulled herself out of whatever she had been thinking about. When she did, she shook her head. "Oh, nothing serious. Just ... some stuff with Cloud."

"You want to talk about it?" I wondered what it was about Cloud Kicker that was bothering her. The two of them were pretty good friends. I doubted it had much to do with Cloud Kicker being arrested considering she had been pardoned by Princess Luna. She should even be back in Ponyville by now.

Blossomforth sighed. "Yeah, might as well. It'll keep bugging me until I get it off my chest." She took a deep breath. "I ... I think I have a bit of a crush on her."

That revelation caused me to blink. "With Cloud Kicker? You think you're interested in her or you're pretty sure? The level of attraction we're talking about makes a difference for how this conversation is going to go."

“Okay, okay, I'm pretty sure.” She pressed a hoof to her face. “It's just ... urgh!”

“Just that Cloud Kicker is Cloud Kicker?” I could see the problem readily enough. Cloud Kicker didn’t strike me as the type of pony who would be into the whole fidelity thing. That could be a bit of a problem if you wanted a committed relationship with her, to say the least.

“That, and ... we kinda got into a fight after the whole Cloudsdale thing.” Blossomforth scuffed her hoof along the track. “I wasn't exactly in a good mood when I had to fly over there to bail her out. I was wondering what in the world she was thinking to try and hit on a princess of all ponies.” She sighed. “Things got said.”

My ears wilted as I thought over what likely happened. “It was a pretty bad argument then?”

“Yeah...” She sat down next to me. “I don't think I've got a shot with her. I'm not even sure if I really want a shot with her, or if it's just...” She let out a frustrated groan. “Why is romance so frustrating?!”

“You're asking me?” I ran a hoof through my mane as I remembered the previous night. “I don't have a clue about romance.”

“Oh?” Blossomforth cocked her head. “I mean, I thought you knew about...” She motioned vaguely with a hoof. “Stuff.”

“What type of ‘stuff’?” I couldn’t help but grin at her. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve read about a lot different subjects. So you might want to be a bit more specific.”

“You know ... love and friendship stuff.”

“Friendship, yes, love... only of the platonic variety, I think,” I admitted. “Romance has been completely beyond me thus far. That was made perfectly clear when—” I shook my head. “Nevermind.”

Blossomforth’s ears perked. “Something up?”

I didn’t want to talk about what happened with Fluttershy last night, but it didn’t exactly strike me as fair to have Blossomforth talk about her own issues with Cloud Kicker and then have me clam up. “I kind of asked out somepony I really liked recently and got turned down.”

“Oh. Wanna talk about it?” There was a pause before she gave me a wry, sad grin. “I dumped my relationship trouble on you, so it's only fair.”

I gave her a sad grin back. “True enough.” I took a moment to take a breath. “I have—had a thing for Fluttershy. She's just so nice, and pretty, and has been there for me...”

“I guess I could see that,” she said with a nod. “I mean, she seems pretty nice and all, aside from that one time I got into a fight with her during the whole 'New Fluttershy' thing. It's just...” She squirmed in place. “Well, I'm not sure what to think of her, really.”

“Wait, you got into a fight with her?” The idea of Fluttershy getting into a fight with anypony was ... anathema to my thinking. This was a pony who had to be pushed to raise her voice to somepony else, much less get into a brawl with them.

“It was a little scuffle back when she'd gone a little crazy after Iron Will's seminar. No big deal.” Blossomforth coughed into her hoof. “She apologized later. A lot.”

“I heard a little bit about that.” My friends had quite a few interesting things to say about how Fluttershy had reacted to that seminar. I was a bit sorry I hadn’t gone myself to at least see what everypony had been talking about. Though Fluttershy seemed like she wanted to move past the episode. “She seemed pretty embarrassed about it.”

“She was.” Blossomforth waved the issue off. “Water under the bridge, as far as I'm concerned.”

“That’s good then.” At least that was one thing that wasn’t going to be become a big issue. It was never comfortable when two ponies you knew didn’t like one another. “Though I guess you still don't really know her that well.”

“Not really.” She shrugged. “Especially since she and Cloud are ... something. I dunno.”

“I'm not sure how they know one another, either.” It had been a rather vexing part of studying Cloud’s life. I was certain it was somehow related to something that happened during their time at Flight Camp, but exactly what happened there I could only guess at.

“Nopony who knows seems to want to talk about it,” Blossomforth said.

“That is what I've discovered.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “It's a bit strange.”

“Yeah...” The conversation died for a long moment. It seemed neither of us really knew how to continue before Blossomforth finally spoke again. “Also, you changed the subject away from you and Fluttershy.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle a little bit at that. “Yeah, I guess I did. What’s there to know?”

Blossomforth laid down in the grass and shrugged. “I dunno, I guess. Being rejected sucks.”

“You’re telling me.” I laid down next to her. “Though I'm not sure Cloud is even the type to settle down. At least from what I've seen.”

“Probably.” She sighed and nudged me with her wing. “So what about you and Fluttershy? I mean, she seems unattached and she is a good friend of yours...”

“She said she just wasn't interested in me.” My shoulders slumped. “I'm still thinking it through. Trying to digest it all, I mean. It’s just that I'm always used to being able to do something when I'm faced with a problem. Either I just need to study a problem hard enough, or look at it from another angle. Every problem was solvable.” I sighed. The times where I had been fully rejected were few and far in between. Like when I had failed to hatch Spike’s egg during my entrance examination for the School for Gifted Unicorns. “But in the end she just didn't think of me like that.”

“I guess there's not much we can do if they're just not interested, is there?” Blossomforth turned her gaze up towards the sky. She frowned and I could feel a sense of depression coming off of her. The situation with Cloud must really have her down. Though that was something I could sympathize with readily enough.

"Not really," I said. "I could always cast a spell on Fluttershy to make her attracted to me, but that wouldn't really be real—and it would be highly illegal."

"Er, right,” Blossomforth agreed, nervously shuffling a half a step away from me. “I guess you could do that. But yeah, I would avoid any kind of love potions or spells myself. I heard about how badly it went when the Crusaders messed around with those."

I had to suppress a grimace when I was reminded of that. It had been a mistake on my part to give the Crusaders a book with a love poison in it. I probably should have been a bit more suspicious of their sudden interest in an academic subject, but it’s so exciting to see young minds interested in learning.

"But Cloud isn't interested in you?" I asked, wanting to steer the conversation away from the incident with the Crusaders. "I mean based on how I've seen her treat you..." I had seen and heard of Cloud making offers for more carnal relations with Blossomforth in the past. Of course, she seemed to do that with pretty much everypony.

"I think she'd have casual, no-strings-attached sex with me in a heartbeat.” She paused, and her ears drooped. “But a real, long-term, committed relationship..."

"Right, that is a bit different." I supposed ponies could make whatever types of relations made them happy, but it was pretty obvious in this case that Blossomforth wasn't going to be happy with anything but a committed and probably monogamous relationship. Something I didn't see much of a chance Cloud Kicker doing. “Sorry to hear it, Blossomforth.”

“We just have no luck at love, do we?” Blossomforth asked.

“Doesn't look like it.” I rubbed at my face.

There was a long period of silence between us as we lay there by the track. The talk about our romantic pursuits had not exactly been a happy one.

“So, how about testing that anemometer?” Blossomforth asked to finally break the painful silence. “The boss isn’t going to be happy if she thinks I’ve just been lying around all day. Especially when she’s been cooped up in the office doing paperwork.”

“That sounds like a good idea. The anemometer sounds nice and safe and manageable.”

“Yes.” She paused a moment before giving me a sad smile. “Which makes it the complete opposite of our love lives.” She let out a bitter laugh.

I found the sentiment contagious and laughed with her. “Isn’t that the truth?”

Blossomforth got up and began stretching herself out. “I was thinking we could try a few rounds of me flying at my top speed and then have me try it out at on lower speeds. Considering we’re trying to get everypony up to a ten wingpower, it would be good idea to make sure it’s working at those lower speeds.”

“It might be good to know it won't have any issues at the slower speeds.” Blossomforth offered me a hoof, and I took it to help lift me to my hooves. “Not everypony is going to start out as solid a flier as you.”

“It helps that I’m always flying everyday for work,” she said. “Now if you want to test the anemometer for higher speeds you’re going to need to get Rainbow Dash.”

“I’ll look into it if we have time.” I went about checking the anemometer to make sure there weren’t any issues I might have missed. “Rainbow seems really busy at the moment.”

“She does tend to put a lot of stuff off until the last minute,” Blossomforth said with an irritated sigh. “It should be alright for Tornado Day, though. She’s really fired up for this project, so she’s working a lot harder than usual—and believe it or not, she does have a professional work ethic. We’ve all been working pretty hard with her to keep everything on track.” She lowered her head to look at my measuring instruments. “Hm, seems you might have some trouble making a reading if somepony has less than one wingpower, but I don't think we'll have anypony flying that poorly.”

“I think somepony would just about have to try to do that badly,” I said. “Either that or they’re too young or old to really be participating in Tornado Day.”

“Nooo kidding.” Blossomforth agreed. “So that probably won’t be an issue. Anything else to sort out before we get started?” She gave me a faint smile.

“I think that covers the biggest stuff for now.” I got my pencil and notepad ready to take some notes.

“Well that's good.” Blossomforth took her place on the track and gave her wings a couple practice flaps. “Nice to have a problem we can solve.”

“You're telling me,” I said. “Life has been a bit crazy as of late.”

“Well, thanks for the talk about all that.”

“Sure.” I extended a hoof to her. “Friends? We could always talk about our lack of love lives, and hopefully some topics that are less horribly depressing now and again.”

Blossomforth grinned and took my hoof. “Sounds good to me.” She rubbed at her chin. “So, any new gadgets to show me?”

I smiled, feeling good about making a new friend. Not to mention one that was interested in engineering. I could think of all sorts of fun things to do with a friend with a similar interest like that. It was certainly something to look forward to, and that was something I could really use right then. “I might have a few back at the library.”

“I'd like to see them.” She coughed. “As long as they don't explode like last time...”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the memory of that embarrassing incident. “We can avoid anything potentially explosive this time.”

“Good to hear.” She smirked. “I've got enough problems without dodging any explosions.”

“You and me both.” I motioned towards the track. “But we can do that after we’re done testing the anemometer.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Blossomforth spread her wings, ready to start her first lap. “Ready?”

I returned to the library after determining that the anemometer was working correctly. It would be best to make sure that the library was presentable before dozens of ponies showed up. I didn't want anypony to think that the library was anything but a place of order.

I was in the middle of dusting the shelves when there was a knock at the door. I put down my feather duster and opened the door. There stood Cloud Kicker carrying a film projector on her back. She smiled and said, “Hey.”

“Oh, hello, Cloud Kicker.” I tilted my head to get a better look at the film projector. It looked like an older model. The spots of rust on it certainly suggested it had been around for a while. “That for tonight?” Rainbow Dash had suggested she wanted to use some old film reel about water tornados, though I hadn’t gotten the details about it at the time. It had been a bit difficult to get any details out of her considering she had been a whirlwind of activity and ideas about everything she wanted to do for Tornado Day.

I was somewhat surprised that Rainbow Dash had sent Cloud Kicker to the library, considering she knew that the two of us were having trouble getting along. It was possible she had forgotten in all the rush of preparation she was going through. Another possibility was that Cloud Kicker had requested to come, or that Rainbow Dash had hoped she could brute force a reconciliation between the two of us by putting us in a situation where we would just about have to talk to one another. In the end it didn't matter all that much. Not like I was going to try and avoid her forever anyways.

She nodded. “Yeah, just want to get it set up and make sure it runs right before the meeting.”

“Fair enough.” It certainly made sense to make sure the projector was working before we actually needed to use it. “We can set it up right here if that isn't a problem,” I said, pointing to a table at the center of the room. “I can set up a film projector screen opposite if you put it there.”

“Great.” Cloud Kicker carefully removed the projector from her back and placed it onto the table.

I went and got the screen and placed it opposite of the projector. We both finished our tasks, leaving the two of us to stand awkwardly in the same room together. Not particularly wanting the two of us to be standing on opposite ends of the room in silence, I said, “So, how have you been?”

“Er ... good, for the most part,” she said. “You?”

I let out a long breath. “Getting there.”

“Getting there?” Cloud Kicker tilted her head as she looked at me. “Sounds like you've had some stuff going on.”

“My trip to Canterlot wasn't exactly fun.” After saying that, I felt compelled to go on. We weren’t going to get anywhere by dancing around the issues we needed to talk about. “You were right about my parents, by the way. They’re both ... engaging in extramarital affairs that I didn’t know about. That put a damper on the visit, to say the least.”

“Oh.” She looked away from me. “Sorry to hear that.”

“And yes, Vinyl Scratch is my half-sister, just for the record,” I admitted, feeling a bit better about being able to say this aloud. “Though please don’t go around telling everypony that. I’m still getting used to that idea myself.”

Cloud Kicker nodded. “My lips are sealed. If you don’t want that getting out, I understand. It sounds like you’ve had a lot dumped on you lately.”

“I'm figuring out how to deal with it all, really.” I shrugged, feeling tired about having to think about this topic again. The situation with my parents had dominated my thoughts as of late, and I think I was just getting sick of worrying about it by this point. “I don't know.” I shook my head. “They have the right to live their lives how they want, as long as they’re not hurting anypony, but I'm not thrilled about them not telling me the truth of it. That did kind of hurt.”

“I can understand that,” Cloud Kicker said. “It’s not exactly fun when ponies keep secrets from you that you should probably know about.”

“I guess I'm still working on rationalizing it all,” I said. “I’m going to need to have a long talk with my parents about all of this eventually. No way we can avoid this topic forever.”

“I guess finding out you have a half-sister is a lot to take in.” She sighed and shuffled in place. “Sorry about dumping that on you.”

I waved the apology off. “To be fair, that should have been my parents' job.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Cloud Kicker said. “Just .... didn't mean to knock you for a loop like that, is all.”

“We weren't on the best terms at the time.” I scuffed a hoof along the floor. “It seemed like we were hitting the wrong buttons with each other at every step.”

Cloud Kicker’s ears dropped, making her look positively miserable. “Seems to be something I have a knack for lately.”

“Not having a fun time either?” I asked. “Never a fun time when you get arrested by order of a princess.”

She rubbed at the back of her neck. “Guess you heard about the whole Cloudsdale thing with Princess Luna. And I got in a fight with Blossom too.” She sighed. “I haven’t been hitting it out of the park as of late.”

“I heard about both, yes.” At the risk of having another awkward moment of silence, I seized on the next thing I could think of to say. “It's a bit weird, considering Princess Luna saw me the same night I think you met her.” It might have been good to try and help Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth with their friendship, but the romantic component was something that threw me for a loop. I wasn’t exactly experienced in romantic relationships, and I didn’t want to make things worse between the two of them. Instead, I went with a topic that was relatively safer between the two of us.

Cloud Kicker rose an eyebrow at that. “She did? Huh. Not exactly what I was expecting.”

“It was pretty odd.” I stroked my chin. “She suddenly wanted a verbal report on you, asked a few questions, said the project was over except for me writing the paper out, and then left. It all happened so suddenly. I was a bit shocked.”

“That is pretty weird,” Cloud Kicker agreed. “But I guess after what happened when she met me, the report was kind of moot.”

“What did happen in Cloudsdale?” I asked. “All I've heard are rumors.”

She seemed to consider my question before finally shrugging. "I ran into Luna in a bar. We started drinking, talking, and getting along pretty well. So I made a pass at her. She was ... not amused."

"Threw you into jail, not amused?" I guessed.

"Yup," Cloud Kicker said. "Definitely among my worst rejections over the years."

It was hard for me to imagine that any evening that ended with you in jail had gone particularly well. "What made you think it was a good idea to hit on a princess? Especially one that is about a millennium behind modern dating practices?"

She let out an annoyed huff. "A little too much to drink and old habits kicking in. That and banging a princess being on my dream to-do list."

"And we saw how well that worked out," I teased.

Cloud Kicked chuckled. "Not my best work, no. Trust me, I learned my lesson there."

"At least you're not in jail anymore thanks to Rainbow Dash," I said, fiddling with the profile for screen after I noticed that it wasn't completely straight.

"Yeah, I owe her one for that." Her tone took on a more somber tone when she continued. "She's ... a good friend. Probably better than I deserve."

"She's really great, that we can agree on." It was certainly true that Rainbow Dash had gone out on a limb to help her. That boon from Princess Luna was probably a once in a lifetime opportunity for her. I couldn't completely explain why Rainbow Dash and Cloud Kicker were friends. They seemed to like to hang out, and had for many years. It could be one of those childhood friendship things that I didn’t have much experience with myself. But the fact of the matter was that they were friends, they liked being friends, and I certainly wasn't going to tell them they couldn't be.

Cloud Kicker smiled and nodded. "Darn right she is. Rainbow's the best friend a pony could ask for. Rainbow and I go all the way back to Flight Camp, so..."

"Right, I can understand that," I said. "Though if I'm honest I'm still kind of new to the whole friends thing."

"Yeah, I guess you are." Cloud Kicker fiddled with the film projector and put in a film. "Guess we should test this out."

I nodded. “Sounds like a good idea.”

Cloud Kicker hit the switch to turn the projector on. It immediately started clicking in a manner that didn’t sound right. I was about to suggest to Cloud Kicker that she turn the projector off when it burst into flames.

Yes, something was definitely wrong with the film projector.

Cloud Kicker blinked and took a step back from the film projector. “What the feather?”

I tilted my head as I contemplated how the projector might have caught on fire in the first place. “No offense, but I think your projector is showing its age.”

“No kidding.” She wrinkled her nose as she looked at the projector. “That's not supposed to happen.”

“It's not an intended use of a film projector, no,” I said wryly, “I'm sure it's on its warning label somewhere.”

“Too bad that warning label’s kinda gone.” She waved at the projector. “Y’know, ‘cause it’s on fire now.”

“Fire does tend to have a negative effect on paper,” I agreed.

Cloud Kicker frowned at the continually burning projector. “You do have an anti-fire spell, right?”

“Oh right!” I had nearly forgotten that allowing a fire to burn inside the library was a really bad idea. I cast a spell that snuffed out the fire in short order. “Knowing an anti-fire is pretty much mandatory when you have a baby dragon in the house.” It also seemed to be making me a bit too casual about fires happening inside my home. It’s strange what you could grow used to when it happened so frequently. Spike was normally really good about not setting anything on fire, but there was still the fact that if he sneezed too hard or hit the angles wrong while sending a letter to Princess Celestia something would be set on fire.

Cloud Kicker walked around where the film projector had been set up, probably to make sure there wasn’t any remaining fire to worry about. “Yeah, guess it would be. Saves money and trouble over using a fire extinguisher.” She seemed to mull over the idea before saying, “Any chance you could teach Sparkler that one? We all love Derpy to death, but we get a bit worried with how many fires there are in her house.”

“If she asks me, sure.” I cast a couple of repair spells on the projector. The projector took on something like its original form, but I could easily tell that the internal workings were a lost cause even after a couple more repair spells. Repair spells were great for any minor repairs one might need to do, but rebuilding semi-complex machinery was usually beyond the ability of magic to fix. It didn’t help that fire had a bit of a purifying element to it, and made it difficult to put it back in its original form.

Cloud Kicker sighed and ran a hoof through her mane. “I don't suppose you have a spare? The Boss ain’t gonna be happy if she can’t show the film she’s bringing later.”

“I have one in the closet, yes.” Giving up on further attempts at the repair spell, I opened up the closet to find my own film projector. “Give me a moment to find it.”

Cloud Kicker gave me an appreciative smile. “Thanks for all the help getting this set up too.” She shuffled in place. “I know Rainbow appreciates it.”

"Not a problem." I found the projector sitting on the closet floor and picked it up with my telekinesis. "I'm always happy to help a friend, and Rainbow is one of the best friends I have."

"Yeah. I oughta do something nice for her after ... everything." It wasn’t hard to imagine what she was talking about. Having a friend turn in a favor to get you pardoned was no small thing, and that was just what I knew about. The two of them did have a history, after all.

“What did you have in mind?” I turned on the projector and was happy to see it come to life, and without catching on fire. That was certainly a step in the right direction, and kept our plans on course.

“No idea, yet.” She shrugged. “But ... something. She’s earned it.”

I fiddled with the projector to make sure it was hitting the projector screen at the right angle. “Good news is that she isn't that hard to make happy. At least once you get to know her.”

“Buy her something Wonderbolts related or a Daring Do book, and she's happy.” Cloud Kicker gave me a big grin. “I should thank you for getting her into those, by the way. And ... a lotta stuff. You've been a good friend to her.” Her ears drooped. “Better than me.”

I sighed. It seemed that Cloud Kicker was getting into a self-pity mindset. Given how things went in Cloudsdale and with Blossomforth, that wasn’t very surprising. Getting arrested while on company business, even if it was probably during off hours, probably hadn’t helped her reputation. Then getting into a fight with a friend was never fun. She had probably been getting kicked around about as much as I had as of late.

“Rainbow values her friendship with you,” I said encouragingly. I didn’t want to add to her misery, so I thought some encouragement might help. “I can’t imagine she wouldn’t be friends with you unless she saw something good in you.”

“Maybe.” She picked up the broken film projector. “I haven’t exactly been the best friend lately.”

I didn’t know quite what to say to that. At the end of the day, we all made mistakes sooner or later, and Cloud Kicker had been having some difficulties as of late. Not to mention what the two of us had been going through. Still, maybe we could at least deal with the problems between the two of us. Solving at least one of her issues should help her feel better. Of course, that depended on us actually making progress. Something that wasn’t guaranteed given our record, but I still felt it was something I needed to do. We weren’t going to at least get an amiable relationship worked out if we kept avoiding one another and avoiding our troubles with one another, and I was tired of running away from trouble.

“I guess this is the part where we talk some things out?” I asked cautiously.

Cloud Kicker nodded hesitantly. “Might as well.”

I mentally braced myself before speaking again. “Things didn't exactly go the way either of us would have liked, I think.”

“No, they really didn't.” She drooped her head. “Probably my fault. I tend to make a mess of things.”

“There were some things I could have done differently too. I should have said I was uncomfortable.” I shuffled in place. “And I was probably being a bit too pricklish. It seems a bit silly now, to get so upset about it all. Normally I’m a lot better about letting things slide off my back. Especially when somepony is just joking.”

Cloud Kicker gave me a slight nod. “Guess we both made mistakes. Usually how these things go. I'm too used to ponies who are used to dealing with ... my lovable eccentricities?”

“Yeah, where I'm not used to such ... eccentricities,” I said.

“Well, maybe you'll adapt.” She paused, looking like she was thinking something over. “Well, y'know, if we're still gonna do anything together now that your project's over.”

“That is the question, now isn't it?” I thought out loud. “What with the study project being over.” It was something to consider. If we really wanted to, we could part ways, and we would only have to see one another rarely. Even then, we would only have to interact briefly. It would be tense, but not intolerable. It was the easier and safer option. Shame I knew that I would have given up when there might have been an opportunity to turn things around with Cloud Kicker, considering it did look like she wanted to atone for our earlier interactions.

Cloud Kicker hummed thoughtfully. “Well, we'll be working together on Tornado Day anyway. I guess we can decide after that.”

“That's one possibility,” I agreed with a nod. “Though if we're going to be working together, it would be nice if we could do so without every moment of us being together being a nexus of awkwardness.” It was going to be a pain if the two of us had to walk on eggshells around one another for the entire time, and it would distract from our goal of breaking that record. I probably owed Rainbow Dash a bit more than that. “Honestly, I think it would be nice to be able to move beyond all that stuff in the past. I have enough on my plate without having the baggage between us added on.”

"I know how you feel. So..." Cloud Kicker offered me a hoof. "We good?"

"Sure." I shook her hoof, feeling like a big weight was being taken off my back when I did so. "Let’s just put all that baggage in the past and forget about it. Really, it seems pretty petty at the moment after everything I've gone through lately."

She shook back and smiled. "Yeah, have to agree."

"I think we have a bit of a better understanding of one another now," I said. "You like certain activities, and I'm..." I rolled my hoof as I sought the right word for what I wanted to use. "Inexperienced at such things."

"Nothing wrong with that." Some of the tension in Cloud Kicker's body seemed to loosen and her smile became more eased. "And you know that when I tease, it's all meant to be in good fun."

"I've come to realize that it's just your way of doing things." I sighed, feeling embarrassment over some of previous encounters with Cloud Kicker. "And I've probably been a bit too much of a prude over that. Learning to relax about things is one of those things I'm trying to improve on. So how about this, you can be you around me, but if it becomes too much I'll ask you to tone it back?" I hoped I wouldn't regret this peace proposal, but I didn't want Cloud Kicker to be so tense around me that it just made us being around one another problematic. Besides, we seemed to have a better understanding of one another now.

Cloud Kicker nodded. "That sounds more than reasonable to me. Just the second you become uncomfortable, tell me and I'll back off." She cleared her throat. "Sometimes I don't know exactly when to back off."

"Noted," I said. "I think that established our boundaries with one another."

“I guess that's settled, then.” She grinned and scooted a step closer to me. “You know, we have a little time to kill before the meeting starts...”

I fought down what would have been my normal response of dislike towards Cloud Kicker’s suggestion. I had said that she could go back to her usual ways, so I had pretty much asked for this. Still, I had a counter for her so-called lovable eccentricities. One that was more fun than being bitter towards her.

“Oh, so you're offering to help me with the snacks for everypony?” I asked with a knowing grin.

Cloud Kicker smirked back at me. “Actually, I was thinking we should give the movie projector an extended test. I'm sure you have a couple films that we could watch somewhere in the library. Spike can make all the snacks.” She glanced around the room. “Assuming the little guy is around here somewhere.”

“That sounds really nice, actually.” It was still a few hours before the meeting. That gave us plenty of time to do something like watch a movie and just relax, and relaxing for a while sounded really nice. “I'm just going to have to go out and get Spike. He's out in town at the moment, but it's getting late, and I'd like him to be here before everypony shows up.”

“You fetch the dragon, I set up the movie and make some popcorn?” Cloud Kicker asked.

“Sounds good.” I waved in the direction of the kitchen. “The popcorn is on the third shelf and on the left in the cupboard. I’m going to guess you can figure it out from there.”

“Gotcha.” Cloud Kicker put the broken projector up against the wall. We could deal with that after the meeting. “Hope you like salt and butter on it.”

“That sounds good considering we’re watching a movie,” I said. “Give me a bit to find Spike and I’ll be right back.”

After using a tracking spell, I found Spike sitting on the rail of a bridge arching over a stream. He was idly looked down at the running water and casually kicking his legs. I guessed that he was pretty deep in thought considering he didn’t seem to notice me as I walked up to him.

I rested my head on the rail next to Spike. “Hey, you doing alright?”

Spike jerked slightly when I had spoken. “Oh, Twilight. I didn’t notice you.”

I couldn’t help but smirk at him. He was just too cute sometimes. “You thinking pretty hard there?”

“Yeah, I guess.” He shrugged. “About stuff, you know?”

“I think I get it.” I lifted up my head to nuzzle him. “Feeling a bit better after having the day off?”

“Kinda.” Spike let out a long groan. “I’m just tired of being all mopey and sad, really.”

“I know the feeling,” I said sympathetically. “I’m in the mood for moving forward at this point.”

“That sounds nice.” He wrapped his arms around my neck for a hug. “Sorry ‘bout ... all the stuff with Peewee.”

“It’s okay.” I hugged him back. “That wasn’t easy on you, and I’m sorry you had to be put through that. You’re being pretty mature about it, all things considered.”

That brought a smile out of Spike. “You think so?”

I nodded. “Yep, and the offer is still on the table if you want to get another pet. Just say the word, and we’ll go out to Fluttershy’s to pick one out for you.”

That instantly turned Spike’s smile into a frown. “Maybe later. I don’t really want another pet right now.”

That caused me to lower my ears. Part of me had hoped that I could, as awful as it might sound, replace Peewee in Spike’s life. At least fill up that void that had just been torn in his life. But in the end, this was Spike’s decision. I wasn’t going to force another pet on him to make myself feel better, and it might be he only needed time to find closure.

“That’s alright.” I lifted him onto my back. “We’ll take that at your pace.” I started heading back to the library. “How about we go back home? We were going to watch a movie and have some popcorn before the meeting tonight.”

Spike’s mouth quirked into a big grin. “Sounds great. I could go for a movie.” He rode quietly on my back for a while before speaking up again. “So, since you said I’ve been real mature, does that mean I can get a raise in my allowance?”

Ah, now Spike was trying to secure a kill while he thought I was in a giving mood. As was often the case with children, he was always looking for a raise in his allowance. “Didn’t we warn you about being greedy, Spike?” I asked in a teasing manner.

Spike sighed. “Yeah, yeah, Spike get greedy, Spike grow big and smash Ponyville. I remember.”

We did have a lengthy talk about the subject with Zecora after Spike had stomped a large portion of Ponyville flat. Needless to say, everypony hadn’t exactly been happy with me and Spike after that, and I had to do a lot of placating and explaining to calm everypony down. I didn’t exactly have the best reputation of being the best neighbor in town after ... everything that had happened since I came to Ponyville. If I hadn’t saved the town and the world a few times, I might have been tossed out of the city boundaries.

“Right, so no being greedy,” I said.

“I get it, I get it.” Spike paused for a few seconds before saying, “Though really, can I get a raise in my allowance?”

I rolled my eyes and kept walking.

The two of us returned to the library and found Cloud Kicker putting a film reel into the projector. The popcorn was already sitting in a bowl on the table, and was looking quite inviting after a long day.

“Hey, ready for the movie?” Cloud Kicker asked.

Spike hopped off my back and made his way towards the kitchen. “Sure, let me just get the ice cream and I’ll be good to go.”

“We’ll wait for you, Spike,” I said, picking up the bowl of popcorn. I had enough ice cream for one day.

We were getting settled for the movie when Rainbow Dash came flying in through the window. “Hey, everypony.” Her eyes looked over the scene before her and narrowed. “Hey! I'm paying you to work, Kicker!” She shook her hoof in a belligerent manner at Cloud Kicker. “Not watch movies!”

“We're testing the projector, Boss,” Cloud Kicker said confidently. “Besides, we got everything else done, and we still have a couple hours until everypony starts showing up.” Cloud Kicker gave Rainbow Dash an easy grin. “And you're just annoyed you didn't think of it first.”

Looking to defuse the situation, I held up the film reel box for Rainbow Dash. “You would probably like it, it’s the new Daring Doo movie.”

“Wait, there’s a Daring Do movie!?” Rainbow Dash zipped down to land next to Cloud Kicker and dipped her hoof into the popcorn. “Move over and give me some popcorn!”

Author's Notes:

I would like to thank my editors Chengar Qordath, Comma-Kazie, and JakeTheGinger for all their help. And also to my prereaders Swiftestshadow, Infinion, Pegasusnumber 5, 621Chopsuey, Nekonyancer, Web of Hope, and Rodinga who put a ton of effort into reading over this chapter and helping me edit it.