Part I Jokes

The school trip to the Cloudsdale Weather Factory; it was a trip that every class of new fliers took their second year of flight school. Each of the young pegasi was excited to finally get a chance to see how the weather was made. Most of their parents were employees of the Weather Factory so they knew a thing or two about what went on there, but none of them had actually been inside until today. Yes, everypony was excited. Everypony that is, except for Hikari.

Hikari was one of these a young pegasi walking down the street on her way to visit the Weather Factory. Although she was only nine-years-old, Hikari was in her second year of flight school, having been admitted into the school the year before at the tender age of eight (instead of ten like most pegasi). Her teacher's considered her a prodigy, but Hikari felt that there was a price to be paid for her advanced learning; in order to maintain the special scholarship that allowed her to stay in class, Hikari was required to dedicate a lot of her time to studying so she could get good grades on her tests. For her meteorology class, she had read up on the formation of clouds and how to properly fill and empty them of water, practiced mixing the spectrums that made up rainbows, and she even tried her hoof at the delicate art of creating the intricate patterns for snowflakes. There was just nothing of interest for Hikari at the Weather Factory. All she wanted to do right now was to free-fall from the cloud that they were on, only to unfurl her wings at the last second, feeling the rush of flying at high speeds like her idol Rainbow Dash. She loved the feeling of the cold wind whipping through her light yellow mane and teal feathers.

Hikari looked lazily over to the colt walking beside her. His name was Valiant and he had been Hikari's next-door neighbor and her best friend since they were tiny foals.

"Hey Val," Hikari said with a smile. "I have a hypothetical question for you."

"What is it," Valiant had said with a slight scowl. He hated it when she called him by that nickname. It was fine when they were foals, but they were older now, and he didn't like the name anymore. But no matter how many times he asked her to stop, she insisted on calling him Val.

"What would you do if I just stepped off the edge of this cloud and didn't open my wings? Would you chase after me Val?" She put a hoof around his shoulder and gave him an affectionate squeeze.

"Not if you keep calling me by that nickname." He removed Hikari's hoof from his back "Go ahead, jump, I don't care." Valiant turned his head away from the filly next to him and started up a conversation with the colt in front of him.

"Fine Val." Came Hikari's sad reply.

Oh great, thought Valiant, I hurt her feelings.

"Look Hikar…Oh Sweet Celestia!" Valiant stared, horror struck, at the empty space next to him. He hadn't even heard her take off. He moved over to the edge of the cloud and searched the sky bellow.

It took a while, but eventually he saw her limp form plummeting towards the Everfree Forest bellow. Valiant didn't have to think twice; his cutie mark (a shield adorned with two crossing swords) represented his courage, his wanting to protect all ponies. It was not in his nature to let harm come to someone he cared about, especially his best friend. Stepping back, he dropped his saddlebag, then turned, and ran towards the edge of the cloud entering into a dive. The last thing Valiant heard was the sound of a few fillies screaming as they watched the pony dive off the edge; then it was nothing but the sound of wind whipping past his ears.

Even though he was still just a colt, Valiant was an expert at skydiving. He weaved his way through the lower hanging clouds, making sure not to hit any; at this speed, he would most likely be knocked unconscious if he was reckless and accidentally crashed into something, no matter how soft it was. Tears started to fill the young colt's eyes; he had left his goggles back on the cloud in his saddlebag. There was no to think about grabbing them before he jumped.

But it wasn't just the wind that was causing Valiant to tear up, he was afraid of losing Hikari. He had just meant it as a joke; he didn't think she would actually jump off the edge. Hikari was prone to do dumb things every now and again, but this was by far the stupidest thing she had ever done. Yes she was a prodigy, but she was still a young filly, too young to try something as dangerous as this.

The wind was too unbearable; it became harder for Valiant to see each cloud as he passed by. He lifted a hoof to his eyes and wiped away the tears, careful to not throw off his trajectory. In that single moment he lost track of Hikari's descent. Valiant quickly opened his wings and pulled himself to a stop, frantically scanning the world bellow for any trace of the filly. Then, fear struck him like a knife. There, less than two hundred yards bellow where Valiant was flying, was Hikari, lying sprawled out on a large cloud. He dove, driven by adrenalin, until he crash-landed onto the cloud about twenty feet away from Hikari.

"Hikari!" Valiant shouted. He got back on his feet and galloped towards the fallen pegasus. He stood over her limp form, his heart racing. Her chest was faintly moving up and down; she was still breathing. Valiant didn't know what to do; he put a hoof on one of Hikari's shoulders and desperately gave her a few gentle shakes. "Hikari!? Kari! Come on answer me." Tears returned to Valiant's eyes as the thought of his best friend being in a coma invaded his mind. He put a hoof under her head and drew her closer to his body, embracing her tightly as he cried.

Suddenly, Hikari stirred in his Valiant's arms and he could hear her breathing grow heavier, nearing a normal rate. Her eyes slowly opened, but fell closed again, as if she were too weak to keep them open. Valiant saw Hikari's lips start to move; it looked like she was trying to say something.

"What is it, Kari?" Valiant asked, calming down a bit because Hikari was still with him. "Do you need anything?" Hikari gestured with her hoof for Valiant to bring his head closer to hers.

"G-got…y-y-you…" She stammered.

"What?" Valiant looked alarmed. Hikari's eyes shot open, and before Valiant knew it, he was on his back, pinned down by the weight of a laughing, and perfectly healthy filly sitting on his chest.

"Hah!" she laughed, pointing a hoof in Valiant's face. "I totally got you." In his shocked state, Valiant could do nothing but lie on his back, staring blankly up at Hikari as the filly enjoyed her little joke. "You should have seen the look on your face. You were all like 'oh no, Kari's dead.' Honestly Val your so gullible." Valiant could feel anger replacing the shock. With all his strength returning, he shoved Hikari off, got up on his feet and stomped over to her.

"What the hell were you thinking?" He shouted at her. "You could have been killed!"

"Oh come on it was just a joke. Look, see, I'm totally fine." She spun around to show Valiant that she didn't have a single scratch or bruise. "I just went into a free fall and when I saw you clear your eyes, I took the chance to open my wings, allowing me to land safe and sound on this cloud. Neat trick, huh?"

"Do you have any idea how worried I was? When I saw you down here I-I really thought you were dead." Tears continued to streak down the colts face. "I thought I had lost my best friend." Hikari stopped laughing. She knew she had taken the joke too far. She just wanted to have a little fun; she didn't think how much this would have hurt the Colt. He had always been the brave one, not scared of anything

"Valiant." She said softly, looking down with remorse. "I'm…I'm sorry, I didn't know. I knew you would chase after me, but I never thought you would take it so seriously. Honestly, I didn't mean to make you worry." Valiant walked over to the regretful filly whose soft teal coat and light yellow mane shimmered in the sunlight. He reached up and wrapped his hooves around Hikari, pulling her into a hug.

"It's ok." Said Valiant, looking the filly in the eyes. "I'm just glad you're not hurt."

"Me too." She returned the embrace, her face buried in Valiant's golden mane. The two ponies slowly pulled away, just enough so that they could look each other in the eye.

"Kari, I…" he started, but Hikari gently placed a hoof over his lips.

"Shhh." She hushed, returning her hoof to a spot on the colt's back somewhere between his wings. Slowly, Hikari drew her face closer to Valiant's, closing her eyes as their lips nearly touched.

"Hey, what's going on down there." Came an angry voice from far above. The two ponies shot away from each other, startled by the mysterious voice. In the distance, Valiant and Hikari saw the form of a full-grown pegasus pony flying towards them. A moment later, a large blue male pegasus landed in front of them; it was their teacher, Windjammer, who stood over them, looking furious. "Never in all my years of teaching have I seen ponies who acted as reckless as you two did just now. What do you have to say for yourselves?"

"I'm very sorry sir; it was just a joke." Replied Hikari, turning red. "I was in control of my fall the entire time."

"That's no excuse for what you did. A controlled fall or not, you could have been seriously injured. You are far too young to be trying stunts like that." Windjammer turned his attention to Valiant. "And what about you?"

"I thought she was in trouble so I jumped into action. Honestly, it's no big deal, we're both fine. Can we please just go back up and return to the field trip and forget this whole thing happened?"

"Not the whole thing." Whispered Hikari under her breath so that only Valiant could hear. She giggled a little as Valiant's pure white coat turned a deep shade of red. Of course he didn't want to forget the kiss that they almost shared, but now wasn't the time to be thinking about that.

"I'm afraid not." Windjammer said, bringing the young pegasi back to reality. "First, while it was a courageous thing for you to do, trying to save your classmate, it was just as stupid as the stunt that she pulled. You should have told one of the teachers, someone who is far more experienced with flying to help her."

"But there wasn't time." Valiant pleaded. "She could have…"

"Second," Windjammer continued, ignoring his student's excuses. "You will not be joining the rest of the class on the trip. You both have behaved very irresponsibly today and have broken school rules. Therefore, when we get back up to Cloudsdale, you will both be returning home and you will write a five-page research paper about how the weather is made. And you can tell your parents to expect a letter in the mail tomorrow." Windjammer shook his head. "I am very disappointed in you two." He turned away and opened his wings. "You two go on first so I know you won't be running off." Hikari and Valiant trudged over to the edge of the cloud, their heads hung in sadness. They slowly opened their wings and took off.

They flew in complete silence for what felt like hours. When they got back to Cloudsdale, Windjammer turned to the two ponies.

"I want your papers on my desk first thing in the morning before class." He turned back to the cluster of ponies who could only stare and whisper about the two ponies who were being sent home. "Ok class, line back up. We still have a bit of a walk before we reach the Weather Factory." The rest of the young pegasi quickly lined up out of fear that they might also be sent home for disobeying orders. Within a few minutes, Hikari and Valiant were alone. The colt turned to his friend.

"Well," Valiant said, stretching his legs. "No use just sitting here all day sulking. Might as well head home and start on those papers." Valiant sighed. "Geeze, I'm gonna be up all night working on this paper."

"Not me," said Hikari a bit proudly. "I know a lot about the cloud factory and everything they do there. I'll probably be done in a couple hours."

"Lucky."

Hikari rolled her eyes.

"It's not my fault. I had to learn all that stuff to earn my scholarship. If I didn't they'd have kicked me out of school."

"Yeah yeah I remember, miss know it all." Hikari gave him a dirty look.

"Humph. Well Maybe if you opened your school books every once in a while instead of practicing your dives, you'd do better in school."

"Alright. Geeze, sorry I'm so stupid." Valiant gave Hikari a playful shove. He looked off in the direction of the Weather Factory. "I wish I could get in there though. I bet it would really help with this paper."

"Is that so?" Hikari gave Valiant a sly grin. "What if I told you that one of the resources I used for my school entrance paper were blueprints to the Weather Factory and that I might know a way we can sneak in and explore."

"I would probably kiss you." Valiant laughed at his friend's cleverness. Hikari, however, inched closer to the colt who stopped laughing and turned a bright shade of red. "Wait. Here? Now?"

"Sure," she moved closer, their faces inches apart. "Nopony's around." She moved her head the remaining distance and their lips met.

It was pure bliss. It wasn't quite the same feeling Hikari got from free falling, but it was as close as two young ponies could get with their hooves still on the cloud. Valiant reached a hoof up and placed it softly on the filly's back, just between her wings. The more they kissed, the more excited Valiant became. His hoof started to explore Hikari's back until it found one of her beautiful teal wings. Valiant began to gently stroke her feathers, sending shivers throughout Hikari's body.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" she exclaimed, breaking the kiss. She was trying to calm herself and catch her breath. Valiant could see that Hikari was blushing profusely.

"I'm sorry," Valiant said, feeling very embarrassed. "That wasn't ok, was it?"

"No…and yes," Hikari was so embarrassed, she was finding it hard to look the colt in the eye. "I'm not going to lie and say that it didn't feel good. Trust me, it felt really good. It's just that, well," she took a deep breath and looked deep into Valiant's eyes. "You're my best friend Val, and I don't want that to change because we did something stupid."

"So what do you want?"

"We're still kids, practically foals; we have plenty of time in the future to do…that. So, for now, I think we should take it slow." Valiant put a hoof around Hikari and kissed her on the forehead.

"That's fine with me." he said with a smile. The two pegasi sat on the edge of the cloud, just enjoying the time together. Valiant looked affectionately at Hikari. "So, does this make me your special somepony?"

"Only if I'm your special somepony." They leaned in and gave each other a quick kiss. "Come one." Hikari said, standing back up. "We're not gonna have enough time to write our papers if we spend all of our time here."

"Ok," said Valiant following suit. "But lets make it a quick trip. I don't want to get caught sneaking around the Weather Factory. Celestia knows what they'll do if they catch us in there"

"Sure."

The two ponies took off in the direction of the Weather factory, not knowing what they were getting into.