"Ok, now to check my checklist!" Twilight said after having locked her suite's door and soundproofed the room.

She took the clipboard she had prepared before going to Shining and Canterlot Team's celebrations on the coffee table, along with a quill she dipped in a nearby ink bottle. On the sheet of paper, you could read : "Twilight's escapade in order to reward Cloud Kicker Official Checklist, by Twilight Sparkle!"

"So....20: 45, leave the celebration in the hotel's restaurant....Check!" Twilight said methodologically as she checked the first item on her list. "20:49, lock the suite's door, plus soundproofing....Check! I'm right on schedule!" She squealed happily when she noted the time on her clock and on her list matched perfectly. "20:50, Squealing happily from being on schedule....Check! Next item, clothes!"

Twilight took off her clothes in her bedroom, her checklist, ink bottle and quill levitating behind her. She opened her closet and started inspecting her wardrobe with narrowed eyes, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

"Hmmm...Rarity said that the dress code was casual and relaxed..." Twilight muttered. " Haha! That's it!"

Twilight decided to wear a short dark purple skirt that went to her mid thighs along with a white blouse and a v-neck purple sweater with a pinkish purple star on the right of the chest. She also put her long, light purple socks before putting her shoes back on. When she was dressed, she looked herself in the mirror.

"Yep, that'll do it." She commented with a smile. "I'm at ease in these, it's not too formal. It's not too saucy. But, it can be, should Cloud Kicker decide to....." She started with a growing blush. "....Let's not go there. So, Clothes....Check! Next...Pick up your other clothes and put them in the laundry basket."

Twilight was about to pick her clothes up, but she froze when she saw them on the floor. There was a pair of long, light purple socks, a white blouse in a purple V-neck sweater and a short dark purple skirt. The perfect copy of the clothes she was currently wearing was spread on her bedroom floor.

"I really need to go shopping with Rarity." Twilight sighed, burying her face in her hand.

She put her already worn clothes in the laundry with a groan, before checking the laundry item and the next item on her list. The next item being : "Realizing you need to go shopping with friends".

"What's next?....Do your hair....That's gonna be easy!" She said as entered the bathroom. She took her brush but stopped before it made contact with her hair. "Should I try another style?" Twilight asked to herself. "I know! Rarity's hair styling book!"

She ran through her stuff to find this book Rarity had offered to every Council Members a while ago. The book contained detailed instructions, with illustrations, about multiple hairstyles. Rarity had made them for her friends so that they could get by with their hair for various occasions, such as parties, receptions, opera nights, and what not, while she wasn't available to help them with their hair like she normally does.

Twilight skimmed through the book before stopping at one page that showed a long ladder braid ponytail that fell on the right side of the model's face. She went back in front of the mirror, the book levitating next to it. She followed the instructions carefully and about ten minutes later, she admired the result.

"Yes, that's a really nice coiffure, as Rarity would say." Twilight commented calmly. "And the instructions are really easy to understand. That's really good looking braid and it's fairly easy to do." She took her eyes of the book and looked in the mirror.
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"WHY DOESN'T MINE LOOK LIKE THE ONE IN THE BOOK?" She snapped furiously as she saw the tangled mess she had done to her hair trying to braid them. "RAAAAA! Stupid hair!....OW! OW!" She yelped in pain as she tried to undo her failed attempt at braiding hair.

The pain and the anger from messing up her hairstyle only made it more difficult to get Twilight's hair back to normal. She only managed to get more knots in her hair than there already were. After a few minutes of valiant efforts which turned out to be unsuccessful, Twilight let her face fall desperately on the counter next to the sink.

"Why can't I do anything normal girls can?" Twilight sobbed with a growing sadness in her voice, tears slowly filling her deep purple eyes.

"Twilight! You still awake?" She heard Rainbow Dash ask while her friend was knocking a bit too vigorously at the door. "Come on, don't go to bed already! You're missing some awesome stuff down there!"

Twilight sniffed and wiped her tears away with the back of her hand before walking slowly to the suite's door. She undid the soundproofing spell so that her friends could hear her.

"What is it, Rainbow?" Twilight asked with a small crack in her voice.

"Twilight, are you ok?" Fluttershy asked softly before Rainbow could say anything.

"….No."

"Rarity told me about your idea." Fluttershy explained. "Do you need help with that?"

"What idea?" Rainbow asked with curiosity, only to be ignored by her two friends.

"…..yes." Twilight let out slowly, as if embarrassed to admit it. "I do need help. You promise not to laugh?"

"I promise!" Fluttershy assured while Rainbow voiced her incomprehension again.

Twilight unlocked the door and let her two friends in. As soon as they got in, she locked and soundproofed the room again. She turned around to face her friends and noticed Rainbow was looking at her hair and was trying really hard not to laugh at her. She was nearly biting her finger to blood for that purpose. After a few seconds, she couldn't resist anymore.

She bursted into laughter, pointing at Twilight's hair. The concerned party looked down in shame and embarrassment until she heard the laughing fit being interrupted by Rainbow's pained yelps. Twilight looked up and saw Fluttershy pulling Rainbow's ear with a disapproving frown.

"Renée Marianne Dash, that wasn't very nice of you!" Fluttershy said sternly in one of her rare moments of assertiveness.

"Ow! Ow! Shy, my ear!" Rainbow pleaded in pain.

"Well, you deserved it! Now, go to the corner of the room and think about what you've just done!" Fluttershy let go of Rainbow's ear and pointed a corner of the room.

"But, I…."

"Don't you 'But, I' me, Rainbow!" Fluttershy stared at Rainbow Dash with a lift of her eyebrow.

Rainbow gulped nervously before doing as Fluttershy told her and stood still at one corner of the room, facing at the wall. Twilight blinked in amazement as she watched Rainbow being tamed down by Fluttershy. She nearly got startled when Fluttershy turned toward her but she noted with relief that Fluttershy didn't look angry at her at all.

"Come on, let's fix this." Fluttershy said softly after examining her friend's hair.

She took a chair and put it in front of the bathroom's mirror, inviting Twilight to sit on it. Once she was sit, Fluttershy started to delicately untangle her friend's hair. She took a glance on Rarity's hair styling book and on the particular style that Twilight had chosen.

"Is that the one you tried to do?" Fluttershy asked softly before Twilight nodded in silence. "It's a pretty one. You want me to do it for you?"

"You can do it?" Twilight asked with hope.

"Why do you style your hair before going to bed?" Rainbow asked in confusion, still oblivious about Twilight's plan, as she peeked in the bathroom.

"I didn't say you could leave the corner, Rainbow." Fluttershy remarked playfully.

"Oh come on! I want to apologize, ok." Rainbow looked at Twilight. "Twilight, I shouldn't have laughed at you like i did. I'm sorry." She said with sincerity.

"It's ok, Rainbow." Twilight said slowly. "With a bit of retrospective, it probably looked pretty funny." She conceded with a small giggle.

"Anyway, why were you trying to….?" Rainbow asked as her eyes fell on Twilight's checklist. "Woooohooo, our little egghead decided to go over the wall." She whistled with a mix of surprise and pride. "Things seems to be going serious between you and Kicker."

"Shut up!" Twilight said with an intense blush, snatching her checklist away from Rainbow's sight.

"Rainbow, leave her alone." Fluttershy giggled softly as she finished untangle Twilight's hair. "Okay, let's do this."

Fluttershy started to braid Twilight's hair under Rainbow's annoyed watch. Twilight closed her eyes at some point, fearing that if she saw Fluttershy not doing things like said in the book, she would overreact over her friend. Knowing herself like she did, it was likely to happen. After ten or fifteen minutes, Fluttershy tapped her shoulder delicately.

"I'm done. You can open your eyes now."

Twilight took a peek at the mirror. "Oh, Fluttershy you did it!" She said happily when she noticed her now braided hair. "It's exactly like in the book." She took her checklist and her quill. "Hairstyle..Check!" She stood up and hugged her friend. "Thank you, thank you!"

"Glad I could help." Fluttershy smiled. "What have you got next on your list?"

"Well, the next item is make up." Twilight said. "But considering what happened with my hair, it's probably safer to not try make up without Rarity around."

"It's probably a good thing!" Rainbow nodded knowingly along with Fluttershy.

"I'm ready then!" Twilight said happily. "Right on ..." She took a glimpse at the room's clock. ".......schedule..." She let out slowly. "Oh no, no, no, no, no!" Twilight panicked.

"What is it?"

"It's Nine forty-five pm!" Twilight nearly shouted in her frantic panic. "I should have left twenty minutes ago!"

"What's the big deal?" Rainbow asked with an annoyed sigh. "It's only twenty minutes!"

"Only twenty minutes?" Twilight growled with a twitch of her eye. "Look at my schedule!" She nearly shoved her checklist in Rainbow's face. "If I'm twenty minutes late, that means all my plans must be postponed and so they'll start later than planned. But since I'm obliged to get back here before six thirty tomorrow morning, I'll miss twenty minutes of the last item on my list. Do you realize how bad that is?"

"What's the last item on your list?" Rainbow asked casually, unfazed by Twilight's outburst and her sight obscured by her friend's list.

"That's not for you to know!" Twilight shouted with a huge blush, putting her checklist away from Rainbow's face. She took another glance at her clock. "And, I just lost two more minutes trying to explain that to you."

"We'll just leave then! Come on, Rainbow! Let's go back downstairs." Fluttershy said quietly as she pushed Rainbow toward the door. "Have a good evening, Twilight."

"You too, Fluttershy. Thanks again for doing my hair!" Twilight said happily, before locking her door behind her friends. She quickly grabbed a small purse and put her check list, quill and bottle of ink (well closed of course) in it. Her right hand started to glow in a bright purple aura. "Ok, now. To Sweet Apple Acres!" She said before clacking her fingers and disappearing in a purple flash.

Shining Armor was walking on the small road that lead to Sweet Apple Acres. The receptionist from the hotel had told him that he could ask for a carriage, but he couldn't find one available so he settled down for a walk. Next to him, a woman with fiery orange hair, wearing the Canterlot tracksuit, was flying slowly, in a position like she was swimming on her back, thanks to her golden yellow wings.

"Why are you here again, Spitfire?" Shining asked.

"I told you already, Boss." Spitfire casually answered. "Your wife noticed you were gone and asked me to go look for you."

"And since you know where I'm going, why didn't you fly back to tell her?"

"Oh yeah, I can imagine it from here." Spitfire chuckled. "Hey, Princess Cadence. I found your husband. He's ditching the party you threw for him to go to Sweet Apple Acres because he has something important to ask Cloud Kicker that can't wait until tomorrow.... What?....Oh yes, THAT Cloud Kicker..... Yes, I know it's the middle of the night, but the captain said it couldn't wait." Spitfire said with a fake casual tone, taking up the arguments Shining had said to her when she asked him. "Don't know about you, but I'd rather not to be the one who tells her that."

Shining glared at her. "I didn't say it like that."

"No offense Boss, but I think that's how your wife is going to see it." Spitfire let out with a shrug.

"Fine, I see your point." Shining sighed. "Anyway, why are you coming with me?"

"Well, aside from the fact that I can't go back to the hotel without you, I'm actually curious about what you want to talk about with Kicker." Spitfire explained.

"Hmmm. I received an anonymous letter about Cloud Kicker this evening." Shining said after deciding he could spill the beans to his teammate.

"What a shocker!" Spitfire gasped over dramatically. "Come on, Boss! It's not the first time it happens." She said slowly as Shining deadpan her. "Who's she accused to have slept with this time?"

".....My sister." Shining let out slowly.

Luckily, Shining was watching in front of him when said that. Otherwise, he would have seen Spitfire nearly gasped in shock and lost her flying pattern. She regain her composure quickly enough for her Captain not to notice everything. Thanks to Rainbow, she knew that something had happened and probably was still happening between Twilight Sparkle and Cloud Kicker. She had even agreed to cover both of them yesterday at the tavern when she noticed everyone else doing it.

"Was there any proof of that?" Spitfire asked in the most normal tone she could muster. "With the letter, I mean."

"No, The envelope contained nothing other than the letter."

"Why didn't you class it as a bad joke like you always do, then?" Spitfire asked softly.

"Because....it concerns my sister."

"Really? You're just being stupid, Boss. How could your sister fall for Cloud Kicker's cheap dating tricks?" Spitfire chuckled playfully.

"Oh, I don't know...Maybe like you when you and your ex-fiancé fell for Cloud Kicker's cheap dating trick in the past?" Shining snapped.

Spitfire landed heavily on the ground, glaring at Shining Armor with an anger that he had never seen in the wonderbolt's eyes. He saw her close her fists as electric sparks started to surround them. He realized he had gone too far with his previous comment.

"That was uncalled for, Shining." Spitfire muttered, breathing heavily to cool down her anger.

"Spitfire,....I'm sorry." Shining sighed with a true apologetic tone. "I shouldn't have said that. I'm just worried about...."

"Yes, worried about your sister! I know!" Spitfire growled, rolling her eyes. "That's pretty much your sole excuse for everything you do out of the line!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shining said slowly.

"You know pretty well what it means, Shining." Spitfire shouted. "Every time your sister's involved you don't act normally. You always go way too far to protect her from dangers that exist only in your head!"

"You're exaggerating!" Shining shouted back. "Name one time it happened!"

"With pleasure!" Spitfire said with a smirk. "Four years ago, the first Gala for the new generation of the Council of Harmony, you asked almost half of the security to watch out for Twilight's movements in case some lady-killer would try to make a move on her!"

"Twilight was only seventeen, who knew what could have happened to her?"

"Oh yes, someone might have taken advantage of her when she was practically glued to Princess Celestia because of how nervous she was!" Spitfire said with sarcasm. "And for that age argument of yours, I take as an example the Gala of the year after. Pinkie's first Gala. You let her wander around with no one to look after her. She was barely fourteen years old!"

"Well....Pinkie's sorta special! Beside, nothing happened to her in the end." Shining argued uneasily.

"Of course nothing happened, but only because Soarin' and I spotted the punks who almost took advantage of her before they could make a move on her."

"What?" Shining shouted with surprise. "Why wasn't I informed of that?"

"Fleetfoot came to tell you but you didn't pay attention." Spitfire humphed. "Apparently you were to busy observing from afar the man who was sitting next to your sister. The man who turned out to be Octavia's brother who was just chatting with her and Rarity."

"..Huh..I..." Shining stammered.

"Or, more recently, when she left with the others to Sweet Apple Acres last summer!" Spitfire said slowly.

"I didn't do anything!"

"Sure, asking Cloud Kicker for the Apples criminal and civil records for no reasons and without a signed order from one of the Princesses or a judge is hardly a thing." Spitfire retorted sarcastically.

Shining blinked before regaining his composure. "I'm just looking after my sister!"

"Yes, and that's admirable most of the time." Spitfire conceded slowly. "But that doesn't give you the right to do things like controlling if she's in her suite every night by asking the receptionist if he had seen her coming back, or breaking in her suite when she doesn't answer immediately when you knock, or walking several miles in the night to have a discussion with Cloud Kicker about a stupid anonymous letter that you'd have ignored if it'd been about anyone other than Twilight!"

"I ignore Cloud Kicker's antics most of the time, that's true!" Shining admitted. "But, I can't let her take advantage of Twily like she does with...."

"Just shut up, Shining Armor!" Spitfire snapped. "Do you even hear yourself? Cloud Kicker may fool around a lot, but she has never taken advantage of anyone! If something were to happen between her and Twilight, it would be Twilight's fault as much as Kicker's."

"Are you implying that something is happening?" Shining asked with narrowed eyes.

"And?" Spitfire retorted. "What if something is indeed happening, what are you going to do about it?"

"What?" Shining asked in confusion.

"If Cloud Kicker is having a thing with your sister, like that stupid letter suggested it, what would you do about it?" Spitfire asked again. "Fire Cloud Kicker? Attack her and send her to hospital? Ask your Princess of wife to banish her? Send her in jail for raping your sister, since you think Cloud Kicker's taking advantage of the ones she's sleeping with?" Spitfire suggested angrily.

Shining didn't answer, he didn't have a clue about what he'll do if this start of a rumor was well-founded. He couldn't really do all the things Spitfire suggested. Only maybe the suggestion along with the rape part, but he knew that Cloud Kicker would never do something like that.

The more he thought about it, the more he thought his idea of going to see Cloud Kicker didn't make any sense. If nothing happened, then he would have made the way to Sweet Apple Acres for nothing. If something did happen, Cloud Kicker would probably confess, then what would he do? Probably nothing. Since none of the things he could do would do any good or even made sense.

".....I think I'm going back to the hotel." Shining let out slowly after a while.

"That's probably better." Spitfire nodded bitterly.

"..Again, I'm sorry for what I said earlier." Shining added softly.

"Just go back to the hotel." Spitfire sighed slowly. "I simply need some time to vent. We'd be cool again by tomorrow morning."

"Ok." He whispered before clacking his fingers and disappearing a deep purple flash.

Spitfire rubbed her temples as she tried to calm down the anger caused by Shining's comment. After some breathing exercises, she pondered about what to do next. She didn't really want to go back to the party now, but she hadn't any place to go on her own. Then she realized what she could do. She took off and flew straight toward her destination. Toward Sweet Apple Acres.

Author's Notes:

there you go.

I hope I did good with the dialogue between Shining and Spitfire.
Anyway what do you think? a bit too serious? Shining's too much of an idiot?
What exactly happened between Spitfire and Cloud Kicker? (the answer would be given at some point in the story.)

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.
Stay tuned for what's next.

Mariacheat-Brony.