//------------------------------// // I Am A Walking Bundle of Coping Mechanisms // Story: Blossoming: Learning How To Fly // by nanashi_jones //------------------------------// The trip back up 400 North home left me quiet. This didn’t go unnoticed by Jess, who was driving. “Whatcha thinkin’ about?” she asked. “Dreams,” I said. “Oooo, your first pony dream. What was it like?” “I...” I watched trees sweep by and wondered how to explain it. Well, simplicity works. “I met Blossomforth.” Jess was quiet for a minute. “The pony you’ve turned into?” “Yeah. It... It wasn’t like any dream I’ve had before. It was very... Lucid. Very aware.” “So what’d she have to say?” I adjusted myself in my seat, tricky as my wings wanted more space and I was keeping them clamped tight on my sides. “That she was scared, that she may know more than she can remember, but she can’t right now.” “Creepy.” “Yeah. I put Nanashi in charge of showing her around.” “Then she’s in good company.” In addition to being my girlfriend, Jess was my most enthusiastic fan, despite my attempts to sweep my writing out of her sight. She kept up with my creative process and requested peeks constantly. She was quite well versed in Nanashi Jones, my long time alter ego and internal sounding board. I leaned against the window, watching the trees, the cars, the... “I need some air,” I said in realization, rolling down the window. “Mm?” Jess asked, her attention rightly on the road. I unbuckled my belt and levered myself up, feeling the wind in my mane. No wonder Phouka did this, it was fun. Too bad for the dog, I was going one better. Before Jess could comment or reach over, I leapt and flared my wings. The wind caught me instantaneously and I was flung upward from the hard updraft of vehicles. The ground dropped away in a blink and I soared high above the midday traffic, catching Jess swerving in her lane from the fright I gave her. Readjusting in the headwind, I dove down and matched speeds, so I was flapping alongside her window. Knocking on it, I gave her a second surprise. Her face somewhere between intense rage and giddy excitement, she rolled the window down. “You fucking lunatic!” she yelled. “You gave me a heart attack!” I grinned, feeling the wind from the other cars whipping through my feathers and mane and fur. “I’ll see you at home, okay?” I said over the roar of wind. “I just need to clear my head.” “Hang on!” I smoothly glided closer to her, hiding in the car’s wind cone. Even though the wind beyond that was impressive and brutal, I was a weather pegasus. I flew through storms. She fumbled at her waist for a bit and handed out her “utility belt,” a convention purchase she’d gotten a year ago at my urging that simplified her life and went with nearly every outfit she wore. It was blue with rivets and five pouches of variant sizes, really durable and could even be adjusted for overall size with extender bits that connected on the back. She’d pulled one half of the belt off and presented it with two pouches. I’d be able to close it over my small, pony frame with ease. “My cell phone’s in the first one, cash in the other,” she said over the blast of wind. “Call your number if you need anything.” I grinned and took the belt, sliding it over my body like a sash. “Love you!” I said. “Love you too!” she yelled through the gale. “And I am so jealous!” She rolled up her windows and gave me a little wave. I waved back, flared my wings again and hurdled up once more into the wild blue yonder. Flying wasn’t a totally new experience to me. Like most people, I’d taken a commercial plane, but I also had a closer perspective to pegasi than most. When my dad had a midlife crisis, he bought a lake house and a speedboat, but also an Ultralight, which was like a giant wing on top of a rig, attached to a lawn mower engine with a prop. The pilot sat in a hammock held to the frame by two hard core caribeaners and controlled the handful of flaps above by cables attached to a steering wheel. There was just enough room for a passenger hammock too. My dad had taken my brother and I up in the possible flying death trap one at a time. We’d been in a field in Middle-of-Nowhere, Georgia and it had been nearing five p.m, and we were young, so we were game. When I told my mom about it, I think she seriously considered calling her lawyer to rewrite the lines regarding visitation rights. I was pretty chill about the actual experience, to be honest. The height hadn’t bothered me in the slightest, nor was I blown by the “majesty” of the view (we were in Middle-of-Nowhere, Georgia, which was the same from above as from ground level, really). When I got up that high with the roar of the prop just behind me and only forest spreading out below, no window or cockpit to hold me in, I felt... Comfortable. At ease. Maybe that’s why I never thought a lot about pegasi, they were just doing something I thought was as natural as breathing. High above the highway, with Jess’s utilitarian fashion statement slung across my trunk, I did what I thought came naturally for Blossomforth: I flew. I fell into a relaxed dive. I saw how fast I could sprint through the air. I rolled over and trailed a hoof through a cloud. I had fun. Inside, I felt a thrill, like someone was standing up to do the wave, but when I noticed, the pony sat down. “No need to be shy,” I said aloud. “We’re all friends here.” The thrill hesitated, but came back fully and I grinned. I learned Blossomforth wasn’t a serious, athletic flier like Rainbow Dash. She was a recreational one. She liked to buzz around and play in the rain hundreds of feet up. She liked to see if she could hopscotch clouds. She was, basically, a weekend trailblazer who liked to hike at parks. My kind of pony. After twenty minutes of hard flying, I reached out a hoof and pulled a cloud close to lay on it. Man, what a rush! I hadn’t- Waitaminute. I rolled over and looked down at what my hooves were pressing against. Which was a cloud. Which should have been... I sighed and knocked on my head. I was a pegasus. I did cloud stuff for a living. Blinking, I realized I did do cloud stuff for a living. Inspired, I zipped to a better layer and grabbed some more natural fluff. I rarely got to work with raw material. Most of the clouds I worked with were straight in from Cloudsdale though Rainbow liked to hoof us a little Everfree from time to time- keep us on our toes. Cloud Kicker said that the clouds from Everfree were best because they had only just a hoofful of pony magic flowing through them and... Wait. How did I know all this? Hooves full of cloud that I was ramming together for a relaxing afternoon cumulus, I realized Blossomforth had surged forward at the presence of so much pegasus activity. I smiled, glad she’d taken such initiative. I felt an internal smile in return. I then realized she’d been worried I’d stay low to the ground. Blossomforth spent enough time there, working on odds and ends- cheaper to live in a ground house rather than put together a house that could support her tools. She lived for tinkering, her cutie mark was a pair of flowered gears after all, but when she wanted to relieve her stress, she took to the air. Where she was free. “I’d never deprive you of true flying,” I said. “Just ask. I’m pretty easygoing.” You really are, she thought. “Hey! There’s the girl!” A chuckle. Hi. “Wow. We are making headway here, aren’t we?” Nanashi helped. So did... The other... people? In here, I mean. You have a lot of spare imagination, you know that? “Beats sex, drugs and rock and roll,” I replied. She chuckled again, in earnest this time. Heh. Yeah. You’re not as much like Cloud Kicker as I thought. “Oh?” She always pushed me a bit, but you’re... Very patient. That’s more my speed. I sighed, memory coming up. “Almost undid me.” You mean your girlfriend? I nodded, falling back into the cloud. “She’s the one who sprung the question about us dating. Given my past of using myself as a party favor, I avoided romantic relationships like the plague.” I sighed again. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to bring down the mood.” No, no. It’s fine. I mean, Nanashi showed me what you’ve been through and- “What?” I said, sitting up. Blossomforth tightened, worry streaking her thoughts. I’m sorry, did I- Nanashi was just... I sighed. “It’s okay. She was just doing what I asked her to do,” I said. If a bit thoroughly, I thought privately. I didn’t mean to look at anything I wasn’t supposed to! I was just- “Blossom,” I said evenly. “Calm down. It’s okay. I’m not mad. You’re just... Going into areas that only a few people have been. One of whom I have to pay to talk about.” Yeesh, that was right. I needed to call my therapist. I probably shouldn’t go in when I couldn’t guarantee I was even myself at the time. Leaning forward, I hugged my hindlegs to my chest, flaring my wings out. “You know what? Let’s move on,” I said. “I’m kind of hungry.” Me too. “We share a stomach,” I said with a chuckle. Well, yeah, but I don’t have to be hungry like you. “Point,” I replied. I looked around. I’d kept the highway as my center point so I wouldn’t get too far from where I knew I lived and after a brief fly over the area, I oriented on the grocery stores and fast food near my apartment complex. Spiraling in a lazy circle down, I waved at a little girl with her hair done in twin afro-puffs. Her face broke into a seriously excited grin and she waved back furiously. Chuckling, I landed in the Publix parking lot. I wasn’t feeling Wendy’s or any other of my usual quick foods. The smell coming from the next door McDonald’s was also... Off-putting, so I opted for what I figured was pony-friendly fare. Wandering into the grocery store, I realized I was breaking the rule I’d set for revealing myself in public. Not only did I stick out, but everyone may not be receptive to me. Danger could be around any corner from a request that I leave, since I was a furry critter after all, to possibly one of those PAPA guys getting violent. My worry infected Blossomforth, who I was relieved to find felt my paranoia was well-founded. Our stomach beat out our mutual fear though with a growl that ran from low to high. Blushing, I rose to person eye-level and flew lazily over to the produce section, intent on acting as casually as I could. I got a small bag of apples, a small bag of salad mix and an orange smoothie. Very veggie-friendly my tastes all of a sudden. I hated salad mix. At least, I used to. You put it in bags?! This is amazing! Blossomforth thought, momentarily distracted. I smiled and floated to the self checkout lanes. The whole time, I’d been vaguely aware of eyes on or noticing me, but I wasn’t feeling anything hateful, just curiosity. In the face of this kind of scrutiny, I opted for the “celebrity” approach: go about your business unless approached. I idly wished I was wearing my worn, grey driver’s cap or my wrist cuff or even just my necklace: a yin-yang pendant dangling from a cheap chain- I’d had it for years. Maybe it’d make me feel more at ease when out and about. Fortunately, no one did approach me. I was just a background character at best after all, though I did get a thumbs up from a guy in a Rainbow Dash t-shirt two lines over. I smiled and nodded back at him. I don’t know how Rainbow does it, Blossomforth commented. She’s made for fame, I replied. The self-checkout didn’t like how I handled the apples and summoned the checkout lady who was monitoring the stands. She was pleasant, even if she did stutter at first when she asked what I needed. “Apparently, I can’t apples,” I said with a grin and self-deprecating laugh. She responded with a less-nervous smile and after a few taps from her little handheld device, the machine accepted my apples. I stuck the bills in the machine and asked for assistance with getting the coin portion of my change. As she dropped the coins into Jess’s money pouch, she kept glancing at me. When done, she blurted, “You’re real?” I laughed, defusing the tension. Again. “Yup. I wished really hard,” I said with wink. She laughed and wished me a nice day. I did as well and, heart hammering, flew out with my things. How were you so calm? I thought I was going to have a heart attack from everyone just... Looking. Most of them weren’t, I thought at her. The ones that were, were just glancing and anyone who looked longer than a few seconds had more going on with them than with us. If anyone was going to do anything... They’d have stuck out. Blossom was quiet as I took off from the parking lot. You’re pretty relaxed about this. She sounded thoughtful. I’ve been in therapy for two years. Some days I feel more like a bag of walking coping mechanisms than a person. Feel free to go through the memories. I took an apple from the little bag and ate as I flew and- Wow. Oh wow. Apples never tasted like that before. Holy cow! No wonder Applejack was able to support herself on an orchard. Those Pop-Tarts this morning barely compared. This was like eating four cookie cakes at once! And I love me some cookie cake! I wolfed down the first and went right on to the second as I winged my way over the treetops to my apartment complex. Landing in the “nature” area next to our apartment, I swigged from the orange smoothie which was about the same flavor wise, though I didn’t get the same level of tartness as before. Walking over to our apartment door, I was glad we’d gone with terrace level. It gave me a little landing strip followed by a simple right turn to our door rather than needing to navigate stairs. Testing the handle with a wrapped fetlock, I was delighted to find Jess hadn’t locked up while I was still out. I didn’t want to deal with keys just yet. Inside, Phouka came running to greet me and I smiled at her, nuzzling along the sides of her face and jumping around a bit to share in her excitement that OTHER MOMMY WAS HOME!! She responded with a few quick yips and made to the bedroom, then a little back to me, then back to the bedroom, her message clear. Amused at her new activity- she hadn’t done this before- I closed the door with my hind leg. I was getting pretty good at being a pony pegasus, considering I’d only been at this a day. Phouka made some more noise and I followed her into the master bedroom. From my lowered angle, I could see a lump under the sheets and figured Jess was getting in her critical between show nap. The puppet center had turned into a boon of steady work, but also yanked my girlfriend out of her near-entire-life routine of sleeping till 2:00 pm before going off to matinee and evening performances. Now, she sometimes contended with morning, afternoon and evening shows, all on the same day. She needed any sleep she could get. Ensuring I wouldn’t wake her, I flew up to just peek and smile when as I crested the lump in the covers, I nearly dropped from my hover. Course correcting, I merely dipped and flew back up and carefully, quietly pulled back the cover to reveal... Oh... Boy, Blossomforth thought in a whisper. She’d found my Quantum Leap memories, I guess. “You said it,” I muttered. Laying on the bed, her mouth slightly open with Jess’s adorable little sleep smile was none other than the other background pegasus herself, Cloud Kicker.