Chapter 10
Up in the sky, high above Equestria, little Aldy and his best friend Silas were racing home from flight school. Silas took the lead as usual, but Aldy had actually payed attention in class that day and had learned something new. "Hey Silas! Whats that behind you?!" Aldy yelled to his orange friend, Silas turned his head sharply, "Woah what?!" While he was distracted Aldy sped far ahead. Aldy was paying attention to the jocks, not the teacher, he learned all about using distractions to win a race.
Silas came to his senses and realized Aldy was messing with him. He flew upward and shot down over his best friend, Aldy looked up to see an orange flash drop down in front of him. "You are so full of shit Aldy!" Silas yelled to the yellow Pegasus. The two friends laughed together as they neared both of their houses, suddenly a rainbow flash blew between them. The two colts were spun around, Silas noticed the flash zoom to his house, then Aldys and come back. Aldy and Silas wobbled, then came to their senses to notice Rainbow Dash hovering in front of them. "Ha, beat you both to your houses!" Silas and Aldy glared at the cocky pegasus.
They were all interrupted by a serious Bass-drop, Silas opened his eyes in a flash and jumped out of bed. "WHAT THE FUU-," then he noticed Vinyl Scratch at the foot of the bed with a large speaker blaring dubstep. She had a smirk on her face then shut off the music. "You guys said you didn't have an alarm." She laughed, Silas got up from the floor to notice Octavia crawling out from under the bed sheets. "Vinyl.....for the love of Celestia..."
Silas poured himself a coffee, "I haven't got up this early since boot camp..." He said, Vinyl looked at him strangely and was about to say something but Tavi cut her off. "So Silas, when are you and Fluttershy setting out to Cloudsdale?" Silas sipped his coffee and yawned, "Hmm...dunno, she told me to swing by sometime in the morning. Then we gotta pick up Rainbow Dash." Octavia had an uneasy look on her face, "Silas, please return safe. Don't fly through anything you can't handle." Silas grinned at her, "Don't worry, I'll return as soon as I can, and I won't do anything reckless, you have my word." Silas put his empty coffee cup on the kitchen counter then started out the door.
It was early morning, the sun had just come out. "Ugh military mornings all over again." Silas mumbled to himself. He hated getting up early, he never set an alarm, and rarely made plans in the morning. But this trip was special, last time Silas visited Cloudsdale was when he lived in his old apartment in Filly. He was due to visit his parents, he didn't want them to be worried. Silas trotted towards the edge of Ponyville and up the road to Fluttershy's house. "Man, this place sure does look peaceful." He said to himself, clearly speaking the truth.
Silas knocked on the door, waiting patiently he whistled the melody to Lady, by the Styx. Fluttershy opened the door, she looked wide awake and ready to go. "Good morning Fluttershy.." Silas mumbled, trying to stay awake, "Oh good morning Silas. It truly is a good morning." She replied in her adorable shy voice. Silas was amazed of how good she looked, being how early it was, nopony was that well groomed in the morning. "You ready to set out?" Silas asked the shy Pegasus, she smiled at him, "Oh yes, lets get on our way." She said anxiously.
Fluttershy gracefully spread her wings, Silas lazily spread his and the two were off into the sky. "I haven't flown this slow in a long time...." Silas started, Fluttershy cut him off, "Oh, would you like me to speed up?" Silas shook his head and smiled, "No, no, I finally have time to appreciate the view flying this slow, its beautiful." Fluttershy nodded her head as they flew towards Rainbow's cloud house.
To their surprise Rainbow was sitting on her front steps. As soon as she saw the other two pegasi comming she flew up to them. "Finally, I've been waiting forever!" She said in an irritated voice. Silas was even more shocked, Fluttershy apologized, "We're sorry Rainbow, but it is rather early to rush. We do have the whole day ahead of us." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, "Well, I guess so. Come on lets go." With that said the three pegasi were off.
How was Rainbow wide awake this early? Am I missing something? What about Fluttershy? Wow I really need to be more prepared lately. Silas thought to himself, he usually got up round seven, and he got outta bed round nine. He didn't worry bout nothin' no, cause worryin' was a waste of his time. The trio were approaching Cloudsdale, it took less time than Silas thought, then again they did have to speed up because of Rainbow's impatience.
The sun had fully risen by the time they arrived. Silas still was a little drowsy but he was waking up finally. "Here we are. The greatest city in Equestria!" Rainbow stated. The trio flew over many cloudhouses and buildings. Many other pegasi were up already and construction was going on on a nearby cloud. Silas had missed the great city. "Home sweet home." He said.
"Where is your old house Silas?" Fluttershy asked, Silas looked around as they passed the Cloudosseum, "Um, right there!" He pointed his hoof in the direction of many cloudhouses. Silas swooped down towards a medium sized house, Fluttershy and Rainbow followed closely. Silas landed on the cloud and trotted up to the door. To his surprise, his parents had put in an actual door. He knocked three times and waited, he couldn't wait to see his parents once again.
The door opened slowly, a light pink mare with a brunette mane and green eyes stood in the doorway. "Hello Ma." Silas said, she looked down at him and beamed. He ran up and hugged her. "Oh my, Silas! Its so good to have to come home! You haven't visited in months we thought something had happpened!" She noticed Fluttershy and Rainbow standing in front of the house. "Oh, please, all of you come in." The pink pony said.
Silas had missed the old house, pictures of him and his brother were still all over the walls. Along with pictures of family friends. Silas' mom spoke, "Hello, I'm Silas' mother, Lia Sophia. Feel free to call me Sophie." Fluttershy and Rainbow both spoke in unison, "Hello Mrs.Sophia." Silas had gone up to his old room while his mom was making small talk with them.
His bed was still messed up from the last time he slept in it. Which was five years ago, he couldn't believe it, almost everything was exactly how he left it. Silas looked at his first guitar in the corner, it had collected so much dust. Posters of his favorite bands were still on the walls, his old record player was still there, half of his record collection was on the shelf. He only took with him his favorite albums or the ones with most memories. Silas looked at an old picture, it was one of him, Aldy, Sunburst, Rain Drops, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rainbowshine, and a stallion Silas remembered as Doug Wilson. Besides Aldy, Doug was his only other close friend. He was killed in action on July 16th four and a half years ago.
Silas picked up his old guitar, and tuned it. The strings were a little corroded but that didn't stop him. He plugged it into the old amp and strummed. "Sounds just like it should." He said to himself. Silas started playing an old favorite.
He was halfway through and heard hoofsteps coming up the stairs. Silas' dad, Pepp Ridge was standing in the doorway along with Sophie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow. They didn't say a word, they just listened and smiled as Silas played. Silas hadn't had an audience for quite some time, he thought he'd be rusty, but he played just as good as he did three months ago at Stride's Pub.
Silas finished and took a bow. Everypony stomped their hooves, Silas looked up and smiled. "Man, that sounded great, you have improved." Pepp Ridge said, Silas' Dad didn't know much about music, but he sure knew when to compliment and when to criticize. "Ohmygosh you need to play my theme music again like you used to! That was awesome!" Rainbow said, she knew how to give a compliment. Sophie just smiled at Silas, he knew she was impressed. Fluttershy spoke last, in her usual quiet voice, "Oh Silas, that was simply wonderful." She said, Silas liked her comment most of all.
He put the guitar back, Silas didn't like to show off much. But when he did, he did. The group went back downstairs and everypony sat in the living room. "So, what happened, why so mysterious? We haven't seen you in months." Pepp Ridge said, Silas got ready to explain the whole story. His mom spoke next, "Yes, it has been a while, your last visit was five months ago." Silas stood up, "Okay listen up, heres the story. Rainbow and Fluttershy can help tell it as well. I'll start."
Silas cleared his throat, "Okay, we had a gig over in Manehattan about a week and a half after my last visit. I was staying at Jake's place cause I got kicked out by my landlord. It was a stormy night and I was late, so I flew right through it. On my way there my right wing was struck by lightning, I blacked out and broke the other on impact." Fluttershy interrupted, "Thats when I found him with my friend Applejack, he was unconscious so we carried him all the way to Ponyville hospital." Silas continued, "I was only in the hospital for a day and a half, I just had to stay off my wings for a few weeks."
Silas' parents had faces of shock and he continued his story. "I met everypony in town in the following days of checking out of the hospital. I also met a special mare, and we've been together ever since the day we met at my welcoming party. I've been living with her and her friend ever since." Rainbow finished the story, "So we decided to visit Cloudsdale with him when his wings got better." Silas nodded, then he looked back at his parents. They had calmed down, his mom spoke, "Well, the good news is you're alright, I'm glad you've finally found a special somepony in your life Silas." She winked at him, Silas grinned.
Their visit was only a visit, and it was already late afternoon. "Goodbye son, we hope to see you again soon, try to dodge the lightning next time." Pepp Ridge said, Silas said his goodbyes and him, Fluttershy, and Rainbow set course to return to Ponyville. On the way back they ran into Aldy, who was flying all by himself on the outskirts of town. "Hey Aldy! Whats good?" Silas said to him, Aldy looked at him with sad eyes. "Nothings good..." He said and hung his head low. "Tell me whats up man.." Silas said to his depressed looking friend.
Aldy was never sad, he was always trying to make other ponies laugh and have fun. This wasn't like him. "Landlord kicked me out today, I have till tonight to get my stuff and move out. I'm homeless." Aldy said sadly, Fluttershy spoke up, "O-oh my, that's terrible. You could stay with me for a couple nights, u-um unless you don't want to." Aldy looked up with wide eyes at Fluttershy, then he hugged her. "Come on man, lets go get your stuff." Silas said. Rainbow flew off to his aparment and the rest of the group followed.
By the time the group got back to Ponyville, it was pretty late. Almost everypony was asleep by now, Aldy sold most of his stuff so there wasn't much that needed transporting. Rainbow was carrying a box with his duct tape in it, Silas was carrying his sleeping bag and pillow, and Fluttershy helped him carry a box of his prized possessions. They all helped him unpack at Fluttershy's cottage, she had an extra bedroom that Aldy could use. After everything was unpacked Silas and Rainbow left.
Silas said goodbye to his friends and trotted back to Octavia's. The streets were clear, Silas saw Rainbow flying back to her cloudhouse. Where is Aldy going to live? Silas thought, He can't stay at Fluttershy's forever. Silas passed Twilight's, of course the lights were on, shes always up doing some sort of studying. He opened the door to Octavia's slowly, not wanting to wake anypony up. He quietly slipped upstairs and into his room. He opened the door, Octavia was there sitting in bed reading with the lights on. "I didn't want to go to sleep until you came home." She said, Silas smiled and climbed into bed next to her. He shut off the lights, and snuggled with Tavi. "I love you Tavi, Goodnight." He said, she kissed him on the cheek, "Goodnight Silas, I love you too." Then the couple drifted off into dream land.