Canterlot, Equestria, and Anything

by Dusk Strider

Nice Night to Crash, Ch. 1, Pt. 2

After a few hours of flight, Dusk and Cloud decided to take a small break at a conveniently positioned pond in the forest. Said conveniently positioned pond is a unique pond, as it is not a product of nature. It was there because somepony thought it would be a good idea to have a rest area an hour or two away from Canterlot just in case a pony was lost, tired, or were part of a terrible accident. He was criticized heavily for this idea, and since it was an unregistered dig site with water being diverted from the river under the jurisdiction of the ‘Royal Canterlot Aqua Control and Flow Systems’, he was later cast out of Canterlot and never heard of since. The only reason the conveniently positioned pond was left untouched was because it, ironically, was convenient. Stories have been told of how it helped a shamed show pony from thirst when they lost their way after a bad performance in Ponyville, and how a group of bandits were caught off guard and arrested while singing and dancing when taking a break from robbing rich ponies of their possessions. Now it rises to its pony given duty once again, relieving Dusk and Cloud from their journey of having to report a disaster that they were, unfortunately, a part of.

“We’ll just take a ten minute break, I don’t think were too far from Canterlot now anyhow, and the sun is barely at its peak,” Dusk said to her flight-mate while laying her belongings on the ground near the water where she thought would be a good place to be seated.

“I can use a break after flying so far and for so long. Would you like anything to eat while we rest?” asked Cloud who was now searching through her bag for the food she packed. With the brown bag marked ‘food’ in her mouth, she walked towards Dusk and gently put the food down between them and sat down.

Now facing Cloud, “That sounds like a good idea; I don’t think we’ve eaten since the dinner before the incident. What did you manage to pack?” asked Dusk, licking her lips.

Cloud searched through the contents of the brown bag, “I have a few apples and box-packaged cookies from the emergency kits. Didn’t you manage to pack any snacks before we left?” asked Cloud with a curious face aimed at Dusk.

“I actually didn’t think we would be so far,” said Dusk as she gave a sheepish smile.

“Well that’s ok, would you like an apple or the cookies?” with an apple in one hoof and a box of cookies in the other, Cloud offered towards Dusk.

“Just an apple please, I’m sure that will last me until we get to Canterlot,” taking the apple, Dusk took a bite with a smile.

Grabbing another apple and putting the box of cookies back, Cloud took a loud bite of the apparently crisp and juicy fruit. After a few more bites she let out a burp, her eyes wide from shock, she placed her hoof over her mouth, “Excuse me!”

Dusk just giggled towards her friend, “It’s alright, and it’s just us,” Her giggle now tuning down into a smile now that she finished her apple; she then turned to her bag.

“I was wondering…if you weren’t carrying food, what is in your bag?” asked Cloud now looking at the bag as well.

Dusk now turning to face her friend, “Would you like to see?”

Looking back to Dusk with curiosity in Cloud’s eyes, “I think I would. I don’t know, is it safe?”

Taken aback by the question, “It’s just a bag and don’t worry, I didn’t trap it or anything,” Dusk said as she gave Cloud an innocent smile.

“Well…okay,” Cloud answered, who was now returning a smile back.

Dusk gripped her saddle bag in her mouth and turned to put it down in front of Cloud, who had a mixed feeling of curiosity and fear. As Cloud began to open the bag, her eyes filled with wonderment and surprise as she never thought she would ever see the contents of the bag in such a vulnerable position, a position that she thought she’d only ever had if she took the advantage given to her the night before.

“How did you ever get these?” Cloud asked as she felt the glass container of a liquid that can best described as a mugging; expensive and bad for the head. The taste though, can best be described as if your tongue were swimming in a pool of freshly pressed apple juice filled with cinnamon flotation devices and all of a sudden sucked into a lemon whirlpool.

Watching as her friend was beaming with delight at the package in her bag, “I managed to ‘confiscate’ it from a few of the rescue ponies and guests. I kind of figured it would be difficult for a few gentle colts to finish all the drinks in the bar area without having some ponies take a few along for the journey,” Dusk confessed.

Cloud gave Dusk a look of embarrassment before asking, “Would you mind if I were to be able to…I don’t know…I mean, you don’t have to…but…may I have a bottle to enjoy when we get back home?” Dusk responded to Cloud by giving her a puzzled look, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked--”

Dusk quickly interrupted, “Cloie, I got these for you, there’s no need for you to be shy or embarrassed when it comes to me, of course you can have one, two or three even if you’d like. I actually meant to keep them a surprise till we got to Canterlot and finished our business there. Try and keep them hidden till we get to the house though, even if we saved these bottles from a doomed ship, I don’t think they would let us keep them without sharing a few.” Dusk finished by giving Cloud a sly wink.

Cloud gave Dusk a hug before taking two bottles from the saddle bag and putting them into her own. “Thank you so much, you have no idea how long I’ve waited to taste this again. I think I’ll have an easier time sleeping again now with these to sip while I read at night.”

“What do you mean by an ‘easier time’ sleeping? I thought you had an easier time sleeping than me without having a bright light in your face,” Dusk said, giving a light giggle.

Cloud now staring at the pond, “Well, whenever you’re still on duty or with Princess Luna, and I have the house to myself, I just decide to read and sip some cider on my bed until you got back home; I always found it easier to sleep when you’re around. The usual pony I bought my cider from moved to Manehattan a month ago, so it’s been difficult to find anypony that sold it for the same price; even in Canterlot. I’ve been meaning to ask Applejack, but she’s been so busy lately, I didn’t want to bother.” Cloud said, rubbing her arm uneasily.

Dusk now feeling a bit ashamed from realizing how much time she lost with her friend, “I know we don’t get much time together like we used to, but I do try and get home before you leave for your shift to spend dinner…err…breakfast with you. We’ll always have our day-offs together at least.”

“I know, and I’m not upset or anything. You’re my closest friend I’ve ever had; I just thought you should know.”

Dusk now sat closer to her friend, who was staring at the shimmering water of the pond, “How about we stretch our brake; we did fly for a couple of hours and I am still a bit tired.”

Cloud shifted her eyes away from the water and raised her eyebrow towards Dusk, “but won’t we be behind schedule? I don’t think Captain Bullhorn would like being stuck in the middle of nowhere with very posh ponies for long. It’s not really his type of ponies he likes being around.”

“It’ll be fine, knowing him; you should feel sorrier for the Canterlot Elite. Now---” Pulling a bottle from her saddle bag and facing Cloud, “would you care to join me in a drink?”

Giving Dusk a smile that challenged the sun in who would be allowed the rights to shimmer on the pond, “I would love to, but we don’t have any cups or glasses.”

With a short moment of contemplation, Dusk decided to pull her water canteen out of her saddle bag and emptied it, “Let me have you’re canteen, please,” Cloud quickly grabbed her canteen from her respective bag and handed it to Dusk, who emptied it as well. Dusk then uncorked the bottle and poured its contents into both canteens, “I know it isn’t exactly the most ideal way to drink this, but it’s the best I can do under the current circumstances, hope you don’t mind,” Dusk said before giving Cloud back her canteen with a smile.

“I don’t mind at all,” said Cloud as she let herself lay on her stomach from her long sit, “Cheers,” she finished as she raised her canteen.

Dusk lying next to Cloud and raising her canteen, “Cheers,” and both took a swig from their canteens. “Just a small rest, and then we’ll head to Canterlot again,” now feeling a soft nuzzle on her neck from her sleepy friend; Dusk smiled and rested her head on the ground allowing Cloud to have a comfortable cushion to lay her head upon.

As both lay asleep in the midday chill weather, the sound of an explosion sounded off from the distance in the same direction as Canterlot. The booming sound wasn’t enough to wake up the peaceful ponies that lay near the unintentionally historic landmark but it did cause quite a few of the wildlife to dash past them as they ran away from the epicenter. Another curious event of note was that after the explosion, a few black dots with damaged mosquito-like wings, rocketed overhead towards the desert and beyond.

Few have speculated; at least the few who weren’t in Canterlot to see what had actually happened or had no real interest in current events; that the mosquito-winged black dots were an ancient evil that tried to take over Canterlot and its subjects. Others though, thought they were just ‘U.B.Os’ that came from outer space to wreak havoc upon all of Equestria but were turned away at the last moment because there was a slight miscalculation to the coordinates on the ‘Universal Map-O-Matron’ on board. A few days after the statements were taken from those ponies, reports of black suited and shades wearing ponies began to appear about how they escorted any pony that mentioned ‘U.B.O’s’ to a secret unknown facility on a far off island only to return to deny anything said before and go on with their daily lives as if nothing happened.

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With the rush of wind through her mane, Cloud slowly opened her eyes to an empty white void, “Whe…where am I?” she asked as she stood up, looking around her environment. The only views to be seen had been the light fog surrounding the peach coat, blue and orchid colored mane Pegasus in all directions; again she spoke, “is anyone there? I think I’m lost, I was at a pond with my…” before she could finish, a quick movement through the veil caught her eye. She took a few steps forward to get a better look, but after a few more steps, she fell through a hole that escaped her view. As she screamed for help while falling into an infinite abyss of clouds and sky with no ground in sight, she quickly remembered that she could fly, but as she tried to use her feathered appendages, she couldn’t help but feel as if something were amiss. When she looked to her back, she realized what it had been; her wings. With another cry for assistance to anypony she was hoping was out there with her, something managed to materialize near her. When she noticed the odd item, she was at first confused of why it was with her in the first place, but after throwing a few thoughts around, she finally decided to just hold it close and hope it would help, in some way, to impede the tear inducing descent. The item, on the other hand, had little care to what was currently happening. The only thought it had at the moment was, “At least I’m not going down alone this time.”

After what felt like hours of falling, Cloud decided to talk to the object instead of use it to break her fall with, whenever the ground decided to stop playing hide-and-seek. While talking about her days in Cloudsdale and moments with friends, the object was now realizing that out of all the times it’s been through this, this had to be one of the most torturous. The item was now awaiting the crash that would finally end it all…or at least end this moment and start a new one somewhere else, but hopefully with a body this time and not from a life-taking fall.

When Cloud ran out of things to discuss and argue about, she decided to lay her new friend on her stomach. When she turned her head to see if anything was new below, her eyes caught a fresh view that turned her fully downward, and leaving the item to fend for itself. Instead of the vast light-blue with white blotches she had been accustomed to; it had been a small green dot. The now growing spot that once was lighter than what it was turning into was enough to give Cloud a second wind for exercising her vocals. Cloud screamed as loud as she could before closing her eyes and begin awaiting her fate, but after hearing a crash and feeling as if she should have reached the end of her free fall already, a sense of floating surrounded her.

She opened her eyes to find that she was on top of a purple flying carpet with both a midnight and royal blue border and a shield with a crescent moon design in the middle, “Wait…,” she said as she wiped her tears and rubbed her eyes. When she opened them again to get a better look of the soft cushion that saved her life, it was actually somepony she had spent the past few hours talking about. When she realized who it was, she couldn’t hold back her joy any longer and threw her hooves around her savior’s neck. She held Dusk so close that you would need three of guards’ ponies to pry her off, “Where were you, I thought you had left me at the pond?”

“I would never leave you my love…” Dusk said as she kept flying through the grass lands that were covered in different types of flora.

Loosening her grip and with a burning hot blush encompassing both sides of her face, Cloud asked with a shaking voice in a great shock, “WH…WHAT!?!?”

Not fazed by the volume or tone of voice, Dusk continued nonchalantly, “I would also never let any harm come to you,” Cloud braced herself, “my love.”

“Oh,” said Cloud with a tone only a pony as flummoxed as her can pull off; a tone of excitement, embarrassment, and nervousness, “That’s what I thought you said.

With that, Cloud fell off of Dusk to join her new friend that she left behind, on its own. As she fell, her vision began becoming blurred and hazy; a few moments later, she completely blacked out. She now became a descending peach blur, glowing with joy on her face.

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“Ugh, my head,” muttered Dusk as she slowly raised her head to the sunset light before pausing to see where Cloud was.

When she caught sight of Cloud, now laying her head on her own hooves, she continued raising herself up to look for their bags. She packed Cloud’s canteen and food bag quietly into her saddle bag; Dusk then emptied the last of the cider in her canteen into the opened bottle, that she corked up before putting back into her saddle bag, and refilled it with the water from the clear pond. She took a small drink before having her canteen join the rest of her possessions in the saddle bag.

With everything packed, she set her eyes on Cloud who was still adrift in her dream world, “she’s too peaceful” she thought as she smiled. Dusk picked up both her and Cloud’s bags and placed them on her back, making sure that she didn’t obstruct her wings; she then scooped up Cloud with one of her wings and slowly slid her upon her own back, using the bags as a leveled platform to keep Cloud from falling. Before taking off, she accustomed herself to the extra weight, which wasn’t as much as she thought it would be.

As she was making sure everything was ready and nothing left behind, an explosion sounded off into the distance and was followed by a wave of different colors; she pondered about it for a moment but quickly set her mind back on the task at hoof. With everything in check, she shook her head of any lingering haziness, stretched her wings out to release any last kinks, trotted forward and took off. It wouldn’t be long before the bright lights of Canterlot were in sight, where a warm bed and hot food would be awaiting them.

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As Dusk flew over past some of the buildings in Canterlot, she noticed something different in the scenery that she memorized as being less…demolished. After taking in a few of the sights that were left, she decided to check into the Royal Port near Canterlot Castle.

The Royal Port had three sections meant for different forms of business. The first section was meant for guards and supply shipments meant for the castle and its staff; the second section was meant for diplomatic officials on business with the castle; and the final station was meant for The Royal Princess Sisters, if they required an air-ship and accompaniment of guards and/or special guests for a long trip out of Equestria.

“You are flying into a restricted area, please state your business before beginning your descent,” yelled a white stallion flashing his horn at the new arrivals from one of the watch towers overlooking the docking area for guards.

“Search Light, it’s me, stop shining that in my eyes,” Dusk shouted as she tried blocking her view of the offending light with her hoof.

“Dusk Strider, is that you?” Search Light said as he dimmed his beam.

Dusk, after rubbing her eyes and now lowering her hoof, “Yes, I have precious cargo and a report for the Royal Aviation Clu…, “Dusk quickly cut herself off, remembering the ‘official’ name Captain Bullhorn reluctantly used. She began again with a more weary tone, “Committee, the Royal Aviation…,” she took a moment to emphasize the last word, “Committee.”

“Alright, take station one landing pad four, and I’ll send some ponies to assist you. Sorry for the inconvenience.” finished Search Light as he cast a spell to guide Dusk to her destination.

“Thanks Search Light, I may have a present for you yet,” Dusk said as she passed by the watch tower following the shimmering light.

Search Light returned to his duty to keep his eye on the sky, now with a smile on his face at the thought that somepony actually remembered his birthday, even after all that’s transpired that day.

Dusk Strider landed at her designated landing zone as softly as she could. Two ponies in armor trotted towards her to offer their assistance with the ‘package’ they had heard about.

“We heard you needed some help with some precious cargo, Dusk,” said the dark mare before she unfurled her bat like wings.

“Do you need us to take it anywhere specific?” asked the light green stallion, readying his horn.

“Hey Vesper, hey Calyx; It’s Cloud and our bags; can you please take her and our stuff back to our house in Ponyville? We just came back from a crash on an air-ship on its way to Trottingham,” said Dusk as she turned about to show the sleeping hitchhiker and their bags.

“Aww, look at the little foal; is she alright? It must have been a long trip,” said Vesper as she took Cloud onto her back with her wings.

“The trip was short, but the journey back was lengthy and she’s alright, just tired.” Dusk said as she turned to her back to take off the saddle bags.

“Well, at least your back, let me get those for you,” the stallion offered as he willed the bags off Dusk’s back with his magic and put it on his own.

“We’ll get Cloud and your stuff back to your house, don’t worry. Luna may want to talk to you when you’re done with the committee, a lot has happened while you were away,” finished Vesper as she motioned to her partner to follow with cargo in toll, and both walked off.

“Wonder what she meant by that,” Dusk thought as she began making her way through the ruined streets to the Royal Aviation Committee’s Conference Hall. She decided to walk this time to rest her wings and backside from the journey, and it would give her time to think up of excuses to any of the many questions she will be bombarded with.

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Two clunky ponies started to approach a two story house near the town’s library. One pony had what looked like a delicate colored sack on their back and the other had two bags, one light and one dark.

The pony with the delicate sack tried the doors knob, but to no avail, “Calyx, check their bags for a key; it’s not budging,” she said as she turned to her partner.

“I’m not sure Vesper; I’d feel more comfortable just using my magic to rattle the lock instead,” Calyx said as he gave Vesper a fretted look.

“Well, whatever it takes to open the door, Cloud’s heavier than she looks; Dusk made this look too easy.” Vesper took a step back to let Calyx have a closer look.

“Ok, just give me a moment,” Cloud then started focusing his horn towards the door engulfed in a turquoise glow; with a few rough grunts, the door slowly opened.

“Nice,” Vesper condescendingly said as she started to walk into the house. When both guards made their way in, they took in the view.

On their right had been a well-furnished living room; with a couch next to the window with a sight of the front yard; bookcase in the corner on the right of the couch; coat hanger near the door; desk on the opposite side of the couch; table directly in front of the couch; a planter in the opposite corner of the bookcase; and a few pictures of the princess sisters, self-portraits, and friends on the wall above the desk. The living room served as the recreation area whenever there were guests or the current residents were asked to foal-sit for ponies around town. It also served as a reading area whenever Dusk and Cloud spent their day-offs together and weren’t able to leave the house.

On their left had been the kitchen with a refrigerator, dining table, and counter-tops. The table had six chairs total; two on two sides and one on the remaining sides. On top of the table was a vase with flowers from Cloud’s cousin, Fluttershy, who brought the flowers from her personal garden every other time she has visited. The counters were topped with appliances and utensils neatly organized against the wall. There was enough room in the kitchen to maneuver around the table to be able to cook and get to all cabinets, drawers and appliances without having to trip over any other ponies sharing the room. There was also enough room on the counters to be able to unnecessarily prepare three meals without feeling cramped or overwhelmed.

Straight ahead was the staircase that led to the bedrooms. The bedrooms flanked the left and right of the hallway, straight ahead was a window with curtains and a view to the backyard. They had their own bathrooms to help prevent one pony from waiting for the other. Both bedrooms were personalized by the ponies opposite of whom it belonged to. The reason for this was because the roommates wanted to see how much they knew about each other’s likes and dislikes. Dusk did fairly well by making Cloud’s room easy to breathe in and spacious, and walled it with a much dampened beige color scheme to help Clouds very easy to irritate eyes. Cloud did very well by making Dusk’s room easy to sleep in during the day by setting very thick but fashionable curtains on the windows and placing cloud-soft pillows with matching blankets on the bed.

“Maybe we should start living together,” Vesper jokingly proposed as she walked up the stairs, “I’ll get her into her bed and leave a note, you can leave the bags near the door on the side,” she finished as she walked into the room with ‘Cloud’ marked onto the door.

“Alright, I’ll wait outside,” said Calyx as he walked back outside after leaving the bags where he was told to.

Back in the room where Vesper was now laying Cloud into, she wrote a note with the paper and pencil she found on the drawer at the opposite side of the room, “There,” Vesper said after placing the note on the cloud shaped top of the lamp near the bed, “sweet dreams, Cloie.” She now left the room and out of the house after locking and closing the door to join her partner who was now staring off into the night, “well that was nice,” she said with a sincere voice, “lets head back and see if there’s anything else the sergeant needs before heading to the barracks,” now making her way to the train station.

Calyx, snapping out of his daze, soon followed, “Alright…Vesper?” he asked hesitantly.

“Yes?” Vesper answered while keeping her view ahead of her.

“Were you just joking before…about us living together?”

Vesper, letting out a small chuckle, “We’ll see, Calyx, We’ll see.” She finished as she kept making her way to her destination with a smile on her face.

With Calyx out of Vesper’s line of sight, he joined his companion in a smile.

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