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Stratus

It was a cold morning.

Nearing the end of Autumn, as Celestia moved the orbit of the sun just slightly to allow the changing seasons to take place, Ponyville got very cold indeed. Frost began to seep in overnight, and although the sun of the morning scorched that frost away, it tended to leave behind something else.

Fog.

For unicorns and earth ponies, fog was nothing unusual. It was just a cloud in the wrong place. Some of the younger fillies and colts would play hide-and-seek in the mists, keeping themselves warm in the cold air by running about. Older ponies appreciated the beauty the fog brought to the town, especially as it began to clear and details, so often overlooked, were slowly revealed to waiting eyes.

However, there was a small sub-section of the Ponyville population that didn't appreciate the fog at all. It tended to give them trouble.

On this particular cold morning, the sun was just cresting the morning horizon when a demure yellow pegasus was awoken by the crowing of a rooster. She stretched, smiling as she blinked in the light that streamed through the drawn curtains. Gently, she pushed them back with a wing-tip, to see what the new day had brought.

She looked.

She blinked, and looked again.

She frowned a little, rubbed at the window with her wing, and looked again.

There was no mistaking it. Fog. Not just any fog, either. She couldn't even see the tree that she knew stood barely five paces from the window.

Fluttershy groaned, and briefly contemplated just going back to bed. This contemplation was broken by the soft, yet increasingly less so, tugging on her tail. She turned to see Angel Bunny standing there, napkin adorning his neck and plate held firmly in paw.

She gave him a loving nuzzle on the head and drifted towards the kitchen, hovering just above the floorboards. Angel had been a bit fussier than usual with his food lately, so she was taking great strides to please him. He had taken the notion into his little mind that simple lettuce and carrots were no longer good enough for a rabbit of his stature. He required butterhead lettuce and Chaterneigh carrots. Truth be told, the extra expense was beginning to burn a hole in Fluttershy's saddlebags. Fortunately, she mused, the phase seems to be passing. Just another couple of days and he might go back to normal.

Comforted by that thought, she opened the cupboard to find...

... Nothing.

Her head drooped. She was out of lettuce and carrots. She'd have to go to the market. Today. In the fog. Now.

Sighing, she turned tail and drifted, slightly less enthusiastically, towards the door. Angel glanced at her with a raised brow.

"I'm just going down to the market to get your breakfast, Angel. I'll be back soon." she replied. He wasn't happy with the response, but he didn't seem to have much choice in the matter. Coincidentally, neither did Fluttershy.

She pulled open the door, and stepped out.

Sorry, she pulled open the door and attempted to step out. Several times. The fog was having none of it.

You see, one problem with being a ground-bound pegasus is that you can't switch off your 'cloud walking' (as it was so delicately termed). Unicorns and earth ponies would pass through clouds as if they were nothing, but a pegasus could touch, feel and mold clouds. It was a large part of making the weather, after all.

Problems arose on days like today. Foggy days. That tactile nature of clouds to a pegasus tended to carry over to low-lying stratus clouds. That is to say, fog.

The fog was so thick this morning, that for Fluttershy it was like trying to force her way through a feather mattress. It took five minutes to reach the the little bridge over the brook that marked the end of her path.

At least an hour later, struggling and panting, Fluttershy reached the market square. One of the other problems with fog was that it was pretty hard to fly through, not that Fluttershy liked flying at the best of times. If anything, it was closer to swimming than flying. Either way, it was easier to walk, though not by a large margin.

The fog was slightly less thick in town, thankfully, but still it clung to her wings and mane like thick candy floss. Unicorns and earth ponies trotted by freely, unhindered by the baneful substance that Fluttershy was slowly beginning to loathe. She forced her way through the mists towards the market stalls, which were just being decorated in produce.

She barely noticed the shape of Applejack's cart, and was about to pass right by before her friend noticed her.

"G'mornin' Fluttershy! Yer lookin' mighty bushed there. Fog givin' yer trouble?" Applejack said, stepping out to join the worn-out pegasus.

"Y-yes, a little." Fluttershy admitted, taking a moment to catch her breath.

"Had a pegasus workin' the farm a while back. He always shirked off on foggy mornings, never understood why at th'time, but I guess it's hard for y'all to walk through somethin' yer used to standin' on, huh? Be like if I started swimmin' through mud!"

"It's n-not difficult, just..."

"I know, I know, don' need t'justify yerself to me, Fluttershy. Here, have some apples fer yer trouble. Don't look like this 'ere fog's clearin' up anytime soon, so it'll give yer some energy fer the return trip." Applejack said, flicking three apples off her tail directly into Fluttershy's saddlebags. She nodded gratefully and continued the seemingly unending slog towards the lettuce vendor.

When she finally reached the stall, she was fortunate enough to get the last of the butterhead lettuce. Its sweet flavour made it a favourite with many of the townsfolk, and it had a tendency to sell out within the first hour of market opening. Storing it safely beside the apples, she made her way back across the square towards the carrots.

Here, she was less fortunate.

"I'm sorry, Fluttershy," Carrot Top explained sympathetically, "I don't get enough custom from the Chaterneigh to make it worth me bringing it to market. If you want some that badly you'll have to go over to my farm for it. If you just leave some bits under the doormat you can help yourself from the barn, I trust you more than most of the folk here in Ponyville..." she added, scowling at a pony who was taking decidedly too intent an interest in a dangling carrot.

Fluttershy mumbled thanks, and with great effort, turned towards the direction of Carrot Top's farm. She knew it was just beyond Sweet Apple Acres, but...

"Oh, good morning, Miss Fluttershy." A deep voice boomed beside her, and she jumped. Big Mac smiled. "Sorry, didn' mean t'scare. I heard what Carrot Top jus' said, an', well, I'm headin' back towards Sweet Apple Acres myself with one of the carts. I can give you a lift, if y'like."

Fluttershy almost fainted from mixed exhaustion and gratitude.

It wasn't much fun riding in fog, either. It felt like having spider's webs plastered across your face every inch of the journey. Still, Big Mac plowed through the thick mists, parting them by the span of his shoulders alone, and it saved Fluttershy at least another hour of forced marching.

Once she'd arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, she thanked Big Mac and headed across the hill towards Carrot Top's farm. It was still hard-going, although the sun was beginning to thin the fog out enough for Fluttershy to walk with slightly less hindrance. Not much less, but she was thankful for small mercies.

She took a bunch of Chaterneigh carrots, and dutifully left the payment under the mat outside Carrot Top's home. Task accomplished, she began the slow trek towards her own home.

Exhausted. Short of breath. Soaked.

Fluttershy dragged her hooves through the last few steps. She could see the outline of her home in the fog. She was almost there.

She paused.

She could see something else in the fog. Something blue, with highlights.

It was rearing.

Realisation dawned on her just in time, and she ducked. A thunderous clap of hooves sent the fog spinning away, revealing the path, her house, and the blue figure standing in front of it, wiping her brow. Rainbow Dash looked up and smiled at her friend, waving.

"Oh, hey, Fluttershy! There you are. I just woke up, and came over to see if you wanted help clearing this fog!"

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