With barely any effort whatsoever, you gave your wings a couple of flaps before gliding along with the wind. With a glance to your five and seven o'clocks you spotted the rest of the pegasi in your formation, all wearing the blue and yellow uniforms of the Wonderbolts. And you were the pointmare, head of the pack. With the rest of your team in a narrow wedge, you curved off to the side, spiralling downwards towards the ground, and like a well oiled machine the rest of your formation followed you while maintaining the formation. While the result may not have been something extraordinary to look at, you and each of your wingmates knew just how much time and effort went into keeping the distances correct while executing the maneuver, and the cheers from below confirmed that at least some ponies knew that as well.
Sparing a quick glance, you were easily able to spot Mom and Dad among the gathered crowd down below, they always managed to get to the same exact spot at every one of your shows. Dad was waving a flag with your face on it and Mom held up a poster reading "Good luck Bluebelle," and you were glad for the distance between you and the observers as you felt your cheeks redden. As you started to look ahead again, you suddenly stopped, your formation passing you by. When you looked back down at the sign, you noticed it was written in English. Not Equestrian. Looking back at your formation, they continued without you, not even filling in the gap, as you wondered aloud "What the fuck?"
Not understanding what was going on, you began scanning the clouds for something. There had to be something wrong, there was no way Mom would know that alphabet, much less know that you knew it. You hadn't told anyone about being a human and yet, there was the sign proving that someone knew. Wait, what was that? Something moved in the cloud in front of you and you dashed over to it, intent on finding out just who or what was watching you.
After using your wings to soften your landing onto the cloud, you pulled your goggles down past your muzzle, "Hey, who's there!" With no response, you kept walking forward until you rounded the raised part of the cloud saw a bright white light ahead of you. While you were quick in squinting your eyes and blocking it with a hoof, you weren't quick enough and found yourself temporarily blinded, but when your vision returned you found yourself standing on a flat cloud that expanded infinitely in every direction with a clear blue sky above you.
"H-Hello?" you called out to the void, your own echo being the only response you received. "Mom...? Dad? Anypony?" Scanning the infinite horizon, you could see nothing else here besides you and the cloud you were on. You lifted yourself off the ground with a couple wing flaps and then sped into the cloud surface, hoping to break through it but it was just too dense. Confusion lead to frustration as you tried digging through the cloud but every bit you scooped up instantly fell back to its previous position. Frustration lead to worry.
As you began desperately glancing around, hoping against hope to find somebody, anybody, you were quickly startled when you did just that. Twisting your head expecting to see more clear blue sky, your vision was quickly filled by a tall midnight blue pony with a flowing mane of stars and a horn that could pierce the Titanic head on. To say you stumbled back might be an understatement, so let's call it what it truly was, you jumped backwards with a yelp.
"Bluebelle," the tall mare spoke, her voice booming and echoing out just as your own did, "it is I-"
"Princess Luna!" you cut her off, obviously recognizing literally the best princess ever and you were more than willing to knock a bitch out to prove it.
She let out a soft giggle and smirked, "It appears that I have a fan."
"Oh hell ye- Shi- Errr, sorry. I should watch my tongue around royalty." Uh huh, nice save. It was bad and you should feel bad, and you kind of do as you turn your gaze away, seeking some form of mercy. When you turned your attention back to her, it seemed as though she had grown even taller.
With a quirked head and a confused look, she started slowly, "My, what an.... eloquent vocabulary you have for one of your size." A quick glance at yourself explained why she was suddenly taller, it was actually you were shorter, no longer a fully grown mare and pointmare of the Wonderbolts, but back to the filly who had nearly drowned in a river.
"Oh, so I'm in a dream, but... I wasn't having a nightmare," you stated more as a question than a statement as you looked back up at her, "I thought you helped ponies with their nightmares."
She smiled as you began connecting the pieces and lowered her head so that she was on somewhat more equal footing on you, "Indeed I do, little one, and despite you having pleasant dreams tonight, I saw the rest of your weekend was not quite so serene."
You rubbed the back of your head with an awkward chuckle, "Heheh, yeah... Did you see the part where I got distracted by food and fell in the river?" As her look started to go back to confused, you quickly clarified, "Oh, that wasn't a dream that was, uhh, let's just forget that."
"My, you are quite the unusual filly," she mused, "but that is not why I am here. I was unable to attend to you during your previous nightmares, and while tonight you do not have need of my services, I sense an unresolved fear in you young one." Her horn began to shimmer for a moment, "A great fear at that."
"Errr, yeah, it's a... bit complicated," was all that you were able to really say. You weren't entirely sure about whether or not she could read your mind or if she knew your history before coming here, and until proven otherwise you were going to do your best to keep her in the dark. Especially her and Celestia, you weren't entirely sure just how exactly the princesses would react to the knowledge that their world was a TV show for kids... And young adults but let's forget about that.
Princess Luna got down onto her knees and laid down in front of you, putting a warm inviting smile on, "Please, I am here to listen should you need any assistance."
It took a bit of resisting to not run over and snuggle with best princess, but somehow you managed to keep your emotional dukes up, "I know I should stand up and face my fears directly, that the only way I can overcome them is by taking them head on, but... I don't know what'll happen if I do." With a sigh, you sat yourself down on the clouds and found yourself enjoying the cushioning.
"If you are not willing to tell me your fear directly, I am sorry to say there is very little I can do to help you, Bluebelle." She wasn't actually physically beckoning you over, but some part of you felt like she was inviting you and again you had to resist the urge. Some part of you knew that if you got physically close to her in this dream, you'd end up spilling the beans. "However, I must say, you seem a bit more wise than the other fillies and colts I need to console. You know what you must do, and I am sure you know how it must be done, but something is holding you back..."
You cracked a smile as you raised your gaze from the cloud beneath you back to her, "Hey, uhh, off topic a bit, but would you mind telling my teacher you said that?"
She rolled her eyes, "I believe my schedule may not allow for such a meeting." Oh well, you gave it your best shot. "But that does not excuse the matter at hand, what is it that you are afraid of Bluebelle?"
All previous attempts at maintaining some level of distance from her were for naught as she seemed to grow tired of waiting and, with a glow of her horn, you found yourself pulled over by a similar glow so that you were leaning against her. "Hey now, that's cheating! I did my best to stay put, you aren't allowed to bring magic into this."
Another roll of the eyes was quickly followed with a nuzzle, "Allow us to get back to what causes you your nightmares, little one."
With how warm and comforting it was next to her, you realized just how cold and alone you previously were. Being this close, you could see each individual star in her mane as it flowed in place and you could almost swear there were some constellations you remembered in there. Her horn wasn't glowing so you knew she wasn't doing any sort of magic, but just by being here, you found your mouth starting to open up on its own. "W-Well..." It wouldn't do to lie here but you also couldn't tell the truth, "the truth is..." fuck fuck shit fuck what were you going to say, "I-I'm afraid of spiders." YES! You did it! Fuck all of the warm feelings on both Earth and Equestria and even in your own fucking dreams, you still had that impeccable talent of never saying what people wanted without lying to them.
To Luna's credit, it took a moment before her warm expression broke into a stunned one. "W-Wait, spiders?"
You emphatically shook your head, "Mmhmm, spiders. I know they're mostly relatively harmless, but I just can't get over them. Sometimes, the very thought of them will keep me awake all night."
At first, the princess of the night looked flabbergasted by your answer, though watching her expression you could see her eventually work her way through the emotions to the not-at-all-buying-this-shit face. Still, you weren't exactly being dishonest and that seemed to ruin throw a bit of a wrench into her plans, "Well then... I greatly suspect this may have to do with more than just... spiders," you could see the annoyance on her face and had to stop yourself from laughing, "However if that is all you wish to say I will leave you be to your dreams, young one."
Riding on the good feelings of getting away with shit, all you managed to do was just wave as she got up and started walking off into the distance, "Okay, see ya Princess Luna!" As she seemed to fade out of the reality of your dream, the rest of the landscape began to turn back into what your dream previously was, with you once again standing on the cloud as a mare and your formation flying off without you. When you looked back down to Mom, the sign was still written in English, but at least you knew your secret was safe, for now. With that ease of mind, you lifted yourself up off the cloud and darted back to your position in the formation, eager to get back to being a Wonderbolt.
Morning came with you waking up early again, once again sandwiched between your parents though Dad apparently decided not to hold you this time. You wriggled your snout as you sat up, sniffling some which brought about a groan. Yup, you were sick. You made your way outside to find Flying Fish washing up in the stream again and a quick survey had you assuming Cotton was still asleep again.
"Good morning!" you called out to her as you made your way over, causing her to look over.
"Oh hey Blue, you sleep good?" she replied, coming out of the water to meet you halfway.
After a sniffle, "Yeah, though I don't think I'm gonna sleep very well tonight."
"Aww, I'm sorry to hear that," she said with a frown, "Still, it's good you were able to get lots of sleep last night. Unfortunately we're gonna have to hike back today but hopefully your dad will be able to carry you."
You quirked your head a bit, "What do you mean carry me?"
"Well, you need your rest, sweetie. You can't go hiking around mountains when you're sick."
"Yeah but I'm not that sick, it's just a bit of a cold!" you piped up mere moments before sneezing hard enough to knock yourself onto the ground.
"Uh huh, sure you aren't, sweetie," she said sarcastically. "Either way it'll be up to your parents, and I think you're going to have to improve your performance if you're going to trick your mother."
From the ground you groaned, deciding not to bother getting up, "Can I at least help pack up camp since I didn't get to help set it up?"
Appearing upside down in your view as she looked down at you worriedly, Flying replied "I'd have to say no, but like I said, it's your mother's decision."
You let out another groan, still remaining sprawled out on the ground. The prospect of having to sit around contributing nothing irked you even more nowadays than it had when you were a foal. At least then you were still new to the idea of getting to be lazy all day and not have to work, but as you became more independent the idea of having to just sit around became more of a curse than a blessing.
"Well, is there anything I can do to help?"
For her credit, it seemed Flying Fish actually put some thought into the answer before shrugging, "Sorry, sweetie. You'll have to ask your mother and in the meantime I don't have anything I'd want you doing. If you want, I can read you a story."
You rolled your eyes with an exhale before admitting defeat, "Sure, I guess I can listen to a story."
Flying Fish lifted you up and then set you down so that you were sitting by the fire pit they'd made, then flew over to her tent and emerged a moment or two later with a large in the height and width department but small in the depth department book. "I'm sure Cotton won't mind if I read you one of his favorite stories."
You were able to downplay the laugh to just a quick sound in the back of your throat at the thought of him still reading from something like that, let alone it being his favorite story. Then your memories caught up and you were pretty sure he just liked it because he was into foal shit. Eugh. Aunt Fish either didn't notice or didn't react to the noise, and with all of the sniffling you were doing you hoped she assumed it was just you being sick, as she took a seat next to you and showed you the pastel cover of the book.
"So, can you read the title?"
Oh God no. You pray to Best Princess that she doesn't do this with him and is just doing it because you're young... And y'know, you actually have to work a bit to try to read the title, "Uhhh.... Good Night Canterlot?"
"Very good!" With your success in reading a three word sentence, she opens up the book to some colorful illustrations and more words you were sure you could probably piece together but decided to instead just listen. You might have wanted to actually do something, but reading a kid's book wasn't it. Luckily, Flying Fish took over for the rest of the book and by the end of it you had almost fallen asleep and everyone else had woken up.
As Mom and Dad came over, you darted away from Fishie and quickly blocked Mom's path, "Mom can I help pack up camp?"
It took a moment or two for Mom to remove the sleep from her eyes before responding, "Sorry, what?"
Prefacing your request with a sniffle, you repeated, "Mom can I help pack up camp?"
"Errr," she looked over at Dad who gave a shrug, "I guess so?" Turning back to you, she seemed confused, "Why exactly are you so excited to pack up camp? I mean, we don't have to leave just yet."
"Oh, I know, I was just making sure I could help pack up! I wanna know how to do it next time we go camping!" That and, y'know, you didn't feel like being bored as shit waiting on them to do it without you.
This also seemed to take all of the adults by surprise as they all glanced at one another before Mom spoke up again, "Wait, you want to go camping again? Even after, well... Everything that happened this weekend?"
You quickly nodded your head, "Yeah! I had lots of fun and Cotton got his cutiemark!"
This left everyone surprised and for the next few minutes they basically recounted the entire weekend's events, as though to make sure you remembered them even though they mostly happened to you. Of course, you were sure to bring up the few good things you could actually talk about whenever you could to justify wanting to go camping again. You know, besides the fact that you didn't want to spend all of your weekends studying with Star.
Oh God, you forgot about Star. If you were sick when you got home and she found out, eeeeeuuuuuuugh. You generally hated being cared for and her basically trying to play the role of doctor with every stereotype she could think of. The last time you had the flu, she spent damn near every waking minute she wasn't in school putting ice packs on your head, constantly checking a thermometer, and at one point she tried using a spatula as a stethoscope. You didn't get a lot of rest that week despite Mom and Dad insisting that you would be fine if Star went out to play for a bit. Every day after school she would come trotting to your room to check up on her 'patient,' and this only fed into your theory that Star was actually an evil entity sent to torment you for all of your affronts to God as a human.
Snapping back to the present, you found that everyone else had set about enjoying the trip for at least another couple of hours and you decided to join them, getting some fishing in. If by fishing you meant setting up your line and then sneezing all of the fish away from your line and into Flying Fish's. Though since you were leaving soon this was a catch and release day, which while still fun meant there would be no more fish for eating which was a bit of a downer.
Finally, the arbitrary departure time came and everyone went about packing up, your contribution to it was mostly just packing your own bag which felt kind of cheap since you had the lightest bags of everyone present but you actually found yourself pretty tired by the end of just that. Maybe Flying Fish was onto something earlier when she said you should just rest. With everything mostly packed by everyone else, it was time to set sail and luckily Dad was more than willing to let you just sprawl out on his back after finding that exhausted fillies don't keep up with the pack very well.
About halfway down the mountain, you mostly tuned the world out and only noticed that time had actually passed when the train whistle sounded and you were in Hayton. Looking around, you found Cotton smiling at you, "Yup, she's awake."
Your throat felt dry and trying to moisten it with some saliva only made you start coughing. Once the short fit was done, you spotted Mom buying the train tickets. "Huh, I didn't realize I fell asleep."
"Neither did I for the first hour or so," replied Dad before giving you a nuzzle. "I just assumed you were being quiet like you were on the way up."
"Hey, at least I didn't pass out just as we got to the train station," you joked and got a few chuckles from Dad and Cotton.
"What's so funny?" Mom asked as her and Flying Fish approached.
"Oh, nothing, are we all ready to go?" Dad asked, a bit of excitement in his voice.
"Mmhmm, just gotta say goodbye and we'll be on our way." With that, Mom turned to her side and hugged Flying, "It was so good to see you again, we'll definitely have to get together again soon."
"Oh, of course, any time dear! Just let me know and I'm sure we'll be able to put something together."
With the mares saying their farewells, Cotton bumped his head against you as you remained mounted on your noble steed, "Well, I guess this is so long for now Blue."
"Yeah, I guess so. It was actually nice seeing you again, I'm actually looking forward to our next time hanging out."
"Well, don't forget our deal," he said with a smirk.
"Err, right... Our deal, uhhh. How exactly am I supposed to send that?"
"Just send it to me, silly filly, and I'll see to it that it gets to its final destination."
"What exactly are you sending?" asked Dad who, by virtue of you being on his back, was right there.
"Oh, uhh, just a letter, Dad."
Dad leaned in with his one eye bulging at you to show just how intense his interest was, "What kind of letter?"
"We're gonna be pen pals!" chipped in Cotton
"Oh okay, that's understandable then. I'm sure I can drop it off on my way to work for you."
"Yeah, that'd be good," you replied.
"Okay, Cotton, time to go!" Fish called out
"All right, see ya Blue!" said Cotton before heading over to Flying and after a quick check of their saddlebags, they both started flapping their wings and made their way West.
"Wait, they're gonna fly the whole way back to Cloudsdale?"
"I mean, it's not that far when you can fly. You'll see one day, Blue," Dad smiled reassuringly. "Anyway let's get on that train and get home, I think I left a Whatchamacallit in the fridge and I'm gonna eat it up."
That woke you up enough to get you hopping off his back and dashing for the train, Dad quickly catching up behind you, and Mom just laughing at your antics.
Of course, once the three of you were on the train you realized racing to get on the train didn't matter much since it wasn't leaving until everyone was on, so you ended up sitting across from Dad, a bit on edge for a moment, before finally you flopped along the seat. As the last few ponies got on, the ticket collector shouted out a call of "All aboard!" and a moment later the train began its chugging back to Fillydelphia. Looking upside down at the window, you could only make out the tops of trees piercing up at the clear sky above before sniffling some and wiping at your snout with the back of your hoof.
"Are you feeling any better from this morning after your nap?" Mom asked.
"Eh, a bit worse actually... You think the doctor is gonna give me any medicine?"
"Probably," Dad replied butting in, "you didn't look so good in your sleep last night."
"Bleh, can I just not take it and focus on relaxing instead?" Despite pony culture and technology doing a fairly decent job of keeping up with mankind, at some point they decided not to add any decent flavors to the medicine so all of it ended up tasting like shit.
Mom tutted, "Nope, sorry, but sick fillies have to follow their doctor's orders."
Your groan turned into a sigh as you closed your eyes. When you opened them you looked over at your parents sitting across from you and wondered if they had remembered the conversation that dominated your mind for the past weekend. They had assured you they'd be ready for you to speak to them whenever you were, and you had to wonder. Were you ready to bring it up with them? You were both physically and mentally exhausted from the sickness, but what better time than now would you have to ease their worries?
After a quick mental pump up, you sat yourself up on the seat and looked across at the two ponies you now called Mom and Dad. To get their attention, you cleared your throat, and then began, "Mom, Dad... Is now a good time to talk?"
They both looked at each other for a moment before turning to you and nodding, "Go ahead, Blue," said Mom.
"Well... You remember on the way here, we were talking about me at home?" God you really botched that sentence. Maybe that'd help sell it.
"Mmhmm," was the only reply you got from Dad. That was good, it meant they were taking it seriously, especially Dad not saying something stupid.
"Well... Last night wasn't the first time Cotton had told me I was adopted, last night was just the first time I got upset about it..." you started, trying your best to keep it believable and secretly were glad you had a chance to practice on Luna in your dream. You know, not that it exactly worked there, but even failure can be a learning experience.
Mom leaned in with her head quirked and her face covered with worry, "When did he start telling you that? And why didn't you tell anypony?"
"Well, the truth is, I didn't really believe him at first... But as we got closer to seeing him again, I started thinking and was wondering... Do my real parents miss me?" The tears were a nice touch but you honestly couldn't take credit for them. The benefit to lying with a truth was that you weren't actually lying, the problem with it was that you were actually telling the truth. You missed your parents, your friends, your entire former life, but you knew if you were to somehow go back you'd feel the same sadness for the life you've made here. Fuck even Cotton was starting to get to you!
You were broken out of your downward spiral by the warm embrace of the two pegasi, Mom taking the reins here. "Bluebelle, I am positive that they miss you, but... Well, I'd like to think that you consider us your real parents." Mom and Dad both smiled warmly, both hopeful that you'd follow their logic. "I don't know if you know, but we've actually been searching for your parents ever since we found you and unfortunately they just haven't turned up at all. We don't know what happened to them or why you were left alone, but from the day we found you we've done everything we could to give you the life we know they would have wanted for you."
Your tears had become contagious and all three of you now had leaky faucets for eyes and to be honest, you didn't even want to bother wiping away the tears. At the same time, you weren't entirely sure you could consider them your real parents. They literally weren't, you had real parents, they just, weren't here... You were left alone by someone or something and these two came to fill the void in your life. Not knowing which was the right answer only caused you to cry more, your leaky faucets turning into wild garden hoses. "I-I don't know if I can... I mean, what if they're still out there, looking for me? I don't know if I would want to be given up on..."
Dad looked disheartened at your response, "Well, if you see it that way, we understand. Just know that we've always considered you to be our daughter since you entered our lives."
God, why was this so hard, your heart was aching. It felt like a dagger was being driven through your chest and you couldn't remove it. You couldn't do it to them. Just seeing their faces now, you couldn't. After just six years here, it would be impossible for you to go back. You might potentially relieve your human family's woes, but you'd be causing more worry for your new family. Ack, it killed you to say it, but, with your lip wobbling, "I-I can... You two are my real parents... I still want to know if they miss me, but, well... You two are the ones who've raised me." Even as you said it, you felt one knife removed from your chest and another stabbed in. And yet, the second knife didn't quite hurt as much as the first. The three of you were still a mess of tears be they sad or happy the rest of the train ride home.