//------------------------------// // And Back to You // Story: Pandemic: Big Apple // by Lawra //------------------------------// TRANQUILfalls Spa E 42nd St Waiting patiently with Will in the back seat of a nice car, I watched the driver get out, and walk around to open the door curb side for us to get out. I had no clue what traffic was normally like here but I would have lost my mind trying to deal with what we just went through to get here from Battery Park. It was crazy how many cars they could pack onto this island.  The door opened and I leapt out with Will following a moment after onto the sidewalk and back out into the loud noises and pungent odor of the city. “Thank you, sir,” I told the human, hoping that he wasn’t expecting a tip as I didn’t carry physical money.  “Thanks,” Will added a half beat later.  “You’re welcome,” the driver responded and closed the door with a soft clunk before heading back around the car without waiting.  Turning away from the street and waiting for a small group of humans to pass, I looked up at the three story front of the massive building set back away from the roadway. It was obviously the right place as the glass window front allowed a clear view into the spa.  A lavender earth pony stallion nosed the door open and then menuevered to hold it open so they could come inside. “Traffic must have been light, you made good time. Please, come in, come in,” he greeted cordially and gestured with one hoof for them to enter.  “That was light?” I gaped in horror as I trotted past him inside. “You’ve been to Detroit right? How is this any worse?” Will asked, keeping close to my side.  “I’ve been to downtown Detroit, once— when I was six for a baseball game,” I explained, noticing the two human security guards opposite the reception desk watching the doorway.  “Welcome to Tranquil Falls,” a unicorn mare behind the pony height reception desk greeted sweetly. “Are these your guests, Mr. Richards?” she then asked the stallion who had opened the door.  “These two fine young ponies are indeed,” he answered and casually leaned against the counter. “Sorry I didn’t introduce myself properly, I’m Nate Richards, Head of Pony Programming at NBC. So did you two decide what you want done? I sent you the list of services for you to look over on the drive cross town.” “Nothing for me,” Will answered first. “She’s the one who’s going to be on TV.” “Don’t listen to him, he’ll have a mane and tail trim at least,” I replied and approached the desk.  “Would he also enjoy a hooficure?” the receptionist asked, horn glowing as she manipulated a stylus against a tablet.  I smirked. “I’m sure he could use one. Now the brochure said your hooficure was some kind of Equestrian magic treatment?” “Oh yes, it replenishes and restores, it’ll leave you feeling like it’s the first day you had them.” “I don’t need that, can I just get away with a mane and tail cut then.” Will broke into the conversation. “Sapphire you can get all this stuff, I’m not into it.” “Sir, we are not a— barber. If you want that you can get it anywhere. You’ll need at least a proper hooficure or we simply won’t provide that level of low end service,” the receptionist explained haughtily.  Will gave the receptionist a steely glare. “Fine. A trim and some hoof care.” “Since it’s for a special occasion,” I drawled slowly, trying to jump start my memory of what I had decided on by looking at a list of services printed on the wall, and ignoring the door opening behind me. “I’ll do the mane and tail trim, the hooficure, the special pegasus coat scrub, and the wing massage with feather rake.” “You know what, I am feeling kind of stressed, I’ll do that extra strength hot stone deep tissue massage,” Will added holding a hoof up to his mouth in contemplation.  “Excuse me,” a mare’s voice broke in from behind. I looked back to spot a pair of unicorn mares standing with a pair of humans in dark suits behind them in the doorway. “If that’s anything like the version in Equestria, you should just stick with the wing massage or you’ll be in pain and walking funny for the rest of the week,” the lilac coated one with purple mane and tail streaked with a band of teal warned ominously.  “I guess I’ll stick to just the wing massage then, thanks for the warning,” Will corrected and the receptionist nodded. “If you would have a seat in the waiting area, we’ll come and get you when ready,” the receptionist explained and gestured towards a small seating area past the security station. “Probably for the best, you’re just a soft citycolt after all,” I teased and poked him with a wingtip just behind his ribs as we started walking. “Redneck,” he sniped back. “Yes yes yes, Trixie finds your lovers spat quite endearing but you two will need to take it elsewhere quicker as you are delaying,” she paused for effect, ”the GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie, from getting this awful chemical exhaust stink removed from her coat.” “Did she just speak in the third person?” I asked, stopping to turn and face the second unicorn, who shared a similar coat and mane color to myself. “You get used to it after awhile,” the lilac unicorn answered first with a nervous titter.  The earth pony, Mr Richards, who had remained silent during the exchange, gently clapped a hoof against the tiled floor to get everypony’s attention. “It’s an honor to meet you, Starlight Glimmer.” “Um— thank you, it’s nice to meet you too, Mr. —,” the lilac mare started waiting for the stallion to supply his name. “Sorry, it’s Nate Richards,” he answered. “We haven’t met before but I work for NBC as the head of pony programming, and it’s very difficult not to know your name.” “You’re Starlight Glimmer?” I gulped with nervous excitement. This was almost as huge as meeting Princess Twilight.  “Princess Sparkle’s personal student? That— Starlight Glimmer?” Will grimaced, taking a half step away from the two.  “Trixie would be so relieved if we could go somewhere without you being mobbed by these earthlings,” the blue unicorn remarked, roughly pushing past us up to the counter. “At least Trixie finds the stallion easy upon her eyes.” Will stared at the unicorn with wide eyes before stepping up to me and sticking a wing over my withers possessively. “Sorry. Totally taken. Completely smitten and in love with this beautiful pegasus right here.” My jaw dropped open in shock, eyes bouncing between him and the Equestrian who was staring at Will with a raised eyebrow. “You know I was just teasing you with the flirting earlier, right?” I whispered to him. “Please, just sell it,” He whispered softly. “HA!” the mare finally barked in laughter. “You thought Trixie was serious!” “That’s enough, Trixie,” Starlight’s horn lit up with a mint green light and enveloped the other unicorn in an aura before forcibly pulling her back behind her. “You promised not to pick fights while on Earth.” “Trixie wasn’t,” the blue unicorn whined as she was set down.  “Excuse me, but we are ready for you three now,” the receptionist nervously interrupted, a human woman standing next to the desk, waiting to bring them into the spa proper.  “Excellent,” Mr. Richards answered and turned to us. “After you.” “Sure thing, if a certain somepony wasn’t holding me so tightly with his wing,” I joked, Will’s eyes widened and he pulled his wing away and hurriedly trotted forward.  “Sorry, sorry,” he quickly apologized purposely looking away from me while nervously settling his wings against his sides. A short time later “Please have a seat, Miss Sapphire,” a human woman gestured to a barber chair modified to have no backrest at her side.  Still a little damp from a quick but thorough shower, and smelling vaguely of lilacs, I hopped up to sit down on a barber chair modified to have no backrest, letting my waterlogged tail hang off the back. The woman wrapped a plastic cape around my neck to cover me before using the arm rest to turn the chair to face a mirror.  “I don’t know if I’ll ever get over being jealous of all the colors ponies have naturally,” she gushed, briefly running her fingers through my mane before using a detangling brush to smooth any knots that formed in the wash. “So you have a big interview in the morning.” She leaned in close to take my mane in both hands as if trying to imagine a different style. “Are you interested in something to really make a statement, something professional, or am I just cleaning this up? You had a chance to look at the Equestrian style book, right? You have the length to pull off most of them.” “I’ve never been very good at picking a style from one of those things,” I admitted, never finding anything that looked right if I tried to have it done with my hair. Which was much harder with the Equestrian style book as it wasn’t even photos but simple drawings. “So I just decided that since I really like how my bangs look, I’ll keep that, but maybe you can clean that up and keep the overall shape. But along my neck, can you make it short at the bottom and get longer towards my ears? So the whole thing flows forward. All that length likes to get in the way,” I explained, twisting my head to the side to get a better look at the heavy mass of hair that shifted and fell all the way down to my forearm. “So,” she started and gathered all that up. “All this beautiful silver hair, gone.” “Yup.” “Shame,” the stylist rolled her eyes and set about grabbing a pair of scissors.  “Eh, it’ll grow back,” I shrugged with a flick of my tail. My normal days didn’t leave a lot of time to dedicate to mane care so something easier to manage would be nice. “Would you mind if I put it in a braid to see if it can be donated?” “Sure,” I nodded and she gathered up a few elastic bands to make a few braids going down my neck. As she worked at that, I heard Will in a heated conversation with Mr. Richards. Glancing sideways, they both came walking in looking as damp as I did.  “The Rags are terrible, how can you even try to talk them up?” “I have had season tickets for the past 15 years. Better than watching the Devils single handedly kill the league with the trap.” “So you sit in the lower stands in a suit with all the other ‘fans’ then or you’re actually a fan?” “Well— not the last couple years, we have a company box.” “Box seats? Right. I bet everyone else in the box with you is GLUED to the game.” “There’s no right way to be a fan. I can show you if you want, it would be no trouble for you to come watch a game somewhere you couldn’t usually afford.” “Excuse me, gentlemen, but we are ready for you,” a human woman interrupted, gesturing to two more of the chairs lined up to the side of me.  “Sorry about that,” Mr. Richards quickly apologized before gesturing for Will to sit first. “After you.” Will paused for a brief instant debating something internally before he took the nearest seat to me. “Please just a trim, I really don’t want anything fancy,” he halfway begged. “As you wish, sir.” “And for you?”  “I was looking to get something more professional looking, in the style book I believe it was number sixteen,” Mr. Richards answered, bringing up a hoof to brush the small amount of wet mane from his eyes. “Seems like you two hit it off,” I jokingly whispered to Will as a cape was placed over his body. “Rags fans,” he mumbled. “You’re both pretty silly,” I said back and then nodded to the stylist as she checked the length I wanted at the base of my neck. I watched nervously as she used a pair of scissors to snip it off at the base of the braid. She then started to work her way up my neck till the final braid was cut away leaving my head feeling very light from all the weight that had been removed.  “And thinking on it, do you mind not talking about hockey?” I asked, catching sight of the two Equestrians passing through on their way out of the fancy baths.  “Why? You like hockey.” “Yes but I also liked skating, and they don’t really make ice skates for hooves.” “But they do,” Starlight Glimmer stopped briefly to say. “Well— I mean on Equestria we do, but I’m all left hooves when I tried last so I gave up on it.” “Really?” I asked excitedly, fighting down the urge to jump off the chair to go over to Starlight before realization hit. “Yea, but they aren’t going to ship them through the portal.” “Yes— that is a problem, but they aren’t magical items so it should be sooner or later for at least the design to come across,” Starlight explained. “I guess I’ll just have to be patient,” I responded, ears flopping down lifelessly.  “Starlight, the humans are waiting,” Trixie complained as she made an overly dramatic show of dragging her hooves.  “Right, sorry. Just be patient, we’re working to get more over this way,” Starlight added before trotting off after her friend. Frowning at the need to be patient I lit up with realization and turned to Will. “So that means you could learn how to skate.” “Like I want to break four ankles,” Will snorted as his stylist went about trimming his bangs.  “Your four perfectly good ankles? Can’t blame not trying to learn on the weird over-flexibility thing you had as a human,” I drawled. “Fine, if you can somehow get some crazy pony skates— I’ll try.” “Excellent!” I turned back to face the mirror with a smug grin on my face as the stylist now worked her way up my neck creating a smooth change from short to long hair. The woman didn’t attempt much small talk as she worked diligently to bring my unruly mane under control. Will and Mr. Richards were finished before me, both being shuffled off towards their massages. I was asked if I wanted anything done to my tail and almost declined before having the woman clean the ends that sometimes dragged on the ground. Thanking the woman for her time, I was led to the massage station where the two Equestrians were being rubbed down by a pair of women. ‘I get to get a massage next to Starlight Glimmer,’ I giggled to myself, stepping onto a padded bed that was then raised to be an easier height for the masseuse to work.  “Do you two come here often?” I asked, my voice rising as the woman put a lot of pressure on a sensitive spot by my left wing. ‘Did they segregate us based off sex?’ I wondered, not seeing either of the stallions. “Not often, no,” Starlight answered without looking at me, relaxing into hands that deftly kneaded her withers. “But the Great and Powerful Trixie likes to take advantage of our great and powerful expense account before we head back to Equestria and she has to hoof the bill for her own pampering.” “The Great and Powerful Trixie,” the other blue mare sighed happily. “Does find hands superior to hooves in this regard. So maneuverable.” “You don’t seem like a regular yourself,” Starlight started, finally turning her head to look at me with her eyes briefly going wide. “Oh, wow, you look just like a pony I know with that manecut.” “I do?” I wondered absently. “More or less the same style, but hers sweeps back,” the Equestrian explained before stopping suddenly. “I owe her a lot even if she thinks all is forgiven.” “No need to punish yourself endlessly for past mistakes. If she says it’s forgiven then you should trust her,” I giggled to myself. “Heh, look at me, trying to lecture Starlight Glimmer. Sorry, I’m sure you’re more than smart enough that you don’t need me butting in.” “No need to apologize, it’s not bad advice at all. There’s a reason I’m still Twilight’s student, after all. Sometimes I get hung up on the wrong things.” “And I am definitely not a regular, this is my first time ever coming to New York CIty. I’ve lived my whole life in Michigan.” Starlight sighed happily as some knot of tension was eased out of her neck. “I believe we’ve passed through there flying to the Homestead lands.” “That’d be downstate, Detroit Metro most likely. We’ve never had the pleasure of such a high profile unicorn like yourself visiting us in the UP. We’re sort of the forgotten peninsula. Which has its good and bad points.” Trixie suddenly spoke up. “So that you might move this conversation on and we might relax without interruption. What brings you to this place voluntarily?” “Ah— well first it was a vacation from work but since I caught the eye of somebody at some local news broadcast, it’s escalated up to a national news thing,” I answered, feeling my wings spread and shake a little in pleasure as the masseuse went to work manipulating the powerful muscles between them. “Since I’ll be on TV tomorrow, they want me to look my best so they’re paying for my visit.” “Trixie, with her unimaginably sharp intuition believes that you did something weather related. Trixie asks that you confirm her suspicion.” “Yes, that is what it’s for,” I responded sarcastically. “I run the weather program Michigan established. Guess they feel I’ll be a great ambassador,” I remarked haughtily, earning a withering glare from the unicorn.  “Careful,” Starlight said with a cheeky smile. “Trixie gets jealous if somepony steals her bit.”  she warned jokingly. “Trixie is above such paudry emotions as jealousy,” Trixie growled. She then snorted and purposely looked away. “Yet not above lying,” Starlight teased. “I remember them carving out an exception when passing the homestead act. Is everything going well with it? I’m always amazed at how far the pegasi out West have come in such a short amount of time, but I’ve never had time to visit your area.” “We’re doing very well. We’re supporting more farms than we’ve ever had in the area and are preparing to deal with what looks like a harsh winter. A few of our human crew have been running simulations and we should be able to keep the temperature at least stable instead of dealing with forty degree swings in a day. Not sure about winter yet. But we’ll definitely find out.” “Good luck! A lot of the pegasi who come through the portal find Earth’s weather very daunting.“ “Trixie in her great and magnanimous opinion would give you all free reign to sort this world out,” Trixie mumbled into her table. “But it’s not up to us and there are good reasons for limitations,” Starlight lectured the other unicorn before turning back to me. “What time will you be on TV tomorrow?” Starlight asked “Maybe we’ll be able to watch before we head back to Equestria.”  I froze up like a deer in headlights.  “You’d be willing to watch me?” I asked and swallowed. “Of course,” Starlight started confidently before switching to a more nervous tone. “I mean, good pony human relations is my job and seeing Earth pegasi get more knowledge and leeway on what you can do is always a good thing.” “NBC, Today Show, eight AM,” I answered mechanically, not even knowing what channel that was here.  “We won’t be able to get through security until nearly eleven so that’s plenty of time for us to catch it,” Starlight said with a reassuring smile. “Of course we can’t officially endorse anything, but personally I hope you wow ‘em.” “I’ll do my best,” I nodded, suddenly feeling far more confident knowing that somepony like Starlight Glimmer was behind me.  “A scathing review from the Great and Powerful Trixie will assuredly be en route if we are disappointed,” the blue unicorn warned, this time sounding somehow encouraging.  “Thank you,” I nervously shuffled, feeling the masseuses hands end their massage. Noticing that the other two were likewise finishing up. “Were you getting hooficures as well?”  “Would it be a trip to the spa otherwise?” Starlight laughed, her voice gaining the beautiful Equestrian musical quality to it as she slipped away from English.  “No? Uh well— would you mind talking some more while that goes on? If it won’t annoy the great and powerful Trixie, that is?” I hazarded to ask. “I think that would be a requirement,” Starlight answered as her table lowered so she could comfortably get off.  Sometime later “Can you believe it? Starlight Glimmer, THE Starlight Glimmer, personal student of the Princess of Friendship herself, said that she’s going to watch ME on TV,” I gushed once the limousine door was closed. I wasn’t going to act like this in public, but Mr. Richards, who was coming along with us to the hotel, seemed like he had been similarly intrigued with the Equestrian unicorn. “And she was so nice, it was like talking with any other pony, so I kept forgetting just how important she is.” “I’ve heard that Twilight herself is like that as well,” Mr. Richards added. “It reflects well on both of them to be so personable even after all they’ve accomplished.” “Meeting Princess Twilight, now that’d be an honor,” I sighed dreamily. I’d probably just stammer stupidly, what could I possibly say to a pony like that? Maybe someday she would visit my little corner of the world and I could find out.  “They say, don’t meet your heroes,’” Will interrupted grumpily as he pulled out his phone. “Yes, well, from what I’ve heard, Twilight is one to meet,” the earth pony answered the other pegasus before regarding me. “I wanted to ask for tomorrow, obviously there will be the interview; we’ve given you the questions so you can be prepared. But I wanted to ask if you have any ideas for content?” “A little demonstration? I could make a small cloud as long as I had some moisture to work with,” I answered, imagining that it would work well as a good visual and maybe let the crowd that stood outside to interact with. “Ooh! That’d be wonderful! I’ll contact the studio after you get checked in at the hotel so they’ll have something ready. But are you able to do that on your own? Or is Mr. Monte going to help you?” Will looked up from his phone and shifted his stylus to stick out one side of his mouth. “She’s the expert. I can’t even be called a hobbyist.”.  “I’d be happy if Will wanted to help but I can manage it on my own just fine,” I answered. “It’s not like I’m trying to summon up a storm,” I laughed lightly. “A storm might attract a different sort of attention,” the earth pony chuckled. “Remember your segment won’t be that long. Our producers are talking to your representatives and we’re ironing out a general outline of the questions and demonstrations we’ll be highlighting. Please try to follow some of the suggested answers, but just be natural too. You should be getting that list in an email soon. Just remember this reflects on you, your weather program, and it could really help us bring in new pony viewership so please do your best.” “I’ve never done anything so— overly coached,” I admitted with a frown, the limo jerking briefly as we came to a short stop due to traffic before resuming.  “I’m sure you’ll be fantastic,” he said reassuringly and gently patted me on the withers with a hoof. “Generic corporate speak is always more intimidating than it needs to be.” “So while the fancy spa had some nice snacks, I can’t help but notice it’s getting a little late for dinner,” Will interrupted as he returned his phone to his bag.  “The hotel has a restaurant, doesn’t it? We’ll just eat there,” I answered, happy to eat whatever I could get.   “The hotel does have a fantastic little restaurant but we’ve taken the liberty of already making  reservations for you at the Rainbow Room. It’s close to the hotel. They’ve even started offering pony produced items as part of their menu. I’ve become quite partial to the quinoa sliders. A bit too much, my wife says, but she doesn’t believe me when I tell her earth ponies are just big boned. Says I’m getting pudgy. Unicorns,” he chuckled with a small roll of his eyes. “Quinoa?” Will asked with a brief stutter before he coughed and shakily continued. “Do you know where they’re sourcing that from?” “Um— some commune upstate I think. There’s a charming set of brochures about them in the lobby if you’re curious about them,” the earth pony answered. “I was just a little curious, but not that curious,” Will quickly replied shaking a hoof dismissively.  ‘Well he’s not being suspicious at all,’ I thought. “I look forward to seeing what they have.” “Excellent, we’ll go get you checked in at the hotel, then head over.” After Dinner “Why is this stupid card reader so high on the door?” I mumbled as I hovered in the air, plastic card clenched between my teeth as I brought it close enough to the chip reader to unlock the door. As soon as it clicked I hurriedly used a hoof to push down on the handle.  “Guess they don’t get many pony guests,” Will helpfully remarked. “Can’t imagine why not,” I sarcastically remarked, quickly flying into the room and spitting the card out onto the tv stand.  Other than the exotic location and higher quality furnishings it was a generic hotel room, though noticeably smaller than I expected. The two queen sized beds seemed like overkill for two ponies. A small bathroom, desk with office chair, and a dresser with a TV on it. Since the shades were open, everything was bathed in a nice orange glow from the setting sun being reflected by the buildings outside. Flying over to the window, I looked out at the tall buildings surrounding the room.  “Tourist,” Will teased, depositing his bag on one of the beds.  “This tourist gets to be on TV,” I giggled and gave a quick flap of my wings to launch myself onto one of the beds so I could lightly jump up and down.  “And has the big shot taken a look at her messages from her adoring fans yet? I bet there’s a few,” he flippantly remarked as he headed to the bathroom. “Also, you’ve had your phone off for hours now, what if some family tried to get a hold of you?” he asked, before disappearing around the corner.  ‘I hate when he’s right,’ I grimaced and came to a stop to undo the velcro holding my saddlebags on.  Shrugging them off, I dug out my phone and stylus. Seeing that the battery was dead, I dipped back in to grab the charger and went through the awkward task of plugging it in and holding the power button in so the phone would turn back on. ‘It’ll be nice when they come up with phones designed for us,’ I thought irritably and gave my wings a big stretch while waiting for it to boot up. If it wasn’t for my case having a raised button I would never be able to manipulate the tiny power button. There was a brief moment of inactivity punctuated by the sound of flushing from the bathroom before all the notifications came flooding in, my poor phone creating a noise like it was throwing up from multiple different sounds all playing at once. I winced and my ears pinned back.  “Yikes,” I hissed, noticing that I had missed a few calls from family and close friends. Seth had his own grouping of notifications that was going to be fun to go through.  Even with Will’s filtering in place the amount of notifications still getting through made me feel like panicking again. It felt wrong to just ignore so many, I wanted to look through every last one but it was such a daunting amount.  “Still struggling with that?” Will asked, startling me out of staring at the screen and chewing on my stylus.  “Yes,” I admitted. “You mind making it better again?” He sighed. “If you can’t hack it, why don’t you just walk away? Not everyone can deal with being a public figure. Most people will forget about you in a couple days if you don’t keep putting yourself out there.” “I agreed to go on TV, dealing with this kind of thing comes with that,” I replied resolutely with a firm nod. Trying to sound more confident than I actually felt.  “Your droopy ears, lifeless wings, and limp tail make that proclamation sound sort of suspect.” “You’re right,” I snorted, shaking myself out before standing up straight and flaring my wings. “I’ve come too far to be afraid of some social media and my stupid phone!” A loud wolf howl from under me made me leap up almost to the ceiling with a scream. Hovering in place unconsciously I nearly hyperventilated as Will stared at my ringing phone with a small smirk.  “Yep. Totally calm and ready to deal with her fame.” “Shut it,” I snapped and dropped unceremoniously down to the bed, laying down with a bounce that nearly sent my phone flying off. My stylus had, though, so I awkwardly used my upper lip to answer. “Hey Jasper, what’s up?” “It’s about time you answer your phone. What have you been doing?” the other pegasus asked with a demanding tone.  “Battery died,” I answered, glancing at Will who looked a little nervous for some reason. “NBC paid for us to go to this fancy spa and you’ll never guess who it was we saw,” I trailed off into a pregnant pause. “Who?” Jasper asked in her usual dry tone. “THE Starlight Glimmer.” I answered excitedly. “You made a fool out of yourself, didn't you?” She asserted blandly. “I did not!” “Is that stallion still there with you? Can he confirm that?” “Well, Will?” I glared at Will, daring him to lie about me again like he did to my mother earlier.  “Unfortunately no,” Will spoke up and got closer to the phone. “She did not make a fool out of herself.” “I don’t know,” Jasper drawled. “She has been known to make a fool out of herself.” “Oh would you stop with the whole fool thing? Give it up, the joke isn’t working.” “Shame,” Jasper sighed. “I was hoping to get some gossip for Misty.” “You didn’t call me just to pull my tail, did you?” “No— I just had some serious questions about these pictures you posted earlier and I really want to have you tell me all about your day.” “Jasper, you can just ask, I’d love to tell you all about my day.” “Well since I saw it first hand, you two have fun, I’m going to go have a quick jog on the treadmill,” Will excused himself.  “I didn’t chase him off, did I?” Jasper asked, though her tone made it clear that she was not at all concerned if she had.  “No, he just wants to ruin the nice spa treatment we just had by getting sweaty,” I waved off the question even though I did want to go burn off some excess energy. “So the beginning of the day or something more interesting?” “Tell me about the train station. I want to hear about that pale imitation humans made with lights.” Laying still in bed looking out the window at the building across the street, my right ear flicked in annoyance as Will continued a whispered conversation with someone from his bed. It had started a few minutes ago when his phone had woken me up, and now it was keeping me awake .  “No, I haven’t really thought about that for a while,” Will started to say before he was interrupted on the other end and paused. “Yes, your pamphlets made the place look nice but I have a job, and we both know...” He paused again for a longer time. “I’m happy you’re doing well, I really am. But it’s not enticing to me personally when you mention how you’re giving ponies good jobs they can’t get elsewhere.” He paused again listening contemplatively before he made a growling noise deep in his throat. “I told you that’s not my name. You abused my talent to start that town, I know your endgame remember?” Tired of the one-sided conversation, I sat up to turn towards him. Will was laying with the phone resting on his forelegs. He looked like a deer caught in headlights, clearly having thought I was asleep. “Who are you talking to?” I asked in annoyance and glanced at the alarm clock. “It’s almost one.” “It’s um— she’s just an old friend who called,” he answered so fast I barely caught it, scrambling to find his stylus in the dark, and ending the call. “No big deal.” I shifted to lay back down facing his direction and crossed my front legs while staring at him.  “It’s not what you think,” he added evasively. “That you have a marefriend you didn’t tell me about?” “We are not a couple, we were NEVER really a couple.” “Well— explain it to me.” “No,” he retorted quickly and bitterly, his phone going off again and he quickly sent it to voicemail. “It’s not something I’d ever like to talk about. I just want to forget the whole thing.” I frowned and stared at him. He had been on the phone far too long for it to have been nothing.”You really not going to talk about it?” “I’d really prefer not to,” he huffed and rolled away to lay down facing away from me. “Sorry for waking you, good night.” Narrowing my eyes and shuffling my wings in agitation, I briefly considered letting the matter drop before deciding against that. With a quick hop, I jumped over to his bed, and landed as heavily as I could to jostle him.  “Sapphire, what are you doing?” he demanded angrily.  “Well I was thinking that two queen size beds are way too big for two ponies, and that I didn’t really answer your question earlier.” “Whatever, now isn’t the time.” “I’m making it the time.” “Sapphire, I do not have to answer to you and I’m not going to talk right now,” he snapped and made a big show of twisting around to face away from me and bury his head underneath a pillow. “Go to bed. You need to be up and getting ready in like two hours anyway.” I ignored his protests and made myself comfortable next to him. “Earlier I didn’t really answer when you asserted that I had no regrets.” “Go to bed.” “But I did have a regret. Don’t you want to know what it is?”  He turned to look out from under the pillow at me. “What?” “That it didn’t happen sooner.” “That’s not a regret you brainwashed weirdo,” he groaned in disgust. “Why not? Five years sooner and my Grandma and Dad might still be alive. She wouldn’t have been a quadriplegic anymore and while I don’t know if it could have, maybe ETS could have fixed my Dad’s brain damage.” “Sapphire— when I asked that—” he started, leaving his hiding place under the pillow. “I know what you were asking,” I interrupted. “But if I expect you to give up what is obviously an emotional thing you have with that mare on the phone, it’s unfair of me not to give up something personal myself.” “I knew about your family already, you need to work on your guilt trip,” he grumbled halfheartedly with a sigh. “Dunno, seems like it might be working—” I trailed off hopefully. “Worked enough,” he snorted. “Her name is Bountiful Majesty. That restaurant we ate at? They bought from her commune. Ugh, can’t believe how pompous those brochures were,” he trailed off in thought. “She— yes we were close after ETS for a while and she was very good at getting others to follow her. But I wasn’t interested in living the vision life so I left.”  “So why you having long conversations with her late at night?” He groaned before answering. “She heard that I was on TV when you were doing your interview and she wanted to talk. It was nice hearing her voice and— she just has a way of talking that keeps you hanging on every word. And it’s not even her talent.” “Guess that was nice of her to give you a call then, sorry I interrupted.” “No!” he responded far too loudly and shook his head. “Sorry, it was good that you did. I shouldn’t have been talking to her at all. I should just block any number she calls from. She doesn’t just run her commune like the vision, it’s her own cult. She thinks she’s some new pony messiah.” “You were involved in a cult? No way,” I gave off a soft laugh. “Don’t laugh, the transformations had stopped, and with that damned dream bouncing around in my skull everything— it all made sense when she explained it,” he glanced at his cutie mark. “And I helped her get it all before I figured out what she was doing. She used me for my talent to get things going, secure land, lock in investments, coordinate with businesses for supplies,” he admitted shamefully and glanced at his flank. “I could see the way to make it all work and when I was done I was stuck with this damn brand and body.” ‘Well that explains why he has such a problem with being a pony,’ I thought and gently placed a hoof on his withers. “I’m sorry she did that to you.” “Do you get why I didn’t want to talk about it?” he demanded irritably.   “Yes, sorry for forcing it out of you. But if you ever need to deal with her, I’ll tell her off for you,”  I boasted, sitting up and puffing out my chest with a quick flare of my wings.  “Don’t talk to her. Really don’t. She has a way of getting in your head and getting you to dance to her strings.” He said sternly. Before giving a quick laugh and shaking his head.” But thanks for the thought. No sense dragging you into it, so I'll just block her and be done with it, I can handle my own problems.” he gave a reassuring smile. “Well, you know who to call, cause no pony who runs some cute little farm is going to harass my friend,” I answered and flopped onto my side with a yawn. “But right now it’s time to sleep.” “Oh sure, when I say it’s late for a heart to heart but when you say it it’s actually time for bed,” he grumbled. “Shh,” I replied with my eyes closed. “Or I’ll make you tell me more about this old marefriend of yours.” “She wasn’t my marefriend!” The Next Morning Things were a blur after I arrived at the studio. I was not prepared for all the activity going on around me. Intellectually I had known that a TV show was a big production, but seeing it in action was another thing. So many humans and the rare pony were rushing about their business to keep everything running smoothly.  My mane had been lightly styled and they had applied some pony-specific makeup that really accentuated my eyes. Having a human put her hands so close to them had put me on edge, but I liked the effect, so I may need to learn how to do it myself. Bouncing nervously with each step, Mr. Richards escorted me to the doorway leading to the outside plaza.  “Good morning, Mr. Roker,” the earth pony greeted as we reached the human talking to an aide.  “Good morning,” the man returned jovially and nodded to the aide who excused himself.  “Good morning,” I added quickly, feeling awkward and out of place talking to such a well known personality. Mr. Richards chuckled. “This here is Sapphire Sky; Sapphire, this is—” “Mr. Al Roker,” I interrupted trying to sound confident. “I’ve seen you on TV a few times,” I added casually. “Well I have been doing it for a few years now, yes. It’s nice to meet you, I’ve been informed that you’re going to put on a little show for us.” “I hope everypony will enjoy it,” I nodded. “Um, do you happen to remember— it was a few years ago, visiting Upper Michigan?” “I do indeed, it was for the world's largest game of freeze tag,” he answered before kneeling down to whisper. “Don’t tell anyone but I did have to look it up after I heard I was interviewing you.” I made a motion with my hoof to zip my mouth shut. “Secret’s safe with me.” “Since we have a few minutes before crunch time, would you like to join me outside to say hello to some of the audience? Get a feel for the set?” he asked.  “Sure—,” I answered with a nervous gulp.  “You’ll do fine,” Mr. Richards reassuringly said. “Relax and act like you’ve done this before. I’ll go see how Mr. Monte is doing in the green room.” “Thanks,” I replied in a small voice and took a deep breath before following Mr. Roker outside to be buffeted by the crowd that lit up as soon as someone was there to be a target.  Being on this side of the metal fence was a different sort of experience from what I had yesterday. A wall of humans and a surprising amount of ponies all had their eyes on me or the man who would be interviewing me. Pausing briefly as I watched Mr. Roker expertly greet the crowd and begin interacting with them, I took another deep breath, put a smile on my face, and stepped forward to try and match his easy charisma. “Good morning everyone and I hope you’re having a great time so far with us here at the Today Show! I’m Al Roker and this is my guest for the next segment, Ms Sapphire Sky,” the man announced and began walking around the fenced in area to greet the assembled crowd.  “Hello, everypony,” I greeted, trotting over to the group of ponies first and coming to a stop with a small hop. “I guess I get to put on a little show for you all today.”  My smile increased at the seven foals of mixed tribes, three of which looked absolutely adorable holding signs almost as big as themselves in their mouths. I said a lot more greetings as I moved around the border. Since the metal barrier was over my head, I quickly gave up walking to fly high enough to talk to the humans without them looming over me. “Five minute warning,” an aide named Anthony interrupted while checking his clipboard before gesturing to where they had setup a small sprinkler. “Do you need the water on right now?” “Excuse me,” I said to an earth pony I had been talking to so I could go see about preparations. “No, not right now, turn it on when we start the interview though, but like I said earlier I just need enough for it to create a light mist,” I explained, and flew over to double check that the sprinkler was in the right location.  Doing a quick circle around the area I had to operate in, I felt out the current conditions, and guesstimated how much work it was going to be to produce a cloud by myself. It wasn't ideal, but it was doable. I returned to grab the sprinkler in my mouth and move it to a slightly better position. “That’s better.” “Places please, two minutes,” the same aide announced. ‘Already?’ I gulped, but flew over to land on a tall chair next to Mr. Roker’s start position in front of the camera. Shuffling nervously I couldn’t stop myself from folding my wings repeatedly attempting to find the perfect position. “You ready?” Mr. Roker asked, leaning over slightly.  “Maybe,” I answered with a hiss before I gave a quick shake of my head, and sat up straighter. “Yes.” “Ten seconds,” a woman next to the camera man said before starting to count down, finishing the last five seconds using the fingers on her hand.  “Good morning, welcome everyone,” Mr. Roker paused and gestured to me briefly. “And everypony, I’m Al Roker here with my special guest for today, Sapphire Sky.” “Hello,” I added on cue and stretched out my right wing to give a quick wave.  Mr. Roker immediately went into the next scripted portion after a comfortable pause. “Locally and on the internet you’ve made a bit of a splash after your interview yesterday. Before we get to the special demonstration, why don’t you tell us a little about yourself?” “Right, I am the director of ponies for the Michigan Weather Management Program. We work in coordination with human authorities and meteorologists to better manage the weather. Right now we are limited to the Upper Peninsula, but hope to expand statewide in the near future,” I explained, leaving a small pause as I tried to remember what I was supposed to say. “Weather magic and pony magic in general is unfortunately a controversial topic, even though for many it’s now part of our everyday lives.”  “ETS’ legacy, unfortunately most humans first exposure to magic has been negative,” Mr. Roker added. “And because of that, there’s still a long way to go before ponies and humans can truly live in harmony,” I replied, ignoring how many cast the result of ETS as wholly negative. “But, we’ll never get there if ponies and humans don’t work to understand each other.” Mr. Roker picked up on his queue but ad libbed slightly. “Since not many of us get to see it, today you’ll be performing some weather magic for us up close.” “It’s what the sprinkler is for,” I said with a grin.  “Would you like to begin? I think Anthony started the water for you,” Mr. Roker made a big show of shifting in his chair to look off in the distance for the camera.  “It’s started,” the aide answered from the side.  “Guess I’ll get started then,” I remarked and gently flapped my wings several times to lift up off my chair to take off towards the sprinkler, which was doing an excellent job creating a fine mist about four feet above the ground, along with a pretty rainbow from the light refraction.  I made a lazy pass around the area to feel out the air and buy some time to think up what I wanted to say, before I looked at the camera as I started my second pass. “I don’t normally work alone or in this small a scale, but I don’t think the city would appreciate anything bigger,” I joked, beginning to gather the moisture as I made a tighter and faster circle.  “Please shut the sprinkler off,” I instructed and it was done before I had made another circle. I could feel the air was becoming overly saturated and I wasn’t intending to create a rain cloud. “Is this normally how you would do it?” Mr. Roker asked from nearby. “This is the easiest way to do small clouds,” I half answered before I felt the conditions were right, so I gave a final strong flap of my wings and shot around my developing cloud at high speed before shooting up to pause over the center. Letting myself drop down to land on it and compress it the final amount, I gave one last flap of my wings, leaving them spread, tips just touching the surface, and suddenly I was standing on a nicely fluffy white cloud big enough for two pegasi to stand on comfortably. “I heard that Sunrise Storm used this method to create one inside with a couple friends. That was really impressive for first timers,” I finished, smiling for the camera and enjoying the cheers, clapping, and hoofstomps that erupted from the crowd.  “Is it alright to touch it?” Mr. Roker asked, sounding for the first time like he was a little unsure of himself.  “Sure,” I answered and gave the cloud a few pats with my right forehoof. “Well, as much as humans can, of course.” The TV personality reached out and his hand predictably passed through the cloud like the simple water vapor it was. He immediately broke out in laughter and tried to gather some of it in his hands, but it continued to slip through his now damp fingers. “I’ve seen experiments to make clouds before but this—,” he trailed off.  “It’s magic,” I finished for him. “So who wants to give it a feel? Any foals want to feel their first cloud?” I asked and with a few light flaps of my wings started the cloud slowly moving along the barrier fence, allowing the humans to reach out and try to touch it. Some didn’t while others acted like they might be burned, quickly passing their hands through the harmless vapor. I glanced to the side and saw that the cameraman was catching a wide shot of the crowd as I moved along. At this elevation I needed to actively maintain the magic holding the small cloud together or else it would begin to dissipate up into the drier air.  “So,” Mr. Roker began, keeping pace as I moved along the crowd. “Being that I have a small interest in meteorology, are you aware of how your magic works? Does your magic work the same way that we know clouds are formed? Or does the magic work in a completely different way from nature?” “It’s the same way— if science allows us to know how the world works, then magic lets ponies speak its language,” I answered with a phrase that had come to me this morning while going over the script and turned back to five pegasus foals. “Any of you ready to get on?” I asked. Three were bouncing excitedly on the ground while the remaining two were perched on their parents' backs to get a better view.  Steadying the cloud so the group of foals could be assisted up onto it without it accidentally slipping out from under me, I briefly worried about them jumping on it and making it release its water. But none of them seemed to have enough magic to do more than shakily stand on the small cloud. And it didn’t seem to matter, as only two were brave enough to actually try to stand up and move around, while the others were a little younger and happy to just lay down on the comfy condensation.  While one camera never left me and the foals, another was going in for a close up with Mr. Roker. “That is unfortunately all we have time for today,” he started before shifting to my direction. “Thank you stopping by today, Ms Sapphire, we’ll have more details and links to her weather program on our website.”  “Thanks for having me,” I responded with a big smile looking into the camera that he was speaking into.  “I hope everyone out there has a fantastic day. We’re going to bounce you back into the studio for national weather before what’s happening in your local forecast.” “Bye!” I waved at the camera, noticing out of the corner of my eye a couple foals had stopped to do the same.