Cloud had no idea of what he had gotten himself into.
Whenever his old comrades and friends had parties, it was typically just a small get together. They would drink, talk about old times, and then leave. It seemed so simple, yet all of his friends had a wonderful time. But Pinkie Pie's Parties...it was like a hurricane.
She had all kinds of things set up, and there was always something going on. In one corner there were a few ponies playing fishing for apples, and in another they were playing pin the tail on the pony. There was a DJ pony with strange sunglasses set up on the wall opposite side of the entrance playing strange electronic music that a large group of ponies were crazily dancing to.
There were tree long tables set up with tons of sweets including cake, cupcakes, and muffins. Pinkie was gorging herself on whatever was in the plate in front of her, and the punch bowl next to her was emptied almost constantly. Cloud cringed a little at the sight of the craziness...All of this was for him, and he felt out of place. He had to muster all of his strength just so he didn't charge right out the door.
At the moment he was standing idly by the door, his arms folded up. He had left his sword outside since he would probably have to maneuver through the almost too crowded house, and the ponies were probably grateful that he did. They seemed more comfortable with him then they had been earlier that day, but he was still a bit alienated from the rest of them.
"Cloud!" Twilight beamed, scampering up to his side, "C'mon! You need to meet some of these ponies!" Cloud had opened his mouth to protest, but seeing how upbeat and happy Twilight was he quickly decided against it. Scratching his spiky blonde head, he followed her across the room. He gave a few nods to some of the ponies he passed and received a few greetings in return. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad?
"Okay!" Twilight grinned widely, walking around Cloud to nudge him forward with her head, "I would like you to meet the owners of Sugarcube corner! Mr. And Mrs. Cake!" Cloud looked down in front of him to see two very different looking ponies. The male pony was skinny with a yellow coat and a massive underbite. The female was plumb with a blue coat and had hair that looked like frosting on a cake.
"P-Please to meet you u-um Cloud." Mr. Cake smiled sheepishly, "This is my wife Mrs. Cake, and we're t-the proud owners of S-Sugarcube Corner!" Cloud winced, basically hearing him repeat what Twilight said.
"Hello." Cloud nodded back, his glowing blue eyes watching them, "Thank you for holding the party here. It's...a nice place." They beamed up at his compliment.
"Thank you." Mrs. Cake giggled lightly, "It's been in my family for generations! Would you like some cake, dear?"
"No thanks. I...don't have much of a sweet tooth." Cloud replied before feeling Twilight begin to tug at his shirt to lead him away. "Uh...Nice meeting you two." The two spouses watched Cloud get tugged away by the purple unicorn with a little laugh.
"Hey..." Mr. Cake said, raising an eyebrow to his wife, "You were lookin' at his flank, weren't you?"
"U-Uh what?! Why would you say that!" Mrs. Cake replied, tearing her eyes off Cloud's form.
"All the mares are talking about him! Sayin' how he's hunky and good-looking for an alien!"
"O-Of course I don't think that! No way!" Mrs. Cake replied nervously, "Um...would you like a muffin, dearest?"
Cloud had been pulled too far away from them to hear their bickering, and before he realized it he had been shoved in front of another group of ponies he did not recognize. It didn't take long for Cloud to realize that most of the ponies were female. There were only a few stallions in the room including Big Mac. Cloud was going to ask Twilight about that before one of the mares starting talking to him.
"Hello there, Cloud." The tan pony greeted, wearing glasses and wispy white hair, "I am the mayor of Ponyville. It's nice to finally meet the one who saved the town!" She chuckled, looking him up and down.
Cloud nodded in reply, feeling a little uncomfortable at how she was looking at him, "I hope I didn't cause too much damage."
"Oh, that's quite alright." She laughed lightly, "I'm just glad everypony was safe, thanks to you."
Cloud opened his mouth to talk, but once again Twilight pulled him away in the middle of conversation. What was with her? It was either that she wanted him to meet all the ponies within a set time, or she was irritated when he was talking with other mares.
"Okay, Twilight." Cloud frowned, pulling his shirt out from her mouth, "You're pushing things a little fast. I'm sure I can meet all the people here by tonight."
"You mean ponies." Twilight frowned, starting to look a little hurt, "And I'm sorry...I guess I'm just a little excited that you seem to actually want to interact with us." Cloud gave a quiet sigh and rubbed the back of his head, not sure what to say. He was trying to take small steps out of his shell, but Twilight was trying to break it open right away.
"Let me go at my own pace, " He said, "And don't worry. I'll talk to you again soon." Twilight looked really happy with his answer and took off, running into the dancing group. It was then Cloud realized he was lost in a sea of ponies. Glancing around, his eyes found the sweets table. He suddenly realized that it hadn't eaten in two days, and his stomach was certainly beating that thought into his head.
As he walked over, to a small plate of cupcakes, Pinkie shot from the other side of the table, her eyes wide and her grin reaching her ears. Cloud had been taken completely by surprise, and if he had his sword she probably wouldn't of had a head.
"Cloud! Are you gonna eat one of my cupcakes?! I made that one myself, and that one myself, and that one myself, and that one myself, and that one myself, and that one myself, and that one myself, and that one myself, and that one myself, and-
"I get it." Cloud grimaced, looking down at the cupcake as he cleared his throat, "You made all the cupcakes.
"Wow!" Pinkie gasped, "How'd you guess?!" Cloud chose to ignore her and picked one with a brilliant bright pink frosting at the top. Before he knew it, a massive crowd gathered around him was staring eagerly at his face, their eyes shining brightly and their smiles huge. Cloud was taken back by the attention, and suddenly he felt an immense pressure on his shoulders.
"Come on, come on, come on!" Pinkie said rapidly, "Eat it eat it eat it eat it eat it eat it eat it eat it eat it eat it eat it eat it eat it eat it eat it EAT IT!!!"
"EAT IT!" The ponies started chanting, their hooves stomping on the ground. The room seemed to start shaking, and Cloud felt like he was marching in Rufus Shinra's army again. Telling himself he could no longer go back, he opened his mouth and took a swift bite of the cupcake. A sugary sweet taste engulfed his tongue, and the ponies went silent as he swallowed. They sat in silence for a few seconds before Cloud looked back at Pinkie.
"It's pretty good."
The room exploded in cheer, and Pinkie began tossing cupcakes into the crowd around him. Each of them snapped their jaws, eating the cupcakes as though they had never eaten something that fantastic before. Cloud sneaked away into a corner, watching the strange madness that he had partially caused. Even people wouldn't be like this. He felt a small nudge on his leg, and he glanced down to see three small fillies holding up a cup of punch to him. He recognized one of them as Sweetie Belle.
He knelt down, taking the punch and nodded to them, "Thanks." He replied.
"You're welcome!" Sweetie Belle giggled, "These are my two friends! Applebloom and Scootaloo!" The orange pegasus suddenly crept up to his face, looking in the eye and squinting hard at his face.
"Hmph!" She sat back down on her haunches, "He's so not cooler than Rainbow Dash!"
"What?!" Applebloom gasped, "What are you saying?! He beat an Ursa Major!"
"Oh yeah?! Well Rainbow Dash can make a sonic rainboom!" Cloud stood back up, not interested in hearing what arguments they were starting to have. Sweetie Belle had soon joined them, and they had began to wrestle amongst themselves on the floor.
"Don't mind them." Applejack chuckled lightly, coming up to his side, "They're just a small bunch of troublemakers." The orange mare adjusted her hat slightly and then looked up to see the human's face, "Now, I admit y'all surprised me. I almost thought that you wouldn't of shown your face here." She chuckled lightly, "You're a big downer, you know that?"
Cloud frowned, "Yeah. I get that a lot."
Applejack chuckled at his remark and watched him take a sip of his punch, "So, blondie...you gonna get out there and dance?" Cloud choked a little, and began thumping his chest with his fist.
"W-What?" He asked, looking down at her, "What do you mean?"
"You know..." The stetson wearing pony smirked, "Dance? Get your groove thing on? You know." Cloud wiped his mouth and shook his head. Cloud Strife...dancing? In Tifa's dreams maybe.
"I don't dance." Cloud stated coldly, crumpling up his empty punch cup.
"Aw, C'mon!" Applejack exclaimed, not phased by his attempt to make her leave, "If you're gonna live in Ponyville for a while, you should at least dance with us!" Some of the other ponies were beginning to listen in on the conversation, and the DJ pony perked up.
"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash smirked, flying up right next to him, "Come on! It'll be fun! You can't possibly dance worse than Twilight!" There was a shout of protest to Dash's remark but it was unheard by the ears of the ponies.
"Dance dance DANCE!" Pinkie laughed, suddenly popping out from behind him, "C'mon Cloudy Pouty!" Cloud felt the ponies tug at his shirt and a few begin to push him from the back. Cloud began to panic internally. Dancing? Something that embarrassing? No way in hell. NO WAY IN HELL.
"Guys!" Twilight shouted, making everypony- and Cloud- freeze.
The purple unicorn cleared her throat, "Listen Everypony...we all want to get to know Cloud, I know...but he wants to progress with us at his own pace...please don't force him to do anything that he wouldn't want to do. We wouldn't want him to lock up on us again, right?" The ponies murmured to themselves, and Cloud felt their mouths release his shirt. He gave Twilight a thankful nod and breathed a big sigh of relief.
"But..." Twilight began, looking back at him, "Cloud, I think its about time you tell us a little about yourself. This is your party after all, and everypony here came here for you." Cloud stiffened, his sigh of relief disappearing. He preferred not to dig into his memories...after all, many of them had been fake at one point. He wasn't proud about what he used to be, and now he was going to talk about it? The music turned down, and all voices were silenced. It was just him and a room full of ponies.
"It's okay, Cloud." Fluttershy's soft, innocent voice called out to him. He knew that she was trying her best to cheer him on, and she was giving him the most gentle smile that he had ever seen. That made him a little weak.
"I..." He started, "What...what do you want to know?" To his surprise, the room didn't erupt into questions. The ponies merely muttered amongst themselves...they had never really thought about asking him questions...and surely Cloud wouldn't tell them everything in one night.
"I have a question!" An overly excited, brightly colored blue (Or was it green?) unicorn asked, a mark of a harp on her flank. She came forward, her eyes showing her eagerness, her great interest obvious. It was a bit startling to Cloud.
"Yes?" He asked, resisting the urge to take a step back.
"Well..." She smiled, "I was wondering what your planet was like. Could you tell us?" Each of the ponies nodded, their curiosity getting to them.
"My planet..." Cloud closed his eyes, the memories flashing before his eyes. His planet...he risked everything for it. He fought for it...His friends died for it...Aerith died for it...The ponies could tell the question hit him hard, but they stayed silent and just watched him. He clenched his fist and opened his eyes.
"My planet...isn't too different from this one." He started, looking to one of the windows. It was dark out, but the streetlamps illuminated the streets.
"There are beautiful grassy plains...," He started, recalling the grasslands outside of the chocobo farm, "And we have hot deserts and deep canyons. Our oceans are blue and pure, and our mountains are tall and filled with snow. So our planets share the same characteristics." He had caught each of the pony's attention. Well, maybe not Rainbow's.
"However..." He cleared his throat, the image of Midgar flashing through his head, "There was one place where the grass didn't grow. The sun never shined there, and the where the planet was horribly scarred. That was the city of Midgar."
"Midgar?" Rainbow blinked, starting to listen, "That's an odd name..."
"Ponyville isn't much better." Cloud replied, quieting the blue pegasus. At least all of the ponies admitted to the fact that Ponyville wasn't the best name ever.
"What was wrong with the city?" Twilight asked, being the most curious, "Cities here are big and wonderful, and they are almost always clean."
"Midgar..." Cloud began, "Was dirty, dark, and cruel. The reason why the planet was scarred...was because the people living there were using the life of the planet as energy." The ponies all gasped, and Twilight furrowed her eyebrow.
"Life...of the planet?" She asked, "What do you mean?" Cloud was a bit confused. All planets were alive. Everything came from the planet, each leaf on a tree and each baby that was born was given life by the planet. Was this planet not like that at all?
"That's...a story for another time." Cloud finished, the ponies giving off depressing sighs, "I don't want to talk about it anymore." With that, the group dispersed, the music came back, and the party had gone off again. Cloud began to rub his temples, his hated past coming back up again.
"Thank you for actually talking." Twilight smiled, approaching Cloud, "You're still a mystery, but at least you're opening up a little." Cloud gave a nod, finding himself a chair and sitting down. Twilight was right beside him, watching the party with him.
"So...Why are you suddenly opening up anyway?" The purple unicorn asked, looking over at him, "Did something happen?"
Cloud thought for a second, making the slightest smirk, "Let's just say...it was the gift of the goddess."
"What?"
"Nevermind."
Author's Note:
Yeah...not too proud of that chapter. But don't worry, I'll have things going again. So what do you suppose was the urgent thing Luna told him in the last chapter?! Find out next time in FINAL FANTASY VII: DARKNESS IN EQUESTRIA!
P.S. I'm beginning to play Final Fantasy X. And I can't figure out why Square Enix decided to name one of its characters after a pac-man noise.