//------------------------------// // Chapter-4 Cloudsdale // Story: To Touch the Sky // by TankFBI //------------------------------// I awoke to the soft rays of the sun shining down on me from the morning sky, its warmth slowly bringing reality back to me. My dreams that night were as weird as ever, but something was different. That difference remains unknown. I sat up and stretched my increasingly familiar body and rubbed my eyes with my hoofs, careful not to blind myself in the process. I looked around and took in the room one last time, knowing that my time here was coming to an end and my time with Fleetfoot was beginning. While I didn’t necessarily hate the place, it definitely wasn’t fun. But living with Fleetfoot in the city of Cloudsdale seemed as though it would be fun, as long as Cloudsdale wasn’t this world’s equivalent to Detroit or something. As long as Cloudsdale is a decently sized city, I knew I would have no problem blending in and living as normal a life as possible while furthering my own agenda. But, I also knew that things would take a turn for the worst if I didn’t have a plan. I decided that other than trying to get home, I would try and learn as much from this place as I could while I was here; it was an alien civilization, after all. Along with that, I would also need to keep close tabs on Fleetfoot and try to discover her true motive for taking me in. Unless this is a common occurrence, taking in a child on a whim is not something most people would do. But first thing’s first, I should get to know Fleetfoot more personally. The last thing I wanted to do was do something that would cause her to abandon me. After only a few interactions with her, I got a very carefree and laid-back feel. “Hey, there, kiddo!” Fleetfoot announced as she barged into my room unannounced, scaring me half to death. “Oh hey, what are you doing here?” I asked, watching as her smile seemingly expanded with every step closer she took. “I’m here to bust you out of this place!” She exclaimed, arriving at my bedside. “But I haven’t had breakfast yet,” I mentioned, my stomach giving a well-timed rumble. “I know, that’s why I’m going to take you to Cloudsdale for some real food!” At the mention of Cloudsdale, I suddenly remembered what was happening today. My mood quickly brightened at the thought of finally getting out of this bed and being able to see the rest of this world. “That’s the spirit!” She exclaimed, having noticed my shift in attitude. “I already cleared you with the doctors, so we can leave whenever you’re ready.” I quickly told her that I was ready, eager to get out of this prison of a bed. She used her wings and helped me to the ground before she began trotting out into the hallway, myself following closely behind. As I followed her, I took one last look at this place, the colors, the pictures, the peo- ponies. Everything was so similar yet different from what I expected; it was almost forgettable that I was in an alien world at times. It was virtually as if someone just replaced humans with ponies, which really made me question just how far I actually was from home. We passed by Spitfire and Soarin, each giving us a wave and a smile. However, I noticed Spitfire gave Fleetfoot a stern stare, most likely to remind her of the gravity of what she was doing. After making our way into the atrium, we pushed through the glass doors and into the bright outside. I was happy for once to have my eyes fried by the morning sun. We passed through the open area, various ponies already flying by overhead, flying in very tight groups, seemingly going through routines. I stared at one, in particular, the rainbow hair giving away their identity. Rainbow Dash and the other two ponies in the group went through a choreographed routine. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her; the sheer speed at which she was moving couldn’t process in my little mind. It stumped me how she could turn almost ninety degrees so quickly without exploding from the g-forces. With my eyes glued to the sky, I neglected to watch my footing because there was no ground beneath my feet the next thing I knew. “Ahh!” I screamed, my eyes shut for fear of my impending doom. Though nothing happened. My back legs were still on the ground, yet my front legs weren’t, and I felt something pulling on my tail. I hesitantly opened my eyes and saw that I was leaning over a small water moat. Looking behind me showed Fleetfoot smiling with my tail in her mouth. “Sorry, got a little distracted,” I said, embarrassed as I backed up a bit. “Thanks for catching me.” “No problem, kiddo, just remember, I might not be able to save you next time.” The grin on her face told me that she would be the reason I was in the water the next time. I laughed, more nervously than anything. Fleetfoot was an actual wild card, and I didn’t know what to think about that. We soon carried on our way, Fleetfoot leading the way with me watching my steps intently; the last thing I wanted to do was fall… again. We finally reached the edge, and I decided it was a good idea to look over said edge. And lucky for me, today didn’t have many clouds, which gave me a clear view straight to the ground. “You alright, kiddo?” Fleetfoot asked, a little concerned, having watched me quickly back up from the ledge, looking like I was going to throw up. “Uh, yeah, just that we’re a little high off the ground.” I groaned, trying to take my mind off the fact that we were at least a couple hundred feet off the ground. “You’re afraid of heights?” She asked, a bit surprised. I nodded in response, still trying to get my legs to stop shaking. “But you’re a pegasus, why would you- oh….” Realization seemed to dawn on her, “you don’t know how to fly, do you?” She asked sympathetically. “No… I never learned how.” I said, having finally composed myself to some degree. “You never had anypony to teach you how…” she said in a quiet voice, though still loud enough for me to hear. Those words seemed to make her tear up, though I didn’t really see how me not knowing how to fly was so emotional. “Well, I know what we’re going to be doing!” She exclaimed, wiping her eyes and standing up with determination, “but for now, you’ll just have to ride on my back.” I wanted to scream at her for being insane, but I remembered that she was the one flying after all. If I did fall, she would just catch me, but I honestly didn’t think I would survive the trip from the fact that if I even moved a little, I would have a heart attack. “Is there any other way?” I asked, praying for an accessible alternative. “Not really, we could get a balloon up here, but that could take hours, even days if none are available.” “Okay…” I was screaming inside from the sheer insanity of what I was about to do. Still, I had to put some trust in Fleetfoot… with my life… even though I literally just met her a few days ago… “Alrighty then, hop on!” She bent down, splaying her wings out, leaving a nice little resting spot for my small body on her back. I hesitantly put my tiny hoof over her back and pulled myself up with a little nudge from her. I wrapped both my arms and legs around her barrel and neck respectively and moved a little to make sure I was secure. This should be child endangerment, but who knows what goes on here anymore, I thought. “You ready, kiddo?” She asked, flexing her wings preparing to take off. “Y-yes,” I said, swallowing back my fear. Not a second later, I felt the wind blowing across my whole body. It shocked me to the point where I nearly fell off. I grabbed her even more secure than before and buried my face into her mane, not daring to look around for fear of passing out at what I saw. “You alright back there?” “Mhmm,” I said, my voice muffled by the copious amounts of hair currently in my face. The trip seemingly took forever, but I kept myself firmly glued to her the entire trip. The second she arrived, and I felt her land, I slowly looked up and was overjoyed to see the ground or clouds in this case. I slid off her back and kissed the floor, my entire form still shaking from the trip. Though I never looked to see how high up we really were, I was okay with just assuming how high we were and not actually knowing. “Wow, we really got to get on the flight lessons….” Fleetfoot giggled to herself as she watched my display. I was soon back on my hooves and looked up to see a decently sized two-story house… made of cloud. I swear, they make literally everything out of clouds. What, am I going to be eating clouds next? I took a bite out of my cloud as I sat at the dining room table, mulling over the absurdity of edible clouds. Clouds were just like cotton candy except for a very refreshing mouthful of water with every bite rather than a diabetic-inducing amount of sugar. Fleetfoot had just showed me around the place, and it wasn’t half bad. A simple two bedroom two bath home. I was currently at the dining room table next to the entrance and adjacent to the kitchen and living room with the stair in the far corner. I sat there contemplating as the sound of Fleetfoot taking a shower echoed throughout the house. I noticed that when Fleetfoot took me in every room, she seemingly neglected one door at the opposite end of the hallway from my room upstairs. While I could be overthinking things, she really could be a serial killer! I shook my head at that thought and took the last bite of my cloud before hopping off the seat. It still astounded me that nearly everything outside the house was made of clouds. Yet, the inside looked utterly normal other than the occasional wisp of cloud floating around. It seemed a little too normal to me, the parallels between this house and a human house were kind of scary, but I just chalked it up to luck. I pushed open the door to my bedroom and jumped on my bed. If there was one thing, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to live without it’s this bed. It had got to be the single softest, plushiest thing I had ever laid in. I nearly fell asleep after sitting in it for a few seconds when she showed it to me. Heck, I was about… to fall… asleep… ag- “You ready to go?” Fleetfoot asked, peeking into my room. “Wha? Oh yeah, I’m ready,” I said, sadly pulling myself from the grace of the twin-sized mattress. I walked out the door and followed Fleetfoot outside. Fleetfoot told me that she had some errands she needed to run now that I was here, and I guess she didn’t want to leave me by myself. She said something about food, toiletries, and something else… oh well. We were currently in downtown Cloudsdale, about a ten-minute walk from Fleetfoot’s place. Well, the name was very fitting, to say the least. Even when I thought my mind had already been blown, we walked into Cloudsdale city center. To say I was speechless was an understatement. Everything around me broke the laws of physics as I knew it. Not just small buildings floating on clouds, entire SKYSCRAPERS! The entire twenty-thirty-story buildings were floating in the sky, only held up by some clouds. It was utterly absurd, though the layout heavily reminded me of Chicago, though I only visited there a few times. On the way here, though, I noticed a public library only a few blocks away from Fleetfoots house, how convenient, and made a mental note as that place would essentially be my only place to gain knowledge without others knowing. But as we continued on, I tried to remember every detail I could of this place. I had a feeling I was going to be on my own quite often. Not too far past the library, we ate at a local diner on the outskirts of the city center, and boy, oh boy, did they have the best waffles ever! I felt like a kid as I smothered all three of my kid-sized waffles in syrup before eagerly scarfing them down. Well, I was technically a kid... Back to the future, aside from all the stuff around me that would make Einstein cry, we had just left a convenience store and were on our way to our last stop. “Where else are we going?” I asked, not really sure of what’s left to do. “It’s a surprise!” She sang. Even after only knowing Fleetfoot for a few days, I knew this was most likely going to be a ‘surprise,’ much to my dismay. We walked by buildings that got shorter and shorter as we left the city center, but they were still more than a couple stories tall. Each storefront seemingly selling something completely unique. Heck, I even saw a store called Sofas & Quills not once but twice. They must be a chain store, but the shops seemed like quaint mom-and-pop shops more often than not. We stopped in front of a reasonably large four-story red brick building, windows spaced evenly across the entire front wall with a bell tower on top. But the moment I read the title of the building, my heart stopped. ‘Cloudsdale Public Elementry,’ I wanted to scream. How could I, a grown adult, survive in a building with a bunch of kids! Pony kids at that. “Aren’t you excited!” Fleetfoot exclaimed, “You’ll be able to make lots of friends and do other cool stuff!” “I don’t wanna go to school again!” I wined. School was, and still is, one of the worst things I ever had to experience in my life, and now I had to do it again! “Oh, don’t be a drama king; school wasn’t all that bad for me.” “But-” “No buts,” she cut me off, “Spitfire said she’d get on my flank if I didn’t get you into school right away, and you don’t want her on your flank.” Her eyes seemed to grow distant for a second, but she quickly snapped out of it. “FFFFine,” I relented, knowing I wasn’t getting out of this anyway. “That’s the spirit!” She said as we began walking towards the entrance. We walked into the building and into a large hallway the shape of a T and took a quick left into the main office. The sound of soft crying filled my ears, causing me to cringe. It was coming from a kid sitting in the far right corner, but I didn’t pay any mind. We approached the desk just to the left of the door with a receptionist busily doing paperwork, not noticing our approach. “Excuse me?” Fleetfoot asked. The receptionist jumped at our interruption but quickly gathered herself and said, “Oh my, I didn’t hear you come in. My apologies, I’m Cloudy Star; what can I help you with today?” “I’m here to sign the little guy up for school,” Fleetfoot responded, pointing at me. “Oh, that’s wonderful! You’ll love it here, trust me, this is where I attended when I was just a little filly! I’ll just need you to fill out some paperwork, and he’ll be enrolled.” “Sounds good, just show me where to sign,” Fleetfoot answered. The Cloudy Star dug around in her desk for a bit before popping back up with a small stack of papers. Fleetfoot shrunk a little when she saw how many papers there were, but she started, determined to finish it as quickly as possible. I began thinking of all the things I would have to put up with before my train of thought was shattered by the sound of a sobbing child. I looked over and saw a pale yellow pony with sky blue hair sitting in the fetal position on a chair in the corner, dirt all over their one side. I looked away but consistently found myself looking back over. While I couldn’t stand kids, I did have a soft spot for emotions, and the more they cried, the worse I began to feel. I looked back over to Fleetfoot and saw that she was intently scribbling away on the papers and decided to get this kid to stop crying so I wouldn’t feel so bad. “Are you alright?” I asked, walking up to the pony. But all I got in response was another muffled sob as they buried their head deeper into their arms. “You know, someone pushed me once; they thought it would be funny. I didn’t like it, but I didn’t know what else to do about it. But when my mom came home and found me covered in mud, she nearly blew her lid after I told her what had happened. I’ll never forget the look on his face when my mom had a talk with his mom; he knew he was doomed.” I chuckled as I reminisced on the memory. I stopped as I noticed the sobbing had weakened considerably. I looked over to see a pair of pale green eyes staring back at me. “Di- did they ever p-push you again?” A feminine voice asked with shaky breaths. “Oh no, the next day at school, he wouldn’t even get within five feet of me. Never had a problem with him again.” I chuckled. “What’s your name?” I asked, looking back over to them. “S-Sunny Breeze,” she stated softly. “I’m Evan Tokarski,” I responded, which elected a small giggle. “That’s a funny name,” she giggled. I raised an eyebrow at that but realized that every pony I’ve met so far has a name that is an adjective except mine, which doesn’t really mean anything at all. I realized my name may cause me to stand out a bit, but it was far too late to do anything about it. “Yeah, I guess it does sound kind of funny,” I said as I laughed a bit with her as her mood finally brightened. “Whose class are you in? I’ve never seen you before.” “I’m new here.” “Oh, well, I’m in Mr. Mango’s class,” I had to hold back a laugh at that name. Who name’s their kid after a fruit? On second thought, this kid in front of me is named after the wind; names are wack here. We were interrupted as a door opposite us opened, and a white pony stepped out, calling Sunny’s name. “You’re pretty cool; wanna play together sometime?” She asked, hope filling her eyes. “Sure,” I responded. I didn’t have the nerves to reject her as she seemed like the quiet, unpopular type to which I related heavily. I just couldn’t crush her like that without feeling the guilt for the rest of my life, but it did make me feel good when I saw the joy spread across her face when I accepted. “We can play at recess when you come to school!” She eagerly said. Her name was called again, causing her to stop and hop off the seat before walking toward the door, but not before giving me a wave back. I smiled and waved back. Once she entered the room and the door closed, I leaned back. I felt… happy, something I had been lacking as of late. I looked over towards Fleetfoot and saw that the stack of papers in front of her seemed to be bigger than before. How they had so much paperwork just to get me enrolled, I will never know. Fleetfoot looked like she was about to explode with frustration as the receptionist kept adding papers to the stack. I laughed and looked back over toward the door Sunny had disappeared behind and smiled; I had made a friend.