//------------------------------//
// Bird brain 
// Story: Not Here 
// by ulcuran 
//------------------------------//

‘’Hey, Moonlight?’’ She is still hugging me it’s been like five minutes is she not going to let go? Well at least, she stopped crying.

‘’Yeah?’’ She responds but doesn’t let go. 

‘’Wanna, uh, let go?’’ I said hoping that she would break the hug.

‘’Hmm, no.’’ 

‘’What do you mean no?’’ 

‘’Don’t wanna, I’m going to hug your injuries away! and you’re mane is sooo soft.’’ She says while burying herself deeper in my neck.

It seems like her cheery attitude is back so that’s nice. Wait, my man-... hair, is soft? Wow, I don’t… I don’t even know what to say to that. 

‘’Wha- Moonlight come on let go!’’ 

‘’No! Please, one more minute!’’ She whines like a kid not wanting to get up for school. 

‘’I-you… fine. One minute! Okay? Just one!’’ 

‘’Yes, yes only one more! I promise!’’ 

After five more minutes, she finally let go and I could breathe again. She steps back looks over at me and smiles. 

‘’That was not one minute.’’ 

‘’You didn’t say anything so I didn’t notice it.’’ She shows a mischievous smile and sticks out her tongue.

‘’Uh-huh, I’m sure you didn’t.’’ Sighing I get out the bed stretching all my limbs. 

‘’Oh! I forgot! What’s your name you know mine but I still don’t know yours!’’ Right, I didn’t tell her my name. 

‘’Laika.’’ I extend my hand. 

‘’Moonlight Sweeper but you already knew that.’’ She takes my hand with her hoof and shakes it up and down repeatedly. 

‘’Let’s become the bestest of friends!’’ Wow that is one strong grip, is she built like a tank? With her throwing me out of the bed with just jumping on it, that seems like the case.

‘’Ohhh, we are going to have so much fun today! We can play games, read books and and annnd we can even eat more delicious pancakes!’’ She starts circling around the room while listing other things we can do but I don’t understand most of it. 

She is not going to stop, is she? Shaking my head I decide to cut her off or I would be stuck here and probably take root in the floor. 

‘’Moonlight?’’ 

‘’There is this one game where you buy places and become rich by taking other players' money,’’ 

‘’Moonlight.’’ 

‘’one time I took the last of my sister's money in the game and she didn’t talk to me for the whole day!’ 

Yeah, she not hearing me, and wait isn’t the game she is describing fucking  Monopoly? 

‘’MOONLIGHT!’’ 

‘’Ahhh!’’ My voice breaks her out of her trance, and she jumps back a little, finally I got her attention. 

‘’Oh, sorry…’’ she finally notices and looks quite embarrassed, covering her face with one of her hooves. 

‘’It’s… fine. Look I would uhh love to do all that with you but don’t you have like more important work?’’ Please don’t say that Celestia didn’t make your work be glued to me please don’t. 

‘’Pfft, don’t worry about that my work changed just about this morning!’’ Oh god no. 

‘’H-how did it change?’’ 

‘’The head maid, she kinda scares me sometimes, gathered all of us and then said that she needed a volunteer for Princess Celestia’s new guest, weelll most of the maids were kinda scared of you-’’

‘’The maids are scared of me?’’ Huh, did I do something to scare them? …okay, maybe smashing through the mosaic window of the throne room and then kicking a guard may make me look a little uhhh, bad? 

‘’Yeah, almost all of them, not everyone was there like me but the ones that were there told the others what happened so no one wanted to volunteer.’’ 

‘’Sooo, I’m guessing you volunteered?’’ 

‘’Yep! That I did! Some of the maids were really surprised even the head maid herself could not say anything!’’ She nods quite proud of herself, look at you, brave little pony maid you. 

‘’So why did you volunteer then?’’ 

‘’Well, I told you earlier didn’t I? I wanted to talk with you or even be friends!’’ Hmm, sureee. 

‘’But then, why were you so scared earlier when you dropped the pancakes?’’ 

Oh, she’s covering her face again how many times can one pony get embarrassed? 

‘’Ehehe about that… Well, the other maids kinda talked a lot and sent me like it was the last time we would be talking so it kinda got to my head, heh. I’m glad you are not like that though!’’ She beams up again a smile on her face from ear to ear.

So she thought that I was going to do something bad when she dropped the tray? Heh, let’s mess with her a little, a little payback would be nice. 

‘’Who said that I was not like that?’’ 

‘’W-w-what?’’ The smile instantly drops from her face replaced with pure dread. Yep, she bought it. 

‘’You thought that you would go unpunished when you hurt me earlier?’’ 

‘’Bu-but you said you we-were not mad!’’ Oh god, she is on the verge of breaking down okay let’s not push her much further I don’t need her to cry again. 

‘’A-are you laughing?!’’ Not able to continue any longer and not wanting her to cry again, I laugh. 

‘’Oh, you should have seen your fac- ow!’’ She starts punching me on the shoulder. 

‘’You… You big meanie! I thought you were going to do something bad for real!’’ 

‘’Ow! Hahaha! Stop, ow!’’ 

‘’No! Say you’re sorry!’’ She continues hitting me. 

‘’Okay, okay, I’m sorry but it was too funny! Consider it payback for you launching me across the room earlier.’’ I wipe a few tears forming in the corners of my eyes, whew, I needed a laugh like that. 

‘’Not accepted!’’ She pouts and turns her back to me. 

‘’Wha- what do you mean not accepted?’’ 

‘’Hmn!’’ 

‘’Moonlight?’’ When I try to get to her right side she turns to the left and pouts even more. 

Sighing, I turn back and head to the balcony. Maybe this will make her forget. 

‘’It’s too bad that I will have to watch the city alone from the balcony, oh woe is me, if only there were someone who liked watchi-’’

‘’You’re forgiven.’’ In the blink of an eye she is beside me walking to the balcony, wow that really worked. 

‘’That was quick.’’ 

‘’I never looked it through this room, it’s my first time here!’’ She says with her excitement becoming more and more apparent the closer we get to the balcony. 

‘’Woah,’’ Woah, indeed the city looked beautiful at night but even at this time it hadn’t lost its beauty. 

‘’Yeah, my first time seeing it this close.’’ 

‘’Hmmnn, wait, first time?’’ While looking at the town she stops and turns to me. 

‘’I mean I did see it from a distance from the balloon, but I couldn’t get a good look at it.’’ I could not be bothered with sight-seeing while I was fighting for my life there. 

‘’Ohhhhh, that reminds me! Tell me about the balloon!’’ 

‘’Uh, what do you want to know?’’ What the hell should I even tell her, I mean there isn’t much but I for sure am not going to tell her that I stole it. 

‘’How was it when you were in it? I have never been on a balloon before.’’ She asks, huh, that I can answer. 

‘’It was… it was fun I guess? Looking at the city from far away was nice, well until a gust of wind came from nowhere!’’ Let’s make this a little bit more fun story for her. 

‘’No way! And then what happened?’’ She gasps and asks with genuine wonder. Smiling I make motions with my hands to add to the story. 

‘’I was lying down on the basket when the winds came knocking me around, but with how extraordinary I am I quickly gathered myself and tried to wrestle the balloon to be steady.’’

‘’Were you able to, were you able to?!’’ She was now fully engrossed in it. I felt a smile form on my face. 

‘’The beast proved to be a challenge, it didn’t give up but I didn't either! Looking up I was face to face with one of the grand windows of the castle, seeing no other option I braced for impact.’’ 

‘’And then you crashed!’’ 

‘’Yes, quite violently, most of these bandages are from that except for the… anyway, I got tossed around the basket like I was stuck in a washing machine… all I heard was the glass shattering and the screams followed up by it which probably included yours.’’ 

‘’It did! I screamed, like a lot.’’ 

‘’I thought I squashed a chicken turns out it was you.’’ Actually, the screams were secondary I was trying not to fall unconscious. 

‘’Hey! I don’t scream like a chicken!’’ She lightly hits me again while I’m chuckling. 

‘’Of course, you don’t.’’ 

‘’I don’t!’’ Ignoring her strikes I continue, and she stops when I start talking again.

‘’After getting brutally thrown around the basket it finally stops and I realize that I am still alive so I crawl out of whatever mess I created, and you know the rest.’’  

‘’Wha- no I don’t! I don’t know about you falling from the infirmary window so tell me about that!’’ 

‘’Maybe later.’’ 

‘’Pleaseeeee.’’ She is begging right now with her hands joined together like a kid begging for sweets. 

‘’There really isn’t much to tell though, I thought that it was the ground floor so I jumped out of it, turns out it wasn’t.’’ 

‘’But why would you jump out of it?’’ 

‘’To get away from the princess.’’ I don’t like where this is going. 

‘’Why would you want to get away from the princess?’’ 

‘’Because I thought tha-...’’ I cut myself short, I don’t want to or should answer these questions, why was she asking these ones too? Was she told to ask them? Or does she genuinely just ask out of simple curiosity, hmmm. 

‘’You thought?’’ She asks with a curious tone, or is it?

‘’Nothing, let’s stop with the questions I want to enjoy the view.’’ 

‘’But-’’ She tries to protest but.

‘’I said let’s stop with the questions.’’ My firm tone makes her back away and the conversation is cut short… dammit I liked talking to her, why did she have to ask those pesky questions. 

We watched the city together in silence for about ten minutes, but it looked like she was going to talk again and probably couldn’t handle the silence. 

‘’I’m sorry.’’ Why is she apologizing? Does she think I’m angry?

‘’Don’t be, I don’t want to talk about it now okay? Maybe later but not now.’’ I take a deep breath and turn to look at her.

‘’Okay…’’ She replies as quietly as a mouse, she looks so downtrodden… I don’t like that, a smile suits her better, let’s get it back shall we? 

‘’Oh, look at that, I wonder what happened there.’’ I look right in front and see the still half-broken remains of the window. 

‘’It’s like a horrible storm hit the castle.’’ I say while glancing at her her face slowly goes from a confused one to a wry smile. 

‘’Or a huge bird hit it.’’ 

‘’Wow, what a bird-brain he was.’’ 

‘’Yeah, I think so too.’’ There we go! She is laughing again, great job Brain, I will protect you from the stomach if he ever threatens you again don’t worry about it! Thanks. 

Shaking my head, I see that Moonlight has gained back her energy and now is looking at everywhere sometimes when making ‘’ooo’s and aaahhh’s’’ so mission accomplished. 

‘’Hey, Laika.’’ 

‘’...’’ 

‘’Laika!’’  

‘’Wha-! Yes, that’s my name…’’ Fuck, right that’s my name right now for the foreseeable future should get used to it.

‘’So, uh, don’t want to seem too inquisitive but umm, what is your cutie mark?’’ What. What the hell is a cutie mark? 

‘’Uhmm, what is a cutie mark?’’ Should I have even asked that, if it’s something an elementary school kid knows then I might be boned. 

‘’You don’t know what a cutie mark is?’’ Crap, her tone makes it clear that it is something everyone knows I might have shot myself in the foot. 

‘’Is it something I should know?’’ 

‘’Well duh! It is probably the most important thing in a pony's life!’’ She seems, no is really surprised about how one cannot know something as important as this, uhhh, let’s try the homeschooled card. 

‘’My parents were a lot…different then usual ponies.’’ 

‘’Hmm, really?’’ 

‘’Yeah, they kinda didn’t want me to go to school and I was homeschooled all my life and they didn’t teach me anything about ‘cutie marks’, and we lived in a real remote part of the country, like we lived in the woods with just me and my parents.’’ Nah, I rarely saw the forest back in my home, lived quite deep inside the city.

‘’Oh yeah, that would explain it, still weird they didn’t teach you anything about them.’’ 

‘’Hey, don’t ask me I don’t know why.’’ I shrug my shoulders and hope that she drops the topic. 

‘’Okay well let me become your teacher then!’’ 

‘’Would you? That would be quite convenient, please do explain them’’ I say with a hopeful smile.

She pretends to wear glasses and points at a non-existent class board. 

‘’The cutie marks are obtained when ponies discover a unique characteristic that sets themselves apart from others, such as I, look!’’ 

What is she doing? Oh god, she is pulling the skirt of the dres- what is that? 

‘’This is my cutie mark! You probably saw the other ones too.’’ 

Huh, so those were cutie marks I thought they were tattoos, so Luna has a moon cutie mark? Curious. 

And Moonlight has a cutie mark of a bell? What, does it symbolize service so she became a maid? Really weird thing this cutie mark.

‘’D-don't stare…’’ She lets go of the dress and her flank is covered in fabric again.

‘’What? Oh! I’m sorry, didn’t mean to.’’ 

She coughs, embarrassed, and continues explaining what it is. After about ten to twenty minutes she is done. 

‘’Any questions dear students?’’ 

‘’No, you explained it pretty well.’’ Her chest puffs up in pride.

‘’Thank you, so what is your cutie mark? I can’t see it because of the bandages.’’ I don’t remember seeing a magical tattoo on my ass if I did have one I would have seen it right? 

‘’You’ll see it when the bandages are gone.’’ 

‘’What?! Come on tell meee, I expect payment for my lesson so tell me.’’ 

‘’Nah, you’ll see them in due time.’’ 

‘’Whyyy??’’ She asks in annoyance.

‘’Makes me seem more mysterious.’’ 

‘’Fine, keep your mysterious mark, I’ll see it anyhow.’’ 

She moves closer to the railing and looks out to the city again. 

‘’Oh, oh I can see where my parents live!’’ She is now leaning from the railing a little… it should be fine right? Celestia did put up a barrier so it should be fine… wait didn’t Luna break it yesterday?! 

‘’Moonlight get bac- MOONLIGHT!’’ Her grip slips and she is about to fall, not having a moment to think I throw myself at her and try to drag her back up, I won’t let her die, not here… I managed to throw Moonlight back, ah...my foot slipped. 

‘’LAIKAAAA!’’ All I hear through the wind is her scream of terror. 

Ha, she really does scream like a chicken. 

Moonlight's face gets smaller and smaller and the ground is getting closer and closer, seems like this is it. Wasn’t even me that jumped, well such is life. 

Just as I was about to the ground everything went black… am I dead? Is this the afterlife? Just utter blackness? I hear a faint noise though, Is that someone talking? It’s barely loud enough for me to make out some words but I can hear. 

‘’We a-e s-rry, ple- f-org-ve us!’’