<> Day 7 <>
"…with a thousand lies and a good disguise, hit 'em right between the eyes, hit 'em right between the eyes. When you walk away…~" I sang as I rested myself on a good-sized chunk of cloud. Using my cloud-retention magic, I had set up a base of operations on said cloud, setting up my laptop and plugging the charger into a charged section. Amazingly, electronics can run on the dormant lightning in any viable cloud. Weather pony abilities are amazing!
I had arrived in our country's grand capitol at twelve-thirty in the afternoon, stark hungry. It took me about half an hour to condense the rising fog into a proper platform, which I had anchored directly above the Washington monument. All the while, my stomach gave out a low grumbling in response to being very low on sustenance.
After another such growl, immediately following finishing my base camp, I sighed in frustration. If you so insist, you raucous internal organ… With my high vantage point and pinpoint vision, I spotted what looked like a Quiznos adjacent to the US Trade Representative building, not even a mile away from me.
In anticipation of sinking my equine teeth into a roasted sandwich, I licked my lips, slid a makeshift money pouch around my neck, and dove from my perch. In less than a minute, I hovered to a landing in front of the restaurant.
Upon entering the building, however, self-awareness pounded against me. Every eye was on my rainbow-maned head, whatever noise there was dying to a whisper. I hated being the center of attention. It made me feel even smaller than I was, and at the moment, I was barely topping two feet.
Don't worry about them… I told myself. Just get some food and get out. Trying to hold my head high and ignore the collective gaze, I trotted up to the counter. It was easier in New York, where people would just glance and shrug. But here, everyone was more aware of the strange and abnormal, they continued to look on. I guess it would come naturally to a city that faces an average one or two terror threats a day.
My hooves echoed with cringing volume, only abating when I had to hover in the air to keep my head above the counter. To my surprise, the cashier didn't even bat her eyes at the pastel-colored pegasus floating across from her.
"Welcome to Quiznos, can I take your order?" Her calm demeanor made the unwanted attention I had gained much less harsh.
A friendly face can make any stressful environment more positive.
I gave her a friendly smile. "Sure, I'll have the…" I began, but frowned as I looked at the menu. Had I been human, the choice would have been simple: turkey, lettuce, provolone on Italian, no mayo. However, I had no knowledge of what tasted good to a pony aside from no meat, no tomatoes, and no mustard. "…um…"
The cashier smiled at me when I looked her with a hopeless expression. "Hey, Eddy," she shouted into the kitchen. "Lettuce and diced onions on garlic herb, no sauce!"
"Pony Special, coming up!" came the reply.
Behind the counter, the cashier chuckled at my perplexed face. "We had two other pony customers yesterday, one at lunch, one at dinner," she explained. "Rumor around our national locations is that the 'Pony Special' is what they like best."
"Oh… thanks for the help," I said. "I still have no idea what tastes good or bad."
The cook, Eddy, wrapped my sandwich and placed the tray on the counter, giving me a friendly smile. Carla, the cashier, led me to an isolated table where the other patrons wouldn't bother me. I fumbled with the pouch around my neck, producing the cash needed for the meal.
She took the money in hand and set a cup of water on my table. "Just call if you need anything, hon."
"Thanks," I said. With my muzzle, I nosed open the wrappings. Yet, instead of the expected footlong, what was concealed in the folds made my eyebrows defy the laws of gravity.
In truth, I was half right… literally. Half of the contents composed a neatly constructed six-inch sandwich of garlic herb bread and it's respective fillings. On the other half was a pile of wedge shaped pieces, seemingly fried, made up of a multitude of fibrous strands, almost like someone dumped a bunch of grass in a deep-fryer.
For obvious dietary differences, Equestrian cuisine would evolve on par with the equine tastes, including grassy plants such as hay or flowers.
Within the depths of my subconscious, Rainbow Dash was emitting waves of excitement, which I immediately shared with her. Hay fries! Rainbow Dash's favorite! Only slightly off-put by the fact that I knew the pony's culinary preferences, I happily dug into the crispy lengths. In that moment, Quiznos soared above all other restaurants.
Oh dear sweet Celestia how I've missed you! my mind exclaimed in a fit of delectable bliss. So good… almost as good as Pinkie Pie's hay fries!
I paused in my gorging. Wait, how could I miss the taste of something I've never eaten before? On top of that, how do I know how Pinkie Pie makes them?!
Abruptly, the ambient enthusiasm within my subconscious faded, replaced by dread and regret. I frowned, staring at the lone sandwich on the wrappings. She was slipping, I realized. Rainbow Dash, despite her efforts, couldn't hold back the inevitable merge of her and I. Whether or not her fear of losing part of herself, or overriding my own creativity, was valid, it was becoming a very real worry. My wings drooped with a quiet sigh as I began on my sandwich, with much less enthusiasm than I had with the hay fries.
Some may argue that I could try to resist, to aid Rainbow Dash in her fight to keep the two of us separate. I would tell them that it's impossible. My mind is an open one, without any stops or barriers, and unbelievably complex. To combat the merge, I would have to narrow down which parts of my mind and personality Rainbow Dash is fusing with, then maintain a mental barrier for that point. On top of that, keep track of the point in the ever-changing enigma of my mind.
And for someone who considers holding a coherent thought for more than two minutes a personal record, this is a challenge. As a result, the most I can do is try to act like me as opposed to Rainbow Dash.
Which is harder than it seems, given her and I share a lot of commonalities. For one, we both love flying, and have an in-depth knowledge of aviation and aerodynamics. From what I learned from the show and the ambient memories in my head, we both have stage fright, and dislike being in front of crowds. The greatest thing we shared, however, was our loyalty. Even before becoming a Brony myself, my most valued phrase followed the virtue.
The greatest thing you can give a person is friendship. The greatest thing you can give a friend is loyalty.
With a gulp, the last of my sandwich disappeared down my throat. Garlic herb, a bread I usually didn't prefer, complemented the onions and lettuce. I flew the refuse over to the trash and flapped out the door, thanking Carla on the way out.
As soon as I began to accelerate, I immediately regretted it, gripping my abdomen. Ugh… note to self: never fly on a full stomach ever again. Taking more care with to smoothen out my flight, I slowly made my way to my lofty base camp. Now that I think about it, I probably shouldn't have put it a hundred meters above a conspicuous white obelisk. National security and all that malarkey. For all they know, I could have a bomb ready to deploy on the monument from there.
With a few more steady flaps, I was able to reach my cloudstuff platform without too much trouble from my gastrointestinal tract. However, upon landing, I heard a low rumbling noise, including a queasy feeling in my-
"BUUUURRRRAAAAAAP!" Oh. Huh. I suddenly felt much better.
With a contented smile, and my stomach feeling much less bloated, I turned to my laptop to announce my tour to the world of Facebook…
I stopped cold. What the schist?! Lying on the cloud next to my stuff, snoring softly, was another pegasus. The mare had a candy-pink coat, the same color as Fluttershy's mane. Her own mane was a nut-brown, long and unkempt, matted down by flight goggles. On her flank was a white cloud with an electric yellow lightning bolt.
Eyes wide, I gaped at the napping mare. Another pony…