//------------------------------//
// 2-1: Understanding. 
// Story: New beginnings 
// by Elementum77 
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Episode 2






A warmth slowly began to fill the room replacing the cold air that had crept in last night when Spitfire had opened the window. I squinted through the beam of sunlight in my eyes, I was not used to seeing the sun, of all things. When I awoke normally it would be the grey wall of my apartment, but this was a welcome change. 

As I had started to pull myself up from under the quilt, I rubbed my eyes, memories of what had transpired last night slowly came creeping back. I looked over to Spitfire who was now cocooned in the quilt. Still bemused as to as why our walk had ended so abruptly I dedicated a moment to contemplate it but fell short of any reasonable conclusion. What really puzzled me was what time it was, I was use to being awoken by my alarm every morning at six am sharp, though admittedly I would not get out of bed until at least seven. I glanced over at the bedside table next to Spitfire, the only thing that adorned it was a picture with Spitfire Soarin and Fleetfoot on what seemed to be some sort of beach. I could not find a clock anywhere in the room but I felt it was safe to say it must still be early due to how low the sun was in the sky.

I climbed out of bed making sure not to cause too much noise I was not yet entirely sure how thick the floors and walls were, so waking up Spitfire as well as any other pony at this hour would just be rude. Letting out an exasperated yawn. Then moving on to a full body stretch, I started by carefully stretching my legs one by one, four fetlocks cracked, then I followed by flexing my haunches. My back and chest followed, everything was disproportionate to how I remembered but somehow it just seemed natural once again I marvelled at how i could use this body with such ease and grace I even felt my wings twitch subtly, maybe I could use them after all.

glanced over at the window. I could not but feel important as I stared over Cloudsdale, the fog that had shrouded the cloud metropolis had dispersed and I was fairly high up looking down over the majority of it thanks to my vantage point. As captivated by the view as I was I know that now was not the time to take in the scenery but instead I turned my attention to the more pressing matter that had been the main topic of the conversation the prior night. How was I going to get back to my world? First off I would need to find out how I got here and go from there. Now I am aware that magic exists thanks to the demonstration with the food yesterday, and the technology here did not seem very advanced so I felt it safe to assume that magic probably had some participation in my trip.

“You’re up early” Bringing my self back to reality I turned my head to Spitfire, who amusingly did not seem to be a morning pony at least when it came to appearance. Her Mane a mess and her coat equally mussed from sleeping.

“Honestly I don’t normally get up this early but I don’t normally sleep that well, what’s the bed made  of anyways?” It was true that I had slept comfortably, considerably more than I was use to on my hard mattress I had grown accustomed too.

“The same as all the beds in Cloudsdale I think, ‘Soften cloud’ I think is the actual name” I stared at her puzzled not sure if that was just a brand name or it was some sort of altered cloud. 

“Sorry if this sounds a little stupid, but are you insinuating there are different types of clouds?” As far as I knew the only type of cloud was the wet kind, but from personal experience I knew this not to be true here. 

“Well of course.... ah..” Spitfire’s face had changed from confusion to annoyance and to emphasis it she brought her hoof to her face and hit it slightly.

“What’s wrong?” I made my way over to the bed and climbed up it once more, this time simply sitting on it staring down at Spitfire who had yet to even sit up. 

“I am interested, what else here has left you stumped since coming here?” I thought for a moment and honestly almost everything had to this point.

“To tell you the truth everything; Food, pony's that can not only talk but can fly and apparently do magic and magic being something in it self, liquid rainbows, apparent variations in types of cloud I think that about covers it up to this point” Now that I had listed them off I could see the issue that Spitfire had fount.

“ugh, ok so what types of cloud did you have?” I was unsure if Spitfire had noticed she said ‘did’ as if she knew I planned to stay.

“The wet kind the kind that if you touched your hand would go straight through and come out moist, there was no walking on them and there was certainly no variations... Unless you count thunderstorms, snow and other various weather that derived from them” Spitfire’s face seemed to fall deeper into annoyance.

“Great..ok and what about magic?”

“There is none in fact the very concept of it belongs to fantasy storeys and myths, though no one believes them and others explain that it’s just the result of hallucinations and anomalies that can be explained through science.” I was one to go with the explanation through science and this was something I prided my self on. 

“No magic? But how do you change between day and night.. “ The fact she had just woken up and had realised the task she had brought about on her self when she asked me for the truth, had obviously built up in annoyance as she coverd her head with the quilt and let out an annoyed groan, something that I was more or less doing on the inside now that I realized that I truly did know nothing about this world. Removing the sheets from her head Spitfire stared at me as if she had already given up hope.

“Well I guess that since you're the only one that knows about me, then you’re responsible for me now” I could not help but laugh at the remark and after a moment neither could she.

“I guess so..” 

I moved out of the way giving Spitfire more room to move as she pulled her self up and out of the bed walking over to what I assumed was the bathroom. Curiously Looking over to the open room I was surprised at how bare it was. Inside the bathroom was a normal looking toilet; a plain white sink with a single nozzle at the center; a mirror that had a gold frame and seemed to just stick to the wall and at the end a small vertical line going across the ground. Spitfire closed the door leaving me to question the quality of the bathroom but I decided to leave any more questions until I had access to it my self.

Instead I turned my head to the wardrobes that lined the back wall of the room. As I had previously noted ponies don’t seem to wear much in the way of clothing, accessories 
like hats and such sure but in terms of actual clothing it seemed our coats were the only thing we had. So why did Spitfire have not one but three wardrobes? I jumped off the bed and walked over to the first wardrobe making sure not to cause too much noise as might Spitfire of heard me and thinks I am looking through her things... which essentially I was.

Upon opening the first wardrobe I was taken back. Inside were various formal garments many seemed to be lined with diamonds and gems while others simply looked sleek and fine. Feeling I should not be looking anymore I quickly closed the wardrobe and moved over to the second. I assumed that surely all three could not be the same; I was right, in the second wardrobe there was only Wonderbolt costumes, some had different markings on them probably for different events and causes though still just costumes nevertheless. Moving on to the third was my interest peaked, if the first one was formal wear and the second one costumes essentially work wear, what was in the third? 

As I moved to open the door I heard another door behind me beginning to open, I immediately pulled back and leaped on to the bed. Spitfire walked out. Her mane was now back to it’s former glory and her coat refined. I stared at her blankly trying to hide any indication of what I was doing moments ago. 

“Do you need to do anything?” Spitfire looked at me bemused obviously questioning in her mind my empty expression. A moment passed before it finally clicked in my head, with a nod I jumped down and walked in to the bathroom closing the door.

Now inside I could see the finer details on the various things in the room. Everything seemed to have a colorless sun insignia on it, probably the brand symbol for who ever manufactures them. Looking in the mirror I noticed how much of a mess my mane was, though really this was the first time I have had a chance to truly look at it in an analytical perceptive. My face was simple looking nothing odd or strange; I had lime green eyes; my hair turned mane was short and brown but somehow managed to still look a mess. Now however I had certain needs to attend to, though worried at first I figured out how to use everything without it resulting in too much of a mess  After finding that my limbs were no longer required for these functions I turned my attention to my mane, combing it down with my hooves alone into something I thought was marginally presentable, I turned on the tap and made a cupping motion with my hooves; water quickly falling from them I brought them up quickly to wet my face. Shaking off the water I took 
one final look at my self, happy with my appearance I made my way out the room.

Morning preparations out the way I felt my self ready for the day ahead, the first full day of being here. Spitfire seemed to be in another daze something it seemed we both did often.

“So what now? it’s still early” I waved my hoof in her face bringing focus her back to the room.

“True though it’s your fault were up so early. Really your on the job twenty four seven, so how about we go get some breakfast, and by we I mean you” it dawned on me that she was right I just hoped that fact was not abused, I didn’t really want to be doing things in the middle of the night. I followed Spitfire out the room; through some more maze like corridors eventually we came to the entrance which unsurprisingly was deserted. Taking one final look back to see if I had forgotten something, we made our way down the cloud formed street and in to what seemed to be more of a town like area.







Gdoc: Link
Proof-read by: FourFire