//------------------------------// // Please Direct All Questions To My Future Publicist // Story: Blossoming: Learning How To Fly // by nanashi_jones //------------------------------// Like I mentioned earlier, my parents are journalists. Since I was interested in their jobs when I was young, I grew up in the field and had a sort-of idea of what happened at disaster sites, crime scenes and the like. Well, there’s knowing and then there’s experiencing and the experience was way, way, way more exhausting. I now totally get how cops sometimes look like they wanna punch a dude when the camera fires up. I was fine, if tense, when the EMT patched me together asking weird questions about my anatomy. I was agreeable and understanding as I answered on-the-scene police officer questions. I was patient as Jess and I explained where our stuff was back in Tulsa and how best to get it delivered to our hotel room (graciously provided by the parade’s organizers who wanted to show outreach in “our time of need.”). I only started to crack halfway into the local news interviews. “Well, I dunno,” I said to a smiling man with an unnatural tan and a fat mic in my face, who had asked how I’d figured out to keep Carter talking. “I mean, it wasn’t like my floopnardle was going off or anything.” That got a blink. “Floopnardle?” the smiling guy said. “Yeah. Floopnardle. All pegasi have ‘em. Y’see it’s near the back and when we get really great ideas our tails raise up and-” “What she’s trying to say,” Jess butted in. “Is she’s tired. We all are. Sorry we can’t answer any more of your questions.” “Just one more-!” “Thank you,” Jess said, giving the errant voice an evil eye. At this point, the police started moving the press away. “What was that?” Jess asked. “You told me you could handle the press.” “Too much talking,” I said. “Brain tired. Want away.” “I’ll get us a ride,” Rhea said, leaving my side for the first time since this began. While Rhea hadn’t said much, from what she told the police and news teams, it appeared I’d gotten the picture of what happened to her pretty much spot on. She’d turned into Night Shade Rhythm three days ago and spent the first day pretty much freaking out and not answering her phone. By the second day, she and Night Shade had something of a mental repertoire going and after some discussion, they opted to go for New York. Rhea packed as best she could. Night Shade helped a bit with horn magic, but Rhea was skittish at the notion of screwing up and making whatever she held in her magical grip blow up. So it was slow going. The going was so slow that they only hit the road just as night fell and made the bus stop well into dark. They passed the time waiting for the late bus by getting to know one another. Until Carter rolled up, aimed a gun at their collective head and stole Night’s body with Rhea and Night’s minds away to the abandoned shopping mall. They had spent the night while Carter explained at gun point what he wanted of the pony. In some ways, they were lucky that Rhea was too scared to commit to the unicorn magic. If they had, who knows where that stone tablet- now in a very spooked looking officer’s evidence baggie- would have taken them. Nearby convention? A gathering of her online friends? Back to her apartment? And with Carter fully armed? Bad times all around. “She must be relaxing a bit to let us out of her sight,” Jess commented. Some part of me must have finally got a message through, because I looked at Jess. Really looked at her. Taking in her expression, her bearing, her everything. I blinked slowly. I turned my gaze to where Rhea had trotted off. “How long have you been in charge, Cloud?” I asked quietly. Cloud Kicker flinched. I had to admit, she’d been doing a good job making it look like Jess was mixing her emotions with Cloud, but I knew my girlfriend. I knew what she did when she was mad at me. I knew what she did when she was upset or despondent or out-of-sorts. I’d been her shoulder through thick and thin just as she’d been mine. Now that I wasn’t stressed as hell, I could see she hadn’t been around for a while. Pawing at the ground, which was actually pretty bashful for Cloud, the pony beside me said, “A little after you two looked at the apartment. She was- Is hurt. She started hoofing me more control bit by bit. When did you know?” “I didn’t,” I sighed. “I’ve been distracted, if you haven’t noticed.” Cloud chuckled dryly. “So. You still pissed at me?” I asked. She assessed me with cool eyes. “I’m not pissed about what happened. Things happen. Jury’s still out on you. I catch bits of Blossomforth, but...” Her eyes welled up and she swallowed the tears back. “You’re not her. You’re too confident, too social.” I chuckled. Wow. Cloud Kicker calling me confident. That’ll go in my calendar as a holiday. I told her as such and she laughed. “Yeah. Like that. Bits of you.” She shook her head. “I don’t know any more.” “How about Jess?” “Rhea’s back,” Cloud said, noting the unicorn’s return. “Later.” I gave her a brief, but steady look. “Later,” I said. Rhea arrived all smiles to escort us to our ride in style: San Francisco Police Cruiser Unit 1054. ~ While the parade organizers and city officials had said they’d foot the bill on a hotel room for us for a night or two, we did not stay at anything resembling a Ritz Carlton. But we weren’t Motel 6 either. The hotel was large, and white, and smelled clean, and even though we had yet to check in, I could psychically feel the bed from my soon-to-be room calling my name. It’s a new pegasus ability. Very rare, save for those of us who’re zonk-tired. The front desk was ready for our arrival and the guy behind the counter was friendly enough. He asked for a picture and I managed one last smile before telling him about our incoming FedEx package. Bruce said he was so totally on it and he’d make sure everyone on staff knew too. Cloud then gave him a list of people who could be transferred to our room, and I ended my final contact with anyone who wasn’t Cloud or Rhea. We took an elevator ride and into a 10th floor room we hid. “I am so done with people for at least... Ten, twenty minutes,” I sighed, stepping into the hotel room. “God, please,” Rhea said. Like all hotel rooms, the place was clean, nice. Unlike all of them, it was a bit upscale. Two beds, a bathroom and a flatscreen TV on the wall. We even had a balcony. I flapped over to the bed closest to the balcony and dropped down. It was like a brick compared to Suzy, but I could have slept on broken glass at that point. “Dibs,” I said. Cloud chuckled and came over to pull the sheets back. “I’ve heard these help.” “Bah,” I dismissed with a smile. “You and your Kicker logic.” I acquiesced though and hovered as she exposed the bed. I slid under the thin sheet and left the comforter at the foot. Cloud briefly assessed me with an unreadable expression, shrugged, and hopped up to settle down next to me. I smiled. “Made up your mind?” “You’re enough like Blossom that you’re worth cuddling. Scoot over.” I did. I noticed Rhea standing near the other bed, shooting us glances, her brow knitted together. “Want some nap company?” I asked. A relieved breath came out of her, leaving a hopeful smile in its wake. “C’mon up. It’s a big bed.” I patted the space next to me and Rhea did a fast trot and leapt up. Cloud and I bobbed a little on the mattress as she landed. She turned a quick circle like a dog and dropped down along my side. I laughed and she promptly stuck her tongue out. I lay a protective wing over her trunk. “You’ll have to keep her now,” Cloud muttered with a grin, her eyes closed. “Friendship’s magic,” I said. “The more the merrier.” “Yay,” Rhea whispered. It wasn’t long before we all passed out. ~ I woke after a dreamless sleep with my mouth a bit dry, my pelt feeling damp and my bladder begging a release. I realized how much water the parade organizers had gotten us during all the Q&A and flapped over to the bathroom. After I flushed, I came out to a partially awake Rhea blinking at me through the low light as Cloud twitched in her sleep. I glanced at the clock and saw we’d been down about two hours. “Hey,” I said in a low voice. “Hey,” Rhea said, matching my volume. “Wanna get something to eat?” I said. Rhea nodded, her expression grateful. I left a note by Cloud’s head, so she wouldn’t panic if she woke, and we went to the lobby where we found the hotel restaurant: a generic, high-end, bar and grill joint with seats that looked like they were a year away from being replaced. It may have been just after noon when we confronted Carter, but thanks to the magical whatsis, we’d made up time in the zone change. Even with the added nap, we were just barely at lunchtime. The place was empty save for one waiter and one bartender. We ordered salads and mozzarella sticks and water with lemon in it. I thought about getting a cider, but opted against it. I didn’t like that this was the first instance I didn’t remember my dreams. I didn’t need booze fuddling me on top of Carter and my merge. I sighed. “You okay?” Rhea asked. I smiled at her. “Mm? Oh, I’m fine. Just... I guess I didn’t sleep well.” “Yeah,” Rhea said “You made these weird noises or something. Bad dreams?” I shrugged. “Not that I remember.” I poked at my glass as Rhea waited. “Doesn’t mean I didn’t have them though.” I took a sip of my drink and smiled at her more tiredly than I liked. “How about you? Any bad dreams?” She looked at the table, staying quiet. “Fair enough,” I said. “So. Lighter subject then- You like Luna, huh?” That perked her right up, though she blushed when she realized how fast her head had risen. “Uh. Yeah. Heh heh. You saw my place. I’m a big... Luna fangirl.” Her blush deepened. “So yeah.” “It’s cool,” I said. “She’s one of my faves too.” “Even now?” Rhea asked. “Night Shade thinks I’m a bit weird for being so into Luna.” “Well, Night Shade needs to remember that Luna is the illegitimate offspring of Thor and Brian Blessed and that makes her awesome.” Rhea laughed. “You’re funny, you know that?” “Looks aren’t everything,” I said with a waggle of my eyebrows. She snickered. “No. Like, you made it not so scary even though... That guy had a gun on us.” I exhaled a laugh. “Thanks,” I said. “I was just making it up as I went. Keep him talking.” “I wish I had been that brave,” Rhea said. I regarded Rhea for a moment, my brow creasing a bit in worry, then leaned across the table to put a hoof on her shoulder. “You were very brave Rhea. You were a scared person in an extraordinary situation and you survived. You did fine.” “Still needed to be saved,” she said, glumly, as if being held at gunpoint were a characteristic shortcoming. Sitting back, I frowned, more to myself than Rhea. I was the lucky one as far as she was concerned. I’d swept in and saved the day, though I’d really been panicking out of my feathering mind and trying to stay alive by babbling fast enough. She didn’t see that though. She just saw herself as weak and I could hear Rhea prepping the whip in her mind to flog on herself. I didn’t know Rhea outside what her apartment showed and Carlisle’s warmth toward her, but I don’t like people, or ponies in this case, beating on themselves. Ever. “We can’t all be Rarity with the Diamond Dogs,” I said, putting on a half-smile. Rhea nodded with a roll of her eyes. “But- but I didn’t even try! I just blubbered and freaked out and was all weak and-” “Whoa! Whoooooa,” I said. “Stop. Stop, right there. Because you aren’t going to help yourself any with that. He had a gun Rhea. A great, big...” I shuddered. “Stinking gun and I got a close look at it. It was real. The only reason, the only reason I got away with what I did is because I was really lucky and he wanted to talk. Cloud was being much more level-headed about it and you were doing all the right things to stay alive. “I got very, very lucky. He could have shot me for all my blabbering.” I felt my heart accelerate as the reality of what I’d survived took form in my head. I swallowed a deep breath to try and calm myself down. “What we did to get you was really risky,” I said, my voice only slightly quavering. Slightly. “We only did it because... Well, I felt like we were against a wall. Cloud was doing all the right things, you were doing all the right things, I was doing all the crazy, dumb things and got lucky. I wasn’t brave, I was just being nervous.” Rhea sighed and looked at me, her lips pressed tightly together. Our salads arrived and the conversation ended up shelved. Whether by Rhea or myself, I don’t know. The waiter smiled and asked if we needed anything and I told him we were good. We poked at our salads in silence till the mozzarella sticks. The mozzarella sticks were heaven. I certainly felt my mood perk up just eating those bad boys. Rhea looked better too. “Oh. Oh, duuuude,” Rhea mumbled. “I know, right? Try the marinara, if you can handle it.” She did. And she handled it. Barely. Food consumed, Rhea lay against her chair, grinning lazily. I grinned at her and worked slower through my salad. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her head jerk up. “Hey,” she said, rising up in her seat. “Hey! We’re on TV!” I turned and there were Cloud, Rhea and myself on a bigscreen over the bar. Rhea looked as meek as I remember and Cloud had a neutral, if exasperated face on. I... Wow. I looked horrible. What happened to my mane? “Ich,” I said. “I look like butts.” “You look fine. All survivor hero and stuff. Like a pony Lara Croft” I gave Rhea a skeptical look and snorted. We talked on camera for about twenty seconds, Cloud being professional, me smiling tiredly and Rhea trying to hide behind both of us, then we cut to a smiling woman behind a desk. Just as we were about to turn away, a new graphic loaded from another station and... “What the-” I muttered. It looked like a bunch of ponies in costumes doing a song and dance number. “Hey!” I said to the bartender. He glanced my way. “Could you turn on the sound, please?” His eyes swept the restaurant and seeing we were the only ones in, he shrugged, pulled out a remote and after some toggling I heard it. “-his is Halloween. Red 'n' black, slimy green!” “Aren't you scared?” a griffon- had to be Gilda- sneered at one camera. “Well, that's just fine!” Princess Cadance belted, appearing above the crowd and swirling in a dress that looked like something out of Lord of the Rings. “Say it once, say it twice, take a chance and roll the dice! Ride with the moon in the dead of night!” I blinked as the song went on and on. It was ponies. In costume. And they were singing “This is Halloween” from The Nightmare Before Christmas. I couldn’t help it. I snorted. I giggled. I cracked up. I cracked up so bad, I fell from my chair, laughing and clutching my stomach. On the way to the floor, I caught Rhea staring in awe, a smile tickling across her face which gave way to delighted spurts of laughter. Sometimes life is scary and you try to not think about it. Then, life isn’t scary and you need to laugh. You need to laugh because it feels so good to be alive.