//------------------------------// // Knowing a Pony and Pony Knowing // Story: Blossoming: Learning How To Fly // by nanashi_jones //------------------------------// Putting our meal on the room’s tab, we went to wake Cloud. Not just to show off what we’d seen on the news, but for some answers too. I had figured out most of who was who in the “This Is Halloween” song and dance number pretty easily. Fluttershy, Cadance, Shining Armor, and Apple Bloom were all dressed up without really obscuring who they were. Fluttershy’s costume in particular, a gothy, lacy fairy-like thing, was making me feel... Fluttery in the chest. Which was a bit weird. I guess my human side was still trying to sort attraction with my pony side. Gilda wasn’t even in costume, and while there had been a few humans, probably enthusiastic Solar Guard, one pony left me completely flummoxed to her identity. Seeing as Rhea got a big ol’ question mark from Night Shade, I figured Cloud was going to be our next best bet till I could get online. “Cloud. Cloud. Cloud,” I chirped, poking her repeatedly with my hoof. She groaned at the seventh “Cloud” and opened a bleary eye. “What Blossom?” “I need you to identify a pony. Maybe.” “Okay, okay...” she grumbled. While the slow waking was more a Jess thing than a Cloud thing- Cloud was still a bit of a bugle plot thanks to her West Hoof days- I had to swallow the lump in my throat as I noticed I still didn’t pick up any of Jess’s tells now that Cloud wasn’t actively thinking about them. Where was she? “What’s going- Oh. Hey.” Rhea had gotten the TV on and scrolled to a news channel that was showing the ponies performing the song and dance number. I knew as soon as I got my laptop back, I’d be favoriting that thing and adding it to the Travelling Facebook page in a show of support. Something like this was what the Internet drooled over. Cloud watched and I could tell when her brain got back in gear. She chuckled. “Catchy stuff. Kinda twisted. Especially for... Wow.” A nostalgic smile creeped on her face and she snorted a small laugh. “Lookit you, Eepy,” she said softly. “That’s a look...” Apparently, I wasn’t the only one to be flustered by Fluttershy’s costume. Cloud didn’t stare long though and just did a quick ruffle of her feathers, bringing her focus back on everything rather than one, pretty pegasus. “Who are we looking for?” she asked, all business now. “That one,” I said, pointing to a green and gray pony with fangs and a stone thing on her head. “She’s some... Whatever from a video game, but I’m completely blanking on-” “Pinkie Pie.” I blinked. “What?” “That’s Pinkie Pie,” Cloud said with a lazy smile. Rhea looked between Cloud and the screen, which had now changed to talking heads and an information ticker scrolling on the bottom. I blinked slowly and started mentally removing the costume parts off who we’d just seen. “How can you tell?” the unicorn asked. “Yeah,” I said. “I mean, now that you’ve said it, I... Okay, I can sorta see it, but... Her human makes her sound really different. I didn’t even recognize her under all that make-up.” Cloud grinned knowingly and said, “You never forget a rump like Pinkie Pie’s.” My eyes darted between the screen and Cloud and mental images of Pinkie and Cloud started to form. I banished them with a fierce, quick shake of my head. For January, these were mostly kid-friendly characters from a kid-friendly show and she let closed doors stay closed. For Blossomforth, they were ponies she actually knew and she didn’t think about co-workers and casual friends that way. Both sides agreed whatever image Cloud was inevitably conjuring was not a mental image I needed. Still. Curiosity was bubbling now... “You mean you and Pinkie...” I said, waving a hoof vaguely. Cloud chuckled, shaking her head. “Naah. I offered, but she wasn’t game. Besides...” she added. “Some ponies... It’s just nice to enjoy the view.” She let that sink in. “Wow,” Rhea said. “You really are sex obsessed. I thought that was just that fanfic.” I rolled my eyes. “Yeah. She’s the Captain Jack of Ponyville.” “Captain...?” Cloud asked. “Ask Jess,” I said. “She’ll fill you in.” Cloud’s expression went distant, but not like she was asking Jess. “Oh. Okay,” she said with a smirk, sure of herself. “Just call me Captain Kicker. Ooo, you know, that has a ring to it. Maybe I should’ve stayed in the military after all.” Quickly, she set a feather in her wing as a way of changing the subject. “What else is on?” Before she could reach for the remote, my eyes narrowed and I said, “You’re lying.” Cloud raised an eyebrow, turning to me. “What makes you say that?” “You didn’t ask Jess, you just checked out, tried to remember where you heard the name before. Like when Rosy Cheeks came up to you at work and you were trying to convince me you were considerate and remembered all your partners and didn’t just bang whoever.” Cloud, chuckled, rubbing an embarrassed hoof on her neck. “So... You, ah, remembered that?” “Of course I do, Cloud. I remember both of my lives pretty well. Part of one involves a redheaded human lass who I love nearly and dearly. Maybe you know her? Love of faerie lore, hyper-competent at carpentry and organization, sings sotto voce when she works?” My tone sharpened with each descriptor and my eyes narrowed as I loaded my last question. “I’m only going to ask this once, Cloud Kicker: Where. Is. My. Girlfriend?” Cloud looked briefly trapped before her eyes darted to the side and her expression shifted to something more neutral. “Do you think we should be doing this...” She gestured to Rhea. My brain felt like she’d just tossed cold water on it. Turning to Rhea, I saw that she was starting to tighten under the sudden turn in mood. Her tail flicked back and forth excitedly and her eyes had dilated as if she were about to run. The ponies who saved her life were bickering. That’d make anyone anxious- especially after escaping a kidnapping. Smiling politely, I wrapped my voice in a more level tone and asked, “Rhea, would you mind if Cloud and I went to a nearby cloud to sort out our... Business?” I should have just shut down the conversation with Cloud and looked to Rhea’s needs rather than getting into a squabble. I should have pressed Rhea to talk with one of the counselors the police offered. I should have been more aware of the other pony in our small herd rather than my own sparking anger. “You’re not- You won’t be far, right?” she asked, being the bigger pony. “Of course not,” I said as warmly as I could. “Just outside.” “Um. Yeah. Go, uh, do what you gotta.” “Thank you.” I trotted past the bed Cloud was sitting on and flew up to the curtains blotting the sun from outside. Pulling them back, I let cheerful, noonday light pour into the room. Unlatching the sliding glass door, I flew out to look for water vapor I could pull together for a decent sitting cloud. “Cloud?” I said, hovering over the balcony, my gaze on the sky. I didn’t even know I could make that tone. “Uh, yeah. Coming. Back in a minute, Rhea. Don’t go anywhere, eh?” I didn’t catch Rhea’s response as Cloud followed me out and up. She waited as I put together a cloud we could sit on. “You know, building is-” “Quiet. This is soothing me. Or do you want me worked up?” Cloud hovered peaceably. It wasn’t big and nowhere near as sturdy as Suzy, but it was a solid cumulous and would hold up for the length of the conversation I needed to have with Cloud Kicker. I settled down. Cloud sat next to me, though she put a hoof’s distance between us. That sent a pang through my chest. “How long haven’t you heard from her?” I asked, distracting myself from the space between us. Cloud rubbed her forehooves in thought. She wanted to get this right, so I gave her the time she needed to assemble her thoughts. “She went quiet when we started going after Rhea,” she said. And I could tell she was sincere. That was a thing about Cloud- she was a crap liar. At least, she was around me. She could float soft non-answers, maybe dance a little and be obtuse, but anything approaching clear lies stood out like neon. It always made me wonder how she was able to do it for everypony else. Especially ones she was trying to chat up at bars. “I asked to lead,” Cloud continued. “But I said I’d do it as her, so you wouldn’t get any more worked up. I reasoned that since I’d actually run a few extraction exercises at West Hoof, what we were getting into at the strip mall wasn’t unfamiliar stuff. She said okay, made sense. Then she went quiet.” “What about your dreams? Did you two talk then?” I realized I was breathing faster now, my tone more desperate. Cloud looked away, and I couldn’t read her expression. Shame? Regret? “Cloud, did you dream?” “I remember it, but... I didn’t find her. She’s- I don’t hear her anymore.” Cloud looked up to me, her ears down, her amethyst eyes glistening in sorrow. “I’m sorry, January. I think she’s gone.”