//------------------------------// // Further Truth // Story: Blossoming: Learning How To Fly // by nanashi_jones //------------------------------// Here’s a morbid fact: January has lost one person close to her every year since her grandmother died back in 2006. This meant that since parts of me were her, that I have lost a person close to me every year since my grandmother died back in 2006. Meanwhile, Blossomforth was an orphan who was raised by the Celestia Cloudsdale Orphanage. The experience wasn’t Dickensian by any stretch, but she had grown up with a sense of being detached and aware of the world in a way other ponies weren’t. This meant I could be detached, if need be. These bits of information gave me a false confidence. One person close to me died every year or I’d never really been close to anypony before. I could handle bad news like a pro. I could cope like a badass. Nothing could knock me for a loop because every year, I was prepared for that worst of news on top of knowing that life didn’t owe me any favors. Armed with such guarded cynicism, I apparently had not taken into account magic and the dissolution of the love of my life behind a pony face. Life’s surprising like that. “What?” I asked Cloud. “I’m sorry. I just... I think on her and nothing. I have bits. I know what a TV is. How to drive a car. That kind of thing. But stuff specific to her it’s all...” She hung her head. “I’m sorry.” “What?” I repeated. “January, I’m-” “Don’t call me that!” I snapped, my emotions boiling. Is this what Jess and Cloud felt like when I told them January and Blossomforth had fused? All hot and confused and scared? This didn’t make sense. I looked to Cloud and saw she had winced when I’d snapped. I turned away, gathering myself. “You still don’t... “ I brought my gaze back to Cloud. “I’m both of them, Cloud Kicker. I used to be January. I used to be Blossomforth. But now, I’m Blossom. Jane.” “Because that makes sense,” Cloud said, exasperated, ducking her eyes away from me. “Because ponies sharing bodies with humans makes sense!” I yelled. My ear twitched and I heard pigeons fly off, startled. Cloud flinched again, blinking. And in her blinking face, I put two and two together and made one of those intuitive leaps January had been really good at and Blossomforth usually kept to herself. “You didn’t tell her anything about the merge, did you?” I accused. Cloud’s expression fell along with her ears and she looked away. I shook my head. “Of course. No wonder she- It’s part of harmony, Cloud! It’s part of how this thing works! Did you think you could beat it or something?” “It’s... Complicated,” Cloud replied. “Oh, Celestia save me from ponies and that stupid phrase!” I yelled, tossing my hooves in the air. She looked at me, confusion clear on her face. “Did you know January tried that on Blossomforth? ‘I’m complicated. I’m dangerous.’ January also had enough sense to know when she was being stubborn and sent in little avatars to make sure Blossom knew what the score was.” I glared back. “But you. You were just... Quiet?” “I was giving her space,” Cloud said. “Didn’t want to crowd her, you know? When it got bad she-” “Curled up in a corner to die and that’s what we’re looking at Cloudrina Penelope Kicker!” Cloud winced again, finally grasping how much trouble she was in. She really didn’t like her full name and if Blossomforth used it, she knew she’d screwed up bad. I took a breath. It came ragged and I thought I was about to cry. I couldn’t though. If I started crying, she’d try to comfort me and we’d get off track and I couldn’t do that. I had to make this work. I had to get her to understand that if she fought this, kept fighting this, we’d lose Jess. And I wasn’t going to lose Jess. “I’m no unicorn,” Cloud said quietly. “What do you expect I can do?” “Open up to her,” I said, softly. “Show her your memories of Blossomforth. Get her to show you her memories of January. She’s still in there. She’s just hidden away. There’s still time.” Celestia and Luna and all the stars in the sky, let there still be time. “Maybe you two can talk about me,” I offered. “I know what I am could at least be some common ground for bitching.” Downcast, she sighed, scuffing a little fluff off the cloud. She noticed the necklace she wore: Jess’s triskel pendant. She regarded it. “You know how I suck at long term commitment,” she said, quiet. “You don’t suck at Alula,” I pointed out. “Jess isn’t Little Wing,” Cloud retorted, using her nickname for her little sister. “She’s all grown up.” “And needs to know she isn’t alone,” I said. I looked into Cloud’s eyes. “I’m here for her,” I said. “All of me. Just as I’m here for you.” Cloud’s brow knitted in confusion. I shook my head, smiling wistfully. Blossomforth had gone over this a thousand times in her head before, which meant, I had gone over it a thousand times. None of them had ever included this particular scenario. Life’s surprising like that. “I love you, you big dummy,” I said, still smiling. Cloud blinked. It took her a minute before her mouth started working again. “You- You love me? Blossom, what do you-” “Back when I was just Blossomforth, ” I said, because if I didn’t get this out now, it wasn’t coming out. “I asked myself... I asked myself, ‘Is she my best friend or my best friend?’ Then one day it was true. I knew I was in love.” I blushed. “January knew it too, but she was kind and let Blossomforth just say we were best friends. She knew what it was like to be there. To care for your best friend and not want to wreck it. To hesitate and just be content to know this completely amazing, wonderful pony who completely changed your life. “Then this happened. All of it. And... How I felt about you started mixing with how I felt about Jess and you both had the same face and when I merged...” I sighed, bringing my blue eyes to meet her amethyst ones. “When I say I love you, Cloud. I mean that all of me, Blossomforth and January, loves all of you, Cloud Kicker and Jessica. We’d do anything for you, either of you.” I rubbed at a foreleg, self-consciously. “We risked merging with one another, because both of us knew, knew from feather to hoof that we loved you both. And while we didn’t know much about the fusion, we knew our love would survive. I love you that much, Jessica Cloud.” Cloud twitched at the name. Her left eye blinked out of sync with the right. “Like when I got you those new purple Converse,” I said. “Or when I picked up the bill on ‘Lone Mare’ night. Or when I asked you to move in with me. Or when I let you crash at my place while your roof was being fixed.” Cloud’s left eye was twitching furiously now, tears starting to spill from it. Her right was dilating, shocked, processing. “Jess once asked me a question, Cloud. The answer’s still yes. And it’s the same answer for you too. I love you. I love all of you. With all my little pony heart.” I leaned in and kissed her. I kissed because I loved her.