Chapter Two
Cloud Chaser
It was cold. Very cold. I squeezed my eyes shut because the darkness outside was horrible. But then something wonderful happened. A drop. Just one at first. As it landed on my flank I opened my eyes and there it was. Showering down from the sky. It was so beautiful, like a thousand diamonds falling from the heavens, but no name came to my head. I stared in amazement as the sun bounced off the magnificent drops. It was wonderful, and I couldn’t help but offer a little smile.
Then reality got the better of me. My mane was damp and my wings were spread out to my side. I didn’t know I had wings. The were big and surprisingly soft. I was silver with a yellow mane plastered to my face. Other than that I didn’t know who I was. What is my name?
Just then I heard a rustle behind me and I turned to look. There was a big stallion. He was black with a red and orange mane. He looked down at me curiously.
“What in Equestria is a little filly like you doing out in the rain?” He said in a higher voice than I expected. I looked up at him, my voice lost. “Are you lost little one?” I opened my mouth to try to speak but no words came out. “Let me help you up.” He gave me a hoof then hulled me to my hooves. “Come with me… Do you have a name?” Finally mind filled with words. Words like, moon, sister, different, death, lost, silhouette, shadow. I finally found the words to speak.
“I don’t know who I am.” I say in a cracked voice. The stallion nudged me forward.
“How about I give you a name?” He said and tilted his head in a smile. “My name is Freezer Burn. How about we name you Sun Shadow?” I shook my head. It didn’t sound right in my mind. “Fire Dancer?” I made a disgusted face. “Cloud Chaser?” There. That was it. I smiled and he nodded politely.
“Cloud Chaser,” I repeated back. It was beautiful. Just like the drops of diamonds. Freezer Burn started to walk forward and beckoned me to follow him. I did as I was told, because I didn’t know where we were going. But believe me, if I did, I would have never followed him.
Freezer Burn led me out of forest and into a small town with ponies of every kind chattering and gossiping. I looked down because everyone looked so happy. I didn’t know how to be happy yet. We trotted into a large house that was shadowed behind the clock tower and looked as if nopony even cared about this place. It looked awful. He knocked on the door and a red unicorn with an orange and yellow mane. She opened the door grouchily and nodded to Freezer Burn, then pulled me inside and slammed the door.
I looked around. Fillies were scrubbing floors and colts were dusting bookshelves and lamps. I ducked my head and stared at the ground because, for now, it was the only thing familiar. I attempted to go into the bathroom to shrink into nothingness, but it was locked sadly. After giving up on the bathroom, an orange filly came up to me and smiled
.“Hi,” she said a little to friendly. For her sake I put on a smile.
“Hello,” I said confidently. “My name is Cloud Chaser!”
The filly smiled wider at me. “Its good to have nice ponies come in. I feel like me and my brother are the only happy ones here.”
Happy. She said I was happy! I smiled, a real smile, and nodded to her. “Thank you.” She nodded back then went back to working on her space of the bookshelf. I walked up to the red unicorn and tugged at her tail. “Um, where do I sleep?” The unicorn looked down at me with hard eyes.
“First of all, you will address me as Mrs. Red Lake. Not Mizz Red Lake, nor Red Lake, nor just plain Lake. I am Mrs. Red Lake and nothing less. Second, you will sleep in the room upstairs with all the other fillies.” I gulped and nodded because her tone was scaring me. “Now run along, Cloud Chaser is it? Get a brush and start working!” I slink away from Mrs. Red Lake to where a pile of brushes were stacked untidily. I grabbed one in my mouth and began to dust off a lamp.
I took this time to assess the ponies I would be sharing my “home” with. There was a white filly with a pink and aqua- marine mane who didn’t look like she wanted anything to do with anypony. A purple unicorn with a blue and green mane. The orange unicorn with a brown and dark orange mane, and beside her, an orange pegasus with a brown mane. I stared at them. I could have sworn they looked completely the same, aside from the horns and wings. I shrugged and kept looking. A blue earth-pony with a crown for a cutie mark, and a pink earth pony who stood beside him. She looked completely distressed and stared at the ground with sad longing eyes.
I felt a strange compassion for the pink filly. She looked so helpless and I just wanted to wrap a wing around her and tell her it’d be ok. Then there was a sudden silence as the running water of the bathroom shut off. A while later a blue-violet pegasus filly came out of the room shyly. I stared at her wings which were very large. Mrs. Red Lake came behind her and shoved a mop into her face then yelled at everypony who had stopped working to get a move on.