Chapter seven: A normal day in Ponyville
The chariot soon reached the small town. The buildings were mostly old-fashioned cottages with thatched roofs, the streets barely more than dirt tracks. Cloudchaser huffed as she took in the scenery, but Lightning and Flitter seemed to like it.
The chariot came to a stop right in front of a small, cozy house with two floors. Cloudchaser wasn’t impressed — it was not even a quarter the size of their old cloud home, and to make matters worse, it was ugly. She loved the look and consistency of clouds, not stacks of brick and… other ugly things.
Flitter clapped her hooves. “It’s nice!”
Cloudchaser gulped her displeasure away. Flitter’s attitude always had a way of putting a different perspective on things, of allowing her to see things in a better light. Cloudchaser found herself simply agreeing because it brought out that smile. “Yes, it’s… cozy.” She smiled weakly.
Lightning shot her a suspicious glare, but quickly smiled at Flitter. “It’s a nice house for a new start. Maybe you can buy a bigger one later.”
“I know, but I think that this will be fine.” Flitter left the carriage and approached the front door.
Cloudchaser hesitated, but a glare from her mother made her sigh and join Flitter. Together, they opened the door and stepped in. The door itself opened onto a large room that served as a living room. On the left was a kitchen that looked as if it had seen better days — nothing looked broken or too delipidated, it just needed some TLC. Directly in front of them was a staircase that led to the second level. It looped around so Cloudchaser couldn’t see what was there, but she wasn’t in any hurry to.
“It looks… nice,” Lightning said.
Then you live here. Cloudchaser bit back her retort.
“Sis, see how much room we have!” Flitter flapped her wings and started to fly around. “Look at this living room — it’s so nice and cozy. Oh, look at the kitchen — we can do so much here!”
Cloudchaser found a smile on her muzzle as she watched her sister fly back and forth. Lightning wrapped a wing around Cloudchaser and brought her in close.
“I know it’s hard, but try and keep in mind what’s important,” she whispered.
“YOU’RE HERE!!!!!” A shout startled all three mares, and their heads snapped to the stairs. They were all forced to take flight as a literal tidal wave of confetti made it’s way downstairs. “OH, oh, oh, we’re going to have so much fun! I’ve already got the party worked out and all my friends are coming, who will be your friends too. We’ll help you, unpack for you, and make sure that you’re welcome!” a pink mare shouted as she rode a small surfboard down the wave of the confetti.
“I’m scared,” Cloudchaser whispered.
Lightning watched the entire living room become engulfed with confetti, a large portion of which made its way outside, almost as if it were water seeking the path of least resistance. “And you are?” she asked as the mare jumped off the surfboard and did a triple backflip into the ocean of confetti.
At that question she shot up, her cotton-candy mane going straight in surprise. “AH, I forgot to introduce myself, I’m Pinkie Pie! But my friends can call me Pinkie, or Pink, or Pie, or anything. I prefer pie myself, but only because it tastes super scrumdelicious when you eat it for lunch!”
Flitter was hiding behind her sister, hooves and wings wrapped around her, but now, as the strange mare seemed friendly, she felt safe to emerge.
“Ah, Miss Pie. I do belive Princess Celestia said you were going to help my daughters move in?” Lightning did her best to sound calm, grateful that the excitable earth pony didn’t have wings.
“Of course silly-billy. What sort of friend would I be if i didn’t help my friends move in? I mean, duh, naturally I’m going to help you move!”
Pinkie took a look around at the mess, “Well, let’s clean this up first!” At that she pulled out a wet vac from her mane and switched it on. Vacuuming up way more confetti than should have been able to fit in the thing.
After that she shot them a smile. “That’s better! Now it’s time for the party!” she exclaimed and with that she pulled up a small, green animal and a cake out of nowhere.
“What the–” Cloudchaser started but was soon stopped by a prismatic mane peeking through the door.
“Hey Pinkie! Where’s the party you talked about?” Rainbow Dash asked before her gaze met Flitter and Cloudchaser.
Flitter flew away from Cloudchaser and landed directly behind Rainbow, cowering behind her. Rainbow took one look around and at the mess outside before her brain put two and two together.
“Pinkie, I hear there’s a new arrival at the south end of town. He looked lonely.”
“GASSSPPP!!!!” the pink mare shouted before bolting out of the house at an insane speed. She left behind a flash image of herself that stated, “I’ll be back in a bit!”
Rainbow ran her wing through the image, causing it to disperse. “Sorry about that.”
“Who… what… when… where… how… why?” Cloudchaser mumbled.
“If I could answer any of those questions I’d probably go insane. Just… with the exceptions of her parties, do your best to avoid her. That’s what I do.”
“Are her parties really that good?” Flitter asked.
“They’re amazing,” Rainbow admitted. “Enough about the town crazy pony, I heard about the verdict. I’m sorry about that.”
Cloudchaser took one more look out of the door before closing it and locking it. Rainbow just chuckled. “That won’t stop her.”
“Well, it makes me feel better,” Cloudchaser said.
Lightning walked up to Rainbow and grabbed her in a giant hug. One that caused quite a noticeable blush on the cyan mare. “Thank you,” Lightning said though several tears.
“It’s easy to get rid of her — no big deal,” Rainbow replied, a blush on her face.
“No, not for that. For what you did at the trial. You helped my girls, that means more to me than you could ever know.”
Rainbow chuckled a little, closed her eye, and accepted the hug. It wasn’t anything she needed thanks for. Cloudchaser and Flitter were her friends — she’d always stand by them. However, Rainbow knew that her actions meant more to their mother than words could ever say. So she accepted it even if it was quite ‘uncool’ by any interpretation of the word.
Cloudchaser spoke up after a while. “Mom, I think you can let her go now before she turns blue.”
“Well, bluer,” Flitter added with a smile.
Lightning squeezed her one more time before letting her go. Rainbow calmly ran a hoof through her mane to try and regain some cool points. “So it looks like you are going to be working for me again,” she said, trying to change the subject.
“That’s right, you got a supervisor position when you moved here,” Flitter said with a smile.
“Who else has the skills to pay the bills. Look, this may be a small town, but I run my shift as thoroughly as I did back in Cloudsdale, so I expect the best from you, even here.”
“So that you can take a mid-afternoon nap?” Flitter jabbed at her.
“Hardy har,” Rainbow laughed.
“Umm… Rainbow, am I working for you too?” Cloudchaser asked.
“Yep, orders from Celestia and such — well not really orders, more of a request. Both of you start bright and early in two days’ time.”
“Two days?”
“Gives you today and tomorrow to settle in. If you want I can show you around town. There’s not much to see, but it’s good to know where everything is.”
Lightning took a quick look around the room. She saw her two girls and decided on something right then and there. “Rainbow, why don’t you show me around instead. I’ll fill them in on everything later. That way they can get settled in.”
“Umm… Okay?” Rainbow looked confused. It didn’t make much sense to do the tour twice, but it seemed to be what they wanted.
Lightning opened the door and led the cyan mare out of the building. As it closed Cloudchaser and Flitter were left with the distinct impression that she was going to ask a LOT of questions — questions that it was doubtful Rainbow would know the answer to.
Flitter walked over to the window and watched them go. When she turned around she saw the depressed look on her sister’s muzzle. However, before she could ask what was wrong, Cloudchaser volunteered the information. “I hate it here.”
“What?” Flitter asked surprised.
“It’s not about you. It’s the house, the town… I want our old life back.” Cloudchaser looked down and a lonely tear dropped from her muzzle. “I want the feeling of clouds under my hooves back.”
Flitter listened to everything her sister had to say. When it was over, when she understood what Cloud was getting at, she frowned. With a sigh she pulled out the little box from beneath her wing one more time and opened it. “Cloud, come look at these.”
“I’ve seen them,” Cloudchaser replied, a little colder than she meant too.
“Come look again,” Flitter’s tone brokered no argument and Cloudchaser found herself walking forward against her own volition.
Flitter calmly spread out each of the pictures for Cloudchaser to see. She laid them out in such a way her sister could get a good, long look at them. “Tell me what you see,” Flitter said.
“Pictures of us,” Cloudchaser replied.
“Are we happy?”
“Yes.”
“What caused that happiness?”
“… I don’t know what you mean.”
“Why are we happy in these pictures?” Flitter asked again, a deadpan expression on her face.
“‘Cause we’re together?”
“What’s not the focus in any of the pictures?” Flitter asked.
“I… I don’t know,” Cloudchaser admitted.
“Where we were,” Flitter answered for her. “It was never about where we were — it was always about us, us being together, us making each other happy. Cloud, I know you miss what we had. Together, we were creating something that was ours, something we’d built with our own four hooves. That’s gone now. It’s gone and we can’t get it back. But… but I don’t care. I look forward to what comes next. Forget what we lost, think about what we get to build next.”
“Flitter, I…” a hoof placed lightly on her muzzle caused her to close her trap.
“I want you with me. I want to build our new dream together, here, in this new place. I can’t do it alone. I don’t want to do it alone — I want to do it with you. I know you miss our cloudhome, but here… here we get to be together. That’s worth more to me than any stupid clouds. What about you?”
A tear fell down Cloudchaser’s muzzle at her sister’s words. “What if they take this from us?” she cried.
Flitter stood up and walked over to her sister. She rubbed their two muzzles together and whispered softly into her ear. “Then we’ll do it again, and again. We can rebuild our lives as many times as it takes until they leave us alone. As long as you’re with me, nothing else matters.”
Cloudchaser enjoyed the touch and melted into it. She couldn’t believe that she’d been so stupid, that her mind had focussed on such a stupid thing. “You are way more important than some stupid clouds,” she whispered into Flitter’s ear.
“Cloud, will you build our new home with me?” Flitter asked.
“I’d love to,” Cloudchaser replied.
They sealed the deal with a kiss. Flitter pressed her lips to her sister’s and simply enjoyed the feeling of being so connected to somepony, so loved. When they broke apart Flitter was smiling, an infectious smile that caught Cloudchaser in its grip. “Good, ‘cause we have a LOT of cleaning to do before our stuff arrives and I call dibs on downstairs,” Flitter said as she blew her sister a raspberry.
“Hey, no fair!” Cloudchaser complained. Thoughts of the pink mare’s mess and what the upstairs must look like came to her mind.
“All’s fair in love and war. Don’t worry — I’ll make it up to you tonight,” Flitter replied, winking at her sister. “Now get up stairs and get to work!”
Who knew my sister was such a slave driver, Cloudchaser thought with a laugh as she made her way upstairs.
“Three, two…” Flitter counted down out loud as she watched her sister go up the steps. As soon as she said, “one,” Cloudchaser’s scream echoed down the stairs.
“It’s a gigantic mess!” Cloudchaser called out.
“Then you’d better get to work!” Flitter replied with a laugh as she made her way to the closet in search of a broom.
***
“So, you’ve known about it since before Hearth's Warming Eve?`” Lightning asked as Rainbow and she glided through the sky.
“They weren’t exactly subtle about it. But I’m loyal to them, not some dumb, outdated law,” the cyan mare replied, chuckling. “I have to say it still surprised me.”
“What do you mean?” Lightning asked, confused.
“Well, think of Flitter. Did you picture her like this? As long as I’ve known her, I thought she would run away from Cloudchaser.” Rainbow Dash sighed, adjusting her course. “But as far as I know it was her who made the first move.”
“Really?” Lightning was a bit shocked.
“Yeah. Kind of awesome, huh? Sometimes I’m jealous of them. I never thought much about it, but coming home to an empty and lonely cloudhome can sometimes be depressing. You want somepony to greet you, ask how your day was, and so on.” Rainbow groaned. “Great, I turned sappy, thanks to your daughters.”
“Flitter rubbed off on you,” Lightning replied with a wink.
“Well, I wonder where she got that.” Rainbow blew her a raspberry.
“Me?” Lightning mocked innocence. “I’m innocence in flesh and blood.”
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
“Rainbow, I’ve known you nearly as long as my daughters and I still remember what your mother used to say. She was right. If you didn’t focus on your pride and competitions so much, you’d easily find your special somepony,” Lightning spoke softly.
“I don’t really need one. I’m awesome enough.”
“Do I have to repeat back to you what you told me earlier?”
“Hey, no fair using my words against me.”
“Who else would be awesome enough to get through to you?”
“Ehh, fair point,” Rainbow said with a smile.
“Besides, if you stop and think about it, you’d realize that the only thing truly awesome is having somepony to come home to at the end of a hard day.”
Rainbow paused in her flight as her mind went there. She imagined what that would be like, really imagined it. Having somepony that was there for her, that kissed her when she entered the door, that loved her. She felt her heart grow heavy in her chest as the thought that maybe, just maybe that was really what she wanted all along.
“Thanks for getting that into my heart,” she muttered before increasing her speed.
Lightning smiled as she watched her take off. It took some effort but she was able to catch up to the cyan mare. “Of course that can always come later. Maybe after you tour with the Wonderbolts?”
“You know about that?” Rainbow said, surprised.
“Flitter told me about your fangirling over them at work,” Lightning said with a smile. “I read all about you in her letters.”
“She wrote about me?”
“Rainbow, it’s Flitter.”
“Wait a second. She told me you never wrote or visited them.” Rainbow shot her a glare that could’ve burned through a wall.
Lightning practically fell out of the sky. She landed on all four hooves and looked down at the ground. Concerned, Rainbow flew down and hovered slightly above the old mare. Rainbow’s worry increased tenfold when she saw a tear fall from Lightning’s eye. “That’s because I never answered their letters. I was stupid,” came the sad reply.
“Why did you…”
“Rainbow, things haven’t been going well for me. I’ve been in a… a bad place these last few years. I thought they’d be better off without me. I stupidly thought they didn’t need me anymore.”
Rainbow landed on the ground, facing Lightning. “That was stupid,” she said without any tact to her words. Lightning looked up, surprised that Rainbow would say something like that. “You’re their mother, Lightning. Whatever may come, they will always need you.”
“Do you think it’s too late?” she asked the cyan mare. In spite of her conversation with her daughters earlier, Lightning still held out doubt about being able to fix things.
“Depends… are you going to stop trying?”
“No.”
“Then you’ve answered your own question.”
Lightning smiled at her. It was the kind of smile that said more than words ever could. “Thanks.”
“No problem. Now lets get going — they’re going to need beds, right?”
“Well, at least one,” Lightning smirked.
Rainbow just laughed at that. “There’s this great little shop, although its choice of products is really strange.”
“How so?”
“They sell beds and quills.”
“Wait, what?”
“I know, right? Welcome to Ponyville — it’s a strange place, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t have a certain charm.”
“This shop… it only sells normal beds, right?” Lightning looked concerned.
“Yeah, this town has ponies of all races, but it was still founded by earth ponies.”
“We should get them a soft cloud bed. Do you know of any good place for that, Rainbow?” Lightning asked.
Rainbow thought about it for a while, she perked up as she thought of one place. “Race you to Cloudsdale?” the cyan mare suggested while fluttering with her wings.
“You’re on.”
***
“Hey, aren’t you finished yet?” Flitter shouted up the stairs.
A growl met her back. “This huge mess? You could at least help me!”
“You don’t understand the point of calling dibs, do you?” Flitter said with a laugh.
“I call dibs on your flanks if you don’t come up here and help me right away!” Cloudchaser answered.
“That sounds fun...” Flitter replied, giggling.
“FLITTER!”
“Alright, alright, I’m coming.”
Flitter took one more look around. It had taken her thirty minutes of hard work, but the rooms downstairs were more than ready for their stuff. Everything had been dusted and cleaned, the trash thrown out, and she even managed to clean the windows. A task made easier with the use of her wings.
Sighing, she saw no further excuse to avoid it. She flew upstairs, dreading what she might see. Under normal situations, the upstairs opened up to a hallway that led left or right. The right hallway led to a master bedroom with its own bath. The left led to two rooms at the end and a shared bathroom between them.
But this was not a normal situation.
Despite thirty minutes of hard work, the carpet in the hallway could barely be seen. Ten large trash bags were piled up at the end of the hallway, each filled to the brim with confetti. “That. Mare. Made. Such. A. Mess.” Cloudchaser grunted each word out as she filled up another bag.
“Holy Celestia!” Flitter replied as she took in the devastation around her. Briefly, she considered getting Pinkie back here to clean it up. However, that thought was quickly forgotten. She didn’t want that mare stepping one hoof in here again.
“I guess I’ll start at the end?” Flitter asked as she flew over to the left and went to start at the end of the hallway.
“No, don’t!” Cloudchaser yelled, but it was too late. As soon as Flitter passed the entranceway to one of the rooms, a hidden party cannon went off. Blasting the mare out of the air and onto her back.
She landed on the pile of confetti. Dazed, but not hurt. “What was that?”
“More little… gifts. I saw the first one on the way up and quickly found out there were more. How many more is anypony’s guess.”
Flitter lay on her back, her eyes glued to her sister’s, her hearing buzzed with the after effects of a cannon going off in close proximity. However, what she did next surprised Cloudchaser. She laughed.
It started off small, just a slight chuckle that grew as the seconds past. Cloudchaser looked at her confused, annoyed, worried, and then she started smiling at her sister’s laughter. A laughter that proved infectious as she started laughing too. Soon both mares were in a full on giggling fit as they laughed about everything and nothing all at the same time.
Before long, Cloudchaser pounced at her sister, making them roll into the pile of confetti, still laughing. As they stopped, she softly nuzzled Flitter, enjoying the touch deeply. “Despite what I said earlier… it already feels like home.” She looked deeply into her sister’s beautiful eyes. “Thanks to you.”
Flitter did not say a word. She merely reached up and kissed her sister’s lips. It was an action that Cloudchaser was more than happy to reciprocate.
While no words had been said, they both read the same thing in the other’s actions.
You are, and always have been, my home.