//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: The Sky is Always Green in Cloudsdale // by Basmati //------------------------------// "Hi. How may I help you?" Skylar smiled at the blue maned pony standing at the till. "Please may I have a cupcake?" "Just the one?" Skylar nodded. "Anything else with that? A drink perhaps?" Skylar hestitated for a moment and looked around. "I...don't suppose you have any...tea?" she asked. "Of course we do." "Oh, thank God you have tea!" Skylar exclaimed. "I don't know what I would've done if there was no tea here. Just imagine that - having to go around for God knows how long without a single drop of tea!" "Err..." the salespony stood, looking at Skylar with a confused look on his face. "So a cupcake, and a pot of tea?" "Yes, thank you." The salespony handed Skylar the cupcake and then said, "I'll bring the tea to your table." Skylar flew up and joined the others at the table. "So," she said, as she landed on her chair. "What are you two talking about?" "Nothing," Rainbow said, quickly. Skylar turned to look at the rainbow-maned mare, who was starting to turn red. "Umm...ok then," Skylar said, a bit startled. "Oh, by the way, I have tea!" "Oh! I love tea! It isn't as good as soda though. Or cupcakes - nothing is better than cupcakes. Well, maybe hanging out with friends, but you can't really eat that. Imagine if somepony tried! They would look so stupid. I wonder what it would taste like though, if you could eat it. Would it taste nice, because hanging out with friends is nice? But it could taste horrible! But the taste might change whether it was cooked, or raw, or fried, or baked, or - maybe you could use it in cakes? I wonder how you could find out. Somepony must know how - maybe they could invent a machine that turns everything into flavours! So you could have every single flavour imaginable! Imagine what 'Waking Up' would taste like, or what 'Birthday Party' would taste like!" Surprise added. Skylar and Rainbow sat, staring at Surpise, only to be broken from their trance when the salespony arrived. "Umm..your tea, Miss," he said, placing the teapot on the table. "Thank you," Skylar said, as he flew back down. "Would you guys like some?" she asked, carefully picking up the pot. "Sure," Rainbow and Surprise said in unison. Skylar signaled to the stallion at the till. "Yes?" he asked, when he flew up to our table. "May I have two more cups please?" Skylar asked. He nodded, and immediately flew down, quickly returning with the teacups. Skylar slowly poured in tea into the cups, and handed them to each of them. "Cheers," she said, raising her teacup to the others. Rainbow and Surprise followed in suit and all of them raised their cups to their lips and sipped at the same time. Suddenly, Skylar dropped her teacup, exclaiming, "Oh my - Argh! That's not tea!" Rainbow put her teacup down. "What are you talking about? Of course it's tea." "No, I've had tea. Tea is lovely. This is horrible. Therefore, it's not tea." "What do you mean? This is what tea tastes of." "Clearly you have never been to England." Skylar pushed her teacup away from her. "Hi Rainbow." The 3 mares turned to find to origin of the voice. Hovering next to them was a yellow mare, with a bright turquoise mane, in a similar style to Rainbow's. "Oh, hi Raindrops!" "You - you remember my name?" "Raindrops, we went to Flight School together. We were in the same class. We sat next to each other. I think I would remember you." "Oh. Right." Rainbow looked over to Skylar. "Sky, this is Raindrops. We used to be classmates in Flight School." She then turned back over to Raindrops. "This is my friend, Skylar. She lives in Ponyville with me." "Hi," Skylar said, smiling and waving at Raindrops. "Yeah, hi," was the reply. Skylar got out of her seat. "if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get a better drink, because I'm not drinking that," she said, gesturing to the discarded cup of tea on the table. She immediately flew back down and walked over to the stallion at the till, who didn't look to thrilled to her again. "Raindrops, why don't you bring a seat over and with us?" Rainbow asked. "With all of you?" she replied. Her eyes flicked over to Skylar, who was in the middle of a discussion with the stallion. "Including...the blank flank?" She looked back over at Rainbow. "No, I need to go. It was nice meeting you though." "Er...yeah." Raindrops flew towards the door, glancing back at Skylar at the till just before she opened the door and flew outside. Rainbow sat, staring at the door thinking about what Raindrops said. Was there something wrong with Skylar? Was she considered 'not cool'? Would everypony act that way when they saw that she was, as Raindrops put it, a blank flank? "What did I miss?" Rainbow jumped and looked behind her. Skylar was sat back in her seat, smiling at Rainbow. "He didn't have any real tea, so I suppose I'll just have to go without now. Raindrops gone?" "Err...yeah. She had to go. Actually, it's getting late. We should probably start heading back now," Rainbow said, flying out of her seat. "Ok. Surprise, it was lovely meeting you," Skylar said, giving the white pegasus mare a hug, just before she flew out of her seat, and floated to the ground. As she walked out of the door, a group of younger stallions rushed pass her, pushing her out of the way. "Outta the way, Blank Flank!" One of them shouted as they took off outside. "What the..." Skylar said, picking herself up from the ground. Rainbow immediately flew to her friend's side. "Come on, let's get out of here," Rainbow said, looking at the ponies at their tables, who were all staring at them and muttering to themselves. She started gently pushing Skylar towards the door. "Rainbow? What's wrong?" Skylar said, turning to face her. "Nothing. Let's just go." Skylar looked around at all of the ponies whispering amongst themselves, then turned back to Rainbow. "Are...are you embarrassed of me?" "What? Of course not." "You are!" Skylar said, taking a step away from the cyan mare. "What? Are you ashamed to be hanging out with...with a blank flank? Is that it?" "Skylar, please-" "Oh, just forget it." Skylar turned and starting walking away. Suddenly, she stopped and turned to face Rainbow again. "You know, for the Element of Loyalty, you certainly know how abandon friends." And with that she flew off, leaving Rainbow standing alone.