//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: Just Dropping In 
// by Gunsmith 
//------------------------------//

	I see something out of my apartment window; it is getting larger by the second and is burning brightly.

People are screaming, panicking, running in an attempt to save themselves from this monstrosity hurtling right towards them, towards me. Panic fills my own brain. I feel confused, scared, angry, sad.

The screams and shouts get louder. They are more pained now; the people are suffering. I can see them clutching at their stomachs, their faces, stumbling and falling to the ground, being cooked alive. The heat is becoming too intense, the light from the flaming object is too great for me to continue staring in horror out the window.

I turn and look around. I find no means to save myself, and give up. My eyes have stopped scanning, and have fallen upon something that now comes into my focus.

It is a replica, a simple toy, of a light blue winged pony, a pegasus, with a rainbow colored mane, who I know is Rainbow Dash. I smile upon seeing it.

Darkness.

***

I jolt forward and my eyes snap open. I realize I am about to fall off the couch I am sleeping on and throw out my right arm to the floor to steady myself. I look over at the arm, and realize it is not an arm, not mine, not anyone's. It is a foreleg, a black one. I can see it perfectly, and no glasses sit in front of my eyes.

I push off the floor with my foreleg, rolling back up on to the couch. I am about to roll on to my back, but something behind me smacks the couch, and a sting of pain hits my back. I carefully lay on my left side. I glance back and to my right; there is a bandaged object there. I remember that it is a wing, that I have wings now, and four legs, all covered iin black fur, like the rest of me, because I am a pony, a pegasus, in the magical and once-fictional land of Equestria. At least, it has become a reality for me.

It has to be my reality, now. Doesn't it? Yes. I never have a dream within a dream, let alone multiple within one. And the pain I was in yesterday sure felt real. Speaking of pain...I pause momentarily, holding my breath and listening. I can hear my heart softly thumping, two consecutive beats, a pause, a repeat. But, with each thump, I feel no pain in my head from the fine little concussion I had received yesterday. Rainbow Dash was right, ponies do heal fast...I glance back and to my right again, looking at my wing, and attempt to flex it or something. I can't really find the right muscle to do it, though. I decide another method would be suitable, and inhale deeply, preparing for a wave of pain.

I intentionally roll towards my right side, pressing my injured wing into the fluffy couch. I feel pain, but not to the extent of the previous day. My wing felt like it definitely needed the makeshift cast a bit longer, maybe for just today, but I could at least move around without pain erupting from my back. Good enough. I decide it's time to get up.

I roll left, off of the couch. I don't feel a crick in my neck like I usually do after sleeping on a couch; then again, this couch was more comfortable than most beds. I lift up a foreleg and run it against the couch. It is amazingly soft, like ten thousand thread count sheets; I don't think they even make a thread count that high. I glance around the room, the living room. I wonder where Rainbow Dash is...?

I glance down at the table, finding an answer to my question. There is a piece of white paper on the cloud table. It has some writing on it, and I lean down to read it. The writing is odd; it is somewhat jagged in form, scratchy, yet is neatly written, giving it a sense of elegance. It's like a cooler version of cursive; I'm pretty sure of who's hand...err, mouth-writing it is. The note reads: 

Gone to work, let you sleep. Help yourself.

-Dash

That's right, she has a job as head weatherpony of Ponyville. I wonder if ponies maintain a set work schedule for most jobs, like humans. Did 40 hour shifts exist in Equestria? I supposed that I'd have to find out sometime if I were to become a functioning member of society here."Help yourself"? What does she mean by that? To food, her house? I am unsure; however, both food and exploration sound like a good idea right now...in that order.

I pick up the note with my mouth, and walk around the table. I get to the stairs and make my way down into the kitchen. I look around and spot a trash can on the end of a row of counters and drop the note in. Don't have pockets or anything, otherwise I'd keep it. I frown, thinking of clothes. I didn't really feel naked, actually, though I technically was. Maybe it was the fur. 

I look around the kitchen, searching for..what? A refrigerator? No, it would be an icebox. No electricity, remember? I do spot an icebox, at the other end of the row of counters. I walk over to it; it has a lid on top. I place a hoof on the small handle (made of clouds, as the icebox is)--wait...damn it. I remove my hoof, somewhat glad Rainbow Dash didn't see my odd mistake, and instead bend my neck down. I grip the handle in my jaws and lift up the lid, then peer inside.

There are only two types of items in the icebox: apples and carrots. There are actually a few types of apples, some Red Delicious and Granny Smiths by the looks of it. I decide to grab myself a red apple and a carrot. I note the foods have the odd cartoon-istic appearance that the rest of this world does; a bite into the apple confirms that they taste no different, if not more tasty than actual apples. I can see why Applejack has a thing for these.

I devour the rest of the apple,  save for the core, then the carrot. I still feel a bit empty, though. Not wanting to deplete Rainbow's apple and carrot supplies too badly, I look around for another source of food. I look up at the cloud-made cabinets above the counters.

I recall Rainbow Dash having to hover a foot or two off the ground to be able to reach the cabinet doors; I find myself being able to reach them by standing on my legs and placing my forelegs on the counter tops to steady myself. I open one cabinet door with my teeth; inside are plates and bowls. I nudge the door shut with my nose, and hop myself over to the next cabinet.  Inside this one are some sandwich supplies; various flowers and a good amount of hay. I move on, seeing if other options exist. The next cabinet holds a few small loaves of bread. Can't have any toast, damn. I reach the last cabinet above this row of counters. I open the door, and am greeted with...cupcakes? No, they're...muffins. There's at least a dozen here. I debate on taking one, wondering if she will mind my doing so. I decide to risk the consequences and grab a muffin in my mouth.

I can already taste it, but shut the cabinet door and return my front legs to the floor before taking a bite out of it. It has blueberries embedded in it; they taste perfectly ripe and fresh. I wonder who made the muffins. I know it was not Dash, she is a notoriously bad cook, at least on the show and in fiction. Probably Cupcake Corner. I assume they are a general-purpose bakery that specializes in desserts. Or maybe it's just Pinkie Pie that specializes in desserts. I have no clue. I do know that the muffin is delicious, though. 

Now I feel full, full of some pretty damn tasty food for being all vegetarian. It's time to take a closer look around at my temporary residence. I've basically seen all the kitchen has to offer, and the living room seems fairly empty. All that left was Rainbow's room. Should I really explore her room? Wouldn't that be a violation of her privacy or something? I decide I won't snoop too much, and if I come across anything really personal, say, a journal, I'll leave it be.

I begin trotting up the stairs, out of the kitchen, past the living room, into the top floor of this tower-style cloud house. I enter the bedroom and decide to go through the door to my left, into the house's bathroom. When I enter the bathroom, I begin wondering about pony hygiene. Do ponies brush their teeth? A glance over to the double sink points to "no", as I see no sign of a toothbrush or toothpaste. I suppose Colgate is more of like a surgeon or a doctor then. Gives the ponies a check-up on their teeth every so often and fixes them if needed. Maybe ponies have bacteria in their mouths that keep them relatively clean, like dogs do. Moving on. I look over at the bathtub. I suppose that a shower or bath wouldn't be necessary on a regular basis, since ponies didn't sweat. I look closer at the bathtub. How do you even work this thing? I shrug the thought away, turning around and exiting the bathroom now that I do not have a purpose there at this point. 

I look around the bedroom. It's actually fairly empty; just the doors, a few posters, a dresser, a bed, and the bedside tables. I eye the bedside tables and decide to save them for last. I trot over to the closet. It's still half-opened, and I peer inside. The two multicolored dresses are still present from when I saw them earlier. They are, in fact, the only things in the closet; I know that Rainbow Dash is not a dressy kind of pony. I recognize both dresses as being those designed and created by Rarity; I know one was for one of the Grand Galloping Galas the Mane Six went to at one point in the show, and I don't remember where the other dress was used. I hadn't re-watched episodes of MLP:FiM very often, and the only ones that I did were directly related to Rainbow Dash or were generally excellent episodes, so it could be hard to remember some of the adventures of the six ponies.

I turn away from the closet and look at the dresser, which is now directly in front of me. Yesterday, something had caught my eye. It was...yes, the stockings, rainbow colored, partially hanging out of the middle drawer. I find it odd that a pony would wear socks when they normally don't wear anything at all. I lift a foreleg and wedge the drawer open a bit farther, my curiosity piqued. Inside the drawer is three other socks, which match the one hanging out of the drawer, a rainbow colored scarf, and a pair of dark black sunglasses. I attempt to pick up the sunglasses with a hoof. My hoof touches them, but nothing happens. What, was I expecting myself to be magnetic? Still, I try again. And again, the glasses do not respond to my hoof's shoves. How in the hell could they do that? I annoyed and close the drawer with the foreleg.

I turn my attention to the bedside tables, the only things I have not looked at more thoroughly. I trot over to the one on the right side of the bed, stacked to the verge of falling with various books. I am tempted to nab one of the books and start reading, but really do not want to have to  pick up and re-stack twenty-plus books...all with my mouth. Instead, I walk around the bed to the other bedside table. I look at the picture frame that sits behind the book, which also sits on the small table. I recognize the picture: it is the cover picture for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. In the center of the group sits Twilight Sparkle. Around her sit Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. In front of her lays Fluttershy, and behind her, flying, is Rainbow Dash, a competitive grin on her face. I smile with recognition at the picture that began every episode of my most favorite television show. 

I think back to the dream I had last night. No, the memory that I re-lived. As I had told myself earlier, dreams don't bring that much pain, don't feel so real, and don't often happen within each other; at least, not for me. I think of my family; I can still remember them, though I don't want to. All their memory brings is a feeling of sadness, emptiness. I realize how much I miss them, and that I probably won't see them again.

I try to find a positive aspect. At least...I'm here. I still exist, and I exist in a world that seems nearly perfect. I decide that's more than enough reason not to feel sorry for myself, and shake my head to clear my thoughts. I find it odd how I can twist my neck and spin my head back and forth. I can feel my mane hitting the sides of my neck every time I spin my head to the other side, and the wind it creates from the whipping action.

The wind makes me want to go outside. I promise myself I'll go outside as soon as I finish exploring. Now...where was I, again? I glance down, seeing the book beneath the picture frame. I nudge it to the edge of the table with a hoof, and grasp it in my mouth. I lay the book on the bed, deciding I'll see if I like this author's style of writing. I peer along the pages of the book, looking for a place to start. I see the telltale sign of a dog-eared page; I smile a little at the thought that I do the same thing with books. Bookmarks are for squares.

I have some trouble opening the book. I eventually find that I can use the friction between my hooves and the edges of the paper to open the book, and do so, pinning the pages down with my forelegs. I read a few lines from the page Rainbow Dash had paused on.

Daring Do looked down the long, wide hallway made of ancient stone. It looked clear the entire way to the pedestal at the end of the hallway, on top of which she could see her goal; the Crystal Pelvis. However, Do knew that the hallway was most certainly trap-filled. The ancient keepers of the Pelvis had loved their traps.

But how would she know where the traps lay? She peered at walls. In a few sections of the tunnel, she could see slits in the ceiling, holes in the walls; poison darts and swinging axes were definitely in her near future. There had to be other traps, though.

Daring Do brought a hoof to her head in thought, tapping the top of it. That gave her just the idea she needed. She looked up and pulled off her hat with one hoof. Tucking it in to her foreleg, she threw out her arm, releasing her hat and flinging it through the hallway like a frisbee.

The hat spun and spun, keeping it afloat as it shot threw the hallway. As it did, it triggered trap after trap. The first trap spewed fire at the hat from vents in the floor, the next sending poison darts rocketing towards it, the trap after that sending spikes from the wall out. The hat hovered through swinging axe blades, another round of poison darts, a drop into an endless pit, and finally over a small pit full of hungry crocodiles before coming to a rest at the base of the pedestal.

All of the traps stopped at once, returning inside the walls of the stone hallway, leaving it quiet once again.

Do took a deep breath, grinned, and started running towards the pedestal.

She began remembering each of the traps as they came, nimbly avoiding them just in time. The flames erupted from the floor, singing her tail as she leaped over them. The poison-tipped darts flew just over her head as she slid under them. She leaped past the spikes emerging from the wall, dodged the swinging axes, sped past more poison darts, jumped over the pit, landing with a roll and leaping over the still-hungry crocodiles. Do picked up her hat, put it on, and looked up to the Crystal.

She reached up, grabbing the Crystal Pelvis in her teeth; only then did she realize her mistake. A stone pressure pad on top of the pedestal lifted up, and she heard the grinding of stone against stone. She looked up to see a giant boulder, rolling towards her through the traps.

Daring Do ran away from the boulder as fast as she could, past the pedestal and into another tunnel. The boulder seemed to be getting closer and closer, and she tried to go faster. It would have been easier had she had both her wings functioning. She ran and ran, and just as she was about to collapse from exhaustion, she emerged from the temple. The boulder smashed into the doorway behind her, sealing the exit for good. She breathed a sigh of relief, still clutching the Crystal Pelvis in her teeth.

I close the book, careful to leave the dog-ear in its place. Not bad. I would have to finish reading that later. Right now, I wanted to go outside. I trot down the flight of stairs, thinking it would be nice to be able to fly out of one of the bedroom windows instead of having to walk out the front door.

And speaking of flying...I have no idea how. A pegasus with no idea how to fly? How am I going to explain that? I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, I suppose...

I enter the kitchen and head towards the door. It appears to just be a swivel-style door, and I push it open with my nose. It makes sense; ponies don't have hands, and they're called "handles" for a reason. Door knobs were out of the question, too.

I walk outside. It's not much different from inside, save for the lighting difference. I am still walking on clouds, so the texture under my hooves doesn't change. It's also the same air as the inside of the house, being that the house's windows are all open, letting the air circulate. Yes, the lighting is the biggest change. And I can see a bit of scenery now, too. I look upward, towards the sun, regretting it a second later. There are spots in my eyes that are sun shaped. I suppose a cartoon sun is just as bright as a normal, ten thousand degree sun made of helium and hydrogen. I blink a few times, clearing my eyes. I walk a bit farther out on the cloud base, telling myself not to go too far, otherwise I'll fall off. I turn around to look at Rainbow dash's house from the outside.

It is indeed a tower-based home, with three stories. On the outside, I can see there is a domed roof on top. There are pillar formations holding up a shade above the front entrance; it gives the house a Greek appearance when combined with the domed roof and tower design. Around the house are small pools filled with...rainbows? I walk around the side of the house, deciding to investigate. I approach a pool of rainbow. Its source appears to be a rainbow-fall streaming out of the midsection of the house. There are a few other rainbow-falls coming out of random places of the house's exterior and leading into pools of their own. I lean down and look at the rainbow pool I stand at. Wait, isn't there a certain way to see if these are really rainbows?

I remember Pinkie Pie tasting a rainbow and commenting on its spiciness. Well, I am a big fan of hot sauce...I carefully lean my right foreleg out and dip a hoof in the multicolored pool. I raise my hoof. The mass of color looks odd surrounded by the black of my leg. I lick the rainbow-sauce off of my hoof. It has the texture of most hot sauces, thick enough to remain in your mouth but not thick enough to stick there. I wait for a second and feel a burn at the back of my throat and on the sides of my tongue. It's actually a really delicious flavor and a nice feeling. Like a medium-hotness hot sauce; not hot enough to make your eyes water and nose run, but hot enough to satisfy you. I am tempted to eat some more, but consider possible health issues and costliness of rainbow production and decide to look around some more. 

I move to the edge of the cloud base again, going prone on my stomach. It makes me feel less like I'm going to fall off the edge. I inch myself over the edge until I can peer down. A short ways off horizontally, but a long way down, I spot Ponyville. I can see ponies going about their daily business within the town. The whole town, the whole ground, in fact, is coated in a layer of pristine white snow. It's winter? I didn't even notice...I suppose that my new-found fur would prevent that. I continue to look around at the white town, speckled with moving dots of color. It's actually a bigger town than I thought. No Canterlot of course, but a decent size for a town. It reminds me of my old town. I shove the thought away and push myself back onto the main part of the cloud.

I look up this time. I can see Canterlot a ways away, a small, mottled image in the distance. Continuing to look around, I spot Cloudsdale also. Or more, the bottom of Cloudsdale. It seems to be about the same distance away as Ponyville is. I draw the conclusion that Rainbow Dash is equally distant from both, at the midpoint between the two; I wonder if this was intentional, to show her loyalty to both or something like that.

There isn't much else I can see. I do spot the Everfree forest in the distance. It has an ominous appearance, even with snow on the tops of the pine trees. Darker clouds hang over it in an unrefined way. It gives me the creeps. I turn away, and note that there are very few clouds left above Ponyville and the surrounding area. Wouldn't that mean...?

As if intentionally coordinating herself to my thoughts, I see Rainbow Dash fly out of seemingly nowhere and buck the last remaining cloud in the sky with her back legs. I grin, feeling like a dog waiting for its master to return home; except I'm a pony waiting for the most awesome pony in Equestria. She calls downward, probably letting her co-workers know she has finished her shift for the day. She then turns, looking in my direction. She must have spotted me standing outside (it wouldn't be hard, even at a distance--matte black stands out fairly well on cloud white), for she begins flying unusually fast towards me.

In fact, faster than unusually fast. I can see the streak of color her tail and mane creates when flying thickening in hue. As she nears, I see she has that competitive look on her face. Dash streaks towards me, likely clocking in at a half-Mach. I instinctively duck as she nears, and feel her fly a foot over my head. A whoosh of air hits me a second later. I stand back up and look to where she flew to. She does a few corkscrews, somersaults, back flips, and other tricks I really don't know the proper name of; they look cool as hell, though. After about a minute of showing off, she shoots straight up.

I watch her fly higher and higher. It becomes impossible to do so after twenty seconds. I squint, attempting to search for where she has disappeared to. Her cyan coat is acting against me, being that the daytime sky is the exact same color. I attempt to squint harder, nearly closing my eyes, but I still can't--

"Hey!"

"Gah!" I yell in surprise. I stumble forwards trip over my own bewildered legs, faceplanting cleanly into the cloud. It's like landing in a pile of kittens, minus the teeth and claws.

I hear Rainbow Dash's laugh behind me and realize what she has done. I probably should have expected it. I push off of the cushion-y ground and right myself. I turn around and find Rainbow rolling on the ground, laughing at her accomplishment and my reaction.

"That was pretty good," I tell her, grinning with amusement of my own.

Her laughter slows into a sigh. "Thanks, I thought so too." 

I hold out a hoof, and she grips it with hers; I help pull her onto her hooves. We begin walking back towards her cloud tower.

"So how did your day go?" I ask, out of both politeness and some genuine curiosity.

"Ehh, pretty easy. We didn't have anything to prepare for, storms or anything. We'll be preparing for the Winter Wrap-Up here soon, though." 

"When's that?" I ask, for no apparent reason.

"I think it's at the end of February. We're about two months away."

Even though this is a simple comment, I am taken slightly aback. So, ponies use the same system of time measurement as humans. I decide to confirm it. "And today is December...?"

"Uhh...twenty-third. Yeah, today's December twenty-third."

"Thanks," I say, my hunch proven correct.

"Mm-hmm," she replies before continuing, "Oh, how are you doing? Your wing and stuff."

"Actually, I'm feeling a lot better. My headache is gone and my wing's hurting a lot less. I think it might actually heal by tomorrow..."

"I can tell you're ready to get back to flying. I know how it feels, and it's definitely not awesome not being able to fly. Could you imagine being an earth pony?"

"Ye-haha, no way." I know I've nearly slipped up, again. The fact that I have no clue how to fly or use wings pops into my head, a reminder I have no desire to hear. I'm going to have to tell her sometime...

I could swear she gives me that critical look, like she's analyzing someone's trustworthiness, but when I look up at her, hovering beside me, she is smiling and looking towards her house, which we are nearly at.

"Well, you're still hurt, so you're gonna have to stay with me another night."

"Shucks," I reply, smiling at her.

She returns it. "You hungry, Ferrum?"

I suppose I am. I was too busy exploring to have lunch...or maybe my breakfast was lunch? I ought to have found a clock in her house. Either way, I'm hungry now. "Yes I am."

We walk into her kitchen. She walks over to the cabinets, opens one, and states, "So I'm guessing you noticed I got some food, right?"

I can feel heat rising in my face with some guilt. "Heh, yeah..."

Rainbow Dash turns and smiles at me. "Don't worry, you were supposed to eat stuff. Here, grab a muffin."

I walk over to the cabinet and snatch a muffin from it with my teeth. "Hanksh."

"Mm-hmmph," she replies, some plates in her own jaws.

We sit down at the short cloud table and eat the muffins for dinner. My muffin is strawberry filled, and is just as tasty as my earlier blueberry muffin. After eating and cleaning up the dishes, I ask her about her job as a weatherpony for Ponyville. We eventually come to the topic of the Wonderbolts and her desire to one day join them. I choose my words carefully to avoid hinting I know more than what I say, noting the posters in her bedroom, things like that. She seems to really admire them, which as a brony I already know quite well. But, I stand in the kitchen and listen to her anyways, Just enjoying the fact I'm able to be standing and listening to my favorite pony.

Eventually, I think she talks her voice hoarser than it already is.

"Well, hay," Dash says. "I think I'm going to hit the sack. We'll see how your wing is doing tomorrow when I finish my shift, 'kay?"

I chuckle. "Alright, see you tomorrow, Rainbow."

"Night, Ferrum."

I smile and follow her up the stairs, exiting on the second floor. I trot over to the couch and plop down, right wing up, and close my eyes, still smiling.