Face to Old Face
Cloud Breaker felt like he was walking on air as he trotted out of Ponyville Hospital alongside Sunny Rays and Serenity. A simple DNA test had finally given him the confirmation he needed, he was a changeling no more and now 100 percent a pegasus pony.
For a moment he felt so happy it was like he was trotting on air. Then he heard Serenity and Sunny chuckling and noticed that he actually was trotting on air, about a foot off the ground. Apparently his wings had started flapping without a direct command.
“Um, oops,” Cloud said as the chuckling continued. “I’m still getting used to these things.”
The humorous mood continued until the trio of pegasi stopped at a sidewalk café for lunch. With Cloud’s identity now confirmed, Sunny and Serenity had agreed to return some of his bits. He, in turn, would be buying their meals in exchange for some other favors later. Both fully admitted some apprehension at his changeling past, but Serenity was quick to point out that he was more nervous about the so-called baby dragon that lived down the street with Twilight Sparkle. Spike had almost destroyed the town, yet he was somehow allowed to stay. Sunny chimed in and added that discrimination had never gotten anypony anywhere, and that they would sort out consequences from his part in the attack later.
The three sat on small bales of hay outside around a table designed to look like a mushroom. The two weather ponies discussed some business while Cloud looked over a menu, confused about what to order.
“The weather is perfect for a little outdoor lunch,” Sunny said. “Well, at least for the next three hours. Then we’ve got that pleasant afternoon shower coming through if Blue Skies and the team are on time.”
“They usually are,” Serenity responded. “Blossomforth is with him today, and she’s a real talent. She’s great at moving clouds so the plants get their sunshine. Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane are still in Canterlot, but Dizzy Twister and Silverspeed are in the rotation today filling in.”
“I was working all week to get a thunderstorm in at the least inconvenient time,” Sunny said. “Did we get the okay for one tonight?”
“I think so,” Serenity replied. “Check with Midnight Strike, she’s lead pony on the night shift this evening.”
All this weather talk piqued Cloud’s interest.
“So how many pegasi are on the Ponyville weather team?” Cloud asked.
“A couple dozen, believe it or not,” Sunny responded. “Ponyville’s so centrally-located that we’ve been put in charge of a lot of territory. We actually move a lot of weather produced in Cloudsdale for other areas. There’s also monitoring to be done in the Everfree Forest; the uncontrolled weather in there is such a wildcard that it pays to have a team on standby in case it produces something dangerous.”
“Despite the size of our town we’re one of the largest weather departments outside Cloudsdale, Las Pegasus, and Fillydelphia,” Serenity said. “Even Canterlot’s a smaller operation because the central office in Cloudsdale handles almost all of their services. Not a lot of pegasi live there, too, probably because a lot of those real high society unicorns are a bit elitist. Ponyville’s pegasus population is much higher than normal for an earth pony-founded town because of the weather office and the resulting pegasi community surrounding it.”
Cloud liked the sound of that. He’d impersonated enough pegasi over the years as a changeling to know that weather jobs paid rather well. Rainbow Dash’s giant cloud house he’d been flying by everyday for the last month was proof of that. It was a major reason why his pegasi disguises were usually weather-related. If there was any early upshot to being stuck as Cloud it was that his identity came with a possibility of a career in the field.
“What are the odds of getting a job here?” Cloud asked. “I’ve got to work somewhere, and if the whole ‘cutie mark means destiny’ thing is as true as we’re taught, then it seems up my alley.”
“Pretty good,” Serenity said. “We just had a round of promotions and retirements, so the Ponyville office currently has three openings in town and few others on the outer ring of our coverage area.”
Cloud was starting to feel confident.
“But it takes more than just a weather-themed cutie mark and name to get a job around here,” Serenity added. “You may really be Cloud Breaker now, but you also have no resume of any prior weather work or training to your credit. Plus, everyone around here knows you as our friend; if we just pulled a few strings and blindly got you hired we’d all make it about half a day before we’d get investigated for nepotism.”
Cloud’s confidence vanished.
“With that cutie mark your best chance for a job beyond just manual labor is probably still something in the weather business,” Sunny noted. “But the only way you’d get a position with your qualifications would be if no one else applied, which isn’t likely in this sort of populated area or larger office.”
That was a disappointing twist, but suddenly a thought from earlier came back into his head.
“Oh that’s fine,” the older pony in the Jerkwater post office said. “I just wanted to know if you knew when we’d be getting our new workhorse.”
“You mailed it in Jerkwater, too,” Sunny added. “The Ponyville weather office services Jerkwater, I’ve been twice this month on business.”
If a populated job wasn’t in the cards maybe an unpopulated one was.
“What about Jerkwater?” Cloud asked. “Isn’t there a weather position open there?”
The look on the engaged pegasi’s faces confirmed that Cloud was right.
“There is,” Sunny noted. “That’s not a good gig, though. The old pony on that beat retired three months ago, and nopony has applied to fill it.”
“That position requires being based in Ponyville for quick access to the office,” Serenity noted. “But that also means a two-hour flying commute each way and several more hours of paperwork alone in the Jerkwater office. It’s not ideal, but you could get hired for that with some practice. Celestia knows Rainbow Dash doesn’t like having that spot open and allocating resources to cover it.”
“So if apply for that spot I’d have a chance?” Cloud asked as the other two tentatively nodded. “I’ve impersonated weather pegasi before, so I have some idea how it works, albeit not perfectly.”
“It would take some work to get you trained, but I’d say it’s not impossible,” Serenity said. “We might be able to help you a bit, but it will take a lot of initiative on your end to get some stuff in place. I suppose it’s worth a shot. We can’t have you sleeping on our coach forever.”
Cloud smiled. Perhaps he would have a future in the weather business after all. At this point the waiter finally arrived, and for such a casual restaurant he was dressed rather formally.
“May I take your order?” the waiter asked
“Yes, I’ll have the six-inch tomato, hay, and lettuce sub with the hickory-smoked tofu,” Serenity said. “You guys have Yoke or Horsi?”
“Yoke,” responded the waiter.
“I’ll have one of those please,” Serenity responded.
“And you, Madame?” asked the waiter.
“Can I get the veggie medley with a side of fresh applesauce?” Sunny asked. “And a water with lemon to drink.”
“And you sir?” the waiter asked, looking at Cloud.
“I’ll have the toasted jalapeño-and-habanero alfalfa sub with a Yoke,” Cloud said.
Serenity and Sunny both looked at him funny.
“Very good, sir,” said the waiter as he left.
“Jalapeño and habanero?” asked Sunny.
“It sounded good,” Cloud responded. “Why, that’s not super spicy or anything is it?”
___
As Cloud prepared for bed that night he could still feel some of the heat from that sub he ate for lunch. In retrospect it had been a mistake. But it would eventually fade, he hoped. With a clink he locked the couch’s fold-out bed into place and lay down. His eyelids were heavy, and he hoped to fall asleep right away as they closed for the first time.
It had been a long day. After the testing, the confirmation of his transformation, and his scorching lunch he had some time to ponder his future. He’d have to start researching weather patterns tomorrow to get him ready for his application. Sunny noted that Rainbow Dash liked to handle the interview process herself and make it anything but easy. Serenity had used the term “gauntlet of doom,” but Cloud was sure that was an exaggeration.
At least he hoped it was.
No matter how hard that test would eventually be, he was confident for a better future for the first time in awhile. Cloud couldn’t even remember that optimism when he was a changeling.
But as bright as he thought it was looking, the thing he wasn’t doing was falling asleep. Perhaps a trip to the restroom would do it. He rolled out of bed back on all fours and trotted his way down the hall. His midnight trip took an odd turn when he got there and had a hard time remembering why he had come there in the first place. He shrugged and turned to trot back to bed.
“36 Hours as a pony and you’re already to just throw it all away to spend your life playing with clouds huh,” said a familiar voice.
Cloud recognized it immediately. It was his voice but he certainly didn’t just say that. He looked around to find the source.
“Come on, it hasn’t even been two days,” the voice said. “Certainly you haven’t forgotten me already.”
No doubt the source now, it was coming from the mirror. Cloud walked over to it and looked in, the reflection on the other side was not that of a green furred, orange-maned pegasus as he was now. It was a changeling, specifically changeling Drone 9417. He’d recognize that face anywhere compared to other changelings. It had been his until just recently.
“Given the recent nature of your accident, you sure seem ready to just abandon everything so you can be a pony,” the reflection said. “No respect for your heritage, huh?”
“What choice do I have?” Cloud Breaker responded. “My transformation magic is gone, my exoskeleton is nothing but a bunch of little broken pieces some timber wolf is probably nibbling on by now, and that DNA test showed that I don’t just look like a pony. I am one. I don’t have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice,” Drone 9417 replied.
Drone 9417 stepped forward; slowly he emerged from the mirror into the real world. Cloud Breaker was now literally beside his former self. Was this really happening?
“You think just because you changed species you should just cut all ties with the swarm?” Drone 9417 asked. “The changeling swarm was more to you than friends, we were your family. How much can you really trust those two pegasi? Will they really help out someone who fed off their love for several weeks without permission?”
“Yes, they will,” Cloud Breaker said. “It won’t be easy, and I have to work to make that up to them, but I can do it.”
Real or not, the changeling definitely wanted a debate.
“And what about your family, then?” Drone 9417 asked. “Remember how crushed your close siblings were when we lost Drone 9413 to the ponies? How do you think they will respond to losing you, too? You weren’t just a number to them.”
That one hurt. A few tears rolled down Cloud’s snout. There were almost certainly some changelings that would notice he was missing. The swarm wasn’t as close as ponies, but they knew when someone was gone. But still, no matter how much he missed them, he knew it was for the best that he moved on.
“So what do you want me to do, bud?” Cloud asked. “Go back? I’m a pony now, and anypony who goes waltzing into the changeling hive is most likely going to get cocooned and sucked dry for all the love they’ve got. I don’t even know where the hive is anymore, given how spread out everyone was after the attack.”
“If you search you can find them,” Drone 9417 said.
“But I don’t want to find them,” Cloud fired back.
“Do you really want to live your whole life without seeing them again?” Drone 9417 asked. “Don’t sell yourself short. Even if you are a pony now, there is still a place for you in the swarm. Maybe they would cocoon you, but maybe they wouldn’t. You know all their secrets, all their espionage strategies, and you as a pony are perfectly undetectable. You have the perfect disguise now, you can get into areas that no one else can. And for refusing the easy equine out you have been offered everyone up to Queen Chrysalis herself would respect you for returning. You could be promoted well up in the organization.”
To prove his point Drone 9417 vanished in a flash of green light. When he emerged Cloud was staring at a perfect copy of himself as Drone 9417 turned into a perfect pegasus clone. His version wore a modified suit of the armor that was issued to only the best of the changelings’ commanders. A changeling horn was even built into the armor for decorative purposes.
“You have a choice, Cloud Breaker,” the copy ‘Cloud’ said, “and never forget that.”
Cloud’s jaw hit the floor at this. His doppelgänger used his stunned look to throw a punch. With an instinctive response, Cloud blocked it.
The instant he did he immediately woke up back on the couch bed.
“Ah!” Cloud screamed as he woke.
A nightmare, it was just a nightmare.
That Drone 9417 had only been a figment of his new pony imagination. He had been talking gibberish; he knew he didn’t still have a place in the swarm waiting for him if he tried to return. Did he? Did he even want one?
Cloud just looked around frustratedly. Sure he missed some of the swarm, but he wasn’t a drone anymore, and the part of his mind that produced that dream probably needed to accept that. He rolled over and drifted back to what he hoped would be a more peaceful sleep. Tomorrow he would do some research and try to get his head in the clouds…
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Oh ho, cloud, you poor bastard.
Moar
Good work! Like the drama of his 'past' self confronting him. Hopefully the PTSD stuff comes back?
I would very much like to see more incidents where he is desperately trying not to let any of the elements realize he recently tried to beat the tar out of them. Great story all in all though.
Great story!
Interesting and compelling, I have now finished reading it.
Oh damn... That little voice in the back of his head... This is gooooood.
~Skeeter The Lurker