A Circus At Cliffside

by Ardent Wing

To meet a Rose

Cloud Charmer once again sat leaning against the wall of the pastry shop that sat across the street from what Thunderstruck had said was Rosefall’s house. The brick was cool against her back; the remnants of the cold morning still lingering as the sun shone brightly through the few clouds that remained in the sky.

The wind had surprisingly dropped after it had blown the clouds across the sky and beyond the tip of the mountain that the town sat on, to soar over places unknown.

Cloud Charmer wished she could follow them there. It wasn’t that she was bored, completely, but she was tired of being unable to follow excitement to its source. Instead, she had to wait for it to come to her, and that was one of the most annoying things about this whole day.

Cloudy Night was sitting beside her grey friend… considering. She had never before seen Rosefall’s house, though she had seen Rosefall hanging around at the stadium once before. From what Thunderstruck had explained to them, Rosefall was the daughter of the town’s mayor, and a good friend of Thunderstruck. Regardless of that, her father was very rich, and she lived in the highest splendour that could be afforded in these times. Her house certainly confirmed this; it was almost as big as Cloud Charmer’s tree! Though, considering that Cloudy could only see the house from the front, it may well be far bigger than she thought.

The house certainly looked like it belonged to a rich pony. Its outer walls were plastered and pale; covering what should be stone bricks underneath. The windows of the house were gilded in brass, which meant that it had been brought up here from the south, as there was no means to acquire or create brass on this mountain. It looked like the walls of the mansion were covered in murals of flowers, done in a very light purple colour. If it had sat on any other street in the town, Cloudy Night would have called it gaudy. However, this was the richer district in Cliffside, and everything from a dirty old alleyway to the pastry shop she was leaning on looked as though it had been covered in the overdone tastes that only the rich could afford to have.

So this was Rosefall’s street? Cloudy could not help but wonder just how Thunderstruck expected to use Rosefall to assist them in gathering ponies to go to the circus tomorrow. Thunderstruck assured both fillies that Rosefall would be a big help to them, and that he had a plan, yet he had yet to elaborate on either of these statements. It wasn’t that Cloudy did not trust Thunderstruck, she just wanted the information.

She wondered why it was that today of all days was when everypony seemed to be obsessed with not explaining themselves. With each passing hour, Cloudy was presented with more puzzles and given less answers, and figuring out herself probably wouldn’t change the rate at which she devised more questions. She had to find some way to stem the flow.

Beside her, Cloud Charmer gave a loud sigh, and then seemed to swat at something in on her muzzle. She turned to Cloudy with a grumpy look in her eyes, giving Cloudy the entire hint she needed to tell that her friend was losing patience.

“He is taking forever! How is it that the fastest pony in Cliffside is moving so slow today?” Cloud whined.

“He only went into Rosefall’s house… about fifteen minutes ago. That isn’t supremely long.” Cloudy responded.

Cloud charmer glanced back at the house door, her ears pricking up as if she heard something, and then drooped again when she saw nothing coming from Rosefall’s house. She turned back to Cloudy Night, this time looking not grumpy but inquisitive.

“How is it that you always seem so content with what’s happening Cloudy?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… how is it that you’re always so relaxed? You’re never bored, in fact, today when you argued with Blink, I was really surprised at that outburst.”

“I don’t know, I like to think, and just hang around…. I’m not exactly sure what you’re saying.” Cloudy Night confessed to her friend.

Cloud Charmer sighed again before she spoke, “Never mind, I was just trailing off a bit. Though you have to admit that you’ve been talking a lot today, I’d say that this time hanging out with Thunderstruck wasn’t so awkward as last time, right?”

Cloudy nodded to her friend. It was true; this meeting with Thunderstruck had proven to be both more active and less uncomfortable than the last one. This time, Cloudy felt more… at ease, like she had known Thunderstruck for a very long time.

It was hard to believe that only a month ago Cloudy had been unaware that friendship was even within her grasp. A month ago all Cloudy did was ponder, read, and wallow. That is what she considered it, wallowing in her own grief. Cloudy was glad she was beyond that state of her life, even if it was just a month ago. Meeting Cloud Charmer had changed her life for the better, and she was by far happier than she was before. She had even found a friend in Thunderstruck, and it finally felt right. She was never going back to that dark place in her mind again, as she had decided the day she had made her first friend, she would now be Cloudy Night the friendly, not Cloudy Night the lonely.

Cloud Charmer poked Cloudy in the side with her hoof, bringing her back into the moment. Thunderstruck was trotting out from Rosefall’s mansion and towards the two friends. He looked relieved, which was odd, considering that Rosefall was not with him, which should mean that he was unable to get her to come outside.

Thunderstruck sat down in against the wall next to Cloudy, a small smile playing across his mouth. Cloud Charmer stood up and faced him, obviously as curious about the situation as Cloudy.

“My friends, it is a success! Rosefall will be joining us in just a few minutes to discuss how to gather the ponies for the circus.” Thunderstruck announced.

“Why didn’t she just follow you out right now?” Cloud Charmer asked.

“’Patience is the one virtue we all have, but never use.’ She’ll be out soon, that’s all that matters.” He said.

Cloud was not deterred, “Why do we need her? What is this plan of yours?” She sounded angry.

Thunderstruck rose to face his little blue haired friend. Cloudy also stood up, however she did not intend to intrude upon their conversation, but merely listen.

“We need Rosefall because she is the only pony with the ponypower to reach almost every filly in town with a message to come to the stadium.” Thunderstruck explained.

“How would she accomplish that?” Cloud asked.

“Is it not obvious? Rosefall is even better connected than me! She can tell her friends, servants, anyone she needs to get the message around. She’s done it dozens of times before. How do you think I gather everypony for one of our races at the stadium? Rosefall is excellent at spreading information.”

“By that you mean she’s a great gossip! I’m not exactly sure I like this plan.” Cloud Charmer stated.

“Like it or not, it’s the plan that’ll work.” Thunderstruck assured.

Cloudy Night stared at her friend, trying to analyze what she had just said about Rosefall. She had called her a gossip, which could be taken offensively. Did Cloud Charmer not like Rosefall? Cloudy wasn't sure that her friend had mentioned the pony before, but she had never gotten this feeling from Cloud regarding the pony. Either Cloud was really feeling impatient right now, or she had taken some issue with Rosefall. Cloudy Night honestly doubted the latter, the only pony that Cloud Charmer had ever expressed any negative emotion towards was Chud, and that just happened yesterday!

Cloud Charmer sighed, “Well, that’s probably right. I suppose that given the amount of time we have before sundown, she’s the only pony who can get the message out fast enough. But tell me why she’s making us wait for her out here?”

“My friend, the answer lies in her title as the mayor’s daughter.” Thunderstruck explained.

“What exactly does being the mayor’s daughter have to do with making us wait?”

“Prickly Pines.”

“Now you really are making no sense.” Cloud stated.

It was now Thunderstruck’s turn to sigh, which was an unwarranted action to Cloudy, as he was the one refusing to explain himself. “Don’t you ponies get it?! Mayor Fair Flower is makes all of the major decisions that affect this town…”

“Yes?”

“But Prickly Pines often weighs in on those decisions. He is all but the official advisor to the Mayor, and Fair Flower often listens to what Prickly has to say to him.”

“This is why the Mayor is going in the next couple of days to help Prickly place those restrictions on the refugee camp.” Cloudy intoned, she was beginning to see the picture.

“Exactly, Cloudy, the Mayor would appear to be acting on the sole advisement of Prickly Pines in this particular situation.” Thunderstruck confirmed.

“Why in the world would the ponies of this town actually listen to a pony like Prickly Pines? How could they embrace hatred like that?!” Cloud Charmer said, disgusted by the prospect of a pony like Prickly leading the town to such a dark place.

“Maybe… because Prickly is one of the only ponies who speaks out.” Thunderstruck offered.

When his two friends gave him a confused look, Thunderstruck elaborated on his point. “Look, around here, Prickly Pines is one of the only ponies who actually tries to change things, even if he changes them for the worse. He constantly reminds ponies about Discord and how we lost control of our world. He uses the guise of keeping the order and peace to act against ponies like the refugee and the circus, and the ponies of town listen to him because he takes charge and works to fulfill his goals. He has done things that have helped the town greatly in the past. He doesn’t hate everyone, just strange ponies, and the town listens to him because they believe that he really does want to help.”

Cloud Charmer considered his words before she responded. Could it be true that Prickly had really helped the town in the past? Perhaps he did hold the best interests… no. It just didn’t sound right. Prickly was blatantly offensive to outsiders, and to her it seemed he just played his hatred onto the other townsponies. He was wrong, and she would see to it that he failed in his attempts to harm outsiders. Still, this was useful information, and Cloud Charmer was beginning to work out how Prickly might think. If she could just figure out how he managed to influence the entire town, she could defeat him. Against odds, and age, and power, Cloud Charmer’s tactical mind truly could defeat him. It was what she had been trained from birth to be able to do. Plus, now she had an advantage, because she understood Rosefall’s reason for not coming out immediately.

Cloud Charmer smiled, both her excitement and happiness returning at once with the sudden realization that this was going to work.

“So, Rosefall is taking her time because she wants to help. But she doesn’t want her dad to know she’s helping because he might tell Prickly Pines. The enemy of my enemy is my friend; she probably jumped to help you as soon as you mentioned Prickly.” Cloud explained.

Thunderstruck seemed surprised, “Actually, that’s pretty much what happened. I said that I wanted to talk to her about the circus and Prickly, quietly mind you, and she immediately said that she’d be out in a minute.”

“Have you ever thought about becoming a royal Policepony Cloud?” Cloudy Night asked jokingly.

“No. Also, here she comes.” Cloud Charmer responded, watching her friends turn to notice Rosefall approaching.

Cloudy Night’s mind immediately began to analyze Rosefall as she trotted towards them. She was a young mare, probably a couple years older than Cloud Charmer, so, about sixteen or seventeen. Cloudy would also say that she was probably one of the oldest ponies who still hung out at the stadium with Thunderstruck, though Cloudy assumed that he was the oldest pony there. The next thing that Cloudy Night noticed about that pony was that she was a unicorn, with her horn actually appearing to sit in front of her hair, which fell around it in small symmetrical arches. Her coat was pink, though it was a very light shade of pink, almost bordering on white. Her mane and tail were a combination of large and round curls and longer, more winding curls that bounced when she trotted, seeming light as air despite the fact that her hair was very thick. Her mane and tail were both a very deep shade of red, which in the light of the sun actually looked much more brown than red, though Cloudy could tell their true colour. From this angle Cloudy could also see Rosefall’s cutie mark, which, to her surprise, was a quill writing on a piece of paper. Cloudy had honestly not expected to see that, even if she still didn’t understand exactly what that cutie mark meant. Her eyes were a bright purple, which seemed to shine excitedly as she bounced across the street from her house.

“Well, Thunderstruck, you liar! You never once mentioned that you would be gracing me not only with your presence, but those of two more friends as well.” She said playfully, her voice sounding very light hearted and cheery. Her voice wasn’t quite girlish, but it was very sunny, and didn’t seem like the kind of voice to say something serious… ever.

Cloud Charmer rolled her eyes, now she knew why Thunderstruck was friends with Rosefall, they practically talked like twins. Well, except that Thunderstruck broke his own character enough that she thought it safe to say that he was a worse actor than she was. Cloud Charmer just hoped that she wasn’t going to start hearing poetry quotes thrown at her twice as often.

“Hello Rosefall, thank you for coming to speak with us. May I introduce my friends Cloud Charmer and Cloudy Night.” He said as he gestured to the both of them in turn.

“Hello to you both, Cloud Charmer and Cloudy Night. I must say, though I haven’t exactly seen you both myself, I have heard stories about you from some of the ponies around here.” Rosefall mentioned.

“Really? What do the stories say?” Cloud Charmer asked, actually sounding excited.

“They say that you two ponies call Thunderstruck to you like a puppy, and that he’ll do whatever you asked.” She said laughingly, Cloud joined in when she saw how red Thunderstruck was getting. Cloudy didn’t laugh, but she did grin at the sight of the dark coated Thunderstruck actually managing to turn himself red from embarrassment.

“Well…” Thunderstruck said gruffly, “I’m sure that I would have no trouble estimating who said THAT about me. I must make a note to myself to talk to Bright Light later.”

“Oh, come now Thunderstruck, there’s no need to take that out on Bright Light. We girls like to joke, that’s all. Do you not make jokes about Sidewinder’s hair when he’s not around?” Rosefall chastised. Cloudy Night was surprised by this pony, and was definitely enjoying her company so far.

“I suppose that what you say is correct. It can never be said that Thunderstruck is not one to hear reason.” He responded.

“Please, I know you, and I know reason, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the two of you together.” Rosefall said.

“Ha! That was a quote from the book, ‘Life and Times of the Wiry Woodcutter’ if I’m not mistaken.” Thunderstruck, said, pleased with himself.

“Uh, no, it wasn’t from Wiry Woodcutter, it was from, ‘The 20 year frolick’ by Hayworth.” Rosefall replied, leaving Thunderstruck’s jaw agape and Cloudy’s grin even wider from her correction.

Cloud Charmer took her friend’s momentary pause to jump into the conversation. “Excuse me, I know we’re all having some great fun, but we’re kind of running out of time.” She reminded them.

“Uh, yes, of course! Rosefall, we need you to gather as many of the young ponies as you can at the stadium tomorrow, we wish to lead them to the circus tomorrow.” Thunderstruck explained.

“Ah, so that is why you said it was a short notice request. So, this is how you want to fight against Prickly Pines?” Rosefall asked.

“Yes! We need everypony to come to the stadium right in the morning; from there we’ll all go to the circus to show them that those ponies aren’t so bad as they think!” Cloud Charmer said loudly.

Rosefall smiled as she looked down at the little grey Pegasus. “I take it that it’s your plan to do this…” she glanced around her, seeming to deal with some stray thought in her head, “Alright. It may be extremely short notice, but I would do anything to hurt that jerk Prickly! I really don’t know what my father sees in that stallion, but it can't be anything good. I’ll talk to some of my girls, and we’ll have at least half the town covered in the next hour or two. Is there anything else you’ll need me to do?”

“Yes, we need you to tell everypony to bring at least one bit for entrance fee.” Cloud Charmer added.

Rosefall laughed at that, “You know, if every filly and colt brings at least one bit to this circus, then they’re going to make a very large profit tomorrow!”

“That’s actually kind of the point.” Cloud said.

“Then it’s a very big point at that, you’ll bring about a huge amount of funding for that place. I suppose I’ll bring a few as well, I have wanted to see if they have any games there, I do so miss playing that one with the throwing ball and the little stack of wooden blocks. Maybe I’ll find one there, and it would be wonderful fun to play with you three.” Rosefall said dreamily, as if she was lost in a very good memory.

“Yeah, I guess that we can do that!” Cloud Charmer shouted over whatever Thunderstruck had been about to say, a big grin immediately appearing on her face as she did so. “So, we’ll leave you to it.”

“Of course, time is running short. I’ll definitely be able to get some ponies to go, most of them are probably so bored right now that they’d accept the offer if they had to pay twenty bits a piece! Good day Cloud Charmer, Cloudy Night, Thunderstruck.” She said, nodding to each of them in turn before she turned to trot back across the street.

Before she could get more than a few steps, however, Thunderstruck dashed in front of her to stop her. He turned to Cloud and Cloudy, “Sorry guys, but this is where I’ll get off. I will assist Rosefall in convincing ponies to go to the stadium tomorrow, and I’ll meet you both there in the morning.” He said.

Cloud Charmer glanced at Cloudy, who gave one of her little nods, before she turned back to Thunderstruck, “Go on, we have to go home anyways!”

“Good! I shall see you both in the morning.” He said, immediately turning and trotting off with Rosefall to begin the harrowing task of gathering ponies for the fair.

Cloudy Night watched them go with a smile on her face. Today had been very interesting, somehow even more so than yesterday. It seemed like everything was becoming more and more exciting by the day, which Cloudy had no doubt pleased Cloud Charmer to the fullest degree.

Without a word, the two fillies began to trot themselves towards the edge of town, both of them reflecting on the events of the day.

***

It wasn’t until they were actually drawing near the end of the final streets of town that Cloud Charmer stopped Cloudy Night with her hoof, and asked her a question.

“So, Cloudy, do you really agree that we should help the circus, or were you just saying that?” She asked.

Cloudy Night looked at her friend, almost hurt. Why would Cloud Charmer think she was being disingenuous about her opinion of the circus?

Cloudy paused, all of her fears and worries about that place coming to head in her mind right at that moment. She still didn’t know or understand what that pulse coming from the circus was, nor did she fully understand the place. Master Mirage had played games with her, and Blink had been rude to her friends. Yet at the same time, they had both been very honest about their feelings, and Mirage had even called her a friend. Wild Call and Merlin seemed friendly, and helpful, and Braun was… well… Braun. The circus had been both genuine and a bit dismissive of her; did she really want to help it?

Then there was Cloud Charmer, who was obviously on the side of the circus. Cloudy knew that no matter what happened Cloud Charmer would attempt to assist Mirage and his ponies in any way that she could, and that meant that Cloudy would probably assist as well.

And what about that strange mare that had been watching them at the circus. Cloudy had absolutely no idea what her motives behind this whole situation were.

All of these thoughts at once made Cloudy Night’s head hurt, so she decided to focus on the main problem. The beat she and her friend kept hearing there. Cloudy did not like the feel of that pulse, though she still was clueless as to how the pulses worked in the first place. She knew that it could be bad or good, though Cloud already thought of it as good, which was why Cloudy had said that she didn’t listen closely enough.

The bottom line ended here: Cloud Charmer was going no matter what, and that meant that Cloudy Night would go as well. The only way to find out what the beat was to keep going to the circus, and, despite some exceptions, the circus had been kind and honest with them, and they deserved her help.

“Yes, I meant exactly what I said. I may not like everypony there, but I will help you help the circus.” Cloudy said, a large feeling of finality washing over her.

Cloud Charmer gave her a big smile, which she could only ever have returned. Cloud Charmer’s smiles were contagious. “Alright then. I’ll see you tomorrow Cloudy Night!” she said.

Cloud Charmer hugged her friend, and took off out of the town and towards her tree house. She was glad that Cloudy was going to help the circus, but she herself needed to think just a teeny bit more. She needed to ask herself how far she would go to help these ponies.

Thankfully, there were two ponies waiting for her at home to help her answer that very question.

Cloudy Night held back for a moment before trotting home. She had learned so much in the last two days, both about the circus and about her best friend. She had so much to think about… she knew that she probably wasn’t going to get any sleep that night.

She would start with Cloud Charmer, whose story the night before had left Cloudy Night with an idea in her head, something to ponder over.

Cloudy trotted home, the gears in her head already beginning to turn out answers to the several puzzles that the last couple days had left her with.