Lyra's Human 2: Derpy's Human

by pjabrony

76: I Wandered Derpy as a Cloud

Since Karyn had moved and adapted to the schedule of the new school year, it had been more difficult to get motivated. She missed the dormitory and the routine of eating at the cafeteria. Now technically a commuting student, it felt like a disconnect from the rest of the people in class who still lived on campus.

Telling all this to Derpy over their Sunday coffee and a breakfast of eggs, she lamented her situation.

“Don’t feel too bad about it,” said Derpy. “Doesn’t it mean that your living costs are no longer part of those loans you despise so much?”

“Yes, but only because I’m paying them now.”

“But that’s a good thing. You’re paying for something you need, which means the money is gone so you can’t spend it frivolously.”

Karyn wanted to argue more, but Derpy continued.

“Speaking of rough times with money, can you believe that the post office wanted me to work today?”

“On Sunday? There’s no mail then.”

Derpy raised her hooves. “That’s what I said! But apparently ponies who pay extra can skip the day off and get their letters to the destination sooner.”

“So does that mean that you have to get back to Equestria?”

“We have to get back. I told them to forget it.”

“Won’t you get in trouble?” asked Karyn.

“Mr. Mintsugar will have to deal with it. I’ve worked for long enough that I can afford to say no sometimes. But I’m determined to get you to Cloudsdale today, no matter what.”

“Sounds good. Let’s go!”

Karyn mounted Derpy, who said, “Make sure you’re comfortable on there. I’m going to use the securing spell, because once we’re in Cloudsdale, you can’t get off. You’ll see everypony walking around, but the clouds aren’t solid to you.”

“I won’t forget. They never have been before.”

Derpy used her spell, and the apartment vanished around them to be replaced by the wide vistas of Equestria. Being on the first floor instead of a multistory dormitory meant that they were lower to the ground on first appearance, and also closer to Derpy’s house. They flew low and slow through Ponyville, with Derpy saying that once they were clear of the town she would go for height.

Karyn was still not familiar with Ponyville’s layout as well as that of the college or her home town, but she could tell when they were getting to the outskirts by the thinning of the houses. Even the ponies there seemed more laid back, if it was possible in such an already laid-back town. They were walking slower and moving with ease, except for the one unicorn who was waving her hoof rather excitedly. As they got closer, Karyn realized that she was waving at them, and that in fact it was Colgate.

Derpy saw her a moment later and went into a circular hover. “Good morning, Colgate,” she said.

“Hey, Derpy, Karyn. Glad I caught up with you.”

“We don’t have a lot of time to talk. I’m taking Karyn to see Cloudsdale for the first time. Have you ever been?”

Colgate took a moment. “No, of course not. It’s a pegasus city. Is Karyn going to change into a pegasus? I’d be surprised if that actually gave her flying powers.”

“It doesn’t,” said Karyn. “We tried it out once. It didn’t go well. But how did you know?”

“Well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. You see, when I tried that spell with you, it messed up my own magic a little bit. It’s difficult to explain because we can’t describe magic in ordinary terms. It’s like trying to describe smells. The best I could do is to say that your magic is ‘loose.’ It’s not as deep in you as a unicorn’s.”

“Understandable. I wasn’t born with it. Queen Chrysalis gave it to me.”

Derpy spoke up. “Do you think Karyn’s in any danger from that?”

“No, not danger.”

“Then if you’ll excuse us, if it’s nothing we have to worry about immediately, we want to get on to Cloudsdale. It seems like a thousand things keep getting in the way, and I’m not going to let anything else stop us.”

Colgate was surprised at Derpy’s assertiveness, but she said, “That’s understandable. Have a good time.”

Derpy built up speed, and they were on their way. As they ascended, Karyn said, “You know, I’m thinking, Cloudsdale and Los Pegasus are cities only for pegasi. But there are no equivalent cities for unicorns or Earth ponies. I’m not sure that’s fair.”

“Ponyville is largely an Earth pony town, and Canterlot is heavily unicorned.”

“Yes, but there are pegasi there as well. They’re welcome everywhere in Equestria.”

“Earth ponies and unicorns are welcome in Cloudsdale just as much.”

Karyn was about to protest that there was an obstruction in the way, but there were ways for non-pegasi to walk on clouds if it was really important, and a natural advantage didn’t have to always be worked away.

Derpy broke through the cloud layer and into the city, which triggered another thought for Karyn.

“Derpy, how is it that you can go up through clouds from the bottom, but not fall through from the top?”

“Huh? Am I not supposed to do that?”

“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking.”

Derpy turned around to reveal a confused look. “I guess that’s just how it’s done.”

“Maybe it makes sense,” said Karyn, thinking of certain video games and the physics therein.

The first thing that struck Karyn was that Cloudsdale had no roads, which meant a completely new layout for a city. The entire city reminded her of a split-level house, as buildings could extend as high as they needed to be.

“What do you think so far?” asked Derpy.

“I like it. How high can you make these buildings?”

“Personally? Not very high.”

Karyn laughed. “No, I mean, can you stack up cloudstuff indefinitely?”

“I don’t know. Nopony’s ever tried. They just build until they have the room they need.”

“I guess these are really skyscrapers. Kind of put the buildings we have on Earth in perspective.”

It was Derpy’s turn to laugh at that.

“Can I ask one question though?”

“Of course.”

“What’s with the columns?”

Derpy looked around. She had never noticed it before, but there were an awful lot of fluted columns holding up the buildings of Cloudsdale. “They’re just part of the architecture.”

“That’s not really answering the question. It’s OK if you don’t know. I would like to find out. You see, columns like that were used heavily in ancient societies on Earth like Greece and Rome. When they built out of marble, columns like that were necessary to keep the buildings standing. So either clouds need more support than it seems, or there’s some kind of cross-cultural overlap.”

Derpy shrugged. They were in the background for her, and she didn’t really feel like thinking about them. Instead, she was just happy to be in a home that she hadn’t seen for a long while, and to have her closest friend with her. “Come on. I’ll show you the weather factory.”

She banked around the nearest building and made her way toward a more open area.

Karyn was aware of the weather factory from seeing it in the show, but in person it was something different. To actually hold a snowflake and not have it melt in her hand, but actually see the crystallization and intricacy with the naked eye was an experience that no human had before. She was careful not to taste the rainbow juice, but did come close enough to smell it. It smelled more savory than spicy.

“I think so too,” said Derpy. “But it’s like vanilla extract in that way. Smells lovely, but tastes terrible. Or so I’m told.”

Karyn wondered if Derpy was really relaying what other ponies had told her, or if she had actually sampled one of the nasty concoctions.

They left the weather factory, and Derpy said that there was something specific she wanted to show. The clouds thinned as she soared around, ultimately reaching the edge of the city. Turning around, Karyn could see the city in the varying shades of white. But then Derpy continued her original direction and came to a stop, right at the edge of the base cloud. She knelt down and stuck her head over the side. Karyn looked down.

Whether it was part of the magic that held her on or just the knowledge that it existed, Karyn felt no sense of vertigo or acrophobia, Instead, she got to overlook the vista of Equestria. Ponyville was off to the south, a mere speck. More of the land was open fields, grasslands and clean earth.

“I’ve seen the land as I’ve flown over Earth in a plane, but it doesn’t compare to this,” she said. “In the first place, you can only see a little of it as it goes by through the tiny window. In the second, just about all of it is partitioned off into farmland. You see a lot of squares where different crops are grown. Sometimes they have circles on them because they use that kind of irrigation. It’s all controlled. Not like this.”

“I’d like to see that sometime.”

“It’s only in certain sections of the country. Some time when you’re really feeling strong. Speaking of which, are you feeling uncomfortable carrying me for so long?”

Derpy flapped her wings and reestablished her hooves on the top of the cloud. “Not at all! I’m not an Earth pony, but I can carry loads like you all day.”

“I’m a little envious. I couldn’t carry you for even a minute, and what I can carry I can’t hold for as long as you can.”

“We all have our strengths. I can’t do the kind of precise manipulation you can with fingers.”

Karyn recollected the spell that Derpy used to type. “With magic you can.”

“And you have devices to lift and carry heavy weights with as well.”

“Mmhm. In any case, I’m getting a little uncomfortable sitting on you so long. Is there anywhere we can go where I can change my position and stretch?”

“Absolutely. We’ll go to my house. I’ve wanted you to see it for such a long time.”

Karyn did her best to shake out her muscles and extend her back. “Great. You have some way there for me to get off and not fall through? Like a board or something?”

“Yeah, something.”

Not realizing that Karyn would get so tired, Derpy had taken her on an extended tour and were a long distance away from her house. She assured Karyn that she was flying as fast as she could. For her part, Karyn braved it through. It was no worse than some of the long trips she had taken with her parents.

The residential section of Cloudsdale was also vertical, and the equivalent of their lawns were light cirrus clouds that pegasi could fly through and blow like dandelion puffs. They provided space and noise reduction. Some houses were larger than others, true cloud mansions. Derpy’s house was one of the smaller ones.

“Hey, Derpy?”

“Yes?”

“If you married an Earth pony and had a unicorn for a daughter, why did you get a house in Cloudsdale?”

Derpy took a pause. “It was my father’s. He and my mother saved up and bought it. But when he moved, he put it in my name. That was so generous of him. I moved into it when Dinky went to school.”

Karyn didn’t pursue the line any further.

Derpy lit in front of the door which was actual wood and opened with a key. Inside, to Karyn’s disappointment, all the furniture was also made of cloud. That made for a rather simplistic décor. She said as much.

“My last tenant moved out, so I just slapped this together out of cloud to make it look like it would when somepony else moved in.”

“Oh, that’s right. You rent it.”

“Yes. I had a nice young pegasus stallion who worked in weather. He was a good tenant. Always paid his rent without me asking. If something went wrong he would get it fixed himself and then send me the bill. That might have been more expensive, but I prefer it to having to find a repair pony myself.”

Karyn listened patiently, but her rear end started aching again, and she fidgeted and stretched some more. “Derpy, do you have that security spell? Can you turn it off? I want to just detach myself from you, even if it’s only standing up.”

“Let’s go to the bedroom. You’re going to love this.”

There was only one bedroom in the house, and it was on the same level as the living room. Again, though, Karyn was disappointed to see only cloud furniture. The bed was not even bed-like, just a puffy cloud.

“Derpy, it’s a lovely house, but I really—“

“I know, Karyn. This is the thing. I know that you can’t walk on clouds, but I had this cloud enchanted so that you can lay on it.”

“You can do that?” asked Karyn.

“It’s a newer spell, but better. When you lay on it you’ll feel the same thing that a pegasus does when she steps on a cloud.”

Karyn looked at her, wondering if she was joking, but Derpy have no such indication. Instead, she released Karyn from the holding spell and sidled close to the cloud. Karyn poked out a finger and felt resistance.

“You got a unicorn up here to do this for me?”

“Mm-hm.”

“That must have cost you a lot. Thank you so much.” Karyn tentatively stepped off.

“Go on, jump off and land on it.”

Karyn didn’t jump, but she did roll off Derpy’s back and onto the cloud. The first thing she was grateful to feel was that she wasn’t free falling. Then she actually felt the sensation of the cloud.

Because they looked so much like cotton, Karyn assumed that it would feel like a big cotton pillow. Instead, it was more like diving into a swimming pool, only she could breathe without effort, and did not need to exert any effort to keep on top. The cloud buffeted her back, and all the stiffness she had felt flowed out of her like it was a solid thing.

She bounced up and down on the cloud, laughing and making happy noises, before the second feeling hit her: an extreme fatigue, as if she’d been awake for an entire day.

“Oh, my.” She yawned and leaned back.

“You’re tired? Feel free to lie down and take a nap.” Derpy grinned with her tongue stuck out.

“No, I didn’t want to come here to sleep, just to stretch out and relax…” Karyn’s speech slurred as her vision clouded. Despite her wishes, she found herself losing consciousness. The cloud seemed to have taken on a life of its own, folding and flowing around her. She could no longer see any part of herself below the neck, and the part of the cloud behind her head thickened to form a pillow. Now in addition to the feeling of floating, she had to deal with the warmth of being wrapped in a blanket.

It was too much for her. Derpy watched her eyes flutter and seal shut. Karyn’s breathing slowed and she rolled into a fetal position.

The rest of the magic that had been infused into the cloud took effect. From each part of her body the cloud turned from white to black as the stress and fatigue was leeched out of her. It grayed the cloud until it became saturated, then rained onto the cloud floor below.

As softly as she could, Derpy hovered on top of her and whispered.

“I know how hard it can be, even at your age. Everypony says that young people have it easy, but we know it’s not. When I was your age, I was scared of not knowing where I was going to live or what I was going to do either. When I got the mail route, at least I had some surety in my life. I watched it with Dinky too. She’s working so hard, but nopony gives her any credit because that’s what young ponies are supposed to do. Well, I give her all the credit in the world. And you too. There’s no one in Equestria I love more than her…”

Derpy leaned her head down on top of Karyn’s.

“But there’s no one on Earth I love more than you.”

A strand of hair fell over Karyn’s face. Derpy brushed it aside with her hoof and planted a motherly kiss on her forehead.

***

When Karyn regained consciousness, it took her a moment to remember not to try to put her feet on the ground. She was still wrapped up in the cloud, but could slide out and lie on top of it. She stretched out, feeling as if she grew three inches from doing so. Derpy was nowhere to be seen, but Karyn didn’t mind. It was so pleasant just to relax against the back of the cloud, breathe, and feel the air against her skin.

She found her purse laying near her, and felt lucky that it had not been kicked aside in her sleep to fall all the way to the ground. Reaching in to find her compact, she prepared herself to see the severe case of bed hair. But a moment of concentration and a flash of green light took care of that, as she put on the illusion of being made up. After clearing her throat, she tentatively called, “Derpy?”

With only the breeze outside responding, Karyn yelled a little louder, and Derpy came flying into the room, a grin on her face. “Did you have a nice nap?”

“Yes. I’m sorry, I didn’t intend to come to your house and just fall asleep.”

“But that’s what I intended. You look so much better for it.”

Karyn shook her head. “That’s just my changeling magic.”

“Your magic isn’t as effective around your eyes. Oh, it would fool anyone who didn’t know, but I can tell the difference from when you’re tired to now.”

“Derpy, what did you do?”

“I just got you a cloud that could support you.” Derpy winked and lay down next to Karyn, motioning her with a wing to mount up.

Trotting out into the living room, Karyn no longer felt discomfort at being on top, and even swung her leg over to sit sidesaddle. Derpy sat on the couch and laid out. Now she could really look over the room. Even though it was monochrome, the furniture had a kind of aerial feng shui organization. If Derpy had indeed crafted the furniture herself, it was good work.

As if sensing what she was thinking, Derpy said, “There are pegasi who can craft cloudstuff like sculptors, and make things like tables and shelves that have perfect edges and corners. But like I said, I just threw it together.”

“I like it. It’s homey. I’ve seen people who are just starting out, and they have to get their furniture from thrift shops, so it’s all mismatched. I’ve even known a few who had to eat off milk crates until they could afford tables. If they weren’t proud, they would still have people over and would be good friends, because everyone knew that things would get better someday soon. That’s what I feel here. Even if you don’t come back here to live, somepony will take it and make a happy home.”

“Ooh, yes. I’d like that to be the case. Perhaps I’ll be a little choosy as to who I rent to. I’ll want to find a young pony, or maybe a couple, that needs a nice place and doesn’t have too much money.”

Karyn grinned. “Yes, and then when you do find that tenant, you’ll catch her doing something weird and mistake her for a witch.”

Derpy wanted to roll with laughter, but couldn’t tip Karyn off her back. “Or—“

“A sorceress or an enchantress, yes.”

“Actually, I was going to say she’d be a secret technology user, and have a cell phone or something.”

Now it was Karyn’s turn to want to laugh. Derpy slid underneath to keep her weight stabilized. “Listen, this is wonderful,” Karyn said, “but I think it’s time to go. I belong with my feet on the ground.”

“All right. You saw the town and my house, and that’s what I wanted.”

Derpy trotted to the door and closed it behind them. They found a hole in the ground that let pegasi leave. After waiting on a short line, they glided to the point where Derpy could drop Karyn off at home.

“Well, Derpy, we got to Cloudsdale after all.”

“Yeah. I’ll have to deal with skipping work, and we’ll have to deal with Colgate’s information at some point too.”

Karyn finally dismounted Derpy and stood in her kitchen, still feeling loose from sleeping on the cloud, but happy to feel solid ground again.

“We will, but I think this was the most enjoyable way we could have taken the trip.”

“What do you mean?” asked Derpy.

“As much as I like pre-planning things, every time we tried we couldn’t do it. But today, we threw caution to the wind and went. Because of that, it had the rebellious fun of breaking a rule.”

“OK, then. Next week we’ll break into Canterlot Castle.”

Karyn was shocked, but Derpy was joking.

“You’re going to give me stress again. Where’s that cloud bed?”

Comments

[SecretiveExplosion]

Nice chapter. I need me one of those beds.

[amarouq]

Derpy tried the rainbow juice? So she really did "taste the rainbow."
Yeah, lame, I know.

Anywho... What I wouldn't give for one of those cloud beds.

[mew3]

I want a bed like that, its 20% better then any Sleep Number one any day of the year!

[EmpoweredBuggyMage]

You know, the falling might actually be kind of cool. The landing would suck, though.

[blazikenking]

Regarding that bed.

[Morphy]

Heh, kinda wonder if she realizes how much Derpy likes her, almost, but not quite, like an adopted daughter.

I also want to find out what Colgate was going on about.

[f0xhole]

...
Right, I'll just take these off for a bit....
watersportswarehouse.co.uk/images/product/full/aquasphere-seal-mask_CLEAR-CLEAR.jpg

Derpy leaned her head down on top of Karyn’s.
“But there’s no one on Earth I love more than you.”
A strand of hair fell over Karyn’s face. Derpy brushed it aside with her hoof and planted a motherly kiss on her forehead.

...

Nope, putting 'em back on.

[tsaukpaetra]

Oh we are so jealous they can apply the spell directly to the clouds themselves. Why didn't I think of that?
So her installment of magic is loose eh? That could explain why it can only disguise externally.
Keep going! ;)

[CoastalSarv]

I've never thought of it, but of course Derpy is Karyn's older friend...

[Sweet Tale]

Awww...that was so sweet...

[pjabrony]

3475028

Depending on how much I feel I can do, you have either 33 weeks or 83 weeks to do that task...unless Molestia comes first.

[Granpa_pony]

Loved the part where they were in Derpy's Cloudsdale house. Nice flow.

[LightningRider267]

The first thing she was grateful to feel was that she wasn’t free falling.

[LightningRider267]

3453673 Who knows? Maybe a swarm of butterflies will come around and catch you, and then you'll sing a song about nature.