44) Month 5 - Cloudsdale
Max stuck his face against the glass windows of the viewing cabin and gawked at the approaching cities. Manehatten was enormous! He’d thought that Canterlot was huge but the Big Orange had it beaten. They were almost an hour away from it and it still took up a sizable proportion of the view, the whole of Sadlzberg could get lost amongst the towering snow covered skyscrapers that made up the core of the city, let alone the sprawling suburbs stretching out from it. But it wasn’t the land based city which drew most of Max’s attention. Just outside of the limits of the ground based city and far, far above stood his final destination, Cloudsdale. From this distance, it was just about possible to make out the buildings on top of the mass of clouds that acted as the floating city's foundations. As the train approached its shadow it was actually harder to see that it was really a city. From below it just looked like a storm front.
One of the nearby passengers gave an annoyed snort and Max realised he’d clambered over her in his eagerness to get to the window. “Sorry,” he said moving aside and glancing around for a free space. The carriage was packed with other ponies wanting to get a view of their destinations. He was glad that his journey was almost over after most of a day crammed into the train. It had been early evening last night before he had departed Canterlot and it was already past noon now. Still as little as ten years ago, the trip would have taken at least half as long again, steam trains truly were technological marvels.
Giving up at finding a place to sit in the viewing carriage Max decided that it would be best to head back to his own seat and gently started to push his way through the surrounding crowds, wishing them season’s greetings as he went. It was near the heart of the magical time of year called the twelvetide. The longest night had been two days ago now, and as usual had been celebrated with feasting and partying. Still, this year there had been a little more underlying tension than normal, fortunately Corona had not decided to celebrate the anniversary of her return and the festival had passed peacefully. Max had enjoyed the holiday although he had felt a little lonely. Mrs G had already returned to Nulpar, he hadn't heard for certain but her new grandchild should be born by now and ready to spoil. Fragrant was also visiting her home. He'd spent a nice evening with Mellow and Confidant but the couple had only really had eyes for each other, it had made him feel a little melancholy.
Shrugging, Max tried to cheer himself up, Hearthswarming would be different. Fragrant had invited him to spend the holiday with her family at their home in Cloudsdale. It had been less than a week since he’d last seen her but already he missed her, and now he not only got to see her but he actually got to spend several days with her. Even better, as they were in a more or less private setting they could actually act like a couple for a change. He understood Fragrant’s reasoning that they hide their relationship, recent events had shown how intrusive the press could be, but he hated having to pretend there was nothing between them. It didn’t help that sometimes in his darker moments he couldn’t help but think that Fragrant might be ashamed of him. He certainly didn’t fit into her world all that well, he had messed up enough times for her to want to have nothing to do with him but of course she still wanted to be with him... right?
Trying to put his thoughts aside Max struggled for a moment to drag his bag out of the rack. He hadn’t brought all that much, his suits, a few knick knacks, Fragrant’s present. He really hoped she liked it, it wasn’t easy to shop for somepony who could probably buy his entire province if she wanted it. Thoughts of Nulpar brought out a twinge of homesickness, it would be the first time he wouldn’t spend Hearthswarming with his mother, he hoped she was ok. He had to admit that Doctor House Martin was probably taking good care of her. Still, after the holiday Fragrant was going to lend him a sky chariot so he could still be home for new year’s.
With a shudder the train started to slow as it glided into the station. Max waited patiently for the train to come to a complete stop and for the conductor to open the door before making his way to the exit. The station was huge, bigger even than the one in Canterlot, and was packed with ponies preparing for the holiday. Here and there herds of over excited foals streamed by squealing in glee followed by rather stressed looking parents. Shoppers moved back and forth weighed down by their saddlebags, and off to one side a small band was playing carols. Decorations hung from the roof and the pillars, it was all the very picture of a perfect Hearthswarming.
Max allowed himself a moment to take it all in before returning to the job at hoof. He checked his bags again before reading out the instructions written in Fragrant’s careful mouth writing. Manehatten airport, section D, 3pm. He glanced up at the huge station clock above him, it was a little past one, plenty of time left. Now he only had to find the airport, whatever that was. There didn’t seem to be anything on the various signs around the station. For a moment he felt a little stab of panic, everything seemed so big around here, there was no way he’d manage to find what he was looking for. Then he noticed the solid shape of a guard making her way through the crowds. He would just have to ask. With a grin Max headed off to get directions.
Max glanced around nervously, it had taken longer to get here than he’d thought, he hoped he wasn’t late. First of all the guard had apparently been surprised that somepony actually asked her for directions, and there was a bit of difficulty understanding what she was saying, she had a rather strong accent. However, eventually Max worked out that the airport was apparently at the edge of the city and that a taxi was probably the best way to get there. Thanking the guard Max had quickly trotted out of the station in search of one. Finding a Taxi hadn’t turned out to be that hard, it seemed like almost half the carriages in the city were done up in yellow livery. Actually, getting on one had proved to be a little more challenging, there were long queues waiting for them, everypony seemed to be in such a hurry, a few ponies had even accidentally pushed in front of him. Even more had such urgent reasons for needing to be somewhere else, funerals, urgent business, going into labour, that he’d had to give them his space several times. It probably took more than an hour before he could actually continue his journey. Still, the chauffeur seemed to be willing to do his very best to pick up the pace, maybe a little too willing. Max had been sure at several points that they were going to crash, still he eventually got here and still in one piece.
The term airport made perfect sense to him once he’d gotten to the place. It was like a port where you met ships, only you met air vehicles instead. It consisted of a large fenced off area containing rows of balloons and sky carriages and even one or two even more exotic vehicles. The place had a rather temporary feeling to it. It mostly consisted of roped off areas and tents, rather than anything more solid, maybe it was only used when a sky city was nearby. It might explain why he’d never seen one in Canterlot, there was some rule about Cloud cities not being allowed near the capital.
The air above was full of vehicles streaming back and forth from Cloudsdale. Now that the city was nearly directly above Max was surprised to see that it wasn’t actually built on a single bank of cloud. It was more like an archipelago of cloud islands linked by thin bridges and thicker roadways, the complexity of it all was breath-taking. He couldn’t wait to get up there and see the place up close.
Glancing around, it looked like most of the other ponies around here thought the same. There was a sort of buzzing excitement in the crowds of unicorns and earth ponies as they queued to board various vehicles or waited to see their friends arrive from above. Even a few pegasus could be seen here and there, apparently too weighed down by shopping to make the trip under their own power.
Shaking himself, Max remembered the reason he was here and looked around for section D. Unlike the train station the airport was well signposted and it didn’t take him long to find it. There was a short line of air chariots parked off to one side mostly with the chauffeurs waiting patiently for their passengers to arrive. The closest and most ornate of the vehicles was familiar and Max found his legs starting to gallop as he saw the chariot's owner standing nearby.
“Fragrant!” he called. Today she was wearing a red dress with a white trim and a conical felt hat. His marefriend turned to face him and for a moment a wide grin broke across her face like the sun coming out from behind a cloud, then after a moment her features rearranged themselves into a less extreme display of joy.
“Baron Max,” said Fragrant as Max came to a halt in front of him. “It’s good to see you again.” She leant forwards and gave him a friendly nuzzle which might have carried on a few seconds longer than was quite proper.
“Fragrant, it’s good to see you,” said Max, “How are you?”
“I am very well thank you, and you? You’re late,” she said a little ruefully.
“Sorry, traffic,” he explained.
“I probably should have met you at the station,” she admitted, “but mayor Prescolt has put rather tight restrictions on air vehicle travel in his city,” she frowned. “I had hoped to be able to see you settled into the manor, but I’m afraid I have a speech to give in less than an hour now, it will be a rush to even drop you off before I have to be at my engagement.”
“Why don’t I come along with you?” asked Max.
“Pardon?” asked Fragrant looking surprised.
“Rather than going to your manor then to your speech why not take me along to your appointment? What is it about anyway?”
“It’s the annual Hearthswarming celebration for the staff of the weather factory, it’s more Thunderous’s responsibility really but I am expected to say a few words. I don’t know if you would find it all that interesting.”
"Nonsense, I love a good party! I’m sure I’ll enjoy it,” said Max with a grin.
Fragrant looked a little unsure for a moment, then shrugged. “Very well, we better be off.”
The two of them boarded the carriage and with a nod from Fragrant to the chauffeurs they began to ascend into the sky. Max tried to split his attention between the beauty of the sky around them and the beauty on the seat next to him. “I missed you,” he said planting a quick kiss on Fragrant’s cheek.
She blushed very prettily. “It’s only been a few days Max. Still, I missed you too. I’m glad we’ll get to spend a few days together.”
“And I get to meet your family.
“Yes,” she said dubiously. “Oh, I almost forgot.” She reached onto the seat and drew out a box. “You’ll need this.” She opened it to reveal a rather robust looking silver coloured anklet with a blue gem on it.
“You’re a little early for presents, aren't you?” said Max reaching for the jewellery. “Still it is lovely, you shouldn’t have.” He didn’t really usually go for jewellery, still it was nice of Fragrant to get him it, it looked expensive.
“It’s for your own safety. It’s a cloud walking bracelet.” Max cocked his head and frowned.
“What?”
“It will cast and sustain a cloud walking spell on its wearer.” She sighed. “How else did you think you were going to get around in Cloudsdale?” He shrugged, he really hadn’t given it much thought, but it was obvious now that he considered it. Rolling her eyes Fragrant gently placed the anklet around his front left leg and clicked it closed. It glowed for a moment and seemed to tighten. Max rubbed his leg for a moment. “Now, that has charge for about ten days-”
“I’m only staying for three nights, aren't I?” he interrupted.
“Safety first,” she noted, “All ground ponies are required to wear such devices with at least a day's charge remaining when spending time in the city. When it only has two days’ magic remaining it will start to buzz on an hourly basis. When it has less than a day it will start to glow and if it gets as low as two hours it will start to give an audio warning. Please tell me if any of the warnings go off Max,” she said pointedly.
“Sure,” said Max examining his leg. The anklet seemed to have sealed tight and didn’t want to move.
“It is locked into position, and I am keeping the key,” she noted.
“I’m sure I could-” began Max.
“I am keeping the key,” repeated Fragrant pointedly.
“Sure,” agreed Max. He hadn’t realised how complex visiting Fragrant would be, it was just as well she had made sure everything was in place.
“Good, now for the duration of your visit you are like a pegasus, well apart from the wings. You will be able to interact with clouds and cloud materials, they will be entirely solid for you so don’t worry about falling. There are however quite a few open areas in the city, I would appreciate it, for my own piece of mind, if you were to keep away from any drops.”
“I understand,” said Max. “Thanks for doing all this for me, I’ll be careful.” He shifted in his seat to lean against her.
With a sigh, Fragrant relaxed a little. “I know I keep going on but I really want to make sure you’re safe. I-I, well I hadn’t considered how dangerous a cloud city is to a ground pony until I had to prepare for your visit. It would have been much easier for me to visit you.”
“I’m glad I came, and I like that you thought of this. It shows you care,” he whispered into her ear causing her to blush.
“Thank-thank you Max,” she stuttered. Around them the carriage had ascended to cloud height and the mass of the city was finally revealed. All around them were tall spires made of fluffy white carved into intricate shapes impossible with other building materials. Everywhere flocks of pegasus flew from place to place going around their business totally ignoring the wonder around them.
“Your city is beautiful!” he breathed, his eyes flicking from building to building. It was also rather chilly. Even on the ground winter weather was frigid, up here, well he was glad he’d brought some clothes.
“Thank you Max,” said Fragrant with a proud smile, apparently not affected by the temperature at all. “Welcome to Cloudsdale, the largest and oldest of the Equestrian cloud cities.”
Max gazed out over the vista in front of him. A small group of ponies pushing a cloud away from the city drew his attention. “Is that how weather is made?” he asked pointing.
Fragrant followed his gaze and paled a little. “Um, no Max, that’s a funeral.”
“Oh!” exclaimed Max taken aback. “Sorry.”
“You wouldn’t know, it’s an old Cloudsdale tradition,” she blinked quickly, “the deceased are placed in snow clouds and when the city is near the sea or a wilderness area they are sent off on their last journey through the sky. It is said that the clouds of family or friends will eventually find each other and merge together to spend the rest of their journey together.”
“That’s, that’s rather sweet,” mumbled Max. It seemed odd to him not to return the body to the ground but different ponies had their own traditions. “So, what’s that?” he said pointing towards a tall building hoping to move the conversation onto something happier.
The trip to where the weather factory party was taking place wasn’t that far but Fragrant still took the time to point out all the sites of interest on the way. Max really liked how she almost glowed with pride at the achievements of her city and its people. He felt the same way about his own little corner of Equestria even though it was far less developed than the mighty cloud city.
However, soon the carriage came to a landing on a large flat expanse of cloud in front of the towering monolith that was the weather factory. The building itself was probably bigger than Salzberg and seemed to stretch as high as the Canterhorn. The size of the weather work on Cloudsdale was highlighted by the number of ponies present at the party, there were thousands, possibly tens of thousands of them filling much of the space and then stacking up several layers as the pegasus hovered over each other to get a better space.
A stage had been set up at one side of the open area and it was to that which much of the crowd’s attention was drawn. However, the rest of the cloud was also covered in entertainments and tables of food, it was more like a fair than a party. The chariot came to rest at a small area off to one side where a few other such vehicles were parked.
“I’m afraid I don’t have much time to show you around at the moment,” said Fragrant dismounting with a flap of her wings. “Now you might want to take your first few steps slowly just to make sure that-” she began. Eagerly, Max hopped out of the carriage and onto the cloud. He felt his hooves sink slightly into the material before rebounding. Fragrant’s eyes widened and she reached out with her wings towards Max before noticing he was not falling. “-the magic is working.” She concluded. “Don’t do that Max!” she scolded, “You almost gave me a heart attack!”
“Oh, sorry,” said Max his ears drooping. “Everything seems to be working fine.” He hopped up and down a little. There was a sort of spring in his step like he was walking on rubber.
“I can see that by the way you’re not plummeting to your doom!” Fragrant took a deep breath before leading Max towards the stage area. “Right, I’ll see if I can get you a seat near the stage.” The two of them made their way through the throng, many ponies seemed to recognise Fragrant as she passed and moved aside. Quickly they were amongst the first rows of seating and for the first-time Max recognised one of the ponies sitting there.
“Ah, Fragrant,” said the thin green mare with a white mane sitting in the front row. “Thunderous expected you a while ago, he’s backstage at the moment.”
“Thank you, Edelweiss,” said Fragrant to her sister in law. “Max was a little delayed, do you mind if he sits with you?”
“Not at all,” said the mare with a smile. “It is good to zee you again baron.”
“Same to you,” said Max with a bow. He’d hadn’t spent much time with Edelweiss when he’d last met her at Fragrant’s home in Canterlot, but he’d quite enjoyed her company.
“Zo what do you think of Cloudsdale zo far baron?” she asked as Fragrant strode off to take her place for her speech.
“Well I haven't see much of it, but it’s beautiful. All the cloud buildings glittering in the sun, and the shapes, you just can’t make things like that on the ground.”
“Yes, I’ve gotten used to it after all zees years but it is very different from where I grew up. As for the buildings well, Forming could talk for hours about that.”
“Um, err, Miss Edelweiss,” came a nervous voice from nearby. Max turned to see a teen pony, maybe he could charitably be considered a stallion, with a greasy black mane and a light red coat, or maybe he was just blushing. “Um, could I um, get your autograph please.”
If she was upset by the invasion of her privacy Edelweiss didn’t show it. “Of course, dear,” she said with a smile. The colt glanced back at a small group of similarly aged ponies nearby before passing over a picture about the size of a magazine. It showed a reclining mare wearing only a quartet of plain black socks staring back at the camera with a smouldering gaze. Her tail covered anything that would make the picture too salacious but the positioning gave the impression that it could flick away at any moment. Max blushed as he realised the mare in the picture was Edelweiss.
“Do they still keep reprinting zis?” she asked mildly. “One thing I tell my colts and fillies, once the camera has seen something, it’s for ever. Who should I make it out to?”
“Um, Pitter, Pitter Patter, ma’am,” he said his voice cracking. With a deft twitch of her mouth she quickly signed, To my brave stallion, Pitter Patter, from Edelweiss ♡, before returning the picture to him. The stallion looked like he was going to burst with pride as he gave a quick nod before galloping back towards his friends.
“Um, does that happen a lot?” asked Max a little taken back.
“Oh, quite often, my earlier work is ztill popular.”
“Doesn’t your husband have a problem with ponies asking you to sign pictures like that?”
“He used to have a few issues,” she admitted, “but I reminded him that they get to go home with a piece of paper, whereas he goes home with the model. That comparison quite cheered him up. It’s flattering really, that my pictures are zo popular.” She sighed. “Twenty years and three foals later mean that things aren't quite zo pert anymore.”
“Twenty years?” asked Max, he hadn’t had any trouble recognising her from the picture, if it had been that long she was very well preserved, three foals or not. “You don’t seem that old.”
“Ah baron, flattery will get you everywhere. My husband is a few years younger than me, I’m the same age as the duchess, give or take a year.” A predatory grin spread over her face. “Maybe I should show you some of the pictures of Fragrant from back then? She was surprisingly talented, maybe modelling could have been another career for her if she hadn’t decided on politics.” Max found that he had some trouble getting his mouth to work for a few moments. Before he could say anything, there was a fanfare from the stage and ponies around them started to take their seats.
“Ah, it iz about to start,” noted Edelweiss as Thunderous, Fragrant and a number of other ponies Max didn’t recognise took to the stage.
Fragrant sighed as Thunderous invited one of his workers to join him for the presentation of an award. He practically dragged the mare onto the stage and almost knocked her over with a slap to the back before going into a long story about how he had helped her team reach their objective. Her brother always wanted to be the centre of attention, he didn’t seem to get that this event was supposed to be about the workers rather than their family’s company. At least her speech thanking the staff for their contributions to Cloudsdale as a whole was out of the way now. This was the last part of the ceremony before everypony could enjoy the food and entertainments. There were a few ponies present she’d have to meet and greet but she could probably slip off with Max within an hour or so.
She glanced down at her coltfriend in the front row, he seemed to be enjoying the event and Edelweiss’s company. She hoped her friend wasn’t filling his head with any ideas, that mare had a tendency towards troublemaking which two decades of marriage and three children didn’t seem to have reduced. She’d certainly been a hoof full when the two of them had been younger. She idly considered getting the old gang back together for a night out. She was sure Edelweiss would be up for it, Holly as well, maybe even Sands if his wife would let him come. She hadn’t seen Silver or Merry in years, who knew what they were up to now a-days, as for... no she didn’t even want to think about him. Maybe a reunion wasn’t such a good idea, far too much water under the bridge after all this time.
She dragged her attention back to the presentation in front of her hoping that no pony had noticed her mind wandering. It looked like Thunderous had just about wrapped things up. She took her place at the front of the stage as the crowd started to disperse to the other entertainments. Rather than make her way around the whole stage she decided to fly straight over to Max in the front of the audience.
“Did you enjoy that?” she asked.
“It was very informative,” said Max politely, “We’ve not got anything this size at home.”
“Thank you for taking care of him,” she said to Edelweiss with a nod.
“Not a problem, now if you’ll excuse me I need to talk to Thunderouz before he gets too caught up with his zycophants,” she pointed to where her husband was standing surrounded by a large crowd of weather factory staff.
“Of course, I’ll see you back at home, I’ll be leaving early.”
“I might actually join you, this is really more of Thunderous’s thing than mine and I have some work to finish off before the holiday.”
“What is it that she does?” asked Max as Edelweiss wandered off towards her husband.
“She works on the boards of various charities mostly. She also has a small stable of models she manages. She does some photographic work herself as well. Her mark seems to make her equally good in front of and behind the camera,” replied Fragrant a little distractedly. She was glancing around the room trying to pick out the individuals she wanted to talk to and also those she didn’t while coming up with a plan to meet the first group and avoid the second. “Would you care for something to eat?” she asked gesturing at the tables of food which were now being descended upon by various hungry ponies.
“I ate on the train, but I suppose I could do with a snack,” he admitted. His brow furrowed. “Why doesn’t the food fall through the clouds?” he asked.
“Magic,” she replied, not wanting to get into the exact details. “I recommend the salmon canapes. Or maybe not,” she recalled Max’s previous reaction to fish, she’d had to have her dress burned in the end. “Maybe the cream cheese?”
“That sounds-” began Max before he was interrupted.
“Did your wings fall off?” asked a small voice from near the ground.
“Pardon?” asked Max looking down at the tiny white coated filly tugging at his leg.
“Did your wings fall off,” she repeated, “‘cause my momma says if I don’t do my wing exercises they’re going to fall off, is that what happened to you?” As if to demonstrate she unfolded her plumage and gave a few flaps lifting her slightly off the ground.
Fragrant found herself blushing at the child's bluntness but Max seemed to take it in his stride. Kneeling down to put himself closer to the filly. “Actually, I wasn’t born with wings.”
“You’re a dirt pony?” the filly asked in astonishment. Fragrant thought that her cheeks might burst into flames.
“It’s earth pony actually, I was born on the ground,” said Max gently.
“I’ve never met an earth pony before, what’s the ground like? I want to visit but my momma says it’s dangerous, and I’ll have to wait until I’m older.”
“It’s very beautiful, there are plants and trees and all sorts of animals, and lots of other ponies, earth ponies like me and unicorns. Pegasus like you visit as well, some even live down there. Some parts can be dangerous, but most of it’s safe,” he explained.
“Loop de Loop!” called a nearby mare causing the filly to turn to her. “There you are!” she said, “Are you bothering this stallion and- oh, um, duchess Posey, your honour.” She tried a little curtsy.
“She was no trouble at all,” said Max standing up and using a hoof to tousle the filly’s mane. “We were just talking about the ground.”
“This stallion says it’s not dangerous at all,” said the filly, “can I visit? Can I? Can I?”
“We’ll see dear,” said the mare awkwardly as she led her daughter away repeatedly bobbing towards Fragrant.
“I-I apologize about what that girl said,” said Fragrant once the two of them were out of earshot.
“I’m sure she didn’t know what she was saying,” said Max casually. “I’m surprised she’d never visited the ground before.”
“It’s actually not all that unusual, there are probably some adults in Cloudsdale who have never been ground side. Given the logistic problems of the other tribes visiting,” she pointed towards Max’s anklet, “it is entirely possible for a Pegasus on some of the cloud cities to go their entire life without meeting a member of another tribe.” Really the pegasus were something of a split tribe, there were sky pegasus who lived in the cloud cities and ground pegasus who mingled with the other tribes and lived alongside them. Over the years the numbers of the first group were slowly dwindling, still there were some who clung to the old ways.
“Ah duchess,” came a nasal voice from nearby, “how fortunate to meet you here.”
And speak of Tirek, thought Fragrant as she turned to see the new comer a fake smile plastered on her face. “Representative King Fisher, how nice to see you.”
“And you too,” said the stallion running a hoof through his prematurely thinning white mane. “You seem to spend so little time in the clouds these days.”
“Well business at court requires my time be spent in Canterlot.”
“Of course, and who is this?” he asked looking down his muzzle at Max.
“Hi, I’m Baron Mounty Max,” said Max holding out a hoof. King glared at it as if it was going to turn into a snake and bite him.
“I see, and what brings you to our city Baron, I would have thought you would prefer to spend the holiday on the ground with your people, I mean your family.”
“Duchess Posey invited me to spend the season with her, I’m certainly enjoying my time here so far,” said Max with a slightly pained look.
“Of course,” said King preening slightly, “the wonders of the sky cities far surpass those of the ground below.”
“Was there something you wanted to talk about?” said Fragrant trying to stop King before he started a lecture. The stallion was a bore and a tribalist, but unfortunately very well connected and popular in the city. She’d supported his appointment as representative as a way to keep him busy with the paperwork that followed the role and to appease his faction of the city council. She’d since had many occasions to regret the decision.
“Actually yes, given the time of year the number of,” he sniffed, “ground based tourists in the city is at an all-time high. I was wondering if I could have your support in the motion put forwards within the city council to limit the areas they can enter, for their own safety of course. Some parts of the city are so hard for grounded ponies to navigate.”
“You know I have no authority over the council, the city runs itself.”
“Of course, but your words still have a certain weight to them, duchess.”
Fragrant tried to keep a look of annoyance off her face. She had seen his plans to limit travel within in the city, it was more based on keeping outsiders out of his follower’s neighbourhoods than their safety. “I am afraid I will have to decline for the moment.”
“Very well, although I do wish you would spend more time looking out for your own people and less dealing with problems from the ground,” he glared over at Max.
“I do little else but look to my people’s need’s, representative Fisher,” Fragrant said icily. Wasn’t she allowed at least a short holiday? She’d ended up spending most of the time around the longest night dealing with her province’s issues, she was due a few days’ peace at least.
“I am sure you do your duty to the best of your abilities duchess,” said King giving a bow. “I hope you have a happy Hearthswarming.” He turned abruptly and left leaving Fragrant silently fuming.
“Who was that?” asked Max.
“An annoying pest,” hissed Fragrant before she took a deep breath and tried to breath out her anger. “However, he is my pest, do not worry about him. As I was saying let us try the food and then we can leave.”
They hadn’t stayed at the party for long, it was a shame. Max had quite enjoyed talking to some of the weather factory workers but Fragrant had seemed keen to get home, as had Edelweiss who had joined them in the air carriage. The Posey mansion was huge and sat on a block of cloud separate from the main body of Cloudsdale and linked only by a large bridge. Apparently, the manor could be moved if needs be, but at the present it sat not far from the huge weather factory which dominated almost a quarter of the city. The manor itself sat at the top of the ‘hill’ of cloud with the area around it forming the ‘grounds’. The chariot flew straight to the mansion itself but Max could make out a number of smaller buildings dotting the area as well as what looked like sports fields and even a large area where plants grew up from the cloud. The manor was built in a mixture of styles, the central body was a single minimalistic box but several wings of different styles had been added over the years, cloud buildings were easier to restructure than earth bound buildings. In a way the manor was a record of the architectural history of the city it orbited.
Their craft alighted a short distance away from the main doors of the mansion and a number of servants rushed out to welcome them. Although Max argued a porter insisted he carry Max’s bag. He would have refused outright but Fragrant had hissed to him that this was the servant's job not his.
Once they entered the building Max was glad to find that it was warmer than outside. It was still chilly but not actually freezing like the flight had been. He was also surprised to see how many solid, non-cloud, items of furniture there were. Wooden tables and chairs sat here and there and the walls, although made of cloud, somehow had solid portraits lining them. As he was led down the corridor he glanced at the faces which covered the walls, presumably Fragrant’s ancestors. Judging by the costumes they spanned centuries.
At the end of the corridor over the door to the main hall was a huge picture of a pair of pegasus in comparatively modern dress. A tall mare with a lemon coat and a mane so light a pink as to be almost white stared out of the picture with an oddly blank gaze. For some reason her eyes had been pictured covered in a rainbow of colours, the pupils almost invisible. Sitting next to her was a smaller stallion with an orangey brown coat and deep red mane, his wing was stretched out around the mare’s side gently resting on her without pulling her closer.
“Duchess Western Posey, and Duke Vapour Glider,” said Fragrant following Max’s gaze. “My parents.”
“They look happy,” noted Max.
She nodded. “They both passed a few years ago, I think I miss them most at this time of year,” sighed Fragrant. Max moved towards his marefriend gently leaning against her to show his support. She smiled and leaned back. “I like to think they would have liked you, particularly my father. Like you he tended to take matters into his own hooves.”
“It’s an interesting choice to paint your mother's eyes that way, was it a fashion or something?” asked Max.
“No, there was an accident in the weather factory during a tour, it must be almost twenty-five years ago now. My mother was splashed with boiling rainbow mixture, she was left blind, my father lost a wing in the same accident.” Max turned back to the picture, now he’d been told he could see that Vapour lacked one limb and his coat had some bald patches in it. He was a little surprised that the artist hadn’t decided to hide that more.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Thank you, it was what led to my mother's retirement from court. I had to take over from her at an unusually young age. Still they did not let their disabilities affect them all that much, and they led comparatively healthy lives for many more years.”
Edelweiss gently pushed the door open to reveal a rather luxuriously decorated room. More paintings covered the walls and tables, cupboards and seats made of both cloud and more solid materials were positioned throughout it. Near the middle three younger ponies, two mares and a stallion were sitting around a chess board. Max immediately recognised the nearest mare, it was Forming, Fragrant’s niece. The other mare was a few years younger with a long sky blue mane and delicate features. She was spread across a chaise longue a glass in one hoof, and a magazine in the other apparently taking little interest in the game. The stallion, about the same age as the younger mare, had a dark green coat and a short bright red mane and tail. He was short, hardly coming up to the mare opposite him’s chest with a delicate fillyish muzzle. Bizarrely his cutie mark seemed to consist of a grinning skull with what looked like crossed crutches under it, Max had no idea what that might symbolise. Rather than sitting normally in his chair he was positioned almost upside down. “Hi mom,” he called in a rather high pitched voice as the three of them entered the room.
“Dangerous!” exclaimed Edelweiss with joy. “I didn’t know you vere back yet!”
“Snowboarding down in the Macintosh’s was starting to get a bit boring so I thought I’d head back a day early.”
“Well it’s good to zee you,” said the mare trotting over to her son and leaned down to give him a kiss on the forehead. “Who's your friend?” she asked.
“This is Shimmer, we hooked up last week.”
“Hi,” said the mare not looking up from her magazine.
“Hello,” said Edelweiss a little hesitantly before turning back to his son. “What happened to Emerald Shower?” she whispered a frown on her face. “Wazn’t he going to visit for the holiday?”
“We broke up,” said Dangerous casually, “he was getting too clingy. One of the reasons I decided to head on back.”
“Hi auntie,” said Forming. “Hello Baron, it’s nice to see you again.”
“Thank you,” said Max.
“So, you’re Max,” said Dangerous flipping off of his seat. “Mountain climbing, right?” He started to circle the older stallion. “I was part of a party which reached the summit of mount Eventide last year,” he boasted.
Max nodded, he had to admit he was impressed, and jealous. Eventide was Equestria’s highest mountain, it has only been conquered for the first time a decade ago or so ago, although since then he’d heard a comparatively easy route to the summit had been found. “I was the first pony to climb Mount Bodach,” he countered.
“Where’s that?” asked Dangerous cocking his head.
“Nulpar, it’s no Eventide but the wind makes it a challenge, it never dies down.”
The younger stallion seemed to consider for a moment before breaking into a toothy grin. “Cool!” he said. “Maybe I could visit soon?”
“Maybe,” said Max.
“Dangerous, you only just got back!” exclaimed Edelweiss. “At least give us a few days together before you plan your next trip!”
“Sure mom,” said Dangerous rolling his eyes. “Nice to see you too auntie,” he continued turning to Fragrant.
“You too Dangerous,” said Fragrant, “I’m glad you could make it, it’s been too long since I last saw you.”
“Will Fluttering be making it as well?” asked Max, he hadn’t seen the family's oldest child since his trip to Ponyville a few months ago now.
Edelweiss’s face fell. “No,” she said quietly, “I’m afraid zhe sent a message to say she couldn’t take the time away from her animals.”
“I’m sorry,” said Max.
“That’s alright, we will be taking a trip to see her in the new year,” said Edelweiss perking up a little. “Let’s get you zettled in,” said Edelweiss, “Then we can talk about your latest trip. Your father zhould be back in a while Dangerous. I know he’d like to talk to you.”
“I’m sure,” mumbled Dangerous, “probably wants to shackle me to a desk at the weather factory.”
“Dad just wants you to see about getting you to start a career,” pointed out Forming, “you’ve finished school now.”
“Yeah, well unlike some I want to do something more than just what dad wants,” said Dangerous.
“Maybe I just want to actually do something with my-” began Forming, her voice growing louder.
“Maybe the two of you could finish your game, quietly,” hissed Edelweiss, “while I get our guests settled in.” Both of her children were immediately cowed by their mother’s reaction and quietly sat back at their chairs. “Good, now if you follow me I vill show you where you’ll be staying.”
“And zis will be your room baron,” said Edelweiss pointing to the door at the end of the corridor.
Fragrant nodded, then did a double take. “That is my paren-I mean my bedroom!” objected Fragrant. Despite them being gone for so long she still had some difficulty considering the room her own, she would have picked one of the many others available if it wasn’t for tradition.
“Yes, but there is zimply nowhere elze appropriate in the manor,” said Edelweiss pushing open the door.
“There are over sixty guest rooms in this house!” And they were of good quality, even the princess had stayed in the estate a few times over the centuries.
“Yes, but most of them are cloud roomz! What if our guest's enchantment was to fail unexpectedly? It would not be proper for us to allow our guest to plummet to his doom!”
“There are two suits adapted for ground pony guests, in the north wing!”
“Yes, well it iz a little embarrassing but... they are infested.”
“Infested?” asked Max, his eyes swinging back and forth between the two mares.
“Pigeons I am afraid, I have no idea how they got in. The exterminators will not be available until after the holiday.” She nodded to the servant who dropped off Max’s bag and beat a hasty retreat. “There really iz nowhere else for our esteemed guest to stay. We do have to be good hosts don’t we.”
“But where am I to sleep!” exclaimed Fragrant.
“Well that iz up to you, but it is a rather large bed for just one, isn’t it?” said Edelweiss running her hoof over the cloud bed. “And if the baron’s enchantment was to fail at night well it would be just as well if a pegasus were nearby, for safety’s sake.” She raised a hoof to her mouth to block her giggles before hobbling to the door.
Fragrant raised a hoof to her head. Sometimes her sister in law could be the worst! “I am sorry Max, Edelweiss likes to matchmake.”
“That’s alright, I’m sure I can find somewhere else to stay,” he said looking around the room and not meeting her gaze.
“Well,” said Fragrant, really the room was very large and maybe a little lonely sometimes. “We-we have shared a bed a few times before haven't we?” she blushed and suddenly found the patterning of the cloud beneath her hooves very interesting.
“Once or twice,” he admitted, Fragrant was sure he was grinning.
“Not to say that anything has to happen, but you are my guest and this is probably the best room in the house,” she managed to look up, Max was indeed smiling and she found herself matching him.
“Thank you, you’re a very gracious host,” said Max sitting down carefully on the bed.
“It’s only right,” said Fragrant joining him and cautiously stretched a wing out to wrap around his shoulders. “I’ll show you where you can put your bags, in a bit,” she said leaning over and kissing him on the cheek. “I never really did get to greet you properly at the airport, did I?”
“It took you awhile to get packed away,” noted Edelweiss with a knowing grin as Max and Fragrant returned to the main hall. Max couldn’t help but blush a little at that, while things hadn’t gotten all that heated between him and Fragrant, they had rather lost track of time.
“It took some time to decide where to keep Max’s clothes,” said Fragrant, her cheeks likewise rosy as she straightened her dress.
“Well it’z certainly nice to have almost the whole family together for a change,” noted Edelweiss looking around the room. While he and Fragrant had been away Thunderous had returned, and was now sitting in a high-backed chair reading a newspaper. The younger members of the family were positioned at the opposite side of the room. Forming seemed to be trying to start a conversation with Shimmer although the younger mare remained taciturn. Dangerous was sitting next to them carefully running a block of wax over a snow board.
“Do you two have any plans for the evening?” asked Edelweiss
“Not really,” said Max. He’d rather hoped he and Fragrant could spend a little more time together, or maybe they could just chat with the family, he’d like to find out more about his marefrend's past. She was normally rather tight lipped about that sort of thing.
“I am afraid I might have some work to catch up on,” admitted Fragrant causing Max’s ears to lower. “That meeting with King Fisher made me think I should review some of the council votes in a little more detail.”
“I can help you with that auntie,” said Forming turning away from Shimmer.
“Thank you dear.” Max was about to suggest he could help as well when Edelweiss cut him off.
“Aren't you going to your club tonight dear?” asked Edelweiss turning back to her husband.
A look of concern passed over Thunderous face as he put aside his newspaper. “Yes,” he said cautiously. “I thought I might spend an hour or so there, catch up with some of the guys before the holiday.”
“Why don’t you take Baron Max wiz you,” suggested Edelweiss. Thunderous didn’t look all that pleased at the suggestion. “Maybe you could take Dangerous as well?” Thunderous seemed to consider that a bit more.
“How about it son?” he asked.
“Sorry Dad,” said Dangerous looking up from his board, “but word on the streets is that Blizzard Beats will be playing on Cloud Ten tonight, no way me and Shimmer can miss that!”
“Yeah!” agreed Shimmer without looking up.
“Oh,” said Thunderous looking rather disappointed.
“Well the two oz you can spend some time together,” said Edelweiss looking between Max and Thunderous. “Some male bonding, while us marefolk finish off our work. I’m sure it’ll be fun!”
Max glanced over at Thunderous, it didn’t look like either of them really agreed.
Max had to admit that Thunderous’s club was an impressive place. From the outside it didn’t look all that much, it was located in what Max assumed from the architecture to be an upper-class part of town but the entrance was tucked away in a side street hardly visible from the main road. The inside, however, was lavish. As with the rest of the city the majority of the building were constructed from cloud but there was a surprising amount of solid material used as well, carpets covered most of the floor space and comfortable seats and benches were scattered around the room as well as several booths for privacy. The walls were covered in portraits and mementos from all around Equestria and beyond. Most of them were apparently donated by the members with small notices next to them stating where they had come from, more than one mentioned members of the Posey family.
Once Thunderous had signed Max in as his guest he led him into the main room. It was set up much like a bar and packed with stallions and mares all laughing and drinking. Servants apparently selected for their comeliness moved between groups taking orders and delivering drinks. There was a stage set up in one corner where a quartet of ponies were singing acapella. For the first time since he’d gotten off the train he actually felt warm, he wasn’t sure how it was heated, but the club seemed less frigid than the city around it.
Looking around Max decided this didn’t seem all that bad a place to spend some time with his marefriend’s brother, a few drinks might be just the sort of thing to break the ice between them. The two of them had gotten off to a rather bad start and the larger stallion had tried to warn him off his sister, still they had managed to work that out. Maybe they could actually get along, he wanted to be friends with all of Fragrant’s family. Although he would have preferred it if he could spend the evening with Fragrant instead of her brother.
“What do you think of the place Max,” asked Thunderous swinging out a hoof expansively.
“Seems a nice place, not quite as stuffy as I’d imagined.”
“Well there is something for everypony, there are reading rooms and the like for the older chaps to nap in, but I prefer something a little livelier. They have an excellent selection of drinks and they do good food as well. It’s a great place to network with the great and the good, most of the movers and shakers of the city are members. Non-voting nobility, industrialists, the mayor and town council, everypony’s who's anypony comes here.”
“It’s not all that different from the tavern in Sadlzberg really,” noted Max. Sure the clientele might be a bit different, but a bar was a bar and ponies enjoying themselves were about the same no matter where you were.
“Ah, Star!” bellowed Thunderous with a grin.
A thin and rather nervous looking stallion spun around and blinked at Thunderous for a few moments before he found his voice. “Oh, evening sir!” he said.
“Max, this is Rising Star, my right hoof at Posey Weather, and probably my best friend as well!”
“Oh, thank you sir,” said Star with a rather fake looking smile on his face.
“Star this is Baron Mounty Max, he’s spending the holiday with the family.” Thunderous slapped Max on the back almost knocking him over.
“G-Good to meet you baron,” said Rising bowing.
“Please call me Max,” said Max holding out his hoof, after a bit of hesitation Rising shook it.
“Yes, no titles here, we’re just three stallions having a night out, right?” said Thunderous. “I think I can see some seats.” He nodded to a nearby servant and pointed to a booth. The servant trotted over and talked to its current occupants who after a moment got up, and glancing over at Thunderous for a moment, left.
“Was that right?” asked Max as he sat down, “Getting them to move?”
“Well running the company that employs half of the city, and being the brother of the mare who runs the whole province has its benefits,” said Thunderous with a grin.
“It seems like taking advantage,” mumbled Max.
“Relax, what would you like to drink?” he asked.
“Do they do mead?” asked Max timidly, he wasn’t all that hopeful since his favourite tipple didn’t seem that common around most of Equestria.
“Probably, but live a little! You’re in Cloudsdale you should try the specialty,” he turned to the server. “Three Rainbow Brandys, please, make them doubles.” The servant nodded and glided away.
“So, Rising,” asked Max, trying to think of something to talk about, “how are things in the weather business?”
“Oh, things are going well baron,” said the stallion, “profits are up 5% this year and the change in cloud export legislation has opened up whole new markets, while recent discoveries in the manufacturing side means that-”
“We don’t want to spend the night talking shop, Rising.” said Thunderous. He leaned forwards over the table towards Max. “She might not have mentioned it but Rising here might be a rival for my sister's affections you know.”
“Really?” asked Max. He was rather surprised by how relaxed Thunderous seemed about his and Fragrant's relationship. A tiny jealous part perked up a bit as well, Fragrant hadn’t mentioned Rising at all as far he could remember.
“Well, um, the duchess is quite a mare,” said Rising looking down at the table, his cheeks glowing.
“Shame Max here snapped her up first,” noted Thunderous as the drinks were delivered. He slapped Rising on the back almost sending the smaller stallion sprawling. “Well, never fear, maybe Max here will mess up and you’ll get a chance.” He took a sip of his drink and sighed. “You know I love my family, but it’s good to have a place to get away from things, don’t you think Baron?”
“I agree,” said Max, “Although I generally prefer something a bit more physical, go climbing or something. I think clearer when my body's working. Still a night out once in a while doesn’t hurt.” He examined his own drink, somehow it managed to remain in a rainbow of colours without mixing, some magic or other he expected. He gave it a cautious sniff, his eyes watered a little, it seemed like a potent brew. Carefully he took a sip, it was surprisingly smooth, as wondrous a mix of flavours as it was of colours. Max swallowed and was just about to compliment his host's choice of drinks when the burning started, he gasped as his throat seemed to turn to fire.
“Careful,” said Thunderous with a grin, “It’s got a bit of a kick! Lightning infused!”
“I-I noticed,” managed Max after a few moments, his tongue hanging out.
Still smiling Thunderous emptied his entire glass in one gulp before slamming it down on the table and letting out a long sigh.
Feeling as if he was in some sort of competition Max took up his own drink and after a moment's hesitation poured it into his mouth, he swallowed painfully trying to blink away his tears. Thunderous nodded and raised a hoof to a passing servant to order more drinks. “They do good food here Max, what would you like?”
Max looked around, there didn’t seem to be any menus. “What have they got?”
“Practically anything! One of the advantages of membership, I think I’ll have a hayburger. Edelweiss says they’re bad for me, but she’s not here!”
“I’m not all that hungry really,” said Max, still trying to recover his voice from the brandy, “maybe some grass?”
“They have over a dozen types! How about you Rising?”
“The hayburger sounds good,” said the third stallion.
Thunderous raised a hoof to summon another servant.
Max had to admit the food really was excellent, as his host had said they offered over a dozen types of grass and he’d had a platter of them all. Each was succulent and full of flavour despite it being the middle of winter, they must have been grown under glass which would mean it was probably one of the most expensive meals he’d ever had.
Once they had finished eating a servant had offered them cigars to go with the next round of drinks. Max had been curious, he’d never smoked before, but eventually decided against it. Although he did accept another brandy. Thunderous, on the other hoof, took one of the cigars, lit it and relaxed back into his seat blowing a lazy ring of smoke over their table. Rising also accepted one although his subsequent coughing fit suggested he was less used to them than his friend.
The three of them passed the time with some pleasant if often awkward conversation. Max had to admit that he didn’t have all that much in common with the larger stallion but they could tell stories of their exploits. Max enjoyed another drink or two, or was it three? Numbers had never really been his strong point, and after the fourth (or maybe fifth?) drink they were getting increasingly complicated.
“It’s good to be away from the house for a while,” mumbled Thunderous playing with the glass in front of him. Rising had his head resting on the table next to him, Max wasn’t sure but he might have been asleep. “I love my family Max, but sometimes, well sometimes they can be a hoof full. Forming, well she’s the good one, never any problems with her, very dutiful and polite. But Dangerous... Sometimes I just don’t know what to do with that colt.”
“He seems very, active,” said Max, he was glad he could figure out how to use his tongue. He stuck it out and stared at it for a moment.
“Always looking for a challenge he is, climbing, skiing, tornado riding, you name it. I’m proud of him, so very proud, never say I’m not!” He slammed the glass on the table spilling half of it. A servant glided by and quickly replaced it. “If only he could focus on something, actually finish something for a change. He’s too good sometimes, he just gets bored easily.” He took a mouthful of his replacement drink. “I’d like him to follow in my hoofsteps, he’d have a good career in Posey Weather, he’d take over from me one day. If he doesn’t want to then I won’t force him to...” he gazed into his drink for a few seconds, “I learned that lesson far too late with Fluttering. I’d support him in whatever he does, if he could just decide to do something with his life! I try to talk to him but he’s always too busy, and when we do talk we end up arguing. He can’t just keep playing around with his life forever! There’s fun, and there’s business. He can have one, in moderation, but he needs the other as well! I don’t want him to grow up into one of those chaps who never does anything but spend money! Does that make sense Max?” He gave the smaller stallion a pleading look.
“I, I think so,” said Max. His head was feeling a little swimmy right now, maybe he’d had a few too many of these drinks. He looked around, the room seemed a lot less crowded than it had a while ago, how late was it anyway? “Um, right, uh, Dangerous,” he said trying to return his mind to the matter at hoof. “Well he is still young, right? Lots of time to figure out what he wants to do. Maybe it’s right that he gets some time to find himself?”
“I suppose so, that’s what Fragrant says...”
“Look,” said Max pointing a hoof at where he thought Thunderous probably was. “Colts and their sires it’s complicated you know. I never wanted to be mayor when my dad was, was about, I was all ‘No I want to be something else, like a totally non-mayor thing, I don’t know a beekeeper or something’ but on the inside I really wanted to be my dad, he was like my hero thing... but now, now I can’t tell him that anymore.” Max sniffed a bit, he hadn’t thought that deeply about his father for a long time now.
“I know I had some problems with my father,” he leaned forwards across the table, “he didn’t approve of Edelweiss you know, thought I was marrying down. But, ‘dad’, I said, ‘dad I love that mare and I don’t care what you say about it! You can cut me off for all I care!’. We ended up fighting, really fighting, flying hooves and wrestling at all that, and I beat him! He told me he’d never been so proud of me as he was then! Standing up for what I believed in!” He paused for a moment a look of puzzlement spreading over his face. “Am I supposed to fight Dangerous?” he asked. “That doesn’t seem right now I think about it.”
“Probably not?” said Max unsurely, the colt was less than half the size of his father, it would hardly be fair. “But I dun know, maybe he’s trying to tell you he wants to be his own stallion?”
“So, he’s just acting out?”
“Could be, maybe the more you tell him to work for the weather factory the less he wants to? Maybe you could try some reverse, brain thingy, tell him not to work there, that might work.”
“Worth a try,” noted Thunderous, “What do you think Rising?” He turned to the gently snoring stallion.
“Ah, Thunderous, and that earth-bound baron your sister found,” came a voice from nearby. Max’s head shot up, overcompensating a bit before he could get his eyes to focus on whoever it was who was speaking. It took him a moment to recognise the stallion.
“King Fisher,” mumbled Thunderous glaring at the new arrival.
“Have you considered the proposal I made to you?” asked the balding stallion. He was flanked by a small group of other stallions all of whom seemed to be a least a little inebriated. Looking around Max realised that they were the only customers still in the place.
“What’s to consider? Weather’s my business, I can’t refuse to supply it.”
“Not refuse, just cut it off for a while. Those down on the ground,” he made the word sound dirty, “they’ve gotten used to getting weather whenever they want it. They take all we do for them for granted. They just need to remember just how important we are to them, you could put prices up afterwards, you’d make back more than you’d lose and those earth-bound tribes would respect us again.”
“Go home King, you’re drunk,” mumbled Thunderous. Max thought they were probably all at least a little bit tipsy.
“I thought better of you Thunderous, I thought you were a real pegasus not a ground lover like your sister!”
With a growl Thunderous rose to his hooves towering over the other stallions present. It took a few seconds for Max to realise that he was standing up as well, and that he was angry. “Don’t you talk about my Fragrant colleague like that!” he cried, then thought about it for a moment. “I mean my colleague Fragrant!” Although the first was true as well, Fragrant always had a sort of floral scent around her, whether it was a shampoo or her natural scent Max wasn’t-
King waved a dismissive hoof at Max. “Be quiet, the real ponies are talking here.” Max seethed at his tone. “You know what happens if the bloodlines mix too much, you know what happened to her... or were the rumours true and were you trying to keep things a little too pure? That daughter of yours-”
Before King could say another word Thunderous lunged forwards knocking the table aside and advanced on the startled representative. Behind him Rising was knocked from his perch and collapsed to the ground with a surprised squeak. King furiously backpedalled to avoid Thunderous and the stallions around him scattered. “Don’t you dare say another word!” roared Thunderous, “Not about my sister, and not about my daughter!”
One of King’s followers standing off to one side of Thunderous slowly turned around and prepared to buck him while the larger stallion’s attention was directed towards King. “No you don’t” cried Max, noticing the cowardly attack. He tried to dive forwards but couldn’t quite figure out how to get his hooves to work again, instead he staggered forwards into the crowd of stallions, legs flying wildly. More by luck that judgement he managed to land a blow on the attacking stallion putting him off balance and sending his kick into one of his fellows instead of Thunderous.
Noticing the commotion Thunderous turned and swung a hoof at the nearest opponent sending him flying back across the room. King pushed forwards and joined into the melee, within a moment the whole group had descended into a confusing forest of limbs bumping against each other seemingly at random. Max made out the form of King Fisher nearby and swung out a hoof feeling a very satisfying crunch as it impacted against his muzzle. “For Fragrant!” he managed to cry out before another stallion jumped him.
Buried under a pile of squirming pony flesh Max could only make out glimpses of the rest of the fight. He saw Rising grabbing onto the back of another stallion as his victim desperately tried to dislodge him. Thunderous striding through the mass of ponies as they tried to pull him to the ground and King Fisher struggling to get away from the brawl, blood dripping from his snout. Finally, he made out a large number of rather annoyed looking servants as they moved in to break up the brawl.
The next hour or so was a bit of a blur for Max. He wasn’t sure if it was the drink, or a side effect of the fight, he had taken a few hits but he’d had worse in the past. The brawlers were thrown out of the club, via different entrances to stop the fight continuing and it had taken a while for them to find a taxi to take them all home.
“Shuss!” hissed Thunderous rather theatrically at the door to the mansion. “We don’t want anypony to know what happened.” He said as he staggered inside.
Max gave a giggle and nodded glancing around for anyone watching apart from the slightly annoyed looking servant who had let them in. “I’m sorry about the fight,” said Max as they made their way down the hall. It took a surprising amount of concentration, he’d seemed to have forgotten how to move his legs, was it front then back, or opposite corners together, or left then right?
“Sorry about what?” asked Thunderous his brow furrowed. “That was fun! You’re fun Max! I like you! King Fisher could do with being taken down a peg or two, he’s a tribalist he is, thinks pegasus are above the other tribes. Course we are, what with living in the clouds and all.” He hovered in the air for a moment before bumping into a wall. He dislodged a portrait and Max only just managed to catch it before it broke. “Just not in the way he thinks,” he giggled a bit at his joke.
“Thanks,” said Max laying the portrait carefully down on the floor.
“You’re alright Max, we should go drinking again sometime.”
“Won’t you get in trouble with the club?” asked Max, he wasn’t sure they’d get invited back anytime soon.
“They’re very discreet about this sort of thing, I’ll pay for any damages and everything will be fine. Just as long as Edelweiss doesn’t find out.”
The door at the end of the corridor opened to reveal two feminine shapes. “Edelweiss doesn’t find out what?” asked the mare in question sounding rather annoyed.
“Edelweiss, honey!” cried Thunderous with a smile plastered over his face. “How are you?”
“What time do you call thiz?” she asked, “You said you were only going to be out for a few hours! Six hours ago! I waz worried!”
“A few things came up! Business!” bluffed Thunderous moving in on his wife to give her a kiss.
“You’re drunk!” she exclaimed turning her head away from him. “And you've been fighting!”
“We bumped into King Fisher at the club,” argued Thunderous. “The things he was saying about Fragrant! About Fluttering! I couldn’t let that stand.”
“We were right, they were wrong,” argued Max, “and they made a very satisfying thud as they hit the ground!” Thunderous and Max nodded to each other, that seemed to explain it all.
“I’m sorry you got caught up in my husbandz idiocy baron,” said Edelweiss politely.
“Hey, he was the one who- Ow! Ow!” cried Thunderous as his wife bit into his ear and started to drag him out of the room.
“We’ll talk about this later,” she mumbled.
For a moment Max felt sorry for Thunderous, Edelweiss seemed really angry about what had happened. Then he turned to Fragrant, she looked absolutely furious, then he felt much sorrier for himself instead.
“Max!” she cried, “What were you thinking! Were you even thinking at all! I can understand my brother acting the way he did, he’s, well he’s Thunderous, he thinks the world is there for his benefit, but you! I thought you were learning to control yourself, to not be so bull headed!”
“But King Fisher, he said things about you!”
“I’m sure he did, he’s a hateful petty bureaucrat, but that doesn’t matter. He can say all he wants to, it doesn’t hurt me! But you getting into a fight in public, you could ruin yourself Max!”
“Thunderous said it wouldn’t be a problem,” protested Max, his head was starting to clear a little and a feeling a dread was starting to wash over him, or maybe it was nausea.
Fragrant sighed. “Annoyingly he might be right, that club of his is very good at keeping it's secrets. Even if any journalists do get their hooves on the story it’ll be too late for most of the papers to publish anything if it did get out, what with Hearthswarming’s eve tomorrow. You have probably been very, very lucky Max.” She scowled at him. “You better go to bed, I’m sure I’ll think of more things to yell at you about tomorrow, or later today as it is now. And don’t think you’ll be sharing a bed with me! I don’t want anything to do with a drunkard!” She strode off to her bedroom Max in tow his ears drooping. “You can sleep on the chaise lounge,” she said pointing at the seat.
Max dragged himself over to it and slumped down. He couldn’t believe how badly he’d managed to mess everything up and it was all his fault, he shouldn’t have drunk as much or gotten out of control.
“Here, drink this,” insisted Fragrant seeming to materialise next to him holding out a large jug of water, “it’ll reduce your hangover!” Max thankfully took a gulp from the jug and started to put it aside. “All of it!” she insisted. Still scowling, Fragrant stomped off to her own bed and, still fully dressed dropped into it.
“Fragrant,” said Max after a minute’s silence. “I’m sorry, I really am.”
“I know you are,” replied Fragrant after another silence.
“Good night,” he mumbled, his body starting to relax over the chair. “Love you.”
Fragrant sighed loudly. “Good night, Max,” she said a little more gently.
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Thinking about it, Pegasi probably find mountain climbers REAL amusing. When I was young, some of my friends were the sort that would have set up a little celebration for the climbers on the mountain top. A nice little banner, "So Glad You Made It!" & comments like "We were so worried you were going to hurt yourselves" & had a picnic all set out for them with a cake labeled CONGRATULATIONS. Maybe had their little brothers/sisters there as well
Bit sad that Fluttershy isn't making it up to Cloudsdale with the family, but oh well.
Somehow I missed the update.
I like Babylon 5 too.
¿Is this she?:
vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/f/f2/Pinkie_Pie_%22not_only_am_I_not_getting_my_sister%22_S6E3.png/revision/latest?cb=20160403212858
I kinda wanna knock Fisher out.
I missed this the 1st time I read. I assume that this is for security:
1 of the defenses of Canterlot is that it is on an high cliff. An harmless seeming cloudcity could approach Canterlot at higher altitude and rain death onto Canterlot.