I Can Read Names in Clouds

by Yuu

Follow the Heart Sign

Everyone in the room was silent.

“Well, that was most unusual,” Curiosity said, eventually.

“Hey, I finally know what it is called!” Medley said. Suddenly she had a frown, and she added quietly, “And it is not just Medley being Medley.”

Everyone looked at her. Gloaming laid back her ears, her forelegs slightly trembling. Curiosity flung her eyes between ponies in the room and me.

“We are very sorry,” Gloaming cried and hugged Medley. “We... You... Sorry, we shouldn't have used this circular argument.”

“That was very ignorant of us,” Curiosity said, hugging Medley too.

When they finished hugging, they looked very thoughtful, even Medley.

“Snowy Clothes, do you know this expert?” Gloaming asked. “Why do you think they need this agreement, to report immediately?”

“Unfortunately, I don't know. I only just remembered that Director Smith is a member of the Coalition Council. As for the reporting, they may want to make sure that all new users of this kind of magic would be careful. Or they want a trusted expert to teach them, to prevent possible misuse, I think. Anyway, can you tell me about your world, so I can learn myself and also write in the journal?”

“Yes, of course.” Curiosity said, “Let Gloaming think, I will tell you the basics.”

She started telling me about three races of ponies, about the differences in magic and constitution, things I knew already or had concluded from my observations. Curiosity had just finished describing unicorns and their magic when Medley cried “Look!” and pointed at the journal. We all looked. There were big blobs of grey on new pages, forming letters and words:

Hello there! My name is Gracia and I just got a message about your adventures in this distant world, dear Snowy Clothes. Oh, this little guy here continues to ask me to stick to the protocol and to give him this little book, but I believe he needs a short break. Anyway, I'm very glad to know there are more Invisible Magic users and I would like to meet them as soon as possible. Please tell your friends around you that I would very much like to meet them all, not just dear Medley and the postal mare.

I remembered that Andrew was at least twenty centimetres taller than me. Was this Gracia even taller than him, or did she mean something else?

“Wait, did you write that she is a mare?” Gloaming exclaimed. She started to look through the previous pages of the journal, but then looked at me, possibly realising she couldn’t read it.

“I don’t think so,” I answered, looking through the pages with Gloaming.

“Then how can she know that?” Gloaming asked a bit louder.

“Lucky guess?” Medley said, smiling.

“Not now, please,” Gloaming said.

Maybe she just had a lot of experience. If she had guys from the Coalition reporting to her, she must be very smart, and good at planning, too.

“Look, there’s more!” Medley pointed to the journal again.

As everyone looked at the journal, more words appeared.

Now that you’re all wondering how I know some tiny little details Snowy Clothes may or may not have written to me, I can tell that it would be easier to answer your questions in person. And regarding my journey to your land, I can travel by myself or ask Medley to guide me.

“I can do that?” Medley widened her eyes.

Letters continued to appear in the journal.

The girl has the gift. Although it may take time, because Medley hasn't done it before, so she will need to follow my exact instructions. And I understand there may be some translation issues, so the method may not work the first time.

“Medley, don't be so sad, she can teach you after she comes here.” Gloaming took her journal with notes and wrote something. “You can learn a lot from studying texts and books, but I also know that teaching in-person is much better.”

“If you say so.” Medley smiled again. “I still want to do some new magic.”

“Great, so does everypony agree to invite Lady Gracia?” Gloaming asked.

Medley said “yes”, Curiosity just nodded.

“Snowy Clothes, please write that we’ve agreed.” Gloaming asked me.

Shortly after I finished, more words from Gracia appeared.

Thank you. I will check with the guys from the Coalition if I should bring anything with me. Oh, they just told me that they need 15 or 20 minutes to prepare a communication device, so see you soon. By the way, they ask, which communication channel do you use to transfer information over distance?

“We use optical transmission, mainly in the visible spectrum, and in shorter wavelength range,” Gloaming said. “And, Snowy Clothes, how fast did you travel to our land?”

She prepared to make notes in her journal and turned to me. I wrote down her answer about their communications.

“It’s hard to keep track of time in interdimensional corridors, but I think I flew for about an hour,” I said, “and I wasn't very close to Earth when I started travelling here.”

“Good, let's see how fast Gracia will be.” Gloaming looked at the bookshelf, where she put a small clock she used to compare our time systems. “Communication using this journal is almost instantaneous, but I believe moving physical objects, let alone a living body, would take more time and effort.”

At that very moment, as if on cue, we heard three distinct taps on the door.

“I'm coming!” Gloaming turned and trotted to the entrance door.

Gloaming opened the door wide and another mare came in. The newcomer had a white coat, a black mane with a tint of purple that touched the floor, and a similarly long tail. She was taller by a head than the other mares in the room and had a muscled and broad frame, but still looked quite feminine on the stallion-mare scale. I wondered, would she be considered a beauty by pony standards? Or would she scare most stallions, especially ones who were not so tall?

“Hello, my little ponies,” she said, in some Romance language I didn't know—maybe Italian. Nevertheless I understood the meaning perfectly, so she was using some form of translation magic, like me.

“I wrote you in the journal. My name is Gracia Sa... Well, just call me Gracia,” she said, smiling widely. “I don't quite look like my original body here, and I usually walk on my hind legs. You should know what I mean.”

Gloaming nodded. Other ponies just stared.

“But when I reached your world, it tried to change my appearance and I agreed with it,” she continued.

Interesting, I wasn’t the only victim of a sudden transformation.

“Nice to meet you Gracia, my name is Snowy Clothes.” I decided to start the introduction. I named all the other ponies in the room and added that what I gave her were only rough translations of the real names.

“So, this is our Medley. Nice to meet you.” Gracia made just a couple of steps and somehow reached the pony in question. “Would you like to be my student?” she said, standing on her hind legs and hugging Medley, raising her in the air like she weighed nothing.

Medley snapped out of trance, raised her own forelegs in the air and hugged Gracia.

“Yes, I do! And nice to meet you Gracia!”

“Oh, where are my manners? Nice to meet you, Lady Gracia.” Curiosity readjusted her mane and bowed.

“There’s no need to call me Lady, let alone bow. I have no authority over you.” Gracia turned her head to Curiosity, still hugging Medley.

Seeing that made me feel a sudden urge to hug someone, too.

“If you say so, Gracia,” Curiosity said, smiling.

“Nice to meet you,” Gloaming said.

“So, could you introduce me to the wonderful mare who delivered that message to Earth?” Gracia asked, finally placing Medley on the floor. “I believe she has the same gift, and I would like to teach her to use it as well.”

“I don’t believe that would be a problem,” Gloaming said, looking at Medley, “Could you please go and find Bright Eyes?”

“Sure I can!” Medley nodded and went out.

“Wait, I should write a letter to the queen,” Gloaming said, before fixing her gaze on Gracia, as if waiting for some advice. “Should I do that now?”

“If she is the highest authority here, you should definitely let her know. And remember to mention that we come in peace,” I said, raising my talons and trying to make the Vulcan salute.

“Is that some form of greeting from your world?” Gloaming wrinkled her muzzle a bit as she stared at my talons. “You know, this looks ambiguous with your claws.”

After about ten minutes, as I told Gloaming and other ponies about different Earth customs, someone knocked and Gloaming went to open the door. Immediately Medley came in, and after a moment another mare stepped inside—she had a pale yellow shag cut and a light steel-blue coat. I had seen her in town before, carrying some bags, maybe delivering something.

She stopped after a few steps inside, looking around at all the ponies here, and finally at me.

“I don’t know everypony here.” She made a small smile and looked at her hooves. “So I should introduce myself. Hi, my name is Bright Eyes.”

It was a fitting name, she really had beautiful eyes. Gracia and I told her our names, and I mentioned my issues with name translation.

“Bright Eyes, my dear, do you know that you’re very special?” Gracia suddenly sounded very similar to Curiosity.

“Me?” She blinked several times. “I’m just a regular pony.”

“She is also very modest,” Curiosity said to me.

“You may well have lived your whole life believing that,” Gracia said. “But you have a gift that possibly only Medley shares, out of all ponies.”

“Really?” Bright Eyes folded her ears backwards.

“Don’t worry.” Gracia slowly came closer and hugged Bright Eyes with one foreleg.

Well, actually it only looked like she walked slowly. Gracia reached her target very fast, but so fluidly that I registered it only after she hugged Bright Eyes. As Gracia was most likely a mage, I begun to suspect she was augmenting herself with magic.

“Only my mother ever told me I was special,” Bright Eyes said, looking on her hooves again.