Clouds

by ramdom_player201

Chapter Four

I blink sleepily at my headboard as I try to get my bearings. Lifting my head from my pillow, I turn towards the light streaming in through the window. I gaze idly out at the serene sky. It’s a beautiful day outside, barely a cloud in the sky. I watch as a large yellow horse-thing flies past just outside the window. Wait just a second…
The previous day’s events suddenly come flooding back to me. I slowly look down and am greeted by the sight of an orange furred foreleg. Ahh yes, I’m a winged pony-horse-pegasus-thing now…

I do not know how to respond to that thought. So I try thinking of something else, like how hungry I am, and how itchy my wings are… I twist round to glare at my feathery appendages, except they are still hiding under my covers. I sigh. Alright, so course of action for today? I’m definitely hungry so I’ll need to go find some breakfast. And my wings are badly itching, so I’ll probably need to have those checked out. Speaking of my wings, the Nurse said I needed to do some wing exercises with them. I couldn’t think of any wing exercises to do, probably because I’ve never had wings before yesterday.

I carefully crawl to the edge of the bed and drop my forelegs to the ground. I then walk forwards, dragging the rest of my body behind me until I am able to bring down my hindlegs, one after the other. I sway unsteadily for a moment, before making my way carefully towards the exit. I pause for a moment to look in a full-height mirror that is sitting in the corner of the room. Despite the lack of twigs in my hair…mane, it seems to look even worse than it did yesterday, if that’s even possible. My wings, while now cleaned of debris, are still just as messy as before. Surprisingly, my tail seems perfectly fine.

I turn back to the door and am presented with a new challenge. The door has a door knob. Not that I noticed this yesterday, as doors are much easier to close than they are to open, especially for a pony. Inspecting the door knob closer, I notice that it’s not actually fully round; both the top and bottom surfaces are flattened. I try lifting one of my hooves and turn it to study the bottom. It doesn’t take long for me to determine that something of this shape shouldn’t be able to turn a door knob.

I give up and simply use my mouth. Placing my teeth against the flat surfaces, I find I can get quite a secure grip. Not wanting to have it in my mouth for any longer than I have to, I quickly twist my head and pull the door open. I step out of my room and into an empty hallway. I quickly twist my head to take note of the room number: 21. No 3rd digit, I guess it’s a small hospital. I look to my left and quickly spot the stairs. I hastily grab the door knob once more and pull the door almost-closed; I decide to leave it open just to let the hospital staff know that I’d gone.

I make my way to the stairs and look down. Coming upstairs the day before wasn’t much of the problem. But now I realise that isn’t true both ways. Tentatively, I take a step down. I quickly find myself facing steeply down and feeling the full weight of my over-sized pony head threatening to pull me over forwards. Pulling my head back seems to somewhat solve this issue and I carefully begin making my way down. It feels like an eternity before I finally reach the bottom.

I realise that I don’t know where to go from here. I look across at a set of signs on the wall adjacent from the stairs, but I can’t make sense of any of the weird symbols. The only things recognizable on the signs are the numbers, which don’t really help me much. I look both ways from the stairway, but both corridors look identical. So I take a left and just hope that I find a member of staff.

---

Ok, I take it back. This definitely does not feel as small anymore. I idly take a left turn and find myself back at the stairwell at which I started. My stomach grumbles in annoyance. I glance down at a random orange feather laying on the floor, then to my ruffled wings and then behind me down the corridor; which is now littered with fallen feathers. I am interrupted by the sound of hoofsteps coming down the stairs.

“Ah, Mr Greenwood. It’s good to see you up and about this morning.” Doctor Stiff Hoof trots down the stairs.
“...And that’s quite the mess you’ve made…” he continues, glancing at the feather trail behind me.
“What have you been doing down here Zephyr?”
“I got lost on my way out.”
The doctor looks unimpressed.
“You know there are signs right here on this wall, did you not think to follow them?”

I don’t particularly want to reveal that I can’t read the signs, even though I know that I probably should. Luckily, my stomach saves me from my little dilemma.
“It sounds like you’re hungry. As a patient, you have access to the cafeteria… I suppose I should have mentioned that before. Follow me.”
And so I follow him.

We take the corridor to the right of the stairwell and then turn left shortly after, straight into the cafeteria. I spent all this time wandering around, and it was right here… Upon delivering me to my destination, Stiff Hoof turns immediately and leaves without a word. Looking around, I notice that the cafe is empty, except for a single pony behind the food counter. She is pale pink in colour, with a bright yellow mane and pale green eyes. She looks up, and upon seeing me, waves me over.

“Good morning sir,” she greets cheerfully. “Welcome to the Ponyville General Cafeteria. Can I get you anything?”
I glance over at the menu-board on the wall, I can’t read it.
“Well, I’m feeling a little hungry and was looking to get a bit of breakfast.”
“Of course, what would you like?”
After a moment’s hesitation, “What would you recommend?”
She tilts her head slightly as she considers my question.
“Well, you can never go wrong with a daisy sandwich.”

A daisy sandwich? Like… as in the flower? Well, I suppose these ponies would be herbivores, and horses back home ate grass. I guess eating flowers shouldn’t come across as much of a surprise.
“Okay, I guess I’ll have a daisy sandwich please.”
“Coming right up, feel free to take a seat and I’ll bring it over when it’s ready. Also, not to be rude, but you should really get your mane sorted.”

I make my way over to a nearby table and sit down. It isn’t long before the pony comes out through a side door. Carrying the sandwich plate… with her mouth. I also notice that she has wings, which makes her a pegasus. Setting her plate down, she glances over at my own wings.
“Oh my, what happened to your wings?”
“Uhh, I fell from a cloud and crashed into a bush. The doctor says I won’t be able to fly for a week”
“My goodness, I couldn’t imagine not being able to fly.” Her ears fold back and she looks at me with pity. “Although you really should get around to preening your wings, it’ll do them no good sitting like that, and they’ll start to itch.”

“Thank you, miss…”
“Oh right, I’m Feather Crumb.”
“And my name is Seth… Greenwood. Anyway, thanks for the food and have a nice day.”
She takes one last look at me, before she heads back into the kitchen.

Now alone with my food, I inspect the sandwich. It seems pretty much standard, other than the few daisy petals sticking out the side. I consider how I should go about eating the sandwich. My stomach complains at my stalling. I decide to eat it straight off the plate with my mouth. I’m not sure what to expect as I take my first bite, but am soon disappointed by the food. The bread tastes like normal bread, but the daisies are kind of bland and just a little bit bitter. I don’t quite see the appeal in eating them.

After my underwhelming breakfast, I head out and turn left, soon coming out into the reception area. I start making my way to the exit, but am called back by Nurse Redheart who is stood behind the desk.
“Zephyr, I’ll just need to sign you out before you go, there’s just a couple details we forgot to fill in.”

“Just turn to the side for me.”
I am a bit confused by the request, but I comply anyway. The nurse lets out a gasp.
“Is something the matter?” I question tentatively.
“Uhh… no, not really… it’s just… it’s just that you have no cutie mark.”
I tilt my head at that, not knowing what a cutie mark was.
“I’m sorry, I’ve just never seen an adult pony without their cutie mark.”
“So, does this mean anything or…”
“No no, it’s fine… you can go now if you want.”

I step out of the hospital, confused as to what all that was about. Regardless, I can’t help but feel a little bit excited for my first day in magical-horse-land, or as they call it, Equestria.

Author's Note:

Finally, a new chapter released within a week of the previous!
I'm trying to increase my writing pace and get chapters out at a faster rate.
I still don't have much of an idea of where this story will go in the long term as it was just a simple warm up.

Comments

[StarzGecko]

The adventure continues… when will the cloud return

[Phetiamwantip]

This new chapter is going great! Hope to see more of your upcoming chapter soon and remember: You just have to keep going and don’t let the small stuff bog you down.

[Appleody]

Seems like he's a walking disaster at the moment. Everyone who sees him is gonna think he's falling apart.

He might be in high spirits, but I can't help feeling bad for the guy. He currently has no one to count on, no money, no shelter and no idea how to do anything. The hospital was probably his best bet.