Nopony is exactly sure where he came from, but when a strange newcomer 'arrives' in Ponyville, things are certain to get interesting.
Without a past, without memories, without a name or even a cutiemark, a mysterious pony appears. Dubbed "Cloudburst" by Rainbow Dash, he quickly adjusts to life in Ponyville, no, in Equestria. Cloudburst sets out on a journey to find out where he came from, and to get used to living as a pegasus. never could he have imagined in his wildest dreams... just how deep the paths he was about to embark on would go.
But it would certainly be a time... that he would never forget. -- Hey all. so this is my first proper Fimfiction and also is the first one I started writing. I've been working on it on/off for a while. I probably won't be able to update on a periodic regular basis but if i can get back into actually writing it again I could upload every week or couple of weeks. I have been things planned for this story that stemmed from a romantic fantasization of Rainbow Dash and my OC, so I hope I can keep the drive going to see it through. (Also, in loosing my phone on Christmas eve, I have also lost with it my story outline for this. i am 90% sure it is somewhere in my house so hopefully I can get it back at some point.)
I am really nervous about this as i automatically assume nopony will care about a story with an OC >.< but let's give it a shot!
It was a quiet and tranquil morning in Ponyville. Just like any morning, the sun beamed its gentle caress over the small rural village to gradually bring the day to a start.
The colourful ponies trotted around, attending to their daily tasks; sharing a smile with one another as they passed, taking care of their chores with a cheerful canter. It was a perfectly average and unassuming day, there was no reason for any of them to suspect that one who was not so familiar with this placid lifestyle would soon arrive.
While the Earth ponies and Unicorns trotted around on the ground, one certain young Pegasus was quietly dozing on a small fluffy cloud that floated above the dusty streets without a care in the world. With her cyan coat and brilliant multi-colour mane and tail, Rainbow Dash lay with her front legs propped up behind her head and one leg rested comfortably on top of the other in a lazy position as she enjoyed her afternoon nap. During these serene days, the young mare loved nothing more than to spend some time dozing after finishing her work. Despite the fact that it was only mid-morning, she had already met with her team and had a few groups organized with tasks; from menial things like counting and evaluating the leftover clouds from the night before, to more important things like arranging an array of clouds for coverage that day, and gathering denser clouds for a shower they had planned later on. After setting the teams to their tasks and doing a little cloudbusting herself to eliminate the leftover cloud remnants, dash had found herself with a break in work. She had already had her morning flight too, which left her fairly deserving of her moment of relaxation.
Rainbow herself was plenty energetic, it was a widely known fact that she idolised the incredible stunt flying team, The Wonderbolts, and aspired to join them one day; to this effect she trained herself almost every day and was actually one of the strongest, fastest and most skilled flyers in all of Equestria. But all that energy had to come from somewhere, and that’s why she let herself slow down every now and then to catch her breath.
The sleepy Pegasus eventually stirred and opened her eyes, allowing herself a wide, powerful stretch. She only stopped once she heard several satisfying snaps in her back, and let out a pleasureful sigh before flopping limply back down onto her cushiony cloud for a moment to recover from this revitalising action. After letting her lungs fill and empty again to provide her the energy she needed, she hopped to her hooves and began to stretch her legs, as well as giving her wings a few practice flaps to wake them up. She briefly checked that nopony was nearby and perched on her rear to begin pruning herself, and picked out a small scattering of old blue feathers. Once she was finally done with this slightly more private task, she got up and let herself drop from the cloud. That initial rush as gravity took hold of every inch of her body and soul never failed to stimulate the athletic pony, it was an almost euphoric feeling that she had learned to crave over her years of flying.
The young mare’s cyan wings extended and caught the wind as she gently spiralled through the air, bringing it to her complete command, with every slight twitch and movement in her body and wings giving her new motion, and eventually found her hooves reaching the dusty ground with a soft thud.
Ponyville was not the sort of abode one would expect a competitive flier such as Rainbow Dash to take residence in, but the young mare loved the quaint, content lifestyle the little town had, and the wide open skies left plenty of room for her flying. She originated from the majestic, floating city of Cloudsdale, and at times she felt rather homesick, but Ponyville was her home now, and she got homesick much faster when she was away from here. Besides, she could always visit Cloudsdale whenever she pleased.
“Today is a nice, easy day,” she thought to herself. Nothing seemed to be happening, and although she got restless when there was nothing much to do for too long, she did appreciate the occasional lazy day. Little did she realise, that she wasn’t going to be having a particularly routine day like this for quite a while… and least of all today.
Rainbow Dash couldn’t quite put her hoof on it, but there seemed to be a strange feel in the air as she trotted into the outskirts of the town, moving into a low altitude glide over the dirt roads outside, around the trees and hilltops. It was like a subtle energy, a gentle underlying buzz that went almost unnoticed.
She settled on a grassy hill covered with a canvas of small flowers, and sat herself down, resting her back gently on the moist grass and taking extra care not to crush her wings at an odd angle as she did. Leaning back against the grass, she let out a content sigh; the ground could be a pretty relaxing place too.
No sooner had her relaxation began, than the soothing breeze that had been gently whistling through her mane suddenly picked up pace, and in the beat of a wing it had turned into a ghastly wind that almost blew her off the hill. Rainbow yelped and had to use all her strength to regain her footing after tumbling over backwards. She managed to straighten herself up and opened an eye, using one hoof to shield her face. The weather mare squinted as she tried to figure out where this sudden storm had come from. Even with a certain klutzy gray mare on the weather team around here, they couldn’t have screwed up that badly, there had to be some mistake!
Astonishingly, the entire sky was dark when only a second ago it had been brilliant sunshine, but not like night time; she could still see the fluffy white clouds and even the sun poking out from behind one of them, but it was almost as if the entire area had been filtered out by a dome of dark tinted glass. The atmosphere was dim and scary, the plastic sky seeming so distant now, and for the life of her she couldn’t figure out where the wind was coming from. The clouds overhead seemed tranquil as they drifted about, and upon analysing the direction the nearby trees and grass blades were moving in the draft seemed to be coming from absolutely nowhere, a spot roughly 40 or 50 hooves off the ground in the middle of the clearing. It was a little trick that any good flier picked up, by closely examining the directions of all the leaves, branches and even waves in the grass below, a Pegasus was able to clock the directions of all the breezes and wind direction as they fly, making it easier for a Pony in flight to gain more control over the air and their flight. But as she squinted through the blast of air she could see the trees were not blowing towards her, but all seemed to be craning away from this one point, ripples in the grass pulsing outwards underneath.
“Wha- What is this?!” she questioned out loud to no one. “What’s with this wind?!”
As Rainbow tried to pinpoint the exact altitude of the point the air was spilling out of, her magenta eyes were glossed over with a flash of blue light. Small sparks of lightning started flying out from this invisible place, finally telling her exactly where it was. Then, something even stranger happened. A bright light graced the dim area , blinding the young mare for a moment. When she opened her eyes, she found herself gazing upon a large rotating shape made of pure cerulean coloured light, a weird magical circle of some kind that spun slowly on a horizontal plane something like 50 hooves above the unsuspecting grass. All Rainbow could do was sit and watch, as two more, smaller circles appeared, one above and one below the first one, both with a similar shape. After another second or two, her ears were tickled by a slowly building sound, deep and resonating and getting louder by the second, like something powerful was building. And then the real show started; half a dozen more of these unfamiliar shapes flashed into view in an instant, all in a tower underneath the original, much bigger ones. Simultaneously, the biggest ring started glowing and then a bright beam of light shot down through it. The bottom-most ring seemed to glow faintly as the pillar of light descended towards it, slowing down somewhat as it passed through each ring. As the light lowered onto the final ring, the others above seemed to fade away, as though evaporating, one at a time in quick succession. As the light melted into that final circle it slowly emerged from the bottom, but now, it seemed to all melt together into a glowing blob, that slowly floated down as if unaffected by gravity.
Rainbow watched, awestruck, the last ring’s fading away completely lost to her as her magenta orbs fixated on the strange glowing shape that gently floated down towards the ground. It was then that the realisation hit her, that it was the shape of a pony! Rainbow could hardly move, it took a moment to realise her body was shaking violently. She had never seen anything like this in all of Equestria. Her mind seemed to be sending conflicting commands to her legs, one screaming to run over and help, one telling them she was far too terrified to move. It seemed like an eternity after the glowing shape touched like a feather to the ground, and the light washed away from it. Eventually though, as the sky grew lighter once more and the sound of birdsong reached Rainbow’s ears, she was snapped out of her paralysis, and with a nervous gulp and a deep breath to steady her nerves, her hooves placed one after the other over the grass as she cautiously made her way down the hill, almost like a stalking cat, she approached the strange pony. Whether they were dead, asleep or unconscious she didn’t know.
She finally made it to the stranger’s side, looking down to examine the mysterious newcomer she noticed her was a young stallion, about her age, and a Pegasus too. He had a sky blue coat, and a darker navy blue mane and tail. The main in particular was very feathery and loose, with a short spiky fringe. To the young mare’s relief, his chest slowly puffed out and deflated again in repetition, indicating that he was breathing – and therefore alive.
She allowed a hushed sigh of relief to slip through her lips as she inspected him. Cautiously, she bent down ever so slightly before gently nudging him with her hoof. After receiving no response, she lowered her neck and cautiously took note of his scent; he certainly smelled like a normal pony, though without the tang of grass, mud dust that naturally accumulated on them as they walked, he smelt clean, almost like a newborn. Rainbow nudged him again with her nose, slightly firmer this time. In the first moment she still got no response, the bewildered mare looked around, firstly to see if anypony was around to help her – which there was not – and secondly to take a step back and wonder what had just happened… that weird anomaly had faded as quickly as it had arrived. In the moment following, a soft murmuring sound made her ears flick up to alert position – her second prod had worked, and her eyes darted back to the newcomer.
The stallion’s eyes flicked open to reveal dazed orange orbs, unfocused and glossed over. From his position, everything was blurred. The shapes and mismatched colours still hadn’t aligned themselves in a meaningful manner, and most of his vision was still pitch black, with this blurry spot in the middle slowly reaching the edges like a jigsaw puzzle building outwards. All of this meant nothing on top of his completely empty head, like a computer booting itself up slowly he simply lay and waited for his systems to turn on.
Finally, his lungs pulled in a sharp breath through his nose, the arenaceous breath smelled of dust and fresh grass. Next, his eyelids took a welcomed blink to re-moisten his unfocused sunset orbs. He furrowed his brow, scrunching his eyes shut as tightly as he could to remedy leaving them open for so long, before finally his eyes flicked open again, now rather watery. He felt so incredibly strange, and so lost and disoriented. On top of that, his whole body felt numb, though not completely, more like it was... unfamiliar. He could see something strange and blue in front of his face, but when he tried to reach out to touch it, it moved at his command; evidently it was his leg. The dizzy stallion realised he could hear muffled sounds, as his brain continued its attempt to get everything functioning. He looked up and after briefly squinting to adjust to the harsh light of a clear blue sky, his attention turned to the partially-silhouetted figure above him. In a still clearly disoriented attempt to communicate, his jaw limply responded and some gibberish fumbled its way from his lips. After taking a few satisfying breaths to fill his lungs he tried again.
“Mhm wh- what… who? Where…?” Evidently he couldn’t think of which question to ask first as he realised he was more lost than he initially thought. He couldn’t quite seem to remember who he was, or where he was, or what happened.
An attempt to sit up yielded no success. As his hearing cleared he could now understand the voice in his ear.
“S- Seriously dude you okay? Should I get a doctor? C- Can you hear me?” The voice was a girl’s, it was rough and un-feminine yet rather cute regardless. With a high pitch that occasionally squeaked into effect as she spoke. He rolled his heavy head around to look up toward her again. “Mhm… I- … I think I’m okay” he eventually managed to croak out. His voice box felt tired and empty, and his mouth felt rather odd.
“Can you sit up?” the girl’s voice came again. As he tried a second time to prise himself up, he felt the appendages of the girl brace his shoulder in assistance, and he managed to shift his centre of gravity onto his behind.
“I’m so… dizzy.” he muttered before being abruptly cut off by a cough. “Th- thanks.” And it was then that he opened his eyes to look at her, and without the bright sky blinding him he could see her properly now. He looked over her figure and his eyes widened, while he face took a more quizzical look. “Y- You’re…”
“Uhh, yeah? You heard of me?” Rainbow began, a tone of confusion in her voice.
“N- No you’re… uhh…” He didn’t know quite where to begin, and ended up stumbling into gibberish again. “Cuteblueponyrainbohorsewhat…” A moment of silence fill in and he felt a slight warmth flush in his cheeks, and decided to think more careful before trying to speak in the future. “Uhh, what exactly are you?” he elaborated. “You’re… blue… and all…” he really didn’t know how to phrase the next comment and paused, at which point she cut in.
“Do I really look that strange? I’m just a normal pony. Like you. And you’re blue too, thank you.”
“I… a pony? Huh?” he asked with a completely bewildered tone and then a chill of surprise flicked down his spine, and against his knowing but not out of his notice, his ears flicked up. He hurriedly looked down at himself, inspecting his body and his appendages, and confirmed he was indeed the same as her. “Wh- WHAT?!”
“Uhh, you hit your head dude?” Rainbow asked, before realising how dumb that question was seeing what just happened. But now that it crossed her mind, her ears picked up too. “Oh! That’s right, what the hay just happened?! You like, appeared out of the sky in some sort of cool glowy magic circle thing, and uhh, there was all this wind, and everything was dark!”
The confused young stallion watched her hooves wave about as she explained. “Um… s- sorry I’m kinda lost… I can’t remember anything.”
“R- Really? Well, do you remember your name at least?” Rainbow asked, mentally crossing her hooves. The stallion simply dipped his head in thought for a moment, and then looked back to her and gave her a prompt shake of his head. He couldn’t seem to think of anything. He had no idea what his name was, or where he came from, or how he got here.
“Oh man… this is serious.” The rainbow maned pony said with worry as she rubbed a hoof on top of her head. “And why are you so stunned by being a pony?” she asked as her quizzical expression returned.
“W- well… I can’t remember anything about…. Anything from before I came here, but I’m pretty sure I wasn’t… this!” he held up his hooves as if there was obviously something wrong with them.
“Well you are a normal pony from what I can see. Anyhoof, we gotta figure out what’s going on.”
“a- anywhat?” he asked, his question going completely ignored.
Rainbow’s ears once again perked up in inspiration, what he was sure was the universal symbol for a metaphorical lightbulb appearing above one’s head. “Oh!! Twilight!” the cyan mare said with a face that looked delighted at her epiphany.
“Uhh, what?” he looked confused. But at this point he wasn’t going to make any assumptions as to what anything meant.
“My friend, Twilight Sparkle! She’s probably just about the smartest pony in Equestria~ huge bookworm.” she beamed proudly. “If ANYPONY knows what’s going on, it’s her.”
“Equ-what? Anywhat?” he asked, his questions again going ignored.
“Come on, Twilight lives right here in Ponyville! I’ll take you there. Twilight knows just about everything about magic.”
Finally there was one unfamiliar word he could understand from context, ‘Ponyville’ must be the village she lived in. though he felt rather overwhelmed by all this colourful whimsy. The word ‘magic’ piqued his interest suddenly. “Wait, Magic?”
“Yeah!” she answered. “She was only the most amazing unicorn in all of Equestria. No surprise she’s an amazing Alicorn too.”
“U- UNICORN?!” he shouted in surprise, an act that seemed to startle the cyan mare.
“Uhh, yeah? A Unicorn? Yaknow…” she started as she put a hoof to her forehead to mimic a horn. “all magic and stuff?”
“You mean there are actual unicorns here? Cool!”
The mare suddenly laughed, her giggling rife with the high pitched squeaking her voice usually held back. “Dude you’re so weird. It’s not like they’re rare. Unicorns are just normal ponies. And so are we Pegasi.”
“Wh- huh? A Pegasus?” he repeated, his pupils dilating a little.
“Yyyyyyyes?” she answered cautiously as she held up a wing. “We’re Pegasi.”
“M- ME TOO?!” he balked and span around, seeing that indeed there were wings attached to his side. With his head bent down into an almost upside-down position, he used a hoof to lift up his left wing as he inspected it. After a second, he snapped back to an upright position with a huge grin on his face. “This is so cool.” He stated bluntly, although the excitement was hard to hide from his voice, betrayed moreso by the grin.
Rainbow couldn’t help bursting out laughing again. “So… so weird.” She gasped between breaths and snorts. Once she had finally composed herself she stood up. “C- Come on, Ponyville is just over there.”
A quick glance in the direction she pointed confirmed her statement. He could see quaint little houses with thatched roofs brimming just over the treetops. Steadily, he tried to clamber onto his ‘hooves’ and almost fell over if he hadn’t been caught by the mare standing next to him.
“Whoooa, easy there dude. C’mon, nice and slow. One hoof in front of the other.”
They began trotting slowly, only to have him fall over anyway.
“Argh, what is it?” she asked as she stopped to help him back up.
“I- I don’t know how to walk on four legs.”
A facehoof from the mare caused his cheeks to flush a little. “Seriously?” she questioned. “Uhh let’s see…” she sat for a moment and explained, numbering each of the hooves and giving him the order in which to walk with and demonstrating briefly.
He picked up fast enough, though he was rather slow at first. He took a few paces along with her and smiled as she started getting the hang of it.
“Oh, so, what’s your name by the way?” he asked, only now realising she hadn't introduced herself.
This realisation seemed to hit the rainbow-maned mare twice as hard, like the very idea of it was unfathomable. A cocky grin perked its way onto her face though, as she prepared to give her introduction.
“They call me…” she began, and crouched down low, before suddenly springing into the air in a dramatic backflip, her wings spread in glory as she flipped over but didn’t come back down to the ground. Instead, she stayed hovering in mid-air, wings flapping gently as she hovered in place, pulling a proud pose.
The four pairs of hooves belonging to the two pegasi clopped along the pavement of Ponyville contently, as Rainbow Dash walked with the strange blue pegasus who so far didn't even have a name.
"So..." Rainbow began, her voice a level lower than her normal volume "... you're... from a different world?" She was having a hard time believing his story, even though she had plainly seen him coming out of nowhere.
"I... think so... I definitely didn't used to be a pony anyway."
"Well that would explain why you don't seem to know anything about ponies..." Rainbow contemplated.
"I just can't get over the fact that I have wings." He once again propped one open with a hoof and then gave it a little flap.
"Heh, alright dude take it easy." She grinned. "Let's just see if Twilight has any advice."
They continued their walk around Ponyville and the stallion looked around in wonder as they went, his eyes scanning across all the different coloured residents, there were ones with wings like he and his rainbow-maned escort, ones with no wings and even ones with horns! He had certainly never been anywhere quite as energetic and warm as this.
"This place is so... lively!"
Rainbow smiled. "Glad you like it. If this place was even half as homely as it is I'd have hightailed it back to Cloudsdale ages ago- oh, Cloudsdale is my home, pegasus central of the world! Heh..." she explained proudly.
"Wooow, sounds awesome!" He smiled and gave another flap of his wings, trying to get used to the feel of them.
"Anyway..." she continued, "I've made some awesome friends here and have a lot of memories... so I'd never even THINK about leaving them now... I'm always loyal to my friends."
"That's... really admirable" he smiled sincerely.
He got a brief look at various different places as they walked passed, he secretly hoped they'd get a better tour later. Eventually they headed for a huge tree in the middle of town with a house built into it.
"Whoooa" he gazed in admiration at it.
"That's the library, the home of Twilight Sparkle the unicorn!" She announced with almost as much pride as she did Cloudsdale or her own name.
Without further delay they trotted inside. The stallion was getting a bit more fluent on his hooves now. When he first started walking he was a little shaky and clumsy, but now he could walk, trot and even canter with ease. They entered through a large door at the base of the tree. The scent that greeted them was one of a tidy home mixed with tree trunk, with a hint of dust. Standing at the back was a purple coated pony with a dark violet mane with pink streaks in it. She appeared to be reading the contents of a book... which appeared to be floating in the air in front of her! The stallion stared at the floating book, slightly jaw-dropped, while Rainbow walked ahead of him. "Hey Twilight!... ...Twiiiiilight! Hey! Twi! Twiiiliiiiiiiii-" "-Ah!" Came a voice from the unicorn as she jumped around, her book dropping to the floor. "Oh! Rainbow Dash! I didn't see you there!"
"Engrossed in a book eh?" She grinned.
"Yep" the purple mare smiled. "It's a mystery novel. You might like this sorta thing. It may not have QUITE as many action scenes as Daring Do but it's surprisingly just as exciting."
Rainbow contemplated "hmmmmm nah those things tend to hurt my brain... eh, I'll think about it."
"Anyway..." Twilight continued with a chuckle, "what brings you here today? Who's this?"
"This is-" Rainbow started, waving a hoof next to her companion, but then stopped and lowered it again as she continued "-we... don't know." "You don't know your name? Do you have amnesia?" "Yes." He replied with a nod. After all, it was sorta true. "But that's not all..."
The two pegasi sat there and explained the story to Twilight, Rainbow in particular described the strange magic circles she saw. Twilight had become more and more jaw-dropped with every line of the story. Especially the whole 'being from another world' part.
"Wh- but this makes no sense! Another world?"
"All I know is I woke up laying in the middle of nowhere with Rainbow Dash here next to me." The stallion explained.
Twilight rubbed her head as if to try and massage away a headache. "Alright alright, I need to make sense of this..."
"What's so confusing about it?" Rainbow Dash quirked an eyebrow. "I mean, YOU went to another world remember?" She pointed out, ignoring her companion's bewildered face, knowing it would be a long, long story.
Twilight sighed "I suppose you're right. At any rate, before we figure this out you need a name. We can't just keep referring to you as 'him' or 'that stallion' forever!"
"We'll... have a think about it. I wanna show him around Ponyville sommore"
"Okay, I'll stay here and have a think about this situation and maybe do some investigating. Spike! Spiiiike!" There were footsteps coming from upstairs and a purple skinned baby dragon came trotting down. "Yes Twilight?"
"Coool is that a dragon?" Rainbow's friend whispered.
"Yeah" she whispered back. "He's a bit of a klutz" she giggled.
Twilight picked up some books with her magic. "We're going out to do some investigation, bring my quills!"
"Yes ma'am!" He saluted and scurried off to get some things from a set of drawers.
Rainbow dash grinned at Twilight. "Nothing that the world's coolest unicorn can't handle!" Twilight rolled her eyes a little, a slight blush staining her cheeks. "Rainbow Dash, I'm not a unicorn any more remember, I'm an alicorn!" She spread a set of very elegant looking wings from her side.
"Oh, right, I keep forgetting to call you that.”
"Wow, a unicorn AND a pegasus?" The stallion admired.
"Yeah, she's called an Alicorn" Rainbow explained. "There are only a few of them in the world and they are all princesses! Including my gal here" Rainbow trotted over to Twilight and draped a wing over her back.
The stallion dropped his jaw. "A- a princess!?"
Twilight giggled. "I suppose it's hard to tell when I don't have my crown on."
"Howcome you're living in a library and not a castle?"
"Well I WAS staying in Canterlot castle when I became an alicorn, after my coronation." she blushed slightly feeling overwhelmed by the important role she now had. "But I love it here in Ponyville, and I have too much responsibility here to just move somewhere else. Plus, I couldn't leave my friends."
He smiled again. "Is everyone around here as warm and friendly as you guys?"
Twilight giggled slightly. "Pretty much."
"Alright, we should get going. I need to check in with the weather team. That anomaly whatsit probably messed up the clouds a little."
"Okay, see you guys." Twilight waved her hoof.
The two pegasi once again made their way through Ponyville, basking in the gentle weather. "Everyone here is so friendly" he commented as they walked around.
He was surprised to see Rainbow Dash tilt her head. "Everyone? You mean everypony?"
He looked confused too. "Um... I guess so..."
"Anyway..." Rainbow began. "You need a name! And I should also teach you how to use your wings! Heheh" "Wow! That'd be so cool! He grinned.
"So, you really don't know where you're from? The way you talk is like they do over in Trottingham." "Trottingham?"
"It's a place quite a ways away from here. The ponies there talk like you do. Anyway, how about we take to the skies?" She left the ground with her wings and hovered in front of him.
"Yeah! Sure." He smiled. He cautiously looked at his wings and stretched them both out and gave them a flap.
"C'mon, just beat those wings~" Dash encouraged.
He flapped them harder and left the ground. "WhoOaAa!" He wobbled about before falling, stopping his fall with a hoof before he regained his balance in the air.
"There ya go" Rainbow Dash grinned. "Getting the hang of it.”
It took him a while to properly balance and be able to move smoothly around. Even then he was a little shaky and whenever he tried to turn, he ended up crashing or going the wrong way. He could arc to the sides but was unable to do sharp turns. After a while, one thing he had picked up on was he seemed to be good at gliding. Rainbow was impressed with how gracefully and skilfully he landed when he was doing it on purpose and not crashing. After a few more hours of practising flying he was able to soar in and out of clouds fairly enough, flying up and dropping down, being able to level himself after.
Rainbow Dash landed on a cloud to rest and invited him over. "You're getting so good! You're a quick learner"
He cautiously touched hooves to the clouds as though he thought he was about to fall through. After settling he smiled triumphantly at Rainbow, which earned him a giggle from the weather mare. "Maybe I'll be as good as you soon!"
"Heh, not likely!" Rainbow grinned. "I'm probably the best flier in all of Equestria!"
He felt compelled by her confidence and smiled a bit. "Thanks for um... for teaching me to fly, Rainbow Dash..." a faint warmth built in his cheeks.
"Heh, no problem!" She rubbed the back of her head modestly.
"Are there any other places to see in Ponyville?" He asked to move the conversation before an awkward modest pause could sink in.
"Hay yeah!" She grinned, but was broken off by her stomach growling. "Okay, there's an idea. I GOTTA show you Sugarcube Corner!"
"Just the name sounds tasty" he chuckled.
Rainbow smiled again and then beaconed him to follow her with one hoof and took off, gliding down towards the floor. The stallion flapped his wings and began to rise higher. Rainbow landed on the floor and looked up to see if he was behind her, but she could only see the cloud. Her confused face was broken into a quick gasp as her new friend broke through the cloud suddenly and dropped straight down. He flapped his wings furiously as he neared the ground and pulled his head up sharply, his eyes glued shut. When he felt the world stop moving, he carefully opened one eye to see that he was floating a few hooves above the ground.
He glanced nervously over at Rainbow. Her jaw was hanging open for a long moment before it slowly spread into a wide eyed beaming grin. "That was so cool! That was... just.... AWESOME!"
He blushed "r-really? I..."
"You just burst through that cloud so magnificently! Coming out of a drop like that is not easy! You've got potential!"
He blushed modestly and rubbed the back of his head with his hoof. "Thanks Rainbow, I-" he was interrupted by his stomach taking its turn to growl. "... cake?" "Cake." Rainbow nodded and they flew off into the vicinity of Ponyville.
They hadn't been in the air for long before they landed outside a building that looked like it was made out of sweets. "Whoa, this the place?" The newcomer asked.
"Sure is!" Rainbow answered. She could hear hoofsteps behind her but paid them no heed. "Anyway, you're getting really good with your wings, I-" A huge gasp erupted from behind her.
"OMIGOSH!" cried a high pitched voice.
Rainbow spun around and her friend tilted his head to peer around her. Standing there was a cute and bouncy pony. She had a fluffy mane and tail like candy floss and a soft strawberry pink coat.
"Oh, Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow smiled seeing her lively friend.
Pinkie looked ecstatic. "Omigosh! Who's this Rainbow Dash? Is he your friend? Is he new? If he is new in Ponyville then I just gotta throw a welcome party! Oh I'm so excited~♪"
"Slow down Pinkie" Rainbow grinned. Her friend waved briefly to Pinkie Pie, finding her energy entertaining. Pinkie suddenly jumped up in front of him and grinned as she stared right in his face. "What's your name? Hm?" She smiled excitedly.
He blushed a little at the invasion of personal space, he could smell her scent from this distance and see right into her blue eyes. She smelled lightly of cupcake frosting. "Uhh, well, I uhh..."
Rainbow interjected, and pulled Pinkie back a little and landed in between them. "You wanna know his name, huh?" Rainbow Dash smirked. Her companion looked at her curiously.
The blue pegasus just gawked at Rainbow Dash, overcome with confusion. "Wh... what did you just say, Rainbow Dash?" Cloudburst looked at the mare inquisitively
She looked at him over her shoulder with a smirk that said "just roll with it and follow my lead."
Pinkie Pie grinned and brushed past Rainbow , once again invading the stallion's personal space. "OOH! that's a cool, awesome pega-riffic name! So you're new to ponyville? Omigosh you have to have a party! Wait here!"
Rainbow sighed and shook her head as if to say "what are we gonna do with her?", surprised as always by Pinkie's ability to squawk a bunch of sentences off without even leaving a second for a response. She stuck her hoof out just as Pinkie tried to dart away and caught her.
"Whoa, easy there Pinkie Pie. No need for a huge party, we just want a snack."
Pinkie giggled. "Oh, yes, sure! Hehe! Come on in, I'll get you set up," she said as she bounced inside.
There was a brief pause before the stallion began to laugh. "Wow, is she always like that?"
Rainbow laughed. "Yeah pretty much. She's the most hyper, silly, and completely random pony you'll ever meet, Pinkie Pie."
He laughed a little and then intentionally let a silence fall in for a moment before walking a few steps closer. "So..." he began, watching Rainbow's ears drop slightly. "Cloudburst?"
"Eheh... y-yeah, I kinda just came up with that just now... hope it's okay..." she scratched the back of her head awkwardly.
He thought for a moment and then grinned. "Sounds good to me! Cloudburst it is!" He smiled widely.
"Hehe, nice to meetcha, Cloudburst!" Rainbow lifted up her hoof and held it at mid height in front of her.
The newly appointed Cloudburst looked at it curiously, but then his ears perked up and he grinned a little. He didn't have to have ever seen a hoof-bump before to know what she wanted, and happily bumped his own hoof against hers, earning a friendly grin from the mare.
Pinkie suddenly poked out from the open top half of the door to sugar cube corner. "Guuuuys! C'mon, time is candy!"
Rainbow chuckled. "Okay Pinkie Pie, coming!"
After a brief glance and nod exchanged with Cloudburst, they trotted inside. The innards of the shop were a welcoming experience to say the least. They found themselves surrounded by warm, welcoming colours, smooth plastic tables and chairs, and displays showing a huge array of different home-made sweets. Cloudburst could feel his mouth watering just looking at all the different snacks. The tables were placed along the back wall in a line. The two ponies went and sat at the one closest to them.
"So do you come here often?" He asked as they both took a seat. Cloudburst seemed like he was still not completely used to his body, which resulted in him awkwardly trying to figure out how to sit properly.
"Eh" Rainbow shrugged, "quite often but not too much. Still, the Cakes make amazing...cakes."
Cloudburst chuckled. He assumed 'the Cakes' referred to a couple or family. His suspicions were justified when a stump mare with a sapphire blue coat and pink mane that surprisingly resembled icing, and a lanky stallion with a yellow coat and brown mane entered from the kitchen in the back.
"Oh hello there dearies. Sorry about the wait, we had to feed the twins." The mare spoke first, while the stallion trotted behind the counter. "But Pinkie can watch them for a minute. Anywho, what can I get ya?" She smiled at the couple in front of her.
Rainbow Dash spoke first, knowing her friend would still be too new here to know what to say. "Hey Mrs. Cake! This is my new friend Cloudburst, and he's kinda new here, so how about a cupcake and milkshake?"
"Oh, you mean you two aren't... y'know~?" she giggled.
Rainbow Dash and Cloudburst both blushed. "N-no, nothing like that!" She protested
Mrs. Cake giggled again. "Alright, what flavour?"
"Banana frosting aaaand chocolate milkshake for me" Rainbow smiled. "What about you dude?"
Cloudburst thought for a moment before answering hesitantly. "Umm... strawberry for both?"
"Coming right up!" The stallion behind the counter answered.
They began preparing things behind the counter and before much time at all, they were presented with a small plate each with a freshly made and frosted cake as well as a tall glass with a frothy milkshake.
"Wow, these look good." Cloudburst commented.
"That's because they are good" Rainbow Dash replied. They both dug into their snacks and before long, they were done and, with satisfied bellies they prepared to leave. They were suddenly pounced on from behind, causing everything to blend together in a spinning mess of colours. When they finally stopped, they found themselves upside down on the floor.
"Guh! Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow Dash complained. "What are you doing?"
Cloudburst just looked up into the pink pony's blue eyes. "Wait!" Pinkie Pie started with her usual chipper tone. "You can't leave yet! You only just GOT here! We absolutely positupely HAVE to have a party!"
Cloudburst quirked an eyebrow. "Posi...what?"
"Pinkie Pie, we told you, no pa-" Rainbow Dash tried to speak before she was interrupted. "No, I WON'T take no for an answer." She smiled.
"Um... could you let us UP first?" Cloudburst asked.
Pinkie Pie let out a snorty giggle and got up. “Oops, hehe, sorry," Pinkie said as she helped both ponies to their hooves.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes a little. "So you're really insisting on this huh?"
Pinkie gave only a fast couple of nods in return. Cloudburst rubbed the back of his head a little. "Really, you don't need to go to all that trouble."
"Oh it's no trouble at all! It'll be fun-a-fun-fun!" She beamed and bounced up and down a few times.
Cloudburst couldn't hide a light chuckle, he found this pony's attitude to be unrealistically silly, but it was a welcoming shade of fun. He had admittedly still been feeling rather confused and disoriented, and he found her bright-eyed hyperactivity to be somewhat relieving. "Well then, in that case, thank you Pinkie Pie." He gave the most polite smile he could manage.
"You can just call me Pinkie" the fluffy maned pony responded with a snortle, "all my FRIENDS do~"
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and let slip an amused smirk. "Aaaaanyway... I should probably get back to the weather team. I've been gone long enough, they're gonna be wondering what happened to the clouds when you uh... arrived."
"Ooh didja burst through all the clouds on your way to ponyville?" Pinkie Pie asked with a chipper tone.
"Heh, something like that" Cloudburst answered. It was just then that something hit him, and his eyes shrank suddenly. "Uh-oh"
"What?" Rainbow Dash asked, a slightly concerned look on her face.
He looked to Rainbow Dash with a slight look of dread in his eyes. "I just had a thought... where am I gonna sleep tonight?"
"Oh snap," she responded, "I didn't think about that." Rainbow Dash stared into space with a guilty look on her face. as the one who found him she felt it was her responsibility, and she failed.
Cloudburst looked like he was back to being distressed. Pinkie noticed the lamenting of the two of them and looked like she couldn't bear to see it. She jumped in front of him suddenly with a smile on her face. "HAY~ why don't you stay here?" She grinned.
A modest blush tinged his face. "U-um I dunno... I wouldn't wanna impose... I mean they have kids to take care of and everything..."
"That's true." Rainbow added. "They already got their hooves full with you, Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake"
"Oh, you live here Pinkie Pie?" Cloudburst turned his focus pack to Pinkie.
"Yep." She nodded. "But they're not my real parents, just close friends. I help them with their shop in return."
Rainbow Dash rubbed a hoof to her chin. "I dunno whether Twi has any space... but you could stay with Applejack, or maybe Fluttershy has room."
Cloudburst couldn't help but tilt his head. "Who?"
"O-oh..." Rainbow snapped out of her daydream, "Nevermind, just some friends of ours."
"Oooh I bet Applejack has plenty of room for guests~ with that big house of theirs.” Pinkie Pie realised Cloudburst must still be feeling out of the loop, and looked to him to continue elaborating. “Applejack is a friend of ours who works on an apple farm. And then there's Fluttershy who takes care of animals, if barnyard chores aren't your thing."
"There's also Rarity" Rainbow pointed out. "Pretty pony fashion designer, but she can barely take care of her sister, Sweetiebelle, as it is." Pinkie nodded in agreement.
"W-well I'm not sure..." Cloudburst kicked the ground with one of his front hooves anxiously.
Rainbow thought for a moment. "Tell ya what... come with me while I see the weather team, then we'll go meet them. It'll give Pinkie space to get ready for the party too."
Cloudburst and Pinkie both smiled simultaneously. "That sounds great!" The young stallion answered.
Content with that plan, the two pegasi left Ponyville's party pony behind to plan and get ready for a sudden impromptu party that was scheduled for tonight. Cloudburst didn't quite believe she was able to do it, but she seemed to know what she was doing. He guessed she was probably just going to buy, or make, a bunch of snacks and invite a bunch of friends. Well, that was still more than enough for the day-old stallion, and he let out an unwinding breath as he walked next to his Rainbow -maned friend.
"This is all still so strange to me. I still have so many things I'm wondering about... like, how old am I? What else can pegasi- or even ponies in general do? And, and I'm not even used to my body yet..." he blushed slightly.
"Hay, you know how to use your hooves and your wings, that's enough," she grinned in return.
"Don't sweat the small stuff. You'll get used to things. Anyway, you wanna know what pagasi can do? Follow ME!"
She suddenly darted upwards, leaving Cloudburst disoriented. He flapped his wings hard, his face scrunching up as he exerted as much effort as he could. He finally felt his hooves leave the ground once again; it was an exhilarating feeling that he welcomed.
He flew up higher, looking up to see where Rainbow had gone and saw her poking over the edge of a cloud and smiling at him. He flew up to her level with relative ease. She greeted him with a friendly smile and took off again herself. He watched how she moved her wings and her body and copied, able to keep up with her this time as she flew away. Rainbow Dash made sure not to fly too far or too fast for him, making a note to stop on a cloud every now and then so he could catch his breath and let his wings recuperate. Flying is never easy at first, she remember what it was like as a filly. Although, she couldn't help but wonder what it was like to be learning as an adult. It was a similar circumstance to when Twilight first became an alicorn
Her companion panted a little as he rested. "So..." he steadied his breath. "Only pegasi can walk on clouds?"
"Yup. But we do a whole lot more than just sittin' on them." She paused to watch her new friend tilt his head in confusion. "Just take a look~" she raised her leg to wave her hoof in the air above her.
Cloudburst looked up to see a handful of pegasi flying around overhead. They would fly into clouds and begin to push them about through the air, positioning them in certain ways and places.
"Oooh, what are they doing?" Cloudburst asked as his eyes remained curiously locked on the flying ponies.
"As pegasi, one of our duties is to oversee the weather. We move the clouds, set up showers and storms, clear the sky, make the snow fall, etc." She explained. "Pegasi have been controlling the weather for centuries. In fact even longer than that"
"Wow... that's so cool!" he said as he gazed at them, awestruck by the colourful equines flying above him.
"Earth ponies are known for keeping the land beautiful and unicorns have their magic. They used to raise the moon and sun in ancient times but the Princesses do that now."
"Princesses? Y-you mean Twilight Sparkle?"
"Mm, nah not her. Although now she does have a part in the raising of the sun ceremony, it's our benevolent rulers: Princess Celestia, who controls the sun, and Princess Luna who controls the moon and stars.
"Wow, this is a lot to take in... but, they sound magnificent... to be able to do something like that."
Rainbow nodded. "They're both very beautiful and kind. Although..." she thought about explaining Nightmare Moon, but realised she might be overloading him with information. "Actually, nevermind."
A pegasus mare with a pale cream coat and ocean blue mane approached the pair of pegasi sitting on the cloud, and landed next to them. She looked to be about the same age as Rainbow Dash.
"Rainbow Dash, you're back" she smiled. "Good."
"Yep. Sorry I was gone, I had a few errands to run," She said as she rubbed the back of her head.
The mare briefly glanced at Dash's companion before she continued. "Hi. Anyway, some of us are a bit confused... there seems to be several clouds missing from the north roads. We searched everywhere but we can't find any sign of them, so they haven't drifted away. Rainbow knew why the clouds were missing, they dissipated when Cloudburst appeared.
"Um.... m-maybe some pegasus cleared them for the hell of it."
"I don't know why anypony would do that. It wasn't any of our weather team. And the clouds were there earlier on."
"Look, don't worry about it Sea Breeze. It's only a few clouds, okay?" Rainbow Dash consoled as she extended a hoof and placed it on her shoulder.
"Kay." The pegasus smiled back. "It's just a little weird y'know?"
"Yeah I know. Let's just get some more out here and prepare for the overnight shower." The young mare nodded and flew off.
"So..." Rainbow turned to her male friend. "Like what ya see?"
"It's so cool!" He answered happily. "I may not be able to remember anything from before I came here, but I'm pretty sure people couldn't do this."
Rainbow Dash smiled. "And you seem like you'd be pretty good at cloudbusting too. Why not help me out sometime?"
"Sure, I'd love to give it a try." He grinned.
"Cool~ anywho, I think it's time to take you to see my other friends. I just gotta finish this up first."
"Sure, sounds cool!" He smiled
And so Rainbow Dash took off from the cloud in order to fly up to a small group of multi-coloured pegasi where she began to converse with them. Cloudburst watched her and couldn't help but get a feeling of admiration growing in his chest.
Watching the pastel coloured blurs that were the pegasi fly around before him had Cloudburst very much transfixed, He gazed upon them ceaselessly like a foal watching a cartoon. When the winged ponies were apparently done with their tasks, Rainbow dash, accompanied by the filly with the pale yellow coat and sea blue mane from before, flew down to land on the cloud that the young stallion was still sat upon.
“All done~” Rainbow dash smiled.
“That was really cool.” Cloudburst beamed back at her.
The other filly tilted her head a little and nudged Dash’s side gently. “Who is this anyway?” she whispered. “Eh, just a friend of mine. he’s um… new to town.” she said out loud, and then moved a few paces closer to her new friend. “Anyway, we were gonna head off now.”
“Oh, got more errands to run?” Sea Breeze smiled politely, to which Dash returned a brief nod.
“Yup,” she said “gotta finish showing this guy around for a bit.” she placed a hoof over Cloudburst’s shoulders.
“That’s cool. I’ll see you tomorrow Rainbow Dash.” Sea Breeze smiled and then with a flap of her wings, she took off.
“So um…” the blue colt started shyly as he looked at rainbow dash “are we going now?”
“Yeah, just follow me. you’ve already met Twilight. might as well ask there first if she has a place to stay.” They took off from the cloud and Cloudburst followed obediently behind Rainbow Dash.
as the day was drawing towards a close, everything was beginning to catch up with him. He had to take in so much information, his mind was so abuzz with thoughts of the pegasI moving clouds, the sweet smell of the cake shop and pinkie pie’s high-tempo personality, and pretty much everything else about this world, including Rainbow Dash and even his own body. He was so transfixed with all this, that he hadn’t even noticed he was following Rainbow Dash seamlessly. he managed to fly with her all the way to where she landed. catching his breath a little when he landed.
Dash smiled a little at her companion. “Hay, you’re getting the hang of this.”
“O-oh… you… think so?” he panted lightly and then steadied his breath.
“Yeah. keep it up and you might be half as good as me~” she grinned proudly and brushed a hoof across her chest.
He smirked a little at her. “You’ll have to show me your stuff some time.”
“Oh, Trust me…” she began, returning the smirk. “I got the skills to back up my mouth.”
“Hehe, well alright then, I’m sure you’re really good.” he smiled politely. It was a very short walk to Twilight’s place of residence, Golden Oaks Library.
“Hello again!” Twilight smiled, seeing her friends had returned.
“Hay Twi~” Rainbow Dash smiled back. “Just wanted to ask you ooooone teeeeny tiny question.”
Twilight quirked an eyebrow, rolled her eyes and smirked at the same time. an expression that read “Heeeere it comes.” She knew that that kind of prepositioned hedging meant something mischievous was about to occur.
Rainbow dash took a breath before speaking, “might you have a spare bed for the night?” she held up her hooves in a begging motion, having to perch in a sitting position in order to do so.
Twilight took a moment to glance over Cloudburst. “Right, I’m -guessing- you didn’t sort out a place to stay before you spontaneously appeared out of nowhere.” she chuckled a little.
Cloudburst couldn’t help but chuckle back to the young princess. “Nope, unfortunately.”
“Right…” Twilight said as she took another moment to think, rubbing her chin. “Unfortunately I don’t think I’m in a good place to provide accommodation. The library is a huge mess right now, we’re going through re-organizing.”
“Yeah, for like the fifth time this week.” her purple baby dragon assistant said irritably as he walked through the room carrying a stack of books.
Twilight let out a nervous chuckle and blushed a little.
“It’s okay” Cloudburst cut in before Rainbow could moan. “Thank you ever so much for your time and sorry to disturb you.” he dipped his head politely.
Twilight laughed a little. “You don’t have to be so modest, just think of me as a friend okay? I’m not used to the whole royal title thing yet.”
“Don’t think you ever will be.” Dash pointed out.
“Hehe, yes. So, sorry again that I couldn’t help, uhhh…”
Rainbow stopped daydreaming and jumped in “Cloudburst. his name is Cloudburst!”
“A very fine name it is!” she smiled. “Well, sorry I couldn’t help Cloudburst. maybe another time when things aren’t so hectic.”
“I understand” the young stallion replied with a smile. “Thanks anyway.”
“Guess this means you get to meet the rest of my friends~” Rainbow smiled.
“Don’t you have stuff to do?” Cloudburst looked at her with a playful smirk. “You know, better things to be doing than showing me around?”
“Does this mean you won’t get lost?” she quirked an eyebrow.
“True, true. Okay then.”
Twilight chimed in with a light chuckle. “You two seem to get along well.” she was interrupted by spike calling from the other room
“Twiliiiight! Where do I put Peculiar Mysteries of Ponies Cursed by the Stars? astronomy history? or mystery?”
“Oh I- I’ll be right there Spike! Gotta go guys, sorry.”
“Aight. see ya Twi” Rainbow said in a casual manner as twilight turned to briskly trot into the opposing room.
Cloudburst found himself perplexed at how Rainbow could talk to a princess in such a manner. she really MUST like being thought of as a friend more than a figurehead. “Howcome you two are so casual, I mean if she’s a princess?” He asked, after deciding to verbalize his thoughts.
“Well” rainbow answered as they trotted out and closed the door behind them “We’ve been friends for yeeeears! she only became a princess recently.”
“You mentioned something about how she ‘used to be a Unicorn’?” Cloudburst looked at her questioningly as they cantered side by side. Cloudburst found this motion of movement to be rather therapeutic and fun.
“Oh yeah, she was. Twilight was Princess Celestia’s number one prodigé from her school for gifted unicorns in Canterlot.”
“Wh-whoa…” Cloudburst looked surprised. “That sounds so prestigious! She was the number 1 student from a high class school of some kind? that was owned by the ruling Princess? I’m guessing Canterlot is a big place then.”
“Yeah, Canterlot is the capital of equestria” Rainbow explained further. “Yep, Twilight was her number 1 favourite student~!” Rainbow smiled with the same familiar pride for her friend. “She was sent here by Celestia herself to learn about friendship, and after becoming friends with all of us, she decided to stay. then after aaaaall these years, this weird thing happened… it started with a mishap with a strange spell and ended up in twilight being zapped away! when she came back, she was surrounded in light and floated down out of the sky, and all of a sudden she was an Alicorn! it was incredible!”
Cloudburst listened with growing interest, riveted by her story. “Guess that answers my next question, as to why someo- somepony so prestigious would want to live in ponyville… ERR I- I mean Ponyville is awesome and all but, I just didn’t imagine royalty living here yaknow?”
“Yep, I get ya.” the cyan mare nodded. “Anyway, we’re headed to the everfree forest. Or at least to the edge. my friend Fluttershy lives there.”
“Fluttershy?” her new friend asked.
“Yep. She’s a really shy mare who looks after animals.”
Cloudburst saw soon enough just what kind of pony they’d be seeing when they approached the most quaint looking little cottage on the edge of the forest. animals bounded around everywhere as butterflies fluttered around.
“So… So pretty…” he marvelled.
“Hehe yeah. anyway c’mon.” Rainbow led him up to the door and knocked, the sound of her hoof striking against the aged and slightly worn wood of the door resonated softly though the small building. he looked around the surrounding s while they waited, examining the house. the door was held on by slightly rusted hinges and has a small golden looking glass in the center, it looked quite new. the windows were simple and were covered on the inside with curtains. the whole thing was covered in leaves and moss, he must have mistook it for a hill from above. it was perched atop a small hill with a winding path and a river just below, with a little bridge crossing the way they came. they could hear hoofsteps from inside and eventually the two-part door creaked open. Cloudburst saw a flush of pink before the door opened more widely and revealed a mare with flowing pink locks, cerulean blue eyes and a daisy yellow coat.
“Rainbow dash~!” she said in a soft and gentle but subtly excited voice. “What brings you here?” her deep blue eyes glided over to Cloudburst and she suddenly gasped a little and shot back a step, covering herself with her long mane. “Who is this?” she asked, her voice barely any more than a small squeak.
“Oh, this is Cloudburst. he’s um, my new friend, visiting.” Dash nudged Cloudburst and whispered into his ear. “She’s a little shy, as you can tell.”
Cloudburst smiled at the new friend and held his hoof out. “Hello there~ Pleasure to meet you.”
Fluttershy simply stood, shaking slightly, her eyes the only things visible from behind the pink cocoon she had wrapped herself in. Dash chuckled. “Go on Fluttershy. I trust him, and you trust me, so you can trust him too.”
Fluttershy looked at Rainbow and then seemed to calm a little, and then after another nervous look back at cloudburst, she raised her small yellow hoof out and touched it against Cloudburst’s and they shook. he was surprised at how delicate and gentle she was.
“Um… Hi…” she spoke softly and gave her best smile. Cloudburst returned it with a genuine kind smile, which seemed to put her at ease. “Sorry to disturb you Fluttershy, umm…” he felt awkward having to ask when he didn’t even know her yet, so he looked to Dash, silently asking her to step in.
Dash saw her cue and took over. “So, I know this is sudden, but he hasn’t got anywhere to stay, we only realised an hour or so ago. could you do me a HUUUGE favor and let him use your guest room? please?” she pleaded
“Oh um, I would Rainbow but, i’m taking care of some sick animals in my guest room right now. they’re really poorly and need my desperate attention. So sorry I can’t be of help.” Rainbow looked downtrodden. “Aww… well, that makes sense I guess. Sorry we can’t stay so you two can get to know each other, we really have to find somewhere before sundown.”
“I understand. maybe you could come for tea tomorrow?” Fluttershy asked. she knew she had to take the advice her friends always gave her to heart and make an attempt to turn strangers into friends so she didn’t have to feel nervous around them.
Dash grinned a little. “Yeah, sounds cool~ right Cloud?”
Cloudburst, being taken aback slightly by the sudden nickname, looked at her. “Huh? Oh, yeah!”
Rainbow looked back to fluttershy again. “Anyway, we really gotta jet. um, good luck with your sick animals!”
“Thank you Rainbow Dash. and nice to meet you again, Mr. Cloudburst.” she said before sliding her door shut.
“Right, I guess we better look elsewhere. Let’s try Applejack’s farm next. it’s not far.”
The flight across fresh open air certainly did feel shorter than it actually was. Cloudburst seemed to be really enjoying the air washing over his face. Rainbow smiled as she watched her airborne friend. She was good at multitasking in the air so she could fly leisurely.
“the other thing we gotta be careful of…” she talked at a slightly louder volume so Cloudburst could hear her “... Is that in the evening the air starts to get colder. once the sun goes down all the thermals will disappear and flying will be much harder, so we gotta find a place while we can still cover ground easily. I can handle it, but you only just started flying, so…”
“Yeah that makes sense I guess. Didn’t think of that” he replied back.
They set down in the wide acres of a farm that seemed to be filled with apple orchards mostly, with a few wheat fields.
“Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres!” Rainbow Dash continued to tour. “They grow the most delicious apples here! it;s run by my friend AJ and her family! they’re real cool. AJ is one of my besties~.” she grinned
“Hehe, sounds nice.” Cloudburst replied as he looked around. the area felt very rural but the air was just as fresh as everywhere else around here, only mixed with the dirty yet somehow strangely appealing scent of a farm. Minus the smell of horse manure of course, as the Equine species of this world seemed to be far more civilized. though he wondered why the cows he could see grazing weren’t.
Dash strolled with him right up to the big red house behind the huge barn, and knocked firmly on the door and stood back with a smile waiting to be answered.
“Just a minuuute!” a small voice could be heard from inside. soon the door was opened, and Cloudburst had to think for a moment and wonder why he couldn’t see a pony on the other side, before he looked down and realised that a little yellow filly with red hair tied in a scarlet bow was the one who opened it.
“OH! Hello Rainbow Dash!” she said, speaking in a strong country accent. “What brings you here so late in the evening? here to challenge Applejack to a race or sumthin’?”
“Hehe, naaah not this late~” she smiled, rubbing the filly’s head. “Is AJ around, Apple Bloom?”
“Yeh. Just gimme a minute.” she walked back into the house, again giving cloudburst a moment to look around the dwelling. it was more “country” than “countryside” as the previous place was. painted completely red, the whole thing gleamed of hoofmade and manual labor. it felt like it was a creation built by many sets of hooves working together the good old fashioned way. it definitely felt like a farm building too, right up to the spinning weather rooster on top.
they heard more hoofsteps from inside and soon an orange pony closer to their age, with blonde hair tied in a shoulder ponytail and wearing a brown cowboy hat walked over.
“Hay there Rainbow Dash!” Applejack spoke, her accent far stronger than the filly who was just there. “What can ah do ya for?” she smiled warmly while leaning casually against the doorframe.
“Hey AJ. I’m here with my friend Cloudburst. he’s new here~”
“Hello there.” Cloudburst smiled politely and held his hoof out to shake. His heart almost leapt a beat from the contrast between the last mare’s timid and delicate hoofshake to being throttled up and down by the vigorous shake of this mare, who he was pretty sure could whoop him in an arm wrestle any day.
“NICE ta meetcha!” Applejack stated firmly before dropping Cloudburst, leaving him dizzy.
Rainbow looked up wearily at the dwindling light in the sky. “I’m sorry to jump on you with this huge favor AJ…” Rainbow started, Cloudburst noticed how quickly she was getting to the point now. she must be getting desperate. “But Cloudburst REEEALLY needs a place to stay! he came here without having organised it in advance, sooo…”
“Yeah ah hear ya.” Applejack interrupted. “So you want a place ta crash?” she asked, looking now towards the blue colt.
“Y-yeah, that would be really cool.” he replied timidly, suddenly feeling like Fluttershy.
Rainbow felt dread coming at the inevitable addition to their growing chain of ‘No’s.
“Yeh, Sure. Ah don’t see why not.” Applejack said, causing rainbow to gawk in surprise.
“R-Really?!” the cyan mare lifted off the ground with some excited wing flaps. “AJ you are a lifesaver!”
Cloudburst didn’t really know this mare either, but he too looked relieved. he was feeling exhausted after his long day so was thankful for not having to sleep under a tree.
“Yeh we got plenty of room here. we always have lots of guest rooms for family who stay over. C’mon in Cloudbust! er, CloudBURST!” she turned and motioned for him to follow.
Cloudburst smiled and then looked at Rainbow.
“Don’t worry, AJ’s cool, she’ll take care of ya. I reeeally gotta finish some things before it gets too late and then hit the hay, so, see ya tomorrow or somethin’, Kay?” she asked, feeling rather sorry to be leaving her friend. “Oh, and pinkie’s party of course!” It felt odd for Cloudburst too to be left alone by the first mare he met after the whole day, but he smiled back at her. “Sure. maybe we could hang out or something.”
“Hehe sounds good. Anyway, see ya Cloud.” She flapped her wings to take off but stopped, landing again, and then suddenly pulled him into a quick hug, making him blush just a little. “Hang in there kay? I know this is all new for you. I won’t leave ya until you’re settled in.”
He felt warm fuzzy feelings from her display of loyalty and smiled sincerely at her. “Thanks Rainbow. that means a hell of a lot.”
“Hehe cool~” she grinned again. “Gotta jet, see ya at the party~” she suddenly zoomed off into the sky again.
Cloudburst turned his attention now to the temporary home he would be staying in. He walked into the warm light emanating from the open door and shut it behind him, awkwardly walking a little into the house, wondering where Applejack had gone. he heard her talking and followed the sound into the living room, where Applejack was talking to a much older green pony in a rocking chair.
“So it’s cool if he stays until he can find a place?”
“Hmmhm” the elder pony mumbled. “It’s not like I mind the company” she spoke in an even stronger accent still, bewildering Cloudburst. “I’m just worried that it’ll interfere with uncle Apple Strudel and aunt Cinnamon Shake comin’ ta visit. You remembered they’re comin’ down with little Fizzy Chips to stay for a few days don’tcha?”
“Yeah, but we got plenty of room.” Applejack countered.
“I was just thinkin’ more about it bein’ awkward for the boy, bad enough stayin’ in a house with strangers but to be there when their family comes to visit… Ah was in that situation once, Donkey’s years ago I was goin’ ta visit mah friend up in Fillydelphia…”
Applejack smiled and rolled her eyes, knowing she was about to go on a monologue. “Okay Granny. But it should be fine right? and if he wants to he could always find somewhere else to stay tomorrow.”
“He;s welcome to stay as long as he wants” Granny smiled to the young stallion in the doorway. Applejack walked over grinning “Hehe~ Hear that? make yerself at home!”
An hour passed like a minute while Applejack showed him around her home. Apple Bloom, the young filly, seemed over excited to have a guest staying and bounced around him every chance she got. there was also an older stallion by the name of Big Mac, a burly red pony with a golden mane. For a moment he was worried that his accent would be stronger still, but he couldn’t tell when he never even spoke at all.
“So, you from the fancy ol’ town of Trottingham then? long way fer you ta travel.” Applejack asked as she was setting up bedsheets in a guest room. The room smelt and felt clean and tidy. For farmers they certainly kept things neat on the inside. the bed was queen sized and looked luxuriously comfortable.
“Well uh, I guess so ye-”
“OOH! OOH!” Apple Bloom bounced around him again. “Do they all talk like thayt over theyre? do they eat funneh foods? Ah heard they drink tea ALL DAY!”
“Haha that’s enough Apple Bloom.” she gently pushed the filly away. “Don’t wanna make our guest feel uncomfortable.”
"But, ah just-" suddenly as apple bloom fought against her older sister's hoof, she froze and gawked at the pony for a moment.
"Just what?" Applejack asked, a little confused. she looked like she'd seen a ghost.
"You... you don't have..." the little filly began, in a tone much lower now but still bearing a hidden well of excitement, possibly even more than before. Cloudburst noticed she was staring and shuffled a little on his hooves, wondering what she had suddenly noticed.
"You... DON'T HAVE A CUTIEMARK!" Apple bloom shouted suddenly, gesturing to his rear end; an act that made him blush a little. "Oh mah GOSH!"
"He what?!" The orange pony chimed in, sounding equally astonished
"Uhh, what's a ... Cutiemark?" Cloudburst asked, suspecting the question to earn him even more shocked looks, which it did.
"Yaknow... a Cutiemark?" Applejack retorted while swivelling her torso to reveal her flank, which contained three red apples.
YOU DON'T HAVE ONE!!" The squeaky filly yelled, planting her hooves against his flank. "Just like ME!"
"Huh, that IS strange." Applejack pointed out. "Can't say I've ever seen a pony yer age without one before. but Ah think that's enough interriga'in' for tonight little one.@ she chuckled and once again led the filly out with her hoof.
“Awwww” Apple Bloom deflated.
“Hey don’t look so down sis, we got a party to go to!” Applejack said with a grin, closely watching Apple Bloom power up like a toy with a new battery and leap into the air.
“WE DO?!” she squeaked excitedly. Cloudburst found it astonishing how she could shift gears so quickly and chuckled.
“Yeah apparently,” she explained “Pinkie Pie came over earlier and dropped off an invitation for all of us. wouldn’t say what it was for but, what the hay!”
“Ohhh Ah don’t care!” Apple Bloom said as she bounced on the floor excitedly
Cloudburst smiled and chuckled a little at her excitedness. he specifically didn’t mention that the party was to welcome him to Ponyville. He still felt he wasn't deserving of such a welcoming. It wasn’t long before He was walking out with Applejack and Apple Bloom. Big Mac had some work to do around the farm and Granny Smith claimed she was feeling a little too tired to go to a wild noisy party. Trotting down the dusty paths towards the main part of Ponyville felt relaxing. Applejack and Apple Bloom talked the whole way. Cloudburst could easily see by watching them from behind that they seemed like fine siblings. always making jokes and laughing together.
They arrived at Sugar Cube Corner sooner than Cloudburst thought. Twilight was fading in the sky as night drew closer. the perfect time for an early night/late evening party.
The atmosphere inside was a buzz of colour and noise. Cloudburst suddenly knew why Granny had been reluctant to come. The eccentric sweet shop was normally nothing but one giant sweet tooth incarnate anyway, but now on top of the sugar coated decorations there was a ton of multi-coloured ponies dancing about to music. the tables were laid out with an array of delicious looking snacks the kind Cloudburst was practically drooling over just looking at. He couldn’t see anypony he knew in the crowd but Applejack bumped him closer, calling “Come ooon! Have some fun!” over the noise.
He moved about between the constantly moving sea of ponies, being bumped about and groaning a little as he felt flustered.he felt like he was about to explode at one point when he was sandwiched between three or four ponies at once and managed to pop himself up above the crowd, gasping for air. Fluttershy along with a pale coated pegasus colt with red hair rose up out of the mess of ponies too, seemingly also to get away from being crushed.
“Oh! Hello there!” Fluttershy flapped over to Cloudburst as he too remembered he had wings and flew up over the dancing ponies.
“I didn’t expect it to be so.. LOUD!” Cloudburst said.
“Oh, I know, it’s not usually. but so many ponies showed up! I guess they were bored” the yellow mare contemplated.
“There you guys are!” another pegasus joined them, with her rainbow mane and magenta eyes.
“Rainbow dash!” Cloudburst said enthusiastically, thrilled to see his friend again.
“Hellow Rainbow” Fluttershy greeted with a smile.
Rainbow looked around. “Heheeeh yeah things kinda got away from us~ Oh there’s Pinkie! managing the punch bowl. So uhh, how you getting on at Applejack’s?”
Cloudburst smiled a little before responding. “They seem nice. i feel a little awkward being there though.”
“Oh!” Fluttershy interrupted “You found a place to stay then, that’s good!”
The three of them continued to catch up a little for an hour or so, after finding a not so cramped spot to rest their wings. It was then that suddenly a pink blur shot through the crowd and Cloudburst vanished before the other two Pegasi’s eyes.
“What the-” Dash balked. Just then, the music stopped and the lights dimmed, so she assumed she would get her answer.
“Aaaaand noooow!” Pinkie began as she stepped on top of the glass display cases, using them as a makeshift stage, “The reason why we’re all here today! You all know me, when somepony new comes to Ponyville, they just HAAAVE to get a welcome party! So, let’s give a warm, super-duper pony-riffic Ponyville welcome tooooo” she zipped to the left, and then back on again, Pushing a rather bewildered Cloudburst with her. “This guy! Cloudburst!”
Cloudburst gulped and timidly waved.
“Aaaaand” pinkie continued, to Rainbow dash’s and Cloudburst’s confusion, as Pinkie zipped off to the right and then zipped back again, pushing with her this time the pale coated pegasus with red hair. “This guy too!” she continued. “Lexis Arc!”
Pinkie beamed over the crowd and hugged the two stallions by their heads. “They’ve both come to Ponyville TODAY! and will be staying for a while! so let’s make them feel right at home!” pinkie said, evoking a loud cheer from the crowd, who also applauded by stomping their hooves on the ground.
The two pegasi under her arms exchanged looks. Lexis looked at cloudburst with confusion, to which the blue stallion simply shrugged. they were suddenly dropped only seconds later and fell back into the crowd below the cake displays, as the music began to play again.
Cloudburst just sighed, feeling rather exhausted. This world seemed so… fast paced. The other newcomer seemed to be shrank into the corner they were in. the Pink bouncy mare suddenly dropped down in front of them and smiled before turning to the lighter pegasus. “C’mon Lexie~ have some fun!”she took him and helped him up. “Good to see you could make it Cloud-y!” Cloudburst chuckled, not finding the nickname particularly good sounding. He managed to make his way to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy again and they spent the remainder of the party hanging out. they managed to get an assortment of lovely snacks and even danced together. He couldn’t help but notice that Fluttershy looked incredibly adorable when she was smiling, laughing and having fun.
Finally, the party wound to a close, the moon shining high in the sky, as the ponies walked out, chatting in a slightly more hushed voice. so to not wake anypony who was trying to sleep.
Dash let out a deep yawn as they walked out. “Wow, that was fun.”
“Yeah actually, it was!” Cloudburst smiled. “Thanks for everything guys.”
Pinkie bounded up behind them. “Oh no worries! lets do this again! and thank you for coming! Oh by the way, where are you staying?”
Applejack walked past and pulled Cloudburst into a casual headlock. “Actually he’s gonna be bunkin’ with me for now!”
“Eeeeh it’s nothin’!” she grinned. “but we better get going. Apple bloom needs her sleep!”
The three of them bid goodbye to the other ponies and headed back to the Apple family’s farm. Once inside, they headed to the back room where he was to be sleeping. Applejack just wanted to make sure his room was still set up.
“So…” The older sister began again. “Feel free to crash whenever ya want. you don’t have to get up with the rest of us tomorrow either. You however little miss have ta help me with the apple buckin’.”
“Yeah ah know sis” Apple bloom said defiantly.
Apple jack exited through the doorway. “I’m just gonna get some hot coco on.” she spoke before exiting round the corner. “Apple Bloom, bed!” she called.
“Awww” the filly looked sad again and went to leave. Cloudburst grinned and bent down to her level “By the way, Apple bloom…” he whispered “They drink tea ALL day!” Apple bloom beamed and then laughed and scurried off.
Cloudburst couldn't help but smile. He loved kids, found them extremely cute and entertaining. He moved over to the bed and sat down on it. suddenly it felt like he had been standing for days. his back welcomed the change in posture with a satisfying crack and he let out a pleasureful sigh. it felt so good to finally get off his hooves, which felt like they were throbbing. He gave his wings a stretch and shifted around a little on the bed. It was even softer than it looked. he suddenly felt like the pillows were calling out to him like sirens.
He looked down at his front hooves, ignoring the pillow’s calling. He thought about everything that was going on. Part of him still couldn't believe he was a pony, yet he couldn't even remember who or what he was before he entered this world. he knew nothing, NOTHING, and it upset him. he wanted to know who he was, how he got here, why he came and why he remembers nothing. why he came to this place specifically, could he ever go back? Would he even want to? Would he grow accustomed to this world? Would he ever even regain his memories anyway? So many questions flooded his mind on to of all the information flooding in. Meeting rainbow dash, exploring Ponyville, meeting Twilight the princess, being side tackled by Pinkie pie and roped into eating cupcakes... his stomach growled a little as he remembered he hadn't even had dinner. but despite being hungry he didn't feel like eating. he thought about learning to fly, briefly meeting fluttershy, meeting Applejack and her family, going to the exciting party and seeing them all again...
He wondered what he was going to do tomorrow, he would have to find a place to stay. He couldn't rely on Applejack’s hospitality forever, but he felt like getting a house was no easy task. He would need a job, but what? what could he do? what DID ponies do? should he help rainbow dash? He DID see ponies spending gold coins at the market as they were exploring earlier so they did use money which meant he had to earn some. he let out a low growl as all these thoughts, worrying ones, exciting ones, confused ones, all kinds, circled around like a circus inside his head. he flopped back against the pillows in an attempt to quell the growing headache that was pounding in his head.
Apple jack returned to the room a few minutes later, her hoof wrapped around a mug with a steaming broth. “Hey, Ah gotcha a-” she stopped as she got to the doorway and saw Cloudburst had fallen straight asleep, and was breathing softly. She smiled warmly at him. “Aww bless. must have had a long day.” She shut the door to give him privacy, after turning off the light switch. She decided to just let him rest.
The night felt endless and unwavering. The morning light was not known to the blue Pegasus who rested in a spare room in Applejack’s house.
Cloudburst was practically melted into the soft mattress, he had had such a long and exhausting first day. First day as a pony, first day in Equestria… meeting so many ponies and learning new things. Learning to walk, to fly, all of this all at once had completely wiped out the young stallion.
And little to anypony’s surprise, he had not yet woken almost halfway into the second day. His deep and healthy sleep still going as he breathed softly in and out, repetitive, identical breaths, each the same as the last, the gentle sounds settling into the quiet, dusty room. But the sleep did not last forever, as slowly, the monotony shifted, with the blue pony slowly stirring, shifting his legs and digging his hooves into the pillow, arching his back with a satisfying series of snaps, and letting out a deep stifled strain of pressure before his nostrils ejected a sigh of utter relaxation as all the tension left him. Falling back into the weight of the mattress, he took another deep breath and opened his eyes. Everything was so much brighter now. A beam of sunlight was breaching the gap in the middle of the pink cloth curtains.
With a little effort, he managed to roll onto his back, a welcomed pose, especially that he could now breath through his mouth and allow his lungs proper room to inflate. Not that he was out of breath. That had certainly been the most relaxing sleep he’d had in a long time, even though it was the first and only sleep he could actually remember. It may have just been the incredibly long and arduous day he had experienced before, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he hadn’t had a good night's sleep in a while. Wherever he came from, maybe he had been stressed and tired, who knew. One thing was for sure though, he certainly felt a lot more grounded now he had a chance to slow down and sleep. And he would have remained in this luxurious embrace for a while longer if not for one of his wings beginning to feel a little cramped under his body. So, with another deep breath of rejuvenation he rolled over and hopped out of bed, allowing gravity to land him neatly on his brand new set of hooves, which were feeling much nicer now that he had rested them after the long day of walking.
With another cat-like stretch and a deep yawn he prepared himself for the day. He fluttered his wings briefly to shake the feathers back in place before he would head downstairs. It felt so odd having wings, especially on top of the fact he had only legs otherwise. That thought reminded him to check in with Twilight Sparkle sometime to see if she had time to study with him. Cloudburst chuckled as he left his room. “Hehe, these ponies all have such cute names… Twilight Sparkle…”
Wondering what the day would hold, the still weary stallion reached the lower floor to find all the rooms surprisingly quiet. He remembered Applejack mentioned they had to get up for work and that even Apple Bloom had to help today, so he figured that was where they had gone to. The idea of farm work would normally be one with not a large amount of appeal, however, Cloudburst found himself desperate to see and experience as much as he could and his hooves felt practically buzzing to take him outside to see. On his way there however, he stopped in the kitchen as he noticed a plate of food on the empty dining table. His stomach growled as he eyed the food hungrily. Wandering if it was for someone else, he looked around to see four plates stacked by the sink, clearly having previously contained the same sort of contents the fifth one on the table now did. He had only known four of them to be living here, but just to be on the safe side he went wandering around the house in hopes of finding somepony to ask if it was okay. Despite thinking they were all outside, he found the elder, Granny Smith sitting in her rocking chair.
“Ooooh g’mornin’ young-un! Ah hopes ya had yerself a good night’s sleep?” the older mare asked cheerfully, a tone that came all too welcomingly to the guest in the house, who now felt confident enough to step out from behind the doorframe.
“Yes ma’am. The bed was really soft.”
“From what that Rainbow Dash told our Applejack, you must have had yerself a busy day yesterdee. No wonder you were all tuckered out last night. There’s a plate of breakfast for ya too, help yerself to it.” She commented in the kind of caring tone you’d expect from an elder of a big family. Her words seemed to perk the younger pony’s face up
“Oh, that’s for me? I was wondering…”
“Hehe, it’s fine. Go ahead.” she encouraged as a warm smile penetrated her withered skin.
“Thank you very much!” Cloudburst made sure to speak politely and gratefully before he quickly hopped back to the kitchen and sat down. On the plate was a pile of lush green lettuce, two halves of a hard boiled egg, some baked beans and mashed potato, with what seemed to be a small pile of oats that had been warmed, and probably cleaned. He hadn’t given thought to the ponies eating habits much until now, other than that they enjoyed cupcakes apparently. “I can’t remember who I was before I came here… But I don’t feel like I would have been too keen on this much salad…” he speculated skeptically as he poked the leafy vegetables. “Then again… I am an equine now…” and with that he curiously picked up a large leaf and clumsily inserted it onto his face and bit into it. It occurred to him he needed some practice eating. Those idle thoughts were put to the side suddenly as his ears perked up and eyes opened. He munched the rest of the leaf into his pony mouth as he chewed it. Surprisingly, he actually found it refreshingly delicious! The healthy, thick and tasty leaves remaining on the plate suddenly became much more appetising to him and he dug in. He enjoyed the oats too, much more than he anticipated. It seemed a little odd not to have meat, but he wasn’t at all surprised given the species was meant to be a herbivore. After polishing off the plate he felt astoundingly better, like he had the strength to lift a boulder! Apparently he hadn’t realised how hungry he had been. And a few cupcakes just hadn’t been enough to sustain a brand new pony body. “Hmm…” he contemplated suddenly as he looked down, raising a hoof to his chin instinctively. WAS it a brand new body? Rainbow dash had told him he had appeared as if by magic. But that didn’t necessarily mean he had come from another world, the amnesia might very well be separate to where he came from. Maybe he had always been a pony? He had assumed because all the things in this world seemed so different to him… but maybe- He cut himself off, it would do him little good to dwell on could-bes and speculation like this. It would be better to hold off the philosophising of his situation until he was with Princess Twilight. He was sure she could help him. The thought of the young Princess uplifted him a little. Not only did he already have good friends in Rainbow Dash and Applejack, ponies he felt he could rely on, but he had a highly magically inclined gifted scholar and -actual- princess who was more than willing to help him. He might have no idea where he was, or who he HAD been, but it seemed to matter little to him when he thought about those around him. All the pessimistic fears from last night seemed like they were miles away now.
And with that he decided to take his high spirits outside. It seemed to be a lovely day and he was sure the warm young farmpony would be hard at work, and he felt all too excited to join her.
Indeed the scene outside was just as he had expected to see. The sun beamed down unhibited by the curvy clouds and the animals frolicked in their pens while he could see the shapes of the Apple Family out around the apple trees. He approached Applejack, who he could see was the closest. As he drew closer he could see with greater detail what she was doing. By each of the empty trees sat baskets filled with a towering pile of red juicy apples. She was harvesting the trees, but how? By kicking them. Applejack would position herself just in front of a tree, her rear end facing it, a big basket placed either side of the thick trunk, before she would reel up, lifting her back hooves high into the air, and with a majestic strike she slammed them into the bark, the shockwave shaking loose all of the apples in the tree in a single go! He watched the red fruits pile into the baskets with ease, and had to admit, that was pretty damn cool.
“Ah! Mornin’!” Applejack’s voice snapped him out of his daydreaming. “Finally up! Did ya sleep well? Find yer breakfast on the table?” she asked as she trotted leisurely up to the Pegasus.
“Ah, yeah, slept like a log. I feel so much better now! Oh and the breakfast was awesome, thanks. I haven’t had a proper meal since I got here.”
“All hoofgrown here on the farm!” she stated proudly. “Well, except the beans. And ah suppose ya don’t ‘grow’ eggs…” the orange pony contemplated, her eyes drifting off to the sky.
Cloudburst couldn’t stop a small chuckle escaping his lips. “No I suppose not. Still, it was lovely, thanks.”
“Ah shucks, it was nothin’. So what ya gonna get up to today?” she began while heading over towards the next tree. Cloudburst walked alongside casually.
“Dunno, Hadn’t really thought about it. So, are you harvesting these trees?”
“Yup! Gotta get all the apples off within the week. It’s called Apple Buckin’”
“I think it’s cool. How do you get all the apples to fall out with just ONE kick?!” he marvelled.
“Heh, ya been watchin’ then? Well, it’s all in the thrust! It helps that us Earth Ponies are good at this sorta thing.”
“Earth ponies, right, that’s one of the types of ponies, isn’t it?” he questioned, trying to recall the blur of information he had been dumped with yesterday.
“Heh, yeah. Okay so since our dear old Rainbow probably didn’t explain it very well how’s about I clear things up for yeh?”
“Oh, that would be pretty awesome, thanks.” he admitted with a slight sigh of relief.
“Heh, ain’t no problem guy. Right, Get yerself comfy.” the strong but feminine farmpony almost demanded as another powerful buck sent piles of apples tumbling into readily positioned baskets. Cloudburst did as instructed, perching his hindquarters down, admittedly a bit harder than he would have liked. He still was not very nimble on his hooves.
“Okay, so first and foremost ya got Earth Ponies, like mah family, right? We tend the ground. Earth Ponies are great at producin’ crops, tendin’ to the earth and soil, carin’ fer animals, and just basically doin’ all the hard work needed from the ground to produce all the food and other essential things ponies need. We take care of the world around us.”
“Wow…” Cloudburst interjected with his quiet admiration. “That’s pretty cool.”
“Hah, real glad ye think so.” she said with a hearty chuckle as she positioned herself in front of the last tree that was in their vicinity. Once it’s apples had surrendered to her powerful kick and fallen into the basket, she walked back over to him to give her guest her full attention now. “Most ponies seem to think Earth Ponies’ve got nothin’ cool ta show off, but that ain’t true at all. Now, you also got Unicorns. They’re the magical ones. Unicorns practice all kinds of spells that do things the rest of us couldn’t hope to. Unicorns pro'lly have the most ver-seh-tile range of skills. Ya met Twilight already right? She used ta be the most magically inclined Unicorn any of us knew.”
She watched Cloudburst nod in understanding before continuing. “Then yeh got Pegasi, like you and Rainbow, and uh, that filly there.” she pointed to a light gray pegasus mare with a blonde mane fluttering down towards the house in what looked to be a mail-man outfit, before crashing into the wall of the house and falling to the ground.
“... Celestia…” she cursed silently before returning to Cloudburst. “Anyhoof, Your kind is responsible for the skies. As the only normal pony race that can FLY your guyses job is ta maintain the clouds usually. Weather ponies, as you’d be expectin’, control the weather. They give us earth ponies the rain AND the sunshine we need to grow food.”
“Oh, yeah! I saw Rainbow and her friends at work yesterday, it was so cool, they could move the clouds with their bare hooves! And- and I SAT on one!!” he exclaimed excitedly.
“Hehe, yep sounds about right. No other ponies can do that by the way. ‘xceptin a’course a unicorn happens to cast a certain spell on yah like Twilight did this one time… Anywho, like I was sayin’, Pegasi can control the weather, but yer ability to travel long distances quickly makes your kind good for jobs like mail delivery like that mare ye just saw... crash into mah house.”
“Huh, I see…”
“Aaaand, one last one.” Applejack continued, before he assumed she was done. “And the most special of all. So ya got the three main pony races, Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi, but there’s another; Alicorns. Remember when I said Twilight used to be the most magically inclined unicorn any of us did know?”
“Uh-huh.” The stallion nodded.
“Well, She’s still just as good prolly even MORE spec-tac-u-lar. But she ain’t a Unicorn no more. A little while ago she turned into an Alicorn. Heck none of us even knew that was possible. Don’t think even the filly herself knew. But Princess Celestia appeared at the same moment and told us all she was a Princess! Hah, you should have seen the look on her face, and the first thing she said was “Is there a book on bein’ ah princess ah should read?” heh” applejack did her best effort at an impression of Twilight, mimicking a slightly squeaky-er voice.
“And, what exactly makes Alicorns so special?” he inquired, tilting his head, though also extremely curious about what happened with Twilight, he felt that was a story for another time.
“Oh, well there ain’t many of them for a start. Ah only know of four. There’s the two regal sisters, Princess Celestia, who controls the sun, and Princess Luna, who controls the moon. At least now that she’s back, and Princess Cadence who is all the way up north in the Crystal Empire. She’s married ta Twilight's big bro, Shining Armour. And then a’course there’s the purple bookworm herself.”
“Guh, so many names” Cloudburst moaned, rubbing his head a little.
“Heh, sorry ‘bout that. I think it might be better if you just meet them yerself one day.”
“Wh- what? But they sound so important!” he baulked.
“Oh trust me, stick with us lot, and yer sure ta meet the princesses up in Canterlot soon ‘nuff.”
“That’s so cool.” he beamed. “Thanks for teaching me all that.” he spoke gratefully as he held his front hooves together in thanks.
“Heh, t’weren’t nothin’.” Applejack replied modestly. She looked around the fields and saw there were many other apple trees left to be bucked. “Unfortunately though ah gotta get back ta work. Lots of trees left in need of a buckin’”
“Oh, mind if I help?” Cloudburst practically lept to his hooves stumbling a little.
“Oh er, I dunno, this kinda thing takes practice.”
“I wanna help out if I’m staying here.” the stallion assured. “It’s only fair right?” The Apple family had been so kind to him already, he felt that he needed to find a way to repay that hospitality.
“Oh no, you don’t need to. ‘Salright. “
“No no, it’s the least I could do, besides, it looks really cool. I wanna try it anyway.”
“Heh, well, ah won’t object te lettin’ ya try it at least.” she gave in and together they trotted over to another apple tree. As Applejack started to drag a basket over to one side of the tree with her mouth, Cloudburst jumped in to help out by pulling one to the other side, just like the other trees.
“Thank ya kindly. So, wanna try this one? Ya saw me buck the other ones so I take it you at least saw how I did it? Just lift up like so… and KICK!” she demonstrated by standing away from the tree, rearing her legs up and kicking into the air, making a satisfying ‘swoosh’.
“Yeah, let’s give it a try…” Cloudburst said, nervously, as he approached the tree and positioned himself, looking over his shoulder to the tree to make sure he was aligned. Now that he thought about it, this was not easy given that he barely knew how to move anyway, but he needed to try.
“Here goes nothing.” he muttered before taking a breath and then he pulled his weight forward, trying to lift his hind quarters up into the air, which was harder than it looked. Too little and he would fall down, too much and he would overshoot it and fall onto his face. In the end he didn’t quite lift his legs up high enough and made a desperate attempt to kick. One leg returned to the ground instinctively to stop himself from falling and the other one missed, scraping the bark. He ignored a chuckle from Apple Jack and quickly tried again, since he’d just not quite moved enough before. On his second attempt he threw his hind quarters up more passionately, to the point where he almost fell forward, before he lost his balance he sprung his legs out hard. Both his rear hooves connected with the bark but all it did was launch him face first through the mud. Applejack erupted into laughter.
“Hya ha! ahh Celestia~ ah told you it wasn’t as easy as it looked.”
“Actually you never said those words exactly.” he pointed out irritatedly, annoyed at his failure.
“Ah no worries big guy, like ah said it takes gettin’ used to. Now that ah actually DID say, heh.” She moved in front of the tree, and once again made a strong buck, shaking the tree and causing all the apples to fall into the baskets.
“Aww, I didn’t even get one… how do you do it?”
“It’s all in the kick! heh. In all seriousness though, it’s just the kind a’ thing ya gotta just do until you start gettin’ it right.”
“HYYYAH!” a familiar voice came from a few trees over. Apple Bloom appeared to have jumped into the air and span, kicking the tree like some kind of ninja; which was surprisingly impressive by itself. Only one apple dropped from the tree however. Annoyed at this, the filly groaned and headbutted the tree, causing another apple to fall out, which made her grin.
“Heh, come on AB, you’ll never get the job done like that!” Applejack instructed.
“Yeah yeh ah know, ah was just tryin’ ta have some fun. OH!” she sprung up as she noticed Cloudburst and ran over. “Yer awake!”
“Heh, good morning.” he replied politely.
“Mornin’?! It’s laik noon already! Heh, yer so lazy.”
"Heh, sorry. I ain't a farmb- pony." he grinned a little. making a small attempt to mimic their dialect.
"So..." the small red-headed pony began, changing the subject. "You wanna explain how ya don't have a cutiemark yet? I aint never seen a pony yer size without a cutiemark before!"
"Oh yeah, thet's like, the symbols on your uhh, rear end, right?"
"Symbol?! It's much more than a symbol!" Apple bloom almost sounded offended. before she could launch into a passionate ramble, Applejack decided to cut her off. "Allright that’s enough little one,” she interrupted, “Ya got chores to do.”
“Ah know ah know!” she protested and walked off sulkily. Now that Cloudburst thought about it, maybe the little one had even more of a heavy accent than her older sister. It was hard to tell.
“Heh, she’s so cute.” he smiled.
“Eh, she can be.” Applejack rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I gotta get these trees done.”
“I still wanna help…” Cloudburst protested. “I wanna get more apples than Apple Bloom by the end of the day!” he struck a determined pose, as if setting a resolute goal. Applejack laughed a little. “Alright simmer down. I'm sure there are other ways you can help.”
Cloudburst watched her as she went on with bucking the other trees. He kicked the dirt a little; he still felt a little bruised from falling before. He knew he still didn’t have very good command over his body yet, he was still so wobbly and unbalanced. But, he knew if he was going to get used to this body, it would happen a lot faster if he pushed himself. And as this thought entered his mind he felt a determined and focused look slide naturally onto his face. He wanted to get it right, he didn’t feel comfortable leaving his attempt at bucking a tree at failure.
Just then however, he was snapped from his thoughts as he heard Granny Smith’s voice. She was standing with Applejack. “Ah need yer ta mosey down te town and pick up some shoppeen.”
“Aw but granny, I got a lot of work to do today still, Ah gotta pick up the pace if I’m gunna meet today’s quota.”
Cloudburst admittedly felt a little guilty now. He had been wasting Applejack’s time, even though he came out wanting to help, he had done the opposite. He pulled that determined frown again and walked over. “Mrs. Smith, I could go and get the shopping for you if you’d like.”
“Oh now that's awful kind of ya, but ya don’t need teh worry yer little hooves over that. We’re happy ta have you, dear.”
“Thank you, but it’s no trouble” he smiled. “Besides, I know Applejack has a lot of work to do, and I just wasted some of her time teaching me. And I do need to get to know my way around town anyway.”
“Heh, don’t worry about that hun.” Applejack comforted. “Besides…” she continued, a smirk replacing her kind smile. “Watchin’ ya faceplant the mud was worth it.”
Cloudburst slapped his hoof to his face with embarrassment, feeling a hot flush cover his cheeks.
“Well, if ya really wanna go that badly, Ah won’t stop yeh heheh.” the elder mare chuckled. “Here’s the list.”
Cloudburst took the list from her and perused its contents for a moment, it was all pretty average sounding every-day items and groceries.
“Now uh, yer sure you can find yer way around town? Ye won’t get lost?”
“It’s fine. I’m sure the ponies in town will help direct me. Besides, what better way to get to know an area than to find out where to buy everyday items like these?”
“I ehh, uhh, that’s actually pretty smert.” the old mare commented, a tone slightly lower than her usual voice, almost like she was half talking to herself. “Anyhoof, here’s the bits you’ll need. Make sure yer back by this’afternoon, else we won’t have time to cook the dinneer! Heheh”
Cloudburst almost found it a little hard to understand some of what granny Smith was saying some of the time, but he was getting used to it. He was about to turn and leave when she stopped him. “Oh and uhh, one more thing.”
“Yes?” he replied.
“... Don’t ye be callin’ me ‘Mrs. Smith’ Again, just call meh Granny! Heheh.”
Cloudburst chuckled a little. “Alright Granny. Be back soon.”
And with that, Cloudburst turned and trotted back over to the main path that lead between the orchard. He found himself wanted to stay grounded for just a moment. It was nice just getting to stretch his legs a little and breathe in the nice fresh air. While he was moving like this, he got to enjoy a nice refreshing breeze; blowing under the fur on his face and his mane, it felt nice. But that breeze only made him yearn to try flying again. He lifted his feathery wings up and gave them a little test flap to exercise them before trying to fly. Even though he was doing it fine yesterday, and had been flying around with Rainbow no problem and even sat on a cloud high above the streets, for some reason now he felt a little scared to take off.
He put those fears behind him though and gave his wings a hard firm flap, and found his body eject from the ground, like he was suddenly so light. He smiled in astonishment. He soared just over the treetops, feeling the leaves bristly against the fur on his belly and along the tips of his hooves. He looked ahead to the horizon filled with thatched roofs and smiled, the wind soaring under his feathers felt utterly magnificent. Despite the fact he knew he still wasn't used to this, he felt the need to close his eyes and enjoy the experience of feeling nothing but the cool breeze around him. A brush with a branch of a tree woke him up as he retained his senses, flapping back up a few more feet- or hooves in altitude.
It hadn’t taken him long at all to get to the main part of Ponyville. His hooves planted back down in the cobblestone streets. It was time for him to get around. He was a little nervous being all by himself but he was sure he could make do. Besides, he might very well bump into Rainbow Dash again, or that cute mare Fluttershy, maybe even Pinkie Pie or the Princess herself. Now that he thought about Twilight, he made a mental note to see if he could drop by there later. As long as he was back by the afternoon, it’ll be alright. Cloudburst beamed confidently as he looked out over Ponyville. This was his chance to finally explore!
