> To Touch the Sky
>  by TankFBI
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter-1 What am I?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first thing my mind could comprehend was the crackling of fire and the heat steadily growing against my back. My eyes snapped open the second I smelled the smoke, and while the smoke did make it a little hard to see and hard to breathe, it was pretty easy to tell that I was inside the cockpit of my prized Cessna 172. I immediately was saddened by the loss of my only plane, but my survival quickly took priority over sadness.

My first instinct was to try and open the door directly to my left but was surprised, to say the least when instead of my usual stocky arms, I was greeted by a small, white, fuzzy arm that ended in a flat stump extending in front of me. I quickly just assumed that I must be hallucinating from lack of oxygen. This also made me realize how dire of a situation I was in if I was already hallucinating causing my body to kick into overdrive, not quite in panic mode yet, but getting there.

I looked towards the latch, which I noticed seemed to be about a head higher than usual, and stuck out my stubby arms in an attempt to open the latch. The only thing that happened was me punching the door repeatedly as I continued to try again and again and again to get a grip on it only to get the same results.

My hand just seemed to slip off as if my fingers were gone. At this point, I was full-on panicking. I’m stuck inside a burning plane, I’m hallucinating, and oh yeah, I’m stuck in a burning plane! My mind, beginning to seriously feel the effects of air deprivation, came up with only one solution, punch out the window.

I quickly stood up, neglecting the fact that I shouldn’t be able to stand on the seat, and began pounding on the window. It seemed, however, that I had lost all of my strength as each hit I threw barely did anything to the tough windows of the plane.

My heart was now beating a thousand beats per second as I continued to attempt to break the window. Each second I continued my useless endeavor the smoke in the cockpit got noticeably thicker. My mind soon began to dull to the point of only being able to think of escape. And after one last punch, my oxygen-deprived body finally gave out and I fall back across the seat. My thoughts were now nothing but a haze, completely unable to think coherent thoughts. My mind, given its current state, failed to take notice of the dark figure that appeared outside the window shortly before consciousness finally escaped me.





The steady beeping from my left slowly aroused me from my sleep. My mind began coming back to me as my mind was finally shifted from the dream world and into the waking world. With a groan, I shifted a bit and immediately hissed as I felt the pain of how sore my body was causing me to groan again sending another spike of pain through my body.

The pain caused me to squeeze my eyes shut, but after a few deep breaths, I opened my eyes which promptly greeted me with a white tiles ceiling, immediately reminding me of the sterile hospitals I had to spend countless time in.

The beeping to my side finally got my attention causing me to look. The sight of the heart rate monitor sent a jolt of fear through me, causing the beeping to increase in speed noticeably. I quickly sat up, ignoring the pain, and looked around which revealed to me a sight I wished I would never have to see again, a hospital room.

To my left sat a heart rate monitor with the familiar green line moving across it. Just in front of it sat a table with a small glass of water and a vase filled with a few flowers I couldn’t name on top of it. Looking past those, I saw four other beds with their tables and medical equipment next to them all with a chair across from it against the opposite wall, including mine. The door, which sat on the opposite side of the room, and the walls were all painted blue with a single yellow stripe circling the entire room. All of this along with the general smell of antiseptic did nothing but confirm the fact that I was indeed in some kind of hospital room.

I looked out the window to my right causing my eyes to widen slightly. Rather than a parking lot or another building, all I could see was the vast expanses of what appeared to be clouds. This would have been fairly standard if I was below them, rather the window appeared to be looking out over the top of the clouds blanketing the ground below.

I knew that some hospitals in big cities were huge, but I never knew that they got this big! Heck, I lived in rural Florida, the nearest hospital that could possibly be this big would have been in Tampa, Orlando, or Miami and I lived north of all those places!

My mind now had a thousand questions piled up that wanted to be answered all at once, most notably how I ended up in a hospital this big. I tried to rub my temples, but all that ended up doing was causing me to punch myself electing a slight ‘ow’. I looked down at my bed and froze the second I saw my arms. They were little white stumps without hands! This caused me to blink a few times to make sure I was seeing this right, only to conform after a few blinks that I was indeed seeing things right, little fur-covered arms without hands.

I held my arms up in front of my face and just stared at them, waving them around, my mind not sure what to make of it. I just couldn’t find any logical explanation other than that I must be dreaming or I’m dead and this is what happens when you die. But I felt pain a second ago, and I thought I remembered reading that when you feel pain in a dream you wake up which means I can’t be dreaming.

“I’m dead!” I nearly shouted exasperatedly before flopping back down onto the bed, my new arms spread wide. “But how could I have died?” I asked, sadness creeping into my voice. I began to question how I could have possibly died, the last thing I remember was flying away from that storm in my plane. “A plane crash? That’s how I went?” I sighed dejectedly, my regrets, everything I ever did wrong quickly came pooling into my head as I sat there and stared at the ceiling trying to take in the fact that I died.

My head almost snapped off with how quickly it turned towards to door, the sound of it opening breaking me out of my little thought process. I let out a small gasp at the sight of the creature that entered the room, it was a teal blue horse with a yellow mane and tail. Though it looked nothing like a horse at the same time. Its proportions were all out of wack, as if a child had tried, and failed, to draw a horse. Though the thing that stood out the most were the feathery appendages attached to its side, which were extended in front of it and holding something similar to that of a clipboard. And to top it all off, a little hat with a red cross was resting right on top of her head.

My mind immediately recognized this as a pegasus, I liked reading about old mythology in my past time and the pegasus is easily one of the most recognizable. It was somewhat horse-shaped and had wings, that’s a pegasus.

It looked up from whatever it was reading and spoke, “Oh, you’re awake!” It said, shocking me even more. Also, seeing another living creature made me rethink the possibility that I was dead.

I watched it hastily walk over towards my bed before it deposited the clipboard into a bin hanging on the front of the bed before walking over to my left and pushing a button on the wall behind me. “He’s awake doctor!” She spoke into the grate just above the button before stepping back and returning her attention towards me. “Hey there little colt, how are you feeling?” It asked in a distinctly feminine voice as she seemed to examine the portion of my body that laid above the sheets.

“Am I dead?” I asked bluntly.

She seemingly recoiled a bit at that with a small gasp before regaining a consoling expression. “No no honey, you’re okay. They rescued you, and now you’re in the infirmary, still perfectly alive!” She said with a reassuring voice.

“Alright, well that’s good,” I responded, not sure of what else to say, my mind now filled with a thousand new questions.

“On another note, how are you feeling?” 

“I’m doing alright,” I lied “just a little sore is all.”

“Oh well that’s to be expected, you’ve been out for a whole day!”

“A whole day… what happened to me?” I asked, looking up at her expectantly.

“Well, I’m not really sure,” she said, tapping her chin “but the ones who found you would know, all they told me was some medical stuff that would bore a little colt like you.” She said with a small laugh. “Oh, and would you be able to tell me your name? Mine’s Tender Breeze.”

That’s an odd name, I thought to myself before responding. “My name’s Evan, Evan Tokarski.”

“That’s a strange name for a little colt, but it’s unique in its way.” She spoke with a smile.

Also, hearing her speak and then myself reminded me of a child talking to an adult. Her voice just sounded so much more matured while mine was unnaturally high, similar to that of a young child. 

While she stood there continuing to examine me, I also took notice of how big she appeared to be compared to me, and if I’m connecting all the dots right, that must mean that I am a child... a child of whatever I am, heck, I might be a pegasus too, though I decided not to ask her that for fear of her thinking something was wrong with me for not knowing.

“Would you like some water?” She asked as she held up the cup with her hoof… somehow.

“Uh…” I mumbled as I was completely baffled by the display in front of me before quickly regaining my composure. “Sure, thanks.” She then held the cup out to me expectantly, something I was somewhat dreading.

I hesitantly took both of my arms and placed them on either side of the cup and pushed them together as hard as I could without risking damage to the cup. A second later she let go, and the cup slipped right through my arms and spilled all over the sheets.

“Oh no! I’m so sorry, I should have known you may have trouble controlling your magic fields.” She continued profusely apologizing again and again before she placed the cup back on the table and began taking the sheets off and the bed and promising to get new ones right away. And true to her word, a few moments later she was out the door to get some new sheets, leaving me all to myself.

As I tried to think, I realized my mind was currently in a state of complete chaos, a seemingly endless stream of questions continued to pile up, most, if not all of which I have no answers to. Everything I just saw made me question everything I ever knew about the world. The fact that I was just talking with a pegasus coupled with my own dilemma did nothing to improve my rapidly deteriorating mental state.

I decided to take my mind off of, well, my mind for the sake of not having a mental breakdown by looking over my now exposed body. I soon realized that I was completely naked, and come to think of it, that Tender Breeze was also naked minus that little cap she wore on her head. This made me blush a little, something I did not expect to happen. But taking my mind off that, my body structure appeared to be nearly identical to that of the Tender Breeze only my colors were different and I’ve been scaled down by about half. I was intrigued, though, by the little wings that were attached to my back. They were tiny, like really tiny. I estimated that they were about a sixth of Tender Breeze’s wings. I didn’t know if that was normal because right now nothing about me is normal. Though they were way too small for flight, just the idea of the possibility of being able to fly on my own power brightened my mood just a smidge.

Smiling, I also began contemplating the reality of the situation I was in, causing my smile to fade. If I am a child, then that means I am supposed to act like a child and generally do what a child does, not an adult. I didn’t know if I was still on Earth, nor did I know if there were people here. They may not even know what humans are, and me just saying I’m a human and not some pegasus may not sound the greatest, especially coming from the mouth of a child. It was there that I decided that hiding my identity and playing along with everything would most likely be the best move until I learned more about the situation is was caught in.

My attention was pulled once again to the door opening, revealing Tender Breeze with some fresh new sheets balanced on her back. Although this time she was followed in by another horse, this one brown with yellow hair and wearing a white coat with a stethoscope around its neck. However, this one lacked a pair of wings like me and Tender Breeze, rather, it had a horn adorning its head. I immediately recognized this as a unicorn, yet another creature I once thought only to be a myth.

“Evan, this is Doctor Ginger, she’s been taking care of you since you arrived.”

“Hello, Evan, as she said, I’m Doctor Ginger,” came a distinctly female voice, “but you can just call me Ginger. Would you mind if I performed a check-up on you now that you’re awake?” She asked, to which I nodded in response. “Good, but first let’s get you some new sheets.”

I yelped a little as I felt a small pressure encapsulate my entire body, but I nearly screamed when I started to float off of the bed. Looking around to see what was going on, I noticed that there was a hazel-colored aura around me and Doctor Ginger’s horn. I stared wide-eyed as the same hazel aura engulfed the sheets on the bed before they were lifted, folded in mid-air, and put on the table next to my bed. A second later, the sheets on Tender Breeze’s back were engulfed in the same glow before they too were lifted into the air and unfolded before being neatly laid out on the bed. I watched the whole process with wide eyes, somewhat intrigued and yet also scared. If this unicorn can levitate things with such ease and precision, who knows what else she can do with that horn of hers.

“Alrighty, there we go!” She smiled as she lowered me back onto the bed. “Let’s begin the checkup!” She exclaimed. “Oh, and if you’re good, there may or may not be a lollipop waiting for you!”

*30 minutes later

I was nice and cozy under the bedsheets happily sucking away on a cherry lollipop that Breeze placed into my mouth a few moments earlier before she and the doctor left saying I had some guests. 

The check-up went… well, I’m not really sure. A few of the tests I recognized like when she hit my arm and leg with that little rubber hammer to test my reflexes. Though some of the other ones I didn’t recognize, like when she placed a weird, metallic band with a tiny meter on it around my wing. But the weirdest tests were the ones where she used her horn to do stuff causing me to feel all tingly inside. It was one of the most unnatural feelings I had ever experienced, but it was in no way painful. Overall, she seemed pretty satisfied, but I could tell that she didn’t get the results she was expecting from a few of the tests, particularly on a few of the tests I didn’t recognize.

They also asked me a few questions, but thankfully they didn’t ask me too many. Most of them were the usual doctor’s office questions that you’re always asked. As long as they steered clear of any questions regarding my past, I would be fine. This also made me realize I needed a cover story and made a mental note to start thinking about it when I had the chance.

The door opening quickly drew me out of my mind and back into the real world. I looked over and saw three new pegasi, all dressed in some kind of blue, rubbery material along with a pair of goggles pulled over the eyes walking over towards me. I raised an eyebrow as they walked over, wondering why they looked like that.

A moment later, the three of them stopped at the side of my bed, each one lifting their goggles before the orange-haired one began speaking. “Hey kid, you feeling better?”

“Yeah, I feel alright, could be better, but I’ve had worse,” I said with a shrug. “My name’s Evan Tokarski, what’s yours?” I asked, not expecting the surprised expression all three of the pegasi gave me which worried me a bit.

“You don’t know who we are?” Asked the one with rainbow hair, a hint of offense evident in her voice.

“Nope,” I said bluntly “also, why are you guys all wearing those?” I said, pointing at their shiny apparel.

“Well first,” began the one all the way on the left with white hair, “we’re the Wonderbolts, I’m Fleetfoot, that’s Spitfire, and that’s Rainbow Dash.” She stated, pointing to each of them respectively. 

“And as to why we’re wearing these,” Spitfire started “they are the official Wonderbolt uniforms.”

“Okay, I don’t mean to sound rude,” I said as I held my arms up in an innocent manner, “but why are you guys visiting me?” I inquired, actually curious as to why these people would just come and visit me.

“Well, we’re the ones who found and saved you!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed pridefully. 

“So, do you know what happened? I don’t remember much.”

“Well,” Fleetfoot began, thinking to herself “we were doing our patrols around the academy, where we are now, when Rainbow Dash spotted smoke off in the distance over the White Tail Woods. We decided to check it out to make sure it wasn’t a forest fire, but when we arrived, we saw that the metal thing you were in was on fire. Spitfire happened to notice you pounding on the window. So we got you out and Spitfire brought you back here while Rainbow Dash and I put the fire out.”

“Alright… thanks for telling me that,” I said, each of them giving me a you’re welcome back.

Spitfire took a step forward and began rubbing my hair. “We’re just glad to see that you’re okay kiddo if you ever want to talk to us, just tell one of the nurses, we’d be glad to keep you company.” And with that, I thanked them once more before they said their goodbyes. But as they were about to exit, Rainbow Dash said something to the others before she turned around and came back to my bedside.

“Hey squirt,” she said as she got a little closer to me “this may sound kinda awesome, but I’m friends with Princess Twilight and when I told her about you she said she would love to meet you.”

I froze in place, praying that I didn’t hear what I just did.

“Yeah, Twilight’s one of my best friends and she’s the princess of friendship. She figured you could use a friend right now seeing as you’re up here all by yourself for the most part.”

“Alright… I can’t wait to meet her!” I exclaimed with fake enthusiasm.

“She said she’s going to be here tomorrow morning, so try not to sleep in too much. Anyway, I better go catch up to the others, see ya later squirt!” And with that, she left leaving me alone once again.

As I slowly laid back down, only one thought ran through my head, “I’m doomed!”
> Chapter-2 Base Tour
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I let out a dejected sigh as I poked at my breakfast, which happened to be just as unappetizing as the hospital back on Earth. The joys of staying in a hospital, am I right?

As I poked at my breakfast with a hoof, I reminisced on the previous night, which wasn’t much. I had found out that it was indeed the afternoon as the sun started setting not so long after those Wonderbolts visited me, along with the fact that my energy levels seemed to deplete even more as the sun continued to descend. I learned too through the very loud conversations in the room behind me that these creatures are called ponies, not horses. All was fine and dandy, though the one thing that gave me chills was when they came in and removed the catheter I had inside me, I’m still not sure how I never noticed it, I think I was still trying to process the talking horses thing. Anyway, that was the most uncomfortable, and embarrassing thing I had ever experienced, thankfully, I fell asleep soon after, so… yay?

I shivered at the thought of that catheter and decided that thinking about last night served me no purpose. Since I fell asleep right after that torture, I didn’t have a chance to formulate a cover story. I was about to get visited by what was most likely one of the most powerful peo- ponies in the country, and sounding like a lunatic in front of her wouldn’t look so good in my opinion. Though I was fairly nervous, I mean hey, I’m in a completely alien world about to get visited by a princess! If a princess is the same thing as on Earth at least… I’m going to be visited by royalty! What if I offend her? What if I blow my cover? What if she can read my mind?

I slapped myself mentally, ending the loop because at this point I was being stupid… right? Well, I didn’t know and wouldn’t find out until my time came, but back to the cover story. I’m in the body of a child, so they must think I have the mind of a child, which I don’t, so playing dumb may earn me some leverage. Along with the fact that I was found in the middle of the forest by myself, if I just act scared and sad, they just might take pity on a poor little soul like me. I’d also decided to just say I lived by myself in the wilderness, it’s not like they’re going to find my real parents. And saying I just came across that random metal thing in the forest and can’t remember what happened would cover the rest.

“Oh yeah, it’s all coming together!” I laughed to myself a little.

“What was that honey?”

“Agh!” I jumped in my bed, my heart freezing for a split second.

“Oh I’m sorry, didn’t mean to startle you!” Breeze said from literally right next to my bed. I must have been so deep in my thoughts that I didn’t even notice her come in, hopefully, I didn’t say anything else out loud.

“It’s alright,” I said, trying to calm my heart, “I just didn’t hear you come in.”

After a quick look at my bowl, she sternly asked, “And why haven’t you eaten your oats mister?” As she motioned towards my almost completely untouched food.

“I’m not that hungry,” I lied with a shrug.

“Well you need to get some food in you, young colt, so your body can recover.” She stated sternly, like a mother talking to a disobedient child.

“But-”

No buts,” she said, cutting me off, “you are going to eat that entire bowl of oats, or else you don’t get the surprise Spitfire has planned for you later.”

She drove a hard bargain, but I was too curious about what they had in store for me, so I caved.

I looked at the spoon next to the bowl, still wondering what I was supposed to do with that. I shrugged and just leaned over and stuck my whole face in, not sure what else to do. It was what I did earlier when she first brought it in, though the strangest thing was how natural this felt. My neck was much longer so reaching it wasn’t a problem. Along with my new muzzle, eating like this was very easy, though I still caught Breeze giving me a raised eyebrow out of the corner of my eye.

The oats actually weren’t as bad as I first thought, while it wasn’t exactly like oatmeal, it was pretty similar, though much blander and thicker. But after a few minutes, I had licked the bowl clean, Breeze taking it back to wherever she got it a moment later.

After staring at the opposite wall, going over my plan a few more times, I heard the door open. I looked over expecting to see Breeze or the doctor coming in, but instead, I saw Spitfire walk in, no longer in the blue spandex outfit I saw her in last, rather she had on a blue button-up suit top with a white undershirt on with a whistle around her neck and dark purple shades over her eyes. I’m not sure how she saw anything in here, but I had to admit that she looked pretty cool.

“What’s up newbie?” She said in her hoarse, hah… hoarse, voice as she strode over to my bedside.

“Nothing really, just bored.”

“I can relate, and so can a majority of the team. We’ve all had our fair share of accidents.” She chuckled a bit, staring off into the distance. “But anyway,” she leaned in close, pretending to look around, “how about I bust you out of here and give you a tour of the compound?”

I smiled a bit at the thought of finally being out of this bed, “Yeah, that would be amazing!”

“Alright! Let’s get this show on the road!” She shouted, a small whoops leaving her mouth a second later before she turned and started walking.

I pushed off the covers and turned myself so I could slide off the bed, though I quickly realized I had a problem on my han- hooves. I had no idea how to walk on four legs.

I said screw it and decided to go for it, and a second later I was on the ground on all fours just standing there. Unlike going on all fours as a person, this felt very natural, causing me no discomfort at all, though my mind was doing somersaults because of it.

I remembered seeing some of the other ponies here walk, and they alternated from front left, to back right, and vice versa. I thought about this and slowly began moving my legs. After taking a few steps, I realized that the motions were akin to that of crawling. And in no time I was slowly making my way towards the door, Spitfire holding it open for me.

“Sorry, I’m a little weak, having been in bed for so long,” I said, leaving out the other reason.

“It’s good, we got a while before the princess is supposed to show up.”

This made my fear resurface once again, but I pushed it down decided that stressing over it would do me more bad than good.

I took my first steps out of the room and was first greeted by a pretty standard-looking hallway that was painted the same colors as the room. We appeared to be at the end of the hall, left being the only way we could go.

“These are just some more medical rooms and whatnot, we can go to my office first.” Spitfire soon overtook me as she began leading me down the hall to wherever her office was.

“Hey Spitfire?” I asked as I soon began feeling a familiar pressure in my abdomen.

“What’s up?”

“Can I use the bathroom?” The pressure in my abdomen was slowly growing, and I knew pushing this off would most likely end in disaster.

“Sure, it’s just down here.”

We walked about two more doors down before Spitfire pushed a door open, and looking inside revealed that it was indeed the bathroom. I made my way in, the door clicking shut behind me.

I looked just like a bathroom on earth, with a small sink, paper towels, and a toilet. Though the toilet looked like something straight from Japan since it was entirely in the ground, though it still had the usual flush handle.

“Here we go…”

After pissing on my leg more than I would like to admit, I finally figured out how to not make myself yellow and relived myself. I walked over to the sink and pushed myself up, thankful it was much lower to the ground though still a bit high for me. I looked at the faucet but stopped when I saw my reflection in the mirror. I was a white pony with dark green hair and equally dark eyes. I just stood there, looking at my new self, my mind actively rejecting this new truth while also not know what else to make of it. I was me and I was standing right in front of this mirror as a fuzzy quadruped, what else was there to say? Everything looked so unfamiliar and unnatural while at the same time being completely natural, I was a human, not a pony… right?

I shook my head, still full of thoughts, and just washed my hooves to the best of my ability. I focused solely on washing my hooves and drying them before I made my way towards the door.

I took a deep breath, determined to not let this get to me, especially now. I put on a fake smile for a moment and knocked on the door, Spitfire opening it a second later.

I quickly forgot about myself as we continued down the hallway. I took in everything that was around me, the various ponies that walked by, some in those blue uniforms, others completely nude, something I was still very self-conscious about. Other than ponies, there wasn’t much in the halls beside the occasional plaque commemorating someone for something. They were too high up for me to be able to see clearly, and walking was not something I was as good at as I thought because as I was trying to read one of the plaques, I ended up tripping over myself sending my face into the tiled floor.

After getting helped up by Spitfire and saving my pride to the best of my ability, I saw we were right in the middle of the hall, Spitfire having opened a door to the right which much lead into her office.

I followed her in and saw that it indeed was her office. A standard wood desk painted a deep shade of purple sat in the middle, just in front of a few windows, various papers and other office supplies were scattered across it. To my right and left were file cabinets twice as tall as me. Finally, each wall to the right and left had a shelf with various trophies and medals covering them. It was pretty easy to tell what Spitfire valued more if seeing how clean her awards were versus her desk was anything to go by.

“This is my home, and other than the paperwork, I love my job!” She said as she spun around in her chair, causing me the laugh a little at how carefree she seemed to be. 

“Are these all your awards?” I asked as I walked over to one of the shelves, craning my neck upward to try and get a better view.

“Yep! Every last one of them, from my first flying competition win all the way to my acceptance letter into the Wonderbolts!” She pridefully exclaimed, walking over to my side, grabbing me with her forelegs, and holding me up allowing me to see the trophies that lay in front of me.

It was a tall, brass trophy with a that read Spitfire, 1st place, Cloudsdale Young Fliers Competition on the placard. She told me about how she nearly lost the race after narrowly avoiding a collision before coming from behind to steal the win in great detail.

We moved down the line, Spitfire telling me about the dramatic win, or how she beat her best friend for first, and various other stories that went along with the important memorabilia. But after about fifteen minutes, she had gone over nearly all the awards and placed me back on my own legs.

“Wow, you’ve won a lot of things!” I said as we began walking towards the office door.

“Yep,” She exclaimed, confidence oozing from her voice, “not everypony’s good enough to be the captain of the Wonderbolts.”

We were soon back out in the hall, but we didn’t go far as we stopped outside the door next to hers. She opened the door to what looked like another office nearly identical to Spitfire’s other than there being two desks, each on opposite sides of the room.

“This is Soarin,” she motioned to the baby blue pony with a dark blue mane sitting to the left, who looked up from his desk and waved at me to which I responded with my own, “and this is Fleetfoot.” The arctic blue pony’s face going from a small frown to a big smile the instant she saw me, her white hair also seemed to perk up a bit… weird.

“Oh hey, kid! Finally out of that bed? I can relate…” Her frown reappeared for a second but just as quickly disappearing. “Let me tell you a little secret,” she said as she walked over and leaned in close smirking the whole way, “Soarin wets the bed, don’t tell him I told.”

I had to hold back a snicker, covering my mouth with a hoof as Fleetfoot nonchalantly walked back to her desk.

“Hey, what did you tell him?” Soarin asked, putting his pen down.

“Oh, nothing, just how cool all this paperwork is!” Fleetfoot said, trying to stifle her own giggles.

“Hey! You told him-” He was cut off by the door as Spitfire pulled me out of the doorway before shutting it.

“Those two knuckleheads have been my friends since I was a filly,” a smile gracing her face as she appeared to be thinking about the past, “Soarin is second and Fleetfoot is third in command, every day is a fun day with those two around. I’m still amazed they get any work done at all considering they share an office.” She laughed.

“Yeah, they seem pretty funny,” I said as I finally got my little laughing spree under control.

“Alright, that’s all the exciting stuff inside, so let me show you where we practice!” Her voice gaining a little excitement.

We turned around and headed back towards the middle of the hall which led to an atrium opposite Spitfire’s office. There wasn’t anything too exciting in there, but I stopped mid-stride the second I walked past the outside doors.

My jaw dropped at the sight before me, rather than just being kinda high, we were above cloud level on top of what must have been the peak of a mountain. I had no idea how something like this could be made, actually, flying ponies, duh. But the real sight to behold was the rainbows that seemed to just fall right off of the few clouds around and above us. Rainbows weren’t liquids, so how the heck did they do that?

After a few moments, I stopped gaping at the sight that would make any scientist scream and took a look around at the various pegasi flying around in the sky, most in those blue uniforms. Some were doing various ariel tricks and stunts, and others seemed to be doing the duties of the ground crew that you would find at an airport. It looked like a little airport, except for pegasi, well, it was for pegasi.

We continued on down the small path, me by her side, as we made our way towards the tarmac.“This is where we do most of our training and conditioning, and take a look over there!” She pointed to our left showing, Rainbow Dash I think it was, absolutely grilling the life out of a light green pegasus. Even from here, I could sense the fear and panic radiating off of that pony as they got scolded for whatever it was they did. “He’s a part of the group of newbies that just started in the academy a few days ago, probably said something about her hair.” She laughed a bit, before saying, “Reminds me of my days, I just could never keep my mouth shut, though all the extra laps and wing-ups did me good.” A smirk spread across her face, “You gotta ask Fleetfoot about her time in the academy if you see her again, if I had it bad, she had it ten times worse!”

So far I liked this place, if I just forgot the fact that I was talking to a pony, it would be just like I was talking to one of my old friends. She kept the conversations loose and upbeat while keeping them interesting. Though I was still a child and she talked to me like one, still something I was getting used to. I constantly felt welcomed, everyone around me seeming to genuinely care about me.

I left my mind and saw that we were right on the edge of the tarmac, though as soon as I began to take another step, Spitfire put her foreleg in front of me, stopping me mid-stride.

“Wait a second, you’re forgetting the most important rule.”  She said, leveling a gaze expectantly towards me.

“Uh, I don’t know... make sure to look both ways?” I said, not sure what else to say.

“Correct,” she declared, much to my surprise, “Dash forgot that on her first day, that’s why we nicknamed her Rainbow Crash.”

After looking both ways, we crossed and stopped right in the middle of the field of grass. Though after looking around, I spotted a purple sphere rising through the clouds off in the near distance.

“Hey Spitfire,” I asked, poking at her side, “what’s that?” I pointed towards the growing purple shape, a brown something now visible underneath it making me realized it was a hot air balloon.

“Oh hey, that must be the princess, and it looks like she brought her friends along too. We better get you back inside, she’ll probably want to meet with you right away.” With that, Spitfire began ushering me back towards the building we came out of a moment ago.

After a few moments of walking in silence, we were back in the small medical room where I woke up, the sheets having been done up by somebody in my absence.

“Sorry we didn’t get much time outside, I was gonna show you a few of my moves and let you fly around a bit, but oh well. See yeah later kid, the princess should be in here in a few minutes.” With a wave, Spitfire took her absence, leaving me all to myself once again.

I got comfy under the fresh sheets, however, it wasn’t long before the sound of the door opening reached me once again. Looking over I saw Tender Breeze come in, this time accompanied by an unfamiliar purple pony.

“Hi Evan, how was your little tour of the base with Spitfire?” She asked, sounding a little nervous for some reason, as she and the unknown pony made their way to my bedside, the purple pony pulling over a chair with her own aura.

“It was pretty cool, she even showed me all her awards!” I exclaimed, it was kinda cool to see all her achievements throughout her life, not gonna lie.

“Well, I’m glad you had fun and got out of bed for a little while, but anyway, this is Princess Twilight Sparkle, she’s here for a visit as I’m sure you’ve heard.”

“Uhh, hi Princess, am I supposed to bow or something?” I asked with a slightly concerned smile, worried if I already messed up.

“Oh no, it’s alright, and please just call me Twilight.” The purple pony said reassuringly from her chair situated right next to my bed.

“Oh ok, well it’s nice to meet you Twilight.” So far so good…

“I’ll just leave you to be, you can push the button on the wall if you need anything.” And with that, she hastily made her leave.

And there were two… “Hello, uh, my name’s Evan by the way.”

“Hello Evan, how are you doing here?” She asked, reassurance filling her voice.

“Pretty good,” I responded with a shrug, “kinda boring at times but it’s not too bad, everyone here has been pretty nice though.” Twilight seemed to raise an eyebrow at something I said, worrying me a bit, but she appeared to let it go.

“That’s great, I also brought along some of my friends because they wanted to meet you as well. Would it be alright if they came in?”

“Sure, I don’t see why not.” I shrugged, what harm could a few more ponies do.

“Everypony can come in,” Twilight said loudly, looking towards the door.

“HI, THERE! MY NAME’S PINKIE PIE!”

“AHH!” I screamed, my heart stopping for a moment, as I spun around, only to instantly be greeted with a wall of pink. “Could you not do that please,” I said, looking at the very pink pony while making sure my heart still worked.

“Oh I’m sorry, it’s just that you’re new here and I wanted to throw you a welcome to Equestria party, but Twilight said no, and then I thought, what if I-” She was cut off as an orange hoof got stuffed into her mouth.

“Ah sorry sugarcube, Pinkie can do that sometimes.” Came a new voice, looking to Pinkie’s left revealed an orange pony with blonde hair and a brown stetson adorning her head. “Name’s Applejack,” she said in a thick southern accent. I quickly noticed that neither this Applejack nor Pinkie Pie had a horn or wings like the other ponies, I was curious if they were jealous in any way.

“Hello Applejack, I’m Evan,” I said back, she offered a hoof outward, not the one she took out of Pinkie’s mouth, to which I assumed would be for a han- hoofshake. 

I wasn’t sure how a hoofshake would work, but I swear it felt like she had a hand and was gripping my hoof somehow in her own. I stared at my hoof for a second after she let go, boy did she have a firm handshake, contemplating how the heck she just did that.

“Oh darling, what have they done to your mane!” Came a concerned, posh voice from right next to Applejack.

“Uh, what’s wrong with it?” I asked the white pony.

“Darling have you looked in the mirror recently?! That style is committing a fashion crime of the highest cruelty.” Her speech as well as her body language quickly told what kind of per- pony she was.

“Hey, leave the little guy alone, I like his mane style!” Said a familiar raspy voice from the other side of the bed.

“Oh, hey Rainbow Dash,” I said as looked over and saw Rainbow Dash standing next to Twilight giving the white pony a challenging stare.

“Hey kid,” she said, not breaking her stare.

“Oh, well I guess it does fit him quite well on second hoof.” The white pony said in reluctance after a few moments. “Well anywho, my name is Rarity, aspiring fashionista.” She said, her profession not surprising me in the slightest.

There are a lot of ponies in here now, I thought as I looked at the five ponies on either side of my bed. I figured they must know Rainbow Dash since she is in here too, but I wonder why Twilight brought them all along.

“Hey, where’s Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, looking around the room for whoever Fluttershy was.

“Eep!?” A soft voice squeaked as Rainbow Dash grabbed a pink tail from behind Twilight, pulling a butter-yellow pegasus apparently named Fluttershy into view.

“Time to introduce yourself Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash stated as she pushed the meek yellow pony right next to my bed.

“Are you Fluttershy?” I asked her, to which she gave a meek nod, hiding behind her mane. “Well, it’s nice to meet you.” The moment I finished that sentence, she made her way back behind Twilight, keeping herself out of view.

“Please excuse her, she is a bit shy towards new ponies, but she’s very nice once you get to know her,” Twilight said, a smile never leaving her face. “Now, I need to ask you some questions before we get sidetracked,” my features sank a little at this, knowing that I was going to most likely have to lie, “but you don’t have to answer any of these questions if you don’t want to, alright?” She reassuring said, placing her hoof over mine.

“Alright, I’ll answer them.” It’s make or break time…

“Alright,” she began, “that’s good, and I know how hard this all is for you, which is why I brought my friends because I know where you’re from and what it’s like.”

My eyes widened and my heart stopped, all my blood instantly running cold. How could she know? Did I really mess up without doing anything? What’s going to happen to me? All these thoughts and more ran through my head as I forced myself to respond in a last-ditch attempt to save myself.

“What?...”
> Chapter-3 Fleetfoot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What?...” After squeaking out my inadequate response, I just continued to sit there stunned at how terrible I am at hiding my true feelings. “What are you talking about?..”

She dawned a comforting expression and rested her hoof on my shoulder while looking me right in the eye. “Evan, we don’t just find random colts out in the middle of the Whitetail woods for no reason. The few colts we have found came from remote villages set on doing things the ‘old fashion way.” The way she emphasized the last three words told me that villages like those must be pretty frowned upon, doing whatever the old-fashioned way is.

“It’s alright, sugar cube,” Applejack spoke up, “while I wouldn’t condone leaving yer family, I don’t know what it’s like growing up in one of them towns. You must have felt it was necessary, and yer probably going through a lot right now, so just you know that you’re safe here now.”

All the others nodded in agreement, each giving me their word that this place is better.

I stared at them all, my heart slowly starting to restart itself once again. They thought I was from some looney village in the middle of nowhere. I could work with that.

“Would you be able to tell us anything about where you came from?” Twilight inquired, though I also happened to notice a notepad and pencil begin floating out of the corner of my eye.

“Uhm, I don’t remember much since I left quite a while ago.” I lied; while this was better than they know my true origins, I still had no idea what one of these villages was about. And if they asked any specifics, I was doomed. Blowing this opportunity was not something I was keen on doing.

“Oh alright then,” she paused for a moment before continuing, “do you remember anything about your family?”

I cringed at this, much to my surprise. While I wasn’t expecting to be sad, this question hit harder than I thought it would. I guess I had just completely shut my realities out of my mind, trying my best not to think about them. But this question reopened the flood gates.

“I’m sorry, if you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to,” Twilight added as I wiped away a stray tear.

“Yeah, I don’t want to talk about that now,” I responded with a lump in my throat. I wasn’t married or anything, yet I still missed my parents and my siblings nonetheless. But I swallowed that lump in my throat and sucked it up, determined not to make a fool of myself.

“Let’s go to something else.” She tapped her chin in thought for a second before asking, “How did you end up in the metal tube they found you in?” She began once again.

“Well, I was foraging for supplies when I just found it there.” Great answer, I thought as I patted myself on the back. “I got curious and went inside to explore, but that’s all I remember.”

“Didn’t your pa-” She cut herself off, realizing what she was about to say, but not soon enough for me to not be able to figure it out. “I’m so sorry! I did it again!” She said profusely.

“It’s alright,” I said, swallowing the lump that reformed in my throat, “please continue.”

She sighed, her face still wrought with sorrow, “Well, that’s all we needed for now. So just make sure you rest up; Spitfire will be in here later to tell you more about what’s going to happen, alright?”

“Alright, thanks.” Wow, that’s all they came here for? I thought as they each gave me their best wishes before making their way out of the room one by one as silence once again permeated the air. However, the silence was soon broken by the voices of Spitfire and Twilight a few moments later.

“So, did he tell you anything?” I heard Spitfire inquire, causing me to lean a little closer in an attempt to listen to their conversation better. It’s not eavesdropping if it’s about you… right?

“Well, I had my suspicions, and he confirmed one of the at least,” Twilight responded.

“What is it?” Spitfire asked, evidently curious.

“Well, this isn’t the first time this has happened,” she began,” but he is from an isolated village somewhere in Equestria where they are dead set on doing things the ‘old fashioned way’ for whatever reason.”

“So he’s a runaway?”

“Simply put it, yes. Though normally we would return a runaway foal, we can’t return the foal for their safety in a situation like this. So we are just going to have to put him in the foster system unless we can find somepony to adopt him before then.”

“How much longer is he going to be staying here?” Spitfire asked, sounding a bit saddened.

“I’m going to send somepony by tomorrow morning to come and get him.” Twilight explained, “He’ll be taken care of at the foster home in Cloudsdale.”

“Is anything special going to happen to him because of where he came from?”

“No, we try to leave foals to themselves and their adoptive parents to help them better acclimate to modern pony society. While I may check in on him every once in a while, it won’t be often.”

“Well, I’ll inform everyone of the situation, so we don’t take up any more of your time.”

I heard a loud sigh followed by Twilight, slightly annoyed, saying, “Please, how many times do I have to say this? While I appreciate it, you don’t have to bow to me.”

“Sorry,” Spitfire sheepishly responded, “but it’s been nice to see you.”

“It’s been nice seeing you as well.”

With that, I heard the clip-clop of their hooves start fading off into the distance.

I was shocked that either my hearing was so excellent or these were some of the thinnest walls in existence. I laughed at that for a second before ponding what I had just listened to, which, if it is what it sounded like, means I’m getting shipped off to an orphanage very soon. While it could certainly be worse, orphanages don’t have the most fabulous rep in my mind.

But on the bright side, while Twilight gave me a mini heart attack, she didn’t know what I was up to, though I did notice the orange one, Applejack, I think, giving me the stink eye every once in a while. But all in all, I considered this a win.

But that still left me with a problem that could get much worse or much better very soon. How do I get home? That was undoubtedly the biggest question on my mind; while this place didn’t seem like hell, it wasn’t home to me.

I felt my left ear twitch as the sound of arguing reached my ears. I brought my attention to the voices, the sound steadily getting louder, trying to make out what they were arguing about.

“... I don’t care! I can do it!” I recognize this voice, though I couldn’t place who it was.

“I know you can, but you’re a Wonderbolt Fleetfoot! You don’t have enough time as it is!” I recognized this distinct voice as Spitfire’s, and she also answered who the other voice was. “And you still haven’t told me why you want to do this!”

By now, they were standing right outside my door, and they must have forgotten about me or something already.

“Well…” she stammered, “you don’t need to know, it’s my life!” She shouted back defensively.

Jeez, they were really into it for some reason, and right in the middle of the hall nonetheless.

“You know what,” Spitfire suddenly took on a much calmer tone, “you’re right, it is your life, and I can’t stop you. But there are two conditions: I am your boss, and if this affects you at work, we’re going to have problems. And two, we ask the kid, if he doesn't want to, end of the story, kapish?”

“Kapish,” Fleetfoot responded sharply before the door opened, both of them stepping inside.

They both looked relatively calm and collected, their expressions showing no signs of their previous argument.

Spitfire took a deep breath as she walked up to my bedside before saying, "Hey kid, Twilight has some plans, but Fleetfoot also has some of her own. Twilight wants you to send you to an orphanage." She stated bluntly.

Even though I knew it was coming, I still sank a little without even realizing it. I guess they were always such depressing places when I had seen them, and I always felt bad for those kids.

"But,” She started, causing me to look up with a raised eyebrow, “Fleetfoot here has volunteered to take care of you for a while instead. While I can't tell her what she can and can't do, we've decided just to come and ask what you would rather do."

I was a little surprised that two adults would leave such a question up to a little kid like me.

I looked up at Spitfire, getting her usual stoic nature in response. Fleetfoot, on the other hand, seemed to be less calm; she was nervously smiling, sweating a bit. I also noticed her tail seemed to be twitching quite a bit. She was just quite jittery about this, though I wondered why. She only met me a few days ago.

After a few moments of deliberation, I answered, "I'd rather stay with Fleetfoot," While I didn’t know her, this could give me the much-needed freedom to try and find a way home, my number one priority. I was also a bit hopeful that she wasn't secretly insane or something and would treat me better than an orphanage would. And if the way she has been treating me recently is anything to go by, things are looking fairly decent.

“Yay! We’re going to have so much fun!” Fleetfoot exclaimed, bouncing up and down on her hooves, the smile on her face larger than what seemed theoretically possible.

It also brought a small smile to my face seeing her so happy, I wasn’t sure if it was the lighter side of me or what, but I smiled a bit non less at her reaction.

“Well, if you want to stay with Fleetfoot,” Spitfire reluctantly said, knowing she lost her previous argument, “I guess you can, but I’ll have to run it by the princess first. And if she says no, it means no!” 

Fleetfoot nodded understandingly, yet her smile never left her face.

“Are you excited about not having to go to one of those stinky old orphanages?” Fleetfoot exulted as she finally was able to collect herself.

“Yeah, I’m pretty excited. But why are you doing this?” I challenged, not having seen any motive previously for her wanting to take me in. Heck taking in a kid is a lot of work, but to do it out of the blue is something else entirely.

“Well…” she began, her eyes floating around the room, “it just seemed like it’d be a lot of fun to do, you know?”

“Oh, well, okay, and thanks!” I replied, not buying that response at all. Even a real kid could have been able to tell that she was lying. She had some other motive, which was still unclear to me and seemed to be vague to Spitfire as well.

“Ooh!” She squealed, her mood picking right back up, “We’re going to have so much fun! I can see it already!” Her face formed into that of a child getting to pick anything they wanted from the toy store.

“Umm, where do you live?” I inquired, snapping her out of her daze.

“Oh, I live just outside the center of Cloudsdale,” she began,” I think you’ll like my place. It’s not too much, but it’s pretty cozy.”

Despite still being a bit worried about her motives, her overall tone of excitement seemed pretty sincere and caring, almost as if I was her child. And I was willing to play the part, as long as it gave me ample opportunity to solve my problems.

“So, what do you like to do for fun?” She asked, leaning onto my bed.

“I like sports,” I responded; I sure did love me a nice sports ball game back home.

“Well, you got the right pony for sports! The wonderbolts aren’t my only things.” She stated confidently but with a playful tone.

“Really? What else do you do?”

I spend the rest of the night conversing with Fleetfoot about our various shared interests. It turns out she is really into painting and is a poet. I told her I was good at digital art, but she didn’t seem to know what that was, which raised a flag for me. But after a bit longer, she finally got shooed away by the nurses.

They performed a minor check-up on me, just the basic vitals and whatnot. They said it would be my last. After finishing, they left for a while, and I could hear them discussing something just outside the room. I tried to listen, but these nurses seemed to be aware of how thin the walls were. They returned and said I was in good shape, wrote on the clipboard in front of my bed, and went away, leaving me alone for another hour of ceiling tile counting.

The nurses came in shortly after and served dinner, just the usual stuff, nothing too exciting. But what was interesting was using my hooves’ magic field thingies. I began swatting at my sheets for about half an hour, and I decided early on that trying to pick up a scorching hot bowl of soup was not a great idea. But I finally managed to get a grip and pick up the sheet, which filled me with joy. It was a very odd yet recognizable feeling. It was as if I had my hands, and I could feel as if I was feeling the sheets with my hands. While I certainly wasn’t great at it, it was a start.

I attempted to pick up the spoon, which I was able to. But after scooping up a tiny bit of soup and putting it into my mouth, I couldn’t hold back a groan as I realized that my food was now cold.

I resigned to my fate of a cold dinner, though the success of using my magic hooves did make me feel a little better. Though the soup did taste a little different, but hey, that’s what cold food does.

They came back in after I finished, took my soup, gave me a comforting good night before they left, and turned out the lights.

I was starting to feel my eyelids droop when I felt a slight poke on my back. I tried not to think about it, but to my annoyance, I got poked again. So, I got up, my mind having already fallen half asleep, and looked behind me. I was a little worried when I saw a few of my feathers had fallen out and were resting on my bedsheets rather than attached to my wings. But I just wiped them off my bed and laid back down, thinking that the doctor must have seen them, and since she didn’t say anything, it meant that I was probably fine. It was just something I put off as yet another thing I didn’t understand about these horse birds.

The sandman visited me not too soon after.
> Chapter-4 Cloudsdale
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I awoke to the soft rays of the sun shining down on me from the morning sky, its warmth slowly bringing reality back to me. My dreams that night were as weird as ever, but something was different. That difference remains unknown.

I sat up and stretched my increasingly familiar body and rubbed my eyes with my hoofs, careful not to blind myself in the process. I looked around and took in the room one last time, knowing that my time here was coming to an end and my time with Fleetfoot was beginning.

While I didn’t necessarily hate the place, it definitely wasn’t fun. But living with Fleetfoot in the city of Cloudsdale seemed as though it would be fun, as long as Cloudsdale wasn’t this world’s equivalent to Detroit or something. As long as Cloudsdale is a decently sized city, I knew I would have no problem blending in and living as normal a life as possible while furthering my own agenda.

But, I also knew that things would take a turn for the worst if I didn’t have a plan. I decided that other than trying to get home, I would try and learn as much from this place as I could while I was here; it was an alien civilization, after all. Along with that, I would also need to keep close tabs on Fleetfoot and try to discover her true motive for taking me in. Unless this is a common occurrence, taking in a child on a whim is not something most people would do.

But first thing’s first, I should get to know Fleetfoot more personally. The last thing I wanted to do was do something that would cause her to abandon me. After only a few interactions with her, I got a very carefree and laid-back feel. 

“Hey, there, kiddo!” Fleetfoot announced as she barged into my room unannounced, scaring me half to death.

“Oh hey, what are you doing here?” I asked, watching as her smile seemingly expanded with every step closer she took.

“I’m here to bust you out of this place!” She exclaimed, arriving at my bedside.

“But I haven’t had breakfast yet,” I mentioned, my stomach giving a well-timed rumble.

“I know, that’s why I’m going to take you to Cloudsdale for some real food!” At the mention of Cloudsdale, I suddenly remembered what was happening today.

My mood quickly brightened at the thought of finally getting out of this bed and being able to see the rest of this world.

“That’s the spirit!” She exclaimed, having noticed my shift in attitude. “I already cleared you with the doctors, so we can leave whenever you’re ready.”

I quickly told her that I was ready, eager to get out of this prison of a bed. She used her wings and helped me to the ground before she began trotting out into the hallway, myself following closely behind.

As I followed her, I took one last look at this place, the colors, the pictures, the peo- ponies. Everything was so similar yet different from what I expected; it was almost forgettable that I was in an alien world at times. It was virtually as if someone just replaced humans with ponies, which really made me question just how far I actually was from home.

We passed by Spitfire and Soarin, each giving us a wave and a smile. However, I noticed Spitfire gave Fleetfoot a stern stare, most likely to remind her of the gravity of what she was doing. After making our way into the atrium, we pushed through the glass doors and into the bright outside. I was happy for once to have my eyes fried by the morning sun.

We passed through the open area, various ponies already flying by overhead, flying in very tight groups, seemingly going through routines. I stared at one, in particular, the rainbow hair giving away their identity. Rainbow Dash and the other two ponies in the group went through a choreographed routine. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her; the sheer speed at which she was moving couldn’t process in my little mind. It stumped me how she could turn almost ninety degrees so quickly without exploding from the g-forces.

With my eyes glued to the sky, I neglected to watch my footing because there was no ground beneath my feet the next thing I knew.

“Ahh!” I screamed, my eyes shut for fear of my impending doom. Though nothing happened. My back legs were still on the ground, yet my front legs weren’t, and I felt something pulling on my tail. I hesitantly opened my eyes and saw that I was leaning over a small water moat. Looking behind me showed Fleetfoot smiling with my tail in her mouth.

“Sorry, got a little distracted,” I said, embarrassed as I backed up a bit. “Thanks for catching me.”

“No problem, kiddo, just remember, I might not be able to save you next time.” The grin on her face told me that she would be the reason I was in the water the next time. I laughed, more nervously than anything. Fleetfoot was an actual wild card, and I didn’t know what to think about that.

We soon carried on our way, Fleetfoot leading the way with me watching my steps intently; the last thing I wanted to do was fall… again.

We finally reached the edge, and I decided it was a good idea to look over said edge. And lucky for me, today didn’t have many clouds, which gave me a clear view straight to the ground.

“You alright, kiddo?” Fleetfoot asked, a little concerned, having watched me quickly back up from the ledge, looking like I was going to throw up.

“Uh, yeah, just that we’re a little high off the ground.” I groaned, trying to take my mind off the fact that we were at least a couple hundred feet off the ground.

“You’re afraid of heights?” She asked, a bit surprised.

I nodded in response, still trying to get my legs to stop shaking.

“But you’re a pegasus, why would you- oh….” Realization seemed to dawn on her, “you don’t know how to fly, do you?” She asked sympathetically.

“No… I never learned how.” I said, having finally composed myself to some degree.

“You never had anypony to teach you how…” she said in a quiet voice, though still loud enough for me to hear. Those words seemed to make her tear up, though I didn’t really see how me not knowing how to fly was so emotional.

“Well, I know what we’re going to be doing!” She exclaimed, wiping her eyes and standing up with determination, “but for now, you’ll just have to ride on my back.”

I wanted to scream at her for being insane, but I remembered that she was the one flying after all. If I did fall, she would just catch me, but I honestly didn’t think I would survive the trip from the fact that if I even moved a little, I would have a heart attack.

“Is there any other way?” I asked, praying for an accessible alternative.

“Not really, we could get a balloon up here, but that could take hours, even days if none are available.”

“Okay…” I was screaming inside from the sheer insanity of what I was about to do. Still, I had to put some trust in Fleetfoot… with my life… even though I literally just met her a few days ago…

“Alrighty then, hop on!” She bent down, splaying her wings out, leaving a nice little resting spot for my small body on her back.

I hesitantly put my tiny hoof over her back and pulled myself up with a little nudge from her. I wrapped both my arms and legs around her barrel and neck respectively and moved a little to make sure I was secure. This should be child endangerment, but who knows what goes on here anymore, I thought.

“You ready, kiddo?” She asked, flexing her wings preparing to take off.

“Y-yes,” I said, swallowing back my fear.

Not a second later, I felt the wind blowing across my whole body. It shocked me to the point where I nearly fell off.

I grabbed her even more secure than before and buried my face into her mane, not daring to look around for fear of passing out at what I saw.

“You alright back there?”

“Mhmm,” I said, my voice muffled by the copious amounts of hair currently in my face.

The trip seemingly took forever, but I kept myself firmly glued to her the entire trip.

The second she arrived, and I felt her land, I slowly looked up and was overjoyed to see the ground or clouds in this case. I slid off her back and kissed the floor, my entire form still shaking from the trip. Though I never looked to see how high up we really were, I was okay with just assuming how high we were and not actually knowing.

“Wow, we really got to get on the flight lessons….” Fleetfoot giggled to herself as she watched my display.

I was soon back on my hooves and looked up to see a decently sized two-story house… made of cloud. I swear, they make literally everything out of clouds. What, am I going to be eating clouds next?





I took a bite out of my cloud as I sat at the dining room table, mulling over the absurdity of edible clouds. Clouds were just like cotton candy except for a very refreshing mouthful of water with every bite rather than a diabetic-inducing amount of sugar.

Fleetfoot had just showed me around the place, and it wasn’t half bad. A simple two bedroom two bath home. I was currently at the dining room table next to the entrance and adjacent to the kitchen and living room with the stair in the far corner.

I sat there contemplating as the sound of Fleetfoot taking a shower echoed throughout the house. I noticed that when Fleetfoot took me in every room, she seemingly neglected one door at the opposite end of the hallway from my room upstairs. While I could be overthinking things, she really could be a serial killer! I shook my head at that thought and took the last bite of my cloud before hopping off the seat.

It still astounded me that nearly everything outside the house was made of clouds. Yet, the inside looked utterly normal other than the occasional wisp of cloud floating around. It seemed a little too normal to me, the parallels between this house and a human house were kind of scary, but I just chalked it up to luck.

I pushed open the door to my bedroom and jumped on my bed. If there was one thing, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to live without it’s this bed. It had got to be the single softest, plushiest thing I had ever laid in. I nearly fell asleep after sitting in it for a few seconds when she showed it to me. Heck, I was about… to fall… asleep… ag-

“You ready to go?” Fleetfoot asked, peeking into my room.

“Wha? Oh yeah, I’m ready,” I said, sadly pulling myself from the grace of the twin-sized mattress. I walked out the door and followed Fleetfoot outside.

Fleetfoot told me that she had some errands she needed to run now that I was here, and I guess she didn’t want to leave me by myself. She said something about food, toiletries, and something else… oh well.





We were currently in downtown Cloudsdale, about a ten-minute walk from Fleetfoot’s place. Well, the name was very fitting, to say the least. Even when I thought my mind had already been blown, we walked into Cloudsdale city center. To say I was speechless was an understatement. Everything around me broke the laws of physics as I knew it. Not just small buildings floating on clouds, entire SKYSCRAPERS! The entire twenty-thirty-story buildings were floating in the sky, only held up by some clouds. It was utterly absurd, though the layout heavily reminded me of Chicago, though I only visited there a few times.

On the way here, though, I noticed a public library only a few blocks away from Fleetfoots house, how convenient, and made a mental note as that place would essentially be my only place to gain knowledge without others knowing. But as we continued on, I tried to remember every detail I could of this place. I had a feeling I was going to be on my own quite often.

Not too far past the library, we ate at a local diner on the outskirts of the city center, and boy, oh boy, did they have the best waffles ever! I felt like a kid as I smothered all three of my kid-sized waffles in syrup before eagerly scarfing them down. Well, I was technically a kid...

Back to the future, aside from all the stuff around me that would make Einstein cry, we had just left a convenience store and were on our way to our last stop.

“Where else are we going?” I asked, not really sure of what’s left to do.

“It’s a surprise!” She sang.

Even after only knowing Fleetfoot for a few days, I knew this was most likely going to be a ‘surprise,’ much to my dismay.

We walked by buildings that got shorter and shorter as we left the city center, but they were still more than a couple stories tall. Each storefront seemingly selling something completely unique. Heck, I even saw a store called Sofas & Quills not once but twice. They must be a chain store, but the shops seemed like quaint mom-and-pop shops more often than not.

We stopped in front of a reasonably large four-story red brick building, windows spaced evenly across the entire front wall with a bell tower on top. But the moment I read the title of the building, my heart stopped. ‘Cloudsdale Public Elementry,’ I wanted to scream. How could I, a grown adult, survive in a building with a bunch of kids! Pony kids at that.

“Aren’t you excited!” Fleetfoot exclaimed, “You’ll be able to make lots of friends and do other cool stuff!”

“I don’t wanna go to school again!” I wined. School was, and still is, one of the worst things I ever had to experience in my life, and now I had to do it again!

“Oh, don’t be a drama king; school wasn’t all that bad for me.”

“But-”

“No buts,” she cut me off, “Spitfire said she’d get on my flank if I didn’t get you into school right away, and you don’t want her on your flank.” Her eyes seemed to grow distant for a second, but she quickly snapped out of it.

“FFFFine,” I relented, knowing I wasn’t getting out of this anyway.

“That’s the spirit!” She said as we began walking towards the entrance.

We walked into the building and into a large hallway the shape of a T and took a quick left into the main office.

The sound of soft crying filled my ears, causing me to cringe. It was coming from a kid sitting in the far right corner, but I didn’t pay any mind. We approached the desk just to the left of the door with a receptionist busily doing paperwork, not noticing our approach.

“Excuse me?” Fleetfoot asked.

The receptionist jumped at our interruption but quickly gathered herself and said, “Oh my, I didn’t hear you come in. My apologies, I’m Cloudy Star; what can I help you with today?”

“I’m here to sign the little guy up for school,” Fleetfoot responded, pointing at me.

“Oh, that’s wonderful! You’ll love it here, trust me, this is where I attended when I was just a little filly! I’ll just need you to fill out some paperwork, and he’ll be enrolled.”

“Sounds good, just show me where to sign,” Fleetfoot answered.

The Cloudy Star dug around in her desk for a bit before popping back up with a small stack of papers. Fleetfoot shrunk a little when she saw how many papers there were, but she started, determined to finish it as quickly as possible.

I began thinking of all the things I would have to put up with before my train of thought was shattered by the sound of a sobbing child. I looked over and saw a pale yellow pony with sky blue hair sitting in the fetal position on a chair in the corner, dirt all over their one side.

I looked away but consistently found myself looking back over. While I couldn’t stand kids, I did have a soft spot for emotions, and the more they cried, the worse I began to feel.

I looked back over to Fleetfoot and saw that she was intently scribbling away on the papers and decided to get this kid to stop crying so I wouldn’t feel so bad.

“Are you alright?” I asked, walking up to the pony. But all I got in response was another muffled sob as they buried their head deeper into their arms. “You know, someone pushed me once; they thought it would be funny. I didn’t like it, but I didn’t know what else to do about it. But when my mom came home and found me covered in mud, she nearly blew her lid after I told her what had happened. I’ll never forget the look on his face when my mom had a talk with his mom; he knew he was doomed.” I chuckled as I reminisced on the memory. I stopped as I noticed the sobbing had weakened considerably. I looked over to see a pair of pale green eyes staring back at me.

“Di- did they ever p-push you again?” A feminine voice asked with shaky breaths.

“Oh no, the next day at school, he wouldn’t even get within five feet of me. Never had a problem with him again.” I chuckled. “What’s your name?” I asked, looking back over to them. 

“S-Sunny Breeze,” she stated softly.

“I’m Evan Tokarski,” I responded, which elected a small giggle.

“That’s a funny name,” she giggled.

I raised an eyebrow at that but realized that every pony I’ve met so far has a name that is an adjective except mine, which doesn’t really mean anything at all. I realized my name may cause me to stand out a bit, but it was far too late to do anything about it.

“Yeah, I guess it does sound kind of funny,” I said as I laughed a bit with her as her mood finally brightened.

“Whose class are you in? I’ve never seen you before.”

“I’m new here.”

“Oh, well, I’m in Mr. Mango’s class,” I had to hold back a laugh at that name. Who name’s their kid after a fruit? On second thought, this kid in front of me is named after the wind; names are wack here.

We were interrupted as a door opposite us opened, and a white pony stepped out, calling Sunny’s name.

“You’re pretty cool; wanna play together sometime?” She asked, hope filling her eyes.

“Sure,” I responded. I didn’t have the nerves to reject her as she seemed like the quiet, unpopular type to which I related heavily. I just couldn’t crush her like that without feeling the guilt for the rest of my life, but it did make me feel good when I saw the joy spread across her face when I accepted.

“We can play at recess when you come to school!” She eagerly said.

Her name was called again, causing her to stop and hop off the seat before walking toward the door, but not before giving me a wave back.

I smiled and waved back. Once she entered the room and the door closed, I leaned back. I felt… happy, something I had been lacking as of late.

I looked over towards Fleetfoot and saw that the stack of papers in front of her seemed to be bigger than before. How they had so much paperwork just to get me enrolled, I will never know. Fleetfoot looked like she was about to explode with frustration as the receptionist kept adding papers to the stack.

I laughed and looked back over toward the door Sunny had disappeared behind and smiled; I had made a friend.
> Chapter-5 School Days
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My slumber was broken by the rapid pounding of a hoof on my bedside. I could feel my brain bouncing around inside my head even as I buried it deeper into my pillow.

"Wakey wakey, sleepy head! Time for school!" Fleetfoot sang, her smooth voice finally pulling my head out from under my pillow.

I sat up and stretched all my limbs, each one seemingly sore in a different place from the workout Fleetfoot made me do yesterday. I rubbed the sand out of my eyes before brushing the foul taste out of my mouth.

I stared back at myself in the mirror as I brushed my teeth, the novelty of magnetic hooves never ceasing to amaze me. After spitting out the minty paste, I splashed water over my face to wash the remnants of last night's slumber off my face. The cold water made me shiver but roused my mind back to a primarily aware state. I dried myself off, taking one last look in the mirror.

Today was the first day of school, and while I absolutely dreaded school of any form on Earth, I had the minuscule hope that maybe a bunch of colored horse things would make my day less drab and life-sucking. I had to admit that the prospect of seeing Sunny piqued my interest. Kids are always brutally honest whether you like it or not, making her companionship very useful.

With that, the day was off. The walk to school was largely uneventful, though Fleetfoot made it well known how much nicer it would be if we could fly because I refused to get on her back and fall to my doom. But we eventually arrived at the school, kids of various ages and colors all saying their goodbyes to their parents before walking up the main steps and through the front doors.

"So this is where we split, kiddo. Hope you have a kick a-, cool day!"

"Thanks, see you later," I responded as I began walking towards the doors myself after giving her a wave.

As I redirected my attention to the environment around me, I noticed a few stares from other kids and parents. While I didn't do anything, to my knowledge, I just assumed they were just unfamiliar since I was a new student joining in the middle of the year. 

I entered the double doors and was greeted by a snow-white pegasus holding a clipboard in her wing. Her glasses sat on the bridge of her nose as her eyes scanned the paper before she looked up, a warm smile greeting me. 

"Hello there, mister, you must be," she scanned the paper until she reached what she was looking for, "Evan Tokarski, yes?"

"Yes, that would be me," I answered.

"Good, good. I can't wait for you to meet all of your new classmates." She motioned with her clipboard for me to follow. "We better get a move on; there are lots of new friends for you to make." She said before asking one of the other staff present to cover her for a moment.

We walked down the main corridor and around the wonderbolt statue. I had seen that statue when I first came to the school to get enrolled, but the awe and wonder that multiple kids had on their faces as they stared at the figure didn't escape my attention. It wasn't like this was a new installation or anything; these children seemed to have a genuine admiration for the wonderbolts. While I knew Fleetfoot was famous, its true scale had only recently begun to make itself apparent to me. I began to realize that Fleetfoot was a big card in my deck that I could play however I wanted.

I turned my attention back to the hallway, which wasn't too crowded, though we had to walk a bit closer to each other. Each wall was covered in various drawings and projects made by the children, with a door breaking the pattern every dozen feet or so. I took in the environment, the pictures, the multicolored floor, and the tack boards, all similar to what I remembered in grade school. It was so unbelievably identical, just like everything else in this world. It was as if you took Earth and plopped in a few talking horses.

The clop of her hooves slowed to a stop as we approached what was Mr. Mango's room, as indicated by the shiny gold placard next to the door.

"So, this is Mr. Mango's room. He will be your teacher for the year." She said as she turned to face me. "He is very nice, and I'm sure you'll grow to love him. But try to remember where we are because this is where you will be coming every morning. Just don't be afraid to ask somepony for help if you ever get lost, okay?"

“Okay, thank you,” I said, trying to memorize the layout of the hallway. While I wouldn't mind asking someone for directions, my worst fear as a child was walking into the wrong classroom only to get laughed into the next century.

"No problem, sweetie. Mr. Mango expects you, so just give him a holler, and he'll be happy to help." She finished and gave a small wave with her free wing before turning around and walking back down the hallway, her snow-white fur gradually disappearing in the mess of colors.

I turned my attention back to the propped door. My mind swam with worry as to what lay beyond. Children, while sometimes enjoyable, really could suck the life out of you if you're not careful. I also had no real social interaction with a child of similar age to mine other than Sunny. The thought of doing something that would socially out me was at the forefront of my mind. While I didn't really care about what any of them did, I needed them to help me find my place in this alien world.

I shook off my worries before walking into the classroom. It was a pale blue with a white tiled ceiling. The front of the room had a large chalkboard covered in drawings, along with a few other items. There were about twenty desks in pairs of two filling the room. I spotted Mr. Mango's desk in the back of the room, the aforementioned scribbling something on the various papers across his desk.

I walked across the room, noting that most kids hung around in groups of three or four. None seemed to notice me, their talking and laughter drowning out everything other than themselves.

I turned my attention back to where Mr. Mango sat before me, still deep in concentration.

“Uhm, hello?"

"Oh!" he snapped to attention before releasing his tension, "Why hello there, mister, you must be the new student I've heard so much about!"

“Yeah, that's me."

"Well, I'm thrilled to finally meet you. If you haven't heard, I'm Mr. Mango, and I'll be your teacher for the rest of the year." He said, holding his hoof out toward me.

I gave him a light hoof bump electing a smile from him. I had learned that you do hoof bumps and not shakes a few days prior when I met one of Fleetfoot's friends and tried to shake her hoof, causing them to ask me what I was doing. I asked, and they told me that you just bump it because, apparently, hoof shakes are a sign of affection, and I'd rather not proclaim my love toward my teacher on the first day of school.

"But first," he said, stopping me in my tracks, "since we are starting with math today, I need to know you're up to a second-grade level."

"I think I am," I said; as long as the math here wasn't some wonky pony math, I knew I'd be fine. I'm also assuming that second graders here aren't learning integral calculus or something.

"Let's just try a few questions real quick. What's twenty minus seven?"

“Thirteen"

"How about four times three?"

“Twelve."

"And six divided by two?"

“Three."

"Good, I think you'll be alright today. Class will begin shortly. Your seat is located just in the back." He pointed to the desk right in front of his own. I wasn't shocked that the desks near the teacher were empty, and while I didn't mind, I certainly would rather have one a little further away from the teacher's desk. Nothing ever good comes from sitting close to the teacher. But for all I knew, he never sat at his desk other than in the morning.

I shrugged off that train of thought before walking toward the desk and sliding off the blue wonderbolt saddle bags that Fleetfoot got me as a back-to-school present. I took a seat and saw my name written on a little name tag on the upper left of the desk. I looked at the seat to my right and saw that I was sitting next to Misty Sky. Sadly it wasn't Sunny, but I did spot her coloring on a piece of paper at her desk towards the front of the room. I was going to have at least lunch, if not recess, to talk to her and get to know her better, so as long as whoever this Misty Sky is isn't a complete nut job, I should be fine.

I sat at my desk and fiddled with my hooves as students continued to flow in. One by one, the desks began to fill, and students took their seats. Then I saw a pale blue filly with a dark purple mane walk into the room and in my direction. She had a pair of purple glasses adoring her face, along with braces of a matching hue.

Mr. Mango waved her over, and they talked just out of earshot, though I noticed more than a few glances thrown my way. It was apparent he was saying something about me. Good things, I hope.

"Hi, I'm Misty Sky, but you can call me Misty," She greeted, holding out a hoof to which I bumped before she sat down. She began pulling out a few supplies and folders when I noticed that nearly everything was wonderbolt-themed. Even the pencils each had a wonderbolt on them, and I almost laughed a little when I saw a pencil with Fleetfoot and her goofy smile.

"So, I see you're a fan of the wonderbolts. Have you ever met them?"

"No, I've never met any of them," she said, sinking a little, "but I know one day I'll be a wonderbolt myself and get to meet them all!" She exclaimed, reinvigorated.

"Do you go to their shows often?"

"I can't go, the tickets are too expensive. But sometimes I stand close to the stadium when they're in Cloudsdale, and I hear the announcer and even see them in the sky sometimes."

Dang, I was a huge sports fan on Earth and knew the feeling of wanting to be a professional athlete. I soon realized I would never have the body to be a pro athlete, though I still followed the local sports teams. I could barely afford tickets to the Eagles or the Phillies, but when I could, it was extraordinary. Some of my fondest memories were of my parents taking me to a Phillies game and getting a ball from one of the players. While I would love to show her to Fleetfoot, Fleetfoot would most likely rather me not bring home every wonderbolts fan I meet. 

While she seems nice, she is also a wild card. Of anything I have learned from my short time here, everyone seems way too nice. Like, way too nice. I have heard a few arguments between ponies and saw someone getting arrested. I was amazed when Fleetfoot took me around the city when I saw how clean and safe it was. Philly was a place where you risk stepping on a needle or getting mugged if you took a wrong turn.

“Umm, are you alright?" Misty asked, waving a hoof in front of my face.

"Oh, yeah, I'm alright, just lost in my thoughts," I responded, "what did you say?"

"Have you ever met the wonderbolts?"

"I've met a few of them, I was in the hospital, and they happened to be there visiting all the other kids there."

"Woah, I wish I was in the hospital," she said before hearing herself, "actually not really, but I wish I could meet them."

"Alright, class," Mr. Mango stated from the front of the room, "everyone take their seats and get out paper and something to write with."

"Hey," I nudged Misty, "can I borrow a pencil?" I asked; because of all the things Fleetfoot got me, there were no writing utensils in my bag.

“Sure, here you go!" She said, sliding the Fleetfoot pencil onto my desk. "Just make sure you give it back before the end of the day."

I laughed internally as I looked at the picture of Fleetfoot. She obviously didn't want to be there during this photoshoot, but she still looked funnier than all the others.

"All right, now let's get started on fractions!" He exclaimed, followed by a few groans. As much as I wanted this school to be different, it appeared to be the same as I remember. Yay.





I sat down with my lunch tray at the first open table I saw in the lunch room, the hay sandwich sliding apart. The lunch room was nothing special, with a food line at the back of the room with the rest filled with circular wood tables that could seat about six children.

The food looked just like school food too. While Fleetfoot was no chef, even her food looked significantly better than this. They still made my sandwich look depressing, which wasn't surprising. An orange is an orange, but the fact that they had chocolate milk weirded me out a bit. While I knew Fleetfoot had milk, it was almond milk. This tasted just like cow milk, and they said it was dairy. If ponies were sentient, were cows? What did-

My train of thought was interrupted by Misty sitting next to me, a similar-looking lunch sitting next to mine.

"Mr. Mango is sooo boring sometimes!" Misty stated, picking up her sandwich and taking a bite before pulling out a notebook filled with doodling.

"Tis the life of a school student," I responded, taking a bite of my sandwich. While I'm sure Mr. Mango is cool, math is math, and there is no way to make that exciting.

As I continued to munch on my sandwich, I thought about how basic everything would be in the following grade levels. If the system is the same here, as is everything else, I was in the second grade and had ten more years to go. Hopefully, I would be out of this place before then, but I knew deep down that there was a real possibility that I would be stuck here forever.

The lunch room continued to fill with the chatter of about a hundred other children enjoying their lunches. I drowned them all out except Misty until I felt someone shove Misty and me from behind.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" I said to the two colts that walked past. This caused them to stop and turn around, an evil smirk on their faces.

"I see the local wannabe has made a friend," the light gray colt uttered as he walked up and stuck his head between us. "I've never seen you around here before. You must be new."

“Yeah, so what."

"So, I'll let you off the hook this time, and out of the love of my own heart, I'll help you out a bit."

I raised an eyebrow; this help would not be very helpful.

"This little twerp here has got no hope of being a wonderbolt," he shoved himself onto the bench between us, knocking Misty's glasses off and into her food. "And you wouldn't want her to rub off on you, would you? End up a homeless pony living under a bridge, just like her?"

I was clenching my teeth so hard that they were about to shatter. I had no sympathy for those who prayed on the weak. My childhood friend had ended his own life because of bullying. These personalities had no place in my heart, and they never would.

"You better take that back right now…." I growled.

"Or what? I'm trying to keep you from ending up like her!" He took Misty's milk and dumped it all over her notebook, sitting on the table. "If anything, I'm doing you a favor, and you should be thank-" 

He never finished that sentence as I headbutt him square in the forehead causing him to fall off the bench, slowly getting back up.

I got up, ready to beat the crap out of that little brat, until I remembered that he had another friend. I looked around a bit before glancing behind me, only to see a pair of legs making their way toward my face.
> Chapter-6 Suspension
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I awoke on a stiff bed, the crinkly noise of paper greeting my ears as I tried to sit up. As I did, it felt like all the blood rushed out of my head as a pounding headache took over. My head felt like it was about to explode. I looked around and saw that I was in what looked to be the nurse's office, Fleetfoot, sitting in a chair on the other side of the room. She was currently staring at the ground with her foot tapping away.

"Fleetfoot?"  I spoke quietly, " Where am I?" 

"Oh my gosh, you're finally awake!"  She remarked as she stood up and hurriedly made her way over to my bedside.

"What happened?"  I questioned.

"I don't know. All I got was a call that you were involved in a fight and were currently unconscious. I was hoping you could answer that question." 

I suddenly remembered what had happened with Misty and the two colts. The irritation must have spread onto my face because Fleetfoot took notice.

"You better have a good explanation for this. It's only your first day!"  She scolded, though she still sounded more worried than anything.

"These two colts were making fun of my friend, calling her a nopony and saying I would end up living under a bridge if I talked to her, and then l-"  I informed her about my new friend, the bullies, and everything that I could remember. I was silenced before finishing as Fleetfoot put a hoof over my mouth. She looked down for a second in thought before pulling me into a hug, causing me to stiffen a bit in surprise.

"While what you did may not have been the right way to handle the situation, you were looking out for others, and I will never fault you for that."  She looked me in the eyes, a caring expression looking back at me, " But I can't let anything happen to you! Spitfire placed you under my care, and I will ensure that I give you the best care possible. If anything were to happen to you, I don't know what I'd do with myself." 

"It's not your fault Fleetfoot,"  I said, feeling a little guilty. At the end of the day, the way I acted would most likely affect Fleetfoot, and while I have no regrets for what I did to that colt, I still don't want to hurt Fleetfoot. After all, she is the one giving me shelter and food out of the graciousness of her own heart.

"Just promise me you won't do anything like that again. You can always come to talk to me, and I will handle it. Promise me that you'll leave all that up to me." 

"I promise, and thank you." 

Fleetfoot told one of the others that I was awake before coming back and standing next to me for about five to ten minutes. A black pony with marble hair and a chalkboard on their flank walked in before long, holding a clipboard.

"How are you feeling?"  He asked as he walked up to my bedside.

"My head hurts a bit, but I feel okay." 

"That's good; you gave us quite the scare when you were brought here. Thankfully the nurse assured us that you were just fine."  He then looked at his clipboard and sighed before looking back toward me. " Now, we have to address the elephant in the room. While what we've heard was that you were doing was right, we can not excuse the use of violence in this school. You must remember that teachers everywhere are willing to help you, and there is no need to resort to petty violence." 

"But he was-" 

" It doesn't matter,"  he cut me off, " this school enforces a zero-tolerance violence policy. That means you and the other colt will be suspended for the remainder of the week. We can't make any exceptions." 

"But why ca-" 

"Ah ah,"  he cut me off again, " I understand you were just standing up for yourself. But like I said, zero tolerance means zero tolerance, end of discussion." 

I slumped over in defeat; zero tolerance policy was some of the dumbest crap I had ever had the pleasure of experiencing. I could have been getting stabbed, and they still would have suspended me. I didn't really care what the school thought; Fleetfoot seemed to understand, which was good enough for me. As long as I keep her happy, I have a better chance of getting out of here.

"Now that we've worked that out, you have someone to apologize to." 

The colt from the lunch room was called into the room, entering with his buddy trailing behind him.

I watched them like a hawk, my brow furrowing the closer they got. Each step closer made me want to cave in their puny little faces even more. They eventually stopped right in front of me. I was pissed at both of them, but the colt who mouthed off had my attention.

We stared at each other, ages passing without a sound. It was like an old western showdown, with whoever dared give in being the loser.

"So,"  the principal started, breaking the silence, " I want you all to apologize to each other, starting with you,"  He said, pointing at me.

I was pissed as I saw a tiny smirk emerge on his face, though I didn't lose my composure.

"I'm sorry for what I did to you both,"  I growled, my expression never faltering.

"We're sorry for hurting you,"  they both said, each returning the gesture.

Our eyes didn't break apart until he turned around to leave the room. I knew those two would be a prick in my side for a while, but I would return the favor. As much as I hated being angry at someone, I had no sympathy for those two and didn't even know their names.

My eyes fell as I let out a sigh. Fleetfoot noticed this and gave me a reassuring pat on the back, a warm smile being her only remark.

I smiled back. She really did have a reassuring smile.





I sat at the kitchen table, the sounds of a sizzling pan and the clicking of a timer filling the ambiance. I now had a pile of homework, Mr. Mango being gracious enough to give Fleetfoot everything I would be missing before we left. Fleetfoot made me carry the stack of papers back and said that was my punishment. Apparently, she had been a troublemaker herself, and though she condemned my actions, she admitted that, in the end, it was the right thing to do.

I had also tried to find out what happened to Misty, but all I got was a "she's doing fine"  from the principal. , On the other hand, I bumped into Sunny on the way out. She came into the nurse's office for a cut she got during recess while I was about to leave. We talked for a little and agreed to meet at the center of Cloudsdale central park on Wednesday, two days from now.

"How you doing over there, sport?"  Came Fleetfoot shortly followed by a crash and several expletives.

"Uhm, are you okay over there?" 

"Sorry, just pretend you didn't hear any of that. But dinner might be a little later than expected."  She chuckled a bit, more out of emotional pain from the half-hour of cooking lost, " Finish what you're doing and be a good colt and set the table." 

"Alright,"  I said back before turning back to the math paper resting in front of me. I quickly filed in the remaining few division problems before dropping my pencil in relief. Hand cramps, hoof cramps, in this case, were still a thing here as well.

As soon as I got home from school, I sat down and nearly finished the entire week's worth of work after only about two hours. About halfway through, I realized I would have significant problems with two subjects, specifically, science and history.

I had already given up on history, but science was something else. There were a few everyday science things, like what is the solid state of water, but other questions made absolutely no sense. Like, what the heck is the physical representation of magic? After seeing this, I asked Fleetfoot to take me to the library tomorrow, to which she agreed. I would not only need to do some research to finish this homework, but it would also give me an excuse to learn more about this place I was in. The library would be the best place to find anything; in my case, I needed everything.

I grabbed my papers and balanced them on my back before making my way towards the stairs to my room.

I plopped the papers down in the completed stack in the far corner of my room. I sat down on my bed for a minute and looked around. I made the palace reasonably cozy, with a wonderbolts poster hanging across my bed, a few plants on the windowsill, and a poster signed by the other Wonderbolts above my bed. It wasn't much, but it was a start. I was in it for the long haul, though not if I could help it.

I broke out of my stupor, hopped off the bed, and went down the hallway. Before I could go far, I noticed that Fleetfoot's door was open a little. While I respect privacy, especially when asked explicitly, I was suspicious of Fleetfoot as she had told me never to go in her room without her permission. This wasn't what worried me, though. It was the practically threatening demeanor she had when she said it. It was out of the ordinary, that's for sure, and I have to be careful. After all, I was living with a stranger I had only met a couple of weeks ago. Not getting murdered was my top priority.

I looked down the hallway, and the sounds of Fleetfoot humming along with a pot stirring met my ears. I lifted my hooves and planted them as lightly as I could. I slowly made my way towards her room, cautious that she could climb the stairs any moment.

"Food's ready!"  She shouted, nearly causing her to jump into the ceiling.

I hesitated and glanced at the door. While I would like to know what Fleetfoots had going on, I knew that if she ever found out, she would never trust me again. Ultimately, I decided that having Fleetfoot was too valuable of an asset to risk throwing away. I would be back, though. Just a matter of when the circumstances demand it.

"Okay, I'm coming!"  I hollered back a second later as I trotted down the steps.

I greeted her in the kitchen as I grabbed our plates and silverware, I tried to look at what she had made, but she blocked my sight of the pan. She liked to play a little game where I couldn't see what she was making until it was on the plate in front of me. All because I refused to eat a grass salad I saw her preparing on the second day I was here. While I had eaten plants before as a pony, I refused to eat grass because, in my eyes, I would be throwing away the last of my humanity. So now I have to smell what she's making or try to sneak a glimpse while she's not paying attention.

I set the table, pulled out one of the white chairs opposite where Fleetfoot usually sat, and plopped my behind on it.

A short while later, Fleetfoot arrived with a pot in her mouth, its aroma radiating throughout the kitchen and causing my eyes to flutter. Whatever she made today smelled exceptionally exquisite.

She tilted her head and poured out a sizeable portion of what appeared to be a tofu stir fry. It was perfectly cooked to a golden brown, the sauce permeating all the vegetables and tofu to perfection.

I waited for Fleetfoot to prepare her own plate and take her seat before digging in. And was it ever worth the wait! I nearly moaned at the taste of the vegetables, catching myself and shoveling another forkful into my mouth. While Fleetfoot typically cooked dinner, she really outdid herself on this one. Most of the time, she would make a simple stew or a few sandwiches. Yet, another time she made a mouthwatering tuna casserole. She told me that pegasi eat fish sometimes to help with bones or something and that I didn't have to eat it if I didn't want to. But by golly, was that the best casserole ever.

I returned to the food in front of me, nearly all gone, scraping the rest into my muzzle. I scooped the last of it into my mouth before leaning back in my chair with a sigh. I looked up and saw Fleetfoot with a smile, her plate still half full.

" Guess you liked it, huh?"  She asked with a little laugh.

"That… was… amazing!"  I proclaimed before settling back down. I began to notice just how much like a home-cooked meal this was, and it reminded me of that. Its taste became bitter as it reminded me of just how far away from home I was. I felt a small hole open up in my heart, my longing to be home trying to pull its way through. Fleetfoot must have noticed my demeanor change as she spoke up quickly.

"Hey buddy,"  she calmly began, catching my attention, " I just want you to know that you can trust me with anything. While I don't know what you've gone through, I know that going through life alone can be scary. Remember that no matter what's going on, just come talk to me, and I'll be all ears, no questions asked. Okay?" 

I stared at my plate, my mind a mess. I knew I had to accept that I was here right now and that there was nothing I could do. No amount of wishing in the universe would send me back home. I was all alone, and my fate was in my own hands. If I was going to get out of here, some help would be ideal after all.

"Okay, I'll remember that Fleetfoot,"  I responded, looking back into her deep magenta eyes. I saw the pain, the emotions, and the triumphs. She had frankly been through it all.

"Thank you,"  I said, a second later electing another smile from her.

"I'll clean up down here,"  she said a few moments later, " if you're done, you can go relax." 

"Thanks,"  I said, sliding off my chair and pushing it in before heading back to my room.

While climbing the stairs, I felt that I was physically an alien, but mentally, I sensed I had moved a little closer to home.





I heard the familiar beeping of my alarm clock pierce my skull. Of course, it was Monday, why wouldn't it be!

I fumbled with the cheap plastic clock beside my bed, face still buried in my pillow. It continued to mock me before finally knocking it off the table.

I groaned before sitting up, a yawn filling the air, rubbing the dirt out of my eyes. I stood up, stretched a bit, and headed over to my dresser, grabbing a new shirt and pair of shorts. I didn't usually dress this casually, but today would be a chill day at the hangar. I felt my mind ease a little as I remembered that, not having to go to work on a Monday, what could be better? The boys and I were going to take a little flight in our planes, land, get lunch somewhere unique, and come home.

I stretched my arms and legs, cracked my knuckles, grabbed my comb, and began combing my hair.

I walked over to the stand-up mirror in the opposite corner of my room to check my hair. I still wanted to look good, after all.

I dropped my comb as I walked in front of the mirror. The reflection that stared back at me was not my own but that of a tiny white horse with dark blue hair and stubby wings. It was something straight out of a cartoon. Its eyes stared back at me like a deer caught in someone's headlights.

I rubbed my eyes, my reflection doing the same, to ensure I saw this right. But when I looked back, the same sight greeted me, causing me to take a step back out of fear.

I began to wave my arms around, jump up and down, and even do a little spin. My mind began to ponder as I performed these actions when the reflection did everything identically but in quadruped form. What I was looking at was impossible. All I could do was stare wide-eyed at what I was seeing.

I felt my mind begin to blur. It felt like my reflection was now a different entity staring right back at me. Each question that flew through my mind only led to a hundred more. I knew this wasn't real. How could it be? I must be going crazy.

I decided to return to my bed, but when I turned around, I gasped when I saw that my bed was completely white and made out of… clouds?

I backed up in dread, bumping into the mirror, causing it to come crashing down… only it didn't shatter and landed with a poof. I looked down and saw I was also standing on fluffy white clouds.

With every glance I took around the room, something changed. The walls. My pillows. The dresser. Everything slowly began to turn into a fluffy white cloud, my eyes betraying me the more I tried to comprehend.

After seemingly everything had turned into a white puff, I tried to grab onto my fleece blanket, pulling it in tight to myself. It was the last thing in my room that wasn't a pearly white fuzz. I hoped to god that I could protect what little was left, even if it was a blanket, from doing the impossible.

But the moment I blinked, the blanket fell apart in my arms, white puffs of cloud floating off of me and onto the ground. I reached out, trying to pull the cloud back in, only for it to slip between my fingers and continue to float away from me.

"What's happening!?"  I cried out. All of my most prized possessions were disintegrating before my eyes. But what could I do?

I began to feel my eyes water out of frustration, uncertainty, and grief. Only when I tried to wipe away my tears, all I saw was a furry white stump. Continuing further down greeted me with the sight of the same creature I saw in the mirror, only it was me. I was that creature.

I suddenly found myself floating in an empty void, nothing as far as my eyes could see. My body floating throughout the endless abyss of the universe. My mind suddenly ran blank, all of my previous thoughts and worries vanishing.

I could feel that I was not alone, as if I was in a stadium full of people I could not see or hear. It was unnaturally quiet, yet I felt I was being observed and scrutinized from every angle.

I saw a pinhole of light off in the distance, slowly growing as it appeared to approach me. I stared at it, with nowhere else to go, before it slowly encompassed my entire body.





I flung the sheets off my body and onto the floor, my body jolting upright. I panted, a bead of sweat falling down my face. I quickly regained my composure and looked around my dark room only to see everything was made of clouds because I lived with Fleetfoot in a cloud. Everything was fine. But my mind felt otherwise.
> Chapter-7 Out on the Town
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I looked up at the building tower above me. Its structure reminded me of old greek architecture with all the pillars and whatnot. The building also is home to the second-largest source of information behind their national archives. It certainly was a building deserving of such knowledge, knowledge that I would soon consume.

Fleetfoot and I walked through the large white doors and into the central atrium, a large, round circulation desk greeting us, bordered by towering bookshelves on either side. The scale of the library left me speechless. Its endless expanses of bookshelves never seemed to end, each covered in thousands of books only to end and be followed up by another row of shelves. This was only the first floor too. The second level was only about half the size but equally as impressive. I sure had my work cut out for me. I also realized I should have had a slightly better idea of what I wanted to search for, or else I would be reading everything in here until the end of time. 

"I'm going to be looking around in the aerospace section. Do you want to come with me?" Fleetfoot asked. 

"I'm going to explore other areas if that's alright."

"That's fine with me. Come meet me over at aerospace when you want to leave."

"Alright, see you soon," I responded, knowing darn well that I would be in a universe of my own for possibly the next several hours.

I didn't even notice that my legs had begun to move down the aisle. I quickly began scanning each sign at the top of every shelf. Cooking, art, engineering, and dozens of other categories passed before I stopped in front of the aisle I was after.
Before me stood hundreds of books on the history of Equestria, I would never be able to read a fraction of these if even if I spent the rest of my days reading.

 As I strolled down the aisle, I noticed a bright yellow cover that stood out from all the others, and walking up to it, I saw that it read The Complete History of Equestria… For Featherbrains! It even that a little sketch of a pegasus on the front. This seemed like a good starting place, it’s not like I had anything else in mind. I pulled it down from the shelf, placed it on my back, and strode over to one of the reading areas.

The book fell off my back with a thud as it landed on the small coffee table in front of me, causing a few of the other ponies around me to glance up before diving back into their books. Sitting on the ground, I flipped the book open to the first chapter.





I blinked a few times, my eyes feeling like they would fall out of their sockets if I had to read one more word. It had easily been two hours since I had started reading about the history of Equestria. Still, two hours of constant reading had taken a toll. I needed a little break, and I saw a little coffee shop near the front of the library. I decided I would go ask Fleetfoot if I could get a drink as well as if I could check out this book. I saw that I was on page eighty and closed the book, placing it on my back before I went. First, I had to find out where the aeronautics section was.

As I walked back towards the central aisle, I saw a little map on the side of one of the shelves. I walked up to it and saw a flat layout of the library, and it looked entirely handmade. It was hard to make out the words through cursive writing, but I could read them. After a few minutes of deciphering the map, I grunted in frustration as I had yet to find what I was looking for.

I sighed in frustration and turned around, heading toward the circulation counter. I decided to save myself the hassle and ask someone where the aeronautics section was.

I strode up to the counter, a peach-colored pony scribbling away on a piece of paper, paying me no mind. I coughed a bit, getting their attention.

"Wh-" she stuttered before spotting me, "oh, I'm sorry. Do you need help with something, mister?" She asked.

"Yeah, do you know where the aeronautics section is?"

"Yes, I do. The entire second floor is dedicated to aeronautics. Is that all you need?"

"Yes, thank you," I responded before turning around and heading back toward that map.

I walked back up to the map and looked at the outline of the second floor. I had failed to notice that the entire floor was labeled as aeronautics. I had been looking at the aisles. Looking at the chart, I realized there at least a hundred aisles on each side, each one possibly containing Fleetfoot.

"Dang, she at least could have given me a general area," I grumbled, walking toward the large staircase further down the aisle. It would certainly take a while to find her unless I was very fortunate.

I climbed up the stairs, reaching the top and gazing upon the task at hand. I sighed before quickly making my way down the rows, casting a glance down each side as I quickly trotted past. Ponies filled some of the aisles, but I still could have spotted Fleetfoot. However, I felt my brow furrowing as I continued to not see any signs of Fleetfoot. Each aisle, book after book, and yet no sign of Fleetfoot.

Once I reached the end, I prayed that she just happened to be in the last aisle, but I groaned when she didn't appear like she was supposed to. So, I hastily trotted back the way I came, thinking I may have just missed her. But by the time I returned to the other side, Fleetfoot had still evaded me.

If Fleetfoot wasn't here, maybe she had just wandered off to another section, I thought. So I decided I would just sit in one of the areas in the open near the entrance so she would see me if she came looking.

As I descended the stairs, I glanced out the large windows above the stairs and spotted… Fleetfoot? She appeared to be headed toward the entrance to the library, causing me to quicken my pace and make my way in the direction of the entrance.

I hurriedly bounced down the stairs and trotted around the circulation desk and toward the front door, where I saw Fleetfoot signing something for someone before she turned and spotted me.

"Oh," she jumped, "hey there, buddy, you startled me!"

"Where were you?" I asked as I walked up to her.

"Well, I-"

"Hey! Did you check that book out!?" Shouted one of the librarians, causing me to notice the yellow book, still balanced on my back.

"Sorry, just give us a second," I said back, redirecting my attention to Fleetfoot.

"Well," Fleetfoot continued, "as I was saying, I just needed to run an errand real quick since we were in the area."

"I thought I lost you. I looked in the aeronautics section and couldn't find you!" I quipped back, frustrated that she couldn't have at least told me.

"I would never leave you. I came back didn’t I?" She motioned to herself as a matter of factly, "anyways, you're a brave little colt. I knew you'd be fine here for a little on your own. But I am sorry, I still should have told you." She said, pulling in for a little hug, which I embraced, although somewhat forced.

As Fleetfoot freed me from her embrace, I stepped back and saw her looking into my eyes. She really was sorry, although nearly all these ponies had cute eyes that did that. Though Fleetfoot seemed more genuine. Her body language and her attitude showed she really cared.
"Do you still want that book?" She asked, "I have a library card and can check it out for you." She then pulled a small, white, rectangular card from her turquoise saddle bags. I didn't even realize she had saddlebags on the way here.

"Sure, I would like to read more of this," I said as we walked back over to the circulation counter, the librarian giving me a glare to which I could only sheepishly smile back at.

"Was there anything else you wanted to do today?" Fleetfoot asked as she slid her library card to the librarian.

I stared into space for a few seconds, "Could we go to the Wonderbolt store?"

"Why do you want to go there? You got one standing right in front of you!" She exclaimed, standing in a stoic pose, her features faltering a few seconds later, followed by her laughs.

"Well, it's not for me…." I began, "you see, right before I punched that kid, he poured my friend's milk all over her Wonderbolt notebook. I thought it would be nice if I got her a new one. I was the reason the bully came up to us anyway."

"That sounds like a great idea. They give us a steep discount on our merch anyway, so maybe we can get a few extra goodies too." She replied, causing me to smile.

It was pretty evident that Misty didn't come from a particularly wealthy family. Her school supplies showed years of wear. On top of that, she only had the bare minimum. Heck, she even got the free school lunch, and that stuff is essentially sludge. Even the sandwich was only a few bits extra.

The librarian finished scribbling on the little card in the back of the book before sliding it across the table along with Fleetfoot's library card. And before long, we were headed to the Wonderbolt store.

The library was right in downtown Cloudsdale, and enormous buildings rose up into the sky on either side of the building. Its seemingly old aesthetic was very different from the modern design of the skyscrapers. I wondered if they still called them skyscrapers even though they were floating in the sky. A question I would never get answered.

Fleetfoot and I walked down the sidewalk, one of the few non-cloud surfaces. Pegasi seemed to fly over sky where the road should be as if they were in their own little mobiles, obeying traffic lights and other signs floating in the sky. I would never get over the sheer absurdity I was experiencing, but I liked that in some ways.

As we passed storefront after storefront, we finally came across a large glass storefront with the Wonderbolts emblem front and center. It was a massive, two-story store filled with seemingly everything and anything they could slap a logo onto. It was like those stores you would see at NFL stadiums. Hopefully, this place was less grossly overpriced.

Fleetfoot and I walked through the revolving door and into the store, only getting a few steps before nearly every pony seemed to turn and stare in our direction. Oh boy, I thought to myself as I realized that a Wonderbolt had just walked into a store centered around admiring them.

"Go pick out what you want to get your friend and meet me by the checkout when you're done." Fleetfoot hastily said to me as the crowd began to close in. "Get a few things for yourself too!" And with that, she shoved me away just as a mass of ponies engulfed her.

I looked back at the crowd gathered around her. I even spotted one holding a little flag with Fleetfoot's cutie mark.

I gazed upon the wonder that they had as they kept crowding around Fleetfoot. I wondered what it must be like. Pretty cool, but I could see how it's annoying. According to these ponies, I was living the dream.

I snapped out of my little daydream, turning around and walking down the central aisle.

On either side of me was row after row filled with merchandise. I was currently in the jersey and uniform section. Various blue and yellow jerseys adorned with the names of the Wonderbolts went by. I stopped and checked the price on one and saw that it was several hundred bits. I was still getting familiar with bits, but I         knew that was absurd. Some things continued to hold true to Earth standards.

I quickly passed this area, making my way into the accessories section. That is just what I was looking for.

I trotted past a few tables of various nick-nacks, ignoring the cheap garbage and making my way toward the stationeries. 

I stood in front of the towering shelves, each covered in every conceivable stationary item that they could fit a Wonderbolts logo on. I quickly realized that I would be confined to the lower levels as I was short and could not fly, and with the top shelf being about eight feet high, I knew I'd be best not trying to climb the frame.

I scanned the shelves within a distance, looking for something to get for Misty. Not too long after, a bright blue notebook with the standard Wonderbolt logo caught my attention.

Trotting up to where it lay on the shelf, I examined it and saw it was a standard notebook. Perfect. I quickly grabbed it and balanced it on my back, making sure it wouldn't slide off the first step I took.

I continued down the aisles, grabbing a few items here and there. Another notebook, a case of pencils, a folder, and a water bottle. By the time I grabbed the water bottle, I had realized there was no way I would balance it on my back without causing everything else to come toppling over.

Thinking back to my Tetris days, I gave it my best thought, but I just decided to carry the bottle in my mouth. I was going to buy it anyway, so what difference does it make?

I soon found my way back to the front of the store, items in tow. I saw that they had put Fleetfoot behind the customer service counter while Fleetfoot still greeting and taking pictures with fans.

I trotted over to the counter, deviating toward the side that was significantly less crowded. I placed the water bottle on the ground and shouted Fleetfoot's name.

Despite the crowd around her, my voice caught her attention, causing her to look in my direction and smile when she saw me. After announcing that she had to go, she made her way over to me.

"So, you find everything you wanted to get?" She asked, pushing through the little door and from behind the counter.

"Yeah, I got everything, but can you carry this for me?" I asked, pointing to the bottle.

"Sure, but we better hurry. I don't know how much longer the staff can keep the crowd at bay," She said as she gave a side glance toward the ponies trying to make their way over to us, only being held back by a few store workers.
We hurriedly made our way to the checkout and paid, only escaping the store with a few moments to spare.

They tried to follow us, but after a few blocks, most either gave up or got caught in the general foot traffic of Cloudsdale. It appeared that only the most dedicated fans spent their bits at that store because nobody else seemed to pay us any mind outside of there.

"So, how much was all of that?" I asked as we paced along with the crowd.

"About a hundred and fifty bits," She responded nonchalantly.

I winced at that number, and to think that was with her discount as a Wonderbolt. That merchandise is just legalized robbery.

"Don't worry about it," She said, seeing my response, "I make more than enough bits as it is."

"It's not just that," I responded, "but I can only imagine how Misty felt when her stuff was destroyed."

"Yeah, we have been trying to lower the price of our merchandise, but the company that makes the stuff put a loophole in the counteract that gives us little control over the price." She got closer to me, "But if I'm being honest, I've stolen probably a few thousand bits worth of merchandise and given it away."

"Really?!" I laughed, "And you don't get in trouble?"

"They forget that we have free reign of the entire stadium whenever we want," She said with a sly demeanor, "even if they did catch me, I would just pay for it."

I laughed at how Fleetfoot was technically a criminal. Still, I knew that if she hadn't been caught already that nobody really cared.





I sat at the dinner table, and a steamy hot plate of fried alfalfa sat before me. I dug in and was rewarded with another delectable sensation of Fleetfoot's cooking.

It still felt weird to me that I was eating alfalfa which is just animal feed on Earth. I knew I was an animal now, though humans are animals too. Still, this is another one of those things that reminded me of how out of place I was.

"You like it?" Fleetfoot said, taking a bite of her own food.

"Yeah, I love it!" I responded truthfully.

We had come back from downtown after the merchandise store. Fleetfoot had explained how she loved her fans but wished that ponies wouldn't treat her as some high and mighty celebrity all the time. She hoped I would see her as an average pony, to which I agreed. Fleetfoot was more remarkable than average, being a celebrity. Still, I had no genuine appreciation for her celebrity status as I had only briefly met her and this world.

I quickly scooped the rest of the food into my mouth. I placed the empty plate and silverware in the dishwasher, before making my way toward my room.

“Goodnight Fleetfoot,” I said as I walked up the stairs.

“Goodnight buddy, don’t let the cloudbugs bite!” She said back as I walked into my room just before closing the door.

I fell onto my bed, letting out a deep sigh of relief. It was nice to finally lay in bed, after walking around all day I was pooped.

I realized I forgot to brush my teeth, but didn’t care as I felt that the wonderful embrace of sleep was close.





I looked around, the ethereal abyss of space greeting me. Every direction I looked was filled with the same vastness. My body seemed to be floating, nothing holding me down.

Suddenly I felt my hooves touch down on an irregular surface, and looking around, I saw a field of gray. Craters dotted the horizon, but other than that, everything else was a fine gray powder. I still felt strange, as if gravity didn't fully grasp me. I bounced around a little, finding that I had jumped higher than I should have been able to.

The ground around my hooves poofed out from under me as I landed softly, the dust lingering in the air. I looked around again, only to spot a dark silhouette in the distance. I blinked, only for it to disappear.

I shrugged and turned around, only to bump into a large mass. Looking up greeted me with a sight of luscious, purple fur, accompanied by gray shoes and a dark purple tiara. The pony easily stood twice my height, casting an unreadable gaze upon me.

We seemed to stare at each other for hours, not a sound or disturbance. Her teal eyes stared back into mine, her very essence seemingly piercing my very being. I returned the stare but was met with a stone wall of emotionless eyes.

Finally, the pony seemed to visibly relax a little. Her chest unpuffed slightly, a less judgemental and warm, though still cautious, expression adorning her face.

"Thou art a mysterious one…" she whispered to herself, causing me to raise an eyebrow. "What is thy name?" She asked, intrigued by something.

"Uhm, Evan?" I hesitantly responded. I just had a staredown with this pony, a pony I felt like I recognized. I knew I knew this pony, but it was as if something was stopping my mind from grasping the memories associated with this pony. I had never felt so sure of something I didn't know before.

"Evan… quite a peculiar name, alas, I have heard thousands more so." She said as she stared off into the vast expanse of space.

I tapped my hoof, looking around in every direction. Nothing changed as I looked around, only seeing more and more of the endless gray expanse as I looked around.

I stopped in place, my body freezing as I looked up. In the sky was a floating blue and green orb. It was Earth. Only, it wasn't Earth. The continents looked… off. It was familiar, yet different enough that it was clearly different.

"Thou hooves are on a surface upon which nopony but I have stood upon." Came the dark pony.

Realization dawned on me. I was on the moon. How am I alive? How did I get up here? How did I… and a thousand more question rang through my head.

"Thou art dreaming, young one," She said, seemingly pulling my thoughts out of my mind.

She shushed me as I opened my mouth to ask more questions before responding, "I have but one question; what art thou?"
"I am a pony," I responded simply.

"Do not lie to me," She responded sternly. "I can sense thy emotions in thy dreams. If thou art a threat to Equestria, I will give you one chance to admit thy guilt and surrender peaceable."

"I'm not dangerous…" I stuttered. How had she known? She didn't know what I was but knew if I was lying. I wasn’t dangerous. Maybe she got lucky.

But she is… in my dream. She's just a figment of my imagination. Of course, she knew everything. She was just a figment of my mind.

"I am not of thy own creation," She stated, interrupting my thought.

How had she… but she's me. Is she? How would I-





My eyes sprang open, searching the environment around me. I was in my room. No gray dust, no dark pony, not a single thing was out of place. Actually, the only thing out of place was me. I was lying on the floor next to my bed. I slowly felt my breathing begin to slow. I was in my room at Fleetfoot's house. Nobody knew anything. It was all a dream.

I slowly got to my hooves and slid back under my blanket.

It was all a dream. Nobody knows anything.

Nobody knows…
> Chapter-8 Central Park
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I slowly stirred my soggy cereal, resting my head on my hoof as I gazed into the milky mixture. Its wavy patterns flowed by as I stared at it thought.

“Something on your mind kiddo?” Fleetfoot asked, between bites of her own food.

“I just had a strange dream is all,” I muttered, the lanky silhouette of the dark pony flashing through my mind.

“Well, did Luna help you out?” Fleetfoot questioned, breaking me out of my stupor.

“Who is that?” I asked, looking up from my bowl.

“You don’t know who Luna is?” Fleetfoot asked with a tilt of her head, perplexed that someone apparently had never heard of this Luna.

“Nope, I’ve heard the name a few times but I have no clue who that is,” I responded with a shrug.

“I can’t believe you don’t know who Luna is, she’s one of the princesses of Equestria!” Fleetfoot exclaimed.

“Is she the white one with rainbow hair?” I asked, I had seen a crudely drawn picture of a ‘princess’ at school, though I didn’t know who it was.

“No, that’s Celestia. Luna is the dark purple one, dark mane, slightly shorter.”

As Fleetfoot explained Luna, my breathing started to quicken slightly. Every description she was giving matched up to the pony I had seen in my dreams, and that pony wasn’t happy to see me.

“So, she’s nice right?” I asked with an uneasy chuckle.

“Oh yeah, I’ve had to do a few Wonderbolt things with her and she seems nice.” Fleetfoot shrugged. “She’s a princess, after all, they’re all nice.”

I didn’t know what to think of her. It was pretty clear that she knew I was hiding something, and someone knowing my secret was not a good thing… or a bad thing for that matter. Ponies had been nothing but nice to me since I arrived  (mostly), yet I would rather not risk it. If Luna, one of the country's leaders, had acted with hostility who knew what the other princess would do? But Fleetfoot said she was nice….

“I need to read more up on them,” I thought to myself, I was getting too many conflicting signals on what to think of Luna. I was still in the before common era part of my history book, surely they would show up at some point soon.

“Well, that’s good,” I said with a sigh, staring back down at my cereal.

“Why’s that?” She asked, mouth full of cereal.

“Oh, no reason,” I said, playing it off, Fleetfoot not seeming to care much more.

With my mind now filled with even more questions, I proceeded to wolf down the rest of my breakfast to distract myself. We were going to the park today to meet with Sunny after all. I knew I could use a day of fun, I couldn’t say I’ve had fun recently.

Fleetfoot and I cleaned up the kitchen before we headed out, I was making sure to do my part around the house. Even just a little made me feel slightly less guilty about eating Fleetfoot’s food and using her home.

Before long, I was on Fleetfoot’s back flying through the sky. Well, more like riding through the sky on a pegasus. The cool morning air flowed through my mane as we jetted through the sky toward our destination.

We filled the time primarily with stories told by Fleetfoot about her shenanigans in the Wonderbolts including but not limited to, pranking Soarin, and a lot of pranking Soarin. She and Spitfire seemed to really have it out for the guy.

As we approached the park, I couldn’t believe how big it was. For a floating city, I didn’t think they would sacrifice that much space for a park but I was wrong. It was a rectangle about a thousand yards by three hundred yards, covered in hundreds of trees and various small bodies of water. Cobbled paths snaked their way through the foliage, each one taking a unique path through the park. While it was no central park, it was still pretty cool.

I could see dozens of ponies going about their day. Their colorful fur coats contrast against the green grass making them easy to spot and follow.

We slowly descended toward a large open field in the center of the park, a stone statue of the princesses marking the middle of the park.

I felt my face hit the back of Fleetfoot’s head as we touched down, quickly spitting out some of her hair as we came to a stop.

“Meet me back here in two hours, that sounds good?” Fleetfoot asked as I hopped off her back, stretching my legs as I felt my blood rush back to my limbs.

“That sounds good, see ya later!” I waved, Fleetfoot waving back as she quickly took off into the sky and out of sight.

While I had begun to realize that ponies were generally nice than people, I was still surprised that Fleetfoot would leave me alone in a park for a few hours. Maybe these ponies were nice than I thought…

With a shrug, I redirected my attention to the area around me. Searching for a little yellow pegasus, though I quickly spotted a yellow filly sitting under a tree about twenty yards away. I quickly realized it was Sunny and began making my way over.

Her ears perked up as I approached, putting down whatever it was that was in her hooves as she looked to see who it was.

“Oh hey, Evan!” She lit up, waving at me.

“Hey Sunny, what are you doing?” I asked as I approached her and saw that she was sitting across from an equivalently yellow unicorn with a large stack of cards between them. The unicorn gave me a little wave as I approached.

“Me and my sister are playing Love! The gathering, do you wanna play?” She asked, motioning to another smaller deck of cards next to hers.

“Sure, but I don’t know how to play,” I said, taking a seat next to Sunny.

“I’ll show you,” she said as her hoofs made quick work of shuffling the deck, the cards effortlessly sliding between each other. The unicorn in front of her shuffling her own cards with magic.

“Okay, so this is how you play…” Sunny began, explaining the rules of the game.

My mind, however, was elsewhere. After Sunny’s sister waved to me, it was processed that she was a unicorn. While strange, I assumed that it was probably not an uncommon occurrence to have siblings of different tribes if your parents are mixed.

I was sure that as a unicorn, Sunny’s sister likely knew some stuff about magic. Magic that could get me home? A long shot, but it would be a start. I had yet to talk to a unicorn for very long other than the ones in the hospital.

“So do you want to go first?” Sunny asked, snapping out of my chain of thoughts.

“Oh, uh how about you and… what’s her name?” I asked, pointing to her sister.

“It's Bright Sky, but you can call me Sky,” Responded Sky, answering the question.

“How about you and Sky go first and I’ll watch,” I suggested, to which Sunny happily accepted.

We played on for what felt like hours, the time flying by in the blink of an eye as Sky and Sunny thrashed me in every game we played. Combo after combo, countering everything I could throw at them. I didn’t know how they did it, but they obviously spent a lot of time playing each other in this game.

The one thing that surprised me was how well Sunny could hold her cards, while I knew that hoofs were fairly dexterous, I was surprised with how easily she could hold and pick from her cards. Some things never ceased to amaze me.





“And that’s it! You lose again!” Sunny exclaimed, finishing off her combo causing me to lose all my health.

I felt my shoulders sag, my mouth agape. I thought I was doing pretty well, yet Sunny apparently had other plans. She had been toying with me the entire time…

I stared at the cards for a few moments, trying to decipher how I had missed the obvious trick Sunny had played. I looked to the sky with a groan, though my attention got drawn to a pale blue filly landing in the middle of the park. Alone. Crying.

I sat up, my thoughts now on this filly. I didn’t have to look twice to confirm that it was who I thought it was, Misty. She was slowly carrying herself toward a large tree about fifty feet from me, and it was clear that she was limping. Hardly placing any weight on her right foreleg.

My breath caught in my throat as I watched her struggle for a few more steps before collapsing to the ground in a heap, her lying form shaking as she cried.

“Hey, I’ll be right back,” I told Sunny, receiving a nod as she started another game with her sister.

I hastily made my way toward Misty, my eyes never leaving her as I approached. I felt my heart start to race, had someone done something to her? Was she hurt? Had something even worse happened?

“Misty? Are you all right?” I asked, my mouth falling open in horror as I saw the condition she was in.

Her eyes widened as she recognized me, tears streaking down her face as she spun around in an attempt to shield me from seeing her. As she scooted herself closer to the tree, I could see her rubbing her foreleg across her face trying to dry her tears.

“I-I’m… f-fine,” she choked out between sobs, gasping for air as she tried to calm herself.

“No you’re not, I’m here for you,” I said taking a seat next to her, slowly rubbing my hoof on her back.

She scooted away, still not looking at me. However, I just scooted right back up to her. She didn’t move away this time though.

We sat there for a few moments, Misty regaining her breath while wiping the tears from her face. Her breath was shaky as she did so, her right hoof not being moved once.

I wrapped my arm around her, causing her breath to catch in her throat, as I pulled her in for a hug. She didn’t move for a moment, processing what I was doing, quickly wrapping her hooves around me a moment later.

We sat there in each other's embrace for a few more moments before Misty let go, wiping the final tears from her eyes.

“Are you feeling better now?” I asked with a calm voice, looking her in the eyes.

“Yeah…” She squeaked out, her voice a whisper as she continued to stare at the dirt.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?”

“It-” she hesitated, wiping a stray tear. “It was those bullies from school,” She began, her breathing becoming more labored.

I patted her on the back, giving my reassurances causing her to quickly calm back down.

“I left my house because… I just wanted some alone time. Then when I was coming here the same colt from the lunch room pushed me. All his friends laughed at me… and when I was on the ground, they kicked me as they walked by.” She choked out, nearly in a whisper as she recalled the events. Her body shook as the event played through her head.

“Did they do anything else?” I asked, quickly looking her up and down for any injuries. At this point, it had just gone beyond bullying and became full-on physical assault. I could feel my blood boiling at the thought of that goon, his face flashing through my mind. I would get back at him, I didn’t know how, but I would. Maybe ponies weren’t as nice as I thought…

“No… but they said some… things…,” she paused for a moment, her eyes never leaving the ground. “But they just left me after that, then I came here…”

“Well you’re all right now, nobody else is going to hurt you if I can help it,” I said as I patted her on the back.

We sat there in silence, staring up at the sky as a cool breeze washed over our bodies. Our fur swayed softly in the midday weather as we sat together. Misty ruffled her feathers as she felt the soft breeze blow over her.

I enjoyed Misty’s presence, she reminded me of my childhood friend Bella. She was someone who I used to play with at the park every day, sharing laughter and fun for hours on end. Though one day she didn’t show up to the park, and I later found out that she had been hit by a car earlier in the week. Pushed by a group of bullies as a ‘prank’.

I could feel my own tears welling up in my eyes as I reminisced about my previous life, one that I possibly may never experience again. Though I quickly blinked away the tears, nothing was impossible. I would get back, I didn’t know how, but I knew I would.

A cyan figure darted past overhead, catching my attention. I quickly realized that Fleetfoot was back. A smile spread across my face as I thought of a wonderful way to cheer Misty up.

“I’ll be right back,” I said to Misty getting to my hooves, receiving a nod in confirmation.

I trotted to the middle of the park where Fleetfoot had dropped me off, only having to wait a second as Fleetfoot landed in front of me.

“So, how was it, buddy? Did you have fun with your friends?” Fleetfoot asked as she furled her wings.

“It was fun, I played cards with my one friend. But I saw one of my other friends and she… had an incident.” I stated causing Fleetfoot to gasp.

“Oh no! What happened?” She asked, her smile quickly fading.

“Well remember that bully I punched the other day? Well, he saw my friend who I was defending and he and his buddies roughed her up.” I said, Fleetfoot’s eyes getting wider the more I described what had happened.

“Why if I ever find that colt…” She growled through clenched teeth, the rest of her statement a quiet grumble that I likely wasn’t supposed to hear.

“She’s sitting under that tree over there,” I motioned toward the large tree, Misty still laying underneath. “And since she’s a huge Wonderbolts fan, I thought if she met you it would brighten her mood,” I suggested.

“That sounds like a great idea!’ Fleetfoot said with a smile, and without missing a beat, we made our way over toward Misty. A small smile never left my face, I couldn’t wait to see how she reacted.

“Hey Misty,” I said as I nudged her on the shoulder, causing her to look up.

“Hey, what were… you…” Her words died in her throat, her breath seizing as she saw who was standing next to me. “Is… are you… are you F-Fleetfoot?” She asked in a whisper, her eyes scanning Fleetfoot in disbelief.

“I’m Fleetfoot all right, the one and only!” She exclaimed, flaring her wings in a little pose. 

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” Misty started saying as she got to her hoofs, bouncing up and down on three legs. Her wide eyes stared at Fleetfoot, still not believing what she saw. A smile quickly spread across her face as she went from surprised to overjoyed.

Fleetfoot looked at me with a raised brow, motioning to Misty with confusion. I just shrugged in response, I did say she was a Wonderbolts fan.

“Are you ok-” Fleetfoot was cut off as Misty, in the blink of an eye, ran up and hugged her tight.

“You’re my hero!” She exclaimed, her face pressed up against Fleetfoot’s chest.

“Why am I you’re favorite? Every other foal always likes Spitfire or Soarin!” Fleetfoot asked, confounded.

“Well, it’s because you… are like me…” She said, face still buried in Fleetfoot’s fluff.

At that moment, I watched as Fleetfoot’s expression went from shock, to pity, to love all over the course of three seconds. Her features softened as she embraced the hug with Misty.

They held each other tight. Even though Fleetfoot had just met this filly, she shared a connection with her that I couldn’t quite understand. It made me realize how little I truly knew about Fleetfoot.

“You feeling better now kiddo?” Fleetfoot asked as they finally let each other go.

“Yeah, I feel better now, thanks,” Misty responded, looking up at Fleetfoot with respect and wonder.

“Hey Misty, do you know Sunny Breeze?” I asked, hoping that they didn’t hate each other for some random reason.

“No, though I’ve heard her name before,” She said, her smile never faltering and not taking her eyes off Fleetfoot.

“I want to introduce you guys to each other, as well as Fleetfoot,” I said, waving them along.

The grass crunched below my hooves as we trotted back to where Sunny and Sky were playing cards. Their distinct colors quickly appeared, Sunny nor Sky raising their heads from their game as we approached.

“Hey Sunny, sorry I took so long,” I said as I stood before her and Sky. “I was talking with Misty Breeze. Do you know her?”

“No, I’ve never met her before,” She responded, placing her cards in the grass.

“Well Sunny, this is Misty. Misty, this is Sunny,” I said as they began to greet each other.

They quickly found multiple common interests like card games, Wonderbolts, and candy to name a few. I grinned when they began exchanging their favorite candies, most of which I had never heard of. Though some did sound oddly familiar. I had a slight feeling I knew what Kat-Kits were.

Fleetfoot also joined in on the conversation when Misty mentioned her, Sunny expressing her amazement toward the Wonderbolt. They were talking in their own little circle, hitting it off nicely.

I noticed that Sky was still sitting on the grass, shuffling her deck of cards around. I decided that now would be a time to ask some questions.

“So… Sky,” I started as I took a seat, causing her to look up. “Do you know magic?”

“Uhm… yes. I’m a unicorn after all,” She laughed a little. “Basically all unicorns know magic.”

“Oh yeah, I knew that,” I chuckled a little. “I meant to ask how good you were at magic.”

I knew from the reading that I’ve done that some unicorns can perform much more complex magic than others. The ancient unicorns, for example, could only perform magic that was fractionally complex compared to what a unicorn of today could do.

“I’m pretty good at weather magic, though I’m not the greatest when it comes to other subjects.”

Magical subjects, that was something that I would need to research. If I wanted to get out of here, I would need to know what type of magic I’d be dealing with.

“Okay, thanks. I was just curious, I’ve hardly met any unicorns.” I said as I got up. I could hear Sunny, Misty, and Fleetfoot finishing their conversations behind me, goodbyes being exchanged.

“Well if you ever want to learn about unicorn magic, I’m always happy to help,” She said with a smile.

“I definitely want to know more, I’ll see you later Sky, you to Sunny,” I waved as I walked back toward Fleetfoot and Misty.

“Bye Evan, see you later!” Sunny waved back, smiling before taking a seat next to her sister.

“Did you really shave Soarin’s muzzle while he was asleep?” Misty asked through her giggles.

“We sure did, and you,” Fleetfoot redirected her attention toward me as I approached. “Oh hey, kiddo! You ready to go?”

“Yeah, I want to take a nap,” I said as I walked up to her.

“But it’s only one o’clock?” She questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“Exactly,” I responded, laughing a little.

“Thanks, Evan, it was really nice talking to you,” Misty said, giving me a small smile.

“No problem, I’m always here if you need me,” I said with a little bow, Misty giggling in response.

“See ya kid, it was nice meeting you! I can’t wait to talk again!” Fleetfoot said as I hopped onto her back.

We waved as we flew into the air, darting through the sky a moment later.

Time for my one o’clock nap!





I eagerly shoveled spoonful after spoonful of risotto into my mouth, it’s delightfully cheesy taste filling my mouth. Fleetfoot had somehow outdone herself again. If there was one thing I would miss about this place, it would be her cooking. She had been learning more cooking recipes and techniques, saying I had given her a reason to learn. Boy was I happy she decided to do that.

I quickly scraped the last bit of food into my mouth, pushing my bowl away with a sigh.

“Man, that was good!” I complimented as I sat back in my chair, patting my full belly.

“Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed it,” She said as she ate another spoonful. “This is one of my favorite dishes too, known it since I was a kid.”

“You know, I’ve been wondering,” I began as I sat up. “How did you join the Wonderbolts?”

“How I joined the Wonderbolts? If I’m being honest, I got very lucky.” She responded, staring off into space. Her recollection was interrupted as I gave a little cough followed by a smile.

“I’ve always wondered how ponies joined the Wonderbolts. It seems like you guys are just a stunt group, but I’ve heard you mention missions before.”

“Oh yeah,” she chuckled nervously with an uneasy smile, rubbing the back of her head. “You aren't supposed to know that… please don’t tell anypony…” She whispered as if someone was listening.

“Okay…” I responded hesitantly. “Ignoring that stuff, how do you join the Wonderbolts?”

“Well, usually you join the royal guard. Then you get promoted, and if you manage to catch the eye of a Wonderbolt, then there is a chance that they ask you to join.”

“Is that why you were lucky?” I asked, this group reminding me more and more of the Blue Angels from Earth.

“Actually, it was another reason.” She began, laughing a little. “It was only because I put a hole in Spitfire’s house.”

I laughed a little, I wouldn’t put it beyond Fleetfoot to do something like that. She’s already a very hyperactive pony, and if she was any more active who knew what she could have done?

“The long and short of it is, I was doing a stunt that was way outside my skill group. Like, borderline illegal.”

“Why would a stunt be illegal?” I asked, curious. Whatever she was doing must have been not only dangerous for herself but for others as well.

“Well, I was trying to do a sonic rainboom. It’s illegal to perform because of how dangerous it is and the property damage it can cause,” She began, a smirk spreading across her face. “I still remember Spitfire’s face when I came crashing through her wall.”

“What’s a sonic rainboom?” I questioned, having no idea how you could make a rainbow sonic.

“Well, it’s what happens when a pony breaks the sound barrier,” Fleetfoot responded nonchalantly, my jaw hitting the floor while nearly falling out of my chair.

How an organic, living being could go faster than the speed of sound and live I had no idea. Humans had to strap themselves to a rocket and sit inside a metal sarcophagus, the g-forces alone being extremely dangerous. Yet these ponies could do that on their own accord, their bodies somehow able to survive the experience. On top of that, if Fleetfoot had been going hundreds of miles per hour, crashed, and lived, there was no telling what else these ponies survive.

“It’s easily the most difficult thing a pegasus could ever attempt to do, and with only one pony ever able to do it.”

“Who did it?” I asked my mouth still slightly agape.

“Rainbow Dash, you met her before back at HQ.”

“I remember her.” I nodded in recollection. She was pretty memorable, you know, rainbow hair and all.

“Well, I tried to do what she did. I failed to say the least, yet I got close. So close in fact that Spitfire, after chewing me out, forgave me for the damage to her house. Two weeks later, I got approached by her once again, this time asking if I was interested in joining the Wonderbolts.”

“Why did you join the royal guard?” I wondered out loud. While I was assuming, Fleetfoot just didn’t strike me as a big military person. It just didn’t fit her constantly happy, bubbly attitude.

“Well, I just thought of it as a sort of getaway. A change of pace you could say,” She shrugged. “Teenage me just wanted to get away from my parents.”

“Did you not like your parents?” I questioned, earning a flat gaze from Fleetfoot in response.

“That’s a story for another night, I think it’s time we hit the hay,” She quickly responded, yawning.

“But it’s only-”

“I’m tired, I’m going to bed,” She said curtly. “You can stay up if you want to,” She said as she quickly got up.

My eyes were wide, and my heart caught in my throat. I watched as she hastily trotted over to the kitchen, deposited her dishes, and made her way up the stairs to her room. Her eyes not once looking over in my direction.

I sat there for a few moments, pondering what had just happened. While Fleetfoot had never lost her temper with me before, I had obviously struck a nerve. She was usually very happy to answer whatever questions I had during dinner. But I had never heard her talk like that before, even her response to me getting suspended was more tame.

I felt my nose furrow as I replayed the situation in my mind, each recollection only causing me more confusion.

I eventually gave up on trying to understand what happened, I would just ask Fleetfoot again tomorrow. Though I knew I’d have to approach the topic carefully, I reasoned that maybe she was actually just exhausted or something.

I rinsed the dishes off, placing them neatly on the drying rack before I made my way up to my room.

I sat down on my bed, deciding that reading a bit would take my mind off things. I picked up my history book, flipping to the page where I left off before I continued to read.