It was opening day for Cloudsdale's most famous and popular amusement park, Cloudy Canyons. The lines for everything in the park, as expected, stretched out as far as the eye could see. For an average park-goer, today was clearly not the optimal day to visit the park. Blossomforth and her friends, however, were no average park-goers. The group had enough experience with amusement parks to write a book on them. Blossomforth, Flitter, and Cloud Chaser were the founders of this little club, as they had been friends since they were fillies and had been going to Cloudy Canyons together since then. Thunder Lane started joining them once he and Blossom started dating, and Raindrops and Cloud Kicker had joined up shortly after upon Lane's insistence. The six of them tried to hit as many parks as they could every season, but no matter what, they had to be there for opening day at Cloudy Canyons.
After a long day of rollercoasters, log flumes, overpriced food, and the like, the group was about ready to head home. Even the most intrepid park-goers got exhausted eventually, and hours and hours of stimulation had wiped them out. Blossom was about to exit the park, when Raindrops grabbed her by the shoulder.
"We should visit the souvenir shop this time!" Raindrops said. "We always skip it!"
"That's because it's a waste of time," Flitter said, rolling her eyes. "We got pictures of us on the Flume-ulonimbus and the Stratusfear. What other souvenirs do we need?" She emphasized this by holding out the photo of the six of them being splashed with rainbow water on the Flume-ulonimbus.
"Eh...I kinda did want to get a T-shirt," Chaser said.
"Yeah, c'mon, we never go to the souvenir shop!" Lane added. "I want a silly hat!"
"And I wouldn't mind one of those stuffed clouds," Cloud Kicker said. "What do you say, Blossomforth?" Blossom had been chosen as leader of the group, due to being the only one never to vomit when leaving the centrifuge.
"I say let's check it out!" Blossom said with a smile. The group, minus Flitter, cheered and entered the shop immediately. Flitter just rolled her eyes and followed. She'd been grumpy today ever since missing out on the inaugural trip of the park's newest rollercoaster, Batmare: the Ride.
Once inside, the group spread out, each heading towards the items that interested them most. Lane quickly found what had to be the silliest hat available and bought it. Chaser found herself a nice T-shirt that went well with her coat. Raindrops and Kicker both spent some time squeeing over the adorable stuffed clouds, and finally decided on a cirrus and an altostratus, respectively. Even Flitter found something that made her smile, and ended up buying a tiny model of the Stratusfear.
Blossom, however, seemed vexed. While the others had all found what they wanted, she was stuck staring in consternation at the rack of nametags.
"What's the problem, Bloss?" Lane asked as he approached her.
"This is crazy," Blossom responded. "They don't have my name here!"
"Really?" Chaser asked as she joined the two. She was joined in short order by the rest, who all began looking through the rack.
"Really!" Blossom said, frowning. "I mean, there's tags for so many other ponies! Why not me?"
"Hey, here's mine!" Lane said, grabbing the Thunder Lane tag.
"And mine!" Kicker said with a giggle. This only made Blossom even more upset.
"Aw, come on!" Blossom said, stomping a hoof. "You all have one! Even Cloud Kicker and Raindrops!"
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Raindrops asked as she picked up her own tag.
"We barely ever see you two," Blossom said with a pout. "Why do you have your own tags and I don't?"
"I guess I'm just a winning pony," Kicker said with a grin.
"Well I am too!" Blossom answered quickly. "Why do you get one and I don't?"
"Hey, it could be worse!" Flitter said with a frown. "The only tag my sister and I have is one of our names together! What happens if one of us wants to do something by ourselves?"
"Uh, Flitts?" Chaser said. "We barely ever do anything by ourselves!"
"That's besides the point!" Flitter shot back.
"It's all besides the point!" Blossom shouted.
"Come on, Bloss," Lane said. "It's really not a big deal. I mean, you're still a great pony, even if you don't have your own tag."
"But I want my own tag!" Blossom pouted. "How else are ponies supposed to find me? If they wanna find the rest of you, all they have to do is look for your tags! They can't do that with me!"
"It's really okay, Blossom," Lane insisted. "It's nothing worth worrying about. I'm sure ponies will be able to find you if they really want to."
"But this would make it so much easier!" Blossom whined.
"Is there a problem?" the souvenir store's manager asked, trotting over to the group.
"Yes!" Blossom said. "There's no tag here for me! All of my friends here have tags, even the ones that we don't see very often! Why isn't there a tag for me?"
The manager hummed to himself, tapping his chin with a hoof. Then his eyes lit up.
"I believe I have just the solution," the manager said.
~~~~~~~~~~
The park-going group left the souvenir shop, all ready to head home. Everypony had purchased their tags on their way out.
"See, Forth?" Flitter said, patting Blossom on the back. She'd taken one of her and her sister's tags and broken it in half. "Everything worked out, right?"
"Yeah," Blossom said, rolling her eyes. She looked down at her "OTHER" tag with disdain. "Right."
Several years later...
Blossomforth sighed softly as she stared at the living room wall. All of her friends were off enjoying the town festival, and she was stuck at home, all by herself. She supposed she could try to go out and join them, but it just wasn't worth it. The biggest attraction at Cloudsdale TagCon was the Exchange of the Tags, where all the ponies present would put their name tags in a big bowl and draw a random one out of it. Whoever they drew would be the pony who they had to buy a present for. It was a favorite of her friends and the other local townsponies, but she was never able to participate. No matter how hard she looked, no matter where she turned her attention, she could never find a Blossomforth tag. She couldn't help but think of the trip she and her friends had taken to Cloudy Canyons a few years back, where she first realized that her name was just impossible to find when it came to tags. She wished with all her heart that the Cloudy Canyons incident could have been the last of its kind, but the "Other" tag that sat on her coffee table was a constant reminder that she was just one of the unlucky ones.
Blossomforth was suddenly roused from her disappointment by a knock at her door. White wings unfurled from her sides and carried her glum body over to the door. Surely this was going to be one of her friends asking her to come out anyway. There was no way she would do that. A pony bereft of tag was a pony that was missing out on far too much, a pony that nopony would search for. She rolled her eyes as she pushed the door open, ready to deny whatever request her friend was going to make.
Much to her surprise, none of her friends stood at the door. Instead, a pony in knight's armor stood before her. Medieval clothing was popular at this particular festival for some reason, one which Blossomforth wasn't looking to question.
"Hello there," the armored pony said.
"Hello," Blossomforth responded, head tilted. "You look awful...knighty." She cringed as the words came out of her mouth. She sounded ridiculous.
"Your friends have requested that I come get you," the pony said. "They want you to join in the fun over at TagCon."
Blossomforth groaned. Different face, same intention.
"Sorry, but I won't be coming out," Blossomforth told him. "I don't have a-"
"Tag?" the pony asked. Before Blossomforth could respond, the pony lit his horn up, floating a little package in front of her.
"What's this?" Blossomforth asked. She wasn't given a verbal response, instead urged on by the package gently nudging her face. She sighed and took the package from the pony's magical grasp. Wingfingers unwrapped the package, revealing a small cardboard box. Blossomforth gave the pony a questioning look before removing the box's lid. What she saw before her made her jaw drop.
"Is this...a Blossomforth tag?!" the pegasus stammered. Sure enough, a small tag laid at the bottom of the box. Adorning its face, in nice, fancy letters, was the name:
Blossomforth.
Blossomforth let out a delighted squee. She wanted to hug the pony right then and there, but his cold metal armor didn't exactly make for a good hug target.
"I have a tag!" Blossomforth shouted, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "I finally have a tag! Thanks, knighty guy!" Without another word said, she applied the tag to her chest, then zipped out the door to meet her friends. TagCon was going to be great.
