Cloud's Odyssey

I don’t know how I got here, nor do I know where I am. I’m in a dark cave with the five mares I met at the welcome party, Macintosh, and two other ponies who almost look like my old coworkers at the horseshoe factory. We are all wearing what appears to be armor and we look like we just came from a long battle. I hear the sound of a rock being pushed by somepony. I look up, and the creature is huge. He is pushing a giant boulder in front of the opening, so we can not escape.

“Now, you puny ponies,” the monster said, “there is no escape from Cyclops Island.” Our captor was a giant cyclops, a real ugly cyclops to be exact. He had an extended bone that grew from the side of his head. In fact, he had a striking resemblance to my old boss at the horseshoe factory, except with one eye.

Come to think about it, this whole scenario seems oddly familiar.

“Now which ones do I eat first,” the cyclops asked himself. The other ponies and myself huddled together and coward before the monster. He scanned our little group for anypony that looked remotely delicious. Since this is a cyclops that looked my boss, I would have figured he chosen me. I was wrong. He grabbed two ponies who looked like my coworkers and gobbled them up in one bite. Oh gosh, their screams were so horrifying. When the cyclops jaw moved up and down, blood trickled down his mouth, which made most of sick, especially Fluttershy. “That was a tasty meal,” the cyclops said.

“We’re doomed,” somepony whispered, “What are we gonna do, Ulysses?” I turned around and see it was Applejack, adorned in silver armor, as was everypony else. They all looked to me for a plan.

Now I remember, this was a scene from the Journey, Book 9.

The cyclops, his eyes still filled with hunger, walked toward us. He laughed as he was about to “prepare” for his next meal.

“Wait!” I yelled. I held my arm out and the cyclops stopped on his tracks. “May I say something first?”

“You may speak.”

“Surely you can’t eat any of us without something to drink. Uh, would you like some of our sweet, tangy cider?”

“Cider? From you ponies?”

“Yes, we have the best cider in all of the four corners of the earth, don’t we, Applejack?” I nudged my arm on her arm, which told her go along with what I was saying.

“Oh, uh, yes sir, Mr. Cyclops, I bet you’ll love our cider, I tell ya what,” she said nervously.

“Hmm… very well. Bring me your cider so that I may drink it before I eat,” the cyclops demanded. He went to a little corner of his cave and brought a giant bowl out. There was suddenly a giant sack behind us which contained jars of cider. All us poured it right into the bowl, however some of us were unwilling. Rainbow Dash, who was clad in silver breast plate like all of us, held to a jar of cider affectionately. I grabbed it from her hooves and pour all that remained into the giant bowl.

The giant bowl was now filled with so much cider, it could have been used as a tub for us. The cyclops grabbed the bowl and the cider fell to his mouth like a waterfall. He released a loud belch that shook the cave and swept most of us from our hooves.

“This is best cider I have had! I like you, Equestrian. What is your name,” he asked.

“My name is Nopony,” I answered.

“Well, Nopony, I promise to eat you last,” he said. That did not make me feel any better. As the cyclops continued drinking from the bowl, the more he felt dizzy. I neglected to mention that Equestrians have one the strongest ciders known in the planet. After spending five minutes consuming the bowl of cider, he dropped the bowl and sat on his flank. He mumbled something about eating the puny ponies before snoring loudly.

With the cyclops asleep, my plan was set into motion. We found a tree trunk laying on the ground. I ordered Macintosh to help me sharpen the end of the trunk and told the girls to start a huge fire. With one end of the trunk now sharp and pointy, we had to harden it with heat. Rarity, being the only unicorn in our group, levitated the trunk with her magic close to the fire. The pointed edge was now red and hard, and ready for action.

Now the moment of truth has arrived. I gathered the girls and Macintosh and we lifted the trunk over our shoulders as one. We walked as a group to make sure our clumsiness would not wake up the sleeping giant. We pointed the sharp heated end of the trunk to the cyclops closed eye.

“We’re not really going to stab his eye out, are we,” Fluttershy asked.

“Do you want to live,” I asked back.

“Yes, but not if we have drive this trunk into his eye. He is a cyclops, you know.”

“Fluttershy, we have no time for this,” Rainbow said, “if we want to get out here, we have to do this.”

“But it seems so unethical. That’s his only eye. Poor thing.”

“We’ve seen him eat two ponies in front of us, Fluttershy,” Rarity said, “I believe showing sympathy for this brute is out of the question.”

“Girls, this thing is really heavy,” Macintosh said through his teeth. “Let’s get this over with.”

All of us were startled when the cyclops sneezed and mumbled in his sleep. We agreed to finish to this. With several heaves and sweat dripping down our heads, we plunged the trunk deep into the monster’s only eye.

The screamed in immense pain and shook his head wildly. My crew pulled the trunk from his socket, his eye coming out along with it. Needless to say, this made some us queasy. Fluttershy’s yellow coat turned green with sickness. I really don’t know why she is in my dream.

“My eye!” the monster scream. “What have you done to my eye? I am blind!”

“Hey Cyclops,” I yelled, “Nopony is grabbing another blunt object to strike you with! We might want to use that huge boulder to crush him!”

“He won’t get away!” he yelled back. He heaved the boulder that blocked our path and used it to crush an imaginary enemy. As quick as we could, we ran out the cave and into our ship, without taking some treasures and food with us. As we sailed away, we heard the cyclops yelled at the top of his lungs, “I will kill you, Nopony! Neptune, my father, avenge me!”

“Cloud,” a small voice said to me. “Cloud, are you awake? It’s morning.” My eyes gradually opened to the bright sunlight and the orange mare standing behind it. “Rise and shine, sleepy head.” For a second, I thought I’ve seen a halo on her.

“It’s morning already?”

“Yep. Good ‘ole Celestia working that sun,” she said proudly. “So did you sleep good last night?”

“For the first time in two weeks,” I said. “I gotta say, this bed is really comfortable. I could sleep in it for the rest of my life.”

“I’m afraid I can’t let ya do that,” she joked.

“Were you up this whole time?”

“Oh yeah, my family always wake up in the early hours before anypony else does, since we’re farmers and all. I thought I let you sleep for a little while longer.”

“Thanks, I needed that.”

“Breakfast is waiting downstairs once yer ready.” She trotted out the room to join the rest of

her family. I lifted my body out of my bed and stretched my limbs. I find my copy of The Journey lying on the floor next to me. I picked it up and put it inside my treasure chest of books. Now that today has officially started for me, it was time for me to freshen up. I opened my backpack and took out a towel, soap I took with me, my toothbrush and other private essentials.

I travel down the hall to the location of the bathroom. I reach for the door knob, but I pause. I sensed a disturbance in the force. I turn slowly to see Apple Bloom standing next to me, staring me down like a bounty hunter would do with a rogue bandit. “Good morning,” I said in a friendly manner.

“And what’s so good about it, Cloud?” she said with animosity in her voice.

“The sun is shining? The birds are chirping and stuff? Other things that would make a normal pony happy?”

“I heard you and my sister on my way here - did ya sleep good last night? Don’t think I don’t know what’s going on between you two.”

“She asked me if I slept comfortably in the guest room.”

“Unlikely story.” The filly’s orange eyes stared right into my soul as I tried to think of a good excuse to get out of this situation. I can tell that Apple Bloom really had it in for me, for whatever reason I don’t know. She edged closer to me, my eyes shifting from the door to the filly. “What do you think your doing now?” she asked.

“I was going to use the bathroom.”

She blocked the door and stated, “Not before I do. This is the Apple House, and we always go first. You just gonna have to wait ya turn.”

“But I really have to go.”

“Then you should have woken up early. We Apples don’t sleep around while the day passes us. We’re early birds, and early birds always catch the worms.”

“You catch worms in the bathroom?” I joked. Apple Bloom made a look of utter disgust and entered the bathroom and shut the door. I guess I have to wait until she finishes whatever she has to do in there.

“The little one locked you out?” an elderly voiced asked. Standing next to me was a green mare who I could guess was at least in the middle of her senior years (you don’t think I would really guess age, didn’t you?), here mane was short and white, and was shorter than I was.

“Yeah. Fillies, am I right?”

“Don’t ya worry about her. I tell ya, she is the sweetest thing you’ll ever meet when she’s not acting out.”

“Hopefully I get to see this sweet side of her’s. By the way, I don’t if Applejack told you, but I’ll be staying here for sometime, if that’s okay with you. Just until I find a place of my own.”

“Sonny, this house had it share of visitors throughout the years,” she said, “you’re welcome to stay here as long as ya like.”

“Thanks. My name is Cloud,” I said reaching my blue hoof out to her. “Granny Smith, and around here we don’t do hoofshakes, we go for hugs.” We wrapped our arms around each other, and I thanked her for the friendly gesture. She went on with her business and I remained at my spot, waiting for Apple Bloom to come out the bathroom. The door opened and Apple Bloom poked her little head out.

“Are you finished,” I asked.

“I’m still busy,” she said sharply. “Why don’t you go have breakfast, or something?”

“I can’t. My morning ritual was always shower first, breakfast second. It’s been ingrained in my mind since the beginning,” I explained. “Having breakfast first will ruin everything.”

“Will you just get out of here? I’ll tell you when I’m finished!” The door shut again and I was left alone. My stomach was feeling weak, so I thought breakfast couldn’t hurt.

I was met with a kitchen table full of food you would see in a menu at the EHOP. There was a stack of pancakes sitting at the center, with butter melted at the top. Burnt toast was at the side along with some fruit, like grapes, oranges, and of course, apples. Not to mention there was the option of having both scrambled and over-easy eggs. It’s a good thing I don’t have to leave a tip.

“Hi there, Cloud,” Applejack said, “grab a pancake and let’s eat.”

“Don’t mind if I do.” I held a plate and put two pancakes on it, then I had a helping of a piece of toast and eggs. I haven’t eaten breakfast like this in a long time, mostly because the horseshoe factory in Baltimare opens around 6 am, and I never have the time to sit down and have a nice, old-fashion morning eat-off. Weekends aren’t as good neither, since I sleep through half the day. The only time I get to eat food like pancakes and eggs is when my parents visit my home or I visit theirs. And that’s at least once a month.

I poured some maple syrup over the golden flapjacks and used the fork and knife to cut a slice. One bite and I was in pancake heaven. Seriously, those were the best pancakes I have ever eaten. Almost restuarant quality if I say so myself.

While we were eating, Apple Bloom came downstairs. She grabbed a plate full of pancakes and sat next to her older brother.

“I’m done now, Cloud,” she said without looking at me. “If you want to use the bathroom, go ahead.”

“... Thank you?” Macintosh gave her little sister a look of disapproval, but I don’t think she cared. We awkwardly continued our breakfast until Applejack decided to break the silence.

“So, Cloud, what are you planning to do today?”

“After breakfast, I’m going job hunting.”

“Job hunting? In Ponyville? Good luck with that,” Apple Bloom mumbled.

“Apple Bloom, don’t make me double your chores,” Applejack warned. At least that got her to be quiet for now. “So what were you saying?”

“I’m planning to go out in the town and search for jobs. I got my resumes ready and everything,” I said. “The only question now is who will hire me.”

“I don’t know if there is many job opportunities here, but I’ll be thinking about you,” Applejack said. “We all will… right Apple Bloom?” The yellow filly force a grunted “hmph” from under her breath.

“Thanks. What are you going today,” I asked out of curiosity.

“Well, the three of us have some chores to get done, so we’ll be here all day,” said Applejack.

“Yep,” Macintosh concluded.

“Chores? Do you need me for any of them?”

“I don’t think you can handle the workload,” Apple Bloom said.

“Apple Bloom, what did I tell ya?” Applejack shouted.

“Look at ‘em, Applejack! He’s skinny! He won’t be able to do anything!”

“That’s it, you’re on bathroom duties for the rest of the day!”

“What? But that ain’t fair! I was supposed to hang out with the Crusaders!”

“Well, you should have thought of that before running yer mouth!” she chastised. Both Macintosh and I felt awkward watching the two sisters duke it out verbally. As I watched them, I keep thinking how I am truly blessed that I was an only foal. I couldn’t bare the thought of having a little brother or sister, let alone having an older sibling to tell me what to do. The closest relative who I could consider a brother was my Cousin Neon Noodle, even he had his cringe-worthy moments. He was seven years younger than I was, and I would watch him when his parents were out of town, but he would always talk about the most stupidest, idiotic things imaginable, like saying that foals came from Uranus. Make of that what you will. I think he’s in college, but my gosh, those were the worst summers ever.

“What am I gonna tell the Crusaders?” Apple Bloom whined.

“I’ll tell them you can’t come out, under strict orders,” Applejack answered. “Now you better hold your tongue, or else somethin’ real bad is gonna happen.” Applejack and Macintosh gave me apologetic looks, but I just shrugged, not really troubled about it in the slightest.

After breakfast was over, I went back into the guest room and searched for the folder that contained my resumes. I knew it was going to be a long grueling process, but I was confident that the experiences I had working at the horseshoe factory will get me a job. Applejack told me earlier that Ponyville has family-owned businesses and finding a job might be a difficult task, but I am not worried. Opportunity will come, I hope. All was well until I heard angry hoofsteps approach my door. My guess was correct, and there was Apple Bloom, steam coming out of her nostrils. I don’t think my friendliness is going to work, not that it has worked before. “Hi,” I said weakly.

“This is all your fault!”

“Me, what did I do?”

“You had to ask if you can help with our chores! It was none of your beeswax! Thanks to you, I can’t go out with my friends!”

“Maybe you should have done what Applejack said and kept your mouth shut,” I suggested.

“Maybe you should’ve done the same!”

“Listen, I offered to help because it didn’t feel right having you guys do your chores while I sit back and do nothing,” I said. “I would have been a terrible houseguest.”

“You’re already a terrible houseguest,” she shouted. “I gonna miss a full day of crusadin’ because of you!”

“Crusading? What is that, what does that mean,” I asked.

“Like I said, it ain’t none of your beeswax! Now if you excuse me, I got some work to do!”

She stomped down the hall to wherever she was going, possibly going to her room and sulk some more. The silence that was left behind felt eerie. I was making a mental checklist of all the items I needed for my job search when I saw Applejack enter her little sister’s room. They were both bickering about what had transpired this morning, which I knew I shouldn’t be involved in, unless I wanted to make the situation worse. I wanted to let Applejack know that I was leaving the house, but I figured that now is not a good time. On my way downstairs, I ran into Granny Smith again.

“Going somewhere, honey,” she asked.

“Just into town to find myself a job. Can you let Applejack know that I left the house? I would have told her myself, but she’s busy with Apple Bloom at the moment.” The bickering quickly increased as I mentioned them, but thankfully it turned back into low chatter again. She nodded at me and wished me good luck. I opened the front door and let myself outside. I was under a light-blue dome painted with puffy clouds along with a glowing yellow orb as the centerpiece. It was just days like these that I wish I could stay home all day with a glass of cider, but I had to what I have to do. I walked down the path that led me out of the Apple farm, waving good-bye to Macintosh as I did so. My first official day as a resident of Ponyville was about to begin.

It was obviously a great day for a walk, seeing there were many ponies on the streets and sidewalks taking advantage of the sunlight. No matter where I went, ponies I didn’t know would wave and smile at me, or stop to say “hello, nice day isn’t it?” I hate to say it, but it was off-putting to be honest. Having been born in the big city, there was no such thing as hospitality. City ponies would just pass me by without so much as acknowledging my existence, or when I accidently bump into somepony they would say, “Watch where you going, you bum!” At least that is when they notice me. Just now, when I accidently bumped into somepony, I almost had the urge to say the exact same words to him. To my surprise, the pony said, “I’m sorry sir, are you alright?” I nodded and asked him the same thing. There was no conflict to be resolved, no fights broke out, and we went on with our lives.

I gave myself a mini tour of the town while I searched for possible places to get hired at. There was a sporting goods store, a spa, couch and quills store, a game workshop, and many others. I never knew Ponyville had so many stores that cater to different tastes. Later, I found myself standing in the center of the marketplace. There were ponies inside booths and in front of carts selling things to other ponies, whether it be food or just supplies. Something in my mind told me that Lemon Tart would be here somewhere. I try not to make any eye contact with the booths or carts, because that’s how they get you. I could hear the ponies saying things to me like, “Would like some bean sprouts?” “We got cabbage, half price!” “Sugar dates, sugar dates and figs, sugar dates and pistachios!” Not even a small town like Ponyville was safe from rampant capitalism, but I don’t hold it against them. They’re just ponies trying to feed their families.

I keep walking until I saw a familiar pony a few yards away from me. A yellow pegasus was at a booth which was selling fruits and vegetables. She had a long pink mane, and I instantly recognize her as “Fluttershy.” Good, at least one pony I kind of know was out today. I walked to her, attempting to make small talk about the usual stuff, like the weather. That’s what ponies talk about, right? The weather?

“Fluttershy?” I said. The pegasus turned to see me standing in front of her. “It’s Cloud, you know, from the party last night? I helped you and Pinkie clean up the place?”

“Oh, um, hi,” she responded meekly, “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Yeah, I’m just going find myself job so I can make some cash. I gotta make that money, you know?”

“Oh yes, having a job is important… and stuff,” she said.

“So… what are you doing today,” I ask her.

“Just buying food for the animals where I live.”

“Cool. Animals are nice.”

“Yes, they are.”

We stayed like for what felt like an agonizing ten years in a dungeon. After Fluttershy bought some fruits and veggies for her “animals,” whatever that means, she wished me good luck on my job search and went another direction, probably hoping to never cross paths with me for the rest of the day. Is she that frightened by me? Was I too much on my approach? Did my white mane offend her in some way?

With the attempted small-talk with Fluttershy proven to be a failure, I continued my walk to some shops I would like to apply to. There were so many to choose from, I didn’t know which I wanted to go first. Maybe I should pick the one that sounded appealing to me.

“Hey Cloud,” a pony said to me.

“Hey,” I said back. Now where should I go first?

Wait a minute.

I did an about-face and walked toward the pony who said hello to me. I was correct in my assumptions - Lemon Tart now had a booth to himself, with racks filled with shoes. And not just shoes, there was shoe polish, socks, and custom shoelaces. It took a long time to let it sink in my mind that Lemon managed to do this by himself. I didn’t want to believe it, but I had to ask him.

“Lemon, did you do this?”

“Yes sir, I course I did! It didn’t take me long, had some coffee this morning, find some lumber laying around and I thought to myself, you know maybe I should use a booth to display these things instead of walking ‘round with a suitcase. I build this in ten minutes! Did I forget to mention that being a salespony comes equipped with super-agility?”

“... No.”

“I haven’t? Hm, maybe I should have, oh well. How’d you like it? Is it too much? Too simple? Or just… meh?”

“It looks… professional?”

“That’s great! What are you doing wandering around town?” This guy was jacked up on caffeine. His mouth moved at least 200 per hour. I couldn’t believe he managed to build this display, put all his shoes on racks and other accessories across his booth in a span of ten minutes. Even I couldn’t get that much done when I drink too much coffee - and I don’t even like coffee.

“Uh, Lemon, are you--”

“Hush son, a customer.”

A mare was coming toward our direction, which prompted Lemon to put on his fishing hat and prepare for action. She was a unicorn with a minty-green coat and her mane was sort of a palish, cyan-gray with white highlights. The mare couldn’t take her eyes off the shoes being presented. Lemon had her right where he wanted her.

“Like these shoes,” he asked the unicorn.

“Yeah, these are some cool shoes! I haven’t seen these in a long time!”

“They’re one-of-a-kind vintage Chuck Neighlor All-Stars. A classic piece of legware.”

“Awesome!”

“Which ones do you like? We have whole variety of sizes and colors, don’t we Cloud?”

Why did he mention me?

“Yeah, we do. They’re really nice,” I said.

“Uhh, how much for the red ones?”

“Which red ones? We got low tops and high tops.”

“The high tops,” the unicorn answered.

“Great choice. The red high tops will be eight bits.”

“Sold!”

The minty unicorn levitated eight bits into Lemon’s jar and levitated the red high top converses into her hind legs. She used her magic to tie the shoelaces together, and the wide grin on her face indicated that it was money well spent. She walked around in circles in front of us a few times before she said, “I love these! Wait until Bon Bon sees me now!” She stood up right on her hind legs and walked away like she didn’t give a hoot.

“How’d like that, Cloud? My first sale!”