“Wake up.”

Ugh, who is that? Can’t they see how tired I am?

“Hey, bozo.”

I scrunched my eyes tighter, thinking it would block out whoever’s voice that is.

“YO!”

My eyes shot open at the exclamation. All there is in my vision is a pair of rose-tinted irises.

“Whoa…anyways, that’s my-”

“WAH!”

I teetered back, kicking the cloud I was on towards the random pegasus.

“Oof!”

I fell backwards, then quickly righting myself up like a cat and spreading my wings to fly off.

“Hey, come back here, you!”

Ah jeez, why did I have to do that? What am I going to do? What am I going to do? I’m such a bucking idiot. I just wanted-

“Where do you think you’re going, punk?”

Suddenly, the pegasus was right in front of me. So fast…how was she so fast? I backpedaled and tried flying the opposite way. I didn’t get far.

“Hey, I asked you a question!”

I felt my tail being pulled as I tried to escape. As I was yanked back, I flailed my limbs but it was no use.

“You have some nerve, tearing off a piece of my cloud, kicking it to my face, and running away like that. No way I’m letting that slide,” I heard her say through clenched teeth, which was holding on to my tail.

Oh Celestia, she’s going to beat to a pulp, isn’t she? I didn’t want to make her any madder if I tried kicking her to fly away. Besides, she already demonstrated how fast she was. Still, I didn’t know what else to do except keep trying to get far away from her as possible.

“Just…calm down! When I said that, I only meant I wanted some answers,” she said, her mouth still keeping me in place.

Eventually, I was tiring myself out quickly and slowed down my spastic movements. I panted and just flapped my wings to keep myself afloat. I felt her loosen her hold on my tail.

“Don’t you try running away now.”

I sighed. “I know…”

“I mean it-huh? Oh ok, good.” She looked a little taken back by my fast compliance.

Now that I wasn’t fearing my life (for now), I gave her a quick glance over. Aside from those startling magenta eyes, she had a light blue coat and a mane with many highlights, like a rainbow. It was predominantly red, orange, and yellow in the front and top of her head, shifting to green, dark blue, and purple as it traveled down her neck. Her tail consisted of all six of her colors. She was strangely familiar.

Her face was in a frown, staring at me with a single eyebrow raised curiously and forelegs crossed in front of her chest. She started to descend slowly, prompting me to follow suit. She must have noticed my fatigue, which I’m grateful for. Must have not slept much. I looked up to the sky. It was a very bright and clear blue. It wasn’t that early but definitely still morning. As we landed on the ground, she spoke up.

“You’re quite something, alright.”

I glanced over to her, giving her a confused look.

“You were literally spitting distance from my cloud-house.”

“Oh, that,” I said. “Yeah, I wasn’t looking to steal it or anything. I just wanted a place to sleep for the night. I was going to put it back once I woke up.”

“What, you couldn’t find a hotel or a place to crash?” she questioned.

“No, not really. It was sudden and really REALLY late,” I answered back. “And I was incredibly tired.” As if to emphasize my point, I yawned.

“You’re not from around here, are you?”

“Are you a psychic now?”

She gave me a not-so-amused expression. “Don’t you try to get all snippy with me, bucko.”

“Sorry. Didn’t really had enough sleep.” I said that a bit too quickly but it seems like she bought it.

“Apparently, seeing as you used a bit of my cloud.”

Now I gave her a not-so-amused look. “Look, I don’t want any problems. I’ll patch it up right now if you want. It’ll be like I wasn’t there. I was just a little desperate.”

“Understandable. Still not cool.”

“I know, I know, I done goofed.” I rubbed my eyes and sighed. I stretched my wings. “So how about I go do that patching job and I’ll be out of your mane.”

“Hey, not so fast. We landed for a reason. You weren’t looking so hot before. There’s no way you could tire out that quickly if you were fine.”

So she did notice. “Yeah…” I looked at my wings before folding them. “Still a little sore from last night’s flight.”

“Which brings me back to my earlier question: you’re not from around here.”

“That wasn’t a question.”

She face-hoofed. “You know what I mean. You’re not a local, since I don’t recognize you. Which means you came from somewhere else. So where?”

“Cloudsdale.”

“Cloudsdale?”

“Did I stutter? Yes…” I shivered. “That place…”

She gave a weird look, but decided not to pursue it. “Wait…you came straight from there to here?”

I nodded.

“Wow…that’s not exactly a short trip. Nothing I myself can’t handle though.”

Dear Celestia, she’s a braggart. “Tell me about it. But it was something that I needed to do.”

“What’s so urgent that you needed to come to Ponyville?”

“It wasn’t so much that I needed to come here as it was that I needed to get away.”

“What?”

I sighed again, looking towards to ground. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“Are you some kind of rogue or spy?”

I looked up at her, bemused. “Umm…no?”

She leaned in uncomfortably close, studying me. I leaned my head back as much as I can without taking a step.

Apparently satisfied, she took a step back and my neck returned to its normal posture. So much for “personal space.”

“So what’s your plan for today?” she asked.

“Uh, I was actually thinking about seeing the mayor to ask for the leasing plan of a house I saw last night.”

“Oh, so you’re moving here?”

“I guess so. It’s not like I can go back.”

She opened her mouth as if to question me, but then closed it. She seems quick to catch onto tact. “That’s cool, I suppose. Hey, how about I show you around town?”

“You don’t really need to. I know my way around a bit due to last night’s stroll.”

“Oh no, you’re not getting off that easy. You still need to do my cloud-house. Besides, you need a good recommendation spot for a pick-me-up. C’mon.” She then zoomed ahead of me towards Ponyville.

I shook my head, smiling a bit. She’s certainly a character. I trotted after her, only for her to zoom back.

“Oh yeah, I forgot. Name’s Rainbow Dash. You can call me Kickass McAwesometown.”

I roll my eyes and keep walking. “I’m Shadow Heart. Just call me Heart.”

“Pssh, nah. ‘Shadow’ sounds loads cooler.”

I blinked. “Suit yourself.”

Yup, definitely an interesting character. Not many really called me by first name, much less willingly. I prefer using my least “intimidating” part of my name, due to my appearance.

We kept going towards Ponyville, with Rainbow Dash flying a bit ahead of me on her back.

What a showoff.

Author's Note

This story is going to kill my nerves. Yes, that is a reference to Bucking Nonsense's story. No, that's all it is: a reference. Nothing more. Are these chapters too short? They feel long to me when I write them...yet also short when I read it. The word count isn't helping.